Post by Fair and Square on Nov 16, 2017 10:32:30 GMT -7
From the archives of CP(Clare Parker):
"Glastonbury
Network
NEWS for
Landowners!
Enjoying the good life...
"Don't tell anybody, but I got away with robbing Peter to pay Paul!"
"Because this is a public
website and no harm is intended,
names are not used."
"CONFLICTS: High South Heist!"
"GLA scrambling to change the Road Policy and cut out Dry Creek Road in order to maintain roads in high South.
"CP and several South Glastonbury landowners attended the May 2015 GLA board meeting, during which she read a statement and asked the Board to call a Special Meeting of South Glastonbury landowners to decide the fate of Dry Creek Road. CP did not present the Board with a petition, at that time, because she had faith in the GLA that Board members would do the right thing of their own volition without landowners having to force the issue by petition, which turned out not to be the case.
"CP pointed out to the Board that the GLA could be sued for not maintaining Dry Creek Road, as required by the Road Policy, and that the potential for a lawsuit was just as great for litigation stemming from the GLA not maintaining it than was the potential of litigation being brought against the GLA for maintaining it.
(See statement. read by CP)
"Therefore, it should have been patently obvious to all that the decision whether or not to maintain Dry Creek Road (in cooperation with the county) was an issue that needed to be decided upon by South Glastonbury landowners – in order to avoid any possibility of a lawsuit, either way!
"Unfortunately, the Board ignored her request, and when the meeting came to an end, CP asked the (former) GLA President if the Board would consider the request, and the President answered her with an abrupt “No!” – but he added that if she presented the Board with a petition, the Board would certainly consider it.
"The GLA’s refusal to call a Special Meeting clearly reveals that the decision to abandon Dry Creek Road was agenda driven and was not made because of fear or threats regarding lawsuits!
"Upon being told no, CP was chagrined and so withdrew the request. The surprise announcement had been made at that meeting that the county was going to crack seal Dry Creek Road! CP saw that the timing was not right for this request, however, that has changed. The time is now right for South Glastonbury landowners to have a Special Meeting to decide the fate of Dry Creek Road– unless they want to end up having to pay Special Assessments in the future to maintain it when the county fails to do so and South Glastonbury landowners can't live with the condition of the road.
"See petition to GLA to call a Special Meeting of SG landowners to decide the fate of Dry Creek Road.
"Landowners must STOP the board from changing the Road Policy. If the GLA does not maintain Dry Creek Road in cooperation with the county and does not do some of the crack sealing and does not chip seal every 18-years or so, (which would put Dry Creek Road on a 9-year crack sealing schedule) Dry Creek Road will disintegrate!
"If the GLA isn't made to adhere to the existing Road Policy and unless money is allocated from South Glastonbury's road assessments and put into a fund for Dry Creek Road maintenance – when the time comes to crack seal and chip seal Dry Creek Road, the money won’t be there in the budget; and the GLA will have to levy a Special Assessment upon South Glastonbury landowners to repair South Glastonbury's primary road – because the county will only do so much and the road requires more!
"Why wasn’t the money to maintain the pavement put into a fund for Dry Creek Road in the first place – before the road deteriorated; and why was the road neglected? As previously explained, the GLA abandoned Dry Creek Road at the behest of high South landowners (including some former and present board members and Road Committee members) having property or interests in high South. Dry Creek Road was neglected, as money was diverted from the maintenance of Dry Creek Road to fund road maintenance in high South, including Sagittarius Skyway – a road almost as long as Arcturus that has only eight, or so, landowners living up there.
"Three years ago when the Road Committee Chair told high South landowners serving on the Road Committee that the GLA had the money in the budget to crack seal Dry Creek Road and asked if the GLA should do so, their answer was, 'No!" The high South spokesman said the GLA had a duty to maintain other roads. He said that high South roads needed attention, so money that should have gone to crack seal Dry Creek Road went up to high South.
"North Glastonbury and South Glastonbury are supposed to be treated equally. North Glastonbury's paved roads have been crack sealed four times by the GLA. The landowners association has never crack sealed Dry Creek Road and that is why the alligator cracking along Dry Creek Road is so extensive. What makes it all the more egregious is the fact that North Glastonbury has two and one-half times more pavement to maintain than South Glastonbury, (which is another story) thus, making crack sealing North Glastonbury's roads so much more expensive than what it costs to crack seal South, yet South got nothing and its primary road was allowed to badly deteriorate.
"Since Dry Creek Road is a county road, hopefully, the county will now do a better job of helping with the repairs and will bear a significant portion of the financial burden because the GLA is finally getting after them to do so, and we know we are entitled to something more from the county than what we had been receiving.
"A special thanks goes to K.N. and the Road Committee members serving on the GLA board for getting the county to respond and crack seal last year. And, hopefully, the county will keep its promise to chip seal this year, as the crack seal repair was long overdue.
"Nevertheless, there are no more promises from the county to maintain Dry Creek Road beyond what the county maintenance schedule calls for – as the County operates according to its priorities, which are based on a tier system for its roads, as well as the amount of funds it has received and what the work load is.
"Dry Creek Road has never been a priority for the County. Perhaps it may be possible to get the county to give Dry Creek Road a higher priority due to the increase in the number of people now living in South Glastonbury – but there is practically no chance that the county will do all of the necessary maintenance and repairs to Dry Creek Road. Badly needed repairs, including filling potholes, may be a long time in coming.
"Of great concern is that there will be numerous potholes forming and the county may not be able to keep up with fixing them in a timely manner – this, in addition to the fact that the county may not be able to crack seal every time the road needs it and will not chip seal but once in every 18 years, which is not often enough.
"Since the GLA would have to pay for it, we need to plan for it now. Otherwise – if the GLA changes the Road Policy to where Dry Creek Road is no longer regarded as a primary road– it will mean Special Assessments for South Glastonbury landowners in order to take care of Dry Creek Road when pavement needs repair and the county won't help.
"In that case, funds would continue being diverted to high South; and, as stated, South Glastonbury would have to have Special Assessments to crack seal or chip seal Dry Creek Road whenever it became necessary and we could not get help from the county. The alternative would be to let the road continue deteriorating and eventually it would disintegrate, which is not at all practical as there is no other road in or out of South Glastonbury, and the road would be impossible to navigate.
"Glastonbury landowners need to be aware of the fact that all of high South Glastonbury landowners combined do not pay their fair share for the maintenance of their roads, and they do not pay a penny for the administration of the Glastonbury Landowners Association.
The community is subsidizing them in maintaining their roads, which means that the GLA is paying for a sizable portion of their road maintenance and is not being reimbursed by the assessments collected from them. This is in addition to high South not financially supporting the GLA.
"It remains to be calculated, but we believe that enough money is collected in South Glastonbury assessments to take care of Dry Creek Road. It would require the county chipping in and the GLA not spending more than it can afford on fourth and fifth-tier roads, especially for snowplowing.
"Many landowners in high South have snowplows, besides the fact that many have money and can afford to pay more for their extra snowplowing.
There is bound to be some opposition from high South landowners if they are told they will have to bear their own burden, because high South has become accustomed, more recently, to funds being finagled from Dry Creek Road to maintain their roads.
"It is time to put a stop to it. Do not let the GLA Board of Directors change the Road Policy. Instead, demand that the GLA follows it and puts money aside into a road fund to maintain Dry Creek Road. And insist that high South landowners pay their fair share of assessments."
"Glastonbury
Network
NEWS for
Landowners!
Enjoying the good life...
"Don't tell anybody, but I got away with robbing Peter to pay Paul!"
"Because this is a public
website and no harm is intended,
names are not used."
"CONFLICTS: High South Heist!"
"GLA scrambling to change the Road Policy and cut out Dry Creek Road in order to maintain roads in high South.
"CP and several South Glastonbury landowners attended the May 2015 GLA board meeting, during which she read a statement and asked the Board to call a Special Meeting of South Glastonbury landowners to decide the fate of Dry Creek Road. CP did not present the Board with a petition, at that time, because she had faith in the GLA that Board members would do the right thing of their own volition without landowners having to force the issue by petition, which turned out not to be the case.
"CP pointed out to the Board that the GLA could be sued for not maintaining Dry Creek Road, as required by the Road Policy, and that the potential for a lawsuit was just as great for litigation stemming from the GLA not maintaining it than was the potential of litigation being brought against the GLA for maintaining it.
(See statement. read by CP)
"Therefore, it should have been patently obvious to all that the decision whether or not to maintain Dry Creek Road (in cooperation with the county) was an issue that needed to be decided upon by South Glastonbury landowners – in order to avoid any possibility of a lawsuit, either way!
"Unfortunately, the Board ignored her request, and when the meeting came to an end, CP asked the (former) GLA President if the Board would consider the request, and the President answered her with an abrupt “No!” – but he added that if she presented the Board with a petition, the Board would certainly consider it.
"The GLA’s refusal to call a Special Meeting clearly reveals that the decision to abandon Dry Creek Road was agenda driven and was not made because of fear or threats regarding lawsuits!
"Upon being told no, CP was chagrined and so withdrew the request. The surprise announcement had been made at that meeting that the county was going to crack seal Dry Creek Road! CP saw that the timing was not right for this request, however, that has changed. The time is now right for South Glastonbury landowners to have a Special Meeting to decide the fate of Dry Creek Road– unless they want to end up having to pay Special Assessments in the future to maintain it when the county fails to do so and South Glastonbury landowners can't live with the condition of the road.
"See petition to GLA to call a Special Meeting of SG landowners to decide the fate of Dry Creek Road.
"Landowners must STOP the board from changing the Road Policy. If the GLA does not maintain Dry Creek Road in cooperation with the county and does not do some of the crack sealing and does not chip seal every 18-years or so, (which would put Dry Creek Road on a 9-year crack sealing schedule) Dry Creek Road will disintegrate!
"If the GLA isn't made to adhere to the existing Road Policy and unless money is allocated from South Glastonbury's road assessments and put into a fund for Dry Creek Road maintenance – when the time comes to crack seal and chip seal Dry Creek Road, the money won’t be there in the budget; and the GLA will have to levy a Special Assessment upon South Glastonbury landowners to repair South Glastonbury's primary road – because the county will only do so much and the road requires more!
"Why wasn’t the money to maintain the pavement put into a fund for Dry Creek Road in the first place – before the road deteriorated; and why was the road neglected? As previously explained, the GLA abandoned Dry Creek Road at the behest of high South landowners (including some former and present board members and Road Committee members) having property or interests in high South. Dry Creek Road was neglected, as money was diverted from the maintenance of Dry Creek Road to fund road maintenance in high South, including Sagittarius Skyway – a road almost as long as Arcturus that has only eight, or so, landowners living up there.
"Three years ago when the Road Committee Chair told high South landowners serving on the Road Committee that the GLA had the money in the budget to crack seal Dry Creek Road and asked if the GLA should do so, their answer was, 'No!" The high South spokesman said the GLA had a duty to maintain other roads. He said that high South roads needed attention, so money that should have gone to crack seal Dry Creek Road went up to high South.
"North Glastonbury and South Glastonbury are supposed to be treated equally. North Glastonbury's paved roads have been crack sealed four times by the GLA. The landowners association has never crack sealed Dry Creek Road and that is why the alligator cracking along Dry Creek Road is so extensive. What makes it all the more egregious is the fact that North Glastonbury has two and one-half times more pavement to maintain than South Glastonbury, (which is another story) thus, making crack sealing North Glastonbury's roads so much more expensive than what it costs to crack seal South, yet South got nothing and its primary road was allowed to badly deteriorate.
"Since Dry Creek Road is a county road, hopefully, the county will now do a better job of helping with the repairs and will bear a significant portion of the financial burden because the GLA is finally getting after them to do so, and we know we are entitled to something more from the county than what we had been receiving.
"A special thanks goes to K.N. and the Road Committee members serving on the GLA board for getting the county to respond and crack seal last year. And, hopefully, the county will keep its promise to chip seal this year, as the crack seal repair was long overdue.
"Nevertheless, there are no more promises from the county to maintain Dry Creek Road beyond what the county maintenance schedule calls for – as the County operates according to its priorities, which are based on a tier system for its roads, as well as the amount of funds it has received and what the work load is.
"Dry Creek Road has never been a priority for the County. Perhaps it may be possible to get the county to give Dry Creek Road a higher priority due to the increase in the number of people now living in South Glastonbury – but there is practically no chance that the county will do all of the necessary maintenance and repairs to Dry Creek Road. Badly needed repairs, including filling potholes, may be a long time in coming.
"Of great concern is that there will be numerous potholes forming and the county may not be able to keep up with fixing them in a timely manner – this, in addition to the fact that the county may not be able to crack seal every time the road needs it and will not chip seal but once in every 18 years, which is not often enough.
"Since the GLA would have to pay for it, we need to plan for it now. Otherwise – if the GLA changes the Road Policy to where Dry Creek Road is no longer regarded as a primary road– it will mean Special Assessments for South Glastonbury landowners in order to take care of Dry Creek Road when pavement needs repair and the county won't help.
"In that case, funds would continue being diverted to high South; and, as stated, South Glastonbury would have to have Special Assessments to crack seal or chip seal Dry Creek Road whenever it became necessary and we could not get help from the county. The alternative would be to let the road continue deteriorating and eventually it would disintegrate, which is not at all practical as there is no other road in or out of South Glastonbury, and the road would be impossible to navigate.
"Glastonbury landowners need to be aware of the fact that all of high South Glastonbury landowners combined do not pay their fair share for the maintenance of their roads, and they do not pay a penny for the administration of the Glastonbury Landowners Association.
The community is subsidizing them in maintaining their roads, which means that the GLA is paying for a sizable portion of their road maintenance and is not being reimbursed by the assessments collected from them. This is in addition to high South not financially supporting the GLA.
"It remains to be calculated, but we believe that enough money is collected in South Glastonbury assessments to take care of Dry Creek Road. It would require the county chipping in and the GLA not spending more than it can afford on fourth and fifth-tier roads, especially for snowplowing.
"Many landowners in high South have snowplows, besides the fact that many have money and can afford to pay more for their extra snowplowing.
There is bound to be some opposition from high South landowners if they are told they will have to bear their own burden, because high South has become accustomed, more recently, to funds being finagled from Dry Creek Road to maintain their roads.
"It is time to put a stop to it. Do not let the GLA Board of Directors change the Road Policy. Instead, demand that the GLA follows it and puts money aside into a road fund to maintain Dry Creek Road. And insist that high South landowners pay their fair share of assessments."