Post by Admin on Nov 26, 2017 9:11:06 GMT -7
Glastonbury Landowners For Positive Change
The mission of the GLFPC is to foster a landowner's association, of the people, by the people, and for the people of Glastonbury, to create a harmonious and inclusive community, and to enhance property values.
This Summary/Interpretation of the GLA's Road and Weed Committee meeting November 2, 2017
is offered as a volunteer service by the GLFPC.Your suggestions are welcome, should there be oversights or errors.
is offered as a volunteer service by the GLFPC.Your suggestions are welcome, should there be oversights or errors.
Highlights of the Meeting
·An expanded fall grading plan that would include an application of Mag. Chloride on high traffic roads remains on hold due to weather concerns.
·The installation of many additional snow fences, and the construction of four experimental wooden snow barriers, have and will soon be strategically placed along the road network in Glastonbury.
·A major project to inventory and expand the placement of traffic signs is underway. More reflectors for road edges and more signs to mark curves and blind spots are being considered for safety reasons.
·The long-neglected culvert cleaning and ditch cleaning is nearly completed.
·Richard Johnson and Claudette Dirkers were named co-snowplowing dispatchers for NG. Walter Wunsch and Jeff Riederer will serve as co-snowplowing dispatchers for SG. The back-up contact is GLA President Dennis Riley.
·The installation of many additional snow fences, and the construction of four experimental wooden snow barriers, have and will soon be strategically placed along the road network in Glastonbury.
·A major project to inventory and expand the placement of traffic signs is underway. More reflectors for road edges and more signs to mark curves and blind spots are being considered for safety reasons.
·The long-neglected culvert cleaning and ditch cleaning is nearly completed.
·Richard Johnson and Claudette Dirkers were named co-snowplowing dispatchers for NG. Walter Wunsch and Jeff Riederer will serve as co-snowplowing dispatchers for SG. The back-up contact is GLA President Dennis Riley.
Meeting Summary and Interpretation
GLA President and Road and Weed Committee Chairman Dennis Riley called the November 2, 2017 Road and Weed Committee meeting to order on Thursday, November 2, 2017, shortly after 7:00 PM, with nine members present. Only Gerald Dubiel was absent.
Plowing for the early November snowfall has gone well, according to SG Snow Plowing Coordinator Walter Wunsch, even though a pin broke on the big snowplow while the High South Roads were being cleared. As much as 20 inches of snow fell on the High South, and about 8 inches at the lower levels during the first few days of this month. Wunsch also reported that GLA’s lead snowplower, Fred Counts, slept about three hours between his first and second snowplowing runs, and that he also repaired the big rig which is owned by Counts.
The list of back-up snowplow driver’s names and phone numbers for the smaller snowplowing rig (plow and sander), which is owned by GLA, was updated and given to the snowplow dispatchers.
The 2017-2018 snow removal season marks the first time that GLA will not be clearing snow from the private roads in Golden Age Village (GAV) in about 20 years. GLA recently ended all road maintenance service for GAV when it came to the GLA Board’s attention that the decades-old road maintenance agreement actually violated the Montana Constitution and the GLA Covenants.
GLFPC Note: Montana’s Constitution prohibits non-profit corporations, such as GLA, from entering into contracts for longer than 5 years. GLA regulations require the board to maintain only the platted road network; they specifically prohibit the maintenance of private subdivision roads. GAV is a private subdivision in NG owned by Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT). It is also understood that GLA’s snowplower, Fred Counts, now has a separate contract with CUT to plow snow in GAV and the gravel section of Sirius Drive.
Another first in GLA’s road service is the application of Mag. Chloride on high traffic roads. GLA’s hired contractor, Chad Standish, is ready and waiting for the right weather to begin the expanded fall gravel and road grading service. The gravel roads need to be moist, but not wet, carefully graded, and crowned when the Mag Chloride is applied. But, with the unusually wet fall and early snowfall and changing weather patterns, the committee is concerned that the right weather window for this fall road work might not happen. Standish says that, while a fall application of Mag. Chloride is preferred, it can also be done in the spring.
Road Committee members Claudette Dirkers and Tim Brockett proposed a comprehensive multi-year plan to upgrade traffic signs, citing increased safety as the reason to do so. The sign proposal, if fully implemented, could cost as much as $10,000 and would last at least 20 years.
With a two-page list of newly-proposed road signs and locations in his hands, committee member Newman Brozovsky argued that the new sign proposal is overkill and that GLA members are country folk who know the roads and do not need stop signs. It works better, he said, to install yield signs that allow drivers to slow down and look before entering an intersection. He said that yield signs and stop signs are basically the same.
However, Dirkers countered that the GLA traffic flow is changing with an aging set of drivers and a growing number of visitors using our roads, given the increasing number of vacation home rentals. She pointed out that when visibility is reduced in blizzard situations, for instance, road signs would help drivers stay on the roads.
By consensus, the committee members each agreed to prioritize the new traffic sign list based on their local knowledge. The board has already approved $1,800 for new signs, drawing money from unallocated road funds. A motion by Brockett to seek additional funding in 2018 for the prioritized new sign lists passed, with only Brozovsky opposed.
A guardrail proposal for a section of Gemini in NG, as presented by Dirkers, would cost about $14,000 along both sides of the lower Gemini Hill, where multiple car accidents have occurred. However, the committee reasoned that sections of Hercules Road in SG have a greater need for guardrails. A motion to ask the board to establish a line item for future guardrails in the 2018 budget passed, with Brozovsky opposing.
The committee also dealt with other administration details, such as completing the paperwork needed to begin erosion control on upper Hercules in High South, letters to certain members calling for the installation of driveway culverts in NG, and other letters to answer specific landowners’ questions and complaints.
The final action taken by the committee was to agree that 10 booklets, using aerial photos of GLA roads, should be printed to show the ending points of the platted roads. Cost would be $15 each. It is expected that with a more detailed understanding of the platted road network, snowplow drivers will not be over-billing GLA for plowing private roads. Tim Brockett volunteered to coordinate the assembling and printing of the booklets, with help from Leo Keeler. Plans are to give each snowplow driver and snowplowing dispatcher a road map booklet. It is also expected that the updated road maps will be posted on the GLA website.
The meeting ended with surprises – each member was given a framed photo of the Road Committee members to acknowledge and thank each of them for their dedication and service, compliments of Brockett. Brockett said he chose an acanthus leaf pattern on the frames because it is a Mediterranean plant which reminds him of the Roman roads which lasted hundreds of years. In addition, Riederer and Dirkers were given special plaques to acknowledge and honor their “above and beyond” service as committee members and dedication to improving GLA roads. Wunsch recalled how a former GLA president had also taken special efforts to thanks the many GLA volunteers, and said it is time for GLA to begin again to regularly honor and thank those who generously volunteer their time and energy for the greater good.
Glastonbury Landowners For Positive Change
Plowing for the early November snowfall has gone well, according to SG Snow Plowing Coordinator Walter Wunsch, even though a pin broke on the big snowplow while the High South Roads were being cleared. As much as 20 inches of snow fell on the High South, and about 8 inches at the lower levels during the first few days of this month. Wunsch also reported that GLA’s lead snowplower, Fred Counts, slept about three hours between his first and second snowplowing runs, and that he also repaired the big rig which is owned by Counts.
The list of back-up snowplow driver’s names and phone numbers for the smaller snowplowing rig (plow and sander), which is owned by GLA, was updated and given to the snowplow dispatchers.
The 2017-2018 snow removal season marks the first time that GLA will not be clearing snow from the private roads in Golden Age Village (GAV) in about 20 years. GLA recently ended all road maintenance service for GAV when it came to the GLA Board’s attention that the decades-old road maintenance agreement actually violated the Montana Constitution and the GLA Covenants.
GLFPC Note: Montana’s Constitution prohibits non-profit corporations, such as GLA, from entering into contracts for longer than 5 years. GLA regulations require the board to maintain only the platted road network; they specifically prohibit the maintenance of private subdivision roads. GAV is a private subdivision in NG owned by Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT). It is also understood that GLA’s snowplower, Fred Counts, now has a separate contract with CUT to plow snow in GAV and the gravel section of Sirius Drive.
Another first in GLA’s road service is the application of Mag. Chloride on high traffic roads. GLA’s hired contractor, Chad Standish, is ready and waiting for the right weather to begin the expanded fall gravel and road grading service. The gravel roads need to be moist, but not wet, carefully graded, and crowned when the Mag Chloride is applied. But, with the unusually wet fall and early snowfall and changing weather patterns, the committee is concerned that the right weather window for this fall road work might not happen. Standish says that, while a fall application of Mag. Chloride is preferred, it can also be done in the spring.
Road Committee members Claudette Dirkers and Tim Brockett proposed a comprehensive multi-year plan to upgrade traffic signs, citing increased safety as the reason to do so. The sign proposal, if fully implemented, could cost as much as $10,000 and would last at least 20 years.
With a two-page list of newly-proposed road signs and locations in his hands, committee member Newman Brozovsky argued that the new sign proposal is overkill and that GLA members are country folk who know the roads and do not need stop signs. It works better, he said, to install yield signs that allow drivers to slow down and look before entering an intersection. He said that yield signs and stop signs are basically the same.
However, Dirkers countered that the GLA traffic flow is changing with an aging set of drivers and a growing number of visitors using our roads, given the increasing number of vacation home rentals. She pointed out that when visibility is reduced in blizzard situations, for instance, road signs would help drivers stay on the roads.
By consensus, the committee members each agreed to prioritize the new traffic sign list based on their local knowledge. The board has already approved $1,800 for new signs, drawing money from unallocated road funds. A motion by Brockett to seek additional funding in 2018 for the prioritized new sign lists passed, with only Brozovsky opposed.
A guardrail proposal for a section of Gemini in NG, as presented by Dirkers, would cost about $14,000 along both sides of the lower Gemini Hill, where multiple car accidents have occurred. However, the committee reasoned that sections of Hercules Road in SG have a greater need for guardrails. A motion to ask the board to establish a line item for future guardrails in the 2018 budget passed, with Brozovsky opposing.
The committee also dealt with other administration details, such as completing the paperwork needed to begin erosion control on upper Hercules in High South, letters to certain members calling for the installation of driveway culverts in NG, and other letters to answer specific landowners’ questions and complaints.
The final action taken by the committee was to agree that 10 booklets, using aerial photos of GLA roads, should be printed to show the ending points of the platted roads. Cost would be $15 each. It is expected that with a more detailed understanding of the platted road network, snowplow drivers will not be over-billing GLA for plowing private roads. Tim Brockett volunteered to coordinate the assembling and printing of the booklets, with help from Leo Keeler. Plans are to give each snowplow driver and snowplowing dispatcher a road map booklet. It is also expected that the updated road maps will be posted on the GLA website.
The meeting ended with surprises – each member was given a framed photo of the Road Committee members to acknowledge and thank each of them for their dedication and service, compliments of Brockett. Brockett said he chose an acanthus leaf pattern on the frames because it is a Mediterranean plant which reminds him of the Roman roads which lasted hundreds of years. In addition, Riederer and Dirkers were given special plaques to acknowledge and honor their “above and beyond” service as committee members and dedication to improving GLA roads. Wunsch recalled how a former GLA president had also taken special efforts to thanks the many GLA volunteers, and said it is time for GLA to begin again to regularly honor and thank those who generously volunteer their time and energy for the greater good.
Glastonbury Landowners For Positive Change