By Mary Macedo, Neighb News Correspondent
At its meeting on Monday, 1/22, the Fairhaven Board of Public Works voted to hold a meeting to rescind their vote hiring Jeff Furtado (no relation to PW superintendent Vinnie Furtado) as the water superintendent.
According to Vinnie Furtado, there was a question raised about the way the item was listed on the posted agenda. It was not clear that a vote to hire would take place. After the question was raised by an unnamed person, Town Counsel advised the board to rescind the vote and re-take the vote at a new meeting.
The board has set a meeting for Thursday, 1/25/18, to rescind the vote of 1/11, hold an open-meeting to hire one of the two finalists, Thomas Weir from Foxborough and Jeff Furtado of Fairhaven, and vote again.
It is anyone’s guess who will be chosen the second time.
The board caught wind of a group of people who are planning to attend the meeting on Thursday to oppose the hiring of Jeff Furtado.
A letter that has not been made public, but that the Neighb News has acquired, has been circulating behind the scenes and disparages Jeff Furtado’s character. It questions his ability to handle the stress of being Water Superintendent.
The Neighb News has made inquiries to find out the author of the letter, but has been thwarted. Vinnie Furtado received the letter by email, but refused to forward it with the header to show who sent it, pending a decision by Town Counsel on whether or not it should be released. At issue are the allegations about Jeff Furtado’s character and mental health.
Jeff Furtado received letters of recommendation from Fairhaven Sewer Department Superintendent Linda Schick; Henri Renauld, a member of the Mattapoisett River Valley Water District, which is where Fairhaven gets its water; Fairhaven Highway Department Superintendent John Charbonneau; Fairhaven Planning and Economic Development Director Bill Roth; the Fairhaven police and fire chiefs.
The upshot is that the discussions going on behind the scenes could be enough to change the vote.
The vote was 3-2, with Cameron Durant, Chairperson Mike Ristuccia and Brian Wotton voting for Jeff Furtado; and Keith Silvia and Robert “Hoppy” Hobson voting against, after voicing their support for Mr. Weir.
In other business, the board met with town residents to discuss their recommendations for road work in fiscal year 2019. The board also briefly discussed FY19 budgets, which mostly stayed the same, and met with Eagle Scout Alex Sylvaria.
Mr. Sylvaria met with the BPW to ask for support with his Eagle Scout project. He said there is a building on the Fairhaven bike path that he would like to restore and make into a rest stop for his project.
Mr. Sylvaria said that he would get rid of all the weeds and brush surrounding the area, add benches, tables, and fix the roof of the building. He said it would all be done with donations. He had no set date to start because he also needs Selectboard approval.
“I’m just trying to give back to the community,” Mr. Sylvaria said.
Mr. Hobson explained that the building used to be a barn and people used to live there when he was a kid. He said baby cows were housed there.
“There’s a lot of history to that place,” Mr. Hobson said, adding that he would love to get together with Mr. Sylvaria and tell him the detailed history of the building.
Mr. Sylvaria agreed and said Mr. Hobson would be helpful because Mr. Sylvaria wanted to add a plaque to the building showing its significance.
Mr. Ristuccia told Mr. Sylvaria to contact the BPW when he plans to start the project and what the plan is.
“We are more than happy to assist cleaning of the vegetation in the area,” board member, Brian Wotton said.
The board voted to support Mr. Sylvaria’s project with whatever assistance he would like from the board.
In another matter more than a dozen residents showed up to discuss their requests for road work for FY19.
Mr. Hobson told the residents that the meeting was only a discussion about road work and no voting would be happening until the next BPW meeting.
BPW Superintendent Vincent Furtado explained that the BPW pays an engineer to do a pavement management study on the roads in town, which allows them to come up with a rating system of the roads. The BPW normally gets about $300,000-$350,000 to spend on road work each year. Mr. Furtado said it all depends on the severity of the roads and how often the road is traveled.
He said the gravel roads are not rated in the study because they are not pavement. Mr. Furtado said they try to pave at least one gravel road a year.
Mr. Ristuccia explained that it takes a few years for some streets to get to the top of the list.
Residents from three streets attended the meeting, representing, Billy’s Way, Ebony Street, and Fir Street. Mr. Wotton explained that all three of the streets were currently on the list.
Billy’s Way and Fir have been discussed to get paved this year. Mr. Wotton said the problem with Ebony Street is that it is almost a $300,000 job, which would take up the whole budget.
Mr. Wotton suggested that they split Ebony Street into three parts and do one portion per year for three years. The residents, as well as the board agreed that was a good option.
Mr. Ristuccia noted that Blue Point Road is also very important because when it rains the gravel drains right into the harbor.
Bluepoint, Ebony and Fir are all on West Island. Billy’s Way is off Sconticut Neck Road.
Residents from Billy’s Way said that the road is hard to drive on because of the holes. In their petition the residents also said that rain causes many cars to get stuck and large amounts of water to flood the street.
The board agreed that they will make a decision and vote on the roads at the next meeting on 2/5.
The board also discussed the Water, Highway, and Sewer department budgets with not too many changes being made.
The board met with Sewer Department Superintendent Linda Schick who explained that the treatment plant is now 30 years old and much of the equipment is deteriorating and is hard to fix due to its age. She said the treatment plant’s equipment was only meant to last 20 years.
Ms. Schick also said that in the coming years the Sewer Department will need millions of dollars in upgrades.
The BPW briefly discussed a change in the sewer rates to help get the money for the upcoming Sewer Department projects.
Mr. Furtado said that if they raised the rates just 25 cents it could give them $100,000 more dollars to use.
Mr. Wotton said that he would like to wait to vote at the next meeting when Mr. Ristuccia will be there because Mr. Ristuccia had to step out halfway through the meeting. Mr. Wotton suggested that Mr. Furtado come up with a few options of sewer rate changes/recommendations to be discussed at the next meeting.
Beth David contributed to this report.
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