Erving Select Board Approves $65,000 Engineering Contract for Culvert and Fire Pond Work

ERVING -- January 6, 2025, Erving Select Board opens 2025 with infrastructure engineering contract, audit approval, and two Recreation Commission appointments. The board voted unanimously at its January 6 meeting to engage Weston and Sampson Engineers Incorporated of Rocky Hill, Connecticut, for the first three phases of culvert replacement and fire pond rehabilitation on Maple Avenue and Bridge Street at a cost of $65,000, with funding drawn from existing Bridge Street project balances and Chapter 90 fair-share funds. The board also approved a $23,500 contract with longtime town auditor Scanlon and Associates, LLC, for the FY2024 financial statement audit and a federal single audit triggered by the town drawing down more than $800,000 in federal funds, primarily through the CDBG program, in fiscal year 2024. Catherine Gaudet and Michael Jean were appointed to the Recreation Commission through June 30, 2025, in separate unanimous roll-call votes during a brief joint session. A detailed discussion of the state's new HERO Act veterans property tax exemption options ended with the board referring the matter to the Board of Assessors for multi-year financial impact projections before any town meeting article is drafted, with one member warning of the compounding effect of a high escalator setting: "We don't want it to suddenly be escalating at a rate that people are like, what happened."