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Incoming council member Mark Bailey asked if there would be a problem with open trenches on the streets through the winter, and complications created by the freezing and thawing of the ground.
“It is going to be a mess,” the mayor agreed. “It will take probably a year to get the distribution lines completed.”
Mr. Gooch asked if the town will have to abandon the mountain spring, which now provides most of the system’s water needs.
“We are fighting that,” Mr. Morehouse said, “but I think the Environmental Protection Agency is going to ban surface water collection systems.”
The loss of the spring, Mr. Fisher added, will be offset by a new well the town plans to drill as part of the overhaul’s first phase. That, he said, will be completed before work on the distribution lines begins.
The council passed without changes the proposed $105,920 budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.
Retiring Councilman Peter Skowronski questioned why there is no line item in the budget for savings.
“This is the operating budget, which does not include savings,” Mr. Fisher replied. “If you look at the balance sheet, you will find that it has improved each year.
“A town,” the treasurer continued, “is not supposed to accumulate a lot of money. If it does it means that you are overtaxing your citizens. We are a non-profit organization — but we generally run a surplus — because we usually don’t spend all on the expenditure side.”
He noted there is no surplus this year, because of the $150,000 loan to purchase the county library.
In other business, the council:
• heard from retiring Councilman Reinhardt Lynch, who is also coowner of The Inn at Little Washington, that the feasibility study of installing a helicopter landing pad at the Washington Volunteer Fire Department has been tabled pending the completion of the survey by the Inn’s Citizens’ Advisory Committee.
• heard from Mr. Gooch that last month’s voluntary recycling program was the most successful yet. There were enough households participating, he reported, that two truckloads of recyclables were hauled to the county landfill. He reminded residents that they may recycle newspapers (bundled in paper bags, no plastic or twine), aluminum cans, and glass (clear, brown and green, rinsed out, no tops, labels may be left on).
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