2011-Annual Town Report - Granby, MA

● Guided Forest Edible Plants Walk for the entire
community.
● Storytelling to promote kindness and anti-bullying.
Children at West St. School
● East Meadow School- Trip to the Springfield
Symphony for Fourth Grade students. Field Trip grant.
● Quabbin Valley Twirlers, Square Dance for the entire
community
● Earth Rhythms- Assembly/Concert for Earth Day at
West St. School
● Friends of Granby’s Elderly- Summer Concert Series
for the entire community.
Funds are distributed in accordance with established state and
local guidelines. Projects that will benefit the Granby community
are given priority. Applications for grants must be postmarked
by October 15 th , and indicate a specific time, date, and location
for the event. Availability of applications will be published in
several local newspapers, as well as on Community Access TV,
the town website, and Craigslist. Applications and guidelines are
available to download at www.mass-culturalcouncil.org.
Respectfully submitted by,
Sue Bennett, Chair
Cheryl Campbell, Treasurer
Wayne Gagnon, Member
Mary Jo King, Publicist
Becky Laliberte, Member
Sarah Leonard, Member
Susie, Slater, Member
GRANBY HOUSING AUTHORITY
The Granby Housing Authority, organized on June 4, 1970,
owns and maintains 4 colonial style buildings located at Phin's
Hill Manor which house 52 one bedroom units and 4 wheelchair
accessible units for the elderly and disabled, plus a two story
building located at 1 North Street, South Hadley.
In past years the hallways and doors were painted, a new fire
alarm was installed, and a sewer problem has been addressed.
Also the affordable housing plans are moving forward on
Amherst Street. This year we hope to install heat tapes over the
gabled entrance ways, redo the driveway and add more parking,
and replace the hall heaters.
In April 2011 we began excavating at 26 Amherst Street for
our affordable family housing project. The well was drilled in the
fall of 2010. The name will be called Hillside Heights of Granby.
There are 6 duplex buildings with 6 two bedroom condos with
one being handicap accessible, and 6 three bedroom condos.
Occupancy will begin in March 2012. The landscaping will be
done in the spring of 2012. This project allows the town to apply
for grants the town was not previously eligible for.
The regular meetings of the Authority are held on the second
Thursday of each month at 6:30 PM. The meetings are posted at
the Town Clerks office and also on the Authority’s bulletin
board.
At the Annual Town Election, George Knight was elected to
the Board for a five-year term. Nancy Sedlak was appointed to
fill in the position left vacant by the resignation of Alice Stewart.
Sandy Haas was appointed to fill the term of Sandy Sweat.
Michael Buckley was appointed as the state appointee. The
Authority’s election of Officers was held at their Annual Meeting
on June 11, 2011. The Officers were elected as follows:
Chairman - George Knight; Michael Buckley Vice Chairman,
Cynthia Gaspari Treasurer, Sandy Haas Assistant Treasurer;
Nancy Sedlak Member. The Executive Director, Nancy Brown
is appointed as the Contract Officer.
Respectfully submitted,
George Knight, Chairman
Michael Buckley, Vice-Chairman
Cynthia Gaspari, Treasurer
Sandy Haas. Assistant Treasurer
Nancy Sedlak, Member
Darren Carver, Maintenance
Gary Depace, CPA, Fee Accountant
HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT
We are pleased to submit this report on the operations of the
Granby Highway Department for calendar year 2011. Last year
was definitely a year for the record books.
It started out with a very snowy winter. We were out 31 times,
which is about 50% above average. In addition, many of the
storms were very large with significant snowfall.
The frequent heavy snowstorms created a problem for many
buildings in the area leading to numerous roof collapses. For this
reason, the Granby Highway Department was called upon to
assist in removing the snow from the West Street School roof.
We also experienced a severe freezing rain and ice storm last
year. This storm was as one of the worst we have dealt with in
recent memory. It occurred during the early morning commute
hours when the school buses were already on the road. Just when
we thought we were through with the severe winter, the rain
began.
We experienced severe flooding in the springtime on several
occasions. One rain storm occurred when there was still a
significant snow pack on the ground. This event created a damn
in the normal drainage swale and flooded the sanitary sewer
manhole. The flooding was so significant it caused damage at
the pump station. We have since raised the manholes in order to
prevent this from ever occurring again.
Last year was one of the wettest years on record. This made it
difficult to schedule paving, line painting and crack sealing work.
In addition to the rains, we had to deal with tornadoes and a
hurricane. Fortunately, these storms left our town relatively
unscathed, but we did assist nearby communities under the new
mutual aid agreements.
During the summer we did manage to squeeze some
construction projects in between the storms. We milled and repaved
Amherst Street from West Street to Batchelor Street. This
section was almost two miles of road. In addition, we milled and
re-paved North Street from Lyman Street to Batchelor Street. We
also milled and hand patched many sections on upper Chicopee
Street between School Street and Route 202. We placed over 70
tons of patches on this road. The road was then crack sealed by a
sub-contractor. Milling and hand patches were also performed on
1 mile of Amherst Street from 202 to West Street.
We performed a significant amount of roadside tree trimming,
primarily in the north east sections of town. We also utilized the
new compact track loader with the brush hog to mow back
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