WILTON – Very little discussion came up at town meeting tonight until a Temple Road resident stood to say he didn’t want his road repaved this summer, which was proposed in Article 30.
The item asked voters to spend $200,000 on road repaving that includes completing work on Lake and Old Jay roads, with the bulk, $165,000, going towards resurfacing a mile of the upper half of Temple Road to the Morrison Hill Road intersection.
The resident said he didn’t want the work completed because “the road would change into a speedway.” He asked that the article be reduced by $145,000 to $55,000 so that the other two roads could be finished and his left untouched.
“We’ve got 55 miles of roads to maintain and Temple Road is one of many that needs work,” said John Welch the town’s highway foreman. “The pavement has completely failed and it costs extra to keep it clear in the winter for school buses. Temple Road is the worst and needs attention.”
Resident Conrad Heeschen noted that back in the late 1980s, there was a comprehensive plan to fix Wilton’s roads. Temple Road was on that original list and is again on it as part of the continuing road project rotation. The problem, he said is that rising costs of oil and therefore, asphalt, have the town affording only overlays and not the complete construction needed.
“An alternate to repaving is to go back to dirt,” he said of some of the town’s roads, but wasn’t suggesting that solution for the hilly and well-trafficked Temple Road.
“One of our problems is that oil prices went up and then down but paving prices didn’t go down,” said Paul Gooch, selectmen board chairman. He estimated that the list of all the roads needing work would be “well over $1 million.
Others suggested changing the road construction priorities, especially if other roads are in need and all of the Temple Road residents feel they don’t want the road repaved.
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Selectman Russell Black said the decision should be left up to the Temple Road residents. A motion to end discussion passed 62-5. An amendment to spend only $55,000 for repaving roads failed by a unanimous vote.
Another amendment to spend the full $200,00 but require selectmen to take up re-prioritizing the paving projects at a regular meeting, proposed by selectman-elect Tom Saviello, failed to pass.
Selectman Irv Faunce told voters be believed the decision of whether to pave Temple Road should be left up to Welch. He noted the board had surveyed the roads with Welch, had had many public discussions through the fall.
“We painfully came to this prioritized list,” Faunce said. “I respect his (Welch’s) judgement and what he does for the town.” Voters agreed and passed the article as written.
Gooch added that, “if Temple Road residents don’t want it paved, come see us soon.”
The Wilton Free Public Library got its full requested amount of $108,765. Resident Dennis Landry wanted the library to hold its line at $100,000, but many residents spoke in favor of fully funding the library’s request, because the basic costs of heating and insurance continue to rise, library director David Olson said. The article was overwhelmingly passed.
All told, after two and half hours of discussion on 55 articles with 74 voters deciding, the selectmen’s and finance committee’s recommended $2,762,681 budget was approved, showing a decrease of $23,662 in spending from the current budget.
The budget was kept tight because of expected decreases in state revenue sharing and a decline in excise taxes.
