TOWN MANAGER’S ANNUAL REPORT

2008

It is with pride and pleasure I present to you the 2008 Annual Town Report, which contains a wealth of information on the operation of your Bristol Municipal Departments during the past year.  As the government closest to the people, herein we strive to fully explain to all citizens and visitors where and how their Town tax dollars have been spent in providing municipal services. The following Manager’s Report attempts to highlight some of the more important events.

Most noteworthy is the regional and national recognition given to our employees who operate the Bristol Wastewater Treatment Plant.  They first received an award as the most innovative treatment plant from the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency in the New England, and were then placed in competition with small treatment plants throughout the nation.  We all were very proud when they placed first in the national review. The Wastewater Department staff traveled to Chicago to receive the National Award.  I encourage you to take time to visit the treatment plant to learn firsthand of the fine improvements being made by our staff, which includes a $1.2 million upgrade, funded 90% with Federal and State grants. In a directly related matter, we have received the preliminary final design report for the Sewer to the Lake Project from our consulting engineers.

Throughout 2008 the Central Street Bridge Project has been underway.  Our contractors, Winterset Construction of Lyndonville, Vermont have been onsite, working with SEA Engineering Consultants, constructing what will be the largest single-span bridge structure in the State. The project is being undertaken under the State’s Municipal Bridge Program, with the State paying 80% of the cost, and in cooperation with the Town of New Hampton, which splits the 20% municipal share with us.  A grand opening of the bridge is eagerly awaited in the summer of 2009.

During 2008 a close look at the way ambulance costs are being shared with neighboring towns was undertaken by the Board of Selectmen, resulting in the adoption of a new formula.  As the primary town providing the services, it was found 80% of the responses being made out of the Bristol Fire Station were for ambulance needs.  The new formula, based upon 80% of the cost to run the Department, will share costs based upon the actual runs to each town, assuring that Bristol is fully and equitably reimbursed for our efforts.

We have some very capable and industrious employees working here for the Town of Bristol. In the personnel area, employees which ended service included Town Manager Elizabeth Corrow, Fire Chief Norman Skantze, Fire Fighter Mark Chavalier, and Administrative Assistant Krystal Alpers; employees hired included myself (Town Manager Paul Weston), Police Patrol Officer Gary Robinson, Assessing Clerk Christina McClay, Land Use Enforcement Officer Michelle Bonsteel, and Executive Assistant Kelly Stafford.

Upon receiving the “no” vote on the Town Office/Police Station Project at the March Town Meeting, the Selectmen approved some essential and very necessary upgrades to the present Police Department facilities within the basement of the Town Office building.  Renovations and improvements include a new booking area, staff locker area, a new holding cell, better egress/access, and the relocation of the prosecutor’s office to the former welfare director’s office.

Other items worth noting within this annual report:  adoption and implementation of the new Drug Testing Policy for all Town employees and a new Employee Handbook governing all personnel policies; creation of two new committees advisory to the Board of Selectmen – the Sewer to the Lake Committee, and the Kelley Park Committee; conversion of our recycling efforts to a single stream mode; and continuation of a fine Capital Improvement Planning process.

To close, I want to say this: in managing the affairs of the Town of Bristol in this purest of democratic institutions called the New England Town Meeting tradition, we can only accomplish our goals by working together and receiving voter approval on the floor at town meeting.  As we all undergo the stress of the worsening global economic downturn since the great depression era of the 1930’s, it is even more imperative that we provide our core municipal services – fire and ambulance response, law enforcement, plowing snow and maintain our roads, providing safe drinking water and treating our wastewater, just to name a few – as economically and efficiently as possible. 

I am proud to lead a great group of municipal employees who does the difficult each and every week, and does it well.

I thank the Board of Selectmen for their support and understanding during the past year, leading the Town as a team, seeking to provide excellence in service with ever less resources.

Respectfully submitted,

R. Paul Weston, Town Manager

Town of Bristol