THE SELECTBOARD approved over $88,000 in operating expenses and nearly $59,000 in bond payments Monday night. Bonding was for the library and the pool.

A resolution was passed condemning (In a PC world; asking for reconsideration) the State Executive and Legislative plans to reduce highway aid to municipalities. The reduction in aid is over $10,000 (town and Village) for Northfield, returning the level of funding to previous years' levels. The point I tried to make is that State-Transportation funds have been raided to fund non-transportation projects to the tune of $40,000,000 over several years. We now have the 8th best school system in the nation while we condemn and close our bridges.

Discussion regarding maintenance of one and two house town roads: Northfield has over twenty single house town roads that are maintained by the municipality. (I have not inventoried the 2 house roads.) The single house roads add an additional 4 hours of work for the highway crews for each snow event. Sanding, winging the snow banks back, second plows per snow event use more municipal resources. Culverts, ditching, grading and graveling costs clearly add up. The question is: should the community pay the maintenance costs of what is essentially private driveways? This topic has entered the discussion phase. I do not anticipate a change in current operations this year, however, this is clearly worth watching. If a potentially affected property owner has supporting documentation or can find documentation in property records, I would encourage creating copies and sharing this with the town manager. The selectboard has the authority to discontinue highway maintenance by majority vote. This does not mean the road is being discontinued, only that maintenance would no longer be continued requiring the property owner(s) to make arrangements privately.

The board of Listers requested to purchase software for the tax mapping program outside of the budget. The Listers will use their salary line item to affect this purchase.

The Central Vermont Revolving Land Trust has closed out the grant establishing a revolving loan fund. This means as funds are returned, they are made available for reuse for similar projects.

A new income sensitive lending program for energy efficiency is available, more information can be gathered by visiting "Central Vermont Community Land Trust" www.cvclt.org or calling 476-4493.

Zach Ward presented a desire to rebuild the complete skateboard park with an upgraded smooth riding surface with revised if not completely rebuilt obstacles. He is working with an organization familiar with designs and funding for this type of activity. We all wish him luck in achievinghis goal.

The Selectboard approved a settlement regarding a zoning issue recovering our legal expenses

Upcoming meetings worth participating are: November 17th is the Tri board meeting of Town, Village and school boards along with elected state representatives.

There will be a Special Town Meeting on November 18th regarding assessing highway taxes equitably through the Town and Village.

Green Mountain Transportation has received a grant allowing a shuttle service for Northfield. The schedule appears to be once a week; the route, schedule and destinations will be published at a later date. Well done to those at the Silver Fox Cafe for driving this.