News, not all bad, at selectmen's meeting

NORTH CANAAN — Summer’s over — or at least it is at the town pool, which made it through another year.

It was noted at a Sept. 8 Board of Selectmen’s meeting that an Occupational Safety and Health Administration complaint was successfully remedied.

The pool facility was found to be missing a cleanup kit that is part of the procedure for dealing with blood-borne pathogens. The kit, which includes items such as plastic gloves and approved collection and disposal materials, is aimed at protecting more than pool personnel. Hepatitis B, for example, is easily spread by minute amounts of contaminated blood. It can remain on surfaces for days, and picked up by anyone who touches them.

It was also discovered that required documentation for inoculations for Hepatitis B for lifeguards was not available. First Selectman Douglas Humes said it was not a case of them not being inoculated, it was just a case of missing paperwork.

Beginning next year, the town will provide inoculations through the North Canaan Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

In other business, it was announced that residents have brought 231.18 tons of recyclables to the transfer station in the past year. That translated into a check from the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority for $2,311.80.

A $100 check received for recycled clothing is passed along at the board’s discretion. It was decided to donate it to the town fuel bank.

An update on the Emmons Lane bridge replacement project was not especially good news. Work is stalled awaiting a remedy of an engineering mistake. The project was well underway when ledge was discovered to be much closer to the surface along the center of the Whiting River than project plans showed. That meant supports had to be buried in rock, instead of sandy soil, and that they would require “rock socketsâ€�  drilled by a specially trained crew using specialized equipment. The crew is not available until early October.

“They can’t do anything else in the meantime. It won’t be done before winter as planned,� said Selectman Thomas Gailes, who is the board’s liaison for the project. He added that the schools and bus company have been notified of the need to continue with alternate bus routes.

In appointment news, Eileen Fox was appointed to a Democratic seat on the Douglas Library Board of Directors. She replaces Danielle Garrity, who resigned.  Three member of the Inland Wetlands Commission have been reappointed to terms that will expire in 2010. They are Michael O’Connor, Matthew Freund and William Gustafson.