The Warren Select Board has adopted a new vacation policy for town employees that limits how much vacation time can be accrued by requiring town employees to use their vacation time within the calendar year or forfeit it.
The board at its July 24 meeting made the changes with some members of the Warren town crew in attendance.
The issue of town employees accruing large amounts of vacation time – up to six months of it – has been discussed by the board twice this summer. After the first discussion in June, town treasurer and assistant town clerk Dayna Lisaius researched how other towns handle the issue and brought that information to the board on July 9.
At this week’s meeting two crew members in attendance, Rae Weston and Chris Kathan, voiced their opinion on the current policy. Kathan said that he felt guilty taking time off when there were bigger projects going on.
The new policy is more in line with other local towns’ policies on accruing vacation.
The board also discussed the Main Street project design at the meeting. The board has been discussing stormwater runoff, street cobblestones, stairway steps and granite fence posts since June. This week, the board discussed the rain gardens that collect runoff water into a daylily patch. It was brought to the board’s attention that there will be curb pieces taken out to better channel the rainwater.
The area where cars park along the new bricks on Main Street in Warren was discussed because people park in front of Ginny Roth’s property and walk on her lawn.
The main concern the board has around the brick area near Roth’s property was the path that people walk on that is not on town land. The path gets muddy and unsightly as community members park alongside the brickway and get out along the grass instead of staying on the bricks.
The board asked Roth what she would like to see as an alternative. Ideas such as a garden, pillars, sod and new grass seed were brought up. A garden was brought up in hopes that individuals would not walk on the lawn area; the downside of that idea was that the garden would have to be maintained. Granite pillars were mentioned but turned down due to the unsightliness of them and the possibility that car doors might get dinged. Roth mentioned she didn’t like the aesthetics of the granite pillars and questioned what they would accomplish as pedestrians could just walk further around them on the lawn.
Sod was another idea that the board discussed as was reseeding the area near the bricks so community members might not walk on them. The board opted to reseed the area and give it another year to see if people will stay off the lawn area.
