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BELMONT -- Village officials recently discussed the need to prioritize a number of road, water system and facility repairs due to budget issues.
At a meeting held Sept. 6, Belmont Board of Public Affairs President Ken Davis said he wants to coordinate a waterline replacement with a long-needed repair of Thompson Road and that he is in the process of getting estimates to do so.
Village Service Director Dave Orr also was at the meeting with a list of concerns and issues that included the repairs Davis had mentioned, but Orr spoke of yet another waterline that he thinks should be replaced. He said it is the wrong kind of pipe to be under the pressure it carries and, as a result, had required multiple repairs in the past year.
Orr also said there are a lot of things he could do more effectively if he had better equipment and that there had been recurring issues with the village's backhoe recently that had hindered progress.
Council President Derek Cain said the village simply doesn't have the budget needed to replace waterlines and purchase equipment, so workers likely will have to continue to patch the lines as needed. He said council could approve equipment rental if they plan ahead.
Mayor Ron Woods said the village is still paying for relining the village water tank at a cost of $50,000, as well as for a loan that was part of a street paving project.
Fiscal Officer Ricky Burkhead added that due to the limited number of customers, increasing water rates to create a "cushion" for repairs would be difficult since a $5 monthly increase would only yield $1,000 per month.
Orr also mentioned a number of issues he was unable to take care of on his own, including resealing windows on the Belmont Gymnasium, roof and structural issues with the Old Town Hall on Market Street and a large, dead tree on village property near the recycling bins at the end of Bridge Street.
Councilwoman Sarah Scott thanked Orr for his hard work and for putting together the list, while Councilwoman Lorie Grobb suggested they delegate some of the legwork so they could be ready to move forward at the next meeting.
Woods said he would make some calls about the window sealing work, and others agreed to look into getting estimates for the tree removal.
It was agreed that they would see how much the Thompson Road repair was going to cost before deciding how to proceed with the rest, and the possibility of holding a special meeting in order to approve expenditures was mentioned.
A few ideas were exchanged about how to handle the issues with the Old Town Hall building, including various historical preservation avenues and asking the community for help once they have somebody look at it so they know what they are dealing with.
Resident Becky Boughner and her sister, Vicki Loveday, addressed council concerning water drainage problems around Boughner's property on the corner of Main and Market streets where Loveday also lives. Loveday said they had followed suggestions made by Davis to alleviate the problems after Boughner brought the matter before council previously, but there is still water getting into the basement, mud getting into the garage and mold growth as a result.
Cain said he owns a nearby property and had observed the area in question while it was raining after Boughner last brought the issue to council. He held firm to his belief that there is something else causing the issue other than village infrastructure, and Councilman John Rigoli suggested she might need to have french drains installed.
Boughner said she did not have these issues prior to the construction of the village sewer system in 2007, and that she believed that had something to do with it.
Woods told them, "It's not that we don't want to help you, it's that we just can't find anything there that's the village's responsibility."
He suggested that he and other council members go to the location while it's raining to observe what is going on first hand.
Belmont Village Council meets at 6 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month in the Stanley Sobel Village Offices in the basement of the Belmont Gymnasium on Brown Street.