Selectmen Authorize Up to $30,600 to Remove Dangerous Tree Limbs

This week the Board of Selectmen authorized up to $30,600 for the removal of “hangers,” or dangerous broken limbs, in the town’s right of way.

Chief Administrative Officer told selectmen this week that the winning bid for the job came in at $255 an hour. The company was not named since a contract had yet to be signed.

Public Works crews drove their normal plow routes and the town estimated that there was about 400 limbs to remove, Skinner said.

The Request for Proposal sent from the town for bids on the job contained a base time of 80 hours for the removal but allowed for more. Skinner said he would like to see selectmen approve up to 120 hours of the $30,600 in hopes that it comes in less, adding that Public Works Crews may be able to handle some of the smaller hanging tree limbs.

He also told the selectmen that the town measured less than 15,000 cubic yards of brush collected during and after the storm through the town’s emergency work, curbside pickup and free-of-charge disposal at the Martel property on Powder Mill Road.

Previously the board had authorized the town to spend up to $35,000 on the grinding of the brush and the cost should be less than that, Skinner said.

First Selectman Richard Barlow thanked the town employees and crews who helped the town through the storm and after it, which helped keep costs down. The curbside pickup, for example, cost the town very little except for Public Works regular hours, a little overtime and about $3,100 to rent an industrial chipper. He said the police, volunteer firefighters, Public Works crews, town employees and shelter volunteers all pulled together after the October snowstorm. 

"I continue to be very pleased with the way the town, the staff and [Skinner] handled this," Barlow said. 

Recently, Skinner estimated the storm’s cost to the town at less than $175,000, but that number did not include the grinding and tree limb removal.