By LEE J. KAHRS
PITTSFORD – Voters here will likely decide on Town Meeting Day how they want the town to handle property assessments.
Earlier this year, the Pittsford listers office ground to a halt when lister Dan Adams left due to time constraints, and the two remaining listers resigned within weeks of the appointment.
Town Manager John Haverstock said in an interview Monday that the select board appointed Pittsford attorney Nicholas Michael to fill Adams’ position, and remaining listers John Eugair and Donna Wilson resigned shortly thereafter.
The town then hired area Lisa Wright, who also works as the assessor for the Town of Proctor, as a consultant in the interim while the board decides how to proceed.
Haverstock said the Vermont League of Cities and Towns presented a few options at the Dec. 18 select board meeting.
“The first option was that we continue what we’ve been doing,” Haverstock said, “hope that skilled, competent people run for re-election. But the job is becoming increasingly complex, and finding people with an understanding of current use and state tax issues has become increasingly difficult.”
The second option presented by VLCT is to abolish the listers office all together and hire a professional assessor. A third option is to create a hybrid system where there is a professional assessor and one or more listers. Either of those options would require a change to the town charter approved by both the voters and the legislature.
Haverstock said the select board will discuss the issue at the next regular meeting on Jan. 8 and look at draft Town Meeting warning language for each of the options. A decision on which option to purse will be made either at the Jan. 8 meet- ing or the Jan. 22 meeting.
GOOD neWS On ROuTe 3
Motorists and property owners alike have lodged complaints with the town regarding two issues on Route 3 in Pittsford.
The first issue lies with the speed limit on Route 3 where it begins at the Mobil station at the intersection with Route 7. The speed limit goes from 35 miles-per-hour to 50 before the Cornhill Road intersection, which is a left turn on a turn from Route 3.
The other issue is the speed zone from the Proctor town line to Taranovich Field, which is technically in Pittsford.
Haverstock said the town brought these concerns to the Vermont Agency of Transportation Traffic Committee in Berlin last week and progress was made. At first the committee voted to keep the speed limit the same around Cornhill Road, but Haverstock said the town successfully appealed that decision last week. The committee then voted 3-0 to move the transition zone from 35 mph to 50 3/10 of a mile south past Cornhill Road.
There will also now be a 40 mph transition zone from the Proctor town line to Taranovich Field.
“I think it’s fair to say that many neighbors who live along both sections of road are pleased with the outcome,” Haverstock said.
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