Politics & Government
Dover Selectmen Discuss Rail Trail, Receiving FEMA Money
The town was reimbursed $30,000 for rain storms that hit the region during spring last year.
At the Dover Board of Selectmen meeting on Thursday, Selectmen Carol Lisbon said that a project is being discussed that would make a ‘rail trail’ from the Roche Brothers grocery store in Needham through Dover and into Medfield.
She said the project would have no out-of-pocket expense to the taxpayers of Dover and would convert the train tracks that run through the towns into walking trails.
The project coordinators, whose website is www.baycolonyrailtrail.org, told Lisbon that a company will come into Dover and remove the old rail road ties and sell them.
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She added that once this begins the selectmen might put together a committee to serve as liaisons to Bay Colony Rail Trail.
Tad Staley, of Needham, who works with the Bay Colony Rail Trail, is working with Metropolitan Planning Organization to plan the trail.
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Selectmen James Dawley said creating a committee would, “A good idea especially because of the magnitude of the project.”
Assistant Town Administrator Greer Pugatch announced that FEMA is reimbursing the town $30,000 as compensation from the spring 2010 rain storms.
She credited Public Works Department Director Craig Hughes for keeping up with applications for those funds. Pugatch added that it was 75% of the costs incurred by the storms.
Selectmen chair Joseph Melican stated that FEMA would also be reimbursing Dover for some of the snowstorms from this past winter.
On Sunday, March 26, the Dover Recycling Committee will be sponsoring a roadside clean-up event. The selectmen encourage residents to go to the Dover home page and sign up.
Melican announced that at the March 14 town caucus 11 of the 13 positions received nominations.
Of all the 11 positions, he said, none were contested.
There are still vacancies on the Cemetery Commission and the Dover-Sherborn Regional School District Committee.
“These are very important positions,” he added. If anyone would like to apply, he explained, the applicant would need 30 signatures and to turn them in my March 28 at 1:00 p.m. at the Town Clerk’s office.