GUILFORD — By the end of the year, observant travelers along Weatherhead Hollow Road may notice something different: five new power poles.
Betsy Bosiak, a right-of-way agent with Green Mountain Power visited the Selectboard at their July 25 regular meeting to seek an easement for the placement of five poles along a 1,400-foot stretch of the road. Some of the poles are new; the company will relocate others from out of the woods to make maintenance easier.
“They're doing this all over the state,” Bosiak said.
Bosiak gave Board members and Town Administrator Katie Buckley copies of documents supporting granting the easement.
In anticipation of requesting the easement and beginning the project, Bosiak gained permission from most of the affected property owners to place or move power poles on their land.
She also worked with Road Commissioner Dan Zumbruski to ensure the new poles wouldn't negatively affect his crew's work on the town highway.
Board member Gabrielle Ciufredda asked Bosiak what happens when they get resistance from a property owner. “We work with them to try to see what would make them happy,” Bosiak said.
Failing that, the company finds some other solution, such as moving the pole across the road from the owner's land.
The Board, minus absent members Dick Clark and Troy Revis, voted unanimously to grant the request.
If all goes as planned, the project will begin in early fall.