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As the old saying goes, its best not to watch laws and sausages being made.

That was the case Monday night when the Board of Selectmen, joined by the Finance Committee, approved the $160 million town budget that is being prepped and readied for Town Meeting voters next month.

They went through the budget, department by department cutting, trimming, nipping and tucking, sometimes quickly, other times with great consternation.

Some votes put entire departments in flux.

When a vote on the $7.5 million general government budget failed because selectmen couldnt agree on how to pay for a $37,500 technology worker, Chairman Alex Vispoli said: We have nothing now.

Town Manager Buzz Stapczynski added, We are trying to put together a budget. How do we put together a budget with a hole in it?

Eventually, selectmen voted to hire someone in the IT department and pay the individual out of the salary account, which is what Stapczynski originally proposed.

A discussion on hiring an electrician for the $10 million Municipal Services Department led to another lengthy debate, with Vispoli arguing that the person should be brought on temporarily or as a contract worker.

The position was pushed by Information Technology Director Paul Puzzanghera, who said it wasnt really an electrician he wanted, but a low-voltage expert with a working knowledge of digital platforms.

Vispoli countered that such a position didnt need to be permanent.

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Town manager's budget plan squeaks through but not without much scrutiny

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Newswise To Scott Muzenski, the large crack that weather and wear had caused in the driveway of a parking structure at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) presented an opportunity to test his research.

Muzenski, a civil engineering graduate student, had been working on a new kind of high-performance concrete created in the lab of associate professor Konstantin Sobolev. Their cement composite is a durable, water-resistant and malleable paving material with such a high level of crack control that the researchers estimate it has a service life of 120 years or more.

To compare, the average life span of concrete roads in Wisconsin falls in the 40-50-year range, with up to 10 percent of reinforced bridge decks needing replacement after 30 years.

In August, a crew of 25 students joined Muzenski in patching the driveway using the unique material. Then, in order to track whether the material was indeed holding up better than ordinary concrete, they gave the 4-by-15-foot slab the ability to monitor its own performance.

About an inch below the surface, the students embedded electrodes in this smart concrete that are linked to a data acquisition system located behind an adjacent retaining wall. This is going to tell us whether water is getting into the material and how deep it goes, says Muzenski. It also detects the presence of chloride ions within the material, and senses load and stress as vehicles pass over it.

Later this year when the software is completed, the real-time data will be fed wirelessly to an online repository.

Well be able to observe the performance of concrete as it happens, in real time says Sobolev.

The slab project will confirm two important features of this hybrid concrete, called a Superhydrophobic Engineered Cementitious Composite (SECC): its superior durability and its smart capability.

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At Long Last: A Concrete That's Nearly Maintenance-Free

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April 9th, 2014 9:49 pm by Nick Shepherd

It's that time again. Spring brings April showers, May flowers and the inevitable springtime scams.

One of the most prominent scams that takes place this time of year involves paving. Leslie Earhart, public information officer for the Sullivan County Sheriff's Office, said the department sees scams pop up every year.

"We receive numerous reports of home-improvement scams each year," Earhart said. "Paving scams are the most common. Unfortunately, in many cases elderly residents are targeted."

While telephone based scams are still common, when the weather changes, officers warn people to be wary of unknown solicitors, especially offering work at a discounted price.

"One of the biggest scams to watch out for is when the contractor shows up at your door claiming to have a supply of leftover asphalt that he is going to have to throw out, so he will offer it to you at a discounted rate," said Tom Patton, public information officer for the Kingsport Police Department. "This is nearly always a scam."

Earhart added that sometimes the scammers will offer the discounted rate but raise the price as the job goes on, and if the victim argues about the price, the scammer will intimidate the person until they get more money.

Many times, the person will be left with a driveway that starts to crumble after only a week.

Patton and Earhart offered a few tips to avoid being scammed this spring.

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As temperatures rise, scams begin to bloom

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