August 11, 2014

SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX

120 FIRST STREET

SWANTON, VT 05488

 

 

INFORMATIONAL MEETING & PUBLIC HEARING

REGULAR MEETING

Monday, August 11, 2014

7 PM

 

 

PRESENT: Neal Speer, Village President; Chris Leach, Trustee; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Reginald Beliveau, Village Manager, Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager; Dianne Day, Village Clerk; Ronald Reynolds, Glen Gurwit, Chris Goodman, Gary Guilmette, Darla Blondo, Butch Patch, Lloyd & Lorraine Collins, and Channel 16.

 

Unless otherwise noted, all motions carried unanimously.

 

Neal Speer, Village President, welcomed everyone to the Informational Public Hearing and Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees and called the meeting to order at 7 o’clock.

 

1. Informational Meeting & Public Hearing – Electric Bond Articles:

Village Manager Reginald Beliveau read the Articles to the public that was in attendance:

 

Article I: Shall the voters of the Village of Swanton approve a note not to exceed $1.3 million dollars for the purpose of establishing a line of credit facility to support the operation of the Swanton Village Inc. Electric Department?

 

     Article II: Shall the voters of the Village of Swanton approve a note or notes not to exceed

     $1,450,000 for the purpose of purchasing utility vehicles and making capital improvements to

     its Orman Croft Generating Facility?

 

He asked if there were any questions from the audience members. Butch Patch stated he was concerned why the Village didn’t vote on this at Town Meeting Day in March. Reginald stated that Swanton Village applied for rate increase last year for 10.69%, they only received a 1% rate increase. He stated because of that they needed to file additional paperwork and were finished with that at the end of May. Lynn Paradis stated the Public Service Board needs to approve that paperwork and because of that approval time they were not able to vote on this at March Town Meeting day. Butch stated if they voted on it in March they would have a better turnout. He was concerned that very few people would show up on Tuesday, August 19 and that very few people would approve this.

 

Lynn Paradis advised everyone there that Article II is two years worth of work at the Hydro Plant. She stated at the end of 2016 the original bond payment will be paid off and that will free up about $400,000. She also informed the public about the outages they’ve had at the Hydro Plant and the costly repairs that they’ve had to endure. Christine Goodman asked about hiring another maintenance technician at Swanton Village. Reginald stated it was necessary to have another maintenance technician on hand due to the five-year preventative maintenance plan that is now in place at all Swanton Village plants. He said they need to maintain these plants and cannot do it with two people.

 

Chris Leach stated that the Public Service Board is being very strong on all utilities in Vermont now and he stated Swanton Village is the first utility to go in for rate increase since Green Mountain Power merged with CVPS. He stated the Public Service Board is being hard on Swanton Village and that they are the biggest Hydro Plant in the State of Vermont and that they are very unique.

 

Ron Reynolds asked why the Electric Department wasn’t voted on Town Meeting day like the General Fund, Police Department, Fire Department and Highway Department. He asked about Article 1 and Lynn advised this was for internal accounting purposes only and she said this would not affect the rates. She stated it would be a 0% interest line of credit and it would handle internal accounting functions here at Swanton Village. Ron asked why the Village needed to purchase new vehicles. Lynn stated the pickup truck in the Electric Department is a 2005. She stated they were interested in buying a bigger utility truck so that they could take that on outages rather than taking the bucket truck out every time. Ron stated his frustration with the Public Service Board and asked who governed them. He asked what would happen if Swanton Village told them no on some of these issues.

 

Darla Blondo asked what would happen if the vote didn’t pass on Tuesday. Lynn stated they wouldn’t be able to do the work scheduled at the Hydro Plant and they would run the risk of major repairs needing to be done. She stated they could have longer outages if the electricity were to go out and safety issues would arise as well. She also said they would be in violation according to the PSB and she doesn’t know what they will do to Swanton Village if Article I doesn’t pass.

 

Christine Goodman asked where all the cash has gone. Lynn Paradis advised they had been depleting the cash since 2008. She stated they have been over budget on purchase power, have done major line improvements, have done a substantial amount of work at the Swanton Village substation, and purchased a huge transformer. Lynn stated they were $600,000 over budget last year alone on purchase power and have had to budget higher for that line item.

 

The Board of Trustees thanked everyone for attending and urged them to come out and vote on Tuesday, August 19. They asked the Village taxpayers to support these two Articles and vote in favor of them on Tuesday, August 19^th.

 

2. Approve and Accept Minutes from Monday, July 28, 2014:

 

Chris Leach made the motion to approve and accept the Minutes from Monday, July 28, 2014 as presented. Adam Paxman seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

 

3. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Friday, August 8, 2014:

 

Adam Paxman made the motion to approve and accept Village warrants through Friday, August 8, 2014 as presented. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Discussion: Eugene LaBombard asked who vendor ECI was for. Reginald Beliveau stated that was for the bridge job. Eugene also asked why the payment made to Wesco was so high. Lynn Paradis stated that amount included several invoices in one payment and that was for electric inventory. Motion carried.

 

4. Electric Rate Case Discussion:

 

Lynn Paradis stated Swanton Village filed a rate increase three and half weeks ago. She said the Public Service Board has until Friday to approve or litigate and said she is waiting to hear back from them. She stated Swanton Village pulled a few things out of the rate increase and they dropped from a 7.4% to a 6% rate increase. Lynn stated the Public Service Board wanted a cost-benefit analysis done stating when a vendor would arrive and when the vendor would leave as well as signed quotes. Lynn said another utility has agreed to do this so now Swanton Village will have to. She said they are creating a base level of standards. She stated they also had to do a depreciation study and Swanton Village paid $10,000 for that study when normally it would cost $40,000. Lynn stated as soon as she hears from the Public Service Board regarding what they been approved for a rate increase or whether or not they will litigate she would let Board know.

 

5. Any Other Necessary Business:

 

Adam Paxman wanted to remind everyone that the Downtown Enhancement Committee will hold a meeting on August 28^th at Holy Trinity Church at 7 PM. He urged everyone to attend and check it out.

 

Any Other Business: Eugene LaBombard wanted to remind everyone to come out and vote on Tuesday, August 19 from 7 AM to 7 PM. He also stated the MVU budget revote will be held on Tuesday, September 9 from 7 AM to 7 PM here at the Swanton Village Complex. He also stated there will be a JLB meeting on September 10 at 7 PM here at the Village Complex.

 

Any Other Business: Reginald Beliveau stated he received the tree survey back from UVM. He said this was a report on all trees in the Village right of way. He said the study named the species, size and health of all trees here in the Village. He said the study was done at no cost to Swanton Village and they also included a replacement schedule on these trees.

 

6. Executive Session to Discuss Real Estate:

 

Adam Paxman made the motion to enter into executive session at 8:35 PM to discuss Real Estate in regards to Municipal Parking. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

 

Adam Paxman made the motion to exit Executive Session at 9:10 PM. Chris Leach seconded. Motion carried.

 

ACTION TAKEN: Adam Paxman will talk to landowner to discuss options for parking.

 

 

ADJOURN: Eugene LaBombard made the motion to adjourn the Informational Public Hearing and Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees at 9:10 PM. Chris Leach seconded. There being no further business at hand, Neal Speer, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 9:10 PM. Motion carried.

 

 

_____________________________________          _______________________________________

Neal Speer, Village President                           Date

 

 

_____________________________________          _______________________________________

Dianne Day, Village Clerk                               Date

 

 

 

July 28, 2014

SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX

120 FIRST STREET

SWANTON, VT 05488

 

 

REGULAR MEETING

Monday, July 28, 2014

7 PM

 

 

PRESENT: Neal Speer, Village President; Chris Leach, Trustee; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Reginald Beliveau, Village Manager, Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager; Dianne Day, Village Clerk; Joey Stell, Chief of Police and Channel 16.

 

Unless otherwise noted, all motions carried unanimously.

 

Neal Speer, Village President, welcomed everyone to the Board of Trustees meeting and called the meeting to order at 7 o’clock.

 

1. Approve and Accept Minutes from Monday, July 14, 2014:

 

Adam Paxman made the motion to approve and accept the Minutes from Monday, July 14, 2014 as presented. Chris Leach seconded. Discussion:  None. Motion carried.

 

2. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Friday, July 25, 2014:

 

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve and accept Village Warrants as presented. Adam Paxman seconded. Discussion:  Eugene LaBombard asked about the Radio North Group payment, Lynn Paradis advised that was the grant for the Fire Department for their new radios and that it would be reimbursed at 100%. Chris Leach asked about the payment made to Iron Brook, Reginald Beliveau explained that was for the Ultra Violet system at the Waste Water Treatment Plant.  Adam Paxman asked about the payment made to Bergeron Protective Clothing, Reginald Beliveau explained that was for the Fire Department. Motion carried.

 

3. Section 108 Update Discussion:

 

Reginald Beliveau presented of Board of Trustees with an insert that will go into the utility bills explaining the two articles coming up for a vote on August 19, 2014 if approved by the Board. Neal Speer read aloud the insert. Article one is asking the voters to approve $1.3 million dollars for the purpose of establishing a line of credit facility to support the operation of the Swanton Village Electric Department. Chris Leach asked if this was normal accounting practice and Lynn advised it was and stated one way around it would be to have a separate checking account for each department. She stated she would need to modify her software program in order to do this and maybe in the future the Village would work on doing so. Lynn stated these figures were not in the rate case yet and said that the ratepayers would not be affected by this until 2015. She said this year they have gone in for a 7.42% rate increase and that still keeps Swanton Village the lowest in the state. Chris Leach stated the insert is very informative and he would approve it being mailed soon as possible. Lynn stated article 2 is asking the voters to approve a note not to exceed $1.45 million dollars for the purpose of purchasing utility vehicles and making capital improvements to its Orman Croft Generating Facility. The only change the board thought should be added to the insert was to add the length of the loans. Lynn advised she would make those changes and get that insert mailed as soon as possible.

 

4. Approve and Adopt Special Warning for Electric Bond Vote August 19, 2014:

Chris Leach made the motion to Approve and Adopt the Special Warning to vote on the two Electric Bonds August 19, 2014 with a public hearing to be held on Monday, August 11, 2014 at 7 PM at the Village Complex. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

 

5. Wayne Elliott – Discuss Phase III Recovery for the Archaeological Investigation on Waugh Farm Road:

 

Wayne Elliott didn’t show for this article, the Board of Trustees decided to table this item until further notice. Item tabled.

 

6. Electric Rate Case Discussion:

 

Reginald Beliveau stated that as of the last meeting they hadn’t filed their rate case yet so he couldn’t discuss the percentage being asked for. He said as of this week they have filed and they are asking for a 7.42% rate increase in the electric department. He said their consultant has met with the Public Service Board and some of the items they are working on include purchase orders and quotes. He said the Public Service Board has 30 days to review their requests and he would keep the Board updated as soon as he heard anymore on this rate increase. Reg stated in the maintenance budget they are increasing it from $45,000 to $100,000 and the Public Service Board wants to know why. He said they have now included a five year maintenance plan in each department at the Village and will be hiring a new maintenance technician. He said Swanton Village has a very good accountant and his hat goes off to Lynn Paradis for all her hard work. Lynn stated the Public Service Board wants to see financial policies in place for all utilities and wants them to be very similar in nature. Lynn also stated she is waiting to hear back on her depreciation study and she also wants to hear from the Village auditors to see if they are on board with that study. Reginald advised the Board he would keep them updated as soon as he had more information regarding this rate increase.

 

7. Second Quarter SQ RP for Review:

 

Lynn Paradis presented of the Board of Trustees with the second quarter SQRP report for review. She explained there was one escalation issue out of almost 11,000 customers. Chris Leach stated the percentage numbers were always very low and that Swanton Village employees always do a good job. Board of Trustees accepted this SQRP report.

 

8. Discuss the Sale of Used Vactor In Sewer Department:

 

Lynn Paradis advised the Board she has had interest expressed in purchasing of the old vactor. She asked the Board if she should put it up for sale and if so should she put on reserve/minimum bid on it. Neal Speer asked if they should get it appraised. Lynn advised they were given a value on the old vactor when they bought the new vactor. Chris Leach advised to go ahead and use that as the minimum bid. Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve the Village of Swanton selling the old vactor in the Sewer Department with a reserve/minimum bid in place. Chris Leach seconded. Motion carried.

 

9. Tree Inventory Discussion:

 

Reginald Beliveau read a letter of thanks from the UVM students that were in Swanton Village doing a tree study in the Village. He said UVM will be hosting a community celebration on Thursday, July 31, 2014 from 6 to 8 PM and said anyone from the Board was welcome to attend. He said UVM will send a complete report on their findings in the very near future.

 

10. Any Other Necessary Business:

 

Adam Paxman stated he would like to thank Jay and Duane from the Electric Department for painting the old utility poles. He said they look brand new and he has heard nothing but great things. He said it’s the little things that make a big difference. Adam also stated he would like to thank everyone for coming out to the Car Show. He said they had 154 cars and had a very good turnout. He said he wanted to thank the Public Works crew for all their help and said the parks and streets looked great. He also wants to thank the Swanton Village Fire Department for their help on the car fire. He said he wanted to thank the Village for supporting on their annual car show each year. Neal Speer stated the park has never looked better.

 

Any Other Business: Reginald Beliveau stated that Friends of Northern Lake Champlain held their BBQ last week at Marble Mill Park. He said that’s a great place to hold an event because you can have restricted access. Reginald stated that on Thursday, August 14 Northwest Access TV and the Swanton Recreation Department will be hosting a Movie Under the Stars event. They will be showing the movie Shrek at 8 PM at Marble Mill Park in Swanton and that it is free for everyone to attend. He said bring your chairs, blankets and bug spray and come out and enjoy a fun evening at Marble Mill Park. Reginald also stated at the Vermont State Firefighters Association two local firefighters were recognized. John Greer was named Maintenance Technician of the Year and Ronald Young Jr was named Firefighter of the Year. He said Swanton did a great job.

 

Any Other Business: Village Clerk Dianne Day advised the Board that there was interest expressed in the Food Arts Riot being held in Burlington.  She advised them they could check their link out on Facebook.

 

Any Other Business: Chris Leach asked to reschedule Wayne Elliott at his convenience.

 

11. Executive Session to Discuss Real Estate and Personnel:

 

Adam Paxman made the motion to enter into executive session at 8:05 PM to discuss Real Estate Personnel. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

 

Adam Paxman made the motion to exit Executive Session at 9:30 PM. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

 

ACTION TAKEN: Eugene LaBombard made the motion for Swanton Village to begin advertising to hire a Maintenance Technician. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.

 

Chris Leach made the motion to revisit the agreement regarding the Woodshill property and seek legal advice. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.

 

ADJOURN: Eugene LaBombard made the motion to adjourn the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees at 9:32 PM. Adam Paxman seconded. There being no further business at hand, Neal Speer, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 9:32 PM. Motion carried.

 

 

_____________________________________          _______________________________________

Neal Speer, Village President                           Date

 

 

_____________________________________          _______________________________________

Dianne Day, Village Clerk                               Date