This page is maintained by Swanton Village, Inc and is intended to be the official online posting of public meetings and minutes in accordance with Vermont’s Open Meeting law (Amended July 1st, 2014).

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Village BOT 9/8/14

 

SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX

120 FIRST STREET

SWANTON, VT 05488

 

 

REGULAR MEETING

Monday, September 8, 2014

7 PM

 

 

PRESENT: Neal Speer, Village President; Chris Leach, Trustee; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Reginald Beliveau, Village Manager, and Channel 16.

 

Unless otherwise noted, all motions carried unanimously.

 

Neal Speer, Village President, welcomed everyone to the Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees and called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

 

1. Approve and Accept Minutes from Monday, August 20, 2014:

 

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve and accept the Minutes from Monday, August 20, 2014 as presented. Adam Paxman seconded. Discussion: Eugene LaBombard commented that Chris Leach was listed as present but he was not, correction made. Adam Paxman stated he didn’t think it was a Special Meeting, Neal stated it was because it was held on Wednesday in order to have Wayne Elliott attend. Motion carried with correction.

 

2. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Friday, September 5, 2014:

 

Adam Paxman made the motion to approve and accept Village Warrants through Friday, September 5, 2014 as presented. Chris Leach seconded. Discussion: Adam Paxman asked about Jeffords Steel & Engineering. Reg Beliveau stated that was for work done at the Hydro Plant. Adam also asked about Mountain Air Systems, Reg stated that was for work also done at the Hydro Plant. Eugene LaBombard asked about SD Myers, Reg stated that was for repairs to the Sub-Station because one of the transformers was leaking. Motion carried.

 

3. Appoint Assistant Village Clerk and Assistant Village Treasurer:

 

Reginald Beliveau informed the Board that Village Clerk Dianne Day will be out due to back surgery. He advised that due to State Statute the Village Clerk needed to appoint an assistant. He said Dianne Day appointed Trish Foote as Assistant Village Clerk and appointed Lynn Paradis as Assistant Treasurer. Chris Leach made the motion to appoint Trish Foote as Assistant Village Clerk and Lynn Paradis as Assistant Treasurer. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

 

4. Discuss NEPPA Conference:

 

Reginald Beliveau stated the NEPPA Conference was a huge success and he said the discussion was geared more toward leadership this year. Neal Speer stated it was information they certainly could use. Reg stated that on Tuesday afternoon they focused on legislative issues. Chris Leach stated it would be a good idea to ask our local legislators for email updates occasionally. Reg stated the focus of Investor Owned Utilities is the bottom line, they are in it to make money. He said the rates are very different in a public power company than in an IOU company, he said the rates are a lot different. Chris Leach stated Vermont is the only state in the United States that governs their utility companies, he said other states do not do this. Chris Leach stated he would like to see more trend data being available. The Board members all agreed that the NEPPA Conference was very informative this year.

 

 

5. Electric Rate Case Discussion:

 

Eugene LaBombard said he wanted to thank those involved in this rate case. Reg Beliveau stated that when the VPPSA members were here recently they asked what they could do differently this time with the Department, meeting with them regularly and asking them what they think. He said this time around there was an adjustment on how they reviewed rate cases and he said they learned a lot. He said this will change a lot of our accounting procedures here at the Village, will change when the Village gets quotes and purchase orders from vendors for work, they have to have a very good paper trail showing this is in the best interest of the rate payers. He said this will have to be done for each project. He said this past rate case they went in for a 7.42% rate increase and the Public Service Board approved a rate increase of 6.07% effective September 1, 2014. Reg stated last year Swanton Village put in the rates ahead of time before they were approved and had to refund 9% back to the customers. He said this year they didn’t do that and because of this increase they will now be able to maintain the infrastructure, getting work done and reliable. He said the taxpayers also approved the 108 filing a couple of weeks ago approving two electric bonds and even with this and the rate case Swanton Village will still be below the 10.69% they asked for last year. He said this will help improve Swanton Village. Chris Leach said he has sat on this Board a long time and has scrutinized everything electrical that he can. He said there’s a reason we have the lowest rates in the State and that’s because of the people who work here. He said the State doesn’t need to scrutinize Swanton Village to this extent. Reg stated he had this argument with the Public Service Board but is pleased with what they approved for a rate increase. He also thanked all the voters for their support on the two electric bonds that were approved.

 

 

6. Any Other Necessary Business:

 

Chris Leach wanted to comment on how good the striping looks downtown. He said it was too bad that they lost the red crosswalks. Adam Paxman stated his only concern while they were doing it was the traffic flow and said people need to really slow down when they see people working in the road. Chris Leach mentioned the island going in on Academy Street. He asked what lane are you supposed to be in when you’re turning into Academy Street from Grand Avenue. Reg stated this was a rain garden being installed and he drew a diagram on the board for the Trustees. Reg stated there is another rain garden site they are working on but are having issues with the landowner. He said that would take care of about a third of the phosphorus runoff going into the river.

 

Any Other Business: Adam Paxman stated the Chamber of Commerce would be holding a “Halloween in the Park” next month on Halloween night. He said if anyone is interested in helping them they can email the Chamber at info@swantonchamber.com for more information. He said they are always looking for volunteers. He said on Saturday, November 29th the Chamber will be holding their Christmas in the Park and they could also use volunteers for that as well. Reg stated People’s United and Champlain Insuring are helping out with the Halloween in the Park event and said if any other businesses want to donate to contact the Chamber. Adam also stated the Swanton Enhancement Project is still going strong and said there are a bunch of people looking to make the community a better place to live. He said they will be meeting in January if interested.

 

Any Other Business: Chris Leach asked if the power plant was back up to 100% yet. Reg stated it was but Unit #2 went back down again and they have a guy coming in Tuesday to look at it. Chris asked about the paving being done on Route 78 and asked if the Village was going to get any paving done. Reg stated not until 2016. Neal stated there was a big difference already between here and Highgate.

 

Any Other Business: Eugene LaBombard asked if there was any information the public can have regarding the recent break-ins. Reg stated he hasn’t heard anything recently but knows the police have made an arrest or two. Adam stated he knows they’ve made two or three arrests and one of the persons were apprehended and they can tie that person to several recent break-ins. Eugene thought a press release may be a good idea as long as it didn’t jeopardize this case.

 

Any Other Business: Reg Beliveau stated that FERC was coming up to do a visit and inspection at the Hydro Plant on September 15th at 3:30 p.m. to make sure all FERC listings and postings are in order and kept up to date. He said most of this is already done he was just informing the Board about this inspection.

 

Reg Beliveau informed the Board he needed an Executive Session to discuss personnel, real estate and customer accounts.

 

7. Executive Session (If Necessary):

 

Adam Paxman made the motion to enter into Executive Session at 7:48 p.m. to discuss personnel, real estate and customer accounts. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

 

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to exit Executive Session at 8:46 p.m. Chris Leach seconded. Motion carried.

 

ACTION TAKEN: Chris Leach made the motion to remove the NIPA block from each customer’s electric bill. He stated that this was discussed with VPPSA and Ron Barrins and they support the removal of this NIPA block from Swanton Village’s rate structure. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

 

 

ADJOURN: Adam Paxman made the motion to adjourn the Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees at 8:48 PM. Chris Leach seconded. There being no further business at hand, Neal Speer, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 8:48 PM. Motion carried.

 

 

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Neal Speer, Village President                           Date

 

 

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Dianne Day, Village Clerk                               Date