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).

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

September 14, 2015

SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX

120 FIRST STREET

SWANTON, VT 05488

 

 

 

REGULAR MEETING

Monday, September 14, 2015

7:00 PM

 

 

 

 

PRESENT: Neal Speer, Village President; Chris Leach, Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Reginald Beliveau, Village Manager; Dianne Day, Village Clerk; Brian Savage and Ch. 16.

 

Unless otherwise noted, all motions carried unanimously.

 

 

1.      Call to Order:

 

Neal Speer, Village President, welcomed all to the Regular Board of Trustees meeting and called the meeting to order at 7:07 p.m.

 

2.      Agenda Review:

 

No changes were made to the Agenda.

 

3.      Approve and Accept Minutes from Monday, August 10, 2015:

 

Chris Leach made the motion to approve and accept the Minutes from Monday, August 10, 2015 as presented. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

 

4.      Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Friday, September 11, 2015:

 

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve and accept Village Warrants through Friday, September 11, 2015 as presented. Adam Paxman seconded. Discussion: Adam Paxman asked what vendor Northrop Grumman Systems for $13,647.50 was for. Reg Beliveau stated he couldn’t remember that one but would find out and let the Board know. Eugene LaBombard asked if warrant #83 was for the Village credit card and also asked if the water line job was on schedule. Reg Beliveau said yes for both. Eugene LaBombard asked about the payment to Prime Electric. Reg Beliveau stated it was for the Hydro Plant during plant shutdown. Motion carried.

 

5.      Franklin Grand Isle Chapter of Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity request for a Coin Drop on Saturday, October 10th with a Rain Date of Saturday, October 17, 2015:

 

Chris Leach made the motion to approve Franklin Grand Isle Chapter of Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity’s request to hold a coin drop on Saturday, October 10th from 9 a.m. to 12 noon with a rain date of Saturday, October 17th from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Discussion: Adam Paxman stated he would like to limit the number of coin drops to three per year. Chris Leach stated he was fine with having one per month and Eugene LaBombard agreed with that. Chris stated people can avoid the coin drop because of where it’s located if they want to. He said this is a very good fund raising event for a lot of charities. Motion carried with two yay’s and one nay.

 

6.      Utility Pole Ordinance Discussion:

 

Adam Paxman stated he asked Reg Beliveau if he could take on the Utility Pole Ordinance that the Village of Swanton was working on last year. He said there are still several utility poles throughout the Village that need to be removed and are not being removed. Adam stated he wanted to draft an Ordinance with help from Reg Beliveau and Chief Stell. He said this Ordinance will expedite the removal of old utility poles. Reg stated he had it drafted last year and Fairpoint came in and did their job. He said Comcast and Fairpoint have equal burden in attaching and removing their services from utility poles. Chris Leach was concerned with how it would be enforced. Adam stated there are about 50 poles that need to be removed and he said he would keep the Board updated on his progress with the Ordinance.

 

7.      Electric Bucket Truck Approval:

 

Reg Beliveau stated the Village of Swanton received a quote from Altec for $207,921 to build the Electric bucket truck that the voters approved back in March. Chris Leach made the motion to authorize the Village of Swanton to accept Altec’s electric bucket truck bid for $207,921. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.

 

8.      Any Other Necessary Business:

 

Chris Leach stated there is an important JLB meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015 regarding the Town Plan. Brian Savage, local Swanton Representative, stated right now this Town Plan has to be done every 5 years but the House just passed a bill stating it would be done every 8 years from now on. He said they are just waiting for Senate approval of this. Chris Leach stated a Town can amend their Town Plan at any time if they needed to. Adam Paxman agreed and said this is a working document. Eugene LaBombard stated they would also meet on September 23rd to ratify the Town Plan.

 

9.      Public Comment:

 

Brian Savage stated Act 248 trumps anything to do with the utility industry and said large wind and solar projects are taking over. He said the Rocky Ridge wind project towers being proposed are larger than the ones in New York. Brian stated that he and Marianna Gamache have been working on power projects, in the case of generation, and said they will have to go through local Zoning and Planning Commissions. He said they met with the Governor last week and it went better than he expected.

 

10.  Executive Session to Discuss Legal Matters:

 

Adam Paxman made the motion to enter into Executive Session to Discuss Legal Matters at 7:30 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

 

Chris Leach made the motion to exit Executive Session at 8:27 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

 

ACTION TAKEN: None.

 

11.  Adjournment:

 

Chris Leach made the motion to adjourn the Regular Board of the Trustees meeting at 8:27 p.m. Adam Paxman seconded. There being no further business at hand, Neal Speer, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 8:27 p.m. Motion carried.

 

 

 

_____________________________________          _______________________________________

Neal Speer, Village President                           Date

 

 

 

_____________________________________          ___________________________________

Dianne Day, Village Clerk                               Date