SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX
120 FIRST STREET
SWANTON, VT 05488
REGULAR MEETING
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
7:00 PM
PRESENT: Neal Speer, Village President; Chris Leach, Trustee; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Reginald Beliveau, Village Manager; Dianne Day, Village Clerk; Elisabeth Nance, Economic Development Coordinator; William “Peanut” Cheney; Attorney Steve Marshall 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 7:00 p.m.
2. Agenda Review:
None.
3. Approve and Accept Minutes from Monday, October 9, 2017:
Chris Leach made the motion to approve and accept Minutes from Monday, October 9, 2017 as presented. Adam Paxman seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.
4. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through October 19, 2017:
Adam Paxman made the motion to approve and accept Village Warrants through October 19, 2017 as presented. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.
5. Update on Rubber Dam:
Reg Beliveau, Village Manager, stated he had a conference call this past week and the rubber bag is due to arrive the first week of December instead of the second week of November. He said HTE sent him photos of the bag being loaded and it is now on its way. He said he asked HTE for a detailed description as to why the bag was delayed and he said all he received back was a page full of excuses. He said rather than being upset he’s just going to move forward with this. He said Pizzagali and HL Turner have been discussing the average river flows in December and feel it would be too dangerous to do any work during that month. He said the old construction site was washed out a few times in the past and for safety reasons he would rather wait until the flow is safer. Chris Leach asked if the Village was subject to any penalties if they waited. Reg said their Army Corps permit deadline was 2018 so they are all set. He said he needed to notify the other proper agencies. He also informed the Board that the warranty starts after receipt of the bladder and will extend to the date of installation. Adam Paxman asked if HTE expected full payment upon date of receipt. Reg stated that they are having a meeting next week and they will discuss that. He said they would also discuss how stupid HTE made the Village office look by committing to a delivery date that they couldn’t keep. Reg stated he is hoping the impact of this delay is less than he has anticipated. He said they’ve also discussed doing a repair internally on the old rubber bag to possibly raise it by 5 feet. He said 15 feet would be too much to handle but raising it some would help in keeping the racks clean. Neal Speer asked about the storage of the new rubber bag when it arrives. Reg said storing it outside will be fine and they are looking at a location now. He said Pizzagali will be able to pick it up with their crane and place it where it needs to be. Reg said the bag is 57 feet long, 9 ½ feet wide and almost 5 feet tall. He said it weighs 2200 pounds. Chris Leach stated this news is disappointing but thanked Reg for being on top of it. Adam Paxman stated the production was on schedule but the shipping was delayed and that was out of their control.
6. Approve Swanton Village Water Ordinance as Printed:
Adam Paxman made the motion to enter into a Water Commissioner’s meeting to discuss the Village of Swanton Water Ordinance at 7:15 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.
Discussion: Dianne Day, Village Clerk, stated she talked with Lynn Paradis about this Water Ordinance and she said there was nothing she would change or add at this time. She said Mike Menard, Public Works Foreman, was also fine with the Ordinance as printed. The Board of Trustees also reviewed it and have no changes at this time. Reg Beliveau stated the State of Vermont SRF Loan representatives require the Village to review this Water Ordinance from time to time.
Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve and accept the Village of Swanton Water Ordinance as printed as of October 2017. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.
Eugene LaBombard made the motion to exit Water Commissioner’s meeting at 7:18 p.m. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.
7. Any Other Necessary Business:
Adam Paxman asked if the Village hired anyone yet for the Hydro Plant Operator. Reg Beliveau stated they have made an offer to someone and are waiting to hear back from them.
Any Other Business: Neal Speer asked how the swan was doing. Adam Paxman stated he is doing pretty good and has been moved to MVUHS along with the two ducks for the winter. He said Betty the swan had a fungus and there was nothing they could have done for her. He said Sam is on an antibiotic and seems to be doing well.
Any Other Business: Eugene LaBombard said there are places in the Village where people are parking on the green spaces. He asked if they were allowed to park there in the winter months. Reg Beliveau stated no and the Winter Parking Ban Ordinance takes effect December 1st and runs through April 15th. Reg stated the Village needs to re-visit all their Ordinances and deal with the parking issues, etc.
Any Other Business: Neal Speer asked if there’s been anything done regarding the lights on Merchant’s Row. Reg stated not that he knows of and said he would talk with Duane Couture about this in the morning.
8. Public Comment – William “Peanut” Cheney wants to Discuss Greenwich Street:
Elisabeth Nance, Economic Development Coordinator, was present to give the Board an update and to discuss the Village of Swanton becoming a Certified Local Government. She stated the ACCD is going to be in Swanton on Friday, October 27th to meet with four property owners and will be back on November 8th to meet with another one. She said the property owners need to apply for the tax credits individually. She said as part of that, when they were here on October 4th they were talking about the Neighborhood Development Area program as well. She said they will meet at the Town Office and then walk over to Merchants Row. They will look at the buildings and see what makes sense to do. She said they will address the lighting as well. They will look to see if there’s enough handicap access as well. They will then talk about the Neighborhood Development Area and this may require some Zoning Bylaw changes which they plan on looking at over the winter months. Reg Beliveau stated that the Agency of Natural Resources and Fish and Wildlife were going to be here on Friday as well to do a meet and greet. He said they were going to do a walk around also. He said he may be available later in the afternoon.
Elisabeth said there are six steps to becoming a Certified Local Government (CLG) and one of them is to adopt an Ordinance. She said they also need to set up a Commission of 3 to 9 people. Reg asked if the Economic Development group could be the Commission. Elisabeth said she asked because the Town and the Village have to have separate CLG’s do they need to have separate Commissions. She said the same people can be both the Town and Village Commissioners. There are certain requirements such as someone would need to have a historical architect degree and that person can be from another community. She asked if this is something the Village wants to move forward on. She said they would need to develop a commission, adopt an ordinance and meet one time to do this. Adam Paxman asked why the Village was doing this and not the Town. Elisabeth said because this has to do with historical preservation and most of that is in the Village. She said she would like to see the Town move forward with this as well but that is less pressing. She said there is money out there and they would be fools not to do this. Reg stated he would recommend they form a committee, meet and review the bylaws or ordinance and move forward from there. They agreed they would discuss this further at their Economic Task Force meeting.
Public Notice: Gordon Winters stopped by and wanted to express his gratitude for having faith in him and his family on being a small part of the Downtown Revitalization. He said this idea started out small and branched off into something great. He wanted to publicly thank the Board for their support. He said they are going for the beginning of their permits on Thursday of this week and he thought it was a good time to show the Board what they will be presenting. He showed the Board his development plans for his Ace Hardware store. He said unfortunately they couldn’t save the old Prouty building but are saving the old theatre building. He said they looked structurally at what they could save and the Prouty building is beyond repair but he said they have a good shot at saving the theatre building. Chris Leach stated how nice the plans look. Gordon said the square footage is just what they need. He said the old metal building will come down and they will use the same footprint but resurface it with matching brick. He said this will be used for storage. He said they added a few more parking spaces in the front and added a nice front brick patio. He said most of the store parking will be on the side of the building. He said they talked with the bank and will open up that road and remove the curb that’s there now. Adam Paxman asked if there was anything they could do to help. Gordon said he is hoping Thursday’s meeting goes well and he will then be going after his state permits. The Board thanked him for coming in and showing his plans and told him how nice it will be when complete. Gordon said he is hoping for spring/summer construction.
Public Comment: William “Peanut” Cheney stated he wanted the Board to take a look at a police report he has. Dianne Day, Village Clerk, stated it has to do with his rental property on Greenwich Street in which he had a complaint about some trees being trimmed and cut by the neighbor. Peanut said he needed to show this to a judge. Chris Leach then read the narrative from the police report aloud. Peanut said it doesn’t say that they came onto his property 5 feet but rather trimmed the tree up 5 or 6 feet. He said he planted those trees 28 years ago. He said this property has been surveyed and he also said he spoke with an attorney and the attorney told him he should contact the Board of Trustees about this. Peanut said when you read this report you get nothing out of it and it doesn’t make sense. Chris asked who cut the trees. Peanut said to ask the Police Department, he said they’re investigating it and it took six months to get this report. He said he’s been to the police department eight times and feels nothing is being done. Reg Beliveau asked who cut the trees, the property in the back. Peanut said yes to this. He said if you call there you don’t get an answer and he never calls him back. Peanut said the neighbor trimmed his trees 5 feet in and as high as you could reach. He said they are cedar trees that he planted 28 years ago and now you can see right through them. Reg Beliveau stated he would get more information from the police department so he could understand it better. He said he believes this is a landowner dispute. Peanut agreed to this but said he needed a better report to clarify it. Peanut said his attorney said to go back to the police department and get a better report because this one doesn’t make sense. Reg said he would talk with the Chief of Police and have the officer write a more detailed explicit report for Peanut. He said they would figure out the property owner, take some pictures, etc.
He said another issue he has on Greenwich Street is the brook near Gerald Wells’ house. He said he hates to see someone like him get abused. He said nobody is watching over him and he’s going through hard times. He said they need to do an onsite visit of that brook because the culverts are plugged. Reg said when the CSO project came through that’s where the storm water and sewer were put in. Part of the process was that had to be replanted with wetland plants in that area. Neal asked if the water was backing up over at Gerald’s. Peanut said when they cleaned out the ditch they put the fill in the brook by Gerald’s. He said now it’s all over by Grand Avenue. He said the Village could use their vactor and clean this out. Peanut said Gerald can’t even mow his lawn now because it’s too wet over there. Reg said he would do some research on the CSO project and go talk with Gerald about this. He said if this is deemed a wetland they have to get permission to go in and dredge it. He said if the culverts are plugged that’s one issue but if they want to dredge the brook they need permission from the state. Peanut said he didn’t think the brook needed to be dredge but said the culverts need to be cleaned out. The Board thanked Peanut for coming in with his issues.
9. Executive Session (If Necessary):
None.
Adjournment:
Chris Leach made the motion to adjourn the Regular Board of the Trustees meeting at 7:55 p.m. Adam Paxman seconded. There being no further business at hand, Neal Speer, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 7:55 p.m. Motion carried.
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Neal Speer, Village President Date
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Dianne Day, Village Clerk Date