SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX
120 FIRST STREET
SWANTON, VT 05488
REGULAR MEETING
Monday, July 22, 2019
7:00 PM
PRESENT: Neal Speer, Village President; Chris Leach, Trustee; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Reginald Beliveau Jr., Village Manager; Karen Drennan, Town Selectboard member; Ch. 16.
Unless otherwise noted, all motions carried unanimously.
- 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.
- Agenda Review:
Adam Paxman stated he would like to add Personnel to Executive Session.
3. Public Comment:
None.
4. Approve and Accept Minutes from Wednesday, July 10, 2019 Meeting:
Chris Leach made the motion to approve and accept Minutes from the Wednesday, July 10, 2019 meeting as presented. Adam Paxman seconded. Discussion: Adam Paxman asked about the Franklin Miller invoice. Reg Beliveau stated that Scott Mueller purchased parts from this company for the pumping station on Foundry Street. Chris Leach stated Gallup Court was paved and it came out very nice. He said the residents and children are enjoying the road very much. He stated he received positive comments from the letter that was delivered to each resident there. He said some residents were surprised that the speed limit was 30 mph. He said he would like to see more of a police presence on that street. Motion carried.
5. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through July 19, 2019:
Adam Paxman made the motion to approve and accept Village Warrants through July 19, 2019 as presented. Chris Leach seconded. Discussion: Chris Leach asked about the payment made to the City of St. Albans for $12,512. Reg Beliveau stated that was for their dispatching services and said this is an annual invoice. Motion carried.
6. Swanton Village Police Department Update:
Chief Stell stated that for the month of June they handled 167 complaints in the Village. He said they were very busy. He said they wrote 33 traffic warnings and issued 3 traffic tickets totaling $348. He said their new vehicle is up and running and working out very well for the K-9 unit. Scout is at the academy finishing up his tracking certification and search and rescue certification. He said the dog has been used once already for drugs and located some crack cocaine in a house they did a search on. Neal Speer asked if the drug complaints were up or down. Chief Stell stated they have been down recently in both the town and Village. He said they are seeing more crack cocaine and cocaine rather than heroin. He said that could be because of the overdose issues with heroin but said that is just speculation. He said they are seeing needles deposited throughout the Village more so than in the Town. He said they have managed to curb the use of drugs from the recreation fields. He said officers are there once or twice per night checking the dugouts. He said they haven’t caught anyone in there but this has curbed the activity. Adam Paxman asked what people should do if they find a needle somewhere. Chief Stell stated they can call the police and they will go pick it up. He said there are some diabetics that don’t know how to properly dispose of their needles. He said if they can go to the Vermont Department of Health’s website they can see how to dispose of a needle properly. Adam asked if the Department was doing any drug take back days. Chief Stell said this is done twice per year and they did one in the Spring and will be doing one in October. He said this is done with the DEA. They partnered with Swanton Rexall in the spring and will no doubt partner with NOTCH for the event held in the fall, he said. He thought they collected nearly 50 pounds of medication in the spring. He said the DEA retrieves this medication and destroys it. Chris Leach asked if there was any pattern in the 167 calls for service. Chief Stell said no there wasn’t but said there were a lot of juvenile problems due to kids being out of school for the summer. He said a lot of these calls were kind of innocent but still needed to be checked out. Chris asked if they had problems with people not wanting to leave the park at night. Chief Stell said no that’s usually not an issue. Chris asked if people were hanging out at Marble Mill. Chief Stell said not that much. Reg Beliveau stated the police department received a grant for some LED lighting and said National Night Out is scheduled for August 6th this year. Chief Stell said this event will be held from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Reg also said the police department received a USDA grant for $7400 and that will be used for the K-9 unit.
7. Sign Roads and Bridge Standards:
Reg Beliveau stated that it was time for the Village of Swanton to adopt the Town Road and Bridge Standards again and said this applies to the construction, repair and maintenance of town roads and bridges.
Adam Paxman made the motion to adopt and sign the Town Road and Bridge Standards as presented. Chris Leach seconded. Motion carried.
8. Water Allocation Request for Marc Gabree, US Route 7 North Subdivision:
Adam Paxman made the motion to enter into a Water Commissioner’s meeting at 7:25 p.m. Chris Leach seconded. Motion carried.
Chris Leach made the motion to approve Marc Gabree’s request for 400 gallons per day for a new 3-bedroom single family home on US Route 7. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.
Adam Paxman made the motion to exit Water Commissioner’s meeting and re-enter Open Session at 7:28 p.m. Chris Leach seconded. Motion carried.
9. Any Other Necessary Business:
Adam Paxman said the new ladder truck will hopefully be in by the end of August. It’s at Lake Region now and they are finishing things up on the truck. He also said Saturday, August 17th the Fire Department will hold an Open House with free food. He said stop by and check out the new trucks. Adam also gave kudos to Assistant Chief Jason Butler for being awarded the Fire Chief/Assistant Chief Award of the Year by the VT State Fire Chiefs Association.
Any Other Business: Reg Beliveau stated he had a couple of bond documents that needed to be signed. He said one is for the fire truck and one is for the wastewater facility. Adam Paxman made a motion authorizing Village Manager Reginald Beliveau to sign all necessary bond documents with the VT Municipal Bond Bank for the new fire truck. Chris Leach seconded. Motion carried.
Any Other Business: Reg Beliveau further explained the next bond to be signed was for $41,700 and was for the evaluation of the wastewater facilities and development of the phosphorus reduction plan as required by the discharge permit. Chris Leach made the motion to authorize Village Manager Reginald Beliveau and the Village Board of Trustees to sign all necessary bond documents through the VT Municipal Bond Bank for $41,700 for the wastewater facility evaluation and development of the phosphorus reduction plan. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.
Any Other Business: Neal Speer stated the Village Electric crew did a great job putting the electric service in behind the new Ace Hardware store and by Marble Mill. He said he’d also like to thank the Town of Swanton for the use of their equipment and thanked them for cleaning the bamboo out on South River Street. Reg Beliveau said the Village is still working on the new playground area sidewalks. Adam asked if everything was done there yet and Reg said the construction was done but they are working on landscaping and sidewalks. He said there will be an open house in the fall.
Any Other Business: Reg Beliveau stated that August 10th Rise VT will host a 35 mile bike ride and the Governor will be in town at that time. Reg said that same weekend HazMat will hold a training he will be involved in.
Any Other Business: Reg Beliveau showed the Board three different designs of the new office building. He said there still needs to be some changes done but the majority has chosen design #1. He said the Police Department needs to be made bigger, the bathrooms need to be handicap accessible and the bay for the trucks needs to be larger. He said nothing is in place yet and as soon as they do have something more solid he will bring this back to the board. Neal asked if anymore was done regarding the lighting on Merchants Row. Reg said he would talk with Duane about that this week.
10. Executive Session to Discuss Real Estate and Personnel:
Adam Paxman made a motion, seconded by Chris Leach, to go into executive session at 7:39 p.m. to discuss Real Estate and Personnel. Motion carried.
Chris Leach made the motion to exit Executive Session at 8:38 p.m., seconded by Adam Paxman. Motion carried.
ACTION TAKEN: None.
11. Adjournment:
Chris Leach made the motion to adjourn the Regular Board of the Trustees meeting at 8:38 p.m. Adam Paxman seconded. There being no further business at hand, Neal Speer, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 8:38 p.m. Motion carried.
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Neal Speer, Village President Date
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Dianne Day, Village Clerk Date