SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX
120 FIRST STREET
SWANTON, VT 05488
REGULAR MEETING
Monday, April 12, 2021
7:00 PM
PRESENT: Neal Speer, Village President; Chris Leach, Trustee; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Reginald Beliveau Jr., Village Manager; and Dianne Day, Village Clerk; Via Zoom: Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager; Paul Nolan, Village Hydro Relicensing Attorney; and Ch. 16.
Unless otherwise noted, all motions carried unanimously.
- Call to Order:
Neal Speer, Village President, called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
- Pledge of Allegiance:
Everyone stood for the Pledge of Allegiance.
- Agenda Review:
Reg Beliveau, Village Manager, stated he would need an Executive Session to discuss personnel.
- Public Comment:
None.
- Paul Nolan, Hydro Plant FERC Relicensing Update:
Paul Nolan was present via Zoom for this update. He said the Village of Swanton and Village of Enosburg are working on relicensing together. He said Enosburg will file for relicensing this month and the Village will file a year from then. He said the current license will expire in 2024 and they have been working on this and tried collaboratively with Enosburg and Sheldon Springs. Paul said Sheldon Springs declined their offer to work on this together so it’s just the Village of Enosburg and Swanton. He said they will file their final license application in April 2022 and will circulate a draft application to FERC for their review in October and at the same time file with several State agencies as well. Paul said they have met with these agencies in 2018 and 2019 telling them the Village is intending to relicense. These agencies then advised the Village what they wanted done for environmental work and all study requests were done. He said some were habitat issues and some were very expensive but they provided information sufficient to satisfy requirements to relicense with FERC. He said he feels some of these agencies are driven by a desire to embroil Highgate with the lower Swanton dam. Paul said some environmental agencies are pushing to remove the lower Swanton dam which has nothing to do with Highgate. He said unfortunately they have had to fend that off. Paul said there has been a significant budget for that and they have had 11 scientists, some with Fish and Wildlife, working with the Agency of Natural Resources, assisting with various studies. He said three of these individuals have been pretty responsive, timely and economically responsible. He said he expects a few more studies this summer detailing the operation of the Hydro Plant peaking modes, downstream flows, and how that affects the lower Swanton dam. He said this doesn’t have any consequence on that and they will also address issues of future operations of the plant. Paul said archaelogical work was done in the late 1980’s and in 1991 when the dam went in and more is being done again. He said there were some cultural issues in previous reports and they are basically updating it. He said they’ve done a study of erosion in the impoundment area and it’s in a good position and is naturally occurring. He said one thing they have to address is project economics and he also wants to report what they have done in the past regarding recreation and aestetics, flows in the winter and how that impacts the rubber dam and generation levels. Chris Leach asked if the Village will benefit from their stewardship of the dam. He said they’ve replaced it and it’s the largest dam in Vermont. Paul said the Village of Swanton is the gold standard of operating and maintaining the plant so well. Paul said he will show how the Village has addressed environmental issues, has done work with forest trails, and has removed hazards such as a partial dam. He said it’s hard to convince them that just because the Village operates like they should and better than most typically, they are not rewarded for that. He said FERC would say that’s what they expect. Chris said with the green environment pressure in country he hopes they see the Village is producing green electricity. Paul said the state is heavily focused on power and wind and they’ll be lucky if they’re treated well. He said hopefully there’s an opportunity for VPPSA and Reg to push Montpelier to see they’re not recognizing the Village for what they do for their local communities and how important the plant is to their local communities. Neal Speer said from what he sees any nay sayer who comes in front of FERC they have to address it whether or not it’s a bonafide complaint. He asked if there are any guidelines. Reg Beliveau said Paul will sit in on a meeting Thursday with VPPSA regarding changing water quality rules. Adam Paxman asked when is human life more important than a fish’s life and said he'd love to hear the answer. Reg said since the Hydro facility has been in operation the President of the Walleye Association said the lower Swanton dam is the only place on the river in the State of Vermont that shows natural repopulation of walleye. He said the Village knows how to be good stewards of the river and you can see that in the way the Village maintains the plant. He said we live around the lake and river and they are good stewards of both. The Board thanked Paul for his very informative update.
- Approve and Accept Minutes from Monday, March 22, 2021:
Chris Leach made the motion to approve and accept Minutes from Monday, March 22, 2021 as presented. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Discussion: Chris stated that Tim Smith made some very important points about the hardships employers are facing and how the stimulus payments are negatively affecting them. Motion carried.
- Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Friday, April 9, 2021:
Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve and accept Village Warrants through Friday, April 9, 2021 as presented. Adam Paxman seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.
- Any Other Necessary Business:
Reg Beliveau stated the Village has created a new brush/wood pile on Route 7 South along the cornfield that the Village rents to the Bourdeau farm. He said he has a letter addressed to the State of Vermont requesting permission for the ability to establish the burning of natural wood and branches for the residents of Swanton on Village owned land. He said the Village still has their leaf dump site on Lafar Street and Village residents can still bring their leaves and garden debris there. He said there was an issue with wetlands at that site and they needed to reduce the size up there but are still able to make compost which is used quite often by the Village. Eugene LaBombard made the motion to authorize the Board of Trustees to sign this letter addressed to the State of Vermont. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.
Any Other Business: Eugene LaBombard stated that several years ago extensive archaelogical work was done at the Hydro site. He said he wondered why back then they didn’t know what they were doing but today they do?
Any Other Business: Chris Leach stated he is against the equipment tax. He said the Village collects a significant amount of money from it but it’s punitive for a business and it’s a non incentive to buy new or upgraded equipment whether it’s carpentry or machine tools. He said they want to encourage business, they already pay taxes on their real estate. He said businesses pass this tax on to their customers in their equipment and services and it’s part of their rate structure. He said there’s also the issue of making this fair and it seems like it’s probably not. He said he would like to rethink this. Eugene LaBombard disagreed and said if you take that tax away from them it would go on everyone else’s shoulders. Chris said it already is when you purchase something at their business. Eugene said this would take further study. Chris said he thought it was discussed and done away with about 7 or 8 years ago. He said he doesn’t think it’s fair because it’s not administered across the board, some businesses pay it and some don’t. He said the newer businesses are paying it but doesn’t feel like it’s done fairly. Eugene said they need to find out what the rest of the State is doing. Chris said he knows they don’t have the authority to eliminate it but should do their research on this. Lynn said equipment tax used to be very popular but she believes a lot of towns have gotten away from it because it’s hard to collect. Chris said the goal should be to attract businesses.
Any Other Business: Reg Beliveau stated they began repair on the Doughboy today in Flat Iron Park. He said they are also applying for a structure grant through Regional Planning to help out with the bridge repair. He said he received an email from Chris Yates on Maquam Shore Road asking if the Village would install wastewater there. He said he talked with the Village engineers regarding this and he said the Village has too many irons in the pot right now with the river crossing and the inventory of all the water and sewer lines. He said they’re also working on the wastewater plant for phosphorus reduction. He said that area would have to be force main and would need at least two pumping stations. He said this would be a very expensive job to accomplish and said it wouldn’t happen for quite some time.
- Executive Session to Discuss Personnel:
Adam Paxman made the motion to enter Executive Session to discuss personnel at 7:44 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.
Eugene LaBombard made the motion to exit Executive Session at 8:00 p.m. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.
ACTION TAKEN: None.
- Adjournment:
Eugene LaBombard made the motion to adjourn the Regular Board of the Trustees meeting at 8:00 p.m. Chris Leach seconded. There being no further business at hand, Neal Speer, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 8:00 p.m. Motion carried.
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Neal Speer, Village President Date
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Dianne Day, Village Clerk Date