SWANTON
VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
120
FIRST STREET
SWANTON,
VT 05488
MINUTES
BOARD
OF TRUSTEES REGULAR MEETING & PUBLIC HEARING
Monday,
April 9, 2012
7:00
PM
PRESENT: Ronald Kilburn, Village
President; Chris Leach, Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Adam Paxman,
Trustee; Reginald Beliveau, Village Manager; Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village
Manager; Dianne Day, Village Clerk/Administrative Assistant; Trish Foote, Staff
Accountant; Marc Longway, Billing Clerk; Katie Judd, Customer Service Clerk;
Brian Savage, Michel Consejo, and Ch. 16.
Ronald
Kilburn, Village President, welcome all to the Regular Board of Trustees
Meeting and Public Hearing and called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
UNLESS
OTHERWISE NOTED, ALL MOTIONS ARE CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
The
Board decided to hear Item #3 first.
3. Public Hearing to Discuss
Electric Lien Process – Application for Service, Meter Deposits/Credit
References, Billing Process, Disconnects, Liens:
Application for Service – Katie
Judd: Katie explained the process for setting up a
new customer for Electric service with the Village of Swanton. She said the
basic information needed is the location of the property, the landlord’s name,
the last tenants name to ensure the correct meter and then their personal
account information such as proof of ID, phone numbers, mailing address, etc.
She then explained how a meter deposit is figured if that customer cannot get
us a letter of credit.
The only
forms of credit references are either from a previous utility company, a cable
television company or a letter from their bank stating they have had a checking
account for more than one year with no overdrafts within the last 12 months. If
that customer can’t get one of those references she explained that we take the
last 12 months of utility bills at that location and take an average of those
bills and times it by two so that we have at least two months worth of electric
bills on deposit. She explained that we break that deposit into three payments
and that all these rules are given to us by the Public Service Board.
Gary
Rice asked more about how the deposits are figured and what is allowed for
letters of credit. Harold Garrett asked about paying one third of the deposit
up front. Katie explained this process again.
Billing Process – Marc Longway: Marc explained that all electric
meters are read on a monthly basis and that those readings are entered into the
computer system to calculate a customer’s bill for the month. He explained how
each property has a location number and each customer has a customer number
assigned to them. He explained that a KW is energy used at a point in time and
that KwH is energy used over time. Marc explained our residential rates and our
residential demand rates. He explained that if a residential customer uses over
1800 kwh’s in a month’s time for two consecutive months, that customer would
end up on a residential demand rate. That rate has a higher customer charge and
once put on a demand meter the customer would remain on that rate for 12
months. He explained how a customer could come off those rates by demonstrating
a kwh usage of below 1800 and a demand below 8 for 12 months. Once that was
done the customer could then come off demand rates.
Raymond
Roy asked how a customer can come off demand rates. Chris Leach asked what the
average household uses per month for kwh, Marc explained approximately 700 to
800 kwh’s per month and said out of approximately 3,600 customers there are about
200 on demand rates.
Disconnects – Trish Foote: Trish explained the process of
printing disconnects on a weekly basis for every “route” in our system. She
stated that on average we print approximately 650 disconnects on a monthly
basis. She further explained that if a customer is delinquent more than $50 a
disconnect notice would be printed advising that customer they have a certain
number of days to pay that bill or their electric service would be
disconnected. She explained that she looks over these accounts and then makes
phone calls to these customers reminding them of their past due balance. She said she disconnects
approximately 20 to 30 customers per month.
Trish
explained how the Public Service Board governs our disconnect rules and that we
have to follow their guidelines such as letting a customer have two signed
agreements per year. She explained the complexity of disconnecting customers
for non-payment. She said once disconnect notices are printed she looks through
them and decides at that time who she is going to shut off. She then generates
a list of these customers who have a large past due balance and thinks a lien
should be placed on the property which she then gives to Dianne to further
research. Also by calling these customers and talking with them she agrees to a
payment plan with them and explained how we are always willing to work with a
customer to help them pay their past due balance.
Gary
Rice asked her about how many additional days a customer has at the time a
disconnect notice is printed. Matt Juaire also asked how the payment plan
worked.
Shawn
Cheney asked that if a landlord is
ultimately responsible for a tenants unpaid electric bill if the landlord could
be attached to their account so that they receive a copy of their disconnect
notice as well. Trish explained our billing system does have that ability and
she would contact Cogsdale to get that piece up and running. She explained the
tenant would have to give permission to have the landlord attached to their
account. This is called the verification form signed by tenants giving landlords
access to their account to make sure they are paying their bills. She
emphasized the importance of these forms and getting them signed by the
tenants.
Stewart
Bennett, Attorney for the Landlord Association, said he has contacted the
Vermont Leagues of Cities and Town and the Public Service Board about this
issue. He discussed the Statutes of Fraud in Vermont as well.
Chris
Leach stated that as a Village Trustee he is concerned about collecting these
bills. He said the Village of Swanton has approximately$89,000 placed in liens
and that by collecting these funds is key to keeping our electric rates the
lowest in the State of Vermont. He said he is frustrated with the liberal
actions of the Public Service Board and the rights they give to tenants not
paying their bills. He said it is not fair to go five months without paying
their electric bills. He said owning rental property is a legitimate business
and there needs to be laws that allow the income to come in and that the
legislature needs to get stricter about this. He said maintaining these low
rates remains to be a struggle.
Gary
Fadden stated that the Trustees went to the legislature to get approval for
their Charter update. Michel Consejo also responded to this and explained the
Charter update approval process in the legislature. Brian Savage also responded
and said he has very little use for the Public Service Board and that they are
too far reaching. He explained the Charter update process and said it is pretty
much boiler plate and that if the Village residents approved it then the
legislature would do so as well.
Electric Lien Process – Dianne
Day: I advised the public that Swanton Village
updated their Charter in 2009 and one of the updates was to place liens on
property owners for unpaid electric bills. I stated that in the year prior to
the Charter update we held several board meetings discussing the changes and
that we held three public hearings before the vote and had zero attendance. I
explained that on March 23, 2009 the Village registered voters approved this
Charter change and on May 18, 2009 the State Legislature gave their approval as
well.
I
explained to the Public that once Trish has gone through her disconnect notices
she gives me a list of accounts that need further research. I explained that if
a customer is delinquent more than one or two bills a lien would need to be
placed on that property owner. I also explained that any customer holding an
electric account delinquent would have a lien placed on them, that this does
not just affect tenants and landlords. I said I have several liens on
homeowners as well as businesses.
I stated that the liens are placed at the Town
Clerks office in which the property is located and that in order to collect
funds left by a tenant we recommend the landlord not pay the lien right away. I
said it is very likely the tenant would need service set up elsewhere and at
that time I would collect the funds they left on a previous property and would
then be able to release the lien on the landlord. I explained how important it
was to have tenants sign the verification forms giving their landlord access to
their electric account and that once these forms were signed we needed copies
of it held in our office. I said the landlords needed to take some extra time
to contact us to check on the account to see if it was being paid in a timely
manner, that Swanton Village would not contact them. I also emphasized the
importance of landlords contacting us to let us know who they are renting to
and who is allowed to set up service. That way tenants aren’t allowed to put
the account is someone else’s name because they may owe us money from a
previous location. The key to this is communication between landlords and the
Village of Swanton.
I
informed the public that if their tenant is receiving Section 8 funding they
are legally required to keep their utilities paid and if they are not doing so
they could possibly lose their funding. I said that landlords could contact us
at any time to ask the monthly average usage of an apartment in case they
wanted to get a utility deposit from their tenant. I also informed them that we
do not report to any credit bureau at this time.
I
further explained that in 2011 the Village of Swanton collected over $11,000 in
liens and that so far this year we’ve collected over $9,000 and this helps keep
our rates down. I advised that the Village of Swanton was the ninth
municipality to adopt this Charter change and that this is one way of keeping
our rates the lowest in the State. I said that once a lien has been paid in
full it is released and a copy of that release is sent to the land owner.
Ronald
Kilburn advised we take a 10 minute recess at this time and then resume our
regular meeting to address item #1 and #2.
1. Approve and accept the Minutes
from Thursday, March 22, 2012 Special Meeting and Minutes from Monday, March
26, 2011 Regular Meeting:
Adam
Paxman made the motion to accept the Minutes of both the March 22 and March 26,
2012 meetings. Chris Leach seconded. Motion carried.
2. Approve the following
Warrants: Warrant #403 for $569,246.05; Warrant #404 for $294.10; Warrant #405
for $7,800.00; Warrant #406 for $146,991.49; Warrant #407 for $480.00; Warrant
#408 for $271,579.23; Warrant #409 for $499.05; Warrant #410 for $39,407.46;
Warrant #411 for $440.11; and Warrant #412 for $1,667.11.
Chris
Leach asked about vendor Brian Derry, Lynn advised he put the new roof on the
Waste Water Plant. He also asked about vendor VT Dept. of Corrections and we
advised they printed our Village Reports. Eugene LaBombard made the motion to
approve and accept Warrants #403 through #412 as presented. Adam Paxman
seconded. Motion carried.
4. Any Other Necessary Business:
The
Board advised they would like to schedule a Joint Legislative Body meeting in
the very near future and stated they would choose a date at their April 23rd
meeting.
Any Other Business:
Eugene LaBombard asked how many water
disconnects we did compared to electric disconnects. We told him there were many
more electric disconnects.
ADJOURN: Adam Paxman made the motion to
adjourn the Regular Board of Trustees Public Hearing and meeting at 9:15 p.m. Chris
Leach seconded. There being no further business at hand Ronald Kilburn, Village
President; adjourned the Regular Board of Trustees meeting at 9:15 p.m.
_____________________________________ _______________________________________
Ronald
Kilburn, Village President Date
_____________________________________ _______________________________________
Dianne
Day, Village Clerk Date