SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
120 FIRST
STREET
REGULAR MEETING & PUBLIC HEARING
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013
7:00 P.M.
PRESENT: Ronald Kilburn, Village President; Chris Leach,
Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Reginald Beliveau, Village Manager; Dianne
Day, Village Clerk; Neal Speer, and Channel 16.
Ronald Kilburn, Village
President, welcomed all to the Regular Board of Trustees Meeting & Public
Hearing and called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Unless otherwise noted, all
motions carried unanimously.
1. Approve and
Accept the Minutes from Monday, January 28, 2013:
Chris Leach made the motion
to approve and accept the Minutes from Monday, January 28, 2013 as presented. Eugene
LaBombard seconded. Discussion: Chris advised that at that meeting they adopted
the 2013 Village Annual Warning and Water System Improvement Warning and said they
could be viewed online at the Village’s website: www.swanton.net. Motion carried.
2. Approve Village
Warrants Through February 8, 2013:
Eugene LaBombard made the
motion to approve and accept Village Warrants (#526-#528) through February 8,
2013 as presented. Chris Leach seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.
3. Public Hearing – Water Bond for Reservoir
Transmission Line and Village Distribution Lines:
Reg Beliveau began the Public
Hearing by informing them of the many water breaks Mike Menard and his crew
have been working on recently. He showed the difficulty in getting to the water
break on the transmission line that is located down by the river behind Hodgdon
Brothers. He said the last break they worked on totaled 33 hours and was in the
middle of a snow storm. He said the crew worked through the night so customers were
not affected by loss of water. Reg also mentioned the water leaks on Canada and
Dunning Street, Middle Road and Grand Avenue. He said there is another leak on
the transmission line as well and the crew will get to that one as soon as they
can. Chris Leach said there is a big lesson in this and said these leaks are
painful to fix. He said the lines are in desperate need of replacing and that a
33 hour overtime repair job is very costly. He said most of these water leaks
are invisible to the customers because the crew is so diligent in repairing
them in the overnight hours. Reg said the same happened with the Water
Treatment Plant, the customers were not impacted by the upgrade. Eugene
LaBombard asked how old most of these lines were, Reg said some of them were
installed in 1947.
Wayne Elliott, Aldrich &
Elliott Engineers, explained that his firm did a study of the Village water
system back in 2009 to identify transmission and distribution deficiencies. He
said they then prioritized areas for improvements. He stated the Reservoir
Transmission Main Problems are: It’s still the original 12” cast iron pipeline
susceptible to leaks and water loss, portions of the pipeline are under the
Missisquoi River and not accessible for maintenance or repairs, undersized pipes
limit fire flows to the Village and if the main is out of service, very limited
fire protection is provided to the Village and a recent leak took approximately
36 hours to locate and repair.
Wayne explained the
Distribution Piping Problems include: original 1940’s cast iron pipelines with
universal joints, potential for frequent leaks and water loss, 2 recent leaks
were repaired, the latest on Canada Street caused a water loss of about 130,000
gpd (gallons per day); and said that areas with 6” pipes are undersized for
fire flow conditions.
Aldrich & Elliott
recommended Water System Improvements are: Reservoir Transmission Main
(Contract No. 2) and Distribution Piping (Contract No. 3). The Reservoir
Transmission Main Contract No. 2 would install 12,000’ of new 16” transmission
main on Robin Hood Drive, Rail Trail, Waugh Farm Rd., Donaldson Rd. and
Reservoir Rd. They would also directional bore under the river crossing.
Distribution Piping would be installed on Fourth Street, Second Street and
Canada Street. Wayne advised there would be 1,120’ of new 12” waterline
installed on Fourth Street from Grand Avenue to Liberty Street. There would
also be new water services and curb stops installed along with new fire
hydrants and new valves. Second Street would have 1,200’ of new 10” waterline
installed from Grand Avenue to Greenwich Street. There would be new water
services and curb stops along with new fire hydrants and new valves. Canada
Street would have 1,400’ of new waterline installed from Grand Avenue to Spring
Street with new water services and curb stops, new fire hydrants and new
valves.
Wayne showed the Total
Project Cost Summary to be: Contract No. 2 Reservoir Transmission Main
$2,070,000 and Contract No. 3 Distribution Piping $1,000,000 for a total of
$3,070,000. He explained the Bond Vote amount requested is $3,070,000. He said
the Village would also seek approval to use the uncommitted funds from the
Water Treatment Plant upgrade which is $800,000. If approved the total bond
would be $2,270,000. Wayne explained the available funding source is the State
of Vermont Drinking Water Revolving Loan for a term of 20 years with an
interest rate of 3.0%. He said the annual loan amount would be $206,300.
The Projected Impact on Water
Rates: Debt retirement paid by Village and Town water customers, the loan
repayment begins in 2016, the monthly water bill will increase by $4 per month
for a typical Village residential customer. He said the bond vote is Tuesday,
March 5th from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. There will be another Public Hearing
on Tuesday, February 26th at 7 p.m.
Ron Kilburn asked Wayne what
would remain undone after this project. Wayne stated there is still a fair
amount of old cast iron pipes throughout the Village. He said there are a lot
of 2, 4 and 6 inch lines that need replacing. Neal Speer asked how construction
costs compare to when they did the Water Treatment Plant upgrade. Wayne stated
the earlier they go out to bid the better price they will get. He said they
would split this into the two contracts so more contractors can bid the job.
Chris Leach stated he has
been a Trustee for 15 years and said they have talked about these upgrades
every year and this is the best route to go. He said the interest rates are
good right now and this is still a doable project. He said there are numerous
water line breaks every year and the conditions are getting worse. He said this
is a well engineered project and urged the voters to approve both contracts in
March. Eugene LaBombard asked if this would affect a homeowner’s insurance for
their fire rating protection. Wayne advised there isn’t a requirement for fire
protection but there needs to be a minimum flow requirement. Chris stated
Aldrich & Elliott did a great job on the Water Treatment Plant upgrade and
said they understand what the Village can afford. He said the Public Works Department
has done their homework and have recommended these next steps and he urged for
voter approval.
Ron Kilburn asked what the
worst case scenarios were. Reg Beliveau stated fire protection was at risk and
said these old smaller lines need to be replaced. Chris Leach said there have
been multiple 12” water line breaks and more will happen. Eugene LaBombard
stated these are major breaks and they haven’t mentioned all the smaller ones.
He said on average there are 25 breaks per year. Wayne said Reg should show
what the 33 hour overtime job cost the Village. Neal Speer stated that if these
jobs weren’t fixed in house it would be way more expensive. The Board thanked
Wayne Elliott for his slideshow presentation.
4. Any Other Necessary Business:
Eugene LaBombard asked if the
Audit was complete yet. Reg advised it was and said there were no issues.
Eugene also stated a Public Works employee had stopped him while doing snow removal
and asked him to call the Police Department to have a vehicle removed from the
sidewalk on Spring Street.
Any Other Business: Chris Leach advised the Board he is still working on
the Veterans appreciation sign and will keep them informed.
Any Other Business: Ron Kilburn stated there is a tentative JLB meeting scheduled for
February 20th and asked if that worked for everyone. Chris Leach
suggested they wait until voting is done and said they should meet at the end
of March. All agreed. Ron also stated they had their first meeting regarding
the 250th Anniversary of Swanton. He said they had great attendance,
a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of fun. He said there is a long list of ideas and
the next meeting is in March. He suggested a website specifically for this
event, Reg stated Rich Kelley had already created it and the address is: www.swanton250.org. Ron also reminded
everyone the Village Informational meeting is Tuesday, February 26th
at 7 p.m. and said they would have another public hearing regarding the water
bond issue.
Reg Beliveau stated he needed
an Executive Session to discuss personnel.
10. Executive Session (if necessary):
Chris Leach made the motion
to enter into Executive Session to Discuss Personnel at 8:10 p.m. Eugene
LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.
Chris Leach made the motion
to exit Executive Session at 9:00 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion
carried.
ACTION TAKEN:
None.
ADJOURN: Chris Leach made the motion to adjourn the Regular Board
of the Trustees meeting and Public Hearing at 9:00 p.m. Eugene LaBombard
seconded. There being no further business at hand Ronald Kilburn, Village
President, adjourned the meeting at 9:00 p.m.
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Ronald Kilburn, Village
President Date
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