This page is maintained by Swanton Village, Inc and is intended to be the official online posting of public meetings and minutes in accordance with Vermont’s Open Meeting law (Amended July 1st, 2014).

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

March 9, 2015

SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX

120 FIRST STREET

SWANTON, VT 05488

 

 

 

REGULAR MEETING

Monday, March 9, 2015

7:00 PM

 

 

PRESENT: Neal Speer, Village President; Chris Leach, Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager; Dianne Day, Village Clerk; Brad Aldrich and Rachel Marvin, Aldrich & Elliott; and Ch. 16.

 

Unless otherwise noted, all motions carried unanimously.

 

Neal Speer, Village President, welcomed all to the Regular Board of Trustees meeting and called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.

 

1. Swear in elected officials for 2015: Dianne Day, Village Clerk (one year term); Neal Speer, Village President (one year term); Chris Leach, Village Trustee (three year term); and Betty Cheney, Delinquent Tax Collector (one year term).:

 

Eugene LaBombard swore in Dianne Day as Village Clerk for a one year term. Dianne Day swore in Neal Speer for Village President for a one year term. Betty Cheney was given oath at her office. Chris Leach will be in late and will be sworn in at that time.

 

Moved to Item #5 until Chris Leach arrives.

 

5. Brad Aldrich – Elliott & Aldrich – Agreement for Bid and Construction Phase New Reservoir Transmission Main – Contract #2 for $197,700:

 

Neal Speer asked Brad Aldrich to discuss this until Chris Leach arrived. Brad explained they are ready to go out to bid on the transmission line job and a few details to work out would like to advertise for bid next week. He said Aldrich & Elliott would take Swanton Village through the Bid Phase Services, the Construction Phase and any Special Services that would arise. He said they would conduct a bid opening for Swanton Village and then come back to Swanton Village with a bid recommendation. He said they would hold a pre-construction meeting, get the contractor lines up and monitor the construction with monthly job meetings. Eugene LaBombard asked about the 500 day duration of services. Brad explained that services start today and run through October or September of next year. He said they would check the warranty and determine if there were any issues. He said services end a full year after the project is complete. Neal Speer asked if UVM was done with the archaeological work. Rachel Marvin stated UVM wanted to come back and do a few more test pits but that was covered under the fee Swanton Village already paid them. She said they want to check by the river where they want to dig but it won’t interfere where they are working. Eugene LaBombard stated they are having a lot of problems with frozen pipes and asked if the transmission line would be insulated. Rachel stated that this is a large 16” pipe and would be constantly flowing but said it would have a heat trace in it for precaution. She said this is something Mike Menard could turn on if he wanted to. She said they are confident it will be fine.

 

7:25 p.m. Chris Leach arrived. Dianne Day swore Chris Leach in as Trustee for a three year term. He stated he has always been happy with the services provided by Aldrich & Elliott and said this project would be no different. Brad stated he would need a motion authorizing the Village Manager to approve and sign this Contract.

 

Chris Leach made the motion to authorize Reginald Beliveau, Village of Swanton Manager, or Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager, the authority to sign all necessary documents pertaining to the New Reservoir Transmission Main Contract #2 for $197,700. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

 

2. Appoint a Treasurer for the Village of Swanton for 2015:

 

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to appoint Dianne Day as Treasurer for the Village of Swanton for a one year term. Chris Leach seconded. Motion carried. Dianne Day accepted appointment.

 

 

 

3. Approve and accept Minutes from Informational Meeting Wednesday, February 25, 2015:

 

Chris Leach made the motion to approve and accept Minutes from February 25, 2015 as presented. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

 

4. Approve and accept Village Warrants through Friday, March 6, 2015:

 

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve and accept Warrants through Friday, March 6, 2015 as presented. Chris Leach seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

 

6. Class Cost of Service Update:

 

Lynn Paradis stated a Public Hearing would be held on Tuesday, March 10, 2015 here at the Village Complex. She said the only thing she’s been asked is whether or not Swanton Village would like to phase this in and she replied that the Village did not want to do that. She said this is revenue neutral for the Village and as soon as the Department of Public Service approves it then Swanton Village can implement it for their customers. Lynn stated she would keep the Board informed.

 

Lynn Paradis stated she would need an Executive Session for Customer Account and Chris Leach stated he would need one for Personnel.

 

7. Any Other Necessary Business:

 

Dianne Day, Village Clerk, read the voting results to the Board.

 

8. Executive Session (If Necessary):

 

Chris Leach made the motion to enter into Executive Session to Discuss Customer Accounts and Personnel at 7:50 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

 

Chris Leach made the motion to exit Executive Session at 8:50 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 at 8:50 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. There being no further business at hand, Neal Speer, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 8:50 p.m. Motion carried.

 

 

 

_____________________________________          _______________________________________

Neal Speer, Village President                           Date

 

 

 

_____________________________________          ___________________________________

Dianne Day, Village Clerk                               Date

 

 

 

Friday, March 13, 2015

February 25, 2015

 

SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX

120 FIRST STREET

SWANTON, VT 05488

 

 

 

INFORMATIONAL MEETING & PUBLIC HEARING

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

7:00 PM

 

 

PRESENT: Neal Speer, Village President; Chris Leach, Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Reginald Beliveau, Village Manager; Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager; Dianne Day, Village Clerk; Joey Stell, Chief of Police; Tim Girard, Fire Chief; Betty Cheney, Delinquent Tax Collector; Glen Gurwit; Suzanne Washburn; Pat Gaboriault; Jason Cross; Brian Paradis, Boy Scouts; Tony Russo; Sandra & Ron Kilburn; and Ch. 16.

 

Unless otherwise noted, all motions carried unanimously.

 

Neal Speer, Village President, welcomed all to the Informational Meeting and Public Hearing and called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. He requested a Moment of Silence for all Military, Past, Present and Future and then recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

1. Approve and Accept Minutes from Monday, February 9, 2015:

 

Adam Paxman made the motion to approve and accept the Minutes from Monday, February 9, 2015 as presented. Chris Leach seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

 

2. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Friday, February 20, 2015:

 

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve and accept Village Warrants through Friday, February 20, 2015 as presented. Adam Paxman seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

 

3. Adopt Village of Swanton Financial Policies Handbook:

 

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to adopt the Village of Swanton Financial Policies Handbook as presented. Adam Paxman seconded. Discussion: Eugene LaBombard stated all Board members received this policy several weeks ago, looked it over and all initialed it and accepted it. Motion carried.

 

4. Update Village of Swanton Smoking Policy to Include E-Cigarettes/Vapor Cigarettes:

 

Reg Beliveau, Village Manager, stated he would like the Board to consider E-cigarettes the same as regular cigarettes and tobacco. He said some people think they can smoke E-cigarettes in an office or in a restaurant. Chris Leach stated the same restrictions should apply to E-cigarettes. Chris Leach made the motion to adopt the E-cigarette policy and update the Village of Swanton Personnel Handbook. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

 

5. Informational Meeting & Public Hearing – 2015 Village Annual Warning:

 

Neal Speer advised everyone about the error on page 19 in the Annual Village Report. He advised the correction was printed and placed in the books there and was also put on the Village’s website. Neal also read the Village Annual Warning. Reg Beliveau also introduced Brian Paradis, who was there from the Boy Scouts. He is working on his Communications Merit Badge, which is the final step in becoming an Eagle Scout. Reg then began a slideshow presentation.

 

2014 Year in Review:

Projects: Reg mentioned the Storm Water Grants the Village received on Academy St. for $8,000 and at Marble Mill Park for $74,880. He said the Village contributed equipment and labor on these projects. He also mentioned:

 

  • UVM Preformed a Public Tree Inventory Study of the Village
  • Town/Village Grant to study a sidewalk to MVU and the Depot to the sidewalk on Lake Street
  • Healthy Work Place Grant for $3,000
  • Christmas Lights
  • Community Visit was Awarded and a Resolution was signed by the JLB supporting the Swanton Enhancement Project and the Community Visit
  • Awarded a Paving Project for VT Route 78 (First St.) and US Route 7 (Spring St.) in 2016

Public Works Department

  • Paving – Fourth Street was completed; Second Street was completed; Improved RT78 and Bridge approach due to the ruts in the road
  • Emergency repair of the waterline across the river which needed an outside contractor to help with the repair. By doing some of the repair work the Public Works crew saved the Village thousands of dollars
  • Reviewing final permits for transmission line – should go out to bid in Spring of 2015
  • Replaced lights in Flat Iron Park
  • Storm Water Bio-retention area - $8000 grant to treat ½ acre
  • Leased vactor and replaced 17 year old one
  • Bad winter so far with very cold temperatures, freezing water lines, and lots of snow

Electric Department

  • Continue to keep on tree trimming, December snow storm and helped out Vermont Electric Coop
  • Received the Utility Truck
  • Still spec-ing the Bucket Truck
  • Ordered the Digger Truck – all of these part of the 108 PSB request for financing
  • March 10th Public Hearing for the CCoS Study

Waste Water Plant

  • Refurbished the UV system was in-service retrofitting the 20 year old system (Jim Irish saved the Village hundreds of thousands of dollars on this UV system). They were quoted a system for over $400,000 and Jim did some research and was able to get it retrofitted for approximately $68,000. Reg stated he has submitted Jim for an award for his outstanding work
  • House Draft Bill H35 – will be a concern to our operations; sharply reduces our discharge limits for phosphorus
  • ECO-Bag was purchased – to store sludge dredged from the lagoons

Water Treatment Plant

  • Work of the caustic storage tank
  • Plant continues to operate well

Hydro Plant

  • General repairs continue preparing for re-licensing in 2023 (8 years out)
  • This is a minimum of a 5 year process before license is due
  • This is also part of the 108 PSB Finance
  • Production was up in 2014
  • Purchase power was over budget by $431K

 

Reg then went on to explain the Tax Rate. He showed the 2014 Actual vs. the 2015 Proposed Tax Rate. General was 0.0777 to 0.0729; Fire Dept. was 0.0354 to 0.0373; Police Dept. was 0.3197 to 0.3422; Highway was 0.2903 to 0.2903. The 2014 Actual Tax Rate was 0.7231 and the 2015 Proposed Tax Rate is 0.7427 with a change of 0.0195 cents. The increase on a $200,000 home with the proposed tax rate is $39.00.

 

Reg then introduced the 2015 candidates for this year which are Neal Speer for Village President, Chris Leach for Village Trustee, Dianne Day for Village Clerk, and Betty Cheney for Village Delinquent Tax Collector.

 

Ron Kilburn asked Reg if he had a preference what side of the road the sidewalk would go on on South River Street. After discussion they all agreed it should go on the river side of the road. Suzanne Washburn asked if the Village was preparing for any Village employees to retire. Lynn Paradis stated supervisors here do have someone in mind that would take over their positions and they need to start having more discussions regarding that.

 

Glen Gurwit stated he is thrilled with everything he has seen here tonight but is very concerned about the crime taking place in the Village. He mentioned the recent bank robbery, the pizza place robbery, the Post Office, etc. He asked what’s being done about this because it’s out of control. Chief Stell stated the Village isn’t exempt from the heroin or opiate problem and said 99 to 100% of the robberies are all addiction related. He said the Post Officer robber had a $400 a day heroin habit. He said the Police Department is working with the medical community, mental health and schools to intervene beforehand with a rapid intervention program. He said now someone could go directly to treatment instead of court and that is set to kickoff very soon. He said the drugs on the street are very cheap and that causes a big problem for them. He said even amongst all this Swanton is still the fourth safest community in the State of Vermont and the safest in the County. He said they are diligently working the TD Bank robbery case and hope to have something very soon on that.

 

Reg Beliveau stated that in a small community anyone you lose to drugs is a big deal. He said they had their first Health & Substance Abuse meeting last week and they are committed to making the community safer.

 

Sandy Kilburn thanked Reg and the Board for everything they have done. She said they are an inspiration, they do good work and she appreciates everything they do. Chris Leach stated he wanted to congratulate Brian Paradis, Boy Scout, on his endeavor to pursuing Eagle Scout.

 

6. Any Other Necessary Business:

 

None.

 

7. Executive Session (If Necessary):

 

Adam Paxman made the motion to enter into Executive Session to Discuss Personnel at 8:33 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

 

Adam Paxman made the motion to exit Executive Session at 9:50 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

 

ACTION TAKEN: No Action.

 

ADJOURN: Chris Leach made the motion to adjourn the Informational Meeting and Public Hearing at 9:51 p.m. Adam Paxman seconded. There being no further business at hand, Neal Speer, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 9:51 p.m. Motion carried.

 

_____________________________________          _______________________________________

Neal Speer, Village President                           Date

 

 

 

_____________________________________          ___________________________________

Dianne Day, Village Clerk                               Date