SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX
120 FIRST STREET
SWANTON, VT 05488
REGULAR MEETING
Monday, December 12, 2016
7:00 PM
PRESENT: Neal Speer, Village President; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Chris Leach, Trustee; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Reginald Beliveau, Village Manager; Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager (via telephone); Dianne Day, Village Clerk, and Ch. 16.
Unless otherwise noted, all motions carried unanimously.
1. Call to Order:
Neal Speer, Village President, welcomed all to the Regular Board of Trustees meeting and called the meeting to order at 7:15 p.m.
2. Agenda Review:
Reg Beliveau stated he would like to postpone Item #6 because the Budget Discussion is probably going to be lengthy tonight. Will put on the next agenda.
3. Approve and Accept Minutes from Monday, November 28, 2016:
Adam Paxman made the motion to approve and accept the Minutes from Monday, November 28, 2016 as presented. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Discussion: Adam Paxman asked if the Auditorium Policy was now in place. Reg Beliveau informed him that the new rates go into effect on January 1, 2017. Motion carried.
4. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Friday, December 9, 2016:
Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve and accept Village Warrants (#131-#136) through Friday, December 9, 2016 as presented. Chris Leach seconded. Discussion: Adam Paxman asked what the payment to Bob’s Electric for $8,000 was for. Reg Beliveau stated that was for work done at the Hydro Plant. Motion carried.
5. Discussion on Interviewing Economic Development Coordinator with Town:
Neal Speer stated that the Town of Swanton has received funds to hire an Economic Development Coordinator and they have asked the Village to participate in the hiring process. He said they want someone from Downtown Enhancement, the Village of Swanton and the Town to be involved in the interview process. Eugene LaBombard and Chris Leach stated they are interested and would try to participate. Reg Beliveau stated he would find out when the interviews begin.
6. Presentation on Online Bill Pay:
Postponed until next meeting.
7. 2017 Budget Discussion:
ELECTRIC FUND: Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager, called in for this presentation. She stated the budgets are not final as of yet because she still needs some numbers from VPPSA. Lynn stated there will be a reduction in labor costs due to a retirement and a new hire. She said there is a salary difference here. She also said Scott Mueller has increased maintenance of Hydro Plant from $100,000 to $156,000 because of the amount of work that needs to be done in 2017. She said she is going to sit down with Scott and see what can be moved to 2018. She said so far her purchase power number has gone from $2.9 million dollars to $2.8 million dollars but that may shift. She said the distribution expense was pretty much the same and she said Duane Couture is checking on doing more Tree Trimming. She said the $90,000 for tree trimming won’t increase and it may be less. Lynn said she put $50,000 in legal expenses. She doesn’t believe they will need a rate increase in the electric rates in 2017 but will need to do a 108 filing for the rubber bag. She said health insurance is up by about 4%. She said they have had some changes in insurance due to employee’s leaving, new hires and changing from family plans to single plans. She said the Village has switched from Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) to MVP for 2017. She said MVP had better rates than BCBS. She also said the dental insurance was staying the same and that those numbers were good through June 30, 2017. She said she factored in a 3% increase in case they go up on July 1, 2017.
Lynn said she needed to talk with Duane Couture regarding transportation expenses because they are way under budget. She said they have a new bucket truck and a new digger truck so she may be able to reduce that number. She said he sold the old digger truck at auction for approximately $10,000. Adam Paxman asked about conventions, meetings and training. Lynn said this number isn’t final yet either. She said there are some apprentice classes coming up but said she may be able to reduce this line item. Lynn said her depreciation numbers will change some and the amortization number is now zero because they paid a bond off. She said they are down to three bonds left in the electric department. She discussed interest on long term debt and explained how that would be changing due to bonds being paid off as well as refinancing credits. She said there is light at the end of the tunnel but they still have a ways to go.
WATER FUND: Lynn said her revenue projection isn’t final because she needs December numbers and they may need a small rate increase this coming year. She said the Village will have a debt service payment due this year but it’s changing from May to August 2017. She said they raised chemical costs from $23,000 to $30,000 because Brian Bishop feels he will need more due to new state requirements. She said she relies on her plant managers to do their price checking and material projections for the coming year. She said depreciation expense will go up a bit because that new line is in service. She said the other big change is interest on long term debt. In 2016 they paid $115,000 on long term debt for the plant. She said they’re looking at $71,000 for next year because they received negative interest on the water line job. She said this budget is staying very consistent except for those couple of items.
SEWER FUND: Lynn said she needs to wait for the December revenue numbers before she can true it up. She said she budgeted less for electricity because the solar aerators were back up and functioning. She said maintenance on the sewer plant is up a little bit due to the centrifuge schedule maintenance which is done every 3-5 years and costs approximately $38,000. There is also partial lagoon clean out budgeted and Jim Irish is looking at contracting that job out because Public Work’s doesn’t have the time or the equipment to do the job. She said they also need to purchase new shredder blades and she budgeted heavy on vactoring out storm drains. She said this department is looking very good and there may be a small increase in the variable rate and a reduction in the fixed rates so she may just leave them the way they are. She said there is only one bond payment left in this department.
HIGHWAY FUND: Lynn said this department is staying pretty much the same this year. She said all the lighting in this department was switched to LED and they were able to cut the street lighting costs almost in half. She said this had a huge impact. She said transportation expenses were cut by about $7,000. Lynn said no paving was done in 2016 because of the Class I project running so late. She said Mike still needs to do some work to marry up to the Class I project. Lynn said there is an additional $20,000 in the budget for paving South River Street and Canada Street. She said equipment line item is up because the sidewalk plow is now 20 something years old and a new one costs approximately $109,000 without a trade in. She said they could use the funds in the Capital Reserve fund for this or do some cash and a small loan for it so they don’t use all those funds. She said they are going to need a new lawn tractor in the next year or so also. She said they would keep all the attachments for the sidewalk plow because they’re all interchangeable. This sidewalk plow is used pretty much year round now. Adam Paxman and Eugene LaBombard both stated it was time to purchase a new one. Lynn said she could do a separate line item on the ballot for this piece of equipment.
GENERAL FUND: Lynn said the rent from other departments is going to be a little less this year. She said maintenance, fuel, heating and electricity are coming in under budget right now and some of the projects for the Complex have been completed so next year expenses will be down in this fund. She said because of Montpelier, the Town had to put the Memorial Building on the tax roll and her PILOT line item in other departments is going away. She said this made an impact in the General Fund. She said the General Fund budget is staying very consistent and almost level funded this year. She said they have budgeted a bit more for cleaning expenses as well as putting up awnings on the auditorium door, the Fire Department door and over at the Rescue building. Lynn also mentioned asking the Board to approve spending $10,400 on the preservation of the Village’s minutes from the late 1800’s through the 1980’s. Village Clerk Dianne Day explained she received a quote from KoFile, a preservation company from Essex, to preserve some old handwritten minutes as well as some maps. She said this is something they would like to get done all at once or split over a three year period. Chris Leach and Eugene LaBombard stated for $10,400 to go ahead and put the whole thing in the General Fund budget and get the job done.
FIRE DEPARTMENT: Lynn said a lot of blood, sweat and tears went into this budget and it is staying level funded for 2017. She said she sat down with Tim Girard and a couple of officers and worked hard on this budget. She said they have a handle on the dispatching number but the wild card in this budget is workman’s compensation. She said they are in a pool with other firefighters in the State and this number is always changing from year to year. She said the Village’s Fire Department didn’t have any serious workman’s comp issues but other departments may have and this has caused the number to increase. She said she needs to talk to VLCT and see if they have any idea on what the rate will be like for next year. She said they sent her an estimated rate but half way through the year that changes. She said they also have a large roster here and that contributes to it as well. She budgeted $10,000 for this year and that number is up $2700. She said hopefully the rates won’t go up anymore than that. The equipment line is $12,500 and she asked them for a list of what they need and for the backup on that number. She said the fire truck last purchased will be paid off in 2017. She said the personal protective equipment is for the air packs they need to purchase and some gear. She said as of right now this department is staying level funded.
POLICE DEPARTMENT: Lynn said she is waiting for the final number for the Town Police Contract so she still has last year’s number there in the budget as a place holder. It may go up a little bit due to salaries and benefits. Adam Paxman asked what this department was looking like overall and Lynn said it’s up by about 1.7 cents which amounts to a 4% increase. She said she hasn’t been able to sit down with Chief Stell yet and there are still some unknowns in this fund. She said the cruiser lease is less than what they budgeted for last year and the workman’s comp is projected to go up as well. She said the property insurance doesn’t look like its increasing.
COMMERCIAL BUILDING FUND: Lynn stated the Village hasn’t increased the rent here since last year. She said what they get now covers any expenses they have at this location. She said as far as plant maintenance goes, when something breaks they fix it. She said they will be paying property taxes here this year, they did last year too and weren’t budgeted for that. She said they have State Recapture funds which is money they get from the school’s yearly payment to the Village. She said that money is sitting in an account and the Village needs to revolve it. There is approximately $60,000 that needs to be revolved and the Board can dictate the term of the loan and the interest rate and how it’s spent but she feels it should be kept in the Swanton community. She said these funds can be used for water, sewer and sidewalks also. The Board would like to add this topic to the next agenda and decide what to do with those funds.
The estimated tax rate for the year 2017 is 0.08023% and the 2016 tax rate was 0.7721 for a difference of 0.0302. There is an overall increase of 3.91%. Lynn said this is just a rough draft as she is still waiting on some numbers. She asked the Board to look it over and if they have any questions to contact her. The Board thanked Lynn for her information.
8. Any Other Necessary Business:
Eugene LaBombard stated because of the upcoming holiday the Board would not meet on December 26, 2016. Village Clerk Dianne Day stated that because of the budgets they may need to hold a Special Meeting but would warn that accordingly. The Board also talked about the December 21, 2016 meeting with Richard Copperthwait and who would be attending. Eugene said he could attend and Chris Leach said he could be back up. Neal Speer stated he would not be available and Reg Beliveau said he could attend.
Any Other Business: Chris Leach asked about the pipe installation lawsuit. Reg Beliveau said there is a mediation scheduled for February 2017.
9. Public Comment:
None.
10. Executive Session (If Necessary):
Adam Paxman made the motion to enter into Executive Session to Discuss Personnel and Real Estate at 8:23 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.
Adam Paxman made the motion to exit Executive Session at 8:50 p.m. Chris Leach seconded. Motion carried.
ACTION TAKEN: None.
11. Adjournment:
Chris Leach made the motion to adjourn the Regular Board of the Trustees meeting at 8:51 p.m. Adam Paxman seconded. There being no further business at hand, Neal Speer, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 8:51 p.m. Motion carried.
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Neal Speer, Village President Date
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Dianne Day, Village Clerk Date