SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX
120 FIRST STREET
SWANTON, VT 05488
REGULAR MEETING
Monday, October 22, 2018
7:00 PM
PRESENT: Neal Speer, Village President; Chris Leach, Trustee; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Reginald Beliveau, Village Manager; 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 p.m.
2. Agenda Review:
Adam Paxman stated he would like to add Contracts to Executive Session.
3. Public Comment:
Adam Paxman read aloud the Swanton Arts Council Update: The Swanton Arts Council would like to remind local artists that they can post their artist profiles on the SAC website at no charge. Additionally, a free workshop on “Creating Your Best Artist Statement” is being held at the My-T-Fine Restaurant on October 25th. Any artist interested in either posting their profile or attending the workshop should contact the Swanton Arts Council at swantonartscouncil@gmail.com.
4. Approve and Accept Minutes from the Monday, September 24, 2018 Regular Meeting:
Adam Paxman made the motion to approve and accept the Minutes from Monday, September 24, 2018 as presented. Chris Leach seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.
5. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Friday, October 19, 2018:
Adam Paxman made the motion to approve and accept Village Warrants through Friday, October 19, 2018 as presented. Chris Leach seconded. Discussion: Eugene LaBombard asked what the payment made to Municipal Emergency Services for $39,782.33 was for. Reg Beliveau stated he wasn’t sure and said he would have to look that one up. He thought that might be the cruiser lease payment. Adam Paxman asked about the payment made to Consolidated Electrical Distributors for $1,106.64. Reg said he would have to look that one up as well. Motion carried.
6. Keith & Mary Prescott, 428 Maquam Shore Rd. and Martha & Pat Guarino, 432 Maquam Shore Rd., request permission to connect to the Bonk Water Line:
Eugene LaBombard made the motion to enter into Water Commissioner’s meeting to hear the following requests. Chris Leach seconded. Motion carried.
Neal Speer, Village President, read the following requests: Keith Prescott is requesting a water allocation for approximately 400 gallons per day for our single family seasonal camp at 428 Maquam Shore Road, Swanton. We have spoken with Bobby Bonk and have his approval to connect to his water line. We are also aware of the $1,500 cost to the Village of Swanton and the cost of the water meter package as well.
Thank you for your time and consideration. Martha and Pat Guarino are requesting a water allocation for approximately 400 gallons per day for our single family seasonal camp at 432 Maquam Shore Road, Swanton. We have spoken with Bobby Bonk and have his approval to connect to his water line. We are also aware of the $1,500 cost to the Village of Swanton and the cost of the water meter package as well.
Chris Leach made the motion to approve both water connection requests as presented, Keith and Mary Prescott at 428 Maquam Shore Rd. and Martha and Pat Guarino at 432 Maquam Shore Rd. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.
Adam Paxman made the motion to exit Water Commissioner’s meeting. Chris Leach seconded. Motion carried.
7. Discussion on VT Gas Systems Constructing a Pressure Regulation Station on the Beebe Rd:
Reg Beliveau, Village Manager, informed the Board that VT Gas Systems will be consolidating the two pressure regulation stations on Robinhood Drive into one pressure regulation station on the Beebe Road. He said this was just for notification because the Village of Swanton abuts their property. Chris Leach stated the Board acknowledges this application and has reviewed it.
8. MVU Varsity Field Hockey Coin Drop Request for May 4, 2019:
Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve MVU Varsity Field Hockey’s request to hold a coin drop on May 4, 2019 with a rain date of May 11, 2019. Chris Leach seconded. Discussion: Adam Paxman asked if this was funded by the MVU School budget and asked why they would be asking for more and only hitting Swanton not Franklin and Highgate. The Board agreed that these were good points and said they would address this at the informational meeting in March. Motion carried with two yays, one nay.
9. Any Other Necessary Business:
Chris Leach asked what came of the traffic study that was done by Merchants Row. Reg Beliveau stated it definitely slowed the traffic down especially those coming up over the hill. Reg mentioned the vehicle that intentionally took out the hay bales with their vehicle and said the downtown area is videotaped and said they are investigating that incident. Chris Leach asked whose job it is to determine whether or not the traffic pattern needs to change. Adam stated a feasibility study would be next and said himself along with the Economic Development Coordinator are working on that. He said there is a meeting this coming Thursday that has to do with a Better Connections Grant. Reg said there were a lot of ideas that came from the drawings but they were discouraged from doing them by VTrans due to safety reasons. He said shortening the crosswalk by Cody’s restaurant worked well also. Chris Leach said it would behoove them if they had a Route 78 to I89 truck route bypass and that would help alleviate a lot of this traffic downtown. Chris Leach said if the Post Office had a drive thru postal box that would alleviate a lot of traffic as well. Chris also asked if the Hydro Plant was making significantly more power since the new rubber bag has been installed and Reg stated yes they are.
Any Other Business: Adam Paxman wanted to let everyone know that Christmas in the Park will be held on Saturday, November 24th from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. and Halloween in the Park will be held Saturday, October 27 beginning at 5 p.m. He also asked if it was too late to consider putting fog lines on Canada Street. Reg said he would have to see what they have in the budget for paving and whether or not they could get that piece of equipment.
Any Other Business: Reg Beliveau asked the Board if they would be interested in having Ipads instead of getting emails and paper copies delivered to them at home. They all said no, they receive everything fine. He reminded them if there was a request for public records their home emails would be included in that. They were fine with that and said they like things the way they are now. Chris stated he wanted to thank the Public Works crew for the SLOW stencils on Gallup Court. He said one has gotten washed out a bit but said this has really made a difference and slowed people down. Reg said they are also working on the 30 MPH stencil for Spring Street.
Any Other Business: Eugene LaBombard stated he had a complaint about speeding on the County Road and asked Reg to pass that on to the Police Department. Eugene said it may even start on South River Street but said he would like this passed on to them.
Any Other Business: Neal stated he would like to thank the Town of Swanton for the work they’ve done on South River Street. He said they have cleaned the river bank up with their new brush hog and it looks great. He said you can now see around the curve and it has made a great difference and he thanks Kevin Lapan and his crew for the great job. Neal also said since it’s getting dark earlier now he’d like Reg to talk with Duane about the lights under the stores on Merchants Row. He said he can’t remember where they’re at with that but said they need some lights under there. Reg said the lights for the bridge just came in and said he would talk with Duane about this.
Any Other Business: Eugene LaBombard asked the Board what they would think about putting a separate line item on the ballot in March asking the voters if they would approve putting a new water line under the river. He said he remembers how close the Village came to losing their water line during the flooding in January and said this really should be done. He said they could get a ballpark figure from their engineer and have a spare line available and have this on the upcoming ballot. Reg said he would talk with Wayne Elliott about this.
10. Executive Session to Discuss Customer Account:
Chris Leach made the motion to enter into Executive Session to discuss customer account. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.
Adam Paxman made the motion to exit Executive Session at 8:35 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.
11. Adjournment:
Chris Leach made the motion to adjourn the Regular Board of Trustees meeting at 8:35 p.m. Adam Paxman seconded. There being no further business at hand, Neal Speer, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 8:35 p.m. Motion carried.
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Neal Speer, Village President Date
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Dianne Day, Village Clerk Date