SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX
120 FIRST STREET
SWANTON, VT 05488
REGULAR MEETING
Monday, May 9, 2022
7:00 PM
PRESENT: Neal Speer, Village President; Chris Leach, Trustee; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Reginald Beliveau Jr., Village Manager; Matthew Sullivan, Chief of Police; and Ch.16. Via Zoom: Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager.
Unless otherwise noted, all motions carried unanimously.
- Call to Order:
Neal Speer, Village President, called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
- Pledge of Allegiance:
Neal Speer asked everyone to stand and have a moment of silence for a Village employee that had a tragic accident over the weekend that ended his life. Everyone also stood for the Pledge of Allegiance.
- Agenda Review:
None.
- Public Comment:
None.
- Approve and Accept Minutes from Monday, April 11, 2022 as presented and acknowledge the Minutes from the April 21, 2022 Public Hearing:
Adam Paxman made the motion to approve and accept Minutes from Monday, April 11, 2022 as presented and to acknowledge the Minutes from the April 21, 2022 Public Hearing. Chris Leach seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.
- Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Thursday, May 5, 2022:
Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve and accept Village Warrants #33-#44 through Thursday, May 5, 2022 as presented. Adam Paxman seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.
- Swanton Village Police Update with Chief Matt Sullivan:
Chief Sullivan stated he had information for the months of March and also the month of April for both the Town and the Village. He said they responded to 196 incidents in March and 100 of those incidents occurred in the Village. He also showed the statistics for arrests made in the Town and Village which consisted of 1 simple assault, 1 disorderly conduct, 1 petit larceny, 2 driving with suspended license, 1 person under 16 possessing alcohol, 1 leaving the scene of an accident, 1 violation of abuse prevention order and 2 driving under the influence. He also stated in March they issued 10 traffic tickets and issued 32 warnings.
Chief Sullivan stated that in the month of April they responded to 248 incidents in the Town and Village and 119 of those incidents were in the Village. He said this is an 85% increase in the number of calls from the month of March. He feels this is largely in part to having more part time officers on staff. He said they also have a foot patrol officer out and about and the residents seem happy about that. He said the arrests made in April for the Village included 3 violations of conditions of release, 1 operating without consent, 2 driving with criminally suspended license, 1 driving under the influence, 1 criminal threatening and 1 weapons possession on school property. The Board was upset about the last arrest and Chief Sullivan stated it wasn’t a gun but instead a knife. Eugene stated it looks like the juvenile cases have increased quite a bit. Chief Sullivan said yes the SRO officer has been busy. He said for traffic violations there were 22 traffic tickets issued, 2 civil violation tickets issued and 57 warnings issued. Eugene LaBombard asked if he thought the traffic warnings were working. He said he thought it was and the way it works is if someone is pulled over, the officer ask dispatch if there are previous tickets or warnings issued. Adam Paxman asked if the foot patrol officer is seeing many issues. Chief Sullivan said they have been having a homeless individual camping in one of the cemeteries, so they’ve been checking that quite a bit. He said they’ve heard of someone camping behind Hannaford’s as well, so they’ve been checking that area too. He said the officer will park his car in a particular area, then do foot patrol and just having the police cruiser parked helps slow traffic down. He said it’s good from the sense that people are having a face-to-face interaction with an officer. Eugene LaBombard said the officer needs to be careful walking downtown as he did last week and vehicles aren’t stopping for the crosswalks as they should. Chief Sullivan said those are tough violations to issue because an officer needs to witness it. Adam Paxman asked if the foot patrol officer has noticed an increase in the traffic. Chief Sullivan said he hasn’t mentioned that but said there is a consistent amount of tractor trailers and traffic in the Village. Adam said he is working at the Chamber office Monday through Thursday now and the traffic is intense. Neal Speer asked about the citizen assist calls. Chief Sullivan stated those are more for someone who locked their keys in the vehicle. The Board thanked Chief Sullivan for his updates on March and April.
- Discuss Two New Benefits Available for Village Employees: Supplemental Life Insurance and Pet Health Insurance:
Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager; said VLCT is now offering pet health insurance and supplemental life insurance for employees. She said there would be no cost to the Village as premiums would be paid directly by the employee through their paycheck. The Village would then make a payment every month to VLCT. She said she is wondering if this is something the Board is interested in offering the employees. Chris Leach asked if the Village provides a life insurance policy to the employees. She said right now the life insurance is a $50,000 policy and that’s bundled with their short term disability policy. She said this is in case someone wants something in excess of that but they would have to pay for it. Reg stated the life insurance is only while an employee works for the Village. Chris Leach asked if the administration of these two offerings would be reasonable. Lynn said Trish would have to set up a payroll deduction in the software system and remit the payment every month like she does for Aflac and our vision plan. Adam Paxman asked if this was an additional burden. Lynn said when someone joins they would need to be set up in the system and every year when the premium changes she would need to go in and adjust it but said on a week to week basis it’s done automatically. Reg said he had an employee do a search and compare prices and it was cheaper through the Village for health insurance. Reg said it’s a way to retain employees. Eugene LaBombard made the motion to authorize the Village to offer two additional insurances to Village employees, a supplemental life insurance and pet health insurance. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.
- Discuss the Removal of the Island on Jones Court:
Chris Leach asked if all the residents on Jones Court have been polled. Adam said he only knows of one who has but would be willing to poll all the others. He said this would affect two of the residents there and said this has become an eye sore. He said there is stuff left in the island for over two weeks with additional stuff being added to it. Chris Leach asked if this was meant for traffic calming and has it done that. Adam also said it must be horrible to plow around in the winter. Reg said he lives there and he doesn’t mind it. He would be open to a sign that says “no trash allowed” rather than taking it out. He also said he should talk with the plow drivers. Reg said the kids waiting for the school bus stand in the island. He said he would like to see a shelter for the school bus kids there. The board agreed that everyone should be polled and it should be noted that this is a place for school children to wait for the bus and possibly build a bus shelter. They also discussed items being placed there being an eyesore and that they would rather have wild flowers planted. They discussed the possibility of it being someone that doesn’t live there that is leaving stuff on the island. They suggested putting up a sign or even paving it and placing flower pots there. Neal suggested they contact the zoning office to make sure this wasn’t placed there as a requirement. Adam said he would check with zoning first of all. Chris Leach said he would really like a shelter there also for kids waiting for the bus.
- Police Department Cruiser Lease:
Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager, stated the Village has done business with Santander Bank in the past because they had their sidewalk plow lease through them. She said Don Gilbert has been working with the vendor to get the cruiser lined up to be shipped to the Village. She said they should have it in the next couple of weeks. Chief Sullivan said it was very hard to find a police cruiser and Don found this one in New York. Lynn said their attorney has looked through this lease and everything is fine and approved. Chris Leach asked how many active police vehicles they will have once this one is here. Reg said they will have four after this because one of their cruisers is owned by Stone Garden. Adam Paxman made the motion to approve the Police Cruiser Lease and to authorize Reg Beliveau, Village Manager, to be the signor. Chris Leach seconded. Motion carried
- Any Other Necessary Business:
Adam Paxman wanted to inform everyone that the Chamber of Commerce office is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. He said if you have any comments or concerns the doors are open. He also said the Memorial Day Parade will be held on Monday, May 30th at 2 p.m. He said it begins at the Babcock School and commences to Veterans Memorial Park and up to the Lady Liberty Statue. He said the Fire Department will be hosting a community BBQ. He said there will be donation jars out for “Josh’s House” which is to help take care of veterans who have PTSD and other related issues. He said it’s a very worthy cause and hopes the community comes out. Adam also mentioned the Car Show to be held on July 30th.
Any Other Business: Eugene LaBombard would like to thank Dan Chevalier from the Hydro Plant for the very informative generation report. He also wanted to thank Lynn for the extra financial reports she has been giving them.
Any Other Business: Chris Leach said he saw an ad for the Gathering of the Realm event and it looks like a big event. He said it didn’t mention Swanton though. Reg said that is one being held in another location.
Any Other Business: Reg Beliveau stated the Barton Village vote is tomorrow and they will find out for sure how it goes. He said the opinion is the voters of the utility feel they weren’t given enough information on the sale. He said they also want an explanation as to why Orleans offer was refused. He said keeping this a public utility is more beneficial to the community. Reg also said their Part 12 dam break analysis has to be done every five years and prior to Scott’s accident he had done a lot of work on that. He said he reached out to the contractor as well as our attorney Paul Nolan and they both said they would help us as much as they can on this as well as our FERC relicensing because Scott was a prime player in our relicensing. Reg said he will be sorely missed by everyone.
Any Other Business: Neal Speer said he would like to thank everyone who came out and voted on the cannabis issue. He said they had some very constructive conversations and the Town and Village worked very well together. He said he wanted to thank everyone involved.
- Executive Session to Discuss Contract:
Adam Paxman made the motion to enter Executive Session at 7:50 p.m. to discuss Contracts. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.
Chris Leach made the motion to exit Executive Session at 8:55 p.m. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.
ACTION TAKEN: None.
- Adjournment:
Adam Paxman made the motion to adjourn the Regular Board of the Trustees meeting at 8:55 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. There being no further business at hand, Neal Speer, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 8:55 p.m. Motion carried.
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Neal Speer, Village President Date
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Dianne Day, Village Clerk Date