SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
120 FIRST
STREET
SWANTON, VT 05488
MINUTES
BOARD OF TRUSTEES REGULAR MEETING
Monday, June 11, 2012
7:00 PM
PRESENT: Ronald Kilburn, Village President; Chris Leach,
Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Reginald Beliveau,
Village Manager; Dianne Day, Village Clerk; Dave Mullett, VPPSA; and Channel
16.
Ronald Kilburn, Village
President, welcomed all to the Regular Board of Trustees meeting 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 Tuesday, May 29, 2012 Meeting:
Chris Leach stated he has
read the Minutes, they are complete and comprehensive so he made the motion to
approve and accept the Minutes from Tuesday, May 29, 2012 as presented. Eugene
LaBombard seconded. Chris also stated the Fire Department has made a decision
to go with HME Lakes Region to build their Fire Truck. He said they were the
lowest bid at $427,000. He also asked if Ben & Jerry’s was all set to hold
their Coin Drop on June 16th. I advised the Board that Rob Trombley
had called earlier in the day and said they cannot hold their requested Coin
Drop due to their work schedule. He said they would reapply in August. Motion
carried.
2. Approve Village
Warrants Through June 8, 2012:
Eugene LaBombard made the
motion to approve and accept Village Warrants through June 8, 2012 as
presented. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried. Ron Kilburn asked about some
larger items on the Warrants such as EJ Prescott, Holland Co., Teledyne Isco,
VPPSA and Aldrich & Elliott. Reg explained who these vendors were and what
the Village purchased.
3. Dave Mullett from VPPSA
– Discussion on GMP and CVPS Merger:
Dave Mullett from VPPSA was
present for this discussion. He was here to help explain the merger between GMP
and CVPS. He advised the Board to think of Transco and Velco as owning a
Condominium Association. He likened it to Transco owning the condos and Velco
being the management company of the condos. He discussed how the Boards were
made up, how many members were on each board and what percentage they control.
He said if this merger takes place he is satisfied with the representation they
have, saying VPPSA is comfortable with it. He said Velco’s credit rating
remains strong and that he checked into a third party regarding that issue.
Chris Leach asked how the
nomination process works to determine who gets the new seats and also asked the
criteria to impeach. Dave explained the nomination process is the same as it
has always been and that impeaching someone would be very difficult, that they
would have to do something horrible to be impeached. He explained to the Board
the creation of Vlite, a public benefit company. Eugene LaBombard stated this
was his concern and asked who would appoint the three seats to Vlite. He asked
if they would control things. Dave advised the Department of Public Service
appoints the members and he didn’t feel they would control things because it
was 3 out of 13 members so still fairly represented. He stated that they can
never get quite enough assurance but this is the best they can get. He said the
Board needed to authorize Reg Beliveau, Village Manager, to execute this
Agreement and that the upside for Swanton Village is the membership and he is
comfortable in recommending it. Chris Leach stated he was inclined to favor it.
Eugene LaBombard stated his concern again over the Vlite Company. More
discussion took place regarding the merger and how financially it won’t affect
Swanton Village or how they sell their power in the future.
Chris Leach made the motion
to authorize Reg Beliveau, Village Manager, to execute the Letter of Agreement,
Shareholder Agreement and Waiver of Rights of First Refusal regarding Velco.
Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.
Reg Beliveau asked the
President to move to item #5 before Dave Mullet left the meeting.
5. Any Other Necessary Business:
Reg advised the Board that he
attended the Smart Grid Summit last week and said they discussed a meter to a
home, what information is generated, where it’s going and how it relates to the
consumer. He said Dave Mullet attended also and said there were several
different vendors there who sell these meters as well as software companies.
Some are host sites who collect the data and provide it to the Municipality and
the customer. He said customers would be able to compute just exactly how much
energy they were using at any given time. Dave stated that in 2007 the
Legislature mandated utilities take a strong look at Smart Metering, analyze
it, etc. He said Green Mountain Power, CVPS and Burlington Electric are in the
process of meter installation and that VEC is almost complete. He said the
savings to them are meter reader costs and outage costs. He said there isn’t a
lot to be saved and there are vendors now interested in talking with small
companies. Reg said there are five or six smaller utilities looking into Smart
Metering as well.
Chris Leach asked where’s the
beef for him as a customer, he said they know their circuits, they have the
SCADA system that tells them if a sub-station is down, a tree on the line, etc.
He asked why the focus is on the individual home. Reg said they do have
sub-station ability but they don’t have transformers to tell you where the load
loss is. Chris stated that for the average customer this is not viable, that
they would all need computers and he feels Swanton Village doesn’t need to be
the “first” in this. Reg stated there was a lot of concern about “Big Brother”
watching people. He said he was glad Dave Mullet was there and that they are
looking at this cooperatively instead of individually. He said 40% of the
nation is on Smart Grid so far. The Board thanked Dave Mullet for coming in and
explaining the Agreements better to them. He exited the meeting at 8:05 p.m.
4. Request to Block Off
York and Second Streets on 6/17/2012 for Auction:
Reg Beliveau advised the
Board that he was approached by Claude Boucher about having an Auction on June
17th at 16 York Street. He requested they block off York and Second
Street. Chris Leach stated to have the Police Department check into this and if
they feel it isn’t a safety hazard and won’t impede traffic they were ok with
it. He said if they need police coverage to block the roads they would have to
pay for it. Adam Paxman stated he didn’t want anyone parking in Flat Iron Park.
Reg stated he would check with the Police and get their thoughts on this. The
Board agreed to approve this if ok with the Police Department.
Ron Kilburn asked if anyone
else had Any Other Business.
5. Any Other Necessary Business:
Chris Leach stated he
received the 2011 Water Quality Report in his utility bill and was pleased with
the results. He said this is state mandated and that Swanton Village reports
all testing done on their water. He also stated that VT Gas ran a service line
on Gallup Court and said he was pleased with the job they did. He also asked to
have the Grand List Discussion added to the next agenda.
Any Other Business: Ron Kilburn stated he couldn’t make the June 25th meeting
so requested we meet on July 2nd then go back to the regular
schedule after that. All agreed to meet on July 2nd. Ron also
mentioned meeting with Paul Nolan on June 14th with Reg Beliveau and
asked what time they would be meeting. Reg stated 4 p.m. and said they were
meeting to discuss the Swanton Village Lower Dam investor possibility.
Any Other Business: Eugene LaBombard mentioned the obstructed views on some of the
Village sidewalks and said the visibility issues on street corners should take
first priority. Reg stated he has already gone to some homeowners, introduced
himself and talked with them about trimming their hedges on the sidewalks.
Any Other Business: Ron Kilburn mentioned the residents at the corner of Canada and Brown
Street and First and Greenwich Street that have ongoing yard sales. He said he
would prefer the Swanton Police dealing with this issue first rather than the
Zoning Office.
Any Other Business: Adam Paxman asked about paying utility bills electronically and
wondered if Swanton Village would go paperless and send bills electronically as
well. I advised him we may be purchasing the piece that would allow customers
to pay online in the future, that we had to get through the conversion first.
Any Other Business: Adam Paxman gave kudos to the Fire Department Truck Committee for all
their hard work. He also mentioned having the Police Department keep an eye out
for kids in the Village Green playing Frisbee, climbing the swan fence and
getting in the pond area. He also mentioned he was in the Park recently and
noticed several cigarette butts on the ground and said they may have more of a
problem with that than he previously thought. Chris Leach stated they would put
signs up first to see if that helps with the problem. Reg stated they have
decided on a style for the signs and that Amy Brewer from Fit and Healthy has
funds available to purchase the signs.
Any Other Business: Adam Paxman asked Reg if there was anything he could do to help with
the Park Improvement issue at this time. Reg stated he purchased a bench from
Costco and showed it to the Board. He said he’s talked with Al Kinzinger about
planning ahead, and being cost effective by cutting the dead trees that are
marked in the Park. He said he would like to have both departments work
together and safely remove these trees. Chris Leach stated he would like to see
some sidewalks added, benches added and the removal of dead trees, and the
planting of some new trees. He would like the sidewalks done after the Car Show
if at all possible.
6. Executive Session to Discuss Contracts and Legal
Matters: None.
ADJOURN: Chris
Leach made the motion to adjourn the Regular Board of Trustees meeting at 8:35
p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. There being no further business at hand, Ronald
Kilburn, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 8:35 p.m.
_____________________________________ _______________________________________
Ronald Kilburn, Village
President Date
_____________________________________ _______________________________________
Dianne Day, Village Clerk Date