Selectboard Meeting 10-17-23

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2023 1017 SLB Draft Meeting Minutes 479 KB

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Draft Minutes

TOWN OF SWANTON

   SELECTBOARD MEETING

Town Office Building

1 Academy Street, Swanton, VT 05488

In-Person & By Zoom

Tuesday, October 17, 2023 @ 6:00 p.m.

Present: Earl Fournier-Chair, Ed White Sr-Vice Chair, Nicole Draper, Steve Bourgois, Cody Hemenway-Members, Brian Savage-Town Administrator, Cathy Fournier-Town Clerk, Chief Matthew Sullivan- Swanton Police Chief, Christina Candels-Administrative Assistant, Amy Giroux-Zoning Administrator, Kevin Lapan-Highway Forman, Ed Daniel, Richard Cummings, Damon Broderick

A. Call to Order

Mr. Fournier called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm.

B. Pledge of Allegiance

Mr. Fournier led those in attendance in the Pledge of Allegiance.

C. Agenda Review

Mr. Hemenway requested to add under New Business an update with Abenaki leaders.

Mr. Savage added to Agenda Highway Dept Correspondence, under Other Necessary Business need to set a date for Veteran’s Flags, under Old Business Future Police Coverage needs to be postponed until next meeting.

D. PUBLIC HEARING TO ENACT INTERIM ZONING BYLAW TO AMEND THE

     BORDER OF THE SOUTHERN GROWTH DISTRICT IN THE TOWN OF SWANTON.

Ms. Draper made a motion to enter the Public Hearing to Enact Interim Zoning Bylaw change at 6:03 pm, seconded by Mr. Hemenway. Motion carried.

Mr. Fournier asked Mr. Cummings if he had any new details to present to the board?

Mr. Cummings stated nothing new, everyone has reviewed the map.

Mr. Fournier asked if anyone has received any feedback? Ms. Giroux stated she had one property owner ask details, wanting to know if the homes were going to be residential.

Mr. Daniel stated this has been a long time coming and happy to see the growth.

Mr. Bourgeois made a motion to approve Interim Bylaw change, seconded by Mr. White. Motion carried.

Mr. Bourgeois asked how long the Interim Bylaw change is in effect for? Ms. Giroux stated it is in effect for 2 years, but that by then this will be added to the Bylaw rewrite.

Mr. Hemenway made a motion to exit the Public Hearing to Enact Interim Zoning Bylaw change at 6:07, seconded by Ms. Draper. Motion carried.

E.  Meeting Topics

1. Minutes

1. October 3, 2023 Regular Selectboard meeting

Mr. White made a motion to approve October 3, 2023, Regular Selectboard Meeting Draft Minutes as written, seconded by Mr. Hemenway. Motion carried.

2. Public Comments

3. Law Enforcement

1. Swanton Polce Chief (re-schedule from meeting of Oct. 3, 2023)

Chief Sullivan update the board with September 2023 incidents.

Chief Sullivan stated that in September, Swanton Village Police top ten incidents are as follows:    18 direct patrol, 7 suspicious people, 6 community outreach, 5 juvenile problems, 4 controlled substance, 4 motor vehicle complaints, 4 property watch, 3 agency assists, 2 citizen assists.

88 incidents total: 22 traffic stops resulting in 12 tickets, 14 warnings, 1 arrest, 2 arrest charges for 2 individuals.

Chief Sullivan also updated that the New Swanton website has a Police Blotter on the police page. This is updated monthly.

Chief Sullivan stated Franklin County now has a new Interim States Attorney whom Chief Sullivan has worked with before and believes he will be an asset to the Swanton community.

Chief Sullivan stated they are still working hard to push out drug activity. Swanton Village Police has been working this activity with a two-prong approach, treatment and law enforcement.

Mr. Fournier asked Chief Sullivan about treatment options they direct people towards.

Mr. Hemenway asked if the calls listed for MVU are outside calls or calls for SRO? They are usually calls to SRO. The SRO at MVU is very busy with incidents. They are also doing outreach at the elementary school as well. Swanton Village Police recently had FEMA representatives come deliver a presentation on Proper Procedures dealing with critical incidents, most of the supervisory union was present and was an eye-opening experience. That has been a focus of the SRO the school’s emergency response plans.

Mr. Hemenway asked if they are seeing any bleed over on drug activity in the community in the schools? Chief Sullivan stated not that he is aware of. They have been following up with an individual distributing THC based pens. They have brought in state resources for this.

The goal of SRO program is to divert these cases to diversion program’s keeping juveniles out of criminal justice system.

Ms. Draper stated she has had community members reach out about the traffic in and out. Chief Sullivan stated the SRO tries to make this a priority.

Mr. White asked Chief Sullivan if they are fully staffed? Chief Sullivan stated yest they are.

Chief Sullivan spoke briefly of the upcoming conversations on more police coverage for Swanton Town, Chief Sullivan believes this is a great idea and needed. The contracted hours cause’s confusion of who to call VSP is very busy. The future of regional policing is something we are going to see. A major part of that is a new larger facility as well.

      4. Expenditures

                  a)  General Orders

Mr. Hemenway made a motion to approve General Orders for September 20, 2023, to October 17, 2023 in the amount of $106,352.54, seconded by Mr. White. Motion carried.

2. Highway Orders

Mr. Bourgeois made a motion to approve Highway Orders for September 20, 2023, to October 17, 2023, in the amount of $35,269.22, seconded by Mr. White. Motion carried.

3. ARPA Orders

Mr. Hemenway made a motion to approve ARPA Orders for September 20, 2023, to October 17, 2023, in the amount of $3,222.81, seconded by Ms. Draper. Motion carried.

4. Library Orders

Ms. Draper made a motion to approve Library Orders for September 20, 2023, to October 17, 2023, in the amount of $18,258.04, seconded by Mr. Hemenway. Motion carried.

Mr. Fournier asked the library budget had the money for the repairs? Ms. Cathy Fournier stated the library budget does not have enough for the repairs to date, but the library is under budget in other areas and is still ok thus far. Mr. Fournier stated when the budget uses the overage, they need to know so the repairs can come out of ARPA funds.

Mr. Bourgeois requested a summary of what has been spent on the library and what’s expected to be spent.

5. Highway/General Payroll Orders

Mr. White made a motion to approve Highway/General Payroll Orders for September 20, 2023, to October 17, 2023, in the amount of $25,184.09, seconded by Mr. Hemenway. Motion carried.

6. Library Payroll Orders

Mr. Hemenway made a motion to approve Library Payroll Orders for September 20, 2023, to October 17, 2023, in the amount of $4,623.38, seconded by Mr. White. Motion carried.

    5.    Highway Department

                  a)  Brooklyn Street catch basin proposal from Tyler Billingsley

Mr. Savage reviewed with the board about the recent meeting with representative from Swanton Village and Tyler Billingsley. Mr. Billingsley has sent a recap of the meeting and what he suggests as the solution to fix the Brookly Street catch basin. Mr. Billingsley stated his fee for the design of this will be $4,000. The Town would pay 75% and Village 25%. The Town roadcrew can do the work. Mr. Savage stated the work will be paid for out of next year’s Grant and Aide Program from AOT.

Mr. Bourgeois made a motion to hire Tyler Billingsley for up to $4,000, seconded by Mr. White. Motion carried.

2. Request from Richard Cummings to take over Jerrymill Lane as a town road.

Mr. Cummings came before the board to request Swanton Town take over Jerrymill Lane. Mr. Cummings presented letters from his engineer stating the road is paved to A-76 standards.

Mr. Bourgeois asked if the town had previously agreed to take this road? No.

Mr. Fournier stated the town is not in the position to take over new roads at this time, they have turned other roads down. Mr. Cummings asked if there is an amount of property taxes collected before they take over a road? No most properties do not pay enough in these developments to cover the costs. Mr. Cummings would like to know the difference in property tax values with private roads.

Mr. Lapan also stated there is a list of other roads that have requested and turned down, Mr. Lapan stated it’s been almost 30years since they have taken over new roads.

Mr. White made a motion to deny Mr. Cummings request to take Jerrymill Lane over as Swanton Town Road at this time, seconded by Mr. Bourgeois. Motion carried.

3. Truck repair

Mr. Lapan updated the board with current issues the Mac truck both sides of the steel frame rails have rotted and need to be replaced. This will cost roughly $10,000.

Mr. Lapan stated they have ordered new wheel bearing for the tractor and they have come in and United hopes to get it fixed this week. Mr. Lapan does not have a cost estimate on this yet.

4. Town garage doors

Mr. Fournier recently went to the Town Garage and was surprised to find the doors locked. Mr. Lapan stated the previous Road Forman had made this policy. Ms. Candels reviewed the selectboard meeting minutes of 2016, 2017 & 2018 for Mr. Fournier and found no mention of this policy. Mr. White asked if the previous Selectboard had made this decision. Mr. Lapan is completely comfortable with the doors being unlocked when they are in the building.

Mr. White made a motion for Swanton Town garage doors to be unlocked when Town Employees are in the building, seconded by Mr. Bourgeois. Motion carried.

5. Highway Dept Correspondence.

Mr. Savage shared an email correspondence he received from Adam Paxman on Spring Street in regards to plowing in front of his house. Mr. Paxman has requested the Swanton Town snow plow trucks not drop their plow until after his house.

Mr. Lapan has spoken with the crew member whom plows that road and they will ensure this happens.

Mr. Savage shared an email he received from Mr. Bill Sheets Swanton Village Manager. Mr. Sheets is sending his email to inform the board that Swanton Village plans to preform repairs to the expansion joints to the bridge. The Village presenting two options one option is a significant cost savings by closing the bridge completely for a few days. This will in turn direct all traffic onto town roads. Mr. Sheets question is how do they pursues with his possibility?

Mr. Bourgeois asked if they would have some kind of traffic control?

Mr. Fournier asked Mr. Lapan if he sees any problem with this? Mr. Lapan stated not this used to be a truck route also.

The other option would create one lane traffic over the bridge, this would create many other problems.

Mr. Savage will let Mr. Sheets know the Selectboard supports this and they can address the traffic questions later.

     6.    Old Town Business

                    a)  Status of accounting policies, town policy updates

Mr. Savage updated the board he is in the process of updated the 6 fiscal policies required to move forward with the grant. Once Mr. Savage and Ms. Cathy Fournier have completed these they will give them to the board to review, they are hoping to have them for the selectboard by the next selectboard meeting.

Mr. Savage has been able to find all of the policies for update in VLCT website.

Mr. Fournier liked the idea of Mr. Savage drafting other policies in the future with recommendations for the selectboard, these things need to be completed and this will help get them completed.

Mr. Bourgeois asked if we should review these annually?

                    b)  Future Police Coverage Discussion.

                        Postponed until a future meeting.

Mr. Fournier requested Mr. Savage schedule a time for Selectboard and Village meet to discuss cost and that selectboard members get proposal ahead of time to review.

                    c)  Municipal Planning Grant for Zoning By-law update

Mr. Savage is preparing the grant application and need a resolution to apply for this grant.

Mr. Bourgeois made a motion to have Mr. Savage apply for Municipal Planning Grant for Zoning Bylaw update for the town, seconded by Ms. Draper. Motion carried.      

     7.    New Town Business

                     a)  Letter of Support of water and wastewater improvements for the Village

                          of Swanton grant application

Mr. Savage presented a letter proposed by Swanton Village review and sign for Swanton Village to apply for the grant.

Mr. Hemenway made a motion to sign a letter of support for Swanton Village to apply for a grant, seconded by Ms. Draper. Motion carried.

                     b)  Town Buildings issues

Mr. Savage updated the board with Library building issues. Mr. Kevin Nichols has examined the library basement and did not detect any sign of mold. The area of the basement that was having water come in seems to be fixed since the road crew put some stone along the foundation as no water has come in since then. Mr. Savage stated the leak in the sprinkler system seems to have healed its self but should be evaluated. The pump under the elevator was spraying water and has been fixed.

Mr. Savage updated the Northern Basements has scheduled the basement work for January 10, 2024 and will take two days. Mr. Savage will meet with Village prior to this to see where they can direct the water.

Laz Scangas will meet with Mr. Savage tomorrow with the results of the blow/air test of the library. Mr. White will attend as well.

Mr. Savage stated they have received the rebate from Vermont Gas for the new heating system.

Mr. Fournier stated they need to discuss these projects needed in town buildings prior the budget meetings.

Mr. Bourgeois stated they really need to look at a building reserve account.

The town has many other things that need to be asses that they need to plan for.

Mr. Savage will review other town buildings for budget planning.

Mr. Savage also discussed heating issues with Town Office, they will discuss and see if these need to be addressed in the future.  Mr. Fournier recommended looking into green heating options.        

                     c)   Joint Meeting with Village Trustees for public hearing on Exit 21 plans

                            (tentatively scheduled for November 27, 2023)

     8.   Community and Economic Development

Mr. Savage has met with a two people seeking funding to open a restaurant in Swanton.

     9.     Any Other Necessary Business

                        Southern Growth District discussion.

    10..   Correspondance

                        None

    11.   Public Comment (Reprise)

Mr. Savage discussed with the board when they should plan to put up / take down Veterans flags.

Veterans Flags will go up November 4^th with rain date being November 5^th at 9 am. Sunday November 12^th at 9 am will be the planned date to take them down.

Mr. Hemenway spoke with Maquam Bay and Abenaki Tribal Council and they are fine with scheduling a meeting after Tribal elections and look forward to working together.  

    12.     Upcoming Events

                      a)   DRB – October 26, 2023 – Town Offices – 6:00 pm.

          b)   Selectboard – Regular Meeting – November 7, 2023 – 6:00 pm,

                 Town Offices and Zoom.

     13.    Executive Session (Legal)

Ms. Draper made a motion to enter executive session at 8:14 pm, seconded by Mr. Motion carried.

Mr. White made a motion to exit executive session at 8:45 pm, seconded by Mr. Hemenway. Motion carried.

E. Adjournment

Ms. Draper made a motion to adjourn at 8:45 pm, seconded by Mr. Hemenway. Motion carried.

Respectfully Submitted By,

Christina Candels-Administrative Assistant