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Trustees Meeting 1/11/21

  • Monday, January 11, 2021
    7 PM – 9 PM

Village Trustees

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SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX

120 FIRST STREET

SWANTON, VT 05488

REGULAR MEETING

Monday, January 11, 2021

7:00 PM

PRESENT: Neal Speer, Village President; Chris Leach, Trustee; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Reg Beliveau, Village Manager and Dianne Day, Village Clerk. Via Zoom: Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager; and Ch. 16.

Unless otherwise noted, all motions carried unanimously.

  1. Call to Order:

Neal Speer, Village President, called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Neal said everyone is trying to get through problems nationwide and also dealing with COVID-19 together. He said he hopes everyone stays safe and has a healthy 2021.

  1. Pledge of Allegiance:

Everyone stood for the Pledge of Allegiance.

  1. Agenda Review:

Eugene LaBombard stated he would need an Executive Session to discuss personnel.

  1. Public Comment:

None.

  1. Approve and Accept Minutes from Monday, December 28, 2020:

Chris Leach made the motion to approve and accept the Minutes from Monday, December 28, 2020 as presented. Adam Paxman seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

  1. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Friday, January 8, 2021:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve Village Warrants through Friday, January 8, 2021 as presented. Adam Paxman seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

  1. Adopt Swanton Village 2021 Budget as presented:

Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager; stated she made a couple of changes in the budget. She said she changed the health insurance in the water department and also dropped testing in the sewer department. She said in the police department she changed health insurance by $25,000 because an employee is not taking the Village’s healthcare. She said she added some of that money to the equipment and supplies line because they are having trouble with their body cameras and may also need to purchase a few computers. She said this department is level funded as of now and she is hoping that doesn’t change. She said she still has some grant money to collect and that will help. She said overtime labor also played a part in this budget because they had a hard time covering shifts with their part timers. Chris Leach asked about the SRO (Student Resource Officer) position at the elementary school. Lynn said they are still working on it but it looks like that may happen.

Lynn also said the electric department is showing a sizeable profit but that number will go down some. She said the water department is showing a large profit as well but she has grant principle forgiveness she needs to report as income. She said the sewer department is show a small loss and the highway department is showing a small profit and this fund will break even and level fund. She said the fire department is also showing a small profit and she was able to pay for the air compressor out of their savings account. She said this department level funded as well. Lynn said overall her budgets are in pretty good shape and she would suggest that they not adjust the rates in the water and sewer departments. She said she would rather wait and see what the revenue numbers do. She said because of COVID-19 she doesn’t want to add any extra burden to the customers. The Board thanked Lynn for such a good job on her budgets this year. She told them she also included a list of anticipated purchases for each department. She said the only fund that is increasing this year is the general fund and that is going up approximately 1 ¼ pennies in the tax rate. Overall, the tax rate is going up 1.38%.

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve and adopt the 2021 Swanton Village budget as presented with the estimated tax rate going from .8722 to .8842. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.

  1. Review and Acknowledge 4th Quarter SQRP Report:

Chris Leach stated this report stands for service quality & reliability report which is a self-graded report on how well the Village delivers services to its customers. Chris Leach stated the employees of the Village of Swanton at all have done a wonderful job and he thanked them all for their hard work. He acknowledged the Board was in receipt of this report for the 4th quarter.

  1. Any Other Necessary Business:

Reg Beliveau stated that he and Chris Leach were invited to be on the Energy Committee and there will be a meeting on January 20th. He said this is a spin off from the Swanton Planning Commission and said every Town should have an energy committee.

Any Other Business: Adam Paxman stated the Christmas lights are down in the Village Green and said he had some good feedback about the tree that was in the bandstand. He said he would also like to add more lights to the park next year and would be looking for volunteers to help with that. He said the Chamber of Commerce will be holding their 11th Annual Car Show in the Village Green on Saturday, July 24 come rain, shine or Covid, it’s going to happen. Chris Leach asked if they were going to put a skating rink in the park this year. Reg said they were going to but the Governor requested they not put them in because of covid.

Any Other Business: Neal Speer stated he would like to clarify some information that was in the St. Albans Messenger about the Riviera Hotel property. He said the Village purchased this property a couple months ago and are currently cleaning it up. He said Phase I has been completed and now they are on Phase II and hope to have that done by the end of January. He said an engineering firm from Williston is working on a proposal for testing the site and building to see how much, if any, Brownfield tainting there is. He said they would entertain any ideas ideas about retail or housing that could go there. He said today they removed the trees that were in front of the building. He said this project is moving slow but predict the building will be torn down by the end of September. He said they are looking to improve that section of town.

  1. Executive Session to Discuss Personnel:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to enter Executive Session to discuss Personnel at 7:28 p.m. Chris Leach seconded. Motion carried.

Adam Paxman made the motion to exit Executive Session at 8:10 p.m. Chris Leach seconded. Motion carried.

ACTION TAKEN: None.

  1. Adjournment:

Chris Leach made the motion to adjourn the Regular Board of the Trustees meeting at 8:10 p.m. Adam Paxman seconded. There being no further business at hand, Neal Speer, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 8:10 p.m. Motion carried.

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Neal Speer, Village President                            Date

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Dianne Day, Village Clerk                                Date