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Trustees Meeting 1/13/20

  • Monday, January 13, 2020
    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 13, 2020

7:00 PM

PRESENT: Neal Speer, Village President; Chris Leach, Trustee; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Reginald Beliveau Jr., Village Manager; Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager; Dianne Day, Village Clerk; Leonard “Joey” Stell, Chief of Police; 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.

  1. Agenda Review:

Adam Paxman stated he would need to add Real Estate to their executive session. Reg Beliveau stated Wayne Elliott would like to be present for Item #9 so they will table that for tonight and reschedule it for their January 27th meeting. Reg also stated he would recommend the Board not adopt the 2020 budget tonight because they had a few changes to it. He said they should review it tonight and adopt it at the January 27th meeting.

  1. Public Comment:

None.

  1. Approve and Sign Minutes from Monday, December 23, 2019 and Monday, January 6, 2020 as presented:

Chris Leach made the motion to approve and accept the Minutes from Monday, December 23, 2019 and Monday, January 6, 2020 as presented. Adam Paxman seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

  1. Approve and Sign Warrants through Friday, January 10, 2020 as presented:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve and sign Warrants through Friday, January 10, 2020 as presented. Chris Leach seconded. Discussion: Adam Paxman asked about the Broadberry USA invoice for $6838.48. Reg stated he couldn’t remember and would let them know at their next meeting. Motion carried.

  1. Swanton Village Police Department Update:

Chief Stell stated the police department responded to 167 calls for service in the Village. He said they wrote 39 traffic warnings and issued 6 traffic tickets totaling $869. He said they had some pretty significant calls and wanted to mention that when they show their daily log with property watches that doesn’t include a residential home. He said they don’t want to draw attention to the fact someone might be gone on vacation. He said their traffic warnings were issued on Grand Avenue, First Street and Spring Street. He said the tickets came from stops on Pine Street, Spring Street and Grand Avenue and were not speed related. Chris Leach asked if there were any major crimes in 2019. Chief Stell stated the more high-profile case was the two juveniles who did a home invasion and beat up a teenager and his grandmother. He said both those individuals are still in custody and being charged as adults. Chief Stell stated they are finding less needles around the Village and he’s happy about that. Chris stated they only complaint he hears from people is that they say they don’t see the police out canvasing the streets. Chief Stell stated they track mileage and an officer can put on 75 to 100 miles per day in the Village. He said or they could be targeting speeders and they wouldn’t be putting on that much mileage. Adam Paxman asked if the Chief had any concerns about the new stop sign put up on Canada Street. He said Sgt. Parah monitored it last week and said only one vehicle stopped for it. He said they would issue warnings until residents are used to having to stop there. He said it may need to be lit up so people can see it better. The board thanked the Chief for coming in.

  1. Adopt Village of Swanton 2020 Budget as presented:

Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager, said this should be her final draft for the 2020 budgets. She said she calculated the bond payment on the fire truck incorrectly and has refigured it. She also said they received their dispatching invoice today from St. Albans City and it increased by about $5000 so she needed to account for that also. Lynn said the overtime figure in the police department has been reduced and there is an increase in salaries, social security taxes and retirement. She said salaries and retirement amounts were adjusted in the highway department as well. She said  the general fund is increasing from .0814 in 2019 to .0822 for an 0.92% increase; the fire department is increasing from .0468 in 2019 to .0504 for a 7.72% increase; the police department is increasing from .3926 in 2019 to .4284 for a 9.12% increase and the highway fund is increasing from .3223 in 2019 to .3228 for a 0.16% increase. The overall increase for the Village for 2020 is 4.82% which will take the tax rate from .8431 to .8838 for 2020. Taxpayers would see an increase of $71.15 on a home assessed at $175,000 and an increase of $81.31 on a home assessed at $200,000.

Lynn said she adjusted salaries in the electric and water and sewer departments and said she anticipates $603,825 for net income in the electric department. She said a bond from the 1980’s was paid off in the electric department and she doesn’t anticipate a rate increase in that fund for 2020. She said they still have a bond from 1990 which is $440,000 per year, a bond on unit 5 which is about $70,000 per year, a bond on the rubber dam which is about $88,000 per year and a bond on hydro upgrades which is about $18,000 per year plus interest. She said they are carrying about $6 million dollars worth of debt but it is going down. Reg Beliveau also stated they are up for relicensing at the Hydro Plant and that can be very expensive as well. Lynn said the water department is in good shape and she doesn’t need a rate increase in this department but said the sewer rates are not sufficient and would like to increase them beginning March 2020. She said their chemical cost and maintenance issues are causing this. She would like to take the customer charge from $35.71 to $37.86 and the variable rate from $3.89 to $4.11. She said she would rather raise rates in smaller increments as to not burden the ratepayers that much. She said they have been skating around doing a sewer plant upgrade but may need to do one very soon. 

  1. Review, Approve and Sign Declaration of Intent for Sewer Department, Water Department and General Department:

Lynn Paradis informed the board that when the Village goes out for bond on any project they cannot capture any of the engineering fees, etc. unless they have a Declaration of Intent signed by the Village Clerk. She said when they go to the voters for a bond they want all their expenses covered. Eugene LaBombard made the motion to authorize Dianne Day, Village Clerk, to sign a Declaration of Official Intent for the General Department, Sewer Department and Water Department and to sign all necessary documents. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.

  1. Review and Sign State Revolving Loan Program Funding Application for Missisquoi River Waterline Crossing:

Tabled until 1/27/20 meeting.

  1. Approve the following Coin Drops Requested for 2020: MVUHS Class of 2020 Substance Free Party Coin Drop for May 9, 2020; Swanton Village Fire Auxiliary Coin Drop for July 11, 2020; Relay for Life American Cancer Society Team Wellness Warriors Coin Drop for August 1, 2020; Swanton Village Fire Department Coin Drop for September 12, 2020 and Swanton Missisquoi Valley Lions Club Coin Drop for October 17, 2020:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve all of the above-mentioned coin drops and dates requested. Chris Leach seconded. Discussion: Adam Paxman asked if the Relay for Life Team was local. Dianne Day, Village Clerk, stated they are from Franklin County. Motion carried with two yays, one nay.

  1. Any Other Necessary Business:

Adam Paxman asked if the Village was having any trouble with the Utility Pole Ordinance that is now in place regarding dual wood. Reg Beliveau stated there is still dual wood in some areas but said Fairpoint changed to Consolidated Communications and are having difficulty with having enough staff. Reg said he would discuss it with Duane Couture, Electric Foreman.

Any Other Business: Reg Beliveau said the Arts Spectacular will be held on September 12, 2020 in the Village Park again this year. He also wanted to inform the Board that the State has been asking the Village to revolve their CBDG funds for some time now and he said the highway department needs to replace a water line this year so he would like to revolve $25,000 to do this. He said they can do it with a 0% interest rate and would put this on their ballot for their taxpayers to vote on. He said if they didn’t use any of these funds they would lose them and the funds can be used for sidewalks and infrastructure work.

Any Other Business: Chris Leach stated January 29th marks the 50th anniversary of the Merchants Row fire downtown. He said there will be an events held at the library and at the Village Complex on January 28th.

Any Other Business: Neal Speer stated the lights look really good on Merchants Row but said they could stand to have more lights on Grand Avenue from the corner to the Post Office. Reg said he would check it out.

Any Other Business: Reg Beliveau stated the Village was supposed to get hit with an ice storm but thankfully the temperature didn’t start to drop until 3:30 in the morning and that helped quite a bit. He said there were 3 small outages and the Village lucked out.

  1. Executive Session to Discuss Contracts:

Adam Paxman made the motion to enter into Executive Session at 8:10 p.m. to discuss contracts and real estate. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

Adam Paxman made the motion to exit Executive Session at 8:40 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

ACTION TAKEN: None.

13. Adjournment:

Chris Leach made the motion to adjourn the Regular Board of the Trustees meeting at 8:40 p.m.  Adam Paxman seconded. There being no further business at hand, Neal Speer, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 8:40 p.m. Motion carried.

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Neal Speer, Village President                            Date

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Dianne Day, Village Clerk                                Date