Trustees Meeting 1/8/24

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SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX

120 FIRST STREET

SWANTON, VT 05488

REGULAR MEETING

Monday, January 8, 2024

7:00 PM

PRESENT: Neal Speer, Village President; Chris Leach, Trustee; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; William “Bill” Sheets, Village Manager; Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager; Dianne Day, Village Clerk; Karen Drennan and Ch. 16. Via Teams: Suzie Kelleher, Darcy.

Unless otherwise noted, all motions carried, unanimously.

1. Call to Order:

Neal Speer, Village President, called the Village Board of Trustees meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

2. Pledge of Allegiance:

Everyone in attendance stood for the Pledge of Allegiance.

3. Agenda Review:

Bill Sheets, Village Manager, stated that there is an amendment to the Kittell, Branagan & Sargent upcoming audit and the board needs to revise their previous motion. He suggested it go under item #6. Dianne Day, Village Clerk, stated she had a lien update for the board and would add that to item #8.

4. Approve and Accept Minutes from the Regular Board Meeting held on Wednesday,  December 27, 2023 as presented:

Adam Paxman made the motion to approve the Minutes from Wednesday, December 27, 2023 meeting as presented. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

5. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Thursday, January 4, 2024:

Chris Leach made the motion to approve Village Warrants through Thursday, January 4, 2024 as presented. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

6. 2024 Budget Discussions:

Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager, informed the board that KBS needs to do a single audit this year and said the price has gone from $37,500 to $39,500. She said this stems from federal funds received in 2023 from ARPA, police federal grants and sewer funds. Chris Leach said some companies change auditors every few years and asked how long KBS has been doing the Village’s audits. Lynn said for several years and said audit firms that audit electric companies are hard to find. Adam Paxman made the motion to authorize Village Manager William Sheets and one Trustee to sign the Kittell, Branagan & Sargent audit engagement letter in the amount of $39,500. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

Fire Department: Lynn said she received the dispatching invoice in this department and said the rate went down to .0532 in that fund. She said her 2024 estimated tax rate is now $1.1730. Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve all budgets as presented with an estimated 2024 tax rate of $1.1730. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.

7. Village Manager Update:

Swanton Selectboard Meeting: On 01/02/24 I attended the Selectboard Meeting with Chief Matt Sullivan and Chief Dan Chevalier to present the proposed budgets. For the Fire Department, the annual budget for the Town is $296,216. For the Police Department, the annual contract for 70 hours of police coverage, (10 hours per day), is $475,057. The Selectboard unanimously approved a Fire Department budget, not to exceed $296,216 and unanimously approved the proposed Police Department contract in the amount of $475,057.

Public Safety Facility and Complex Renovations Open Houses:On Sunday we held Open House #11, #12 and #13. Ten total attendees over the first two sessions, with no one showing up for the 6 PM open house. We have Number 14, 15 and 16 this Thursday at 10, 2 and 6.

Water Department Job Posting: We have posted our opening in the water department. As a reminder the expectation is that we will require the now two positions in the water department, as well as our two wastewater treatment plant operators, to be fully certified to operate both plants, and to fully participate in the on-call rotation.

EV Charging Station: Effective January 1^st we have temporarily disconnected our EV charger(s) at the complex. We do not have the ability to charge people, as the previous credit card station failed multiple times. We (Al Mosher) have been in contact with our current vendor (Control Module Inc. out of CT), who will be providing us with a quote to get the card charging feature reactivated. We will conduct a cost benefit analysis of whether it makes sense to upgrade our ability to charge for customers to use the current level two charger, or to either suspend access or pay for access ourselves, until we can install a level three charger (grant funded). The ability to upgrade to level three is one year out.

Options for the Trustees include:

1. Keep the charging stations offline until we conduct a CBA.
2. Pay for customer usage until we either,
   1. Reactivate the credit card feature on the device.
   2. Wait until we install a level three charger with grant funding.

The board discussed the possible options and agreed that the chargers should be turned back on until the end of January. Bill said he would have more financial information available for their next meeting on what the credit card readers will cost and whether or not it’s cost effective to install them. Adam Paxman made the motion to authorize the Village of Swanton to energize the EV car charging stations until the end of January 2024 and to pay for those charges. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

Downtown Parking Update:  As we discussed previously, we have installed an additional streetlight on the parking lot side of 74 Merchant’s Row. We are in the process of ordering six handrail kits for installation on the left side of Merchants Row, to aid people with accessibility. Dan Chevalier and his maintenance team will be removing the bent railing and installing the six handrails. We are continuing to explore the costs associated with a handicap accessible ramp.

Weather Concerns:  The State of Vermont and the power companies continue to closely monitor anticipated storm impacts for an approaching storm this Tuesday and Wednesday. The concern is snow that will turn to rain due to the temperatures, as well as forecasted high winds. This is a concern for public works, who used today to remove snow from our downtown and elsewhere to prevent icing and melting issues. Swanton Village Electric will participate in calls and will be prepared for anticipated outages.

Pecos Wind:  We had a conference call with VPPSA late last week about the viability of placing a wind turbine at the Wastewater plant. At this point we believe that a cost-benefit analysis demonstrates that this is not a viable part of our power supply platform. However, VPPSA might want to be a direct partner with PECOS wind and ask that we allow the turbine to be sited at the Wastewater plant. More to follow, but we would be an alternative project and be able utilize that for Tier II REC’s for VPPSA.

Hydro Net Generation:  We had another great year at Hydro, in terms of Net Generation. In 2023 we produced just under 1.5 million additional KWHs over 2022.

8. Any Other Necessary Business:

Dianne Day, Village Clerk, stated the Village of Swanton collected a total of $59,788.52 in electric, water and sewer liens in 2023. She said there were 58 electric liens paid totaling $26,939.08 and said 30 landlords paid, 7 tenants, 5 homeowners, 3 were paid by grants or programs, 8 were court ordered to be removed and 5 were paid by closing attorneys. She also said there were 24 electric, water and sewer liens paid totaling $28,640.31. She said 22 were paid by homeowners, 1 by a tenant and 1 at their closing. Dianne also said there were 6 water and sewer liens paid totaling $4209.13 and all 6 were paid by homeowners. She said this is not a favorable practice by the Village but said the system is working and the $59,788.52 collected helped all ratepayers from having to pay higher rates for their services.

Any Other Business: Adam Paxman asked if the Chamber of Commerce could announce their Citizen of the Year award immediately following the joint public informational hearing on Monday, February 26, 2024. The board agreed with this.

Any Other Business: Chris Leach said the highway crew did a good job cleaning up after the recent snowfall. He said he also noticed them picking up Christmas trees which is a nice benefit for the residents. He also asked about the Historical Society purchasing the Roy’s Insurance building. He said that will make them a very nice place.

9. Public Comment:

Karen Drennan asked if the Village would consider mailing and billing tax bills every quarter. Lynn Paradis stated that the Village is on a calendar year and are unable to bill taxes that way. She said the State of Vermont mandates the electric department to be on a calendar year. Karen was told that a customer can come in a pay throughout the year if they choose.

10. Executive Session to Discuss Personnel and Real Estate:

Adam Paxman made the motion to enter Executive Session at 7:50 p.m. to discuss Personnel 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.

11. Adjournment:

Chris Leach made the motion to adjourn the Regular Meeting of the 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