Trustees Meeting 10/28/19

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SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX

120 FIRST STREET

SWANTON, VT 05488

REGULAR MEETING

Monday, October 28, 2019

7:00 PM

PRESENT: Neal Speer, Village President; Chris Leach, Trustee; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Reginald Beliveau Jr., Village Manager; Dianne Day, Village Clerk; Leonard “Joey” Stell, Chief of Police; Beth Crane, Mentoring Program and Ch. 16.

Unless otherwise noted, all motions carried unanimously.

1. Call to Order:

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

2. Agenda Review:

Dianne Day, Village Clerk, stated Crystal Lampman, Amy Brewer and Michael Monte would not be at tonight’s meeting.

3. Public Comment:

Beth Crane, Franklin County Caring Communities and Watershed Mentoring, stopped by to talk to the Trustees about the need for mentoring in Franklin County. She said as of know there are kids on a waiting list for mentors. She said she would like the Trustees support in raising awareness that kids need mentors and positive role models. Chris Leach asked how a child qualifies to have a mentor. Beth stated the school may notice that a child needs help or adult attention to help them stay in school, etc. She said there are all sorts of reasons and these are usually kids they don’t want to fall through the cracks. Chris Leach asked what the qualifications are for the mentor. Beth stated they are adults who can pass a background check and have a comfort level with kids. She said mentoring has helped kids stay in school, graduate and move on to a happy future. Reg Beliveau told Beth the Village would put this information on their website and also said she should talk with the Town to get this information on the E-Sign. The Board thanked her for her information.

4. Approve and Accept Minutes from Monday, September 23, 2019 Meeting:

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

5. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through October 25, 2019:

Adam Paxman made the motion to approve and accept Village Warrants through October 25, 2019 as presented. Chris Leach seconded. Discussion: Adam Paxman asked about the payment to Champlain Valley Equipment for $3,999. Reg Beliveau stated that was for the pusher on the plow truck. Eugene LaBombard asked about the payment made to the Town of Swanton for $81,241.10. Reg stated that was for the Village taxes. Adam Paxman asked about the payment made to the Garnet Abrasive & Water Filtration for $10,076. Reg stated that was for work done at the Water Treatment Plant. Eugene LaBombard asked about the payment made to James Kiley for $11,508.07. Reg stated that was for work done on the digger truck in the electric department. Chris Leach asked about the payment to Champlain Divers for $2400. Reg stated that was for diving done at the water plant checking the input valve and for diving at the Hydro Plant. He said these are annual inspections. Motion carried.

6. Swanton Village Police Department Update:

Chief Stell handed out an Incident Summary Report to the Board and said this covers incidents from September through October. He said there was 348 calls for service and covers a wide variety of calls from motor vehicle complaints to crashes to agency assists. He said they gave 47 warnings and issued traffic tickets totaling $1861.00. He also explained they have reoccurring property checks that are done every day. Adam Paxman asked if anything out of the ordinary was concerning. Chief Stell said no and said they are seeing less discarded needles and seeing less vandalism. He said burglaries are down but retail theft is the same. He said they see a lot of retail theft from the Dollar Store and from Hannafords. Chief Stell said last weekend they participated in the drug take back day along with the DEA. He said the last time they did it they collected 40-43pounds of drugs. Chris Leach asked how things were going with the Resource Officer at MVUHS. Chief Stell said violence is down and they still have minor behavior issues but nothing alarming. He said they have made a proposal to the elementary school for a resource officer because there are federal grants available to help pay for them. He said the school is working on their budget to see if they can do this. He said this makes kids feel safe at school. Chris also asked how active the K-9 was. Chief Stell said he’s been fairly active and said he found his first drugs in a car, drugs in a house and helped locate an elderly dementia patient in a nearby area. Eugene LaBombard said he received a complaint over the weekend about suspicious activity at the Swanton beach. He asked if there was nightly patrol there and asked if the gate was locked each night. Chief Stell said they do patrol there nightly but said they are leaving the gate unlocked right now because of duck and goose hunting. He said hunters arrive at 4 a.m. and that could be the activity they are referring to if they’re not used to that happening. He said they will leave the gate unlocked for the hunters and close it back up when the season is done. Chris Leach also asked about their overtime wages being up recently. Chief Stell stated they are having trouble with their part timers not being able to work weekends. He said they are in the training process again and hope to send a couple more to the academy in February.

7. 2020 Health Insurance Renewal Discussion:

Reg Beliveau informed the Board that there is going to be a $14,900 increase for the Village for their MVP Health Insurance in 2020. He said that amounts to a 9% increase. He said as of right now they are under budget in that line item because some employees have made changes to their insurance. Adam Paxman made the motion to approve the Village of Swanton renewing their Health Insurance with MVP. Chris Leach seconded. Discussion: Chris Leach asked if the Village looked around and checked prices with any other companies. Reg Beliveau said yes they do every year and because they are a member of VT Leagues of Cities and Towns they get a better rate. He said Swanton Village is fiscally responsible and he said the employees contribute to their health insurance. Motion carried.

8. Water Allocation Request for 408 Maquam Shore Road – Brian Benoit:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to enter into Water Commissioner’s meeting at 7:45 p.m. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried. Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve Brian Benoit’s request for a water allocation of 400 GPD for his two-bedroom seasonal camp at 408 Maquam Shore Road. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried. Adam Paxman made the motion to exit Water Commissioner’s meeting and re-enter Open Session at 7:47 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

9. Approve and Adopt Updated Stop Sign Ordinance:

Reg Beliveau stated he would like to update the Stop Streets Ordinance in the Village to include stopping at the end of Canada Street at the Grand Avenue intersection. He said he has spoken with the Agency of Transportation (AOT) and they support this. He said AOT doesn’t recommend a yield on a street that has 6100 or more vehicles recorded and Canada Street has 9100 vehicles. Eugene LaBombard made the motion to authorize the Village of Swanton to update their Stop Street Ordinance to include stopping on Canada Street at the Grand Avenue intersection. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.

10. Any Other Necessary Business:

Chris Leach asked if the dirt on South River Street was for the new sidewalk going in. Neal Speer stated that it was for the pedestrian bike lane they are doing. He said the Town will be extending the shoulder of the road so bikes and pedestrians are much safer on that road. Chris also asked if there was a schedule for the bags of leaves to be picked up. Reg said it’s usually Monday’s and Friday’s if they have time. Chris asked if the Village is using the electric car yet. Reg said he is still working on getting it registered. Chris asked about Bruce Spaulding doing the cleaning on the monuments by the Lady Liberty statue. Reg said the four stones have been cleaned but not the statue. He said Ron Kilburn is looking into getting it cleaned. Chris also asked about how the Village taxes came in this year and Dianne Day, Village Clerk, said she handed over approximately $67,000 in delinquent taxes which is about the usual amount.

Any Other Business: Adam Paxman said Halloween In the Park was a great success this year and said a lot of people came out for it. He said Christmas in the Park will be held on December 7^th this year but said the Chamber needs help with putting Christmas lights up in the Park. He said if you can volunteer to contact him. He said the Chamber building is looking good. He said the baseboard molding and cabinets are in and he is hoping it will be all set by the 1^st of the year. He said he knew coin drop requests would start coming in and asked if the new form was being used.

Any Other Business: Eugene LaBombard asked if the stump dump was closed after 4 p.m. and on weekends now. Reg Beliveau stated it was because they had issues with people dumping couches and garbage at the site. He said there are cameras there but because it was an ongoing problem they decided to lock it up. He said the dump site is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and he said next spring they might try opening it on weekends again. Eugene asked if there was any word on Butch Patch’s river wall. Reg said he was told he needed to talk to the enforcement officer. He said he thought it was a permit issue and that a permit needed to be paid for ahead of time.

Any Other Business: Neal Speer stated Route 78 will be closed this weekend beginning Saturday, November 2 at 7 p.m. He said local residents can continue to use Church Road and Campbell’s Bay Road to go around the road work but said no big trucks would be allowed.

Any Other Business: Reg Beliveau said the Village participated in a tabletop exercise on Wednesday and Dianne Day and Cathy Fournier helped keep record of it. He said this was a statewide free exercise and on Thursday there was another exercise here with the HazMat team. He said the Village did some repair on the Merchants Row bridge by the VFW on the metal plate. He said it is showing its age and he will work with the State of Vermont and Regional Planning because the bridge needs to have an analysis done. He said there are grants available for this and he will look into it. He said he has also been teaching fire prevention again this fall at the schools.

11. Executive Session to Discuss Real Estate:

Adam Paxman made the motion to enter into Executive Session at 8:08 p.m. to discuss Real Estate. Chris Leach seconded. Motion carried.

Chris Leach made the motion to exit Executive Session and re-enter Open Session at 8:30 p.m. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.

ACTION TAKEN: Adam Paxman made the motion to authorize Village Manager Reginald Beliveau Jr. to write a letter to Champlain Housing Trust asking for more of a clarification on their recent request to suspend payment of their grant. Chris Leach seconded. Motion carried.

12. Adjournment:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to adjourn the Regular Board of the Trustees meeting at 8:32 p.m.  Chris Leach seconded. There being no further business at hand, Neal Speer, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 8:32 p.m. Motion carried.

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Neal Speer, Village President                            Date

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Dianne Day, Village Clerk                                Date