Trustees Meeting 11/12/24

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 SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX

120 FIRST STREET

SWANTON, VT 05488

REGULAR MEETING

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

7:00 PM

PRESENT: David Winchester, Village President; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Suzie Kelleher, Trustee; William “Bill” Sheets, Village Manager; Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager; Dianne Day, Village Clerk; Daniel Chevalier, Hydro Plant Supervisor; Damon Broderick and Ch. 16.

To watch this meeting in its entirety, go to Northwest Access TV on YouTube. Unless otherwise noted, all motions carried, unanimously.

1. Call to Order:

David Winchester, 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 he needed an Executive Session to discuss a legal matter.

4. Public Comment:

None.

5. Approve and Accept Minutes from the Monday, October 28, 2024 meeting as presented:

Adam Paxman made the motion to approve Minutes from the Monday, October 28, 2024 meeting as presented. Suzie Kelleher seconded the motion. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

6. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Thursday, November 7, 2024:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve Village Warrants through Thursday, November 7, 2024 as presented. Adam Paxman seconded the motion. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

7. Swanton Village Hydro Department Update with Daniel Chevalier:

Dan Chevalier was present for this presentation and began his Power Point discussion. He said they work 24/7 365 days per year at the Hydro Plant. He showed pictures of Units #1 through #4 and showed one from the 1920’s. He said they are the work horses of the Hydro Plant but can be tricky to fix. He also showed pictures of the Hydro Plant from the 1940’s. He said the Hydro Plant is fully staffed and showed a slide that introduced his operators. There is Steve Boyer, David Cassidy, Ron Pilbin and John Greer Jr. Dan said Blake Hancock was his intern this past year and said he did a fantastic job. He said his two maintenance guys are back up operators as well and they are Josh Packard and Nick Williams. Dan said he is fortunate to have a very good crew who are hardworking and dedicated. Dan also said he loves to compare generation from year to year and showed this year’s water compared to last year. He said this year they did not match the water of 2023. Dan showed the control ring on Unit #1 that they had trouble with and said after a lot of investigations they weren’t able to find a cause for this other than old age. He said there was nothing stuck in there and they determined that this was the original piece of Unit #1. He said fortunately they were able to fabricate a new ring and clamp it on because matching old parts with new parts can be hard. He showed the board what the wicket gates and control arms are and explained how they work. He said Unit #1 is now up and running and they learned a lot along the way during this repair. Dan also showed images of Unit #2 and said they had problems with that one as well. He showed pictures of the thrust bearing and said it’s important that they don’t find themselves back in that situation again.

Dan showed his Five-Year Plan:

• Veridical Hydro Units 1-4
• Identify Critical Components and Parameters
• Select Monitoring Techniques and Tools
• Data Acquisitions and Storage
• Condition-based Maintenance Strategy
• Training and Workforce Integration
• Continuous Improvement. Up to date Components.

He said they are able to go in and identify issues but would like more capabilities as a team. He said what they do is good, but he thinks they should be doing more. There are vibration sensors, etc. and by taking the human component out you’re becoming somewhat better. Dan then talked about the Exciters and said he would love the ability to be able to upgrade these units. He said there is grant money available for these as well. Dan also showed a picture of Unit #3 and talked about the trouble it’s been causing lately. Dan then showed a picture of Unit #3’s turbine guide bearing and said he did as an example. He said 3 or 4 years ago they put a new bearing in Unit #3. Adam Paxman asked Dan what his wish list would be for the Hydro Plant. Dan said getting new exciters would be top priority. He said thank God Al Mosher knows how to work on these units and said he calls him when needed but new ones would be nice. He also said being able to investigate and see exactly where each unit is at would be nice. Eugene LaBombard asked how unit 4 was running. Dan said very good and said she got them through when units 1 & 2 were down. He said he has a manual on unit 4 but not on the others. David Winchester said it’s nice that they can rebuild things when needed. Suzie Kelleher asked Dan if he had a plan in place to investigate further the cost of the exciters. Bill Sheets said it would cost approximately $1 million dollars for four new exciters and said there is grant funding out there. Bill said Paul Nolan and Celeste Bay are coming on Thursday to the Hydro Plant. Bill said Celeste is an absolute star when it comes to grant funding and hopefully, she has some information for them on that topic. Damon Broderick asked exactly what an exciter is. Dan said they send power to the generator and helps excite the field and fires up the units. He said it’s like the starter in your car. Dan said FERC came and did a physical security assessment at the plant and overall, they passed but there were some things that needed to be tightened up. Dan said they made their corrections, and they gave them some good tips and templates they can use. The board thanked Dan for coming in with his update and presentation.

8. Swanton Beautification Update and Funding Request:

Suzie Kelleher stated she is requesting the sustainment of the $5,000 annual allocation for the Beautification Committee for the 2025 fiscal year. As you know, the funding from the Village Trustees has been instrumental in supporting the continued beautification efforts throughout the community, and I am pleased to report on the successful initiatives that have been made possible with your support in 2024.

2024 Beautification Accomplishments:

The $5,000 allocated by the Village Trustees has been used to maintain and enhance the beauty of the Village through a variety of projects, including:

• Village Green Park: Flower beds that contribute to the park's inviting atmosphere.
• Twelve Hanging Baskets: Placed along Grand Ave in the village to add color and vibrancy.
• Veteran's Park and Canada Street: Ongoing plantings that have helped elevate the area's visual appeal.
• Recent Tree and Shrub Plantings: Ten new low trees and shrubs were added to Canada Street.
• Flowerpots or Boxes: Installed at several key locations, including the complex, the library, the Town Clerk’s Office, Swanton Christian Church, Methodist Church, former Ste. Marie’s, Beauty Bar, Tax Pros, Former Bob's One Stop, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Post Office.
• New Garden at the Library: We have added a beautiful new garden to enhance the area between the book return and the parking lot of the library.
• Laundromat Garden: A new addition made possible with the help of Dean’s Crew.

Additionally, the support from Dean’s Public Works Crew and Duane’s Line Crew has been invaluable. Dean and his crew not only helped with a garden by the laundromat but also provided resources for planting day. They deliver compost, mulch and stone for our pots. At the end of the season, they take all the pots in. Without the Line Crew’s support with the hanging baskets, we wouldn’t be able to put them up. Special thanks also go to the Mowing Crew, who work diligently to keep the Village Green Park and other parks beautifully trimmed.

2025 Budget and Plans:

Looking ahead to 2025, we plan to build on our work from 2024 and continue to make improvements around the community. Our goals include:

• 42-inch Pots: We have purchased three 42-inch pots for enhanced plantings.
• Library Garden Expansion: We plan to add additional plantings to the library garden.
• Rail Boxes at the Bistro and Bakery: New rail boxes will be added to enhance these areas.
• New Picnic Tables and Pots at River Lane Access Point: We will install two new picnic tables and additional pots to improve this access point.
• VFW Art Memorial: working with a local Eagle Scout and the VFW Art Memorial will be placed on the VFW’s property. This is not an Art Board like those from SPAN as this will be Art approved by the VFW and is slated to be a patriotic memorial to Veterans. Beautification will add planting upon completion.

Regarding the bridge boxes, we initially intended to remove the boxes from the bridge for the winter to prevent damage, but due to the cost of replacing the drip systems, we have reached a consensus with Public Works to keep them in place, even though they may slightly impede sidewalk plowing.

The Town Select Board has generously pledged an increase to their funding for 2025, bringing their contribution to $4,000. This will supplement the $5,000 from the Village Trustees and $2,000 from the endowment fund established by Don and Earl Taylor, as well as the $5,000 in donor contributions. This combined support allows us to continue these valuable projects.

Funding for 2024:

• $5,000 - Village Trustees
• $4,000 - Town Select Board
• $2,000 - Endowment from Don & Earl Taylor
• $5,000 - Donor Contributions

Request for 2025:

We respectfully request that the Village Trustees maintain the $5,000 funding allocation for 2025 to help us continue enhancing the beauty of our community. The continued support from the Trustees is critical to the success of the committee’s work, and we are grateful for your ongoing partnership.

We will begin planning for our planting season at our next meeting on February 19th and look forward to discussing our upcoming projects in more detail.

Thank you again for your support of the Beautification Committee and the work we do to keep our Village vibrant and welcoming for all.

Suzie also gave an update on the new Trees in the Park: 7 Conifers in the Village Green Park need to come down due to disease. Heidi is working on a removal grant. Beautification will replace with hardwoods per the Beautification's ten new trees a year guideline. Hank is applying for 2025 tree planting grant. We are working with the tree warden and Dean on this as well.

Adam Paxman made the motion to continue with the $5,000 Village contribution to the beautification committee. Eugene LaBombard seconded the motion. Motion carried with two yays, Suzie Kelleher abstained.

9. Review and Sign Drinking Water SRF Loan Documents for the Missisquoi River Crossing Project:

Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager, said she received the loan documents from the State for the Missisquoi River Crossing Project. She said this loan is in the amount of $2,214,020 and their first payment will be due in January of 2026. Lynn also said there is 50% loan forgiveness on this as well as zero percent interest. The payment amount will be $27,675 annually for 40 years. Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve signing the Vermont State Revolving Fund Loan Agreement in the amount of $2,214,020 for the Missisquoi River Crossing Project. Adam Paxman seconded the motion. Motion carried.

10. Review and Sign the Clean Water SRF Loan Documents for the Sewer Plant Upgrade Project:

Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager, informed the Board that she also received the Clean Water SRF Loan Documents for the Sewer Plant Upgrade. She said this loan is in the amount of $7,737,192 and the first payment won’t be due until 2026 or 2027. Adam Paxman made the motion to approve signing the Vermont State Revolving Fund Loan Agreement in the amount of $7,737,192 for the Sewer Plant Upgrade Project. Suzie Kelleher seconded the motion. Motion carried.

11. Review and Adopt Municipal Policies and Codes for VCDP Grant for the Maquam Bay Abenaki Project:

Adam Paxman made the motion to review and adopt the Municipal Policies and Codes for the VCDP Grant for the Maquam Bay Abenaki Project as presented. Suzie Kelleher seconded. Motion carried.

12. Discussion on VT Transco Subscription Agreement:

Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager, stated there is an equity call coming up and the Village’s share is $601,800. She said the Village receives approximately 11% for a rate of return on these dividends. Lynn said because this is a large sum of money she will have VPPSA finance this on the Village’s behalf but said they are leaning towards deferring the purchase for a few years.

Adam Paxman made the motion to authorize the Village Manager to sign the VT Transco Subscription Agreement, in the amount of $601,800 to include a three-year deferral option, all financed through VPPSA. Suzie Kelleher seconded. Motion carried.

13. Update on Website Usage Tracking from Google Analytics:

Our joint website with the town received a significant amount of traffic. We will share the full data on our website and social media, but in a one-year snapshot (1/29/23 to 10/29/24) the site had 170,830 views over all pages. This is the information that Ecopixel provided to us: In October of 2024 Ecopixel informed us that the website pages were viewed 170,830 times by 39,096 people. The most popular pages were: Home Page, Village Welcome Page, Town Welcome Page, Town Clerk, Search, Police, Selectboard Meetings, Village Trustees and Contacts. If you haven’t visited our website yet, please do so at www.swantonvt.gov.

14. Two Coin Drop Requests for 2025 – MVU FFA Chapter for May 2025 and Missisquoi Abenakis for June 2025:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve MVU FFA Chapter’s coin drop request for May 3, 2025 with a rain date of May 17, 2025 and to also approve Abenaki of Maquam Bay’s request to hold a coin drop on June 14, 2025 with a rain date of June 21, 2025, both from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Suzie Kelleher seconded. Motion carried with two yays; one nay. Motion carried.

15. Village Manager Update:

Joint Meeting with the Selectboard: The Board of Trustees have been invited to a joint session with the Swanton Selectboard at 6 PM on Tuesday November 19^th at 6 PM. Joint topics will include a discussion about Local Option Tax as well as concerns over the anticipated 2029 Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge. Our four representatives will be invited to this joint meeting so that they can learn more about both.

Missisquoi River Crossing:  G.W. Tatro completed this project, installing the two remaining vault covers, and restoration of driveway and business aprons. This project is now officially completed. Eugene LaBombard stated that the repair work to the street on Canada Street is some of the best he’s seen. He said now they need to fix in front of the Auto Part’s Store.

Missisquoi Dam overlook (VFW Parking area):  Earlier today Joel Clark called to advise that this overlook was in poor condition and should be blocked off. Dean Ryan and I looked right away and discovered some recent vandalism to the railing and many of the spindles, creating a liability. Dean’s team is placing plywood across the front to prevent access. We are researching the history of who built this and determining ownership. The Trustees will need to determine next steps in the spring, repair would appear to be fairly simple, but we should also explore other options with an emphasis on safety and liability.

Wastewater:  This project is progressing well, with Jason Starr and Dillon Dupont representing the Village daily on site, as well as during the weekly meetings. This project has a completion date of mid-December. The centrifuge continues to be delayed due to engineering concerns. The next larger parts of the project will be moving the generator, as well as the utility pole closest to the lagoons to make room for the new force main path.

VHB (Church Street): If anyone saw a lot of activity last week around the Village Green VHB was out with their team doing their survey work in advance of moving the Church Street Project forward. Heidi is continuing to work to identify grants that will continue our forward progress. This includes work on the creation of parking at 74 Merchants Row as well as work on Canada Street.

74 Merchants Row: While this is not meant to be an action item, the Trustees should begin considering funding a full engineering study for the creation of a parking lot in this area. To quality for numerous grants a project is required to be “shovel ready.” An engineering study would get this to the point where it is shovel ready. We likely have just enough, $25,000, in remaining uncommitted ARPA funds, to complete an engineering study. We have a parking problem that might get worse, and this parking lot will be a critical part of that solution.

Marble Mill: The Electric Department has run the underground cable required to restore power to the tennis courts. The four new lights will be installed before spring unless other priority projects create a delay.

Land Application: We have received approval from the State of Vermont to land apply our dewatered sludge on our land off Woods Hill Road. All work was completed with the assistance of Public Works. We applied approximately 250 tons to apply on our own land with our own time and labor. This is yet another return on our land and process investment, saving significant costs compared to hiring a company to haul this away and dispose of it. The anticipated costs if we had to outsource this would range from $50,000 to $90,000 depending on a number of factors.

Hydro:  Unit 1 has been repaired and is up and running. We continue to struggle with Unit 2. Our engineers have reassembled unit 2 but discovered a significant vibration when placing the unit back into operation. We will continue to work with the current and likely, additional engineers, to work on this unit.

Electric Department:

We continue to work with Weimann Lamphere Architects (WLA) on the design of a new facility and we are in the final stage of selecting a firm as the construction manager for this project. We will place this on our November 25^th Board of Trustees agenda. We anticipate holding up to four public information meetings in January to share this exciting project with our citizens.

Budget Building: We are in the process of completing the first round of budget building within each department. Once that is complete, we will present a budget to the Board of Trustees for review.

16. Any Other Necessary Business:

Adam Paxman said he wanted to congratulate all the winners from the recent election and also wished a happy belated veterans’ day to all past, present and future veterans.

Any Other Business: Suzie Kelleher said she has sold 47 out of 75 banners and is still looking for sponsors for 14 veterans that are on the memorial in Veterans Memorial Park.

She also announced the following upcoming events being held in Swanton November 13^th through November 30^th:

• November 13: Presentation on Identity Theft, Swanton Library, 1-2 p.m.
• November 15: Ladies Night Out includes local businesses Divine Treasures, Bees on Broadway, Missing Piece Bakery, Green Mountain Bistro and Vision Nutrition, 6 p.m.
• November 15: Teen Night at the Library, 6-8 p.m.
• November 16: Thankful & Grateful Gathering at Creative Heart Inc, 63 Grand Avenue, register online, 11:30-1 p.m.
• November 17: Car Seat Safety Check at the Fire Station, 10 a.m.
• November 23: Bake Sale Fundraiser for Charlie Cross at Divine Treasures, 10 a.m.
• November 30^: Small Business Saturday and Christmas in the Park, 3:30 p.m.
• Registration for Swanton Rec Basketball is going on until the end of the month.
• The Library: Zoomba Tuesday’s and Thursday’s, 6:15-7:15, $5 at the door and Monday’s and Friday’s, Bone Builders, free of charge, 11 a.m.

17. Executive Session to Discuss Legal Matter:

Suzie Kelleher made the motion, seconded by Eugene LaBombard, to go into Executive Session at 8:26 p.m. to discuss confidential personnel, contract and legal issues where premature general public knowledge of the subject matter would place the Village and others at a substantial disadvantage. Motion carried.

Adam Paxman made the motion, seconded by Eugene LaBombard, to exit executive session at 9:12 p.m. Motion carried.

ACTION TAKEN: None.

18. Adjournment:

Suzie Kelleher made the motion to adjourn the Regular Meeting of the Board of the Trustees meeting at 9:13 p.m. Adam Paxman seconded. There being no further business at hand, David Winchester, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 9:13 p.m. Motion carried.

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David Winchester, Village President                  Date

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Dianne Day, Village Clerk                                Date