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Trustees Meeting 11/28/22

  • Monday, November 28, 2022
    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, November 28, 2022

7:00 PM

PRESENT: Neal Speer, Village President; Chris Leach, Trustee; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Reginald Beliveau Jr., Village Manager; William “Bill” Sheets, Village Manager; Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager; Matt Sullivan, 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. Pledge of Allegiance:

Everyone stood for the Pledge of Allegiance.

  1. Agenda Review:

None.

  1. Public Comment:

None.

  1. Approve and Accept Minutes from Monday, November 14, 2022 as presented:

Adam Paxman made the motion to approve and accept Minutes from Monday, November 14, 2022 as presented. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

  1. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Wednesday, November 23, 2022:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve and accept Village Warrants #108-#111 through Wednesday, November 23, 2022 as presented. Adam Paxman seconded. Discussion: Adam Paxman asked about the payment made to PC Construction for $2176.00. Reg Beliveau stated that was for concrete on tailrace #5 at the Hydro Plant. Motion carried.

  1. Swanton Village Police Update with Chief Matt Sullivan:

Chief Sullivan stated he had information for the months of October for both the Town and the Village. He said they responded to 100 incidents in October in the Village. He showed the top 10 incident types being 13 suspicious person/circumstance; 9 community outreach; 8 traffic stop; 8 agency assistance; 7 motor vehicle complaint; 6 foot patrol; 5 found property; 5 trespassing; 5 citizen dispute; and 4 theft complaints. He also stated in October they had 10 traffic stops, issued 4 tickets and 8 warnings and made 7 arrests.

He said the department responded to 194 incidents combined with the Town. The top ten call types were 20 suspicious person/circumstances; 20 agency assistance; 20 traffic stop;16 community outreach; 14 motor vehicle complaint; 7 citizen assist; 7 juvenile problem; 7 foot patrol; 7 theft and 6 citizen dispute. He said they conducted 19 traffic stops, issued 14 tickets and 11 warnings. He said they also had 8 arrests consisting of 3 for state warrant; 2 negligent operation; 1 eluding a police officer; 1 violation of conditions and 1 driving under the influence.

Chief Sullivan informed the board about the vehicle that tried to elude them on Robinhood Drive and ending on the Frontage Road. He said they’ve been very busy with some robberies that took place in Swanton. Chris Leach asked if there was an update on the First Street shooting from last summer. Chief Sullivan said that is still being actively investigated by the Vermont State Police. He said he talked with an investigator a week or so ago and they are moving forward with the case and making a great deal of progress. He said it’s a very solid case. He said most of these cases stem from drug addiction unfortunately. Neal Speer stated that this past Saturday was “Small Business Saturday” and he heard from merchants that stated they would like to personally meet some of the officers that work for Swanton and introduce themselves.

  1. Discuss and Approve Purchasing New Truck for Hydro and Maintenance:

Reg Beliveau said this isn’t for a new truck, it’s a used one. He said employees at the Hydro plant have been using the electric car over the summer and put 400 miles on it checking the dam site, etc. He said in the winter-time they are using the white pick up truck that’s a hand me down from the water plant. He said with two maintenance people that only leaves one truck so when they need to go to different plants they don’t have that ability to do so. He said the truck they’re looking at has a plow and there are two people that know how to plow so this could relieve some duties from the public works crew. He said they’re asking for the ability to purchase this truck this year. Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager, said they originally wanted to put it in the budget for next year but Dan stumbled upon this truck and it’s exactly what he’s looking for. She said this truck will also be used to haul debris from the trash rake at the dam. She said they usually need to come here to use a truck from one of the other departments. She said this truck should last them quite a while because it has low mileage on it. Eugene LaBombard asked what department this would be coming out of. Lynn stated the electric department. Eugene LaBombard made the motion to authorize the Village of Swanton to purchase a 2010 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD from Moore Quality Cars for $17,995. Chris Leach seconded. Motion carried.

  1. Discussion on ARPA Funds to be Used for Local Businesses:

Reg Beliveau stated they have had discussions on what to use ARPA funds for. He said they talked about helping merchants with dressing up their store fronts with new signage etc. Reg said a new business in town has asked if there were any funds available to help with a sign for their business. He said if they did something like this it would have to be universal for everyone. He said he thought this was a good use for ARPA funds. Neal Speer said there is more excitement in downtown Swanton and said he heard the St. Albans City Council will be helping their merchants with storefront signage and thought Swanton could do the same. He said they’re not just keying in on Merchants Row and said this would be available for all businesses in Swanton. Adam Paxman suggested some guidelines be created. Neal said they have an invoice already for one business for approximately $400. Chris Leach said Village projects such as the bridge job and park should take priority first. Reg asked if there should be a limit on what a business could receive. Lynn agreed to this. Reg said they could also use these funds for lighting and outlets. Neal also said there are no outlets on the outside of each store at Merchants Row and suggested they put some in. He said this could be used for Christmas decorations or to light signage. He said Duane Couture is going to talk with Rainville Electric to see what this would cost to install. Adam Paxman made the motion to use ARPA funds to pay for signage in the amount of $500 for one local business on Merchants Row. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

  1. Any Other Necessary Business:

Reg Beliveau stated he wanted to introduce the new Village Manager again, William “Bill” Sheets, who started today. Neal said they all wanted to welcome Bill to the Village.

Any Other Business: Eugene LaBombard stated a few weeks ago the beautification committee was requesting funds from the Village ARPA funds. He said he would suggest putting a separate line item on the Village warning. He said their proposal is asking for funding for five or six years. If it is to go on the Warning, should it be on for each year requested or should it go on once for their entire request. Neal said this is a two-tier approach for a certain amount of money each year plus hire a botanist to oversee some of this. He said he doesn’t think the Board should be the only ones to approve or disapprove this request. He wondered if the beautification committee presented their request to the Town yet. Eugene asked if this should be just a Town project or a Town and Village project. Adam stated if they’re using ARPA funds it should be one or the other. Chris Leach stated that the way other projects have been run in the past, it should be a Town project so that both Village and Town taxpayers pay for it through the general fund. Eugene said they need to make a decision and should also find out whether or not ARPA funds can be used for what they are requesting. Neal said more discussion will need to take place so he thanked Eugene for bringing it up. The Board asked that this be put on the next agenda.

Any Other Business: Chris Leach said Lynn sent a pretty good synopsis of how they are doing financially and said they’re pretty stable. He said looking forward into 2023 and 2024 they should at least think about being very careful with capital expenditures. He said the Christmas decorations looks very nice as well as the park. Chris also said they haven’t had a group picture in a while and before things change he’d like one done.

Any Other Business: Neal said speaking of pictures he had something to get and excused himself for a minute. He returned with a gift for Reg, a sign that reads “Saloon De Beliveau 1989” for him to hang in his home.

Any Other Business: Adam Paxman stated he wanted to remind everyone that the Winter Parking Ban begins Thursday, December 1st. He also asked if the public works department could remove the picnic tables from the park for the winter. He said they had a very successful Christmas in the Park this year. He said it’s a lot of work but also a lot of fun and he thanked the Chamber of Commerce. He also said the EV car chargers are getting more use. He said the Chamber has been sponsoring them and they are going up so that’s a good thing. He said the chargers are in the commuter parking lot at the Village Complex.

Any Other Business: Neal Speer also wanted to remind everyone that Wednesday morning the water will be shut off behind Merchants Row for about an hour or so, so they can replace a valve there.

  1. Executive Session to Discuss Contract:

Adam Paxman made the motion to enter Executive Session at 7:45 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

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

ACTION TAKEN: Adam Paxman made the motion to approve the St. Albans Police Department Central Dispatch Contract for 2023 for fire dispatching in the amount of $20,520. Chris Leach seconded. Motion carried.

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to authorize the Village of Swanton to approve employees accruing their earned time for the 53rd week in 2022. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.

  1. Adjournment:

Chris Leach made the motion to adjourn the Regular Board of the Trustees meeting at 8:15 p.m. Adam Paxman seconded. There being no further business at hand, Neal Speer, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 8:15 p.m. Motion carried.

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Neal Speer, Village President                            Date

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Dianne Day, Village Clerk                                Date