Trustees Meeting & Electric Facility Public Hearing 2/10/25

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 SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX

120 FIRST STREET

SWANTON, VT 05488

REGULAR MEETING

&

PUBLIC HEARING

Monday, February 10, 2025

7:00 PM

PRESENT: David Winchester, Village President; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Suzie Kelleher, Trustee; William “Bill” Sheets, Village Manager; Dianne Day, Village Clerk; Duane Couture and Daren Plouff, Electric Department; Steven Roy, Vice President of Wiemann Lamphere; Mike Connor, Sean Connor and Chris Lynch, Connor Contracting; Damon Broderick, James Hakey and James Schuler and Ch. 16. Via Teams: Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager; Denny H.

To watch this meeting in its entirety, go to Northwest Access TV on YouTube. The video will also be posted on the Village’s website once available. 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 would like to add personnel to executive session.

4. Public Comment:

None.

5. Approve and Accept Minutes from the Monday, January 27, 2025 meeting as presented:

Adam Paxman made the motion to approve Minutes from Monday, January 27, 2025 meeting as presented. Eugene LaBombard seconded the motion. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

6. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Thursday, February 6, 2025:

Suzie Kelleher made the motion to approve Village Warrants through Thursday, February 6, 2025 as presented. Eugene LaBombard seconded the motion. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

7. Present Electric Facility Public Hearing:

Bill Sheets, Swanton Village Manager, began his presentation by stating the following:

Swanton Electric has been serving its customers since 1894. We serve customers in Swanton Village and parts of Swanton Town, Highgate and St. Albans Town. We are one of 14 municipal electric utilities in Vermont. Swanton Electric has some of the lowest rates in Vermont and has not had a rate increase since 2016. We are proud to serve our customers with 100% renewable electricity.

Bill said the Project Team consisted of William Sheets, Village Manager; Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager; Duane Couture, Electric Department Foreman; Daren Plouff, Lineman; Suzie Kelleher, Village Trustee; and David Winchester, Village President. He then showed an aerial view of 124 First Street and showed the proposed project site plan. He said there would be 9,725 square feet of vehicle and equipment storage space and 8,650 square feet of office and support space for a total of 18,375 square feet. He showed the floor plan which consists of offices, a boardroom, a training room and lobby. Dianne Day, Village Clerk, stated in her office space there are 5 desks and no privacy. She said Human Resources is in the same room having private conversations about payroll information or injury reports. She said everyone in the room can hear conversations with customers pertaining to their bills. Dianne said the new proposed office space will alleviate a lot of these concerns. Duane Couture explained the new office space that pertains to his department and pointed out the meter testing room, the storage space and break room. He said as it stands now his entire department shares one office space.

Bill then showed the information below that gives the cost breakdown. The total project cost is estimated to be $8,323,701

Bill then showed the above impact stating electric rates would increase 14.3%. The graphs below show the increase on a resident electric bill using 600 kWH and using 1000 kWH. For the 600 kWH customer they would see an increase of $11.39 per month or .37 cents per day. A customer using 1000 kWH would see an increase of $18.33 per month or .60 cents per day. She also showed a commercial account using 600 kWH per month and said they would see an increase of $13.09 per month or .43 cents per day and a commercial account using 1000 kWH would see a monthly increase of $21.06 or .69 cents per day.

Bill then showed a graph depicting Swanton Electric rates alongside all the other Vermont electric utilities. Swanton Village has the third lowest electricity rates in the State. He said even with a 14.3% increase Swanton Electric will remain one of the lowest electric utilities in the State of Vermont.

Bill also showed the additional benefits the Swanton Village Police Department will gain:

• Immediately gains significant square footage in office space and a larger garage bay;
• They will utilize the existing safe as a secure temporary evidence area, safely securing drugs and weapons;
• They will gain a small space for secure, seized vehicle storage within the existing substation.

Bill said the additional benefits the Public Works Department will see are:

• Immediately gains additional garage space;
• They will also gain additional, secure outdoor storage for equipment;
• They will gain additional material storage space on the raised concrete platform.

Bill said the Village will hold three more public information sessions and they are Saturday, February 15^th at 1 p.m.; Wednesday, February 19^th at 6 p.m.; and Monday, February 24^th at 7 p.m. after the joint budget presentation with the Town of Swanton.

Bill then took the three guests on a tour of the complex and answered all the questions they had.

8. Village Manager Update:

Water: Since last Friday we have experienced issues with what we believe is a fiber problem. We have no active internal alarms. This required the team to perform onsite inspections every 12 hours to ensure that everything was operating effectively. They were still working on this likely fiber issue at 4 pm today.

Wastewater: The facility upgrade is progressing slowly. It remains a complicated project in a tight space. They are framing the effluent building this week. We have received queries from the town asking what our future wastewater capacity looks like. We are currently averaging historic flows that reflect our organic capacity is right around 50 percent. Of course, we have the Highgate extension moving forward but we have significant remaining capacity to meet residential development needs.

Public Works: The past few weeks have been busy with storm maintenance. The change this year does appear that the liquid application (magnesium chloride) has been highly effective. Once salt is placed on the liquid it has served us well, preventing several early morning call ins. While the liquid is not applied every storm it continues to benefit us. This morning was an example, the roads looked great when Dean checked early this morning, and we did not require any call ins.

Hydro: We are continuing to work with Celeste Fay and her group to explore the concept of applying for significant federal funding (DOE) in collaboration with fellow VPPSA members, Morrisville, the Village of Enosburg, and possibly Hardwick. They will be touring Hydro on Wednesday and then meeting here to discuss options. This will be a comprehensive look at plant and system needs for the next five years. We are continuing to make progress to get the units that are down back online for spring runoff. Based on winter factors hydro production is limited, as expected for the time of year.

MVUHS: We will again be hosting a variety of field trips for this semester, focusing on Police, Fire, and our Water plant.

Grants: With the federal hold on grants, we are in a wait and see as it relates to some of our grant applications. For example, we received notice that our tree removal grant request has been received and is under consideration but that the decision will be on hold indefinitely. We anticipate that this will be true for many of our applications.

9. Any Other Necessary Business:

Adam Paxman asked if there was an update on the Jones Court Stormwater issue. Bill said not as of yet and said he would update the board when he can.

Any Other Business: Suzie Kelleher stated she had an update on the Hometown Hero Banners. She said people have until March 10^th to place an order for a veteran and then it’s closed until further notice. She also said she was able to get better pricing and it will now cost $130 for a banner instead of the $175. She said if anyone who purchased a banner would like a $45 refund to reach out to her by email (suziekelleher@ swanton.net) or phone (802-782-7037) and she will comprise a list of those who want to be refunded. She said the Village will do one refund batch in early May. She said for those who do not want a refund, this money will go into a replacement fund and if a bracket breaks there will be funds available to repair anything they may need to. She said the deadline to let her know about a refund is April 30^th.

10. Executive Session to Discuss Contracts and Personnel:

Suzie Kelleher made the motion, seconded by Adam Paxman, to go into Executive Session at 8:20 p.m. to discuss contract matters and personnel issues where premature general public knowledge of the subject matter would place the Village or person involved at a substantial disadvantage. Motion carried.

Adam Paxman made the motion to exit Executive Session at 8:39 pm. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

11. Adjournment:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to adjourn the Regular Meeting of the Board of the Trustees at 8:40  p.m. Suzie Kelleher seconded. There being no further business at hand, David Winchester, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 8:40 p.m. Motion carried.

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David Winchester, Village President                  Date

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Dianne Day, Village Clerk                                Date