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Trustees Meeting 4/24/23

  • Monday, April 24, 2023
    7 PM – 9 PM

Village Trustees

Web version

SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX

120 FIRST STREET

SWANTON, VT 05488

REGULAR MEETING

Monday, April 24, 2023

7:00 PM

PRESENT: Neal Speer, Village President; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Adam Paxman; Trustee; William “Bill” Sheets, Village Manager; Reginald Beliveau Jr., Village Manager; Dianne Day, Village Clerk; Paul Nolan, Swanton Village FERC Attorney; Dean Ryan, Public Works Foreman; and Ch. 16. Via Zoom: Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager.

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:

Dianne Day, Village Clerk, stated there was a coin drop request to be heard under Any Other Business; she also stated Cody Hemenway was coming in on behalf of the Abenaki Tribal community for a Village Green request to be heard under public comment.

  1. Public Comment:

Cody Hemenway didn’t show up for their request. No public comment.

  1. Approve and Accept Minutes from Monday, April 10, 2023 as presented:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve the Minutes from Monday, April 10, 2023 as presented. Adam Paxman seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

  1. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Thursday, April 20, 2023:

Adam Paxman made the motion to approve and accept Village Warrants #36-#42 as presented. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

  1. Paul Nolan, Discussion on FERC Relicensing:

Paul Nolan, Village FERC Attorney, is here to discuss our relicensing at the Hydro Plant. He said this started back in 2017 and the most recent issue is that FERC has issued a second scoping document and in that document they’ve asked for some additional studies for them to assess. They are now saying they don’t expect them to be ready until February 2024. He said this process is dragging out to 2025 or 2026 before the Village get’s their new license. He said we keep operating as usual until that happens. Neal Speer asked if this is coming from the State of Vermont. Paul said Vermont is the tail that wags the dog and said he’s not taking cheap shots because they’re not here but said they have their own agenda about the water quality standards. Those standards which VPPSA and the Village tried to get them to respond to, are that they want to regulate the discharge for water quality but are against the whole activity of hydro operation. He said they take a very expansive view, want to include recreation, aesthetics, birds, and loons. He said a lot of things they could have focused on and didn’t but clearly want the Village to convert to run of the river year round and monitor what we’re doing downstream. He said they contradict themselves. Paul said they’ve recently found and produced a memo that’s still in draft form stating that in 2021 Sheldon Springs did a study of releasing flows in May, when they’re not supposed to be peaking at all, but they want to do this for white water recreation. He said that’s the key, that’s a special, unique niche of East Coast elitist. Paul said downstream that release of water, levels that they propose, had no significant adverse impact downstream. He said he’s in the process of recommending they go back to FERC and say this is not a transparent exercise anymore, show them the study they just found and ask them to reconsider this massive study they’ve just been asked to do. Paul said the bottom line comes down to you have the FERC licensing proceeding going on, you have the 401 certificate proceeding and the State has been very good at making us do what they want us to do. He said some of the thinking here is to say we have to recognize this apparent tension between Vermont and FERC. He said Vermont Agency of Natural Resources is the tail that wags the dog and it’s been allowed to happen through the courts. He said those decisions more than 20 years ago have set the tone that whatever Vermont wanted in their 401’s is what had to be in their license. He said now they have before the courts a whole new regime of regulations that are favorable to hydro and are pending before the court. He said he’s hoping the court rules in favor of them because there are some still before the courts from 15 years ago. Paul said his recommendation is to do the studies one way or another, we have a team in place and are doing the studies FERC has asked them to do. He said they will be able to respond to any questions the agencies ask of them moving forward. He said they’re going to tread water and do what they have to do. Adam Paxman asked if this was to appease the Agency of Natural Resources. Paul said they need to prove that they are not harming the environment and more discussion took place regarding all the different studies they have done and will be doing. He said there are some alternative directions they could go in and that should be discussed in executive session. They talked about the licensing process and what this entails. The Board all agreed this is a frustrating process and thanked Paul for his update. The Board of Trustees wanted it noted that they support Paul Nolan in the discovery of the Sheldon Springs study and also agree with his recommendation to conduct the supplementary support studies. The Board agreed that they wanted to proceed with his recommendations.

  1. Review and Acknowledge 2023 1st Quarter SQRP Report:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to acknowledge the Board of Trustees have reviewed the first quarter SQRP report for 2023. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.

  1. Village Manager Update:

William “Bill” Sheets informed the Board that the Hotel Riveria is finally down and they are now waiting on some supplemental boring results to come in probably in mid-May. He said KAS will then provide them with a corrective action plan and RFP’s will go out accordingly. He said he would like to have an official survey of the property done before putting it on the market to sell. Neal Speer said he’s heard a lot of positive feedback and he said he wanted to thank Jason Barney and his students for the presentation they did at the Swanton Library. He said the detail was very impressive. He said he also wanted to thank David Shea and the demolition crew, Elisabeth Nance for hanging in there, Northwest Regional Planning for dealing with all the Brownfield issues and Butch Patch for providing everyone with coffee and donuts on the day of the demolition. He wanted to thank everyone involved.

Bill also informed the Board that he began the Scott Mueller Scholarship Award interviews for the internship program. He said they conducted three interviews and all three could do the job. He said they’ve decided to hire Daulton Laplant and he will start right after graduation. He said Daulton is also interested in going to lineman school in the near future.

Bill also said he’s been working on easements for the Missisquoi River water line job at 15 Webster Terrace. He said Reg Beliveau met with DRB on April 20th and they now have their conditional use permit to move forward. He said this will help Lynn get her numbers ready for the bond.

Bill also informed the Board that the Village now owns 124 First Street and they are doing utility mapping. He also said the next steps are to remove both structures at no cost to the Village. He said they have worked out a deal with Hodgdon Brothers and there will be no charge for this.

  1. Any Other Necessary Business:

Dianne Day, Village Clerk, stated Maquam Bay of Missisquoi is requesting to have a coin drop on Saturday, July 1st with a rain date of Saturday, July 8th to benefit the local food shelf. Dianne stated the food shelf feeds approximately 300 to 500 family members per month and really needs some local assistance with donations. She also said an individual doesn’t have to be Native American to use the food shelf and said it’s open to anyone. Eugene LaBombard stated he believed July 1st was a holiday weekend and preferred it be held the week after. Eugene LaBombard made the motion to allow Maquam Bay of Missisquoi to hold a coin drop on Saturday, July 8th with a rain date of Saturday, July 15th from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried with two yays and one nay.

Any Other Business: Adam Paxman reminded everyone about the Memorial Day Parade to be held on Monday, May 29th. He said there will be a BBQ after the parade that will benefit Josh’s House again this year. He also said they will be putting the Veterans flags out for the week on May 27th and could use volunteers. He also said there will be a Citizen’s Band in the Village Green on June 28th and said the Chamber’s Annual Car Show will be held on Saturday, July 29th.

Any Other Business: Eugene LaBombard asked if there were going to be any food trucks in the park this summer. Dianne Day stated there will be along with the Outdoor Market that will be held on the 3rd Sunday of each month beginning May and running through September 2023.

Any Other Business: Reg Beliveau, Village Manager, asked Paul Nolan to stand up with him. He presented Paul with a plaque stating:

The Swanton Village Board of Trustees and Management would like to recognize

Paul Nolan for his 30 years of service to the Orman Croft Hydro Facility.

Paul’s dedicated service to Swanton Village

is greatly appreciated.

Thank You Paul!

2023

  1. Executive Session to Discuss Personnel, Real Estate and Legal Matter:

Adam Paxman made the motion to enter Executive Session at 7:40 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to exit Executive Session at 9:23 p.m. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.

ACTION TAKEN: None.

  1. Adjournment:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to adjourn the Regular Meeting of the Board of the Trustees meeting at 9:24 p.m. Adam Paxman seconded. There being no further business at hand, Neal Speer, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 9:24 p.m. Motion carried.

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Neal Speer, Village President                            Date

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Dianne Day, Village Clerk                                Date