Trustees Meeting 5/13/24

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 SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX

120 FIRST STREET

SWANTON, VT 05488

REGULAR MEETING

Monday, May 13, 2024

7:00 PM

PRESENT: David Winchester, Village President; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Suzie Kelleher, Trustee; William “Bill” Sheets, Village Manager; Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager; Dianne Day, Village Clerk; Tod Jones, Chief Water Plant Operator & Avery Mitchinson, Assistant Operator; Nicole Draper, Darci Benoit, Suzanne Washburn, Heather Lavoie, Ronnie Greeno, Joel Clark, Jason Hodgdon, Mark Reilly, Sarah Foisy, Gordon Winters, Mike Cota, Jess Cota, Shawn Cheney and Ch. 16. Via Teams: AB (Abbey Bessette), LS.

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 7:05 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 to add personnel to the executive session.

4. Public Comment:

None.

5. Approve and Accept Minutes from Monday, April 22, 2024 and Minutes from Monday, April 29, 2024 as presented:

Adam Paxman made the motion to approve and accept the Minutes from April 22, 2024 and April 29, 2024 as presented. Suzie Kelleher seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

6. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Thursday, May 9, 2024:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve and accept Village Warrants #41-#50 as presented. Adam Paxman seconded. Discussion: None.  Motion carried.

7. Discussion with Nicole Draper on Farmer’s Market Date Change on the Village Green:

Nicole Draper, Swanton Recreation, stated she has heard from several people asking if the Farmer’s Market could be moved to another night of the week instead of being held on Sunday’s. She said they would like to have this on the third Wednesday of June, July and August from 5:30 to 7:30. She said this would be a family friendly event with food trucks and vendors. Nicole said the event in August would also be a flea market and would be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve the Farmer’s Market being held on the Village Green on June 19, July 17 and August 21, 2024 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Adam Paxman seconded the motion. Motion carried.

8. Swanton Village Water Plant Update with Tod Jones and Avery Mitchinson:

Tod Jones and Avery Mitchinson presented the following information to the Board:

Tod informed the Board on their recent facility updates:

• New Ph meter, Chlorine analyzer, two Turbidity meters and two SC4500 Controllers will be installed this year to replace outdated equipment.​

• Spring cleaning projects include clean lake side and fix fence, remove 4 large pine trees from behind plant, pressure wash building, clean windows, add gutter above loading dock, paint shed at plant and reservoir and pressure wash and paint Low Lift station.
• We will continue to add more sand and anthracite to the filters throughout the year.​
• Clarifier on filter one with be cleaned and inspected with the help of the maintenance team and wastewater team.​
• Will be enhancing video surveillance and security measures on site.

Tod showed pictures of before and after the cleanup. He showed pictures of the Low Lift Station that is across the road from the Water Plant and discussed what he is doing there.

• The low lift station is located across the street from the water treatment facility and pumps lake water up to the main plant.​
• 3 pumps are located there.​
• Potassium permanganate is injected at low lift station. (Gets rid of lake smell and taste.)​
• Will be enhancing video surveillance and security measures on site.​

Tod discussed their lagoons and reservoir and showed what they’ve been working on there as well.

• There are 3 Lagoons located behind the water treatment facility. ​
• Two are used while one is dry, and we rotate them yearly.​
• When the filters flush and backwash that water goes out to the first lagoon (settling pond) and then from that lagoon goes to the second lagoon (polishing pond) and then out back into the lake.​
• The reservoir is where all treated water that isn’t used goes to be stored.​
• The reservoir holds on average 1,346,400 gallons of clean drinking water.​
• Will be enhancing video surveillance and security measures on site.​

Tod also informed the Board about his licenses as well as Avery’s. He also said the Wastewater Plant Operator and Assistant Operator Jason Starr and Dillon Dupont hold licenses and they can cover each other’s plants.

• Water Treatment Staff.​
• Tod Jones: 4C Water license and Grade 1 Wastewater license.​
• Tod will be taking his test for Grade 2 Wastewater in the next few months.​
• Avery Mitchinson: Operator in training certificate and Grade 1 Wastewater license.​
• Avery will be taking his 4C test in July and once obtained will work towards Grade 2 Wastewater.​
• Jason Starr: 4C Water license and Grade 2 Wastewater license.​
• Jason is fully certified to operate both plants.​
• Dillon Dupont: Operator in training certificate and Grade 2 Wastewater license.​
• Dillon is working on obtaining his 4C license.​

​Bill Sheets informed the audience that anyone can request a tour of the plant. He said call the office and they can get that scheduled if anyone is interested. The Board thanked Tod and Avery for their presentation.

9. Discussion on Designating 2 to 3 Parking Spots on Canada Street to 30 Minute Parking Spots:

Trustee Suzie Kelleher stated she was approached by Darci Benoit to see if they could designate some 30-minute parking spots in front of her business and the Auto Part’s Store. Suzie said she believes Geoff Domey installed some signs on his building that say 30-Minute Parking, but said they aren’t enforceable. Darci feels that once the bakery and restaurant are open it may interfere with her customers being able to find a parking spot. Much more discussion took place regarding the parking issue downtown and the board decided to revisit this issue in January 2025. Once the bakery and restaurant are open, they want to see if parking does become an issue. Suzie Kelleher made the motion to table this item until January 2025. Adam Paxman seconded the motion. Motion carried.

10. Approve Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the State of Vermont, Department of Health, allowing the Swanton Municipal Complex to be utilized as a Public Point of Distribution (POD) site, if needed.

Bill Sheets, Village Manager, informed the Board that the State of Vermont, Department of Health, has reached out to determine if we are willing to have the Swanton Municipal Complex serve as a Public Point of Distribution (POD) site. We would serve as a site during a public health emergency when material from the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) or other state or federal cache requires wide distribution to address a large-scale communicable disease outbreak, or other human-caused or natural disaster requiring clinic operation and support.

Adam Paxman made the motion to authorize the Village Manager to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the State of Vermont, Department of Health, allowing the Swanton Municipal Complex to be utilized as a Public Point of Distribution (POD) site. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

11. Discussion on Creating a Graffiti Response Team:

Bill Sheets, Village Manager, said many locations within the Village were hit hard with graffiti in the early morning hours of Saturday, April 27^th.  He said the idea is to identify dozens of volunteers as well as paint and material donations and be ready, willing, and able to respond to remove graffiti within 24 hours when possible. Gordon Winters and ACE Memorial Hardware did donate paint for the 4/27 clean up. Bill said an arrest was made on the most recent graffiti incident at Marble Mill, Riley Day was cited into court for that incident. Trustee Suzie Kelleher stepped up and said she would organize a Graffiti Response Team and urged anyone who is interested in helping her to reach out to her on Facebook, her cell phone at 802-782-7037 or email her at suziekelleher@ swanton.net. Joel Clark stated that on behalf of the VFW he wanted to thank everyone involved with the clean up on Saturday, April 27^th. He said the response time was impressive and said that would be hard to beat but he appreciates everyone who helped as well as ACE Hardware for donating the paint.

12. Discussion and Update on 6 South River Street, formally known as the Hotel Riviere Property:

Bill Sheets, Village Manager, provided a quick overview of expenditures thus far spent on the Hotel Riviere project. He said they are still waiting on a final plan for clean up, and then will move forward with plans to solicit interest for development of this site. Adam Paxman asked why they are still waiting and Bill informed him the State hasn’t provided him with the information yet.  Bill said the majority of the costs associated with this project include the purchase and then the demolition/removal of the building. Bill showed that as of May 2024 the total expense was $213,600.36 but said they received $30,643.83 in grant funding. The total amount spent so far is $182,956.53. Bill said it’s highly unlikely the Village will recoup this expense but said no one in the private sector would have been able to take on this expense to clean up the property. Bill said the plan is to move ahead and find a developer who would like to put suitable housing on that site.

Shawn Cheney said he was going to purchase the property and had a verbal agreement with the owner. He said Mike Martel hadn’t shown up for a scheduled meeting and he called him to ask him why. Mike told Shawn he had gone to the Town office to talk about abating his taxes and was approached by Elisabeth Nance and others about the sale of the property. He said the next thing he knew Champlain Housing was involved and they wanted the property. Shawn said FCIDC also got involved and were looking for funds to help with the purchase. It was then determined that this property would need brownfields done and could be very costly to a private developer. Shawn said Champlain Housing backed out and didn’t want to purchase it. Shawn said while the Town and Village were trying to do a favor it ended up causing more of a problem. He said Ryan Jordan was also interested in the property and was going to purchase it but found out there were no grant funds for a private purchaser. Shawn said the Village purchased the property in order to apply for brownfield grant funds to help with the cleanup and actually did everyone a favor in doing so. He said citizens were upset but the Village knew the history and did the right thing. The Board thanked Shawn for his information. Bill Sheets stated the demolition and asbestos removal cost more than expected and Adam Paxman said they hoped to at least break even. Eugene LaBombard said it was very disappointing and said thank God for ARPA funds.

13. Review and Approve a Traveling Vendor Ordinance and Permit:

Bill Sheets, Village Manager, stated as of right now local businesses pay taxes and have overhead expenses to run their businesses. He said a vendor can come in and set up shop and there is no permitting process and no expense to do so. He said he’d like to copy neighboring communities and set up a permit process for these vendors. He said if there is a sponsored event like the Farmer’s Market or Car Show these vendors can come in under that event and not have to pay the Village. He said when they request to come in and set up shop on their own, they would need to provide the Village with their health certificate, licenses and proof of insurance. He said the fee for set up on private property is $25 per day or $150 for the season and if on public property the fee is $75 per day or $300 for the season. Bill said along with this permit there is an ordinance in place once adopted. Adam Paxman said events like the Farmer’s Market and Car Show don’t apply because those event organizers charge their own fees to all vendors who come into that event. Suzie Kelleher made the motion to approve the Traveling Vendor Permit and to adopt the Traveling Vendor Ordinance with one change (Section 3. Applicability and Exceptions). Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.

14. Sign Line of Credit for Missisquoi Water Line Project:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve the Board of Trustees, Assistant Village Manager and Village Clerk to sign all necessary documents pertaining to the Missisquoi Water Line Project line of credit for $2.1 million dollars. Suzie Kelleher seconded. Discussion: Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager, stated this is for the Missisquoi waterline job for $2.1 million dollars and she is still awaiting approval from the SRF funding through the State of Vermont. She said there is some loan forgiveness and grant funding to go toward this project and the loan amount will be $1.2 million dollars. She said this project starts in June and she wants everything ready to go. Motion carried.

15. Approve the Village of Swanton to Close Bank Accounts at M&T Bank:

Adam Paxman made the motion to approve the Village of Swanton to close bank accounts at M&T Bank. Eugene LaBombard seconded the motion. Discussion: Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager, stated this will take some time to do but said she would like to begin the process soon. Motion carried.

16. Village Manager Update:

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission:  FERC has issued the first annual year-to-year license to operate the Highgate Falls Hydroelectric Project under the terms and conditions of the prior license. If issuance of a new license does not occur before April 30, 2025, an annual license is renewed automatically without further order or notice of FERC.

Hydro:  We will be promoting Steven Boyer to the Lead Operator position. Now that we are fully staffed, we can elevate Steven into this position. To clarify, this is not an additional position, but the vertical loading of additional responsibilities to assist Dan Chevalier in his leadership role there. Dan was the last person to hold that lead operator position prior to his promotion a couple of years ago. Dan will remain the day-to-day supervisor for all Hydro employees.

VPPSA:  Swanton Village Electric Service Quality and Reliability Performance Monitoring, and Reporting Plan results, filed with the PUC. Just another example of all the magnificent work by our customer service and billing professionals, along with the entire Electric Department.

Missisquoi River Crossing:  We are anticipating a June start date for this project, with the boring the first step. G.W. Tatro’s staging area will be across from the boat launch on Foundry Street in Village owned land. Markings have been placed in that area to indicate where the staging area will be placed.

Northern Forest Canoe Trail:  On May 22^nd at 10 am myself and Dean Ryan will be meeting with Alex Delhagen. This is a continuation of past conversations related to re-establishing a campsite just for people utilizing the river that wish to spend the night. They had an area in the past and wish to look at this possibility again, making this a viable spot. Are there any Trustees who wish to be involved with this visit.

FD Training:  This is for awareness only. There will be a low angle rescue course being held in Swanton on Sunday June 2, 2024. The Swanton Fire Department is not providing or hosting this training, it is sponsored by the North Country International Fire School. Our Fire Department does have three members attending. The training will be held on the bank behind Ace Hardware. Gordon Winters has authorized permission to stage personnel on site and conduct this training. There will be limited impact to the Village or to Marble Mill. The training will be visible to anyone in the area, but the actual training and personnel will be located on the bank on the right side of the park.

Stormwater at 120 First Street:  Despite having double digit attendees at the pre-bid meeting, we had no bids submitted on Friday 4/26. We have now extended the bid until May 14^th at 0900 in hopes that interested companies get engaged. Mike Cota asked if this would address the water issue on Pine Street and around his properties on First Street and Liberty Street. He said after a decent rainfall his buildings are surrounded by water. Bill said this is something they hope to work on soon, to separate all storm water from the sewer system but that’s not the case right now. He said they are in the process of evaluating it now.

Stormwater, Jones Court:  Just a reminder that there will be a public meeting here at the Swanton Municipal Complex on Wednesday May 15^th at 6:30 PM. We will have a Teams Meeting option. The Village of Swanton formally acknowledged responsibility for stormwater in Jones Court in 1998.

Dry Hydrant Fire Department Request:  Share the overall request with the Trustees with an update on the Towns response to this request. Depending on the Town response this might be an action item to continue to pursue grant funding and pursue this project. Dan Chevalier and Heidi Britch Valenta presented this request to the Town at their May 7^th meeting, and it was approved. We will move forward with this grant funding request. Suzie Kelleher made the motion to authorize the Village of Swanton to move forward with installing a dry hydrant on the Leon Babbie Access Road. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

Swanton Recreational Parking: No parking signs on Blake Street have been installed. The first sign closest to Grand Avenue has been moved up with a breakaway post installed and another sign was installed at the very end of Blake.

B-6 Bridge Update:  We are still collaborating with the selected vendor, Dirt Tech, to lock in the exact date for the bridge repair. We are in the process of notifying as many companies and citizens as possible about this project and subsequent bridge closure. More details to follow soon. We were just notified that the Village of Swanton has been awarded an additional 2024 Agency of Transportation Structures grant, in the amount of $175,000. We are also applying this month for a $10,000 temporary lighting grant, which, if approved, will allow the Village to purchase and keep temporary lighting trailers. Bill said this lighting will come in handy when there is a water main break in the middle of the night. Jason Hodgdon asked if there would be extra police patrol on South River Street when the bridge is closed. He said cars speed on that road now and he is concerned they will during this construction phase. He said there are a lot of children in the area, and it could be dangerous. Bill said he feels traffic will be forced to slow down during this time because of the amount of traffic and all the signage. He said he would talk with the Chief of Police for extra police coverage. Bill also said they are notifying all major trucking companies, and they may take a different detour route. Heather Lavoie mentioned the crosswalk near the train depot and walking bridge. She was hoping for extra signage so that it’s safe for people to cross the road there. Mark Reilly also stated his concerns over the speeding on South River Street now and hoped during the bridge construction for extra coverage. Joel Clark stated the same thing. Bill said there is a public hearing in June with the Agency of Transportation about the bridge replacement in 2029.

Wastewater:  This project has gone out to bid. Bids were due by May 15^th. We had a pre-bid walk through on Tuesday April 29^th with multiple contractors in attendance. Based upon a request from contractors for an extension of time the new bid opening has been extended one week to May 22^nd.

Merchant’s Row:  New updates, with parking possibilities handout for 74 Merchants Row. We have installed the final handicap parking spot in front of the House of Pizza. We should receive the handicap ramp soon and get that installed on the south side of Merchants Row. We do ask that if anyone sees obvious parking violations in these handicap spaces to please call the Village Police.

Agency wide training:  On July 18^th, the Village will be hosting a two hour in person training titled “Respect in the Workplace” This training will be delivered by highly respected attorney and trainer Kerin Stackpole. We hope to hold these and similar training sessions annually for our members.

17. Any Other Necessary Business:

Ronnie Greeno stated he sits downtown in the Village at night and just wanted to say how nice it looks and said everyone should be proud of what they have here in the Village. He said it’s sure nice to look at.

Sarah Foisy asked if any of the surveillance cameras that will be installed will face the bridge. She said they’ve lost flower boxes each year and it would be great to catch them on camera if possible. She said now that Dean added the watering mechanism, she’d hate to see that get damaged.

Adam Paxman wanted to give a shout out to Suzie Kelleher, Dan Chevalier and all members of the fire department who came out to cover up the graffiti a couple of weeks ago. He also said veteran flags will be put back in the park for Memorial Day beginning at 9 a.m. on Saturday, May 25^th. He said if anyone wanted to volunteer to meet them there. He said the Memorial Day parade will be held on Monday, May 27^th and if you want anything in the parade to reach out to him. He said they want to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Suzie Kelleher said she organizes the “Wear Blue – Run to Remember” and they are meeting at the Swanton Recreation at 9 a.m. on May 27^th. She said they remember the fallen from 9/11 and will call out their names and names of those who are fallen comrades. She said they will do a 5K self-paced run or walk. Suzie also reminded everyone to sign up for the 5K run during the Corn Fest.

Shawn Cheney said he wanted to say a few things. He said he was one of about 12 people in Sandy Kilburn’s basement organizing a Swanton revitalization team before the current committees were formed. He said he’s watched a lot of work get done and said they tried to mutually support each other. He said the statement made by our Village President David Winchester is sad. Shawn then read the comment made by David on the Swanton Community Discussion Facebook page in April 2024. Shawn said he only agrees with one thing said in that statement and that is the Auto Parts Store is great, run by a multi-generational family. He said there is another great multi-generational auto store in the Village and that’s Cota’s Service Station. He said the other example is Aubuchon Hardware, run by great people and there’s also ACE Hardware and there’s room for all of them. He said words like this are a bunch of garbage and divide our town. He said once someone takes Village office and gets elected they are held to a higher standard. Shawn said all of David’s shenanigans in previous years were annoying but said now you’re making a mockery out of the Village, doing personal attacks and spreading misinformation and that needs to stop. He said Facebook can be interesting and a good place to pass information, but these personal attacks is turning it into a Real Housewives episode and is embarrassing for a lot of community members. He said the article in the Messenger a few weeks ago was spot on and couldn’t have been written any better than it was. He said David has been personally attacking Gordon Winters continuously and the reason he explained how the Riviere was purchased is because no one really knows. He said he wasn’t going to sit and attack someone unless he truly knows all the facts. He said all real estate needs to be purchased in executive session behind closed doors at all times. Shawn said there is a lot of bargaining and personal information that could be used against someone. He said when things like the Fourth Street property sale came up David attacked Tyler Stanislas and the Selectboard for wanting to sell it, it’s frustrating. He said he wanted to see that property sold and feels they lost a lot of revenue because of it. He said he feels the tax base would have gained over $200K and said he knows why it was personal to David because it’s in his mother’s back yard. He said the community got behind that and the Town didn’t sell it. Shawn said David personally attacks Gordon Winters, Tyler Stanislas or anyone that tries to run a business in this town according to his post. He said these aren’t the words of leadership he’d expect to see here in the Village. He asked him to look inside and try and change his ways. He said you’re really affecting everyone in the Village with actions like this and asked him to use this site to pass information and not start fights. He said it’s portrayed as an opinion of the board when he makes statements like this. He asked him to take this to heart and look within. Shawn said he took an oath 31 years ago to defend this country from enemies foreign and domestic when he joined the Marines. He said he sees these statements as a domestic enemy toward our community. He said he hoped he had the ability to change some of his ways so that it benefits everyone. Shawn said Joel and himself have gone head-to-head on some topics but don’t go on social media and attack each other because they disagree. He said there’s nothing wrong with disagreeing with someone as long as you’re civil about it. Shawn said no one here tonight knew what he was going to say and said these are his own words, nobody coached him or asked him to say anything. He asked David to do some self-reflection and do a better job. David Winchester, Village President, asked if anyone else had anything to say. Jess Cota said she would like to go on record and thank Suzie Kelleher for coming forward and keeping their community vision alive. Jess said as a local business owner she really appreciates all of Suzie’s hard work. David asked Jess what business they owned, and she said Cota’s Service Station. Sarah Foisy also said she supports a lot of what Shawn said but said she wanted to thank David publicly for helping with the graffiti issue. She said she agreed with the self-reflection comment. David said he thought he did a good job trying to explain himself out of context and said he’s gotten a lot of feedback from a lot of people that have different opinions than theirs.

18. Executive Session to Discuss Legal Matters and Personnel:

Suzie Kelleher made the motion, seconded by Adam Paxman, to go into Executive Session at 8:55 p.m. to discuss legal matters and personnel where premature general public knowledge of the subject matter would place the Village at a substantial disadvantage. Motion carried.

Suzie Kelleher made the motion to exit Executive Session at 9:56 pm. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.

ACTION TAKEN: None.

19. Adjournment:

Suzie Kelleher made the motion to adjourn the Regular Meeting of the Board of the Trustees meeting at 9:57 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. There being no further business at hand, David Winchester, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 9:57 p.m. Motion carried.

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David Winchester, Village President                  Date

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Dianne Day, Village Clerk                                Date