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Trustees Meeting 6/13/22

  • Monday, June 13, 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, June 13, 2022

7:00 PM

PRESENT: Neal Speer, Village President; Chris Leach, Trustee; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Reginald Beliveau Jr., Village Manager; Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager; Matt Sullivan, Chief of Police; and Ch.16. Via Zoom: Alana (left at 7:29).

Unless otherwise noted, all motions carried unanimously.

  1. Call to Order:

Neal Speer, Village President, called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.

  1. Pledge of Allegiance:

Everyone stood for the Pledge of Allegiance.

  1. Agenda Review:

Reg Beliveau stated he needed an Executive Session for legal matter and personnel. Neal Speer stated he needed to discuss real estate also.

  1. Public Comment:

None.

  1. Approve and Accept Minutes from Monday, May 23, 2022 and the Minutes from Wednesday, May 25, 2022 Special Meeting as presented:

Chris Leach made the motion to approve and accept Minutes from Monday, May 23, 2022 and the Minutes from Wednesday, May 25, 2022 Special Meeting as presented. Adam Paxman seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

  1. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Thursday, June 9, 2022:

Chris Leach made the motion to approve and accept Village Warrants #50-#55 through Thursday, June 9, 2022 as presented. Adam Paxman seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

  1. Swanton Village Police Department Update:

Chief Matt Sullivan stated that in the month of May the Village responded to 117 calls for service. He said the top calls were 16 calls for Directed Patrol; 13 calls for Welfare/Suicide Check; 10 calls for Suspicious Person/Circumstance; 9 calls for Citizen Assist; 8 calls for Citizen Dispute; 8 calls for Motor Vehicle Complaint; 6 calls for Community Outreach; 6 calls for Traffic Stop; 4 calls for Service Abuse Prevention Order and 4 calls for Agency Assistance. He also showed them their ticket report indicating three warnings issued and two traffic tickets issued. Chief Sullivan then showed their arrest analysis which included 3 simple assault arrests, 1 violation of an abuse prevention arrest, 1 violation of conditions of release arrest, 1 driving under the influence arrest and 1 arrest on In-State Warrant. He said he believes this arrest data included the Town of Swanton as well. He said the combined incidents for the Town and Village for the month of May included 216 incidents. He said the top ten incidents were traffic stops, suspicious circumstances, directed patrol, welfare/suicide checks, citizens assist, agency assistance, motor vehicle complaints, citizen disputes, juvenile problems and community outreach. He said the number of traffic warnings totaled 18 and the traffic tickets issued totaled 7 between the Town and the Village. He also mentioned the traffic details they worked. Eugene LaBombard asked what “Starting Parked Vehicles” meant. Chief Sullivan said that is basically doing a burnout. Adam Paxman asked if there was anything in particular that stood out or was it more of a typical month. Chief Sullivan stated so far it has been but said his officers are seeing an uptick in drug activity that they are looking at. He said other than that it was a pretty normal month. Chris Leach said with all the school shootings going on in the country some people with young children have approached him and asked if we should be contemplating a resource officer in the elementary and grade schools. He said he wonders if it’s appropriate if the Trustees, Chief of Police and Village Manager meet with the local school boards and discuss this whole thing to make sure they are ready. He said he has full faith in our local police department he just wants to make sure there is nothing more they should be doing. Eugene LaBombard said they should wait and see if the school boards want this sort of discussion, then respond. Lynn Paradis said that conversation has already been had and the supervisory union chose not to put a resource officer in the elementary and grade schools. Eugene said that discussion could be had again. Reg Beliveau said after the episode happened in Texas Dean and Kevin did split their time and covered all schools in the area. Chief Sullivan said another officer came in and helped with that also. He said early intervention such as having a school resource officer onsite is invaluable. Chris Leach agreed and thanked the Chief. Neal Speer said on a positive note he’s heard a lot of positive talk regarding the walking police officer. He also said it seems that there are a lot of welfare/suicide checks happening, what does that mean. Chief Sullivan said it could be a broad category such as a friend trying to reach someone and can’t, they would call the police department to go and check the residence. He said there are a lot of broader incidents and not necessarily mean every one is a suicide issue. The Board thanked Chief Sullivan for his report.

  1. Approve and Sign the Intermunicipal Agreement Between the Town of Highgate and the Village of Swanton:

Reg Beliveau stated the Town of Highgate made a few changes that the Village recommended at their last joint meeting. He said those changes are in there now and he said he needed Board approval to sign it. He said this is for the new water and sewer line that will run up to the airport. Chris Leach made the motion to authorize Village Manager Reginald Beliveau to sign the Intermunicipal Agreement between the Town of Highgate and the Village of Swanton for the infrastructure at the airport. Adam Paxman seconded. Reg said this project will move forward in 2023.

  1. Update on Tree Removal in the Village Green:

Adam Paxman said he went out last month and spoke with their former tree warden and have tagged the dangerous trees that need to come down. He said they should be cut down by the end of the month and the plan is to plant four new trees in the fall. He said once those trees are gone he’s going to meet with the new tree warden and go through and make a new plan on cutting and replanting. He said they need to get the ball started and continue on. He said the new tree warden is Frank Shumway. He said he talked with the Town Administrator and gave him a heads up in case people call there concerned. He said they will have a plan in place for the next 5 to 10 years.

  1. Discussion on ARPA Funds:

Neal Speer said the Town of Swanton is having a meeting tomorrow night to have a meeting on disbursement of their ARPA funds. Reg Beliveau said it is a special meeting and previously they had talked about doing it jointly. He said it probably makes sense that they hold the discussions separately for now and then discuss ideas. Lynn Paradis said they haven’t received the 2nd payment yet but that will be coming and the Village will have just over $700k. Lynn said there are still restrictions on what it can be used for but some of the projects include recreation and work on this building. She said they can’t use it on bridges and roads because there is infrastructure money for those kinds of projects. She said it is very broad on what it can be used for and she needs to follow federal guidelines. Reg said VLCT recommends holding a special meeting and the Village will get one scheduled.

  1. Any Other Necessary Business:

Adam Paxman said he wanted to encourage people to slow down in the community. He said the State did a great job paving Route 7 to Highgate but said it’s not a speedway. He said he appreciates all the folks who have contacted him regarding this and he just wants people to slow down. He also said the Car Show is July 30th from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Any Other Business: Eugene LaBombard asked if the bridge job was still on for August. Reg said yes and they should have a bid opening this month. Eugene asked if there was any news on the FERC relicensing that they should be aware of. Reg said they are in the limbo stages right now because they’ve submitted their final license application. He said the State of Vermont then gave their input on the water quality certificate saying they wanted more studies. He said the Village argued the studies that were submitted were sufficient. He said he hasn’t heard anything as of now and will update the Board when he does. Reg also said they’ve submitted their Part 12 and had to retract the first submission because there were some comments that were not included. He said they have to wait on that but said it was resubmitted. He said there was a recommendation on something that needs some repair and are waiting on prices. More discussion took place regarding this. Reg also said they have received some applications they need to go through. Eugene also asked about the swans in the Village Green. Adam said they are doing great.

Any Other Business: Chris Leach asked if the bridge job was still on and scheduled for August. Reg Beliveau stated it was and they’d like to get it done before the State starts their work. Chris said it’s amazing how many cars on the road given the price of gas. Reg said the bridge job may take two to three weeks the most.

Any Other Business: Heather Buczkowski asked if there was a noise ordinance in the Village of Swanton. Chief Sullivan said there was one in place. Heather asked what where the times of the ordinance. Chief Sullivan stated he would have to check the ordinance for the times but it also has a decibel level attached to it. She asked how that would be measured, Chief Sullivan said they have a meter for that. She also asked if there was an ordinance against fireworks. He said it is very difficult to hold people accountable for using fireworks because they would actually need to witness them being lit off. She also said the Abenaki Food Shelf really needs donations right now and wondered if the Board considered planting fruit trees in the park and donating the fruit to the food shelf. Adam stated he would discuss it with the tree warden.

  1. Executive Session If Necessary:

Adam Paxman made the motion to enter Executive Session at 7:40 p.m. to discuss legal matter, real estate and personnel. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

Adam Paxman made to the motion to exit Executive Session at 9:08 p.m. Chris Leach seconded. Motion carried.

ACTION TAKEN: Adam Paxman made the motion to authorize Village Manager Reginald Beliveau to sign the co-applicant agreement between the Town of Highgate and the Village of Swanton for the water project going to the airport. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Discussion: Reg Beliveau said this is a federal EDA grant to help with the cost of that water line at the airport. Motion carried.

Adam Paxman made the motion to enter into a Water Commissioner’s meeting at 9:09 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

Adam Paxman made the motion to approve a water allocation for 4500 GPD for Maple City Candy on Brooklyn Street in Swanton. Chris Leach seconded. Motion carried.

Adam Paxman made the motion to exit Water Commissioner’s meeting at 9:10 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

  1. Adjournment:

Chris Leach made the motion to adjourn the Regular Board of the Trustees meeting at 9:11 p.m. Adam Paxman seconded. There being no further business at hand, Neal Speer, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 9:11 p.m. Motion carried.

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Neal Speer, Village President                            Date

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Dianne Day, Village Clerk                                Date