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Trustees Meeting 7/11/22

  • Monday, July 11, 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, July 11, 2022

7:00 PM

PRESENT: Chris Leach, Trustee; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Reginald Beliveau Jr., Village Manager; Dianne Day, Village Clerk; and Ch. 16. Via Zoom: Chevon Cooper.

Unless otherwise noted, all motions carried unanimously.

  1. Call to Order:

Chris Leach, Village Trustee, 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 she had another water allocation request that came in for 22 Elm Street.

  1. Public Comment:

Chevon Cooper asked if the Village planned on holding a public hearing for the ARPA funds. Reg said they planned on having one and would work on getting it scheduled. She also mentioned she was misquoted in the Minutes from the April 21, 2022 meeting. She was told to contact Joe Cava at the Town office.

  1. Approve and Accept Minutes from Tuesday, June 28, 2022 as presented:

Adam Paxman made the motion to approve and accept Minutes from Tuesday, June 28, 2022 as presented. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

  1. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Thursday, July 7, 2022:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve and accept Village Warrants #62-#66 through Thursday, July 7, 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 June the Village responded to 136 calls for service. He said out of those calls the top ten calls were for 13 calls for citizen assist; 12 calls for motor vehicle complaint; 11 calls for suspicious person/circumstance; 11 calls for agency assistance; 11 calls for directed patrols; 9 calls for citizen dispute; 8 calls for traffic stop; 8 calls for family fight/domestic; 7 calls for service abuse prevention order; and 6 calls for disorderly conduct/noise. He said there were five tickets issued and one warning. He showed the arrest analysis for June which consisted of 3 unlawful trespass arrests; 2 driving under the influence arrests; 2 simple assault arrests; 2 unlawful mischief arrests and 2 disorderly conduct arrests. Chief Sullivan said they conducted a speed study on Spring Street. He said the data set recorded 10,902 vehicles from June 13 through June 22. It showed out of 10,902 measurements 1,669 were above the 40 mph speed limit, this is approximately 15% of vehicles measured. It also showed 142 were above the 50 mph which is 1.3% and 11 were above 60 mph, which is .1% of vehicles measured. He said Sgt. Badeau conducted 5 directed patrols of the area on June 8, 12, 13, 16 and 22. He said a lot of these vehicles were in the transition speed zone going from 40 mph to 30 mph.

He said his second packet of information was what his officers responded to in the Village and Town of Swanton. He said they responded to 202 calls for service and the top ten calls consisted of traffic stops, agency assistance, motor vehicle complaint, citizen assists, suspicious person/circumstance, family fight/domestic, directed patrols, citizen disputes, service abuse prevention order and disorderly conduct/noise complaints. He said they issued 11 tickets and 7 warnings and had 3 arrests for driving under the influence; 3 unlawful trespass; 2 arrest on a warrant; 2 simple assault and 2 unlawful mischief. Chief Sullivan said they also did a speed study on Maquam Shore and found some disturbing data there as far as the southbound traffic goes. He said they measured 6,903 vehicles and out of that 5,478 were above the 40 mph speed limit. This is approximately 79% of vehicles measured. Out of the 6,903 vehicles 3,893 were above 50 mph and 435 were above 60 mph. He said this data is problematic and officers will ticket drivers who are above the speed limit. He said the northbound traffic study measured 3,351 vehicles and out of that 1,566 were above 40 mph, 149 were above 50 mph and 15 were above 60 mph. He said Officer Gagne clocked a motorcycle going 118 mph and he is working on that case now and has some good leads. He said he worked 5 hours monitoring speeds and issued one warning and two tickets. He said they are going to try and saturate the town and the village and target those areas. He also talked about the statistics of use of force and said his officers were doing great and had very low numbers. He said he’s modified and/or put out new policies about body cameras, use of force, pursuit policy, protective custody policy, marine patrol policy and juvenile operations policy. He said they’ve been working on scheduling issues and seem to have a decent one in place. Chris Leach said he still wants to pursue conversations with the school boards regarding having an SRO officer in the elementary schools. He asked if the Chief had a ballpark figure of what that would cost a taxpayer. Chief Sullivan said Lynn Paradis would have that information. Reg Beliveau asked Chief Sullivan to explain the Stonegarden work his officers do. Chief Sullivan said their marine patrol boat helps patrol the Canadian border and do compliance checks. He said they are working to find illegal crossing, drug smuggling, and human trafficking. Reg said the boat, expenses and salaries are not coming out of Swanton taxpayer money, this is all funded though the federal government.

  1. Water Commissioner’s Meeting – Raymond Raine at 446 Maquam Shore Road is requesting permission to connect to the Bobby Bonk private water line with Village water:

Adam Paxman made the motion to enter Water Commissioner’s meeting at 7:35 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve Raymond Raine of 446 Maquam Shore Road to connect to the private water line on Maquam Shore Road owned by Bobby Bonk and supplied by the Village of Swanton. He also approved a 400 gpd water allocation for that address as well. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve a 400 gpd water and wastewater allocation for Mary Hodgdon located at 22 Elm Street due to changing her home from a 3 bedroom single family home to a 4 bedroom single family home. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.

Adam Paxman made the motion to exit water commissioner’s meeting at 7:36 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

  1. Any Other Necessary Business:

Adam Paxman stated that he was contacted by SPAN and they are requesting permission to paint a mural on the back side of the rest room building at the Swanton Beach. The board suggested they provide him with a sketch of what they are planning on doing beforehand. Once approved they can go ahead and paint it. Adam also asked if the highway crew could weed wack around the art wall on Route 7. Reg said he would talk with Dean about it. Adam also said the car show is in 18 days and he is hoping to have over 200 cars. He said the dangerous trees were taken down in the park and he will meet with the tree warden next month to work on the next plan.

Any Other Business: Eugene LaBombard asked if there was an update on the AMI meters. Reg Beliveau said they will meet with the contractor this fall and get going on that project. He said it should take about one year to get them all installed. He said they will have another bid opening on July 18th for the bridge repair job.

Any Other Business: Reg Beliveau said that Debbie Lavoie will be at their next meeting for an update on the Abenaki food shelf. He also said he spoke with Liz Curry about a grant to help renovate the Abenaki headquarters. He said she needs a resolution from the Village of Swanton and a letter of support from the Trustees. Reg also said they are working on repairing the dam at the Hydro Plant.

Any Other Business: Chris Leach asked if setting off fireworks was legal. The Chief of Police, Matt Sullivan, said it is legal to sell and purchase them in Vermont but illegal to light off without a permit. He said unless the police witness someone lighting them off it’s very hard to enforce.

  1. Executive Session if Necessary

None.

  1. Adjournment:

Adam Paxman made the motion to adjourn the Regular Board of the Trustees meeting at 7:55 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. There being no further business at hand, Chris Leach, Village Trustee, adjourned the meeting at 7:55 p.m. Motion carried.

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Neal Speer, Village President                            Date

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Dianne Day, Village Clerk                                Date