Trustees Meeting 8/26/24

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 SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX

120 FIRST STREET

SWANTON, VT 05488

REGULAR MEETING

Monday, August 26, 2024

7:00 PM

PRESENT: Adam Paxman, Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Suzie Kelleher, Trustee; William “Bill” Sheets, Village Manager; Dianne Day, Village Clerk; Matthew Sullivan, Chief of Police, Kyle Gagne, Sargeant; Suzanne Washburn, Gene & Cindy Alvarado; and Ch 16. Via Teams: Chevon Cooper.

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:

Adam Paxman, Village Trustee, 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 need an executive session to discuss a legal matter.

4. Public Comment:

Gene and Cindy Alvarado from 33 Canada Street were present to discuss people trespassing on their property when they walk down Webster Terrace. Gene said they have a right of way on that property and when individuals go down there, they are actually in their back yard. He said he has spoken to them and they leave but was wondering if there was anything the Village could do to assist in not allowing people to walk down to the river that way. Sgt. Kyle Gagne suggested they install good video cameras and also said if the same individual keeps going down after they’ve been asked to leave, they can be trespassed from the property. Mr. Alvarado said people go down there and use drugs, make fires and one person overdosed down there. He said they’ve found needles as well. Bill Sheets, Village Manager, said once this construction job is complete a gate will be installed so that may help quite a bit. Gene and Cindy thanked the board and Sgt. Gagne said he would meet with them after the meeting at their residence.

5. Approve and Accept Minutes from the Monday, August 12, 2024 meeting as presented:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve Minutes from the Monday, August 12, 2024 meeting as presented. Suzie Kelleher seconded the motion. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

6. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Thursday, August 22, 2024:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve Village Warrants through Thursday, August 22, 2024 as presented. Suzie Kelleher seconded the motion. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

7. Swanton Village Police Department Update with Chief Matthew Sullivan:

Chief Matt Sullivan was here for this presentation and handed out the statistics for the month of July 2024. The police department responded to 139 incidents in the Village. The top ten calls for service were 18 suspicious person/circumstances, 12 directed patrol, 10 agency assistance, 9 welfare/suicide check, 8 traffic stop, 7 crash, property damage, 6 citizen dispute, 6 citizen assist, 5 juvenile problem and 4 trespassing. He said they conducted 8 traffic stops issuing 3 tickets and 6 warnings and made 10 arrest charges with 5 individuals.

Sergeant Kyle Gagne said they responded to 290 incidents in the Village and Town and the top ten calls for service were 51 directed patrols, 31 suspicious person/circumstance, 26 traffic stop, 23 agency assistance, 16 motor vehicle complaint, 14 welfare/suicide check, 11 crash, property damage, 9 citizen assist, 9 citizen dispute, and 8 juvenile problem. He said they conducted 26 traffic stops, issuing 18 tickets and 18 warnings, had 4 arrests associated with traffic enforcement and 16 arrest charges with 12 individuals. Kyle said they worked an additional 19.25 hours for the Town.

Kyle said it’s been a very busy summer. The board thanked Matt and Kyle for coming in and giving their update.

8. ARPA Funds Discussion:

Bill Sheets, Village Manager, said the Village initially received $710,116.68 in ARPA funds. He said there is $88,665.45 remaining but said some of this will be earmarked for architectural needs for 120 First Street. Suzanne Washburn said she was here tonight to request from the Board some ARPA funds to help replace the liner in the swan pond in the Village Green. She said she has been working with Branon’s Pool and others and took a $50,000 job down to $15,000. She said that is the amount she is requesting from the Village. Suzanne also said the Town of Swanton appropriates $2000 annually to help purchase feed for the swan and the duck. Suzanne showed pictures of the swan pond with a new house on site and said she prefers Option B1. Adam Paxman suggested they table this portion of the discussion until further information could be gathered.

Further discussion took place regarding earmarking ARPA funds for the architectural design needs for 120 First Street. Eugene LaBombard first moved to set aside $50,000 for Weimann & Lamphere but after more discussion moved to set aside $70,000 for the architectural design of 120 First Street by Weimann & Lamphere for the police department. Suzie Kelleher seconded. Motion carried.

9. Village Manager Update:

Northwest Access Television: Northwest Access is struggling with the same impact of rising costs, and it is estimated that the costs of covering the Swanton Village Trustees meeting are approximately $4,000 annually. In past years they have sent the Village of Swanton an invoice in the amount of $1,500. During this fiscal year, July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025, they are requesting $4,000. Adam Paxman suggested the Village use the interest accumulated on the ARPA funds to pay for this invoice this year. He said that way it can then be built into next year's budget. Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve using ARPA funds interest to pay the $4000 invoice for Northwest Access TV. Suzie Kelleher seconded the motion. Motion carried.

Electric Department: On August 22^nd we held our initial meeting with Weimann and Lamphere to discuss space requirements for the facility at 124 First Street. The approach will be a deliberate approach to create a facility that will meet the needs of Swanton Village Electric for the next fifty years.

On Wednesday August 21^st we experienced a widespread power outage based upon an unknown issue with the VELCO Transmission line. Once they closed us back in power was restored.

Work will begin on the lights at Marble Mill, with the hope of being able to proceed with the installation of fiber and camera security at various locations soon.

Missisquoi River Crossing:  The subcontractor, Henniker Directional Drilling, has completed drilling as of Friday, with the 20-inch hole completed for approximately 600 feet under the river.

On Monday and Tuesday, they plan on fusing and pulling 600 feet of 14 inch across the river and then their portion of the project will be completed. We want to thank the Longway Farm, who lease the land from the Village on the Foundry Street side, for their flexibility in allowing the contractor to disturb a small section of standing corn, allowing for the 600-foot pipe to be installed in two sections.

The project remains on time and is scheduled to be completed in September.

Paving: The Foundry Street full paving project has been approved as part of the overall project. This requires an adjustment of approximately $101,565. The inclusion of paving as part of this project results in the paving being eligible for the same loan, 50 percent loan forgiveness and zero percent financing. This project remains on time and on budget.

Project incident/raw sewage spill: On August 20, 2024, at approximately 2:00 PM contractors were working on Foundry Street, prepping the roadway for paving, as part of the new water line project connecting water from Foundry Street to Canada Street. The work was being completed in the Foundry Street Wastewater Facility Pump Station, when they inadvertently clipped the top of a valve leading to a two-inch section of wastewater pipe. This pipe was likely installed in this area as a pressure test pipe when the ten-inch main line was installed decades ago. There were no known records of this pipe being in this area.

The broken two-inch pipe resulted in the spillage of raw sewage into the street, and then into the Missisquoi River. The Swanton Village Public Works and Wastewater team were able to lessen the overall flow and impact by utilizing the Vacuum truck to remove sewage entering the pump station from the Marble Mill side. The spillage continued for approximately 30 minutes before the pipe could be fixed. It is anticipated that 10,000 gallons of raw sewage were released and entered the Missisquoi River.

The State of Vermont was notified, and all reporting protocols were followed. As required the Village will be posting Public Health notices at access points below the spill area, to include access points from the Foundry Street Boat Launch down to Louies Landing.

The Village has notified the Swanton Health Officer and will be following up with Officials at both the State and Local level as required. We will await the VT Agency of Natural Resources report and investigative findings, which may include a fine.

Fire Department: The windshield on the ladder truck has been replaced and it is back in full operation. The Department has been busy with multiple calls during the last storm, and they were on site during the entire incident involving the tractor trailer in the Missisquoi River.

Wastewater:  Kingsbury Construction continues with their project pre-work, today August 26^th, is the official kick-off date for this project. Total project time will be approximately 16 months, with a scheduled end date in November of 2025.

Hydro:  Unit 1: We are awaiting the completion of the spacers so that we can install the control ring and get this unit back online. Unit 2: All bearing work was completed last week. During that installation process it was discovered that the magnetic center of the motor is off, so a specialist will be contracted to make the required adjustments before that unit becomes operational.

The week of September 9^th we will be shutting down for maintenance. This involved both external contractors, such as divers, who conduct required inspections of the entire facility. All employees also perform a variety of required tasks within this week. This used to be a two-week process.

MVU Career Fair:  On 08/22/24 MVU teachers joined us for a tour of Hydro and an overview of the Electric and other jobs in the Village as part of over 100 teachers and staff going out to area businesses to see the various job opportunities that are available for MVU students. This effort was highlighted in the St. Albans Messenger, and we are hoping that this becomes an annual event.

Stormwater: Every year we try to make improvements within the Village that are related to Stormwater. This is critically important as we try to reduce the impact of phosphorus and other impacts to our stormwater and wastewater. Our next focus will be the ditch in front of 7, 9 and 11 Brown Avenue. We will begin this fall with minor work on driveway cuts and then complete the installation of a large culvert, and the installation of several, likely five, storm basins in the spring or early summer of next year. The culvert will be covered and will be connected to the stormwater system at the intersection of Brown and First Street.

10. Any Other Necessary Business:

Suzie Kelleher stated she was notified that additional dumping took place on the Route 7 stump dump property. She said this site is for branches, limbs, brush and not plywood or construction waste. She said it would be shame if the Village were to put a gate up because of these situations. Bill Sheets, Village Manager, said security cameras as well as more signage will be installed and also said they will enforce Town ordinances regarding this problem.

Any Other Business: Adam Paxman said the Chamber of Commerce would like to use the Village Green on Saturday, October 26^th from 5 to 8 p.m. for Halloween in the Park. He also said Christmas in the Park will be held on November 30^th and the time will be announced at a later date.

11. Executive Session to Discuss Legal Matter:

Suzie Kelleher made the motion, seconded by Eugene LaBombard, to go into Executive Session at 8:10 p.m. to discuss confidential legal issues where premature general public knowledge of the subject matter would place the Village and others at a substantial disadvantage. Motion carried with two yays.

Suzie Kelleher made the motion, seconded by Eugene LaBombard, to exit executive session at 8:55 p.m. Motion carried.

ACTION TAKEN: None.

12. Adjournment:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to adjourn the Regular Meeting of the Board of the Trustees meeting at 8:56 p.m. Suzie Kelleher seconded. There being no further business at hand, Adam Paxman, Village Trustee, adjourned the meeting at 8:56 p.m. Motion carried.

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David Winchester, Village President                  Date

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Dianne Day, Village Clerk                                Date