Trustees Meeting 9/11/23

Web version

SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX

120 FIRST STREET

SWANTON, VT 05488

REGULAR MEETING

Monday, September 11, 2023

7:00 PM

PRESENT: Chris Leach, Trustee; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; William “Bill” Sheets, Village Manager; Dianne Day, Village Clerk; Bobby Desrochers and Allen Letourneau; Ch 16. Via Zoom: Wayne Elliott and Jeff Lewis, Aldrich & Elliott.

Unless otherwise noted, all motions carried, unanimously.

1. Call to Order:

Chris Leach, 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:

Dianne Day, Village Clerk, stated she had a wastewater allocation request that needs to be added to the meeting. Include that with Item #7 while in Water Commissioner’s meeting.

4. Public Comment:

Arleace Green, Public Affairs Specialist with the Office of Disaster Recovery & Resilience, was here to inform the board that there are funds available for small businesses that may have suffered damage from the recent storm events in Vermont. She said she is encouraging businesses to apply because there are many ways a business can be affected by this. She said this is not only pertaining to physical damage, but also for economic damage as well. She said she would encourage business owners to call 1-800-659-2955 or go to disasterloans.gov to see if they qualify for any available funds. She said this is both a state and federal grant. Bill Sheets told Arleace the Village would post this information on our website.

5. Approve and Accept Minutes from Tuesday, August 15, 2023 meeting as presented:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve Minutes from the August 15, 2023 meeting as presented. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.

6. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Thursday, September 7, 2023:

Adam Paxman made the motion to approve and accept Village Warrants #83-#89 as presented. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Discussion: None.  Motion carried.

7. Request to Hook on to Village Water System at 116 Middle Road, Bobby Desrochers:

Adam Paxman made the motion to enter Water Commissioner’s meeting at 7:12 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

Bobby Desrochers from 116 Middle Road is requesting permission to connect his three-bedroom single family home to the Village Water system and requests 400 gallons per day. He is aware of all the fees associated with this request. Bobby was present for this and advised the board that his handicapped brother lives with him and because of this he had to take a water sample for the State of Vermont. He said his water didn’t pass and the State advised him to put bleach in his well. He did that and his water did pass State guidelines but said it’s not drinkable. He said he hauls water from the Village Park, neighbors and family. He said the other issue he is having on his property is the amount of water that sits there. He said a drain should be installed to help with this issue. Bill Sheets, Village Manager, said he researched this with Dean Ryan, Public Works foreman, and said that line is in pretty bad condition. Bill said the last connection to the line was made in September of 2020 at 1 Madison Drive. He said he believed this caused some pressure issues on Allen Letourneau’s water, who lives at 123 Middle Road. Allen agreed with this and said that individual was supposed to have a well but somehow ended up connected to the Village water system. He said the Board gave approval in 2020 and they knew about the water pressure issues then. Allen said Bobby has a serious issue because his water is no good and he would support Bobby getting permission to connect to the water. He said he was upset back in 2020 but feels Bobby should be given permission tonight to connect to the Village water system because his water is no good. Bobby also said he has worked with Chevalier Well Drilling and installed a water system to help improve his water, but it didn’t work. Bill said Middle Road is on their radar but believes that is 5 to 10 years out due to not having any funding for that project. He said the Village wants to support their citizens but at some point, they may have to say enough is enough. Bill also said they had the leak detection crew in last week and they determined there is a water leak on the private line on Middle Road. He said it’s significant and they will hold the private line responsible for this. Bill said the Village’s water line goes as far as 169 Middle Road and then the private line takes over. Allen said he is pumping water off Bobby’s land everyday and said this could also be a leak. He was told it could be tested for chlorine to find out, but they really believe it’s ground water. He is working with the Town of Swanton on this issue. Bill said the leak detection crew did not find a leak in this area, he said it’s on the private line. Chris Leach said he feels this customer should be allowed to connect. Bill said the public works department would oppose it because of it being a 3-inch line at capacity. Adam Paxman said he needed more time to think about this and said he would prefer to sleep on it before rushing into a decision. He said part of him understands the public works concerns but the other part of him wants to make this happen. Allen stated that if Bobby wasn’t in this predicament, he would oppose it too but said he really needs this water. Bill said they are in the process of identifying every water line, valve, hydrant, etc. and working on a replacement schedule. He said Middle Road always comes up first. He said they continue to work on looking for funds. Chris Leach said if the leak was fixed on the private line that would help the pressure issue. The Board agreed to table this until their next meeting so they can investigate this some more.

Simon Operation Services is requesting a wastewater allocation for 125,000 gallons per day for the Swan Valley property located on Jonergin Drive. The Village consulted with Jason Starr at the Wastewater Treatment Plant and he said this is the same amount they were at when they were operating at full capacity. He said the Village can handle that amount in their lagoon. Adam Paxman made the motion to approve Simon Operation Services wastewater request for 125,000 gallons per day for the Swan Valley property on Jonergin Drive. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

Adam Paxman made the motion to exit Water Commissioner’s meeting at 7:42 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

8. Sign Loan Agreement with Vermont State Revolving Fund Loan RF3-516-1.0 in the Amount of $78,600.00:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to authorize the Board to sign the Vermont State Revolving Fund Loan Agreement in the amount of $78,600.00. Adam Paxman seconded. Discussion: Dianne Day, Village Clerk, informed the Board that this loan is State mandated to conduct a lead pipe service line inventory. She said there is a $100,000 grant that will cover the entire loan.  Wayne Elliott said this is processed as a loan but is 100% forgiven up to $100,000. Motion carried.

9. Identify Open House Date for Wastewater Treatment Facility and Discuss UVM Intern for Wastewater Treatment Facility:

Bill Sheets said the Village has been working on the Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrade and said the Village needs to make a decision as to whether they bring this bond vote to the voters this November or wait one more year to do so. Bill said they will receive a $1 million dollar grant from the State of Vermont. He said there is still plenty of time to present this for a November bond vote and said he’s very comfortable proceeding. He asked Wayne Elliott if they were ready to proceed and he said yes. He said they are adding the dewatering centrifuge which put them behind a little bit but said this is achievable for a November bond vote. He said the only change that would happen if they pushed this off one year

would be the cost would increase accordingly. He said there are concerns about the condition of the centrifuge dewatering system going down which could be costly waiting a year. He said there is plenty of time to get the numbers from the bond bank, hold public hearings, and get everything signed by the Board. Bill said they are ready on this end for open houses and said he’d like them at 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. at the plant. He said they will give the appropriate tours and let everyone know what they are planning on doing. He said he’d also like an open house on the weekend at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. He said they are fortunate to have a UVM intern working 100 hours to specifically work on a communication plan for the facility. Wayne Elliott said the main force to the project is the phosphorus removal issue. Adam Paxman made the motion to move forward with a November 7, 2023 wastewater treatment plant upgrade bond vote. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

10. Identify Open House Date for Public Safety Facility Discussion/Tours:

Bill Sheets, Village Manager, stated the engineers are in the process of working on finalizing what we have given them and creating a cost analysis. He said they also want to put together an educational package for the public meetings and open houses. He said he’d like a minimum of five open houses, three on a weekday and two on a weekend, at the same time as the Wastewater plant. He said we’ll also have an open-door policy if anyone wants to come in at any time to ask questions. He said he needs to go before the DRB to get the proposed variances and they are currently exploring through their attorney how to get this property annexed as a Village property because the Town of Swanton is going to tax the 124 First Street property. Adam Paxman asked why this wouldn’t be considered a tax-exempt property like 120 First Street. Bill said the determination has been made by the listers and zoning office to tax this property. Bill also said they have been accepted into the Brella program and said once we get a clean slate on mitigation efforts for brownfields you’re indemnified against future issues. He also said NWRP Commission has verified that their brownfield funding will cover the full assessment of this property. Mitigation costs will be on the Village and they will know what the cost will be prior to the March vote.

11. Discuss Pecos Wind Exploration through VPPSA:

Bill Sheets, Village Manager, stated VPPSA was contacted by Pecos Wind. He said they have identified potential viable sites where a mini wind turbine, one third of the size you see in New York, could be located. He said the locations identified are the Project 10 site and out behind our Wastewater Facility. He said they are looking for a location where they can meet the demands and provide the full load needed for that location. He said this is years away and at this time it’s an exploratory project.

12. Update on Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge (Depot Street #6):

On Tuesday, August 8, 2023, the State of Vermont, Agency of Transportation, conducted a bridge inspection. Initial reports to Dean Ryan, Public Works, indicated that the expansion joints are in poor condition and will require repair soon. We will be drafting an RFP while waiting for the final inspection report. We have $200,000 in State grant funding, which will not likely come close to funding these repairs. Heidi will begin to explore additional grant funding, but we will need to move forward with an RFP, soliciting bids for Spring of 2024 construction. We will explore all alternatives, to include expediting repairs over the course of several days, shutting the bridge down during this time, rerouting traffic to save significant expenses for traffic control.

On 09/06 Heidi, Dean and I met with Carolyn Cota and Spenser from the SOV bridge division. We must complete an RFP this fall to identify costs and alternatives (traffic) to repair both joints, mill, and pave.  Failure to do so will include federal highway funding sanctions from the SOV, and more specifically, the federal transportation funding.

The replacement is still slated for around 2029 and at a minimum our local share will be between 5 and 10 percent, projected to cost the Village between 500k and 1 million. Public forums on the bridge replacement will likely begin next year at some point.  We should immediately begin to set aside funding annually for this expense.  This is yet another reason to immediately discuss a local option tax.

13. Discussion on Increasing All Sections of Social Media Presence:

Bill Sheets said the Village needs to do a better job in what we’re doing and that includes using all forms of social media. He said he talked with Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager, and she is going to help out and work on this as well.

14. Village Manager Update:

FEMA training:  Many of us are attending a two-day FEMA course at MVU, titled Crisis Management for School based incidents (Today and Tuesday)

WWTF Tours/ID meeting for November Bond Vote: Trustees must decide on whether to proceed with a November 2023 bond vote or defer for one year until November of 2024. Wayne Elliott from A & E will attend to discuss pros and cons.  Internal recommendations are that we proceed with a November 2023 bond vote.

Our Community Resilience and Revitalization Program (CRRP) grant request for 1 million was approved by the Review Committee. This must also be approved by the VT Economic Progress Council and then the Governor but is almost a certainty at this point.  This is the discussion that began with the Governors Cabinet Economic Development tour and follow up.  We are continuing to work on increased loan forgiveness from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and a potential Northern Border Regional Commission Grant application for this project.

Wastewater:  Tours!!! Open house visits, bond prep.  We will schedule a series of open houses within the next 30 to 60 days.  We will take one weekday and hold open houses at 10 am, 2 pm and 6 pm and then one weekend day at 10 am and 2 pm. 

UVM Intern:  We will be utilizing a UVM intern (100 hours) through Corey Parent’s class. This intern will focus work on our upcoming open houses and communication related to our WWTF upgrades/project.

Equipment:  We will be waiting until next year to complete the Foundry Street shed (MVU building trades) and instead move forward with the replacement/upgrade of new pumps and valves for the Foundry Street pump station. This is a critical need upgrade of aging and failing equipment.

Update:  Pecos Wind discussion on a small wind turbine, exploratory only through VPPSA. More details to follow but Pecos identified the area near the Lagoons or on Lafar Street past P10 as potential sites.  They would look for this wind turbine to be able to meet all on site demands at the WWTF.

Public Safety Proposal update 124 First Street:  We will be exploring the annexation of this property. The Town will be taxing us on this parcel, and we want to avoid this so we will annex it as quickly as possible. 

Brella: We are enrolled in Brella and NRPC has confirmed that we will be fully funded for the assessment of this property. Mitigation will need to be funded by the Village.

The CM continues to work on cost estimates, and we anticipate a series of open houses in the next two months.

Stormwater (three-acre rule):  On 09/07 Heidi, Dean and I met with Watershed Consulting to discuss Jones Court Stormwater. We will be contracting with them (and seeking funding for reimbursement) to meet the October deadline for acting.  We will be creating a letter to send to the residents explaining the next steps.  We must create a plan to meet the three-acre rule requirements, and then will have five years to implement.

Missisquoi River Crossing:  On 09/07/23 I signed the contract with G.W. Tatro to complete this work. Final site archaeological site work will begin this week and we should have a 2024 construction timeline in place soon.  G.W. Tatro is in the process of determining what work, if any, might be accomplished prior to this winter.  Most of the project will take place in the spring of 2024.

September 26, 2023 (Special Selectboard Meeting): This meeting will be held at the Village Complex, to discuss the proposed Swanton Recreation/Community Center.

Public Works:  Continued work on painting hydrants, signage and they have completed paving on Pine Street and Platt Streets. Work is now complete on a grant funded stormwater project on Foundry Street.

Valve Exercising:  We received a State of Vermont grant for four days of valve exercising, something that we have not conducted in recent memory. They worked with Dean to exercise over 80 valves.  Approximately ten have issues and will need to be replaced.  The main areas of concern are Grand Avenue, Linda Avenue and Spring Street.  Approximately 1/4 to 1/3 of our valves were examined and exercised.  We will receive a full written report and we will seek to use them again next year.  We will also budget for our own valve exerciser and hope to exercise at least half of our valves annually.

Leak Detection:  We received a grant from the State of Vermont for four days of leak detection of our water lines. This has not been conducted in at least 15 years.  Approximately 50 percent of our water lines were examined with several leaks detected.  A full written report will be received soon.  Seven leaks were detected, ranging from minor leaks at old hydrants on Pine Street to more significant leaks on Middle Road on the private line.  We will work to address those in prioritized order.

Electric: Duane and his crew continue to work on multiple projects, they just installed the culvert liner at the Hydro (substation). They are continuing to work on grid reliability with tree trimming. They were called out last week for multiple outages in the area due to storms. 

Hydro:  Peaking to meet high demand due to the recent heat wave. During the last storm (Thursday afternoon) they refilled 24 hours after peak draw down.  They just repaired the Trash rake.  The internship is ending at the end of this month.  This was a great success, and we hope to repeat this annually.  Annual plant shut down is the week of September 18^th with several maintenance and inspection tasks to complete.   

Water:  The Water Department made some drawdown adjustments to compensate for storage following the water leak last month. Continued improvements, working with Al Mosher to get things online and functioning properly. Avery is working out well there, creating the ability to accomplish daily tasks more safely, efficiently, and effectively. They are in the middle of renewing the five-year discharge permit and are conducting required lead and copper testing.

Grants/Projects: Heidi continues to focus on a wide range of grant opportunities, while balancing project management. The latest achievement is the one million towards the WWTF.

Village gas/diesel pumps:  Lynn and Duane are working with R.L. Vallee to obtain Mobil Fleet cards. We are facing significant expenditures with the upgrade of our current gas pump/diesel tank.  We will still use Berger for Diesel fuel at their facility and utilize Mobil for other fleet needs.  This is a cost neutral move for fuel but will save approximately 30k, alleviating the need for an upgrade.  The added benefit of removing the liability on our property is a bonus.

Bill also informed the Board members that they would all be receiving new email addresses to be in compliance with the VPPSA Cyber Security audit.

15. Any Other Necessary Business:

None..

16. Executive Session to Discuss Personnel and Real Estate:

Adam Paxman made the motion to enter Executive Session at 8:40 p.m. to discuss Personnel and Real Estate. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

Adam Paxman made the motion to exit Executive Session at 9:15 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

ACTION TAKEN: None.

17. Adjournment:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to adjourn the Regular Meeting of the Board of the Trustees meeting at 9:16 p.m. Adam Paxman seconded. There being no further business at hand, Chris Leach, Village Trustee, adjourned the meeting at 9:16 p.m. Motion carried.

_____________________________________             _______________________________________

Neal Speer, Village President                            Date

__________________________ ________         ____________________________________

Dianne Day, Village Clerk                                Date