Trustees Meeting 9/23/24

Web version

 SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX

120 FIRST STREET

SWANTON, VT 05488

REGULAR MEETING

Monday, September 23, 2024

7:00 PM

PRESENT: David Winchester, Village President; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Eugene LaBombard, Trustee; Suzie Kelleher, Trustee; William “Bill” Sheets, Village Manager; Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager; Dianne Day, Village Clerk; Daniel Chevalier, Fire Chief; Josh Ramsdell, Josh Aldrich, Michael Roberge, Danny Billado, Dan Vanslette, Missisquoi Valley Rescue; Heather Lavoie and Ch. 16. Via Teams: Andre.

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 7:00 p.m.

2. Pledge of Allegiance:

Everyone in attendance stood for the Pledge of Allegiance.

3. Agenda Review:

Bill Sheets, Village Manager, stated he needed to add legal to executive session.

4. Public Comment:

None.

5. Approve and Accept Minutes from the Monday, September 9, 2024 meeting as presented:

Suzie Kelleher made the motion to approve Minutes from the Monday, September 9, 2024 meeting as presented. Adam Paxman seconded the motion. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

6. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Thursday, September 19, 2024:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to approve Village Warrants through Thursday, September 19, 2024 as presented. Suzie Kelleher seconded the motion. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

7. Discussion with Missisquoi Valley Rescue:

Adam Paxman thanked the crew for coming in tonight and said he knows they visit Highgate and Swanton Town and he just wanted them to come tonight and give an update as to how things are going with them. Danny Billado said he’s new to MVR and was just hired as their new personnel manager. Dan Vanslette, Vice President of MVR, said he’s been an EMS for 32 years and said it’s been a long haul. He said they hired Danny and today was his first day. He said there’s a lot of work to do and said it’s pretty demanding trying to cover the area and also do mutual aid. He introduced Josh Aldrich and Michael Roberge and said they are fully staffed. He said they have about 25 members currently. Dan said he built a rescue building in his past and said he was shocked as to how much things have increased compared to 10 years ago. He said he built a 5,000 square foot building for $350,000 with a benefactor helping and a lot of donations. He said they will have to do a lot of planning and thinking ahead before they do anything with the land they bought. Adam asked if they were still doing the subscription plan. Josh Ramsdell said yes and said this will cover anyone without insurance and any expense that’s not covered by insurance as long as they pay the subscription fee. Adam asked if MVR did transports to out of town areas. Dan Vanslette said there is a large need for that right now and said they pay well. Josh Ramsdell said it’s a good revenue stream and they make sure it’s people from this community that they are transporting. He said at times they will transport someone not from this community. He said their stats are currently 10,353 calls and about 200 transports. He said they try and find a balance with helping the community and doing these transports. Dan Vanslette said they’ve had about 71 calls in 7 days. Danny Billado said having a full head count is huge from his perspective and they are taking on more people. David Winchester, Village President, thanked the department for being so professional. Adam asked if there was ever a time where Swanton had no coverage. Josh said occasionally that happens, but not very often. Eugene LaBombard asked them what their greatest need is. They all agreed that it would be people and training. Dan said equipment you can buy and replace but said it’s keeping people that is a challenge. He said it’s a weird environment because you can go from a quiet day to shear terror. They discussed certification courses and how things have changed over the years. Dan Billado said he’s brought a vision to this new job and that would be to build a new rescue building. He said they don’t have a timeline for that yet and said it could be several years, but they are working on it. He said they have a great team with great leadership and said his wife Lynn works there as well. He said they checked with legal, and she recused herself from the hiring process but wanted to let the public know she had nothing to do with him being hired. He said they all work well together. Bill Sheets, Village Manager, stated Vermont made national news stating that overdose opioid deaths have seen a serious reduction in Vermont and asked if they’ve seen a reduction in overdoses. Josh said no, it’s about the same as last year. They said Narcan is everywhere now and that helps. The board thanked MVR for coming in and asked that they stay on their radar and come in and give an update about every four months or so.

8. Swanton Village Police Department Update with Sgt. Tyler Badeau:

Sgt. Tyler Badeau was present for this discussion. He stated that the Swanton Village Police Department responded to 167 incidents in the month of August just in the Village. He showed the top ten calls for service were as follows: 17 suspicious person/circumstance, 14 directed patrol, 10 community outreach, 9 welfare/suicide check, 9 citizen assist, 8 citizen dispute, 7 crash, property damage, 7 motor vehicle complaint, 6 disorderly conduct/noise and 18 traffic stops. He said out of the 18 traffic stops 5 tickets were issued, 16 warnings and 8 arrest charges. He also said 2 arrests were associated with traffic enforcement and 8 individuals.

Sgt. Badeau stated that the department responded to 283 calls for service in the Town and Village combined for the month of August. He said the top ten calls for service included the following: 42 directed patrol, 38 traffic stop, 23 suspicious person/circumstance, 14 agency assistance, 12 community outreach, 11 crash, property damage, 11 motor vehicle complaint, 10 citizen dispute, 10 citizen assist, and 9 welfare/suicide check. He said out of the 38 traffic stops they issued 11 tickets, 29 warnings, made 10 arrest charges, 3 arrests associated with traffic enforcement and 10 individuals. He also said they worked an additional 8.75 hours for the Town.

Adam Paxman asked if there were any concerning trends last month. Sgt. Badeau stated he personally saw in increase in mental health calls. He said that covers a wide array of calls but thought it was up some last month. Suzie Kelleher asked Tyler if the traffic tickets were being coded correctly. Tyler said he believed they were but said he would make sure while he’s approving them. The Board thanked Sgt. Tyler Badeau for his update.

9. Discussion on Implementing Hometown Hero Banner Program:

Trustee Suzie Kelleher presented the following information to the Board regarding implementing a Hometown Hero Banner Program:

This initiative is to honor the military members of the town and village of Swanton. Those that were born in Swanton, had Swanton listed as their home of record on their DD-214 or resided in Swanton for a majority of their life. The aim to honor those who served from World War I to present.

1. Electric Department Supervisor Duane Couture will identify the utility poles best used for the banner and install them with his crew.
2. Funding will be overseen by Dianne Day, accounts receivable and Lynn Paradis, Comptroller and Assistant Village Manager, with the Trustees Permission.
3. Banners will be funded by the family of veteran or veteran themselves. Additionally funding sources are being sought through the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion and the Combat Veterans Association Motorcycle Club. Additional Funding may be sought from local businesses.
4. A committee will be formed to oversee and vet the program. This committee will be made up of Swanton Veterans. I will be looking for one to two veterans to join the committee I am forming.
5. Pertinent Info: Banners are 24x48 = $104.95

    Hardware: $69.50 total+$170.90 would round up $171

    Pictures need to be 150dpi: 2 weeks for proofs

    Banners arrive 2 weeks after proofs. (Each family will be emailed the proof for confirmation

    Need 6 weeks for banners to arrive by Memorial Day

    Ten Banner Minimum (My aim is 75 for first round)

The Board thought this was an excellent idea for Swanton. Adam Paxman made the motion to authorize the Hometown Heroes Banner Program and authorize the use of the General Fund to house the funds for the program. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

10. Discussion on Allowing a Storage (Conex) Container for Recreation on the John Raleigh Field:

Suzie Kelleher stated that because the Village owns the Swanton Recreation John Raleigh Memorial Field property, they would like board approval to place a storage conex container there to store equipment. Adam Paxman asked if the container was already there, Suzie stated no it was not. It was suggested that the Board send a letter of support to the Development Review Board. Adam Paxman made a motion to approve Swanton Recreation placing a storage conex container on the John Raleigh Memorial Field. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

11. Kevin Jordan Request Permission to Connect to Swanton Village Water Line on Lake Street for Construction of a Single-Family Dwelling:

Adam Paxman made the motion to enter into Water Commissioner’s meeting at 7:42 p.m. Suzie Kelleher seconded. Motion carried.

Adam Paxman made the motion to approve Kevin Jordan’s request to connect to the Village’s water system on Lake Street. Eugene LaBombard seconded the motion. Motion carried with two yays, Suzie Kelleher abstained.

Adam Paxman made the motion to exit Water Commissioner’s meeting and re-enter Open Session at 7:44 p.m. Eugene LaBombard seconded. Motion carried.

12. Discussion on Purchasing a New Street Sweeper:

Bill Sheets, Village Manager, showed documentation to the Trustees related to the Street Sweeper request. He said this is a detailed description of the unit that the Village has an opportunity to purchase. The Stock document is the price of the demo model, which is $212,600. This price is considered new and includes the full warranty. In addition, the vendor, Viking Cives out of Williston, will install 8 LED lights, and include 3 new steel brushes, which is about a $2,000 addition between the brushes and lights. The other quote is a brand-new identical model for $258,700.

The savings with purchasing the demo model is $46,100, plus the added lights and brushes. That is a nearly 20 percent savings. The exigency comes with the fact that this offer is good until 09/25/24 at which point this unit will be offered to the City of Lebanon, NH.

To be clear, the intent was to conduct research and budget for this, using enterprise funds, next season. In doing this research Dean and his team discovered this demo unit, which will save us over $46,000, with a full warranty remaining. This is an opportunity to save nearly 20 percent for a unit that will serve us well for the near future.

A group of four from public works all test drove this unit and believe that it is the perfect size and fit for our community. While it is a smaller unit, it will serve our needs well. We have a responsibility to ensure that we remove as much sediment, runoff, and debris as possible from roadways before it enters our system and eventually impacts our streams, river, and Lake Champlain.

Bill stated the immediate benefits are as follows:

• We will drastically improve our ability to protect our environment by removing debris and contaminants from run-off.
• We will reduce the impact on our storm drains.
• We will reduce the impact on our vactor by reducing the maintenance on our storm drains.
• We will reduce the amount of spraying for weed eradication due to frequent and proper street maintenance.
• We will reduce the amount of general street debris that impacts our residents and businesses.
• We can maximize our personnel, working smarter and more efficiently and effectively.
• We will be able to properly sweep the paved portion of the bike path in our community.
• Public Works will have more time to keep pace with the growing demands now that we are aggressively and successfully pursuing grant funding for a variety of public works projects.

Again, this was going to be a 2025 budgeted request, but we would save a significant amount of funding if we were authorized to make this purchase this year.

Suzie Kelleher made the motion to authorize the purchase of a new street sweeper in the amount of $212,600. Eugene LaBombard seconded the motion. Discussion: Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager, said there is a lease option she can do for this, or she can withdraw funds from the Village’s Money Market account that is intended for capital purchases. She said there is over $300,000 in that account now and if they use these funds, she will replace some funds each year. Suzie Kelleher amended her motion to state that the Village purchase this street sweeper using their Money Market account. Eugene LaBombard seconded her amendment. Motion carried unanimously.

13. Village Manager Update:

Missisquoi River Crossing:  The majority of all work has been completed. The contractor, G.W. Tatro, has completed the water connection. They are nearly finished on clean-up work on both the Foundry Street side, as well as the Webster Terrace/Canada Street side. The paving is complete on Canada Street. The Foundry Street paving project is scheduled to be completed within the next week, with some additional earth work the last remaining part of the project. Public Works will be installing a locked gate on the Webster Terrace side, and we will be ordering no trespass signs. To encourage citizens to use Marble Mill as the access point for fishing access on that side we will enhance the trail leading from the area of the tennis courts to access fishing spots in that area.

Lead Service Inventory: The Village must meet the state and federal regulations requiring all Vermont public water systems to inventory all drinking water service lines that connect homes/buildings to the water system by October 16, 2024. Village employees, working with Aldrich and Elliott, contacted residents to complete this inventory. The in-person survey started on September 9^th, and we are well over the 90th percentile with plans to get to 100 percent by the deadline.

Public Works Opening:  This job opening has been posted and we encourage all interested to apply. We will consider all levels of experience to find the right person for a career with the Village of Swanton. We anticipate conducting interviews starting the week of September 30^th. There is still time to apply.

Public Works Signage Needs: We need to purchase a couple of no trespassing signs for both sides of Webster Terrace to deter trespassing. We also need to purchase a sign for the stump dump that is open to the Residents of Swanton only. The piles are growing significantly, and we are constantly running out of space. We will explore creating a buffer zone next year to pile up more brush without burning it.

Wastewater: This project is well underway, with a major milestone achieved last week. Beginning last Tuesday evening Kingsbury, along with our Wastewater and Public Works teams mobilized at 9:30 PM and worked through the night to install the sewer force main bypass. This involved a team on site as well as teams using pump trucks, including our VACTOR, at both the Foundry Street pump station and the access point in Marble Mill. All three trucks stayed ahead of the gravity flow of the system’s wastewater to complete the bypass and finish around 0400 hours.

The control panel for the centrifuge will be delivered in November and the engineers are hoping to produce a frame for the new unit to be paired with. The existing one will not work, and engineers will be working on ways to get a new one engineered and fabricated while the control panel arrives.

Public Works Safety Needs: The Public Works Department has a critical safety need that became readily apparent during the recent overnight project at wastewater. That contractor used portable light towers for the work being done to bypass the sewer main. The safety officer advised that they will not conduct operations such as that without the use of these lights. Our Public Works Department does similar work, at all times of the year in all types of weather. We must ensure that our employees have the equipment they need to complete the job safely and effectively. We need to purchase proper lighting, not head lamps and a small light on the vactor, which does not meet the criteria for portability. I have asked our Public Works Supervisor, Dean Ryan, to obtain three quotes for a light tower. He is working on those, and the costs should be under $15,000. This would be an enterprise fund purchase, nearly 100 percent by water as that is the reason we are most commonly in the ground making repairs.

Hydro:  During the week of September 9^th, the plant was shut down for maintenance. It is back online with unit 1 and 2 still down for repairs. On Monday September 23^rd vendors arrived on site for electrical testing and inspection on Unit 2 in the hopes of getting that unit back online. We were able to provide Trustee Kelleher and Heidi Britch-Valenta with tours of the Penstock, turbines, valves, and surge tank. Electrical Technicians were on site today and tested Unit 2 to trouble shoot and get that unit back online. All electrical components passed inspection, so we are now collaborating with the consultant to identify next steps to determine root cause.

FERC: We continue to meet all FERC/State of Vermont requirements for re-licensing through meeting requirements with all required studies. We have had early meetings with a Hydro Consulting Specialist, who has great expertise and history of receiving significant grant funding specific to highly technical hydroelectric facility upgrades.

Electric Department: We are continuing to work with Weimann Lamphere Architects (WLA) on the design of a new facility and we are nearing the point where we advertise, through WLA, for a Construction Manager.

MERP Grant:  We had a MERP Energy Assessment evaluation at both 120 First Street, as well as at our Wastewater Facility. They recommended energy enhancements of $276,000 for First Street and $65,000 for Wastewater. We have applied for both amounts and will know soon.

Tax Relief Request: On 09/19 the Village sent a letter to the Swanton Lister’s office requesting that 124 First Street be removed from the grand list based upon our current use of the property to store and stage equipment. This property does not generate income.

6 South River: The necessary archaeology work for this site was submitted in July and just got approval on September 11^th. We should have more details within the next month and then onto the next steps.

Stormwater: I will be attending a stormwater; three acres permit informational meeting on Monday September 30^th at 7:00 PM at St. Albans Town offices. This event is sponsored by NRPC. We have mailed this information to all impacted residents in the Jones Court Community and placed this on our Facebook page.

Northern Forest Canoe Trail: NFCT is visiting the Foundry Street Boat Launch tomorrow, working on an accessibility Project with a number of partners, to include Vermont Adaptive. They will be filming as part of a project and assessing what is currently offered and what might be possible.

Local Option Tax: In response to the last Selectboard meeting the Village has agreed to pay 50 percent of attorney fees to explore how the tax will be structured between the Town and Village. For example, is everything required to be geofenced or can a simple percentage formula be used, if allowed and agreed upon by both governance boards?

Fire Department: Training next door tonight related to vehicle extrication. There are five vehicles next door for the FD to work on, all vehicle fluids have been drained prior to being transported to this location for training.

Upcoming BOT meetings:

October 14:  Falls on a holiday, can we please move the meeting to October 15^th? The Board agreed to this.

November 11: Falls on a holiday, can we please move the meeting to November 12^th? The Board agreed to this.

14. Any Other Necessary Business:

Adam Paxman said he wanted to give a shout out to the Town of Highgate on their airport ribbon cutting ceremony. He said this is going to be awesome for the entire community and will be a boom to both Highgate and Swanton.

Any Other Business: Heather Lavoie, Swanton Historical Society, said she is still working on purchasing the Roy Insurance building. She said the donation piece on their website should be up and running very soon.

15. Executive Session to Discuss Personnel, Contract and Legal:

Suzie Kelleher made the motion, seconded by Adam Paxman, to go into Executive Session at 8:38 p.m. to discuss confidential personnel, contract and legal issues where premature general public knowledge of the subject matter would place the Village and others at a substantial disadvantage. Motion carried.

Adam Paxman made the motion, seconded by Suzie Kelleher, to exit executive session at 10:00 p.m. Motion carried.

ACTION TAKEN: None.

16. Adjournment:

Eugene LaBombard made the motion to adjourn the Regular Meeting of the Board of the Trustees meeting at 10:01 p.m. Adam Paxman seconded. There being no further business at hand, David Winchester, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 10:01 p.m. Motion carried.

_____________________________________             _______________________________________

David Winchester, Village President                  Date

__________________________ ________         ____________________________________

Dianne Day, Village Clerk                                Date