Trustees Meeting 1/26/26

Web version

SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX

120 FIRST STREET

SWANTON, VT 05488

REGULAR MEETING

Monday, January 26, 2026

6:00 P.M.

PRESENT: David Winchester, Village President; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Neal Speer, Trustee; William “Bill” Sheets, Village Manager; Dianne Day, Village Clerk; Damon Broderick and Ch. 16. Via Teams: Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager.

1. Call to Order:

David Winchester, Village President, called the Village Board of Trustees meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.

2. Pledge of Allegiance:

Everyone in attendance stood for the pledge of allegiance.

3. Agenda Review:

None.

4. Public Comment:

None.

5. Approve and Accept Minutes from Monday, January 12, 2026 meeting as presented:

Adam Paxman made the motion to approve the minutes from the Monday, January 12, 2026 meeting as presented. Neal Speer seconded the motion. Motion carried.

6. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Thursday, January 22, 2026:

Neal Speer made the motion to approve and accept the Village Warrants through
Thursday, January 22, 2026 as presented. Adam Paxman seconded the motion. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

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

Matt Sullivan, Chief of Police, was present for this update. He said the Village police department responded to 79 incidents for the month of December 2025. He said the top ten calls for service were 8 traffic stop, 7 alarm, 7 suspicious person/circumstance, 6 search warrant, 5 motor vehicle complaint, 5 welfare/suicide check, 4 VIN number inspection, 4 theft, 3 family fight/domestic, and 9 citizen assist. He said there were 8 traffic stops which resulted in 6 tickets and 6 warnings. Matt said there were 4 arrests, 4 charges with 4 individuals. Matt said they responded to 1556 incidents throughout the year 2025, made 133 traffic stops, issued 107 tickets, 112 warnings, made 127 arrests with 123 individuals and had 179 charges for the year.

Matt said the department responded to 79 incidents in the Town of Swanton during the month of December 2025 and the top tens calls for service were 23 traffic stop, 20 directed patrol, 10 suspicious person/circumstance, 3 motorist assist, 3 welfare/suicide check, 2 crash, property damage, 2 driving – license suspended, 2 community outreach, and 2 agency assistance. Matt said there were 23 traffic stops which resulted in 24 tickets and 18 warnings. He said there were 7 arrests with 16 charges and 7 individuals. Matt said the Village worked an additional 5 service hours for the Town. Matt also showed that they responded to 1062 incidents throughout the year 2025, made 274 traffic stops, issued 120 tickets and 257 warnings. He said there were 53 arrests and 90 charges. Matt talked about previous years statistics and said it seems like they are responding to more incidents this past year than before.  The Board thanked him for his update.

8. Reappoint Lawrence King to the Northwest Communications Union District Governing Board for 2026:

Adam Paxman made the motion to reappoint Lawrence King to the Northwest Communications Union District Governing Board for 2026. Neal Speer seconded the motion. Motion carried.

9. Adopt 2026 Budgets as Presented:

Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager, said some numbers changed a bit in the electric fund because her purchase power number came in. She said the rubber dam is a huge factor in that number. Lynn also said she got her VLCT numbers in and they reevaluated all Village property. She said the hydro plant is now assessed at $55 million dollars so that was a significant increase along with an increase in workman’s compensation and property insurance. She said when things slow down a bit she wants to go out to bid for insurance to see if there’s any better pricing out there. Lynn said she has started her rate case for 2026 and hopes to have it done by mid-March. She said they’ve changed a lot of the information needed.

Water Fund: Lynn said the only thing she adjusted in this fund was the property insurance and workman’s compensation. She said those came in a bit lower than anticipated. Lynn said as far as water rates go, she gave the board two scenarios to look at. One has two water line jobs in it and the other doesn’t. She said they can either pay cash for the job or put it on the ballot and take out debt for the work but that’s risky because it could be voted down. Adam Paxman said he would prefer it if they went with the budget with the water line job in it because those lines are old and need replacing.

Sewer Fund: Lynn said this department isn’t in bad shape so she didn’t do a full increase. She said this fund shows a profit but it’s because of the grant money for the sewer plant upgrade. Lynn said the first payment will be due in January 2027.

Lynn discussed a few more changes that were made in the budgets but said overall they were ready to go. Discussion took place regarding adopting the budgets except the water budget so Lynn could refigure it with the water line job in the numbers. Lynn showed the estimated tax rate and said the general, fire and highway funds were level funded and said the police fund was up 8 cents. Lynn said last year’s tax rate was $1.2243 and this year’s is estimated to be $1.2858, with a 5% increase.

Adam Paxman made the motion to adopt all 2026 budgets except for the water fund as presented. Neal Speer seconded the motion. Motion carried.

10. Approve and Sign 2026 Annual Warning:

Neal Speer made the motion to approve and sign the 2026 Annual Warning as presented. Adam Paxman seconded the motion. Motion carried.

11. Approve Delinquent Tax Collector to use Attorney Vaughn Comeau for 2026 Tax Sale Purposes:

Betty Cheney, Delinquent Tax Collector, has requested Board approval for her to use Attorney Vaughn Comeau for any 2026 Village tax sales that may arise. Neal Speer made the motion to approve Betty Cheney’s request to use Attorney Vaughn Comeau for 2026 Tax Sale Purposes. Adam Paxman seconded the motion. Motion carried.

12. Review and Acknowledge Receipt of 2025 4^th Quarter SQRP Report:

Adam Paxman stated the Board has reviewed the 4^th Quarter SQRP Report and acknowledge receipt of it.

13. Authorize Village Manager to Sign the Power Sales Agreement for the Affordable Community Renewable Energy Program through the Vermont Public Power Supply Authority:

Bill Sheets, Village Manager, explained to the Board that this is a program for low-income electric ratepayers and said VPPSA would be handling this program on behalf of the Village. He said customers would apply directly through VPPSA and VPPSA will then reimburse the Village. Adam Paxman made the motion to authorize Village Manager, William Sheets, to sign the Power Sales Agreement for the Affordable Community Renewable Energy Program through the Vermont Public Power Supply Authority. Neal Speer seconded the motion. Motion carried.

14. Discussion on Swanton Village Department Purchasing 124 First Street:

Adam Paxman said he wanted this on the agenda to ensure that the Village sells 124 First Street to the electric department. Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager, said she discussed this with Steve Farnam at VPPSA and with Eli Emerson, Village Attorney, and they both suggested this not happen. They said it would negatively impact their upcoming rate increase and to just let it go. She also said because it’s internal, one department could transfer to the other if the funds were there. Bill Sheets, Village Manager, suggested they revisit this topic in a year or so.

15. AMI Project Update:

Our AMI work continues with more than 1,320 water meters and over 3,650 electric meters installed. We continue to make progress on both water and electric meters and are nearing the end. I do not think that that we need a standing agenda item on this topic for future trustee meetings and will update as needed.

16. Orman E. Croft Hydroelectric Generating Facility Dam Repair Update:

The Request for Qualification (RFQ) for the alternatives analysis assessment was issued on Friday January 9th. It is anticipated to take two to three months to identify the preferred engineering services firm. We have received a great deal of interest from firms that have completed the non-disclosure agreement and that have scheduled site visits.

Velergy (Planning grant) was on site on January 20^th and 21^st to begin their assessment and prioritization of powerhouse needs.

HYDRO operations: We are dealing with several concurrent issues.

Unit 1 remains a workhorse and operates to standard.

Unit 2 is down due to a vibration at about the 60 percent mark. As part of the assessment, we were asked to start the unit, which was a reasonable request. In doing so the process went smoothly until we noticed that Unit 2 Exciter was smoking. We had to shut it down and evaluate the exciter, which was a known vulnerability (except the smoking part) for units 1 – 4 based upon the age of the exciters.

Unit 3 is having issues after the discovery of a cracked sheath on the shaft. This needs to be replaced, along with the wooden blocks which need to be replaced.

Unit 4: The new high lift motor is on site, once that is installed the unit should be ready to go.

Unit 5 is our unit at the dam site and has not been operational during the new normal. It is a more sensitive unit, and the penstock is not delivering enough water to keep the unit operational. We are examining unit programming to allow us to use the smaller cell and use this unit for limited generation.

Root cause: Based upon the current state of our hydro the main issue is the lack of water entering the penstock and this will be a focus of interim solutions examined by all parties involved.

17. Village Manager Update:

Trustee Meeting Dates:

We need to change two Trustee Meeting dates, May 25^th to Tuesday May 26^th and October 12^th to Tuesday October 13^th.

We need a Grant Agreement resolution: The Board previously approved the application for a $60,000 Planning grant, which included a $6,000 match (5k cash/1k in kind). We received the grant and then did an RFQ for a Capital Investment Plan for Hydro and selected Velergy. The State of Vermont now requires a final step in the process and that is a Grant Agreement Resolution where the Board accepts and agrees to the terms and conditions of the grant agreement and that Heidi Britch Valenta is the designee with administrative responsibility and that the Village Manager has the authority to execute the grant agreement.

Neal Speer made the motion to approve a Grant Agreement Resolution related to Grant Agreement #07110-PG-2024-SWAN. Adam Paxman seconded the motion. Motion carried.

Fire Department: On 01/19 the Fire Department had a significant fire on Liberty Street. The Department performed well, with much appreciated mutual aid from Highgate, St. Albans Town, Alburgh and Philipsburg, Quebec. They did have some issues with water from fire hydrants, having to go a distance to get water after one hydrant froze up. We are aware that we need to update water lines and hydrants and we are in the process of finalizing prioritization.

Electric: Electric had a call out on Saturday for a bad transformer on Dewey Street. They have completed the upgrade of Rollo Road and Baker Road, to include new poles and wires. We have been focused on tree trimming in problem areas.

Electric Building: Bids have closed for both site work and concrete and bidding for all other phases of the project will begin soon. We remain hopeful that we will break ground on this project in the spring of this year. Our CAP plan has been approved by the State of Vermont for Brownfield remediation.

Public Works:  The Team has been busy with this recent storm. We are seeing several service lines (private) that are freezing up. We are ok now with material to apply to the streets, including salt. We continue to install water meter pits as time allows.

Water: The State of Vermont has received a new permit to operate a public community water system. We continue to be permitted at just over 1 million gallons per day, with plenty of capacity under this license. Winter maintenance is in full swing, with work on the low lift pumps and control systems. The team has been painting a lot of the facility, and we are working to refine our reporting procedures for testing. We have finalized our plan with the State of Vermont on the few remaining service lines (lead service inventory) that need to be replaced, and Public Works will complete that work later in 2026.

They installed a new chlorine analyzer. On Thursday, with help from Maintenance they changed the oil in all the high-lift pumps. We also drained Filter 1 and found it was approximately six inches low on media and sand. We added 70 bags of sand and 30 bags of anthracite.

Wastewater: The roof has been installed on the filter building and progress continues on siding work. The office area renovations are complete, and the team is in the process of moving back in. We still anticipate being completed in the spring of 2026.

18. Any Other Necessary Business:

Adam Paxman read the following letter: Tonight, after a tremendous amount of thought and prayer, I announce that I am not running for re-election as Village Trustee in this upcoming election. This decision was a very difficult decision for me. As I had said in the past, I remember when then-president Neal Spear and I sat on my porch discussing me running for office. I told him I didn’t have a college degree, wasn’t an engineer, and had not done public service like this before. He said to me if I loved my community, was passionate about moving the community forward and had common sense that I would do great.

I have had a great 15 year run with the Village. I have met a lot of folks who I have never met, even after living here all my life. I have made a lot of new friends over the years. I can’t say it has been all peaches and cream, but I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world.

I wish to thank Neal Spear, Eugene LaBombard, and Chris Leach for their mentorship over the last 15 years. They taught me to work my best for the village residents, with no hidden agendas and to “let the voters decide” when tough decisions come up. Without their guidance and trust in me, I would not be the person I am today. From the bottom of my, thank you, gentlemen!

I also wish to thank Reg Beliveau and Bill Sheets, the village managers, during my tenure. They have supported me over the years, and I hope that I have supported them just as much.

I thank the current board and all the Swanton Village employees over the last 15 years. You invited me into your family here at the village and welcomed me with open arms. I hope I was able to support you to the best of my ability.

And finally, I thank all the Swanton Village voters and residents for supporting me over the last 15 years. Without your support, none of this would have been possible.

Thank you, Adam Paxman

Any Other Business: Neal Speer said that Divine Treasures on Merchants Row held a mixer with the Franklin County Chamber Office promoting her business as well as other local businesses. He said construction has begun on a new business that will be going into Renee Cioffi’s rental space. He said all the businesses in the downtown area seem to be doing very well.

19. Executive Session to Discuss Legal Matters:

Adam Paxman made the motion, seconded by Neal Speer, to go into Executive Session at 7:31 p.m. to discuss a personnel matter where premature general public knowledge of the subject matter would place the Village or person involved at a substantial disadvantage. Motion carried.

Adam Paxman made the motion to exit Executive Session and re-enter Open Session at 7:58 p.m. Neal Speer seconded. Motion carried.

ACTION TAKEN: Neal Speer made the motion to approve Swanton Village Manager William Sheets entering into a Settlement Agreement with HTE Engineering. Adam Paxman seconded the motion. Motion carried.

20. Adjournment:

Adam Paxman made the motion to adjourn the Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees at 8:00 p.m. Neal Speer seconded the motion. There being no further business at hand, David Winchester, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 8:00 p.m. Motion carried.

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David Winchester, Village President                  Date

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Dianne Day, Village Clerk                                 Date