Trustees Meeting 6/9/25

Web version

SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX

120 FIRST STREET

SWANTON, VT 05488

REGULAR MEETING

Monday, June 9, 2025

6:00 PM

PRESENT: David Winchester, Village President; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Neal Speer, Trustee; Suzie Kelleher, Trustee; Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager; Dianne Day, Village Clerk; Duane Couture, Daren Plouff, Electric Department; Heidi Hill and Ch. 16. Via Teams: N/A.

To watch this meeting in its entirety, go to Northwest Access TV on YouTube. The video will also be posted on the Village’s website once available. Unless otherwise noted, all motions carried, unanimously.

1. Call Regular Meeting to Order at 6 p.m.:

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 Tuesday, May 27, 2025 as presented:

Suzie Kelleher made the motion to approve the minutes from Tuesday, May 27, 2025, as presented. Neal Speer seconded the motion. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

6. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Thursday, June 5, 2025:

Adam Paxman made the motion to approve Village Warrants through Thursday, June 5, 2025 as presented. Suzie Kelleher seconded the motion. Discussion: Adam Paxman asked about the payment made to the City of St. Albans for $27,500. Lynn Paradis told him that was a quarterly payment for Swanton Village Police Department dispatching fees. He also asked about the payment made to Crossbow Communications LLC for $24,349.45. Lynn said that was a combination of two invoices, one to relocate fiber at the Sewer Plant and one to repair fiber at the Water Plant. Motion carried.

7. Heidi Hill Requesting Permission to Create a Free Community Bakery in the Village Parks:

Heidi Hill was present for this request. She said she would like to be able to set up in the Village Green and give away her baked goods. Suzie Kelleher made the motion to approve Heidi Hill’s request to set up in the Village Green and hand out homemade baked goods. Adam Paxman seconded the motion. Discussion: Suzie Kelleher mentioned the Village’s Traveling Vendor Ordinance and wondered if any of that applied to this situation. Dianne Day, Village Clerk, said she didn’t think it did because Heidi wouldn’t be selling her goods, she would be giving them out for free. Suzie said she would like to review the ordinance more carefully and said it may need to be updated. She suggested Heidi contact the local food shelves and provide her baked goods to them. Heidi said she did reach out, she said she is waiting on a call back. It was also suggested that she contact Nicole at the Recreation Department and maybe coordinate with her events rather than set up in the parks. Neal Speer said he didn’t support this request because she would be infringing on businesses that are downtown who paid a lot of money to open their businesses and who also pay taxes. All opposed, motion denied.

Suzie Kelleher made the motion to invite Heidi Hill to their next meeting after she’s had time to review the Traveling Vendor Ordinance. Neal Speer seconded the motion. Motion carried.

8. Swanton Village Electric Department Update with Duane Couture and Daren Plouff:

Duane Couture, Electric Foreman, said his department has been busy doing a lot of the same stuff, setting poles and working on AMI. He said water meter change outs begin tomorrow and said A Cooper Mechanical has been reaching out to our customers to set up appointments. He said the new water meter is very similar to what we have now, and he showed the new meter and the new reader that will be attached to the customer’s house. He also showed the new electric AMI meters and also pointed out there is very little difference between them. He said one of the benefits with going to AMI water meters is that the Village will be able to track a customer’s water usage daily. He said they will be able to see a high usage and reach out to the customer to make sure something isn’t broken or leaking. He said they are working with three different software providers and all three have to communicate. Adam Paxman asked how the mutual aid work is going. Duane said it’s going very well and said other utilities are envious of them and Enosburg Electric because they share the on-call hours. He said this works great and allows an employee to have a few weekends off in a row. Duane mentioned the NEPPA rodeo and said Paul Bouchard, electric apprentice, came in 2^nd overall. He said he was very proud of him and his efforts. The Board thanked Duane for his update.

9. Betty Cheney, Delinquent Tax Collector, request permission to use Attorney Vaughn Comeau for any tax sales that arise in 2025. She also requests permission for the Village to share the expense of cleaning up 33 Fourth Street with the Town of Swanton:

Dianne Day, Village Clerk, stated that Betty Cheney, Delinquent Tax Collector, is seeking permission to use Attorney Vaughn Comeau for any 2025 tax sales that may arise. She said she is also requesting the Village share in the expense to clean up 33 Fourth Street before she can tax sale it. Adam Paxman made the motion to approve Swanton Village Delinquent Tax Collector, Betty Cheney, to use Attorney Vaughn Comeau for 2025 tax sales. Suzie Kelleher seconded. Motion carried. Adam Paxman made the motion to grant permission on sharing the expense to clean up 33 Fourth Street with the Town of Swanton. Neal Speer seconded. Discussion: Suzie Kelleher asked if the town was using funds from their general fund or highway fund to pay for this. She said it would be easier if they used the general fund because that way Village and Town taxpayers both pay. Suzie said Betty Cheney was made executor of the property and it needs to be cleaned up but said she would like to find out where the funds are coming from before they approve this. All opposed, motion denied. Suzie Kelleher made the motion to table this request until more financial information is available. Neal Speer seconded the motion. Motion carried.
 

10. Village Manager Update:

NRPC Sidewalk Inventory: You may have seen folks in vests walking around the Village beginning last week. They are conducting a Northwest Regional Planning Commission funded sidewalk survey for communities to include Swanton. We will use this to guide in the future prioritization of sidewalk projects.

Tree Removal in the Village Green: Gabree and Sons began this work this morning, we did another walk through on Monday morning to mark and verify the dead and/or dying trees that require removal. This work will be completed prior to the car show. We placed a reminder on Facebook. If anyone wants to see exactly where the trees slated to be removed are located, please refer to the available overhead depicting the status of each tree located in Village Green.

Water Meter installation (AMI) begins this week. A Cooper Mechanical will be installing new water meters. We made a post on social media as an initial information outreach and education. The Village will pay for the cost of installation and will own the new meters.

Brush Pile: This location has been closed at least until the investigation by State of Vermont Wetlands Ecologist Krystal Sewell. We have met with Sewell on site and the State has mandated that we hire a wetlands surveyor to survey this area. We must establish the wetlands boundary and then create a 50-foot setback. We must add signage at the boundary line and pull back anything that has been piled up over that line. I recommend that we keep this location closed until we have finished with this assessment and the board can evaluate options from there. We are in the process of identifying a surveyor to complete this work as quickly as possible. Dianne Day said that residents can bring their brush to Hudak’s on Route 7 South. She said they charge $20 for a trailer/dump truck load; $10 for a pickup truck load and anything under a pickup load is by donation.

Public Works: The Street Sweeper is back in action and working well. Dean has been out several times and has replaced the brushes with the metal ones that came with it. The performance of the unit has been impressive. There was an issue with the overall wiring of the unit from the factory, and it appears that the issue has been corrected. We have posted an opening for a Public Works position, and we anticipate conducting interviews the week of June 16^th. This position will be open until it is filled.

Hydro: Due to high water we had to postpone the limited shutdown for repairs. Production at the facility was high for the past couple of months due to the amount of rainfall. We are trying to determine the best time to attempt to schedule the examination and repairs of Unit 2.

Swanton Village Electric: Provide handout on possible timeline for the construction of the new facility. We have approval on the 30 VSA 108 from the Department of Public Service and a favorable stance thus far from the Public Utility Commission.

AMI: We are making significant progress with AMI, or Advanced Metering Infrastructure for both Electric and water meters.

Water: The plant has received additional sand and anthracite for media installation into the filter. Progress is being made on many additional smaller projects slated for this summer.

Wastewater: The filter building concrete is complete and the four large Blu Pro Filters have been installed. The Electrical service to the lagoons, through the path between the lagoons, is currently being installed. The centrifuge is working but we continue to have issues with the process from the centrifuge and the process to manage dewatered sludge.

Annexation if 124 First Street: The Governor signed H. 364 approving the annexation of 124 First Street from the Town to the Village of Swanton.

B-6 Bridge presentation: We will have many reminders, but the State of Vermont will be here on our July 14^th Board meeting to hold a public hearing updating us on the planning, scoping, time, and cost estimates for this bridge. There are many possibilities, and the Board has the scoping report to review in advance of this meeting.

AMI Process: Lynn said the Village will need to upgrade their billing software once the AMI meters are installed. She said it should be able to handle the solar and net metering billing and she hopes it will be cloud based.

Electric Rate Case: Lynn said the Village of Swanton will implement a 3% rate increase in the electric rates effective October 1^st, 2025.

NEPPA: Lynn said Paul Bouchard and Nate Parent, linemen apprentices, will graduate in December of 2026. She said they just returned from NEPPA and Paul placed 2^nd overall in the annual rodeo. The Village celebrated and congratulated him by getting a cake.

11. Any Other Necessary Business:

Suzie Kelleher said there will be a retirement party held on June 22^nd at the Highgate Manor at noon for Jean Gagne. She said there will be block party on July 25 with the band Minced Oats and she is looking for help with the 5K Corn Fest being held on August 9^th. She said she needs timekeepers, etc. Please reach out to her if you can help.

Any Other Business: Adam Paxman asked when the next meeting on Storm Water would be. He was told there will be a discussion at their next meeting on June 23^rd.

Any Other Business: Neal Speer asked what is going on with the swan pond in the park. He said the job isn’t getting done and it’s becoming a safety issue. He said if the job doesn’t resume, he wants public works to put orange fencing or barriers around it and to get the excavator out the park.
 

12. Executive Session to Discuss Personnel:

Suzie Kelleher made the motion, seconded by Neal Speer, to go into Executive Session at 7:03 p.m. to discuss personnel where premature general public knowledge of the subject matter would place the Village or person involved at a substantial disadvantage.

Suzie Kelleher made the motion to exit Executive Session at 7:27 pm. Neal Speer seconded. Motion carried.

ACTION TAKEN: None.

13. Adjourn:

Adam Paxman made the motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:28 p.m. Suzie Kelleher seconded. Motion carried.

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David Winchester, Village President                  Date

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Dianne Day, Village Clerk                                Date