Trustees Meeting 8/25/25

Web version

SWANTON VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX

120 FIRST STREET

SWANTON, VT 05488

REGULAR MEETING

Monday, August 25, 2025

6:00 PM

PRESENT: David Winchester, Village President; Adam Paxman, Trustee; Neal Speer, Trustee; William “Bill” Sheets, Village Manager; Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager; Dianne Day, Village Clerk; Kyle Gagne, Swanton Village Police Department Sergeant; Damon Broderick Ronald Perry 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 Meeting to Order at 6 p.m.:

David Winchester, Village President, called the Regular 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:

Bill Sheets, Village Manager, stated they no longer needed an executive session for legal but needed to add personnel. Dianne Day, Village Clerk, stated she needed to add a water connection request to the agenda. They decided to add a 6a.

4. Public Comment:

Damon Broderick said the Northwest Regional Planning Commission’s regional plan is online and available for review.

5. Approve and Accept Minutes from Monday, August 11, 2025 as presented:

Adam Paxman made the motion to approve the minutes from Monday, August 11, 2025, as presented. Neal Speer seconded the motion. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

6. Approve and Accept Village Warrants through Thursday, August 21, 2025:

Neal Speer made the motion to approve Village Warrants through Thursday, August 21, 2025 as presented. Adam Paxman seconded the motion. Discussion: None. Motion carried.

       6a. Water Connection Request at 7 Hodgdon Drive, Swanton:

Adam Paxman made the motion to enter water commissioner’s meeting at 6:03 p.m. Neal Speer seconded the motion. Motion carried.

Adam Paxman made the motion to approve Ronald Perry’s request to connect his two-bedroom home at 7 Hodgdon Drive to the Swanton Village Water System. Neal Speer seconded the motion. Motion carried.

Adam Paxman made a motion to exit water commissioner’s meeting and re-enter open session at 6:05 p.m. Neal Speer seconded the motion. Motion carried.

7. Swanton Village Police Department Update with Sergeant Kyle Gagne:

Kyle Gagne, Sergeant, was present for this update. He said the Village responded to 144 calls for service during the month of July in the Village. The top ten calls for service were 10 welfare/suicide check, 9 citizen assist, 7 traffic stop, 7 agency assistance, 7 motor vehicle complaint, 6 community outreach, 6 crash, property damage, 6 alarm, 4 family fight/domestic, 26 suspicious person/circumstance. He said there were 7 traffic stops resulting in 6 tickets and 5 warnings. Kyle said all tickets and warnings were associated with traffic. There were 11 arrests with 11 individuals and 14 charges. Three of those were associated with traffic. Adam Paxman asked if they were seeing any more severe calls. Kyle said yes like impeding officers. Neal Speer asked if anything serious came out of the suspicious person calls. Kyle said the majority were not serious.

Kyle said the department responded to 85 incidents during the month of July in the Town of Swanton. He said the top ten calls for service were 13 traffic stop, 5 suspicious person/circumstance, 4 alarm, 3 crash, property damage, 3 citizen assist, 3 disorderly conduct/noise, 3 agency assistance, 3 juvenile problem, 2 motor vehicle complaint and 24 directed patrol. He said there were 13 traffic stops resulting in 6 tickets and 11 warnings. Kyle said all tickets and warnings were associated with traffic and there were 4 arrests with 4 individuals and 8 charges. He said 2 were associated with traffic. He said the department worked an additional 4 service hours for the Town. The board thanked Kyle for the update and said to continue to the good work.

8. Review and Approve FY26, FY27 and FY28 Swanton Police Department SRO (Student Resource Officer) Agreements with Swanton Elementary School:

Bill Sheets, Village Manager, said this concept has been discussed several times and there is a need for this in the elementary schools. Bill said they have agreed to have the Village pay for year one and the school will pay for years two and three. He said this will benefit the Village and they already have it in the budget. He said on the off season the officer would work for the Village. Kyle said they have two applicants applying for a position at the Village. He said he would like to attend job fairs to try and recruit employees. Bill said they already have someone certified for this SRO position and they would work between all three schools, Swanton, Highgate and Franklin on an as needed basis. Neal Speer made the motion to authorize Village Manager William Sheets to sign the Student Resource Officer (SRO) Agreement for the elementary schools for FY 26, FY 27 and FY 28. Adam Paxman seconded. Motion carried.

9. Approve and Set 2025 Swanton Village Tax Rate:

Lynn Paradis, Assistant Village Manager, stated the Village Grand List equals $1,682,667 and is up some  from 2024. She said her estimated tax rate came in at $1.2294 but is now $1.2243. She said this is one half a cent lower than what she estimated. Adam Paxman stated the 5.065% increase comes from health care, workman’s compensation, property and health insurance increases. Adam Paxman made the motion to set the Swanton Village tax rate at $1.2243 for 2025. Neal Speer seconded the motion. Motion carried.

10. Sign AMI Line of Credit Documents:

Adam Paxman made the motion to approve and sign the AMI line of credit documents for $1.7 million dollars. Neal Speer seconded the motion. Motion carried.

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

Bill Sheets, Village Manager, said based upon restrictions from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), we have no viable path to repair the existing bladder. This decision comes down to life safety with no independent engineer being able to certify that the bladder manufacturer and installer, HTE Engineering, can certify that the repair attempt would guarantee that an additional failure would not occur. The fear would be that a catastrophic failure of the bladder with nearly 16 feet of water behind it would cause life safety issues with anyone fishing or recreating just below the dam itself.

We are immediately moving into an alternatives analysis, using Engineering experts, which will include some short-term possibilities. There is a strong likelihood that we will be in a significantly diminished production capacity for the next 24 to 36 months.

We have entered a contract with PC Construction to remove the rubber dam. This can all be accomplished, using a crane, from the intake side of the dam. We will not need to establish an access road or seek permitting, outside of FERC approval, to complete this work.

We will be adding a standing agenda item for the near future to all Trustee Meetings to keep the public informed of our progress and the options available.

12. Village Manager Update:

Franklin Grand Isle Tobacco Coalition: A big shout out and thank you to Amy Brewer and her team of volunteers for all the ongoing efforts to clean up cigarette butts in the Village. In just two hours they removed 870 cigarette butts, largely in the Merchants Row area, topping last year’s 637 picked up in the same area.

Water: On August 21^st, the State of Vermont conducted their Sanitary Survey of our Water plant, to include the reservoir. This occurs every 2 ½ years and it involves an extensive onsite inspection of the physical plant, as well as ensuring that all state protocols and surveys have been completed.

Electric: 

AMI: Advanced Metering Infrastructure for both Electric and water meters.

A.Cooper Mechanical continues to make progress with the installation of the new water meters. They have installed approximately 600 meters to date.

We have begun the installation of our new Electric meters, and we have installed approximately 1,050 to date. We are still in the process of complete automation, and we are hosting a three-day training course for all VPPSA AMI partners next week. Our office will be closed for two of those days to accommodate this training.

Public Works: They have been busy with water shutoffs to accommodate the water meter installations. They have also had some additional water and sewer issues. They have been painting some crosswalks, stop bars. They completed one of the stormwater projects at Marble Mill. They are ready to install the dry hydrant near Johns Bridge, which is scheduled for August 28^th.

Wastewater: The project continues and is on pace to be completed at the end of this year, or in the first couple of weeks in January.

13. Any Other Necessary Business:

Adam Paxman asked if there was any talk about a reappraisal for Swanton. We told him the Town Listers handled that.

14. Proposed Executive Session to Discuss Personnel:

Adam Paxman made the motion, seconded by Neal Speer, to go into Executive Session at 6:38 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.

Adam Paxman made the motion to exit Executive Session at 7:04 pm. Neal Speer seconded. Motion carried.

ACTION TAKEN: None.

15. Adjournment:

Neal Speer made the motion to adjourn the regular board of trustees meeting at 7:05 p.m. Adam Paxman seconded. There being no further business at hand, David Winchester, Village President, adjourned the meeting at 7:05 p.m. Motion carried.

_____________________________________             _______________________________________

David Winchester, Village President                  Date

_________________________________           ____________________________________

Dianne Day, Village Clerk                                Date