Town of Charlotte
Board of Selectmen
Minutes
Monday, January 12, 2004
7:00 PM, Charlotte Town
Hall
Paul
Arthaud
Jennifer Steele Cole
Eleanor Russell
Francis Thornton
OTHERS: Dean Bloch (Select board Assistant)
Laura
Atkinson
Jesse
Bradley
Jeanne Brink
Douglas Brink
Stephen
C. Brooks
Peter
Coleman
Chris
Davis
Josh
Flore
John
Hammer
Dick
Hess
Marta
Koonz
Kate
Lampton
Diana
McCargo
Mary
Mead
David
Miskell
Liam
Murphy
Debbie
Ramsdell
Peter
Swift
Dick
St. George
Jocelyn
Bolick (clerk)
The meeting was called to order at 7:00
pm.
The items on the agenda were as
follows:
Adjustment
to Agenda / Approve Minutes for December 22, 2003 and January 5, 2004 / Public
Discussion / VELCO – contracts for expert witnesses / Warning for Town Meeting
/ Intramural Program – budget discussion / POW WOW – review and approval of
parking and traffic plan / Jim Magill – request for extension for burying
utility lines / Budget discussion / Bills and Warrants / Clark Hinsdale III,
George and Lynn Reynolds – Approval of Conservation and Open Space Agreement for
Kingsland Subdivision / Adjournment
Adjustment to Agenda
·
VHCB letter.
Charlie said they got a letter from VHCB; they would like to see an
affordable housing project. They want
to meet with the select board, planning commission or a group of volunteers
working on housing to discuss in detail how to support affordable housing in Charlotte. Ellie thinks there needs to be a meeting
with Kate Lampton, Charlie and others to talk about what they’re really saying
in the letter. There are a couple of
projects that are pre-approved that it might affect. Dean said it mentions the affordable housing group; it might make
sense to have someone from that group there.
Approve Minutes for December 22, 2003
and January 5, 2004
Motion made
by Eleanor Russell, seconded by Paul Arthaud:
“To approve the select board
meeting minutes with corrections for December 22nd, 2003”.
Vote: all in
favor.
On page 2, under December 8th
minute corrections, change “Sharon Balaban” to “Sharron Balaban”.
On page 3, under discussion of vendor
for fire truck, change “they road rough” to “they rode rough”.
On page 4, in motion to approve the
contract for the fire truck, change “by the attorney and required the debt
limits???” to “by the attorney.”.
On page 5, under Charlotte Fire &
Rescue – Paid Staff Position, change “2 ECA certified people” to “2 certified
people”.
On page 7, under Decision on
Submission of Herbicide Report, change “Richard Sabano” to “Richard Sedano”.
On page 8, move the entire section
named “Appointment to the Zoning Board of Adjustment” to the beginning of the
meeting minutes.
Motion made
by Eleanor Russell, seconded by Jennie Cole:
“To approve the select board
meeting minutes with corrections for January 5th, 2004”.
Vote: 4 in
favor, Paul Arthaud abstained (he was absent).
On page 1, under Amendment to Open
Space Agreement, change “Palmer Road” to “Palmer Lane”.
On page 3, under Budget Work Session
– Fire and Rescue Category, change “GATSBY 34” to “GASB 34”.
Public Discussion
Liam Murphy
came to represent Peter Swift and Diana Micargo who live on Spear Street. They came about the issue of trails and town
policies on trail easements, and would like to get on the select board calendar
in February. There is an old town road
called ‘Uncle Toms Road’ north of Diana and Peter’s house which goes east
towards Spear Street. Diana and Peter
would like to purchase a plot of land there, but there is a floating pedestrian
easement that has been put on the property – and that has killed the deal. They would like to see a portion of Uncle
Toms Road (between Mt. Philo Road and the back of their property) discontinued,
but they’re willing to provide a recreational easement on other parts of their
property. There is a certain amount of
arbitrary use at the moment – if the parcel is big enough, the town is imposing
trail restrictions on the property.
Liam feels this has to be done under some sort of plan or mechanism so
that everyone knows what the rules are.
He feels there needs to be a dialog with the Planning Commission, Trails
Committee, and the select board to come up with a policy. Otherwise, it may end up with a bunch of law
suits that won’t benefit the town.
Stephen
Brooks asked if the select board gave any indication here today on how town
policy for trails should go. Charlie
said no.
VELCO – contracts for expert
witnesses
Motion made
by Eleanor Russell, seconded by Jennie Cole:
“To make a contract agreement between the
town and Torben Aabo of Power Cable Consultants to provide analysis of the
visual impact of the VELCO line upgrade, not to exceed $9,000”.
Torben has
received questions from The Citizens for Safe Energy and others which he needs
to respond to. The question is do we
need to spend $9,000 to try and get them to put the wires underground. Jennie said information is changing daily. The technical hearings start in February,
and will go on into March or April.
There will be a chance for rebuttal.
Tom Dunn from VELCO is supposed to get back to the town with information
this week. Jennie said the process is
long, and it will probably be a bit of a fight to get what we want from VELCO. Shelburne is doing some fund-raising in
their town. Perhaps people who feel
strongly about this can be involved in fundraising here. Jennie said a question that has come back to
the town – is the town interested in helping to pay for burying the cable? Francis said this funding would have to be
voted on at town meeting anyway. VELCO
is saying the cost of burying cables is 8 times the cost of above ground
cables. Torben Aabo came up with a cost
of 4.6 times the cost of above ground cables.
Stephen
Brooks thought the community should be encouraged to engage in fund-raising. Francis wondered if anyone has looked to see
if there is a probability of any success – has VELCO ever significantly changed
their requests in the past based on input from towns? If the probability is low, then we’re spending a lot of money for
little probability of success. Stephen
said in all the meetings throughout the towns concerning VELCO, it has been
quite energetic. Francis asked if there
has ever been a significant change to what VELCO wants based on the Public
Service Board’s opinion. Charlie said
it has been a long time since something like this has happened. Jennie said that all the communities along
the route have real concerns and want the project done in a way that fits into
and respects their community as well as plans for the future.
Ellie said
if they do build it, it’s a travesty on the landscape. Paul moved to call the question.
Vote for ceasing debate:
1 in favor (Paul), 4 against.
Stephen said
Vergennes is pretty aggressive; the Shelburne town board has already taken a
position. By the time the critical mass
collects, we won’t be the odd duck – it’s a sentiment that is consistently
being expressed up and down the corridor.
Josh Flore
said he’s not interested in having the taxes on his property increase in order
to bury the cable. John Hammer stated
he’d be happy to pay more in taxes in order to preserve the town. Jennie said the town has already done so
much to preserve the beauty; she doesn’t feel we can give it up but need to
keep pushing.
Vote:
all in favor.
Warning for Town Meeting
There is
wording in there to appoint a first constable and second constable – but
Charlie said that has to go through an Australian ballot. They would like to have the first constable
appointed; if there is a second constable, you can’t have one appointed and one
elected. The terms would be for 2
years.
Ellie has a
proposal for creating a reserve fund for the purpose of undertaking repairs and
improvements to town buildings and property (town hall, Senior Center, Library,
Thorpe Barn). Up to ½ cent would be
added to the tax rate. You don’t want a
big reserve fund, just a little bit every year. If it’s spread out over a couple of years, the taxpayer won’t get
hit with a big increase when capital repairs are needed. Francis suggested there should be an upper
limit to the amount that sits in the reserve fund. Paul asked the difference between a reserve fund and increasing
the maintenance line item. Ellie said
the difference is that it spreads maintenance out over several years – it won’t
be a big hit on current taxpayers the year that some significant maintenance
needs to be done. The suggestion is for
¼ cent, not to accumulate more than $50,000.
Mary Mead
said you have to vote on whether or not to use voting machines versus hand
counting, according to the Secretary of State.
Debbie
Ramsdell presented an advisory article asking the town if it would support and
actively work for the creating of a universal and comprehensive health
insurance system. Mary would need a
petition with 135 signatures to put it on the warning. Ellie, Jennie and Paul agreed to go along
with adding the article if the appropriate number of signatures are obtained.
Intramural Program – budget discussion
Jesse
Bradley presented the financial picture from the soccer program. There is net revenue on the program, but without
donations from Ford, Toyota, Gregg Beldock, and David Carroll there would be a
$900 deficit. Ellie said some of the
equipment is a one time expense – goals, balls, bags, etc., so the line item
for equipment should go down. Jesse
said there will be replacement expenses every year. This year they took on 3 sports – so far this year, requests for
tennis, wrestling and hockey have come through the committee. Right now, they’re serving soccer,
basketball and lacrosse.
Gregg
donated about $600 (one set of poles), and David Carroll donated approximately
$200 worth of supplies to make PVC goals.
Charlie
would like to see what soccer budget would look like next year. Jesse said they would like to look at the
year, rather than the sport. They have
been minimalist this year. Laura said
they repaired a few of the goals, but a lot are in disrepair. They bought a few sets of aluminum goals
this year, they’re light and easy to move around – but they’re $400 or $500
each. Laura prepared a budget of the
hours worked; it shows she earned $4.80/hour.
The question is whether or not you want a quality program.
Jesse said
that Gregg paid for the lacrosse coaches out of his pocket – and you can’t
realistically budget with the expectation that he will continue to pay for
it. They are using the fees from the
fee-based programs and keeping them within the sport; with anything left over
going to capital improvements. Ellie
would like a rough idea of income from the fees for the fee-based program. Paul said he couldn’t think of a better way
to spend $8,000. Stephen said maybe the
kid’s perspective should be driving this discussion; i.e., “What is there to
do?”
Mary Mead
told them they have a rec fee fund with approximately $7,000; they could put an
article in the town warning requesting some of those funds.
Mary told
Jesse to guess at the revenue – they need a piece of paper with projected
revenue and different categories, etc.
They need a complete picture of their best estimates. The bottom line is that they need a budget.
POW WOW – review and approval of
parking and traffic plan
Peter
Coleman and Jeannie Brink came to talk about the POW WOW. Peter brought a Parking and Traffic
Plan. It included a policeman at
Greenbush & Ferry Roads, with the addition of another policeman during peak
periods. There will be signs placed
encouraging attendees to enter at certain points. Signage will encourage a clockwise traffic circulation with
traffic entering the parking area on the Burns town land primarily from the
south and exiting to the north on Greenbush and out to Ferry Road. They estimate the area can hold upwards of
800 cars.
Jeannie said
they ask people to bring a non-perishable food donation, which they then donate
to a local food shelf to give something back to the community. Josh spoke to the museum, and they had
nothing but great things to say about the POW WOW. The reason they stopped doing the POW WOW is that they didn’t
have the staff to handle it this year. Someone
will need to be on the road directing traffic:
car and lights at Greenbush and F-5, and a car and lights at the
entrance. Fire & Rescue is going to
have to handle 5000 more people over that weekend. Josh wanted to know if anyone had talked to Junior about the
impact it will have on the structure of East Thompson’s Point Road. Josh wants his kids safe – there will be an
extra 2000 cars on that road over the weekend.
He wants to make sure that the noise stops at 8:30, also. Jeannie said they dance from 6:30 to sunset
on Saturday evening. The large drums
will stop at that point. There will be
some noise – 100 to 150 dancers will be camping, as will approximately 30 vendors. Josh feels the town needs to look into a
noise ordinance for the future – so there is a permit process in place that
fits the town.
Charlie said
Jim Dickerson had called to say he had contacted most of the people in the
area, but he was not able to go door-to-door like he wanted to.
Dean felt
the plan was light on signs. Every
intersection needs one – before you get to the intersection, when you’re at the
intersection, and after the intersection.
Charlie wants the plan to include more signs. Doug Brink said the out-of-town attendees generally drive very
slowly – looking for the signs. It’s
the local people who are more inclined to speed down the local roads. Francis said that this will introduce
problems for the town without a lot of benefits. Jeannie said the motels in the area will do increased business,
and people from all over New England will know where Charlotte is. There are at least 2 nurses present at all
times. Jennie asked if the field would
be brush hogged before people parked there.
Charlie said that would be a benefit to the town – get the brush hogging
done on the 30 acres, Barber Hill and the landfill. Ellie said another advantage is exposure for the children of
Charlotte to the Native American culture.
Paul would
like to see a map with colored legends showing the police force, signs,
whatever; there is a consensus of support, but there is a lack of information.
Motion made
by Eleanor Russell, seconded by Jennie Cole:
“To approve the plan
for Parking and Traffic Control, and approve the POW WOW with the conditions
that it is reviewed by the attorney to insure the liability is covered, that a
clear map be prepared within a week showing the locations of the signs and
police, and brush hogging the 30 acres of Burns, Barber Hill and Greenbush
Landfill, and providing, within a reasonable amount of time, a contract showing
that there is adequate police coverage”.
Vote: 4 in favor, Francis opposed.
Jim Magill – request for extension
for burying utility lines
The select
board would like to see some evidence that progress is being made. The board does not have a problem with
letting Tom extend the time.
Budget discussion
CVFRS FY 2004-05 Budget Worksheet
(1/12/04) – Revenues: Charlie said they are going
to put the $27,000 for billed calls from the 02-03 year back into the budget
for 03-04. Marta said she doesn’t have
a history of any other year, so she would estimate that the amount will be about
the same.
CVFRS Expenses: Marta said they would be increasing
“Public Safety Education” line item from $600 to $1600. They are going to publish a quarterly community
newsletter and use it as a recruitment tool.
“Medical Supplies” is being brought down from $7,000 to $6,000. “Inoculations and Biohazard” line item is
bumped up from $1500 to $2000. That is
basically shots for new members, and the price for shots has gone up. “EMT Payroll” line item goes from $111,000
to $123,500. That covers 26 weeks, 14
shifts per week, 12 hour shift at $12.50/hour.
It also includes 26 weeks of 10 shifts per week, 12 hour shift at
$12.50/hour.
Chris Davis
said they found some errors in the spreadsheet in the “% Change” column that
will need to be fixed. For the purposes
of budgeting, they are level-funded.
Ellie said
now was the time to talk about hiring an administrator as a paid position. This person could be someone with a dual
role. They could be EMT’s, doing public
education, do the administrative duties, etc.
The chief criteria would be the administrative skills and
experience. Chris said the executive
board is comfortable waiting another year for this position. Marta said a lot of the administrative work
that needs to be done is not difficult.
Ellie feels continuity is needed; it’s time to look at the job
description and figure out what person is most needed.
Add a new
line item under EMT Payroll for “administrator”. Budget for $10,000. This
would be a 20 hour per week paid position, beginning in the second half of the
year.
Dick said
they have received the performance bond from Seagrave Manufacturing. He will get a copy over to the select
board. We have to make sure the funds
are moving on our end of the contract.
Town Revenues: $500,000 for Thompson’s Point rent
is just a shot in the dark, according to Mary.
The reappraising should be done within the week, and there should be a
firmer figure available then. Paul said
they’re missing the actual YTD for 03-04.
Charlie said the leases on Thompson’s Point aren’t due until March.
Town Expenses: The overall increase is 4.66%. Much of the increase is for selectmen’s
legal expenses.
An executive
session meeting will be held on Friday to discuss salaries.
Bills and Warrants
Signed as
appropriate.
Clark Hinsdale III, George and Lynn
Reynolds – Approval of Conservation and Open Space Agreement for Kingsland
Subdivision
Density is
the major change that was taken out.
Also, there is no need for another public notice since this has already
gone through public notice. Since
they’ve already gone through the planning process, the public had an
opportunity to be notified. Tim Eustace
is happy with the document.
Motion made
by Eleanor Russell, seconded by Paul Arthaud:
“To approve the
Conservation/Open Space Agreement between the town of Charlotte and George W.
and Merry Lynn V. Reynolds of Williston, VT”.
Vote: all in favor.
Adjournment
Next meeting: Monday,
January 19th at 7 PM.
Motion made by Eleanor Russell, seconded by Paul Arthaud:
“To adjourn the select board meeting”.
Vote: all in
favor. Meeting adjourned at 10:20 PM.
Minutes respectfully submitted by
Jocelyn Bolick.