Charlotte Board of Selectmen

Minutes of Meeting

Monday, February 22, 1999

I. CALL TO ORDER

The Charlotte Board of Selectmen meeting was called to order by Chair M. Illick in the Town Hall at 7:04 PM. Members present were J. Sheldon Dean, R. Mack and H. Fournier. There were 12 members of the audience signed in.

II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

The minutes of the February 8 meeting were unanimously approved with the following corrections both on Page 4: Louis Cox’s mileage reimbursement should be "$.325/mile." In the deliberative session add "Marty Illick" will represent the town in Board of Health proceedings.

III. PUBLIC DISCUSSION

Sandy Mayo complained that Selectman Hinsdale attended a VLCT meeting on Act 60 at the Town’s expense and he has been lobbying for the Farm Bureau but he has not reported on this meeting to the Town as he promised he would. She is concerned that he has a conflict of interest. She said that the Board should have had a public discussion of Act 60 and it has not. M. Illick said that Wendy Schroeder did make a report on Act 60 at a recent meeting.

Michael Clapp, attorney for Richard LeBoeuf, presented a letter dated 2/22/99 expressing LeBoeuf’s desire to make land available to the Town of Charlotte for the construction of a senior citizen center in conjunction with his development of senior housing.

IV. BUSINESS

1. Executive Session - Land Negotiations

J. Sheldon Dean’s motion seconded by R. Mack, to go into executive session to discuss land negotiations was unanimously approved at 7:18 The Board returned to regular session at 7:35.

2. Pre-Town Meeting

The Board fielded questions from the audience on the articles which are to be discussed and voted on at Town Meeting. The following were touched on.

• Retreatment of roads - Funds are being requested to retreat Hinesburg Road from the town line to perhaps Sheehan’s.
• Selectmen’s "miscellaneous" item of $6,500 is for project development costs.
• Town Hall septic tank pumping expenses - This expense is much greater than anticipated due to ground water leaking into the tank.
• Town employee health insurance - The question of whether the town should pay all of these premiums rather than a portion being paid by the employee was discussed. Nancy Sabin believes that employees rarely receive this benefit.
• Sylvia suggested that this should be reviewed periodically. M. Illick agreed.
• Library salaries & librarian’s raise. Nancy Sabin criticized the librarian’s proposed raise on top of one hundred percent health care as unfair.
• Planning & Zoning permit fees - these will be reviewed this year.

M. Illick corrected a mistake on Page 15 of the Town Report. Line 176 approved 98/99 should read $2,149 and the total should now be $29,004.

• School Athletic Field Proposals. Sylvia Sprigg raised the concern of whether the school fields project can be accomplished without damaging the existing school septic system.

Jessie Bradley and Charlie Brush will discuss this in detail at Town Meeting and there will be considerable information about this in the Charlotte News. Sylvia Sprigg suggested that long term planning for recreation expenses would be desirable since so little money is left in the recreation fund. Charles Russell asked if the board agreed that the field project is worthwhile. They seemed to agree that it was.

• Article 10. This was put on the warning because the Board received a petition signed by 5 percent of the voters requiring this.

3. Bill Signing

Spencer Harris wants to raise his rate from $30 to $45 @hour. Robert had suggested $45 for the first hour and $30 for each additional hour but Harris did not accept this proposal. There was disagreement on the Board as to whether this was formally offered. R. Mack believes the same service can be done by a local engineering firm for less money. H. Fournier said that Harris has submitted a bill and she feels that we should pay it. With the exception of R. Mack, all present were willing to approve the bill.

4. Animal Control

Dale Knowles reported that Amber Thibault’s fencing is substantially complete. This was required by Knowles in his capacity as animal control officer because of problems with Thibault’s dog Suki.

5. Road Commissioner

The North Olde Carriage road sign is missing. Junior Lewis asked whether the town should pay to replace it. It is a Class IV private road not maintained by the town. Since it is not marked as a private road, the board agreed that the town should pay for the new sign.

Lewis requested signatures from the Board for his grant applications to the State for retreatment, culverts and covered bridges.

6. Public Hearing Continued - Proposed Telecommunications Tower Facilities Interim By-Laws

Jim Donovan appeared in place of Planning Commission Chair Al Moraska to strongly support the adoption of the proposed ordinance which is now dated February 22, 1999. The changes from the February 8 version to this one are not substantive.

J. Sheldon Dean moved to close the hearing on the bylaws. The motion was approved unanimously.

A hearing on the February 22 version will be warned for the March 22 Selectboard meeting.

7. Route 7 - 3R Project Presentation

J. Sheldon Dean showed engineering drawings of the proposed safety improvements to the so called Hell Hole section of Route 7. The project calls for removing earth from some locations and filling in others in addition to removing the two existing cattle crossings and adding a pedestrian tunnel. While there is a good likelihood of damage to Jim Amblo’s trees Sheldon Dean does not know if Amblo will like this proposal but he feels that it is Charlotte’s best chance to get a substantial improvement with the least impact for the next couple of decades. It is now scheduled for completion in 2002.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

John Rosenthal