Board of Selectmen November 25, 2002

TOWN OF CHARLOTTE

BOARD OF SELECTMEN

MINUTES

NOVEMBER 25, 2002

MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman Charles Russell

Debbie Ramsdell

Paul Arthaud

Ellie Russell

Jennifer Steele Cole

OTHERS: Ed Amidon

Shirley Bean

Stephen C. Brooks

Clark W. Hinsdale, Jr.

Beth Merritt

Nancy Wood

Walter Gates

Scott A. Orr

Steve Kantor

Maura Synott

Hugh Lewis, Jr.

Clark W. Hinsdale, III

Shawn Bedard

Matt Sutkoski

Terry Harris

Sylvia Sprigg

Dan Senecal-Albrecht

Note: These are unapproved minutes only. For corrections and

approval of minutes, look to future meeting minutes.

________________________________________________________________

Chairman Russell called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the

Charlotte Town Offices.

ADJUSTMENTS TO AGENDA

Chairman Russell asked if the board had any adjustments to the

agenda. Chairman Russell said he wanted to add a voting machine

discussion to the agenda. Ramsdell suggested putting approval

of minutes later in the meeting and Senecal-Albrecht said that

bids for land maintenance, curb cuts, etc. could be reviewed

under Selectboard Updates.

PUBLIC DISCUSSION

Stephen Brooks discussed an inoperative dry hydrant at MacNeil

Cove, noting the subdivision there is now out of compliance with

what was agreed to with the town.

Brooks asked that his questions to the board be included in the

minutes: Is the public entitled to transverse Plouffe Farm

Road? Is the access of eighty acres of town lands at its

northerly end? If so, under what conditions may the public use

the roads and lands? Is the town obligated to maintain fences

on either side of the road? If so, are the fences to be fifty

feet apart? Is the town obligated to maintain locked gates at

either end of the road? If so, who is entitled to the gate

keys? Brooks asked that the issues he asked about be on the

agenda for the next meeting.

VOTING MACHINES

State Legislator, Ed Amidon discussed the anxiety of waiting for

election results, that sometimes come after midnight since the

town counts ballots by hand and saying he would be in favor of

using voting machines in order to get faster results. Amidon

added Charlotte is holding up the determination of results from

other towns in elections.

Shirley Bean said she was not in favor of voting machines as the

town has enough volunteers to count the ballots that she sees no

need for it and she doesn't trust voting machines to get valid

results.

Cole wondered whether voting machines could be rented. Ramsdell

said she had spoken with Kathy DeWolfe at the Secretary of

State's office who said they would like to have all the towns in

Vermont have voting machines and added the federal government

may be giving grants for the cost of installing voting machines.

Peter Coleman asked how much voting machines cost and Ramsdell

answered $6,000.00 to $7,000.00 new, and about $3,000.00 used.

E. Russell said she had counted votes since she came to

Charlotte; it's hands on democracy and people are working

together very carefully to get accurate results.

Sylvia Sprigg noted the other towns in the school district use

voting machines and she has taken the ballots to be counted by

machine, but since they are counted by hand first, the ballots

are rejected by the machine because they were folded and she

ended up staying late to account for the rejected ballots.

Amidon said he thought that cost was a major consideration in

choosing to use voting machines, but if federal money was

available the town should consider it.

Chairman Russell suggested putting the matter on another meeting

agenda to be reconsidered.

THORNTON'S TRACE

Dan Senecal-Albrecht reviewed for the board Title 9, Section 33

of the Vermont State Highway law, for what the town was required

to do after a survey has been completed and asked Terry Harris,

who completed the survey what was left to do. Harris said the

plat need the finishing touches as well as a location map and a

graph to scale, etc. Harris added he needed to add notes to the

map he made and provide the Selectboard with a written report of

his work. Harris said that monumenting (putting markers in

place) also needed to be completed.

Clark Hinsdale, III said he doesn't agree with Harris's location

of Thornton's Trace and his family hired an independent

surveyor. Hinsdale reviewed the reasons why the independent

surveyor did not concur with Harris's findings and reviewed

1942 aerial photos with the board of the Thornton's Trace area

and provided copies to the board of the letter from his surveyor

for their review. Hinsdale said people who lived in the area in

the 1940's should be interviewed about their recollection of

Thornton's Trace and the photos he brought for the board's

review should be enlarged. Hinsdale added that Thornton's Trace

is only important if you plan to use Higbee Road for access, but

One Mile Road accomplishes this goal.

E. Russell said she thought the questions to be answered were

does the town want the road, and if so, it is more important not

to know where the road used to be, but where we want it to be

today.

Harris reviewed his interview with Jim Aube on his recollection

of the location of Thornton's Trace and the physical description

and evidence that led to his conclusion of the location of the

road, noting there is no evidence the road was ever established

by the town.

Steve Kantor said he lives along Thornton's Trace and said no

one has ever tried to go on the trail and people on horses find

it impassable as you can not travel through the hedgerow, it's a

road to nowhere with clay soil and not good for walking. Kantor

said he would like a survey done and questioned whether a foot

trail would be a possibility.

Maura Synott said the road as it is now surveyed is on to her

property, but shifting the location to the north would provide a

clear path. Clark Hinsdale, III noted he thought a key point

was the road doesn't go anywhere. Clark Hinsdale, Jr. said his

family would rather the road not be monumented until the town

knows for sure where it is, and they would like the town to

consider another location of the road. Clark Hinsdale, III

offered that an archaeologist would be able to ascertain where

the road was.

Chairman Russell said the board would need to revisit this

issue.

BUDGET - SENIOR CENTER

Wally Gates and Shirley Bean reviewed the Senior Center budget

with the board. Gates noted that some of last year's budget

were guesses, as they have only been in operation for less than

a year and did not know actual costs. Bean said she wanted to

increase Ann DeMuth's hours, which would in turn put her on the

town's health insurance plan. Gates and Bean reviewed senior

program costs and revenues generated. Gates offered that the

Senior Center is spending a lot on printing program schedules

and to date there have not been a lot of building rentals, as

expected. Cole asked Gates why the requests for rentals haven't

been very high and Gates said he did not know.

Ramsdell said she thought that some of the townspeople wouldn't

like that the Senior Center wasn't paying for itself as expected

and the Center needed to find a way to increase its revenues.

Bean responded that things are going quite well at the Center

and asked that the programs not be cut back as the Center is a

real asset to the community.

Peter Coleman noted the cafe the Senior Center was supposed to

have to generate revenue has not materialized. Bean explained

why the cafe has not taken off as yet and added the food

revenues so far have offset some of the program costs.

Sylvia Sprigg asked how the programs are planned and Arthaud

asked whether Ann DeMuth has control over the programs. Bean

answered that the Senior Center board has told Demuth what they

wanted for programs and Demuth comes up with them. Gates added

DeMuth tells the board what is not feasible and some suggestions

for programs come from the public.

BUDGET - ROADS

Road Commissioner Hugh Lewis, Jr. and the board reviewed the

road budget and possible grant monies from the state for

highways and covered bridges. Lewis discussed the need for

adding gravel to dirt roads and there was a discussion of

crushing stone on town property to make gravel instead of buying

it. Lewis said he would look into the cost of crushing stone.

BUDGET - LIBRARY

Beth Merritt and Nan Mason reviewed the Library budget, noting

the previous years have now shown the library actual costs of

operation. Merritt discussed the library board wanting to have

two people on duty at the library for all open hours as a safety

concern. E. Russell suggested the Library board get information

from other towns on library salary schedules. Mason reviewed

that the Freeman Foundation is giving a grant for computer

improvements and their upgrade costs. Merritt noted the library

is withdrawing its capital request for painting as they have

received bids for less than the $5,000.00 required in a capital

budget. Arthaud encouraged the library to keep up with a

maintenance schedule on their building.

SELECTBOARD UPDATES

E. Russell suggested the board contact other boards to discuss

their budgets for the next fiscal year. Chairman Russell

reviewed the December 2, 2002 meeting schedule and scheduling

interviews for open board positions.

Arthaud asked if bids for the town lands maintenance contract

had been received and Senecal-Albrecht answered, not yet, but 4

people showed up to do the site walk.

Arthaud discussed maintaining town trails with shale and there

was a discussion of what types of stone could be used for

trails.

E. Russell noted there has been a change to the new sketch plan

for Spear Gervais and all access to the subdivision would now

come from Spear Street.

Chairman Russell asked Hugh Lewis, Jr. to check on a curb cut.

Senecal-Albrecht said he had called several local towns to see

what they charged for curb cuts and most did not charge anything

and some had a nominal fee. E. Russell reviewed with board

members her final draft of a curb cut policy for the town.

E. Russell said she and Chairman Russell had been in touch with

Jeff McDonald about performance appraisals for town employees.

Chairman Russell said he had spoken with the Clerk whio had

spoken with auditor Yacavoni and there is still a matching fund

in place for the Thorp Barn restoration.

Senecal-Albrecht said he had drafted a letter on inoperative dry

hydrants which he has reviewed with Chris Davis and will review

again with attorney Joe McLean.

APPROVE MINUTES

Chairman Russell asked if the board wanted to approve the

minutes of November 11, 2002.

E. Russell clarified on 1 that it was Chairman Russell and not

her that wanted to discuss the bidding process for town land

maintenance. E. Russell also corrected on page 6 that the

request from the state is for a Village Center designation and

is not an application and suggested striking out the word

"grant" from the last sentence of the Village Center Designation

discussion.

Cole corrected the spelling of Birney Boehland on page 6 in

reference to the Recreation Commission. Ramsdell clarified on

page 4 that Dave Brown said the Sportsmen's Alliance promotes

the practice of safe hunting and on page 3 that the Conservation

Commission may (instead of "make") be able to share the cost of

GIS mapping.

Cole suggested a new wording for the reference on page 6

regarding the grant received by the Planning Commission: "would

provide partially for the expense of upgrading the new by-laws."

E. Russell moved and the motion was seconded by

Ramsdell:

* "TO ACCEPT THE MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 11, 2002 AS

CORRECTED."

Vote: All in favor.

SIGN WARRANTS AND BILLS

Board members signed warrants and bills.

Arthaud asked about the town paying mileage for Ann DeMuth and

E. Russell said for the time being the costs were being

documented.

Having no further business, Chairman Russell moved:

* "TO ADJOURN."

Vote: All in favor.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:02 p.m.

Minutes submitted by:

Debby Flynn