Board
of Selectmen
December 2, 2002
TOWN OF CHARLOTTE
BOARD OF SELECTMEN
MINUTES
DECEMBER 2, 2002
MEMBERS
PRESENT: Chairman Charles Russell
Debbie Ramsdell
Paul Arthaud
Ellie Russell
Jennifer Steele Cole
OTHERS: Birney Boehland
Ed Stone
Stephen C. Brooks
Clark W. Hinsdale, Jr.
Kay Gault
John Hammer
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,
noting the Galbreath land deal documents would need
signing
and discussed reviewing emails from Terry Harris and
Steve
Kantor regarding the location of Thornton's Trace.
Chairman
Russell noted that Ellen Russell and Ruah Swennerfelt
would
not be available for town board interviews this evening.
Kay
Gault said she would like to review the Lister Errors and
Omissions
with the board.
APPROVE
MINUTES
Chairman
Russell asked if the board wanted to approve the
minutes
of November 25, 2002.
E.
Russell clarified on page 4, that it was Nan Mason and not
Nancy
Wood who was discussing the library budget with the board
and she
had suggested that the board get information from other
towns
on town employee salary schedules.
Chairman
Russell suggested removing the sentence on town
landfill
monitoring and clarified he had spoken with the Town
Clerk,
who had in turn spoken with the Auditor regarding the
matching
funds for the Thorp Barn.
E. Russell moved and the motion
was seconded by
Arthaud:
*
"TO ACCEPT THE MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 25, 2002 AS
CORRECTED."
Vote: All in favor.
Board
of Selectmen -2- December 2, 2002
PUBLIC
DISCUSSION
Stephen
Brooks asked about the protocol concerning what
correspondence
had been received by board members and who he
should
ask about what had been received.
Chairman Russell said
Brooks
could ask anyone if he may review a specific letter.
Brooks
asked if the board would be discussing Steve Kantor's
recent
letter and Chairman Russell responded the board may
discuss
what they want to do about it.
Chairman
Russell read from a letter from Steve Kantor regarding
Thornton's
Trace and then from Terry Harris's letter in response
to
Kantor's letter. Chairman Russell then
read from Kantor's
response
to Harris's reply. Arthaud noted the
Hinsdales, who
own
some of the property involved in the Thornton's Trace issue,
say the
trail is further to the south than where Harris believe
the
trail existed. E. Russell responded the
issue was where the
trail
was located and where the town wants it to be located.
E.
Russell and Chairman Russell said the town should consult
with
the town attorney about what they should do.
Arthaud asked
if the
board might ask Steve Kantor where the trail should be
located
and what the board's interest in the trail was: to
secure
it as a right-of-way or to throw it up?
E. Russell said
her
feeling was the town should secure a right-of-way, and the
town
needs to know whether it owns the trail and Chairman
Russell
said the board at this point was fact finding on the
issue
and that people want to use the trail and the town has to
know
where it is. The board agreed to have
the town attorney
respond
to Kantor's letter.
Brooks
noted concerning the shale pit discussion at the last
meeting,
that shale is softer than stone and would not be usable
as
stone for trails.
INTERVIEWS
Birney
Boehland interviewed for a position on the Recreation
Commission. E. Russell asked why he wanted to be on The
Recreation
Commission. Boehland responded that he
has three
children,
ages 11, 13 and 14 and he has been involved in park
districts
before when he lived in the Midwest, he's interested
in
winter activities and he and his wife have been involved in
fundraising. Boehland described his ideas for the town's
skating
rink and noted he was willing to make a long-term
commitment
of time and labor for the rink.
Chairman
Russell asked Boehland if he had any ideas on making
the
Recreation Commission operate better and Boehland said he
didn't
know the Recreation Commission members well enough to
say. Chairman Russell said he would like to see
the Recreation
Commission
contract out work if it was necessary rather than
having
the Commission members volunteer do all the work
themselves. Boehland responded that he thought
volunteering
makes
people take ownership of a project and that he would like
to see
a broad base of volunteers rather than the Recreation
Commission
doing it all.
Board
of Selectmen -3- December 2, 2002
Arthaud
noted the Recreation Commission is supposed to supply a
delegate
to the Conservation Commission, traditionally the
Chairman. Boehland said he's been to a couple of
meetings and
the
Recreation Commission having a chair has been discussed and
he agreed
the Recreation Commission will eventually need a chair
and he
thought there were a number of qualified members on the
Commission.
Boehland
discussed work to be done on the town ice rink.
Chairman
Russell said the board would be making a decision on
the
appointment soon.
Ed
Stone interviewed for a position on the Planning Commission.
E.
Russell asked Stone why he wanted to be on the Planning
Commission
and Stone answered to continue on the Commission,
explaining
he has some health issues which he has since
recovered
from and he said he enjoyed being on the Commission.
E.
Russell asked Stone what the highest priorities are in town
planning
and Stone responded low-cost housing and the town
should
go after grant monies to achieve this goal and added the
Planning
Commission is often in the position of reacting to
issues
instead of getting to do real planning.
Stone also cited
open
spaces and dairy issues as being top priorities.
E.
Russell discussed housing development, saying she preferred
clustering
of housing rather than spacing out houses in 5 acre
lots.
Chairman
Russell discussed requiring trails through the larger
developments
and Stone answered in general he thinks it's a good
idea,
depending on the issues involved.
Chairman Russell asked
Stone
what he thought about restricting house sizes and Stone
replied
he thought that was restricting someone's dreams.
Ramsdell
asked Stone what he thought about Champlain Valley
housing's
plan and Stone said he'd keep an open mind about it
and
said he would need to look at how it would affect drinking
water
and sewage in the area. Ramsdell asked
Stone his opinion
on the
Hinsdale's Large Farm permit and Stone said it was a good
idea,
but he wasn't nuts about the location of the barn. Board
members
thanked Stone for his time.
LISTER
ERRORS AND OMISSIONS
Lister,
Kay Gault reviewed her handout to board members
concerning
the Errors and Omissions of the listers to the Grand
List,
noting she would be sending a copy of the letter to the
state.
E. Russell moved and the motion
was seconded by
Ramsdell:
*
"TO ACCEPT THESE CORRECTIONS TO THE GRAND LIST AS
PROPOSED BY THE LISTERS."
Vote: All in favor.
Board
of Selectmen -4- December 2, 2002
BUDGET
DISCUSSION
Gault
reviewed the Listers budget with the board members and
discussed
the request for filing cabinets and salary increases.
The
board discussed Town Hall maintenance, painting and
scheduling
of contracted work, and whether there should be more
money
budgeted for exterior work. Arthaud
said he expected that
the
exterior painting would be done by the end of the fiscal
year
and suggested putting more shelving in the Selectboard
office.
The
board discussed salaries and the legal expense budget.
Selectboard
Assistant, Dan Senecal-Albrecht reviewed the Town of
Shelburne
has the same attorney on a retainer and said he would
research
whether that might be a good option for Charlotte.
Chairman
Russell said the board should review the Selectboard
Miscellaneous
budget over the last few years to get a reasonable
expectation
of expense based on history to put in the line item
and E.
Russell suggested talking to the Town Clerk to see what
expenses
have been covered by this budget over the years. John
Hammer
said as a former Selectboard member that the townspeople
need to
trust the Selectboard to use the Miscellaneous budget
for the
unexpected expenses that arise over the course of a
year.
The
board reviewed the Town Clerk and Treasurer's budget and
made no
major changes.
The
board discussed the Planning and Zoning budget and their
advertising
and legal expenses.
Stephen
Brooks suggested having more money in the budget for
maps
and Chairman Russell said that Regional Planning can do the
work
for less money. E. Russell offered that
she would discuss
updating
maps with Jeff McDonald.
Ramsdell
asked how the board would proceed in preparing the
budget
and E. Russell answered that representatives from board,
committees
and commissions would be coming in to present their
budgets
the next week. Chairman Russell
suggested the board
members
flag everything they felt was "in play" for budget line
items
for the board to revisit later and board members agreed.
Clark
Hinsdale, Jr. suggested the board should have a targeted
percentage
of how much the town budget would rise, noting the
school budget
is expected to have large percentage increases for
the
third year in a row. E. Russell said
Hinsdale had made a
good
point.
The
board reviewed the Delinquent Tax Collector's budget and the
Fire
& Rescue budget. Chairman Russell
reviewed an update to
the
budget from Chris Davis.
The
board reviewed the Road budget, noting that grant monies
from
the state had not been entered into the budget.
Board
of Selectmen -5- December 2, 2002
The
board discussed expenses for town land maintenance and
Dan
Senecal-Albrecht opened 2 bids for maintenance from Jim
Sestokas
and Justin King.
Senecal-Albrecht
said he needed to review the bids for what is
included
in them and bidders would be notified by December 18,
2002 of
which party had won the bid.
Board
members discussed Charlotte Park maintenance and security
and
adding a line item for maintenance of the Little League
fields
by the berry farm. Chairman Russell
suggested that
Arthaud
meet with the Charlotte Park Oversight Committee before
the
Selectboard meeting December 16, 2002.
The
board reviewed budgets for the Library, charitable donations
and the
Recreation and Conservation Commissions.
Board
members discussed the Senior Center budget.
Senecal-Albrecht
noted this was the Center's first budget year.
Chairman
Russell said that was true for some expenses and
reviewed
the cost of having program guides printed.
Arthaud
suggested
flatlining all program expenses.
Ramsdell
suggested the Center shouldn't be subsidizing Shelburne
seniors
who attend the program and the Center should charge
non-residents
the full cost of programs. Ramsdell
added that
many of
the costs the Senior Center board was learning with and
the
town spends plenty of money on children and could spend more
on
seniors.
Arthaud
said the Center needs to do fundraising.
John Hammer
offered
that the town's responsibility is for building expenses
and the
Director; providing the venue only.
The
board discussed the Miscellaneous budget.
Arthaud said he
would
get a cost of Recreation Path expenses to date.
Stephen
Brooks asked when the last time insurance was shopped
for and
Senecal-Albrecht said he would ask the Town Clerk. E.
Russell
suggested asking the Town Clerk to a Selectboard budget
meeting.
GALBREATH
PROPERTY
E. Russell moved and the motion
was seconded by
Arthaud:
*
"TO AUTHORIZE CHAIRMAN CHARLES RUSSELL TO SIGN ALL
APPROPRIATE CLOSING DOCUMENTS
RELATING TO THE
GALBREATH PROPERTY."
Vote: All in favor.
MISCELLANEOUS
Cole
discussed Peter Richardson wanting to be a Regional
Planning
Commission Alternate.
Board
of Selectmen -6- December 2, 2002
E.
Russell asked Hinsdale about the Large Farm permit
application
and Hinsdale responded the board had a few more
things
to complete on the application and then needed to get it
approved.
SIGN
WARRANTS AND BILLS
Board
members signed warrants and bills.
E. Russell moved and the motion
was seconded by
Arthaud:
*
"TO ADJOURN."
Vote: All in favor.
The
meeting was adjourned at 9:50 p.m.
Minutes
submitted by:
Debby
Flynn