FINAL VERSION AS
AMENDED AND APPROVED ON ___________. Attest: _________
TOWN OF CHARLOTTE
BOARD OF SELECTMEN
MINUTES
DECEMBER 9, 2002
MEMBERS
PRESENT: Chairman Charles Russell
Debbie
Ramsdell
Paul
Arthaud
Ellie
Russell
Jennifer
Steele Cole
OTHERS: Stephen
C. Brooks
Robert Hyams
Clark W. Hinsdale, Jr.
John Hammer
Peter Richardson
Shirley Bean
Hazel Prindle
Ann DeMuth
Ruah Swennerfelt
Linda Radimer
David Miskell
Clark W. Hinsdale, III
Hugh Lewis, Jr.
Birney Boehland
Joyce Wallace
Patrice Machavern
Robin Reid
Debbie Fischer
Jim Amblo
Barbara Amblo
Margery Sholes
Chris Souliere
Scott Souliere
Ted Montgomery
Walter Gates
Michael Hinsdale
Carolyn Sennhenn
Rolf Sennhenn
Nan Mason
Marilyn Thorpe
Maurice Thorpe
Beth Merritt
Alice Lawrence
Nancy Calcagni
David Hill
Craig Reynolds
Eric Van Vlandren
Dick St. George
Steve Kantor
Dan Senecal-Albrecht
_________________________________________________________
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 board should vote on the Recreation
Commission
candidate and there were 2 notes to sign.
APPROVE
MINUTES
Chairman
Russell asked if the board wanted to approve the
minutes of
December 2, 2002.
Cole
corrected on page 3 in the third paragraph, the board was
referring to
Champlain Valley Co-Housing and Arthaud added to
that
paragraph "since there was a dump at that site southeast of
Doug Cole's
property," explaining to what Ed Stone was referring
to in his
interview.
Ramsdell
noted at the top of page 3 that the reference should be
"Conservation
Fund Advisory Committee", rather than Conservation
Commission."
E. Russell
clarified that it was Arthaud and not she who was
getting
information on the previous expenditures of the
Selectboard
Miscellaneous budget and Arthaud suggested striking
the rest of
the paragraph after the word "item."
Chairman
Russell noted on page 5, that Arthaud was looking into
Recreation
Path expenses for the 2003-04 budget year.
E. Russell
noted on page 6 that she asked Clark Hinsdale, Jr.
about his
Large Farm permit and he responded that there were a
few more
things needed before the Commissioner of Agriculture
would accept
the application as complete.
Ramsdell
corrected on page 5 that she said the senior center was
in its first
year and their board was still learning how to run
the center
and to delete the "s" off the word costs, also on
page 5.
E. Russell moved and the motion
was seconded by
Cole:
*
"TO ACCEPT THE MINUTES OF DECEMBER 2, 2002 AS
CORRECTED."
Vote: All in favor.
PUBLIC
DISCUSSION
Hazel
Prindle reviewed her letter to the board regarding the
Cemetery
Association. Prindle said she could get
up to
$3,000.00
matching monies to repair headstones in town
cemeteries
if the town would put up $1,000.00.
Arthaud asked if
the
$1,000.00 would guarantee getting a grant and Prindle said
yes.
John Hammer
said his wife is a Commissioner of Public Funds and
suggested
Prindle get in touch with his wife and the other
Commissioners
for funding of cemetery repair. Dan
Senecal-Albrecht
said he would look into the grant and talk to
the Cemetery
Commission about funding.
Stephen
Brooks noted that he had added on to the map rack system
and offered
to the board his view that Clark Hinsdale, Jr. is a
good
candidate for the opening on the Planning Commission and
will show up
at the meeting. Brooks stated he was
withdrawing
his
candidacy for the Planning Commission.
INTERVIEWS
Bob Hyams
interviewed for a position either as the MPO or RPC
Alternate. E. Russell asked Hyams if he was interested
in both
positions
and Hyams responded he would go wherever he was needed
and was
interested in community service to the town. Hyams added
he has been
living in Charlotte for 1 1/2 years with his wife
and 3
children. E. Russell asked what level
of education he had
and Hyams
responded a B.S. and a Masters degree and he is
currently a
full-time parent at home with his children.
Hyams
discussed
his interest in trails and facilitating alternate
forms of
transportation than automobiles.
Arthaud
asked Hyams if he had done any grant writing and Hyams
answered he
had done some process work for Habitat for Humanity
where he had
lived before. Cole asked about
affordable housing
and Hyams
said he was for it.
The board
responded to a message that the Recreation Commission
meeting in
another room needed a quorum to meet.
E. Russell moved and the motion
was seconded by
Arthaud:
*
"TO APPOINT BIRNEY BOEHLAND TO THE RECREATION
COMMISSION."
Vote: All in favor.
Peter
Richardson interviewed for the Regional Planning
Commission
Alternate. Ramsdell asked why he wanted
to be an RPC
Alternate
and Richardson responded that he and his family have
lived in
Charlotte for 7 years and he has served on the
Affordable
Housing Committee and he has a background in housing
and ran
Housing Vermont and has worked as a developer.
E.
Russell
asked about his education and Richardson said he had a
B.A. and a
Masters degree. Richardson said he was
interested in
getting more
information on the role of the RPC Alternate and
the board
members explained a few of the details.
Ruah
Swennerfelt interviewed for the MPO Alternate position. E.
Russell
asked why Swennerfelt was interested in the MPO
Alternate
position and Swennerfelt replied she was looking to
get involved
locally, she has an interest in transportation and
especially
reducing automobile emissions. Chairman
Russell
asked
Swennerfelt's opinion on the Circumferential Highway and
Swennerfelt
said she was concerned about it and instead the
state should
look at alternate forms of transportation to cars.
Clark
Hinsdale, Jr. interviewed with the board for the open
position on
the Planning Commission. E. Russell
asked Hinsdale
why he was
interested in a position on the Commission and
Hinsdale
answered that the board's work is important to
determine
the town's future and how we use our land.
E. Russell
asked
Hinsdale what he saw as the top 2 priorities facing town
planning and
Hinsdale answered he thought that future planning
of farms was
a high priority and discussed wet and dry acreage
in town and
that there are only about 5,000 tillable acres in
town. Hinsdale added that having a farming
community allows for
town
volunteers to serve on boards, rather than paid positions,
such as in
Shelburne.
Arthaud
asked Hinsdale how he would suggest protecting against
future
development in town and Hinsdale cited the need for
younger
people to go into farming to allow for open space and
protected
land.
Cole asked
what the second priority Hinsdale saw in town
planning and
Hinsdale said while the town is grappling with many
issues he
saw affordable housing and senior housing as a big
need in town
and also discussed trail systems.
Cole noted
that Sylvia Sprigg also wanted to interview for a
seat on the
Planning Commission.
Ted
Montgomery interviewed with the board for a position on the
Planning
Commission. Montgomery said he owns an
architectural
company and
works out of his home at Ten Stones where he has
resided
since 1996. Montgomery said he is
interested in the
Planning
Commission because he is interested in energy, building
and
environmental issues. Montgomery noted
he is currently
working on a
new ecological housing design and is still working
on finishing
his house.
Chairman
Russell asked Montgomery what 2 issues of the Town Plan
he saw as
most important and Montgomery said he had yet to read
the Town
Plan, but he was concerned with issues of sprawl and
wanted to
keep the 2 villages and small towns in general nice,
and with
energy issues. Chairman Russell asked
what Montgomery
though of
limiting house sizes and Montgomery responded he
thought that
was a great idea.
Ramsdell
asked Montgomery what he thought of the 5 acres per
house policy
and Montgomery answered "it depends on how you do
it." Chairman Russell asked Montgomery what he
thought of
preserving
10,000 acres of land in Charlotte and Montgomery said
it was a
good idea in general. Cole asked
Montgomery about
regulating
housing designs and Montgomery responded that the
issue had
been addressed at Ten Stones and it's hard to do, but
you get a
better result if you get people to buy into the
concept with
education on the issues.
Linda
Radimer interviewed with the board for a position on the
Planning
Commission, noting she had worked with the Conservation
Commission
for years, as well as working on trails and trail
committees. Radimer offered the priorities she saw for
the PC
were that
the board often gets stymied with the day-to-day
issues and
needs instead to outline a real vision for the town
and its
quality of life.
Radimer
offered that another area of concern is zoning
regulations
and districting and the town should use the state's
resources
for help in coming to a consensus on working with the
Land Trust
and farming issues.
Chairman
Russell asked about preserving 10,000 acres in town for
farming and
Radimer responded that could happen with education
and good
land use planning.
APPROVE
LOCATION OF PATH EASEMENT ACROSS NORDIC FARMS
Selectboard
Assistant, Dan Senecal-Albrecht reviewed a handout
and map of
where the board recently walked along the trail
planned on
the Nordic Farm.
Chairman
Russell reviewed what the board had discussed recently
with the
Hindales, the new owners of Nordic Farm.
Chairman
Russell
noted the agenda item was for discussion this evening
and wanted
the board to agree in general of where the trail
would be and
suggested discussing the location of the trail more
with the
Hinsdales after the site visit. Arthaud
cautioned that
the option
for the town having the trail expires at the end of
the month.
REQUEST BY
CLARK HINSDALE, III TO REROUTE A SECTION OF HIGBEE
ROAD AT ITS
INTERSECTION WITH ROUTE 7 IN THE INTEREST OF PUBLIC
SAFETY
Clark
Hinsdale, III said he has a contract in place to buy the
amblo
property and the Higbee Road and Route 7 intersection,
located
along the property has been a traffic problem for some
time. Hinsdale said he had been talking with the
state highway
department
that would like to fix the road and suggested having
he, the Road Commissioner and state highway
representatives do
a site visit
to review rerouting Higbee Road.
Hinsdale reviewed
a letter
from the school Principal on why the school bus does
not use the
intersection and an aerial map of the intersection.
Hinsdale
said he was not looking to be compensated for the piece
of land he
was offering to reroute the road and the state
Right-of-Way
division would be willing to fix the road at Route
7. Hinsdale offered that he would be willing to
have a
committee to
review the issue and E. Russell agreed that was a
good
idea. Several of the neighborhood
residents commented that
rerouting
the intersection was a good idea, including Rolf
Sennhenn and
Barbara Amblo.
BUDGET
DISCUSSION
Senecal-Albrecht
passed out copies of the updated version of the
budget to
board members.
Ann DeMuth,
Shirley Bean and Wally Gates discussed the Senior
Center
budget. Bean asked DeMuth, the Senior
Center
Coordinator,
to outline her job duties for the board, stating
she works
with teacher on programs, the senior center board,
handles
course inquiries and teaches some courses.
DeMuth said
although she
is supposed to be working 15-18 hours per week she
often works
much more than that. E. Russell asked
what would
happen if
DeMuth was to only work 18 hours per week and DeMuth
responded it
be a program she wouldn't be proud of because the
quality of
work wouldn't be there anymore.
Bean offered
that most of the classes offered at the senior
center paid
for themselves and DeMuth reviewed course revenues.
Bean said
DeMuth has done a really good job.
There was a
discussion
of having other people take on some of DeMuth's
duties and
DeMuth noted the senior center board has helped her
with some
duties.
Arthaud said
the town should get away from the details of the
Center's
programs and shouldn't be managing the center and the
town should
provide a certain amount of money every year to the
Center and
have that be all and anything beyond the cap the
Center would
have to come up with themselves. E.
Russell agreed
with Arthaud
that the Selectboard shouldn't be micro-managing
the Center,
but the town needs to stay on budget.
There was a
discussion
of residents of other town taking classes at the
Center and
the cost of printing program guides.
Gates said the
Center was
looking into other alternatives to the high printing
costs and
had refined their budget.
There was a
discussion on the senior center raising its revenues
from courses
and doing private fundraising. Chairman
Russell
suggested
meeting again to review the Centers budget.
Debbie
Fischer passed out copies of the Recreation Commission
budget for
the board's review.
Joyce
Wallace on behalf of the School Board reviewed the tax
advantages
under Act 60 of having school intramural programs
incorporated
with the Recreation Commission and coming off the
school
budget. Arthaud said he agreed with the
concept and
expanding
the Parks and Recreation Commissions in general.
Birney
Boehland discussed the financial advantages of the
proposal.
Robin Reid
wondered what would happen if the funding for schools
by the state
should shift. E. Russell said she would
like to
see a
proposal and have the concept thought through.
Fischer
reviewed the Recreation Commission budget with the
board. Craig Reynolds reviewed that the beach house
needs to
have its
roof replaced and plumbing work done.
Fischer reviewed
the quote
for dock maintenance at the beach and a line item for
entertainment,
such as dances and concerts.
E. Russell
asked about revenues from recreation and Reid said
those
revenues mostly cover salaries for the beach staff.
The board
and Boehland discussed the cost of a liner for the
skating rink
and what was in the budget for that expense from
the previous
year. Chairman Russell discussed the
Recreation
Committee
having a chair, no action was taken on the matter.
The board
briefly reviewed library salaries with the Library
Trustees and
Cole recused herself for that discussion only.
Noting the
late hour, Arthaud suggested the discussion on
Thornton's
Trace be postponed until the next meeting.
Arthaud moved and the motion was
seconded by
E. Russell:
*
"TO TABLE THE 9:45 P.M. AGENDA ITEM TO THE NEXT
MEETING ON DECEMBER 16,
2002."
Vote: All in favor.
The board
and Road Commissioner, Hugh Lewis, Jr. discussed the
shale pit
and its contract in place for town use.
Lewis
reviewed his
concern that the price for gravel was going up and
the town is
not keeping up with road upgrades and said he didn't
think the
town would be getting much grant money from the state
this coming
year.
Fire Chief,
Chris Davis reviewed the latest Fire & Rescue budget
with the
board along with Dick St. George and Eric Van Vlandren.
Davis noted
the Fire Department is up 20% recently in calls for
help and
Fletcher Allen hospital is now requiring more supplies
to be bought
by rescue squads.
Davis
reviewed the cost of hiring EMT coverage and Van Vlandren
noted the
volunteer staff can't count entirely on volunteers.
St. George
said the Department has to look at the worst case
scenario and
hope for the best, and while they are recruiting
new members
others leave.
Arthaud, who
is a member of the Rescue Squad said while the
membership
roster is at 51, our current schedule includes 12
volunteers
and that 3 people are needed on a rescue crew at any
given time
to meet legal requirements, and explained why 3
people were
in fact needed.
Chairman
Russell noted this cost the Department was looking at
was 4 cents
on the tax rate and E. Russell said
this expense
should be
presented to the voters.
E. Russell
asked what the incentive is to recruit if there is a
paid crew
and Arthaud responded it relieves the volunteers to do
other
work. Chairman Russell asked what
happened to the
volunteer
number last year and Van Vlandren answered burn out,
lifestyle
changes and generally less people available during the
day.
St. George
said he would be willing to put applications to join
the squad on
chairs at Town Meeting.
Cole noted
the level of service by the squad has been high and
it is not entirely
to money that makes us a first rate service,
it's the
commitment of the volunteers.
MISCELLANEOUS
E. Russell moved and the motion
was seconded by
Arthaud:
*
"TO AUTHORIZE THE TOWN TREASURER TO BORROW
$24,000.00 FOR A CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT NOTE FOR THE
TOWN OF CHARLOTTE."
Vote: All in favor.
Arthaud left
for the evening at 11:30 p.m.
SIGN
WARRANTS AND BILLS
Board
members signed warrants and bills.
Having no further business
Chairman Russell moved:
*
"TO ADJOURN."
Vote: All in favor.
The meeting
was adjourned at 11:34 p.m.
Minutes
submitted by:
Debby Flynn