Town of Charlotte
Board of Selectmen
Minutes
Monday, August 11, 2003
7:00 PM, Charlotte Town Hall
Paul Arthaud
Debbie Ramsdell
Eleanor Russell
Jennifer Steele Cole
OTHERS: Dan
Senecal-Albrecht (selectboard assistant)
Kate
Bortz
Stephen
C. Brooks
Chris
Davis
Janet
Foster
John
Hammer
Dale
Knowles
Nancy
Sabin
Dick
St. George
Simon
Tekin
Jocelyn
Bolick (clerk)
The meeting was called to order at 7:02 pm.
The items on the agenda were as follows:
Call to Order /
Adjustments to Agenda / Public Discussion / Request by Adelphia Cable to Bore
Under Greenbush Road / Determine Process for Replacement of Resigning
Selectperson / Discussion of Replacement of Selectboard Assistant / Town Hall
Air-conditioning Cleaning – Proposal from New England Air Systems / Varney Farm
Update / Fire and Rescue – Fire Truck Bond Update / VELCO Committee Update
Including Report on Sub-station Site Visit – Jenny / Selectboard Updates /
Approve Minutes for July 28 / Authorize bills and warrants / Adjournment
Adjustments to Agenda
Dale
asked about people with lakeshore frontage – where exactly does their property
end? Charles said they own up to the
high water mark. So, dogs running up
and down the beach – is there anything that can be done about them? Dale said he had a call today – someone’s
dog was running up and down the beach, but the person who called to complain
uses the dog owners’ dock. The dog is
technically at large if it is not on the owners’ property. Dale gave the dog owner a warning today, the
fines will start next.
Request by Adelphia Cable to Bore Under Greenbush Road
Motion made by
Eleanor Russell, seconded by Paul Arthaud:
“To approve
Adelphia Cable to bore underground near 3023 Greenbush Road.”
Vote: all in favor.
Determine Process for Replacement of Resigning Selectperson
Debbie Ramsdell will
officially hand in her resignation at 8 PM during the meeting of August 25th.
The resignation can
now be announced. There are several
options: call for an election, appoint
someone on the spot, leave the position open, etc. Ellie said the next Charlotte News comes out on the 21st
of August; she suggests that we get it into the next News. The new person would hold the position until
March, 2004. Ellie suggested
advertising and see who is interested, then appoint someone. Paul suggested going into executive session
to decide the process of obtaining a new candidate for the selectboard. Paul would like to make a decision on which
process to use. There are advantages
and disadvantages to each process. Jenny
likes the idea of making an appointment and asking for people who might be
interested. Paul said there are 2 ways
of appointing – one is to call a town meeting (Ellie and Debbie said that’s
electing, not appointing). Debbie said
it would be foolish to spend the money for an election. Paul said if you choose to make an
appointment until the March term, there would be 3 seats available in
March. If you choose to have a town
election now, there would be 2 seats available in March.
Motion made by Paul
Arthaud, seconded by Jennifer Cole:
“To go into
executive session to discuss the process for obtaining a new selectboard
member.”
Vote: Paul, Jenny in favor; Charles, Ellie, and
Debbie voted against. Motion denied.
Paul feels that
someone needs to come onto the board.
If the board decides to appoint someone until March, what’s the time
line? Ellie said as soon as we can –
run the ad and see who is interested.
There are some major projects going on, and board members are putting in
a lot of hours. It would be in the best
interest of the town to have the position filled. Paul said that means a new person would not be on the board for 1
½ months. Ellie suggested trying to
interview people on the 25th of August. Dan Senecal-Albrecht suggested meeting a few nights after the 25th
to discuss the decision. Charles said
he’d be comfortable deciding on the 25th. Paul and Ellie felt it would be prudent to wait a few days. Charles said we could warn it on the 25th
and make a decision that night, or hold off.
So, it will be
advertised and people will be invited in on the 25th. Debbie wanted to know if the interviews
would be at a public meeting. Ellie
suggested putting it into the paper on the 21st, having the
interviews on September 15th and having the decision by the 29th.
Charles suggested
putting it in the Free Press, then have people voice their interest by 5 PM on
the 25th of August, show up at the meeting on the 25th,
and then have the decision made by the 15th of September.
Discussion of Replacement of Selectboard Assistant
Ellie suggested
running an ad – Ellie asked Dan when his last day is. He will be working full-time on the Regional Planning Commission
starting on Monday, August 18th.
Dan suggested putting it in the Seven Days newspaper as well as posting
the job description on the web.
Dan feels this
position can be hard to do on a part-time basis. If you’re in the office 10-20 hours per week, it can make it
difficult to do the job. He doesn’t
know how many hours would make it work, but less than 20 hours with no benefits
would limit the number of qualified applicants. It may be a small cost to make it a 20 hour job with part-time
benefits. He suggested that the
selectboard think about this.
Debbie thought it was
curious that the selectboard position would be advertised in the Free Press,
and the selectboard assistant position in Seven Days.
Charles said you have
to be a resident of Charlotte to be on the selectboard, you do not have to be a
resident to be a selectboard assistant.
Dan said he enjoyed
working with the town; it has taught him a lot about municipal government and
he looks forwarding to assisting this town and many others in his new capacity
with the Regional Planning Commission. His
title will be “Special Projects Planner”, doing the work of pre-disaster
litigation planning. He will be working
with J.P.Bettencourt in pre-disaster planning, and also working on the Lake
Champlain Byways, working with all the towns on the shoreline in Chittenden
County.
Town Hall Air-conditioning Cleaning – Proposal from New
England Air Systems
Mary had New England
Air Systems write a letter for the need to clean the system. They strongly recommend it at the cost of
$2379. Paul said we have a town hall
maintenance budget.
Motion made by Paul
Arthaud, seconded by Ellie Russell:
“To spend $2379 for the cleaning
of the air conditioning system for the town hall.”
Vote: all in favor.
Varney Farm Update
Dan said there are 2
memos – one from Jeffrey Glassberg, and one from Lindsey Ketchel.
Charles and Ellie met
with Lindsey last Monday. The Intervale
Foundation in collaboration with the Northeast Organic Farming Association of
Vermont submitted a concept paper for the Varney Farm. They would like to transform the 11 acre
parcel into organic agriculture as well as providing office space for their
collective associations. This would
leave the barn available for affordable housing. They would need to evaluate these key elements:
Charles feels this
could happen faster than affordable housing.
There is immediate need for office space – one of the groups is
presently working out of somebody’s bedroom!
Ellie said they are
more of an educational organization – one of their goals is to get young people
into farming.
Kate Bortz talked
about the Charlotte Town Players. They
have been putting on plays in the community using 52 kids and adults. Their performances promote both literacy and
the book shelf. They would like to look
into the Varney Farm and see if there is a possibility to have a venue there
for theatre groups, dance, etc., all sorts of things that would benefit the
community as a whole. Charles said they
had asked Jeff Glassberg during a site visit about adding something like a
theatre, and he spent some time talking about the difficulties of getting a
public building to accommodate a theatre – jacking it up, putting a foundation
under it, redoing the roof, etc. Kate
said grants could be given from the Vermont Arts Council. They are not thinking that they would be the
only ones using it; it would be more of a collaborative effort with other
organizations that were involved in the arts.
The Old Lantern gets requests several times per year for use of their
space by non-profit organizations. It
sounds like an exciting possibility.
Charles mentioned the traffic issue – that would be one of the biggest
problems. Kate asked about doing a site
visit – Charles suggested doing it with Lindsey Ketchel. Perhaps it could be done sooner since they
are looking at the barn and not disturbing the tenants. Kate wanted to know if the selectboard would
like a proposal. Charles said the owner
of the property would like something by September 1st. Ellie suggested that Kate and company look
at the property and ascertain what kind of money they would need, and do they
think they can get it. Ellie said the
high priority for the barn right now is housing; if that goes flat, then they
would look at the barn for other uses.
Memo from Jeff
Glassberg - Jeff suggested:
Ellie said the stage
they are at right now is investigative – trying to assess the septic and the
density issue, etc. Charles said one of
the issues Jeff brought up is the type of housing. There are groups out there who would be very interested in
funding part of the affordable housing in the barn, depending on how affordable
housing is defined. Would it be owned
versus rented units?
Kate Bortz said the
Lake Champlain Housing Authority is interested in rental properties. The management of the properties is the real
nightmare. Jenny said the next
Affordable Housing Committee is Monday.
Charles said Tim
Huestis is still working on the density issue.
He discovered that when they closed on the Demeter Park they called for
the preservation of a septic easement on the park property – enough to
accommodate a creamery, a residence, and an agricultural use. It may be an opportunity to solve the density
issue at the same time as solving the septic.
Charles said the costs have been in line so far, but if they start
getting out of hand trying to solve the affordable housing, we have to think
about all the money we’re spending to solve the density issue.
Fire and Rescue – Fire Truck Bond Update
Dick St. George and
Chris Davis came from CVFRS. Charles
said that the selectboard has to sign off on the bond. Chris said his understanding was that prior
purchases of apparatus basically came to the board. In this case, the board has been in the loop – perhaps a
selectboard member would like to be involved while negotiating with prospective
vendors? Chris has been told it is good
to have heat from the board during negotiations.
Charles said that
this all came about because the thermal imaging camera was ordered without
board approval, but that was a misunderstanding. Dick said they do not have the camera yet – the wait period is 90
days out. CVFRS does not have anything
official in writing. The official word
would come out of Homeland Security.
Chris has requested $106,000 in grants.
On the homeland security website, it showed that Charlotte was getting
$106,000. The website said it had to go
through Homeland Security for final approval, and no department was supposed to
order any equipment without final approval.
Chris was going to bring in a copy of the website, but when he went to
get it, it was pulled from the list.
Dick said the official word should be out in 3 to 4 weeks. Chris has
talked to two people on the phone – they were told that they were on the list
to get the money.
Chris said they were
hoping to buy some equipment through the grants. They put the radio equipment from Mt. Philo in the grants – it
was appealing because it benefited both CVFRS and Ferrisburg Fire and First
Response down that way. Vermont Railway
is going to pick up at least half of the cost of the construction of a shared
building and antenna site on Mt. Philo, the other half is shared by Charlotte
and Ferrisburg.
Ellie asked where
they stand on the move to Mt. Philo.
Chris said they are going to go ahead and do it. Their intent would be to stay with CVFRS
equipment on the Pease mountain site as long as possible. If someone else were to buy it, they would
like to keep some type of easement to keep the towns’ emergency antenna and
equipment up there. But Mt. Philo is a
better location. Charles asked about
the timeframe to get onto Mt. Philo.
Chris would guess the first part of the year. There is a meeting being pulled together with CVFRS, the state,
Vermont Railway to figure out who is doing what. They have to finish construction on the building and Chris does
not know the time lag they need to order the equipment and install it. Ferrisburg is desperate to get onto Mt.
Philo. Their current site is not
working at all.
Chris said another
proposal came in by fax tonight – no price attached, just a spec. They are working on the RFP and hoping to
get real proposals within a few more weeks.
Ellie asked if the RFP would be the final spec sheet – Dick said
yes. Dick said every one of these specs
will rule out competitors. Everyone has
one or 2 details in their specs that will eliminate their competition.
Paul Arthaud talked
to Mike O’Neil, the chief of Burlington Fire.
Paul was asked to work with CVFRS and perhaps a 3rd party –
Paul would like to sit down with CVFRS when they are ready and Mike to go over
the RFP when CVFRS is ready. Mike would
be happy to review it. Dick said the
spec will be going to the committee within the next week, and he will hand Paul
the spec at the same time – by Saturday, 8/16.
CVFRS has no problem working with other people to hammer out the fire
truck deal. Dick said they are looking
to get the best bang for the buck.
There are at least 4 manufacturers that are highly evaluated right
now. CVFRS wants to talk to people who
have had their trucks for 5 or 6 years.
Part of the process is evaluating the trucks that have been out there
for a few years.
John Hammer wants to
know where the decision points come, who signs the contract, who owns the
vehicle and what the steps are. Chris
believes the town owns the vehicle, it is insured under Fire & Rescue. The building is the same – Fire & Rescue
insures it – as is liability and workman’s compensation. It’s done through their budget.
Charles wanted to
know about the final price since some of the grant money would be covering some
of the equipment on the truck. Chris
said if the grant for the thermal imaging camera is real, then the camera would
be funded. Where there is money
available to take care of the cost increases, it would bring down the cost of
the truck to the town. But it is
premature at this point to talk about a final price. Chris feels the best thing that can happen is not to draw on the
entire $450,000 for the truck. Dick
guarantees that the truck will not cost the town of Charlotte more than
$450,000.
Ellie wanted to know
when they are going to need to borrow money.
Dick said that depends on the RFP’s.
You can order a fire truck today and pay for it when it is
delivered. If you pay 90% today and
then get a $2,000 bond to protect you, then you are going to save a percentage
off that truck. The RFP’s have wording
in them stating that these discounts will be taken into consideration.
Charles asked approximately
when the RFP is going out. Dick said
right around Labor Day. It would be due
back by the end of September. That’s
when they would be sitting down, going through the proposals and beginning
negotiations. Dick said they would
need money in the October/November time frame.
Charles asked if they have called Leahy or Jeffords or Sanders
concerning the grant money; Chris said he will continue calling and someone
will eventually pick up the phone. Dick
said they made the mistake of posting it before the final letters came
out. The state of Vermont received over
$13 million dollars. They awarded under
$8 million, so they didn’t even award all the money they had.
John Hammer asked
when Charlotte will get the truck.
Chris said it will be a year from when they sign the contract. If they sign in October, the truck will be
here in October 2004. They will ask if
companies have one in production that will fill the bill, it might even save
the town some money.
Paul Arthaud asked
about going with CVFRS on a road trip to New Jersey to check out fire
trucks. CVFRS wants to see trucks built
by different companies to check the quality of the workmanship.
Charles asked about
the by-laws – where are they and when will the selectboard see them? Dick feels they are under review – there are
multiple meetings every week; everything takes time. They’re just finishing the final draft; it’s been out for review
among the officers. They will be shared
with the selectboard at the same time they share them with the members. It’s close, but it’s not the #1 priority
right now.
In the last 6 or 7
years, they’ve asked for approximately $500,000 in grants. They’ve been successful with around
$25,000. Now, there’s a federal push to
get monies out to fire and rescues throughout the country and they think
they’ve got some grant money.
VELCO Committee Update Including Report on Sub-station Site
Visit – Jenny
Jennifer said one of
the things they wanted to do at the meeting was to present an overview of the
issues in town and set meetings for the future. They talked about the issues and concerns people have in
town. VELCO Is looking at changing the
location of the substation to a site on state owned land north of the train
station on the other side of the tracks behind the first line of trees, so it
is quite a distance up the tracks.
There is a GMP pole there (#260).
They are planning on doing away with the old substation. The new substation would be quite a bit
larger. It would extend 200 feet north
from where it is now and 36 feet to the side.
They thought it would be good to get it out of a residential area. They would remove the old GMP
substation. The transmission lines
would pass through there, but GMP has to get the power out to Ferry Road to
distribute locally.
There were quite a
few neighboring property owners at the meeting. People were asking that they leave the trees along the railroad
tracks to provide some shielding. It
was suggested that the trees growing up to the west and south of the substation
site should be allowed to grow for shielding.
VELCO claims that parts of the substation will be 40 feet tall. They are looking into purchasing the
property from the state. People at the
meeting expressed concerns about wetlands, wildlife, humming noises, etc. The process of purchasing land from the
state was described as lengthy. VELCO
is looking into putting the lines underground by the Waldorf School, possibly
west of the school. The next meeting
will probably be the first week in September.
They would like to get the site visits done early (before the weather
gets cold) so they can get into other stuff like herbicides, types of poles,
putting the lines underground, environmental impacts, etc.
John Hammer asked
about the size of the new substation – they are expanding it? Charles said they needed to expand it from
the original design. That’s because
they’re putting more through the lines.
Nancy Sabin asked
about the noise levels meeting acceptable standards – she wanted to know whose
standards? Jenny said they were talking
about the substation, not the humming of the lines. Nancy thought the state owned 13% or 18% of VELCO – if they are
part owners of this company, it does not make sense that the purchase of land
from the state would be a lengthy process.
Nancy asked about the right of way around the lines – Jenny said it was
50 feet on either side of the lines.
Nancy asked if anyone
from the Service Board has come down, Jenny said no. They’re still in the initial stages of discussion. This is not yet through the public service
board.
Jenny said that one
of the things the town should do is work with VELCO and create a situation that
is more acceptable while at the same time have party status for the
meetings. Right now the towns are
working individually with VELCO.
Shelburne had a meeting last week; there is not an effort to group
together. Charles said the towns have
different issues. Jenny said these are
issues about the proposed projects and how they are doing it; it’s not about
challenging the need – other groups are doing that. It’s about how it is affecting Charlotte. Nancy wanted to know if the town of
Charlotte is questioning the need for this project, Charles said no – the
Conservation Law Foundation is doing that for the town. The town is not going to spend a lot of
money fighting something that, in the opinion of the town’s lawyer, you won’t
knock down.
Selectboard Updates
Motion made by Ellie
Russell, seconded by Paul Arthaud:
“To approve a tax anticipation
note of $300,000 with the Chittenden Bank.”
Vote: all in favor.
Charles said this is
mostly for paving. John Hammer said it
might be interesting to put it in the paper.
He feels very few people know that the town has to go into debt to pay
for paving.
Approve Minutes for July 28
Motion made by
Eleanor Russell, seconded by Debbie Ramsdell:
“To approve
the selectboard meeting minutes with corrections for July 28th ”.
Vote: all in favor.
Under “Open bids for highway paving …” add the following to
the discussion of the cold process “Enough years have not yet passed to
determine whether the cold process will last”.
Under “Open bids for highway paving …” change “Cattail Road
to Camille” to “Cattail Road to Doug Cole’s property”.
Under “Open bids for highway paving …” remove the sentence
“The road is 11 feet
beyond his, and he will keep the barrier at 12 feet.”. Change “it will start at his driveway” to
“His barrier will start at his driveway”.
Under “Open bids for highway paving …” change “Steve Mack did not want to do the
bike path marking” to “Steve Mack did not want to do the bike path marking
because he did not have the equipment”.
Under “Varney Farm Update” change
the 4th goal from “The use should be compatible with neighboring” to
“The use should be compatible with neighboring Charlotte Park and Wildlife
Refuge”.
Authorize bills and warrants
Signed
bills and warrants as appropriate.
Adjournment
Next
meeting: Monday, August 25th
at 7 PM.
Meeting adjourned at 9:30 PM.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Jocelyn Bolick.