Selectboard Minutes
Regular Meeting of Monday August 22, 2022 at 7:00 PM
At South Hero Town Hall and via Zoom
Board Members Present: David Carter/Chairman, Skip Brown/Board Secretary, Ross Brown/Vice Chairman, Anne Zolotas, and Chuck Hulse
Board Members Not Present: none
Others Present: Martha Taylor-Varney, ZA, Kim Julow, Treasurer. Also see sign in sheet of in person and active Zoom participants. *Attendance SB 08-22-2022
1. Called to Order:
-The meeting was called to order by Chairman David Carter at 7:05 pm
2. Adjustment to Agenda:
-none
3. Minutes:
-Chuck Hulse made a motion to acknowledge the minutes of August 8, 2022. The motion was seconded, all in attendance at the meeting so voted and the motion carried.
4. Public input:
A. Tim Maxham would like to thank the Road Dept. for grading the Folsom parking lot and mowing deep into the ditches along the Town ROW.
5. New Business:
A. Sheila and Paul Hale were on the agenda and did not show up.
B. A television would be handy in the Town Hall to project content and Zoom attendees during meetings. The funds should be covered by the ARPA money. Anne Zolotas made a motion to spend up to $1000.00 for a television, wall mount and a long HDMI cable. The motion was seconded, all in attendance at the meeting so voted and the motion carried.
C. Animal Control officer Jim Benson has resigned. An ad will be placed to see if anyone is interested in the position.
6. Administrative Assistant Report:
A. See the written report filed with these minutes (Below on the website or in Town Hall).
B. There was a discussion about the possibility of hiring a Town Administrator. More discussion will follow, but such a position could possibly cover items such as grant administration, Selectboard follow through, recreation coordinator, etc.
7. Old and Ongoing Business:
A. The follow up from the last meeting regarding safety improvements along the stretch of Route 2 from the old Sandbar property up to Featherbed Lane is covered in the Administrators Assistant report.
B. Peter Zamore discussed the fact that the Wastewater study is funded with a fully reimbursable loan. The State has requested that an underwriter look into the ability of South Hero to repay the loan should wastewater disposal ever be built and the loan then has to be paid back in the future. Otter Creek engineering and NRPC have outstanding invoices. They will not proceed with any more work until their invoices are paid. Ross Brown made a motion to have the Treasurer pay the current bills from Otter Creek and NRPC. The motion was seconded, all in attendance at the meeting so voted and the motion carried.
8. Announcements and Communications:
A. see Other Business
9. Other Business:
A. Ross Brown made a motion to approve and sign orders 23-04 and to pay the bills associated with the orders. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
B. Town Clerk/Treasurer updates: The audit was conducted last Tuesday. A report will be posted when it is received. A handwritten contract from Bellows lawn mowing for FY 2022/2023 was presented. In the future it is suggested that a bid process be instituted for all of the Town properties that need mowing.
C. Recreation Commission (RC) update: Chuck Hulse stated that Nate Hayward would like to come to a future Selectboard meeting to discuss the possible future Town Park. Parking at the beach has been going well this season.
D. Road Department update: The land purchase for the future salt shed has closed. The Board would like to thank John Roy for the impetus to acquire the land for a salt shed. It will be an asset to the Town and the Road Dept. area will be able to be cleaned up once a shed is built and the salt pile is moved.
E. Old South Hero Meeting House (OSHMH): There will be an RFP drafted for stabilization of the building.
F. ARPA fund updates: David Roy is on the ARPA committee. He will be asked to come to a future Selectboard meeting.
G. Wastewater update: See above
H. The Town website is running out of bandwidth storage. The State has deemed that minutes and agendas only have to be saved on the website for 1 year, as they are always available in paper form. After discussion, the Board has decided to save 5 years of minutes to the website and see if that will alleviate the problem.
10. Adjournment:
-Ross Brown made a motion to adjourn 8:35 pm. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
Respectfully submitted, Approved by,
_______________________________ ________________________________
Graham Brown, Secretary David Carter, Chairman
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Administrative Officer’s Report to Selectboard August 22, 2022
- The DRB conditional use/site plan review for the proposed Town salt shed on newly acquired land on Hill Rd. will be August 24 at 7PM. The subdivision hearing initially scheduled for that night prior to the CU/SP hearing has been canceled since the boundary adjustment has now been accepted. The subdivision hearing will be opened and immediately withdrawn, since the hearing had already been warned and abutters notified.
- The Planning Commission received word that it has been awarded a $40,000 grant by the 2022 VTrans Bicycle and Pedestrian Program. This is one of 20 grants awarded State-wide. It is a reimbursement grant and not a direct grant. The Town will be responsible for 20% of the total costs. I have VTrans Scoping Grant Recipient Project Commitments Form for the Board to sign tonight. In t, the Town agrees that it is responsible for its share of the project funding ($8000) and to meet the schedule requirements.
- I received an email today from Ernie Patnoe in reference to the August 8 SB meeting at the library attended by representatives of VTrans and Fish and Wildlife. Ernie attended the meeting in person representing VTrans. He outlined the concerns that had been discussed and what actions had been taken to this point.
- He had offered to loan their “speed cart” to the Town and claimed that no one had taken him up on the offer. I emailed him early last week and (I believe) Ross had left a voicemail about it. I’ll try again.
- The “No Parking” signs have been placed along RT 2.
- In response to concerns from Ruby Brezinski about the nearby crosswalk (on RT 2?), it has been painted this year.
- Jon Kaplan of VTrans had contacted me that their grant administrator, Peter Pochop, had agreed that a study of crosswalks on RT 2 in the area of Apple Island/Featherbed Lane could be included in the recently awarded VTrans Scoping Study but could not include parking issues on Featherbed Lane or the fishing access parking. (discussion continues below under Planning Commission).
- Can additional speed limit signs be posted on Eagle Camp Rd.? T here is currently only one, in one direction.
- I made one copy of the Class I Town Highways White Paper. Ross currently has it. Does anyone else want a hard copy. I sent digital copies too each SB member after the last meeting.
- There will be a grants management symposium in Montpelier on October 27 [since postponed to December 8th] hosted by Vermont Community Development Program (VCDP).
- A grant writing workshop will be held in Portsmouth, NY on October 17-18 hosted by Grant Writing USA. Tuition is $495. Does the Town want to send someone?
Planning Commission
2023 Town Plan discussion — The Commission had remaining public outreach opportunities on August 22, referred to as “Community Cheers and Cheese.” The June 27 event drew over 125 attendees. The last outreach at the South Hero Farmer’s Market was on August 17.
NRPC reported on the results of the Town Plan survey at the August 3 PC meeting. A complete copy of the results should be available now on the NRPC website, under ‘South Hero.’
The Planning Commission was asked at their August 17 meeting if an additional study for sidewalks across RT 2 in the area of Apple Island Resort could be tacked onto this grant. Sandy Gregg spoke with Greta Brunswick of NRPC, who wrote the grant, and was told that the use of funds for anywhere outside of what is described in the Sidewalk Scoping Grant in the village zoning district is not possible.
The next PC meeting will be September 7 at 6PM, at the Worthen Library. The discussion will be on the village zoning districts.
Development Review Board
- The DRB’s next scheduled meeting is August 24th. At this time, no further hearings have been scheduled.
Respectfully submitted,
Martha Taylor-Varney, ZA and Asst. to the Selectboard