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March 22, 2021 Minutes

Selectboard Minutes
Regular Meeting of Monday March 22, 2021 at 7:00 PM
At South Hero Town Hall and via Zoom

Board Members Present: David Carter/Chairman, Skip Brown/Board Secretary, Anne Zolotas, Ross Brown, Chuck Hulse
Board Members Not Present: none
Others Present: Erin Morse/Town Clerk, Kim Julow/Town Treasurer and Martha Taylor-Varney/ZA. Also see sign in sheet of in person and Zoom attendees.

1. Called to Order:
-The meeting was called by Chairman Carter at 7:05 pm

2. Adjustment to Agenda:
-none

3. Minutes:
-Ross Brown made a motion to approve the minutes of March 8, 2021. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.

4. Public input:
A. none

5. New Business:
A. The Town website template is on a WordPress platform, but it is not mobile phone optimized. The consensus of the Board is to have Skip speak with web developers and get an estimate to update the platform.

6. Administrative Assistant Report:
A. See the written report filed with these minutes in Town Hall or www.southherovt.org.
B. The Old White Meeting House (OWMH) planning grant has certain conditions and the administrator would like to see the Town’s financial policies outlined. David Carter will review the Town financial policies handbook to see if it is up to date.
C. The proposed BayView Crossing is still undergoing review:
– A municipal impact questionnaire was submitted. The Board reviewed and answered the questions. Ross Brown made a motion to approve and have the Chairman sign the Municipal Impact Questionnaire. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
-A site plan of the proposed development was submitted and reviewed. There does not appear to be parking for the CIDER vans even though CIDER plans to move their office there. Should the CIDER vans need to move from the OWMH parking area as it may be updated, it will then be up to them to secure future parking. Ross Brown made a motion to approve the site plan. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.

7. Old and Ongoing Business:
A. The Delinquent Tax Collector position was discussed. The Town voted at Town Meeting that a Delinquent Tax Collector can be appointed by the Selectboard. The Town Treasurer, Kim Julow, will prepare necessary warrants for the Delinquent Tax Collector for overdue taxes. A Delinquent Tax Collector handbook was purchased from VLCT. There are specific guidelines per State Statute to be Delinquent Tax Collector. Chuck Hulse will prepare a summarized job description and will present it at the next meeting.
B. The Town Constable position was discussed. The Town voted at Town Meeting that the Town Constable can be appointed by the Selectboard. There are specific guidelines per State Statute and VLCT to be Town Constable. Chuck Hulse has will prepare a summarized job description and will present it at the next meeting. Note that the Town Constable may also be the Delinquent Tax Collector, but it is not required to be the same person.

8. Announcements and Communications:
A. See other business

9. Other Business:
A. Skip Brown made a motion to approve and sign orders 21-19 and to pay the bills associated with the orders. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
B. Recreation Commission (RC) update: David Hobbs and Chuck Hulse gave a summary of the last RC meeting.
The minutes of that meeting can be seen on the Town website. Parking permits at the Town’s “White Beach” were discussed. Chuck Hulse made a motion to offer each South Hero Town resident up to two parking permits at $5.00 each and offer up to 40 non-resident parking permits at $45.00 each. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
C. Road Department update: Ross Brown noted that the new floor for the Town garage will be poured this week. Not as much sand and salt was us this year, so there is still a large pile remaining. The possibility of a salt shed was discussed. A paving grant will be applied for. Ross Brown made a motion to review and sign the Certificate of Compliance for Town Road & Bridge Standards and Network Inventory form. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
D. Skip Brown made a motion to approve and sign the following Liquor License renewals for McKees Island Pub: 3rd Class Liquor, 1st Class beer and wine and Outside consumption; and for Chefworks/The Roving Feast: 3rd Class Liquor and 3rd Class beer and wine. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
E. Skip Brown made a motion to approve and sign the Mobile vendor license for The Hive Café that will be located at Allenholm Farm. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
F. Ross Brown made a motion to go into executive session for personnel matters at 8:45 pm. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried. Executive session ended at 9:25 pm. Note that the Town Clerk and Town Treasurer have been hourly employees since they were voted in on Town Meeting Day. Upon exiting executive session, Skip Brown made a motion to make the Town Clerk and Town Treasurer positions salaried from the next pay period. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.

10. Adjournment:
-Skip Brown made a motion to adjourn 9:27 pm. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.

Respectfully submitted,                                        Approved by,

_______________________________ ________________________________
Graham Brown                                                       David Carter, Chairman

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Administrative Officer’s Report to Selectboard                                               March 22, 2021

Discussion Items:

  1. Ross Brown is adding himself as the new Municipal Authorizing Official (MAO) for South Hero on the State’s GEARS system.
  2. A condition for the planning grant awarded to the Town for the Old White Meeting House includes that the Town must have adopted policies and procedures for Financial Management that have been approved by the Selectboard. NRPC sent me the list of requirements. The deadline for the information is May 1st, but NRPC would like it as soon as possible in order to move the grant forward. I will have a list of the required policies at the 3/22 SB meeting.
  3. I contacted Ian Degutis, VTrans liaison to the Vermont Traffic Committee, about the process needed to get “No Parking” signs along sections of RT 2 in both South Hero and Keeler Bay Villages. The Town must make a formal request, noting specific locations and detailed descriptions of concern.  VTrans will review the locations and make their recommendations to the Vermont Traffic Committee.  Blue Paddle by the Bay in Keeler Bay Village reopens on May 1st.  This area of RT 2 was particularly dangerous last summer, and I received numerous phone calls and emails about it.  Because it is legal to park in the breakdown lane of RT 2, I got no cooperation from the business or landowner to encourage customers to use the available parking.  I recommend the Town take this step as an attempt to make this and other areas of concern safer.
  4. I contacted Bob Buermann about getting an energy audit for the Town Office from Efficiency Vermont. Well, it turns out that there was one done in 2009.  Lighting was upgraded by DC Energy Innovations.  Recommendations from the thermal energy audit have also all been implemented.  All the audits were paid for through a regional planning energy grant.  There are records of the audit in the Town Office.  Bob said it took less than 2 years for the savings to match the Town’s out-of-pocket matching funds.
  5. Buermann Engineering has given me the site plan for the proposed Bayside Crossing senior housing at 10 Carter Lane. Jay has asked the Selectboard to review the plan and make comments to be included in the project’s Land Use Permit application.  I will have the plans in the boardroom for the 3/22 Selectboard meeting and will send digital copies to Anne.
  6. I will be attending the VCDP board meeting (virtually) as the Town representative for the Board’s discussion of the Cathedral Square application for an Implementation Grant for Bayside Crossing Senior Housing. The first application earlier in the year for this grant was not awarded.  This will be the second time the application will be presented.

Planning Commission:

The Planning Commission is now holding meetings via Zoom.

The Planning Commission’s April 7 meeting will be with Greta Brunswick of NRPC. Discussion will include whether the Town will need a municipal planning grant for the 2023 Town Plan update, changes to Act 143 and 179 and if these changes contradict anything in the current Development Regulations, recommendations from the State to consider regulations for airfields and heliports, and possible opportunities through the American Recovery Act.

  1. The Planning Commission has received positive feedback about a possible Small Business Saturday to include all the Grand Isle County communities on November 20. Plans for this will continue.

Development Review Board:

I am scheduling DRB hearings into late May 2021.  All hearings are being held via Zoom for the foreseeable future. Several of these hearings are to complete the requirements for the new mobile vendors’ license.

–  Upcoming hearings also include a combined subdivision/planned unit development review, the continuation of a CU/SP review for an accessory use, the final site plan review for Bayview Crossing (4/14), and a CU/SP review for the Zlotoff Foundation’s Car museum.  Once this review is complete, the Foundation’s current notice of violation will be cured.

–  Recent DRB hearing decisions are posted on the Board outside the ZA’s office or can be emailed upon request.

Respectfully submitted,

Martha Taylor-Varney (ZA)