Selectboard Minutes
Regular Meeting of Monday November 11, 2024 at 7:00 PM
At South Hero Town Hall and via Zoom
Board Members Present: David Carter/Chairman, Skip Brown/Board Secretary, Steve Robinson, Anne Zolotas
Board Members Not Present: David Lane/Vice Chairman
Others Present: Town Personnel: Sue Arguin/TA and Kim Julow, Treasurer. Also see sign in sheet of in person and Zoom attendees. *Attendance SB 2024-11-11-2024
1. Called to Order:
– The meeting was called to order by Chairman David Carter at 7:00 pm.
2. Adjustment to Agenda:
-none
3. Minutes:
-Steve Robinson made a motion to approve the minutes of October 28, 2024. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
4. Public input:
A. none
5. New Business:
A. David Roy and Joan Falcao of the Planning Commission (PC) were present to discuss the possible acquisition of land for a wastewater system, should the Town find a suitable location with enough capacity to satisfy the current grant stipulations. It appears that a municipal wastewater system would align with the Town Plan. A survey was answered a couple of years ago and the economic stagnation in the Town is possibly due to the lack of wastewater infrastructure. It was suggested that should the Town acquire likely property, then the another survey would be a good idea. Environmental engineer Emily Hackett of the Vermont DEC clarified a few points. The ARPA money that is granted needs to be used by September of 2026. This is only for acquisition of property and design of a system, not the building of a system. Any system would be under the control of the municipality. She noted that towns in Vermont have had land for 15 or more years waiting for funding to actually build some kind of system. Even then, a phased build out can be done as funds are available. In most municipally systems, the operation and maintenance is usually paid for by the connections.
B. Ray C. Allen of the Grand Isle Sheriff presented a budget request for the Town budget in the amount of $200,491.20. This represents a 2% increase from last year’s final budget.
C. Matt Reed and Patrick Robinson of the South Hero Volunteer Fire Department presented a total budget request in the amount of $380,900.00. This is an increase of $11,000.00 from last year.
D. Jenny Schulz and Cody Fiala of South Hero Rescue presented a level funded budget request in the amount of $115,000.00.
E. Terry Robinson and Ron Phelps of the South Hero Bicentennial Museum presented a level funded budget request in the amount of $6500.00.
– There were several letters requesting budget amounts: Northwest Regional Planning (NRPC) $2060.00. Community Association of Restoration of Its Neglected Gravestone (CARING), $2000.00
-Note that the amounts listed above are asks from various organizations. The Selectboard has not yet included any of the above amounts in the budget until the entire budget is finalized, and that the Town will vote for the budget on Town Meeting Day.
6. Town Administrator and ZA Reports:
A. See the written reports posted with these minutes. (No ZA report this meeting)
B. Steve Robinson made a motion to approve and sign the contract for the South Hero town wide reappraisal from the Vermont Appraisal Co. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
C. A letter from AES regarding possible grants for a new Town office was submitted. There are not many available due to the higher than average income in South Hero.
7. Old and Ongoing Business:
A. none at this meeting
8. Announcements and Communications:
A. none at this meeting
9. Other Business:
A. Skip Brown made a motion to approve and sign the orders 25-10 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: Auditors Sullivan, Powers & Co.,PC have suggested a few policy changes. The suggestions will be updated and enacted. The Town’s portion of the newly implemented Local Option Tax (LOT) for the first FY quarter of approximately $17,000.00 was submitted.
C. Recreation Commission (RC) update: There is a meeting of the committee on Nov. 12.
D. Road Department update: There was a change order to add a ceiling to the interior of the salt shed. The cost for this will be paid from the Road Dept. surplus.
E. Old South Hero Meeting House (OSHMH) project: The hazmat survey results are pending.
F. Lister Updates: See above
G. Wastewater (WW) update: See above
H. Town Hall Committee update: Preliminary design plans have been posted. The building committee will be meeting with office staff to get their input. Once the design is finalized, it will be sent out for estimating.
I. Tree Warden Update: The Town has signed a contract for work to be done at the beach, but it has not happened yet. There was a meeting at the beach with Bridget Butler of Friends of Northern Lake Champlain (FNLC). The planting of replacement trees and exploring installing a vegetative buffer for erosion control will be discussed in the Spring.
J. Anne Zolotas made a motion to go into executive session to discuss a real estate matter at 8:34 pm. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried. Executive session ended at 9:02 pm. After the executive session, the consensus of the Board is that grant money is available, and that the Wastewater Committee should continue to pursue possible land acquisition for a community septic system.
K. Skip Brown made a motion to go into executive session for personnel matters at 9:05 pm. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried. Executive session ended at 9:10 pm. After the executive session, the recommendations for FY 2025/26 payroll were given to the Treasurer.
10. Adjournment:
-Skip Brown made a motion to adjourn at 9:12 pm. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
Respectfully submitted, Approved by,
_______________________________ ________________________________
Graham Brown, Secretary David Carter, Chairman
TOWN ADMINISTRATORS REPORT FOR 11/11/2024
- Jeff Thill called from 8 Hill Road about the tree planting between his house and the salt shed. He wanted to know what we are intending on planting and when.
- David Carter and I had a zoom meeting with Alex Armani-Munn from AES- Northeast Architecture, Engineering and Land Surveying. The meeting was about possible grant ideas to help with the costs of the new town office. Unfortunately, there are a few we do not qualify for because of income sensitivity, but he and I will continue to look.
- We have received the contract back from Ted Nelson from the Vermont Appraisal Company and what the terms are to get him started with the reappraisal process next year.
- We received thank you letters from AGE WELL and CIDER about our last year contributions during budgets.
- The Listers and I are starting to prepare for 2024- 2025 house inspections.