BENNINGTON SELECT BOARD MEETING BENNINGTON FIRE FACILITY 130 RIVER STREET BENNINGTON, VERMONT 05201 MONDAY, JUNE 23, 2008 MINUTES BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Lodie Colvin-Chair; John Zink-Vice-Chair; Sharyn Brush; Matt Maroney; Joseph Krawczyk and Jason Morrissey. ALSO PRESENT: Stuart Hurd-Town Manager; Tim Corcoran-Town Clerk; Joan Pinsonneault-Treasurer; Neal Goswami-Bennington Banner and Nancy Lively-Recording Secretary. 1.EXECUTIVE SESSION (2ND FLOOR CONFERENCE ROOM) A.INTERVIEW FOR PLANNING COMMISSION At 7:00 P.M., Lodie Colvin called the meeting to order. 2. MINUTES - JUNE 9, 2008 Sharyn Brush moved and John Zink seconded to approve the Minutes of June 9, 2008 as submitted. The motion carried unanimously. 3. WARRANTS The warrants were circulated for signatures after Mr. Hurd answered the Board's question on E.P. Mahar & Son. 4. CITIZENS Mr. Corcoran stated that there have been numerous complaints about the hail cannon that is at the Southern Vermont Orchards. The purpose of the cannon is to break up hail before it forms and eliminate hail damage to the apples. It does this by releasing a sonic boom whenever the barometric pressure drops without regard to time of day or night. It may also kill or harm birds and other animals. Although farmers swear by it, there is no scientific evidence that it really works. Mr. Hurd added that, because it's an agricultural practice, it is exempt from getting a permit from the Development Review Board. However, if the decibels are over the sound ordnance limits, the Town can require that it be no longer used. If not, other avenues will have to be explored, such as discretionary use. The Chief of Police will check the decibel level tomorrow. 5. TAX ANTICIPATION NOTE FOR BORROWING - F.Y.'09 Ms. Brush stated that she works at Chittenden Bank but is in no way involved with the Town securing this Tax Anticipation Note. Mr. Hurd explained that we are going for a Note this year instead of a Line of Credit. The banking industry has recommended this because the arbitrage rate (2.98%) is very close to the interest rate paid on the Note (2.52%). Every bank in town was given the opportunity to carry the Note but Chittenden is the only one that is interested in doing so. Jason Morrissey moved and John Zink seconded to accept the Tax Anticipation Note with Chittenden Bank for $2,500,000.00 at the rate of 2.52% for the period of July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009. The motion carried unanimously. 6. APPOINTMENT TO PLANNING COMMISSION Sharyn Brush moved and Joseph Krawczyk seconded to appoint Nicholas T. Lasoff to the Planning Commission to assume the position vacated by Dr. Michael Brady with that term ending in May 2011. The motion carried unanimously. 7. BRUSH PILE FEE DISCUSSION Ms. Colvin stated that if you bring brush to the transfer station in a truck with a logo on it, you are charged a fee. If the truck has no logo, you are not charged. This is difficult to monitor for the transfer station employees and unfair for the resident who may borrow a truck with a logo on it. Mr. Hurd noted that it costs the Town $18,000 to $20,000 per year to chip the brush and there are 10 to 20 loads of brush coming in per day. The cost of chipping will continue to increase as the price of fuel continues to rise. We are charging the commercial operators a per ton fee but the service has been free to the residents for several years. It was Mr. Hurd's recommendation to charge a nominal flat fee to everyone in the $2-$5 range. Board comments were as follows: * Commercial haulers should continue to pay by the ton. * Residents may just dump the brush anywhere in lieu of paying. * We may be getting material from other towns. * Casella only charges for trash and the Town is reimbursed by Casella for what is charged for tires, metal and yard waste. * Burning such a large pile of brush would generate many complaints. It was the consensus of the Board to have the Town staff set up a fee schedule and ask other towns how they handle their brush. 8. AGENCY FUNDING REQUESTS TO BALLOT DISCUSSION Board discussion on this issue was as follows: * If it was up to the agencies to petition, they could petition for more, or less, than what they have gotten in the past. * It may not be equitable to just put the agencies on the ballot for what they had last year; i.e., The Homeless Shelter. * Our agency funding through the budget is up to $400,000 per year. * Another possibility is to give every agency the same amount of money - regardless of their size. * State law only requires 5% of the voters to get on the ballot - it should be at least 20% to 25% for a private organization to get subsidized by taxpayer's money. * With the present economic climate, we need to be "cheap" with how we spend money. * Agencies need to petition and carry the burden with full disclosure of where the money will be going and let the voters decide. * The Bennington Free Library, the North Bennington Library and Paran Recreation should remain part of the budget. * The Board needs to identify the ones that can go on the ballot without petitioning. Any unique circumstance should be petitioned for. * The Board has more control if some agencies are just put on the ballot without making them petition. It was the consensus of the Board to determine what agencies will remain part of the general fund budget, what agencies will be put on the ballot level funded or what agencies need to petition to be put on the ballot at the next meeting. 9. MANAGER'S REPORT Mr. Hurd reported that the BBC and local restaurant owners approached the Town seeking permission to serve food and beverages on the public way. We have developed a license agreement in concert with Town counsel and VLCT, our insurer, to allow food and alcohol service on the sidewalk. The owner must agree to all of the requirements and provide a Certificate of Insurance with a $1M limit. The actual size of each area will depend on each individual location. Sharyn Brush moved and Joseph Krawczyk seconded to authorize the Town Manager to proceed with the Town of Bennington Revocable License Agreement for Use of Town Sidewalk as presented. The motion carried unanimously. Mr. Hurd reported that the Vermont Legislature passed a law to allow certain umbrella coverages for private public water systems under the municipality's license to operate. Most of the ones in Bennington are mobile home parks and this law exempts the mobile home park from certain testing and reporting requirements formally mandated by law. Most of our mobile home parks would qualify for this exemption and our main concern is the liability issue should a consecutive system fail or be found to be contaminated or otherwise out of compliance with other laws and regulations. The only required testing would only be done to the Town's system and not the mobile home's system. It was the consensus of the Board that this is of no benefit to the Town, the Town has no control over potential consequences and there are too many inconsistencies. Mr. Hurd reported that, over the past two years, the staff has been trying out different models and makes of equipment for the Water Department backhoe purchase with the original focus having been on a small track machine. In the end, staff found that type of machine to be unacceptable and pursued a rubber tire machine. The balance of funds in the reserves for equipment is $247,964 and the recommendation is to purchase the caterpillar machine for $75,713.79 plus trading in our present 20-year old machine. Mr. Maroney was concerned about spending so much money at this time given the fact that the existing machine has gone two years longer than originally anticipated plus we may be better off to put the old machine out to bid instead of trading. Mr. Krawczyk noted that we have been trying out other pieces of equipment for the past two years and asked if we had pursued a lease/purchase option. Mr. Hurd answered that we have not. Mr. Hurd will get bids on selling the existing machine and bids on a lease/purchase agreement for the new machine to bring back to the Board. Mr. Hurd reported that we have had 298 appeals filed on the rolling reappraisal. This is less than 6% of the total properties noticed. 10. OTHER BUSINESS Mr. Maroney asked if we have a value on the Catamount School, and Mr. Hurd stated that we do and he will find out what it is. Mr. Krawczyk noted that, from the perspective of the taxpayer, the timing is poor on the sending of the prebate money to the Town. Because the Town received the money at the end of July, it was noted on the tax bills what that amount was. The appeal date, however, was before the tax bills went out so the people that wanted to appeal had missed the deadline. Ms. Brush will not be at the next meeting on July 14, 2008. Mr. Zink asked about the delinquent tax roll and Mr. Hurd stated that the Board will get a copy of the list when it has been completed. Ms. Colvin would like to put the Bennington '76 flags in the downtown as replacements are needed, preferably to replace the "green flags". Ms. Colvin reminded the Board that there will be a Water/Sewer Budget review on Saturday morning, June 28, 2008 in the Town Office. 11. EXECUTIVE SESSION A. CONTRACT Executive session was not needed. At 8:15 P.M., John Zink moved and Sharyn Brush seconded the adjournment of the meeting. The motion carried unanimously. Respectfully submitted, Nancy H. Lively Secretary