BENNINGTON SELECT BOARD MEETING BENNINGTON FIRE FACILITY 130 RIVER STREET BENNINGTON, VERMONT 05201 MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012 MINUTES BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Joseph Krawczyk-Chair; Sharyn Brush-Vice-Chair; Jason Morrissey; Justin Corcoran; Jim Carroll and Greg Van Houten. ALSO PRESENT: Stuart Hurd-Town Manager; Dan Monks-Planning Director; Joann Erenhouse; John Shanahan; Larry McLeod; Mike Bethel; Patrick McCardle and Nancy Lively-Recording Secretary At 5:00 P.M., Joseph Krawczyk called the meeting to order. 1.EXECUTIVE SESSION A.Interviews At 5:01 P.M., it was moved and seconded to go into Executive Session to conduct Interviews with two Service Officers applicants and two Listers applicants. The motion carried unanimously. At 6:00 P.M., Joseph Krawczyk called the meeting to order. 2.PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all. 3.MINUTES - APRIL 9, 2012 MINUTES - APRIL 16, 2012 Sharyn Brush moved and Jim Carroll seconded to approve the Minutes of April 9, 2012 as submitted. The motion carried unanimously. Sharyn Brush moved and Greg Van Houten seconded to approve the Minutes of April 16, 2012 as submitted. The motion carried unanimously. 4.WARRANTS The warrants were circulated for signatures after Mr. Hurd answered questions on creative movements, Comcast and Fairpoint, Green Mountain Communication Network, Home Depot, theatre tickets, electrical installation, mechanical filter, Shultz construction, Verizon Communications, and MSK Engineering. 5. CITIZENS Ms. Erenhouse reminded everyone that the Annual Aurora Dance Party will be held on April 28, 2012 at the Morse Industrial Park in the Abacus Warehouse starting at 8:00pm. 6.DESIGNATED DOWNTOWN BOUNDARY LINE ADJUSTMENT - CATAMOUNT SCHOOL The former Catamount School property has been purchased by Bo Vuckovic, who intends to renovate the entire property as a part of a phased re-development plan. Phase I, which has already begun, involves the renovation of the building on School Street to accommodate a soccer academy, that includes an indoor soccer field and dorm facilities. Phase II is the renovation of the building on North Street into extended stay executive residential suites. To be eligible for several re-development incentives - including State of Vermont Historic Preservation Tax Credits - the property must be included within the Downtown Improvement District (DID). The property is adjacent to the DID and was purposely left out originally because, at the time, the property was a tax-exempt school. Given the change in status, it is proposed that the DID boundary be adjusted to include the former Catamount School property. If approved by the Board, the next step is to forward this to the State Downtown Board for its final approval. Greg Van Houten moved and Jim Carroll seconded to accept the proposed amendment to the Downtown Improvement District (Designated Downtown) boundary as presented. The motion carried unanimously. 7.BETTER BENNINGTON CORPORATION BRIEFING - UPDATE Mr. Shanahan stated that the Old Castle Theatre will be coming to the Downtown, and thanks are extended to the Boards of Old Castle Theatre and H. Greenberg and Son for making that happen. Plans are in process for expanding what the Old Castle Theatre will be offering to the community. Much work needs to be done before they assume occupancy, however, steps are being taken to get that work underway soon. Mr. Shanahan announced that there is only one available residential place left in downtown Bennington. The BBC is working on increasing that number going forward. Work is also being done to establish a food coop in the downtown, and the formal announcement of that is expected soon. The Farmers Market will be moving to the Greenberg's parking lot on Tuesday and Saturday with extended hours and entertainment on both days. The Tour of the Dragons bike race will take place on May 5th and various merchants are offering specials because of the event, as well as, popcorn, entertainment, raffles, and a Tour of the Dragon/Year of the Dragon chalk art contest for all ages taking place on the street. Mayfest is expanding beyond crafts with a Farmers Market and Business section this year. Plans are already in place for expanding the 'special sections' in 2013. Mr. Krawczyk noted the former Music Under the Tent, and Mr. Shanahan stated that this used to cost the BBC $10,000-$15,000 each year. We now have several musicians in the downtown on Saturday afternoons to promote activity and entertainment in the downtown rather than an evening event that takes place after most of the merchants are closed. Another idea would be to have entertainment at 5:30pm to keep the after work crowd that are there anyway to stay longer. Mr. Krawczyk reiterated the importance of sponsorship because these events "do get expensive". Mr. Morrissey is supportive of the after work idea with minimal street closures, if necessary, as long as, the business of the businesses that were still open was not impeded. Mr. Van Houten is an advocate for the Music Under the Tent but realized that it was cost prohibitive and didn't really accomplish the best support of the downtown that is within the BBC mission. He is also supportive of the 5:30pm idea and suggested the Town Office lawn as a possible place for the venue. Mr. Carroll concurred with the 5:30pm idea and the use of the Town Office lawn. Ms. Brush also agreed with the 5:30pm idea with the location being the biggest issue. 8.RECREATION CENTER BORROWING Mr. Hurd stated that the very competitive bid of $349,000 from Quinn Company will allow us to work on several alternatives. They are: replace the three flat roofs; paint the entire facility to match the new wall; and add two necessary ceiling fans to the pool area to assist with air flow. This will also allow for a $50,000 project contingency and $30,000 contingency for the roof replacement, making the total project cost - including engineering - $610,000, an amount substantially below the $680,000 that was authorized by the voters. We hope to have the line of credit borrowing paperwork prepared for approval at the May 14th meeting. Board comments were as follows: Mr. Krawczyk: We had discussed that part of the problem with the building was an insufficient maintenance program. Do we have plans in place to improve that? Mr. Hurd: The problem wasn't with the maintenance of the system moving the air out of the pool area. It was with the original design pulling that air past the walls into the structural steel. We have an excellent maintenance crew now - especially with a working foreman - and expect to add another 20 to 30 years of life to the building by completing this work. Mr. Corcoran: The range of bids is $240,000. Where is the savings from the highest to the lowest? Mr. Hurd: The number of bidders made the bids very competitive. And, also, when the dollar amount was presented to the voters we thought that the problems were worse than they are. Mr. Corcoran: Are there plans for the contingencies if we don't use them? Mr. Hurd: We simply will not borrow them. Mr. Morrissey: The lowest base bid is nearly half of what we had gone to the voters for and the contingency of $80,000 is 15% of the project. How often are the contingencies used? Mr. Hurd: 15% contingency is standard and they often do not get used. Our experience is that we used 50% of the contingency on the water filtration building. Mr. Morrissey: The building was built in 1972 so we must have knowledge of whether or not we have asbestos in the building. Mr. McLeod: We do have asbestos in the building and have to deal with it if it is disturbed during the construction project. That is why we set aside the $50,000 contingency for "lead, asbestos, unforeseen, etc." Mr. Morrissey: What portion of the $349,000 base bid was Quinn Company's contingency? Mr. Hurd: There is no contingency, per se, within those base bids. If they have some "fluff" within the bids, that is their business. The contingency that we have is for the unforeseen circumstances and will not be spent if not necessary. The amount of our contingencies is not made available to the contractors. Mr. Krawczyk: Who will be the Clerk of the Works? Mr. Hurd: Mr. McLeod will be principle Clerk of the Works and we will use the structural engineer and McDonald Secor where we think it is appropriate. Mr. Krawczyk: I think that some of the bid discrepancies are in whether or not the Alternate 1-11 jobs need to be sub-contracted out or can be done internally. Mr. Carroll: Because of the large discrepancy in bids, do we know what products they are using? Mr. McLeod: The products are all specified. Mr. Carroll: Can we give the contractors an incentive not to unintentionally disturb the asbestos instead of just paying for it if they do unintentionally disturb it? Mr. McLeod: By law, they have to stop when they encounter it and the areas where we know it is where they will be working, will be removed by a certified asbestos removal company before they start to be paid for from contingency. Mr. Hurd will bring the line of credit borrowing paperwork for approval to the May 14, 2012 meeting. 9.2012 BOARDS & COMMISSIONS The Board appointed Chris Gagne as the Town Service Officer and Shirley Archibald and Carol Hubball as Town Listers. 10.2012 LIQUOR AND TOBACCO LICENSE APPLICATIONS The following 2012 Liquor and Tobacco License Renewal Applications were circulated for signatures: First Class Renewals - 1.Bennington Pizza House 2.DOMS, Inc. 3.Dreaming Tree, Inc. 4.JC's Tavern 5.Papa Pete's Second Class Renewals - 1.Beshara's Disc. Bev. & Groceries 2.D's Market & Deli, Inc. Tobacco Renewals - 1.Beshara's Disc. Bev. & Groceries 2.D's Market & Deli, Inc. 11.MANAGER'S REPORT Sharyn Brush moved and Greg Van Houten seconded to close the following streets for Mayfest on May 26, 2012 from 5:00am until 6:00pm and Fallapalooza on October 27, 2012 from 6:00am until 5:00pm, respectively: Mayfest - Main Street from the Four Corners to Pleasant Street, School Street from Main to Pleasant, Silver Street from Main to Union Street, and Valentine Street from Main to Union Street. Fallapalooza - Main Street from the Four Corners to Valentine, School Street from Main to Pleasant, and Silver Street from Main to Union. The motion carried unanimously. Mr. Hurd reported that the Northside Drive water main replacement project came in with a low bid of $332,000, which was approximately the budget. However, the last phase overlapped fiscal years due to unforeseen delays and cut into the monies budgeted. We may need to commit $163,000 of our available $209,000 reserve in order to move forward. We will only spend that which is needed. Mr. Morrissey questioned why the amount budgeted wasn't carried forward to the next fiscal year, and Mr. Hurd answered that Enterprise Funds work differently. The project began in FY11 and extended into FY12 because Phase I took longer than anticipated. This doesn't mean that the project was overspent, or that the monies are not necessarily available, but to finish this project by the end of FY12 we may need to access some of these reserves. We have spent $163,000 on the project already and the remaining water system line item may have been used to pay off damage incurred from Irene which, although is 90% reimbursable from FEMA, is money that we have spent and not yet been reimbursed for. Justin Corcoran moved and Greg Van Houten seconded to approve up to $163,000.00, if needed, from the water system reserves to complete the Northside Drive water main replacement project as presented. The motion carried with Jason Morrissey opposed. Mr. Hurd reported the following financial information on the work that remains from Irene: * Repair floodwall at Brooklyn Bridge - estimated cost $36,000 - FEMA eligibility undetermined. * Repair to Army Corps levee culvert and flap gate - estimated cost $25,000 - FEMA eligibility undetermined. * Footbridge replacement - estimated cost $750,000 - cost to Town after insurance and FEMA funds = $37,500. If we do not replace the footbridge, the FEMA dollars will not be available and the insurance dollars will be reduced. Mr. Hurd will supply those figures at the next meeting. * Water line replacement on the Woodford Bridge is not yet bid but is 90% FEMA eligible. * Funds currently outstanding from the line of credit = $4,163,688. The Town was recently informed to write a Project Worksheet on debris removal - estimated cost $3,500,000. 12.OTHER BUSINESS Mr. Carroll stated that a citizen had complained that the dogs at Willow Park were not leashed and that the owners were not cleaning up after them. Mr. Hurd will look into it. Ms. Brush reminded everyone that bicycles and skateboards are not allowed on the sidewalks. Mr. Bethel will spearhead the organization of having music in the downtown. 13.EXECUTIVE SESSION A.Personnel B.Contract(s) At 7:30 P.M., Sharyn Brush moved and Greg Van Houten seconded to go into Executive Session to discuss Personnel and Contract(s). The motion carried unanimously. Respectfully submitted, Nancy H. Lively, Secretary