BENNINGTON SELECT BOARD MEETING BENNINGTON FIRE FACILITY 130 RIVER STREET BENNINGTON, VERMONT 05201 MONDAY, JUNE 11, 2012 MINUTES BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Joseph Krawczyk-Chair; Sharyn Brush-Vice-Chair; Jason Morrissey; Justin Corcoran; Jim Carroll; Chris Oldham and Greg Van Houten. ALSO PRESENT: Stuart Hurd-Town Manager; Michael Harrington-Economic and Community Development Director; Dan Monks-Planning Director; Paul Doucette-Chief of Police; Mike Bethel; Bob Howe; Spencer Sweet; Michael Keane; Ben Doucette; Lynn Sweet; Neal Goswami-Bennington Banner and Nancy Lively-Recording Secretary At 5:00 P.M., Joseph Krawczyk called the meeting to order. 1.EXECUTIVE SESSION - 2ND FLOOR CONFERENCE ROOM A.Interviews At 5:00 P.M., it was moved and seconded to go into Executive Session to conduct Interviews with Boards and Commissions applicants. The motion carried unanimously. At 6:00 P.M., Joseph Krawczyk called the meeting to order. 2.PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Ben Doucette led everyone in The Pledge of Allegiance. 3.MINUTES - MAY 14, 2012 MINUTES - MAY 21, 2012 Sharyn Brush moved and Justin Corcoran seconded to approve the Minutes of May 14, 2012 as submitted. The motion carried unanimously. Sharyn Brush moved and Greg Van Houten seconded to approve the Minutes of May 21, 2012 as submitted: Mr. Morrissey agreed that in Line 10 he "did criticize" the presentation of the original request, and noted that because he did, a clearer presentation that lead to Board discussion was had. No official change was made. The motion carried with Chris Oldham abstaining. 4.WARRANTS The warrants were circulated for signatures after Mr. Hurd answered questions on a two camera mobile system, Ray Supply, Green Mountain Community Network, water and sewer fees, wood chips carpet, and the end of fiscal year status. 5. CITIZENS Mr. Harrington, Vice-President of the Shires Media Partnership, introduced Spencer Sweet as the new General Manager at WBTN to the Board. 6.MUSICAL EVENTS ON TOWN OFFICES FRONT PORCH/DOWNTOWN Ms. Sweet explained the plan for an 'Evening on the Porch' musical even on the front porch of the Town Offices. This is a one-time commitment for July 6, 2012 from 6:00pm-8:00pm with no rain date. The 'Evening on the Porch' event will be high school students playing acoustic guitars, piano and vocal solos with microphones at a comfortable listening level. No big and/or loud rock bands will be performing. Mr. Hurd added that security should not be a problem for this event. Mr. Bethel requested a go ahead from the Board for events after this one so that bands can be lined up for at least two events each month during July and August. After much discussion, the Board wants Mr. Bethel to have the band that would perform on July 20, 2012 write a presentation of their power requirements and repertoire for Mr. Hurd to present to the Board at the July 9, 2012 meeting. Greg Van Houten moved and Chris Oldham seconded to accept Lynn Sweet's proposal for the Evening on the Porch event to take place on July 6, 2012 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm as presented. The motion carried unanimously. 7.ADOPT FY'13 WATER/SEWER BUDGETS & SET RATES Sharyn Brush moved and Greg Van Houten seconded to accept the Water and Sewer FY13 Budgets as presented with the following quarterly rates: WATER - Flat = $96.98 Per 1,000 Gallons = $3.58 Meter Surcharge = $52.05 SEWER - Flat = $75.22 Per 1,000 Gallons = $2.62 Meter Surcharge = $46.74 The motion carried unanimously. The water rate reflects a 12% increase from FY12 and the sewer rate reflects an 11% increase from FY12. The primary purpose of these increases is to continue to build reserves to replace our aged infrastructure and/or to cover emergencies. 8.APPOINTMENTS TO 2012 BOARDS & COMMISSIONS Historic Preservation Commission - Sharyn Brush moved and Chris Oldham seconded to appoint Anne Bugbee to the Historic Preservation Commission. The motion carried unanimously. Planning Commission - Sharyn Brush moved and Jason Morrissey seconded to appoint Barry Horst to the Planning Commission. The motion carried unanimously. Regional Commission - Jason Morrissey moved and Greg Van Houten seconded to appoint Dan Monks to the Bennington County Regional Commission. The motion carried unanimously. Development Review Board - Justin Corcoran moved and Jim Carroll seconded to appoint Charles Copp, Barry Horst, Milt Surdam, and Charles Kokoras to the Development Review Board. The motion carried unanimously. There are still two alternate positions open for the Development Review Board, as well as, open positions for the Planning Commission and Housing Authority. 9.MANAGER'S REPORT Mr. Hurd reported that the response to the fireworks funding shortfall has been "overwhelming" with Price Chopper, Casella and Walmart being major contributors. Mr. Hurd reported that he and Jim Sullivan from the BCRC have been in discussions about the solid waste management efforts of the Town and County. Currently, BCRC manages seven towns solid waste in the Northshire for a fee. These towns contract with Casella Waste Management for the use of Casella's Northshire recycling and transfer station site. Bennington and Woodford operate out of our transfer station site also under contract with Casella. We are the only county in the State that doesn't have a solid waste district. It makes sense for the BCRC to manage Bennington and Woodford, as well. With TAM now offering to work an exchange for leased land for composting by handling our recyclables and sharing the net profit/loss from sales, there may be an opportunity to save money, free up my time, and help BCRC fill a full-time position that would free up time of its planning personnel, who are now handling its solid waste efforts. Our income over the last seven years averaged $39,000. We used it to offset the cost to manage and transport our recyclables, generally costing in the range of $40,000 to $50,000 annually. The conceptual proposal is that BCRC offers this opportunity at $25,000 annually. TAM's handling of recyclables would save $10,500 annually. The cost to transport remains with Casella under the terms of the contract, but would be substantially less since TAM's collection site is closer than Rutland. This is information only, and Mr. Hurd is seeking direction from the Board as to whether or not to continue discussions and draw up the various formal contracts, or to not go any further with this and continue on as we are. It was the consensus of the Board for Mr. Hurd to continue discussions with BCRC, TAM, and Casella Waste Management to establish a plan for solid waste management for the towns of Bennington and Woodford. Mr. Hurd reported that alternative paving materials is a paving mixture very similar to cold mix. It is applied over the surface with more emulsion beneath it than normal, which makes it a hard surface 5/8' thick. The State of Vermont is going to be using it on Route 7 between Bennington and Manchester. This will allow us to resurface 11.13 miles of roads instead of the 3 to 5 miles that we had planned on. The total low bid price of $647,827 is supplied by two firms, Fuller Sand and Gravel of Danby, Vermont and Gorman Brothers of Albany, New York. The FY13 budget contains $651,100 for paving projects. Mr. Morrissey was cautiously optimistic in that this product may be too good to be true, but was assured by Mr. Hurd of the confidence that the State had in it. Mr. Hurd will provide a list of the additional roads that will be done to the Board. 10.OTHER BUSINESS Mr. Corcoran asked if we could use the funds for the footbridge otherwise, and Mr. Hurd answered that the loss would have been established at the actual cash value of the damaged bridge. However, since we are replacing the bridge, we are getting the full-insured value of $515,000 instead of the depreciated cash value. The balance of the cost of ~$750,000 will be paid by FEMA. Mr. Carroll asked why there is no permitting process for out-of-town businesses, and Mr. Hurd answered that it isn't actually a permit, per se, but staff had intended to start a list of vendors that met the requirements of the Town to pull from if someone doing a project were to ask for the names of businesses. The application form has been designed but a list has never been put together. Board members were concerned with the Town's involvement in work done on private property. Mr. Krawczyk read the letter from the Headquarters of the American Legion-Washington, D.C. Office that named Police Chief Paul Doucette the American Legion 2012 National Law Enforcement Officer of the Year. Kudos to Chief Doucette for this award. 11.EXECUTIVE SESSION A.Personnel At 7:10 P.M., Greg Van Houten moved and Chris Oldham seconded to go into Executive Session to discuss Personnel. The motion carried unanimously. Respectfully submitted, Nancy H. Lively Secretary