TOWN OF RUTLAND

SELECT BOARD MEETING

May 25, 2010

MINUTES:

The meeting opened at 6:50 P.M. with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Board members present: James Callahan, James Hall, Steve Hawley and Stanley Rhodes III.

Review of 5/11/2010 Minutes

Mr. Hall said to change the word taxes on page four to appraisals concerning hydro facilities. He motioned to accept the minutes with this change. Mr. Callahan seconded the motion. All were in approval.

Questions from the Floor

Linda Johnson, a Town resident who has been working to keep a Post Office in Center Rutland, was present to update the Board. She gave a copy of a letter she wrote to Deborah Essler, Director of the Post Office. She has not received a response. Monica Gawet received a letter from the acting director, Cynthia Thurston, which Mr. Rhodes read. It said there was really no suitable place in Center Rutland for the a Post Office.

Ms. Johnson asked the Board to write a letter to Ms. Essler in Portland, Maine, asking if there would be any guarantee in regards to keeping the Center Rutland zip code. Ms. Johnson will get with Mr. Zingale to draft the letter.

Drew Peterson, a boy scout, was present to have the Board sign that he performed his last project before becoming an Eagle Scout. He renovated a room at Cheney Hill which included killing mold, painting walls and cabinets and repairing the ceiling. He showed the Board pictures and his notebook detailing the project. He organized the project and had help from other boy scouts. He got donations from local suppliers such as Home Depot. Mr. Hall motioned to have Stan Rhodes sign the paperwork and Mr. Callahan seconded the motion. All were in approval and thanked Mr. Peterson for doing such a good job.

New /Business

Meg Horrocks, from the Killington Economic Development Corporation, Susan Schreibman, from the Rutland Regional Planning Commission and John LaBarge, State Highway co-coordinator were present to discuss plans to make Route 4 East from Route 91 to Rutland City a State Byway. A packet was given to the Board explaining the process. They are working with other towns along the route such as Woodstock, Hartford, Bridgewater, Quechee and White River. The corridor needs to be researched to find identifying historical, natural, scenic, cultural, recreational and archaeological aspects. Then a story is written. The goals and objectives of the byway would be to promote tourism and management of historical features. Each town's governing body must approve the plan and the plan must be compliant with the town plans. It is asked that someone from each town be nominated to the working group. The group meets once a month and Fred Nicholson volunteered to join for Rutland Town.

Steve Hawley asked why the byway would stop at Rutland City and not go further west. Chief Sly agreed with Mr. Hawley that there are points of interest to the west. Ms. Schreibman explained that when the byway from Sudbury to Pawlet was created, Castleton did not want to partake fearing that they would fall under State or Federal regulations, which is not the case. Castleton has since joined the Stone Valley Byway.

Mr. Zingale said that the State owns the highway and wondered what part the towns play. Federal funds are available to tell their story and to help access recreational facilities, such as Milton who needs a parking lot near some trails. Byways access recreation but do not create it. Mr. Rhodes asked about maintenance of the byway and Mr. LaBarge said that something can be worked out.

The Board is required to sign a letter of intent if they support moving forward with developing the corridor. Mr. Hall said that he feels the Planning Commission should be able to discuss and review the plans first.

Mr. Hathaway asked how to measure the success of creating a byway and Mr. LaBarge said that this was a complaint early on in creating them. The National Research Center has hired a firm to plug in calculations to follow success. For example, Mr. LaBarge has created a website on byways and has experienced more hits recently. Brochures are placed at welcome centers and state parks. The Federal grants are available on an 80-20% basis. The designation of a byway is reviewed every five years.

Recreation - Mike Rowe

Mr. Rowe was present to discuss the Town pool. The cover is off, the pump has been turned on and there are two lifeguards cleaning out the pool. Sign-ups will be on June 2 at the pool. The School picnic will be on 6/10 and the National Guard will have its annual picnic on 6/12 which officially will be the opening day.

Mr. Rowe has hired two new guards and two new concession people. The staff is the same size as last year. He gave the Board a proposed payroll for this year which will take affect 7/1/2010 if approved. The total increase for raises would cost about $1.200.

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Mr. Rowe reported that the building at Northwood needs painting and asked if anyone had a preference for color. The Board left it to his discretion. The metal door to the guard room was destroyed by vandals and it will cost in the vicinity of $1,000 to repair. Mr. Rhodes said to get an updated quote from Vic Shappy.

The tentative closing for the pool will be August 19th since most of the help will either be going back to school or doing sports.

Mr. Rowe talked to the Corrections Department and asked them not to mow inside the fence at the pool.

AED pads are needed to replace the old ones for the diffibulator.

Town Clerk/Treasurer - Marie Hyjek

The Board of Abatement meeting is now scheduled for 5:45 P.M. on June 22nd.

Delinquent taxes are currently $226,000, $40,000 less than last year.

There are still about fifty dogs that need to be registered. Courtesy calls have been made.

Delinquent sewer bills have been given to Mr. Zingale. There are two commercial and two residential from Flory Heights.

Ms. Hyjek reminded anyone who needs to hand in a time sheet should do it before the end of the month.

SWAC and Transportation Council - Charlie Shields

There will be a Transportation meeting on June 3rd.

Mr. Shields reported that the Hazardous Waste Day went well with about forty residents participating.

Rutland Regional Planning Commission - Fred Nicholson

Mr. Nicholson reported that the budget for the RRPC will only be cut by five percent. He also said that town municipal planning grants will be available.

Highway - Byron Hathaway

Mr. Hathaway gave the Board a letter stating that the Town has received the structures grant for the McKinley Bridge project in the amount of $13,878.

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Pre-disaster mitigation assistance money is available from the State at a twenty-five percent match. Mr. Hathaway said he has had trouble in the past coming up with a viable project. Mr. Nicholson said that undersized culverts could be a project but Mr. Hathaway said that there needs to have been problems in the past.

There are some enhancement grants available from the Agency of Transportation for things like pedestrian paths . Applications need to be in by September.

Mr. Hathaway is trying to carry over enough money from his budget to do the summer paving.

For the resurfacing at the transfer station, Tim Rice gave a price quote and said that if the cracks were filled and everything sealed then that would gain another five to eight years.

Rutland Town Planning Commission - Joe Zingale

Mr. Zingale reported that the final Thomas Subdivision hearing will be held on May 27th with Andy McKane chairing the meeting in the absence of Bill Matteson.

Miscellaneous

Mr. Rhodes thanked John Socinski for the granite stone memorial for Dick DelBianco.

Mr. Rhodes also reported that a rabid fox bit a girl on Vermont Route 3. He counseled residents to be cautious and to have their animals vaccinated.

There will be a rail yard relocation meeting on 5/26/2010 at 4:00 P.M. at the Service Building.

Police Department - Chief John Sly

Chief Sly reported that there have been a lot of burglaries in Town recently. He advised people close and lock their first floor windows at night. He advised he will be changing his hours to be on patrol during the night more often.

Chief Sly said he would like to purchase new radio equipment and that he has the money in his budget. The preferred vendor is Wells. Mr. Hawley made a motion to allow the Police Department to purchase three radios at $3,351 each. Mr. Hall seconded the motion. All were in approval.

Chief Sly also reminded people that the "Click it or Ticket" campaign is on-going.

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He asked the Board for a brief executive session to discuss a personnel issue.

Mr. Hall asked Chief Sly if he thought some criminals were being released too early into the general public. Chief Sly said this is often do to budgetary issues and they try to release non-violent offenders. Chief Sly will get a list of names of who has been released in Rutland Town. Mr. Zingale added that there is still a Town ordinance in place to keep certain offenders from living in the Town.

Town Administrator - Joseph Zingale Jr.

Howard Burgess, the Town Lister, asked Mr. Zingale to give the Board a request for a thirty-day extension to file the Grand List. Mr. Hall made a motion to grant the thirty-day extension and Mr. Hawley seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

Bids for the repairs to the chimney on the Town office were due 5/7/2010 and none have been received. Tedesco's gave one previously from the last request and asked if this was good enough. The Board said it is not and was too high anyway. It will be re-advertised at a later date.

Mr. Zingale reported there is still a lot of grease in the manhole on Randbury Road. He wants to replace it. It would cost about $3-4,000 in labor and about $l,000 for the manhole. He will get some price quotes.

Mr. Zingale attended a Town Managers Conference. He said some communities are using LED street lights to reduce costs to about one third of what they were previously.

He said right now CVPS does not offer this but it is something to look into.

The Green Mountain Plaza has proposed changes to the traffic flow including removing some stop signs and stopping left hand turns off of Cop John Drive. A previous proposal to allow two lanes of traffic to exit the Plaza was disallowed by the State.

The Planning Commission is looking for sign-offs on the Thomas subdivision from the Road Commissioner, Byron Hathaway and the Fire Chief, Joe Denardo. Mr. Zingale feels that it sounds like the Army is expecting the Town to take over the new road off of Post Road that leads to the new facility. Mr. Hall and Mr. Hawley both mentioned that the Town has not agreed to do this. Mr. Nicholson added that the road itself is one of the four parcels coming from the subdivision. Mr. Shields asked who would be the owner of the road if the Town does not take it over and he was told Mr. Thomas.

Mr. Zingale said that the two delinquent commercial sewer users owe about $34,000 and the two residential delinquent sewer users owe about $1,200 and are on payment plans.

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Mr. Zingale said that there is a problem with the shape file from Dean Russell which he will try to get resolved.

Mr. Zingale listed some of the laws that will be changing based on information he got from the Manager's conference he attended.

Russell Rhea, the replacement for Bob Burt, recommended that the Town return the deposit to Johnson's Lumber from the Mead Tract project. Mr. Hawley motioned to return the deposit and Mr. Callahan seconded the motion. All were in approval.

Correspondence

Hydro-electric facilities want to lower their assessments but the legislature froze them so that towns will not be adversely affected on their Grand Lists.

Comcast sent a list of emergency numbers.

The Waffle Cabin and an abutter, Mr. Chapleau, have an agreement between them that Act 250 will enforce.

Mr. Hall reported that the Scholarship Committee has made the selection of who will be receiving awards. The schools and guidance counselors are being notified and then the names will be made public.

Mr. Hall said there will be a meeting in Mt. Holly on property taxes and school funding. He can't make it due to a prior commitment but advised it would be a good meeting if someone else was interested.

At 8:40 P.M., Mr. Hall made a motion to go into executive session with Chief Sly to discuss a personnel issue. Mr. Hawley seconded the motion. All were in approval.

The Board came out of executive session at 8:45 P.M. Mr. Callahan made a motion to end the meeting. Mr. Hawley seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting ended at 8:50 P.M.

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Stan Rhodes III, Chairman James Callahan

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Jim Hall Steve Hawley

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Josh Terenzini

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