TOWN OF RUTLAND
SELECT
BOARD MEETING
AUGUST 4, 2009
MINUTES:
The meeting opened at 7:00
P.M. with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Board members present: Richard DelBianco, Joseph Dicton, James
Hall, Stanley Rhodes III and Josh Terenzini.
Review of the 7/21/2009 Minutes
Mr. Hall had a correction on
Page 5. A change was made from Wilk
Paving to Chris Wilk only. Mr. Hall
motioned to accept the minutes with this change and Mr. Terenzini seconded the
motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Questions from the Floor
There were none.
Recreation
Mr. Rhodes asked if the
Board should advertise the opening for a recreation director. Mr. Terenzini suggested putting an ad in the
paper until Mr. Rick DelBianco hands in his resignation.
Solid Waste Alternative Communities (SWAC)– Charlie
Shields
No meeting; no report.
Rutland Regional Transportation Council – Charlie
Shields
No meeting; no report.
Rutland Regional Planning Commission – Fred Nicholson
No meeting; no report.
Highway – Byron Hathaway
Mr. Hathaway reported that
his department is working on the shoulders of the roads that were paved and
also smoothing the driveways to the road level.
Mr. Nicholson is doing a
second mowing. Mr. Hathaway said that
if needed a third mowing may be done.
Mr. Dicton said that he felt
the Highway Department was doing a good job and Mr. Hall said he has had
several positive comments on the paving.
Rutland Town Planning Commission – Bill Matteson
The hearing scheduled for
this evening on the Zoning document had to be canceled due to lack of proper
warning. Mr. Matteson said that since
the deadline of August 7th does not allow for proper warning of
another hearing then the document is considered disapproved. August 7th marks one year since
the Planning Commission gave the document to the Select Board and by law, lack
of action means disapproval. Mr. Matteson handed the Board the Planning
Commission’s response to the changes suggested by the Select Board.
Mr. Zingale said that the
public can circulate a petition to obtain five percent of the registered voters
to put the zoning document to a town-wide vote. This has to happen within sixty days.
There was some discussion as
to whether the document to be voted on would be the original one from the
Planning Commission or the version that includes the Select Board changes. It was decided to check with Kevin Brown,
the Town Attorney.
Mr. Matteson said that Dick
Lloyd has resigned from the Planning Commission creating an opening. There is still a letter of interest from Andrew
McKane on file and Mr. Matteson said that he is still interested in the
position. Mr. Dicton motioned to accept
Andrew McKane’s request to join the Rutland Town Planning Commission. Mr. Hall seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Rutland Town Police Department – Chief John Sly
No report.
Rutland Town Clerk/Treasurer – Marie Hyjek
Ms. Hyjek reported that her
office has received several phone calls from taxpayers wondering when the tax
bills will be mailed. She stated she
would like to put an ad in the paper to explain that the bills will be late and
the first payment will be due one month from the mailing. Mr. DelBianco motioned to put an ad in the
Rutland Herald to explain to the taxpayers that the bills will be mailed late
due to the reassessment and that the first payment will be due one month from
the mailing. Mr. Terenzini seconded the
motion. No vote was taken.
(2)
Mr. Dicton asked what
happens after the first grievance hearing.
Ms. Hyjek said that the taxpayer has fourteen days to appeal to the BCA
(Board of Civil Authority) once they receive a letter from the Listers
concerning their first grievance, i.e., whether or not their appraisal is being
changed. Then hearings are held by the
BCA. Linda O’Brien is the stenographer
who takes the minutes of the hearings and she is out of town until the second
week of September. However, the tax
bills will go out and the people who have BCA hearings and have their
assessment changed will be given rebates.
Ms. Hyjek said she has a handbook on the tax appeal process if anyone
would like to look it over.
Ms. Hyjek said that
paperwork has been sent to the State for traffic ticket refunds. It is unknown at this time if the Town will
receive any money.
Mr. Zingale said he has
checked with Casella Waste Management and the Town did receive a refund from
the recyclables.
A.M. Peisch is going to
charge $14,500 to do the Town audit which does not include the school. Ms. Hyjek said that $25,000 was in the
budget for professional services.
Mr. Rhodes asked if the Town
should get another bid for the audit.
Mr. Dicton said that he knows someone who does non-profit audits and he
will check with him. Ms. Hyjek said she
would hold off scheduling A.M. Peisch until she hears back from Mr. Dicton.
The Board needed to sign an
agreement with the State for the Listers to use the Marshall Swift Cost
Tables. Mr. Burgess has already said he
would like to use them. Mr. Hall motioned
to sign the agreement and Mr. Dicton seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Town Administrator – Joseph Zingale, Jr.
Mr. Zingale reminded the
Board that repairs were needed at the transfer station. Mr. Dicton spoke to a local welding company
and they said that the Town may not be in compliance as to the height of the
rails. The cost to repair them is $6,000 unless more work needs to be done to
bring the Town into compliance. Then
the cost would be $8.000. Currently
there is not enough money in the budget to pay for this work. It was suggested that the Town use the
$2,000 in the budget for painting, etc and to solicit bids for this work. Mr. Dicton will come up with a short list of
repairs that need to be done.
Mr. Zingale said the Town
needs to schedule a meeting with the City and the businesses at the Airport
Park concerning past and future payments for sewer. He said there are six years of collections that were not paid
and a new procedure needs to be adopted that will work.
Mr. Zingale stated that the
Board can schedule a hearing anytime for the Rutland Town Plan. He said this just has to be on the agenda,
not warned. There needs to be at least
two hearings
(3)
Jerry Stearns told Mr.
Zingale that he does not have the time to chair the Energy Committee, but he
would still like to be on the Committee.
Mr. Rhodes asked if Mr. Zingale could be the contact person for the Town
and Mr. Zingale said that he could. Mr.
Rhodes said that he Board would like to think about this.
Mr. Zingale talked about the
take back of waste water allocations.
He has done a study that shows most businesses are not using nearly what
has been allocated to them. The take
back would allow more new businesses to have allocations. He would like to send letters to those
businesses who he feels could have a lower allocation. The Board said they would like to see a
prototype of the letter first and Mr. Zingale said he would provide one as well
as a spreadsheet showing the allocations and changes. Mr. Terenzini suggested waiting two weeks for the Board to look
over this material before deciding to send the letters.
Mr. Zingale said he would
like to hire Peter Andrews, an engineer from Stantec, to assist him with Chris
Wilk’s flood hazard application. Mr.
Dicton asked about the flood plain program with the Federal government. Mr. Zingale explained that the Town entered
an agreement to be part of the Federal program back in 1978. The State acts as a go-between and helps in
an informational capacity. The Town
administers the rules. The people who own property in a flood plain could not
get insurance without the Town being part of the Federal program.
After a brief discussion,
Mr. Terenzini motioned to allow Mr. Zingale to have a $500 budget to hire Peter
Andrews to review the Wilk flood hazard application. Mr. Hall seconded the motion.
Four voted in favor of the motion and Mr. DelBianco did not vote as he
felt more discussion was warranted.
The Town has received an
application from Fairpoint Communications to replace some wires and poles in
the area of Post Road from the corner to Northwood Park. If the Town agrees, the application needs to
be signed by the Board. Mr. Dicton said
that there were some poles leaning in that area. Mr. Dicton made the motion to sign the application so Fairpoint
Communications could do their repairs in the Town’s right of way. Mr. Terenzini seconded motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Mr. Zingale reported that
there is new life in the Town’s water project and said that he would update the
Board as needed.
Mr. Zingale has advertised
for bids for solid waste disposal at the transfer station. Currently, Hubbards and Casella are the only
ones in contention since haulers farther away cannot compete due to the
distance. Earthwaste Systems has
submitted an unsolicited proposal for the metal pile. The Hubbards have previously taken care of it but kept the money
for the metal in return. Earthway
Systems will give sixty percent to the Town from the sale of the metal. Casella Waste Management is not interested
in the job.
(4)
The Green Mountain Plaza
would like to make some changes regarding traffic flow such as making Cop John
Drive a one way street and installing a barrier. They wrote a letter that Kevin Brown did not like and the letter
was rewritten to the agreement of both lawyers. Mr. Hall motioned to have Chairman Stan Rhodes sign the letter
for the Board and Mr. Dicton seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Mr. Rhodes asked why there
were private security officers at the Green Mountain Plaza. Mr. Zingale said that they had received
complaints from customers. Mr. Zingale said he felt that they made the correct
decision to hire the Security officers.
Correspondence
The Board received a mailing
from The Bus asking for a signature in support of adding another bus for the
south end of town. The letter refers to traffic congestion as the reason buses
are currently not making their stops on time.
Mr. Rhodes said he would like a letter more favorable to the Town. Chief Sly said that he feels the congestion
is happening at intersections in the City such as Park Street. Strongs Avenue
and Curtis Avenue. Mr. Hall suggested
Mr. Zingale work with The Bus to rework the letter. Mr. Dicton said he would like to say he is pleased to support The
Bus as they help the Town.
A letter was received from
VLCT concerning encouraging a healthier lifestyle for employees.
A report was received from
Stantec on monitoring wells near the old dump.
The Board received an update
from the Brownfield Committee and Mr. Rhodes said he was particularly interested
in the Flory property on Business Route 4.
REDC would like to redevelop the property and have talked to the
Florys. The project is currently on
hold due to issues with the estate.
Mr. Rhodes asked if the
property would have to go through Act 250 again and Mr. Zingale said that the
property is grandfathered in many respects.
Several types of businesses have previously been there. Part of the land is in a flood plain but not
the structures. The District
Coordinator will decide what is appropriate.
The seventh grade class at
the Rutland Town School is looking to do fundraising for their Washington D.C.
trip. They are looking to lower the
cost for everyone. They asked to sell
Euro tickets at the pool and the Recreation Committee said they could not. After a brief discussion, Mr. Terenzini
motioned to allow the selling of tickets just outside of the Northwood
complex. Mr. Hall seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Mr. Zingale said he would let Mr.
Schoengarth at the school know.
(5)
The issue of having Chris
Wilk attend a Select Board hearing came up and Mr. Zingale said it may not be
necessary now that he has submitted an application.
The Board received a
solicitation letter from the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation.
Mr. Hall asked about the
possibility of having Mr. McCauley and someone from the Chamber of Commerce
come to a meeting in September as suggested the last time they attended a
meeting.
Mr. Hall also said that they
needed to schedule a hearing on the Rutland Town Plan. Mr. Rhodes said not yet.
Mr. Terenzini motioned to
close the meeting. Mr. DelBianco
seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting ended at 8:23 P.M.
(6)