Selectboard Minutes 5-10-2022

Publish date: May 11, 2022

Selectboard Minutes 5-10-2022

TOWN OF RUTLAND SELECTBOARD OPEN MEETING

RUTLAND TOWN MUNICIPAL TOWN HALL

181 BUSINESS ROUTE 4, CENTER RUTLAND, VT  05736

MAY 10th, 2022

 

  • Meeting opened at 6:00 P.M. with the pledge of allegiance
  • Board members present Don Chioffi, Mary Ashcroft, Sharon Russell, and Kurt Hathaway
  • Members of the public present Jim Scholtz, Chris Howland, Irene Hathaway, Claudius Stute, Tristan Stute, Marcia Chioffi, Howard Burgess, Dani Bradtmiller, Larry Dell Veneri, Keith Whitcomb, David Hernandez, Shelley Dumas

Approval of Orders

The Board approved the orders.

Approval of Selectboard Minutes for April 26th:

Selectwoman Ashcroft moved to approve the minutes.  Selectman Hathaway seconded the motion. The motion passed 3 – 0.

Announcements

  1. Selectwoman Ashcroft reminded all department heads the deadline for the next issue of The Circle, which is the last one before summer, is June 1st.
  2. Chairman Chioffi thanked all the Town residents who participated in Green Up Day.
  3. Chairman Chioffi present a signed letter from the Board congratulating Town Resident Tristan Stute who recently earned the rank of Eagle Scout.
  4. Selectwoman Ashcroft thanked Claudius and Tristan Stute for their, and other scouts, help with various projects around town, several being in Northwood Park.

Walter Tripp Acting Town Road Commissioner

  1. The chipper has been repaired and projects are being caught up on.
  2. Many Green Up Day bags have been collected from around town.
  3. Presented a contract to be signed between the Town and Fuller Sand and Gravel. This is for the paving of Town roads.
    1. It is the same contract as last year, with the dates and roads updated.
    2. Selectwoman Ashcroft moved to approve the contract and to authorize the Chair to sign on behalf of the Board. Selectman Hathaway seconded the motion. The motion passed 3 – 0.
  4. Chairman Chioffi reviewed an issue some residents who live on Sugarwood Hill Road Extension are having with their residences being located.
    1. This road segment is off of Sugarwood Hill Road, which was renamed to Sugarwood Hill Road Extension as an E911 requirement.
    2. This has created some confusion due to numbering requirements.
    3. A request was made to put a sign with an arrow and the road name pointing in the direction of this road to be installed at the wye near the beginning of Sugarwood Hill Road.
    4. Discussed inviting Howard Burgess, who is our Town E911 coordinator, to review the issue from his perspective and give recommendations to the Board.
    5. This will be put on the next Board agenda.

Jason Bathalon Rutland Town Highway Crew:

  1. A list from our firm which advises us on MS4 requirements was given to us for MS4 areas around town which needed to be cleaned up.
    1. All the areas listed were cleaned up and before and after pictures were provided.
    2. They will be added to our reporting.
  2. Discussed the Post Road water line. No meetings have been held since the contract was awarded.

Kari Clark Rutland Town Clerk and Treasurer:

  1. The last installment of taxes for this fiscal year were due today. Anything paid after today will have penalties added to the balance. Final numbers will be made available at the next meeting.
  2. Presented an agreement from AM Peisch for auditing services for our next audit cycle process. The commitment letter needs to be signed.
    1. The cost for auditing services for this year should not exceed $16,000.
    2. Selectwoman Ashcroft moved to approve the contract and to authorize the Chair to sign on behalf of the Board. Selectman Hathaway seconded the motion. The motion passed 3 – 0.

Chris Clark Rutland Town Fire Chief:

  1. There have been 7 calls for service in the past 2 weeks.
  2. We attended the recent Loyalty Day Parade.
    1. Chairman Chioffi thanked the members that attended, and for the ride in the truck.
  3. 4 members are leaving soon to conduct the final inspection on the new truck.
  4. Selectwoman Ashcroft said the Town Wide Celebration Committee has some plans they would like to involve the Fire Department with. They will be discussing these with the Chief soon.

Barbara Pulling Rutland Town Planning Commission Chair:

  1. Nothing to report from the Planning Commission since they have not met since the last Board meeting.
  2. The Pocket Park grant is wrapping up and needs to be closed by the end of June.
    1. Selectwoman Ashcroft moved to accept the final report and to authorize the Chair to request the final installment from the grant award to provide payment to the Regional Planning Commission for their work on the project. Selectwoman Russell seconded the motion. The motion passed 3 – 0.

Ed Dumas Rutland Town Police Chief:

  1. Recent calls for service were provided. The call volume in steadily increasing.
  2. There has been an increase of petty larceny from vehicles, unlocked vehicles are the target.
  3. There was a working group meeting earlier today to discuss the regional dispatch center.
    1. The state has said they want to do a study about the dispatch centers, and the group has been asked to hold off on decisions until the study is complete.
    2. The Board discussed still moving forward with plans and decisions so when the study is complete, we are farther along.
    3. There is a legislative process to establish an organization such as the dispatch center.
    4. We have only received 3 responses so far to the letter sent to other towns.
    5. VLCT is involved in this process as well, they are working on forming their own committee.
  4. There are 143 rooms of the 150-room capacity at the Cortina Inn currently occupied.
  5. The Town Police plan to participate at the Town Wide Celebration.

Mike Rowe Rutland Town Recreation Director:

  1. Director Rowe thanked the Highway crew for their help in cleaning up the parking lot at the pool.
  2. A clean up day is planned for May 21st for the disc golf course from 10AM to 12PM.
  3. The baseball programs have all started.
  4. Progress on cleaning the pool is ongoing. Some cracks have been found as part of this process and will be patched as best we can.
  5. Discussed highlighting the new pickle ball courts at the Town Wide Celebration. We are waiting for the vendor to paint the new lines, then the nets can be put up.

John Paul Faignant Town Health Officer / Public Safety Building Clerk / 2nd Constable

  1. Mr. Faignant is not present at the meeting but had provided a report to the Board on the Cortina Inn regarding a complaint about trash.
    1. Casellas was contacted and there were a variety of issues preventing the roll-off dumpster from being picked up, the containers have now been picked up.

Bill Sweet Administrative Assistant to the Selectboard:

  1. Reviewed information on a state grant program to provide money for pedestrian related construction projects. The Route 7 North sidewalk project would qualify as a target project.
    1. The final report should be ready for a board presentation at the June 7th
    2. The deadline to apply for the grant is June 8th at 1PM.
    3. The Board will need to decide on June 7th if it should move forward.
    4. This will be discussed again at the next Board meeting.
  2. Provided information on cyber security training through KnowBe4, which is a vendor that has partnered with VLCT to provide us with free service for up to 2 years.
    1. There is an additional module available which covers payment card industry security training. This module is not reimbursable currently.
    2. After some discussion, Selectwoman Ashcroft moved to approve the 36-month contract, without the PCI compliance training for a cost of $3255, $2306 is reimbursable from VLCT, and to authorize the Chair to sign on behalf of the Board. Selectman Hathaway seconded the motion. The motion passed 3 – 0.
  3. An application was received for the open Road Commissioner position.
    1. After some discussion, a special Selectboard meeting will be warned for Tuesday May 17th at 6PM to interview this candidate. The candidate will be encouraged to go to the Highway garage and meet with Walt and Jason and tour our facility.
    2. A second interview will be planned.

New Business Board to review meeting room requests

  1. Discussed approving the request from the Republican caucus to use the Board room on Tuesday May 17th, at 6PM.
    1. This time now has a direct conflict with the interview which was just planned.
    2. After some discussion, the caucus can reschedule their meeting to begin at 7PM.
    3. Selectwoman Ashcroft moved to approve the request for the meeting room on May 17th at 7PM, and to waive the fee due to town employees being in attendance. Selectman Hathaway seconded the motion. The motion passed 3 – 0.
  2. Discussed approving the request to extend the use of the downstairs space to distribute covid-19 test to the public by CIC Health.
    1. They originally had been planning to stop at the end of May.
    2. The program has been doing well and they would like to extend it a month.
    3. Selectwoman Ashcroft moved to approve extending the deadline to the end of June. Selectwoman Russell seconded the motion. The motion passed 3 – 0.

New Business Board to review sewer allocation request

  1. This request is to increase an allocation to meet usage from last year for 449 Stratton Road
  2. Selectwoman Ashcroft moved to approve the request. Selectman Hathaway seconded the motion. The motion passed 3 – 0.

Discussed the letters sent to other county towns about joining the effort to establish a county dispatch center. We have received back a limited number of letters so far. A post will be made to the Town website with the letters received and showing which have and have not replied.

Committee meeting updates:

  1. Scholarship Committee
    1. The applications were reviewed, and recommendations have been given to Board members.
    2. The list will be kept confidential until the awards are made at the respective schools.
    3. Selectwoman Ashcroft moved to approve the recommendations. Selectwoman Russell seconded the motion. The motion passed 3 – 0.
  2. Town Wide Celebration Committee
    1. The minutes of the meeting were reviewed.
    2. The bounce house has now been confirmed.
    3. There are tasks which will be divided among committee members to complete.

Selectman Hathaway asked if the not-to-exceed amount discussed for the contract with Enman Kesslering Engineering was noted in the contract. This was communicated to the building clerk to pass along to the engineer.

Selectwoman Ashcroft moved to adjourn. Selectwoman Russell seconded the motion. The motion passed and the meeting adjourned at 7:47 PM.

Respectfully submitted, Mr. Bill Sweet

 

 
Don Chioffi, Chair
ABSENT
Joseph Denardo, Clerk
 
Mary Ashcroft
 
Sharon Russell
 
Kurt Hathaway

 

Center Rutland, VT.

Rutland Town News

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