Chelsea Selectboard Meeting Tuesday, April 18, 2023, 6:30pm Chelsea Town Hall
Board Attendance: Leyna Hoyt, Jesse Kay, Kelly Lyford – Vice Chair, William (Billy) Lyon, Kevin Marshia – Chair
Community Attendance: Kasey Peterson – Grants; Phil Mulligan-Energy Committee; Tracy Simon-Emergency Management Director
Meeting:
The meeting was called to order at 6:30 pm.
Conflict of Interest:
There are no conflicts of interest.
Additions to the agenda:
Website
Public Comments:
Ginny Campbell – April 19th – Neighbor appreciation Day. An invite from Ginny to join her at 2 pm on the North Common.
Approve Minutes:
April 11, 2023 – Leyna motioned to have the April 11 minutes approved with edits, Billy seconded this motion and the minutes approved.
Energy Committee: Phil Mulligan talked about how the Energy Committee began. Teamed up with Vershire created a promotion to solar hot water initiative, created a power point, provided to be interested enough to other towns and the Energy Committee went throughout the State with this initiative. Hosted an Energy Fair at the school which was well attended. Goals need to be set. The state of Vermont has an Energy Coordinator which would be beneficial in helping the Town set up Energy goals.
Emergency Management: Tracy Simon presented the LEMP, this document will not be made public, all phone numbers on the plan will remain private. We are required to keep track of where our vulnerable citizens are located, citizens can register with the State. First Branch Ambulance has a list of most of our vulnerable citizens. Warming shelters notices will be posted at Town Hall, Post Office, Wills Store. Regional Shelter is at the Barre Auditorium in Barre.
Primary Shelter, United Church of Chelsea, alternative is the FBUD School, Chelsea campus, Town Highway garage as an annex. LEMP is an annual plan that needs to be updated with current contact information for the Town. Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) are vital to the operation of state government, ensuring State Agencies and Department’s primary essential
functions continue during a wide range of emergencies. The Selectboard to meet with Tracy to put this plan in place. Looking to partnering with the United Church for a backup generator, Tracy pointed out that we do not currently have backup generators for either our primary or alternative shelters. Tracy also suggested looking into creating a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) in the future and the Board agreed to add this to a future agenda.
Grants
● Sidewalk Project –The bids are due May 2nd, 2023, and will be read at the Board Meeting on May 2. The Board discussed the timing and schedule and needs to decide if we want to move forward with the project as it was identified in the grant request, or should we consult to see if we can have the grant money reappropriated to an area of sidewalk that has a greater need. The area that was identified by the Fire Station does not meet ADA standards and it has low spots which cause the water to pool and individuals have reported to selectboard members and others, that they are walking out into the street to get around the puddles in this area. Each Board member looked at both sections of the sidewalk in need of replacement. We have good interest in bidding on sidewalk replacement and grant money. After a brief discussion the Board decided to move forward with the sidewalk project in its original location.
● Pump Station Grant – Kevin made contact and met with Tom Brown of ANR to see if he could meet with the Board for suggestions/ guidance on the next steps to apply for funding.
● VTrans Grants –Leyna talked with Rick regarding the bid for Upper Village Road paving from Pike, information was sent to Kasey. Kasey needs additional information from Rick before submitting the application. Grants-In-Aid Program financial plan is completed by Kasey. Gayle will be listed at primary contact. Kelly motioned to participate in Grants-In-Aid program financial plan, motion was seconded by Jesse and was approved by all.
Highway Department:
● General Updates: Spring maintenance cleanup on North and South Commons, tennis courts, town hall. A post to Town website asking for competitive proposals for cleanup service. Jesse moved to appoint Leyna and Kelly to approve proposals for cleanup to or below $3,000.00, seconded by Leyna.
● Rick called Pike and is waiting to hear from them on the date to begin paving project for Upper Village Road.
● Kevin publicly thanked Rick and Paul for their work, especially the past 6 months.
● We’ve received an access permit application from Richard Colby regarding Whitcomb Place Road. Leyna will take the application to Rick for review.
Water/Wastewater Contract Proposal: Kevin sent the proposal to TRORC to look at it, they sent it back with very minor edits (language/insurance). Leyna made a motion to move to
accept the Cloverpatch contract, Water/Wastewater for one-year, authorizing Kevin and Kelly to make the edits, motion was seconded by Bill.
Website Update/Discussion: Jesse, Kasey and Karen are continuing to work on the website. All documents are from the website have been uploaded into the google drive that we all have access to. Greg Herrin suggested using reports received from the existing website to support understanding what people are currently using and searching the website for. We’d like it to be intuitive. Our current Website host has agreed to keep our current website up until our new one is ready. The goal is that there will be a preview of the website for next Tuesday’s Board Meeting. Kasey will set up the projector and screen before that meeting. The Board is asking that anyone that may have input on the website please email the administrative assistant. This will help those that are building our website to understand community priorities when accessing the site.
Use of the village green: Received a request from the Chelsea Senior Baseball for use of Roberts-Gould field, Motion by Leyna to move and accept the request, seconded by Jesse, approved by all. Received a request from Chelsea Library for use of the Village Green for Annual Plant sale for Mother’s Day, Leyna moved to allow the library to use the North Common Jesse seconded. All approved.
New National Opioids Settlement: Motion by Jesse moved to opt into the National Opioids Settlement. Seconded by Billy. Settlement statement signed by Kevin
Future Agendas –
May 2nd: Sealed bids for the mowing contracts; Sidewalk Grant; Transfer Station (Invite Kristianne and Snook to the meeting) Leyna and Kevin update on Thorn Road. Andy to speak on behalf of Listserv, Paving update. Permits (Dick Colby), mowing bids
Approve Orders: Leyna moved to accept all orders as written. Jesse seconded. All approved.
Executive Session Personnel: No executive session needed. There will be a Special Selectboard Meeting, Executive Session (Personel) on Thursday, April 20, 2023 at 6:30 pm
Adjourn: Kelly moved to adjourn. Bill seconded. Meeting adorned at 8:45 PM.