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September 19, 2023 Selectboard Meeting Minutes

Chelsea Selectboard Meeting Minutes (draft)

September 19, 2023

Present- Kevin Marshia, Kelly Lyford, Leyna Hoyt, William Lyon, Jesse Kay,

              Karen Lathrop, Clerk, Rick Ackerman, Highway Supervisor, Michael    Whipple, Water & Wastewater Supervisor

Others present- Marianne McCann, Gregg Herrin, Harry Falconer, TRORC,      Kevin Geiger, TRORC, Sydney Steinle, TRORC

  1. Call meeting to order: Kevin called the meeting to order at 6:30 PM

  2. Conflict of interest disclosure: None
  3. Additions to the agenda:
  4. Contracts to be signed for Flood Contracts
  5. Public Comments: Marianne McCann stated she sent her resume by email and was interested in the AA position. She also noted that in two meeting minutes an award for work on the Sewer Pump Station had been incorrectly referenced. The Board thanked her for the feedback and stated they made edits to ensure the right name was going to be aligned with the award in the future.
  6. Town Treasurer – Cargill contract: A quote letter was received for salt from Cargill. Karen noted the price was .50 cents per ton higher than last year’s quote. Rick said they have contracted with this company, and they are reliable.  quote letter.

Jesse Kay, moved to approve the contract amount of 86.50/ton with a total of 275 tons. Leyna Hoyt seconded the motion. There was no further discussion. All were in favor. Motion passed.

  • Mike Whipple – Water & Wastewater Plant
    a. Update- Mike reported the company, Chamberlin Associates, were still on board with repairing the Scada System. The system at the Brookhaven Pump house was struck by lightning and was never repaired. The system allows the pump stations to measure the level in the water tank. The State performed a Sanitary Survey of the water system and said the system needs to go back online. The budgeted cost was $5,900 but Mike stated they would not know the true cost until the company started the repairs.

           Leyna Hoyt moved to approve the estimated cost of $5,900 for repair of the Scada system. Kelly Lyford seconded the motion. There was no further discussion. All were in favor. Motion passed.

Mike reported the Town wastewater system was working on an extended permit due to Covid, but the State was working on getting them updated. There are tests that are going to be required and the Town will have to buy an automated sampler system as some of the tests would run for 20 hours. The Board would need to budget for that, and Mike will research costs on them and report back to the Board. The Board inquired about grants that may be available for that or if the State will provide funding as they would be requiring some automation. Mike was unsure of whether that would happen.

The Board noted the budget was overspent due to the emergency nature of filling Nolan’s place and many repairs were required to the already outdated system so there would have to be some use of the sinking fund to cover those repairs. There was some discussion on whether there would be FEMA money available for any damage to pump house 4 door as it is in bad shape. Mike to liaison with Kasey on it. Mike noted Dimmicks company is up and running and we might investigate their costs for sludge management. The company the Town currently uses doubled their costs.

b. Department of Environmental Conservation Service Line Assistance – The Clean Water Revolving fund. Kevin reported the Town sent an application last spring.  He also noted there might be a meeting Friday to get the engineering with Otter Creek started. ANR inspected the facility in June. There were some corrective actions. Mike stated many are done and he was waiting for Dave Martineau for the electrical work. Mike and Kevin to draft a letter to the State on those corrective actions and it would get sent to each Board member to keep them in the loop.

7.  Two Rivers – Ottauquechee
a. Congressional grant for wastewater- TRORC had a discussion on where the Town was in the process of the Congressional Delegation Spending award, the EPA community grant, and the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. The Town had not signed the CDS and has not applied for the EPA community grant so far but applied to the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. Both Kevin Marshia and TRORC had spoken to Tom Brown. Kevin has a meeting on Friday with Mr. Brown. Kevin spoke with Rebecca Ellis last February. TRORC to reach out to Ellis on behalf of the Town. Kelly stated the Town had no docs signed yet. The Board requested help from TRORC. Kevin gave a history of what has happened so far with the Congressional Award to get a grant. He said the Congressional Award was just for the Pump Station. TRORC recognized the many moving parts of the process. Marianne McCann stated the whole file is in the AA office. Ms. McCann asked if the Town had hired TRORC. TRORC responded they had a state funded grant to help Towns. The MTAP program, Sydney Steinle runs the program and TRORC will reach out to the State to inform them of the request and get the required permissions.


b. Funding to update town by-laws – Kevin Geiger stated it is a possible project. State planning Grants are available, applications due by Nov 1, 2023. His suggestion was to go for a bylaw modernization grant as the program had more money and had 10% match for the Town which would be waived if the bylaws were adopted. This grant would incorporate the changes the legislature has made and to improve housing. The modernization program is to make the process easier, the standards easier for housing. Kevin G stated they just needed a nod from the Board to provide a scope of work. Also, the Planning Commission would also need to give an okay too. The process does have many meetings with the community for their input. Grants for by laws usually run from $12,000- to $15,000 for it. It would also interface with the Town Plan.

The board approved TRORC to go ahead with preparing the scope of work for Town By Laws.


c. Town plan questions – Sydney Steinle reported Town plan transmitted to the Selectboard along with a timeline. She asked the Board to have comments on  the plan to her by October 4. She would incorporate individual edits and send the Board a draft.  She went through the timeline for adoption. She explained the editing process to the Board. They must have their Selectboard Hearing on November 7 followed by Selectboard Meeting where plan would be adopted. The board decided to move the October 3 meeting until the 10th so all members could be present. Small discussion on Flood Bylaws. Some discussion about making any changes to the Town Plan if so needed. Kevin G. stated the Town Plan would be good for eight years, but the Planning Commission may start the process over to make edits at any time they so choose.

  • Highway Dept – Road damage update- Rick reported Upper Village Road almost complete. John Smith said there were two trees that should come down and some erosion stone needed to be placed in some gullies. The cost of which would be $3,000.00 over the bid amount. Rick’s recommendation was to do that to finish the work. The board had questions on bank stabilization. Rick reported Mr. Smith was going to put some seed down but just how much is unknown.

 South Washington Road work started today.

 Sidewalk work at the firehouse complete.

Work on Jenkins Brook is underway by AJ. Though he has to go back to finish a spot-on Maple Ave that he did not know was in the bid. Might be completed by Monday.

There was some discussion on whether mowing would get done due to time constraints. The board thought John might be able to coordinate that while Rick is gone. Rick reported work on O’Donnell and Blackhawk is done. Excavator not coming till October 4, the crew will start on the Pent Road first.

Rick stated a little more sand is needed and that his truck is back from being repaired. The crew can finish hauling sand while Rick is gone. Still needs to finish side filling East Randolph Road.  Rick asked about Edwards Road. Kevin said he asked if he could get a Geotech from a resource through the state to give us an idea of what needs to be done. Rick asked about temp fixes being okay with FEMA. Kevin will have to double check on temp fixes with FEMA.

  1.  Parks and Forest Commission- The discussion was around how to narrow down a list of 12 people interested in the positions. Board opted to have Jesse and Kasey draft an email to them along with the bylaw and to also include what other areas of the Town need volunteers so they would know there are multiple committee’s that need volunteers.
  1.  Planning Commission – Greg Herrin reported they had covered everything    when Kevin Geiger was speaking. The Board thanked Greg and the whole Board for stepping up when the Town needed them.
  1.  Jesse gave a comprehensive update on the process they thought would work going forward with the punch cards, stickers, and guidance for the Clerk and Treasurer. Board discussion on Annual Renewal date and chose January 1st of the year. There was discussion about how onerous it would prove to be figuring out who was a resident (a resident is anyone who pays taxes in Chelsea) if there were two sets of stickers. Most of the Board thought it would be better to have just one fee, that way stickers could be sold at the stores as well as punch cards. It would make tracking easier as well for the clerk and easier to sell online. There would be a fee for online sales of $2.50 to cover the cost of using the digital portal and postage.  Discussion on what happens if a household has more than one car. Maybe Snook would be able to make that decision. There was discussion on when to roll it out. Jesse was waiting to get some more data from Snook(a two-week average of persons using the Transfer Station). Greg had input on marketing ideas. Town Clerk could possibly get word in the Herald through Town Clerk News. More follow up at the next meeting.

13. FEMA Update- Not much to say according to Kasey’s note. Pedestrian bridge costs needed.  Kevin and Leyna met with a state consultant, Thad last week on Edwards Rd and Pedestrian Bridge and Maple Avenue. Also met with a person on the basement mitigation.  The pedestrian bridge needs some engineering, they checked out Maple Ave., and the consultant said to start work on Edwards. The basement was looked at with Leyna. Kasey will need to get bills together to see if we meet a $ threshold. Karen stated Irving was coming to clean furnaces next week. Leyna to research what vapor barrier cost would be. Update on where items in the hall will reside.  Rick to store some items at the Garage. Kevin to ask Judy Libby to pick up the food for the food shelf. Discussion on dehumidifiers. Most people will need them this spring. The board decided that those that haven’t returned them could keep them. The board decided to donate some fans to the school.

  1. Liquor Licenses – Tim Ward- Limit Assets- Kelly wanted a discussion about how we approve new liquor licenses. She felt if the Board was approving a new liquor license, they should give abutters some notice for feedback.  As the liquor control board for the Town, they may make any policy. The board agrees and in time there will be a policy drafted.

           Leyna Hoyt moved to approve the 1st,3rd class and outside consumption permit renewals for Limit Assets.  Jesse Kay seconded the motion. There being no further discussion, all were in favor. Motion passed.

  1. * Added item* Board administratively signed contract with John Smith ($27150), and Tim Ward ($25,311.88) which were approved at time of bid selection.
  2. Jesse Kay moved to approve orders. Bill Lyon seconded the motion. No Discussion. All were in favor. Motion passed.
  1.  Approve Meeting Minutes-September 5, 2023- Discussion on who saw the minutes. Kelly Lyford moved to table approval with Bill Lyon seconding the motion.  There being no further discussion. All were in favor. Motion passed.
  1.  Executive Session- personnel- Kevin stated a need to go into executive session for personnel.

Leyna Hoyt moved to go into executive session for personnel at 9:08 inviting Karen Lathrop. Motion seconded by Jesse Kay. All were in favor, Motion passed.

            Jesse Kay moved to exit executive session at 10 PM. Motion seconded by William Lyon . No Discussion. Motion Passed.

            Action- Board decision to move forward with a Town Administrator position, moving forward writing  a job description for the position/salary for the next meeting.

            Decision on employee salary. Leyna Hoyt moved to adjourn at 10.01pm with Jesse Kay seconding the motion. No Discussion. All were in favo