Minutes - 12-01-2025
Town of Leicester
Selectboard Meeting Minutes
Monday, December 1, 2025
*Unapproved*
** See subsequent minutes for any changes
Members Present: Diane Benware, Diane Randall, Brad Lawes, John Rouse, Tom Barker
Others Present: Julie Delphia, Arlan Pidgeon, Jeff Schumann, Doug Perkins, Adam Fasoli, Sandra Trombley
Call to Order: Meeting called to order at 6:30 p.m. by Chair.
Pledge of Allegiance:
Review of Agenda:
Approval of November 24, 2025, minutes:
Motion by Tom and second by Diane Randall to approve minutes of November 24, 2025, as written. All in favor. So, approved.
Review/Authorization to Pay Bills:
Tom asked what the bill from Royden was for. Arlan informed the Board that it was for replacing a thermostat at the Town Shed.
Motion by Tom and second by John authorizing Julie to pay the bills. All in favor. So, approved.
Reports from Town Officials, Committees:
Animal Control Officer:
Town Clerk/Treasurer:
Julie presented a duplicate contract for Gus Letourneau for the Board to sign in two places. Julie stated that Gus could not find his original contract.
Julie reported she is getting ready to start the tax sale process.
Julie reported there is a MERP meeting tomorrow morning to discuss the schedule for the building.
Tom asked if she got someone to look at the furnace over there.
Julie stated they are coming to service the furnace on December 31st.
Road Foreman:
Arlan reported he would like a better outside light at the Town Shed.
Board approved Julie to call Green Mountain Power. Julie needs the pole number.
Arlan stated that the sand is good.
Weight Permits: None
CORRESPONDENCE:
· Clean Water Initiatives
· Contract with the Sheriff’s Department that they signed with Addison County Solid Waste for Illegal Burning & Dumping
· Letter from John Cassidento, a summer resident at Lake Dunmore, about renaming Lake Dunmore and Patrick Dunn’s response
o Diane will respond to John Cassidento echoing Patrick Dunn of Salisbury comments and Board’s agreement.
OLD BUSINESS:
2026 Preliminary Budget Thoughts:
The board talked about the Sheriff’s budget of $20,000 as a line item for traffic control in the budget and let the residents vote on it. Julie will talk with Mike and ask whether the Sheriff’s Department can accommodate 20 more hours.
There will be the OCW increase.
There will be a website increase for next year.
Lem and Gus need to be contacted for pricing.
Julie explained the process of the assessments.
Arlan would like to see an increase in pay for Steve Morrison and Terry.
Julie will have a preliminary budget for the December 15th meeting.
NEW BUSINESS:
OCW Update/Introductions:
Introductions were made. Jeff Schumann introduced himself as Chair of OCW Board, Doug Perkins as Leicester Representative, currently serving as Treasurer and has served as Chair and Vice Chair, and Adam Fasoli, Chair of the LDFLA and maybe someday a member of the OCW.
Jeff commended the Leicester Representatives and feels the Town of Leicester is very fortunate to have three very strong representatives on the Board. Doug has done an incredible job, putting in hours and hours on a two-year project getting things back in order. Lynne Peck has served as Treasurer and Bookkeeper and done an awesome job; as well. Lynne’s services probably saved the board, over two years over $10,000. She volunteered all her time. Jeff stated that Brad has been an amazing representative and they can’t begin to add up his in-kind services. He also served on the Hiring Committee.
Jeff explained that they started this year with one possible returning employee. They hired an Adulticide Coordinator, an Anthropologie Lab Specialist, two college interns and a handful of Applicators.
They had a training session, got everyone licensed but the mosquitoes were out early and got ahead of them. They didn’t get their trucks going until the first week in June. They did 92 spray missions this summer. They got things under control and then luckily it got dry and saved them some money. They currently have one product to use to spray, and mosquitoes can become resistant to it if used too much.
He reported they made a bunch of improvements to the facilities and equipment. Funds from the State Grant, contributions from a private community member, some from capital improvement funds. They bought a lot of lab equipment, havoc split units up in offices, they bought three used trucks and got rid of three used trucks, replaced an outdated laptop with two new laptops, and did facility upgrades with security with coding and security cameras.
He reported they still have two major things to take care of. One is running water with well and septic system. They have permits, but they don’t have the $50,000.
The volunteer hours are too much.
They need to adopt a leadership strategy. The challenge is to get an Executive Director of Operations. Must be licensed and have domain knowledge. They need to do it quickly. Need help finding someone.
Jeff sent the Annual Report off to towns.
Brad asked about the septic and what about a loan; as the OCW has borrowing power. They could budget that and it would be a long-term financial arrangement. That would certainly help with cash flow. Some of things that were done down there, he thinks should have gone through some kind of financing arrangement. A substantial number of improvements happened in one year. It should have been capitalized.
Doug stated they did about $70,000 in improvements this year. But what it really cost them out of pocket was about $9,000.
Doug stated they will be sending out the Annual Financial Report before January 15, 2026.
Diane stated that it looks like your expenses and your income are the same.
Doug explained they dip into the money they have in the bank at the beginning of the year.
There was discussion on how they account for their funds. They start the year with some money in the bank. They hope at the end of the year they have the same amount of money in the bank.
They spent more money this year than what they took in. They had money in the bank to start the year.
They anticipate having about $115,000 to begin the year.
Diane stated that the OCW agreement is that OCW budget won’t go up more than 5% any year. She stated she doesn’t understand if the overall budget is held at a 5% limit, how come Leicester’s assessment has gone up over 16%.
Doug stated that last year each town’s assessment was held exactly as the 2023 assessment. There was no increase and their expenses went up 5% so they are making up this year.
Diane is concerned about whether residents are going to begin to question the increase. She is not sure how they are handling the assessments this year.
Diane stated there must be a better and clear explanation about the increase.
Brad questioned how they didn’t figure in their reserve so the % isn’t as high. Again, they have borrowing power.
Doug tried to explain how they made the budget balance.
Diane R. doesn’t like the idea that the carryover doesn’t show. Diane R. would hate to see the taxpayers get mad and not approve anything for mosquitoes.
Diane B. agrees OCW budget must be clearer. Whatever you can do to be as clear and transparent as possible is important.
Jeff stated he can’t change the report as it was approved by the Board.
Julie explains that in this town, what they have in the bank account shows on their budget as a starting balance, and considered as income, and restricted funds show separately, which can only be used for certain things.
Julie had many questions about their assessment for the town, your expenses would never equal exactly as actuals, capitalization, other labor, carbon dioxide, other line items.
Doug stated it’s hard to explain and he would have to sit down with Julie to go over it all.
Jeff explained that they had to start over and they had expenses they hadn’t anticipated. Started with zero records.
Brad stated he was impressed with the professionalism and staff did a remarkable job with what they started with.
Jeff talked about possibilities of future drone applications early in the season.
Motion by Brad and second by Tom to name Adam Fasoli as the Alternate Representative for Town of Leicester to the OCW Board effective 1/1/26. All in favor. So, approved.
Board thanked all for coming.
Board shared concerns about how the OCW budget is being shown.
John agrees they were handed a mess, but he would like to ask them what OCW is going to do to protect the town from this happening again.
Winter Road Maintenance:
Arlan stated that Bullock Road will be plowed.
EXECUTIVE SESSION:
Motion by Tom and second by John to go into Executive Session at 8:02 p.m. for 1 V.S.A. § 313 (1)E
pending or probable civil litigation or a prosecution, to which the public body is or may be a party. All in favor. So, approved.
Motion by Tom and second by Diane R. to come out of Executive Session at 8:07 p.m. with no action taken. All. In favor. So, approved.
Motion by Tom to adjourn at 8:07 p.m.
Next Meeting Monday, December 15, 2025
Respectfully submitted,
Sandra Trombley
