Meeting Minutes
Town of LeicesterSelectboard Meeting Minutes Monday, August 6, 2012*Unapproved*** See subsequent minutes for any changes Members Present: Diane Benware, Ken Young, Tom Barker, Ron Fiske, Brad Lawes Others Present: Arlan Pidgeon, Julie Delphia, Jim Russo, Sandra Trombley, Secretary Call to Order: Meeting called to order at 6:30 p.m. by Chair, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Review of Agenda: Agenda reviewed. Review/Authorization to pay bills: Bills making their rounds for signatures. Approval of July 16, 2012 Minutes: Motion by Tom to accept the minutes of July 16, 2012 as written. Second by Ken. All in favor. So approved. Reports from Town Officials, Committees: Town Clerk/Treasurer: Julie has not heard back from her letter to the company about the graffiti paint. Julie received an invoice from NEMRIC for assessment services. Julie called them and informed them that we have not approved the contract to date. Julie reported that delinquent taxes are at $59,000. She has been getting some in. Julie reported that Arlan and Scott went down for the pre-employment, after 20 years, testing. She posted the warning for the Selectboard Meeting for the Town Plan hearing. Diane put an article in the paper. Addison County Regional Planning redesigned their web page and our Zoning by-laws and Town Plan were not accessible. Julie has since put them on Leicester’s web-site. We received the hearing notice for August 30th for Dunkley-Gill. Nick would like to settle prior to the hearing. He would be amenable to $250,000 which is the assessment for 2012. Motion by Ron to authorize Chair to contact Town Attorney and discuss the Dunkley-Gill matter to see how to proceed and whose authority to make decision. Second by Tom. All in favor. So approved. Mr. Gill will be expecting a phone call tomorrow with an update by listers as to what was discussed tonight. Jim stated that when he grieved for his new assessment, they had assessed him at $340,800. The BCA went up and increased it by $285,000. Jim’s opinion with all the land has to offer, the $250,000 is way too low. He feels the $340,800 would be fair. Jim will call Mr. Gill tomorrow and tell him the Selectboard is checking into the procedure. Julie had a request from a landowner on Catamount to get an A & B or 1 & 2. Julie had the question about road signs on private roads. They want to identify the entrances. Tom stated that they are not allowed to put anything on the Town posts. They can put some on trees. Julie will let them know. Jim asked about the sign coming from Whiting to Leicester. The signs are backward. It has Leicester in Whiting and Whiting going toward Leicester. Should someone notify Whiting that the signs are wrong? They are going to be replaced in the next year or so. On Jenna Lane, the dead end speed limit sign is all covered over with brush. Listers: Jim is still working on the contract and still researching other alternatives. Jim explained the issues for the lateness of the Grand List. Julie wanted to make clear that taxes may possibly go up, even though your assessment went down. Julie talked about the confidentiality with the tax bill credit. The small dilemma we have is, our listers have no information on tax bills; therefore, the information about tax credits is confidential and they are not allowed to have access to it. The module that the listers own and are responsible for contains that data. We need to work with NEMRIC to determine how they get pass worded out of the data and at the same time, Julie gets pass worded out of being able to change their data. Health Officer: Jim had nothing to report. Animal Control Officer: Julie has magnets for his door and door hangers. Julie will check on insurance for Animal Control Officer if magnets are put on his vehicle. Town Foreman: Arlan called Tom Roberts about the final approval of the grant, and he said State is way behind on paperwork. Grant is $86,753.10. Julie has the signed document. Julie will call Tom for clarification on % of source. Arlan will talk with Gary to get it on his radar. Arlan reported they have been doing ditching on Shackett Road, grading on Hooker and Delorm Roads and cut some trees. The guy that purchased the Cersosimo lot asked about the driveway. He wants to use the driveway already there in the field. Arlan doesn’t see anything wrong with it. He needs to cut some trees. Board was fine with it. Tom mentioned a maple limb that fell out south of Kate Briggs house that needs to be cut up; as it’s crowding her fence. The whole tree is rotten. Zoning Administrator: Kate was not present but shared with Diane information on the ZBA meeting last week and Jeff Smith’s appeal was denied. Cemetery Committee: None Motion by Tom to authorize Treasurer to pay bills as written. Second by Brad. All in favor. So approved. NEW BUSINESS: Roadside Mowing: Tom brought up roadside mowing. We need to clarify the two mowings and specify when to mow and how much to mow. The first cut was supposed to be one swath wide and the second cut was supposed to be two swaths wide. Chair thought the contract was by July and by September. We did not figure for a third time. Ken will talk with Lem. Right of Way: Chair shared copy of letter the Town of Brandon uses. Board liked the idea of putting a letter in the tax bills and would like to have a Winter Operations Policy. Julie will research and get a copy from Brandon of their policy. OLD BUSINESS: Draft Drug Disciplinary Policy: Draft Drug and Alcohol Policy: Julie will contact other towns and get copies of their Drug Disciplinary and Drug and Alcohol Policies. Move the policies to the August 20th meeting. Julie stated that she is not doing the Reasonable Suspicion Training. Julie would like to buy a locking cabinet. Motion to Ken to authorize Treasurer to buy a locking cabinet out of Building Repairs Town Office line item. Second by Brad. All in favor. So approved. Ron asked where the $25,000 reimbursement from the school’s that is being used to cover town expenses, where does that end up? We should ear mark toward something later. Ken thinks we should change the lock at the Recycle Center. Tom will get a good dead bolt. The Recycle Today sign needs some snaps and we need to ask Van to put up and take down. Ken stated that they have 11 recycle bins on wheels that need to be disposed of. Tom thinks we should sell for $75 each. Ron will take picture and give a description and dimensions; and Julie can put on the Clerk’s List Serve. Julie thanked Ron for helping get the electricity back on today and helping put in her air conditioner. Town Shed: Ron presented a plan for a model Town Shed in scale. Discussion of the sand pile and salt shed. Ken reported that he stopped at Ferrisburgh last week to look at their clear span 90’ wide x180’ long. Theirs is much bigger than what we need. Ron talked with Sudbury about covering the sand piles and they said they would “never” go back to uncovering their sand piles. It saves them a lot of work. Quality of sand is better. Ken stated that whatever we do, it needs to be satisfactory for a minimum of 25 years. The guys will go on a field trip to do more research on size. The Equipment Fund has about $57,000. Land and Building Acquisition Fund has $55,000. Ron said a building would be about $60,000, concrete work, compact work, and paving would end up being about $80,000 before done. Tom said it would be a good spring project for the simple reason that whatever you put in there this year for sand would be gone. Ken mentioned Vermont Surplus and we are third in line for a free grader. They are military surplus. The catch is you would have to pay the freight of $25,000. Discussions continued with no action taken. Motion by Brad to adjourn at 9:13 p.m. Second by Tom. All in favor. So approved. Next regular meeting, August 20, 2012. Respectfully submitted, Sandra L. Trombley, Secretary