Meeting Minutes
Town of LeicesterSelectboard Meeting Minutes Monday, December 3, 2012*Unapproved*** See subsequent minutes for any changes Members Present: Diane Benware, Tom Barker, Ron Fiske, Ken Young Members Absent: Brad Lawes Others Present: Julie Delphia, Arlan Pidgeon, Kate Briggs, Jeff Lee, 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. Approval of November 19, 2012 Minutes: Motion by Ron and second by Tom to approve the minutes of November 19, 2012 as written. All in favor. So approved. Review/Authorization to pay bills: Bills making their rounds for signatures. Reports from Town Officials, Committees: Town Clerk/Treasurer: Julie was not present but provided the Board a report on budget figures as of 11/27/12. Listers: Jeff Lee reported he and Cecile are trying to cover. Jim has a job. There were some problems with current use. James came down, but he couldn’t get in because of the password. James said it needs to be taken care of as soon as possible. Jeff will call Jim and see what he can find out. Another issue was the keys. James’ comment was that the Town has hired them. If Julie gets the keys back from Ed, Jeff thinks James should have a key, but it is up to the Board. Jeff needed a key to get in, so Julie gave him a key. Diane said they heard the message but they need to talk with Julie. Jeff said everything was going good. Town Foreman: Arlan reported they did some grading last week and today and salted the road twice and sanded the dirt roads once. Tom mentioned the garbage on the Bullock Road hadn’t been picked up. Arlan will take care of it. Diane mentioned some pot holes that need grading. Zoning Administrator: Kate reported that Bill Shouldice was in on other matters and is interested in being on the Planning Commission. Kate mentioned he is a consultant and a lobbyist. He has a practical, down to earth approach. He knows a lot about State stuff. Kate thinks he would be a good person. Diane stated the next step would be to write a letter of interest to the Selectboard stating his interest, background, qualifications. He should attend the PC meeting on December 12th. He can then present his letter of interest to the Selectboard on December 17th. Kate talked about the Environmental Court situation and the invoice from the Town attorney. She shared Jim Carroll’s observations and he would like to talk with Diane further. Diane stated she would be happy to talk with him, but any decisions are made by the entire Board. He does not have an obligation to interested parties, but did provide them some information. He is not going to do things he doesn’t have to do. Environmental Court is more interested in the landowner’s point of view than the Town’s. Kate gave an FYI that Nick Gill sold stumpage on property to Canopy Timber who intends to log it. The Lake Dunmore Association and the Mountain View people contacted Kate and asked about the zoning issue. Kate stated that this is a State issue, not a Town issue. Lots of people are very concerned about, but this is not a Town issue. Correspondence: A letter from Vermont Sun was received from David Payne asking if the Town had any safety concerns about their races. They want a letter confirming receipt of his letter and Board’s response. As usual, the Board has safety concerns and wants to see numbers on the back of participants for identification. Diane will write the letter. FYI: Vermont Association of Chiefs of Police, January 8th, Governor’s Ballroom.FYI: Annual statutory obligation on Municipal Weight Limits – Special Weight RestrictionsFYI: VTrans Transportation Alternatives Program: Accepting applications for funding for on road/off road trail facilities, sidewalks, etc. Motion by Tom and second by Ron to approve the bills. All in favor. So approved. NEW BUSINESS: None OLD BUSINESS: Final Review Drug/Alcohol Test Policy: Jim Carroll has the policy for review. Jim explained that a policy is a self imposed set of guidelines under which the Board is agreeing to operate in the future and does not need to be warned in the same way that an ordinance must be publicly warned. The Board is tentatively looking to adopt this policy at the December 17th meeting. Drafting Leicester Winter Operations Policy: Tom said he would rather summarize and rework the one page and Ron agreed. Make it simple. Kate remarked that something should be put in the zoning regulations stating that nothing should be put in the town right of way. All agreed. 2012 Budget Review: Board reviewed spreadsheet Julie provided. Town Shed: Ken said we could remove Town Shed from the agenda for the future. Tom stated that they should think about the Town Shed at budget time. Reporting on EEE Meeting at OV:Diane attended the meeting at Otter Valley on EEE. Dr. Chen was one of the speakers. Diane asked why wasn’t there more attention paid to Leicester. They are monitoring the Bullock Road, etc. They are continuing to monitor the Bullock Road. There have only been 300 cases in the last 50 years. They said it was highly unusual that there would be two human cases/deaths and two horses that were affected; as well. They will be doing blood tests in the area. That’s common practice around the country to determine the carriers. Even if you test positive, they will not tell you. It’s a way to measure how wide spread it is. They are trying to work out a more effective and timely communication system. Recess for 15 minutes prior to ACRPC’s arrival. Meeting called back to order at 8:00 p.m. Meeting with ACRPC: Final Approval of Town Plan: Introductions were made. Pete Fjeld, Jeff McDonough for the Planning Commission. Fred Dunnington, Susan Shashok, Andrew Manning, Adam Lougee from ACRPC. Fred Dunnington explained the process when a municipality asks for review and approval of their town plan and that having a regionally approved plan gives the municipality benefits like being eligible for planning grant money from the state and other benefits. The staff review and report indicates that all of the criteria has been satisfied and it was developed with the assistance of the staff of the ACRPC. Fred finds this plan very nice, readable and clear. Adam provided an agenda on planning needs and plan implementation. No public comments at the hearing. The committee approved and will make a recommendation to the Full Regional Planning Commission to approve the plan on December 12, 2012. After that confirmation, Leicester is eligible for state grants. Fred declared the hearing closed. Adam asked what training needs were needed. VPIC (Vermont Planning Information Center) are a series of web pages with training manuals, FAQ’s, models, open meeting laws, etc. www.vpic.info . Adam wanted everyone to be aware of it. ACRPC has the ability to train. Kate mentioned that we will need consultation and guidance in redrafting our zoning regulations around home-based businesses. Fred explained the difference between ZBA and DRB. Peter asked about the rules/requirements of zoning regulations. Fred said 24 V.S.A. §4412 – §4413 could be a resource. Adam and his staff are good at that. Water resource issues were discussed. ACRPC can give references. Adam provided The Vermont Association of Planning & Development Agencies and explained. He listed services they have provided to the Town of Leicester and in addition; other regional functions provided. He welcomed the Board to call them. Fred encouraged the Board to find a representative to represent the town and congratulated the Board on the plan. Kate stated that Julie Delphia, Town Clerk and Treasurer who is largely responsible for making the Town Plan look the way it does, is not able to be here. We are very lucky to have a Town Clerk with very strong data skills. She did the formatting and did a tremendous amount of work on the final production. She put in a tremendous amount of time. Next regular meeting, Monday, December 17, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. Motion by Tom and second by Ron to adjourn at 8:40 p.m. All in favor. So approved. Respectfully submitted, Sandra L. Trombley, Secretary