Present:        Selectboard Members: Heidi Scheuermann, Larry Lackey, Norman Williams, Richard Marron, Paco Aumand; Town Manager Charles Safford

Others Present:        Ellen Burt, Lee LaBier, Steve Lambert, Barbara Baraw, Barbara Allaire, Ken Schumann, Ted Teffner, Art Lloyd, Denise Gutstein, Claire Pike, Les Pike, Darrow Mansfield, Bobby Roberts, Kim Brown, Lynn Altadonna, H. Hunt, Evelyn Frey, Katherine Sundstrom

Chair Scheuermann called the meeting to order at 5:30 pm and Selectboard Orders were signed.

Mr. Aumand asked that item 3D be removed from the Consent Items. Mr. Safford asked that Class 2 paving be added to Other Business.

Mr. Lackey made a motion to approve the Agenda as amended, seconded by Mr. Williams. Motion carried.

Mr. Williams made a motion to approve the Consent Items seconded by Mr. Lackey. Motion carried.

A.       Educational Sampling Permit – Stowe Charities 6/19-6/21/09

Mr. Aumand made a motion to approve the Liquor Consent Item as presented, seconded by Mr. Williams. Motion carried.   Mr. Marron recused himself.

D.       Mtn Bike Center Consultant Award – Mr. Aumand stated that he would like more detailed explanations on Agenda Summaries when awarding bids. He said the process should be fully transparent and the agenda summary should contain who the bids were received from and the results of the bid and how the selection was made.

Mr. Safford explained the process in connection with the MountainBikeCenter consultant contract award and acknowledged Mr. Aumand’s request regarding transparency for future summaries.

Mr. Aumand made a motion to award the contract to Broadreach Planning & Design to prepare the master plan, seconded by Mr. Williams. Motion carried.

A Public Hearing of the Selectboard will be held to consider the following:

1.)               to repeal the existing Traffic & Vehicle Ordinance (amended) adopted in 2006; Village of Stowe Ordinance adopted in 1992 and the Stowe Village Parking Lot Ordinance adopted 1987;

2.)               to adopt a proposed Traffic and Vehicle Ordinance to regulate speed limits; street regulations; parking and municipal parking lots;

Ms. Scheuermann opened the public hearing and asked for comment. 

Ken Schumann asked if the Town had jurisdiction over driveway that goes around the CommunityChurch and noted that more/better signage and enforcement was needed in that area. He also pointed out that delivery trucks park on sidewalks and shuttle buses block streets and that enforcement was needed.   Mr. Schumann asked if there would be a necessity for the hiring of another police officer to write parking tickets based on the language in the Ordinance. 

Mr. Safford said he would investigate the issues raised by Mr. Schumann and provide feedback at a later date.

Ms. Baraw questioned the location and safety of the crosswalk located in front of the MemorialBuilding. A discussion following regarding the locating of crosswalks. Mr. Safford said he would research to see if a study was ever done on the location of crosswalks and provide feedback at a later date.

Mr. Lackey stated that there were roads currently at the 35mph speed limit that should be lowered to 25 mph. He said he would provide a list to staff to see if a traffic survey could be done to assess those roads.

Mr. Marron stated that there was a stop sign on the corner of Tamarack that was not indicated in the Ordinance and questioned whether the sign should be there and asked staff to research it. Mr. Lackey asked staff to look into the possible placement of a stop sign at the corner of Thomas Lane and Park Place. Mr. Safford said he would look into these requests.

Mr. Aumand asked that the language be consistent throughout the Ordinance when referring to parking tickets as Stowe Official Police Ticket. 

Mr. Safford asked that #4 in Article IV Section 1A be deleted since it could not be regulated under the Ordinance.

Ms. Scheuermann closed the public hearing.

On a motion by Mr. Williams, seconded by Mr. Marron the Board repealed the Traffic & Vehicle Ordinance adopted in February 2006; the Village of Stowe Ordinance adopted February 19, 1992 and the Village of Stowe Parking Lot Ordinance adopted in l987. 

On a motion by Mr. Williams, seconded by Mr. Aumand the Board adopted the Traffic & Vehicle Ordinance as amended effective immediately.

A.       Proposed Operations Center: Electric Commissioner Chair Ted Teffner summarized the need for the proposed Combined Operations Center stating there were currently garage inadequacies; outside lack of storage space; lack of office space and privacy. Mr. Teffner said Stowe Electric would have to bond for the project.

Ms. Burt reiterated the problems with the current garage and office sites. Mansfield provided details on the proposed project and its location at the Kirschner property on Route 100 across from Mansfield Dairy.

During discussion, there were those in attendance who spoke in favor of the project and others who were concerned about protecting the gateway to town and the scope of the project. 

The Board was in concensus that the Electric Department move forward with the purchase of the property but there was concern expressed about the project location and size. Mr. Aumand said he was not in support of the project due to the use of municipal exception in the zoning district.

There was no further discussion.

A.       Nebraska Valley Rd Paving: At the 2008 Annual Meeting, the voters approved an article to approve the FY’09 Proposed Capital Budget. The Capital Budget as proposed included $108,000 to grind and pave Nebraska Valley Road. This budget anticipated paving to where the pavement currently ends (adjacent to Nebraska Valley Road’s intersection with Beech Hill Road and the upper entrance to the town’s gravel pit). However, at the meeting a citizen asked in regard to the paving of Nebraska Valley Road, “Is this paving planning to go up to the lower entrance to the gravel pit or only to the Beech Road intersection? And I’d like to follow upon that – if it’s not going to the gravel pit, I’d like to make an amendment to increase that amount to bring it up to the gravel pit lower entrance.” The transcripts of the minutes indicate that we represented that the plan was to pave to the lower entrance of the Town gravel pit and no amendment was proposed. The estimated cost to pave the additional section with 4” of asphalt is $102,801. There is an anticipated surplus in the capital budget of $39,534 which means $63,267 would have to come out of the undesignated money in the capital fund. 

There was a concensus of the Board to stand by the representation described at Town Meeting.

On a motion by Mr. Aumand, seconded by Mr. Williams, the Board agreed to amend the contract wotj SD Ireland to pave from where the pavement currently ends to the lower entrance of the Town’s gravel pit using the unallocated reserve in the capital fund. 

Mr. Lackey voted no. 

B.       Federal Grant Application:     The Board asked the Town Manager to prepare and submit a grant application requesting federal stimulus funds for the paving of eligible projects.   

A.       Personnel: At 7:50 pm, Mr. Williams made a motion seconded by Mr. Aumand for the Board to go into executive session with Mr. Safford in attendance. Motion carried.

At 8:30, the Board came out of executive session and on a motion by Mr. Williams, seconded by Mr. Lackey, the Board appointed Katherine Sundstrom to the Planning Commission and Jo Sabel Courtney and Frits Momsen as Library Trustees effective immediately.

There being no further business to conduct, Ms. Scheuermann adjourned the meeting at 8:30 pm.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Susan Moeck.                                          

STOWE SELECTBOARD MEETING                                               Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Present:        Selectboard Members Heidi Scheuermann, Larry Lackey, Norm Williams, Dick Marron, Paco Aumand; Town Manager Charles Safford; PW Director Justin Rabidoux; Asst Fin Mgr Susanne Gann; Animal Control Officer Elizabeth Rankin; Police Chief Ken Kaplan

Others Present:        Maeve McGovern, Scott Noble, Barbara Allaire, Susan Spera, Eve Lepcio, Charles Lusk, Ed Izzo, Sporty Bell, Barbara Pfitzenmayer, Dave Matthews, Chuck Baraw, Sherry Baraw, Kathleen Nann, Leah Hodari

Chair Scheuermann called the meeting to order at 5:30 pm and Selectboard Orders were signed.

Items 3F, 3B and 3H were removed from the Consent agenda. Mr. Lackey made a motion to approve the Agenda as amended, seconded by Mr. Williams. Motion carried.

Mr. Lackey made a motion to approve the Consent Items as presented, seconded by Mr. Williams. Motion carried.

A.       Trapp Family Lodge – 2^nd class liquor license for the Hotel Gift Shop

On a motion by Mr. Williams, seconded by Mr. Lackey, the Board approved the License Application as presented. Mr. Marron abstained.

The Board recognized and thanked the following retiring commission members for their service to the Town: Barbara Pfitzenmayer – Planning Commission, Akeley Bldg Committee, Public Safety Facility Committee and Capital Advisory Committee; Edmund Izzo, Development Review Board; and David Matthews, Recreation Commission. 

B.       Police Vehicle Bid Award – The Board questioned the selection of a Ford Edge vs a pick up truck. The Chief explained that the Edge would be a more suitable vehicle for the Animal Control Officer.

On a motion by Mr. Marron, seconded by Mr. Williams the Board awarded the police vehicle 2008 Ford Edge bid to Heritage Ford in the amount of $27,835.

F.       Special Event Application – Music in Meadow; Village 4^th of July – Mr. Noble gave a brief overview of the new village event for the 4^th of July.

H.       Minutes – Mr. Lackey made a few corrections.

On a motion by Mr. Lackey, seconded by Mr. Williams, the Board approved the Special Event Applications as presented and the Minutes of May 11, 2009 as amended.

Proposed Revisions to Animal Control Ordinance – Ms. Scheuermann opened the Public Hearing at 5:47 and asked for comment.  She noted that the new fencing and sign at the Quiet Path parking area looked very nice.

There being no comment except from Sporty Bell who thanked the Board, Mr. Marron made a motion to close the hearing. Mr. Aumand seconded. Motion carried.

On a motion by Mr. Aumand, seconded by Mr. Marron, the Board adopted the Animal Control Ordinance as amended effective immediately. 

A.       Sewer Rate Abatement Request – The Stoweflake Resort submitted a letter requesting a credit on both their sewer and water bills due to a 13 month leak on their property. The request was for a sewer credit of $15,600 and a water credit of $8,000. Staff’s opinion was that no credit should be given for water since the break occurred in Stoweflake’s internal water system. Staff reviewed the sewer request and completed a five year analysis to determine monthly usage prior to the leak. The water loss through the leak and not given sewage treatment resulted in a total sewer credit of $16,253.20.

Mr. Marron made a motion to reimburse the Stoweflake Resort $16,253.20 in recognition of revenue received by the Sewer Department as a result of a water leak. Mr. Williams seconded. Motion carried.

B.       FY 10 Sewer & Water Budgets/Debt Analysis – Public Works Director Justin Rabidoux provided background information and explained the process for arriving at the proposed rate change of a zero percent change for sewer rates and an 8% increase in water rates.

During discussion Ms. Scheuermann expressed concern about the increase in rates and the impact on tax payers due to other possible increases in property taxes in the future and other burdens at this time.   Mr. Marron agreed but said the Water Commissioners had a fiduciary responsibility to make sure that sufficient revenues were collected to pay the water debt.  

Mr. Aumand made a motion to warn a public hearing on June 22, 2009 to consider the proposed water and sewer budgets and proposed rates which show a 0% increase for wastewater and an 8% increase in water. Mr. Lackey seconded the motion. Motion carried.

A.       Approve Proposed Policy – This item was tabled until the June 8, 2009 meeting.

A.       Personnel – The Board went into executive session at 6:30 pm with Mr. Safford and Ms. Hodari in attendance on a motion by Mr. Aumand, seconded by Mr. Williams.

The Board came out of executive session at 7:06 pm and on a motion by Mr. Williams, seconded by Mr. Aumand, the Board appointed Leah Hodari to the Recreation Commission effective immediately to fill the position left vacant by Dave Matthews.

There being no further business conduct, Ms. Scheuermann adjourned the meeting at 7:07 pm.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Susan Moeck.