TOWN OF GRAND ISLE SELECTBOARD MINUTES OF THE MEETING April 6, 2016 I. CALL TO ORDER: Adam White called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. IN ATTENDANCE: Adam White, Chair, Mark Cobb Sr., Vice Chair, AnnaMarie DeMars, John Lawrence and Bill Baron, Guests: Denise Abbott-Dougless, Don Cota, Diane Cota, Rachael Griggs, Myra Gordon, Linda Effel, Jeff Parizo, Bill LeClair, Donna LeClair, David Borthwick-Leslie, Ron Bushway, Lucy Gordon, Nicole Gardner, Pat Gonyo II. REVIEW AND APPROVE MINUTES: Bill made a motion to accept the minutes, with changes, of March 16, 2015. AnnaMarie seconds. Voice vote approved. Motion carries. Mark questions issue of conflict of interest. Regarding the minutes of March 18, 2015, John said he didn t recall Mark s second motion. Adam played the recording and John agreed it was made. John then questioned if the motions made by Mark, while acting as Chair in Adam s absence, are legal. Adam will check into this. John makes a motion to accept the minutes of March 18, 2015, with corrections. Mark seconds. Voice vote approved. Motion carries. Bill and Adam abstained from voting as they had recuse themselves from the meeting. III. REVIEW & APPROVE BILLS: Bill asks if invoices can be scanned ahead of time and digital copies be emailed to Board members to review before meetings. Adam asked if culverts are freezing. Road Commissioner, Ron Bushway said Road Forman, Brad Sheridan has thawed about 6 or 8 so far this year. Bills are signed and approved for payment. Executive Session: Because the Fire Station subject matter will take a while the executive session is moved to after Old Business. IV. NEW BUSINESS: Land Acquisition: A woman who represents an estate wants to donate 11 acres of land located at the Hanson Lane area (going to transfer station). Joe Longo said a one acre parcel in the south west corner floods over the road. The land in question surrounds this one acre. Ron Bushway said they plan to raise the road 1
and ditch it. John asked if it would be an advantage for the town to own. Ron said it may be able to be drained some but cannot be built on. Bill questions why municipal government is in business of holding onto property that is considered wetlands at this point. This property did not perk last summer. Mark believes the state has to be first in line with any land donation. Adam tables until April 20th Selectboard meeting to get this answered. Liquor license renewal for the Lake House. No issues with this business or any others in town who hold liquor licenses. AnnaMarie makes a motion to sign liquor license renewal for the Lake House. John seconds. Voice vote approved. Motion carries. Next Selectboard meeting: On April 20, 2015 starting with a 6:00 p.m. walk-around tour at Learning Adventure (the Annex). The regular meeting will be at 7:00 p.m. at the Town Office community room. Public Involvement Process: Bill said the Selectboard needs to be committed to engaging the public involvement when deciding where municipal buildings might be going. Adam asks for the trustees of the Library to come to the meeting on April 20th. Lucy Gordon will bring this up at the next Library meeting. Action List: Bill would like a bulleted action item list of who is responsible and a time line noted. The Selectboard secretary would make the list and copies for the Board members to take with them. Hyde Road: John said that Hyde Road tilts. Ron Bushway will get estimates to have it shimmed. Green-up Day: Diane Cota mention Green-up Day is less then a month away and bags of needles are still being found on many town roads. The needle situation needs to be made aware to the people. Suggestions were made to post warnings of the needles in FPF, The Islander, local stores and radio & tv stations. Adam will see who is in charge in the town. Dead Birds: Denise Abbott-Dougless found four dead birds on the road and called Health Commissioner, Ron Bushway. He verified the birds had been shot disposed of them. V. OLD BUSINESS: Town Maintenance Repairs: Mark Cobb said that the town electrician and plumber list needs some clarity. Town Clerk, Melissa Boutin will be asked to retype the list to clean it up. Brad Sheridan will attempt small repairs before calling in an expert. Mark will order low fuel alarms for the Library, Annex and possibly the Town Office. 2
Proposed Conflict of Interest Policy: VLCT. Bill and Adam recused themselves at the March 18th Selectboard meeting. Bill contacted several attorneys and Deputy Secretary of State and read the guide from the Secretary of States office. Bill stated he has no personal or financial gain to be had. Going forward he is not going to recuse himself from votes that concern the fire department or the fire station. Mark said we have a town attorney and he is going to follow the town attorney s advice. AnnaMarie thinks there will not be any checks and balances. John stated that the population elected them and the voters knew they were involved in the fire department. Diane Cota said they were voted in because they are trusted. Bill said there is no code of ethics and suggested there may be a need of a citizen committee. At Bills request this will be tabled until April 20th meeting. Fire Station Project Update: David Borthwick-Leslie asked if the reason the Gordon site didn t work is because of the condition of the site from a building point of view. Suggested having the Gravel Pit be check to be sure the fire station can be built at this site. Mark said wetlands surround the footprint of the building at the Gravel Pit. He thought this land was inherited through unpaid taxes and Tim Parizo gave the back portion of wetlands to the town. Diane Cota asked three questions. When will an information letter will be sent to Grand Isle residents? What is the real reason the site was moved back to the Gravel Pit? What is the dollar amount for changes made? Mark answers: Two letters need to go out soon. One from the Selectboard to the residents of Grand Isle. The other from the Grand Isle Volunteer Fire Department fund raising committee and GIVFD Auxiliary to those who donated to the GIVFD building fund. Mark stated the reasons the site was moved back to the Gravel Pit are because of the permitting process, storm water runoff, no septic and no room for expansion. The biggest fear is ending up in Environmental Court. There are abutting landowners to the Gordon site who feel strongly about storm water runoff regardless of what we think. It could also go all the way to the Supreme Court. This could hold up the building for God knows how long. Mark said the amount spent so far is around $140,000. We have lost a year already trying to back the building size down. We are still in a state of flux about contract pricing. We are looking at more money. This will be discussed in executive session. Jeff Parizo said the DRB hearing for the Gordon property has been closed. A new hearing will be needed for the design and location at the Gravel Pit. Linda Effel said an appeal can be made within 30 days. Myra Gordon asked how are we going forward? Mark said it has to go through the bid process. Bill said we 3
don t want to loose value already spent. Mark said the fire fighters understand in order to get the new station built it has to be moved The intention is to go out to bid late summer, August, with the understanding prices hold and building to start late spring 2016. Jeff Parizo said to get permits soon, schedule a DRB meeting and be sure Dore and Whittier knows they need to have a civil engineer attend the meeting. Adam will email the recording of this meeting to the two who have applied for the secretary position. They are to type up minutes and send them to Adam by Friday evening, April 10th. He will forward a copy to each Board member. The Board will make a decision at the April 20th meeting. VI. EXECUTIVE SESSION: At 9:01 p.m. Mark makes a motion to go into executive session with Linda Effel, Zoning Administrator, and Jeff Parizo, DRB Chair as guest. AnnaMarie seconds. All in favor. Motion passes. At Mark makes a motion to come out of executive session with the Board excepting Linda Effel s resignation as Zoning Administrator and appointing Jeff Parizo as her replacement, effective immediately. Jeff is to carry out the remainder of Linda s term, which goes to December 31, 2015. At that point Jeff will be reevaluated. Bill seconds. All in favor. Motion passes. At 9:23 p.m. Mark makes a motion to go into executive session to discuss the new Zoning Administrators pay scale. AnnaMarie seconds. All in favor. Motion passes. At they come out of executive session. Mark makes a motion to pay Jeff Parizo the current Zoning Administrative pay of $19.80 per hour for a 32 hour week. AnnaMarie seconds. All in favor. Motion passes. The Board thanks Linda and wishes her well and congratulates Jeff Parizo. AnnaMarie asked if the Town Clerks salary should be discussed. Adam mentioned that Melissa Boutin has been Assistant Town Clerk for twelve years and the pay should at least be the same or higher. Also discussed are the additional things Cheryl Titus-Vantine did, such as collecting delinquent taxes and mileage and how this should be broken down for the Town Report. It is decided to invite Melissa to the April 20th meeting and go into an executive session to discuss this. Adam is leaving the references from Nicole Gardner and Rachael Griggs in the box for the Selectboard members to review. Adam will change the locks at the Town Office tomorrow, April 7th. Bill brought up Front Porch Forum postings. Mark thinks John is right on his procedure of making motions while acting in the absence of the Selectboard Chair and from now on will abstain from doing so. Adam recuses himself and leaves the building. 4
At 9:38 p.m. AnnaMarie DeMars made a motion to go back into executive session to discuss pricing and contracts with Dore and Whittier Architects. John seconds. All in favor. Motion carries. At 10:30 p.m. AnnaMarie DeMars makes a motion to come out of executive session and moves to give Vice Chair, Mark Cobb Sr. permission to go forward with a proposal for additional services by Dore and Whittier, the fee not to exceed $69,258. Also contingent on Mark having a discussion with Dore and Whittier about lower fees. John seconds. All in favor. Motion passes. ADJOURNMENT: Respectfully submitted, Rachael Griggs, Scribe Adam White, Selectboard Chair 5