A meeting of the Hardwick Select Board was held on Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 6:00 P.M. in the 3rd floor meeting room of the Hardwick Memorial Building.

Members Present:Also Present:

Marcus BrownRob Lewis, Town Manager

Shari CornishJoe LaPorte, Police Chief

Kathleen HemmensJoyce Chase- Office Manager

Richard BrochuAlberta Miller – Town Clerk

Tod DelaricheliereTom Gardner – The Hardwick Gazette

Wayne Hall- Resident

Gary & Joanne Dimick-Residents

6:05 P.M. Meeting called to order by Marcus Brown.

6:06 P.M. Set/Adjust Agenda:

M. Tod Delaricheliere made the motion to accept the the Agenda.

Richard Brochu seconded the motion.

Motion passed unanimously.

6:07 P.M.Communications from the Audience

Alberta just wanted to remind the listening audience that all nominating petitions need to be handed in to the Town Clerks Office no later than 5:00p.m. Monday January 25, 2010

6:08 P.M. Recess – For Class 4 Road Public Hearing

Motion was made by Richard to recess the regular meeting and to go into the public hearing at 6:15P.M

Motion seconded by Tod

Motion Passed

6:15 P.M. Open Public Hearing – Layout of Class 4 Road

Marcus opened the Public hearing for the purpose of laying out a class 4 road located in E. Hardwick at 55 Michaud Road at Gary & Joanne Dimicks property. There was a site visit at the property earlier today. The property in question is approximately 67 feet that crosses an old railroad. The reason this is in question is that apparently the only people allowed to negotiate with the State is the Town of Hardwick. The Town will be the conduit for the Dimicks to make this happen.

6:20P.M.Public Hearing Closed

6:21P.M.Back to Regular Meeting

Motion by Tod to go back into regular scheduled meeting.

Motion 2nd by Richard

Motion Passed

Motion was made by Tod to accept a Class 4 Road as requested by Gary & Joanne Dimick located on 55 Michaud Road, E. Hardwick. Rob was instructed to draft an order for the board’s approval and signature

Motion was 2nd by Richard

Motion Passed Unanimously

6:25P.M.Item # 3 Budgets FY 2011

PD Budget

Joe enlightened the board on some reductions to his budget that he has made, please see attached.

Kathleen is very concerned with the current budget that the PD has submitted for approval. Kathleen is worried that in three years when the COPS grant runs out that the residents are not going to be able to afford the increase in PD salaries.

Kathleen also explained that the PD Revenue is low. Joe assured her that with the new staffing that the revenue should be up in the future.

Richard shares Kathleen’s concerns. Richard has had local residents come up to him and discuss this issue. The residents stated to Richard that they never see any police presence in or around town. Also, on the comparisons that Joe presented to board at the last meeting Richard felt that St. Jay was not a fair comparisons because St. Jay has ten full time officer but they also have a $800k budget and thier coverage area is much more concentrated.

Richard feels that maybe we should consider working with other towns to bring in more revenue.

Marcus stated that at the beginning of the budget process he was having a very hard time supporting or approving the PD budget, but after the compelling speech that was given by Officer Mike Gero Marcus’s views have changed.

Tod stated that he feels that Joe has done his part in trimming his budget from around 10% to 5.75% and that is a great thing. Tod & Marcus both feel good about the PD budget at this time and feel that they could support it.

Richard still has reservations but, stated that the board has worked hard and is feeling more comfortable with the budget presented.

Kathleen previously stated how she feels about the budget and has reservations but will go with whatever the board decides.

TM stated that he sees the officers being utilized to the max and feels the community will be much happier.

Capital Budget

The board had a discussion regarding Article #5 on the Town Warning. At this point Article #5 will be stated as the following “Shall the voters direct the Select Board in taking the necessary actions to secure a new or renovated facility for the Police Department”.

The Select Board also agreed to remove $25000 from the previously set aside money for Center Road paving and put it in the previously set aside fund for the Police Department facility. So with the $25000.00 put in there with the previous amount of $5000.00 this brings this to $30000.00.

The board was all good with the current capital budget at this time.

Line Items

The TM found out on Friday that the Hardwick Recycle/Trash Depot will be closing on February 06, 2010. As part of the phasing out process CVSWD has appointed Earth Waste Systems to take over some of the depots that will be closing. TM spoke with the owner/President of Earth Waste today and he stated to the TM that there will be no additional cost over what has already been budgeted and they will offer the same service as before and maybe better. The hours of operation will also be the same.

By Vermont Law any town wanting to start their own waste district would be required to have a Solid Waste Plan. This is something that we would not be able to do on our own. It would require hiring more staff and numerous other tasks that Hardwick or any other towns are willing to do.

Tod & TM both suggested that the Town of Hardwick stay with CVSWD for now even though they are closing our depot and the depot will be run by Earth Waste out of Rutland, Vermont.

7:55P.M.At this time the board took a 10 minute break

8:10P.M.Resumed meeting

Marcus stated that last year the Select Board authorized Restorative Justice to be listed on the Town Warning for their appropriation. This year they were given fair warning and ample time to seek money as well as signatures. They did not seek signatures and since that time they have questioned whether or not they are a department of the Town which would exclude them from have to secure the appropriate number of signatures to be on the Warning. Restorative Justice sought an opinion from Deb Markowitz, Secretary of the State of Vermont, in which RJ are under the impression that they should be considered a department of the Town. The Select Board does not feel that way and are waiting for confirmation from the Town’s council regarding this issue.

The TM suggested to the board that there be an incentive stipend for 5 fulltime employees and 2 part time employees that are under his supervision. For the 5 full time employees they would receive $500 each and for the two part time employees’ they would receive $250.

After receiving no response from the Board the TM withdrawn his request for the above suggestion.

FYE 2011 Budgets:

Motion was made by Tod to accept the FYE 2011 budget as written in the amount of $2,331,378.00.

Motion was 2nd by Kathleen

Motion was passed unanimously.

9:15P.M.At this time the Board took a 5 minute break:

9:25P.M.Resumed meeting

9:25P.MItem # 4 Adopt Warning for Town Meeting March 02, 2010

Motion was made by Tod to approve the Warning for Town Meeting March 02, 2010 as presented.

Motion was 2nd by Shari

Motion passed unanimously

9:30P.M.Motion to Adjourn

Richard made the motion to adjourn at 9:30P.M.

Shari seconded the motion.

Motion passed unanimously.

Minutes approved by: Marcus Brown, Select Board Chair

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Minutes taken by:Rosie Gillen