A meeting of the Hardwick Select Board was held on Thursday, March 19, 2009 at 6:00 P.M. in the 3rd floor meeting room of the Hardwick Memorial Building.

 

Members Present                                       Also Present                                    

M. Tod Delaricheliere                                     Roger LeCours

Marcus Brown                                               Joe Brochu – ATV Club

Richard Brochu                                              Joe LaPorte – Police Chief

Shari Cornish                                                          Tom Gardner – Hardwick Gazette                             Kathleen Hemmens                                       Tom Gardner – Hardwick Gazette                   

                                                                             Rob Lewis – Town Manager

                                                                             Rosie Gillen – Executive Assistant         

                                                                             Emily Lanxner- Hardwick Area Learning Center

                                                                   Barry Baldwin- Buffalo Mtn. Co-Op

                                                                              Annie Gaillard – Buffalo Mtn. Co-OP

                                                                             Heather Davis

                                                                             Ron Weisen – Recreation Committee

                                                                             Marie LaPre-Grabon

                                                                                     

6:02 P.M.     Meeting called to order at 6:04P.M. By Select Board Chair Marcus Brown.

 

 

6:03P.M.      Minutes for March 05, 2009

 

-         Motion was made by Tod to approve the minutes for March 05, 2009 with the following changes.

1.     Change the title of Finance Committee to Administrative Task Force and to reflect that the board suggested that this committee be established.  

2.     Also under Select Board report it was Richard who thanked all the people who ran for Town Government and not Tod.

-         Motion was 2nd by Richard and passed.

 

6:04P.M.      Set/Adjust Agenda

 

-         Motion was made by Tod Delaricheliere to accept the agenda as written with the following additions/adjustments:

 

-         After the TM Report Tom Fadden will give a road update.

 

-         Item # 3 on the agenda will be removed from the agenda and rescheduled.

 

-         An additional executive session will be added for Legal after Personnel.

 

-         A small discussion will be added for Health/ Town service officer after agenda item # 6.

 

-         Motion was 2nd by Richard Brochu

-         Motion passed Unanimously

 

6:15P.M.      Communication from Audience

                   

                   Barry Baldwin attended the meeting to speak on behalf of Buffalo Mtn. CO-OP.  Barry is

                   very concerned with the current handicapped space located in front of Buffalo Mtn. 

Barry stated that this is very problematic for his business.  Barry feels that Buffalo Mtn., is the anchor business on Main Street and there forby having the space there, is not the best thing for his customers or their business when his customers are going to be ticketed for parking there.  Barry also stated that Buffalo Mtn. does not have a handicap ramp going into the store.  Barry also explained that it would have been nice if they had had some warning before receiving parking tickets.

 

Tod informed them that the handicap space was part of the Bemis Block project done a couple years back and there was a formal public hearing held regarding the placement of the handicap space.  Tod also informed Barry that the Town cannot just install signs anywhere that we would like. To place sign would again require a public hearing.

         

Barry’s main concern was has the town looked into creating more down town parking for the local merchants?  The TM explained that he had spoken with Duane Wells who owner of the Daniels Building and asked Duane to be very clear to his tenants where they are allowed to park.  He also said he was upgrading signage for the two town parking areas which should improve the confusion.  

 

Police chief Joe LaPorte stated that the handicap signs have been put in place and violators will be ticketed if they do not display a handicap placard.  Joe also stated that he would be more than happy to meet with the board and the local downtown merchants to discuss current parking areas and to work towards a better solution regarding the parking issues.

 

The select board informed Barry that should they find it necessary, they will take this matter up at a later board meeting and warned appropriately. 

 

6:30P.M.     Road form Report – Tom Fadden

 

                   Tom informed the board that things have been so far so good.  They are working on

winging back the banks and Monday started spot grading the roads.  Some spots are still a bit soft but they are drying up nicely. 

 

                   Saturday they had a frozen water main on Mackville Road.  The water line was frozen

from the curb stop to the main and the frozen pipe was about 4 feet into the middle of the road.

 

The town crew has also been working on cleaning the side streets in preparation for the street sweeper which they have scheduled for the last week of April.

 

Kathleen asked about a stop sign that was missing from Center road in East Hardwick and Tom explained that there were a few missing throughout Hardwick and the guys would be replacing those the following day.

 

                   The board also asked Tom when the paving bids would be going out for summer

paving and Tom explained that he has spoken to a couple of pavers just lately and suggested that we pave as soon as we can as liquid asphalt is going to be going much higher the longer we wait.

 

 

Emily Lanxner – Hardwick Area Learning Exchange

 

 

Emily Lanxner a representative from the Hardwick Area Learning Exchange requested

                   that her group be allowed the use of the Memorial Building third floor space to hold

                   Community dances.

 

                   The Town Manager explained that these are private dances and that under the current

                   Policy these are not an allowable use.  TM also explained that the Town has

                   Limitations on the use of the building primarily because we have only one fire exit from

                   the third floor.

 

Emily came to the board tonight because she did not agree with the Town Manager’s decision and wanted to speak with the board.

 

Emily stated that she disagreed with the TM because the dance that she wanted to sponsor was a free dance for the community; it would be drug and alcohol free and would provide free entertainment to the community.  The Learning exchange is a non-profit organization but would be collecting donations at the door to cover the sound system.  People would also be able to bring snacks to share. 

                  

One of the TM major concerns was that according to the policy we are not allowed to have more than 50 people in that room at one time and Town resources were not available to check on that.  Emily stated she does not feel there will be more than 30 people in attendance.

 

The TM does not object to the activity but, after looking at the policy and looking at the type of use he felt that it clearly did fall into the use policy of the building.  Other concerns talked about were alcohol consumption, only one way out of the building, who will be in charge of the clean up.   In section 5 of the policy it clearly states no parties or private entertainment.

 

Shari Cornish asked Emily if she has considered possibly using the Town House for this type of activity.  Emily stated that she is looking for a location primarily October – April and at this time the Town House has been closed for the winter.  Emily also stated she was looking for a space that was within walking distance of the Village and other locations charge a fee.

 

Tod stated that he agreed with the TM but that a new dynamic had been introduced with the Rec. Comm. and therefore would be okay with the dance with the stipulation in the usage policy stated events could be held if they were under the auspices of the Town’s recreation committee and suggested the committee host the event and have a member present.

                  

Ron Weisen said the recreation committee has been trying to farm out events and was happy to see someone outside the rec committee willing to step up and take on the responsibility to host a recreational event.  Ron assured the Board he be there and report back to the board.

 

The select board agreed that Emily would be permitted to use the Memorial building for this use. 

 

 

6:555P.M.     DWSRF Loan S. Main Street

 

-         Motion was made by Tod to approve and sign loan documentation on loan # WPL-148 through the State of Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation.  The loan is in the amount of $45,000 with and interest rate of 0%.  This loan is to cover

                        engineering and planning cost associated with S. Main street water project. 

 

-         Motion was 2nd by Shari and motion passed.

 

 

 7:00P.M.     Finding of Fact – Old Route 15

 

-         Motion was made by Richard Brochu to approve the minutes dated November 11, 2008 at the site.

-         Motion was seconded by Marcus Brown and passed.

                  

-         Motion was made by Tod to approve the Finding of Faxes regarding “Old Route 15” in the town of Hardwick.

 

-         Motion was 2nd by Richard Brochu and passed.

 

7:10P.M.      Food Venture Sewer Allocation

 

Please see attached Food Venture Sewer Connection application.  Food Venture is requesting 3000 GPD and a BOD of 25lbs per day.  TM informed the board that has been working with the engineer for the Food Venture and has requested that a monitor manhole be put in place at the location so if problems occur in the future we can monitor the discharge.  The engineer of the project really feels like 19 lbs of BOD per day would be sufficient but has requested 25lbs for a cushion.  The project also has holding and settling tank planned for the project.

 

-         Motion was made my Tod to give authorization to the Town Manager to sign the Sewer Connection permit submitted by Food Venture Center that would give Food Venture a sewer connection with a maximum daily flow of 3000 GPD and the strength of the waste will be 25 lbs of BOD per day.

-         Motion was 2nd by Richard Brochu and passed.

 

7:30p.m.      Appointment of CVSWD Alternate

 

-         Motion was made by Tod to nominate Pat Larson to be the Solid Waste District Alternative for the Town of Hardwick.

-         Motion was 2nd by Kathy Hemmens and Passed.

 

7:35P.M       Appointment of Hardwick Town Health Officer

 

-         Motion was made by Tod to appoint Rob Lewis Town Manager on an interim basis the Town Health Officer.   

-         Motion was 2nd by Kathy Hemmens and passed.

 

7:36P.M       Select Board Report

 

                    None

                  

7:38P.M.      Old Business

         

                    None

 

          Executive Sessions

 

7:40P.M.      -    Motion by Richard Brochu to go into Executive Session to include the TM for         

                        Personnel.                                     

                   -    Motion by 2nd by Tod

                   -    Motion passed

 

7:55P.M.      -    Motion by Marcus Brown to come out of Executive Session at 7:55P.M.

-         Richard Brochu 2nd

-         Motion passed

 

Action taken:

 

-         Motion was made by Marcus to offer Andrew Flagg the current open position of       

Zoning Administrator.

 

-         Motion was 2nd by Richard Brochu and motion passed.

 

7:56P.M.      -    Motion by Richard Brochu to go into Executive Session to include the TM

                        Legal.

                   -    Motion by 2nd by Marcus Brown

                   -    Motion passed

 

8:10P.M.      -    Motion by Richard Brochu to come out of Executive Session at 8:10P.M.

-         Marcus Brown 2nd

-         Motion passed

 

8:12P.M.      -    Motion by Richard Brochu to go into Executive Session to include the TM

                        Personnel   

                   -    Motion by 2nd by Marcus Brown

                   -    Motion passed

 

8:20P.M.      -    Motion by Richard Brochu to come out of Executive Session at 8:20P.M.   

                   -    Motion by 2nd by Marcus Brown

                   -    Motion passed

 

8:21P.M.      Adjourn

 

-         Motion made by Marcus to adjourn at 8:21P.M. and 2nd

     By Richard Brochu and passed unanimously to adjourn at 8:21P.M.

-         Motion passed Unanimously

 

 

 

Minutes approved by: Marcus Brown, Chairman

 

 

 

Minutes taken by: Rosie Gillen