A meeting of the Hardwick Select Board was held on Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 7:00 P.M. in the 3^rd floor meeting room of the Hardwick Memorial Building.

Members Present Also Present

Richard Brochu Town Manager Rob Lewis

Shari Cornish Chief Joe LaPorte

Marcus Brown Rosie Gillen

M. Tod Delaricheliere Alberta Miller Town Clerk

Kathleen Hemmens Tom Fadden Road Forman

Ron Bellavance, Fire Chief

Gary & JoAnn Dimick

Marc & Sara Urban

7:00 P.M. Meeting called to order by Marcus Brown

7:05 P.M. Approval of Minutes of November 19, 2009

- Tod Delaricheliere made the motion to accept the Minutes, with the following amendments.

- Pg 4 Tod Delaricheliere requesed himself from the deliberative session

and the vote on the Pent road, because he was not in attendance for the hearing.

- Pg 2 Nancy Knotterman report remove the word “grants” and replaced with “loans”.

- Pg 2 Police Chief Report the top 3 candidates were sent to take initial tests and to attend the academy, not have been sent letters to attend the police academy.

- Kathleen Hemmens seconded the motion.

- Motion passed

7:08 P.M. Set/Adjust Agenda

- Town Manager Rob Lewis requested that an executive session be added for Legal.

- Tod added Item # 6 for a discussion on Select Board meeting times

- Marcus also added Item # 7 for action for the Police Task Force to seek

authority to seek bonding.

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

- Richard Brochu seconded the motion.

- Motion passed unanimously.

7:10 P.M. Communications from the Audience

-None

7:11 P.M. Police Chief’s Department Report

- Police Chief Reported the following:

- Top 3 candidates have passed the entrance exam and physiological testing required to attend the academy. All 3 candidates also passed the written exam and back ground checks successfully.

- The State has issued a provisional appointment for Kevin LaPlante to work as a full time certified officer. Kevin will be required to complete some training by June 2010.

- The Police Task Force has been looking at various sites around Town for a new and improved Police Department to allow for increased space.

- Marcus stated hopefully the Task Force will narrow down the five options to 3 and then bring the options to the full board by the 1^st meeting in January 2010.

- Marcus asked Joe if he felt that he has a good pool of candidates on a list for future needs. Joe stated that he does and he has ranked the remaining candidates and will hopefully be able to pull from this list in the future if and when the need arises.

- Marcus also asked the Chief if this group of candidates could be a source of Part Time officers to which the Chief answered in the affirmative.

- The # 1 candidate that Joe interviewed will be attending the Vermont State Police Academy as will as be offered a full time position with HPD. The 2^nd and 3^rd candidates will also be sent to the academy but as part time officers.

7:15 P.M. Town Public Works Foreman’s Report

-Tom Fadden reported that:

-There is a manhole sticking up on Spring Street and he asked all town residents that happen to plow driveways on Spring Street to be aware of this because if they happen to hit this it could cause substantial damage to their trucks.

- Tom also asked all residents to not park on the side streets during the

winter plow season and to please park their cars in their allotted parking spaces.

- The Highway garage has recently completed a small project. They have taken an old plow frame and mounted it with a plow blade which they were given from another town. Now they will have a spare which can be mounted to the grader. So if in the future they happen to have a plow truck down for any reason they will be able to plow with the grader.

- Tm stated that there is a parking band in effect for all Streets from 12a.m. until 6:00a.m. and the parking ban notice has been put in The Hardwick Gazette. TM also stated that this will be enforced and violators will be ticketed.

-Tom advised residents that the Highway crew will be clearing village streets either Friday or Saturday night after 12:00midnight.

- Marcus asked Tom if West Church street sidewalks are cleared and and how far down West Church street they go in the winter. Tom informed Marcus that they only clear a small section around by the library to about the food pantry and this and the rest of the sidewalk is too difficult to keep open.

-Rob thanked the highway crew for also removing some old plants and misc materials at the Library.

7:25 P.M. Town Manager’s Report

-Please see attached

7:35 P.M. Caledonia County Request for resolution supporting the continued existence of the Superior, District and Family Courts

-After a short discussion regarding Judge Vance’s request that the Select Board support and approve a resolution in support of the continued existence of the Superior District and Family Courts of Caledonia County.

- Motion was made by Tod to approve a resolution to support in the continued existence of the Superior, District and Family courts as presently configured in Caledonia County.

- Motion was 2^nd by Richard Brochu

- Passed unanimously

7:45 P.M. Item # 2 Utility Truck Purchase

Due to the fact that the highway department has been using their personal vehicles to complete Town work the TM has asked the board to approve the purchase out of cycle a GMC 2006 2500HD 4X4 with Tow package V8 ¾ Ton from McMahons Chevrolet in Morrisville.

The actual purchase price of the Vehicle will be $17995.00 but he has also asked that an additional amount of $1000.00 be appropriated by the board to cover lighting and winter tires. The board agreed that the cost will be split equally between General Capital Equipment Replacement fund and Water & Sewer. The above price also includes a $500.00 down payment.

A brief discussion ensued. Marcus asked Tom if he planned to drive the truck home at night? Tom stated that he did not plan on doing that. Marcus also asked TM how operating cost would be handled. TM stated that the purchase would be split equally between General, Water & Sewer but had not decided the exact process yet.

- Tod made a motion to approve the purchase of the above truck from McMahons Chevrolet in Morrisville in the amount of $17995.00 with an additional amount for winter tires and lighting the total price not to exceed $19,000.00. This purchase will come from the General Capital Equipment Replacement Fund initially.

- Motion was 2^nd by Richard

- Motion Passed.

7:55 P.M. TM Report and Discussion of CVSWMD

- Upon completion of a brief report by the Town Manager, Tod explained to the rest of the Board that he hoped they would not consider forming their own district. It’s a lengthy and costly process. While it may seem like we are spending a lot of money it is because the current district does all the required paper work for us.

- Motion was made by Tod to make Rob Lewis the alternate board member for the CVSWMD.

- Kathleen Hemmens seconded the motion.

- Motion passed unanimously.

8:15 P.M. Item # 4 Set Public Hearing for Laying-Out new Rd

See attached Recommendation from the TM.

Kathleen asked what the Town’s Responsibility was if the Town updated the road to

a class 4 road. TM stated that the town would not be responsible for anything because there are no bridges or culverts on the section of road in question.

- Motion was made by Tod to give approval and set a public hearing date.

- Motion was 2^nd by Richard

- Motion Passed.

The next steps would be a public Notice in the news paper and then in 30 days will have a site visit and hear testimony.

8:20P.M. Item # 5 Select Board Meeting Time

- Motion was made by Tod to change the Select Board Meeting time from 7:00P.M. back to 6:00P.M. This will be effective at the next scheduled board meeting on December 17, 2009.

- Motion was 2^nd by Kathleen

- Motion passed.

8:25P.M. Item # 6 Authorization for Task Force to seek Bonding for PD

- Richard made the following motion. The Select Board of the Town of Hardwick hereby directs the Hardwick PD Facility Task Force to move forward with a possible Hardwick PD bond issue, with the goal of bringing this to the Voters in March. Such recommendation must be returned to the board no later than January 07, 2010.

- Motion was 2^nd by Tod

- Motion passed

8:30P.M. Board Recessed for 5 minute break

8:35P.M. Board back to regular meeting

8:40P.M. 2011 Department Budgets: Highway, Fire Dept, And Police Dept & Office

Highway

- Tm stated that there would be approximately 56k savings overall for health insurance on the highway insurance fee’s.

- Highway budget overall down 4.74%

- The board asked to see the Equipment repair line be broken out into two categories, one for equipment repair and the second one for equipment expense.

- Small discussion on Streetscape Maintenance. The budget for 2011 had no monies for Streetscape Maintenance. The board agreed to fund this line with $1000.00 to be used for flags and various holiday decorations, with the hopes that other Town agencies would share this responsibility in the future.

- Increase the highway gas line from $2100.00 to $3000.00 due to the fact that the Town has just purchased the new highway utility vehicle which will take gas.

Fire Dept

- Break out Diesel and list separately on the Fire Dept budget.

- Fire Department budget up 5.59%.

Police Department

- Pd budget did not have salary increases accounted for on Pd employees. Tm will correct this and have revised figures for the next Budget task Force committee meeting.

Office

For office salaries the following is what will be reflected in the 2011 budget.

For the TM Salary line item it will include the TM, Office Manager and Executive Assistant.

For the Town Clerk Salary line item this will include the Town Clerk/ Treasures and the Town Clerk Assistant.

The VLCT PACIF insurance will be budgeted higher to account for the Town House portion that the Town will be covering.

Marcus asked Rob if he had any plans for the equipment purchase line item in the amount of $4000.00. TM stated that he would like to purchase a new computer monitor for himself as well as the A/R module from Nemrc.

10:00P.M. Additional Meeting

The board has scheduled an additional meeting for budget purposes on January 14, 2010 at 6:00P.M. to make sure all budgets are complete and ready for Town Report.

10:15P.M. Executive Session

- Motion was made by Richard to go into executive session for legal to include the Town Manager as well as Mark & Sarah Urban.

- Motion was 2^nd by Kathleen

- Motion Passed.

10:45P.M. Executive Session

- Motion was made by Kathleen to come out of Executive Session

- Motion was 2^nd by Tod

- Motion Passed

No Action Taken

10:46 P.M. Motion to Adjourn

-Richard Brochu made the motion to adjourn.

-M. Tod Delaricheliere seconded the motion

-Motion passed unanimously.

Minutes approved by: Marcus Brown

Minutes taken by: Rosie Gillen