OFFICE OF THE SELECTBOARD
TOWN OF HALIFAX, VERMONT
REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
MAY 2ND, 2023
6:00 PM AT THE HALIFAX TOWN OFFICE
CALL TO ORDER
Silverberg called the meeting to order at 06:01 PM. Selectboard Members present were Tristan Roberts, Edee Edwards, Patrick McAllister and Peter Silverberg. Others present in person or remotely were David Jones, Doug Parkhurst, Marilou Parkhurst, Paul Blais, Alison Crossley and Michael Fournier.
CHANGES AND ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA
- E911 coordinator added to old business
APPROVAL PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES
- April 4th 2023
- Corrections:
- Strike through: the amount in drinking water is .002 ppb in drinking water.
- Correct Bettye Roberts name.
- Edee made a motion to approve corrections. Patrick second. Passed 3-0
- Corrections:
- April 18th 2023
- Corrections:
- Old Business: Add PFAS word in the first sentence.
- Old Business: Strike through: Well 4.
- Old Business: Add Community Assessment and Prioritization Program (CAPP)
- Edee made a motion to approve corrections. Pete second. Passed 3-0
- Corrections:
- March 7th 2023, February 28th 2023, February 25th 2023
- Edee made a motion to postpone to allow for quorum by selectboard members present during those meetings. Patrick second. Passed 3-0
OLD BUSINESS
- Community Assessment and Project Prioritization 2nd Meeting May 6, 2023, 12:30-2:30pm, Halifax School (Announcement by Edee)
- Blais notes Hazard Mitigation plan could cover some topics discussed.
- Fournier notes APRA funds were made possible by COVID and road crew stayed open through that time period
- Selectboard openly discusses the need for a specific meeting to decide exactly where the ARPA funds go – Must commit by 2024, spend must be by 2026.
- Special Meeting May 20th 10am – noon, location Town Office.
- Agenda Item to discuss Fiber Rollout & Resiliency project for May 31st VT state match deadline
- Roadside Ash Removal – Good Standing Insurance Certificate
- Pete confirmed paperwork has been completed.
- Review Rules of Procedure (under administrative policy online; last adopted July 2022)
- Discussion regarding who has discretion for agenda within document:Board or Chair?
- Blais notes Robert’s Rules of Order has section for small boards that covers this procedure.
- Edee notes that the prior board has already adopted this procedure.
- Patrick makes a motion to adopt the Selectboard Rules of Procedure with item D.1 to be revised to read as follows: “Each regular and special meeting of the Board shall have an agenda. Those who wish to be added to the meeting agenda shall contact any member of the board to request inclusion on the agenda. The Chair has discretion to place time limits, sequence or create a schedule for the meeting, or to limit the final agenda to relevant topics.” Pete seconds. Passed 4-0
NEW BUSINESS:
- Local Emergency Management Plan
- Blais notes Windham Regional Commission will review this document for emergency planning. Local emergency management plan will then need to be updated as Hazard Mitigation plan gets published to align them.
- Copy of Local Emergency Management Plan is saved in Town Office
- Edee made motion to adopt the Local Emergency Management Plan. Tristan second. Passed. 4-0
- Pennel Hill Rd. beaver deceiver revision
- Pete notes that himself & road crew worked on the dam at Pennel Hill to remove blockage due to beavers. Solution that will be implemented is adding rigid piping to move sound down to entice Beavers to not keep building. Continued monitoring will occur.
- Post vacancy for 1-Year Auditor seat unfilled during Town Meeting (Action required)
- VLCT says 2 & 3 year auditor can be invited to take oath of office and if they do not come, then auditors can be posted as vacancy by selectboard.
- Individuals that met the threshold of write-ins during the election told the Chair that they would not agree to take the positions for which they were written-in
- While the Selectboard wants to respect the wishes of the Town that voted to use local auditors. Patrick confirmed we could hire if all possibilities are exhausted and could try to save on costs by contracting for a less detailed report than previous year.
- Need to post 1- Year, 2-Year, 3-Year auditor positions for appointment – contact Patrick
- Patrick noted that elected auditors do not need audit or accounting experience to hold this position. Auditors will not be required to prepare the Town Report.
- Positions need to be posted in paper and in town
- Appointments last until the next Town Meeting OR another election
- Selectboard members to ask people in the community to apply
- VLCT says 2 & 3 year auditor can be invited to take oath of office and if they do not come, then auditors can be posted as vacancy by selectboard.
- VLCT guidance and Town Treasurer note for 2-Year and 3-Year Write In Auditor positions (Discussion)
- Professional auditor, potentially Bonnie, needs to be hired by end of July
- Open Meeting Law–Collaborative Documents (e.g. Google Docs); Agenda & Meeting logistics exception; Meeting Minutes edits process
- Pete asked VLCT regarding using collaborative documents for agendas. VLCT responded that open meeting law has an exception for creating agendas for selectboard and states in favor of using google doc as long as no decisions are being made.
- Selectboard agrees to trying out google doc collaboration for agenda items only.
- Pete will ask VLCT regarding collaborative docs for meeting minutes.
- Quarterly Town Finances Review
- The Finance committee has held two meetings.
- Patrick notes committee has reviewed third quarter financial reports – no overall concerns. They are developing a plan to upgrade skills and management of finances to understand overages and forecasts.
- Edee will coordinate with Ann Manwaring (DV Fiber rep) $40,000 ARPA funds to be invoiced by the deadline of match by May 31st.
- Jones notes that the only requirement is to have an intent letter/invoice from the selectboard by May 31st. Requirement doesn’t include receiving actual funds.
- Selectboard members as liaisons discussion
- Selectboard discussion around selectmen taking on responsibilities as liaisons to support community communications.
- Edee liaison Windham Regional Commission
- Edee and Karen to discuss road commissioner position/responsibilities on May 11th
- Tristan liaison DV Fiber
- Pete liaison Road Crew
OTHER BUSINESS
- BDCC Economic Development Summit – Tristan Attending
- E911 Coordinator Appointment
- Motion made by Edee to appoint Dennis Annear as the E911 Coordinator until next election. Patrick second. Passed 4-0
HEARING OF VISITORS
- Motion made by Edee for hearing of visitors in the middle of the meeting. Pete seconded. Passed 4-0
- Fournier advised the board he wished to begin the process for highway essential bids now although purchases will not be made until July. Includes: blacktop, sand, stone, gravel
- Selectboard had no objection
- Bid Opening Date: June 6th 6pm
- Need to post in Deerfield Valley news: May 30th for Thursday posting. Fournier to support admin assistant (Alison) in taking care of this.
- Fournier asks for approval to make the truck currently being built capable of hauling a trailer for additional amount of approximately $1000 and showed board members the estimate.
- Selectboard agreed.
- Motion made by Patrick to go into executive session. Edee seconded. Passed 4-0
EXECUTIVE SESSION
- Personnel Issue
- Motion made by Patrick at 7:58 to go into executive session. Edee seconded. Passed 4-0.
- Motion made by Pete to end executive session at 8:08 noting no decisions were made.
SELECTBOARD ORDER
- The Selectboard Order was read and signed. The Highway Order was discussed.
CORRESPONDENCE
- Pete to get with constable to complete personnel information
- Pete to complete application for use of school facilities and equipment for CAPP community meeting on May 6th
- Donald Cael Scholarship
- Deadline: May 15th 2023
- Pete to coordinate with Chum to schedule joint meeting (Schoolboard/Selectboard) to review applicants
- Pete completed Windham County Humane Society and gave to admin assistant(Alison) to mail back.
- D2R2 August 19th 2023 – Road bike race coming through Halifax, no roads will be required to close and they have noted having insurance.
ADJOURNMENT
Meeting adjourned at 8:55 by Edee. Seconded by Patrick. Passed 3-0.
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