MINUTES SELECT BOARD MEETING
6:00 P.M. Thursday, April 2, 2015
HARDWICK MEMORIAL BUILDING
3RD FLOOR MEETING ROOM
Select Board
Eric Remick, Chair - Late
Kathleen Hemmens, Vice Chair
Lawrence Hamel
Shari Cornish - Late
Elizabeth (Wiz) Dow
Others Present
Jon Jewett, Town Manager
Brittany Cote, Executive Assistant
Alberta Miller, Town Clerk
Tom Fadden, Road Foreman
Others Present
Mike Bielawski-Gazette
Mary Westervelt, HED
Karen Holmes, Zoning Admin.
Joe Rivard, Planning Commission
Judy Withers, Energy Committee
6:02 P.M. Meeting called to order- Kathleen Hemmens, Select Board Vice-Chair, called the regular Select
Board meeting to order.
6:02 P.M. – Approval of the minutes of the Regular Select Board meeting of March 19, 2015.
Kathleen tabled this item until there was a quorum of Board members present from the previous meeting.
6:03 P.M. - Set/Adjust Agenda – Jon asked to change the Hardwick Police Department report to Hardwick
Electric Report. Upon motion by Lawrence Hamel, seconded by Elizabeth Dow, the Select Board voted to
adjust the agenda as requested.
6:04 P.M. - Communication from the Audience – None
6:04 P.M. – 6:06 P.M. Road Foreman Report – Given by Tom Fadden
Tom reported that he and staff had hung the spring banners in Town. He said that staff had repaired one
plugged sewer and they had performed some spring road repairs on Bunker Hill Road, Hopkins Hill Road, and
Dimick Road along with a few other smaller road sections graded to remove deep ruts. Tom said he has been
tightening up on expenses as requested by the Town Manager. Tom also reported that he has been rotating guys
on and off duty to use up compensatory time to save on the budget. Finally, Tom said that Tod’s truck was
broken down for a short while as they attempted to fix a tensioner pulley on the engine. He noted that the truck
was 7 years old and having more issues lately. Kathleen asked if Tom would checkout the ruts on Montgomery
Road. Tom said he would go up on Friday.
6:06 P.M. – 6:16 P.M. Town Manager Report – Given by Jon Jewett
Jon reported about items such as the Shatney lawsuit, audit bids, water system upgrade, Mackville Road bond
and grant applications, Mackville water line, South Main St project, Town street lights, and water source
protection plans. (See attached for more details)
6:16 P.M. – 6:21 P.M. Hardwick Electric Report – Given by Mary Westervelt
Mary reported that HED will be sending a representative to the Select Board meeting once per month. She
reported that the annual audit showed that the company’s finances were improving. She also mentioned HED,
with the advice of legal counsel, withdrew the law suit against Mark Bellavance as it didn’t appear that there
would be any advantage to continuing the suit. She reported that HED staff were working to improve customer
service; they had developed a new website, and installed a new phone system. Kathleen mentioned that the new
phone system worked well when she needed to use it. Mary reported that HED was still considering a new solar
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project that would be approximately 10 acres in size and would be located in one area of the Town gravel pit.
When asked about the impact of the project on the Town, Tom said this would not affect the Public Works staff
who might be handling gravel at the pit as the pit is very large. Larry asked if the solar project would be in the
vicinity of the police shooting range. Mary said it would be easier for the police to find a new area then move
the project elsewhere. Considering the size of the parcel of land under consideration, 600 acres, all uses will
likely be accommodated.
This discussion preceded Item #1 below due to the absence of the presenters. 6:21P.M. – 6:46 P.M., Item
#2, Tom Fadden and Jon Jewett to discuss summer project list with the Select Board.
Jon went over the summer projects that were lined up for the public works crew. (See attached for more details)
Larry asked when the sweeper would be coming in. Jon said he thought it would be the 2nd Saturday in May and the
work would be completed in one day using 3 sweepers. Other projects discussed included water work relating to the
installation of the new water meters. Tom said that his staff would need to dig up the water curb stops to make sure
they were all working and accessible, so the water could be shut off as necessary. Tom went on to say that he would
like to GPS all the shutoff locations when they were located. Eric, Tom, and Jon had a discussion about the
purchase and production of gravel used on the Town’s Class 3 roads.
Kathleen asked what work the Town was planning to do on the wastewater treatment plant this summer. Jon said
that staff had performed a major repair on the liner last year and he hoped to continue to replace additional liner
materials this summer. He said that they were also looking into removing biosolids too, but additional sampling and
details needed to be worked out. Eric asked about the budget overage on salt and where we could save money. Tom
said that the Town was over about $20,000 on sand and salt, but the department is trying to tighten up on other
expenditures to help reduce the shortfall.
6:46 P.M. – 7:02 P.M. Item #1, Planning Commission update on Town bylaw revisions – Joe Rivard,
Chair and Karen Holmes, Zoning Administrator.
Karen said the Planning Commission meets on the second Tuesday of each month. She said they have been
working on updating the Town bylaws, but the Planning Commission had not applied for a planning grant
because the Town Plan was just approved last September and they all needed a break from the deadlines. She
noted that the Planning Commission has been developing a priority list of needed work relating to zoning issues.
Eric asked what the planning grant was for. Karen said it was to hire the NVDA to work with them on planning
projects. Karen said that she will apply for the next round of funding due in September. (See attached for more
details on items they are working on). Karen indicated that the next step is to align the new Town Plan with the
current bylaws to see where they coincide and where they diverge. She indicated that the flood hazard piece
would be time consuming. Jon mentioned without the flood mitigation piece in place, FEMA would not fully
fund disasters in the future. Eric asked if these rules were only for future development. Karen said the rules
impact everyone, but for new development, developers would have to mitigate flood impacts and replace
floodplain land used for development with a similar amount of alternative land to be preserved as floodplain.
Eric mentioned that the fire station was in the floodplain. Jon agreed and pointed out said the Hardwick Electric
warehouse building was in the floodplain too.
Jon asked about Development Review Board meeting ads being placed in the newspaper. He was looking to
save budget money if the Town could post them on its webpage and on Front Porch Forum rather than posting
an ad. Wiz spoke about the Open Meeting Law and the required public notifications and let those present know
that notifications requiring public access to computer systems, were still not acceptable. After some discussion,
everyone generally agreed to continue using newspaper ads as necessary to meet statute. Jon brought up that if
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the costs for zoning actions continue to go up, the Town might have to consider raising zoning fees.
7:02 P.M. – 7:10 P.M. Item #3, Jon Jewett and Alberta Miller to overview results of tax sale for the Select
Board.
Jon reported that the auditors recommended that the Town put un-landed mobile homes up for tax sale to ensure
that the taxes were eventually paid. He gave an update on properties that were purchased by the Town during
the recent sale. Several were not un-landed mobile homes, but were properties previously purchased at tax sale
by another buyer who wasn’t present at the latest tax sale. Jon said that we know the Town will get its money
on these properties as the earlier purchaser of these properties will redeem them.
Kathleen asked about the various abandoned properties in located throughout the Town. Alberta said that the
taxes were being paid on these properties even though they weren’t being maintained. It was suggested that the
Town approach some of these property owners using the Town’s Unsafe Properties Ordinance to have them
cleaned up.
Kathleen inquired about when the Town would have accurate numbers on this year’s Grand List. Alberta said
she would have the final numbers by June 30, 2015. She said tax bills are usually in the mail by the beginning
of July.
7:10 P.M. – 7:12 P.M. Item #4, Select Board to review and approve Class One Liquor Licenses for the
Hardwick House of Pizza and the American Legion Post. Select Board to review and approve Class 2
Liquor and Tobacco Licenses for the Hardwick Village Market, Tops Market LLC, and D&L Beverage
in East Hardwick (including a Class 2 license for the Buffalo Mountain COOP)
Alberta reported that she had 6 licenses to approve. Upon motion by Lawrence Hamel, seconded by Kathleen
Hemmens, the Board voted to approve all presented tobacco and liquor licenses as listed above.
7:12 P.M. -7:14 P.M. Upon motion by Larry Hamel, seconded by Shari Cornish, the Board voted to approve the
minutes of March 19, 2015 as written.
Select Board Reports- Shari reported about the Town House Historical Society event to be held at 6pm on
Tuesday, April 7th.
New Business - None
Old Business- Shari asked if the Planning Commission could update the Board more often to make sure the
Commission is staying on track to update the bylaws. The Town Manager said that he and Brittany would get
them on the agenda from time to time.
7:20 P.M. Eric adjourned the regular meeting.
Minutes approved by:
Eric Remick, Chair of the Select Board
Minutes taken by:
Brittany Cote, Executive Assistant
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