VILLAGE DISTRICT OF EIDELWEISS
Commissioners Meeting
January 30, 2020
Public: Kelly Robitaille, Chief King, Paula Doyle, Dinah Reiss
Commissioners in attendance Jay Buckley, Adam Leiser
Filmed by Tim Hughes of Madison TV
Adam calls the meeting to order at 9:10am.
Jay motion: approve agenda. Adam second. Vote yes 2-0
Adam motion: call Kathy. Second Jay. Vote yes 2-0
Chief King discussed that MPD is a reactionary police dept. First complaint about speed in Eidleweiss. Accidents have occurred but no speeding issues. Compaintant should report directly to MPD. MPD has made a difference with different speed traps in town. Speed trailer is currently out of service and not an option in the winter because of the cold. Chief King wants to know the time speeders are happening. Paula Doyle reports that weekdays is when it’s worse, workday times. Chief King invited Paula to join him in the cruiser. That offer is open to anyone. Jay reports that improved road condition contributes to the problem. Chief King wants to know if VDOE wants a feedback sign. Decatur electronics or custom electronics are major radar dealers to research from. Chief King guesses 1k-2k per and they are solar powered. Kelly reports that private plow guys are the biggest culprits. Chief King reports an “open door policy” for anyone who wants to talk.
Adam motion: write a letter to Terri Warren about speeding. Second Jay. Vote yes 3-0.
Fireworks discussed. Adam states in 2019 it was a huge problem in the VDOE. Chief King reports the fines may increase soon. Property owners can be charged if renters are causing trouble. Property owners can’t allow it. Adam suggests CC convey this message.
We have the opportunity to hire police that are off duty. Rate is $50-$70 per hour. Dog ordinance could be enforced. Chief King doesn’t believe any fines collected would come to us. Fines are expected to increase.
Adam reads a letter he prepared for Kelly. Kelly objects that a letter is in front of him to sign. Adam states that because of confusion, a letter is necessary. Kelly states that he hasn’t seen a video with health insurance discussion. Kelly says this is “the worst offering he’s seen”. Jay says he was in favor of offering a family plan to employees. Jay reports that the BOC agreed to offer a two person plan. Kathy reports that the vote was passed 3-0. Kelly complains that he can’t get affordable health care. Jay agrees that the board would sign something. Jay and Kelly had a conversation about the 10k buyout. Kelly will not sign or accept any money. Adam states that this is a non-public discussion. Jeff didn’t sign anything so Jay says Kelly shouldn’t have to sign anything either. Adam states Peter Chapel met with Kelly. Kelly states he wants the family plan but also thinks it stinks.
Adam instructs admin to get Kelly back on insurance. Kelly believes the district had huge liability because he wasn’t insured.
Adam states that employees should have to sign something in the future. Admin should put health insurance in their Sept to do list.
22 Middle Shore has an issue with ice in the road. It is one of the properties we changed the culvert. Jay reports that he saw issues here earlier. He had called Ian back in the fall to report a possible water leak. Underdrain at property exists. Kelly suggests sending a letter to property owner regarding underdrain. Property owned by a part-timer. Adam suggests we invite the property owner to a meeting. Admin to do it.
Dinah asks about Burgdorf and whether or not Kelly is allowed to do the project. Kelly and Jay believe he is. Adam states we need to get something in writing from DES. Kelly is supposed to meet with DES next week. He has pictures and all else. Adam states we need this prior to the annual meeting.
Outhouse deconstruction
Burgdorf
Little
Loop
Thusis
Upper Lakeview
Porridge Shore
St. Moritz
Regrading roads
Replacing culverts – Kelly reports at least five need to be replaced at 2 guys, 1 day per project.
Kelly suggests removing money from budget and putting it into warrants. Kelly says we could get 7k from gravel budget. Adam reports that he presented 2k per mile on gravel road maintenance. This isn’t a new report. Kelly reports that the VDOE can benefit from economies of scale. Adam reports that $105,000 per year should be the road number each year.
Jay suggests they weren’t opposed to warrant articles. Kathy suggests we add 10%. Adam reiterates that discussing numbers doesn’t matter so long as we total the number at $105,000 annually.
Kelly states we have other big ticket items. Kelly wishes he had been a part of the process. Adam states that Jay has been the DPW liaison and could have shared this information with the DPW.
Kelly says the asphalt roads are falling apart and he’d prefer fixing asphalt roads to gravel roads.
Adam asks if St. Moritz can be done with the grader. Kelly says no. Engineer recommendation to pave it. No estimate has ever been requested. Kelly to get a number. Adam says we need specs.
Jay to review report from White Mountain Survey. Jay will have something for the next BOC meeting.
Adam suggests we have multiple paving companies bid on multiple paving projects. Kelly reports overlays Chocorua, Aspen, and Klauzen (more than just an overlay). Klauzen is a total reclaim.
Kathy leaves the meeting.
Adam asks if Jay or Kelly know how many feet of road are on Chocorua and Aspen. Estimate for Eidelweiss was $69,000 for overlay.
Jay to get length and width of roads.
No machine issues. Kelly disputes that he said grader won’t last two more years.
Jay rode with Kelly in new truck. Report is that it’s working well and we should get the same truck again.
Adam reports that Reinach tank part 2 will be out to bid next week.
Jay wonders if we need legal to review. Adam says no. Jay says legal should have reviewed it.
Jay asks if we should send site work bid to legal as well. Adam wonders if engineer assumes liability. Jay wants legal to review it. Possibility of road damage is discussed.
Adam motion: Make a motion to call Chris Albert. Second Jay. Vote yes 2-0
Site work to go out on Monday. Adam asks if legal should review. Chris reports it’s the same as state contracts. He expects addendums and further questions from bidders. Jay specifically asks about road damage. Chris says it’s in the contract and is standard in any contract.
Jay motion: to send to legal as soon as it arrives.
Adam asks if it is standard to send to legal or are we just delaying a project and adding costs. Chris says most towns do not send to legal. Adam says he won’t second the motion because Chris reports most towns don’t send these to legal. Additive alternates are discussed. They will be sent to the VDOE when completed. Chris reports that a number of people are interested in bidding the project. He is going to put it in the paper too.
Employee handbook discussed. Adam mentions only one red mark from attorney. To be discussed next week. Adam reiterates that if this was done 8 months ago the district would be in better shape. Adam asks if Jay agrees. Response is “not necessarily”.
Adam reports that the town of Madison has no bonds but does have leases on trucks. $2,700,000 is Town of Madison Budget. Adam reports he’s looking into other towns.
EPOA emailed asking about an HOA fee.
No issue on granite state drinking water.
91a requests – Scanner and computer set up by a property owner. Person was there for an hour.
Jay to be meeting with Iron Mountain at 9am on Monday in the office. Adam asks if we got a response from Steve Buckley regarding storage of public documents.
Adam reports that a second engineer stated 10k was the right budget number for the tight tank project.
Jay and Adam wonder where we are with backup sound on trucks.
DPW is using email and new phones. Admin to get info from DPW on backup for trucks. Where are we?
Jay to contact sheriff’s dept and report the virtual number as the only number to be contacted unless it’s water related.
Donna 23, 29.75
Kristin 18.75, 17.25
Kelly 50.5, 55
Jeff 45, 52.5
Tony 8
Jay motion to approve payroll in the amount of $6938.50. Adam second. Vote yes 2-0.
Adam motion to approve the manifest for $10,228.77. Jay second. Dinah suggests the 3k for Jones and Beach eventually get paid for the grant money. Adam agrees. Jay isn’t sure. Further discussion needs to happen because Adam can’t approve this alone. Question arises on 10k in legal that seems to be removed from the operations budget. Adam reports he missed part of that budget meeting which is why he doesn’t know. Jay changes his mind on the 3k expense and approves it as a Reinach expense. Vote yes 2-0
Dinah asks about the 2018 loan from the water budget. Oak Ridge was paid early. Admin to review the lease and see if we can save money by paying early.
Tan interest rate is 3.25% according to Dinah. Buying a truck outright could cause that expense.
Email reviewed by a possibly buyer of a lot. Adam says we can’t get involved in any recommendations or discussions.
Adam states he thought the BOC had recommended the CC create a packet for possible buyers.
Adam reports that he followed up with Chief Clark. It’s all a public document for anyone to review.
Jay spoke with Chief Clark about the intake pipe. Adam asks when conversation occurred. Adam asks Jay to send verification of a conversation before a meeting. Jay asks for permission to do this. Adam says send confirmation email and go from there so board can decide.
Kerry McNiven is going to receive the proposed dam policy.
Jay reports he has to leave at 12:30.
Jay says he hadn’t seen the dam policy. Adam says he should have requested it.
Jay motion: adopt the dam policy that was presented Saturday night. Adam second. Policy is revised. Vote yes 2-0.
Discussion on budget ensues: Bergdorf and paving.
BOC got to $105,000 for road maintenance on the budget.
Admin to follow up with the EPOA on letter from September.
Jay discusses the truck. Jay wants the truck as a bond.
Adam states the word is “defer” but not “lower”.
Adam suggests Jay support the BOC and support buying a truck outright and without a bond.
Order of warrant articles determined. Jay and Adam are in agreement.
Jay summarizes a conversation he had with the DRA. Jay called the DRA on Tuesday. Adam asks why he called the DRA. Adam wonders why bring attention to something we fixed. Jay says he doesn’t need approval to contact the DRA. Adam reiterates we had already scheduled the meeting so it was unnecessary.
Jay believes this is a public discussion. Adam has no knowledge and won’t discuss it.
Adam motion to adjourn. Second Jay. Vote yes 2-0.