BENNINGTON SELECT BOARD MEETING BENNINGTON FIRE FACILITY 130 RIVER STREET BENNINGTON, VERMONT 05201 MONDAY, JANUARY 11, 2010 MINUTES BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Lodie Colvin-Chair; Sharyn Brush-Vice-Chair; John Zink; Jason Morrissey; Joseph Krawczyk; Chris Oldham and Matt Maroney. ALSO PRESENT: Stuart Hurd-Town Manager; Scott Murphy-Director of Economic and Community Development; Connor Bruder; Neal Goswami-Bennington Banner and Nancy Lively-Recording Secretary. At 7:00 P.M., Lodie Colvin called the meeting to order. 1.MINUTES - DECEMBER 28, 2009 Sharyn Brush moved and John Zink seconded to approve the Minutes of December 28, 2009 as presented. The motion carried with Matt Maroney abstaining. 2. WARRANTS The warrants were circulated for signatures after Mr. Hurd answered Board questions on salt and delivery sales and service for the Water Department. 3. CITIZENS None. 4. INTERN REVIEW BY CONNOR BRUDER - MT. ANTHONY UNION HIGH SCHOOL'S 'SCHOOL TO WORK PROGRAM' Connor Bruder spent one semester learning how the Town operated as a participant in the Mt. Anthony Union High School 'School To Work Program', and a requirement of the course was for him to summarize his experience in a public venue. Mr. Bruder explained that he worked with each department of the Town where he found the TV robot in the Water and Sewer Department, tax assessment and zoning to be the areas of highest interest to him. The Board was impressed with this young man's presentation, and Mr. Krawczyk suggested that the school consider augmenting the 'School To Work Program' to the State level. 5. BENNINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT'S LETTER REGARDING SCHOOL STREET RECONSTRUCTION Mr. Hurd summarized that, during the construction of the addition at Bennington Elementary School, the Bennington School District stated that they were "informed by town officials" that the Town was planning to rebuild School Street this spring, and they wanted to coordinate the addition of a bus lane with the Town's construction. Even though this project may have been discussed at a lower level as something that the Town would like to do, it was never considered as a priority at the management level. The street and sidewalks on School Street are in much better condition that other areas of Town. Also, when the Middle School was required to put in the sidewalk/bike path, the cost of that was born by the school and not the Town. It is Mr. Hurd's recommendation that, if the school proceeds with this project, that they bear the cost of this, as well. It was the consensus of the Board that this portion of School Street has never been on the budgeted projects list and any repairs or improvements to the municipal infrastructure should be paid for by the Bennington School District. 6. BENNINGTON FREE LIBRARY - BOARD APPOINTMENT Joseph Krawczyk moved and John Zink seconded to appoint Chris Oldham to the Bennington Free Library Board. The motion carried unanimously. 7. 2010 LIQUOR AND TOBACCO LICENSE APPLICATIONS The 2010 First/Second Class Liquor License Application for K-Mart #9536 was circulated for signatures, as well as, the Liquor and Tobacco License Renewal Applications Approval Sheet on the following: 2010 Liquor License Renewal Applications - First Class Renewal 1.Elks, B.P.O., Bennington Lodge #567 2010 Liquor License Renewal Applications - Second Class Renewals 1.Beverage Den & Smoke Shop 2.Charlie's Mobil & More 3.Mincer's Mini Mart, Inc. 4.Price Chopper #171 2010 Tobacco License Renewal Applications 1.Beverage Den & Smoke Shop 2.Charlie's Mobil & More 3.Mincer's Mini Mart, Inc. 4.Price Chopper #171 8. MANAGER'S REPORT Mr. Hurd reported that the Common Level of Appraisal (CLA) for Bennington is 85.02 and for North Bennington 85.22, both down approximately 4 points from last year's 89. This means that properties are continuing to sell above the appraised value. The Coefficient of Dispersion (COD) for both the Town and Village is 15.02. Both the CLA and COD are computed using 3 years information (2006-2009) and our Chief Assessor believes that this should level off next year given the economic downturn and slowing real estate market. If the CLA falls below 80 and/or the COD exceeds 20, we are required to do a reappraisal. We are at least a year or two from that. A full reappraisal of our 6,000 properties would presently cost $500,000 and we only have $200,000 in our reappraisal reserve. When we do do another three year rolling reappraisal, however, we would not make any changes until the third year after all properties had been done. 9. OTHER BUSINESS Ms. Brush announced that the Green Mountain RSVP and Price Chopper will have a "Stuff A Bus Day" food drive at Price Chopper on Friday, January 15, 2010. 10. EXECUTIVE SESSION A.CONTRACTS At 7:25 P.M., John Zink moved and Chris Oldham seconded to go into Executive Session to discuss Contracts. The motion carried unanimously. Respectfully submitted, Nancy H. Lively Secretary