Dec 15

12/15/2008

Town of Johnson
Joint Meeting between the Village Trustees and the Select board
Monday, December 15, 2008- 6:00PM
Upstairs, Johnson Municipal Building

APPROVED
Trustees present: Gordy Smith, Will Jennison, Walter Pomroy, Ellis O’Hear

Select board members present: Eric Osgood, Howard Romero, Brad Reed, Franklin Hooper, Margo Warden

Others present: Duncan Hastings; Administrator, Rosemary Audibert; Town Clerk, Lea Kilyadova, Jim MacDowell, Kim Dunkley, Jessica Flores, Michael Crane, Charles Hess Jr.

Eric called the meeting to order at 6:08pm.

Michael Crane from VHA presented a synopsis of his Johnson Housing Study: The objective of the study was to determine the housing demand in the town & village. It’s called a Municipal wide housing assessment. The population of Johnson, both town and village, is 3,437 people, give or take 7%. It’s expected to grow about half a percent every year, or about 20 people per year. The population in 2030 should be about 3,920. That’s 1,690 new households. This does include the college students. So you’re going to have a net increase of 504 new residents, and a net increase of 406 new households. You have to plan for about 400 new households.
The median age in Johnson is 26 years old, that’s 10 years younger than any other town in the Lamoille County. That’s because of the large presence of about a thousand people between 18 & 35. It has the lowest percentage of family households, and the highest percentage of non-family households compared to the rest of the towns in the county. Johnson also has the lowest household income in the county due to the college. However, when you filter out the college students, Johnson has the lowest family income in the county even when you take out all the college students. Johnson has the most crowded housing in the county. And it’s not the college students. It’s the family housing that’s crowded. Johnson also has the highest unemployment rate in the county. What’s worse is that the income gap is getting bigger compared to other towns in the county. 30% in Lamoille County are low paying accommodation and food service jobs. The state average is around 14%. There are 93 households living below the federal poverty level. That’s more than twice the county average. You also have the highest percentage of single parent households in the county.
All of these factors affect market demand. The median sale price of a single-family home is $150,000; ten years ago the median sales price was $50,000. In that time the median household incomes grew by 40%. Affordable housing is 30% of an occupant’s income. If they pay more than 30% of the household income it’s not affordable housing. The household median income today is $43,870. If you’re earning that you are about $26,000 short of affording the median price home. Those earning 80% of the median, which is about $35,000, they are short by $50,000. So, housing ownership is out of reach for about 90% of residents. The median rent for 1,2,3, & 4 are: 600, 712, 900,1200 respectively. There are 368 rentals in Johnson. 63 of landlords are local. There are only 5 subsidized units available to families; there are 20 subsidized units available to seniors, 7 units available to the disabled. There is an unmet demand of 96 units right now for households over 55. Total rental demand is for 183 affordable units, this is unmet demand. If you built 40 rental units for families earning $20,000 or less, they would fill up very quickly. There are also the 94 families living in poverty right now. The demand for rental units is increasing faster than the demand for ownerships units. This is because people can’t afford to buy their own houses. If you’re able to alter the economy, maybe build a little more equity in your households that would help the decreasing home ownership trend.

Walter asked Mike to clarify his proposed demand for housing/rental units. Mike explained that the college students in group quarters skew the data; the demand is for 406 units. Eric said the town & village is not in the development business, where are we supposed to go with this report, and how come, if there’s such a need for housing, why hasn’t some developer jumped on it? Mike said there is a proposal from Lamoille housing Partnership to build a 20 unit housing unit here in Johnson. Because the household income levels are so low here, any developer would need some sort of subsidy to develop good housing. If you’re interested in altering the supply for housing the lack of zoning is usually extremely appealing to developers. You have sewer & water capacity, if you allocated a certain reserve for affordable housing that sends out a really large welcome mat. Thirdly, you do alter rates, fees, taxes, etc. those are all within your purview to add incentives to make Johnson more appealing. You are a municipality and can apply for Federal subsidies and Federal grants and then act as a pass through for not-for-profit developers. These not-for-profit developers are required to maintain the properties in specific conditions per Federal regulations.

Kim Dunkley asked if we could flip this idea around, and create a higher level of housing attracting people who afford to build houses, not necessarily for lower income housing. This would help our economy to start spinning again. Mike answered that we have an unmet demand of existing residents. Kim asked if there was any way to build houses that were not just for low-income tenants. Kim asked what other towns did that ran into this similar issue. What if we built some town houses and pulled in some higher income families that will start the economy up. If different people come in then instead of people that are continually giving the town needs they are going to hopefully give back something. Mike said that those who can afford to build…will. Duncan asked if he could make a quick observation: It seems to me that simply building affordable housing without addressing the need for better jobs and more employment opportunities is a dead end.

Trustee and Select board Joint Budget Meeting: Eric asked Gordy if he minded combining the insurance issues with the salary ones since they are related. Gordy agreed it was a good idea. Eric mentioned that they wouldn’t use individual names so they could keep it an open session.

Duncan handed out three scenarios he had been asked to prepare showing possible wage increases and employee contribution to insurances. The first two examples increased the Gold plan from 16.5 to 18% and the people on the HP plan from 9- 12%. The next form shows a .50 wage increase across the board, the next a percentage increase for each employee. These also show the impact to the town and village if we institute these changes. Will asked for a dollar amount instead of percentages. Duncan said the very last page shows the net impact in dollars to the employees. Eric mentioned that the .50 pay increase equates to just about a 4% pay increase. I think that in this environment it’s a little bit high. Walter stated that he’s played with the numbers a bit and the employees should pay more like 15% and 20%. The major problem was that the insurance rates changed so drastically. These are outrageous increases in insurance. Eric stated that because of the difficult Town budget situation, and the economy the way it’s in, he didn’t want to see an employee take a net loss. Walter mentioned that most people walking down the street are taking a net loss. To try and single out one class of people and say we’re going to protect them needs to be put aside. Realistically, we need to decide whether or not to change this policy, because this budget affects years down the road. In the past we’ve had employees pay 50% of the change in premium. Duncan stated that the past policy of having employees pick up 50% of the increase catches up to you at some point. Where do you draw the line? If employees are asked to pay 30% or 40% or 50% of a plan, they will go elsewhere. Is that what we want? Eric asked how the town was looking compared to other municipalities? Duncan mentioned that there are some towns that still pay 100%, but most now require an employee contribution, anywhere from 10-20%. There has been an increase in high deductible plans around Vermont with health reimbursement accounts with the municipalities feeding those. Gordy asked what the current co-pay is for a Doctor’s appointment. Rosemary answered 10-20 dollars depending on the plan. Gordy said his co-pay just went up $5 to$20 at the Co-op. Duncan stated that you run into insurance increases when you keep changing plans; it’s a matter of supply and demand. Walter said that Duncan makes a valid point and employees are sharing the pain with the taxpayers. Essentially this is going on everywhere so we’re not singling them out.

Motion to increase employee contribution to 20% of employees on Gold Plan, and 15% of the Cigna plan. Will seconds the motion so they can talk about it.

Eric asked Duncan to run the figures with the new percentages. What would the cost be to individual employees? Duncan stated that the scenarios that he ran did not anticipate increasing the employee contribution and just doing no pay increase would leave people with a net loss just because of the increases in the plans. The loss would be a couple hundred bucks a year. Walter calculated that with the increases to employee contributions the employee would have to pay about $20 a week for a single, about $90 a month actually. For a family plan it would go up $130. Eric asked if we approve a 1% pay increase would the insurance increase and pay increase wash each other? It depends on the individual plan obviously. Duncan said it would be close. Eric stated that there was the motion on the floor. The question was called.

Motion to increase employee contribution to 20% of employees on Gold Plan, and 15% of the Cigna plan. All in favor. Motion passed.

Eric said the next item is wage increases. Gordy, referring to Duncan’s spreadsheet, asked what the difference is between a 50-cent increase and a 2% increase. Eric stated that a 50-cent increase is roughly about 4%. Walter said he didn’t like the 50-cent increase because it doesn’t treat everyone fairly. He prefers the percentage. Eric stated that it is good to compress the salaries a little bit to ensure they don’t start growing away from each other. Walter asked what the comparison is between the insurance increase and a 2% pay increase? Duncan calculated the net change for employees and passed the list to the board members. Eric said that we’re in an environment economy wise where people are just going to be happy to have a job that’s why I would advocate a minimum increase; I don’t have a number. Brad said 2%. Gordy said 2%. Eric said this was for the shared employees. Gordy said it’s hard to give one set of employees 1% and another set a different percentage. Eric stated that they were looking at a reduced percentage for the highway department compared to the shared employees because last year we gave them a significant pay increase with the change from a 45 to 40 hour workweeks. This was with the understanding that in the next few years we would throttle back their wages to put them more in line with other municipal employees. Duncan stated that 2% sounds like a fair increase, there are some who will be glad just to have a job in these hard times, I don’t think that will be universally felt among all employees.

Motion for a 2% pay increase for shared employees. Seconded. All in favor. Motion passed.

Joint Budget Issues:
§ Regarding the Fire service contract. Eric stated that the town can’t maintain the increases in costs for fire service. We were really hoping for a level fund this year. Gordy handed out his fire service report. Gordy stated that the number of calls have increased over the years. As far as fire calls go said there were 120 fires, 15 structure fires, 13 car accidents, and 18 carbon monoxide calls. The board is asking for a 3% increase this next fiscal year because the minimum wage goes up in January to $8.50. Our boys make just minimum wage compared to Cambridge and Morrisville who make $10.00 an hour. We are currently in discussion with Johnson State College who wants to pay less for our services. We just replaced one of our engines, which was 34 years old, we had to replace that one. The increases we’ve had are necessary. The only increases that we foresee over the next 20-25 years are just the fixed costs: utilities, insurances, etc. Will and Ellis had an idea how to recoup some of our expenses with all these vehicle calls. If someone in the office could take care of the paperwork we could bill the insurance companies. If it were a nominal fee then the insurance companies would pay. Margo asked if other towns were doing this. Will answered, that yes, other municipalities are doing this for car accidents. If it’s a reasonable bill $300-500 then the insurance will pay for it. You could run the paperwork through the girls in the office. This could offset the increased cost the town for fire services. Howard asked if the firefighters get the driver, vehicle information when they go to a call. Will said that it all goes through the Lamoille Sheriff’s department. Eric asked why, if it cost the department $500 an hour to run the equipment when on a call, don’t you just charge the insurance company what it costs? How is that an unreasonable amount to be billed? This is our actual cost. Ellis stated that they bill the tanker at $1000 an hour and when we’re there for 5 or 6 hours, the insurance company won’t pay that. These services are required by the town so the insurance company knows that we’ll provide the services even if they don’t pay. Will said that the charges would add up, there have been 33 car accidents already this year. If it was $200 a car, that’s $6000 right there. It covers the increased cost to the Town. Gordy said another problem with vehicles is the increased use of cell phones. When somebody sees a car on the side of the road or flipped over they call the Sheriff’s Department. Then the liability comes to us, we are required to respond. Ellis pointed out that 50% percent of accidents in Johnson are not people who live in Johnson, 10% of accidents are from out of state. Eric said that the select board would decide on the whether or not to pay the increase of 3% to the village for the fire department during their budget meeting.

§ The next item is increased hours for Lea. Duncan said that the majority of work that Lea will be doing is for the Main Street Project. She recognizes that now is not a great time to make her job a 24 hour a week position would like the flexibility, at least for a time, to work 24 hours a week. Walter asked if all of her hours would be covered by the Main Street grant? Duncan said yes. Eric stated that it sounds the wrong message to people if we increase her hours. Duncan said that if we could adjust the hours for the village that has the revenue source to pay for the hours. It’s been a 50/50 split and she will be doing more for the village. Eric said that the Town could forgo funding her wages for one year. Duncan said that it’s probably not a good idea. Right now the college contributes $5000 for her wages, and if they take that away that will put a pretty big dent in her wages. The college needs to see something positive from Lea that relates to the college to justify that contribution.

Will made a motion for Lea to work another 4 hours a week for the Main Street Project. Motion passed.

§ The next issue is building settlement issues. Duncan stated he still wasn’t sure if insurance would cover it; VLCT is looking into it. Do we want to start getting bids? It’s settled a total of 2.5 inches. VLCT is questioning who is responsible for the damage. Unfortunately, it will cost us $3500 just so the engineer can come up with a plan to fix it. Margo asked what the timeline is for the answer from the insurance company? Duncan said he should know the answer to that fairly soon.

§ The next issue is the sidewalk lighting for the Pearl Street Bridge. Eric said that years ago there was a verbal offer from the Trustees to pay for the lighting on the Bridge. Gordy said he talked with Chris Parker and he made no such offer to pay for the sidewalk lighting on the Pearl Street Bridge. Gordy went on to say that the Trustees will allow the Village water & Light Department to maintain the lights on the bridge. Duncan said that he was told by the engineer that the plans for the bridge are all done. The plans do include two sidewalks. The lighting on the other hand could be a bid item and could be pulled. Gordy mentioned that the village is going to have to come out with $60-80 thousand for the sewer pipe for the bridge. Our ratepayers will have to shoulder that cost.

Brad asked when the Talc Mill building would be painted? Duncan said they’ve tested it for lead paint and it came up positive. The prison workers can’t work on it if there’s even a trace of lead. So that leads us to another question… how do we deal with the lead issue?

Motion to adjourn the joint meeting. All in favor. Motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 7:55pm.

Select board Meeting

Eric called the meeting to order at 8:04pm.

Motion to approve meeting minutes dated November 24, 2008. All in favor. Motion approved.

Treasurer’s Report:
§ Rosemary handed out the Treasurer’s report to the select board reported that the outside auditors worked three days last week. They may be back on the 23rd on the December. The listers received their new computer. The Grand List will be uploaded to the computers. We’re on par for the budget. Eric said the spending side looks good. The revenue side looks even better. Eric asked if there’s anything the select board should be aware of? Rosemary said none yet, but of course the Winter’s only begun.

Charles Hess Jr. Requests to speak to the board regarding the health order that was issued to him for the property located on Route 15.

Chuck claims that he’s done everything that the town has asked of him. He had a guy renting from that was on unemployment. He stopped paying rent when he got a job. His job was to haul trash. Unfortunately, he hauled the trash to his yard. A brand new septic tank was installed. In conversation with the health officer I told him that my tenant would not leave. I was going through the eviction process. The Sheriff’s office told me the only way I could get on the property was with a court order. Then I had another guy who says he wants to rent the other trailer on the property. The State inspected the trailer so the tenant could get his kids back. Rocky stated that the Department of labor and industry will give you a full inspection of the trailer. Chuck said the tenant finally left in November, but no one would take the trailer away for me. Duncan asked if Chuck owns the lots. Chuck said yes, I own the lots. Duncan asked if Chuck is responsible for the property. Chuck responded, yes, I am responsible for the property. Duncan stated that Chuck was given three choices for the trailer: Repair, replace, or remove; and that should have happened 30 days from the date of notice, August 19, 2008. Chuck said he’s spent a lot of time and money trying to remove that trailer. Duncan said that he suggests Chuck go back and read all the health orders he’d been given and then make his case in Superior Court. Eric stated that the order was very specific, and you’re in violation of the order. Our only recourse is to take it to Superior Court. Chuck asked for more time to remove the trailer. Eric said to plead his case before the judge and let them decide.

Administrator’s Report:
§ Duncan said, regarding the VSC item, that the Town has filed a motion in court asking them to decide in the Town’s favor on the tax exemption case.
§ I’ve sent LRSWMD a draft of the lease agreement.
§ As far as the State ordered reappraisal, I’ve heard no response back yet.
§ For the Gould Hill Road reclassification- they’re going to put counters on Gould Hill.

Motion for a Christmas Bonus issued to employees in the amount of $100. All in favor. Motion passed.

§ The Municipal Equipment Loan Fund has approved us for a loan but not in the amount we requested. This is the first time they have ever run out of funds. The just don’t have the money. We were approved for $87,000

Motion to have Duncan run figures and come up with conventional loan proposals for funding the purchase of the truck. All in favor. Motion passed.

Motion to have Eric sign Gene Besaws letter of engagement. All in favor. Motion passed.

Drew Fairbanks would like to connect to the East Johnson sewer line. Duncan states that part of the property is in the sewer area. He asked the Board’s opinion about putting some part of the structure in the sewer area; would that meet the requirements for the Ordinance? Duncan stated there was no application yet, but he was looking for guidance. The Board felt that if part of the building was located in the Town Sewer Service area, it would qualify.

Meeting adjourned at 9:23pm.

Respectfully submitted by Jessica D. Flores

Tags: