City Council

SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING Tuesday, July 15, 2025 6:00pm IN PERSON LOCATION: The Mutuo, 20 Beckley Street, Barre, VT 05641 Item 1.Call to Order; 6:00pm – Absent; Councilor Deering Item 2.Adjustments to Agenda; none Item 3. Visitors & Communications; Joelen Mulvaney-Was/Where is the contract between the City and Barre Area Development Corp in regards to the 143 N. Main St. property? Who approved the extension on the contract? (Manager- all agreements are between the property owner and BADC) Sandra Perry-Update on the fire hydrants in the Westwood Pkwy/Berlin St area. Update on the fencing and vegetation on the Prospect St. and Berlin St intersection. (Manager-both issues will be addressed when the planned paving begins in this area) Bern Rose-Thank you for extending the pool hours during this heat. Item 4.Consent Agenda; A Approval of Minutes- 7/1/25 B. Licenses & Permits; Fireworks- Barre Partnership - July 26th Event-Turning Point Center of Central VT- Candlelight Vigil- CH Park on Aug 31st -6- 8pm Catering-The Quarry & Cornerstone (Barre Heritage Festival- under Barre Partnership Permitting) C. Approve loan agreement RF1-357-1.1 D. Resolution #2025-12 related to loan agreement RF1-357-1.1 E. Amend policy for notice of trespass on City property F. Set Clerk compensation G. Authorize the Manager to execute contracts(s) Contract(s) Up to $50,000 -Jim Lovinsky/ Eastview Enterprises, Inc. for CDBG-DR Grant Motion to approve the Consent Agenda was moved by Councilor Bergeron, seconded by Councilor Gustin, approved (Councilor Spaulding voting-nay) Item 4a. Approve City Warrants; i. Approve week 7/16/25 ii. Ratify week of 7/9/25 Motion to approve City Warrants moved by Councilor Bergeron, seconded by Councilor Hilgartner, approved *Councilor Spaulding abstaining Item 5. City Clerk Report; The 25-26 tax bills were mailed out on Wednesday, July 9th. You should be receiving them very soon, if you have not yet. The due date for the 1st quarter is Friday, August 15th. This is a holiday for the State of Vermont employees-Battle of Bennington, however, City Hall is open as usual from 7:30am – 4:30 pm. The office excepts check or cash payments, but there is still the option of paying online through our payment portal. The link is available on our websites cover page, look for the blue dollar bill icon. Have your tax bill handy, you will be required to enter your parcel number and exact payment amount. barrecity.org Item 6.Liquor / Cannabis Control Boards; Roscini LLC / AR Market – 159 N. Main St – Class 2 Liquor Barre Social Club- N. Main-One-time OSC for Barre Heritage Festival Motion to approve AR Market Class II Liquor license renewal and the Barre Social Clubs One- time OSC upon contingencies of the Chief of Police, moved by Councilor Bergeron Seconded by Councilor Spaulding, approved Item 7.City Managers Report; Line striping still ongoing. First round of buy-out closures are beginning Finance Director’s departure. Item 8.New Business; A. Volunteer appointment(s) TPW (Transportation & Public Works) Jayme Bauer Motion to approve the appointment of Jayme Bauer to the TPW committee for a 2yr term moved by Councilor Bergeron, seconded by Councilor Gustin, approved NEKCV Fiber – Sean Warner Motion to approve the appointment of Sean Warner as City representative to the CV Fiber Board moved by Councilor Gustin, seconded by Councilor Spaulding, approved. B. Resolution #2025-13 Appointment of representative to the NEKCV Board Motion to approve the Resolution #2025-13 Appointment of representative to the NEKCV Board moved by Councilor Gustin, seconded by Councilor Spaulding, approved. C. Paving Update; Viewing the chart shows the complete routes the City has paved since 2023 and the great progress made. Clustering the projects allows for more efficiency and lower cost. Currently paving Berlin St., Prospect St. and Allen St. The most needed routes are 302, 14 and route 2, however these are state roads are the responsibility of the State of Vermont to repair and pave. D. Flood Resiliency Plan update (Councilor Gustin) The Manager mapped out the big picture of all the future plans for new housing in currently developed neighborhood and those which would be breaking new ground, such as Prospect Heights. Following the due diligence studies requirements and recommendations, the scaled down project will provide affordable housing for 91 families, but require improved storm water infrastructure. Barre was awarded ~$3 million (Northern Border Regional Commission grant) and $750,000 was secured in the most recent State budget. The project must still obtain local and state permits, and must follow current ordinances. This development will be a public/private partnership. The municipal role in this project is to build infrastructure (construction design, engineering, water, wastewater and storm water, streets). Developers and other partners (like Downstreet) will build the housing units. We have a purchase option on the land. Now that the budget reflects the due diligence, we will pursue the gap funding through CDBG- DR. (Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery) E. Discuss CDBG-DR projects; Continuing the conversation from the previous nights meeting of the same subject and of the future outlook for North End projects and flood related projects throughout the City was given in two detailed lists, each list was created by Councilor Gustin, and one by Mayor Lauzon. Both had similar projects, some in different order, but many overlapped each other’s goals, including, Prospect Heights housing, Wobby Park housing, storm water system upsizing as similar wants. The consensus is to submit all the projects with high expectations of funding for all. The timeline for grant submissions are nearing, and the City needs to be thorough and timely. Item 9. Upcoming Business; Mayor Lauzon; Completion of grant applications. Item 10. Round Table; Mayor Lauzon; Thank you to the Mutuo for hosting the meeting tonight. Heritage Festival is up coming, take some time to enjoy the events Councilor Deering; n/a Councilor Hilgartner; The Aldrich Library is getting some landscaping upgrades to allow for better natural lighting inside. Councilor Gustin; Pass Councilor Bergeron; Thank you to the Mutuo for hosting the meeting. Councilor Spaulding; Thank you to the Mutuo for hosting the meeting. Please come join the book club at Aldrich Library July 17th @ 530pm- book-Poverty by America Councilor Routhier Thank you to the Mutuo for hosting the meeting. Item 11. Executive Session; – n/a Item 12. Adjournment; Motion to adjourn moved by Councilor Gustin, seconded by Councilor Bergeron, approved Adjourned; 9:00 pm Next regular meeting is scheduled for August 5, 2025 at 6pm. The open portions of the meeting were recorded on the video platform. Respectfully submitted, Cheryl A. Metivier, City Clerk