AFD#1 Prudential Committee Minutes 9.10.25

AFD#1 – Prudential Committee Meeting

Wednesday, 9/10/25 at 6:00 pm

Location: Guilford Town Office

DRAFT Minutes

PRESENT IN PERSON: Elly Majonen, Erika Elder, Will Wohnus

PRESENT VIA ZOOM: Paul Beebe, Allie Lambert, Patrice Pennington, Jocelyn Fritz

Called to order by Ellie at 6:05 p.m.

1. Approval of Minutes
   MOTION: Paul moved to approve the minutes of the 08.13.25 meeting. Allie seconded. Vote was by roll call. All were in favor. No objections, no abstensions. Motion passed.
   
2. Warrants: None
   
3. Finances: Review and discuss the following reports
   Elly explains the following documents
   1. Balance Sheet YTD shows August $391,601.76 before payments to the Town of Brattleboro for $53,407.65 and to the Town of Guilford for $2,125 and a deposit $106.40.  Next balance in September will be $336,175.60

Expenses to date for this quarter: $55,532.56. That’s the payment to the Town of Guilford for financial services, and the payment to the Town of Brattleboro for the sewer fee. Revenue for this quarter: $25,394.16.

2. Budget Status Report. 

Details in the packet.

3. Balances Due
   Balances due for all those residents billed $19,619.49. Details are in the packet.
   
4. August Statement & Reconciliation. Details in packet.

Elly: Questions so far? None were made.

4. Old business:
   1. Officers Slate for approval
      Elly: Last meeting we discussed slate of officers
      Chair Will – Wohnus

Vice chair – Jocelyn Fritz
Treasurer (not check signer) – Allie Lambert. Al Franklin can be a second signer on the bank account. If the committee approves that role, we need to get him to the bank.
Clerk – Patrice Pennington

Elly: We don’t have a person to as Delinquent Collector. 

The other non-officer positions noted were 1) Al working with Paul and the Brattleboro Public Works regarding new allocations and 2) Jocelyn working with Erika regarding website. 

MOTION: Paul moved to accept the slate of officers: Will as Chair, Jocelyn as Vice Chair, Allie as Treasurer, Patrice as Clerk. Vote was by roll call. All were in favor. No objections, no abstensions. Motion passed.

2. Budget – set budget for FY26
   Elly described information/spreadsheets about current budget status. There was no budget set for FY 25. Elly drafted a proposed budget for FY 26 for committee to review, discuss, and approve. Al has reviewed it and was in agreement. A question that arose was whether $80,000 would be enough for the Brattleboro sewer, since the first quarterly payment was $53,000. It was unusually high. Al and Dan of BDPW and one other will go out to start checking manholes (in dry weather and after it rains) to see if there are any infiltration/leaks. This is in hopes to pay less per quarter. We’ve put in for an audit, $5,000, which may not have been done in a while. The total for expenditures line is higher than the revenue. Later we can talk about the rates that we have. There may be a way to increase some rates, but first we need to have a better understanding to compare ‘apples to apples’ between the Town of Brattleboro and the Town of Guilford. Discussion – to save budget, could do audit next fiscal year, take off $2,000 annual system maintenance. There is $98,000 in reserve that may be able to handle the maintenance, especially since there’s been no work on the system for at least 30 years. There is funding for training and advertising. Will: I did training because I was the Delinquent Collector with VLCT and encourage anyone interested in this training. Erika: Algiers may need its own VLCT membership given that it is its own separate municipality. Elly: Delinquent Collectors need to follow a process before turning off utilities, putting liens, making payment agreements, etc. There are times of years when utilities can’t be disconnected and other details. The training is helpful in that regard. Elly reviewed the document. Jocelyn: $600 can be removed to preserve the maintenance line.
   
   MOTION: Allie moved to remove the $2,000 and $600 expenditures from the budget. Vote was by roll call. All were in favor. No objections, no abstensions. Motion passed.
   
   Jocelyn: Let’s discuss the audit line. Discussion about setting up an audit for FY26. Will believed that the last audit took place over 5 years ago. Erika: The auditor for the town of Guilford, Mudgett Jennett & Krogh-Wisner, PC,  is booked until the next FY. Elly: the FY ends June 30. We could begin to set it up for next July, allowing for the expense to be in  the next FY. Allie in agreement as long as it is budgeted. Jocelyn agreed.
   
   MOTION: Paul moved to accept the budget with those revisions. Will seconded. Vote was by roll call. All were in favor. No objections, no abstensions. Motion passed.
   
3. Rate Sheet to review and compare to Brattleboro rates
   Elly: Elly and Al have been working on rates and agreements with the Town of Brattleboro DPW. Suggests addressing this at a future meeting because there is a need to compare variables including cubic feet, pipes which will require additional meetings among them.  All were in agreement. You have the current rate sheet includes number of units, basic charges for residents, and fees: base, sewer, operating. All those are flat fees. There is no metering for sewer. Delta and Commonwealth have their own set of flat fees, charged quarterly.
   
4. AFD#1 / Town of Guilford Financial Services Agreement
   Elly: Provided the agreement to review and discuss at a future meeting.
   
5. Municipay update – Elly
   Elly: Municipay provides the ability to pay for the sewer online. AFD#1 needs its own website in order for this to be established as separate from the town of Guilford. Additionally needed is a logo. An application is needed which Elly can complete on committee’s behalf. Be current with Secretary of State; Mike Baker may have done it last but that was over one year ago. One person from the Board needs to sign an agreement that confirms your willingness to use Municipay. Person or two people to receive confirmation emails. If the Town of Guilford continues to provide the financial services for AFD#1, the emails can go to Elly and Ally could also get them. Ally agreed for 2 people to receive emails.
   
   Elly can complete the Municipay application (including Federal ID, annual income, Payment variants and range). Ally agreed to be the reviewer of the application. Jocelyn volunteered to work on the website part of this task and will be in communication with Erika.
   
6. Webpage – linked to, but separate from, Town of Guilford 

Jocelyn will set up a website and work with Erika
Municipay to pay online for the sewer
After the Delinquent Payment Policy, the Prudential Committee members may be added

Provide main contact. Currently users are calling the town of Guilford
The Committee may want to add FAQ, that would address connection information on water and sewer, current rates (once we have more information). All in agreement that this is a good start.

5. New Business
   1. New allocation – D&E / Anson Baldwin Tree Care
      Elly met with BDPW on Collection/Allocation. Elly needs to send it to Dan Tyler for revision. The request starts with Brattleboro, they communicate with us, confirms if allocation is possible (is there is enough space to be added to the line), confirmation is sent to customer along with fees and estimated quarterly bills. Those connection and application fees get paid to Brattleboro. Brattleboro shares info with Guilford so that we can set up billing. Broadly, the process is: Brattleboro to Engineer, the State approves it. The contractor builds the system. Brattleboro and contractor contact AFD#1 to get the connection inspected. Al and Paul talked about those details. These requests are not frequent. Once finished, Elly sets up the billing with the customer. Paul inquired on Anson’s request. Elly: Anson is requesting connection to water, increased connection for sewer. It is unknown whether the building is being expanded. Paul and Patrice left the meeting.
      
   2. Original agreement between TOG, AFD#1, TOB and the State – term expires in 2026. Elly: The Committee has the 1996 Ordinance that lists the dos and don’ts of your septic system. It is included in order for AFD#1 to decide, in the future meetings, whether the agreement will be extended, change it, etc.
      
      
6. Any other business to come before the Board? None.

7. Agenda items for next meeting:
   
8. Next meeting: 11.12.25

Elly out of Town 10/8 (Burlington for VLCT Town Fair) and 10/15 property taxes are due. The committee agreed to skip a month.

9. Adjourn

Jocelyn moved to adjourn the meeting. Paul seconded. Vote was by roll call. All were in favor. No objections, no abstensions. Motion passed. The meeting adjourned at 6:50 p.m.

Meeting Video: https://youtu.be/IfE0NV8jgpQ 

Respectfully submitted,

Elly Majonen

AFD#1 Financial Services, Clerk pro-tem
Posted 9/9/25