 And it's already 602 so I'm going to go ahead and call the meeting to order, but I do not have the ability to start the recording. Oh, I can do that. I think. Okay. I can't. It should have started. All right. Thank you. Time is 602 calling the February meeting of the CD fiber governing board to order. To start off, are there any changes or additions to the agenda? Open up for public comment. You see if anybody raises their hands. I'll jump in and say, I'm obviously reading leading things today. So on is on a well deserved vacation. Hopefully somewhere warm and tropical. And we'll be coming back. I think on the 17. But a lot to get through today. So if there's no public comment. Any. Move on to meeting minutes approval. Motion to approve the January 9, 2024 meeting minutes as drafted with a correction provided by Linda. Apparently I misspelled her last name. So I need to add an extra L to that. Second. Seconded by Chuck. Any discussion. Abstentions or. Looking for a maze. Not hearing any. Say it passes by unanimous consent. Treasurer's report. I saw Laura Beth on your movie. I do see Lori Beth connected. Lori Beth is muted. However, I don't know. David, do you feel you could handle the treasurer's report? Or should we come back to Lori later? Yeah, let's see if she can join us. Okay. We should always go on to the next item and then at the end of that check to see if she's back. Let's move on then to the construction materials, warehousing and operations. Part of the project here. Okay. So we're going to start with that. Janiel. I can start and then Lucas can add detail or color as he would like. The highlight of this update is that we lit our number 100 customer. Last week. On Monday. We spoke with weights field today and we have 113 customers now. We're doing a full week. So we're, we added a couple of new drops crews. And so we're able to do about 15 drops per week. We have 229 miles built. 1762 addresses past. We are doing our account for the audit. We're truing up the numbers for the audit. We're focusing primarily because we're, we're low on runway. We're focusing primarily on installations through weights field. So that's the high, that's the high level. Would you like to add any color to any of that? Lucas or any highlights that I might have missed on construction materials, warehousing and operations? Well, you're being optimistic by saying we're low on the green runway. I think we're at the end of the runway right now. So crews are mainly working on, on punch list material right now. So I believe we have two out there taking care of, of, you know, odds and ends that they were missed initially. You know, exciting news that we talked about earlier is weights field requested that we release our so one and our so two for installations. So they will be. Beginning the drops and whatnot in those areas in the next coming weeks. So we're moving ahead there. That'll be another, another pile of installations that we can add on. And as far as warehousing, you know, like beyond the audit, I believe we're caught up with everything coming in at the moment until we can place the order for 2024 construction. Yeah, so I actually want to add. Another piece of amazing statistics that we, we, that we have. We are now at 41.9% take rate. Let's just call it 42% take rate and both CLO one and CLO two. When we originally did our projections, we thought that we would be at about 20% take rate in year one, 30% rate take rate in year two, and about 41 to 42% take rate in year three. So we opened CLO one in October. We opened CLO two in December and we are already at 41.9. Call it 42% take rate. Okay. That's amazing. Olivia, you want to add to that? I do want to add to that. RSO one and RSO two were just made live on our website as of noon today and an email went out to everybody who pre-registered and as of two minutes ago, we've already had a 25% take rate in RSO one and RSO two since noon. Guys, this is unbelievable. This is absolutely unbelievable. We never could have dreamed of such amazing success so quickly. That just says so much about what the value is of what we're offering. I mean, big kudos to CV fiber. This is incredible. We're really making a difference for people. And I might add that the RPU, the average rate per user is $96. We projected it at around 94. That means the average rate that folks are paying per month is 96. That's higher than we anticipated. That means people are buying higher rate packages than we anticipated. Thinking about it from what it actually means for us besides that we're offering an incredible service at an incredible rate, it's that we're positioning ourselves for the bond market long term. This is setting us up for excellent marketing success as we develop as we start serving and as we go into the bond market in the next couple of years. Jeremy? Yeah, that's fantastic news. Really glad to hear that. I am curious if we think that this is, if these areas where we built our outliers or, and I know it's really early, maybe hard to guess, but do you think that these are outliers? Or do you think that we're going to be likely to see similar, you know, 25% take rates in 12 hours, which is fabulous. Well, it would be nice to have a magic eight ball, but what I can say is that we're serving the unserved and the underserved. I think that their take rates are likely to be very high. Jerry? Yeah, I would just add that some of the areas that we're going into and will be going into in the future have more competition, but that means that doesn't mean that our take rate necessarily will go down because a lot of people see what we're bringing is a superior product because it's community based and you know, I can go on and on. So I wouldn't discount the take rates we've been seeing at all and I'll stop with that. I saw in the chat there was a question of was it me to be at the end of the runway and Lucas addressed it. I think that it means to have built out all of the poll license that we have received in the district area, which we have been able to construct. So we do need to start really defining our terms. If you want to create a little dictionary for staff to work through because certainly these definitions sometimes matter and they're not always that clear. Yes, Jeremy. So on that, I believe that in the executive committee, there's in one of the meetings, anyways, there's some discussion about getting after hardwick. Has there been any progress made in getting them to actually give us licenses because I believe that they'll hold up or have we made any progress in sort of the nuclear option of going to the department and kind of taking that on for ourselves. There has been progress in the nuclear option. We reached out to the Department of Public Service. I reached out to Jim Porter and Aaron who are in charge of broadband and general counsel for the department. And I let them know that we are intending to file a formal complaint with the Public Utilities Commission. They reached out to Hardwick to see if they could get something moving. I advised them today that we intend to file the formal notice to Hardwick by next week if we don't see immediate results. It's unfortunate that we've gotten here, but it's time and there is a recourse for a reason. So we're taking that recourse. Yeah, I mean, I think that we've been well more than fair with them given that they had a year to respond. They didn't respond and were what, at least two or three months past that, you know, they're causing us big problems at this point. This is violating our grant agreement to provide service to the unserved. This is violating our requirements under our federal contracts and funds to bring universal service. So it is critically important that we proceed with the legal avenue at this point. Yep. For the discussion on this topic, we can go to marketing and community relations. So I'll start with legislative day. It was an opportunity for us to meet with our sister CUDs and really network with our local reps. So it was a really well attended event. A lot of brainstorming behind the scenes. We've posted a recap on our website. If you haven't had a chance to read through that, but I am working now with the marketing teams at our sister CUDs. Those who are working with weights field specifically just so that we can align on some of that messaging. And those have been really fruitful discussions as we move forward will probably be working more closely hand in hand just to make sure we're aligned. We've also published a statement of values on our page. A little bit of a storytelling component with our ramp pillars. I'll post that in the chat. It is a little bit of a longer piece, but again, it adds color to who we are as a company and the value that we want to provide more so on a community level. So I'll share that as well. In terms of our new customer survey, we've had about 40% people after their installation about two weeks afterwards. They do get that survey to fill out and we've actually been reviewing those piece by piece for feedback. Customers are generally happy with the speed, the reliability and the service. And according to their perspectives, we're actually better than some of the competitors in the area. Many of us, many of them would recommend us as referrals. So word of mouth is incredibly important as we know social media from porch form locally based. So we take those testimonials to heart. We've actually created a testimonial slider on our home page as well. We've received approval from some of our customers. So again, really leading into that as we expand to new areas. In terms of some of that new customer content as well, everyone gets a Wi-Fi magnet as part of the installation process. So if you've ever been to another home and you're curious how to get connected, it has a little fill in the blank section. Again, something useful. It includes an area to fill out for network name and password along with a phone number for tech support. Again, something useful that people can get a little bit of brand awareness as well. And in terms of what's in the pipeline, we may have an event coming up in Woodbury perhaps. So we'll see about that. And in April, we'll be sending out a quarterly update with overarching metrics and also we're segmenting our lists. So those who are now customers of CV fiber, they'll be getting a separate email with connectivity tips and tricks. We've been talking with Watesfield and we're hearing some of the concerns in terms of having outdated technology, for example. So a lot of the questions that are coming through right now, we want to make sure that we have a resource hub specifically for CV fiber customers. So we'll be building that out on our website as well. Okay. Any questions for Olivia? I saw Laura Beth's name flash for a second. So I don't know if she's available to. I'm here now. Just trying to do two places at once and it doesn't work. Before you launch into it, Laurie, I see David raised his hand at the last second there. So I'm not sure if he was trying to speak on that last topic. I didn't understand what the. I had sent out the financial statements, closing information for last year for 2023. That's what David wanted to look at tonight. And so I have sent that out to everyone. Hopefully most of you got it. There were a few detailed questions that David asked me that I think Bonnie is more qualified to answer. Because she is more familiar with some of the other things I have to do researching for them. So I'm not as comfortable answering some of those questions. Okay. So we're to go now. Hey, Tom, I think the only thing I asked Laurie to look at was our cash position. I talked to Bonnie about it tonight and we are at plan with our cash position. I wanted to make sure the board knew that based on we made some assumptions when we built the 24 plan on what our cash position would be. And Bonnie is affirmed that we're right where we planned at the end of the year. So we're in a good position moving into 2024. Good. Thank you. Thanks, Laurie. Going back, it looked like Dave Lawrence had a question about the outdated technology you mentioned, Olivia, can you elaborate a little more? Yeah. So a couple of folks have a little bit thicker walls in their home as we know with older homes. The Wi-Fi connection is not as expansive as you go throughout the entire home. So you might be getting better connection in one home where the router is located compared to another, for example. So as people are testing speeds and want to ensure as they should that they're getting the connectivity speed that they're paying for, the outdated technology is just not cutting it anymore. So we're making recommendations again if people are able to go out and buy maybe a laptop that's not 10 years old, great. But otherwise, you know, we want to make sure that people are getting the speeds that are, that we're ensuring. Unfortunately, that technology component is, is out of our hands. So it's just a matter of educating now at this point. So people are aware. So as our customers technology, their computers and their, you know, Wi-Fi and so forth. Correct. Yeah. It has some of those earlier Wi-Fi capabilities, but unfortunately they're just not cutting it anymore. Okay. Thanks. All right. Move on to the board and committee memberships. The policy committee is short members. And so that was one of the items we wanted to touch upon. I don't know if you want to make a pitch, Alan, or if anybody is already raring to go, there were some policy conversations that happened over email. So it might be a hot topic. Can people hear me? Yes. Oh, good. Okay. I have trouble with my mic again. Yeah. We're down to two people. We have a third person who is on a vacation status. And so it's not clear if she's coming back as a full member or not. It's interesting with two people, you can still have a meeting because you have a quorum. But if one of those people is not, if one of those persons is not there, then you don't have a quorum and we can't do anything, let alone sit there and, you know, Google and make notes for yourself. So we really need at least one more person. Three would be fine, but a bit more than that would be would be helpful as well. I know that policy work probably seems pretty nerdy to most people. But there are some folks out there who really revel in it and find it an interesting way to learn how an organization is trying to run itself and what kind of job it's doing against some of the some of the some of the guidelines it's set for itself in policies. So it's a it's sort of a backdoor way to learning about the organization that I think a lot of people don't realize. So it's not completely boring. Our meetings really do only last an hour and then we leave and they're always good minutes if you miss a meeting so you can catch up and we try to take care of each other. That's my pitch. I'll toss in that it's an influential committee, the decisions that come out of that committee have far reaching, you know, legs to him so, and I'd also add that you're going from three to four. Your quorum number would then be three. And so you'd need that new person to attend every time. That's right. You get if you get another person past that then we're up to five then you can still just do three and have two absences and still have quorum so. Yeah, at least five. I think anybody who has who's been part of committees recognizes what you just said Tom that you don't want to have four people on your, on your board or on your committee or whatever it is, because it makes quorans really, really difficult at times. And if you can do either three or five, you're much better off. Yeah, well, I'm fresh me here. So I'm happy to get queued up for a committee. I probably would fall into the camp of finding policy a little nerdy, but that's fine. And, and I don't know how it stacks up with what the needs are for other committees, but I'm certainly happy to be on a committee, including policy and maybe should wait to hear what the rest of the committee needs needs are. Yeah, John, why, why don't you do that. I think I think that'd be the best thing for you so you can find a home that you really want to be in. Chairman Matt. Well, I wouldn't have time to be on the committee long term like multiple years, but I could do it for a while until we get more people. I don't know if that's something that would be of use but oh that actually could be of great use we appreciate that. But we'll keep trying to scrape so you don't have to do that you've you've been doing a heck of a lot anyhow so we ought to be able to recruit some other people. Thank you Jeremy. Any other takers before I make a motion on it. I move that Jeremy Matt and John Reed become members of the policy committee. Second. Ted got in there. All right, if there are no objections or extensions. All in favor, sounds good. Well, I mean just to check it sounded to me like john was a little bit hesitant. And it sounded like Alan was thinking maybe of, of pausing and then he said that he'd continue to scrape, rather than have me sign up for another committee. I'm just kind of wondering what Alan thinks about this because it seems a little bit slightly counter to what he had suggested. What I care about is, is getting people who will show up at meetings. And if, if Jeremy you think that's going to be hard for you. If you have a considerable number for a considerable number of the meetings, then I really think probably you shouldn't be, you shouldn't be on the committee because it will, it will cause us to have lack of quorum. And that puts us, you know, that puts us further back, at least now, John Morrison, I can have a two person conversation and we can actually have a committee meeting. You know, I'm, I'm willing for, for to go through the meeting and for john to listen to what his other opportunities might be. And I just want people to end up at a place that it's a happy place for them and a place where they think they're doing something that's valuable and they can contribute to. So, Tom, I guess the motion is gone through have we voted on it yet or we haven't voted on it. Well, we did, but go ahead. I kind of, I kind of objected if you. So, I'm not sure we've officially voted on it yet, but whatever. Could I could I possibly offer a tabling of the of the motion, at least for the end of the tour for the rest of the meeting. And we'll see where we are. And to be clear, Alan, if I'm appointed, I will show up. It's just that I will not stay on for multiple years. You know, it'll be a few months that I can take on an extra committee. If that makes sense. Oh no, it makes sense. It's good to have long term people but at this point we can't be, you know, bankers can't be choosy and we're a beggar at this point. Check. I'm about to make a comparable plea for the communications committee. And so if we want to wrap the policy committee conversation first that would make a ton of sense but if we feel that's done. I'd be excited to get the floor for a moment to talk about our needs. I think we are to leave it up to the to the two gentlemen, John and Jeremy to tell us if they'd like us to back off and give them a bit more breathing room during the meeting. And we'll return to this. My mind was just going to be a general informational plea to the overall body, not necessarily to the two individuals. So communications is right now at that dreaded for number that was discussed. And unfortunately, one of those people is presently taking a little bit of a hiatus he's still officially on the committee but he's taken a little bit of a pause. And as a result of that we effectively have a body of four where we only have three people who ever can come. And so we are not meeting corn and regularly and so the ask would be if you have any interest in joining the communications committee and contributing to our work we work closely with Olivia and Jeanille on the community relations work on website work on talking about how we talk about ourselves to our communities. We would be more than well, you know more than welcoming of some some new new minds and new perspectives on the committee. So Alan you had a request to take which we should just revisit this whole conversation prior to us going into any sort of executive committee or closing out this meeting. Just to see where folks are at. I, there was, I did make a motion and then Jeremy, you know, jumped in, given this format it makes sense to allow a little extra leeway on what counts as a full vote or not to allow people to give a chance to speak up so I'm going to be clear that that was not a full vote, and that that motion is not closed, but instead we're going to table it until later in this meeting hopefully. I think that makes sense. Yes, for the finance committee if I could change topics here a minute. We have currently have four members we have myself and Linda as Vice Chair, and we also have Jerry and Ted on our committee and we are going to make a proposal to this group that we add a member who's already discussed her membership with the finance committee. We've given her our full support, and we would like to add symbols lessons or the alternate delegate from war town to the finance and audit committee and want to put that before the board for a vote. That was a formal motion, David. Yes. Okay. Seconded by Jeremy. Is there any further discussion on adding so Christopher your hand is raised but is that from a different topic. It's related to, you know, committee membership in general and attendance. So for me personally, I would love to contribute more and join more, but my evenings are are really, really challenging. And I could find ways to shift things around in my schedule during the day. And so I'm wondering if, if maybe there are other people out there who are similar to me where they could make, you know, a commitment once or twice a month or more, you know, of an hour during, during the, you know, the weekdays. And if so, if that was the case, could we consider moving one or more of these committees to a non evening time and then have more membership during those times. I guess, could we, I don't know if should we, should we, you know, do something where we kind of, you know, have people tell us if, if there are others like me who could could make the commitments during the during the week. Difficult question and try to do it in this format as many people. So the scheduling of the committees is entirely up to the committee. So within the committee they can decide, you know, G Thursdays don't work let's do Wednesdays at two or whatever. But that would be an internal to the committee discussion. Now I understand that also plays into the whether or not someone wants to be on a committee. And so I would suggest probably reaching out to the chair of that committee might be the best way to get a sense of whether or not there's room for movement. Now, just to respond to that Christopher, I personally would love that change, you know, as a as a dad of young kids evenings are precious to me and I could feel a little more comfortable eating a little bit the daytime hours when I move some stuff around. But to Tom's point it's ultimately at the discretion of the committee. So, you know, I'd be willing to float that by communications committee whether it would work for the other members of the communications committee or not I wouldn't even begin to try to speculate. But I'm happy to at least float it as a topic of discussion. And just to respond to that I would, you know, for the record I would be happy to join any one of the committees I'm not precious. What committees I join I'm happy to contribute, but I can move things around during the day so if one can move during the right now there may be some things on my calendar I can't move so I can't just automatically commit but if somebody's open to that discussion. Then I'm happy to join more. So before we go on anymore on the rest of this conversation this works still under motion for civil are there any things related to civil joining the policy committee before we move on to other topics. Please wave a hand if you've already got your hand up. You said finance finance. Sorry finance finance. No, you. Well, it should be fine. All of them. Finance committee right where we are hands waving at me. I'm going to call the vote for it. Is there anybody who objects or abstains from civil being on the finance committee. All right. I already got a hand up finger up. You're on mute. I can't hear you already. You need to unmute. They're still muted already. He's trying to get it. The top left hand corner to the left of the red leave button. Thank you. I just want to note that I have just logged in. I am a member, not a guest. Thank you. All right. Either an extension or a denial. I'm going to say that civil has passed the vote and is now part of the finance committee. All right. Thank you. We're a number of hands up and I'm afraid I've lost count of who was first or next but Alan your hand is still up. So why don't you go ahead. I just had a quick question of Christopher. Christopher, how do you define daytime hours? Do they go until 6 to 5, 4, what, what, what do you. I mean, you know, really like 11 to 2. No, I'm just kidding. Typical 9 to 5, you know. Okay, because we've tried 5. That's in fact a number of committees I think have tried or are still using 5. And that's been sort of a slide spot. You know, it's, it's not really daytime. It's not really nighttime. It's sort of pushing into dinner time. But for some people that seems to work. But I just wanted to see what what you thought were the proud and that's fine. You know, five minutes. Yeah, and in my mind ending ending by five. Yeah, work day stuff. Okay. Thank you. Jeremy Matt. Yeah, I'm just going to real quick toss myself in on the other side of this. I do not really have flexibility during the day to do that. And if anything, I have a lot of trouble sometimes meeting. Those 5 or 5, 30 meetings and I'm rushing to get done with what I need to get done for work, get in my car and I'm taking the call from the car while I'm driving home. Which. I'm wondering if this speaks to some sort of governing board doodle poll where folks kind of show their availability and committees are able to see what the largest slice is. Because I similarly to Jeremy, especially during these 18 weeks of the year when the legislature and session I am like flat out during the day and there's just no realistic opportunity for me to make meetings so it may be helpful for us to see where general governing board availability as if we all kind of committed to showing what's best. That's an excellent idea, whether it's a doodle poll or some document somewhere but we can find that up. We'll take that back and even the executive committee and try to execute that. All right, still on boards and committee memberships anybody else on committee memberships. Another topic in this area we wanted to look at is on January 8 Woodbury voted John Reed and with Michael Gray as the alternate. And just wanted to see had that already been confirmed was one question if it had been confirmed last meeting or if not do we want to confirm that appointment today. I don't think that we confirm appointments I think that we're told by the town with delegates are I think only if there's a big problem can we go back and you know with some cause say that someone is not. You know, anyways, welcome. If you could please have your select board send me a letter indicating your appointment though that would be very appreciated. We have that for John. Okay, perfect. I'm sorry. I hadn't seen that come through my I'll send it to you. Okay, thanks, you know, John. Yeah, just listening to this and thinking I'd be happy being on the policy committee. I have flexibility. Luckily, so I could meet any time and cheerfully sign up for that if Alan and the rest of the board wants to do that. First Wednesday of the month at 5pm works for you. Absolutely. Okay, well then I think that that sounds like that sounds like a go. Thank you very much. Another appointment that was came up is Waterbury has approved a swapping Christopher Schenke and Linda Gravel. So I don't know again that we need to do any sort of confirmation of that but if there's any connected things. Are either of you meeting a committee at the moment. I don't think so right. I am not. Back as vice chair on the operations committee. And I think, well, I think she's vice chair on some finance. She is. Yeah. I believe, correct me if I'm wrong Alan, but I believe a delegate has to be the chair of each committee. Is that bringing a bell. It does ring a bell, but I might have to look at the rules because we've we've struggled with this a couple of times. You know, I, I think we changed it. So somebody. So that an alternate delegate can be a chair because hasn't John Wilder has been chairing. And sometimes Chuck know. Okay, he was vice, he was vice chair. And we've never said anything about vice chairs. Not having to be delegates, but I believe there was something in place for a bit to Jeremy Hansen's point in chat that they would have to be a delegate or alternate a member of the board. Okay. It sounds like it may be in this case anyways. Jeremy that right. Oh, no, never mind. There was never. Okay. Yeah, and actually, I'm just going to call out a little bit of language in the executive committee charter. The executive committee charter says committee vice chair shall be allowed to serve as alternates in place of a committee chair for quorum and voting purposes. When the committee chair for the same committee is absent so long as they are also a member of the board. Which I think sort of implies that if the vice chair is not a member of the board, they can't serve in that executive committee capacity, which seems interrelated. Yeah, but alternates delegates are often so is the way that I would hear that. Alternates. Yes, members of the board. Okay. Your hand is still up journey. Oh, yeah, I just thought back. I feel like John had volunteered for the finance committee. So I guess I'd like to make a motion to appoint John Reed to the finance committee. I think he volunteered for the policy committee or policy. Thank you. I'll take that as a friendly amendment. We already have a second. We have a table motion for that. I move to take. Well, I moved to, I moved to take off the table. The motion for appointment to the policy committee. I'll second that just needs it. Great. That just needs a majority and we can do it. Are there any opposed. The abstentions. Majority hold it. John welcome to the policy committee. All right, Chuck. I'll send you an email, John. The motion was for John and Jeremy. So if we wanted to just, we need to amend the motion. Although, I guess maybe we just passed the motion. So, Tom, you're calling how you want to unwind to that. Where does that. So two more. Let's see you at four direct Allen. That is correct. Okay. And that and four is bad. So I'll resign from the committee. And if you need another person, let me know and I'll jump in. How about that? Yeah, no, actually one person gets us to three. And that's good. Correct. So you're so you're saying to would to could to might cause more problems than it's worth. So it sounded like that's what you were saying. Because then everyone needs to attend correct. Right. So I mean, you know, John could do it for six months and then maybe he could convince you to come on for the next six months. How's that? Sounds good. So can, can I offer an amended motion that. I think it's already passed. It's already okay. Okay. Okay. I've resigned like 30 seconds later. So I'm really sorry for these minutes. I'm laughing being chair Tom. Any other discussion on boards and committee memberships. Moving on to human resources and board training. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. So we have, we did retain a human resources specialist and consultant. Who has put together a couple of trainings for us. There are two trainings. One is for leaders of CB fiber that includes the employees and the chairs of committees. And then following that, we're going to have a an optional visit to the warehouse. So a moving meeting. We do have to publicly notice it for reasons of quorum, because we are technically, it's a public hearing or it's a public meeting. So I'll be sending out a notice as well as a reminder to the leadership of CB fiber, inviting you to that meeting. If you miss that meeting, I'm going to see if we can have some sort of a recording of the, not the warehouse portion, but the human resources training portion in the morning so that we can give it to everyone who can't necessarily make it. If anybody must miss, and you'll need to acknowledge the receipt of understanding of the policies and receipt of the training. So that's for the leaders of CB fiber. Following town meeting day, the week after town meeting day week, we're looking at doing a board wide training that might be about two and a half hours long teams only remote only. I will be sending out a doodle poll to to get availability, speaking of which we just we just had this conversation about availability of board members a few minutes ago. So specific to the board wide human resources and board responsibility training, we will be sending out a poll. It will most likely be that Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday following town meeting day, 5.30 to eight o'clock at night. Again, this will be a recorded session. You don't have to actually physically be there. You will need to acknowledge receipt of the CB fiber policies as well as of the training. So this will be frequently asked questions from the CB fiber staff. So Lucas Olivia and I will be talking for a bit and then we will have our human resources consultant talking about human resources matters. And this is part of our responsibilities as as an employer and as a public entity. So everyone will be compliant with all those annual trainings and then thereafter, any new board members will be required to watch that training and once a year will repeat that training. So look out for that poll to to come through to to find out your availability and then the training will happen in that beginning part of March. Any questions on training? I had a note here, Janiel about some HR policies and benefits we talked about last month. I didn't know if you wanted to. Yeah, we did. So last month we had we we just adopted our our human resources policies and there was a question by someone, a member of the board about do we offer paid parental leave and the answer is we do not. However, we what we did is we looked into I got a I got quotes for short and long term disability insurance because that's a way to address that we that we are not offering paid parental leave. So in order to make our budget and make it work in the current budget, we are reassessing all of our insurances and this is important also because all of our insurances will renew in April. So I've got a re quote and I'm running these re quotes by some partners and assessing where we can maybe reduce some insurances. Specifically, we think we might be able to reduce insurances in cyber because we have we have no before now we've run some of those those phishing tests. And there could be some other places where we can reduce some levels of insurance and save costs and and adjust those costs to help with employee benefits. And then there might be other places where we need to increase insurances. So that's something else that we're we're looking into just taking a holistic look at what our insurance needs are and how we might be able to provide better, better benefits for our employees. Any other questions on HR or related matters? All right, move on to drops policy. I'm not sure who's taking this one. Maybe it's just an open conversation. Well, there's been a lot of conversations and around this, but just the high level we're still waiting on numbers from Weitzfield and NRTC about the about the cost that we're looking at for long drops that's drops over 400 feet. We think it's actually a very small percentage of drops that are over 400 feet. But some of the numbers that we're looking at are that the cost is actually higher than a dollar a foot for what we're paying out. So we're now assessing those costs with Weitzfield and NRTC. Jerry. Yeah, I just would like to confirm and follow up with what Janiel is saying. We're looking at the data to understand exactly, you know, what it is that we're charging people and not only what we're charging people, but we also want to look at what we're telling people they will have to pay because if they decide no, then they don't show up on our list of folks that were charged. So we're going to do a little bit of a deeper dive. But I don't think this is quite as big of an issue as it appears to be. But surely by next month we'll have more, more data and this has to be data driven, right? So we'll have more data to discuss when we meet again. And that's right. Again, I'll stop there. That's right. We think it's a small percentage of people, but for those small percentage of people who applies to it's a big deal. So we do have to take it seriously and we have to be very clear in our communications with the policies. Any other questions or thoughts on this topic? Drops a policy. Yeah. Yeah. I just have a question here. I just have a question. What are the, what are the neighboring CUDs doing in this area? Is there some alignment in what the pricing is? One CUD to another. Yeah. The other CUDs are also doing the same dollar per foot after 400. And especially any K-Broad band also has a distributed split and they're also re-assessing the costs as well. So we're all in the same boat with a similar, with a similar pricing policy and a similar question mark that we have for these sometimes long drops due to the way our network was designed, i.e. distributed split. Yeah. Sure. Just thinking how small Vermont is, it seems like the more there's uniformity from one CUD to another that just helps, helps it make sense and helps explain it. Absolutely. Yeah. Very consistent among CUDs, John. Thanks. I guess I have a question in that in previous meetings, there's been, it appears to have been a difference between a drop and an installation. And I just wanted them to get some, some clarification of terms there. If they are the same thing and we get to know that and if they're not, then what's the difference? Yeah. There's, there's a difference. There's the drops and then there's the actual install and the drop has to happen before the installation. So the drop is, I don't know if Lucas wants to better explain it than I do, but, but they are two separate things. Yeah. So the drop actually terminates on the outside of the house. And then you have the cabling running in where it actually terminates for the equipment. Gotcha. So installation is more inside the house and drops are from the pole to the house. Exactly. Yes. Gotcha. Thank you. But not consistently used because we talk about installs that mean the whole thing. So there, you know. Yeah. We probably need to tighten up the way we talk about these things, especially, you know, if we're going to put some numbers to it, but. Yeah, it's, it's come more to like giving it that we have actual drop cruise now as opposed to just an end of the installation. So it's now changed hands to two different groups as opposed to one. But in the mind of the customer, it's, you know, it's all the installation, right? Yeah. So I hand up briefly, but I miss Joe was. Speak now or forever. All right. We will move on. Finance update and outlook. There was some good news on bead grant. Preparation money. If you have more details. Yes. The state of Vermont put out a grant opportunity so that CUDs could take advantage of funding for preparation for the bead application process. It's going to be a highly competitive process. We put in an application to help support us in. Consulting and GIS and some other items that we need a match analysis so that we can best position ourselves for bead. And our grant was awarded in the amount of $145,600 on Monday. So we have that extra funding to help us get to a stronger place for a bead. And what was the grant program under which this was awarded? It's the sub recipient grant program through VCBD. Okay. Thank you. And there were similar awards to our sister CUDs who we are potentially looking at working with to share resources and make for a stronger grant. So. Alan. You're on mute. And if I can understand this correctly, we got a grant to help us apply for a grant of bead money. Correct. Is that a common kind of way to do this? Or I don't think I've ever, I don't think I've ever heard of this before. Because it's a complicated and competitive process VCBD wanted to put this out to all potential sub recipients of the 229 million that is up for grabs for bead. So they made it available to everybody, including CUDs, but not limited to CUDs and specifically could not favor CUDs. So that everyone has a fair shot at bead. So it's, I guess it's common for very complicated grant type of application processes. Bead is going to be a complicated grant application process. And we must start that due diligence now. In fact, we have started that due diligence to look at potential project areas, build sequence costs, addresses to put in challenges. So it is a complex grant process. And this money will help us better position ourselves. So does the money for the grant to get a grant come from the grant funds? It's a separate, it's a separate funding opportunity. I'm sorry. I just, I just don't, I just don't think in those lines, you know, I just. Alan, municipalities facing flood relief grant applications are eligible for municipal technical assistance grants, which are of the same, of the same kind of grants as the same milk. They're grants that help you apply for grants. It's not okay. Yeah. So, so now we have some money to help us apply for some money. Okay. That's good. Congratulations. This is Chris. In case you want to know who the phone number is. What it would create the Christmas. Oh, hi, Christa. She was just identifying yourself for the meeting minutes, which is very much appreciated. Yeah. David Lawrence. Yes. Hi. Unfortunately, per the email I was sending yesterday, I have a conflict on this business trip and I was kind of hoping we'd get to the other order of business, but it doesn't look like we're going to before I have to leave in five minutes. So I just, how are we doing on quorum? Even with my absence, are we still good on quorum? I believe we have at least 13 present at the moment. Okay. And then the other thing would just be that, you know, without we're not in the executive session yet or anything, but I'll just indicate in general, my support for the action when it comes under discussion. So, you know, pending anything surprising that maybe comes up in the conversation, right? Sorry, I won't be here for that. But in general, I am in favor. So, but regrettably, I will have to be going. So good luck. Thank you. And I will take that as a nice transition into the next topic unless anybody has anything else on this topic. Hopefully you've all received and had a chance to look through the draft MOU that was shared by Janiel. It lays the foundation for further development of. Yes, go ahead. We just want to make sure that we keep substance out of the public session. Yes. So this work is moving somewhat quickly. There are some moving deadlines to consider. So we want to try to get through as much as we can tonight. The next, this is probably going to represent a significant shift for our company, if for our organization, if we decide to go this track. So with that in mind, and given how this is fairly significantly into our, you know, in our workings of our company, these are very much things that we want to keep business confidential. And there will be, you know, a lot of other parties out there were to get wind of this before, you know, it's ready to be revealed. So with all that said, are there any objections to me going into or starting the process going into a, a executive session? I just want to open up the floor for a chance for people to have a voice before we go into an executive session. Not hearing anything. Switch over to the right language. All right. I just want to make sure that we move that we enter executive session under one VSA 313 a one to discuss contracts as premature public knowledge would clearly place CV fiber at a substantial disadvantage and invite staff and others present whose information is needed. Those folks would be all CV fiber staff. Is there anyone else on the Christa shoot? Anyone else? Denise Sullivan, any Cape Broad Band and Bacuda? So, Katie Sullivan and Christa shoot. Yep. And Bacuda is staff. But she's important to have in Lori. Beth is staff of sorts as well as she's treasurer. Those are very important folks to have with us. Those folks included and sorry for taking the minutes. That under one VSA 313 be we be permitted to have those people enter into executive session as well. Second. Did by Jeremy any discussion. None. So he's put it to vote. Is there any abstaining or opposed. Motion passes. Before we went to executive session, we will need to cut off. The minutes from recording. So I'm stopping the recording. It is 702 p.m. one just one minutes at 832. Tom Fisher has called us out of executive session. Yep. And I would like to move that the CV five word direct our executive director to sign the MOU as discussed in executive session. Second. So I check. Open to discussion. Alan. So there is an understand. There is there is understanding that there will be further refinement of certain issues such as non disclosure agreements. Is that understood. Okay, that's my understanding is. Okay. Any other comments. See if we can do the Hail Mary pass here. Does anybody opposed or are there any abstentions. The good long wait. I think we, I think we have a unanimous decision. Thank you very much. And I think we can end the meter meeting here at 833.