 Good evening. Welcome to ongoing election coverage by town meeting television. My name is Bridget Higdon. I'm the managing editor of the sx reporter, and I'm happy to be here moderating tonight. This is just one of many local election forums that town meeting TV is bringing you ahead of March 1 town meeting is traditionally where voters weigh in on local government representation, municipal budgets, school budgets and local ballot items. On the ballot, we're invited to participate in tonight's forum. And so here with me tonight we have Brian Sheldon, as well as Ethan Lawrence, who are both running for the one year seat on the sx select board. We have two candidates and one seat. Brian Sheldon is running a write in campaign and Ethan Lawrence, his name is on the ballot. So we'll be clear about that as well tonight. I have a couple of questions for you this evening. But let's start off with some opening statements from you both. Ethan, let's start with you please. Hi, my name is Ethan Lawrence. I've been a member of this community for going on four years. This is just our, our first house ever here in the fall of 2018. We had one son at the time, we moved here for the schools, and also the rural landscape, the house that we had found. We started a farm, and things progressed from there turned into a retail meat business, and we grew our family by one, and became involved in local politics. We had board town meetings, other other agenda items that were important to the community. And ultimately, my involvement over time, gave me the opportunity to step up and run for select work. Great. Thank you very much. And Brian, let's hear from you. Hi, I'm Brian Sheldon. I'm a small business owner here in Essex and Essex is my hometown. Our town faces enormous challenges, including separation, protecting public health, overcoming barriers to diversity and inclusion, growing our local economy, and others that we will speak about tonight. The select board must play an active and critical role in addressing each of them. Many people I respect had concerns, the select board would not be able to address these challenges if it becomes a battleground for partisan politics and culture war. So they asked me to run as a right in candidate. They felt that my deep involvement and issues critical to the future of Essex, including my work as the chair of the Essex Economic Development Commission, and as the treasurer of the Essex Rotary Club. These gave me the kind of experience, temperament and track record of practical solutions that the select board needs. Well, very much. We'll remind folks who are watching this live that we are welcoming questions. They can call in at 802-862-3966. And until that time, I'll lead off the questioning here. One of the ballot items that voters will see on town meeting day, an advisory referendum allowing retail canvas is on the ballot in Essex. Do you support it? And why or why not? We'll start with you. I mean, okay, sorry. Yeah, I support it. I think it's huge for Vermont, eliminating, you know, legalization of the retail market is going to eliminate the black market, give a sense of regulation, take away the, you know, scary realities of tampered with product. You know, in Vermont and other things, you know, knowing your grower, following the health benefits of it all and also on a retail sense, I think, you know, having the taxing and regulation of the product is going to be a lot better for the community than having it here as it already is, as a non-governed item. Thank you. Thank you. Brian, let's hear from you. All right, thank you. Thank you, Bridget. As a citizen, I plan on voting yes for retail cannabis next in Essex. I'm on record supporting retail cannabis. One of the largest and fastest growing industries in Vermont and Essex is value-added agriculture. As part of Vermont's Farm to Table initiative, growing local makes sense to me, whether that's organic milk, an apple orchard off of Chapin Road, and even Ethan's farm. Vermont agriculture is literally iconic. A carefully controlled cannabis industry fits into this larger framework. I'm pleased that the select board put it on the March ballot so that our community has the opportunity to opt in. Essex is poised to capitalize on this business right away. There's a CBD shop in the Essex experience. That said, if Essex voters do decide to allow the retail sales of cannabis here, I plan to collaborate with the rest of the board to find the right regulations for Essex. So we can grow Essex business and protect our kids at the same time. Thank you. Great. Thank you very much. Let's move on to the topic of separation here. As a result of the village's bid for independence, some early estimates show that Essex residents could face significantly higher taxes, and maybe cuts to important services. How would you address this challenge? And if cuts to services are required, where would you start? Let's start with you this time. How would you sort of handle this possible deficit in revenue, and if cuts are required, where would you start? Very good. First things first, separation is happening. To act like it's not, or at least that it might, is not the best way forward for Essex. As Althea often says, failure plan is planning to fail. It's no secret that I worked very hard to merge the community of Essex Junction and the town of Essex into one municipality. We ran a positive community oriented and fact-based campaign. And I'm sad that we couldn't make it happen, but as I said, separation is happening because the voters have spoken. On that same April ballot for merger, the advisory vote was the advisory vote for separation. If you lived in the TOV like I do, you knew that separation was the consequence of voting no on merger. The vote and the vote in the village to separate was overwhelming. Now remember the seat is for one year, and in that year will certainly represent both sides of the city line. Both the village and the town after separation will be my constituents. It's true there will be some short term pain for both communities. I will work hard to balance the needs of both communities that I represent. And to your specific question, we need to have community feedback on what policies and services can be cut and what tax raises can be had because we knew that that was happening. But more about my values here. Um, does anybody here a country fan? Forgive me for the dated reference, but every time separation comes up on the campaign trail, I think of a country song. And I promise I won't sing. It goes, we gain a lot of ground. If we both give a little, there ain't no road too long when we meet in the middle. And that's how it'll handle separation for us. Thanks. Thank you. And the same question to you. Yeah, I think, you know, separation is very important. It's going to be very challenging. Respecting the will the voters to ensure that separation passes, hopefully through the Vermont legislator in the timely manner that we're all expecting for July 1, affecting this. Um, I also think it's very important to create a fair and equal deal for both the city of Essex Junction when when created, and the new town of Essex, when that time comes. Although we are in a contract or a presumptive agreement at the time, when that when the time comes to create a contract. It's going to be very important to make sure that negotiation and and both party involvement agreement on the deals are attainable and easily provisional when or if there is a discretion of either side in those policies. So that's the question for what services to look at for for fun cutting. I don't think that we necessarily need to cut any specific part of the municipality. I think there's some things that we can look at. I know we were carrying over for police contracts, police officer contracts this year again. There's some some miss power authority positions that haven't been filled to the full capacity. And, you know, I think in there with the looking at the bigger picture, you know there's going to be some some movement of, you know, maybe we don't fund those four police officer positions but maybe we should pick up Essex rescue and make it a part of the municipality and there's a lot of groundwork that's still to be made. I think it's just very important that we make the right decisions we listen to the voters and moving forward we make sure that we we maintain a good relationship with the city of Essex and the town of Essex when both are created as their own entity. Thank you. We've got a listener question here so let's take that now please. I'm sure you can go ahead and ask your question. Hi, I'm just wondering, Ethan specifically, you, you have a history on on on Facebook that we've seen some of it's been scrubbed. And specifically there is a quote about too many liberals and such like that but how are you going to represent everyone and what is your temperament because that that matters in someone in a position of responsibility in the community. So please address that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for asking that question. I would godly address that my involvement in the community on community pages, all public spaces has been more than respectful listening understanding of others. However, I will address the fact that I have fallen into the ways of Facebook in private pages. Specifically the group that you're referring to on the post made by John Walters. I'm not hiding from anything. Before I submitted my paperwork to file to be on the ballot for the slack word, the post that I had made I did not delete anything I did not scrub anything I more than could have before anybody had time to dig in. I take full accountability and moving forward. I can only learn from my mistakes, and take accountability for the things that I said in the private setting, but these are recent things and and temperament matters, especially in a position where your responsibilities in the community. Yeah, I agree with that. Again, these were comments in the community these aren't made on the on the slack word meetings. I was made in private. And I take full accountability for the things that I said. Well, one thing is on social media, nothing is private. That's something to know. Agreed yes. Okay. That that was all I appreciate your response. Thank you very much. Can I can I can I address that a little bit Bridget as well. I'm going to say would you like to speak to temperament. Yeah, I'd like to speak to temperament and to, and to my internet presence. I mean I, I mean I do have the, I do have the advantage that I have been a public figure in this town for quite some time. However, I have, you know, like anyone who has been on the internet for, you know, like the internet is not is a, the internet didn't exist when I was Ethan's age, but even I know that that there's no such thing as a private space on the internet. So I'm going to change for this race, my anything in my Twitter feed, my Facebook feed. And, and in fact, if you look hard enough, you will find a you'll find a video I made for the house campaign that says anything I say will have my name on it. So that is how I will lead. If I, if you all trust me with your right in vote. Your ballot should arrive today. Thank you. I have a rebuttal to that. If you take accountability for everything that you've said, would you speak on thanking the person for calling me a racist and a messages and please explain why you believe that it was on your, it was on your Twitter, by the way. I'm not, I'm not exactly sure what, what you're referring to. But I think my concern, Mr. Lawrence was that you were claiming that you weren't saying some things in, in, in public that everyone knew that you were. And I'm just going to leave it at that. I think, I think truth matters. I'm running on the campaign of facts and science matter. So to say one thing, and right after filing for filing for office to try to say another is just, I don't think that is a way to leave this town. Great. Thank you both very much. Let's go to another listener question please. All right caller you can go ahead and ask your question. Thanks. This is a slightly different but related question to both candidates to Ethan, all both of you, you're running for one year seats. My interest is we'd be running for reelection. So, to Ethan, you have a small farm full time job young family. I'm wondering if you're going to take the experience you gain in your one year term, and then leverage that into a reelection bid, where you'll be able to use that on the next three year term. And to Brian. Prior to your announcing you look like from your website you are going to be targeting a November run for the house. And my concern is that will you be doing that or will you run for reelection for the select board they experienced you gain in that one year. Will you be able to leverage that into your next three year term. Thanks. Thank you very much. Ethan he spoke of you first so go ahead and take it. Definitely. I think one of the biggest questions I've been asked as to running was, what is my experience. And I'm 26 years old. I'm a father, I'm a full time welder mechanic. I run a successful agriculture business here in Essex. And I fully look forward to serving the board in a year showing people who I truly am. And I'm showing them the accountability that I carry as a person. And I fully plan on running for reelection or running for the next election. No matter what happens during this election, I am dedicated to Essex I care about what's going on in Essex. I'm informed on what's going on. I attend all the meetings. And I know that I'm more than willing and more than ready to commit myself to this position and to future positions when the time comes. Thank you. Thank you. And Brian go ahead. Thank you Mr signal for that question. I am this, this, this race is only 10 days old. And I firmly believe in one election at a time. So if I have not decided what I will run for next, or whether I will run for reelection. This is a, this is a historic and very important year in Essex. And when many people reached out to me many people that I, that I respect, asked me to run for the seat. That is why that is why I accepted the call. In terms of my website. It's no secret I believe that I was a point that I was one of the nominees to, to replace Mary Beth Redmond in the house. And I wanted to look like a professional to the governor when he was making those choices. So that is why the website was was designed in that way. And of course, and so yeah, if that's, and of course there were things that needed to be done in a 10 day campaign. More than update the website when the ballots were coming out. That's why that's why most people in Essex have gotten a postcard that is to let them know that I'm running, as opposed to changing my website. Thank you. Thank you. And I believe there's still one more listener question, correct. Is there one more. Hello. Okay. Go ahead and ask your question. We are ready for you. Oh, I can ask my question. I'm sorry. Good evening. Thank you both for standing up and buying for this position on the select board. My question is about environment. We have a lot of building going on in Essex and one of my friends her basement ended up getting flooded. The flooding was due to the fact that the trees that this person pulled out of their yard, multiples of trees were the very force holding that water where it belonged and not in her home. And I'm wondering how you feel about having an environmental impact study done whenever any kind of big permit for housing or buildings go up so that we can see what will happen in that area. And that way we don't get into trouble like this. Thank you. Brian, let's have you take this one first. Just asking about environmental impact studies. Sure. I am. I'm a strong believer that climate change exists, and that we need to do something about it. The number one, the number one cause of carbon carbon emissions in Vermont is transportation, but that's not your question you're you're at your the second, the second most cause of carbon emissions is home heating. So I think that there is an important thing that we can do as part of the Essex Energy Committee to, to try to work towards improving some of our housing stock, especially in terms of your friends flooded basements. And in terms of the environmental studies. I have to say one of my, I think my strong suits is I know where my expertise and knowledge ends. So I, and I don't know exactly. I don't exactly know when that would happen. So I do know that the Energy Committee and the Planning Commission should should and they probably already are I know as on EDC we are should get together and and answer your question. I'm not already doing that but I'll be happy to find out. Thank you very much. And Ethan your response. Yeah strongly support and I've actually followed this, this situation so environmental impact is a huge deal. And as a farmer I know I'm very involved in this. I work with the Department of Agriculture water quality. I work also work with the natural resources conservation committee on my property. I deal with water runoff when we're spreading all that. So looking at this as the impacts of development and building. And some stuff going on in my backyard same thing when clearing, you know, as far as water mitigation to more snow accumulation instead of in the canopy and it changes the whole entire landscape. And the behavior of the environment when you, when you change it. It's very important moving forward with the ETC listening and the other day that we have the plan that gives us guidelines but it's a it's a recommendation it's not a practice yet we don't have a practice we don't have environmental studies committee we don't have, you know, committee that's going back to these developers and the people building these houses and checking, did they do this or did they do that as they were supposed to. I think all that is very important moving forward, especially developing the town center and and the preserving the wetlands that are within the town center. Thank you. Thank you. And let's take another listener question please. All right caller you can go ahead and ask your question. Sir, you can ask your question. Is he asking a question just the sounds not coming through I can hear very quiet. It seems like he is not asking his question. I don't know why I'm trying to tell you to do the job you're the producer. Thank you. Well, it seems like we'll just have to skip this one and we can come back to it if they decide to rejoin. Okay, sounds good so then I'll go ahead here. I asked some x six reporter readers, but they would like to hear tonight. They asked that we talk about housing. What role does Essex have to play in housing, the housing need in Chittenden County, and how might Essex mitigate the rising cost of housing that we're seeing across the state. Ethan will you start please. Yeah, I'll start. I think this is a very important topic, especially in Chittenden County. And I look to answer this, the way that I'm trying to, but I think it reaches back to the development committee. You know, when we go into approving plans for for development. You know, we look at building single story. You know, three bedroom family homes that that appraise, you know, in the, it used to be 180 to 300,000 range but those days are all gone we all know. But you know, I know that they have as Essex is working with habitat for humanity to create those opportunities habitat for humanity spent awesome in Chittenden County in general. But I think looking at the development as it continues to grow, you know, maybe we don't build, you know, duplexes and quadplexes and these huge buildings that are, you know, one bedroom for $1400 a month and we really need to focus on on small development for attainable single family homes for the average person. I mean, when I bought my home in 2018 it was 230,000 and, you know, recent appraisals and if I wanted to sell it live in an apartment I could get $400,000 I would never be able to afford the house that I bought in 2018 so I think the biggest crisis right now is the developmental monopoly that they have on the houses that they're creating. So, thank you. Thank you. Brian, what do you have to say about housing and Essex role in it. Sure. Essex has everything. And that couldn't be more true than in the case of housing. We have farms in the Jericho border, we have high rise apartment buildings. We have suburban styles single family homes. We have residential houses on large lots. We have walkable neighborhoods we have drivable neighborhoods, and we have homes on dirt roads. We also happen to have some of the most affordable housing in Chittenden County in, in the acres in the brickyard. So, but what that doesn't mean is that Vermont housing matches Vermont wages. The best way of municipality can address this in my opinion is to build more housing. That's why when I was honored to have an interview with the governor staff, I talked about act 250 reform. We need to, we need to keep rural parts of Essex rural and five corners in the Essex town center should continue to be statewide models for how to build walk walkable neighborhoods. Now, I only have two minutes, two minutes here. So I want to say that these are my values are not specific plans. I have ideas, but I'm no expert. One of the things is that we have experts on our housing commission, and we have access to Essex residents who do affordable housing for a living. So, but before I wrap this up, I wanted to say one more thing. Affordable housing is an equity issue too. If the only housing can afford isn't insulated, you can't afford it. If the only housing you need is three bus transfers away from your job, you can't afford it. And if we drive people out of Vermont or we drive into Franklin County, who do you think that affects the hardest. We need more housing. We need more affordable housing and more equitable housing. And that's not in conflict with keeping the rural parts of Essex rural. Let's work with the planning commission, the housing commission, and yes, even the governor to help build more fair and affordable housing in Essex. Great. Thank you very much. I'd like to squeeze in this listener who has come back. So let's fit them in here if we can. All right, Collar, you can go ahead and ask your question. Oh, I think. Brian talk. I have to say that guy's great y'all should vote for him. That's where you're hearing earlier Brian. It seems like they left the phone call yet again. All right, well then let's get some quick closing statements from each of you. I think we should both ask each other our question. We haven't had that opportunity. Okay, we can do that. We have to lead off Brian, you or me. Yeah, go ahead. My only question that I have for you. I'm new to this. I just registered within the 10 days of receiving $500 per campaign. But I've followed you through, you know, a few things through the pro merger and anti three plus three, a few other things. And my question to you now is how come, you know, with all your experience after a mass media mailing that you didn't meet the 24 hour deadline to file. Thank you for the question, even we stood this campaign up very quickly. And it's what 10 days old at this point. The most important thing was to have Essex and Essex already got a postcard letting them know that I'm running. It's true we should have filed our mass media reports one day after the postcards went out. It's already been corrected. I apologize for the error. Thank you. Brian do you have a question for Ethan that you'd like to ask. When we were talking about housing, Mr. Lawrence, you spoke about you spoke about building more affordable housing in Essex, but you also spoke against duplexes. And which is, I mean, literally a few building duplexes is like 25% cheaper than building than building single family homes I wonder how I wonder how you would rectify that that that at least my confusion. Yeah, I should have I should have been more clear about that and I was actually thinking about that after after I had spoke on it. When I was speaking to developer monopoly. I was actually thinking in my head, you know, most duplexes and quad boxes currently are owned by landlord, and they are being rented properties and not own properties. There's the larger, you know, buildings that are in the in the town center, and, you know, towards the village, the five corners, a lot of those are condos and can be purchased. There's also a lot of condos off from off from Sand Hill there's a, there's a large, there's too large spaces back there. So condominiums are great and they're affordable and and they can, you know, fit a single family or no larger family. I think that we just need to really think about when we grant these permissions for these buildings that we're not setting up another 25 apartment to be built out $1400 a month when these these residents are not attaining any value or equity to maintain a home in our community. Thank you for the question. Thank you very much for being here tonight, Ethan and Brian. And thank you everyone to tuning into town meeting TV for ongoing coverage of community candidates. You could find this and more forums at channel 17 TV. It's also going to be on the town meeting YouTube page, I believe. Again, my name is Bridget Higdon. I am the managing editor at the Essex reporter. I appreciate you all joining us. Again, we have Ethan and Brian here running for the one year seat on the Essex select board. Brian is running a write in campaign and Ethan is on the ballot. Don't forget to vote on March 1 honor before polls are open from 7am to 7pm if you are not voting by mail. Thank you both very much and have a great evening everyone. Thank you. Thank you.