 Call the select board meeting for the town of Essex for Monday, March 20th, 2023 to order First item on the agenda are they any agenda additions or changes from staff none from staff any requests from board members spelling errors have been sent spelling errors and for the minutes yet great anything else any other Comments, okay, so no changes, so let's move on to public to be heard public to be heard as a time of the agenda where Attendees can address the board on town business. That's not on the agenda if you'd like to speak during Public to be heard you either raise your hand in the room or use the raise hand feature in the zoom application to find that Raise hand feature you can float your cursor down to the bottom of your screen You'll find a read there's a button that says reactions if you click on that will offer you the opportunity to raise your hand So do I have anyone who would like to speak during public to be heard? Don't see any hands in the room, and I don't see any hands online Okay, so let's move to the first business item Discussion and potential action on Vermont energy code and Department of Energy grant application Do we have anybody to speak to that? See I don't see John or will online Marguerite is there Marguerite do you have anything to specify on that one? John was gonna try and be here for that, but I guess it's maybe not here quite yet So Maybe he'll pop in but I don't have a ton to add them. What's there? I know we were gonna ask specifically about staff involvement to John Tonight to help clarify your question Andy, but I don't have an answer to it I guess at this point, so I guess basically we received a request from John Alden who's Planning Commission alternate for the town. He's a s-extruction resident been engaged with the community He's working with the energy futures group, which is looking to reach out to the state To to try to get stricter energy code standards and inspections in place so we get the request last week the Energy committee was able to meet with John Alden At their meeting last week and vet it and they recommend that the select board endorse the Endorse the project which would then go to the state and be a voice of support for that My understanding too is that that letter is a template. I don't know about altering it If you didn't want to put all of that in there I'm not sure but maybe that would be an option, but he was just that was sent to John afterward He sent that after he sent the other stuff too because it's obviously a fresh And that was very fast and coming for what others might be signing so Right, is there a is there a deadline that they're looking for us to sign this it is coming up pretty quickly Which is why we get it on the agenda. Okay, I think it's sometime this week. Is that right, Margaret? Do we want to amend the agenda and move this to later on so that we can potentially Have John here rather than not a bad idea and I can try to get in touch with John Can I ask a question nowhere through any of the information there's any cost? Not only does it not say how much staff times about but it was also no cost for this. Yep. I'm really concerned given the tightness of the budget We I think Andy's got a good suggestion to put it to late on the agenda I can try to reach out to John Alden. I'll shoot him an email see if he's available the way that I read it Is that it's no cost. It's just a endorsement from the town Andy mentioned and noticed that it would request some support from the town For communication outreach. I think that's something that we pretty much do anyways It's not a huge lift to promote something if it's as simple as just getting the word out that Standards have increased But again without knowing a whole lot more information I can't speak to exactly what it would take or not take So do we have to be explicit if we defer the if we change the agenda? We do we can we Move it until such time as Sometimes we'll a little speak about it Concert it as we can So I will go ahead and make the motion that we mod that we Modify the agenda to move business item 5a to An appropriate time when representation is here to speak to it second Thank you. Tracy. Any further discussion on that? I just have a comma or a question I should say Is that not the right thing to do is since the agenda's already been approved? We didn't we didn't we didn't vote on it on the agenda we We there are no changes. There were no because there were no changes. We didn't do a vote You can also vote to amend the agenda during the meeting if something comes up. You can do that Any other Okay, so we are voting to move the business item 5a to Later in the agenda when appropriate representation here is to is available to speak to it. Um, I guess we'll have media Hopefully that happens. Um, so all those in favor, uh, please say I I Opposed say nay. Hey Passes a 4 1 And um, if someone shows up to speak to that we'll return to it Okay, let's move on to business item 5b discussion about town meeting at debrief So there's a there's a memo in the agenda. Um, thank you staff for, um, bringing together a A what I consider a fantastic, uh, event. Um, Use the intent here is to to to ask for feedback. Is there any are there any, um Comments that Members would like to make around town meeting Either how how it happened this year or how we might want to do it in the future Do you have comments? Okay, I always have a comment Um, the spotlights Were quite distracting And the other suggestion I would have uh, is maybe have some mobile mics versus fixed mics I think you might get more people that would speak If you, uh, I would suggest maybe having a girl or boy scouts With a with a mic a couple mics and move them Around to the audience would that way people just raise their hand and you could give them a mic and it could speak and Yeah, so Laura We actually did ask for that and I'm not I'm not sure where what happened with that Whether we missed the communication or whether it was dropped later. I don't know. Yeah, that's a There there's also the the Just trying to explain why we why things might have happened the way they did Um, not trying to justify that say or say it's the right way But the town meeting tv likes to be able to point to see the person who's asking the question It was just it was just another another piece of that Um, but yeah, those are those are good comments. But yeah, the spotlight is definitely were We're a hard time telling who anybody was asking a question Anything else? Ran out of popcorn Ran out of popcorn. That was gonna be my comment Promise free popcorn. We ran out I'd say make sure we have enough popcorn next year. I'm sorry. I did too much quality control earlier in the day Um, I had a comment about I think me and you talked about this a little bit, but maybe next year just You know Spreading the questions out a little bit the way Andy doesn't have to answer all the questions and if there's certain things that Some of us are working on in different aspects of the select board whether ds expressed or me on the rescue or You know, whatever it may be is but next year. It's only going to be a budget discussion Because everything else would be by Australia people could still ask questions. Yeah, but what's going on? Yeah, especially if we have any other articles on the on the australian I don't know if it's just right to work all it off and Right. Yeah. I felt like there was more. I felt like there was more that could have been said In response to some of the questions. Yeah, and I I won't yeah fully confess that. Yeah, I probably didn't hog the microphone We have a plan and I also I also kind of followed the model that I've seen in the past and we didn't we never talked about How to handle all of that beforehand. So this is a good good discussion. Yeah, if if others would like to If you wanted to be in my way more Around the table discussion rather than just the the chair You know, whoever the chair is next year Again, I was done to share it up Yeah, I I I get that And I I didn't I didn't experience how hard the seats were because I was barely in mine They were hard. That was that was one of my leading Reasoning for us being able to answer a couple questions. Let's get up and get that chair every back. Yeah. Yeah, I write down chairs Shares chairs and chairs I thought it went really well though. I know a lot of positive feedback from people that I know that went there, so Hmm. Yeah, we'll go to public in a second any any other board comments or questions The um one one thing that I've heard a few times or said a few times was that we Because all of our business has gone to the ballot The we only have to we have to have a informational meeting But I guess there's I still have a question about when that has Because our charter says that it's it follows statute statute says it's within three days of your vote So you're technically doing and so I so I think we still have to do it within three days of town meeting day Not the 10 days that I think has been We can get a we can get a legal opinion here from vlct. The way I read it is the 10 days I could I could write it wrong our charter the charter charter references Town meeting and it says that any business being conducted at town meeting not by australian ballad has to be within three days Is how I read it Okay. Yeah. Yeah, we should there's no Business being conducted it becomes completely an informational meeting But yeah, we will get confirmation on that. Yeah, it'll be and I'm sure yes Yes, it'll be an informational meeting, but I think the question is when you have to have it Correct. I think we still have to have it within three days of our vote because of our charter Um, the statute the the the latter portion of the statute, I know, um It was sent to me if I could find it here Says that if the town has voted to do It within three days you still have to do within three days and our charter I add up. Yeah, what if it's sort of If time is voted to start a annual meeting on any of the three days immediate preceding the first Tuesday in March The hearing under this subsection may be held in conjunction with that hearing with that meeting Okay, maybe okay. Yeah, it's so we'll we'll get it Agreed All right any other board member comments um, I I agree with a lot of what was in the uh, the memo the the venue was fantastic. I think the It was a a It was a good place to have it I really enjoyed I think the uh, the uh, session out front or the opportunity to talk to departments and committees out front was good socializing over the uh, The um, um banding people as they came in Really helped because we were able to start essentially on time as the first I've never seen that happen before usually we're Trying to shepherd people through the check-in process that was that was a That was offered by uh, the sx experience that wasn't a right. Yeah They said that's pretty much how they deal with Events when they have them they check people on the way in the door rather than Into the actually into the auditorium work Anything else kind of I really do like the town clerk's suggestion of mailing an informational Postcard in january. I think that's a really good thing Right, right as as an alternative to mailing ballots. So that um, yeah, I did have I did have a neighbor that uh, Panicked the day before and said I never got a ballot and says well Did you ask for one and I said well They're supposed to come aren't they and so I think there there may be some people that didn't understand that They weren't being mailed so if they get a postcard right saying you have to request it It could help, but I don't know how many people that that affected It was my understanding that we were that we're mailing out annual annual report this year Yeah, annual report went out. Yeah, because I never got one I know a couple other people that didn't get them I didn't know if that information was in the annual report Everything our annual report was printed before we made that decision Because I was looking for it for a while and then I Asked my wife again. I'm like, we never got anything. No. She gives me everything that from the town or whatever. So I asked a couple of my neighbors over on hand way and they never got them either So I don't know how many people got an annual report. I guess we could add that question on our survey Yeah, I'll try to check because it should have gone to every house When understanding the recent Mailing issues mailing issues through the post office that may have something to do with it I just thought I'd mention that because I was thinking about that when I saw the The message from I'm forget to bring it up. All right, there's nothing else. I'll go to the public anybody else have any comments Hey Margaret Hi, thanks Yeah, I thought on the whole the meeting went very well. I got there too late to Go around and visit the the booths and it was it was very crowded by the time I got there I did ask John Sonic about the microphone. I mentioned it to him and he said they'd offered him a microphone And he didn't think he was going to need it But the way it was set up the people in the middle of the rows just They had to be incredibly assertive to get up and go to the end of the row and climb out to the microphone. So It would have been nice to have the microphones and it would have I'm sure that the spotlights on the stage were annoying But the the lighting in the room was also so dim that it was really hard to read the annual report If you had one so Do a lighting check Next next time. Anyway, but thank you for a great meeting All right. Thanks Margaret. All right. I don't see any other hands And I guess Just to follow up on that it wasn't I mean the spotlight was irritating But I would have preferred the house lights to come up so I could actually see who was speaking um, you know to Note body language and you know, just acknowledge who was speaking So I think that in conjunction with maybe cutting back on the spotlights a little bit Would make it easier to to see the the person speaking And to add to that a lot of the spotlight was the actual theater screen Where it was presenting because all of our bodies were in the bottom of the screen So I don't know if there's a way that they could have risen the Because we were in the film we were getting the because I know there's a spotlight moving around But we also had the film at us the whole time Because I noticed that one point turned around I could see everybody's so wet's in the screen and I'm like that's what We have 60 foot of television Yeah, we we that's that's something that I think what we would need to do is put a a blank bar at the bottom of the Presentation so I think that's a yeah, it's something that we have a bit dark Yeah, and that it was uh It was discussed and yeah It's a valid point to Because because then we're blocking part of the screen too Any comments or anything from staff? Gregor migraine Mostly positive feedback. I think all all good suggestions Some stuff some of the stuff we had in mind too about the lighting was one of the things that so we took away Um, agreed that the chairs on stage could have been a little bit more comfortable Um, but I think all in all it went well and and really kudos to tammy and the other staff who pulled it off and made it happen um we We're not planning on doing a step in and come together event this year like we did last year We really saw the showcase at town meeting. That's an opportunity to Draw attention to our boards and committees or our departments. Let them interact and engage with our residents. So we think we'll Continue that again next year, especially that it seems to be well received So we want to kind of use that and build that portion of town meeting up to try to highlight what the work that our boards and committees do Technically, there are more people there than they came into the step out. Correct. Yep So that was some of our takeaways. Otherwise tammy's memo. I think was great in the packet and really captured a lot of What we went through and and thoughts and reactions to it. So thanks for the feedback Oh, yeah I guess I could have emailed that too, but I guess one of my one of my other questions that I had I might have missed it in here, but do we know Uh, how much it cost? Yeah, like total in total Uh, it was about a thousand dollars until um for everything. Yeah Just in that at all. That was all the support. I think we had paid a little bit more for the popcorn, but um The venue with the support was I know The venue with the support was um, a thousand dollars. Awesome. Well, money well spent. All right But uh Moonvon then John Alden is here now. He is here. Yeah. All right, john so john we uh Your agenda item discussion potential action on vermont energy code and department of energy grant application Would you like to uh speak to that? And uh, thanks for having me it's um It's an interesting situation in that the state of vermont doesn't really have a great package of uh administrative material in place to deal with the energy code enforcement or compliance or training or anything about uh, most of it's done through uh efficiency vermont, which isn't really a state agency. It's a taxpayer or a rate payer funded energy utility requirement So, um, I deal I'm an architect ideal of building codes. I deal with all the rest of the codes that are related to building a building fire codes life safety code Mechanical plumbing, etc. And the one that's not actually in that package is the energy code even though it's still out there and so um number of us um Architects and engineers and other trades people have been trying to come up with a way to fix this for a while a couple of years and There's a grant application To a DOE offer There's 250 million dollars out there nationally to try and help communities Achieve better energy policy And results and so we thought this was a great fit. Uh, one of the people that we work with frequently who happens to also write Uh proposals and and the vermont energy code on behalf of his firm for efficiency vermont and the department of public service Uh has put a grant application together as a proposal the proposal You know First pass was accepted well and encouraged to continue to a full application. So that's where we are now The grant application is for four million dollars on this five Over a period of three years to help the state of vermont Uh get the correct players at the table And try and hammer out, uh, a more workable energy code strategy Which includes the administrative end Which uh, it's it's not really part of what the state does now Uh, and we're in support of that at the American Institute of Architects vermont chapter and we're out drumming up support for this application I think some materials were shared with you. Uh, if you have any questions I'd love to help you up, but they at the moment they're just looking for People to essentially endorse the application All right. Thanks john any questions So if the grant doesn't go through then this is a no Idea Because financially most towns won't be able to invest in it. Is that correct? Um Yeah, so there's some interesting things going on. There's also a bill in the vermont legislature that's trying to, uh Go after a similar process Where they would fund uh, they have 125,000 dollars in the bill as currently written That would also go towards funding a study committee to try and figure out how to do So, um, if the if the grant Believe the way it's worded is if the grant is successful Then the state doesn't have to pay Uh, that money uh from the taxpayers and they would just piggyback on for the grant application And get the uh results of a much more robust Uh study program and the and recommendation from this Grant that Okay, she's to provide a process that works for Vermont. So Yes, there's other things. There are two options for us. Uh The house bill we're just going to keep asking after them to try and support the house bill Uh, but uh, I think the better option is really the almost five million dollars that would come from the Feds to help us all through Thank you If you can go ahead what what is uh, what bill is that money in the 125,000 then? Was originally written in h 332 and we understand that it's been uh Added to the housing so-called housing on the bus bill, which is uh s100 Although I haven't seen that show up on their website yet, but that was information as of the last Wednesday I was down in an affiliate testifying Uh in front of the house committee on h 332 And I think we heard during our testimony or shortly thereafter that there may be a A move to add that into s100. So uh, either way, we'll be supporting that. Uh, and hopefully Uh That all sort of gets wrapped up into this grant application in Optimistic view that it's I was just I was just curious. I I guess I I might not have the right memory of the bill, but I didn't know if this is a standalone bill from The housing side of things for code enforcement or if this was wrapped into the to the clean energy heating standard that will affect many residents Actually, uh, a standalone bill h 332 was a standalone Home bill the only thing it was trying to do is get money for A study committee to Provide direction on the energy code. There is a separate bill For some enforcement in in housing. This is not the same thing And there is a lot of there are a lot of provisions in the s100 bill already that we We generally feel are more structured towards the housing side of things whereas h 332 really has nothing to do with housing except that um Residential construction would also be uh included in the uh In the pack So right now, uh, the only commercial the only buildings that have any oversight whatsoever are Commercial buildings on the energy code and that's only because architects and engineers are required through their Licenses to comply and so when I design a building and meet my office Right here in the town does uh scotton partners. We we do all commercial construction for the most part so Every time we issue a set drawing we're telling the state that it complies with the state energy code um residential projects, um have a guide book a handbook but but the people Uh, not every house has to have an architect and not Uh, every builder knows what the rules are so it's it's a little bit Uh gray area for us. We don't like that situation. We think that the state's interest in having people comply with The state energy rules would be much improved if there was a better system to help people train learn and comply and have have a Code official of some kind be involved But that's a long way down the road. We've got to get the uh study coming together first to kind of dive into this bring all the appropriate parties together Uh legislators builders designers architects engineers and and sort out how we're gonna do this First step You know get everyone at the table and start talking about it panel so Usually grants they come the initial grant you get a good amount of money, but then You run into a lot of costs to actually implement it So i'm concerned that there are only two municipalities that have signed on so far We have a number that it might potentially save but i'm much more interested in what it would cost Because basically this is setting up an entire new department for enforcement with everything that comes along with that So, uh, it's also all the big players that i'm seeing in the letter that are interested at the moment And i'm not sure that maybe a local ordinance might work better For enforcement for like residential because at least i know local folks would have more of a say In some of the rules and i would i would say that um your 87 Compliance on the commercial Um is where you want to be the residents i'm sure they have reasons of why they don't comply and Probably a lot a big part part of that is cost so um I just i'm concerned that this is a big step That um initially There's not a cost to it, but it could have significant costs to everybody in the future Thank you any other Questions or comments i'm john in the uh the letter that's included that you're asking us that the You're asking us to sign or consider there's a paragraph in there that talks about uh the municipality providing support um By working with the project team to promote energy code outreach activities and providing um connections to community members is How much You know if we sign this letter as it's written what are we committing to? Excuse me. My understanding is that the commitment is to support the grant application which includes Uh The development of a process that would ultimately Be recommended for adoption by the legislature so There's really not a commitment on your behalf to go do anything until Uh, the process has gone through the whole whole legislative You know process when it gets there because We don't even have a recommendation yet. Uh, someone would have to take that recommendation to the legislature and get it You know sponsored in a bill and and then all of that due course and due process what happened before it ever becomes real and if it did, uh, there would be a statewide uh agreement Brokered by the the legislators that this is in the best interest of vermont and we don't know what that looks like yet Cost has been a constant discussion of this the grant application doesn't cost you anything Uh, compliance with the energy code is already required. It's just not being done uh, and compliance with Some type of state I mean we have goals that are set already. So does the town the town and the state both have energy goals and You know, you can look at Pay me now or pay me later kind of thing. I don't I don't see why We would want to be out of compliance with our own stated goals and objectives uh personally, but um There are people that look at the cost of that and say, you know, I don't think so um It's already a law. I I don't really understand how they get to say that but but that's Happening so this Doesn't really commit me to do anything other than what you're supposed to do already So I don't I don't really understand what the issue is. You know, I don't have that luxury. I have to do That, you know, that's my my job. My license is about doing it, right? Uh, and it seems to me it's Not exactly energy Forward to say I'm not going Okay, so to be clear what's what's being pursued here is enforcement of a standard. It's not the development of a new standard It's it's not It's not really the enforcement of a standard. There there is no process at the moment to look at energy The energy code and energy requirements in in the hole They're being written and updated every three years and just put out there and and uh, you know, that's it. It's like, okay. Well, uh If if for month is serious about energy and the use of energy and reaching its energy goals Uh, there really needs to be an entire package that goes with that. It's not only about enforcement, although the the goal would be to improve our Our compliance The goal would be to have an entire system that's in place that treats Energy in the energy code just like every other building code out there So, um, nobody knows what the right answer is yet. There's you know, that's part of the debate. You'll be can agree Even now they're arguing about it already and we're just saying hey, let's talk about it and we're already uh, and we've got quite a bit of Uh, you know pushback just on the concept of Uh putting a process in place. So um I think that's part of the grand application. It's part of h3 32 It just simply says We're gonna form the study committee and we're gonna get everybody together and we're gonna talk about how we want to do this And it might not look like how new Hampshire does it or how new york does it or anybody else It's going to be tailored to what's best for vermont and then That will be a recommendation Has no teeth has to go somewhere else before it gets implemented So really it's just an endorsement to say hey, let's talk about Tracy so From what i'm understanding Is that this would just be supporting? Trying to pull down Grant funding To pay for a study committee That the legislature Is thinking about doing anyhow Is that correct? Okay I did to even say this but basically what's being proposed is that they want to create a A requirement that all towns have a building inspector all towns have an energy inspector Which are going to be a direct correlation on the town It's going to be a cost to the town. It's going to be a cost to the taxpayers It's going to be a cost to anybody who tries to build a remodel in this town and if As is quoted if this is a law It would be enforced and it hasn't been enforced in the state of vermont Up until this point and it's tied into all these heating bills And this clean energy initiative for 2035 that they created that they cannot achieve And they have no plan to achieve it And if we sign on to this Or we're we're committing to something That's going to put a huge impact on the residents of this town without a plan on how or what it's going to look like Because exactly what he just said if you have these codes that need to be enforced like them There are no licensed carpenters in chinning county besides burlington There is no requirement from the state of vermont to be a licensed carpenter So now you'd have license enforcings on builders and assets You'd have A licensing for the energy You'd have to have somebody to to follow through with all these processes in your planning commission So there's there's so much unknown that's not being presented That it's really hard for me personally to say that I support something that I don't see A way out of what it's actually going to look like And and and there is no way out as far as the legislature. That's why it hasn't happened yet So my personal feeling on it is see what the legislator comes up with and then revisit it But until it's supported and explained from the state On how it's going to be supported paid for and implemented I I don't feel right to uh support something that I don't that I don't know anything about See and I look at it from a different perspective that We don't know what we don't know And this is saying yeah leverage this grant funding from the federal government To go find out and get those answers Right um and inform the legislature of those answers and and form a plan um that would Give them the information that they need in order to discuss further And put in place an agency that would be designated as the enforcement authority um Right in this proposal that our name would be on It sets us it sets a goal already for seven years It says 2030 says by 2030 So you're putting your name on something that says we will achieve this by 2030 Shall they get this grant funding and we want to do the resilient and efficient codes Inputation But that's the state's goal already. That's not impacted by By this project Proposal this is energy future groups proposal to the u.s. Department of Energy I don't know what document I'm on the the uh The letterhead from the slack board which would be the slack board The first paragraph as they use support their initiative And the bipartisan infrastructure law resilient and efficient codes implementation And then it says to go on to the target of net zero ready construction of all newly constructed buildings by 2030 The proposed team will work towards enabling achievement Um to achieve the state's compliance target So I don't I don't think that's going to change whether we sign on or not It's the state's target whether whether or not this happens. It just helps gather that information Before hand and brings all of the people to the table to have those conversations and receive that information It's a planning initiative basically Right, which has been proposed by the state since 2015 and they haven't done anything to work towards it You know, so this is this is to Pay for a study that will start that will it's to support a study that needs to happen. Yes And I think john said that the Legend that the state would pay for it at a much lower funding level than this grant would support so The work that's described here I think Will happen in either case. It's a matter of who pays for it If they don't get the grant it's all from the taxpayers if you get the grant then the grant pays for the study One's for five million ones for 125,000. So there's a big difference, right? So You can't pay for maybe I don't know Kind of can I ask how many municipalities this has been presented to? John, can you answer that? I can give it a try and that's uh We on the aia vermont, uh, i'm on the public policy committee and we're, um, there's only, you know Seven or eight of us and and we're trying to go to the towns that we're from but we're all Basically, you know, most of us are in the chidney county or near about and so Our reach is limited You know, we don't have the resources to go trot around the state and try to do this although energy tutors might So I can tell you i'm only doing two Essex and and uh Essex junction but I don't believe the state has been canvassed to you know, and only two people Two municipalities decided to sign on I think it's just a matter of trying to find resources to go Go out and talk to them And then you can see from the list of people that Or organizations that have signed up already, you know, there's a pretty decent list there um We we think it helps the application At the national level if we as a state are supportive of this process And if municipalities are involved as well as other organizations But it's by no means been an exhaustive campaigning Thank you Any other board member comments or questions? Let me open up to the public then any public comments or questions I don't see any hands in the room I just want to make a one more comment that One of the people that signed on there is burlington department of permitting and inspections So be prepared to have the Essex department of permitting and inspections This study that was that was that was locally that was locally passed by burlington. They wanted to have their own enforcement But shall is make it to a state level that it will be requirement by towns If it's implemented I don't think you can connect those dots. I don't there's no process in place right now that Shows the state telling municipalities. It's on them to do this You know that their their burlington has had their own enforcement for a long time. They like it that way Essex can do Essex burlington can do burlington um I don't believe That there's any Pre-conceived notion of how this is going to work. I have my own personal one Which is that uh, and and I think the aii Has already written a paper on this supporting The notion that the energy code gets treated just like the rest of the building codes through the fire marshal's office So all of the pieces of the puzzles they go into building a building are handled by the professionals that are already doing it And that that wouldn't be any different than your Building inspection inspections now for commercial buildings, which all get done by the fire marshal for our area and not Because the municipality had to come up with another person If you want to create another person you can and many communities around the state have done it South Burlington and Burlington are your two Closest that have their own fire and building safety inspection people, but finally means required by the state So I guess I have a question, but so the fire marshal is coming in and checking the the installation rating on the windows They don't do it now. They won't they're not They're not on a commercial building If that's a requirement for a commercial building though, who does it on a commercial building? They'll check whether glass is temperate or something, but they're not checking To see whether it meets the energy code. Nobody's doing that Even on the commercial side Nope The pump Fire safety has said you you can't you know, if you don't give us the whole package We don't feel comfortable doing it our resources are already committed to the things that we're required to do Uh, you know, they work out of the division of public safety and the energy code is put out there by the department of public service and they don't necessarily coordinate together so public service writes the energy code and then that's it My understanding is anytime there's a new construction, whether it's residential or commercial that before They can get occupied somebody has to submit a certificate of building energy standards either called the rbs or the cvs for Residential or commercial that has to get filed and signed that says, you know This building complies with the state energy code, but there's nobody checking to to ensure that it does and so there's that gap between The law saying it has to meet the certain standard the Not sure it's the builder or the owner or somebody saying that it meets the standard But there's nobody in between saying yes, it does or no, it doesn't it's basically an honor system System Mr. Chairman at this time given the fact that it does not appear that we're it's going to cost us any money to sign the letter um The fact that the state budget that 125,000 or whatever they put in there is Not going to go very far if it even gets approved And the letter authorizes them to go ahead and try for the five million dollar grant I would make the motion that we have our town manager sign the letter of commitment If you don't have a second Just a suggestion Instead of making it a letter of commitment because we're not Really committing to anything. Okay. Um friendly amendment To vote in favor of being listed among the municipalities in support of the project That works for me. I was just reading what it said there Okay, so does that also constitute a second. Yeah, okay, so um We have some discussion on that so Two questions. I guess just one first one is to staff can the staff okay with supporting if the If this goes through Well, I guess I better ask the other question first. John. Do you just sign that letter that you sent us or do you need Is the the proposal is that we'd be listed as a supporting municipality Or do you Do you need the letter With uh, you can you can make your own letter and you can use that was just a template Uh, you're free to create the language you see fit Uh, if it merely says we we support the grant application, I'm sure that's fine Okay, so then I guess the um, it's pleased to support Hard to rewrite a letter on the fly Yeah, and it it was I was just reading from the the memorandum My comments weren't specific to it being called a letter of commitment Um in the title, I don't think I don't see anything in the letter that specifically says we're committing to anything other than participating with the project team So then um, so your your wording change suggestion was With regard to the wording of the motion that we're approving or do you want did you want something changed about? I withdraw my motion to start again Um Make the motion that we authorize the town manager to sign a letter of support for the grant application Second okay. Thank you. Don. Thank you. Tracy. They're clarifies things now. I'm going to ask my question to greg. You're okay with that give them the Kind of minimal description of what it means to support the project They're working with the project team. I am okay with that. Um, I think there's enough flexibility in that paragraph Committing our support that we can do what we can take on at the moment or whenever that moment comes I think if it's doing a little bit to get the word out and Tell people it's coming. Tell people it's out there. That's just part of daily business. We can do that. Okay Okay, any other Counts on the board. Okay, so the vote is to Um authorize the town manager to sign a letter of support for the grant application All those in favor, please say I I opposed Any motion passes three two So thank you. John Thank you very much. And uh, let's move on to the next Agenda item Okay Uh business item 5c discussion potential action to schedule select board strategic planning work session Gregor margaret Sure. Um, so we did a work session last year was in may. Um shortly after The organizational meeting that you always hold in april was a chance for the board to get together at that time You're meeting each other. I'm a pretty pretty new to your Relationship with each other as a board. Uh, so we took it as an opportunity to get together Update you and what staff was working on what's on our radar hear from you as to what you want to do accomplish in the coming year I think we've done a pretty good job about chipping away at that work Marguerite has a reading file item later in the packet about what we've done what we've accomplished over the past year But figured that Let's make it an annual thing Let's try to do something again this spring and have a chance to Do some strategic planning put together a work plan for the coming year Reach out to all of you. Thank you for your responses as to when you were available Uh, it seemed like there were a couple of Saturdays and a Monday evening that would work staff's recommendation is to Stick with the Monday meeting schedule. This would be so be three back-to-back Mondays But we can certainly do a Saturday, uh, the April 29th or may 6th if that's preferable to the board Um, just wanted to bring it to you and try to get something on the books We can start to do a bit more planning for planning planning plan Any uh any comments or questions from the only Call that was the last year we spent mostly a good part of the day I think it ended up being More five hours and I just worry about starting that at 6 30 p.m I'm open to any dates. I just wanted to throw that out there that I don't want to feel I don't want to feel rushed. I don't want any of you to feel rushed if we Get into a conversation about something and Want to continue to discuss it a little bit, you know what I mean? So you suggest me start early? Oh, no, not on a Monday I can't do a week. I can't do a week days any earlier than 6 30. I just I can't That was going to be my suggestion start earlier may 8 I mean how early No, did my cast for me, you know Extra hour extra half hour Yeah, I mean it's just Five hours. I would plan for at least four hours, right? So well, I think the proposal here is three All right. Yeah, that's flexible. You know, I was thinking it'd be three We could take his line right it'll be a little bit more informal this year than it was last year But we can take it as it comes and you know block off three hours every run or It's not gonna be uh moderated this year It wasn't planning on it, but if the board wants to go, I think it'll go quicker Right Because I think having to wait for the facilitator to type all that in and say well Do I understand what you're saying it took a lot longer than if we had just had the open discussions We're all a lot smarter than what you were a year ago Speak yourself I would speak in favor of monday may 8th. Yeah, that's fine 5 30 At 5 30 Anybody, you know I was thinking six but uh six six is good six compromise. There we go be in the middle make up your minds Six or five six o'clock. Is that the six clockwork for goodie? I'm uh one in one evening 5 36 works fine for me on that day I'm if we start at six I'm leaving at 10 though So I'm serious. So is there any I can't see it, but I don't know we heard the 5 30 or so It's been really good of us like for this year. So anybody it's I should take none from me. I can't speak from our great. Is it 10 or 11 now that we have to make a vote to continue So we should change that. Margaret you say you're okay with five or five thirty or six Okay, um Campbell you I would say six Yeah, six would be better for me too. Just tell me when to be here. All right All right, so let's do six five May 8th. Thank you. You don't need any kind of motion. We just schedule it Just put on the calendar, right? Yep. All right Okay, cool. And oh um May just not too far away if you want to start sending, uh Topics that you want to talk about to uh To greg you start accumulating that that'll help the timing too if we have It's gonna be if it's known what we want to talk about ahead of time Could I ask greg to resend our list from last year or directly to it? So It's in a minute. It's in here. Well, it's in a minute. Yeah, it's in the it's in the reading file reading file There's a there's a Progress to date and I guess we're all there. Yep They can send the um kind of calendar type Product that came out of last year session two if that helps us a different different type of visual Okay, and I've started making a list of stuff that I've heard over the past weeks and months So I'm happy to share that and thank you for the suggestion Andy to send other ideas. That'd be perfect. That would generate some ideas Yeah, yeah, right anything else on that Okay, and this is uh, this will be a public open public meeting. Um, we're gonna do it here Is a regular meeting? I think so. Yeah, unless somebody wants to do mix it up, but I was planning to just do it here Okay, good. Make sense I've spent a lot of money doing it somewhere else. Yeah, all right, cool Um, all right, let's move on to uh business item 5d discussion about the select board meeting schedule Our charter says we can't vote um, we can actually set the schedule until we have our officer elections in our first meeting in april So this is a preview of what's being proposed on this list of dates out there similar to the dates that we have that we followed this year um With the the note that that it's uh, is it july and september each only have one meeting Correct, and there's a typo in there that should say the third monday not the second monday for july and september Yeah So we can discuss the dates and we can't we can't commit to them until our next meeting Understanding that we can't commit to them and also understanding that Whenever there's a holiday on monday, we're at this on the same night at the same time as the school board um I would like folks to think about possibly meeting the second and fourth tuesday um previously we hadn't done that because folks In the junction would have to choose between The the trustees meeting now the city council and us but after july 1st um We are they are no longer in our budget Um, so I would like to see us possibly move to the same night as the city council To avoid that conflict with the school board. They're actually on wednesdays now. Oh, they are. Yeah, perfect So let's just switch up the monday son So you're talking about january moving those because the oh, I was just this four of them Yeah, I was just thinking about the regular cadence. Um But you know, oh, I see yeah, all of our meetings to the second and fourth also thinking about um Staff time if we get the agenda late on a friday afternoon We have questions if we have feedback. Um, it only gives that day on monday to respond so it would give staff extra time uh to respond and get back to us but I could go either way. I just wanted to bring it up as a What if we just switched up the four tuesdays made of mondays? So they didn't follow on a holiday What They're tuesday because monday is a holiday, right, but we can't do the first and the third For the for the second and the fourth on those. I see what we know You know man, we could if you did the second monday in february Yeah, and then that'd give you a meeting right before town meeting too, which we did this year Because february 20th isn't that's like too far away from town meeting in my opinion That's where we had a meeting the week before a week No, we didn't it was the 30th. We had a meeting of january And I think for scheduling purposes for the public for staff having a repeatable meeting night Is helpful for planning purposes But again, I just wanted to bring it up for people to think about over the the coming weeks Personally, I have I like the first and third because I have other meetings on the other monday nights and tuesday nights, too Well, that's the thing. There's four tuesday night meetings this year So another way to look at it, but I think doesn't help donna any I guess would be the the june 20th meeting, which is a tuesday There's only one meeting in july, so if you move the 20th to the following monday avoid the the 19th holiday You still got two weeks before the or three weeks before the the 17th So you could space that june 20th out to address that one tuesday and then I was going to suggest in january that we go to the second and fifth because there's five mondays In january next year largely because we have to have another meeting that last week of january to warm town meeting Yeah, so why not plan the meeting for that week ahead of time So that we're not having to add another meeting And also again again it avoids the You know comments. I got right. We're during budget season You have meetings that conflict with the school board and everybody's people have to decide whether to go to the town budget meeting or the school board meeting And so um Something to consider moving the as I said the the In january because there's five wednesdays Move to the second and fifth wednesday, but then we would have another meeting right behind it on the On the fifth So I don't know just to they I like that You could do the same with the february tuesday. You could move that favor and then you would have a meeting right before Yeah, if you move if you move february to the second monday and the fourth monday It would be you'd solve that problem also and you'd solve your problem from january Then you go right to town meeting So I've lost track I will send you a graphic. It's great. No no tuesday that we can Potentially share or we or if anybody has any other thoughts on what what we might need to do them I won't be here December 4th. Basically, you're just moving january and february's meetings to the second and fourth monday That and then the also the the june 20th one to the following monday because there's a gap for the next Because there's only one meeting in july. Yeah, so three weeks between each of the meetings instead of two weeks and then four weeks or whatever the That works for me Oh, we can't change anything today, but we can't change a good conversation And and we can include I guess the and I don't know it does affect does it affect town meeting to you? Yes Yeah, he's sitting over here. We can't Tracy Tracy's gonna get rid of me. No. Yeah, you are if you change the things So you're saying change from the 20th to the 26th the monday the 26th. Is that what you're saying of june june? Yeah all right Doesn't affect us Right, right, right Effects you maybe yeah, okay, okay, and then and then in in uh, january it would be the I guess it's the the eighth 22nd. Yeah, and uh, 22nd Okay, I know it'd be a week later be the 29th. You're not the 29th So yeah, because there's five weeks you have two weeks in between so eight and 29 Right, because I got two weeks in between and then you have to you have to warn them the town meeting that week Yeah, right. Got you or hold a schedule or hold a special meeting like we did this year Right, and then we had three meetings in a row the way we're at the three meetings in a row again Yeah, yeah, right and then move the february meetings to the 12th and the 28th No, 26 I like the uh, and then there's time then you get back on the regular kids All right, then you just have a meeting town meeting Yeah, so it should be the fourth and the fifth depending on that informational meeting Right depending on when we when we want to have it, you know, right, right. It could be the Yeah, yeah, right could be that last meeting if it was just if we can do that, right We can't change we have too much you can adjust as we go on the special day So I've got the june Second june meeting will become june 26th January will become January 8th and 29th February will be the second and fourth monday is the 12th and the 26th That's a proposal. Yes That seems to be supported by everybody. That's what we'll put in the consent agenda Next week. We can always pull it out or something changes that one All right, so let's see any other board member comments Any public comments on that see any hands in the room or online? So all right Okay, so let's see the next business item is To be held an executive session. We have a couple of Personal things to address and the Greg's evaluation And so we'll come back to that and so consent agenda Make the motion we accept the consent agenda as presented Thank you Don. Do I have a second? I can thanks Kendall Any Any discussion? I know Don you said that you had forwarded some spelling spelling errors. So to uh For the the minutes from town meeting. Yeah, thank you for that else It was an expensive Packet there was a lot of money in this one Oh, yeah Okay, all those in favor of consent agenda if we say aye Aye Opposed say nay Okay, motion pattern or consent agenda approve five zero Uh reading file any board member comments by anything I would like to thank public works for the wonderful job They did it with our roads during that horrendous snowstorm Yeah In sidewalks in sidewalks, too Looks like we're in good shape For the rest of the year All right, um Thank you for including the strategic planning update. Um smart. Great. Yep. I agree. Thank you. And then also the The policies that will be reviewed at our organizational meeting have been included to give Extra time to take a look at them and also make them available to the public if they would like to look at them and comment Um organizational meeting will be reviewing those Irene can you mute yourself? Yeah, I do appreciate the the heads up and advanced over some of the policies The town media exit survey was a great idea. I know we've done paper Surveys before and we get like six of them back So something we have like 50 or so responses already. I'd have to check with tammy. We actually um Credit to denis lutz. He suggested it last year and we got a bunch of responses last year I thought it was worth doing again this year and um, yeah, good to know that we're getting responses already Okay, anything else I would just Mention about the chinton's hall waste district budget. I noted that they charge a percentage for their health insurance Or for the employees versus what we do we they pay what 10 percent? I thought I saw that they had um, they were more like three You know quarter percent. Yeah, but it's a percentage of what the employee makes. It's not a it's not a percentage of um Oh, I missed that of the fee of the I was just sure I read it I have to read it again. I noted that I I thought that was different than what most um Towns do most towns have you pay 10 percent or 15 percent whatever of the health insurance premium The district is doing it where they pay a percentage of their salary I just wondered if there was any kind of comparison as far as um, the employees pros or cons Just a new way to look at Potentially a budget item that I hadn't seen before Yeah, I'd have to look at it again. I haven't um, I had an opportunity to to do any analysis or discuss with anybody We do have an rfp out an rf From rfp or an rfq, but we put something out recently um, travis did to to we have a salary study coming up We wanted to look at not just you know baseline salary, but we only wanted to factor in Benefits, um years of service. We wanted to be a pretty comprehensive look at What other people make what other municipalities offer so we can have a good picture of Where we sit where we stand, okay? Yeah, and we want to ultimately remain a competitive place to work desirable place to work So yeah, hopefully yeah, I can I can pull that out No, I just I just know that most towns do a straight percentage. So you are a park and recs ground keeper You pay 10 percent of your premium, which might be the same as a town manager pays for 10 percent Whereas the district's approach to it, um, might be a little more equitable or potentially all employees Interesting is something to consider. Thank you It's funny. I read that too and I didn't catch that subtlety that it was percentage of salary All right anything else Motion anybody have the motions for the exit concession? There's only one yeah Make the motion that the select board entered to executive session to discuss the appointment or employment or evaluation of a public officer Or employee in accordance with one vsa section three one three a three To include the town manager hr director and deputy manager Okay. Thank you. Ethan. Thank you Don We you don't have any reason to come back So we will adjourn from upstairs. So it's got you're free to go when we're done here and um, we won't be coming back to the to the online meeting because uh We're not won't be making any motions other than to adjourn Um, so any other comments discussion I was in favor of entering executive session. Please say aye. All right. Opposed say nay Okay, motion passes five zero. We'll um head upstairs and Thank you all. Thank you for those who participated this evening and uh See you next time