 Not for me All right, John No I moved to approve the minutes of February 14th Can we discuss them I have a proposed change or Yeah in on page four in the discussion of the Shaitree preservation plan The first sentence on the top of page four is kind of a summary of board members were generally receptive to the plan with no Substantive revisions proposed other than the and then the rest of the sentence and then there's some kind of commentary for the next Several sentences until the end I would propose we delete that Because there's going to be a public hearing on the plan and folks Can ask questions and illicit responses from the drafters of the plan not sure if Kind of the commentary is Appropriate and I don't I don't recall All Specifically that historical discussion so that would be my recommendation that we end the sentence and paragraph after The word convey after the first three lines. Yeah, thanks. Thanks for bringing that up I I was Stopping short when I read through that too and I I figure I didn't remember that happening but I guess I must have just spaced out for that part of the meeting but In my defense it did happen Okay, so this is what I had brought up because I'm confused a little bit about this The rights of the trees on the side of the road and I understood the balance It's one more to the landowner so that's why I brought that up and This does capture that discussion that we've had So I'm for leaving it in myself, but I Just Great area and that's kind of what I brought up at the meeting that when we talked about the trees I was like, how's that working now? I understood there were some problems with it. Bah, bah, bah well, then maybe there was discussion about the Evolution of the statute as opposed to there's long been a troublesome legal gray area I think I don't know. I I don't think know that that's accurate We had problems with this tree in the in the town right away. Yeah, that the the phrase troublesome legal gray area is commentary that I Don't know that we as a board Articulated I think Seth you raised the question regarding whether the Plan is in contravention of the statute and I Discussed how the plan was actually anticipated in the statute and the statute provided a mechanism for creation of the plan and the powers in the plan But how it's described I think is more It's more commentary that Kind of is I'm struggling with the right term But so I because there's going to be a hearing on it. I don't know that I would want The residents of the town to read this and think that the select board Is believes has this opinion which I don't I I don't know if that's the case I know I don't but I I would recommend that we delete from conveyed to the end I You know, I think that you could attribute that statement to Seth if you wanted to and I don't think Seth would have a problem with that And then it wouldn't be the board who made the statement And I do think people have a right to know what we say at these meetings They don't need to know word for word, but that general discussion did come up and it was Seth Who who brought it up just so to say Seth? Yeah, that's such and such and and I sign it to him and then it's not the board We don't have a problem with it. I do think we have a right to talk about stuff like that Even if it's going to be a hearing coming up because it's not like we're doing something ex parte We're doing we're doing the job. We're supposed to be doing a select board members. Okay, so the sentence chair Gartner Relate or whatever I would just you know, maybe attribute it in the beginning for that sentence the next sentence Discussion on this topic revealed that although the plan sets out the town's protocol for handling trees in road right of ways Complete clarity on their respective legal rights held by the town and effective landowners Remains somewhat elusive. Is that all attributed to Seth? I don't mind Because he's a landowner and I'm sure this reason this came up to because he's experienced this elusiveness But that sentence is attributed to that sentence describes the plan itself as opposed to the historical ambiguity and I don't know that we dove deep enough into the plan to see whether it clarified that What Seth identified as what Seth called or characterized as an ambiguity No, the final sentence there it appears clear However, etc that I recall everybody's looking at it in the end and saying yes, this is this is true after some discussion Yeah, or at least no one objected to that Right. So the sentence So we're keeping the one aspect Sentence attributing it to Seth the second sentence. However, though I don't recall us Evaluating the plan itself to determine whether or how it resolved the Gray area that Seth was concerned about Well, I thought that we had concluded That the that the plan does set out the town's protocol for handling trees in right of way Which is the last sentence I agree I would agree to keeping that in I think that's Yeah, the discussion on this topic revealed that although the plan sets out the town's protocol for handling Trees in their road rights of way complete clarity on their respective legal rights held by the town and effective landowners Rains somewhat elusive. I don't know that we That whether or I don't believe that was discussed because I don't think we got into the weeds of the plan because We are having the upcoming hearing So I'm gonna defend myself one more time. I agree 100% that this is not the words of Seth This is a generalized Synopsis of what was discussed that middle sentence gets to the fact that there are still questions whether the shade tree is Determined to be excuse me whether the trees determined to be a shade tree and hence covered By the the new statutes or whether it is not Covered that way. There is still question as to who can cut the silly thing and once it's cut Who can do what with what's left? So I don't believe we had that Conversation about the plan is what I'm saying Identified historical concern This may be an afterthought kind of conclusion that I don't believe we had at the meeting Okay, so I remember specifically asking What the plan was going to do as far as trees go and I said if you're gonna Designate an area that has shade trees along the road and that's a designated area That means that we can't cut those trees and then and then I said are you going to have every road? designated as every tree along every road designated shade trees But we're going to go just certain areas of shade trees and that's exactly what I was asking And so then this is what came out of that Plan sets out town's protocol for nearly trees of roads right away. That's what we talked about We didn't really come to our clear conclusion at the end of the discussion Did they say they were gonna do a map or something right? We said they said they were going to and I said what are you gonna do a map? Are you gonna designate certain roads with certain trees a shade tree and then those trees we can't cut And then what about the rest of trees and the rest of roads who has a right to cut those trees? So this is this is those are my questions and I thought that this captured that confusion So we did talk about it as as it relates to the plan The conclusory sentence complete clarity on the respective legal rights held by the town and effective land owners Remains somewhat elusive That's placing a conclusion on the adequacy of the plan and that it does not Clarify or provide folks with notice on what their rights are and whether or what trees can be cut down Which I think can be addressed and will be addressed at the hearing. I think having the Editorializing that it's remains somewhat elusive Extends beyond the scope of our discussion and any Conclusions reached at the hearing at our board meeting So for the sake of moving on may I suggest that we attribute one aspect of roadside tree management that sentence to Seth Yeah, we eliminate the second sentence is a discussion on this topic because it adds nothing to the previous sentence and Then leave it appears clear however as is I Just want to clarify. I'm not saying it's offensive I'm saying we did not there wasn't a conclusion reached that Encompassed the language in that sentence. So That seemed to be the answer that I got my question was that we weren't clear on The legal rights by land owners or the town we weren't clear where the line was drawn on that But, you know, if you're feeling that this is something that's not appropriate even though it is what we talked about It does can't it does capture that if it's gonna give us a movie on That that sense has captured in the first sentence about long been a troublesome has long been a troublesome Yeah, I mean, it's okay We can we can move on leave it out. Okay. Yeah, okay. Thank you. Thank you Yep, okay, Bruce. Did you get that? I got it. All right. Thank you. Okay, so my motion is to approve the minutes as amended A second Okay Nobody's come any Okay, so let's move on to access from And we have the 22 daff 0-5 Atkin curve cut for 2021 coming from subdivision law one Did everyone look that over? Looks okay to me and it's a road. Okay Okay, that's we signed off on it. Yeah, that's the most important thing to me Just behind it you've got the whole file in front of you Discussion, okay, I'm looking at All of the favor, please say I Think we have this consideration of liquor license applications and we have box market and plain so hard right here as Anyone had a chance to put them over? So the Fox market one is screwy the Fox market the first two pages Look more or less as I expect them to but then The third page has plain field hardware Typed in but Donnie at Fox market dot store is the email address So I don't know what's going on and it looks like it's probably Donnie's signature on the fourth page The second page of that one. So I don't know what's going on there Okay, so And that's box market Right, does he work there? I mean Donnie is one of the owners of Fox market. He has Hardware yeah, it's just weird. Yeah Yeah, and then the signature on page two of that one looks sort of like it might be Donnie's And then I don't know what those numbers are the upper right hand corner, but the 6195 001 that's different from the 10378 002 Which has Fox market typed in 6195 001 is the one for the full plain field hardware at one Yeah Yeah, that's a different application. Yeah, they all got morphed together in some kind of strange Hybrid of those liquor licenses They have to find out Seth That's not the I mean the plain field hardware one is a separate document This is a this was meant to be the Fox market one But clearly he wasn't working on a clean slate here So the Fox market they're looking for a both a first and a second class license Yes, it when they went into business last April you approved the first class the outside consumption and the second class and That's they're getting renewals for those three but obviously the second class one as Carl rightly points out There's a mess up here. Yeah So it would be helpful if you would approve the concept if you're okay with it and we'll get him To get his own clean This is something the clerk signs off on correct This is something you sign off on and the clerk certifies This isn't like one of those event Yeah The only thing wrong with it is the email address or it's the signature on the back also, right? No, so I'm working with what was up on the website, Seth and for plain field hardware There's only two pages for a second class license Uh in the upper right hand corner of each of them says 61 95 001. They look right Yeah, and they look okay So can we approve that one? Sure What what I was saying is If you're okay with this conceptually approve them all And then we will get his I don't know where he has to go to get the that form corrected But we will work with him to get it corrected Because he clearly thought it was The one he was supposed to be working on right because that's all his stuff in there Right as far as the handwritten stuff. Yeah, so we aren't approving these forms as filled out We're approving the concept of license right Right these entities Yeah, right do we need separate motions for one for each entity? I would yes. Okay. Yeah one for each entity. Yeah, the three permits on the one right um Yeah, I agree with doing separate and starting off with plain field Um Okay, are you making that motion? Yes, I'm seconding it What are you doing here? I'm moving to approve the um liquor license for plain field hardware. Yes Yep, I got that. Okay, and that's six one nine five zero zero one at the end that's zero zero one Correct. Yeah, okay All is available. Please say aye Aye Okay, we've got that one done And then we're gonna move to fox market And they are applying for is that three? different class licenses liquor license one two three now one two and outside consumption Okay, could we could we separate this one out into the first and the second class because I I don't feel comfortable approving the second class because the description Of premises is inaccurate as well um and I I We have the authority to approve the application and we don't have a complete application in front of us um so I I think we should look first to the first the first class and recommend You know, he submit His second class I I have a different suggestion um I I um Would like to approve the renewal of the liquor licenses for fox market under the same conditions as last year subject to Complete and accurate applications being made We have to sign those anyway Yeah, you don't have to individually sign them. Oh, you only have to sign on behalf that that was one of those covet deals Where seth? Basically last year you approved me because it was one of the meetings that seth was in florida But this time you'd be approving seth to sign them Okay So I'll support trial. Is that a motion trial? Yes Okay, second that Okay, all those in favor, please stay on Hi Okay good In that motion did we talk about me signing the thing? Yes Okay. Yep. Thank you Okay, the next thing is the mass mandate discussion on town management light of covid-19 um, I asked who's to put this on because I've had so many phone calls asking us to repeal the mass mandate um, I understand that We need to discuss that so that's why I've heard Um, I get calls every day right now So, I don't know if other Um, select board members have had any feedback on the mass mandate I'd be curious to know and also I think that maybe some people are going to call in tonight I see a lot of names up here. So I'd like to kick that off at discussion and Here we go I see carl carl Yeah, I haven't had any calls about the mask mandate I have noted as bruce mentioned in the select board memo that even when the cdc Came out with a new measure of of community transmission and mass When mass guidelines might apply and Turned a whole huge swath of the country that had been read into green or yellow meaning they had enough space in their hospitals for People to get sick and and to go in there with coven that washington county and several adjoining counties Still remain red in the highest highest risk zone So that indicates to me that even with relaxing standards from cdc We're still in a time that Keeping the mask mandate could could help save some some lives or save some people from getting sick Kamie's got a hand up. She she zoomed in so Kamie got the floor. Um, yeah, I I wanted to just i'm more focused on the businesses in mump and east montpellier not about national You know causes and things like that because montpellier is looking to drop theirs on march 11th And I think um that it's probably time that the business is not get burdened And to go back to having their signs that clearly state If you're vaccinated, you don't have to wear a mask and if you aren't Then you do have to wear a mask because you come into their premises because we're putting them in a position Where they're supposed have to police people and things like that and I also want to encourage Um supporting vaccines and by saying that you know, you don't have to be burdened with wearing a mask If you're vaccinated, and I think if you speak to the hospitals in the region They are not at capacity. They have plenty of room for um For people who are unvaccinated and may get covid So I I have to go pick up somebody at the train station. So I don't I can't stay on But I just wanted to voice that opinion because I've had several people stop me in dudley's Stop me in the home center and say, please please Work with the select board to help lift the mandate for masks And I tried to get them to call in but The apathy is too great in the town right now But they're a little bit intimidated by You know having a calling for me because we're talking about people that don't usually speak out publicly in meetings You know ordinary people that have jobs Are not usually present at these meetings. So we're trying to represent a broad um constituent here and That's why I brought it up because the people feel comfortable about calling me at the farm And they feel comfortable calling me on the street But these aren't the kind of people that use the call on the meeting. So this is why I'm bringing it up because I want to I've been stopped three or four times in dudley's to say, please Help us, you know lift this mandate. Um, and so that we do not have to to to keep you know Talking to people or or let's just say they're apathetic and they're not doing it anymore They don't care these people come in for they're they come in the store to buy something and it maybe takes them Five to ten minutes to get it and they're out And if they forgot their mask They still wait on them Yeah, they still wait on but it puts them in a tough position Okay, I'd like to clarify what's happening in montpelier The montpelier city managers report said the city council voted on february 9th to extend the mask mandate They will take this up again for discussion at their march 9th meeting the current expiration date of the mandate is march 11th That's just following the protocol that we're required to follow from the state that you have to renew the mandate every 30 days There's nothing in there indicating that they're going to drop it on their march 9th meeting I i'm sorry. I should have prefaced that I do know that they have strong from The business owners and alive to try and go back to the original sign that says unvaccinated You're you wear a mask if you want to come in Vaccinated you don't have to Yeah, bye. Sorry Thanks for coming kim. Thanks So anybody else on the slack board having to say or anybody I see other people. Okay, Amy just I think that masks are Very quickly and other places becoming completely obsolete. I mean I was just in minnesota last week and they have about the same rates as we do and Nobody was wearing a mask nobody. I mean, I think it's just a matter of time before this just All goes by the wayside There's only 35 people. I think I heard today in the hospitals and all of vermont Yep, that's right. I read the same thing And we're also the comments that I'm hearing from health officials I've listened to some of them from the state that we're approaching herd immunity. They feel everyone a lot of people have gotten And also a lot of people are vaccinated. So this is where the masking is going to go away. It's just a question of time ordinary people are feeling frustrated because They feel that we're Interfering with their lives in kind of an unwanted way. So that's The gist of what I've gotten the people that's all the seven-day positivity rate is 4.9 percent Is down from 13.8 just in january um And the average case is case counts around 200 a day now um And that's down 28 percent in the last seven days and is down 44 percent in the last 14 days So I I feel um I I feel that we should eliminate it. We should not we should not extend it Um, our little town's not going to make a huge impact on transferring coveted anyway um And I know Burlington's talking about doing away with it. There's all kinds of Areas that are not like burlin never did that and if you go up to burlin and you go to the to the uh, Planet fitness I was there the other day. There was only probably three people out of the whole crowd. It was there. They were wearing masks Yeah, so But really just just to clarify though, um, john is that this is the meeting where we would extend it That it would have to be the next week This is uh, I brought this up under my own violation violation And I asked bruce to put it on the agenda just because it's gotten so much, um Feedback from town town. Yeah, why? So we we don't have to We're not in the business tonight of extending it because it's still with the moment so on next week Right. I don't know as we could stop it now. What should be nice if we could you can review it I think if you read the statue the statue says as a minimum you have to meet 30-day intervals, but it's nothing saying you can't can't meet sooner to eliminate Right. So we I think we like you said, I think we could eliminate it at this meeting Uh, but we don't have to we're not in the uh business of having to extend it yet. Right Right. Yes. Yes. Good. Yep. Uh, thank you. Seth. Um, I appreciate the comments and I agree that You know the tide is beginning to turn at our last meeting two weeks ago. We discussed extending The mask mandate at least until or I I I know that I had a concern about extending it at least through town meeting because we were going to have a number of people coming into the school building and There may be people congregating in other places just chatting, you know More people in and around town than usual. Um, and the board agreed to extend it for another 30 days I think we should continue that and take up this issue At our next meeting, which is it next monday is our next meeting next monday. Um, it is. It is. Yes. Yeah, either, you know vote next monday to cancel it or Or not do anything which would mean after 30 days from two weeks ago. It would expire on its own. I think I would not recommend that we Um Vote to remove it or eliminate it Today, but I do appreciate and think that it's We're approaching the time When we may be able to allow it to expire on its own or to revisit this at our next meeting Okay, so just to clarify on the school issue, which is where the polls are But carl had said at that meeting was we don't have jurisdiction at school. Is that correct, carl? Um No polling place at the polling place. We don't have jurisdiction for math um At the polling place, we cannot prevent people from voting voting for not wearing a mask But we can tell them that uh, they must you know vote outside and my understanding is that rosie Is um has made provisions for people to uh mark their ballots outside the building Okay, so so I was wrong in saying that we don't have jurisdiction of the school. I didn't think we did Well, it's my my understanding is that it's not operating as a school It's operating as a polling place and we have jurisdiction over the polling place Yep Yeah All right. Well, thank you for that clarification. Sorry I was I thought that it was said differently, but I get I get it now But we can't prevent people from voting One way or the other right they can vote. Yeah, I see other names up here Does anybody else have anything to say about the mask meeting? God has No, so there's jenny have anything to say about the mask mandate. I see that she's on hi jenny Yeah, I just unmuted. Um, I can tell you that um, there are a couple of really interesting things I learned about He's not clear in in this process One is that there is no list of merchants or businesses There's no such thing So basically what I had to do was derive up and down the main roads and look for a store or a business with a sign outside and Go knock on their door and Because there is no list And there could be hundreds of businesses that are in somebody's home That we don't have a list of and wouldn't know about and so they didn't get a visit But what was really heartening was how Um, encouraging the business owners were they were there was no resistance. Nobody was unhappy to see me Nobody told me to leave and not come back. They were they were grateful They quickly put their masks on when they saw me walk in the door with my little package of stuff and And several of them had their own version of something out already And one person said yeah bruce sent it to me and I printed it out because he already had one up by the time I got there So I didn't I didn't see any resistance. I think that there's enough people who were grateful to have Somebody authorizing them so they didn't have to be the quote-unquote bad guy and that's always a decent role for A civic organization to play is you know, I'll I'll take the peep so that you can look sympathetic to your customers Which is what you should be doing Um, and I still don't know where all the businesses in East Montpelier are Okay Set set the answer some more comment. Yeah, I think we're we're we're basically outliers by now and If I cheer if I choose to wear a mask I'll wear a mask Um, but I think I think the time has come as as people have mentioned Yeah, and you're exactly right. If you want to wear a mask, that's absolutely fine The people in the businesses would appreciate that if people were allowed the choice And we're kind of at that point in the pandemic pandemic, et cetera, et cetera, where it'll be by choice There's mask mandates are going away, but if I don't I don't know what we Have for support at this meeting to end it. Um, not sure where everyone's On this to this is recommending we don't do it So I have to clear feelings from Judith that she doesn't want to act on this at this meeting I don't know where everyone else I would like to act on it, but myself we could we could act on it not after town meeting and do it next Monday Okay Yeah, I'd like to do that because you know You you brought Seth to the table the the people who've been calling you to ask to have it dropped Uh, but when I've gone out in the past on front porch forum and asked we've gotten strong support for it things may have changed we I think We need to do some due diligence on this and give people a chance to know that We are considering a change of policy But but I will say Carl and I do appreciate your thorough researching From the from front porch forum or using front porch forum as a platform But I have to tell you that the ordinary person on the street is not going to come forth they they will Call you or they will buttonhole you as they're going by they'll talk to you and dolly over a cup of coffee Let's go to the home center, etc. But It is an aspect of the public that you're going to reach through front porch forum But you don't reach a lot of the working class people in town My perception that's my perception. I don't think it's that But it's fine. We put it off another week and this is certainly I'm glad I brought it up It's a warning it gives us time to Flesh it out a little bit further and we can bring it up the next week And I guess I would you know set if folk come to you and feel comfortable approaching you If you can try to encourage them to call in or participate at our meetings and share with them that Will be receptive and we're looking for their input because we want to make decisions that represent what You know the residents and folks who live here want us to do we don't want to do it in a vacuum And that's absolutely true. And um, and I did tell every single person that Called me or approached me. I said we're having a meeting. Please call in but like I said They're shy about doing that And I need to Get phone numbers to them the time of the Leading the time when the agenda item comes up, etc. They need to be coast-alonged to speaking public It's it's always an issue Especially with people that You know tend to be more working class people. They don't feel comfortable about some of them some of these public forms So anyway, um, I think we can kick it along to next meeting sounds good We've had a healthy discussion about it. I'm ready to move on I sound good Okay, so um We've got one And that's a special expense one and we also have a regular expense one Um, is everyone review those ones? Yeah, I make a motion if you if everybody's if everybody's ready to do that um for the first one, um it's the uh What I don't even know the term It's a special one anyways for five hundred dollars Uh to people's united bank um, I would make I John i'm gonna stop you you don't need to make a motion Okay, that that one's for review only Okay, uh, you would authorize set to do special warrants when it's necessary Okay That's probably why your name's on there But the minutes reflect that we have reviewed that one Yeah The other one does require um a motion I believe to have me sign The regular one the regular expense one is February 28, and I looked through that one I didn't see anything that was strange or out of place Right. It's not pretty much So you want to approve the uh have have We would do a motion to have set sign this one Yeah, which would be the uh expense warrant from uh 228 22 to well 228 22 Yeah We have that motion. Do we have a second? Second second. I'll give you a second to this. All those in favor, please say aye Hi, hi the eyes have um as a business We didn't have any um We're three minutes early Since we have three minutes and oh kim really just showed up, but um, let let me just throw this out there. Um Uh arpa funding uh bruce gave us an email after the last meeting about um gradual clarification around the rules for use of of arpa funding. I just want to um put up on our attention Something that we've talked about a little bit in the past and that is uh a process for getting town input On how to use that. So let's just not forget that Yep So carl I can give you a quick update for what it's worth on that topic. Judith had mentioned Uh doing this in april. Yeah, so what i've done is set up the april fourth meeting To have this topic Brought up again and bonny wonning are from regional planning will be there Okay to help us again like she tried to do last fall And this topic will be how to get citizen input on spending the arpa funds. It'll probably be Described as a very general Topic, but yeah, okay. Hopefully we'll be talking about a lot of aspects. Yep. Very good So in advance of that april fourth meeting should we send out, you know notice and signpost and front porch forum um letting people know that that will be the topic of discussion will We're beginning to look for input or is it this april fourth meeting which is kind of the beginning of how we Will determine the process for getting information. I just think it might be helpful having folks at the meeting where bonny is explaining What types of projects are eligible? That sounds good Yeah Or should we wait until we see projects that we I think there if we get some guidance first we can craft our our Advertisements or our public notices around that because if we do it willy-nilly we have no idea what we're doing But I think it's just worth getting on people's radar that we have a one-time infusion of buku money And uh, we're trying to figure out how to spend it to do the most good for the town We're still trying to figure out the parameters of that and you know april fourth will be Uh a discussion of it because you got to tell people something seven times before it really registers Not now when it comes to giving away money Now seven times I'm going to just have more guidance before we advertise. Whatever. What do you think? This one's your guys thoughts not mine All right, so So the way you want to do it Carl was you wanted to say we have partial baskets money giving away the town for example And we don't know what the requirements are but just come Come and get it I think we can probably figure out some more elegant language than that We can be more specific Okay, um, we can talk about this next at our next meeting. Yeah Kimberley jessup with us at seven fifteen. I think we ought to hear her speak. So kimberley You're on the floor. All right. Hi everyone. So the the bushel baskets of money. Gee, that sounds exactly how we do it in approach So, um, I know we have a short time and you all have to get to another meeting So I just thought if it's okay I'll I'll give a brief overview of what I think might be of interest And then if there are particular things you want to flag or have me run down, I'll do my best To try to get that for you So, I think the last time that I saw many of you I guess I shouldn't introduce myself kimberley jessup I serve as the state rep for middle sex and east small pillar and I think I know a lot of you on the call Um, and I think the last time that I saw many of you it was around discussions of redistricting And as you may recall the initial map that was put forth by the legislative apportionment board Had assigned parts of east mountain pillier to two different districts and the east mountain pillier bca special thanks to edi miller and I spoke out strongly against that plan and I'm happy to report that the house government operations committee Has produced a map that respects existing political subdivisions communities of interest while keeping Within those reasonable population deviations. And so that's a long way of saying that I the Mount east mountain pillier is included in its entirety in the washington five district and where that stands is The the map is essentially finished or very nearly finished And now what happens is legislative council can then start to begin to draft the reapportionment bill And that has all sorts of language that puts into words descriptions of these new districts So, um, that's good news and thanks to all of you who engaged it really Does make a difference because they heard from a lot of folks and uh, that's really important Um, the the two higher profile actions That probably everyone has heard about of course are there are two propositions to amend the vermont constitution The first one proposition two or prop two Clarifies language in the anti slavery clause of the vermont constitution And as we all know although vermont was the first state to ban slavery and dentured servitude It did not prohibit those practices for individuals under the age of 21 So proposition two would amend article one of the constitution and it would provide that And i'm quoting slavery and indentured servitude in any form are prohibited And then the other uh proposition that will be up Is proposition five And this is known as the reproductive liberty amendment and this essentially Would seek to enshrine practices that are really already happening in case law and elsewhere into the constitution and It's written I've had had a number of questions about why it's written in the broad language that it is and effectively the answer is that It would provide liberty in all forms So that would be the freedom to become pregnant the fee the freedom to seek sterilization It can be it was purposefully written and with those sorts of very broad parameters in mind And so both proposition two and proposition five will come up in november of 22 And it will be the voters of vermont who decide whether this is the way to proceed or not So that that has been an effort that's gotten a fair amount of news of use The one thing I think i'm going to flip to right now and I have all sorts of bills But again mindful of your time and trying to think about what would be most interesting There is a bill. Um, it just came to the appropriations committee. It's called h5 18 You may have heard of it. It's the municipal energy resilience program And and it makes me think about what you were just saying about how to get municipal input for use of arpa funds Because this bill has that interestingly enough A pot of money designed for exactly that purpose and what it the upshot is that it is it seeks to Support communities with technical assistance design support and funding to make municipal buildings More efficient and at the same time to be decarbonizing the fuels they use and that comports with the climate action plan So the way the bill is written. There's about 48 million dollars And it's in arpa from the arpa capital fund 2.4 million of that would go to the regional planning commissions And then there is five million in there for assist Assessments by contractors and then interestingly there's the one million that I just mentioned for community outreach and I am guessing that that will look different across vermont in every community And then the remaining 40 million give or take is in the form of grants and there's weatherization thermal efficiency I mean all of those parameters will be Better defined but that the cap on that is 200 000 For each covered municipality So this is just coming out of the house. It hasn't yet even made it to the house floor We don't know, you know, how the senate will receive it But that is something just to kind of keep on your radar that that will be coming out One other bill that might be of interest to you This is a h6 97 and this gets to current use this just came off the house floor this week It was voted 83 to 43 it passed And what it does is it adds the category of reserve forest to the current use program and This is uh, as I understand it Reserve forest land is land that's managed for the purpose of attaining old forest values and functions And that will you know, no doubt be better defined in rulemaking with the department of Forest parks and rec or the department of fish and wildlife and the goal is Apparently there's something called the vermont conservation design Which is on the forest parks and rec website As well as on the department of fish and wildlife and that calls for 9 of vermont's forest land to return to old growth Forests and we currently have less than one percent of our forested landscape in old growth condition And so I think the bill acknowledges the fact that maybe 40 years ago when current use was being put together There wasn't as much concentration on forest sequestration or you know, biodiversity And perhaps more on retaining forest blocks, although obviously that's related As well as you know, management of these blocks for forest products so That is something that We'll now go to the senate and they may You know change it substantially or not. I don't know, but that's just another one That is that is coming down the pike One last thing that I'd say is this is just something I find personally interesting There is a bill that we heard about recently I'd like to think of it a little bit as a silver lining of the pandemic Which relates to telemedicine as we know there were A lot of changes in how we access healthcare in the pandemic and one of those That worked for many communities was to allow for telehealth and the bill that just came through our committee It's h655 And what it does is it creates a regulatory system That would allow out-of-state healthcare professionals to become licensed or registered to deliver services to vermont residents using telehealth and I just think that is kind of a neat thing because as many Tell us and all the time it's very difficult There are long waiting times and then there's all sorts of Specialized services that are just frankly difficult to find or you may have Let's take the population of college students who are in vermont And maybe they're looking for a more specialized service that is difficult to find in a rural area so that I just find heartening as You know a practice kind of like remote working that has emerged from this pandemic that We can take forward and use perhaps in different ways in the future So I will stop talking there, but those are just a few of many things You know you were talking about money there There are still the committee of conference for fiscal year 22, which i'm sitting on was held over town meeting week Uh, there were some disagreements about some amendments that were put on and so we'll take that up when we get back And then we'll pivot to fiscal year 23 So it's a it's a busy time Yeah, you know, it's it's been interesting sets trying to just see all these different pots of incoming federal funds And and to your conversation earlier What are the parameters that work for what and and and how do they overlap in the way that we've been doing it in appropriations we have For lack of a better term a swap process that we do So we basically we we have funds. We're waiting for treasury guidance We'll say we're going to spend this much money on this and then if the rules change Because they're always evolving or there's special cases And then we take the money that we slotted in here We swap it out and we fill it and we move pots of money around this time in a in a pretty good example of that I think is Around clean water. We know for example, we have the ii j a the The infrastructure bill that's coming Arpa has a lot of clean water funding as well And that's something i've been in conversation with some of you and trying to get some stuff jump started in terms of the village um So we may slot in some money for arpa and find out that this is something that could be done with the ii j a So this whole process of how one moves around the different funding streams Which is what all of us do in our own family budgets, right? um, but has been pretty eye-opening and And I think we've seen even at the federal level how You know, we think something might happen and then it doesn't or comes out in a different form and So it's it's kind of an exciting time that I think I think we'll leave vermont a lot better off. I mean one last example since I don't see hands up I'll just keep chattering but feel free to interrupt, please You know housing we are putting so much money into housing and it is my hope and And i'm pretty optimistic about it that vermont's landscape with housing will look different and we won't Have the same pressures that we do now and hopefully it's done in a way um, that is uh respectful of community patterns and zoning and all of the above Yeah, so basically what you're in the position is to try to allocate the money Wisely so it has a long-term positive effect for vermont No, if you need any guidance on that just call me anytime Yeah, in the in the committee conference there is um a piece that has to do with agriculture It has to do with the difference in feed. I believe making that up Um, it's I think 2.6 million. Yeah, well that would work. Um, yeah Does anybody else have anything to ask of? Um, kimberley because she's a lot of information Um, and she likes to talk Jenny's got a hand up Yeah, I I am so excited about this change to current use. Um, I I did have to move recently from my 70 some acres over on Um the horn of the moon, but it was it was basically it was a a joke You had to just like cut some firewood or do this that or the other thing, but it wasn't really aimed at Generating Good forest it was aimed at doing complying with the law in order to get a tax break and um, so we we tried to do both um, and we had a really wonderful couple of foresters who worked with us but I think taking a look at it and and this new lens that you're using to look at qualifications for current use is Long overdue and I celebrate it It's not my it's not my land anymore, but boy I love the program Yeah, I do too, but I think that what they're talking about is um trying to promote a different aspect of the forest that's correct Uh promoting more old old old sand wood Or trees maybe maybe doing something about all the dead beach trees and that sort of thing while you're doing it, but Yeah, I mean basically it was when we were first in it. It was Cut down everything and send it to the pulp mill and lose money So that this is great. Thank you. Yeah, great. No, I I'm and it will no doubt evolve further This is just getting going, but um, yeah, I for the same reasons you're happy about it. Ginny. So am I So, um, Kimberly, are you giving well, you're not giving a reported town meeting because we're not doing it in person So this is right. This is your forum right now This is it and you know, I do hear from a lot of folks and and um People have different interests and and that's really useful to me. Um I put things out on front porch form occasionally But I also, you know, try to be mindful of the fact that it's really a community bulletin board And I don't want to fill it up with, you know, all sorts of information that Is reported elsewhere. So, you know, it's it's a balance and And um, but I'm always happy to try to run down stuff or or direct you to others who who may know The data more than I do or the policy issue more than I do So I kind of wish I was there though to see everyone I like hanging out in that room I know so one last comment before we move to town form. What's the best way to call or email you? Uh, Kimberly or what? Yeah emails good. Um, and um That way I have a written record so that sometimes there's just a lot of incoming phone calls and That way I could go back and say now. What was that again? And it's clear to me who cared about what? And it's also helpful because sometimes I start to see a pattern then, you know, okay I'm I'm hearing from nine people over here about this and it just that's useful too. That's good. Okay. So email kimberley if you got questions um or comments and That sounds good and I want to thank you for coming into our into our meeting To discuss everything that's going on. I want to thank you also for all your hard work because I know it's a lot of work Yeah, well, thank you all good to see all of your faces. All right. Take care Okay, bye. Bye. Good night um, so that's that and now we gotta Call the meeting to order for the town forum or call the town forum to order So do we have any it's um 7 30 I'm going to call the meeting to order the town forum Do we have any additions to the agenda for the town forum? I don't see any. I don't hear any um public comments. We've got lots of public So let's move on to be review of and discussion of 2022 town meeting articles I see a lot of people are tuned in um And I think we'll start right in with article 2 Which is f y 2022 2023 budget Um, do we have any comment or questions on that? I'll just fly it from the western front um Article 3 is the one about the property tax protocol. We have any questions on that We do not article 4 Is changing the console to a pointed position. I don't see any questions on that The next one article 5 Use of capital reserve funds for east muffler fire department engine purchase No questions on that. Oh, I see a hand up michael dwayne I said thanks. Um, yeah, it's not specifically with regard to the fire engine purchase, but Um, I'm concerned that our select board has chosen not to put the uh, the operating budget of the fire department and the ambulance department Up for a vote as a separate article or separate articles for the taxpayers to vote on The town of callus has put those two items on its town meeting warning for the people to vote on And I just think that we ought to be able to vote on those budgets Um, it's their their private nonprofit organizations that provide a very valuable service Similar to the keloch hubber library and some of the other worthy organizations And we just ought to have the right to vote on it. And if it's a worthy budget It should pass But we should be able to vote on it and you're taking away the right of the taxpayers to vote on their tax dollar appropriations, so Um, I'm just putting my two cents into that and I callous did it. There's no reason why east montilier can't do Okay, so I just I just want to um Thank you michael for that. But I just want to say one thing about that is we do vote on it. It's just in the budget for the whole town it's it's in the budget But not as a separate item to vote on several I just want to I understand that and that's yeah, no, I know you do but I don't know if everyone else Yeah, I mean we vote on it and uh, but but you know You could we could do the same thing with the colored hubber library and put that into the town budget and vote on that as part of the town budget, so We we really ought to be voting on it Okay So that and if it's a worthy if it's a worthy budget and I'm sure it is if it's a worthy budget It should pass but the people should have a right to vote on it Hold on separately because they are Right Okay, I mean we we could we could lump everything into one and have one vote, you know, right understood Does anybody want to respond on the slide board to michael dwayne's um concern? I see gene. It's got a hand up gene choice Yeah, I I mean I always thought that that the Our department and emergency services had their own capital budget Um that we funded and I agree with michael that As voters we should be able to vote on these budgets independently Um and not have to have them lumped into the entire town budget Yeah, okay, so that's um good to know and as we move forward Next year with the budget process. We'll definitely keep that in mind that we've got people that are concerned That would like to keep that out of the town budget and as a separate item to be voted on Thank you. We have to discuss that back and forth. We've never separated but Yeah, thank you. I think they should be totally separate budget items that people get to decide on Yeah, yeah, I I don't disagree with either um Of those opinions, but is there a legal aspect of this bruce said uh how this works? Is there any legal implications of of the structure? It's a separate entity nonprofit, so I think we should be able to do a separate We used to do it that way years ago. Yeah. Yeah, that's what I remember doing it that way years ago. Yeah So you do have a tricky little problem It's been true for years uh You have the limit of 25 000 on floor votes So you're talking about something that has to be passed by australian ballot, right and it has to be passed And so when you put it up for exposure as a separate article you're basically Exposing something that you can't afford to have turned out You know, is that a reason not to do it? Maybe not because the same thing is true for the overall select board budget Yeah, but bottom line it it is a level of discomfort that Could cause trouble because we have a contract With the fire department and it doesn't I don't think it says in here that it's all right if you don't pass the budget You don't have to pay us Hey a certain percentage in a certain amount so John john, let me just chime in on that if I may and thank you I used to back in my career. I used to write million dollar budgets. Excuse me contracts with agencies private non-profit organizations from the state of ramon And in every single one of those contracts throughout state government always says and this contract Is contingent upon an appropriation by the legislature of the state of ramon at the end of the session so That's just normal that that that's nothing extraordinary and and people would sign these multimillion dollar budgets Contracts, excuse me, then they had employees, but it was all contingent upon the legislature appropriating sufficient funds because otherwise you're holding the government With the small g hostage and you just can't operate that way. So yes, it's important. It's very important It might even be a little life and death. Some people might say the same thing about a library But um in terms of our society, but we ought to be able to vote on it. So thank you Okay, well, we'll definitely discuss that michael before we Um at the time when we put the wine together. So great. Thanks, Seth Yeah, so thank you Does anybody else have anything to say on that before we move to the um Harvard library Seth could I could could you indulge me for one one second to go backwards one I walked out of the room when you did article four I was just curious why you decided that you'd like to uh appoint the constable um Well, we've had issues with this position and a problem with it and it it brought forth the fact that Sometimes if there's a problem with an individual in a position We are powerless to act on that if it's elected So this is why um, we're requesting the voter's approval to make this appointed um, it can be sensitive. Um when you have individuals um elected to a position and then you are powerless to affect their behavior So this is why it's Would be appointed then if there's a problem you could Um act appropriately and it's very hard to do that when this position is elected Okay, could I um ask a general question based on that response? The I read in the I was reading the free press this morning about um I think it's in Essex a select no under hill a select board member in under hill was recalled um Just last year or something and now he's running again. So the article was about here's this guy who was recalled Well, what and how they did that because in the past we have dealt with this issue of an elected person Somehow going off the rails um But what under hill did was they amended their charter to allow for the recall of an elected person. Yeah um, and and that might be something I separate from the constable thing I'm not making that contingent, but that might be something that we might want to think about for our charger Okay Well, that's interesting edie and i'm glad you brought that up because that's another tool is what you're saying That's exactly what i'm saying. Yeah, it's just a tool It allows the people and it is um, I've forgotten whether it was by vote or by petition It was by vote. Yeah, it had to be petitioned and so forth like that But it allowed that to happen whereas right now It doesn't unless you have that in your charter. You cannot You got away till the next election and that's hard to do. Okay, carl. You got your hand up Yeah, uh, thank you for bringing up the recall idea edie. I just want to remind you the charter We call at least in the first go round of Setting up the charter to begin with when we were doing blue sky thinking of How do we want to change our local government to be able to do things that the state doesn't empower us to do That would be beneficial for the town and the thinking of the committee at the time was to Not move forward on the recall because they thought that that would lead to Really messy personal public conversations of the sort the sort of personnel Conversations that are best handled behind closed doors Yeah, and so So for that reason, you know, it seemed reasonable to me given issues that we've had with Constable in the past That it would be much Simpler and face saving for everybody to be able to handle that as a personnel matter and And take care of that without air airing dirty laundry in public getting I was not linking the notion of a recall to the constable position at all. It just made me I just read that article this morning and I think it is a tool Because we're not going to, you know, all our positions. We're not going to make them appointed I don't think we've made a lot of them appointed and I think it makes a lot of sense But I'd like to revisit it. I mean, I was on that charter committee too. Yeah, you chaired it And and maybe it's time to get the band back together and talk about this and other things But if I could if I could just frame this question, Seth As as yeety has mentioned, we have made some other Positions that were elected appointed positions. We started out with the treasurer position. That was the first position that the charter committee Considered and that was when our newly elected at that time treasurer don welch Said, you know, you may want to Look at making this an appointed position This is getting to be a pretty complicated job And you may want to have the select board be able to reach out even across town boundaries and find somebody to put in it and You know, we had so much respect for don and his point of view and we considered it and said yes That that that probably should be an appointed position and we set up an elaborate process to vet the candidates for that position Involving a seven person committee. So it wasn't just the select board reaching out and And grabbing somebody and putting them in it in place And and then we we looked at the town clerk and we said there's just one person who holds that job And they are elected to a three-year term If they choose not to show up or are not able to show up They can keep doing that job or in name And there's no recourse from the town because as sess said, it's another elected official So it seems wise on the second go around. I believe it was of the charter committee It seems wise to make that an an appointed position as well There there has been some talk which I amongst other select board members have opposed of making the Listers and the auditors Appointed positions as well. We also have the option of making the planning commission appointed positions I think it's really good to have People have the opportunity to serve in elected positions in town. I think local democracy is really important And in all of those cases We have a group of people three or nine people working together. So Um, that way you have checks and balances internally within the groups and and I would like to see those continue as elected positions Okay, um, I see nona. Is that nona? Yes, it is nona It's part charles part nona. Um, this was the I I feel like this is a much more important Conversation maybe than some of us including myself may realize and uh, we have 40 years that I've been involved in town business enjoyed a relatively amicable town Where we've been able to get business done without too much kickback And find the people that are like-minded Put together things and present to the town Ideas that the town could vote on without ranker We have been very fortunate to live in these times, but as you all know things are getting much more Divided in this country And I think these very issues that we're talking about that have been relatively up up and down in the last years are going to be more complicated and so I just I don't have an answer, but I think that we all need to be very sensitive to These these kinds of issues and maybe that's not at all what you have in mind in In dealing with this, but but I think it can get tricky and I appreciate it being discussed in whatever depth is in is necessary Thank you, nona. Yeah Does anybody else have anything to say about So we're talking about article four changing the constable to a point in position I think In general, we want to be careful about Concentrating power In appointed positions to the select board In taking that power away from the individual voters Um, we've managed to run our town for a couple hundred years By electing all these people individually And you know Maybe Everyone doesn't agree But everyone has a say And I think we need to be careful about Concentrating that power in one board What I have to say Okay, anybody else have anything to say about article four Okay, I'm going to move on to article six Since we did the fire department engine purchase and I see carolin brendan is here Talked about the kelloch harvard library appropriation. So if you have any questions about that Appropriation carolin brendan is here. She's executive director of kelloch harvard library So Question carolin nice to see you. Thank you for your patience. You've been here for a while. I'm not hearing much. I'm not seeing much Did you have anything to say carolin besides answering questions? You gave a very thorough presentation to the select board when you came in Uh, and our I'll I'll just say I just barely put our spring newsletter up on our website And our annual report is still there too with all of the the stats and information that I would give to the town and our Annual report is in in your town annual report. So I I really just came to answer questions Right. Well, thank you for doing that. Of course Yeah, um, so I don't see anything so i'm going to move on to the article seven thank carolin again And like she said the reports in our town report. So Seth quick question. Um carolin, do you have any idea roughly how many people from east montpelier use the library do you have A guesstimate sure do um We have 737 active patrons from east montpelier. So that's uh residents that have used the library in the last year Uh, and they checked out 12,000 a little over 12,000 physical items last year plus, uh, digital use We can't track by town. You're good stop Okay, so i'm going to move like I said to the four corners school house association appropriation Um, anybody have any questions on that? I don't see any. Okay. So the next one is east montpelier signpost appropriation I don't see any there article eight Article nine is east montpelier trails incorporation and incorporated appropriation Sorry about that Hi, Seth As a relatively new person involved in Vermont local politics Can you please explain what happens if a majority? No boat passes on any of these budget amendments or articles Then then they don't get it. They don't get the money. They're just not funded for the year. That's right. Okay. Thank you Yep Thank you Some of this stuff gets voted on the floor usually if it's under 25,000 but because We are operating under covid rules and everything's australian ballot. That's why everything's on australian ballot even the small ones Um, article 10. Montpelier senior activity center appropriation anybody any questions on that? Comments no article 11 center vermont home health and hospice appropriation. No questions Um Article 12 world community. Beth. There's one question on that. Oh, there is sorry. I was muted. Yeah 11 No 12 and 13 Can you I keep reading them again and again to try to make clear to myself what the differences between these two things Could you explain it simply? RCT and green mountain fans for Carl you want to get into that? I know it's two different uh companies Yeah, this is actually a different transportation question than the one that we usually get You know what the one we usually get is right so um article 12 and article 13 Are both for the commuter bus along route two And uh, as you said Seth, it's two different companies that have split the cost of providing those services So we're just uh being asked to provide funding to each of those But uh, you can consider them as as one common article If you like having the commuter bus along route two, then you should vote yes on both If you don't like funding it you should vote no on both And I believe it's been level funding for quite a while or it has been yes It also comes up town hill road. Don't forget that It's not only on route two That's right. It comes it comes from uh, Montpelier and and uh County road or lower upper main street onto town hill road And they stop it if you stand out on a corner, they'll stop and pick you up Anybody would stop and pick you up. No, no In my age, I'll take that as a compliment Can really like to support mass transportation at least I do personally Thank you Okay Any more questions on the transit? No, okay, um twin valley seniors and corporate incorporated appropriation anybody have any questions comments about twin valley I believe the executive director is on board here tonight G. Troyas to answer questions I'm not seeing any Okay, let's move to article 15 Is the funding request study committee recommendation for appropriations to worthy organizations. We have a number of those I think that's over 20 I've got a sheet somewhere here with them, but where is On us what we do is we lump all these little appropriations together eddie. He's got our hand up Just a question of what Something is it We may have done it in past years. I didn't go back and check the vermont bar What the heck is that and why you know, it sounded like the vermont bar association and I Wondered why we were funding things for the lawyers. It's not the vermont bar foundation. It's the vermont Bar foundation the vermont bar association. It's the association for vermont. I know what it is. What the vermont The vermont bar foundation is an organization that the vermont bar Association funds along with other funding sources that provides legal represented to underserved populations. It provides Grant programs and to legal aid and other Have justice will travel and other programs that provide legal assistance to Um underserved communities and folks who can't afford a lawyer. So That's what the vermont bar foundation is. It's separate and apart from the vermont bar association But it's not funding lawyers. It's funding programs that provide legal services to Folks who can't afford a lawyer immigrant populations it provides A landlord tenant legal assistance a number of services Throughout the state including places in washington county. So so is is this uh, Judith is this Integrated at all with the public defender or other other public legal providing services Um among the it provides grants to a number of existing organizations one of the programs that it funds is a a fellowship A poverty law fellow Who can be sponsored or housed with vermont legal aid or vermont law school and the vermont bar foundation provides the Salary for that person for a two-year period of time. So that's one of The programs that it provides but it also provides Services to community action programs throughout the state So existing programs it helps provide grants to those programs. Thank you. Welcome Thank you for clarifying that, Judith. That was a good answer Okay, anybody else have any questions on the appropriations The funding requests there's 36 of them actually an awful lot of them that have been vetted by the funding request study committee And we've got some members of that committee here So if you've got any questions about a specific Item here, we have qualified personnel to answer your questions on hand and ready I know I was stretching a few things there Um, I don't see any questions. Okay Yes, yes Since there are any questions about any of those 36, uh organizations on article 15 I think this is a reasonable time just to point out A democracy aspect of the way we organize our vote since that's come up a number of times in today's forum Years ago East Montpelier voted to have all articles of over $25,000 Which I don't know what it would be inflation adjusted now, but Be a lot more than $25,000 in today's money Have all of those be voted on by Australian ballot and Appropriations of less than $25,000 would be voted on on the town floor And what that has meant is that when we get something like article 15 in an ordinary year when we are meeting in person Then we have the opportunity to discuss each of those And to amend the amounts if we want Whereas everything else like Kellard Hubbard library Montpelier senior activity center appropriation Cb8 chh, etc Those are always on Australian ballots even in non-covid years. And we don't have the amendment Bruce's You're right. Yeah, right. Most of those are are the under the 25,000. Thank you But things like the Kellard Hubbard library appropriation Is always on Australian ballot because that's over the 25,000 and what we find ourselves doing To operate within the rules the town has given us is breaking out The organizations from this article what's article 15 this year and putting them on either the separate articles for voting on at town meeting or bumping it up to something that's voted on by Australian ballot and I I don't have a point to make about what to do one way or another here I just want folks to understand the dynamic that's at work here How we are working in response to what the town decades ago told us that they wanted to do Is it is it a great thing? Is it is it a not so great thing? I don't have a strong opinion on that But we've got a lot of people here who who've thought a lot over the years about How to run the town and I wanted to bring that to to the front of the discussion Seth Yes, I just wanted to put a little history in here because those of you who were around when they I was one of the movers Group these because we used to spend Long times on each one of these items It might be be an hour around a five hundred dollar item or a hundred dollar item and so this was one way to to Shorten the meetings because you can deal with it, you know a local thing in a hundred dollar Thing you can say okay. I want 125 But I'd rather have 130 and you vote you do all that And it just eats up a lot of time for very little money and this allow going with a grouping and keeping it under the 25 thousand does Just I mean because you can break that you can break that In a town on the floor you can break that down and And isolate one and increase it or decrease it or whatever as may be voted So it it's still there the the the Town meeting effect is still there, but it's it's so Shortened a lot because we get the funding request committee that has already vetted these I think that's the that's an important point to done that in addition to Um It's a saving of time or even more important than the saving of time is the fact that the committee actually You know rather than just discuss Things on the day of the meeting the committee has looked at this And vetted it vetted these requests and asked the right questions and that's what we count on And if I could just add to that um a little a little extra history We started out with $10,000. Um, you are not in vermont, are you? No We missed you rachel I'm miss vermont. I hate missing a good snow storm But anyway, I didn't mean to interrupt you That's all I really wanted to add to it is when the committee first started I was actually on the very first funding committee years ago Um, and we started out with the $10,000 limit and at some point I don't even remember when or how it happened. It was Raised to $25,000. I think it was because we were getting more and more requests and inflation and whatever So Yeah, thank you. Thank you for that that history all of you and um, I just want to point out that For these articles that are broken out of that. What's this year article 15? Then those are not Un unsupervised added to the the ballot, but the select court itself provides that Due diligence work that the funding request study committee does Yes, uh I wonder what my father would think of this I think, you know, we've spent decades making town meeting Less a matter of arguing our own town business and more Hey, I suppose it facilitates the ease of operations, but it seems to me that it's, you know, we basically pretty well Caused our town meeting to be not worth going to except for the lunch and I I kind of feel bad about Continuing to Make town meeting irrelevant Which is basically what we've been doing So anyway Thank you Anybody else have anything to say on the um, do I see Okay, no, no, I think I was just gonna comment on that There's some truth to it, but golly. It's nice to see you all even this way And I really miss our getting together. Can't we do it next year? I mean in person I miss it a lot. So, uh, you know in due respect to your dear father Um, uh, I I really do enjoy Our our town meetings however they take place Especially when we're together a lot of feedback on People's thoughts on that funding request committee um So I'd like to move on to the as a business We see a lot of people still tuned in here. Were there other concerns people had That they wanted to bring up since we're We have a number of people that tuned in here. Were they tuning in because they want to say things This is your chance to Comment ask questions about um things that are on the town morning Etc etc So we all have a town. I don't know if you all have the town report. I've got one but People have been reading that and you have questions. We'd love to answer Yes, michael go ahead. Are you waving at me? Are you I'm waving at just that Compliments to the select board on a well put together town report um Although, you know the binding is really loose on my report You're right and and the pages seem loose. You read it too much michael Yeah, here you go john. Yeah, I was over you slipping I over you again, but um It seems a little flinty I got to put some uh, you know some glue in there But um, but anyways a very nice town report. Thanks to the select board. It's very well put put out Just uh, just check with the printer about the binding mixture. Okay, so depp fillion is the one who puts it together Awesome job. And the other thing I want to say about the binding is not to open. You're not supposed to use it Oh That's it. Okay. Thank you. It only has to last a year That's right. And you're in you may it's made to look nice once on the coffee table. Okay. Good. Thank you Okay, just just and just to clarify depp fillion is an elected auditor put together the town report Excellent job. Excellent. Fantastic. We'll pass that on Always good job. Does anybody else have any Comments complaints questions, et cetera Yeah, I said I just want to Also say thank you to all the boards Select board and all it's been an interesting couple of years that we've all survived through and You know, I think the town has survived and come out because of who we are as a group and Select board really appreciate everybody fire department I'm one of the auditors depp does an absolutely great job. You look at other town reports I think it's one of the best ones that are out there Bruce, I can't thank you enough for everything that you do and don don Has done just a fantastic job But all the committees everybody who has reached out and served for the community my personal thanks to all of you Well, thank you Ed Of course everyone knows that dawn is going to be retiring soon So that's going to be sad I want to thank dawn for all his years of service And he served on many different capacities for the town and he's been a fantastic resource for us all And uh, I hate to say don retire So I want to express our appreciation to dawn and Wish him lots of luck and things cetera so So you have our appreciation Thank you very much everybody. I've enjoyed doing it Well, thanks again because you've been a great resource. Um, and you're not leaving either It's been a lot of fun to work with you Uh, anything else because we can we can close the hearing Uh, because it looks like we're at that point So, okay, we have a thumbs up. I'm going to close the town for them And thanks everyone for coming. Yeah Thank you And do we need a motion to adjourn? Kind of looks like we do I'll make a motion we adjourn the hearing Do you have a second on that? second All those in favor, please say aye Hi, everybody's gonna say aye and bye Bye