 We have Jason Merrill, hi, Jason. Paul's iPhone, is that Paul Seminera? That's me. Okay, thanks, Paul. Paul's iPhone is a little, you know, you don't know who Paul is. Welcome, Victor and Dorinda and Orca. Do we have any amendments to the agenda? No amendments to the agenda. Okay, hearing none, I do have a couple of quick things before we get into the agenda. One, Sarah, did you hear any more from Liz about whether she was gonna be able to zoom in or not? She did not say, I think she just said that it would be difficult to message these people. She's asked, as you know, to be included, to have the board defer a decision on the vacancy. Did the vacancy? Yeah, that was my point. So we had some back and forth between Sarah and Liz, basically Liz saying she'd really like to be included in the discussion of the next select board person. And she would prefer that we pass over that item on the agenda tonight and take it up at our next meeting when she will be here. And I guess out of, yeah, Phil. Are we able to do that? Isn't there a timeline? The only timeline is that a vacancy must be posted within 10 days of the, you don't have to appoint somebody within 10 days. Okay, that's what I must have been thinking of. So I guess out of respect to her and honoring her request and I think it is a good idea for all of us to be involved rather than just three of us, I would suggest we pass over that tonight. And I apologize to you, Jason. I know you're here probably to hear the discussion about that, but that's the whole point. What has changed between the meeting we had last time when she didn't care and then sending a letter? What has changed? Yeah, I don't really care, but I just thought I was kind of like a little bit of a shock, you know? The answer is Victor, I don't know. All we got is the, all we got is the request. Yeah. Can I ask for some good guidance here? I've got iPad six and I've got a 603 area code. I've been asking them to identify themselves before I allow them out of the waiting room. What do you think I should do? They haven't responded. They don't respond, spike them. It's an open meeting, you have to let them in. I have to let them in, but else it's a Zoom meeting. I don't want to get spawned. I don't want them to identify themselves. I don't think we have to let them in. I don't know. All right. Well, I'm going to let them in, but I'm going to just be, I want them to identify themselves. So here they come. I don't want to be bombed. Okay. The person who has signed in as iPad six, would you please identify yourself? John Yudis. Oh, it's John Yudis. Oh, okay. Thanks. There you go. We're happy to see you, John. Okay. So the 603 area code. J.J. Vanda. Oh, okay. We now have somebody on the phone with 603. Okay. I think we got it. We covered J.J. Vanda and John Yudis. Okay. Thanks. Okay. All right. So, I mean, my inclination in situations like this is to, is to honor a reasonable request from a fellow board member, but I don't know how you feel Randy and you feel Phil. It's basically up to the three of us to decide. So I think, you know, the conversation and having input is good. I do think that we need to think about the folks that are, that have made time to be here tonight, too, for that conversation. So, you know, a mixed bag from my end. Yeah. I don't, I don't disagree with that, but I just think this is an, this is an important, an important decision. And I don't think it's mission critical to appoint somebody tonight. I mean, another, another two weeks really won't matter that much. And, and believe me, Jason, I do apologize. I do apologize to you. If you've been convinced yourself to be here tonight, I'm, I'm sorry. So I believe, if I'm wrong, sorry, but can I rule as the, as the presiding officer to pass over or do we have to vote? Ken, is she going to be at the next meeting? It was my understanding she was not going to be able to attend the July 5th meeting either. Oh, she said she was. She said, she said she would. She said she would be there. So she asked to hold off until the July 5th meeting when she could attend. Okay. Okay. Sarah, I believe as the, as the chairman, I can rule that we're passing over that item. Is that correct? I don't know. I'm not a moderator. I'm just a select board assistant. I'm not. Well, let's have a, let's have a, let's have a vote. That's always the safest thing to do. I'll move, I'll move that we pass over appointment of a select board member. Okay. Thank you. Randy, you'll second. Sure. Sure. Okay. So all those in favor of passing over the appointment of the, for the vacant select board seat, please say aye or raise your hand. Aye. Aye. Okay. So we have, we have, we have passed over that. And again, my apologies, Jason. I'm approving it possible a new town road foreman and setting the foreman's rate of pay action likely. Is this you, Victor or Randy? I'd be happy to touch base on it. Yeah, Randy's done the rest of it. You might as well let him finish it up. Okay. We'll have Randy. Thank you. And it's so, so we have engaged with every applicant that applied for the position. I think everybody knows we've gone through interviews. We have, we have engaged in some conversation with Eric McTiger and we've come to an agreement to pay Eric. Do we want to put everything out there on the pay and the additional, the additional location? Sarah? Yes, you have, you should, you should, he's a public employee. You should say what he's paying paid and if you want to go into benefits, that's fine. And also what day he starts. Okay. I believe the effective date is July 1, $32 an hour and starting with three weeks of vacation time. Our normal benefit package. Every, yeah, everything else just follows, you know, into, you know, follow the personnel policy. Okay. A second. So it's a moved and seconded to a point. Eric McTiger is our town, town road foreman under the terms that Randy is outlined, all in favor. Aye. Aye. Unanimous. Congratulations, Eric and good luck. Hold on a sec. Yeah, Victor. Yeah. Yeah, you want to say, I want to thank Phil and, and Randy, they did an excellent job of getting us through that. Well, I also would like to, like to make sure we notify the other, the other applicants. But yeah, I was just going to say that was a good process. Yeah. I was just going to say that. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Victor. Thanks, Becky and you too. Thanks for participating. So how are you going to notify him? Do you want to send me a, Victor, are you going to reach out to him individually or do or Randy or whoever or do what's my role in this, if any? I believe that we should put together a letter acknowledging their, their interests and just simply letting them know that, that we found somebody that we feel is a good fit for us and wish them the best in their, in their search. Would you mind giving me just some outline? Cause I don't know if you want to mention the existing road, road crew position, stuff like that. We did throughout the interviews and whatnot. And I, at this point, I would just leave it at, you know, the simple and acknowledge them, acknowledge their interest and. Okay. So you want me to, so I'll send them out tomorrow. I think that's appropriate. Okay. You could, you could, I'll sign him, Sarah, if you want to, I've got to stop down and sign the orders anyway. All right. Let me get them done by the time you come in. Okay. It'll be late morning. Monthly joint meeting with the middle sex fire department. We have Scott, I believe with us. Hi, Scott. I thought Eric was going to be here too, unless, cause I thought it was supposed to be 520, right? It was the time for- Yeah. Eric told me today he was planning on being here. We'll have a little bit of a schedule. Let's give them, let's give them a few more minutes and move on. I think we've got the trails committee here. Is that correct? Are you the representative, John? No, I am, but, but Adrian and Michael Levine are heading this. Oh, there's Adrian and there's Michael. Yup. Okay. So who's, who's doing the talking for the trails committee? I can do it. Adrian and I are kind of co-piloting the trails committee, but she was actually on the walk. So she will take this one. Okay. That's fine. Welcome, Adrian. Your, your back let's say you're kind of invisible. I know. Let me see if I can move. I'm in North Carolina at a place. You look like the ghost. Yeah, there, that's much better. Thank you for putting us on your agenda so quickly. The trails committee has sort of designated three trails that we're working on, one of them being the North Bear Swamp Road or class four section of the road. And when people have walked it, there's a huge puddle on the, I guess it's the south end just beyond the last house. And we met with Shane on May 17th to try and, our first thought was maybe the town could fill in the puddle so people wouldn't have to walk through it. It was really hard to get around it. And there were Rupert Thorin was there. I was there, Mary and Dennis Nealon were there. Shane was there and Hal Elms was also there. And we looked at it and we talked to Shane and the upshot of it was that in order to get fill in there they'd have to cut tree branches down on the road because the road is so overgrown and probably put in some kind of drainage because it didn't seem like just fill would cover it and keep it. And as we talked more, we realized that that's not what the trails committee had in mind at all. We just wanted a path where people didn't have to get soaked. Rupert talked about being willing to trim some of the trees along the side just to make it a little bit wider and that would help probably 90% of the time, except in really heavy wet times like the spring. And then the discussion got to, well, if we didn't want to upgrade that so that cars could go through, Mary Nealon had spent a lot of time talking with the neighbors just letting them know about this trail. And some of their big complaints are that people try to go up that road and they get stuck and then they have to drag them out. Google Maps sends them to Hunger Mountain the long way. And so they don't really know what they're getting into. And through that conversation, we started thinking about what if this was, that part of the road was turned into a trail and then it could be blocked just with rocks or logs so that cars actually couldn't go through. So that prompted me to bring that to the trails committee. The trails committee agreed that that was a good idea. And so now we're coming to you suggesting that. So the thought is that the trail would start just on the far side of the Hunger Mountain trail had parking lot. So obviously you could get to the parking lot and then would come through just to wear the, that first houses and I'm not sure I know the name of those people. It's about half a mile, a little bit less than half a mile and turn that part into a trail. And we know that that's a process for you guys and you have to decide. Yes. Does anybody want to add anything else? Okay. So here's my, If I could just make a couple of mentions. Yes, go ahead. Peter, it's Paul and let me know if you can't hear me, I'm getting back to the notch road. You know, and I've walked with Mary Nealon and also John during my time there and worked with Rupert for beaver dam mitigation and stuff like that. So it's been an inherently, you know, it's kind of been a habitual offender regarding a lot of maintenance for little return. Plus we were also dealing with a lot of folks going four wheeling through there and placing rocks, you know, to close that off during mud season never came to fruition. During my 12 year tenor, we never saw the benefit of that road staying under the town's kind of, you know, jurisdiction. I'm just throwing it out there that I don't see any benefit in keeping it a class for. I don't see what we would gain out of it. So just to throw that little bit of history out to everybody. Okay, Sarah, you wanted to be recognized? I just wanted to say that in my very early morning walk today, there was a guy from Virginia who did exactly what Adrian said, went right by, went right up there and got stuck at around six o'clock this morning. Thank you, Sarah. So here's my only thought about this. This historically from time to time, we have thrown up roads in middle sex and downgraded them to trails. But for the most part, although just recently we did downgrade one section of road which was in effect a through road. But other than that, in the past in my memory, we have never thrown up a road which connects one side of town to the other. I guess mostly the thinking has been, you know, potential future development, you know, who knows? But once you throw up a road and let it really grow up and only become a trail, then it's a huge deal to turn it back into a class four or a class three road. Is this place, and I was gonna try and go up there today and I didn't get a chance to get up there just to look at it, although I believe I'm familiar with the spot. But is this also the place where we have trouble with the Bieber dams or is that another place? Peter, that's a different place. Okay. If you go up East Bear Swamp and you turn right and you go best Coleman's house and then you go up that narrow and there's a big new house on the right and Joanne Flanagan's fence is on the left, gate is on the left. It's maybe 100 or 200 yards beyond that. Is where the Bieber dams are or where the puddle is? No, it's where this puddle is. The Bieber dams are much closer to the Hunger Mountain trailhead. Okay. So here's my question. If it's a matter of putting in a culvert and putting in some fill to make it viable, wouldn't we as a community wanna do that or is the annoyance of people driving through there, the neighbors, are we cutting off anybody's access to their land or property by making it a trail? From my understanding, the state of Vermont, if you start at the puddle and look towards Hunger Mountain, the state of Vermont, she's right, she's square. We lost you, Adrienne. What Adrienne's saying, as you know, is that the state of Vermont is on the left side of that. There are actually two lakes. They're big. And I have a question for the board and also for our future foreman, Eric Metivier, which is that if we have, last time you downgraded Devlin Road because it did not meet class four standards. And I'm not sure that this road would meet class four standards in that way. And I don't know if, you know, because we're switching between road foremans, I don't know if Ashley Andrews or whoever has been out there to do a survey to find out if this is a non-conforming segment. And that might be something that the town needs to look into. Do you know what I mean? Right. Well, the puddles certainly make it a non-conforming segment, but it's a question of what's the, I mean, we've been talking about this for a long time and we've never really reached any resolution to it. Obviously the puddles are unacceptable. The Google Maps thing, I don't know what we do about that, but we could certainly put up signs to indicate the correct way to go or I don't know what we do. I'm just a little reluctant and maybe it makes all the sense in the world and maybe we should go ahead. I would be interested in knowing what Randy and Phil have to say. I mean, obviously nothing's gonna happen tonight. The only decision tonight is to start the process. Go ahead, Randy. So I agree, Peter. I'm reluctant to release a Class 4 road without significant cause. I haven't seen this area. I'd like to go see it. I think our new foreman should go have a look at this. If this is anything that we even consider, I think we need some time to, at least for me to have it in my head space. I would need time to- We're definitely gonna do that stuff, Randy, as part of the due diligence process. I mean, this decision tonight, I think, would be to take this recommendation under advisement and start the process. And the process would be maybe the select board with the new road foreman takes a field trip out there and takes a look at what it really is. So we know what we're talking about and also just in general, inspect that road in the old days. And unfortunately, I mean, the really old days is like gracefully age. You could drive right through that road with not any big problem. I mean, there was that one section with the ledge and you didn't want to have a low slung car, but there was no trouble getting through there. But it's been quite a while since I've been up there. Yes, Victor. Yeah, I have a couple of questions and a couple of comments. Yeah, I mean, I don't think that we should throw that up because a lot of people use it. And there's being an idea that people can't get through there without getting stuck. And I'm sure some people, some vehicles can't. Charles Peltier drives through it two or three times a week. And the water puddles are not the water, it's water, but it's solid on the bottom. And we were gonna go up, as you know, things were a little slow and we were gonna go up and maybe, and try to to outlet that water in those ditches and do a little cutting. And I gave Adrian a heads up and I don't know if it was Adrian or if it was Michael, but they didn't want us to do that because of what Shane had said. And I got that email from her. I did not get that take from Shane when he was telling me about it. I did not, I couldn't go to that that day. But it brings up the question. If you go out on, if you go out on a private property, aren't you outside of the right-of-way then? I don't think we have to go out far enough to get out of the right-of-way to trim some of the trees, to just get a path. Okay, okay. I don't know that for sure, but that seemed to be what people were thinking. Yeah, and we are. It's literally grown in so much now that you can't get through with a vehicle at all. That's not true, Charles goes through. I mean, it's pretty bad though. Yeah, I wouldn't argue that with any of the trail committee people. And especially Adrian, I don't want to get into that, but... We're seeing Michael, hold on. Michael, Mike Patterson goes through it quite often with his Toyota pickup. And I mean, it wouldn't take much work at the time that we were approached by the trails committee to go up and look at it. It was a different story with our workload. But I mean, a lot of people have used it and it's been mentioned around. And I think the ultimate goal of the trails committee is close it to all motor vehicles. And there's a lot of pushback on that right there because a lot of people use it. Now, in the wintertime, yeah, I could see us blocking it off and in through to the spring. But this idea that if people go out there and get stuck that the property owner's got to pull it out. They don't have to pull it out. It's nothing says they got to pull it out. And there's nothing to say that we can't put up signs warning people that it's not passable with a pleasure car or something to that effect. Well, here's what I would suggest tonight. And I think we all need to get up there and take a look at it. And I would suggest we set up a time and probably July 5th is not the time where that's gonna be busy. And it's right after July 4th and all that. But some nice sunny summer afternoon, we invite the trails committee and the select board up there for a tour and see what we can see. I mean, I commend you guys for your interest in your work on this. And I'm certainly at this point not willing to say no. I just think we need to really look at it and understand what we're doing. Because most of that road, and again, I'm just going to the old days. Most of that road, we did have that beaver dam problem but most of that road has been passable. And I don't know what changed that created these puddles where it's just over the years, the road's worn away or washed away and it's created low spots or what's happened. Yes, Michael. So I think it's a very good idea, especially with the new road foreman coming on to do exactly that field trip. This came under agenda really quickly. And I appreciate the quick response we got from Sarah and Peter to get this on. But it was really just to start the discussion. We don't expect anything to happen overnight. I mean, this has been in this condition for a long time. And this way, at least we'll all start to address it and figure out the best way. I think what used to be passable and these puddles is really not so much, as Vic was pointing out, it's not so much a stream through kind of issue. I think it's just from various vehicles going through and depressing the areas. So it's quite possible that bottom of that, as he says in solid. But let's go up there and take a look and figure out what the best approach is. Because as it is now, it's not usable for most purposes. Yes, you can get through it, you can get through on a bike, you can walk through it and you can drive through it, but it's really not serving any of those purposes particularly well. So something should be done. Yep, yep, yep. Randy. So I just have a question for the Trails Committee. Victor brought up an interesting point and the thought of closing it down permanently to motorized vehicles period, is that a goal from the Trails Committee? No, not at all. Our goal is to make trails and we started with the class four roads. And we had every intention of thinking that we would fill that puddle in. So it would just be more, it would be easier to pass through. And it was in the course of that conversation, that meeting that we thought, maybe this is way too much work. And the other, an alternative would be to not worry about the class four road and make it a trail. But still to make it even a passable trail, they're gonna have to fill in those low spots, right? I mean, people don't like to wade through water as far as I know. Our solution was to just make it a little, to trim some of the, and it's not even trees, bushes and branches along the side to get like a, I don't know, three foot path so you could walk by it and ride by it. Okay. Okay. And with the history of the Trails Committee, the goal has never been to prevent motorized vehicles to go wherever they're allowed to go. Legal motorized vehicles. Yeah, legal. Yes, thank you, Michael. Legal. It's never been discussed. It's never, but it's never been a goal of the Trails Committee since it got reconstituted, well, prior to COVID. So just to be very clear about that. So remind me, and I should know the answer to this, but I don't know the answer. So a legal trail of which we have a number, which are, I mean, class four roads, obviously motorized vehicles can go on class four roads. But what about trails? I mean, are people allowed to go on trails with four wheelers and other motorized, whatever? Pick up trucks, mud trucks? I don't think so, are they? On off road dirt bikes. I don't think so. I don't know who we're asking. Is it walking and horses and? I don't know who that question is, do you know the answer to that? From what I recall, is that there's nothing in the legal trails that says that you can't drive a motorized vehicle over. It's just that the town is not going to maintain it to that standard for a motorized vehicle. Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah. This is all on what you're, the town's not giving up its right of way. The town is just merely saying we're not going to provide any type of maintenance whatsoever. And eventually, and that trail is becoming really overgrown, eventually people won't be able to go through there at all. So I think the question really perks my ears because Michael emphasized legal motorized vehicles. And I'm curious to know what his thoughts around the differentiation between the two and based on what Sarah just said, it sounds like the town doesn't prohibit it. Can you expand on that Michael? Yeah, I had a brief conversation with Peter about this and I remember, I don't know now probably 10, 15 years ago when the ATV statewide club came to Middlesex and asked for permission to use some of the roads and there was a discussion and I think the conclusion was that ATVs would not be permitted on town roads. And I think based on that, in my head, I was also thinking that meant ATVs were not permitted on town trails. I have no idea if that's true. And I think- So we've got a couple of different things we're talking about, but I think my understanding is if they are registered and these side-by-side things which are so popular now can be registered for the road, I believe, I see them with license plates on them. Have to be registered Peter and insured and fish and game are the ones that rule over it. Yeah, but I think probably we could not prevent them. What the problem is and we had a pack of them on East Hill for a while, which were kids on dirt bikes and they were ripping up and down our class three roads and everywhere they could go on private property here, there and everywhere. And that was an issue, that seems to have abated at least over in my neck of the woods. But if it's passable to drive one of these vehicles through it, we have to presume somebody's going to be driving through there. We actually saw a four-wheeler on the Davey trail when we were walking at one evening. Is somebody who wants up in those woods was fixing their tree stand. So yes, there are definitely four-wheelers that go up and down those trails. You know, and again, and again, and it's kind of like the snowmobile issue and a lot of these other issues, a big percentage of the people probably ride at reasonable speed, no respect, don't have noisy straight pipe muffler-less vehicles that they're flying around on at crazy rates of speed and tearing up the roads, but the few that do ruin it for all those who ruin it for all those who don't. We have not had any complaints that I'm aware of in a long time about whether it's mud trucks or ATVs or side-by-sides ripping up our class four roads or trails. Yeah, Victor. I think this is a great opportunity because I can see some division here, but I don't know, a potential division. Let me put potential in there. But I think it's a great time. I think it's a great time for the Trails Committee and the town and these people that have spoken up that they would like to use, be able to still use that with their dirt bike, that's not really a dirt on-off road bike, even if they wanted to put their four trailers or something like that, it wouldn't be something I'd want to do, but there are people around or even people that like to hunt that area that want to be able to go through, saying if they get a deer or something, they don't want to have to drag it a half a mile or so. But I think it's a great potential because a lot of those people probably would help you with time and equipment to bring that up so that you would be able to use it as your walking trail, riding trail or whatever you want. And it would be a great, great time to work together on it. I know some of the people who spoke to me have the potential for helping the town or helping the Trails Committee or helping themselves put that into something that's passable and a lot better than it is right now. Let's do this, folks. Yes, Sarah. I just want to read you the class four roads and trails policy that you guys updated in 2017. And the only thing is that the select board may exercise control of trails to ensure their integrity as a public right of way, which means that you can establish weight limits and you can prohibit or restrict vehicle use during mud and snow season and signs and barriers may be utilized to accomplish this purpose. So I just want you to say that we haven't, you don't ban it, but you have the select board has the ability to limit access on trails to vehicles. Well, and we did last year block that road off in the wintertime and during my time. And I think that helped with some of the problems we've had in the past because no motorized vehicles were going through that and they shouldn't make. So let's agree on this. Let's set up again. I don't know the best way to do it. I would suggest we have a board meeting on the fifth and then what, like the 19th, Sarah, is the next one? Well, my advice is since you're not formally starting the process of downgrading this portion of the road, you can, anybody can, my advice is to the select board is to avoid a public meeting, an accidental public meeting and to simply go there on your own between now and whenever you wanna go to the next meet to whatever meeting wanna discuss this. And then if you wanna go through the process, then as a board, you have to go together and look at this section. So since you're not formally starting this process, it's possible for people to just meet individually and then you don't have to worry about having an accidental meeting. Because otherwise we have to warn it. The only thing I'm thinking is having us there with the trails committee and with the road foreman and road commissioner is we can stand right there and have a discussion, which I think is a useful process. So can't we warn a meeting to meet there at a certain time, let the neighbors know. And yeah, it's a real meeting for the time we're there and then we adjourn and go back to Zoom or back to the town hall or whatever we do. Okay, so do you wanna warn that? How do other people feel about this? I think it's useful, very useful to have people there together and have a discussion right there on the spot but maybe other people feel different. No, I agree, I just have a question. If you don't make any decisions, does it need to be a warrant meeting? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It does, okay. Yeah, I mean, I can't to get together with Phil and Randy on the street of Montpelier without causing an accidental on-porn meeting. So anyway, anyway, I'm not hearing anybody object. So does that approach make sense to them? And we should let the neighbor either we know who some of the interested people are, we should invite them. And maybe Adrienne or Liz can make cookies. I don't know, but whatever. Oh my God, that's so sexist. Jesus. Well, I'll make cookies, I'll make brownies. I can make cookies. No, no, no, I'm just, but I really do sincerely think in terms of before we start the formal process to have a meeting up there. And, you know, if we have 15 people up there, we have 15 people, we stand around for 20 minutes and look at the situation and see how grown in the road is and the whole bit and then take it from there. Peter, that's how we got here and it worked really well. Right, right. Well, I just see different things, they this, they that, who knows, whereas we're all up there together then, we're all up there together. Well, since you have the trails committee here, do you guys want to pick a time? Do you want to pick it five o'clock on the 19th of July or 4.30 or? Hold on a minute, give me one quick second here. When I get into, when I get into summertime, things get a little crazy for me, not that I... Sarah, what day of the week is the 19th? It's a Tuesday. Okay. The 19th will work for me. Works for me too. Yeah, it's fine. What time do you guys want to meet there? Well, does it work? What's the earliest we can do it for people's convenience? Just 4.30 workers that do early. Five o'clock is better for me. I have grandchildren that day. Okay, well, let's say five o'clock and we'll, so we'll, we'll warn it for, for five o'clock and where are we, where are we gonna meet? We can meet right at the puddle. Okay. At the puddle, okay. At the puddle. And if you just have a car, you have to park down where that big house is in Joanne Flanagan's gate. Gate is. Otherwise you might get stuck. Is there a room for like one car there though? There room for a couple, Michael. We could, we could park more. There's going to be more than that. But I guess people figure out where they park. You know what I would suggest? You know what I would suggest? You know what I would suggest? We meet at the school and car pool up there. How about that? That makes sense. Yeah. We can do that. Meet at the Rubney school parking lot. Depending on how friendly you are. I can take six or eight people in my pickup truck. If you don't mind riding in the back. Anyway, I think parking is going to be a problem up there. All of a sudden we have 15 people and we all show up in our own vehicles. Okay, let's do that then. So let's meet at Rumney at five o'clock. Okay. Rumney school parking lot. And I can contact the neighbors who might be interested. And let them know. We've got a list of those people. Can we make sure to notify anybody that any property owners that. That are adjacent to the class four. Just so anybody along that class four that owns property. Can we notify everybody? If we have contact information for them. I would say, I would say we do the best we can. Once we, once we get to the formal process, if we get that far, then we're going to have to notify them. Yeah. I don't even know how many people own property. Can we make sure to notify anybody that any property owners that. That are adjacent to the class four. Just so anybody along that class four that owns property. Can we notify everybody. If we have contact information for them. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know how many people own property along there. So it could be three people for all I know. Randy, I think we have most of the names and most of the contacts. I can't guarantee that we have them all. And probably, probably Adrian, hold on a minute, Sarah, probably Adrian. When you contact them. They'll say, are you aware of any neighbors or property owners who aren't on our list? They'll probably know who they are. Okay. That would be great. Thank you. We can do that. Yes, Sarah. I just wanted to say I'll contact in our, which has a vested interest has to be notified of it. If a road is being downgraded or upgraded and that will satisfy the state requirements. Don't you think we can keep them out of that until we. All right. I just. You know, I know what they're going to say. They're not going to want it. They're not going to want to throw it up. I don't know. I don't know what they're going to feel. I just. They're a huge property owner there. If they're a property owner, I would notify them to do what they say. They say we're absolutely against throwing up the road under any circumstances. I guess they need to let us know. Yeah. I think it's better to know that sooner rather than later. Yeah. Okay. No. We'll have quite a party. Adrian. Whatever it is you're doing. What did you say? I said, go back to vacation or whatever it is you're doing. It's vacation. I will. Thank you very much. I really appreciate, I really appreciate all of you being here. And, you know, I really like the idea of, of figuring this all out together and coming up with a best solution. That sounds really good to me. Great. So. Okay. Bye bye. Bye bye. Good evening. So. Yes. Just be one last thing before we move on here. I think that's the, the 19th, just so you're aware. And I'm sure you are. But that's, that's our normal meeting. So when we look at the, when we look at the agenda for the 19th, just let's keep that in mind. No, we're going to, you know, we'll, we'll, we'll warm the meeting for four o'clock. And then we'll either go back to zoom, or if at that time we're meeting in person, which it's unlikely we will be. Five. Five o'clock. Five. Five. I'm sorry. Five. Yes. So we should try and limit our agenda. That night. If we can, Sarah. Okay. Okay. Thank you, Randy. But yes, I was aware of that. I was aware of that. I was aware of that. I was aware of that. I was aware of that. I was aware of that. Okay. Thank you, Randy. But yes, I was aware that that was our regular meeting. That was one of the reasons for doing it that night. Okay. Fire department. Thank you for. Thank you for patiently. Waiting. How are you doing? Eric, congratulations. In person. Thank you. What's that? You're in the soup now. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I know. We're excited to have you. Thank you. Thank you for your. Thank you for your interest. Thank you very much. It'll be fun. Okay. I don't know if you got a copy of the. The. The update from the fire department or not. Did Sarah get that out or not? I didn't get it. Oh, wait. Okay. Well, I'll have to check my email. I thought I emailed it to you, but. Anyway. We're excited to have you. Thank you. Thank you for your, thank you for your interest. Thank you. Anyway. So. Today we have 32 calls. We've had eight calls over the last month. Zero mutual aid out. And one mutual aid in. Max responders is six minimum is one for an average of four. Engine one has been out seven times. We've had a car fire on the interstate. We had a couple of car versus deers. Another CEO alarm. Car into a telephone pole. Yeah. Another telephone pole and another car versus deer. So we've had a couple of calls over the last month. We've had a couple of calls over the last month. We've had a couple of calls over the last month. We've had a couple of calls over the last month. Four times in rescue. One out. Two times. Our calls include. Smoke alarm activation. Let's see. We've had a couple of calls over the last month. We've had a couple of calls over the last month. Car versus deer. So we had. Quite a few accidents. Training. We had hose deployment and use. Our repairs. We have all five vehicles are state inspected and up to date. Engine six needed some exhaust work and rescue. One needed some rust repair and carburetor work. We purchased a multi gas meter. We received. Two replacement air bottles that were ordered back in December. And then we had a total of. Five. Five calls. And all of them were medical. So that's, that's the update. Okay. Questions. Anybody. The 13th of June. Shanker one and engine one went up to Romney. To visit the kindergartners and. For story time and interaction with the kids. Yeah, it was a good day. And then fast quad. We've had a total of. Five. Five calls. And all of them were medical. So that's, that's the update. And then we had a couple of questions. Anybody. So the only, the only. The only question I have just, just to kick around is. Did get. We did receive an updated quote for replacing the. Air bottles. And I guess my question is. And I don't know how we're going to. You know, we've really never talked about how we're going to do it all at once. We're going to do it step by step or how we're going to do it, but. The cost of those air bottles is only going to go up. And if that's one of the things we're considering using the ARPA money for. My recommendation is we do it sooner rather than later. But. Yeah. I don't want to piecemeal a process too much either. No. I believe that quote. And I, I don't know if you. Remember or know the number. Eric, but I think it was like $69,000. Yeah. I did not see it. I think Jeff said to you. Yes. Yes. Yeah. He did not. I don't. Believe I saw it. Okay. Right in that area. Yeah. He told me about it, but I don't remember. The exact number. I believe when it was last brought up a year to go. It was 58,000. Right. Right. So. Yeah. That sounds about right then. You know. So it's 69 now could be 89 by the end of the year. Who knows? I have no idea. Well, with the way things are going, certainly should be. But all I'm saying is, as we, as we discussed it are. When we, when we had our discussion about these ARPA funds. You know, safety is something we should really be concerned about. And certainly having. Having those air bottles. Properly. Dated and with a proper certification and all the, all the stuff is an important part of. Absolutely. Isn't it more than air bottles? I thought it was turned out here. Is it just air. It's, it's the packs itself, which comes with mass regulators. The alarm system, the pack itself. I mean, it's, it's. It's a big deal. It's quite a bit. I think, I think there were three items. There was turnout, dear. There were then. There were the air bottles. And then there was the rescue truck where the three. The fire. Use up the lion's share of our ARPA money if we let him. So I asked Jeff, what's the most important and what's the most urgent and he said the air bottles. That's why I asked. An updated quote. Yes, Sarah. I have the updated quote here. I can email it to you, Eric. But I'd say a total of $69,728 and 79 cents for. SCBA. I don't know what that is. Self-containing. Branding apparatus. Two cylinders and face piece. So there you go. Per pack. Per pack. Correct. Now, is that quote with comes with the balls? So I thought we were going to just get the packs only Eric. Would that be, would that be less? Um, yes. But I don't much. I'm not positive if the bottles are interchangeable from the new packs. Yeah. That's my only question is if they are. When they came in and showed us the two demos, we'd have to change the things for, I think, where we screw into the bottles. We'd have to get different attachments. Yeah. I'd have to look into that. I don't remember exactly what we found out with that. I think that was not have your, your email, but I just emailed it to you, the proposal, Eric. Okay. Thank you. So again, I don't know. I mean, I, we don't, we don't need to make the decision tonight, but I think we should make the decision sooner rather than. Yeah. No, I agree. Yep. Okay. Um, Jeff will be back the 26. I will touch base with him and see where he's at with it. Well, he's going to probably need three weeks to recover after a month on the motorcycle. I'm sure he will. I'm sure he will. I'm sure he will. I mean, it seems, it seems like the select board should get on the future agenda to, you know, to discuss, you know, ARPA funds and include this type of stuff. Yeah. We should circle back to the ARPA funds. I agree, Randy. I mean, time is. Time is whistling by the other, the other update, which is not a fire department issue, but just while I'm thinking about it, as we learned today that we did not receive the planning grant. Um, for the, uh, Looking into the question of what we do about the town hall. So, you know, we're, we're going to be, uh, Thinking about whether we need to use some of the ARPA funds to do some kind of a reduced planning project on the town hall. I think. Although I've not, I tried to reach out to, uh, Christian today. He had a conversation with, uh, With the, uh, with the person whose name, of course, I can't remember who called me today. Um, but she's a person that he's been, he's been working with. Um, They have another, I mean, they, they really liked our grant proposal. Everything else was just a question. There wasn't, There was only $120,000 and there were five requests for 50 to 60,000. So there wasn't enough money to go around though. One of the, one of the ones that got funded. This was the third time they'd applied. So she encouraged me. And I presume she encouraged Christian to apply again. And the process would be applying September and here in, here in November. But anyway, well, we've got more information together before we make a decision on how to go with that. It really doesn't have anything directly to do with the fire department at all, but it does have to do potentially with the ARPA funds. Uh, anything else for the, uh, fire department. That's all I have right now. Okay. Thanks, guys. Uh, Eric, before you go, any growth in numbers? Uh, none of, not as of yet. No, we're still at the same. So we, but, uh, in the sub board already knows about, we got, uh, a full, um, Tell me a thing of the words, Eric, uh, grant for new radios too. For. Yeah, we're, yeah, we're working with the middle sex community fund for that to do, to replace our handheld radios. That's right. I forgot all about that one. So there is, there is some other positive news, which is now that our, uh, now that our chief is going to be working in town, he's going to be more readily available for fire department. I would think so. Well, in all seriousness, it is a good thing. I mean, that's one of our real, uh, that's one of our real challenges. So, yeah, Sarah. Just for the minutes. Could you explain about the, uh, grants for the community, the middle sex community fund for the handheld radios? So the middle sex community fund, uh, I reached out to the, uh, they, well first they reached out to us about helping us out in, um, So then I contacted them and we gave them a quote of replacing eight of our handheld radios. Because our radios are quite outdated. They're over 20 years old. And, um, so they, they are willing to do that, but they had to do it on a regular basis. So we had to do it on a regular basis. So we had to do it on a regular basis. So that's what we're working with, but we had to do it on a regular basis. And so that's what we're working with. So we're working with the middle sex community fund. I think they are willing to do that, but they had to come up with some of the funds. And we are also going to do some of the fundraising for that as well. Great. Thank you. Yeah. I actually got a fundraising letter from the middle sex community. Probably we all do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because I think the radio is like, what air? 1100. 1100. A piece. A piece. Yes. Yeah. The only up, up in numbers, I would say, Eric is with. The new classes we do. Do we now have a one, two, three. Five. Fast quad members now, Eric. As well. Yes, but there's still, yes, we have, we have. We have two extra fast forward members that respond as a. Not up to the EMT level, but they do respond for assisting the EMTs. And, but they're also members of the fire department. So we really didn't increase numbers for the department itself. Just, just for responding people. Yeah, that's great. Yep. That's great. Okay. Thanks guys. And in your, your meetings and your discussions, your. We're still marching down the road to. Absolutely. In September, right? Absolutely. Yeah. Any, any concerns or issues come up at any of your meetings? I haven't heard of anything that's, that's a major, major concern at all. Yeah. Okay. Well, what I would suggest is if we're going to make the decision and. And September that we put it on the agenda. In August. And have a little bit more of an in depth discussion about what. You know, I believe and correct me if I'm wrong, Sarah, I believe all it has to happen is, is you guys, you guys have a meeting agree and we have a, we have a meeting as a select board and agree and we, we do it, but we did talk about. How we're going to inform the town and go through that process, whether we're going to have some kind of a public meeting or, or what we're going to do, but we need to do something to. To inform the public in the process. So. Yep. Let's not forget to do that. Okay. Thanks. Thanks guys. All right. Thank you. Yep. Highway department update. Victor. Mind if I sit in on this. Get used to it. What do you want to know for. I'm just nosy. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, yeah, that's a good point. And Eric, and I can give you a call. I mean, we can touch base. I don't think you just want to. Turn the switch on the fifth of July. No, we do not. We're willing to keep you updated. What, what I know and what's going on. Yeah. Sounds good. Yeah. I would encourage you guys to, to work that out. And as, as we go forward, we can figure out what the process was, but what we were working on. The past Eric. Is asking a foreman to appear at one of our meetings a month. But you and Victor can work out whether that's, you know, the best way to do it, but. Yeah. It seemed to work. It seemed to work well in the past. Okay. Okay, Victor. You're up. All right. I guess. A big thing is. You know, we have one truck that's one of the big tantrums is down at the garage. Has been and will be for a little while. Waiting for some work on the. Transmission cooler. And then the other truck overheated. But. We contacted. The garage. Very booties. And they're supposed to be there. I guess. A big thing is, you know, we have one truck that's. Very booties and they're supposed to get the part and have it running tomorrow. We're going to continue. To. Excavate. And the berm and ditches on center would get ready for that paving job. With a rented truck for maybe one or two days. And hopefully the other one will be back tomorrow afternoon. Can't promise that. And speaking of the. Of the center road project. I don't know if everybody knows, but. Jay Merrill is going to do the pipe crossings. And I think he's going to, I think he's still here. He's going to start somewhere around the first of July. And. Yes. He's here. Somewhere in there. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's what was my thought. Okay. I thought that's what he's going to do. Speaking of that project. And I spoke to Dorenda before the meeting and I don't, I think it was. I got it. Okay. $251,304. Is that what you were asking how much questions was? Yeah, what was that? Does it, does it say what the width is? Um, You should say right at the side there. I apologize. 24 foot. Okay. And we really don't need 24 feet. I don't think unless. Cause it's only 22 down there now, but. Which would save a lot of tonnage. But no matter what. The select board. And I don't think it's going to save a lot of tonnage. I don't think it's going to save a lot of tonnage. I don't think it's going to save a lot of tonnage. I don't think it's going to save a lot of tonnage. You know what? The select board and everybody's listening. He's got to know. That it doesn't matter what they quote us here. It's, it's by the ton and you know, it could run over or it could run under. It's, it's not a. Fast value. The sooner they do it, the better, I would tell you. Okay. So what's you saying that? Yeah. The. I think the. The. Recycling of the, of the roadway. Is up to 38,193 dollars and 54 cents. So you have a figure for that before. That's reclaiming. Reclaiming. Yep. 27,777 dollars and 12 cents. So it's up 11,000 bucks already. But here's the real kicker with that 24 foot bathing. It's 316,794 dollars with a, with the new asphalt place for July. Can you repeat that? Repeat that slower. Sure. Sure. Sure. It's. The reclaiming is right now is 38,193,84. That probably won't change too much. The asphalt. The, the paving project is 316,794 dollars and eight cents. And I don't think that includes McCulloch Hill Road. It didn't before. Like, like I said, I just got this quote about five, 10 minutes before you, we went on air. And pick, what is, when you say paving project, what is that, what is that 300,000 figure cover exactly? That didn't cut that in that. That is the two and a half inch base course paving. At 24 feet wide and an inch and a half top course. At 24 feet wide. It's just for the pay, the pay. Just for the payment. Just for the, just for the asphalt. Just for the asphalt concrete pavement. That's the technical term. So. And it was 74. It went from 74 dollars a ton. The 84 dollars a ton. Yeah. Can we circle back to the, to the 22 versus 24 feet? Yeah. I'm sure. The bicycle riders in town and other people would love to see it 24 feet wide, but my take is if it's always been 22. If that meets the state standard for a class three road. We go with 22. I don't think we need to make it wider for two reasons. Number one, if we make it wider, people are only going to drive faster. And number two, I think we can save the money. And I think having a nice smooth 22 foot wide road would be fine, but. I measured it the other day and it was 22 feet between McCullochill road and where the guardrail starts. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, would we have to move the guardrail back if we went to 24 or no? It'd be very, very close. My recommendation is, I mean, what do you think, Victor? 22. I don't want to move that guy. You know, it'd be like, you know, probably the. I don't know. $40, $50,000 and put a new grad rail. 22. I say 22 unless anybody disagrees. Yeah. I think, you know, trying to, trying to manage the, the overall impact and. Cutting back to the 22 is a smart move. I mean, it's, it's everything. I don't think we're cutting back Randy. It's 22 now. So we're. No, no, no. That's what I'm saying, but the quote was for the 24 feet. So cutting back from what they quoted us on. Yep. Yep. Yep. Okay. With you, Phil, you're good with that. Yeah. I'm sorry to keep going back on this, but you're talking 316,794 also includes the labor to put down that asphalt, correct? Yeah. The machine, the labor, the. Everything. Yeah. Installed. Total estimate for doing the. From Hutchins for doing the reclaiming and paving the project. Does that 316,000 include the 38,000 for the reclaiming? No, that's just a. Okay. So the 38,000 is on top of that. And that's also does include Jason's culverts. That's also separate. Correct. Yes. Yeah. Just trying to get it all together. Yeah. Okay. So Victor, will you go back to Hutchins for a new. A new estimate or whatever. Or would you, we just reduce the numbers based on this. Um, Well, what you're saying is if we go from 24 down to 22 feet. Is that what you're saying? Right. Yeah. So there'll be different numbers than what we have if the amount, or should we just change the price per. No, you just change. Right. Like I said at the beginning. And I'm not as it's. If you cut down two feet at the length of the job times two feet times four inches is quite a few tons. Yeah. Get that for you. Yeah. And I, and I don't think that you care whether they, they, EJ said the other day, whatever we had, if you want to do it, 22 will do it. It's all by the time. It's all by the time. And if you got somebody with a fat finger and. Funding down a little thick, you're going to pay more. If anybody, you understand what I'm saying. The guy running on the back of the. Paver. They got screws and it makes it go up or down. And. But anyways, But it should come out close. Should come out close. Every hundred. Let's make sure they know it's 22, not 24. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. Jason. About five ton every hundred feet. Five ton every hundred. Yeah. Or about $500 every 10 feet. Expensive 50, 400, $470 at $94 a ton. I mean, approximately it's a 25, $26,000 savings roughly. Yeah. It's real money. Of course. Of course my original proposal was turned it back to a gravel road. Then we'd save some real money. That doesn't include the McCullough approach. I don't, I don't believe. And that's another. Oh, it's $74 a ton. It was. 30,000. Yeah. Big money. Big money for a little town. So. Victor. Can I ask that if you, if you're going back to. Hutchins to have them provide. A different estimate for the 22 feet. Can you also ask them to update the McCullough Hill piece as well? Sure. Thank you. So. You have anything else, Victor? Yeah. Keep going. Okay. Well, I got to write down Randy's question. Okay. Good. Right. Right next question. Okay. So you were talking about more. You want to talk about more as tonight. Sure. I do. And. So I talked to. Pete's repair in Morrisville and they rent them. And the gal, Michelle, call me back today. She's in charge of all the rentals. And she said that they didn't have one. They wouldn't be able to do it until September. But. Anyways, long story short, she called me back and she talked to. Jason. And that's her. One of the owners. And they're going to put on a new, a new tractor and a new boomer. And they can do it in July. Couple of weeks in July or a week in July or two weeks, whatever you want. It's $3,000 a week. For. 50 hours. 50 hours for 3,000 or 60 bucks an hour. So remind me during the, what do we have in our budget for outside mowing? Seven, seven thousand, I believe. Seven thousand. Okay. The rental. And Victor, I'm assuming transport is over and above. That three thousand. Right now it's 140 bucks an hour. And they said, you can get somebody to come move it for you. Because they're using MSB, the people that hauled a junk to. Coventry. And he said they're wicked slow. They couldn't even quote you a price because they don't know. And maybe we can, she said, if you have somebody that can move it. And move it faster, it would save you money. We're about, we're about 20. 28 miles from Morrisville. 30 say 30 miles to the town garage. Yeah. Well, I think we should, I think we should sign the thing up. It's within the budget and that sounds like a good. Sounds like it's the one city. Yeah. So we have, we have that issue, but that's certainly a lot more attractive than what we were talking about at our last meeting. You want one week or two weeks. I think too. I think do it. Do what we plan to do. Okay. What do you, what do you think? July fine with everybody, like even Eric. Yeah. What size tractor is it, you know. She didn't tell me what the new one was, but the. It's a. It's a massive Ferguson 5710. Okay. So what's that 60 horsepower tractor? Probably. Okay. Yeah. And. So it's not overly heavy then. No, no. No, but it's a full size. Full size real tractor. It's not, it's not Phil's weed whacker. Let's put it that way. I was thinking about transport purposes. Yeah, but I would. The boom makes it oversized by just a little bit. Yeah. So you have to put up your oversized signs. Yep. I did get that. And then. I guess our truck is coming. The new, the new truck. July. But it's. You have a date. I don't have a date. Nope. But I guess it's going right straight to 10. Oh, they're still packing with the. They're still interacting with Shane. But. Well, you said we should get that changed. Yeah. We're trying. We're trying. And. Yeah. That isn't an easy thing when you, when they've dealt with them for so long. And then stop and think about it guys. So they talked to me. In two weeks, they're going to really want to talk to Eric. So anybody that calls me. I hope you don't mind. I'm going to, I can give them your cell phone or. That's fine. Are you going to use your cell phone for the town? Or is the town going to buy a new. No, I got my own. Okay. So you'll set up Eric's new email. I will. I'm going to put a note to do it tomorrow. Okay. Okay. Is there anything else, Peter? Not that I know. No, I don't, I don't think so. I mean, I was going to, I was going to ask about the new truck. I mean, that's. That's going to be a relief when we get that, but it's probably going to be what six weeks at 10. Something like that. Something like that. Yeah. And that's down in. Hopkins. The answer. I know. That's not so good. We're going to have hundreds of miles on our truck. Oh, oh yes. And then. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. The John Deere greater. We. They weren't, I contacted them and they, you know, they want to get paid to come and anything they do for it. And then the, so the guy. His name is Tim Yando is the service manager that united. And Wilson. He, on Friday, he was. Less than helpful, but he wanted us to call. Have the operator call. So I went over. Yesterday, Monday, and hung around there for. A couple of weeks. And then Jay came in and I finally got Jay to call. And he talked with him and told him what the issue was. And the guy would say, we didn't say anything. Jay did say that the. That the salesman, Justin Jeanette had promised them that they would straighten all this stuff out that they had known. Since, you know, very early on when we bought it. And the guy acted like he was accepting that, that being the Tim Yando. And then. They asked about Jason. And I can't pronounce the guy's last name. Who was the sale, the service manager. And has now moved on to a different division of United. And so they, well, he said, I'm sorry. So I want to make you happy. And I don't know what that means, but he's supposed to be getting back to us. And I assume that he's asking somebody that is. Mechanically it. Train for John Deere to tell us what the scoop is. Although that when the guy came to. Work on the walk and roll. Who was a certified John Deere. Mechanic tech. Said that he knew nothing about the. About the goings on of shifting that machine or the electronics in that machine. You say he had been not trained in it. He knows nothing about it. So maybe they got somebody else. And the only other thing was, we had a conversation with Brian Redmond this afternoon, and he was really upset. That we, we graded notch road. And we didn't go. Up his driveway, which is a class four road and grade that. And I just, and he's upset because we did not bring him over some gravel. And I told him, I did not have a truck. To do that. And that we weren't really grading. Class four. Roads. And that we couldn't really go up there. We didn't go up there. We didn't go up there. We didn't go up there. We didn't go up there. File said he didn't dare to go up there because there's nothing, but stones. And then if, if he grades it, it goes into the ditch. So. We've rated that in the past. I don't believe we've rated that. Last time. And I don't know if Paul's still here or not. Yeah, he is. And he said the last time that, that was done. Paul. And I explained to him that the new grader was a little bit bigger than the old one. Plus we have the walk and roll hook to it. And I don't, we're not going to go up that road. And we can't go up his driveway, which. And, and, and files just has to back out. With that. With all that walk and roll and everything on it. It makes it pretty difficult. I'm a little confused about why, why he would think we were supposed to do it and bring him gravel in the first place. Because it's a class four road and he, he works for A and R and A and R knows that you're supposed to service that road. Yeah. I don't know if you guys can hear me at all. Yeah. Yes. So Peter, that, that was kind of a collaboration with, with the trails committee and, and the state up there. We've, if you remember, we were trying to strike a happy medium with the state because of the complexity of a class four road leading up to the town forest and state land as well. So we, we thought it, it would be in our best interest as a town to just keep that in somewhat decent shape, which is why we, we maintained that to a little bit better standard just so we didn't have to go through the effort of potentially having to upgrade that to class three. That was kind of the intention up there, especially knowing we had, you know, kind of a vested interest up there with the town forest. So, so Paul, do you know where, I mean, there was all, and I was up there at a couple of meetings. We walked around. We had pleasant walks in the woods up there. Talk, talking about that with A and R and parking lots and all kinds of different things that all just sort of go off into the wind somewhere. I think that, to be honest, once, I know once I had, had left the town, you know, we'd all had some really good interactions with, with him. Vic, you probably even remember his name kind of in charge of the WMAs, really, really nice guy. They were willing to throw some money towards the town. And I'll be honest, I think once I left, I think that might have kind of fallen off because of, you know, obviously other projects kind of take president. You know, I know the guys had done the parking lot expansion up there, but that was right at the very end of my term with the town. But otherwise there was some good momentum and, and good intentions on in everybody's part up there. And I just think it didn't come to fruition was really all, all that happened with changing of the guards. Well, when Shane came in, we met with Steve down at Steve's house. And he showed us what they had for a plan, which was actually to fix up that existing wildlife management turned around. And as Paul says, they were going to go up a little bit farther and make another one. But that's what I remember. What's that? That's what I recall. And, and, you know, and, and Steve was going to work with us on it. And, you know, it did. Not Steve's fault. It's not, you know, it just had so much going down into the new transition that it just never happened. Yeah. And nobody's ever said any more about it as far as this date. As far as the state guy. Was that Austin, Paul? No, it was. Tim. No, it's Tim Appleton is, is, and then a very, really, yeah, really nice guy. And like I said, they even had some funds that were going to be available. That, that they were going to be able to apply and knock on wood, actually, up on the Barnett Hill. We had done the same thing, Vic. If you remember that they actually contributed gravel funds to that. And again, it was really just protecting the town's best interest. And you know, for us, the biggest deal was, the biggest deal was the money portion for material, an asset that we didn't have, and we had the equipment and manpower at the time. Right. Exactly. And then we did go back, Paul, the following spring from when you got done, and Shane went up there, or Files went up there with the grader and stuff, and they did some more work and they actually did some ditching because the fall there, when they did it, I was after you were gone, it was like almost in deer season there, they were doing it and they were putting gravel in, but the water didn't have any place to go because there was no ditch. So we went, Shane went back in the spring and actually Bruce Fitch did some work with the wheel loader back home. Yeah. Well, I'll suggest that we circle back to those guys because that was a worthwhile project to undertake and COVID and everything, everything probably in our staffing situation probably everything got put on the back burner, but it's time to turn up the heat maybe. Here we go. COVID funds for it, Peter. Yeah, there you go. But believe it or not, the funding from that came from COVID funds when the outdoors all of a sudden became popular again the first summer of COVID, that's where all that federal money was coming down from. So I wouldn't be surprised if that timeline has since expired. Yeah. Now, from what I hear, they've got big pots of money they haven't been able to spend, but I don't know how accurate that is. Anyway, we should circle back with them at some point in time. So the other quick thing I have that relates to the roads is circling back to the issue of hiring our fourth road crew member, we thought a couple of the applicants for the foreman's position might be interested in the road crew position. Is that true or not? Or there were go ahead. There were two individuals that that had said they would think about what that looked like. I'm not convinced that they're what the town needs. I don't know what the feelings of the other the other interview committee folks are, but you know, that my two cents. My only question is, should we should we read? Readvertise that? What's the what's the next step in terms of getting a fourth person? Because, you know, now we're back to roadside mowing. That's going to, you know, use one person for the better part of two weeks, et cetera, et cetera, and it'll be winter before we know it. So should we I believe that way? Yes, we should be continuing to post that position. OK. Well, we never stopped. Did we really? No, we haven't stopped. We put it we've put it everywhere. Haven't stopped. Front porch forum, the all the state sites, the even indeed we're getting we're getting crazy little fishing expeditions from I'm a FedEx delivery driver in, you know, Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Maybe I'll be on the road crew. It's like, you know, stuff like that. I know that it's no surprise to anybody that's that's in this meeting. But, you know, I've been talking with some some folks from other town road crews and and foreman's and whatnot. And we continue to not be the only ones in this boat. Yeah. Well, no. And my recollection of that, Peter, is, you know, two people two people said they might be interested. If if if if certain circumstances was met, maybe maybe I'm putting words out that I'm not sure, you know, as far as money or the other thing was it depended who the new foreman was. And we assured him that all the candidates were just wonderful. So you shouldn't have any problem. Bars we all all I'm suggesting all I'm suggesting is that we just need to keep our keep our fingers to the grindstone, as they say, and try and recruit somebody. And Eric, you know, you're you're involved in this process. I mean, we did. What is it we we implemented for somebody who finds somebody? Dorinda, what did we agree to do? Thousand bucks. How much? A thousand bucks. Thousand bucks. Yeah. For somebody for somebody who comes and stays. So if you can find somebody, there's the Christmas budget gets funded. Yeah, I believe it was up front when they got hired in five hundred at six months, if I remember correctly. Yeah, that's that's right, Randy. Yeah, and that's that's that was just on the road. Crew member. Yeah. At the foreman. Yeah. OK. So I have I have a couple of things, Victor, if you're done with what you've brought to the meeting. Yeah. The the first one was I was looking through the the warrants and I've heard discussion and rumor about some trees that were taken down here on Center Road because they were they were up near power lines or something like that. And I'm wondering, you know, if anybody if anybody can talk more specifically about that, I've gotten little tidbits of of information, but fifty two hundred dollars for taking down some trees that I feel like should be the power company companies, responsibilities are. I'm questioning why why we're doing stuff like that. Yeah. It's it's my understanding. That that was something that was in the works. I don't know if it was before you got done, Paul, or right after. Anyways, the trees were there, the power company wouldn't touch them. And they so we had that fund. And Shane thought at some point way back, Shane thought that this isn't something. I mean, people have alluded to the fact or Sarah was eluding to the fact that we just did it this week and I explained to her we didn't do it or within the last month or recently. It was quite a while ago. It was put in the guy was hired to do it. And then he did come in on the 15th and of June and do it. The reason that it was expensive, they had to use they use a bucket truck and, you know, they had to was quite a lot of work to take them down. Those weren't small trees. And you got two more that you should take down across the street of the same same type of swamp willow there. And so it was in the works for quite a while. And it was in the I believe it was in the budget. But why I guess my question is why are why is the town responsible for taking trees down that are that are, you know, the town responsible, Randy, why is the town responsible to go cut up a tree that falls down beside the road? I mean, the tree was the tree was falling into the road. The issue. Yeah. The issue, Randy, that I that I remember is and we've had this happen, it happens periodically where we have a where we have a big tree which is leaning into the road. And the question is, do you wait till it falls down? So night blocks the road or do you do you take care of the tree? We've never had we've never had much luck getting the power company to take care of trees. They'd rather have the tree take out the power line than they'll come and fix the power line. So what so what I'm hearing is that the issue wasn't that it was near power lines, that it was dangerous and it was going to fall into the road. So I believe that there's a guess. All in the room. This was before or this would have happened after me, guys. So I I don't have any interest in it. But I think the best word to describe this that our insurance company has used with a lot of things like dangerous potholes is tort liability. No knowing about a potential hazard that has not happened yet, but but we recognize it as a hazard and we knowingly do nothing about it. And that that could very well be what this was about. But we've always had a tree budget for trees that were out of our our ability. We've had guys come in and do it plenty of times before these particular trees I can't speak about. But that that could very well be if if there was a danger to the traveling public, that tort liability is a fancy word that that's been thrown around a lot on on a legal end when it comes to town business. OK with that one, Randy. You know, I was one of raised questions about this because what Paul told me when I was a young town clerk I use that term loosely is that when people call and say there's a tree leading over the road that we should say we don't have the equipment to remove those trees. And I have had numerous calls from people and I can think of somebody on Government Hill Road who's been who's been worried about trees, people all over the place. And, you know, that's been my standard answer. Now I it's fine that we we rent cherry pickers to to take down trees. And I don't remember that ever happening before. And maybe I'm wrong. Maybe my memory spotty or maybe I just didn't wasn't that plugged into the road crew. But I don't remember us renting cherry pickers to take down trees and do I have tree removal service? Maybe we definitely hire tree removal services. We have. Sure. Yeah. We yeah, we've never rented but but hired it out numerous times on trees. You know, we were pretty well equipped with the excavator and snatch blocks and all of that stuff. But but dangerous stuff. We would always call fars or somebody like that. They would scale it. We would usually clean it up. I don't know if these trees were cleaned up by us or not. But we would typically use our chip or our equipment. We would just have them put it on the ground for us, the dangerous part. And in this case, they didn't they took it all. They went down. They went down to get it and it was gone today. The the Charles went down to get it and it was gone. So the wood, the wood was gone. The wood is gone. Yes. Yeah, I mean, in the future, shared. Sarah, really, I mean, I don't mean any offense, but you probably should just revert if anybody's complained about a tree either to myself or I will absolutely do that. They think that's the best solution. And I think the thing is, I think the select board and the town officials, you know, every time we do something, it seems like somebody wants to second guess us and that gets old. And I don't think anybody, I don't think you guys would like it. We get a bit from the public. Or we don't need to. We don't have to be to be fair, Victor. That's what we're here for. That's just it's if I see something come across at a fifty two hundred dollar line item that the town were. And I'm being told that it's and I and I'm and I'm hearing that it's because it's close to power lines. Why wouldn't I question that? Well, I think that's it. I think you've just exposed it right there. It's it's discussed among. I don't mind it come out at the select board, but I've heard it fifty times since the bill hit the hit the hit Cheryl's desk. So if you want to know if you don't want to wait for a select board meeting, call me up. I'll tell you exactly. I mean, look, look, look, look, this is the forum that is being asked. Randy, Randy, Randy, just hold on for a second. Look, absolutely. This is the forum where it should be discussed. My memory of how we have handled this in the past. And as far as I know, it's pretty well in the past. Although every time we cut a tree, there's somebody who doesn't want the tree cut. I understand that, but if somebody calls about a tree, it gets referred to Gary, who's the tree person. And at the same time, the road crew, when they're traveling around, whether they're plowing snow or cutting brush or resurfacing roads, if they see a tree, they make a note of it and bring it to our attention. And if it's something they can take care of, we say, great, take care of it. If it's something where we need to hire somebody, we agree, hire somebody. But we don't want to wait for trees to fall down in the road. We've had enough close calls over the years. And we'll continue to have more. We've got a lot of trees. Wait till all these trees start dying. You know, but to cut down every tree that everybody wants cut down is an unreasonable standard. But to cut down trees where there's a real hazard, that's something we need to take care of. And sometimes, Randy, in this case, it was a long-delayed process. And you got in on the tail end of it, and I'm sorry about that. But yeah, attention to trees all the time. But it's not because we don't take down trees because of the power lines or the phone lines. We take down trees because in our view, meaning the road cruise view or the select board's view, and I can remember calling Paul a couple of times over the years and saying, hey, I noticed this tree on Brook Road or this or that. Take a look at it. Let me know what you think, you know, that kind of thing. Anyway, sure. I mean, I've been sitting in these meetings religiously for more than a year before I even sat on the board. And I've never heard this come up. I don't think it's the last year. And again, Victor, this isn't an attack on anybody, whether it's the road crew or you or how you're feeling. But this is the forum that these questions need to come out in. So I apologize if you're taking that as as confrontation. I am not taking it. How it's meant. I am not taking it, Randy, that way. But I think you also go back in the minutes. You'll listen that it's been pointed out to us that you didn't want the select board didn't want us coming down with every little decision and passing it in front of where they wanted us to make up or, you know, have our own agenda. So, you know, in this case, you know, Shane did. And I mean, he he obviously called the guy and there's nothing wrong with the guy that did it. He's an expert. And so, you know, it's just to us like it's damned if we do and damned if we don't. So it's it's not it's not the person that was hired for it. If if it's if it's a danger, it's one thing. I believe that this board needs to be very clear on the perceptions that are taking place. These trees were cut on Steve Martin's property, ordered by his son. That is something that that Highway Department foreman should have aired out so that there was no perception of of any kind of conflict there. And I'm sorry, but I have a huge issue with this. OK, so the reason that I got involved in this process, we need some transparency and nobody that's nobody that's had a decision making voice in this is here. But I will say that, you know, I have an issue with it. I just want to say the bill came through saying they took down trees because it was impeding our lines. So that's how it came up. The person who cut the tree evidently, I don't know. Well, that's what's creating. That's what's creating these issues is the words power lines. That's all. That's what came through on the bill. Yeah, but he doesn't work for us, really. I mean, it doesn't have anything to do with the decision that I don't know who told him that. Right, but that's what I'm saying. That's what it was just not clear. He's looking at something that's saying that we're taking down trees under power lines, because that's what the invoice says. And that's what Sarah saw. Well, they definitely were underneath. They were mixed into the power lines. They definitely were. And as far as I know, the power company said they wouldn't take them down. I've never known the power line to take down take down any trees. There's a tree on the power line. They will come deal with that. But if it's standing, they won't or leaning, they won't take care of it. Well, look, I just I mean, I think we're I think we're beating a dead horse here. The process and and Randy, I want to be sure we're clear on this is you know, we do not want to micromanage the highway department budget. We want to trust our our foreman and our road commissioner to make decisions about how they spend the money, whether it's which roads they grade or which bottles they fill or whatever. On the other hand, if it's a major bill and certainly if it isn't in the budget, they need to be coming to us, but they shouldn't be coming to us about every tree that needs to be taken down. I don't I absolutely agree with 95 percent of what you just said. But given the specifics of this situation, I feel like it should have been put out in the open. Well, the good news is that situation is resolved. Absolutely. Don't have to worry about that anymore. And, you know, I will I will say again that, you know, we could have done things better with regard to that whole situation and on site, but we didn't. So we got what we got in a few situations when we're past it now. And I do appreciate your concern. I mean, we're all concerned. That's exactly what we're here for, is to make sure we're doing our best to manage the resources of the town the best we can. Absolutely. OK, Dorenda, I've got two questions before we move on with the highway. First of all, on financing for this truck, should we be if this is coming in July and it's now the third week of June? Am I supposed to be seeking out financing for this? And will it be one payment to Kenworth and one payment to Tenco? Or I mean, I need some guidance on how to move forward here. So I think the quick answer is, yes, we need to be ready. So when they say the trucks here, we need to check. We're not running around like chickens with our head cut off. And in the past, I believe and correct me if I'm wrong. Victor or Paul, maybe you know, but I think it is one one bill from the one bill from the person who comes up and one bill from Tenco. Yes, historically, they've they've been two different bills. They are they're two separate basically they're two separate vendors. So we we would solicit different quotes for each aspect of the truck build. Well, we've got we've got the quote like this. So we would have one loan, though, and then just pay two people out of it. Yes. So I need to be sure that these final numbers that I go out to get the quote on that these are going to be final numbers, both from Kenworth and Tenco. And then I'll start that. And now's a good time before the interest rates continue to go up. Yeah. And my other thing is, as far as Gary, is he all done effective June 30th? And I mean, if so, who is the liaison to that? So we haven't talked about that. Right. I would I would suggest that Gary should at least stay around for a few days to show Eric around. But I don't know whether you think that's necessary or not, Victor, or how you feel about it, Eric. I told Eric that I would whatever he wanted. I'm sure he knows a lot more about it than I do anyways. But I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. But I'm willing to, you know, I told him when we were negotiating with him at Randy's that I would do anything that I would spend three or four days or a day or a week or whatever he wanted to help. Well, I guess the question is, do we want to involve Gary in that process? Or no, you're saying no. It seems like Victor's got a better understanding of what's going on long term. I think if Victor is willing to do that, then I think we should we should just have Victor do it. And, you know, I think if if Eric's going to come on on the first and then, yeah, June 30 makes sense to talk with Gary and and, you know, thank him for for stepping forward again and just letting him know that Eric will be starting on the first. So I have I have one other one other question. Um, Gary has been operating the excavator. Yeah, considering we're down a man, does it make any sense at all for us to consider having Gary continue to do our time work for us operating operating the equipment but not driving the truck? Just a thought. I I personally don't know. I'll ask him, but I don't think he really wants to do that. OK, I'm not sure, but I I'm just thinking it's an opportunity to get. I mean, we've got quite a bit of excavator work to do to get ready for this paving project. And I also know we have we have work to do to get ready to screen sand and we're down a man. So my understanding is in addition to his supervisory duties, he's been operating the excavator. So it's just a thought. Yeah, yeah, I think that if he was even if he was interested in just doing, you know, one or two days a week, maybe that's maybe that's something maybe he's not in every day. But I Victor can have that conversation with him and see what his interest is. But I I I would not be opposed to that idea. I think we've got I just I just know we've got a hell of a lot of work that we've planned to do this summer and we're down a man and that's a challenge. And it doesn't it's not like we have people lined up at the door to take on this position. So if Gary has some interest and he can use a little extra money and and you feel Victor that he's effective at operating the excavator, which I believe he is, as far as I know he is. I just think it's something to think about if he has any interest. I'll certainly pursue it. I'll certainly talk to him and. And OK. I can let you know and. You can pass it on to the rest of the select board. And we'll have a meeting. We'll have a meeting on the fifth anyway. So yeah, it's all going to kind of happen at the same time. But if he's interested in I'm I'm interested in I think Phil and Randy Phil's Phil's Phil's rubbing his jaws if he might be a little interested in this. I don't know. It's just it's just a thought I had that maybe it was an opportunity to help with our manpower shortage issue. Yeah. Yeah. No, I I I I'm sorry, so go ahead. I didn't mean to. No, no, no, I was just confirming what Peter said that. Yeah, you know, it's at least one way to look at maybe making taking up a little bit of slack with a shortage. So it's worth pursuing. But I'll still let you know, Peter, if that's OK with everybody on the board and then you can pass it on, if that's what you're going to he's got. You're going to meet on the fifth and we're talking about the 30th, which is five days before. Yeah. I mean, you were going to tell everybody if if he says he's interested that that we put him right to work, or do you want to wait till the fifth to make the decision? There's no working days between the 30th and the fifth. Well, that's the fifth is the first working day. Right. So it can wait. Yeah. But wouldn't you like when you go into the long weekend, whether you've got to work or not? Here's here's what I would say. If he says he's interested in doing it and he wants to work on the fifth, let him work on the fifth and we can talk about it and decide exactly what the terms of the contract are the night of the fifth. Got it. That makes sense to everybody. We're talking about one day. Fine. Almost. Sounds good. OK, thank you. OK, Brenda. Brenda, Brenda doesn't have anything. The one question I had was those you would initially talk, I don't know, a couple of months ago about possibly handing out those salary sheets that I had done that showed everybody's wages and benefits and all of that. July 1st is right around the corner. I just didn't know if that is something you're planning on doing or how you wanted to distribute them. If it's something department heads or whatever, we're going to go over with their people or if you wanted if you even wanted to do it, I didn't get any feedback on them. Well, we did. We did have a quick discussion one night. I think the sense of the board was that, yes, we wanted to go ahead and do that. So we thought it was a good idea and that we like we like the format that you came up with. OK, I'm not saying it has to be done by July 1st, but we should do it sooner rather than later. Yes. OK, so again, does one get a. Does everyone get like a paper copy of a stub or something like that where you can put it in with the payroll and and it can be in there July and. You know, maybe the maybe the foreman or the road commissioner can let them know that, you know, hey, don't just chuck your statement this month or this this coming, you know, payroll and there's a statement of benefits in there for you. OK, I'd be useful information. OK, yep, we do that. That's the one of the fifth. Well, it'll be either that I'll let you know which check there, which one they're going in the check that covers the end of June and the beginning of July is going to be confusing. So I may put it in with the one that is entirely in. That's what I would recommend though. It isn't prorated. That's just right. Yeah, that's what I'm going to do. So maybe maybe we just put a note in with that paycheck saying your pay increase has been prorated starting effective July 1st. Your next paycheck will show the entire pay raise and you'll receive a statement. We're not going to get close. That gets too confusing. If you give them too much, we'll just they'll get two pay rates on their paycheck that week, but then we'll do the other another week. One shot. That's fine. OK. All right. How's Dorinda? I think that was it. I don't have anything else for right now. OK, thank you. Um, Sarah, if you wouldn't mind if you would send I know Liz is checking her email if you could just send her a quick email and say that we did pass over the select board thing and we look forward to seeing one the fifth and happy, happy travels or hiking or whatever that would be great. Yep, and we have we have orders to sign everybody, which I'm sure you're well aware of. No correspondence, Sarah. No, not really. OK. Anything else, anyone? You should probably approve. I'm sorry, we have minutes of the of the special meeting on June 15th. And now it's the June 7th. We need to do a probe. I'm sorry. Didn't we have another set of minutes that we weren't able to approve? You had there's a there's a permanent set of minutes we won't be able to prove because Steve has left. So and it was a very it was a minute. It was just for the liquor license renewal down at the filling station. So that's left over from a and it will never be it will never be approved. But don't worry about it. But you have the June 7th minutes and the June 15th minutes. So those make up a motion for those. Can you do? Can we do them in one? Yeah. Yeah. Move approval of the June 7 and June 15 minutes. OK, we're in a second. Yeah, all in favor. I try. OK, thanks, guys. Can I ask you guys about a scheduling question? Yes. OK. So you have a meeting on the 5th, but probably won't have enough information about taxes by the tax rate by then. I think Brenda might is planning to give you some preliminary information. I hate to say this, but we probably should have a special meeting on the 12th of July just to set the tax rate. Yeah. And how does that sit with you guys? I'm sorry. I know I don't like it any more than anybody else. With with the fifth being a holiday, is there any reason we have to meet on the fifth? Is it could we just switch that meeting to the 12th? That's up to you. That works for me. Yeah, that probably makes sense, actually. Yes, I'm all for that. Well, I don't want to get to the fifth. Yeah. I'll probably have some orders that'll have to be done at bills that have to be paid. OK, well, just just let us know, Brenda. Yeah. OK. So you're moving the meeting of the you're moving the fifth to the 12th. Yeah. So we'll meet on the 12th and the 19th. OK. Right. Yes, I think that's great. That makes. Yeah, thank you. You're going to be postponing the road, the select board position until then as well. Yeah, I would say so. Yeah. Unless we want to have it. No, no. We don't. No, we don't. We don't. I mean, there's not going to be anything for anybody to weigh in on until until then anyway. Right. So right. Yeah. So we have we have three we have three candidates, correct? Yes, you have Sarah, Victor, Jason and Sarah Berger. Yeah, OK. Considering that you've got more time, do you want me to keep beating the bushes, play a fanning the flames, doing whatever? Since we have more, you have more time. My position is we found them, but if somebody says, do I still have time to submit a letter? Sure. But I wouldn't fan the flames. OK. Yeah. Great. So, just just one quick question before we go. You have any any updated projection on how we're going to look for your end? Yeah, the bills are still coming in. And, you know, that's it's I mean, it's a moving target every single week. So yeah, I know. OK, it seems like it's going to be extremely tight. Yeah. Yeah. Well, extremely tighter and maybe worse. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Exactly. I didn't want to go there, but yeah. Yeah, we've known. I mean, yeah, we've known we were headed. We were headed in that direction. We've got a few things happen which have helped us out a little bit. But nevertheless, we had some major major expenses, repairs and other issues. So anyway, thank you very much for your time and attention. Happy Fourth of July and we'll get together on the 12th.