 in person and online. We're going to open up the meeting here. It's pretty much 6.15. And we posted this meeting in the three public places and put it on the website and emailed it to interested parties. And we have a fair amount of people lined up for the public comment section. So we're going to limit that to five minutes per person. And as in the start-up, does anyone else have anything they want to add to the comments? I do, but it's brief. Yeah, Rob? I'm concerned about the deadfall trees down by the ball field back behind the little beaches in the Turtle River. There's two real bad deadfalls down there. A lot of people go down there. Kids go down there. I mentioned it to you one time. I think it's moving some bleachers. But I don't know if it's town property. I don't know what the deal is. But I think it's dangerous. All right, why don't we add that to the list there? One of those trees that's falling in the corner of the soccer field is a butternut. Prize log. Somebody should harvest it. All right, so you've got that on the list. Martha, do you have a question? Excuse me, Jim, I didn't get either of those. I couldn't get any. That was Rob Gardner adding to the public comment that he's concerned about the dead trees at the far end of the ball field by the river. Dead trees. And anybody else? And Barry Chadwick pointed out that they're butternut trees. And they're. Every one's five. Yeah. All right. So, um. Bailey? Hello? Hello? Yeah? Hey, it's Robert. Good evening. Hey, I did want to add one more item to the agenda. And that's regarding public warnings and alerts. All right, you have a comment? All right. All right, so we'll start off with the minutes from the prior meeting of August 23rd. And we all read through those. I did. There was one slight correction. The money issue there on the Forest Service Bridge at West Hill, they were just put it in wrong. So we had to correct those. So I'd move to approve those minutes as typed up. I second that. All in favor? All right. All right. And thank you, Josh White, for coming on to give us a COVID-19 update. And you're working with Vic Rivarro on that. And dear, you've got the floor, Josh. Certainly. Thank you. Can you hear me? Pretty fine. OK, very good. So I'll start with some general updates in terms of what's going on and then open to questions that people might have. So we're in the throes of the Delta variant for anybody that's not living under a rock. And one of the things that is commonly misunderstood is that essentially all the COVID out there now is Delta. We don't test people because it's all Delta. In terms of the effect of the virus, by and large, it is quite similar to regular COVID. The big difference is it is quite a bit more infectious. So it's easier to pass around. So some of the 15 minutes of close contact, well, now you can get it with a lot less. And it's easier for vaccinated people to pick it up. It's important to understand that when the media talks about what they call a breakthrough infection, that is a misunderstanding when they develop the original vaccines and tested them. The intent was to keep you out of the hospital and keep you from dying. They never checked or planned or evaluated whether or not you could test positive for the virus later. So when you say it's a breakthrough, it's you're claiming that the virus is doing something or the vaccine failed to do something that it was never designed to do. And it's a little bit like claiming that your car won't fly. Well, it was never designed to do that. And so the vaccines are not failing when they're keeping out people out of the hospital and keeping people from dying. And if you look at the overall statistics, it is very, very successful. Now that doesn't mean this is a zero risk proposition. There are definitely people that are vaccinated that get COVID and get sicker. Those tend to be higher risk people. If you're up there in age, if you have problems like diabetes or lung disease, you're still at high risk. The basics are still effective, masking, social distancing. It's a respiratory virus same as it was before. The predicted peak in Vermont is expected to be about 250 people a day. And it's predicted to come within the next week or two. And it's looking like that modeling was quite accurate. We'll see if it goes down like it was supposed to. But that is definitely something that has borne out in terms of the prediction. And the state is using a Johns Hopkins modeling to get that data. And they're mirroring a lot of what happened in Hawaii, which has very similar vaccination rates. The vaccines continue to perform very well. They are very safe. You know, we've now had eight months or so of vaccine experience and almost 175 million Americans. And there are very few side effects in the ones that they have identified are quite rare or oftentimes quite transient. So anybody that's not comfortable, we've run this test on 170 million of your fellow Americans and it's good. So for anybody that is not vaccinated, I would strongly advocate it's a big deal and it works really well. And it's something that you can do to protect yourself and I can quite clearly show an increased margin of safety. The question of boosters is coming up quite a bit. The data regarding the boosters thus far is largely based on lab titers. There are lab titers that show that your antibody numbers go down at about eight months on average. But that's only a lab value. They're not showing that people are getting sicker and they're not showing that people are dying. So your lab changes and it is probably better to get that booster. But it's not absolutely clear at this point. And so we'll see how that goes. Ultimately, I expect all of us to end up getting boosters and this is probably going to be the situation where this vaccine fades into an endemic status and we all have to live with it. This is not gonna go away. This is gonna be like seasonal influenza. We may have to get a booster every year. We'll see. But we're well past the likelihood that COVID is gonna disappear. And it'll still be probably moderately dangerous to people that are high risk. And so a few people in every town, every year will probably die from COVID much like they do influenza. And we'll have to be relatively vigilant. The other question that is coming up are kids. They are working on getting that FDA approved, but there's not a huge amount of data in young kids yet. And this is something that while it's simultaneously important to get it done, it's extremely important that it gets done right, particularly with all of the vaccine resistance and hesitancy out there. The FDA cannot afford to approve or provide emergency authorization for something if they're not quite comfortable. I have no doubts that it's gonna get approved and it's gonna be fine. I do support them trying to do it right. It's anticipated that that's gonna happen sometime this fall. I will leave it at that and open my floor I guess to questions for anybody that has something that they would like to hear about. Excuse me, Mr. White, Dr. White. Yes. This is Martha Slater. I work for the Herald and I recognize your name, but am I correct that you work for Gifford and what is your position there? I am the Chief Medical Officer at Gifford. Okay, that's what I thought, but I wanted to make sure. Thank you very much. Absolutely. Josh, this is Vic Roboto. I know you know the park house quite well. You led the team here last winter when they had the multiple cases and led the team in responding to that onsite. What might you say about people who wanna go visit folks in the park house or lead a community talk or a singing engagement or something like that? The social activities are really important, but at the same time, these are people who are up there in age and I imagine a lot of them have medical histories that would put them at risk. And on the one hand, we want our neighbors to be safe and on the other hand, we want them to feel like they're in prison forever. So what's a good balance in terms of that? Absolutely, good question. So at this point in time, I would not recommend doing a lot of visitation. If you will recall, people that are vaccinated are still at higher risk and they can still get COVID. And while the overall risk statistically is fairly low, it's important to recognize that we are playing with fire a little bit. And you know, in the last couple of weeks, I have intubated somebody who has got COVID. So it's something that is important that we're careful with and I would generally recommend not visiting. I would also generally recommend against large gatherings. I'm not advocating that people don't live their lives. Go out and do the things you need to do, be reasonably careful, wear a mask. If it's essential for something like Parkhouse, if you're bringing somebody food or what have you, then obviously proceed. But if it's a less essential thing, then please try to stay away. This is something that is still killing people up there. Okay, thank you. Any questions from the physical public here? Nope. Thank you, Josh, for your time and coming in giving us update reminder. I guess we're all pretty aware of it, but it's just good to have it set forth. So clearly, I appreciate it. I have one quick question. Dr. White, in my position as a case manager with the Central Montt Council on Aging, your advice with Parkhouse, would you also recommend that be the same advice for case managers making home visits to our vulnerable seniors, especially since some of them are not vaccinated due to medical conditions? There's gonna have to be a careful, probably case-by-case balance there. That vulnerability you're talking about is a big deal. And if someone ends up becoming ill or ending up in the hospital, something along those lines, because they didn't get care that they needed otherwise, then that would also be a disservice. And so it's something that we have to kind of do this little dance. How are we gonna work this? And you're gonna have to look at it case-by-case. How important is it to get to Parkhouse versus other options? I'm talking about other home visits, not Parkhouse, but of the same kind of population only who are still living in their homes. And at this point, we're still being encouraged to make home visits, but from what you're telling me, we should put that on hold and just do our remote interactions the way we've been doing during the COVID shutdown. That one's a maybe. So for instance, if you forego a visit to somebody that is vulnerable and they start having problems and they end up in the ER, they may be worse off, not better off. And so that has to be a case-by-case kind of situation. All right, thank you. Can you speak at all to the program that does the contact tracing? It seems to be quite the lad with that program of people getting notified if they have been in contact with a positive. Is that program going to be beefed up at all so that the contact tracing is a little quicker? So that is a state program. So it's tough for me to say, I will say that the state doesn't have the resources that it needs for this kind of thing, the investment in public health across the board in the US is not really what it needs to be. And the other aspect to that is that oftentimes at this point, it doesn't matter as much. Delta is spreading enough and is so rapid that a lot of it is immediate and local control. So it's families and workplaces making good decisions. And given that Delta is all over the place, it's a matter of how we do with ourselves rather than relying on the state to tell us what to do. All that being said, I will say that it is something that we at Gifford do and can help with. And if anybody needs help, I would strongly encourage reaching out. Okay, thank you. And that's just a general thing. For anybody with COVID or worried about, maybe I've been exposed or maybe I have COVID, go ahead and reach out to the hospital. We're happy to provide advice. It's what we've been doing all along. Well, thank you. Absolutely. Okay, so you're welcome to stay if you want and then for the rest of our thrilling meeting, whether you may have dinner on or not in here. All right, I got to go. I have a work on dinner for the family. All right, yeah. Again, Vic knows how to reach out to me, you can reach out to me individually if anything comes up. All right, great. Thank you. Thank you. Yep, all righty. So we have Vic and Catherine here and Pat from the Rochester High School repurposing project discussion. And you guys have something to talk about. Yeah, we do. Thank you. Yeah, we wanted to share an update on the high school repurposing feasibility project and request approval for three actions, which I'll get to shortly. First of all, just to follow up from the last meeting where the select board approved proceeding with the recommended consultant, which is a organization called Fairweather Consulting. The core team that's been working on this and working with the consultant interview had further discussions that week. And we're convinced that in order to do a good job and not short change the work, you really could not be accomplished in the timeframe that we had initially intended. We had a six month timeframe in mind. And that was to bring in a completed project in time for the annual town meeting in March. But again, just given the complexity and the scope of work in this project, the consultant was quite persuasive in terms of arguing that this is really a nine month project. So a little longer time, not too much terribly longer, I don't think. And then in fact, due to the complexity of the project, it was probably better to have a dedicated meeting, town meeting on this topic anyway. I'll take you cut out there. Could you repeat that last, that you said we lost that last sense? Oh, okay. What I said was due to the complexity of this project, it's probably gonna be wiser and more useful to have a dedicated town meeting for this project and decision of whether or not to acquire the school as opposed to wrapping it into the agenda of the annual town meeting. I just don't think it would, and the committee didn't think it would get the kind of opportunity for discussion and airing and talking about the results of the study, et cetera. So that's probably a good thing anyway. You can certainly give an update at the town meeting. So I wanna talk a little bit about the scope of the project in a couple of minutes, but just in terms of the timeframe. So starting in September, which we could start this month, would take us into June of 2022. There is a small added cost to bring some additional engineering expertise into the project based on this extension, but it's all within the grant funds available. So it's not extra cost to the town. So our first request for approval tonight is that fair weather consulting proposal for a nine month project started in September, 2021. The cost is $42,620 paid out of grant funds. If you wanna come back and revisit these recommendations after I'm all done, that's fine, or take them out of time, whichever you think is appropriate. Okay, the second item has to do with a condition of the grant that, which is that the owner, in this case is the school board, has to give written approval to proceed and give access to the building for the duration of the planning project. That's a specific requirement by the agency that gives the funds. So the school board did provide that approval last spring and granted access for a year, basically through April 7th of 2022. However, in light of this longer timeframe, Katherine and I went back to the school board last Tuesday, asked for approval to extend that access through June, 2022 and they agreed to do that. So we have their approval to do that. What accompanies that is the town needs to sign off on what's called the property access license agreement. This is basically, it's a legal document that says that the consultant can access the property to do its work, but that if any damage is done to the building in doing that work, or if anybody gets injured, it's the select board's responsibility. So this issue was moot until we actually got the grant, got the consultant on board. So now it's time to revisit that. And I know Patty's been looking into this, Patty Harvey's been looking into this with the terms of legal and insurance. I'm not sure where that stands at this moment, but that's something that the select board would need to agree to put the grant into effect. So maybe come back and ask Pat about that. And then finally, during the school board meeting, there was an agenda item to decide whether or not to heat the high school building sufficiently to avoid cold weather related damage to it. And the superintendent had a facility consultant assess the risk and reported at the meeting that even if the building were winterized with antifreeze, et cetera, there was still a high likelihood of major damage to the building, particularly heating system, plumbing system in that freezing could even heat the foundation of the building. So it was his strong recommendation that the building not be allowed to go without heat in the winter. Following discussion about the commitments of school board had made to the town of Stockbridge, that the residents at the Stockbridge folks not pay to heat the building. A rough estimate was made of what would be the cost of heating the building per year. And based on that discussion, decision was made in the meeting that Rochester would need to contribute an additional $15,000 towards the cost of heat, either through the select board action or private donations or a combination of the two. So our third request is that the select board commit to a contribution towards that heating cost, the high school building. And our concern obviously is that if the building is left unheated I mean, then we'd have an unusable and an unmarketable wreck in the middle of town and nobody wants that to happen. So that's our update and that's Catherine if she has anything to add to that. No, I think that was a pretty full recording. I did send a summary of that portion of the school board meeting the following day to each member of the select board just to notify them while it was fresh in my mind. So hopefully they've had a chance to look that over. The other thing is that Peter Fairweather had said that he pretty much thinks he's gonna be out of the building by the April 7th deadline. And we also said that there'll be an ongoing public outreach to give information as it's available to the town so that the process of educating the town will not be in June alone. That will be when they wrap up the final figures but as we learn things, we will be communicating that. We want the whole process to be transparent and we don't want the town to feel that they're surprised at the time of the meeting. We want to be forthcoming with everything that's developing. And the other thing is that a part of the scope of the feasibility study is not only to look at the cost of the upgrades to the building and to vet out the feasibility of the proposal of the five component multi-use facility. There is also the piece that we've requested if there is an alternate and in fact, better use of the building, that that be a part of the information that they are giving us. All right, thank you. So we have three points that we were asked to make decision on the first being the acceptance of the extension of the timeline from six months to nine months. And I would move to say okay to that. I think I can move. Yeah, all in favor? All right, all right, so we'll take that. And the property access liability agreement, did you flip into that a little bit? I will look into it tomorrow once we have agreed to this contract, this updated contract, then I'll check on all the insurance tomorrow. So can we discuss the rest of this at our next meeting and try to go from there? Well, I think that we should make a decision on the heat now because that's kind of important with the just knowing how they're gonna be moving forward. I'm not anticipating a big issue with the access liability agreement. We've had it in place. It's been in place up to now and so, but that's something that we can't. We can't overlook. We can't overlook and we can't decide that now without conferring with them. So we'll table number two for now, but I think the big question in the room is the willingness of the town to pony up $15,000 to guarantee that the building does not freeze this winter. It appears to me that with all the energy that's been put into this up to this point and the progress that has been made that we, I would move that we approve that and make that commitment to support the process. I reluctantly disagree, but I don't know as if we have another choice really in order to solve the issue that's coming before us to leave it unheated is probably not in the best interest in the long run. But if it turns out that we decide to do something different with the project rather than what is proposed, then it'll be a wasted amount of money possibly, but it's probably in the best interest of us if we do go forward with it. Is there a way that we could maybe come up with half of that money and Envision Rochester committee or some other entity could match our 50%? I'd like to speak to that. First of all, I don't know that there's any funds in Envision Rochester, but the intention of course was once the town makes a decision about acquiring the building, we do intend to launch a capital fund campaign towards whatever the wishes of the town regarding that building will be. At this point, the committee, now the task force has brought $50,000 to the table as well as a $3,000 matching grant that the committee members themselves are covering. So it seems to me that since the town is the applicant and this is being done in the name of the town, and the town represents a lot more people that $15,000 from the town would be done in good faith and as Ethan Bowen pointed out, that should the town decide to do that, it will go a long way in improving the relationships between Rochester and the Stockbridge. Just want to add that. I'm sure about that. Can I make a comment? It's Robert. Comment on that? Yeah, with regards to, which was my second, Robert, we had Rob Gardner on the floor and spoke up real quick. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, the question is, school boards are considering there a problem with the building and the deal hasn't made much of a panel. What does he say? We can't hear you, Rob. Rob is the same, he feels that's extraordinarily request on behalf of the school board since because they still own the building and the deal has not been finalized with the town. And moreover, can you hear me? No, I couldn't hear you, Rob. Can you hear me now? Yes. Sorry. How are you? Hi, Rob. How are you? So this is how it looks to me. This deal is in motion slowly. It's a very big complicated decision whether or not to take this building on. To make a commitment of $15,000 now is a pretty big statement towards an intent. I don't know that we're ready to make. Furthermore, to me, it's a school board's problem and it's a political problem. The school board chose, I think for about a year to do nothing with the high school building considerations between the time of the high school building committee and I guess about a year later when it started to come alive again. That's a whole year of they lost. We didn't lose it, the town didn't lose it, the school board lost it. So I understand the sensitivity of the problem, the difficulty the school board's in in that regard but to me that's a political problem of the school board, not of the town of Rochester. And I would at least make the attempt to push it back to them, prefer their discussion rather than giving them a check for $15,000 because it prejudices this hard decision that's coming towards us. And that's all I got on there. And Barry, do you want to say something about this? Not everybody goes this way. The school board set aside $25,000 for the purpose of property division and in that conversation that happened last Tuesday night Ethan said that they made this promise to Stockbridge and that if they went against that promise they would lose their credibility with the Stockbridge voters and he feels that that would also put the merger at jeopardy but he did say that the Rochester portion of that $25,000 can be used towards the heating and electrical of that school building. So the $15,000 figure came up with what would be the balance left over and it was made very clearly that Rochester is also paying for that building because we are part of the school system, part of the school board. So, but by saying token Rob that it isn't just the school board's problem it's both town's problems that are in that school district which includes us. Excuse me, could I add something please? Could I add something please? Perfect. Hello? Yep, yep, go ahead Mark. Well, it's just I understand that it's a touchy issue for a lot of reasons but to me it makes the most sense my opinion is to go ahead and I mean it makes no sense to me to leave the building unheated if it's going to suffer, you know it's suffered damage from going unheated and then there's it's no asset to the town at all for whatever use, you know? And that building has got the only auditorium in the whole area. It's got, you know, there's various reasons why I think it's important to keep that building it's my opinion and so I think heating it is the right decision, would be the right decision. That's just my opinion. Thank you. May I make a comment? Very chat because here I want to say something then you Robert I didn't predict yet. Well, go for it Robert, go for it Robert. Hey Dune it's really hard to hear you I don't know what, are you sitting away for your microphone or something? Not too far but I'm saying go ahead Robert. Okay, thank you Dune. I just want everyone here to know we're in a kerfuffle and I've been watching, I've been to the select or the school board meetings in Rochester and in Stockbridge and four years ago this issue that we're discussing was coming and coming fast and it was basically a freight train that was just a matter of time. Now I also want to share with everyone that in all the meetings, whether they're school board meetings or select board meetings, I've never seen a select board discuss anything to do with schools. Typically there's this very serious boundary before between the select boards and towns and the school boards, they're two separate entities. So I'm not, there's been a lot of concern I've talked to Jamie about it. Jamie has some good ideas for the reuse of the school. He's the supervisor of the supervisor reunion and he has a few really great ideas that I think everyone would be encouraged with. On the note of financing, I would commit to as much as Envision Rochester and all these things. If everyone here present tonight could just reach out to friends that they know and ask if they would donate the money to uphold the school with the heat of the $15,000 and very respectively ask if they can contribute. And I believe that if I go on that mission I could probably ask one or two people to help and the $15,000 would be paid for as a donation with all due respect for what a lot of people who are moving into the town respect what Rochester is and they wanna support it. And the most important thing is a school. So I'm willing to go out and just privately talk to people and say, hey, is there someone that can help us? Because Stockbridge is in pain. The school board, they're all in pain. They don't know what to do with this. So, you know. That's a good offer, Robert. Well, thank you. We're open to donations, that's for sure. So I'll do my best to make a pre-donation from someone that has a lot more money than me to help. And it's all about the children. It's not about the... And by the way, the supervisor union, this is another note and I don't wanna over speak but I just want everyone to know that not, hold on, 92% of property taxes that we pay and even the donors pay goes directly to the education fund, 91%. So I can't imagine that the supervisor union and the education department couldn't contribute with all that money. So I think that that's wonderful, Robert and I definitely would encourage you to do some one-on-one with the folks that you feel would be willing to donate. But in the meantime, because we do need a decision, can we decide to actually commit to the 15 and then whoever makes the donation, can it can go to the town and deflect whatever the town is committed to? And those donations can go through a 501C3 in the town. And so therefore the town could commit to up to 15 but maybe it doesn't even have to do 15. If you're successful and Robert, I suspect that you will be successful. Well, thank you, Kathy. All right, so Barry Chadwick here, he had something he wanted to contribute also. So you're up, Barry. All right. So I don't know all of you, I know most of you. I taught in Rochester for 22 years. I taught in Stockbridge, that was the first place I taught. Both have lovely campuses. When I was teaching in Stockbridge, we planted trees. Eric Brown was- I can't hear a thing. I can't hear a thing. Well, I'm sorry, you guys keep buttoning in. All right, you don't pick turns at all. All right. Can you hand me now? Yes. All right, so great campuses. We don't want donations. If this town is going to support the school, it needs to support the school. It's been there, it has history. We don't let it freeze and destroy it for what? To prove what? That we can? How about we let the old fire department go to the devil? I thought we'd put in the roof on it. Because we can? No, it's part of our town. The school is part of our town. Come on, that's all we got to say. All right, thank you. Robert Mayer. Yes, I just, I appreciate Rob's sentiment, but I think the problem here is we lose sight of that this isn't just a Rochester-Stockbridge situation. This project we're talking about is a Quintown project. I mean, this is going to be a center that is going to be a resource for all of these towns. And to quibble over, is it coming out of this budget for that budget? It's coming, it's going to be funded eventually in the big picture by all of us. And what we're talking about is a minor amount to move the project along. We don't need a lot of obstacles. We have a very valuable shell of the building there, which, with a lot of innovation, and if we concentrate on upfront investments in, can reduce our operating costs, which are very high right now, but they could be reduced substantially. So I think this $15,000, I can't speak for the school board. I'm just one member, one member of the school board. Since this whole situation started, there has been a fair amount of turnover in the governance. I'm one of the new members. And there has been a lot of water under the bridge. What we're really looking forward to is moving forward on this and how to expedite it. But some things just can't move fast. And this, I think, is an excellent idea is to prove for the town to cover the cost, but we'll try and find private donations to offset some of that. I think that has been an excellent, excellent idea. We have to look to the future and look for leadership for improving this town and making it attractive for people to come. There are people coming in. I'm sure Pat could speak to it as evidenced by the real estate market. And I know that Frank has been a little dubious about whether it's our role. But do we want to become a community of second homes? No. Or do we want to be a community with a vibrant and younger active population? This is the whole purpose of this project is to take a resource and create a, improve the community's ability to attract and retain people, families. Yes. Here, here. May I speak to your honor? Robert, excuse me. What do you think we've got? Robert Gardner has got the floor now. So I feel pretty stupid standing up here. This is Rob Gardner. I'm on the screen. So I think Robert, I think Robert made a very good point. But to me, it's putting in. Who is Robert? Robert Gardner. No, who's the gentleman that was just speaking? Me. Robert Mayer. Robert Mayer. Oh, OK. Captain, I'm sorry. I can't tell who he is. But what he said was very well respected. So in my mind, what Robert says puts in pretty stark relief the essential question. Are we talking about vision? Are we talking about money? In my problem is we haven't been talking about money and foregrounding money enough. I believe in what Robert said and the whole idea of an arts center. Those are wonderful. Those are vision ideas. But how are you going to pay for it? And if you put $15,000 of our money into this, you're prejudicing the deal up front. Imagine that in a real estate deal, Patty. If somebody wanted to buy a house, imagine. So I think it's just a poor idea. I understand the situation the school board's in. I understand all these feelings about the school. But there's a difference between vision and money. And I really wish that the money was foregrounded. And that's my rant for today. Well, I would like to. Catherine, you spoke to what I was going to say is why not be open to and encourage people to contribute to offset this expense. And the town can act as the guarantor of that. So if the town, I would make a motion that the town agree to support this need of $15,000. But at the same time, be open to being the vehicle to accept donations to offset that expense. Would the committee setting the parameters for advertising and getting the word out soliciting? Why don't you comment? The second Pat was just, she was adding to that. The committee or some entity and Vision Rochester or some entity doing the solicitation for funds. I agree with that. So we have a motion on the floor here. So I think we're disposed, dispersed with the discussion about it. And we're trying to move forward. Wait a second. Wait a second. I have an idea. Is it Catherine? We have, we're not saying that ideas, we're soliciting ideas. And what we're doing now is trying to move forward. So we have the vehicle in place to have those ideas go forward. Move forward for doing what? Quickly, one sentence, please. One sentence, please. What I was trying to say is why Martha's here, she could put a line item in her article and be right out in print, right out in the public for donations. The other thing I want to say is no school, no economy. And going to Robert Mayer's comment, I would like Robert to give Robert Mayer to give a call to Jamie McCurft McInerney or whatever his name is. And lastly, right now, there's a meeting scheduled with me and the school board is supposed to be scheduled today with Lisa from the supervisor union, Ethan, Amy, and the whole conversations about leadership and ownership. That's all, that's all it is. It's all good news. You're trying. All right, thank you. I second your motion. So Pat second in the motion. Could you repeat the point of order? Point of order, could we repeat them? Yeah, sorry, you've got a little deluded by that. I was just going to ask that, Robert. All right, so I'm going to. I want to make sure I get it correct. Yes, I'm moving that the town approved the commit to $15,000 for the supplemental heating of the school and also the town is going to stand forth as the vehicle to accept donations from the general public and others to offset that expense. And Pat had pointed forth that it would be encouraged that the school repurposing committee and Envision Rochester that people are made aware of the request to offset that expense. Can you hear that, Martha? You got that? You're frozen. So if, wait, I'm sorry, go ahead, go ahead, excuse me. So that's my motion. I second that. All in favor? I do. I do favor. OK. All right, yes. All right. All right, support the school. So actually it's, remember, why don't we communicate tomorrow and I can do that when we're not having the break up because your internet keeps fading in and out. Yeah. And we can do it. I'll call Julie tomorrow. Yeah, yeah, that would be the way to do it. And I will speak to my board members for free, Bill Rochester, to get their approval. OK. The tax exempt ordination because that would then go to the town. Thank you. Yes, in the back there. I know the select board has agreed to do some stuff on this question. I just wonder, where did the $15,000 number come up from? What did they pay last year to heat the building if they're worth students or not students in there? And so there should be some accountability on the costs. OK. We got it. I didn't know if you heard that, but the question came from the floor. Where did the $15,000 number come from? It actually came from a calculation right from the supervisory union, basically breaking down what the costs were in the previous years. They actually know what their pre-pay, their pre-buy figure was for this year, which is higher. Everybody's heat bill's going to be higher this year. So they calculated it up to reflect what this year is. And then they kind of just backed into what Stockbridge would have been paying out of that fund to heat the high school. So what we're doing is through the education tax, we're paying our portion. And now we're also going to pay Stockbridge's portion as well. That's where the $15,000 came up. And if you wanted to go back and look at the school board meeting, which I believe is also on ORCA, you can see how that evolved. Right there in front of our eyes, it was all worked out. I think the total was 40,000. I think it was the same temperature. So the total was 40,000 anticipated. And the Stockbridge portion of that ended up being 15. I also want to remind the select board that the reason that building was closed down was about COVID, because the elementary school was accessing that building for their arts and learning curriculum. So I don't know whether that means that you can use the 15 from somebody. Not for a building we don't own, but the school board can. The high school is closing the building now. The school board can. Well, that's a good segue. I think that the fact that we don't own the building yet would probably limit us from using the ARPA money for that. But that is a good segue into the next item on the new business agenda, which Kristen has a report about the ARPA money. Unless anyone has anything else they want to say about the school topic right now. I have a follow-up. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I would ask the select board to ask the committee that, as seems to have been said, the communication about the process of money, where we are, be continually coming in. And I think they should be making reports or something. I think there's a duty on everybody's part to be absolutely transparent and upfront about this stuff. I'm not an enemy of this project. I just think it really needs to be very clear. Everyone needs to understand what the risks are, what the benefits are. Not just in a vision sense. And God bless you for that. But I mean, I'm on a budget committee. And you know how much money is left over at the end of the year. So I'm just saying that I would ask that you all, and particularly the committee, make this information as available as quickly and as packaged in a way as possible. All right. Agreed. Kristen, we are. We have received our two installments of our ARPA funds. We received closer to a microphone. Yeah, you want to come up to me? Can you hear me now? I know. Oh. I don't normally get this compliment. Can you hear me now? Complaint? I mean, are we good? Now I can hear you. All right. Super. Oh, that's wonderful. OK, so we've received our two installments of our ARPA funds. In August, we received $56,950.14. And then in September, we received the county portion of it, which was $105,665.62. So right now, we're at $162,615.76 that we've received in ARPA funds. And we have put that into its own separate fund and bank account with Mascoma. And are we expecting any more from that? Yes, next year, around in August and September, we'll receive the same payment again. Same payment, yeah. OK. Robert. What are the limitations on that fund and how soon does it have to be spent? We have three years to spend it. And Larry, you want to speak upon the limitations. They were vague at the beginning and becoming clearer as time goes by. Do you have any input on that, Larry? He's working with the select board and navigating these waters. Yeah, there are limitations. They're broad. There are some several broad categories that have allowable uses. But there's a lot of uses within those categories. And so there's a long process ahead for the town to ultimately decide specifically how to use it. And the select board is just beginning that process. The funds have to be allocated by 2024. But they don't have to be spent until 2026. So it's not something that the town has to rush into. But essentially, it can be used for broadband, for infrastructure. It can also be used to backfill for COVID-related expenses that occurred during the pandemic itself. So there's really quite a broad range of possible expenditures that can be chosen. And the money can be paired with other funding. For instance, for water or sewer projects, could be paired with our money could be matched with other state funds, which might give you a bigger thing for the buck. So there's a lot of work to be done to decide. And there is some type of public process to get public input on how to ultimately choose where to spend it. I have a question. Yes, Barry. Could those funds be used to fund the sheriff's patrolling our roads? I would think that that would be a hard one to justify a COVID response basis. It might not be impossible. But I don't think that that would be one that would easily fit into a category. Did you all hear that question? And on the side of the road, Barry asked Larry if the ARPA funds could be possibly used to bolster the presence of the sheriff in town. And Larry said that would be probably a stretch and a hard sell on that. That question was. And the gist of what Larry was saying in response to the question about what when we have to spend it, that's it's going to be an ongoing process and we're not rushing into it. And we're going to develop vehicles to gather public input on this decision also. Once we really have clear ideas about what our options are. Thank you, Kristen and Larry and Barry. Can I make a comment? Sure. Well, how does it work for me? My chance could all participants walk up to a microphone. I had no clue what Larry just said. And I don't know how Martin's reporting because I could not hear his old jargon. I'm just thinking there must be a COVID protected microphone so that everyone can hear what's happening. I can. Well, that's why I kind of summarized it for that. Yes, thank you and I appreciate it. Yeah. But yeah, we'll try and people have specific comments. They really want everyone to hear it. Like when Kristen came up, that was a good idea. So I'm the next one going to speak on behalf of Joan because she's not here tonight, but I have her updates. So are you hearing me? Am I talking loud enough? Yes, thank you. Yes, all right. So since her last report, Joan has been assistant, Julie and Kristen with preparations for the annual audit and developing systems for integrating grant related information with NEMRIC. And she has been keeping in touch with Cooter on FEMA road projects that are being completed this year. Also continuing to complete all documents and backup documents and making sure they all reconciled properly to. Can you speak a little slower? Sorry. Okay, you want me to? Okay, but you can hear me. Yeah. We can. You know, Martha, what we'll do is we'll send you a copy of this. So you have that and you can read it in person. That might make it easier. All right. Yeah, okay, yeah. She's continuing to compile all documents and backup documents and making sure they all reconcile properly to submit to the Vermont Department of Public Service for reimbursement of the FEMA roadwork done through December of 2019. And she's going to start on the remaining FEMA road projects completed in 20 to 21. And tasks related also to the completion of the Nason-Brook covert replacement. And she is working with VHB and Green Mountain National Forest towards the completion of the contract design, stream alteration and Army Corps permits, updated construction cost estimate and bid packages are now getting underway for I'm assuming that is the West Hill Bridge. She is preparing to work with two private landowners adjacent to the bridge for temporary and permanent easements in addition to the Green Mountain National Forest, which will give us the authorization on their property. We're hoping to have everything ready for and going out to bid January of 2022. That timing depends on how soon the permits are approved, especially the Army Corps and how fast the construction funding arrangements move along. And the last item on our list here is that we have received a draft memorandum of agreement from the Federal Highway Administration for construction funding in partnership with the Green Mountain National Forest. And she is reviewing that with the Green Mountain National Forest staff. Lots of details still to be worked out, including the funding. The grant approval is $600,000 and construction costs before the final update by VHB are estimated at 663,000 before contingencies. Once we have VHB's final construction cost estimate, we'll know if we need to look for more funding, which is the expected outcome. That's Green Mountain National Forest responsibility and if it's needed, it could delay going out to bid. And of course, you will keep us updated. So, yes, back, do you wanna come up and talk so they can hear you? Not really. Not really, but that way I don't know how to repeat what you say, yeah. So, my name is Larry Creech, I live on West Hill and we've been the squeaky wheel in the town for a long time about the bridge reconstruction. My question was, the $60,000 that was earmarked in the paper, is that some of the funding that's coming in for the bridge or? That may have been a misprint to. That's just the design work. Was that just for the design, right? That was for engineering and design. Okay, so I know they did engineering last year so I didn't know what that was for. My main concern is when I read the paper every week, I saw that a great many people confronted the Forest Service about the forest three cuts that they're gonna have on going in our district. And my fear is that this group may dig in their place in their pockets and hire a legal firm to stop the Forest Service from doing anything. And that would affect the bridge because if they can't cut the Robinson track up there, then they would have no need to fix the bridge. So I don't know, we're kind of on a slippery slope here to some degree. And so those are some of my fears because 300 people confronted the Forest Service people a couple of weeks a month ago and we're screaming and hollering at them. They don't want anybody to cut anything. And I'm not in favor of that at all but it's not because I want a bridge on our road, it's because it's a well thought out process by the Forest Service. So I just wanted to let you know about that. And the other small concern, again, more squeaky wheels here is that if we could get somebody before winter to trim some of the trees that are very low overhanging the road because if we get a snow storm, I don't think my car is low enough to get over everything. Yeah, actually the, I think we're getting the mower on the 20th. Yeah, yeah. So that's, that's, that's, yeah. They did a great job grading. But I guess, you know, there's a lot more work and culverts and stuff that you're gonna do at some point. After the bridge. We can, I can talk with Joan about that to see what the long term implications might be on that project as far as if they do run into a snag will the bridge still be constructed? That kind of thing. We can find out something about that. Do you mark that down? Excuse me, June. Yeah. Who do, to get a copy of Joan's report, why do you? Yeah, we'll just, you could just, yeah. Joan, I'll send it to you. I mean, not Joan, Julie. And she could email it to me or something. Thank you very much. I'm sorry, it's just, it's sometimes it is hard for me to go as fast as everyone else is going. And I wanna make sure I get all the details correct. Thank you. Okay, let me just make some notes here. All right, thank you, Joan, wherever you are. She's singing tonight. Yeah, I don't see Tony Goopy here to give us any updates from the library and the highway, I guess the coming project now is the renting of that mower that we'll have. So that's some- Right, it's a roadside mowing- It's a roadside mowing and tree trimming, yep. And that's something that Martha should put in the paper to make people aware of that. Do you hear that, Martha? The side mowing is what the highway is doing. Roadside mowing and if there's any, it's starting. The 20th, so that would be good to put in the paper. So roadside mowing will start September 20th. Okay, thank you. Terry, have you got anything you'd like to contribute tonight from the utilities scene? They're coming to change those controls over on Thursday up with sewer site four. On sewer site four, getting some controls changed on Thursday. I'm sorry, what? Sewer site four, Martha. So sewer site four, okay, I'm sorry, it's just everybody keeps breaking up. Sewer site four is getting controls changed on Thursday. Yep. Okay, thank you. Right. We don't have Jeff, our energy coordinator here tonight, but I know he's been involved in contributing information and input to the whole situation with the high school building analysis, so we're good to have him on deck. So on to the don't have any old business listed in the public comment session, Barry Chadwick, you're up with your thoughts about a memorial plaque for Eric Wells. So should I stand over there? Yeah, you stand over here, just speak loud towards the computer so they can hear what you're saying. Oh, I can't find my belt, so excuse the rope, whatever. That's all right. All right. Damien's suite, and I hope all of you have seen it, there's a beautiful stone that came from the North Hall of Rochester. It used to be Lucy Sprague's meadow, and I don't know who owns it now. It's right in the corner by the tennis court. So there's a plaque on it for Damien's suite, a young man who tragically died in this community, target practicing with a friend. Revolvers I hate, any charms help in the head. And don't you know, my wife was in the in rooms who were met in Dartmouth when they brought him in. So, Barry, I think you're gonna have to speak up. All right, they need to come to meetings. All right, now, so there's a plaque there, Damien's suite memorial soccer field. Now, jump forward. Graduated of Rochester High School in 1993, Eric Wells, great student, great athlete, great friend. He was my daughter's lover all the way to high school. He came to our house, she went to his house. All right, he went to UVM, got a degree in a applied agriculture, bought a farm in the Northeast Kingdom, started raising organic chicken. Got married to a German lady, had two beautiful daughters. And then, Eric had one fatal flaw. It was depression. I think he got it from his dad, who was a brutal alcoholic. Eric lost his farm, lost his wife, lost his children, lost his life, the children, so. I've talked to Joe, I've talked to my daughter. My daughter said, dad, I don't understand. Well, Eric never shared that dark side of himself, except with a few key friends. J.R. Laffin, Jamie Stevenson. Kept him from, my daughter kept it from his mother. She knew, kind of, but she didn't know how bad it was. So, I want to place a plaque for Eric Wells right next to Damien. Is that right? The exact same size, exact same color, everything, for Eric. That's what I'm asking for the time to do. I'm not asking them to pay for it. I'm just asking them to give permission for me to get Jimmy up the road, to make the plaque, and to put it there beside Damien. That's what I'm asking. Is his mother all right with that? She is all right with that. You did talk to the family? We're having, I call it an EU, because all the kids in high school called Eric E. At Gendron's, on October 2nd, I said, Jill, you don't have to come. I know, I know it's not gonna be easy. So, I don't know if she'll come or not, but she knows, I've kept her right in the loop the whole time. Okay, I was just curious. Yep, yep. All right, thank you, Barry. I think, excuse me, I'm not unclear as to where the plaque for Damien is currently. It's right by the parking lot, by the tennis court, down by the ball field. Okay, that's what I thought. I thought I'd see it there, thank you very much. So, that's on town property, but I don't know, you guys, what are your thoughts? What will the plaque say? It would say, I don't know exactly what it would say. It would say, Eric Wells, born, date guide, athlete, friend, neighbor. That's what it would say. Well, I think that it'd be nice to do some more diligence and asking around and talk with people in town to make sure there is no, nothing that we're not thinking of, that would be an issue and with the Sleith family, if they would feel pushed out by sharing that, I doubt it. I don't know, but I don't think we should make that decision right now, but I think it's a neat idea and I'd like to dig into it a little more. I would think you'd want to talk with Greg Price about that. Yep. Vivian's no longer, so here, and Bob has passed too, I think. So let's table that idea and give it some thought and it's a very stable, thank you, Greg. It's not a rush. Yep, no, thank you. All right, great. All right, next in public comment, we've got Robert Franks. You have a whole list of things that you'd like to speak about. June, it's really hard to hear you. The mic keeps going in and out. I don't know why, but... I think that's the nature of the Zoom platform, yeah. But you heard me enough to say that you're on, right? And you've got five minutes to lay out your concerns. Yes, thank you. So I would suspect that everyone present tonight is curious and suspicious as to why I'm on this meeting tonight. And so I thought it would be proper to give you the perspective and the connotation of why I am here. And I wish Dr. White was still online because the concerns that I have are regarding exactly what he was talking about. And this goes back to the covert replacement, the passability of that road, the covert, and the public access to the use of that road. And I just wanna share this. This concern originally was about caretakers, the elders, road use, rescue, and the state police. So on Sunday, I'll tell you the date, it was Sunday... I have a 24. Excuse me, it was Sunday, the 22nd of August, that I was told that the road is passable. So with that in mind, with respect to the caretakers, the elders, the lack of road use, and rescue, and state police, I on Sunday was told the road is passable. And I'm like, that's impossible. It's not gonna open until September 2nd. So I said, you know, I'm gonna go try the road. Well, I got through. And the first call I made was to the White River Ambulance Company. And the second call I made was to the state police. Just trying to make certain that they are aware that the road is passable, maybe not legally by the public, but because I had visited a very well-known elder in the town of Rochester, and the concern of its caretaker, more worried about if something happened, she was trying to calculate, if something happens, how long will it take the White River Ambulance Company to get to this home? I said, I don't know. So in all due respect, I on Sunday called the state police, called the White River Ambulance Company, left messages for Sally and Matt over at the White River. I called the state police office. They thanked me for saying, sir, thank you so much, the dispatcher, to say that the road is passable. So on Monday, I reached out to Rick. It doesn't look like he's here anymore. What is his name? Rick Robaldo? Robaldo? Hello? Yeah. And I reached out to him just to make certain that he's aware of this. Well, it turns out that on Friday, I don't know what the person's name is, Mr. Severi, whatever, had called the White River Ambulance Company to alert them that the road is passable. The state police, I don't know whether the, that person called the state police, but the most important and wonderful news was that Rick, the, what's his name? Mr. Robaldo? It's Vic, not Rick. Vic, I'm sorry, Martha. He called me Monday morning at 830, he said, Robert, it's okay, I got the message, I know the road's passable. And it was so, I was so happy to hear Vic just confirm. So the next thing I get is a call from Matt at the White River Ambulance that Monday morning at 830 saying, Robert, we got your message, Sally has your message, and I just thank you. And they thanked me. And I'm not in this world to be thanked, but it was really important to me because there are a lot, this goes back to the need in a nanosecond for an elder to be taken down by COVID and really needed to be moved out fast. So I, you know, I wish again, Dr. Josh White was online because, so to help you with your curiosity of my involvement, that is what transpired was everything that is included on this evening's agenda, because I looked into all kinds of things. And I think it would be proper and respectable for the town of Rochester, the select board members, all the employees and the appointed employees, the oath given employees to just look at the list on what is now presented publicly. And maybe have a meeting and sit down and say, what is conflict of interest? What is accountability? What is conflict of interest? Because there's so much exposure that I just, I'm just, I think it's not my, the suggestions have been made. It's not my business. I could go on for a week. I could- You could go on for weeks, but you've gone on for your five minutes and I guess you've made your point. And thank you. Well, no, wait a second. Yeah, yeah, that's you have got five minutes for you. Okay, you're saying I made my point. So what is your interpretation of my point? That we'll take it under advisement that your point is that you're concerned about everything and about safety, public safety. And that's, and we've got your, you know, we've ran over your five minutes a little bit. So thank you. And I'm gonna move on to Rob, you had a concern about the dead fall, the dead trees up there. Yeah, I wish, I don't know if that's town property. I don't know. I'm sure that you could find a guy in Vermont with a chainsaw, but I don't know whose responsibility is, but it's dangerous down there. If you saw those in the woods, it would be dangerous. So I'm putting that forward and hoping you guys can help me. Okay, all right. Thank you. And I think that pretty much covers with on the agenda tonight. And thank you for coming in person and thank you for coming in the cyber world. And that's it. Good night. Thank you. Thank you both. Thank you for helping me out with copies of things. Yeah, we'll get you a copy of that. Yeah. Very good. I'm sorry that I can't hear everything. Okay. Thank you. I got your emotion to adjourn. All right. Have a good evening. All right. Move to adjourn. Thank you.