 I'll call the Six Town Select Board meeting for Monday, May 16th, 2022 to order. Is there anything we need to address here? I was hearing voices. Okay. Okay. First thing on the agendas, are there any agenda additions or changes from staff? None from staff. Any requests from board members for changes? I don't know how many changes, but did you want to remove a name from the interview list? Oh, yes. Thank you for your reminder. Bonnie Doble is not available to interview tonight, so we scheduled her for a future meeting that's under 5A for the library board. Thank you, Don. Okay. Any other changes? And are you good? Okay. All right, so then, I will make the motion that we remove Bonnie Doble from business item 5A and approve the agenda as amended. Second. Thank you, Tracy. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? So was it okay to do the modification and the approval in the same motion or should I have done a separate motion? I think it's clear. Okay. All right. Okay, so moving on to public to be heard, public to be heard is a time in the agenda where, oh, I guess before doing that, I just did want to point out that we have one agenda item that is explicitly listed as 8pm, that depending on when 8pm arrives as we're moving through the agenda, we may move forward to that or back to that. I'm hoping we get through all the interviews before that point so that we're not I'd prefer not to interrupt any interviews and likely maybe we wouldn't. But there is an 8 o'clock time slot for Sarah Reeves because she's doing multiple presentations this evening. Okay, so back to public to be heard. Public be heard is a time for residents to address the select board on topics that are not on the agenda. If you'd like to speak during public to be heard, you can put your hand up in the Zoom app or in the room. Again, if you'd like to speak, please be brief, please be civil. Please address your remarks to me as chair of the select board and I will, and if you are attending remotely, please mute yourself and keep your camera off unless you're the recognized speaker to limit distraction. And I see Betsy Dunn your hand is up. Yes, thank you, Andy. I am, of course, I was unable to attend. But Saturday, I think that's what they wanted to do. I know we're just being diagnosed. That's why I'm here. So I would like to thank you. And getting the GIS up and getting it done right so that there's no complaint on any level, what kind of thing, because it directly says that it can be used for recreation and for people's education. And I do think that that's what that would do. And I think that's what we're interacting because Saxon Hill can connect to Forestdale, Forestdale connects to the. Matthew forest. And we should make those trails obvious in what they are and have that on the website. And I don't think it would take a lot of money, but I think it would be good to use the ARPA money for that, as well as trail benches and little chairs that people can sit if they need to take a rest or just commune with nature. And that's one thing I wanted to say. The second thing is I thought tonight was interviews and I had sent my interview in for the. Consumption and trails, but I don't see my name on the agenda. So I guess I won't need to stay for that piece. I was surprised. Thank you. Okay. Thanks, Betsy. And to be, to be clear, we didn't, we didn't talk specifically about how to spend our money on Saturday, but thank you for your input. And I think we'll be, we'll be, we'll be carried forward as we, as the discussions progress there. I just quickly. Yeah. Oh, Betsy, I'll check with Tammy getchell tomorrow to see if she received your application for conservation and trails. We're scheduling for the next few meetings. So there's plenty of time to have you interview. Oh, good. Great. Thank you so much. Right. Any other. Anybody else want to speak during public. I don't see any other hands online. Any hands in the room? Nope. No hands in the room. So let's move on to the first business item, which is interview and possible appointment. Volunteers to serve the Essex free library board of trustees. Iris, come on up and introduce yourself. Have a seat at the, at one, here at the, in the, at the microphone. So, so folks online can hear you. I'm Iris banks. And president of ethics and have just completed a term on the library board of trustees. And I'm interested in. Serving again. Thank you, Iris. Any questions from board members? What do you bring to the library? As you sit on the board. Um, I would say my strengths are, um, Celebration and, um, Also, uh, Trying to make sure that all are heard. In discussion. Um, Also trying to, uh, To make decisions, you know, by consensus. Um, Also, um, You know, uh, really listening to, uh, Also paying attention to sort of tasks and, you know, there's been some Conversation about, uh, Or I started, you know, asking about the possibility of. Of engaging certain tasks because it's sort of gotten to where some People do a lot of things and some people are doing fewer things. And I feel like I would like to have more conversation and discussion About that and have everything be more equitable. Um, So, uh, What else I've had experienced on other boards. With nonprofits. I've been involved in fundraising. Also have been on the border for my faith community. And I'm right now helping to work on. Um, issues of inclusion and helping that helping all to feel welcome. But maybe that's a lot bigger of an answer for that question. That's fine. Thank you. Um, Thanks, Iris. Anybody else? Iris, how are you? Do you have specific ideas around how to increase community awareness Around the very varied services programs and items that are Available at the library? Yep. So that is a frequent topic. I think that we are off every meeting. We've talked more about that. So, um, I've, I've made suggestions. Um, Some items for the library of things that, you know, now we have that. And I think that's really a great improvement. That wasn't my idea to come up with that. But I did, you know, Make some suggestions about some of the things items that we might add. Um, in general, um, Uh, yeah, I feel that we all really work hard on that, I guess. And, and, um, That's really a priority is to increase awareness. I guess I've asked, I've, I've also just done a lot of, um, You know, uh, Using the website and giving feedback about things that are, um, That might be, uh, Considered to, to more accessible or easier, you know, Conversation about that. And I, um, Yeah, Lee, I feel like that's really, you know, A team effort that we're all really trying to become more visible. Um, or get the word out about all the things the library offers. Thanks. Thanks. Hi, Ethan. Hi, Ethan. I, uh, I'm just curious to know about your, your passion for, Is it, is it the library? Is it the community? Is it both? I just, would you share a little bit about that with us? I always love libraries. Kids have loved libraries. Um, books are so important. Um, I, I'm busier now, but I, um, I'm actually in a couple of book groups at 1.2 book groups on my own, But I was also involved, I guess before COVID to going to the, The library book group, which is marvelous to, Um, I've made suggestions for, you know, Anyone can do for books to purchase or movies to purchase. I definitely promote the library with my friends in Essex a lot and Encourage them to use the, you know, When we got the website changed over to really help them navigate the website. Um, and so I think I, I'm, I'm a leader for the library too. Uh, I just think libraries are so important. Um, Well, I guess I've been, we've moved here in 86 and originally we're in Williston and very involved with that library too. But here, uh, also, um, Ever, we moved here in 97, I guess. But my kids spent a lot of time growing up. It was really important for it while they were growing up. And the library too was just an important. Kind of a value, I feel like in our family. Thank you. Thanks. I don't think any questions. Probably sound like a broken record going forward, but as a member of the possible cost-saving, streamlining, efficiencies for the department? Question. I feel like there's been a lot of staffing changes, or yeah, it's kind of a transition. It's been one thing after another. I've certainly, we've all talked about staffing going forward. I've talked sometimes, you know, had suggestions maybe for things that volunteers could do. Also, yeah, I guess it's definitely, it's on my mind, too. But it's been a little tricky, I guess, because of so much transition over the last couple of years. I feel like we're still just trying to get settled. All right, thanks, Iris. Do you have any questions for the select board? Anything we can help with? Anything that the... Not that I can think of. Can you remember how long you've been on the trustee? Well, it's just the one term. I think it was two years. Okay, so it hasn't been a long time, I think. Full disclosure, my wife's also a library trustee. And she, for the life of her, can't remember how long she's been doing it. So that's... Yeah, it's been a long time. I know, and she's, you know, done a ton. Anyway, but she's been there longer than I am. Okay, okay. All right, any other questions or comments? Thank you for stepping forward and asking to be reappointed. We do have a number of other interviews. And so we likely won't be making a decision this evening. But we'll work through all the rest of the interviews. And someone from staff will get back to you once we've got to the point of making a decision. All right, thank you for your time. Yep, thanks so much, Iris. Okay, moving on to the next agenda item, interview on possible appointment or volunteer to serve the Chittenden Solid Waste District represented for Essex. Alan and I, come on up. Tell us about yourself again. Okay. Alan and I, I grew up in Burlington. And this year marks 50 years being in Essex. Moved here after we graduated from the University of Vermont. And I spent eight years on the Planning Commission. Back when development was woman in town and then spent 18 years on the Select Board. And I think I've been on the Waste District Board for 16 or 18 years. I can't keep track of that. I also have served on most of the other regional boards in the county. Because when I was on the Select Board, we would have appointments we couldn't fill. And I would go and sit on those boards. And I've been on the Park District and the Water District, the buses and so I've done my share of volunteering for that. On the Waste District, I'm the vice chair of the board and I'm also on the executive committee. I have a DS in civil engineering and I think that helps out a lot with a lot of the stuff, the technical stuff that we're discussing and dealing with. I usually try to get to a Select Board meeting about once or twice a year to let you know what's going on. And with the COVID thing, I've kind of been putting that off but there are a couple of three issues. I think you'll probably hear later on with Sarah and myself about what's going on and I'm always looking for direction, guidance and questions from the board or from citizens that are out there. For the last six years, I think I've represented the village also but it looks like that they wanna appoint a village person for that position now. So if you reappoint me, I'll only be representing the town and my votes will get cut in half because we do voting by population kind of situation there. But I would like to be reappointed and that's my story and I'm sticking to it. All right, thanks, Alan. Any questions from board members? I head down. And you may not be able to answer this right now, I may have to wait for the presentation. My question is how much input did you have into the current budget request and do you have any concerns for what they're asking from the town? Well, we aren't asking for anything from the town. Since about year three, the district has completely been self-funded with respect to drop off these and the trash collection and that kind of thing. So did have a lot of input into the budget. This is the first year and about eight that I haven't been on the budget committee, but I follow their minutes pretty closely and talk with the folks that are doing that. But there are a couple of big issues coming up. We're looking to go out for a bond issue in November or a new Murph, somewhere between $15 and $20 million product, but that will not be built to the towns or to the taxpayers directly. The funds to pay that off will come through the fees that people pay to dispose of their trash and they're recycling and whatever. So the other major project for since the beginning of the waste district, about year two, they moved into a raised ranch on Redmond Road. Staff has grown over the years. The air movement there and stuff is horrid. And so looking to build a new administrative office that has decent air and whatever for the people that are working for us. Thank you, Alan. Yeah. All right, any other questions? Ethan, are you crazy? I was thinking of one, but Don stole a couple of my ideas and I was trying to think of how to rephrase it, but. All right. I'll get one here. Just because I like this question. Give us an example of the last time you changed your mind on an issue. What was the issue and what was the change about? With respect to the waste district or in general? Well, actually in general. I know family secrets. Yeah. Well, with respect to the waste district, I'm a very conservative guy and I look very closely at the capital items that we buy and we go out to bid on a lot of items, the same as the town does. And when I was sitting in your chairs, I always, you know, was a little myth of why we went to bid when we took the second or third highest bidder, you know, for a piece of equipment. We didn't rate the specs close enough or, you know, whatever else. So I was against the purchase of a loader at the waste district, but went into the meeting and listened to the staff and asked a couple of questions and they gave me decent answers. And so I changed my mind and voted for that, you know, for that load of the more personal one. I, up until yesterday, owned a 38 foot sailboat and I thought I was going to sell it. Then I thought maybe I might not. And then I decided to. So that's gone down the, going down the lake this summer by somebody else. So just, it was too big for me to sing my hand. So those decisions. Great examples, thank you. Go ahead, Ethan. That was when I listened to Don about the budget question and then Tracy sparked it in my mind to restructure the question. What I was thinking originally was, you know, in your years of service and now with the waste district, what are some things, I guess, that you've found or continue to find or work on that are, you know, cost savings, budget wise or things that maybe we don't need to spend as much money to do, especially with these large projects. It just brings to mind of ideas that you bring that help the process. Yeah, it's, I mean, as I look very closely at just about everything we spend money on, we've just gone through a reclassification of employees or review of the classification of employees. And we do that about every five or six years and compare it to what the markets got out there with similar kinds of positions. I spent 44 years working for the federal government. And if you're knowledgeable about all the federal government, they've got a, a scale where there are, you know, 18 or 20 different levels of professionalism. And then in each of those, there's 10 steps and you walk through steps during the years. And we currently have that system now at the waste district so that people have an idea of what they can make in the out years if they stay with us, you know, kind of thing. So I, you know, I look at all of those things very closely and try to get others to vote my way when we have discussions. It's, and when I sat on the board is a very similar kind of situation with respect to, you know, equipment and, you know, what we were doing always wanted justification for, you know, why we had stainless steel beds in the trucks or, you know, those kinds of things that raised the price of the product. Thank you. Excellent. Kendall, you got any questions? Just going to ask if you have a project coming up that you are enthusiastic about, excited about? Well, both the, both the Murph and the administrative building are really exciting. We have a Murph that has a 20 year old technology in it and limited space. And we'll be, you know, if for example the market goes bad or the market dries up for a product we really don't have the storage space for bales of that product to hold on to for a month or two until the market changes. So that's all going to be changed. Hopefully if we get a bond approved and move forward with this new facility and the new technologies with optical sorting and wind blowing and augers and that kind of stuff it's going to be pretty amazing. I've gotten to see a lot of films I haven't traveled to a more modern Murph but I've watched the films of what goes on and it is amazing what happens there with technology. So that's really exciting. Thanks, Alan. Do you have any questions for us? No, I, you know, Sarah's coming a little bit later and we'll talk about the items that are, you know in the budget for this year. The one thing that did change is that the Richmond drop-off center is now being run by Kasella. Richmond wasn't happy when we took the drop-off zone off the site and had been discussing things and they went out for bid this year and the Kasella bid higher, I guess then we bid for operation of the drop-off center. So we're going to get to see how that works over the next couple of years. I know I've seen some Richmond folks at the Essex drop-off most recently. So either they don't like what's going on there or they're, you know, whatever, so. All right, thanks, Alan. We did have a recruiting event yesterday and we're going to see if anybody else is the name in and so we'll put, well, they don't thank you so much for coming out and thanks for being interested in continuing. All right, so moving on to the next interview. Conservation and Trails Committee, Rusty Brink. Come on up, introduce yourself. Tell us why you want to, what's your, what your. Thank you, Chairman Andy. Rusty Brink, I'm actually just the opposite of Alan. I'm a rookie. I interviewed with you on October. I attended my first meeting in November and I'm really on a learning curve, but very impressed. We started, I mean, I volunteer to come on the conservation committee because there were only three people, three people had quit within the last few months. And I sort of curious why the devil did that happen. It seemed to me it would pretty important to have conservation and trails as an active committee as a part of the town. And so I came in and then lo and behold, we had six people and I was, I've done a lot of volunteer work because I've been around for a while, but I was sort of impressed we have six people and it's one of the first committees that I've been on when everyone has their arm raised. Betsy's a good example you talked to earlier. They're ready to go to work. And in fact, one of my concerns was, gee, is Darren gonna be able to handle these people? There's only so much that one guy can do and we were going off and about, we are still going off in about 15 directions. And we added three additional people with your approval. And so now we have nine members of the committee and they really, they really wanna go to work. So I'm a rookie, I'm learning. I've been committed to the environment for many years, University of Vermont graduate like Al, master's degree from the University of Vermont, a two-year Army veteran, hiked all over the White Mountains and Green Mountains and so I've been out and about since I was a teenager. And so I've always had an appreciation so I feel comfortable in this role that I'm playing in just a short term. And one of the things that Darren and I have talked about and I've already done some interviewing is that perhaps with my almost 50 year background in philanthropy that perhaps I can help with some projects to raise money, to help with special activities from people whether it's conservation, leans or actual philanthropy to help the town do something. So I've interviewed five people, had a lot of coffee at higher ground. But I haven't done anything yet. Talk is cheap and that's where I am. And so I look forward to serving again. My first term was a year and I'm halfway through and I'm interviewing again. So whatever your pleasure is, I'm happy to respond to. I've enjoyed it. I like the people I'm working with. I think I have an opportunity to contribute to the activity of the conservation committee and be happy to respond to any questions that you have. Thanks, Rusty. Any questions? Go ahead, Ethan. Hi, Rusty. Hi, Ethan. I just, I got a couple of questions because I live up in a wooded area and there's a chunk of town land behind me. You can get to it off West Sweetby Hall and conservation is huge to me personally, I'm a farmer. And my question is what are your goals for conserving and preserving the land and Essex? Well, I wouldn't say everything that we do has to be blessed by you folks. And I candidly would say, I don't have any goals. I'm learning about what's the best thing. It's clear to me from the people with whom I've talked that there is an interest in conservation but we have to work with folks like you because your land is your biggest asset and so we have to incorporate your needs with the town's needs. And I think as you well know, there is natural conflict between landowners and conservationists, animal corridors and what do we wanna, how do we incorporate both of those things? And one of the advantages I can bring to the committee is the ability to talk and listen to people about what their needs and interests are as opposed to just saying, let's go this way. I think it's an ongoing constant negotiation and I'm kinda glad to hear what you said, Ethan. Maybe you and I need to sit down and talk and I think a minute from a standpoint of getting advice from you. And that's what I've been trying to do was that early member of the committee. We need to understand what the landowners need and want and we need to understand how it integrates with what the town and the community want. And I don't think it's an easy, I don't think it's an easy or natural answer and it will differ depending on the folks that we're working with. So that's a pretty evasive question, I'm sorry. I had to ask. That's a good question. That is the crux, that is the crux I think. Thank you. Any other questions? It sounds like there's no shortage of ideas on the committee. What would you like to see accomplished in this next term? Well, again, relating to my background of philanthropy, I think because of my long experience with philanthropy, I really believe in the goodness of people and if you tell the correct story, you're gonna encourage people to make an investment to accomplish the goals that you wanna do. And I'm talking about the conservation committee and the planning committee and the select board. And so it really becomes an issue, what I like to call nose to nose and toes to toes where you sit down and talk to people and you broach the ideas that you have and there is a rule that I've always had. We have two ears in one mouth and we should use it proportionally. And most people don't do that. And I don't wanna be glib when I say that Tracy, but I think it's really important for us to understand there are so many challenges. When I started in fundraising, there were about three areas of philanthropy for each individual, basically church, education, and then United Way kind of stuff. Now there's nine, 10, when you look at all the communication you get in your email and in your mail. I mean, every time you turn around, someone's saying, gee, would you like to make an investment in kids and conservation, there's a lot going on. And so you better be articulate in terms of what's important to you. And I'm learning that I've been impressed by what I've heard with respect to Essex Town in terms of people willing to consider making an investment to help the town do the right thing. And we have to work with, we have to work with folks like Ethan to make sure, and others that maybe aren't landowners, but really have an interest in the community. Thank you. Kendall, any questions? I think he sent a message that he was signing off. He had seven for a little bit, he said. Ah, okay. I didn't see that. Okay, all right. So do you have any, do you have any questions for the select board? I have one major question and I think everybody has it. And that is the integration of the activities with the town and the junction now that we have pulled apart. And that's really my major concern. And I've talked to a couple of people from the junction who are interested in the whole enterprise, but things are evolving and changing. And so my question for you is what do you see and what do you recommend with respect to what conservation trails can do in facing the future in a way that's positive for you folks and the town? Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's a, also we need to figure out in a lot of areas. Yeah, and I'm certainly, this is me speaking, we haven't, that's not a formal position of the select board, but I think we need to figure out how to be unconditional in our relationship with our neighbors in the village. Rather than making a transactional thing, I guess. I think we need trails that need to be connected, should be connected or that can be connected, should be conservation. I don't know what activity goes on in the village around conservation. I know they do have a, they certainly have a tree committee. If there's collaboration that can happen there, that it should all happen. I don't think we should, that's my thoughts on that. I did talk with the chair of that committee and I was impressed. He was very positive and constructive about the future. You know, I asked him the same question and he was active with us before we pulled apart. So I think, I mean, that sounds like you're making a lot of sense, Andy. Yeah, I don't think there's any intent to sever ties with anybody. Anybody have any other comments? I said yesterday at the Step In and Come Together event, I just made the comment that I don't, if you have a good idea, I don't care where the person who lives, who has that idea. I'm interested in all good ideas. So I mean, a good idea is a good idea. Doesn't matter where the person speaking it lives, so. Yeah, I'll just comment and say this kind of same idea as Andy. You know, I'm open to all relationships. I just hate to see the pry between the transaction and being a friend. And I think if moving forward, you know, we can work together and share the joys of our town as a whole, as it's always been. And that's great. But in the private transaction, I think we really need to keep a sharp eye on treating Essex as Essex and outside towns as outside towns and few structures and availability and access to trails. So my personal take on it, nobody else's. All right, Kendall, stop talking. All right, okay. So thank you, Rusty. We are going to, we have multiple weeks, I guess, of interviews. And so we'll be, hopefully before the end of your term, we'll let you know whether you- Great, and thank you for the work you do regardless of what, regardless of how you vote. But I have, we, we and I, and I've got to, we've got to offer some money for each one of you, depending on how you want to vote now. Okay, so now, pretending we didn't hear that, let's move on to the next interview for Plenty Commission. Ned, I don't know, introduce yourself. Thank you. I guess, how did I get here, where I think we're going? I'll probably start, I'm gonna give you a little background. We lived in town here for 10 years. My wife and I were retired, but we were, we were pretty active. We weren't quite ready to retire or scratching our heads. What are you gonna do with your time? And about eight years ago, an opening on the Planning Commission came up, but she says, well, you know, you're sitting here, you've got a master's degree in city planning, which you've really only touched on because your work was all really engineering and development and all. So I applied, and I think this is maybe my third, second or third time to re-up for this. And my wife then decided she was gonna find enough to do, so she happens to be one of the co-founders of, and that's place, which has been an incredibly successful enterprise feeding so much of the community. So we've stayed, stayed very, very busy. Planning was complex. It takes quite a while. It took me a while anyway to get to understand all the zoning regs that the rules and Greg will probably tell you, I was probably really quiet when I first started out. I first, first year or two, I didn't say anything. You know, I was listening, listening and evaluating all the people and all. And now if you'll ask Dustin once in a while, they said they, unfortunately, they can't always shut me up, but yeah. But it's good. And I got into it. And the more I get into the planning, the more I enjoy the pieces that have to go together to make the community develop and grow and to serve all kinds of different clientele in the town, other people who live out in the country and other people who live right up the street and in apartments and everyone in between and trying to develop something that keeps all of them serviced. And yet looking to the future, when we look to the future, we have a host of issues to deal with. We have retail base, which really doesn't exist anymore and has changed dramatically even in the last four or five years. We have housing needs both to grow the economy and to be affordable. And you're trying to do all that with also a view to energy savings. And so the pieces, and that's the challenge I enjoy. I'm not, you know, it helps us looking forward. And I think that's the part of the planning process I enjoy the most is being able to set the frameworks to be able to do that. And it's been good. We've had good select board support for what we've done. I have some frustrations just because we don't always move quite as fast as I would like. And I will tend to voice those, those opinions in our meetings or go home and take them out on my wife, Kitty. I'm a little frustrated occasionally, but she knows me well enough to know that, you know, I do like to get things done. And we're on the edge of some changes. I've been wrestling with this ETC, this Essex Town Center and for the last four or five years now from the very inception. And that's one of the things I'd really like to see us get in place. Because I think it's gonna change a little bit of how we approach our development but also give us opportunities to make the town better. Part of my wish is always the aesthetics also how the finished product looks like. And some of that comes from also being married to a retired architect. So, you know, we have a slightly different perspective sometimes on things, but I feel that my viewpoint is valuable and I'd really like to keep doing it. All right, great. Anything else, sir? Move to questions. Well, actually leads right into my question. What do you do when your voice is in the minority? Excuse me? What do you do when your voice is in the minority on the planning committee? Can you speak your view? And I think one of the pluses of planning commission is that we work out our differences before we make a final development and everyone has heard. One of the most amazing things that I was sitting back here thinking about planning commission process and I would say that in the last five years we have had executive sessions where we exclude the public for discussion four or at most five times of all the cases we've looked at. So, we're open, we talk to people, we listen to people. Sometimes we have to draw their ideas back into the confines of what the regulations are, that there are certain things they come to us and want us to think that we can solve highways and roads and stuff and we cop out, say, oh, you have to talk to the select board. That's beyond us about certain things. But, you know, so being on the minority, I don't think I'm on the minority. I think we all come to those sessions bringing some different perspectives which are respected by everyone. Thank you. Ethan, go ahead. I kind of have two questions. Let me just board them both out and then you can respond to both or one and then the other. Excuse me? Do you want me to tell you them both? For one and then the other? Is that easier for you or both? Affordable. Well, my first question is on your application about the variety of current issues and changes that we're facing. It's on to know a little bit about them and what your viewpoint is on how we can address the issues and, you know, where you were in the decision-making for the changes. And then my second question is purely out of curiosity. I don't know anything or think anything, but I have to ask this when I look at the planning commission is do you have any relationships with any developers in the community? Do I have any relationships with developers? Personal relationships. I have not a really, I have one. Yes, I will admit that. And it's because of one of the other things I am involved in is I manage a recreation program for the Northeast Disabled Athletic Association and it's some boats. We take handicapped people out of wheelchairs, put them in the boats, let them go sailing, teach them how to sail. And one of the developers happens to own a marina where we work. But it was kind of a high experience with him one day when he was out there when he realized that I have two different hats. And I said, you know, some days I'm gonna be your worst friend at all when you're gonna come into planning commission. But he also on the other hand says to me, well, whatever you guys need for the sailing program, if you're not getting it from my people, come to me. So I think part of most of my work experience has been sort of problem solving. Yes, I'm a mechanical engineer, I'm a designer, but my work was more team building. I had to have an architect, an engineer, an owner, a developer, a contractor. And my favorite says this, you know, guys, we're gonna build this big building and it's gonna take us two years, say. And we can fight each other the whole way, but the building is still gonna get built or we can work together and walk out of here friends. And that's been sort of my guiding point in my work life. And that's how I got to where I am. Awesome, can you touch for me real quick on the, what your perspective is of the variety of current issues that we have and the changes facing the town. Excuse me, how are you? In your application, you mentioned that we had some current issues, a variety of issues, and then some changes that are facing the town. Could you just touch on those and what the issues are and what the changes are part of that? In development or? With the planning commission development, anything that comes to mind. Planning commission, no, I think the planning commission seems to have functioned well. Again, probably just my feelings that I'd like this to move faster and realizing that we're kind of held back in some of the town center stuff and all by the infrastructure core. That's the big roadblock we have right now. And then we get to a certain point and oh, now we still need to expand the sewer capacity and that's still a year and a half down the road, so don't hurry up. That's just the kind of, that's almost a personal feel. Thank you. Gracie? So I'd love to sit here and ask you questions about your take on codifying issues such as sound buffers, affordable housing, things of that sort, but I'm not going to. My question is how do you personally balance the wants and needs of the community with regard to requests from developers? Like what is your, do you have a process in how you look at requests? I have been the planning commission kind of representative to the housing commission and been working with them on this inclusionary zoning proposal and I think we're pretty close to bringing that to both town boards. We had another meeting this morning and so that's sort of how I've fallen into the affordable housing side. All right, anything else? Ned, do you have any questions for us? Questions for you? Yeah. No. I say your support has been good as long as you plan on continuing that. I think you're going to see it, I think over the next year, a lot of changes coming from the planning commission and we wrestle a little bit with, do we do it all at once or the whole process takes a long time to announce it, read it, have two meetings and then whether we have to vote on it or whether we can just adopt it, that's coming. We've broken up into groups that studies some specific things. The town center, land unit development needs some revisions in town. I think, Lou, we're just going to keep plugging it up. Yep, okay, all right. Hey, thanks Ned, so as you've heard for the others, we're going to have a continuance of interviews and we'll get back to you and thank you so much for stepping forward with the interest to continue. But thank you. All right, great. All right, let's see. Next we have energy committee and Bill Dodge, are you online? I'm online. Ah, there you are, okay. Right, so we'll go ahead and introduce yourself. If you have any introductory remarks you want to make and... Yeah, I thought I would give you kind of a good evening. I thought I would give you a little bit of a rundown. So my name is Will Dodge. I have lived in Essex since 2010. I've lived in Burlington before then. I'm an attorney who works in downtown Burlington. I mostly do telecommunications, but I am involved in energy. I joined the Essex Energy Committee in 2017. At that time, I really didn't know what to do because there was nobody else on the Essex Energy Committee and I was asked to be chair of a committee that I didn't understand. We're now at full membership and I've served at the chairs since 2017. And I've learned through direct experience that there's three components to dealing with the kind of broad envelope of climate change, which we see based on our charter as being what it is that we can actually give to Essex to provide some value. And we've been trying to address all of those three components over the course of time I've been on and those include renewable energy, transportation and weatherization. Those are the three most important pillars of dealing with climate change and also trying to make things more efficient for municipal government and for the people who live in Essex. So on renewable energy, we made a little bit of progress. We encouraged and assisted in ultimately the town getting its net metering agreement with Green Lantern for the Sand Hill site, which is producing a lot of the or a decent chunk of the megawatts internally in Essex that we're using. We encouraged Peter Edelman to consider rooftop solar on the Essex, what was the Essex Outlet Mall and which is now the Essex experience. And as far as we're concerned, the fact that it's mostly solarized is a big part of that experience. We worked with the Chittenden County Regional Planning Committee to develop our energy plan to show where solar and wind would best be cited in the town. We ran a seminar on commercial solar showing a bunch of businesses of what were some of the incentives they could use to adopt. And we recently ran a seminar with Mike Fisk who's one of the members of our committee on geothermal. So that might be something that a lot of other businesses and homeowners look at in the future. And we have been starting to work with the Rotary Club, with some folks from economic development, kind of a broader working group on an RFP for solar adoption at the municipal and or school level that within the EWSD. My big disappointments are that the municipality still has a lot of net metering credit that can be used up that we haven't done that yet and that could save the town some money. We've got a lot of commercial buildings in the town, some pretty big ones that are being erected without solar, like for instance, on the opposite side of the Essex experience, the opposite side of the highway, we've got a huge new memory care facility with gargantuan rooftops that don't have any solar on them at all. And we've got certain municipal buildings, some municipal lands, some school property and some quasi-community projects that really could benefit from renewable energy. And we'd like to see that happen. For transportation, we've made a little bit of progress. Essex doubled its electric and hybrid vehicle plug-in since 2018. So according to Dave Roberts, a dry VT Vermont, we had 112 registered vehicles that were either electric or plug-in in 2018. And now we're up to 200, or as of last year, we were up to 234. So we're headed in the right direction. I'm sure that Vladimir Putin will help that a little bit because now everyone wants to get an electric vehicle. We've encouraged a lot of adoption through partnering with folks like Sun Common at some of their events. We've also encouraged and promoted in all of the tabling and pamphleteering that we do in conjunction with local motion, the use of bikes and EVs. We're now on the edge of seeing that multi-use path come to life that connects Essex to Winooski and South Burlington. David Skopen, who's on the committee, he and I are fierce advocates of this because we believe that's a great way to connect Essex better without having so much driving all the time, which, as all of you know, causes a lot of problems with so many cars. My disappointments are that the municipal fleet, although it's making some changes, is largely still combustion-based engines. There's a lot of places where biking and walking would need to be fixed in the town and going forward. And unfortunately, our advocacy did not result in us getting an electric school bus for EWSD, but that may change in the future. And then for weatherization, we also made some good progress. I think our pride and joy is our advocacy to try to get Tom Yandall hired because that has made a huge difference in buildings with giant holes in them that have gotten fixed and that will help the bottom line for energy. And we work with Tom. Tom's sort of an ex-officio member of our committee and is a great resource. With Memorial Hall, Memorial Hall was sort of one of the worst offenders in terms of municipal buildings. Through Tom's effort and others, it's getting better all the time. It would be lovely to see a little ARPA money go to that, but I understand that there's a lot to be done with the ARPA money. Through one of our members, Phil March, he did amazing work creating a weatherization guide for Essex that's on our websites, that's updated regularly, and that talks about all the incentives and things that someone can do to ultimately help weatherize their homes. We connected a few different Essex businesses with Vermont Gas, who's the utility, the efficiency utility to take advantage of furnace rebates and other weatherization, and that included Black Flannel, as well as a couple of the restaurants in town. And we had some really memorable button-up efforts, one which was a double E event in 2019 that we did with Jericho, and another was dealing with about 200 people that we spoke with at Lowe's in 2021. And my committee members, Natalie Braun and Dottie Burgandall were great at that. My disappointments are that when you drive through Essex in the winter, there are still a lot of bicycles. That's suggesting there's still a lot of work to be done. I've got some frustration with the process to get more weatherization money to those who really need it. There's kind of a low adoption rate. The carrots are looking more meager all the time, and we've not yet cracked how to get those better incentives into more deserving hands. And then my sense is that we need at least some sticks. In other words, planning and zoning needs to make these three components part of what they do and integrate it into the fabric of Essex law, provided of course that the select board ultimately approve. In other words, we've got to start treating the climate emergency like the emergency that it is. So the reasons that I'd like to renew, the first and foremost is an effort where the planning commission reached out to us and asked our members to be involved in some of the working groups that you were just hearing about. All my members, including me, we've all signed up for some of those working groups, and we think that's a first step to getting more plans and regulations that focus on weatherization, transportation, and renewable energy. We lost a lot of time during my tenure. We lost 2020 due to COVID, and frankly, we lost 2021 due to the merger. There was just no oxygen to pay attention to these types of things within municipal government. We've only got until 2030 to be aggressive on this. After that, the plan is literally cooked if we don't start making progress at every single level of government, and that includes municipal. In terms of resources, we have some new blueprints now through Chittenden County Regional on creating revolving loan funds to help fund some of these efforts. That's something that South Burlington and Montpelier and others have done, and we think we're gonna get pretty close where we can make a presentation to you on that, and also things like solar ready and efficiency in planning and zoning. We've got some other blueprints coming from CCRP to help with that. And also of course, a potential major spur in housing if that new legislation is passed and signed into law. I think maybe the most important reason why I would like to sign up for another three years is it takes a long time to build up a network of connections, contacts and resources both within and outside of Essex. I've tried to do that and my members have as well. And I think that maybe we're finally, if some of these working groups take off where we're at to really electrify what Essex does and needs to do to deal with climate change. So I'll end with that and happy to take questions. All right, thanks, Will. Any questions? I don't have a question, but that's amazing. Yeah, we got a full report. Wow. Thank you, Will. Thank you for your hard work. Well, thank you. I realize you guys have a lot to deal with. So we really, we understand that and very much appreciate it. And just hope that we're moving things in the right direction eventually. Ethan, go ahead. I will, I just have a question out of curiosity here, but and you may not know all fans. When you move the microphone. Well, it's pointed over there and then they can't hear me. I can hear him. All right. My my question is, and you may not know this off the top of hand, but if you do, that's totally awesome. What what it like? I'm familiar with the carbon footprint in Vermont. We have a study or do we have any information on the carbon footprint in Essex? I would say that we have disparate sources that don't create a clear picture. And we're aware that I think are one of our mandates is to track things like efficiency efforts, but it's more based on energy, not on greenhouse gases per se. So my sense is, is that if we were to combine information from the climate council, from CCRPC, from drive electric VT, from renewable energy Vermont, we could probably figure it out. But sitting here today and understanding that up until recently, Essex town and Essex junction information on this has all been amalgamated. Unfortunately, part of what we're gonna need to do is disaggregate that and figure out, okay, what's town and what's village? So that's a very unsatisfying answer. I'd love to have given you a real one, but that's as close as I can get. Thank you. So, Will, I was going to ask you how you feel Essex can best incentivize solar and renewables in general, but you've already talked about the revolving loan funds potifying through zoning regulations. So I just wanted to say thank you for your thoroughness, asked and answered. You're welcome. I really do feel like this, I can't say enough about how meaningful it was to get the call from Dustin at Brousseau and Josh Knox, and the planning commission, because I think we were sort of as a committee at a point of despair of thinking like, how are we gonna ever make anything move? And it was like right then that they did their reach out. And of course they reached out to other committees that we're starting to talk to, like trails, because trails is on the side of climate change too, housing as well. And I really feel like those working groups, if we can get it right, could be the key to bringing all this great information that we have from so many volunteer committees and turning it into something that actually results in the combination of good-looking carrots and mean enough, but hopefully not deadly sticks. I love it. Okay, great. Will, do you have any questions for us or anything we can help you with? I don't think at the moment, just I feel like probably there's times where we could have done a better job communicating with you folks. So if there's any ideas about that, I regularly keep in touch with Greg on certain things, but if that's something that you'd like to hear from us more often or if there's things on your mind, by all means reach out to us and we'll make sure that we're responsive. Right. Thank you, Will. As I've said to others, we've got a series of interviews we'll be doing and we'll be before the end of your term, we'll let you know. And thank you so much for stepping forward and with your interest to continue. Okay. Thanks all. Good luck. Yep, take care. Bye bye. All right. So we're down to zoning board of adjustments and Mike Plagueman. Mike, how you doing? Mike, you're muted. I'm very well, Mr. Chairman and I hope you and you and your family are well as well. So Mike, go ahead and introduce yourself. Let us know what you're thinking. Do you want, you know, why you want to continue and any other comments you want to make about your experience on the zoning board? Okay. My name's Mike Plagueman. I've done various, I've filled various positions in the town over the years. I've lived here in the village since December of 1985. All of my service, however, has been through the town and the only committee that I served on that might have been a joint committee was for the siting of the police department building. There were volunteers from both the village and the town on both of those committees. But my service started with the planning commission. I had six years there, one year as chair. I moved to the zoning board of adjustment for the first time right from the planning commission. I ran for the select board, didn't make it on my first try, but was elected on my second try. And when that happened, I resigned from the zoning board just to eliminate any possible hint of a conflict of interest. I had six years on the select board. I think it was three as vice chair and then went back to the zoning board of adjustment when I decided not to run for a third term. I enjoy the work on the zoning board. I enjoy working with the members that are on that committee. Hubey has been there, Hubey Norton has been there forever and amen. And he's just great to work with. But I'm not ready to sit back and do nothing as far as the town is concerned. So I'd like to do another term. All right, thanks Mike. Any questions? Members, go ahead Tracy. Hi Mike, how are you? I'm good, how are you Tracy? Very well. How do you handle situations where your voice is the minority? Can you give an example from a ZBA meeting or something related to the town? It's not very often Tracy where we're not in agreement, but on those rare occasions I do what I've always done. I try to make my point. I try to give the reasons why I support that particular position. And then I do a lot of listening to the other side because it's always something that you can learn from the other side. But if I wind up convincing people to accept my position, fine, and if I don't, that's fine as well because I've made my point. I've done the best I can. And unless it's a real cockamamie decision, chances are pretty good that we've been pretty close right from the beginning. So. Thank you. Sure. Go ahead Ethan. Hi Mike. Hi Ethan. I got two questions for you and one of them I'm gonna ask the same question as I asked in the last but zoning, this is zoning, so same as the planning, but my first question is what important issues do we have right now that you see and how can we address them? And then my second question is, do you have any personal relationships with any developers in town? The answer to your first question is there's two things I think that are important and that we've started to take steps to address. The first one is our work, our collaboration with the planning commission as they do their zoning rewrite, the four members of the zoning board have volunteered to take two items each that the planning commission is asking for our feedback and we will attend their meetings, we'll listen to what their, what their position is and what they would like to accomplish with those. We'll offer our feedback as necessary, but I think that collaboration is important work, especially now with the timing of the rewrite. The second piece is we are getting an awful lot of applications from people for Airbnb's and every single application for an Airbnb comes before us, mainly because there's nothing really reduced to writing that would allow Sharon, I think, to be able to just be able to take care of these and just bring the ones that are a little out of the ordinary before us. So I think those are the two most important things that we're working on. Sharon Kelly is just unbelievable as far as being able to handle a lot of the applications and the ones that we see are those that we have to see, but those are the two things, Ethan. Thank you. Sure thing. I'm trying to figure out how to word my question. Sorry, Mike. Just tee it up and let it fly. Well, with the separation and the village becoming a city, do you feel that you'll have any issues serving on a town committee? I will be perfectly frank. I was very disappointed that we didn't merge. I'll put that out there, but the voters spoke, the decision's been made and quite frankly, if there was ever gonna be an issue between me living in the village but being on a town board, it would have surfaced long before now. I have always looked at the town and the village as a single entity. I've always done the best that I possibly could for the town on whatever position I'd served in. I don't plan to change. I don't plan to change that philosophy. And like I said, if there was ever gonna be a conflict of interest as far as I'm concerned about where I live and where I work, it would have shown up long before now. Thank you. Sure. All right, thanks, Mike. Do you have any questions for us, Mike? Not really, Mr. Chairman, thanks for the offer, but no, I don't have any questions at this point. Okay, thank you for stepping forward with your interest to continue serving. As you've said to others, we're going to, we have a couple of weeks worth of interviews we're gonna be doing and we'll sort of let you know before or we'll endeavor to let you know before the end of your term where we decide to go. Okay, well, it's been my pleasure to serve. I'm looking forward to doing it again if you see a way clear to do that and I very much appreciate the opportunity. Thanks, Mike. Sure thing. Take care. Right, so let's see, it's not quite eight o'clock. Looks like Sarah Reeves is in the audience though, so she might be ready. Ah, great, yep. Hi, Sarah, are you ready? We're a little bit ahead of schedule. Okay, congratulations. And a class, there we go. Thank you. Is there a campus? Can I share my screen? We don't, we can't hear you very well. Okay, I will try to speak a little more clearly and I think to be able to share my screen if that's an option. I think we're trying to make you a... Yeah, we're trying to make that happen here. Okay, so I will practice by saying I'm Sarah Reeves, I'm the executive director for the Chittenden Solid Waste District and for folks who may not be familiar with CSWD, we are a municipality formed in 1987 by our members to manage the an oversee that we've generated in Chittenden County. Oh, yeah, yeah, thanks very much. So one of the things I also like to do when I come to talk about our budget is to let those who may not be familiar with CSWD know how we are funded, where we get our money and where we don't get our money. So how we are funded is through three main ways through user fees, which are the fees that we charge our customers directly for materials that they bring to us that we manage on their behalf. So like at our drop-off centers or at our materials recovery facility or at our compost facility, I'm essentially tip fees. We also receive revenue from a solid waste management fee and that is a per ton fee that is charged to haulers when they bring material to be disposed of at the landfill and Coventry, either to the transfer station in Williston or directly up to Coventry. And then the third main source of our revenue is from material sales, material and product sales. So the sale of compost, the sale of paint and revenue from the sale of recycling. Where we do not receive revenue is directly from our member towns. We do not receive any property tax revenue income tax, local sales tax, nor do we assess you any fees. So you do not receive a bill from us or any of the services that we provide. And I apologize for scrolling a little fast and I'd be a little off. So we'll start as I usually do with the bottom line just like you, we have to get to zero. So we're anticipating revenue in the amount of 14 million, 31,725 dollars if you subtract out the cost of food sold which are paint buckets for our paint. Things like, here's what we add to compost to create top soil for garden mix. So track that out. And we're left with 13 million, 859,528 dollars. We're anticipating expenses in the amount of 13 million, 808,706 dollars. And this is definitely the tightest budget that I believe I've brought to you in my six years of being with the district. But there's some room for movement on the revenue and I'll explain that in a moment. After you do the adding and subtracting of the capital contributions, the transfers to and from reserves, you'll see that we do get our budget down to that zero. We start with the solidest management fee. And again, that is the $27 per ton that we charge to haulers for the material that is deposited in the landfill. We have not raised this fee in about nine years. And there's no need to raise it. We are not tapping our reserves. And you'll see that we're budgeting for a very, very small increase in the tons that are subject to the fee. And that's a good thing. That means that the material, the solidest being generated that has to be in landfill is not growing as quickly as it had been before the pandemic. So they're essentially flat. And we're thinking that, again, there was another factor that happened in the midst of the pandemic. And that was the last bit of Act 148, which required that all food scraps be kept out of the landfill took effect July 1, 2020. So we're seeing a lot more residents in particular keeping food scraps out of the landfill, which is excellent. The next slide I want to talk about is our materials recovery facility. And this facility, again, we are not increasing the tip fee. It's going to remain at $80 per ton. And again, that fee is charged directly to haulers when they bring the blue bin recycling to our facility. We are expecting a very significant increase in our expenses. And that is mainly due to an increase in the processing fee that we pay to the operator of our facility, just to sell it. The existing contract is ending next month. And we are anticipating that the processing fee will grow up quite a bit. We're also experiencing large increases in the cost of hauling, at least in general. So moving materials to market, hauling material, waste up to the Coventry, very large increase at the transfer station for materials that come out of our DLCs that we have to send to Coventry. So the materials management, materials movement fee is significantly higher. Here's where I think we can have some potential upwards movement on our revenue. We are budgeting very conservatively at the, it's called the average commodity revenue, so that $80 per ton that we think is going to be the average price that we'll get, the revenue will be up for the sale of recycling to the markets. Most likely we will actually average around 90, 95, maybe even $100 a ton this year, but because we don't control those markets, we don't control what they'll pay. And we like to budget conservatively on that line, but I do think there'll be some movement upwards from that $80 a ton in revenue for our recycling. And like I said, we like to be conservative there. For the Organics Divergent Facility, the Compos Facility, we are looking at a subsidy this year, and that is going a little backwards. We had reduced, newly reduced, or we've really reduced the subsidy in the past couple of years. This is the one area where we are increasing our fee, increasing it from $60 per ton to $65 per ton on inbound food scraps. And that is, again, movement towards the self-sufficiency for this facility. We were right there. And then we had about a third of our inbound material diverted away from our facility when Cassela opened their de-packaging operation in Williston. So they, again, when they opened that facility, they diverted all of the tons of the collective that had been coming to us to that facility. So we've since recovered some of that lost material, and we are expecting to, over the next year and a half, two years to get to kind of where we call it, sweet spot between 5,000 and 6,000 tons. But we're still a little bit below where we want to be on the inbound. So that's that. And again, the hauling costs are making up that, showing us a loss, but we'll need to be subsidized this year. We're anticipating that compost sales are going to level back down to pre-COVID levels. When the pandemic first began and last year, a lot of people were started gardening if they hadn't been gardening before and growing their own food were expanding their gardens. So now everyone is kind of in maintenance mode and is not looking to necessarily enlarge or create a garden. So we're anticipating that sales will go back to pre-COVID levels. At our drop-off centers, we are expecting, again, another large subsidy. This is the fifth year in a row that we are looking to subsidize the drop-off centers, and revenue is basically flat. And that is in part, or again, not being able to offset the increase in the hauling fee for the expenses, but also there are significant numbers of materials that we either choose to not charge a fee for or we cannot charge a fee for by law. But even so, we are keeping back prices in fiscal 23 at fiscal 22 level, actually all prices at the DOC. I think there might be one little exception, but the main prices are staying the same. We will be continuing to analyze the DOC fee structure that are over the course of this fiscal year and their most likely will be a change in fiscal 24, but that's going to be, again, discussed with our board and just taking a look at knocking down that subsidy to make each of the facilities as close to self-sufficient as possible. And just when talking about subsidies, this is what I'm referring to. And you can see that the environmental depot has the largest subsidy of our operating programs or facilities, and that is also by design and by support of our board. And it's very important to the district, to our board of commissioners and to staff that we continue to provide the services at the environmental depot for household hazardous waste for residents to bring us the HHW at no charge. And we do charge small fees for the small amounts of business HHW that we receive, but we want to keep that residential fee at zero for as long as possible. And that does mean a significant subsidy. But again, we want to make sure that we're not putting any barriers in the way of getting them to keep it out of the landfill and out of our waterways. The administrative programs, you'll see a large charge for outreach and communication, that's what ONC means, but that is a mandate of the state. One of the only things that we have to do as a district is to do outreach and communicate and talk about cell waste and how to reduce and reuse and recycle. So that is why there's a significant investment in that particular budget. Even so, all the administrative programs do not exceed the cell waste management fee revenue, which is again why we cannot feel the need to increase that fee this year. And this is again a busy slide, and I do apologize for that. So I'm going to point you right down to that last bullet, which is our Community Cleanup Fund. So this is a change this year that we are proposing that we fully fund everyone's cleanup fund. And we had been budgeting just the amount that was the annual allocations of each year the community would get depending on population, it might be $500, it might be $1,000, and you could, it's not a bank five years of your annual allotment. Our auditor said, no, you need to actually budget for the full liability as if every community was going to spend every single penny in that one year. So we took that and said, you know what, let's just fully fund the five years every year. No more carryover, no more banking, you just get your five year amount and you can use that each year. So each July one is the intention that you will receive what is five years worth of your current allotment and for, for around, that's $7,500. So you have that money available to you for a variety of projects in town. And I know that, that Allen has, has helped undo different products over the years. This has been something that's been in place at CFWD for a long time. And we really want to get this money into the community and we'd be happy, happy to talk with you about projects. And we can talk to Allen and it's a pretty simple process. But we want to get that money out there and for use for different, again, to can clean up projects and maybe you might want to think of it. Sorry, who do I find there? Capital, very heavy investment there. Three years coming up. We will be drawing down on the reserves, but we're looking at significant infrastructure for repair, summer placements. The 3.9 million is high and that is dependent on whether or not the voters will approve a new MRF project and I'll talk about that on the next slide. If the voters do approve that project, that 3.9 is reduced by 2.4. So it's still a big drawdown on the reserves, but not quite as large as if the project is not approved. So we are looking at some improvements at Milken Drop-off Center. There'll be small replacement at Essex, I believe it's a compactor. I'll have to take a look at that, but about maybe $20, $25,000 is slated for Essex. We're looking at a new administrative building, some site for a new MRF and a screener and compost. And speaking of a new MRF, New Materials Recovery Facility. So the Board of Commissioners approved this project to be presented to the voters of Chippin County in November. And what we're looking to do is to build a brand new modern 21st century facility. Double the space that we have at the current MRF. We're looking at a $22 to $24 million project, what we're not going to do is we are not going to assess our member municipalities for this debt service or for the capital or for the operating. We're going to pay for everything just as we all have out of our revenue sources. So again, those tick fees, the commodity revenue, if we have to the salaries manager fee, but we're confident that the tick fees and the commodity revenue will satisfy the operations, capital and debt service. And we are looking for running from a variety of sources. There is federal infrastructure money that has never been seen before, that is being administered by the EPA. We will be applying for those grants. We will be applying for a zero interest municipal loan and we'll also be seeking some non-profit grants. The rest will be a municipal bond. But again, this is all pending positive vote from Chippin County voters in November. I'm excited about it, this project. This project will also be coming to the communities that will be doing a series of community forum and hoaxing basically town meetings to show the vote of what they would be voting on. So if they were confident about what they're voting on. And I decided this year to also put a reminder in the presentation that our communities do need to vote on our budget. I do require that vote. And yes, it sounds good. I don't even trust you about voting on it. Some communities forget, you're not one of them, but I'll put that in there just as a gentle reminder. And I'll stop the speech here. Answer any questions you may have. Hey, board members, any questions? Because this is relatively new to me. There's not new, I just haven't paid much attention. I'm sorry. The CSWD in competition with Cassella and as far as the rates, when you said they took over some of the vote. If I want to say. Drop off centers. Drop off centers. As well as they took away some of the compost stuff that sounds like too. So we are, it's a great question. Thank you for asking that. And we've over the years really tried to position ourselves as just a very different option. There's a lot of reasons why someone might not want to hire a hauler and my just prefer to manage their trash recycling by themselves when they want to on their own terms and pay a lot less. So we as a municipality are able to provide that service. You know, you pay a hauler for the convenience, frankly of having a picked up checkered. And so we don't have, we don't care about costs. So that's why we can offer a lower price. So, but yeah, I mean, you know, we were surprised that so much of the loose crops were dedicated to that deep packaging facility, even ones that didn't really need deep packaging. So we are now starting to see some of that loose, better term, better term material come back to us for composting because a lot of our customers really wanted it to be turned into soil amendment. And they felt very strongly about that. So that's why I said, I think we're confident we'll be getting some of that material back as people realize the value again of composting. And as far as the drop-off centers, I mean, they, you know, Cassella owns the largest transfer station in the state. They own, needs to think of the large transfer stations in the state. They have quite a lot of hauling routes in the state. So they only, the other Murph down in Rutland and they do operate opposite our Murph. And, you know, when the town of Richmond decided that they wanted to go out to bid for services, we bid on the service and Cassella bid on the service. And because the town was really adamant about adding back in a reuse zone, Cassella made that their offer and that was what won the day. Everything else was equal. And in fact, the town remarked on the long history that they had with us and the FWD and the great service that we had provided and the relationships that we had built with our customers and, you know, bringing their kids there and then the kids were bringing their kids there and the dogs, you know, the whole nine nights. But really a few people were quite adamant about a reuse zone and that was what tipped the scale. Thank you. So to continue a little bit on that, we've been, I've been asked or somebody, I've gotten emails from residents of Essex pointing out the situation in Richmond where, you know, every year when people know that you're coming to talk to us, they ask us about the reuse zone again. And so I guess a couple of questions around that, the Heinzberg, no, Richmond, sorry, situation is, does that mean that they're not members of CSWD anymore or does that, you know, they are? Yeah, we weren't gonna let them go that easy. No, they're definitely members of the district. And so they can use, you know, obviously any of our facilities, the residents can still come to our depot, compost facility. No, they did not leave the district. So it's just a different outbreak for the Dropbox engine. And then the, the, the other question is, I don't know, I don't, I don't know what our relationship is with you with regard to our drop-off center. Do we own it and how is it? We lease it for a dollar. Yeah, okay. And just kind of what I thought, yeah. Yeah. And, you know, the district has paid for the upgrades and improvements that have gone on there, but the property we lease every year for a dollar. Isn't it annual? Annual, the leases are five years, Sarah? Yeah, so the leases are, essentially it's like, it ends up being a 20-year lease, but they are in five-year increments. Yeah, five-year increments. So I guess then they're just, just because I'm gonna be asked this question, when is the, when is our lease due? The lease is up December 2025. 2025, okay. And we also pay more money for the building, the metal building that's there. We keep our loader and stuff in there and we pay additional dollars every year for that. Not a lot, but okay. Yeah, we've fairly enjoyed being part of the Essex community and, you know, we have some long-term employees who have been there from the start and very familiar faces, I'm sure to everyone there. And we take great pride in the service that we provide and really enjoy being part of the community. So it was sad to lose Richmond, but again, like I said, they are still a number of the district and we still see a lot of the Richmond customers at our Williston Growth Center. Andy, I knew you were gonna have something with respect to the region zone. And I gave it a lot of thought today and, you know, we were having safety issues. Right. We were having expense issues because we were having disposal of the stuff that never got taken out of there. And I started to try to think what in town is similar to us voting to, you know, stop the reuse zone. And the best thing I could come up with was sidewalks. Everybody wants their sidewalks plowed, but because of the cost of it, you guys get a plan from Dennis with which sidewalks you're gonna plow this winter and you are gonna do them all because of economics and equipment and those kinds of things. And I think that's a very similar thing. I know that everybody in my development wants the sidewalk plowed, but you guys don't plow that sidewalk. There are, you know, some decisions that were made by the board with respect to the reuse zone because of those kinds of issues that were brought to us by management. And I understand that you have links on your website to locations where people can take their stuff that they used to use in the reuse. The electronic web stuff that they do over there is pretty amazing in support of the county. Any other questions? Go ahead, Ethan. I just have a quick question about the compost because I'm really intrigued with compost in general. Do we store compost on site in Essex? Is that where the composting is happening? Or do we have a facility that everything is brought to? And is the composting system up to size for the intake and the demand of the future of the system? Do we put the turnover and stuff like that? Yes, great, great questions. So the material, everything that people bring to us, food scraps and leaf and yard, is then transported over to the amount of compost in Willis-Den, right on Redmond Road. So that is where we do it all. So we take it in, we do the blending, we do the mixing, we do the spinning, the aerating, the wind drawing, the composting sale, all out of that facility. So that's where we're going in from the different drop-offs like years across the county. And we are embarking and we're just finishing up phase two of phase one expansion where we are going to be, again, talking about safety, which is a huge, huge focus for us, creating a new entrance road into the facility. We had to get a new scale, the scale was 30 years old. Get a new scale, new entrance road, a new wood waste depot to give some further convenience to residents and businesses. So not only to be able to drop off food scraps there, but also, you know, clean wood and woody debris. Now you can really just drop off leaves and some small trees. We'll be able to take larger places there as well from residents. So that will complete the build out of that facility. And with the improvements that we've made, we are more than capable of taking upwards of 8,000 tons of food scraps. So we have further room to grow. And that was why we did that expansion. We were really heading in that direction and we're concerned. And so we were in some respects to see some of that food scraps go to the de-packager. We didn't want all of it to go to the de-packager, but we were happy to have some relief. But now we have plenty of room to grow and expand at that location. So we are absolutely in good capacity and we are situated very, very well for 10, 15 years. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? So, Sarah, you mentioned there's a vote. The bond vote for the new facility. And it's this November. My question around that is, is it a town by town vote or is it a aggregate vote? To all the votes. Okay. Okay. It's like a Champlain Water District bond. Right. Okay. Okay. But your budget, your budgeting is done. Your budget approval is a town by town. Yeah. That's why I want to just be looking for that, the clarity of how that worked. Okay. And then my other question, Sarah, I've asked you before. You probably know what it is. But a couple of years ago, when China stopped accepting shipping containers full of the world's trash, the bottom fell out of the recyclable paper market. And I asked the question about, you know, I get all this paper mail that never actually goes into my house. It goes straight into my recycle bin from my mailbox to the bin. And you had talked about encouraging the legislature to put something in place to try to account for that. And I pay pretty close attention to what's going on in the legislature. I didn't see anything this year. So I'm assuming the market's back. Or is it? Yeah. So two components to that. Yes, the markets are back and they were starting to come back even before the pandemic hit. And then, you know, the Amazon effect just went through the roof. So much more cardboard. And people were home. So they were generating office paper at home. So the markets definitely came back. There was a lot of domestic infrastructure and mills and paper processing that was, had been on the drawing board and is now, now in place and continuing to grow. So there's a lot more demand for high quality paper products domestically in the US and in Canada than they had then prior. However, I did, I did more research into why. Why it's so hard to get rid of junk mail. And we have talked about this before and we have resources on our website to, to help consumers to, to reduce the amount that is on there. And it really is up to each one of us to take that step. And it's frustrating that it has to be an individualized step. But the main reason, and I look to see if any state had any laws that banned paper junk mail. It's not a ban. Banned email spam, but not paper. And one of the conclusions that I kept seeing was that because the United States also serves at the federal level is, is, has this mandate from Congress to become self sufficient break even generate a profit. They have contracts with direct marketers and with, with basically junk mail providers. That generates a lot of the revenue. So it's definitely an uphill battle. But I think that I remember years ago, there was a push and they could, I think there could be another one again at the federal level, similar to the no call registry, no call list to get the cell phone spam going away. There used to be also kind of a no junk mail registry where you can put your name on that list and eliminate it. That would have to be passed by Congress. So it's a much heavier lift than just going state, state, but even that's a heavy look. We saw here in Vermont, that, you know, the threat of some of the more rural, social offices that were coming with closure. It's a huge problem. So, but it's hard. It's a federal problem. So I think another step that we can take as a district, and I would also encourage, you know, these powers to do too, it's to talk to our federal delegation. So when, you know, the new senator is voted in and when the new rep is voted in, then to talk to them and say, look, this is important to us. This is a lot of material. I read somewhere where the average American receives 40 pounds of junk mail a year. That's a lot of material that like you said, it goes right into the recycling bin. So I think there's some room for us to make some noise with our delegation and see if they will sponsor our bill. All right. Thanks so much. Any other questions? I have a question maybe for you. Now she said, we need the vote. We need to authorize Alan to cast the vote. So they, they, I think, I think you need the us to approve the budget. We do it. I didn't understand. We're authorizing Alan or if we were, thank you. It's a, it's a board. Yeah. And so, um, Sarah, are you okay with taking questions from the public at this point? All right. Anybody have any questions? There's nobody in the room except Alan with us. So anybody online have any questions? Or either Sarah or Alan? Good job. I don't see any hands up. Um, and so, uh, it does say potential action. So, okay, so we can, you're ready to vote. You can vote tonight. So any, uh, any, any further comments or questions? Is, is Kendall back on? I don't see him. No. Okay. I don't have it. I don't know what it's. I'm trying to find it real quick here. I'm not sure if there's actually wording. But it's not below the, and it's not the bottom. So, it would be a motion for the select board to approve the CSWD's proposed fiscal year 23, uh, budget. Right. I make the motion that the S of task select board approve this. CSWD's budget for 2023 2024. A second. So just want to make sure, make clear that we said, she said 23 24. Is that okay? Okay. Okay. I just want to make sure. Great. Okay. Uh, and, uh, Ethan, you say seconded it. Okay. Great. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed. Okay. Motion passes for zero very much. Thank you so much for your presentation and for the great work you do. And Alan. Thank you again. See you tomorrow night, Sarah. Thank you. All righty. Moving on to the next agenda item. Thank you. Which is discussion and possible action about pre-farm lease. Who's talking this? I believe Ali or Marguerite if they're online. I'm here. Can you hear me? Yeah, I'm here, but Alice. Ali, it's all you. You're Ali. Okay. Hi everyone. We are back here to discuss. The next steps in finalizing the four year extension for the lease agreement with the trustees and the tree farm management group. Things have changed a little bit since we last discussed. That's so weird. There's like a double. Andy picture happening. You've got a twin. So things have changed a little bit since we last all met. When it was a joint meeting and we were talking about managing partially managing this upcoming season. As two rec departments working on the part of the maintenance of the facility and then going into it after the extension. For the two rec departments to manage it together. I think that's a good idea. I think that's a good idea. After looking through all of the lease and MOU agreements and documents. The original intent really of the MOU is about shared ownership, but oversight from a third party. And so really this is to. Have the select board discuss next steps and if. If you have any questions, I think we can stay with a third party after the lease extension. And there's a suggestion of a timeline on how to go about that. Over the next four years of this extension and to talk to the trustees about that. If anyone has any questions, discussions to start. Going at that. Any questions. Ask a question to us. Yeah, you can. Your question doesn't have to be. So I guess my, you know, my oncoming to the board here, you know, what, what is the. Idea been from the town as far as. The shared management and. Is there a potential. Not share or is there a plan to, to continue long term or. Yeah, so the background. Yeah, so. There was some, there has been a discussion about, right? Having municipal management of the property, rather than having a third party to it. This came up. During a lot of the discussions about the. Separation agreements and. We. I actually wasn't at the meeting where the final decision was made. But the, there was a decision made to extend the current lease to. By four years. To allow time to work out. What would come next. Rather than trying to, because the lease, actually the original terms of the lease were that it ended in July. This year. Yes. I have this year. And so. In amongst trying to figure out how to do separation. We didn't want to have to pile this on. And then potentially. Lose an entire season of play because it's uncertain who's running anything or high potential that we could, we could screw it up. I think. And so, and that, and I may be putting words in other people's mouths, but that's my view of, you know, where, where I was with it. But any, again, in order to avoid. That we allowed a four year. Extension so that we can figure out how to do it. And the proposal that's coming from the town now is that we continue with the original intent of the MOU. To have a third party management. And also, Andy, if I can add. With that shared. Ownership. But. Managed by a third party. Also have in the new documents going forward. More. Protocol more sort of guidelines of when and how to meet. And what's the expectations of the third party are to. Provide both owners of the facility. So that. There's just more transparency and follow up. You know, as. Partial owners of 99 acres. 100 acres. And just to add to some of this and some of the background and the detail behind it, the, the idea. And the select board and the trustees agreed to the four year lease. That hasn't, hasn't been signed yet to finalize, but it was approved to go in that direction. But the. Thought behind the lease extension at that point was to set up a transition phase so that municipalities would fully take it over. At the end of those four years. And what alleys recommending what we've been talking about. After taking a different look at it and the MOU, there's different management now in place. Is that rather than a. Four year lease with a municipal takeover at the end. The four year lease with. Third party. Management throughout trying to tell each point, trying to address some of the other concerns that might be up there. Through the, through the lease agreement. Now. Trustees will have to. Agree to this too. So I have to be a joint meeting likely. We wanted to. Bring it to the select board tonight and get your take on it. Get your thoughts before. If you want to pursue this direction that we're recommending or to. Do something else. Tracy. So just a quick question. Believe the motion that was made. Asked for a transition plan. Plan on how this would be accomplished. But it also, I believe the intent was to begin. Negotiations for what. A subsequent four year agreement would look like. Can you comment on any negotiations that have, that have happened since we took that action. And how those are progressing. So I wouldn't say that there were any definite. Negotiations. There were conversations with management. Myself. And. Bradluck and Harlan Smith with EJRP in regards to a possible transition plan of what things would look like on the calendar year of 2023, 24, and then finishing 25 for transitional plan. During those conversations, December, January, February. It's just, you know, I myself, along with others looked into the documents that we can read over and over, but just kind of trying to get a different lens on it and really look at the true intent of the property. As shared owners. And really the, the intent is to have it. If we're not one community to have it operated by a third party. And so that is my suggestion is to continue with the original intent. And I mean, I, it poses that. The tree farm management group as they currently are established or how, you know, the membership is right now could be one of those third parties that continues to. Apply for the bid. If this. Continued third party were. Something that is agreed upon between both boards. Or it could be another management group. But the negotiations were more about discussions and what's best. And. You know, from my viewpoint, I'm looking at it as what's best for the town of ethics going forward in the separation. And. Being a fully separate municipality. Does that answer your question or your. What you were looking for, Tracy, or did I not get to that? It sort of does. I'm just knowing how negotiations can go. And understanding that that extension is only through the end of the year. I'm just curious whether this is the right conversation to be having right now. And what I mean by that is. Focusing on the end goal of. Keeping, or moving to municipal management or a third party, or should we really be focusing on negotiating what that. Four year. Looks like. So what terms we would be looking for within those four years, because there is a lot going on right now. For municipalities. So I just want to make sure that if we do want to have this conversation that we're having. The conversations that we're having. We want to have this conversation that we're having the conversation where we can be most productive. And continuation of the current use of the facility. And possibly expanded use of the facility. Definitely. And that's also indicated in my memo is. You know, basically undoing what was agreed upon, but nothing was documented for this four year lease extension. And redoing that for creating that four year extension for the tree farm management group with some expectations. That are clear and more current to what the two boards are needing and wanting and the communities. For the next four years. And then the timeline of okay, maybe you'll meet this fall with the tree farm management group. And then this is what you expect at the certain timelines, which align with every other department. Providing the board's information and financials and reporting. And then what that looks like of when the two boards would put an RFP out. Kind of year three. Tree farm management group as they currently stand. Would wrap up their final season, their final year and kind of transition on the calendar year. So that a full season can be completed. And move halfway through a fiscal year. So that's, that's within this. Basically, we kind of have to undo what we already agreed. Well, we don't have to. The suggestion is that we. That the board looks at. Redoing an agreement with the trustees through discussion. On what the next four years look like because the last time. At the board meeting when they, when you all agreed, it was to go through this transition of four years into management of from both departments. And that is not my current suggestion. So it's a, it's two, you know, it's deciding if it's going to be a third party continued, but also prior to that finalizing this document so that as of the 31st of 2022, the board to know. And the tree farm management group know what the expectations and what the lease agreement really is for those four years. Three and a half. Thank you. Tracer being respectful of our time because there is a lot coming up. So I appreciate that to me it is. And like Ali said, it's. I think we do need to look at the end goal because that's going to create structure of the lease as we started looking into the lease and meeting with Brad and Harlan on the village side and talking about what the lease might look like. It really was structured with that end goal of municipal takeover. So I'll explain about the timeline that was going to be this piece in year one, this piece in year two, this piece in year three. You know, I think if, if there's not going to be a discussion yet about the end goal, we could. I do think the ankle has to be somewhat at my, at the forefront of the discussion. I think we could maybe a four year lease. Take the first two years to sort of feel it out. Maybe and, but after that it's, you know, if there's going to be a transition, whether it's a new third party, whether it's municipal management. You heard a lot before about what that takeover, what that transition process looks like. Building enough time into that lease for is after that. Is there a requirement on the term of the lease, or could we sign a one year lease and be in the same position to renew that lease in another year? That way, that way, if we don't have time to make the proper plan, we're not litigating for four years of a plan that's not working, we can say, and we agree to this one year lease of this building that we need to do and understanding between the trustees. And then we'd come back next year and say, you know, do we have a plan that we can move forward with rather than saying, let's give it four years and hope everything goes good and something doesn't go good next year. And now we're in a four year lease regardless of negotiation. Thank you. So a couple of things, part of the four year time frame, Ethan is this, all of these discussions were supposed to really begin and continue from 2018 to 2022. So that four years that between merger and management and everything else for the four years kind of flipped by. And so respectfully to the chief, our management group to give them a solid four years with clear expectations and then update at least. And also from the management group side, they would typically get better contracted prices. If they can commit to a multi-year lease on the overall landscape management of the facility and scheduling. So those are just two bits to the four years and just kind of knowing how discussions happen and how a year can really go by quickly. And the tree farm works off of the calendar year and we all work off of a fiscal year. Thank you. The only other thing I would add this is when I, this four year suggestion was that we add another representative to work with Ali on behalf of the town. On the tree farm management group. Right. Ali, is that, you know, the tree farm structure better than me? Is that doable? Is that part of their charter or how do those seats work? So if I were to put my tree farm management group hat on for a moment, the management group has discussed filling those vacancies from the original agreement to have, I think it's 13 or so of us within the entire community on the tree farm. So we're not asking anybody to join us, but from the board's perspective, we're just trying to wait for a clear picture so that we're not asking somebody to join us and it's a little bit murky. We as a board want to also be able to teach those coming on the clear expectations that all three parties have agreed and we're looking for a representative to fill these vacancies for sure. And the management group wants to do that and needs to do that. Typically, you know, Harlan and I have been the town and village representatives and it continues to work well and so well. And I don't know, Dawn, if you're looking for another department representative when you say that or just someone from town else, I hear this it's Brad and Harlan and then Ali has one voice where they're, they're sharing two voices. That's my concern. There's only one representation. There's only one Harlan's representative to the village, right Ali on the tree farm management group. Correct. So they just have that one seat and Ali and Ali and I and Marguerite have all had conversations with Brad and Harlan so we're all, we've been meeting not as part of the tree farm management group, but as the town and village representatives on, on this topic. That was just my concern when I made the suggestion because we kept hearing from the two of them and it was like. So, go ahead. I was just going to speak a little bit more about the Pepsi intent of the third party, but I can come back to that. Go ahead. So as Ali said it's in her memo, the original memorandum of understanding between the town and the village was to have a third party manage the property. As we looked at it again, I kind of mentioned management, taking a fresh look at things that jumped out at us. That's not always the case, you know, that there's a third party manager of a park. I think you have to look at. I'm in a context and a place in the Y. Ali mentioned it a few times, a couple of times, but this is not the typical normal, municipally owned parcel. Owned by two municipalities and it's about to be really important to go to the separate municipalities. Having a third party there kind of both municipalities could have oversight. You build that into the terms of the lease. Some of the concerns or issues that you might have or want addressed. Also, some extent in four years is a long time away, but at least as of right now it's partially your resource issue. We do this with everything we do. Faxon Hill is largely managed by the fellowship of the municipal council. It's that it's an opportunity to break the gaps. There's a lot of experts on mountain biking, not us. So let's take an ally's good staff, good team. We've got good people working for the town as far as parks, maintenance, field maintenance. Take that over without adding more staff would be taking it away from something else. You could argue there might be user fees available to help with that. We don't know yet that yet. And how do you share, apart from perhaps finding that third party to do it under certain terms? That's sort of the reason behind where we're at now. I can't speak for the original intent 10 years ago, but that certainly jumped out at us. It was pretty clear that the original MOU was to have a third party management. If you look at it again, this is a situation we think we're in. We find ourselves in and that we think it's worth continuing on that with that intention. So what are you asking for? Sounds like there's two questions here. One is the memos mentions scheduling a joint meeting with the trustees. But you asked earlier whether we were on board with maintaining the original intent of the MOU. So the motion that you approved a couple months ago was to look at the extension of a four year lease extension with the intention of municipalities taking over the property at the end of that lease. If that's still your goal and you still want us to go in that direction, we can continue going in that direction and try to bring back a lease to you to sign and the trustees to sign and the tree farm management group to sign. What we're suggesting tonight is that you have a different end goal in mind. And if that's going to be the case, you have to talk to the trustees about it, see where they're at, figure out a way forward because it is truly a joint decision in this case. And so I guess you have to end here. It's kind of a two part decision or question for you tonight of what angle do you want in mind and then depending on that answer, do you want us to schedule a meeting with the trustees to talk about this more? Kelly, is that true? Yeah, I guess it really is two part, but it's really to schedule a meeting together and reevaluate what this four year extension is and then goal for everybody. I like the idea of leaving it with a third party management giving it will be two different municipalities. That way you've got the third person in the middle to both sides. And I agree we'll have to bring this to the trustees. Yeah, I just wanted to add to that because I understand that this was approved by the previous like board, but there are two new members and it is worth a discussion over the MOU with Kendall being present and definitely a joint meeting to solidify anything that may have arisen in the past four months since it was agreed upon. But I do also share the belief of third party management as long as the goal is to share ownership of the property. I think that's, that was the big what if at the time of the original agreement. That's all I have any thoughts. I'm all for having the discussion. But I'm of the mind that I think the question of third party management or bringing it internally depends on what that subsequent lease agreement would look like. IE what you outlined are meeting subject to open meeting law. What is the makeup of the management group? How does it function? The really the details of that. And I think that a lease could be written well enough to give both parties both municipalities options as far as where that goes in the future. Just personal preference, personal experience. So I'm all for having the conversation. But I think for me, the decision whether it's remains with third party or comes internal to both municipalities depends on what's in that four year subsequent agreement. I'm not sure how that works. I guess that's part of your to be scheduled joint meeting discussion on one finalizing the four year extension the expectations and a transition of some sort laid out. And then those that transition will include those next steps of deciding. Well, and I don't think that that transition needs to be laid out in a lease agreement. I do it all the time with state contracts. Yeah, I mean that subsequent is going to look like as long as you have a plan for a transition that's scalable enough to let you move in either direction. I think that covers it. And there really are three documents to be updated. It's not just so I mean, I guess I wasn't clear when I said, you know, laid out in the lease extension. Yes. But also in some sort of transition plan between the two owners of the property as a separate document. So we need we need to have some sort of some agreement in place by the end of this calendar year. Right. Yeah, that tells us what those four years are going to look like so we absolutely have to start talking to the trustees now. And I think. Oh yeah. And it really will be about three years based on the original extending of where we were. Can you expand on that extended it through the end of 2022. We started the discussion in 2021 when we made the four years and that would make it. But that doesn't matter because they have a current lease through the end of 2022 so a subsequent agreement would be four years from the expiration of the current lease. So we had an original extension to at least take us from July to November, December, so that this season wasn't cut off halfway through. And then there was a four year extension. And that's, yeah, I mean. So I believe from, I'd have to go back, but I believe through our discussions of negotiations that was finishing 22 and then seasons 2324 25, and then before season 26. I can look back from that treaty and double check. You've just kind of been a little bit around in circles for the last six months on this. So then this time, Mr chair, I'd like to recommend that we direct the select word to should we ask for public comment. Anybody in the public want to make any comments, Harlan. So I don't know on this end, whether or not I would be considered the public because obviously I'm the village representative. I was just trying to clarify the three year four year so on and so forth originally. And Greg, if you remember correctly, or even alley, you can correct me. Originally the boards were talking, I believe the village trustees were talking about three years. Lease extension. Some other members were talking about a four year when Tracy made the motion. It ended up being a four year extension. And because we were, we were off their calendar year and the way that their season runs or season runs better with a calendar year than it does a municipal year. When we had originally started putting together the extension. And because there was a discussion between three years and four years, it looked like it was going to be a three and a half year extension. And then obviously with the merger and the separation piece, we did the extension, which puts them out to the end of this year. So that would take up the half a year. And then it would be a three year extension from there. Because we've now moved it on to a calendar year instead of having the lease and in the middle of their season, which didn't make a whole lot of sense. Our calendar years or our municipal year is June, July, which is right in the middle of their playing season. So we extended it out into the winter, making it a calendar year. And then any subsequent lease agreement from that point forward, ideally from the original conversations would be three years. So obviously up to the boards could be four years. You guys could make it five years, but I was just trying to clear up that little piece as to where that all came in. If that's helpful. Thanks, Harlan. Is anybody from the public want to make a comment or ask a question? There's nobody in the room here. I don't see any hands up. So I guess what's the board's pleasure do we want to be in these lead to need to have a joint meeting. And I think that the topic is right. What that either three or four year extension, whatever is what it's going to look like. Oh, I make the recommendation that select board direct staff schedule a meeting between the select board and trustees. Further discuss the memorandum of understanding for the management of the tree farm recreational facility. Between the town of Essex and the village of Essex Junction, and the least extension with a tree farm management group. Second. Thank you, Don. Thank you, Tracy. Any further discussion? Little see Kendall. You had your hand up where were you going to I just had a question I had to make, but it's not even a question. It's just a point of information for moving forward. Do we know if there's any conflict? I don't know if the way that their charter structured or our agreement is structured. But is there any conflict that needs to be changed prior to changing the renewal of the contract. Beyond this extension, if per se the day is set at the end of a fiscal year instead of a calendar year. I think the way their charter is written basically they would assume all of the agreements that were signed and in place. The village the city would take those on so I think it's covered. I just wanted to. Good question. It would be a conflict. Beyond beyond beyond your question was the village transitioning into a city is there anything that needs to be documented there is that what you're asking. With that too but the fact that they approve the extension. But on a normal lease agreement is there is the structure for calendar year, say, January 1st or is it based on fiscal year like like our board of July 1st. So the extension that was that was approved goes to the end of this calendar year. And I think the new agreement we can write however we want. Yeah. But is there no there was anything that was written in their charter of the tree fire management that stated that there were that would have to be changed. Yeah, I don't think. I think as the third party before the owners it's based on the owners are setting the right term. Right any other discussion. All those in favor please say aye. Aye. Motion passes for zero. Schedule a joint meeting. Thank you Ali. I think you're welcome. Thank you. Used to be further discussion right of which path we end up wanting to go on. All right. Next topic is discussion about staffing levels levels and open positions. I can kick it off. It's something that the board asked to have on a future. Right, but it was Kendall that asked and he's not here. I'm not sure how we want to do it. Well, let me kick it off because yeah, there's some some. So yeah, so until I think Ethan you mentioned it to the future agenda. So put it on there. You've got the memo in front of you. There's a list of vacancies that are there now. They're either positions that are currently open. Some of them are probably going to get filled really soon as it is. Some of them have been approved in the fiscal year 23 budget. So they will become available on July 1st. Kendall did ask some questions to me. Send me an email about upcoming retirement. So breakdown of number of employees by department. Data on how long a vacancy has been open historical staffing levels. I wasn't able to pull that together in time for this packet. But can look for to do some of that for future meeting, but also figure this was a chance for anyone else to ask questions or to get more of a sense of what you're looking for. Any questions? He took a breath. I thought it was welcome. I'm just hesitant to discuss. If there's things there's questions that you think are sensitive. We can go into an executive session and have a discussion about it. But I also have the, have the thought of. Able this and bring it back to the board when Kendall's available to be a part of that discussion. You can hear anything is he. Hmm. I do really want to hear what he said. I don't want to waste our time by discussing. I do have a question for Greg though. Would restructuring like you've been working on you and Marguerite affect any of these positions? What do you mean by the structure that I thought you were you're changing? Yeah, I said either re delegating different things or restructuring different positions. Does that affect any of these openings that you gave us? No, I think we. We take a look at every position that opens up and we need to make it fit within the budget for cognizant of what it might do or what it might be or what it might become. It's one of the lessons I've learned from past managers of. You don't always just fill a position just because it's open. Take a look at the needs of the department where the organization is at. For instance, there's one that's not on here, but we. We recently hired a business coordinator for direct department, which is going to be a huge help to Ali. It was originally used to be an administrative assistant. Taking a look at the needs. We needed somebody even more than. Just administrative assistant. We needed somebody to help with budgeting, help with financing, help with figuring out program fees, doing a lot of that. Financial work. So it's, you know, we found a way to make it work within the budget. Similar position, but not. Same position. And so we kind of take that route. Through the budget. There's a creation of a community affairs liaison in the police department that was looking at the police openings that we had year after year and finding that we're, we've never gotten up to fold staffing that we need, that we should have on the police department, but recognizing that there's, there's other needs for. Community health, mental health, just relationship building with the police department. Heaven had proposed a chief way get proposed and the select board agreed to take one of those positions and. Refocus it and revamp it. So those are just a couple of examples of how we, we look at things. There's no grand vision to change everything, but you know, with Dennis retiring, there's going to be another opening there in public works and what's, you know, talking with Aaron, talking with others there, what's going to be the best need. It's right now it's listed as a staff engineer. That's what's approved in the budget. The backfill at a lower position that might end up being it, but as we get new eyes on things, as we get close to that retirement, as we advertise, it's going to be, is that the right position to advertise for? Something similar, but different. That's going to better serve the needs of public works. And then my question would be so because we're sort of splitting in half, going from 20,000 to 10,000, however it works, number wise. There may not be a need for as many people in one office or not. I mean, are you going to look at that as far as the services each office provides? Do we still need as many or can we shuffle somebody around? I think to all your questions, yes. Yes, we're going to look at these positions and as they come up, as they've been approved, it's taking a closer look at what is the need, is this the need, is this the right need? But also, population is going to be cut in half, but a lot of these departments, their work is not. Public works, for instance, highway has been serving primarily the town outside the village. We're going to have the same number of roads to grade, the same number of water lines to manage, those are through water sewer fees, but to get the point, recreation is going to have the same number of programs, the same number of parks. The parks maintenance for REC was largely focused on the parks in the town outside the village, almost entirely, on mowing and green strips and parks and fields outside the village. That's not going to change. I can pretty much go through department by department but basically, just because the population is changing, the needs are not. A lot of the people, I think I've said this before, a lot of the departments that took on additional work during the merger efforts, the consolidation efforts, they got more work, they didn't get more people, they didn't get more pay. It's going back to what we were at beforehand and being right-sized, being able to focus on some of the stuff that Will Dodge was talking about, that Hallie was talking about, we spent all this time through merger separation and there's other things have been put off, but now we're going to have the people to now have the time to focus on those things. I do realize that, but I also realize that we have to tighten our belts probably because of the... We do, and I feel like I'm talking a lot, but I feel like I need to say this too. These positions were all approved, all the positions we have were approved in the budget. The budget passed overwhelmingly, even in the town outside the village, it passed most of 75% with all these positions in here with the high likelihood of separation happening. I like to think the community saw that and saw the needs and was comfortable with it. Obviously, we're going to have to go through this process. We're going to be having these discussions over the coming year. We're going to be putting together budget for the new town. We're going to be voted on next spring and we're going to have to justify it and explain why it's needed, but my opinion, these positions are absolutely completely needed and have been approved and voted on. Thank you. I just have one question. I have a lot of questions. I'm going to keep it short because I do want to table this and bring it back, but... Have we filled our animal control officer position yet? Please. I would have to get back to you on that one. We contracted out for another service. We contracted out. We contracted to it. I don't know if that contract... It was a huge loss to us and I'd love to see that be utilized in these open positions so they'd be kept in the budget and filled. I think that'd be a huge asset to our community and I wish we still had our dear friend, Andrew, because I met her a few times and she was an awesome officer for our community. The only other thing I just wanted to touch on really quick was about this being voted in. I think it was expected by a lot, but it was also not expected by a lot for the separation to happen as quickly as it did. He brought up a really good point that lights a light bulb for me about having the Rack Department and Highway doing mowing and things like that and we've talked. I think there are a lot of ways, ulterior ways of looking at contracts and seeing what the price is for the employee, whether we could take those employees and use them in the highway department like we do with the water sewer instead of having them mowing and things like that. But unless there is any other comments from anybody, I think if we're done with the conversation, I really would like to just table this because it was the kickstart of this conversation and I feel like we're kind of wasting time right now by not having them waited off for us to give us his input. All right, so do we need to do anything official to stop talking about it? All right. Okay, next item on the agenda is a discussion of pending or probable litigation. We will go into executive session later to cover that topic. And then the last business item here is discussion of potential actual goals for and evaluation of the town manager. We are required by contract to provide Greg with goals that he will be evaluated on. That's part of my contract. I wanted to bring it to your attention. I'm not really expecting any action tonight, but I wanted to put it on there just in case. We had the strategic planning session on Saturday, so hopefully that got you thinking about some of the goals that you want to accomplish in the coming year. It is supposed to be in conversation in conjunction with me, so hopefully we can find a manageable set of goals to strive for in the coming year. But I just wanted to put it on your radar because it is part of the contract. I'll get my evaluation close to about a year from now, a little over a year from now, so I started to think about it now and give you some direction as to where you want me to go, what you want to see me accomplish. I'll put an option in there to discuss executive session. I don't think that's needed tonight unless you want to start evaluating me on any reason. I think the most part of this can and should be a public discussion about what you're looking to see done and what you'd like to see accomplished. So open to ideas now. Happy to hear whatever thoughts you have, but can also get you thinking about it and put it on a future agenda, too. Any goals, propose, or kick around or discuss? Not at the moment. I don't. This is as long as we fund the right timetable. Oh, the timetable for getting the evaluation, yeah. So this is always the hardest part of having somebody work for you is doing the... I remember many, many times in my prior career, writing my goals and my evaluation at the same time. Exactly, yeah. And it's totally inappropriate to do it that way. Greg, I appreciate the heads up and the focus on timeline. But speaking of timeline was... I don't believe there was a timeline given in your contract to develop goals for you. Is that correct that you're understanding? It's my understanding, although it says that I'm to be evaluated annually and I think it's in there. But if not, it certainly, I think, is implied that that evaluation is to happen about the same time as everybody else's evaluation, which is on July 1st. I'm not doing any sort of phrase this year that was part of the contract. So I've only been in the position for a few months. So I just thinking of how other employees are on their evaluation cycle. It's kind of a July 1st to June 30th. That's why I wanted to bring it up now. I'll give you plenty of time to start thinking about it and have that could, you know, a full year to drive. They'll make it not too difficult to evaluate me, but we shall see, I guess. Any thoughts right now? All right, we'll bring this one back again. Yeah, we'll do it. Give a hand up. Should we take public comment on this? Go ahead, Lorraine. Just a thought in terms of our needs and evaluating our needs and things like mowing. Are we also looking at ways to reduce the need to know, like planting certain areas and not needing to know and actually bring more pollinators in certain areas. Are we assessing things that way as well? Thanks for the comment Lorraine is, I don't think it's necessarily germane to the topics we have here, but it's an interesting, interesting point there. Oh, no, I was, because we brought that up in terms of, and Don was saying, you know, are we going to need as much staff? This is related to staff and how much staff and staff time. On the, on the prior topic. Okay. Right. Right. Like I got a lot of ground IV in my lawn that grows much slower than the grass does. So don't have to mow it quite as often. Yes. There's something to take into consideration. If we're short of staff, there we go. All right. Let's keep moving here. Losing steam here. Consent agenda. You're out of practice for late meetings. I make the motion that we accept the consent agenda as presented. Thank you. Thank you, Don. Thank you, Tracy. Any. Discussion. Excuse me. I did have a question about that budget item though. Checkpoints. I have an email out. I don't have an answer for you yet. The what? Wooden pens. Yeah, I have an email out to try to get. That was it. I'll stand by my margin. Also, I have a quick, there's a reading discussion. I just have a, I'll stick to this about this. The in the minutes. Um, it's not the end of the world, but there's no definition by my name to be recognized as the clerk of the select board. As there is the vice chair and the chair. Yeah, it comes and goes. Yeah. When I consistent with that, it seems. Right. Right. Would you like it listed? Yes, please. Okay. So, I think, yeah. So, so do we then need to. Uh, amend the motion to include that change. It feels strongly. It's been a few weeks going on. I just. So you just say for future, for future. So for future, you want to say you don't want to. Okay. I approve these minutes. I've read the room. That was all I found. All right. All right. Good. Good. And, and, and maybe I, I'm not sure I've made this clear, but if you want to change minutes, you should put them up into the. Yeah, no, I was just making a discussion. Okay. Cool. All right. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed. Okay. I sent to Jenna. Passes four zero reading file. Any board member comments? I have a couple. First of all, I want to thank everyone that was involved in the step in and come together. Sunday. It was awesome. They did a wonderful job. I know that Tammy Marguerite and I'm assuming Greg had done an amazing job putting that together as well as everyone else involved. And I would like to thank you very much. And I'd also like to thank the canine officer and the canine, our canine member of our police force. But last Wednesday, they showed up at McDonald's for a demonstration in honor of police dog service. And it was awesome to watch the people and watch the dog interact and the officer. I just want to say thank you. Bales. Gracie. Having served on the ZBA with Justin St. James, I just want to say thank you to him for his service. Great. One thing I want to bring up is that there was a resignation on the Essex Westford school district and the way statute is written is that the select board of the town associated with the position needs to be notified by the school board. I was notified and I passed that information on an email to the rest of you. There is a, in that email, there's a list. There are three candidates being considered. I'm not going to name them because I don't know if that's, I don't, I guess that's, is that public? I don't know if it is or not. So I'm not going to say them. So maybe he's up to the school board to just to say that or not. The other thing that the, the statute says it uses the phrase in consultation with the select board. And so the question there and it's totally unclear what that means. This is a temporary authorization. It says actually only effective until July 1st of 2022 and then the requirement for them to notify us and act in consultation with the select board goes away. It was put in there temporarily as part of the, because it was a, the Essex Westford school district was a new entity or whatever. I'm not sure why, but it's, it's got an end date to it. I found it also interesting that their last opening they did not notify us. Like, it confused me. Correct. The last time that this happened, there was some this, this whole statute was missed completely. And right. And we didn't weren't notified until the day they were making the appointment. Now they've recognized the error of their ways and they're letting us know. I'm aware of it. And so, and also making, you know, sharing with the public that the doing what we can to follow the statute. I'm willing to take any quick questions on that. I don't want to have a big discussion. I don't know if there's any concerns or we can. All right. We're going to seek advice for the consultation. Oh, we did. And it the responses that it's unclear. You also went to the league of cities and towns also, right? And plain, plain language reading of it still isn't clear. Right. Yeah. Yeah. There's no definition to what in consultation with means. They have done the notification, but. Presumably, presumably, well, they are they will also notify us of their choice. Presumably, we then have potentially have the opportunity to comment or we don't get a vote. We don't get it. So it's, it's a do you want to get embroiled in that whole discussion is part of the question as well. And we're consulting. We have enough on our plate. Right. What does it mean? I'm just curious. Yep. All right. Anything else, the reading file. Hey, if not, we do have to, we do have one executive session topic. I've either. No, 5j. I have it. You got it. Go ahead. I move that the select board. Make the specific finding that general public knowledge of pending or probable civil litigation. To which the public body is, or may be a party would place the town at a substantial disadvantage. Thank you, Tracy. Thank you. Don any further discussion. And Kendall's not back. Okay. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed. A motion passes for zero. I move that the select board enter into executive session to discuss pending or probable civil litigation. To which the public body is, or maybe a party pursuant to one VSA. 313 a one e to include the town manager and deputy manager. That's it. Thank you, Tracy. Thank you, Don. Any discussion. The discussion is do we have any need. We don't need to come back here. So we will just adjourn. We won't come back to this meeting. There's no further topics to discuss. So, okay. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed. A motion passes for zero. We'll adjourn upstairs. Scott wants to break down, but either way, I'm up.