 Well, good morning and thanks for being here today. This week we kicked off a couple of holiday celebrations at the state house with the annual Christmas tree lighting. We'll follow that up with a menorah lighting next week. It's hard to believe it was only three years ago during the height of the pandemic that people weren't able to gather. Any businesses were closed and things didn't feel all that bright and festive. We knew how hard this was going to be on families in particular. So to create a sense of hope and keep people connected, we launched Vermont lights the way and ask everyone to light up Vermont any way they could for the holiday season. At the same time, we wanted to show Vermonters could also light the way with acts of kindness. So we also started raise of kindness, which recognizes people for spreading good will during an incredibly difficult time. The purpose was to shine some light during those dark times. And we weren't sure what to expect, but we got such a strong response. It was clear that this this is something people needed more of, whether in a global pandemic or not. So we've done it every year since. In Vermont really does light the way in many different respects, and we proven it time and time again, whether it was through the pandemic, this summer's flooding or global and national turmoil, Vermonters continued to show their commitment to community, willingness to serve and going the extra mile to help those in need. We see this in all kinds of acts, big and small. Sometimes it's just the little things, those simple random everyday acts of kindness that could make all the difference in the world. And I believe it's important to highlight those deeds and the good people who make them happen. Over the last year, for example, a Colchester woman was recognized for lending a shoulder to cry on for a neighbor whose mom was just diagnosed with Alzheimer's and then visited her mom in the memory care center while her family was out of town. An eighth grader in Swanton helped families in need by providing care packages for their pets to lessen the burden on them. In residence in Brattleboro, organize a community toy drive. When it comes to the flood, there have been so many that have come our way from EMS workers knocking on doors of those who needed heat to stay park employees evacuating and hosting campers and flooded campgrounds. The communities who donated everything from air mattresses to food for their neighbors. The point is, there's no act too big or too small to put forward as a nomination. And I know there are countless stories we haven't heard and that should be recognized. And we want to do that because kindness is contagious. There's a chain reaction with good days and we certainly need more good these days. I've signed a proclamation making December raise of kindness month and we'll be celebrating these acts. So I'm asking Vermonters, if you have someone in mind, go to our website, governor dot vermont dot gov slash kindness to nominate them. While we're talking about goodwill and helping others, please remember to buy Vermont strong plates at dmb.vermont.gov slash Vermont strong 23 help the thousands of Vermonters still struggling from the flood. As a reminder, for the month of December, half the funds will go to help businesses who need a little help to get their doors open and keep them open. And the other half will go to Vermont Community Foundation for individual needs, specifically housing, critical financial expenses, food and mental health. We need everyone to step up. It's not enough to pull out your plate from Irene. We need those who are struggling to know we had their back and haven't forgotten them. So with that, I'll open up the questions. Sorry to cut off the good The good good news can always count on you. We are rapidly hurtling toward much of the session, or maybe top three priorities for you heading into this year? Well, I would say, I mean, certainly top on the list for me is something that's been top of our list. The last six, seven, maybe even eight years housing. That's certainly going to be front and center. And I think it's something that we share with the legislature. The flood recovery continues to be something we have to address and continue to do. Our flood recovery office will will continue to make sure that we channel as much funding as we receive from the federal government to do so. And then the budget was just going to be difficult this year. It's going to be a challenging year, but I do think if we all come together with, you know, recognizing that we have some of the same goals that we can get through that and make it happen and protect Vermonters while making sure that we're not forcing people to make decisions about where they live. So we want people to stay in Vermont. We want to attract more people to Vermont, and we certainly need them to fulfill our workforce. But we need all the ingredients to do that. When you say it's going to be a tough budget here, I I know that recent taxes have been much a non-starter for you. And so they're going to be areas in state government that are going to. Well, we'll see. I mean, obviously the legislature has all the power now. They have the supermajority. And I'll make my best best case for why we shouldn't be raising taxes, why we can't. They certainly did a lot of that last year. It took a lot of the taxing capacity away. And I and it doesn't leave much room at this point. And I think that many there'll be many legislators both sides of the aisle that will agree with that. So we're going to have to look for ways to move through. I've always personally and in my business and in the political process and budgetary process, I think about things in in terms of want and need. And the need comes first. And it's difficult to distinguish between the two. But that's where I start. Last week's education tax rate letter forecast a pretty high property tax rate increase. So what do you say to the burden that could put on the monitors? Yeah, that's that's something that I don't think for monitors can endure. And we have to find ways to make sure that we're keeping the property tax. We already have one of the highest property tax rates in the country. And this is not going to be helpful in attracting more people to our state or keeping people here. So we'll have to work together and find ways to alleviate that. And I think, you know, you have to be honest with ourselves and every option. All ideas should be on the table without discounting anything. Just should be on the table and take the politics out of it. And let's let's see what's best for the kids first. Make sure we're protecting them. And I would say that because we're spending we spend a lot of money on education in Vermont. But we have to have to recognize we may not be getting our money's worth in terms of the outcome. So we're going to have to look at that and address that. And but keep in mind the goal of making sure we educate our kids. A big part of that forecast increase was because of COVID cash that districts were using supposed to be for one time funds. But now they've included those or they've built those those numbers into their budget. Now they can't support them. I mean, you and other lawmakers all along had called for use this one time money for one time expenses. I mean, did the message not get through? What what are you reading? You know I've as you recognize I said this a lot over the last couple of years. We need to all this money is one time and we have to treat it as one time. Meaning that we need to invest it in ways that would give us the highest return. And using it to just take care of expenses, just spending it will just lead us to where we're at today. So I think again we're here. This is where we're at. There are local local budgets that that have a lot to do with where we're at. So we'll just have to address it and work together to work our way out of it. Yes, some of the educators would say let's look at the factors behind these increases. Healthcare costs premiums skyrocketing. Also inflation inflation. So I mean even though it's a huge increase I think they probably feel like they're treading water. Yeah well 20% increase if that if that comes to be is just not something that's palatable. We just we just can't afford it. Without finding other ways to supplement that. What do we want to do without? And maybe those are discussions we have to have. But we have to live within our means because we're already spending a lot of money. How effective has act 46 been in your your mind? Being part of this as well as you know funding rural school districts as well which cost more of course to educate rural students. How effective do you think it's been since it passed? Five six. I forget how long ago, but um well I would I would leave it to the experts to decide whether it's been effective or not. Again I look at where we're at today and some of the same challenges are there and some of them are out of you know what we need is we need more people in the state. We need more taxpayers not more taxes. We need we need more kids to fill those schools. And that's where we're I think that's where we're missing it. And and again making it more expensive for people to live here and come here is not the solution. There a bit of a shift away from that but today Vermont's Vermont's criminal justice council is expected to make a decision regarding Sheriff John Grismore being able to continue practicing law enforcement in the state. Do you have any desired outcome from this? I mean you've said before that you wished he didn't run for the position after the incident at this point. Yeah I mean that's a decision they're going to have to make but and I made my my point early on I didn't think he should run but he did run and the people of of the county elected him. So they knew with their eyes wide open what they were getting. So it's that now it's up to the criminal justice board to determine whether he should continue to to be certified law enforcement but that doesn't preclude him from being sheriff. And on another side as well Montpelier's post office still remains closed. I mean repairs have been going on there in the state house different buildings across the city. Do you have any stance on potentially getting that post office back or a timeline for those offices? Yeah we we have nothing to do with that as a federal issue and I don't know how much to be honest with you and this is probably a better question for the federal delegation but I don't know how much work they're doing to the the building at this point. I don't know what their long-range plan is. We reached out to them and offered to help in any way we could with some of the buildings we have to to supplement or both be the short term long term needs and they weren't weren't interested in some of our solutions but maybe they will be still open to having conversations about what that could be. What does it tell you about your communication or even the congressional delegation's communication with the postal service? I mean they haven't even the postal service hasn't responded to the delegation's letter a month ago. Yeah I don't know there seem to be autonomous to everyone else and they don't seem to have to answer to anybody at this point. I don't know I mean it's a good question again another good question for the federal delegation I believe how they feel about it. Do you get the impression that they don't care? I don't I don't know what to make of it to be honest with you I mean this isn't some small town they just lost a few post office bosses this is their capital city I mean they should be paying attention to this I believe but they don't appear to be. I'd say in January first matter January and how has this been as a workspace for you guys? It's been great yeah no very fortunate to have it it's the our continual continuation of operations plan that we put forth was Suzanne Young that forced us to do it as secretary administration and it was flawless in some respects so this has been great space for us. It seems to be better than the civilian. You know there's a lot of there's a lot of attributes to this. Yeah no I enjoy actually being here so. Can you walk the work? I could. How much less in a way is the cash flow now that all the covid is gone away? Well now we have you know another round all the covid money is gone but then now we have more cash coming in and because of the the IRA and the BIL and all the other federal programs that have come in to be more infrastructure wise but that'll be circulating within the coffers and and that's one of the the bright spots for us as well that with the legislature we did coming to agreement on having match money for them for that those federal dollars and that's going to benefit us tremendously in the future as we try and ride this storm out over the next few years. Has there been any received drop now the way he's out there? I'm too early to tell but I'm sure there will be yes. I have a question about the state's high-tech operation. Every now and then thank you for reading articles that it's way way behind the Vermont is yes in tech and then just the last week there was an article about mental health for youth and the database was not working properly and that might have stopped. Well we've been on going problem for 10 or 15 years. Yeah well I would say the either DMV Department of Labor all those legacy projects the big ones have been on the radar for decades and now we're just getting to them so again the good news is we are in the initial phases of that DMV and labor so so that's good when I came into office we recognize the need for having an agency a new agency that will the legislature went along with us on to create the agency of digital services which has been tremendously helpful in in making sure that we have our thumb on those technical digital needs so it's been very effective and one of the highlights of of this administration. And you are the largest business in the state. Possibly sure probably. Employees and revenue and all that. Well yeah it's hard to look at it in terms of revenue but I don't think of ourselves as a business but we do employ a lot of people. We should run it more like a business maybe. I was wondering how you sort of view the republican presidential race at this point understanding how you feel about Donald Trump. Would it be helpful to win out this field down so there's one strong challenger to Trump? I think there will be eventually. Maybe maybe a point is maybe not soon enough. But but I think they're getting there. It seems as though it's coming down to it seems to me as though it would come down to maybe DeSantis and Haley and Christie maybe. Christie would be on the outside. I mean you've talked before about how important you feel it is that a governor be president right with that experience so you've got Haley DeSantis and Christie. Who do you like there? Who's your favorite there? Well I like I like Chris Christie for a lot of reasons but I like Nikki Haley as well. I know both of them and when I first became governor and both counseled with me so I know them better than the others. What do you like about her? I think her approach she is she's got a lot of compassion but she she's run a state so she understands you know how to balance the budget and how to make sure that economic development is on the forefront. But I can say that about Chris Christie as well that both both the same. Do you look at her as a more realistic candidate in winning? It's it's hard to say but I think she she has a lot of attributes and she certainly was on the the worldwide stage as well as the ambassador to the United Nations. I think that's helpful especially in these days. Have any of them asked for your endorsement? No I don't think they want to hurt their chances. Governor your DCF commissioner sent a letter to lawmakers asking them to once again not just pause but indefinitely pause the raise the age initiative. What's your assessment of how those reforms are going in and why pause? Well we've had concerns about the raise the age from the very beginning so we decided to move forward with that but but again we've asked for delays all on the way and I think it's appropriate not to move forward with that I think it'd be more helpful. I think we have to to rethink some of what we've done for the last two or three years and maybe bring back the pendulum towards the center. Public safety is a big big concern of mine and many others across Vermont. For you what's giving you pause? What's changed? Oh just the the amount of criminal activity we're seeing across the state across the country but across the state in particular. We thought we were some somehow insulated from all of that but a lot of it is due to drug drug trafficking and that seems to be the I would say the the core of of our issue. We can go to the phones we have Ed Barber New Court Daily Express. Can you hear me? We can. I only got about half of every word you said Ed so I hate to ask you this but can you try it again? Unless somebody else caught it in here. I think you were asking about the moratorium on evictions and I'm not sure of the status of that at this point and and how long that will will be in place but I'll get you the answer and get back to you. Okay the second class that related when the evictions depended started cons, allergy, and roughly 50 built in the parts of our housing. The Vermont Sheriff went to Vermont State Authority in which the lamp caused the formation to be able to qualify for a tenant to get a rent subsidy. In a year it could be their cons appropriated this program at but they had to through the federal program with it and then had to do paperwork. There's a little input that didn't get paid because the tenant wouldn't operate and I don't know how those lords can get their rent because some of them that I'm familiar with are not renting their apartments that should be available to the public. Yeah I don't know as I got the full breadth of your question Ed unfortunately but had to do with evictions again. I you know when you're going back to the pandemic I don't believe I think I believe that's all been lifted with the state of emergency that is no longer in place but in terms of if there are units that are not being utilized at this point due to some legal procedure we we definitely would be all years because we we have a shortage of housing as you know and we want to make sure that we're filling all those units we need more online we have the VHIP program that was was something that I had thought about early in when I became governor because I looked at all the homes in Barrie for instance all the beautiful Victorian homes and thought we should be utilizing them and and maybe putting accessory dwellings on them turning some into apartments and so forth and we should we the state should be be putting that forward that unfortunately the legislature didn't go along with that when I first proposed it but now it's it's working it's working well they did adopt it and and it's putting units back online for a fraction of the costs of new ones so if you have apartment house owners that need some help in putting those back online please please let us know and because we want the VHIP program sounds like it would be most useful to them and to us but I can if you can add if you can send us an email with your questions specifically so that we get exactly what you want from that perfect I would be so thank you thank you i see rebecca we'll reach out to you okay thank you thank you Tim McQuiston from our business magazine hi governor uh Betsy Bishop the president of Vermont chamber and asked that she is stepping down next year after serving for many years I was wondering if you had a comment about that you know I I that was news to me as well I had didn't I didn't hadn't heard anything about that before I read it yesterday unfortunate for the chamber she's been she's been great of a great addition to the economic future of Vermont she has all the credits that she worked with the administration during the Douglas administration she was deputy chief of staff I believe at that point she was Department of Labor so she she understands government I I don't know what's next for her maybe you could tell me but I but I don't know I haven't haven't spoken to her but I I owe her a call well it it does beg the question governor because um many people don't suggest that she should run for the job you currently have and you two are friends I think it's fair to say um so you know being a reporter we try and connect the dots that if you made a decision whether you're going to seek real action I have not I have not okay that's a pretty brief answer connect the dots here with the Betsy Bishop in here but all right thank you governor I appreciate it back to the room will you tell us when you do this night I will you mentioned flood recovery as one of the priorities for this session are you anticipating perhaps a package of one-time money to fill in gaps for communities residents we're still hoping we don't I still don't know as we um understand how much money is available uh through the federal government at this point in time so um we're hopeful there'll be one-time money for mitigation uh and uh and recovery so we're still Doug Farnham of course our chief recovery officer and and he's looking for every pot of money he can possibly find uh to help in that regard so um and we're in you know bigger projects like the the corridor from Barry to to Waterbury uh is something that I'm I'm interested in I think I could alleviate a lot of problems for Barry Montpelier and Waterbury in the future if we could expand the river corridor provide capacity for storage of storm water are you thinking of enlarging the river well it would be widening it yes um and providing providing relief there so that the we can we can store the again the high intensity rainstorm that comes and provide for a place for it to go you think about I mean we're still making decisions about central garage for instance uh whether we're going to rebuild there or we're going to vacate and maybe we return if we vacate maybe we return that into storage capacity there there are a number of areas along the river that I believe could be utilized um and use them for that for that storage bin so to speak I mean there's a proposal or an idea of maybe taking the state parking lots of downtown Montpelier making those all green space that that could work but but if they're low in their parking we just need the storage capacity so it doesn't again I'm no expert but but we just need places for the water to naturally go and overflow the banks and if they go on to a parking lot we can move cars out of the way not impact homes and and businesses that's great you know they and then we can clean them up after you mentioned not knowing at this point how much more money we're going to be able to get the feds what has communication awesome we have we've had a good rapport with FEMA the White House has been responsive but and the congressional delegation has been there with us along the way and we're hoping that there'll be some supplemental funding for some of those bigger projects like the very project that I talked about before and and there is some money that is there that that was appropriated in the supplemental bill quite a few months ago for FEMA and and whether any of that money could be utilized for some of the mitigation work we want it's just none known at this point but the delegation is working on that yeah because that was for the disaster relief funding at least my understanding is that that's more for acute needs not as much these long-term mitigation projects were you hoping for leeway well there's always those notwithstanding clauses that could be utilized with all the flood recovery work that the state needs to project for this year I'm wondering if there are other policy priorities that you think are going to need to take a backseat I'm thinking specifically of the legislature's appetite for a paid leave well we have the paid leave provision with the volunteer paid family leave that we put into place is working very very well and it's an avenue that they should they should consider I I don't believe there's the taxing capacity that they see for that I mean there is always taxing capacity but how much damage you do along the way is is of concern of mine so I think that that's one area that they should think about I've already said that what we have is going to work and it seems working for a lot of employers how is it where you like can you kind of lay out because it's been what like a year since that yeah I don't have all the facts and figures here but but I can get that for you or we can talk about it that view is subject in another press conference actually to tell you where we're at with that thank you Governor the sheriff's said that the last year's law was kind of a power grab by by the legislature and are you concerned that a an appointed criminal justice board decertifying an elected official is maybe an administrative infringement on local local elected rights yeah that's right along the edge because they're not really barring him from being a sheriff they're debarring that person from law enforcement ability right you don't have to be I don't believe maybe I should check with our general council first but I don't believe you have to have a law enforcement certification to be sheriff sort of like sitting in the legislature without actually getting the phone I think maybe that's not a great analogy but to have a sheriff who can't be who can't enforce the law himself as a police officer seems well although I mean you have they're like an administrator and they're there I I agree I mean it'd be preferable if they had their certification but I'm not sure that that that's where I'm not sure that it really is like unconstitutional because they're not throwing him out of office that would be something the the legislature would have to do great thank you all very much