 Good evening everybody and thank you for being here. Welcome to the Bill of Trustees meeting for Tuesday, February 11th Please stand and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance All right, do we have any agenda additions or changes for tonight? We do not but we also do not have an official minutes taker. So this Appreciate that and we've got channel 17 here to record it as well. So if there are any concerns, we can always go back So seeing as there are no agenda additions or changes, we can just move ahead without needing to approve the agenda And so now that brings ourselves to the moment of the meeting for a public to be heard So this is a moment of the meeting where if there is anybody in the public who wishes to speak to the board about something That is not on the agenda now is the time to do so if there's something that is on the agenda You wish to speak to there will be plenty of opportunities to do that when we get to that moment in time Is there anything anybody would like to discuss? Great Okay, so then that will bring So then that will bring us into the public hearing so item 5a I would open the public hearing for the fiscal year of 2021 budget and capital program budget Hi, Sarah. Hi So I'm gonna go over just some high-level points on the budget and then I'll take any questions And if there's anybody in the audience or on the board that like me to go deeper on to anything I'd be happy to do so it all this stuff for that so Overall the general fund budget is the general fund expenditure budget is increasing three point nine three percent over the FY 20 budget from five point one six million to five point three six million dollars because we're of other revenue sources and an anticipated slight increase in the grand list the tax appropriation is Increasing three point one nine percent and we expect that to be about a two and a quarter percent increase on the tax rate if the grand list Increase comes in as anticipated at about point nine percent driving factors in the increase are as usual mostly personnel related $84,000 we have an increase in paving over the prior year Although that gets paid for through a transfer from the town of Essex budgets that does not affect the tax levy We have an increase to professional and purchase services Buildings maintenance, and then we had a reduction in the amount of annual debt service And then planned increases in capital transfers Are there any questions on the general fund portion of the budget? The other funds that we have that we were talking about This evening, but don't get voted on by the voters annual meeting are the Recreation program fund and the water fund wastewater treatment facility fund the sanitation fund all of which are enterprise fund And they're self-supported by user fees Those are increasing all slightly on the water wastewater sanitation funds mostly as a result of planned increases to capital transfers Any questions on those we have a number of capital funds as well And a summary of some of the capital projects that we're planning to do in FY 21 Include the lamoille water line replacement project to get some existing debt payments We did move up the replacement of a sidewalk plow and rolling stock fund because the current one has experienced a number of critical failures this winter In the recreation capital, there was some planning plan for some equipment and resurfacing as well as some landscaping work And in the sanitation fund talked about some manhole rehab and pump station evaluations. Are there any questions on capital? Yeah, sir. It's a sort of related question I mean you may not be able to answer that the lamoille is the two is that there's also another piece to that Is there going to be a repair of Lamoille Street? I don't know about the timeline thing, but it'll be a water line replacement and repair of the street Which is why you see it in both the water capital fund and the capital rights of the fund Yes, we did the engineering this year. We are doing the water line and the street next year Any other updates from the capital committee? Any other updates on that from the capital committee? We had two new members and they jumped in and we had to do We did a reorganization of the Lamoille I did want to point out the slide that's shown on the screen right now, which is a pie graph Oh, I did it again this year. I didn't use to do the colors right so you can see it, but Um So if you something This is a pie chart of the segments of your taxes if you are a Resident in the village in the current year and what this shows is that the school tax rate is 64 percent of your total tax bill The town taxes are 22 percent and the village taxes are 14 percent I forgot to mention back here That we expect that this budget will increase the taxes on the average village home by about 20 dollars All right. I'd be happy to take any questions I feel like we've got a little bit of the inside track here with how much time has been spent on this Maybe for the viewers at home this process starts months back There are there's a day-long meeting with the board and the department heads Then there's more deliberation More questions more answers and then a final so If you're not hearing much right now, it's because it's been Covered ground over the last two months and the intent of this budget. It's not change anything It is not to provide a new service. It is not to cut a service It is to provide the exact same level of services we've enjoyed and had in this community for many years prior That's correct. There are no new positions Proposed there are no new Efforts of sharing or consolidation with the town or continuing the budget initiatives from the prior year This will be the first full year of recreation Co-location but really this is just The next year and the plan For the that's it for my presentation Are there any questions from anybody in the the public on the the budget or what has been presented? Or not been presented I'll just add and I I appreciate all the effort that you put into this sarah, and I know we we had some great adjustments I think we made some good compromises. So I had to say Just like to take a moment thank all the department heads and all the other staff that Work on this questions get things run at the ground Sharpen their pencils Including Brad who's here tonight in the back row Working on you know trying to keep the community as a you know a premier livable place for business and for So the only thing that I want to mention I've mentioned it other previous budget sessions With regards to the ejrp capital fund I just wanted to again bring up my concern around the electronic sign Not around the concept of the village having an electronic sign Simply around the placement of the electronic sign In that if the overall goal is to inform as many people as possible about recreation Then why would we limit it to one fifth of the number of cars that go through our community? Instead of bringing it into five corners where we then have all five fifths being able to see that According to the ccrpcs scoping study of the pressing connector During the morning peak traffic 700 cars go by maple street Approximately 2,500 2,700 go through five corners So we're excluding of the over 2000 people from being able to read that message by putting it in front of maple street park As opposed to bringing it here at five corners So again With how much time the board had spent in trying to whittle down the the budget Why would we expend the money to not reach the fullest potential? So we have this public hearing we have a public hearing at our next meeting at that time We don't I thought we had two public hearings We definitely do two for water rates because of our policy. Do we do two for the budget as well? I was only planning to do one because I'm going to be informed after our next meeting So But I can definitely look first thing in the morning and verify unless we need to do something about that So I say that in that we are not I was wrong. We are adopting the budget and cap a budget later Yeah, okay, I'd observe to Andrew that we had all day budget session We've had two other meetings where we altered the budget It's not as if we haven't Interacted with the public and been available and transferred about it. So I don't really Even if we work on improvement tonight, I wouldn't have a problem No, I think that that's fine and we can again this was the public hearing. We're not we're going to bring the budget back up again later on So again before I close the public hearing any comments from the public on the budget Okay, seeing none hearing none. I will go ahead and close the public hearing for the budget capital program budget Thank you all Which will bring us to business item 6a a presentation on hometown heroes banner program um, and I apologize is lana. Are you great? Thank you for being here As you feel free to come on up to the chairs that are Up and as you make your way up in terms of an introduction to this, I'll try to do my best Lana and I exchanged a couple of phone calls a few emails as this As you brought to my attention the potential of this hometown heroes banner program that exists in other communities I want to understand how it could happen here in sx junction and so I Turn it over to you to talk more about what we have So I appreciate that and Who is laying a night in life? The last time I was here this used to be the police department. So I'm glad to say I'm not here in that capacity anymore Why I was ever there before I won't bring that up. Mr. So organ raised in sx junction. Okay, so we're up here. My parents were very involved in the School board more than the town for or a village board. I apologize. I I live in a small Peru town So I I use the word town. I mean village. I apologize Also, when we go through this tonight, I'm going to use some incorrect verbiage Probably with the military because I was never in the military So I apologize. I had a time if I'm Miss classifying something but I hope you get my attention because I'm just a lazy person here My my quick biography 30 second synopsis I was born here as I said, I was Our first house was an orchard. Well past cadenac but then orchard terrace and then we went to the cul-de-sac part Of orchard terrace. So we've had well established roots here. I went to Hiawatha We were just passing some of the stream Then I went to Fleming for my fifth grade year when it was just the fifth graders there I went to ADL. I actually met Mr. Lawton and that's when I found out that like Something could be named after someone who's still alive. That was really interesting for me And I did actually graduate with pro-marital from Las Vegas Church in high school So I was in class of 1983. I um Wanted to show you my husband George Knight because 31 years ago today. We were married on St. Lawrence Church and Western This is He's like McDonald's and then what? Yeah, so I know I'm too young to get married that long. I get that too, right? I knew you were thinking that you just said so I do appreciate I do appreciate Andrew and I know that he's also good into my emails. I do appreciate that Um, what happened is I had moved over my husband had been taken the ferry We lived here our first house was in Milton when we after we got married had a child And uh when I stayed home with her He said, you know, can we just move over there because I'm taking this ferry and I'm losing all his family time and yeah So we established ourself over in life for New York And so that's where we had a second child and raised them And my daughter actually like to stay at Michael's college, of course Go So, um, we have a lot of background here. We keep coming back here We keep coming back here my father for years and years and years organized the memorial day parade and when Andrew was talking about Oh, oh my gosh, we have a memorial day parade. I'm like, tell me I kept finding reasons not to march in that and he kept finding reasons to try and get me too. So But but what struck me is I come from a little poorer section over in in new york There's um a stable forks. There's keysville. There's prunes not bad Platsburg, there's some smaller towns there. Let's just say that might not have the budget the others Towns have okay taekwondo roga, maybe very historic very beautiful very nice people They have this program where you drive down the road And I'm sure you've seen it all over the country too visiting but you might not be aware of it it has one of the points it out and You look up and you see On the telephone poles you see banners of service people And the people that are on those banners some have passed and some are still with us Uh, and so my thought was you know, it makes absolutely no sense that with this grounding of camp johnson The vermont military academy as a junior ROTC for pleasure. I mean what? Essex junction does not honor the veterans and that made no sense My father brought the moving wall from vietnam ice here at $10,000 expense. He fundraised and had that brought here And I remember reading the names my husband got Roped into reading the names and stuff. I say roped is our great pleasure a great honor, but you know It's amazing to me how many Families that's something like war and and keeping your country safe a fact that affects everybody Everybody who knows somebody somehow it was affected by it. So the point is that there's a program called Hometown heroes and our program and that's literally those tenants that are hung on those Well on those telephone poles and that's really what my hope here is I've gotten in touch with the company There's several different companies. I tried to find the most reasonable I tried to find the one that would be the most bang for your buck to put it But like because you can do it for as little as $40 or you do it for $400 So there was such a big disparage of difference. I tried to find out what the differences were Why would why would you buy this one instead of this one? Whatever My father did end up he was stationed at camp johnson did end up running the Vermont military academy My oldest brother Michael went to the Air Force academy and was a pilot and then was a navigator there Joseph went on to West Point and then he served over in a journey My punk-kinsister I call him punk-kinsister seven years younger than me Retired a major. I mean everybody in my family except me, you know I just was not that honorable and George and I like George had already been in because he's older than me by I bet He had been in and out of the Air Force and was in the guards and I was like wait Who are you tall dirt and your last name is so easy? I'm gonna I'll tell you one years later So because Benevento is not the easiest name. So anyway, that's my history here So what I have to say about the banner power program and we'll get on to the banner program The company I was looking at and dealing with back and forth is this uh, man named rick schneider his His company is Riley outdoors. Okay, and they do banners here. Just find anything that you want I mean grant no openings blah blah blah anything any kind of banner any kind of promotional thing that you want You want to promote that as extension exposition? Yeah, we can do that This is particularly their hometown Uh heroes program and there's many different versions of it and what I've managed to clean down I've set ahead and I'm not sure if you're looking at what I might have because I don't I do see it. Yeah, that does look like more now that I look at it. I'm gonna have a picture Okay, thank you. So, um So I really want to say just several things just quick bullet points And then we can kind of go through that really quickly. Okay, because this does not need to be dramatic It's I should bury you done I know that I'm going to show you the banner that I and this is not I'm I know I sound like I'm jumping ahead But I don't want to proceed until I've mentioned a couple of points. I guess that's what I need to say Okay, so there's some points that I really feel about this particular Banner to make their program to make it successful and stand out That I really want to put my foot down on if I have any choice to This is a sample banner right here. And I don't know who needs to see it, but it literally It literally has the service person It has their name has their branch of service and it says Um, yes, actually we thank you for your service. Okay That's vastly different than another Choice that you could make some quite a few of them say oh a village of us junction Um, blah, blah, blah, and then it'll tell me rank socially human Excelsior everything other people have sponsors and this kind of thing One of the things that I really liked was up here. You have hometown heroes written up here hometown heroes Okay, so that was one of my good points was that we're doing this not to promote the village We're doing this to promote the service people and what their their contributions So I would hope it would say hometown heroes at the top of the banner Um, it should have the service person's name and branch of service only no rank no lords and no dates Uh, I ran into the situation where I was reading this story and this lady said every time she went by The banner of her young son Was hanging she'd always cry but not in a good way. She felt very dishonored and I asked, you know myself Why don't you feel dishonored? Like this is important And it's because he died at 19 and only achieved the rank of sp I don't know what okay, but not a very high rank the a 19 year old would have achieved The very next banner you come to was, you know, colonel blah blah blah with four purple hearts and two, you know Rubens of and I'm not diminishing from the colon's achievements, but this woman said my son that could have been him He signed on the line the same exact way that the colonel did, you know He just was taken before his time and she felt really struck by that And so that stayed with me and I just wanted to bring that point up when we're trying to decide if you do decide to Move forward with this something to consider The portrait of the The soldier in uniform is beautiful. That's what we're doing here. That's what we're doing here I don't need names. I don't need rank. I don't understand it anyway It's a big cluster when I'm trying to drive quickly down a road And I only have a fraction of a second to take my eyes off the road and look up in glance and go, oh Oh, I don't want to read his biography, but do I can pull over put on my blinkers They flew pull over write down the person's name and look into it later, but All I really want to say is oh jeep james johnson. He was in the army. I recognized james I went to school with him graduate in my ear or maybe he's my friend's son, you know that blah blah blah And this is the most important we thank you for your service because so many of them I'm going to bring you some pricing and so many of them talk about Where you can have a sponsorship pay the thing where you if you campaign for yourself the veteran campaign the veterans family campaign Whatever, I have an alternative to that and what they do is they put their names there And so a few of the towns i've gone through like placid and several other places in new york It turns me off because you're just promoting the business. You're not promoting What we're here for where our focus should remain on the the service person the veteran whether alive or not In the way the focus should remain on them and not say, you know You know Lowes home improvement, you know or whatever. I can say that because that's where I work So I really feel that the focus should be honoring the military personnel and not the promotion of the village core of our sponsors So having said that I will Kind of be quiet about my opinion As to the banners themselves they come in many different sizes The one I have kind of brought it down to is a 30 by 60, which is like two and a half by five feet It runs roughly $200 for a two-year Lifespan on these banners They come with wind cuts in them. That's shipping and handling. That's hardware. That's absolutely everything you can think about including tax, okay That's a 200 out the door. It stays up for two years if you if the village wants it for two years Okay, it can go less, but they are fully colored on both sides So no matter what angle you're coming from it's front and back. Okay also One thing you can do is say you decide to adopt this for Memorial Day and you include it in prior your parade We decommission some after the first couple years have come down You decommission them at the beginning of one of these board meetings You call the families in and you you hand in their banners, you know, and it can be very quick very quiet But it could be very personal and important to a lot of these people So it's another one additional way of really honoring them by just saying, you know, thank you So it's like oh here come come get your banner. It's down to you know We'd love to have the ground on the library for you to pick up what you want Um So I really think that I haven't done this research. I can't see any of the pitfalls So I started digging in where there's gotta be pitfalls. There's gotta be pitfalls The only sticking point I could really find is two things One who wants to do the labor of putting them up. Okay, because that's not included in the price So I don't know It's like my little town of Perune or our people do it, but you're talking about 30 banners Uh, maybe you're talking about 30 banners here. I don't know. I know I alone could buy five of them And I prepped the old checkbooks to make sure I'd buy the first one if you do the doctor So that's who's going to install them and they do have an installation program So they will come it's called the white gloves program They will come the banner makers will come install it do everything and that's an additional charge, which I did not factor in Okay, so we can look into that if that's something you need to have happen But I did not so that's a sticking point is who's going to actually put them up There's really no maintenance to it other than if you have a nasty hurricane In which it can go up to about 78 miles an hour winds Before you'd have to repair anything they're on the metal ones and not on the wooden rods And so it really takes a lot to get those things to go down the colors don't fade we use they use really good pigment I make sure of it. They have to get that right in there uh, the second thing is that would be a A little bit of a drawback or a sticky sticky would get for people would be Where are you going to place them? Who is that place who I want that telephone pole I want that telephone pole So where we drive through there's this very well known man and this family's very very well known in keysville They're like you say their name and 10 in the roads have been named after them His is right in front of his store that he ran George Arnold store and you look up and you're like, oh Mr. Arnold, you know, and there's this store and there's this whatever wherever I don't know it gets really tricky there. That's the most conversation I see about these things is how do you do it? So like quite a few have adopted a library system So first come first serve is one way and that increases your chances of people wanting to sign up quicker Because they don't want to wait and lose that spot. But again, it comes up again in two years Okay, so if I have a spot on a pole for my dad, let's just say and I really liked it I'm going to renew it for another two years and buy a brand new replacement banner Okay, so every year they're not allowed to fade it. You don't have the same one eight years Running every two years that must be replaced. You can run the same picture of course You're on the same verbiage that whole thing But the damaged themselves say chris nice clean All everybody all in a row across the board. Okay, so they don't turn pink and light purple and everybody else has that really bright blue and red So so as far as I you'd have to figure out if you want to do the lottery system Where you just draw names out of a hat if you if you don't mind honoring people I'm putting it in front of a well-known establishment. I don't know, but I've just been telling you that's right I saw okay, and that's for your committee or whoever to decide Um This is open to any active military honorably discharged veterans killed in action How uh, I'm sorry prisoner of war missing in action It chokes me up to think about this terrible and you must have established roots and that's extension. Okay, obviously That's why it's the hometown the purpose is to um regardless of rank and awards achieved So that's why I again. I'm going to reiterate just name Name of branches services so plenty. You don't understand. It's very important especially for that woman said that You do not have to take this on yourself as a village for you can certainly have American Legion involved in this you can have the veterans of far more I know that's how my father got quite a bit of moving wall support, you know And and there's so many people that want in on this if they only knew about it, you know We have some powerful people that are aging and they're in these clubs, right? And they just still have so much life left to do they want a project they want something that's going to Oh my gosh, you know or honor their buddies or you know, there's just people that have a lot of passion behind them So it doesn't have to take away from you and add be an extra burden for us. That's what I mean It's not necessarily a burden for us. It's you know, okay. Thank you Camera that one. Okay Also, I do believe the garbage should be identical from one banner to the next You have the flexibility of it not being but I've seen photographs just based up my own personal opinion See photographs that it just is so chaotic. You don't even get the cohesion that you're looking for So in my mind, it's not even an option to do it where one one is done like, you know This one and then one is done like this and the one's done like this. You really should adopt one Main banner and stick to that In my opinion, but again, that's just that You must order these 10 banners Measurements are in inches. So as I said, it's 30 by 60 is the one I particularly like I think it's good They say visible It's sturdy It was everything you wanted anything smaller than you you're not it's kind of pointless because then they get too small You can't look the size of the map. You know, but what's not you know, you're in a car. You're driving You have a brief period of time to look at it. So Um, they're like I said, they're Uh That's good for me because we're almost done with me. Um Another thing is is the pricing. So I want to get back to the pricing a bit before we go too far You can you should only display one service personally at a time meaning Let's use that You know, we don't want down in this poll this poll this poll buy buy five different family members Okay, so really if Vincent Benavento is going to be on there Let's just have Vincent Benavento be on there one time and then you know Another two person on the next poll another service person because it's not a popularity contest We're not here to do that. Not here to say. Oh is so beloved They're all beloved and they're all sheriff and some of them don't have families to carry this on So when I was doing my pricing So the way I worked my pricing was there's four ways to purchase one One is you purchase by the veteran And or the veteran's family member Okay The second one is you you purchase it for a specific veteran. So say maybe I had nobody in the service But I just I've always loved my neighbor and I think bill smith would be fabulous, you know How to fault that'd be great. So I could buy one in my neighborhood Okay, the third of them is there can be strictly just people that have a little bit of extra money And they like to give to the humane society and they like to give to the smith society And of course, I even give to them off the bed ask my sister They're getting out of there alive with her. So, you know, she runs by does the 140 mile bike ride every year or whatever so So there are people that will give even if they don't have a direct connection is my point. Okay Hopefully I said that correctly and the third one is you can purchase one for a specific veteran But add the additional $50 donation. Okay. So 30 by 60 banner is 110 Metal pole with mounting and hardware 79 wind cuts are $5. You should be handling people $200 A 30 by 60 banner metal pole hardware hardware plus a $50 donation is $250 The $50 would go into a fund for people that are not sponsored and so why $50 or $50 or $50 sponsors another Banner So I uh, I asked around a little bit To get a feel of does the 200 mark sound like it's reasonable and I can tell you The communities around me are not rolling in dough and they thought it was beautiful for a two year period Quite a few. I was a little bit shocked to find out quite a few Put it in there and then they only allow them to go from Memorial Day to Veterans Day And then they take them down and they and they still charge the $200. So I was like Why? I mean are there that many Veterans that you or or service people or whatever missing in actions that you want to cover? Look in you just need to rotate them more and they were just like no, they just didn't hold up. So they just didn't choose Correctly. So so they'll and and they don't they don't keep them up year round You know, they want their Christmas decorations and okay. I got that too. That might be something I don't think about too I don't know. I we personally are able to accommodate both of them It's not an issue though. Tell them polls quite well. So it's not an issue where we are But for some people, um, you know 200 dollars to have it for a few months might be a little tight I mean, I'd be like, oh, okay, but You know, but to have a two-year thing is a beautiful It was a beautiful thought and I do really like the idea of how one person is the word They decommission the banners to me. That was really that was beautiful beautiful words. That's not my words That's somebody else's they really liked it only two things are involved in being developed One would be an information sheet for the public and you would just literally outline everything you wanted to on the information sheet itself Um, as far as you know, the requirements what the cost would be that kind of thing in the third and second thing is an actual application so there's just two things here's the pressure And there's the actual application And then whoever most of them it just says make checks pay this one for example happens to be transferred to new york Make checks payable to the town of batsburg at such-and-such place, whatever whatever and they just have a separate account for that Thank you, we appreciate it very much appreciate all the research you've done into this Is that's one of the things that helps to make things happen a little faster Is one someone else can do the research and help give us a good starting place so we really Well, I you and you said something about Having roots in s6 junction or s6 town the community town I guess we're building not just a village but What establishes roots? I mean it is as you know as a military person that people Are constantly moving you know when you're a military you're you live in a bunch of different places so you get roots in many places and So, you know if he was born raised here, but then he you know, or she moved to say Alaska or new york, you know somewhere in here So they put a banner up there and we put a banner up here, but then just and the other thing is getting to know The people that don't necessarily have family here how far back do you go because I mean I know of Something I'm very passionate about is markers on gravestones and such and this spot on the interstate here where there's a there's a Revolutionary war Veteran who was a prisoner of great britain and it's off the interstate here There's no way to access that cemetery where that's located you're off 89 That's a trooper. I was able to go down there and see it But it's something to fall upon but anyhow How do you find out the past you go to the military and say who served back in civil war? Who was it you know to get all that obviously you're not going to get pictures necessarily Do you go do you put some up without pictures? What are you not to interrupt you dan? And I love that because that was excellent but thank you for that um that's actually One thing I like about my approach is I don't split hairs. I mean I don't split hairs. We're honoring military Personnel if they're there they're in uniform. They signed on a dotted line somewhere and they've served somewhere That's good enough for me As far as could they be in a banner in in plazburg alaska and here? Why not? Does it take away from them in any respect? No, I don't want ten a woman a row of him here You know or in alaska. Maybe they do I don't know but i'm just saying that that's fine As far as proof to their military service You're going to there are some records and there are if you do Agree to the program your veterans of foreign war and your american legion will be able to verify everything that you need Camp johnson will but I know the veterans of foreign war you walk right up to say Can you verify these and they do all the work for you? That has nothing to do with you whatsoever you submit a list of names they handle finding out if it was correct or not Nine times out of probably nine nine times out of a hundred That's generally not an issue unless you've had families that were few And that is the only time but not honestly. I read one obscure like When this program started in the 80s, you know, or they they fought the family fought because they wanted it by the little Homestead, but again that that goes back to the location of it They wanted by the original homestead where the family was and somebody else wanted it So did that answer what about picture you said everything here has a picture I'm saying you're back so many people when they and I have photos of so you just turn up their photos as well So whatever you have that that would serve as an image for that For example, you could you could have a photographer. You can go off my phone's an incredible phone You just go out to the beautiful picture of that memorial that we can't go up and see and you could put that there Absolutely. It's anything representative of that person It would be wonderful. You know anything that anything. Thanks. Yeah, right. Okay, quick a few questions So I apologize in advance. How big are our current banners? I don't know. Which banners are you? The ones that currently hang on the poles. They're not this big. I don't think they're no They're like two feet by one foot. I think this is two and a half. Oh, they're bigger. They're bigger than George They're bigger than that. I don't think so. I wouldn't want to see them. They're they're not Maybe five feet long, but you'd be surprised, you know, when you from the distance When she's talking about it, it's deceiving. It's the distance because everything that size You would not be able to get anything on there. I want to match them. Yeah Because I want cohesion cohesion throughout the village Um, I do feel like two years is too long. I'm thinking You know A we need to be able to Respond to other groups when they come and say we want to also now look what we're doing We want to also perhaps put something up. So if we come into two years on these then we're sort of stuck for space I'm for the period around Memorial Day. Maybe six to three months from our Memorial Day I'm not firm on that. Um, I'm also would consider doing something Around Memorial Park we have right over there Veterans Memorial Park at Bicorners Have you I guess I'm confused on who runs the program So that's up to the point to decide So are you asking that the village Staff take this project on the village takes us on? I don't know. It's handled Any different in in Plattsburgh. It's held by just a person that happens to work with a town in Plattsburgh It's just an additional duty. She does and she doesn't mind it. She's considered her donation of time But yeah, it can it's successfully be run through the lion's club the Kiwanis can take it on School groups my husband was mentioning there's some school groups and organizations after school clubs. There's many different You know young and up-and-coming people. There's retired people that would love to do this It's not an additional thing that you need to take on because Like you just said I put together so many budgets I know how many hours go into these things that we're not seeing that you bring to the table So trust me. I know So If I may just jump in on that one of the reasons why Timing was terrible one of the reasons I had asked for Brad to come in Is to also talk about what is the role of the Morial Day Parade Planning Committee? As the committee has representation from many of the organizations that are listed in here And so if there is a way that we can have that kind of a collaboration As there are certain levels of decision making that I don't believe our board needs to be involved in Nor is it necessarily our expertise whereas having people from the Morial Day Parade Committee Helping to take some of that on I think it'd be beneficial. I I agree with that and I Part of my concern is we have an awful lot of um We have an awful lot now of decorative black light bulbs in town and we have an awful lot of veterans Great seeing that is actually a good point. We had so few but that's why the two year Yeah Yeah, my worry is that that all of our avenues are going to be lined eventually with these only Not that that's not relevant and valid and wonderful, but It doesn't leave If we don't have some kind of rubric around how it works and some perhaps an update to say or limits, but limits or How how they go up and come down and that potentially could be all we have on on the polls Um, and I don't think that they're big enough for two things. We don't have the telephone poles necessarily We have these black decorative ones. They only have one space So I would love to yeah, I would love to hear what if if I didn't realize that was white brown Sure, but we'd love to hear what what he thinks about it If he wants to take on President that's going on sure We just put digital Um, I mean, I would take, you know, the world a pretty committee only meets For five months of the year. So it's not a year round committee I'm not sure that committee has the capacity to take something like that on I think it's You know, if we set up a system like she said where there's a brochure and application And we all agree on criteria. It's certainly something our office couldn't administer Uh, I would defer to Evan. I would say we would administer like take the paperwork order the banner I would I would ask that Ricky be the one to hang up the banners Because they do that already And so I you know we could have a conversation either now or another time about certainly it's Possible to do this, you know, if you want to talk about limiting it We have grand marshals in the parade every year. So it could be the parade grand marshals are the ones who are featured As you know, and that would limit we usually only have you know up to three grand marshals The community can nominate grand marshals. So if there were people who are passionate about somebody being a grand marshal They have the ability to do that and the only parade committee selects those grand marshals That was just wine. Yeah, so in terms of like keeping to a manageable number That would be a possibility Certainly feel like three would be a lot fewer than I when I was talking about I mean, I was thinking more a higher number than that But that was the other so you guys feel like you feel like your office is set up to deal with that Yeah, administratively certain like If working with public works, you know, I make that happen again under whatever criteria if it's three or 12 or they are up for three months Or six months or two years And I just like to interject it doesn't have to be right from the five corners out I mean you can start at the fairgrounds in one long way. You can start at maple street and pick up down by the school Whatever it out that way, okay It doesn't have to be a big cluster in here where there's already a lot of stuff going on Where you have the fancy light poles where you have the really nice marble curbs you know or granite curbs, so You could limit it to say 50, you know, outlying every year and then pool to 50. I don't know you'd be surprised at Like you drive down the road and you're like I just passed seven Like you don't even realize like how quickly they just drive right by so I mean two would go by like this and I don't why I would not notice it So it's it makes a statement when you see The commitment of you're on some of these outlying ropes and you're going down a rope that you know Not this part of Perl Street, obviously, but more toward like the end of Something and you're still seeing this beautiful honor. You know, I mean, it's not necessarily just right here at two Lincoln I know But no, I just to say I'm familiar with ones in ticonderoga and I've been through there I mentioned it to the board after you sent a second response in fact Last year and uh, no, I think it's it's beautiful down there. I mentioned the board And those I assume they must be about 30 by 60. I assume That's what he said was there No, they're nice and but like Like roger saying the poles here are shorter within you know, the confines of the village center Maybe on the outskirts or even into the town I mean it's something the village is addressing But this is something we could talk at a joint meeting with the town because it doesn't have to just be in the village center It can be all that up through by group 15 by the town center or like she said, yeah all over right I mean people don't just live right here through the right corners when we use the circumferential highway I mean my you know what I'm saying when when I go wasn't my dad now. He's on you know river I don't go through here. You know the only thing that might be a problem is that within the village, I mean The public works for the town the village maintains certain roads and corridors And a response for doing things once you get out into the highways that are maintained by the state of mont I've heard of those roads are a stopping cloud. Yeah An old stage out there in that little Well, anyway, it was just an idea to throw out there I mean, I'm I certainly don't have all the answers. I really don't but I do know that there's you know Quite a few military people that might be willing to step up Like I said some returning people maybe some younger club members need to earn their hours for for college You know papers or whatever. I have I have two kids that just you know, they're in their 20s, so they did all the college stuff and that's it's an interesting unique thing I know the Boy Scouts of America my brothers were both, you know In my all of them were involved in you know of Boy Scouts and stuff they can take that I mean Girl Scouts This is not something you have to do one more thing for your list because your list is not long enough I'm sure, you know And uh, I don't feel like it. I'm just presenting them and realize it's a powerful statement that you're making as a Concerted effort to say look it We're doing this because gosh darn it. Thank you We sort of pledge allegiance when we came in here today and there's a reason to set that And so I hope that one of the things you do take away from this is not any kind of judgment Not any kind of judgment not any kind of Not wanting to do this but rather there are clearly some things that we need to define There are some processes we need to figure out so that way when you do write the check We know where it goes that it gets put to the right place Then we get spent in the right manner, especially since we have our auditor here to question us Um, Evan So If the board is of a mind that they're interested in this I would suggest You instruct me to get some staff together. I have several questions about The types of polls where they might go so I would come back to you I just had this conversation with ricky about Christmas Um, and holiday displays And one of our problems is How much they overhang or where they overhang into the street? So I'm not saying we're against this I'm just saying back to the comment Certain polls and certain things and what kinds of brackets. They're not the only ones who make these but I would want to see a bracket And probably ricky too and whatever take to do these things Um, but if if the board is of a mind for us to at least look at it Brad is still here bad and I and others can get together and start discussing a idea of a plan and then maybe we can we have a very active EFW Locally and others maybe we can partner but But just I need to know if you're interested and if not we if so we'll come back if not. We thank you And before we get to that point, I know there's another question out in the audience I want to make sure that if there are other questions Sarah still Name the Boy Scouts gotcha when you were looking for groups So any other questions? Do we have a policy on Who and how other groups wanting to hang things on the polls how that works We did a great question now as if we're not gonna we're gonna do this We should have a policy on how we've been other groups and come up with a way got a long one What a way to deal with other questions because they will come in And other people want to be honored or other messages who want to put up And I'd also like to make sure organization is betting the suggested veterans who grew up for post discharge Information to make sure it's someone we want to feature I hate to say that but coming from my news background Yeah, people's lives are long and many events happen and I hate to put somebody on the poll that you find out Right, and then I was being a little casual about that and that's true. That's how I thought There is a I maintain the reference to being different multiple places. That's more what I was referring to There's a very clear strength value policy to adapt And I didn't delve into it Every little detail about it. But And they did say they did keep going back to You have to write to the freedom of information act And so because of that without filing foils You have that still right and so you can go through the either the veterans of american region and they can Find out the information for you much much quicker like right away Your suggestion wasn't just for veterans. You said an active dude So yeah, so I mean it's so when you're I agree with raj, you know, there's many things that can go on somebody's career Or so then it's like you put something up and then you take it down because And it doesn't have to be something that occurred Tied to the service but maybe in Some other thing in a criminal activity or some kind of legal activity, you know here and it or somewhere else Right, I mean, that's true. I mean this one very there's So there's one place in Ohio and I did one in Idaho That said you had to be passed you had to have passed and there's only in honor of you know in memory of means versus in honor So that's why I didn't even use the verbiage in honor of or in memory of Sort of either or and some and like I said we came from a smaller place where they didn't have enough Didn't have people to fill the polls if they didn't include those you have a plethora People so you might want to be able to draw that so I mean the one in Idaho they ended up just saying You have to be Interred, you know or You know No, thank you very much Do appreciate it. Thank you. And so I think the sentiment of the board I don't believe we necessarily the motion for this was to please go ahead and explore and come back With some additional information so that way we can get this process started. Yes Thank you for all the research you've done and I hope you enjoy the rest of your anniversary No drive-thrus I just want to let you know that It's a rule Well, thank you again And brad, thank you as well. Thanks brad And so that will bring us to agenda items 6b for the presentation of the audit report zero Yes. All right, everybody. So I'm going to invite bill Kaiser up Bill is our lead auditor on our audit this year and he's uh with cattel break it in sergeant Um, I go in the past year. She's seen kasey and she's cycled out So we love she and she left it all for you Um, I'm gonna let Bill just take it away Yeah, so The village of s6 junction we did the june 30 2019 audit and I'm happy to report we issued an unqualified opinion The one thing I did want to mention is that it was a year transition from the village and the town as well with right lauren moving on and Sarah having a new staff in cordy bushy coming on Overall on our end. I know there was eight months of transition or 10 months of transition leading up to that Before we got here, but as expected the audit overall was Very clean nothing unusual from prior years. So um The process the it was a seamless transition overall Uh on sarah's part. I know lauren was still there to help out Every once in a while, which we were thankful for that as well um, there was a single audit uh for the village This year a single audit is required for federal expenditures greater than 750 thousand dollars And that was obviously because of the crescent connector pearl street linking in the previous year um In the for the single audit we noted no significant deficiencies Or material weaknesses surrounding the village's internal controls Um, which obviously is a good thing because of the single audit We have to in all throughout all of our audit testing Check the internal controls are being properly followed Most notably around payroll Uh cash disbursements cash receipts areas of that nature and of the items we tested We did not document any weaknesses in those areas um There were also no financial statement findings or findings related to Expenditures being reimbursed that weren't available for reimbursement Um through the grants and I know you guys have an engineering firm that helps out with that And that that process is obviously working out Into the financials the financial statements start with the mdna which is a comparison of um 2018 to 2019 it gives the management of the village a chance to Describe the different funds that are reported in the financials There's no significant changes In there this year to report Then the government wide financials I know before I got here you were discussing the difference between government wide financials and fund financials The government wide financials are more of an accrual basis financial statement What you would see in a regular for-profit business most frequently um the largest number in the Government wide financials is the net investment capital assets. This looks like an equity figure However, it's 19.5 million dollars in the general fund and just Seven and a half in the business funds These are funds that aren't available to be spent there. It's the gross fixed out of the net fixed assets less all the debt The available for spending is down in the unrestricted portion Um on the town around the village. Sorry. It was an increase of 1.1 million in uh 2019 for the general fund and of small loss and the proprietary funds which are Water sewer or water wastewater sanitation and rack Um, another thing I wanted to know the village obviously does not have any cash on its books The cash is all held by the town of Essex There is a large due to do from a five and a half million dollars the town I don't know how Much how often you track the town and their financial position But they do have that cash available if the two were to split Um, that cash would be able to be paid back rather than having it alone Everyone down there And there is also a there's interest being earned on that money Um, that's always one of the things if this cash isn't yours or you not But it's being held by somebody else. Obviously you're earning interest on it and you want to make sure you are collecting that and There is an interest income allocated to the village Likewise the town collects for the last three or four years now the town collects all the property tax revenues For the village there are accounts receivable on the village for various grants And the village Still maintains all of its accounts receivable for water and sewer and sanitation Um, as well as unbilled revenues. So that's why you will see a large accounts receivable balance under the column for business type activities Uh, the fund financial statements, which as trustees you're more used to looking at because that's what you form your budgets off of For each fiscal year Those are considered the modified accrual Financials and more of a cash basis look at how Operations are throughout the year Because there are no accounts receivable we they have 60 day cash collection reserves On property taxes. There's no need for that in the village All the like I said all the taxes are being collected by the town There are the equity restrictions is probably the most important piece to you as well as a voter On this balance sheet There's non-spendable restricted committed assigned and unassigned and there's a footnote laying out What all those figures are reserved for? On pages 28 and 29 in the footnotes The village does have a maximum unassigned fund balance policy of 10 percent And of budgeted expenditures and that figure at june 30 2019 is right at 9 percent So you are within the line guidelines of that policy Uh, then there's the proprietary fund financial statement, which is a breakout of Water sanitation wastewater and the rec department, which came on board for june 30 2018 Um business type funds are meant to be self-sustaining In 2019 the water fund Showed a profit a net profit overall Sanitation and wastewater showed losses And then the rec department also showed income for the year the While there are losses in 2019 And there was income reported in 2018 for sanitation and wastewater The two years comparably for operations are very similar In 2018 the only difference was there were some capital contributions that were Some infrastructure that was basically given to the village from an area developer that pushed Forced income onto the financial statement So it wasn't really a cash resource that was coming in showing that income. It was more infrastructure being donated And this year there is also a loss of an disposal of an asset in the wastewater fund that you'll notice for 70 000 dollars, which is increasing that Loss a little bit more than may have been budgeted The footnotes that The footnotes just tie out the information in the financial statements for the first time in a few years We didn't have any new footnotes that were required Um for governmental financial reporting, which is a good thing as accountants Um, but everything is laid out in the within the footnotes as far as uh, all the debt The debt service that the village has um for all the future years capital assets, um, like I said the fund balance restrictions things of that nature Uh, then we have the required supplementary information Which gives you as well as the town or the village for uh, village meeting day um an idea of It shows the budget that was voted on as well as how each department performed within that budget um And this year there was a debt Funds were over expended. It looks as if it was that was the case of 67 000 dollars However, that over expenditure was made up by previous years Committed in assigned resources So it wasn't that you went over budget in that area those funds were just committed from previous years So it was more anticipated Um, and then there's the other supplementary information consistent with prior years We have the non-major funds on the fund financial statements And it's just a combining schedule of what makes up those smaller funds within the financial statements Um, nothing out of the ordinary That's all I have for it Well, thank you. Um, I have a couple of questions. I have to board doesn't mind So we talked you talked about how we had the policy of a 10 percent unassigned fund balance In your opinion, what do you what do you think of 10 percent? Is that enough? Is it not enough? Is it too much or You know, I I think that 10 percent is a good number. It really depends on the financial strength You don't want to go too far with it, um It gives the trustees more leverage to commit various funds to put options out there for the board Uh, you don't want to run into if you have a down here Um, because anything can cause that you don't want to run into an issue where you have a deficit in your unassigned fund balance Which is possible. Uh, right now 450,000 Dollars roughly that is healthy and you've got plenty of funds set aside for future years use um If you were going to increase that figure it may take away from one year Not being able to hold property tax rates flat and committing a fund for a budgeted loss in a future year Um, over 10 percent is typically what you see in municipalities that do have that policy There are some municipalities that don't have that policy at all But it's certainly at this discretion of the board of trustees Um, my last question Given how complex our relationship is with the town With the sharing of services with the consolidation efforts that we've had This of course our staff is doing a fantastic job. Does that open up any concerns for additional risk or any additional Red flags in your mind and or does it make audits like this more difficult? um In some areas more difficult in some areas More streamlined All checks are cut out of one account. So we're able to do accounts payable testing things like that um In one out of one checking account where the risk is is a check being expensed to the town that was actually meant for the Village or vice versa things like that property taxes same idea When we do our audit though one of our responsibilities as auditors is to make sure that those expenditures are meant for the purposes of the village or the town Obviously, it's not something we do every day because This is a special situation um But yeah, there is an added risk. However, we haven't noted any of those issues one thing we did see this year and I think it would have happened um regardless is uh the water district had a metering issue where $28,000 of water was built To the town instead of the village the town paid for it And while we were doing our line loss calculator lost calculations on the town We noticed a huge discrepancy where it looked like the town lost a ton of water. That wasn't sold And that the village made water. Yeah, exactly. Yeah Exactly the village produced water That kind of made the circle back easier We had that issue sarah worked with the um water district and they were able to find the discrepancy in the meter Ended up having it was an issue that was corrected on there and in march Or may I believe and it was just never never reported to the town or the village So there are issues like that. But again, I think because of that line having a meter issue. It would have happened regardless right But yes, there is a risk involved and it's on the administration and the management to But certainly in the long range Being together is something that would help to alleviate any kind of risks like that as there would just be one. Absolutely. It would be great Yes, it would be one true financial statement. Yes, if I could add because we use the same software and the same process village to town and creating a Chain of who supervises the approval Of certain activities We go through multiple layers of people who have to prove it and it's done Electronically it's the same process And the other thing that we instituted was we have electronic Everything is electronic now or almost everything about everything invoices. Yeah, so everything is electronic and kept No more files. No more of this that or the other thing So when we do our audit, they can even grab something from us. I believe it's remotely They have their own log in to look at the invoices. So we so we we are standardizing our process So one day If we do merge that process does not change at all other than maybe Who is the approver? And they count numbers And on management and that's one of the easier things is all the invoices for example are marked As received and they're all coated with the gl so when you're going through the check warrants and revealing the invoices and matching them up The village is a 200 level gl code and the town isn't one So if you see a discrepancy there, that's an easy way to just simply identify That something might not be coded to the correct place Are there board members? I guess this is not really so much a question. You're probably not a specific question You can answer but I just wanted to get feedback here. And by the way, I really love It's like this is like an alternative Version of the budget and I love looking at it this way. It's like looking at the bones of the budget We look at the at the skin and the hair and they're looking at the bones And it's an interesting way to look at the whole thing But I'm interested just in our recreation, you know the enterprise funds are what you call the business funds For sanitation sewer They're pretty they're pretty locked down in terms of you know the water we sell the water the water comes back in and we know that That money is going to come here But the recreation Issue is interesting to me because even though we're not making a profit We're actually running a fairly good size little business In a sense and in some speculation we're anticipating or the rec department is anticipating Is you know two million dollars worth of financial activity and what happens if it if you know We do everything gets set up and then whole bunch of rain happens that year and a lot of programs get you know So i'm just interesting. Are there any sort of? Warning systems in terms of percentage of your total budget that you don't you don't want to get too far ahead of yourself Have you anything any thoughts about that? I don't have any thoughts For that directly, however, I feel like a lot of the recreational programs There are there is a setup time, but there's also the fee directly the cost directly associated to those events that would get cancelled So if there was some like a complete washout, you don't have those expenses offsetting those lost revenues So yeah, it is hard to make a budget on something that Like leagues and things like that participation It's hard to so it all it really depends on participation being the driving factor in my ejrp And yet we do have a positive fund One of the reasons for that is exactly that Every year you have winners and losers in programs Some go fabulously well and make a few extra dollars than what you thought Some did not do so well And you have a fund that allows you to try new things upgrade equipment Take care of some of our properties that the programs are run out of so that we're able to bounce Yeah, no, it goes smoothly. I mean, it's just like a wonderful little machine If you're ever concerned, you know, we're whistling along and thinking this is fabulous And there's something we know. Oh, we didn't think about that. Yeah, and all of a sudden we're out 100,000 It's not a voted budget The Rep department, I would imagine is the department that sets the fees for the events. So After what if there was a loss here, you can look back and say where do we need to increase fees? Where did we go wrong? Like Evan was just saying There is a hundred and fifty thousand dollars available to to lose Um There is room, um, but Not all at once Okay, I'll just just get something. Thank you A lot of times all every year you guys talk to us about fraud And and and the the possibility of it. Do we know of anything? So what I was going to ask you is when you are doing this, how do we rate in our processes? Because it's very important Yeah, that we have public confidence That the monies that are coming in are spent correctly and they're all there They're supposed to be there So every auditor will say that the purpose of the audit is not to prevent against fraud However, the part of the internal controls that we review Making sure of the same person that's not recording invoices signing signing checks. There are controls in place With the experience of both Sarah and Courtney and likewise last year was Sarah and Lauren As well as the finance department and the trustees and directors and involvements Um, I would say yes the controls are in place to prevent some of the embezzlement cases that you see really throughout vermont even, um It unfortunately it is a frequent event a frequent issue Um, I would say the controls are in place If we did come across something that where we could see a loophole We would recommend it and we haven't made a such a recommendation I think when lauren first came on with the town we went through some controls with her and dubfisher And they there were some changes made. Uh, that was also at the same time as the merger plans starting to take effect Um, thanks, but yes, sorry. I appreciate it Board members have any other questions? Sarah is there anything that you would like to add two things? I just want to pick up on this conversation and talking about internal controls the way we look at it In in finance and Courtney and I have worked together, you know back in saint alvin's and now here There is no one person who could steal money and cover it up That's the basis of all the controls If you have the Password authority or you're in charge of the whole process. That's a problem. So we make sure that no one person could steal money and cover it up Right, so there are people who handle cash Could cash go missing? Sure it could has it no because then there's a secondary control making sure everything is where it should be The finance department also does not handle cash Ask anybody in the finance department to man the window and you'll see everyone get really squirreling like oh no, we don't As finance people we don't like cash Don't get that near us. So we reconcile things on the back end. We manage the funds also with any of I know recently in in norwich. There was wire Transfer, I don't even know. Do you even call that fraud? It was a you know, they got tricked It wasn't you know, it wasn't really theft, but sure. Okay By the employee, right, right. They were duped We do not there are dual controls at our bank So no one person can like upload a transaction and then initiate it So you have to have two people involved in order to get on banking side So we take this very seriously And we look through this lens often and we we have a robust enough staff So that you were really lucky in that that we have enough redundancy to to take care of some of these segregation of duties issues that in a small staff might be difficult to do The second thing I want to add is I love George that you said this is like the alternative budget because in my world The budget is like the alternative financial statement like when you prep because for me This is where it's at. This is my absolute favorite thing I love the audit I think Sullivan Powers would Would like confirm that as well Without me, but this like we work so hard all year long and at the end of you know To make sure things are expensive in the right place and to reconcile accounts monthly I just went through both general funds budget budget to actual year-to-date and I looked at anything that's odd I made just a couple reclassifications, which I was really pleased about But then we put together all these awesome spreadsheets So we reconcile the numbers and we do a reasonable disc check and then these guys come in they find like the 10 big things We missed the first day, but they're really nice about it And putting it all together and these beautiful financial statements Is just like the highlight of my year every year. So I really appreciate you all taking the time to invite bill in to hear about it and You know perusing them even if you were bribed with chocolate this year. Would you do this for free your job? Would I do it for free if I had another source of income? Yeah, I love this job. I love this work Yeah, yeah, I actually would what I would so when you win the lottery will call you in Call me. Yeah, when I win when I win the lottery what I want to do is go like town to town and see how everyone does their focus Yeah Question for sarah the whole thing that you're talking about doing the audience enjoying it now When we were going over the budget the alternative you were talking about The computer system that you were the program that you want so that'll make it even easier, right? Yeah, I think that that is really gonna tie together. I'm getting I'm just so excited you guys I really think that so I'm just gonna cut loose I think that that is the missing link between the budget and this and how do we then look at the budget compared to financial statements And see how do we get here from there? I can show you how we got here from there, but it would take a lot of time and effort and there's just some disconnect No, stop it. This is just You know, it's excitement. This is you know Yeah, yes, so I'm I'm very excited about that. I think that that's gonna be the missing link Finishing me. So still my favorite though Well, I really appreciate the time and effort the energy that comes into this I mean one of the things that I unfortunately witnessed not from this board not from the village or from the town But from other examples from uh within government How there are employees who sometimes are less enthusiastic about their jobs, which clearly is not the case here So the fact that you're clearly in the right position driving your passion feeling that fire I really appreciate that because it helps us to understand it and wants to be here having this conversation. So, thank you Thank you. Well, I appreciate you humoring me as well. And of course, thank you for being here as well And just one, you know Everything you just said dead on we have great Consultants who help with this we have employees It's also the whole process of a budget And your philosophy on funds and why you have surplus funds Some people do not understand or want you to give surplus funds Back to the public and then something bad happens And you don't have the money to fix it If we had not gotten money from the federal government To fix dens more because of the storm Where would that money come from? It comes from either Unassigned fund balance or a stuff or you have to juggle something else you're going to do It's the world we live in Nothing ever goes 100 to plan 100 of the time It just doesn't so you guys understand that We appreciate it. It also helps make our jobs go because we're not fighting you On any of those issues To do it or not do it. So thank you. Um, and I Work with sarah every day. So the enthusiasm very lucky person I do want you all to know that this is the 12th On it that i've been a part of since my short foray as an auditor when I was like, I hate this So kudos to you guys, but um, and this is the first time that I've ever left an audit with just one Issue we just were trying to figure out that water discrepancy. So when they left there was one thing So the bar is high. I don't That's actually four of the town and village audits. I think that's the fewest That was the only issue and usually we have a few outstanding items. So yeah, that was it was great year Thank you See you next week So as you're transitioning, where was the error? It was the water. Oh, where was it? So the first No, the first no one no no no one the first draft that I sent you guys Just had like something pulling from a hidden cell and it had a negative like 700 on one of the pages And then the second track did that you're telling me out of the millions of dollars. We just saw you caught the 700 I think that's what that's what he thought when I called And I was like, oh There's something I noticed something that's that's inconsistent. He was like, they're final. They're printed and I was like, well It's on page three So, yeah great So that will transition That will transition us on to item six c the adoption of the 2021 budget and capital Program budget back to the alternative financial statements, uh, the normal one The budget be ready for motion. Um before we get there, uh, I Before we get to the motion This is the last time that we would have a chance to discuss the budget before it goes on to the voters So with that, I just feel the need, uh, I would make a motion to direct staff to locate the proposed sign from EJRP At a location central to the five corners intersection and not at maple street park So would that would there be a second? I'll second that I'll second that so would there be any further discussion on this motion So what does that mean to the line item in EJRP capital budget? It does nothing to change the line items. It does nothing to combat the sign itself just purely the location What can you I don't totally understand? Maybe we should have waited but I I kind of get why brad wants it there, but why wouldn't he want it? What is he thinking of achieving having it there? So I'm not sure the If the hesitation is around control is around who posts what on the sign Frankly, that's an issue that I really hope the staff can just figure out If our goal is to have every but as many people as possible to see this message Why would we spend? Even if it's $30,000 I would we spend this $30,000 to give it to one fifth of the population as opposed to the whole of this Oh good. I I agree with it. Uh My my concern is aesthetic. I mean I can I can actually I I I want it Here where more people are going to see it. I can see it fitting in ironically more In front of maple street is building I have a hard time envisioning. So I guess I would say I I agree with this motion I agree with that the effort. I'm just I want to go through a process where we're very much insurable Very very careful about the design the placement and All the down brightness and how and you know all of that it needs to fit in with the character of this building If it goes in front of it and with our future hopes for the entire Um, I'm sure that's all gonna be taken care of but I just I don't want to speak for former planning commissioners Having been to a few meetings I wholeheartedly have seen the amount of conversation around the lighting around the concerns for lighting And and brown, I don't know if you want to talk more About that No, all I was just going to say was that I mean, I think we're getting into the to the planning commission decision here And so I mean, I totally understand where you're coming from. Um, I think there's I mean, maybe there's just a simple way of saying You know the the trustees would like to have A bite at this when it comes to us Or when it comes down to it, but but the decision is At the planning commission level and they do take into consideration all of those things like bill The brightness, etc. I mean, but there is I think brad brought the ldc sections to the last meeting So there was something about it if the village did it the trustees would get a bite at it no matter what So if there's a village entity municipality that was doing at the village with the trustees would yeah Have a year or day or with the planning commission or after the planning commission Well, the whole thing this has been discussed before this is the first time this come up Elaine we had you remember we brought this all up And if it is here obviously over there, it's going to be a wreck thing I prefer it obviously here because as you say much more traffic It's more visible And everything it's not just going to be wreck stuff. It could be whatever whatever is going on I mean senior senator voting the vote trying to get people out there know that it's voting It's hard enough to get put stuff if we can put stuff and get more people out there It's worth it. I agree with you raj about the the aesthetics of it and how it blends in I don't want something that's cheesy neon that doesn't you know, it's just too too bright doesn't fit at all Something that that complements the architecture around here and I mean I was skipping right over the planning commission. I apologize Yeah, I was skipping right over the role. So well in their role would be please again correct me if I'm wrong But their role is to take the application in front of them. It's not to repurpose the location of what's in front of them No, they're gonna take the application Right, so if the application is to approve or not approve the sign I'm able to repark It's not going to have that the conversation around should it be there We should have already happened. So that's the intent of this conversation And their decision would probably Depending on where it goes. They might get put make one decision In one place versus another, right? I I just think that that I'll be blunt. I you know, I think the the village rec department Kind of operated autonomously for years and years and years. Yes, it was part of the s-extension school district But they were really that they weren't part of the school district. Obviously. They were just administered by the school district And it is we did bring it into the village now And and maybe To me having a sign down on maple street kind of sends the message. Oh, yeah, they're still they're still a separate entity You know, they still get there. They still exist separately from the rest of us and Maybe they need to be maybe they need to be incorporated into the village a little bit more What's going on with all the other you know the library and everything else here? So I don't know good. Well another you know, we're looking at november vote and if The merger happens I'd rather see the sign here or you know in the village in the community center as it were not the geographic center of the community, but definitely more of the the Village or the community downtown area, you know It's just but Brett. Yeah, I yeah I mean what brad has in mind when I'm guessing is that it would it would just be strictly wrecked department events And what we're talking about is yeah, they'd be wrecked department events, but it's also There's a meeting at the high school or don't forget to pay your water bill or something like that Is that what we're saying? Yeah, I'm saying that those are conversations that our staff should be having all right And that they should be they are well equipped to I think we're good I'd rather have like Raj's concerned about the whole thing of static student Rather have a sign here sign there sign there. We have one Not a tiny little sign, but significant sign big enough to accommodate so that you could scroll through have a message voting this day There's a you know, you know Fireworks celebration at the fire thing this and that you know some things People aren't going to have a lot of time to read so you're going to have to you know, keep it a quick bullet Of what you what you're trying to get across It's right right takes forever and ever right You just give us a message sign. I'm just gonna do it. I'm just wrote to anyway I just wanted this I apologize for skipping over the planning commission, but I do might I do agree that it's the better place for the So there's a motion on the table. It's been seconded. Is there any further conversation about the motion? All those in favor of the motion, please Please say aye. Aye. Everybody opposed. Thank you I'll go ahead and This is a long one I would make a motion to the trustees adopt the various fy 21 budgets in the amounts listed within the memo I'll second Is there any further discussion on that motion? Yeah, I wanted just to just just talk for a minute about the The capital reserve fund. I'm not I'm not I'm not criticizing the budget, but I'm just Anticipating, um, you know that on the on the government the government sub the government subcommittee We're talking about the possibility of this Um, but while we're right here on this subject and if we were to go ahead with that concept What what's a reasonable amount of money for if we went ahead and said we're going to Deduct the the amount of money that if we did merge that we would transfer from the village into the town general fund We're going to reduce that amount. The concept is that the we would reduce it by by several factors And one of those factors would be the general the the general fund. I mean the capital reserve And right now this year we're putting 541,000 But that's a little bit more than we've then we've historically been putting in traditionally, right? That's correct. And so and so what What's a good figure? You know just take a swing at it. It's 500,000 400,000 Well, here's I've just put up on the screen the transfers and miscellaneous Budget segment and so I know that when we had been talking about this capital district hold back for like a better term We'd been talking about just the capital fund contribution, which is just the top line here Uh 365 thousand dollars in the f y 20 budget 400 thousand dollars in f y 21 budget, right? so, okay The I'm sorry. I I I I lost you a little bit the 541,000 on this memo is the anticipated spending The out of the capital fund the general fund capital reserve fund in f y 21 And so we have been talking about the transfer, which is embedded up in that 5.3 million So What is a what is a good number? That's a great question. I think that you would really It comes down to which of these lines Which uh Right there these lines Are most appropriate for that hold back district I think we're in agreement that the capital fund contribution line would be um I don't know if we could I don't know if the rolling stock would or would not be that's things with wheels You know, so is is your question george? What is the right amount in that line item? Yeah, my question is for the is for the top Yeah, what is the right amount in the line item exactly? Uh, what is the right amount? I'm just getting just ballpark figure 400,000 looks like it. That's the f y 21 budgeted amount If I know I know we're not gonna but if that's that amount's gonna be that that amount's gonna increase We're talking about a standard amount. That's gonna be that that would be the same for the next 12 years So one of the things that the capital committee have recommended from a few years ago was to increase it by 15 percent every year Right hadn't been funded right so to keep it at 400,000 when the capital committee has said that's not enough Well, it was what do we want? Well, it wouldn't be funding all the cap all the all the village projects I'm just saying reducing Reducing the transfer of the of the total village general fund to the town by by a certain amount But and that would be that would pay for some that would go towards Existing capital projects in the village, but it wouldn't necessarily pay for all the capital projects I got an issue with this we're going to be taking on our debt our bonds are anything we have wouldn't be paying off We continue while going through this transition as we always have paying for any capital projects in the town We already do that. So why are we getting so worried? I'm not to be, you know, I'm gonna keep my money, you know But I'm just saying, you know, we're already paying that so I don't really have a big issue I understand I want to clarify because I'm a little lost Are you asking Because my my assumption from the discussions that you upset was that We wouldn't be sending any capital any The 400 is what we're proposing to collect Right for this next fiscal year, right for us. Why wouldn't all of that be staying Every year and increase. So if we're going to tax for 12 years village Resonance A separate tax for capital. We're already going to have a separate Allotment out of the town of the new town budget proposed new town budget But why would we send $1 more than that? I'm just wondering if I'm standing in question. My concept is to is to go to the two joint boards And say here's here's Besides obviously the the village is a debt district that that has to happen But everything else saying here are four different four different tools you can use to lower that total That total 3.3 million dollar transfer that you're going to have to make in the year one of the merger Down to something like 2.7 million Okay, here's and and you can use any of them or none of them or any combination. That's all I'm saying And so I I'm looking at I'm sort of like testing the value of each one of these tools I'm trying to get a sense of how much each one would be And and I understand I understand this political I I'm not saying I'm not saying we're making a decision. Obviously we're we're voting on the budget times But I'm just trying to get a sense of of dollar amounts in my own head You know as I we try to formulate this and I'm just trying to get the directions in my head, correct I'm not forget the politics, but If we kept for the in 22, let's say went up 15 percent So if we kept like 450 if it was the line was 450 right and we kept 450 That would reduce that 3.2 million but it would be now 3.15 Are you looking for an additional after that? Yes Again, I would say the same you you have the same amount here and For for every year the 12 years So I know the same amount that the village would only be voted on by the would only be paid for by the village Along with your payback of the debt George for clarification. Yeah Let's just say the number on the screen is 401955 right is the 401 in your mind 401955 The same amount year 2. Yes, year 3. Yes, year 12. Yes. Yes, and that money Raised stays for village projects that are on the village list. Yes Shots for clarification The other stuff that everybody pays for in the taxes goes to the town The town has a capital list the capital list could include village projects in years one through 12 But the 12 but the 12 years of projects are specific to There's nothing saying that if you merged that the merged capital fund New town capital fund money from that couldn't go and spend it all in the village one year if you wanted to I'm not talking about that. I'm saying look at look at we have a we have an upgrade outstanding bond of two and a half million dollars Fund merger now that gets paid back at whatever we did an x amount for the next 12 years Is that I'm not going to fluctuate year in and year out go up up up down down down down? No, it's the same amount you're paying back the same amount year in and year out, right? It's down a little bit. Yes. Okay, but you're big you got 12 payments, right? That's all I'm saying. That's what I'm saying with each of these other things It's a fixed amount once you get into what we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna Change it very expanded make none. Then you need to have another elected board Then you need to then I guess it needs to just be a fixed amount that you're gonna Commit the village to I'm not saying we should do this. I'm just trying to give the joint board's tools to think about So if we were looking at that list from before right If We want to consider things like well, if we're going to be a sidewalk district We want to probably pull some out of the rolling stuff There's different ways you could do it, you know add money just think about conditions for anyway So this is in my head in terms of what number would work part of me would like to see the capo committee take a pass at What would 401 the 401 thousand over 12 years do? Yeah, what would that mean for the the projects that are on that list? That's what I'm getting. Yeah, I didn't mean to kidnap the whole conversation. We think I'm good. I just Wanted here some speculation and since we're not tackling it this year I would hope to yeah sweet favorite, but Jesus as we say it in my house That the subsequent year we we do a local option tax. So that way there's that additional 1.2 1.2 billion to happen to Today's vermont edition was about local options. I missed it. I had it up all morning to remind myself to listen And then I stepped away from my desk came back at one And this Tomorrow or tonight, yeah Well, if we had it it was on a seven seven I would have powered 10 minutes late So there's a motion on the table that has been seconded about adopting the motion so approved or so said and succeed Any further discussion about that motion? All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Everybody opposed. Okay. Thank you And Nice Is there a second? I'll second like the way you do this now. I'll second any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying aye Aye. Everybody opposed. Thank you Reading file board member comments Anybody do we have a date for the strategic advance? Worth the update on that is there any I am Of the opinion it's saturday may second And it's going to be morning till maybe 12 30 Probably 8 30 to 12 And we are looking at the uh, locate local locations. Maybe the police station So if a uh, if something could go out to the board just saving the day, I I think that's kind of the day that just kind of got It did get thrown out. I remember reading it No I just don't remember a consultation on whether that was a good day or not We were literally looking at the week before but I believe that's a school vacation week And therefore it became the next day the other reason why we want to do it earlier rather than later So we have new trustees that are going to get installed. We want to use this also as part of the orientation Well, maybe we won't have new trustees. I mean We are going to have one in the select board. Sorry. I used that term generically I'm kidding isn't it late? Um Do you know anything was afforded? Yep. I haven't sent it on go ahead. Okay. Um I received an email or someone I know um, was traveling through the five corners here and His son was in the vehicle with him two boys with cup scouts noticed that the american flag The veterans memorial or whatever was on the ground And uh, so the boy goes dad and they stopped they got the flag. They brought it over the police department Um, and Was quite nice. So they brought there and mentioned the police, but you know, um, and I've ordered it to Andrew, but We're gonna I figured I'd discuss it with you guys and just mention it, but uh, I don't know What what happened? I have no idea if the wind or something like that. Um, I mean they can't those those are kind of The poles are kind of locked. They can't get I don't would think you know This is last information past saturday Um, I've got it. Well, let me see here Yeah I had said to all right send that message back to Dan saying that'll forward it along if you wanted me to and yeah by the time I Yeah, it's all right. It's all right. No worries. I just yeah We don't have cameras or anything that's gonna point I'll send it to you to work to But we appreciate their their efforts to the flat and to bring it to the police station. Yeah Um, can I I just want to have just a question? I I know I I'm sorry I asked this before and I'm I forgot the answer Our economic depending on the tax rate economic development fund. Is that sunsetting this year? Is that next year next year? Yeah One other thing I will mention, um, I had lunch at the sherpa llc down here You had the former fiverr location Awesome. Awesome. Just want to mention that it was uh, they're not they're they're not Too up on the whole advertising world right now. But I just Not if anyone's looking for that kind of food. It's a great spot. So I'm sure if I spoke like the paulese type food Indian food really good I really appreciate the number of knowledge there's a number of new options we've had recently. Yeah, I really appreciate it Not that pizza shops are bad, but I mean it's always nice. It's just great. Yeah diversity. That's our diversity. It's by select, right? Just if anything like that comes up Dan just please Text me or whatever because You know, I wasn't here this weekend. You all know that but I just got lots of things happen That that maybe weren't intentional during the storm or like I mean I've been in this business a long time. I have The reasons why flags go up and down Is amazing nowadays. They used to only happen if somebody You know a president died or the you know the governor and say we have to take the the flags up and down several times A month and maybe something happened And maybe so I will find out but obviously not and we don't believe it would be intentional, but So I'll look in So the only thing I wanted to mention is so this Saturday is that meeting with regards to The merger proposal Details are still being ironed out as there's a whole host of emails between Elaine. I and staff. I think George you've been in on them as well So stay tuned you're around one on saturday come on over. It'd be great to have Details are still being looked out. Stay tuned for It is absolutely Any more hours of my attention on that Though the adl tournament is coming up And I know we talked about this a few meetings ago about whether we want to have any conversations or take a position on three three And we all decided no and I did too and I'm completely rethinking that I think that largely village heard from so many of my neighbors going to wonder what this is all about They're not the discussion isn't so much in the village right now Needs to be and I think maybe looking at the slight towards approach to what I thought was just pledging What is now a complete outreach when it comes to every topic in front of us right now? I think it would behoove us to rethink Do we want to at least start messaging And or showing up at some events and kind of letting people know this is coming. It's a big impact You know village residents lose two two representatives at the outside and Um You know the old term in this next week if we could start there. It's largely village Residents that go to that It's just a thought I don't know I was just going to say I mean I think that There was some I think the sx report in the speaker something was about maybe it was last week. I don't know Um About the issue. I guess I haven't changed my opinion as to whether I want to take any like Particular stands on and I think it's kind of hard at this point. We don't have a lot of time to before the vote to try to rally together and form a voice that to do something but um You could I mean and I'm not saying we should do this But you if if this did get approved and went down to the legislature They would probably they would take testimony And if we thought that there was something particularly egregious about it We as a board if we felt that that was our official position, you could go down and testify My only I just am still trying to get my head around the buck the idea that You could have a like we just did tonight. We had to approve a budget If we don't approve the budget tonight, it doesn't go on to a ballot You could have a deadlocked Village town 3 3 thing that doesn't approve the budget. So it doesn't get born and it doesn't go on to the town meeting What happens then? Well, I didn't like what Andy Watts pointed out of the second Of caring when it started that it didn't occur to me, but the quorum of before and that means a whole district could meet Without triggering a public meeting. Yeah I mean it's got all that I just There's so many things And there's so much misinformation out there or are or unreasonable or on inaccurate expectations on what it means and how quickly it goes into play and it does impact village voters considerably And based on what if the inaccuracies I've heard in the comments or questions I'm getting I just Yes, we got a month. I mean less than So what I would say is that Since we can't go back and change the decision to not take a formal position For us to really do the work to draft something that would Be worthy of sharing for the public would mean we'd have to wait until the february 25th meeting that we have Which would then leave seven days until the actual vote So I say that in terms of not discouraging us from having a position But rather the five of us individually And I think we all know most of us may know how we feel about that proposal and so should we Go to The adl basketball tournament or should we be talking with residents? I don't think that can that could hurt in any way make sure that people understand how we each feel Don't matter strong as a the board says no, I don't even think it needs to be I wasn't looking for a statement necessarily as much as uh You know, I think we need to to get out there. I think what people know and The letter that was co-authored was good You say the whole thing of the misinformation Sometimes it's misinformation, but a lot of times with this issue and other issues that have come up in the last year It's not so much misinformation. It's just Lack of information or half the information not the full thing not all the implications of this You know of what whether it's a merger the 3 3 what have you There are people that put information out there, but then Don't tell you the whole story just read this lot this byline here and that's what they're selling So they sell the product you suck it up. Oh that must be it Well, there's a whole lot more to the story if you open the book instead just read the cover Looking the pages here in the intro and you'll see wow Maybe there's more to this story. I need to read a little more and do it They're not given that information and that's the issue. I find not so much misinformation lack of information Lack of factual information that that's why I would say go back to the financial direct go to go to the people in the town of the Village offices. They'll give you that's great I would only say it's it's interesting at these two public hearings It's strange the way it's been presented outside the village. It's like it's a They're there. I think there's a real Here of attempting to try to turn this into a village versus town issue And we keep trying to say no, it's not that it's a it's a it's an internal legislative You could have a great big car crash issue and then shut the police department down and shut the town budget down And we all suffer that's what we're trying to say here But that's that message isn't getting through what's getting through is well This is this is that this is a town village thing and people who oppose this are the village people who oppose this And that's why I have a problem with us Taking a formal stance with it because I don't want to fuel that that complete that mythology that's up. That's well That's why I agree with George agree Just as anything when it was Whether it was the bond vote for the for the town offices to be redone or the new police facility It's not so much to say we're saying vote this way It's here are all the facts. This is like we're saying like Raj says that the quorum with six is four so literally the whole group outside and For the people here in the village there They realize that you're you're paying taxes to that community outside the town outside the village You're not going to get to vote on those representatives that you pay taxes too They're gonna you're paying taxes something you don't represent that's taxation without representation as it were Okay, so there's a lot of things to look at that just are not brought up and I think it's you know Well since we're extending discussion Just talking about the three three model. Yeah, here's another thing You could have three people from the village get on to the select board and say No more town budgets. Sorry. We're shutting this down for the next five years And there's nothing the town can do about it now. I has anyone thought about that You could get three angry village residents onto the select board and they don't approve any more town Budgets, I mean currently currently on the news on this new this what would happen if you if you had three three And three from the village three from the town You could get three billet village. Well, you couldn't do it because then you'd hit you'd have obviously unless you had one of the Town outside the village. No, they were three serve village seats So you'd have you could have just a a continuous rotation of people from the village getting on to the select board And saying we're not approving any more town budgets It'd be a deadlock unless you had like a deadlock was a no If we were deadlocked on this budget, if we didn't approve a deadlock is a no when you're trying to approve a budget So that's that's a no. Well, then you go I mean if you go under the rules, you'd carry over the past And the town is under contractual obligation for police in the town employees So a level funded budget is a budget. That's is a is a is a declining service budget I don't think people again, we're just oh, I know Is that going to happen? No, could it happen? Yes That's probably why the legislature, you know, we're thinking about corporations Facebook, yes, but they have their own internal rules about passing budgets And if if poor facebook doesn't approve a new product over a quarter Well, then they just won't make as many billions of dollars that quarter But I mean municipal governments have to follow the statutory process for warning budgets that you could just have a big gigantic Problem Anyway, yeah That was fun. Sorry. Sorry didn't intellectually Thank you Any other comments? We have no executive session. That's the end of the reading file. Well, someone that can make a motion Second. Oh, wow. We need for the first round of voting. All those in favor take one second. All right. All right. We post. Thank you tonight