 I don't know if you guys can retrieve it, but I just barely emailed to a copy of the Kenworth contract, I just tracked it down. Oh, no, I can't. I'd have to get out of the meeting to get it. So we'll rely on your interpretation of the contractor and good work finding it. Yep. So I think I believe the gang is all here and it's five o'clock. So I'm going to call the meeting to order, noting that Steve is absent. Other members of the select board are here. We have Lowry with us, keeping an eye on us. We have Vic, we have Dorinda, and we have Sarah. Welcome everybody. Sky Varsh. Yes, I'm sorry, Sky. I'm looking right at you and I didn't say your name. I apologize. Welcome. So first up on the agenda is reviewing and approving the capital spending plan process action possible. Liz, you're going to kick that off. Sure. So I sent it. And frankly, I don't remember getting it from Sarah, but Sarah, did you send it out to everybody that hold link and everything I had put everything into a PDF. Okay. I did. Did everybody get a chance to read all those wonderful pages that we sent along. So basically, as you know, we've been doing this process for the last year. And it's now ready to become sort of a an adopted document that is a fluid document, meaning that it can it will change over time as as things get added to it. But this is sort of the, the final draft, so to speak, of this document, and it just made sense to us. I don't, I don't think it's actually technically required, but it just made sense to us that we would have the select board, officially adopt the, so basically it's the procedure as to how to participate, you know, in a capital spending plan if you want to apply for it, as well as that some of the documents that sort of outlined the history and why we did it. And then the actual spreadsheet itself, which I think I sent you guys the link to that, not just because it was too hard to put that into a PDF. That's a document that is in right now a Google Drive all of it. And Elias and I are sort of right now we're the ones with editing capabilities. But we also think that perhaps Randy should have editing capabilities since he's going to be on the budget committee as well as the select board. And I guess, you know, if anyone has any questions about it, I can try to answer them. So just, just to remind everybody, this was the result of us getting a firm nudge at our last in person town meeting saying hey, you know you guys come to us you say it's time for a new truck you come to us to say it's time for a new grader. You do this and that we want to know what we're looking at ahead of us and we want to have a plan to deal with it. So, this is our best effort to create a document in a process where on the middle sex website, this document will exist and one anytime we'll be able to go in and look at it they won't be able to change it but they'll be in and look at it. And if they have comments or concerns or whatever they can. They can reach out. At first, it seems a little cumbersome and unwieldy. But for me, the more we got into it and the more we understood the process with Christian's health. The more straightforward it seems it does put a significant additional burden on the budget committee in particular because they're going to be, they're going to be managing this process. Right, but it's not, you know, so in terms of, you know, extra work. Yes, it is extra work. But I also what I like about it is that, you know, we spent many a meeting saying, which truck is that that we put a new engine in that was this old engine. And we forget every time right and I think that this document will also help with that because we have notes next to things like when something was done. Or something, you know, significant about that particular, you know, purchase or thing that you know we upgraded is in this document so I think that it will be helpful for for that reason as well. But it also gives a process by which if you were a member of the town. And this is, you know, outside of say the road crew, but like if the fire department wants to purchase something big, you know, there's a process by which they do it there's something that they fill out. If there's someone in the town who says you know I want to, you know, perhaps, you know buy something like, I don't know what for the bandstand right and we'd like the town to pay for it this is a possibility again it has to be $5,000 or more. So it's not just piddly stuff that people apply for it's it's bigger ticket items and they have to be assets so it's not like people it's not, it's not employment is not that kind of thing it's it's really around town assets that considered are considered structures, things like say, it costs thousands of dollars to do something like get signage for our land or something like that or build mountain bike trails, something like that right that could be considered a, I would think a potential capital expenditure, even though it's not necessarily an object because our land is included in in the capital spending plan. So anyway it's a start and and right now it just has kind of all the things that we already were identified as as as assets for buildings and trucks and equipment. And, and this is what has then prompted us to take the next step to do a planning study on the town hall so actually doing this process has sort of given us some leverage for getting more grant money as well so I think that you know really what we want to do is vote on whether or not we are accepting this document as the official capital improvement plan. Well, and accepting the process. The process right. Yes, Phil. Yeah. First of all, I just like to say that Liz you particularly are now all the other people who worked on this I think did a great job. There's a lot to digest I've only been through it one time. But, you know, again, you were talking about the town hall and some of the costs associated with maintaining the town hall jumped out. You know really quickly so I agree I think it's a great document to inform our planning or budgeting our spending I guess to. So, thanks to everyone for doing that. And I'll certainly make the motion that the board, except the capital. What are we capital improvement. Is what it's called a capital improvement program. Okay. Is there a second to Phil's motion. I would second that. Thank you Randy. Any further, any further discussion I will I would just say a one last thing which is the first time we really use this document which is going to be this year. We may make changes I look forward to flushing it out and having it contain more information and over time it will show historically what we've done but it show prospectively what we plan to do. So, I think. And I just want to say to to render that I believe I'm and I maybe I need to talk offline with you about this during I'm not sure. But so this grant has a match and I'm not sure how that sort of flushes out in the end. But like I know that I need to submit my final grant report and so I don't know if we actually. I don't know how that works with the match, but it was like $900 or something. Yeah, I can get you the figures. I think all the bills have now been paid with the last bill that came in. So I can get you what we have paid out and then you should be able to find, you know, do the final report from there. Okay. Okay, so I think that they maybe take off the fight like the match I'm not sure how that works so like how do how do they get, how does the match get accounted for. I think the way it's been working is if we if it was a 20% match or whatever the match was, if we sent them a bill for 100 they reimbursed us 80. I think that's how it worked. I have to look at the checks that have come in. I, I don't memorize them. So I'll have to look at we have a log sheet for all the grants. So, okay. Yeah, and I've kept all the copies of the invoices and stuff. So anyway, I believe that grant report is due in May, but I'll just start working on it now. I don't think there's any reason to wait. I'll have to look at it again. Okay, I can get it to you if not this week by next week. All right, thank you. So it has been moved and seconded to adopt our capital. What, what is it CPI, CIP, CIP, I'm sorry. All those in favor of the motion please say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Okay, we've adopted it. Here we go. Thanks everybody. And I do need to give credit. Really, all the credit is due to central Vermont Regional Planning Commission who pulled the whole thing together and did all the work. So thank you Phil for giving me credit but really, you don't get you don't need to give me the credit. Christian from CVRP with central regional planning commission was. Yeah. So now, now that this is approved, we just had a budget meeting prior to this and we, we plan to reach out to all the committee heads and kind of remind them that the form, you know, as expected to be completed for like April one, if possible. So that we can start this process, but the budget committee is excited about moving forward with this and we think it's going to be a great asset to the town. Okay, Randy, I would, I would just suggest you give everybody a little bit of slack this year because April 1 is practically tomorrow as you may know. That's, that's what we said. Okay, yes, Sarah. Yeah, that's a good form. You mean this is the form in the in the document where you're adding asking. Okay. Yeah. And also, I don't know, Randy, if you're going to be able to attend, but Elias and I have signed up for some workshops that are specifically on the capital improvement planning process for through the league of cities and towns maybe or something like that's a two day workshop. Yeah, we discussed that in the budget committee as well. There, there's probably some interest on Theo and Mark's part as well so we were going to I was going to circulate that information to those folks as well and that way we can all come come up to speed it together. Great. Okay. Next on the hit list discussing USDA rural energy pilot program grant for community energy efficiency and weatherization. Larry Sharpe of the energy committee is to attend action possible. You are on sir. All right. Thank you very much. I'm not sure if Theo is here in the capacity as an energy committee member but he can certainly chime in. So, I wanted to talk about something that we're just kind of just looking at for the first time, which is this grant opportunity and just wanted to put it out there and see if there was any synergy on this. And so this is a very much of an unbaked idea. But since I know that there's, you know, work with the capital improvement process to potentially improve the town buildings, which could involve weatherization. This grant could potentially help fund that. So, is it okay if I share my screen because I made a few slides. Right. Ask me to do something that's technically beyond my capability. No, no, no, I'm about to share my screen. So as you may remember, town meeting day, not so long ago, there was the item on the ballot to approve the energy plan. And that passed the enhanced energy plan and that includes a whole bunch of stuff that talks about renewable energy. So this grant from USDA would help fund renewable energy in our town. And so it's geared towards rural areas. So we hit that one. Let me go to the next slide. So here's the quick and dirty purpose to support the nation's critical energy needs combating climate change while advancing environmental justice racial equity and economic opportunity with distributed energy technologies. And distributed energy technologies means community solar or community wind where a bunch of entities, not just individuals, but not just one individual but could be multiple homeowners. Could be the town would join together to invest or participate in a solar project or a wind project and then get the energy from that. So that's the that's the nuts and bolts of it. They are targeting as it says, you know, environmental justice racial equity and economic opportunity and so the people that they want to serve with this money are, you know, under under privileged communities, which includes the people of lower income. So, just because we're a very white state doesn't mean we're disqualified the dollars. So it's a pilot program so there's not a lot. This is a national thing so $10 million nationally. You know, I don't know what the chances are of us getting money from this, but it pays an 80% match. So we would need to come up with 20% and we could apply for up to $2 million. And then there are two components to it. I mentioned weatherization earlier, that can only be up to 20% of the funding. So there has to be a renewable energy component to it that is the 80% of it. So, I'm going to pay for a letter of intent is April 19, and then the actual application is July 19. So it's, that's definitely coming up. So, like I said, this is a new idea. This is just one grand. I just wanted to put it out there. I'm going to be looking for other grant opportunities. I'm not sure if we're going to, you know, find all the pieces to pull this off. Since we're, you know, we're, we're past the vote on the enhanced energy plan and it passed. You know, we want to start, we're looking at more serious endeavors as a committee and as a town. So I don't necessarily expect any kind of an answer but if there is anything already on your minds that aligns with this, I'd love to hear about it. Just giving us information on something that might happen or you're, you're asking us for authority to go ahead at this point. We're going to discuss it further next week. We're going to meet as an energy committee and look at it and talk about what we think is feasible. I just wanted to hear if you have been hearing of other similar efforts in middle sex that around renewable energy. Do you have any, any thoughts yourselves about renewable energy in middle sex for more against comments anyone is there. I mean, to me, the likelihood of middle sex getting a grant of that capacity when there's only $10 million and we're not a disadvantaged community is very unlikely and I probably wouldn't even spend time writing the grant for it because of that. Is there any opportunity for this. Have you looked at the grant to see if there's, you know, a multi town aspect of it that you know you could include like Worcester for example which may be a lower income community. You know to get more of a mass application as opposed to because I can, I mean, pretty much if anyone's written a federal grant middle sex isn't going to get this. They could if it was done maybe in central Vermont or there was some community solar array that that impacted more towns. Does it say anything about that like communities versus towns. Yeah, it says it, it does look for partnerships amongst entities. So it can be it could be multi town. So that's a that's an interesting idea. Do you want to ask the question I don't want to get out ahead of the cycle. Yeah, is there any downside because I want to look deeply with you at the energy committee but is there a downside to submitting a letter of intent on the 14th of April if we think that there's even a chance for this. And do we need the select board's approval to do so. I don't see a downside but I don't know about the approval. It requires a town partner somehow to. It requires a partner that is an established entity, whether it's a nonprofit or a municipality or some government entity. Does it say in the letter of intent that the town has to have already agreed to the match for the entity. I mean, because you know the thing about the match is that a 20% match is big, right, especially for two, if even if you apply for 2 million, I mean even if you apply for 100,000 that's still bigger than like what is in our budget. And so that I think, you know, for a thing at this scale, you know, you'd be really looking at the upper end of an application for something like a townwide array. And, you know, the town, I'm just, you know, wondering if the, if you've looked into what the 20% match could be like, I think actually so this was actually goes back to the ARPA funds that we have. Randy was it you, we had this conversation. What can the ARPA funds be used to match for other federal grants or not. There, there are inclusions for other federal grants, but they have to be allowable by that grant, which so I did a little bit of digging on this and the half hour or so when it got added to the agenda and it does look like this pilot program would allow if your other monies allowed the federal dollars to be used as the grant match. So it looks like at first glance that the ARPA money could potentially be used towards that 20% match. We'd have to dig into it more but knee jerk reaction it looks like it may be possible. Yes, I guess what I would say Larry is you're going to have you're going to have a meeting we're going to meet the first Tuesday in April whatever that whatever that date is but it's coming right up. Why don't you get back to us then. And then we can decide what if anything that town needs to do to go forward with this if in fact you're thinking you should go for it. I'm a little premature right now to for the time to say yeah right this when we don't even really know what it is yet. Absolutely, just just wanted to get the ball rolling and I appreciate the feedback and I'll inquire about matching funds and municipal other municipalities being involved. Yeah, so what Liz said is, let's be we have as a town we have a lot of grand opportunities, looking at us so if there's just a remote chance that we might get this, I would say let's let's save our powder for working on something that's more likely if there's some kind of chance that we could get it and doesn't take a huge amount of time. Then, right, right. I was just going to say that I would be interested to hear like what kind of brainstorming better like what kind of ideas are you guys looking at and I know I know you don't have anything in mind right now but with 80% of that having to be dedicated to, you know, renewable distribution within town and whatnot I'd be, I'd be interested in what kind of ideas are actually out there that that are feasible. Yep, makes sense. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you very much. We'll look forward to hearing back from you. Okay. Okay, next on the list is reviewing the revised policy for town access to Romney school action likely. It does not seem to be here. We might have to pass over it. I mean, I sent it to you, but. Yeah, I don't think it's urgent. I would, I would, I would prefer to pass over it until Chris is here. I read the new document. One and a half pages, but I didn't go back and compare it to the old document and really see what the changes are but it did appear to me that the serious change. The changes were in, were in one and two on the first sub one and sub two on the first page, where it says the request is deemed to be improved unless there's a conflict that is what exactly what we talked about when we reviewed this the last time. And then the other piece of it was, to the extent of building use former policy or other application conflicts with the terms of the easement, the easement terms control. So that I think was giving us what we were looking for, but I agree unless, unless anybody has anything more on this tonight that we pass over it until we can have Chris join the, join the meeting. Is that okay with everyone. Yeah. He's the, he's the expert on this for sure. Oh, and here's, here's another one of everybody's favorites, considering the possible options to address wandering farm animals on road action likely. I don't know what kind of action is likely unless, unless, unless we can appoints as the farm animal control officer in his absence and send them up there to take care of this problem. Yes, Sarah. Okay, so Dervinda gets the credit here. Recording in progress. They're bringing out the quote unquote public safety statute. Regarding the select board's ability to find $10 per offense for wandering swine cattle swine, I had it right here. I think I sent it to you as well. And that would, I've talked to that is wandering swine cattle ducks geese whatever that is not approved by the select board so I guess the select board could theoretically approve wandering cattle. But anyway, if you don't approve wandering cattle, you could notify the homeowner who is letting these cattle wander about and I just received a fresh complaint today from a neighbor. And, and finer I did talk to Lee young men up at in an orange who dealt with wandering pigs. And that was a big pig problem I think maybe you remember that and that ended up in court and every single charge was every single offense was thrown out all the $10 fines because the process wasn't followed correctly. So her only warning was if you do this just make sure you check with your town attorney to make sure that due process is followed so this effort is not done. So, we're just tell I'm just bringing this up tonight because we've I know you guys have talked about this in the past and there have been concerns all over the place and clean from neighbors and here you go. I can give you the citation in two seconds. So I believe I read that same. Same piece. The problem with that is, we have to march through the process and it's not a simple process. And she's going to kick and fight and spit and you know who knows what's going to happen. I don't know. I mean if we, if that's the only action available to us I guess we have to decide if we're willing to do it or not I went by today. My wife was sitting with his head right in the road fast asleep with a goose lying next to him. It's, it's, it's bad. It's bad, but I don't know how others others feel I'm reluctant to start issuing tickets you know we've, we've come right to the brink a few times with our, with our junk ordinance about issuing tickets and we've always pulled back in the end because we were, we were scared to do it so I'm And it's been a long time since I've looked at the whole process but it is not a simple process. And who's going to do it. I don't have a sheriff so it's going to be the select board that issues a ticket I presume. Is our roadway considered a public highway. Yep. So if that's in the statue, how come Calis had such a hard time, maybe because it was only $10 with the with the woman with the horses and they had to adopt something in their select board to deal with the horses from the, that woman named Elizabeth who would run her to would walk her horses everywhere and everyone complained but there was nothing they could do. Yeah, I think this is what we're talking about about the process that's what orange didn't do and I guess that's what Calis did have to do was adopt something I mean I can, if you guys are interested in it I can, I can send this off to Rob and say what exactly do you have to do because it's not entirely clear in the statute. But I mean I would assume it starts off with just a letter to Carol saying look at we have this view the board has this authority and we're going to do it but I mean again that probably be best to check with a lawyer first to see what how lengthy the process is. But don't we have to, when I was when I was looking at this two or three weeks ago, I believe we have to adopt, I guess the right word is an ordinance, saying, you know, you cannot have wild farm animals running in the road, and then we have to force our ordinance yes I would say it'd be no different than the dog ordinance sort of thing. You would have to adopt an ordinance that meets that statute that they can't be in the roadway or whatever they would be fine. Just like with our dog ordinance you have hearings, and then once that's followed through after so many warnings, they get the animal I mean the dogs would have to go away from when I sat on the board, and I find it very similar to that situation. Right I believe we do have I mean so there you go. We do have the authority to take the animals, potentially. But you know what do we do then. You know, I mean I'm just like, this is, I mean this is in this sub the I'm just reading this again it's just, I'm not sure you have to have an ordinance it just as a person who knowingly it's right there in the state statutes, you know, you who if you knowingly permit cattle horses sheep goats are swine to run at large in a public high where your yard belonging to a public without building without consent of the select or shall be fine no more than 10 no less than $3. So isn't that the way the dog thing reads and we have to do a dog ordinance. I don't know Sarah I mean I guess the answer is, for me, I think we should at least look into this and understand what we're up against if we're going to go forward with this rather than just kick it around and say how frustrating it is so I would say, for me I would say yes. Let's look into it and find what the process is see how unwieldy it is. And then we can make a decision if we want to go forward. Does that make sense? I have a question. Is Erica still our animal control officer? Yes. I'm wondering if it would make sense for Erica to just make a little friendly visit. She's done it before. What? She has done it before. Yes, with little success I would say. I don't know. Let's take a look at what the whole process is and then make a decision how we're going to go forward. Does that make sense? I mean I'm not against having Erica go down there but I don't think it's going to do any more good than my visit which started out friendly and ended up nasty. So I won't do it and you can't make me. That's Carol's position. This is under the cruelty to animal statute as well so. Right. Yes, Vic. You're muted. You're muted, Vic. The one in orange is, that was when they had the pigs roaming around. Yes. Didn't fish and wildlife get into that and told them they were either going to start, they're either going to keep their pigs in or they were going to destroy them. I don't know how many pigs she has. I don't know if she has these pigs or regular pigs or what she has but fish and wildlife doesn't look fondly upon pigs turning wild. They reproduce rapidly and they tear up a lot of the environment. They're pretty rough on everything. Well I don't think these, for my absolute, these animals aren't very threatening except they're wandering around in the road. I don't think they're, I don't know, the answer is I don't know. I think we just have to ask Sarah to do a little more research into this and maybe consult with Erica and put our heads together and see what the next step is. But we have never, we have never in the history that I can recall and I think would agree with me we've never find anybody for anything in town. So this would be a big step for us. Peter. Yes. Does the board mind if I contact Fish and Wildlife and see what the scoop is on it? She doesn't have pigs there. Just be aware the pigs are gone. The pigs are gone? I believe, I don't think there's a pig involved anymore. I think it's just cows and fowl, you know, like geese and that type of thing. Yeah, it's geese ducks, a few chickens, two, I would say full size cows and one calf from my observation and I think the statute pertains to cows, horses, pigs, etc. I don't believe it includes geese and chickens and but anyway, find out. Again, my fear in this, and I'm an animal lover, so I hate to see the animals mistreated and get hurt, but at the same time, I'm afraid somebody's going to come around the corner at not necessarily a high rate of speed and have to dodge one of these animals and end up, you know, hitting a tree or hitting another car or who knows what and somebody gets hurt. Well, yes, Sandy. Can I just say I drive by there occasionally. I'm from my perspective is the Sandy Levine. This is a rural community. I think it's no different than dogs being on the road. And that's part of living in a rural community and has anybody had a complaint other than having to slow down to avoid hitting them. That's all you have to do. That's not a problem and I think you're from my perspective, I think you're looking for a problem that is just life in a rural community. That's just my opinion. So, the only thing I say about that is that the other side of this is. I think, I don't know, I think there's a health violation there. I mean, she was she was living with that calf in her house. Does that meet the sniff test. I mean, it's one thing to be a rural community. It's another thing to have the animals living in your house with you. That's a different issue. What I hear you talking about is the cow in the road and I've seen chickens in the road. I mean elsewhere in town and, you know, I don't see them wandering in the road is any different than me walking down the road and making people slow down so they don't hit me or somebody with their dog walking along on the side of the road and people having to slow down so they don't hit that. I hear you. We've had an awful lot of complaints. My question is, are the complaints only about having to slow down. And then I think one should, you know, inquire is that such a big problem. I don't. Yes, Sarah. This is from a neighbor who understands that this is a neighbor versus neighbor issue not a neighbor versus town issue when the animal comes into his property. But he is this this animal because this because he's got a water feature let's put it that way this animal is getting into the water it's I it's I see he's worried about this animal getting stuck, and he does not want to get into the water. And I said to him, this is not when you're, you know, the roads are one thing, but the animal going into your private property is no different than a dog going into your private property it's suddenly not that is not a town issue anymore that is simply a homeowner versus homeowner thing which nobody likes to deal with. Right, but no I wouldn't say that I mean the Brett's cows used to come into our property he would just let him go crazy and they'd be all over the road and everything like that. And they would destroy your property, like they destroy your lawn they destroy your fields, and it. If there's a law that you are supposed to keep their animals in the fence. I are you saying that if it comes on your property that becomes it's still a neighbor to neighbor conflict, even if they're breaking the law, the town somehow doesn't have to get involved. You know the Sandy's a lawyer here so she probably understands it's a lot better than I do but just for my training on animal control which has taken up a large part of the town clerk training. And when it went in last for example in the statute it's only when it's only applies when the animals at large in a public highway, or yard belonging to a public building without the consent of the select board so it does not address private homeowner versus homeowner things in that case you're back to you know what is it a private rate of action or whatever it's suddenly the town is out of it. Sandy was that the right. Again, looking, looking at what we have here, I would, I would suggest that we have Sarah look into this further and then we can discuss it some more I, I hear what you're saying. I hear what you're saying Sandy I just think this is, this is different from a from a farmer's cow or horse who get out once in a while and the farmer runs around and captures them and brings it back this is, this is. I just feel like it's different, but maybe I'm wrong. So, select board are we agreeing to have have Sarah go ahead and look into this does that make sense brandy agree. Yeah, I'd like to know more about it I guess to understand what, what the process would even look like to, if we did want to take any action. And I think I would have to say is I know you've had a conversation with her. Peter, you know, kind of like stopping by, and, and maybe Victor has to I don't, I don't know in the past, but do we feel like it would be worth to, you know, reaching out to her and say, hey, can can we sit down and talk about this a little bit. I don't know if that would go anywhere but you know the the answer is the answer is who knows Steve has been involved with her for a long time he's tried to help her. He's given her food feed for the animals he's done all kinds of stuff he's tried to help her. You know, he helped her move her fence back which was in the, which was a town right away I mean there, there've been a lot of people involved in this and you know when I when I stopped and talked to her. I started out being very gentle with her just saying you know, people in town myself included are included are worried about the safety of your animals and, you know, the safety of the people using the town highway. And, you know, we're not necessarily looking for trouble, but we're looking for you to keep your animals in a safe, in a safe manner. And she has taken some steps I mean she built that bridge across the river which I think is probably an illegal bridge but she has a pastor, a fenced in pastor on the other side of the other side of the river. The cows are in that pasture they'd be fine why do they need to be in her front yard right in the, where their noses in the town. But she just, she just immediately got nasty and say, we have no authority to get involved in this the town has no power to do anything about it and she said some other unpleasant four letter words to me as I was, as I was leaving so she was the one who escalated the situation not me. I wasn't, I wasn't meaning that if that's the way it came off. The other question that I would have is is this isolated to a winter as a seasonal thing do we get the same kind of complaints during the summertime. I would say it's your round. My observation is it's your round. They seem to have increased lately. My biggest legal offender now is the cat. She does seem to have the full grown cows fenced in but but the calf literally sits there right on the edge of the road. Not causing anybody any harm Sandy I admit but when he's out wandering around in the road he potentially cause people harm. So let's let's enough for tonight. Sarah see what else see what else you can. You can dig up and we'll make some kind of a some kind of decision about this. Okay. Um, treasure support update on 10 finances action possible to render. Um, I only have I have a couple things I got a bill in from business radio licensing. And it's for a, and I don't know if this is really if this is spam or not but it came pre filled out with all of our information and it looks like it's an FCC license renewal application for a tower maybe. Because it's 160 feet in ground elevation, the antenna height is 14 feet the structure height seven feet. And it renew it looked like it was issued in 2013. And it expires and for 2023, and it has a frequency and everything on it and I just have never seen this before I don't recall Sarah are you familiar with it. Yep. You are. Yeah, okay. I believe it has to do with the fire department. It has to do with the fire. We have the, we have the step we have the notice of it hanging over the public computer downstairs. And it maybe even allows the road crew to talk. I don't know. I didn't know it's the first I've ever seen of it and I just, I mean it looked legit, but um, they've changed hands in the since 2013 I think the company, so we don't have any record of that company. Okay. Okay. All right, then I will ask, should I ask the fire department about this. Do they have a big antenna on there? You know, all I know is that when I first got this job in 2013, that was a mystery to me too and I had to drag it to try to, you know, nail it down what that thing was but I think that's my recollection that's what it was used for it was used for either the fire department or the road crew or maybe even both. Okay. Okay, we'll look into that further than the other thing I have, which interestingly enough, the day after our last select board meeting, I received a phone call from Carl Bayland for Welch Park. Oh, did you because I gave him your phone number and it didn't sound like he was going to call you. So, um, so, okay, well then if you've talked to him, maybe you want to talk on it, rather than me. Well, I have I have what I what I think it's an update on the on the Welch Park situation so after our last board meeting. I called Rob Halper and said Rob, we had a conversation almost a year ago and you were going to get together with John Riley, who's the attorney for Welch Park and figure out how to a either get the town out of Welch Park. Or be do away with the Welch Park Association altogether. And no sooner that I got off the phone with him saying, apologizing and promising that he would get a hold of john and they would get back to me ASAP. Then Carl called me and said basically I'm sick of this I think we should spike this thing and do away with the association. So, he has come a long way because the last time we went through this, he was feeling like we needed to, we needed to continue the association. So, you know, and he was going to reach out to to Benderson and try and light a fire under them so between all of that. And I will follow if I don't hear back from Rob in the next few days I'm going to call him up and say hey, what's going on, but somehow or other we're going to get to the bottom of this I have sort of come around to thinking that the best way to handle this is just do away with the whole do away with the whole thing and give Benderson the fire pond and whatever else there is there. The trade off might be that. I'm just thinking out loud that we would that we would take over the maintenance of that road. But maybe not maybe there's maybe there's just an agreement where we have an association which just takes care of that road which should be simple compared to what we're dealing with now with all the water permits and wastewater permits and everything else but Bill, believe me, I will be after all these people. I thought it was a coincidence. One of the things he did ask me was about the maintenance of the road. And I told him that was a select board decision, not mine. The other thing I mentioned to him that I had a $2,000 insurance bill he told me not to pay it. Well, I feel that I do have to pay it. I think it expires tomorrow expired two days ago. When I talked to when I talked to him he said, you said you had to pay it and I agree that we have. I mean, especially now, when we're able to be tiptoeing through the tulips we need that directors and officers insurance we might need it for the first time ever who knows. And we should and we should bill everybody for their for their appropriate. We do. We do. I mean, there are, you know, it sounds as we know it sounds easy, easy to kill this thing but when you're dealing with state water and wastewater permits and other things it's it can be challenging but there has to be some way to do it. And I think we need to do it. And the idea of, you know, anyway, we need to do it. I will, I will report back. Okay. Oh, I just wanted to bring you up to speed on that. And that's basically it. Nothing else really happening. Any questions for Dorenda highway department update in town road conditions and issues addressing the Kenworth $5,000 surcharge on the older truck action like this. And we didn't get a copy of the, or I have not seen it Dorenda just because I didn't have a chance to download it but I do have a copy of the notice. Well, on the contract which I like I said I just was able to locate. We signed the contract on October 21. And if you if you look at the paperwork I just sent over on the second page which is on theirs that says page one of 13. It's a price level April one 2021, which means which I'm bringing that to your attention because in the letter from Kenworth. It mentions April one 2022. So, I don't know if that would come into play at all. The second thing is and looking back at the minutes. It's in our minutes that we were told that this we it was confirmed the price is locked in when the order is place. So, I don't want to start this process all over and that's not what I'm going at but I don't know, you know, if there's any kind of way to adhere to the original contract. So, so the question and I'd be glad to stop down and look it over to but I've been involved, not not with the town but with other things where somewhere buried in the purchase contract it says, if there's something like and I'm paraphrasing you know if increases in cost beyond the seller's control those increases can be passed along to the purchaser. And I'm just wondering if there's language in there like that because they already jumped they jumped the price once on us when we were when we were going to sign the contract. Right. That's right. I'll just bet you. And I don't know what the deal is on the dates but I'll just bet you buried somewhere in the fine print of that contract. They can do this legally. I mean this. They're not doing this just us this isn't a letter to us this is the letter that came from can work for everybody who's buying trucks and that time frame. Right. Well, I mean I'm not saying they're right but they must think they're right. I don't know I don't see any of that fine language on this contract that and I signed the contract so I don't see any fine detailed anything and I only sent you the first those two pages but I've got the whole thing here and the rest of the contract just pretty much line by line calls out the different parts on the truck. I'm glad to call I'm glad to call them up and say, please, please send me over the language in the contract that allows you to make this price adjustment. Right. I just found something for pricing disclaimer. So, subject to, while we make every effort to maintain the website to preserve pricing accuracy prices are subject to change without notice. So this is like pricing in the price list. Although the information in this price list is presented in good faith and believe to be correct at the time of printing. We make no representations or warranties as to the completeness or accuracy of this information. We reserve the right to change delete or otherwise modify the pricing information which is represented within here in without any prior notice. We carefully check pricing specifications but occasionally errors occur. So none of those. I mean that's talking about how they put this on please check your order pre bills to confirm your pricing information. Right. Yeah, that's not saying that once the time is signed, we can increase it. I'm just I'm just telling you guys I've had these contracts rubbed in my face before where they where they have something in there and I don't know if it's in there or not but I don't mind. Calling them or Shane or Victor can call them and just say hey show us where in the where in the contract it gives you the right to change the price. You know anything anything about this either Victor Shane you have any experience with us. Shane here. Yeah, I just joined. Okay. Perfect. Everything on the renders. I read the contract after tonight. It says April 21 2021 and then right over to the right it says 100% complete. Right. I don't know that to me means 100% but I don't know I'm not a lawyer and not an insurance agent. And in the body of this letter, it says it's necessary to implement the pricing surcharge on. It does say 2023 and why trucks but the HD and MD trucks may be canceled at no charge by March 18 2022. Surcharge will be applied to the chassis firm scheduled on or after after April 1 2022. Well, we signed this long before that day. So, I'm, I just wanted to throw it out there before you guys. Here's the here's the problem. If we want to. If we want to back out of this order, we can do it by April 18, no harm no foul, except we need that truck and I believe Shane and Victor determine that the options to get other trucks are are slim to none in the time frame we're looking at I mean can we order a truck and get one a year from now maybe we can't but I think to get a truck in the time frame that we're talking about it in that order we can't we can't do it isn't that right Shane. That's correct. Yeah, we cannot know no one has anything and everyone's orders have been cut back, unless an actual municipality has ordered a truck or somebody has actually ordered one. We can't the dealers can't get them just to have them a lot. So we would be looking at if we if we cancel this order, and buy a truck from somebody else or or try and order a different truck from them. We're going to be starting all over again with a horrendous lead come. All right, and I did read. I went through the specs after they finalize. And I believe during the sign the contracts with the pricing for the price of the truck, but it doesn't say anything on that but if you go through the whole spec list they sent afterwards on what the truck was going to be built at the end of it. It said that they reserve the right to up the price at any time. Because I looked into it a little further. That's what I was that's what I was afraid of. Well then it's not on the sign contract. So, no, that's what I said I never saw it on that one so I thought that was kind of odd that they did but supposedly according to one of the other dealers. If they're calling it a search charge because of stuff that's happened in the economy. They can do it legally. And what prevents them from doing this again because this is the second time they changed the price. I would tell you nothing presents a prevention. So, we're going to we're going to take this. I mean it probably says somewhere in the contractor into that the that the spec sheet is presumed to be a part of the contract I would bet. I'm not questioning it but I just, you know, if the shoe was on the other foot, we wouldn't have had the out and it's kind of like they're holding us against the wall. Right, which isn't right. We signed the contract in good faith our voters approved this money. And now, you know, we're faced with the search arch. I understand we need the truck I'm not saying we don't need the truck and you know $5,000 isn't a lot but it was 5000 just as we were about to sign the contract now it's another 5000. And that's my point. No, and that's a valid point. But I really, I don't think we want to wait and back off for a year because my feelings are, I think in the last year, less than a year's time we have put almost 14,000 of that Western style. So, and I think the transmission started back funny again, Jay was complaining about it this weekend. I'm hoping it's just fluke, but I really think we need to go forward as much as we don't want to. I'm hoping maybe the price of gas goes down will they drop the price. Maybe. I'm going to ask Dustin tomorrow when I call him. I guess, would you send if you're calling him tomorrow, which would you just ask him to send us over where in their contract. It says they have the right to do this and see what his responses. And then get back to Dorenda and get back to me. I guess I guess what I'm thinking we should do, unless we can convince them somehow that this doesn't apply to us is if we don't cancel the order we get the we get the price increase and I would say they're not asking us to sign anything right there just putting us on notice. I mean, I guess, I guess ultimately if the truck comes and we refuse to pay for it I don't I don't I don't know what happens then I don't want to I don't want to think about that but I don't. If we go past, if we go past the 18. We have not lost the ability to cancel a contract but we've lost the ability to cancel a contract without penalty potentially. Peter is saying to cancel the contract. I don't think anybody, I mean, it's obvious we can't we have. Like Shane says we have a truck it's in dire straits and then we have another one that's borderline dire straits. And so we need the truck but there's nothing and so we get, I don't think we say anything and what you alluded to is, if there's anything you get on time if you think that you have a grounds to stand on for not paying that well then, if that's what I don't disagree. I don't disagree with that Victor all I'm all I'm saying is, you know, this is the time to ask him show us show us where it says absolutely absolutely I'm disagreeing with you a bit on that, not not a bit I'm just saying you, you almost they got you over a barrel, you almost just got to kind of close shut your mouth and let it proceed. Shane, did they give you any indication on when they're actually starting to build the truck. It should be. It's this next quarter so it could be anywhere from April to June but the two slots that he had open when we committed. So one of the questions that I would have is, okay, so if they can add this 5000 in now and the language in the contract allows them to do that. And they're stating that they're doing it based on market conditions. If the market corrects itself are they going to remove that surcharge that I would ask that I would ask that question. Absolutely. I would tell you. I would tell you. I agree. I agree Randy doesn't hurt to ask the question, but they're going to say they have no idea, you know, and they have no idea I mean this comes down from Kenworth corporate this isn't this decision they're making in Burlington. No, no, I know that but if, if, if at the point in time and we may not know until it actually goes into production, but I would ask that is at the time of production if there's market has corrected itself. Is there a chance this surcharge could be removed. I agree with everyone that we can't, we can't walk away from this truck. If we go find another truck, we're going to be paying what the market demands now anyway, which is probably going to be an increase of that 5000 or more. But I think that just asking questions to see if there is. So now, is appropriate. Yep. So are we going to now we have to tell him by Friday. Is that what it was March 18. I think Victor's, I think Victor's point is well taken. We're not going to turn down the truck no matter what, we're just pushing back on the surcharge. So, you know, at least I think that's what we're what we're agreeing to I would hate to see us. I would hate to see us cancel the order. I think that's a mistake. I don't think it makes sense. Do we know if our trading value is going to remain the same because we were quoted 60,000 on that one. Um, it might it might actually go up if the market stays up but they have a guy that's interested in it. Um, he's supposed to call me because he knows he can't get it till we get a new truck. Um, some guy owns his own company and we might get more out of it if we sell it ourselves. So how much more I don't know what you guys want to ask above. Maybe we should tell him we've we've implemented a surcharge. I agree. I agree with with the private sale of the truck because you know darn well, you know darn well. I mean truck dealers are no different than car dealers or or farm equipment dealers. They give you a trade in value. They're going to sell it for more. They expect to make a profit when they sell it. So, right. So I believe I believe what we're saying and I want to make sure we're all in agreement is that we're going ahead with this truck. No matter what, we are going to question their right to do the surcharge and ask them for documentation. I'm going to ask the question if market conditions correct before we get delivery of the truck or they build the truck or whatever the right words are, is there any chance that the surcharge will be reduced. And I guess the third, the third piece of this is to have Shane pursue the private sale of the private sale of our truck and see what that looks like. Do we have any idea we have we looked to see, you know, I know, I mean number one trucks aren't as common as cars but there are a lot of trucks that that change hands I mean can we look and see what similar trucks have been selling for or going for an auction or anything like that so we have some backup to know that the price is is right. Of course, that isn't going to include that's just going to be the truck that isn't including any of the equipment which goes with the truck which is substantial and value. I wonder how good of an indicator the state auction is. Yep. I don't know what those go for. They're, they're pretty beat to I don't know the answer to that. But but I think the, the one thing we do have the answer is work work we got a little homework to do, but we're going ahead with the purchase of the truck. When you asked these guys the questions tomorrow Shane, I would not let them know that we're going to get the truck willy-nilly. If they ask you if we're canceling the order or not just say we haven't determined that yet. Okay. Does that make sense. It makes sense. We tell them we're getting the truck willy-nilly they're just going to say it is what it is. It'll be interesting to see what they come up with for for a justification for this, but I'll, I'll bet you somewhere they find that language in that contract. We're fine. It says that spec sheet is part of the contract. All right. Okay. I'll be. I may not be available in the morning, but I'll be available in the afternoon if you need to reach out to me. Okay. Anything else boys that we need to know about other than that the roads are. A little messy right now. They're not terrible. I mean, we can. Both pits, Bickford's and Northeast open so we can get material whenever now. I'm thinking probably Thursday morning or Friday morning one to fix and roads. At least some spots depending on how deep the mud gets. But I roads overall aren't bad shape in comparison with some other town. So. Oh, I would agree. I would agree. They're, they're very passable. You may have to slow down for the potholes, et cetera, but they're very passive. Any questions. I have one quick, one quick question. Should you guys make a motion on. Approving that money on. The X 5,000 or is that, I mean, because it was a motion. Of the amount you approved in the previous minutes. So should there be a motion on this. I don't think you're approving it. Just to document what's going on. So it's in our minutes. Rather than just the general general discussion. So. So, is someone willing to make that motion that we accept. The $5,000 surcharge. I would make that motion to accept the $5,000 surcharge. With notation that Shane's going to ask the questions that we outline. Yep. Is there a second to that motion. I'll second it. Okay. Thank you, Liz. So it's been moved in a sec. And to accept the surcharge, but to push back on their authority to implement the surcharge. That's on right to everybody. Okay. All in, all in favor of the motion. Hi. Hi. Most. Okay. Unfortunately, I think it is, it is what it is, but we'll say, we'll say. Okay. Anything else? I don't think so. I don't know what you guys went over before I joined in. Your timing was perfect. You're right. Just when we started talking about the surcharge. So. That was perfect. No, we didn't. Shane. What's that? We didn't have anything. No, I didn't have anything else. Anything else is pretty decent. So. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Peter, I have a question for, I have a question for them. And then maybe the rest of the board. Is the job posting. Have you guys been able to put that out for the remaining position? That's my bad. I haven't gotten to it yet. These, these meetings just came around too fast. I got to get it on the. I have to get it. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Bye tomorrow afternoon. It'll be done ready. Thank you, Sarah. Anything else? Anyone. Okay, then. Addressing vacant Lister and collector of delinquent tax positions of action. Possible. Is this Sarah or. Sarah can stop with Lister information. Okay. Okay. I'm going to get to that on the job on the highway department because spent all our time working on Listor. So I've talked to. Feel CT. Talk to Nimrick. And I put it, this question out to the comp 60. Board of Listors. And the response is this. If we do not have any listors, which it may appear that we do not. until the next town meeting, whereupon you can, if you so choose, put up the question, should we do away with elected listors and hire an assessor who would be responsible to the select, who report to the select board? The provision VLCT said the only caveat is that we make a big public effort about trying to get listors. Advertising, posting, noticing from people who are voters among town. That's one alternative. The second alternative is that we do get minimal listors. In other words, we get listors who can satisfy the statutory requirement of a board of listors and that would have to be two. And all they would have to do is sign the grand list when it's produced and attend grievance hearings. And Eric has said, Yahee said yesterday, he would be willing to do that. In that case, the town would have to hire somebody who would be kind of like a lister clerk. You could even be an appraiser. The appraiser wouldn't be responsible, wouldn't report to the select board. The appraiser would report to this board of listors. And we already have an appraiser from Nemrick who is doing the field work. Chris Mealy from Nemrick called yesterday and contrary to what we had been informed last year when you signed the contract to hire this professional appraiser, they are happy to do the multiple steps between appraising properties and producing a grand list. And that includes not to bore you in putting property transfer tax returns into the Nemrick program, assessing current use, evaluating subdivisions because when you have a subdivision your property becomes different because you're going up to the highest and best use of each parcel, dealing with the HS-122s and also attending grievance hearings and doing stuff like help producing tax bills and that kind of thing. So there's been some interest from people who do this for a living. One man called today from Waitsfield who works for a couple of other towns and I could not nail him down on a figure, on a price, how much this would cost. He said, well, normally he does the whole thing that are the professional appraiser we have now is doing plus all the other office work. So he didn't feel comfortable giving a price. I mean, I really tried to lean on him. Chris Mealy from Nemrick said, yeah, we'll do it for $96 an hour and depending on what you need and $47 drive time though, of course a lot of this can be remotely handled. So that's where we are right now. And I guess the board needs to figure out what you want us to do. And we can do a pursue two courses at the same time, which is widely as get the word out there like we need listers just to have a board of listers requires very little actual knowledge at this time or else while also pursuing what we're gonna need, which is a professional to come in and do that work. That's my spiel. Thomas, anyone? So the League of Cities and Towns wants this to be a position in the town, right? That's their preference as opposed to higher, like why I'm just curious. No, I didn't know the League of Cities and Towns wasn't giving a preference either way. League of Cities and Towns was saying, okay, if you have absolutely no one who is stepping up to be a Lister, then you need at least two. If you can hire an assessor, but just you can hire assessor until town need, next town meeting, but just make sure you, there's a lot of do notice. There's a lot of public notice so that no one says, hey, the select boards grabbing all the power, they're just getting an assessor. I didn't know about this. You wanna make sure they're very transparent and very out there. If you do hire, if you do get a board of listers, if we have Eric Stays and we get one more person who's just willing to attend the grievance hearings, sign the grand list, then we don't have to hire an appraiser, all you can do, they'll get at work around there as you can hire what's considered a Lister clerk and they can come from anywhere and they can do the work. They will report to those two listers, not to the select board. Maybe you need to say, if we can't get someone from the town, we're gonna have to hire at a higher price and that's gonna cost us as taxpayers. So would someone like to step up to the plate and make some money at the same time? That's a good idea. What's the likelihood of getting a Lister clerk? I think for example, never can do the Lister clerk job. Never can just, you can add it onto their contract and they can just fill in the gaps from what they're doing. So in other words, when you guys signed that contract, you were told that this, and never it's just gonna do the field work, they're not gonna do any of the office work. And that was my understanding as well. And when I talked to Chris Mealy yesterday, he said, no, no, we'll do that as little or as much as you need. At $96 an hour. At $96 an hour, right. But you're not gonna find much less. This is why I really wanted this other guy named Potter to give me, like he says, I operate by a flat fee and he could not give me a number. And that was kind of frustrating. What he said to me, Sarah, when I, and I didn't talk to him very long but I talked to him briefly and he just said, I have to understand exactly what my responsibilities are gonna be and try and figure out, how much time that's gonna take. And then I'll tell you what the flat fee would be. He said, I don't, I've never worked with Nemerick. I don't know how that works. I don't know what, you know, so he was very, very willing to come up and meet with Eric, meet with you, meet with Derinda, meet with me. Well, there are others too. I've received other inquiries. So, I mean, that's not gonna be a problem. Dexbury, this is the model that Dexbury uses. Dexbury has like a couple of listeners who barely do anything. And then they have a guy who does everything. So, this is not an unusual model. Right. Dexbury, is this guy that you're talking about, is he like an assessor? Could he potentially replace what Nemerick's doing now? Yeah, absolutely. Well, not this year. We have a contract. Not this year. I explained to him we're in a one year contract with Nemerick, but potentially he could do, he could do the whole thing. And I said, listen, I think we have, am I right that we have about 900 parcels? Well, all those 900 parcels don't need to be addressed. They are, you know. I was just trying to give him an idea of what the size of our town was and what the scope was. But anyway, he is very interested in coming up and trying to figure out how to do this, or at least he appeared to be. And if there are other people, but I mean, the ideal scenario would be, I mean, I have to believe Nemerick is the, Nemerick is the higher price spread. I don't know that that's true, but I find it hard to believe that this guy's gonna charge us $96 an hour. Why would you not think that? I don't know. I mean, you know- Well, I don't know, Sarah. I don't know. But I mean- I know. Part of this is about the money, and $96 an hour seems pretty high to me. But I could be wrong about that. I've been surprised before, but I think we need to, A, keep trying to get people in town, but be ready to pull the trigger on these other options if we need to. And I would recommend that we have, I had his name right here, Spencer, come up for a visit and sit down with Eric and maybe use Sarah and Dorinda and parse out and see how we could, what would it be if you took over everything but the inspections that Nemerick is doing, and what would it be after the Nemerick contract expires for you to take over the inspections as well? Well, I just wanna be clear that I've got interest from other people as well. I mean, he is not the only one. Well, we should talk to them too before we pull the trigger. But I'm just saying until we have numbers and options, it's hard to know which way to go. But I think we have to be ready to say we might have to hire an outside person and to take the time to meet with those people, get pricing from, understand what it is, I think it's worth doing. And at the same time, keep pursuing trying to get, I mean, this clerk's thing intrigues me because if what Eric is really hating to do is the data entry part of this and we have potential people who would be interested in doing that, then all we need is a second list here to work with Eric and maybe Eric would stay. I don't know. He seems to change his mind with the weather. So I don't know. Can I just ask a question? Yeah. I thought it was really hard to find people like Nehrik. So this guy that's offering to do it, is he, does he do it for other towns? Could we get references and stuff like that? Yes, he does for Waitesfield, Huberton, Menden and Fairhaven or New Haven. The only thing that worries me slightly is that I was talking with a guy who works for one of these companies called New England, something or other, they do this work as well. And they have a five-year waiting list for towns. And so if we were to get rid of Nehrik, would we then be put down at the bottom of the waiting list to get back on? Because we're trying to save a few dollars. All good questions, yes, Dorinda. I'll also add that Nehrik and I'm not supporting going either way. Nehrik, this is their system. I think there'll be a lot more time efficient trying to get this data that if they do, this guy doesn't use Nehrik, so them and they will be changing the, they'll be changing software next year. So I think there's a lot of things that come into play here. Well, there are. I did not ask Spencer if he worked with towns that have the Nehrik software. I guess I would presume that he probably does, but I don't know that. I thought Sarah said he wasn't familiar with it. Didn't you say he wasn't familiar? He works with something, he said to me he works with something called Microsoft, which Nehrik also uses. So I said to him, so you work with Nehrik, right? And he said, hmm, so I don't know. I mean, it's obviously gonna request a detailed conversation. He's gonna, I gave him Eric's number and he can talk to Eric. And he said that maybe he'll be able to have a, he'll have a quote for us by Monday. But again, like VLCT says it's just best to be extremely open and honest about this and try to get everyone in town, post notices, put it in the paper, put it on the website. And we have, I mean, theoretically we have, we've run a election. No one, there wasn't a big write-in campaign. I put stuff on Front Porch Forum, but we don't want anyone to accuse the board of just kind of railroading this. Right. Now, I think we need to do those communications at least one more time. And maybe as Liz said, indicate that if we don't have people who come forward, we're gonna have to subcontract this. That might scare up a resident or two. I don't know. I mean, is there any reason we couldn't, you know, just create a post on Front Porch Forum and just take that same post and post it every week until, while we go through proposals from other people as well. Yeah, I don't see why not. I mean, as long as you guys are open to that, that's what I'll do. So the question is, we go ahead, Dorenda, I'm sorry. The other thing you need to be concerned of, April 1st is two weeks away and that is how the grant list is created as of April 1st. So the person that's out there doing this, and again, I sound like I'm promoting Nimrack, but I'm kind of playing the devil's advocate here. Are we smart to, you know, go with the people we know who's used in their own software, at least for this April 1st deadline and then, you know, maybe look for down the road how we wanna move forward. Could we set up an arrangement with them, letting them know that we're still looking for a different avenue moving forward and they can fill this in for the time being? Would they be open to something like that? So when I talk to Chris, I mean, Chris Mealy from Nimrack, he, you know, what we've got is the really hard part of the job or, you know, the fun part of the job is already being contracted by Nimrack. And all they're gonna, and this Nimrack person is putting the data into the Nimrack system. So from my point of view, for this year at least, it would be almost more convenient to have Nimrack just do the next step, which is using their programs which aren't gonna be available next year to create the grand list. That's all we're doing, is just creating the grand list. That's, you know, it's almost halfway done in some ways because we've had this assessor working. But I mean, I'm sure they can work through this. I don't think that Nimrack is gonna be very interested. I mean, they said that it's sliding scales. They said it's little as much as you want, you know? They also said that we provide training if we got somebody. So well, if we found somebody who was interested as a Lister while they're doing this 2022 process, they would be happy to train that person along with them which I think is a benefit if we could find somebody because that would eliminate a lot of problems. That was not the impression I got from the guy who is calling from Wadesfield. But, you know, that's not his job either. He wants to work completely remotely, by the way, 100%. And that's to be expected. Yeah. Well, I guess the question is, I guess that what the question really comes down to is, you know, maybe what we need to do is say, okay, Eric does not wanna do the grand list, right? Right. So we say, okay, Nimrack, we will hire you for the balance of the contract year that we've already done for the inspections. And your job will be creating the grand list and dealing with tax appeals. And if it's $96 an hour, it's $96 an hour. I mean, that shouldn't be that much time. It shouldn't be that much time. That's what I'm thinking as well. We have, during this, we've got $20,000 budgeted for Listers. It shouldn't be that much time. And Eric doesn't think there's gonna be any grievances because are you ready for this, guys? Here's the bomb drop. The grand list is not going to change based on sales from last year because apparently I did not know this. They don't, just because of property transfers doesn't mean that the Listers run out and then reappraise the property at the higher value for what it transferred. So we've got a lot of houses that sold in mid 400s that are still on the town's grand list at 280 and they're gonna stay there until we get our bad news from the state in December and our CLA is in the 70 percentile, we're upon, we have to trigger a town-wide reappraisal. Then we're gonna need an assessor. Here's a question though, Sarah, and I got that message glad and clear from you earlier today, but I have been involved in the purchase of probably 20 buildings in Montpelier over the years, including recent years. And every single time I buy a building in Montpelier, the first thing that happens is they up the appraisal on the building to the purchase price that I paid for. And they are not going through a full appraisal. It just happens. So I don't know. That's what you're saying. That's optional. I don't know what it is, but I can promise you, at least in Montpelier, they're doing something which looks exactly like what you say they can't do, which doesn't make sense. I mean, it was my understanding that was the way it worked as well. And I don't understand it, but when I talked to PVR, Barb Schlesinger asked me, she said, well, it's not a reappraisal year for you. So you're not gonna have any grievances. So I just don't know enough about listing. I'm sorry to interrupt you, but isn't it true that at any time, for any reason, a lister can go out and re-inspect a property and adjust an appraisal? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if there's some sort of fairness issue that I don't know. I'm not a lister. I'm a town clerk. Well, neither am I. That is an interesting question because the point Dorenda brought up when we were talking about this in the office earlier is how come our grand list goes up so much if we're not increasing the appraisals on these buildings which sell for higher prices? I mean, if our grand list can't go up, if you can't change it, why does our grand list go up? Can't just be new construction. We don't have that much new construction. No, I haven't had any lister training. Well, I would like to get to the bottom of that issue, however we do that. Maybe it's a question for NEMRIC, I don't know. But maybe it is, it's an option for us to do that, but we don't have to do it. I don't know. I don't know. But something doesn't pass, yeah, Phil. Just to bring this back around, and I think maybe I've changed my thinking on this a little bit, that how are we gonna proceed? We're gonna go out and look for at least one other person to join Eric so that we have a minimally functioning board of listers and subcontract to NEMRIC, because I think a lot of the arguments that I heard do make sense to stay that route. And with coming up to an April deadline, and I know we'd lodge the grand list later on, but that it seems that may make sense. So I- That's the ease, that would be the most ideal, if you guys could do that. If we could get just one other person to do that, that would be great. And then we would be, then all of this would go away. Okay. Until next, until August, where the town of the select board's gonna have to think about how to pursue assessing from there on from that point forward. But I'm gonna suggest that's what we do for now. So, Phil, what you're saying just to be clear is that we do hire NEMRIC to create the grand list, but at the same time, we keep trying to recruit another lister. I mean, it'll be the months go by pretty fast. So I think we're stuck with hiring NEMRIC to do the grand list and the appeals for this year. And we just hope it doesn't amount to very many hours. It doesn't amount to much money. Right. And I think we're likely to be able to find one or two people who would be willing to do this kind of sit on a board and do appeals and that kind of thing without having the responsibility of the full range of what a lister does. And at least maybe. Well, the answer is who knows, but for some reason, and I can understand, but there's some aspects. I don't understand why apparently creating the grand list seems to be a big bug about. I mean, to me, that's administrative, relatively simple process, but there must be some part of it that I don't understand because Eric has just found a new term that he doesn't wanna be involved in it. I don't understand why. I honestly don't think it's that bad. I think that he doesn't wanna put the, I don't think he wants to input the property transfer tax returns. If he teaches me how to do it once, I can do it. I record all the property transfer tax returns. It's not gonna cost me anything anymore time to do it to just put them into NEMRIC. So, and I said, talked about that with Chris Mealy. He said, I said, can I do that? I said, sure, you can, that's easy. But I, what I can't do as a town clerk is assess the value of subdivisions. But I think that's partly what Marla is doing for NEMRIC right now. So, I mean, I think a lot of it is not that much. Like the HS-122s and uploading and downloading those. And I think it's a lot of bureaucratic filing with the state from what I can tell. It doesn't seem like it's really complicated. It's just, you know, you gotta file your 4-11, you gotta file it by a certain time. And you have to be a watchdog on these HS-122s, which is just a pain in the butt. Well, I think we need to make, I think we need to make a decision. So my recommendation would be that we agree to hire NEMRIC to do the grand list and the tax appeals for this year and handle that for the term of their existing contract. And then we'll review whether we renew that, whether we have been able to recruit people, whatever, as time goes by here. But for right now, I think we need to put them on the hook and get them working. And I also think by doing that, the likelihood of Eric sticking around a little longer is a lot better. Just one other person, one other person. That's it. Does NEMRIC's existing contract run through June 30? I think it was to do, I don't know if there was an actual date for it. It was to do all of the appraisals that needed to be done for 2022 tax year. So more of a scope of work. A scope of work as opposed to from this date to this day. Yeah, but maybe what we say to NEMRIC is we will hire them to lodge the grand list and go through the tax appeals whenever they are for this year's work. Let's, if we get a board of listers, then you don't have to worry about that. Then it's out of the select board's hair. Right, but all I'm saying is, when are we gonna ask NEMRIC to do it? What we're gonna ask them to do is do the grand list and deal with the tax appeals for this year's tax season. Right. That sound right to everyone? Should we talk to Eric first and see exactly what he wants them to do. And before we, I think what we should do is, if you have a board of listers, then the board of listers can technically hire NEMRIC. And that's probably the right way to do it. Otherwise, you guys are just basically hiring an assessor. You know what I mean? Yeah, but we don't have a board of listers. Well, maybe by April 5th we will. So all you, if you have a point of... But I'm just... I don't know, maybe we wait and see if we can get somebody. I mean, the work on the grand list begins as of April 1st, but it isn't completed until June, right? Well, and it's already been done. And the work has already begun. Marla has already begun the work. So I think if I say to Chris, look, we're gonna try to get one more person and they would be appointed by April 5th and the board would like to hire you to do all of this, then we could just bring it back to you on April 5th. You guys can ratify it and go forward. How about I have a conversation like that with Chris? Does that make sense? Well, before we take any formal motions that makes it looks like they select board's hiring an assessor. That's my only concern. Because I'm trying to follow VLCT's advice about this. No, that's good. So we're going to be just... But we've already hired an assessor, haven't... We've already hired an assessor when we have to do the appraisals. So all we're doing is adding to their scope of work. Well, that's maybe one thing. Yeah. But I think you're right. I think we don't need to pull a trigger on this until April 5th. So maybe after that. Let's see if we can find another person in the meantime. Meanwhile, I'll talk to Nemerick and just tell them what's going on. They understand our situation and maybe Eric can talk to and try to get a ballpark. How much it's going to cost. Does that work for everyone? I think I just have... I have one other question before we move on. Is Nemerick's contract with the select board? Is it with the Listers? Is it with the town? Is that differentiated at all? That's a good question because there seems to be two different interpretations. I would imagine it's with the town of Middlesex. I would imagine it's with the town of Middlesex. Huh? You signed the contract? No, I don't recall signing the contract. I wouldn't have power to do that. I don't think. Maybe it is the Listers. That's what I was thinking. That's why I'm holding off because the Listers did sign the contract. They were very adamant about that. But you as the Bursers had to release the money. So you approved the money and the contract is the Listers signed the contract. But I believe the contract is with the town. The contracts with the town and the agreement I believe was signed by the Listers. That's right. I have a copy. Technically they report to the Listers, not the select board. All right, that's correct. Yeah. It gives me a headache. I know. Yeah, headache. Must be almost cocktail time. That's gotta be. So are we all set on that for tonight? I think we are. Yeah. Okay. So we've just got a few quick things to deal with here. Wait a minute. We skipped over to Lincoln Tax Collector on the same item number. Missed it last time and we're not gonna miss it this time. Then we're gonna do that job too. Thank you. Might I suggest that as we post information about the Lister situation that we also include this to Lincoln Tax? Yeah, great. We need to put on a full court just to find somebody, definitely. I don't see anyone raising their hand. Select board cannot. Can not. No, no, I'm just teasing. But I mean, we need to, I agree with the idea of just keeping it on front porch forum, getting it on, getting it on wherever we can get it and keep it on there until we get somebody. I mean, we're now, we're now potentially paying real money for this job. It's not a peanut's job anymore. One thing I'd like to get into the record is that the collector of delinquent taxes in some towns does it suit to nuts. But in our town, you know, Cheryl sends out notices, right? To let people know that. I volunteered to do that. When I was the delinquent tax collector, collector of delinquent taxes, I'm the one who processed all the letters and contacted all the people. All we've been doing is, which I volunteered our department to do in the interim is send out the late notices. And we'll continue to do that until we find somebody, but there's nobody really reviewing these notices. Right now, I think we're okay until the end of when the last tax payment is due. And then I think by that time, it will be important for somebody to go through the list to see who didn't pay their taxes for the current year. Let's put the full court press on to try and find somebody. And I don't know what, I do not know legally what the fallback is if we have nobody. Do you know, Garinda? I think it just says that you need to appoint somebody. I think that's what the language was. I haven't looked at it in a while, but if no one's in the office, you're supposed to appoint somebody. And there's no volunteers to appoint. That's the whole problem we're having. So I think, you know, I think you're, you know, if it comes down to the legality of appointing someone, then certainly we can appoint, you know, I don't care if I get appointed, but I just want to clear that this is not the job that I'm taking on, you know, I'm kind of holding it together, but it's not going to go forward with. Well, I have a funny little nervous tick in the back of my brain is that if we don't have anybody, the responsibility reverts to the select board, but. It does not, that's the conflict that you cannot, I checked yesterday. Can you select board members, may not be collectors of delinquent taxes, nor may they be treasures. All I'm saying is, you know, just like with this Lister thing, there's got to be some kind of fallback because again, we're not the first time that's had this issue as well. So let's put the full court press on to advertise and see if we can't wrestle somebody up. And at the same time, I guess Sarah, if you would just add to your list, asking the League of Cities and Towns, what do we do if we can't find it delinquent tax collector? What happens then? Well, I did ask them today. And what did they say? It's a treasurer. Oh. Oh. Oh. Uh-oh. Oh, you're not quiet, are you? It's not, well, it's been a long meeting. Thanks. So you're going to have the first cocktail right now, Dorenda. Now let's try, in all seriousness, let's try and find somebody. I mean, as much as it can be a little bit of a challenging job, it's not that horrendous. I just, as Dorenda, I believe, said when we were first talking about this, it's important to have somebody who can make creative deals with people, try and be, you know, absolutely be fair to people and, you know, you got to do what you got to do, but do it in the nicest possible way. I mean, the personality of the person who takes this job is as important as anything. Okay. Done for tonight. Congratulations, Dorenda. No. Okay, moving right along, I'm going to suggest we've kept Sky in the waiting room for quite a while here. So I guess I would suggest that we bring her up, other business, up to the top of the line, if that everybody agrees with that. Yep. So, Sky, you're on. Hello. Welcome, I'm sorry we kept you waiting so long. That's okay, that's okay. Appreciate being here. Do you want to make the wait with tax collector? Yeah. If we say yes to this, would you agree with the tax collector? My internet seems to be cutting out. I didn't hear you. Okay, go ahead, Sky, we're just... Okay, so ever since the pandemic in the summer, I've been trying to hold some of my fitness classes outdoors just because that makes people feel more comfortable. And I was wondering if it would be possible to hold them at the bandstand. I do one a week and I had previously been hosting them at Camp Need. And I just think the bandstand would be a more central location for middle sex residents. So I just wanted to see if that was a possibility. So what is, it's once a week for how long? I mean, how many hours or? Usually I go from like May through August. It depends on how the turnout is. Sometimes it trails off, you know, when school picks back up, it gets harder for people. But usually like Memorial Day to Labor Day is kind of the rough timeline. Yep, and how long are the classes? Usually like around 40 minutes. I mean, I can adjust them. They could be anywhere from a half an hour to an hour about 40 minutes or 45 minutes seems to be a good length. So you would basically just be using the field. You wouldn't be using the bandstand, correct? Right, right. Yeah, just that area outside. Sounds like Peter wants to join your class. He's asking a lot of questions. Exactly. I'm sorry, what is it yoga? I can't forget what it said on the thing. No, it's more like, it's like a moderate intensity. So I bring like dumbbells and resistance bands. It's a lot of body weight movements, like planks, squats, lunges. Modifications for all levels. So we try to be, have something for everybody whether they're just starting out or they want to like get a really intense workout. Is this your own, like is this the Alpin Glow or is this you personally doing it as your own little business? I do it through Alpin Glow because that's where my insurance is and that's where I have like my registration. Just to be like totally honest, Alpin Glow is like, is struggling a lot. It's been a rough two years. So the outdoor classes are just like, it's good for the community and it's good for us because it helps us bring in a little bit more revenue to help pay the bills. Because indoor fitness classes have not been a real success during the pandemic. So yeah, it's just me that teaches them but it is under the Alpin Glow business. So I guess the question is and I'm just throwing it out to the select board that sounds like a pretty minor thing but I would just say in the past when we have allowed businesses whether they're town residents or outside businesses to use our facilities, whether it's using the town hall or a field or whatever we've charged some kind of a fee and we required a certificate of insurance. I don't know what the appropriate fee would be it sounds like it sounds like you have insurance. So that answers that question and presumably you could add the town to your or get your insurance broker to issue a certificate of insurance for the benefit of the town. But I don't know how others feel about that. What have we charged other entities in the past, Peter? Is there a fee structure? Is it based on the event? The only fee structure that I'm aware of is we did have a fee structure for the town hall and it was what Sarah, pretty small, right? It was like 25 bucks for a day. Yeah, for a whole day. I can share, so at Camp Mead I pay $2 a person which is great because if I have nobody show up I have no revenue. The other structure I thought about was if I didn't pay a per student fee but offer a discount for middle-sex residents like $10 if you're a middle-sex resident, 16 if you're not something like that kind of like a recreation department set up. No. How many people do you generally have? Anywhere from like four to eight, hopefully more wearing a more prominent location. Yeah, I would think $2 a person or something like that and we operate on the honor system would be fair. I think it's the principle of the thing more than the amount of money involved. This isn't gonna help us renovate the town hall and bring the revenue. But maybe it'll pay to cut the grass at the bandstand a couple of times or something like that, who knows. But I don't know how- Recommend that maybe the money goes to the bandstand committee. Like something that's, if it's raining are you gonna be like dancing on the bandstand? No. If it's raining, we usually cancel. Okay. Well, let's say Sarah is, no, Sarah, Liz is remember we're paying to mow the bandstand. Oh, right, yeah. Some justification in terms of us collecting. Okay, yeah. Yeah, they're not gonna use the bandstand itself. They're just gonna use the field. Yes, Tarenda? If we are charging, is there any issue with liability? If we're charging to do this and somebody gets hurt or falls or falls in the ditch, if we're charging for this, might come back to us. So that's my only question on that. Is there- What I would tell you is, if we allow anybody to use any of our town facilities for any reason, we have some liability exposure, but that's why it's important for the vendor to have their own insurance because they're gonna be at the head of the line. So that's why I asked that question. I mean, anything that happens in any or around any of our facilities were potentially liable if somebody slips and falls or who knows what happens. Right, but we're not charging for it. I mean, if we're holding, like normally we're not holding charging for the venue. So that's why I was just wondering. I, to be honest with you, I don't think it makes any difference, Tarenda. Okay. That's a quick. If that's a serious concern, I think we should ask our- No, I thought maybe you would know be coming from the insurance world. Well, that's what I'm giving you my, I'm giving you my answer, but you know what free advice is worth, right? I'm just telling you, in my 44 years of insurance experience, the way it goes is, whether you have a building or a field or anything, if someone's using that, whether or not they're paying you for it, you have some liability exposure. Somebody gets hurt? Yeah. Are they likely to name the town? Yes. Are we likely to be liable? I mean, the other thing we have is there's pretty good law saying that, it's very difficult to go after the town for something like that, even when it happens on a town road. So anyway, I'm not particularly concerned about that. I said, I just think the principle of what it's a business, I mean, if this was a volunteer activity and Sky was just doing this with some of her neighbors for fun, I would say, maybe it's just okay and we don't do anything, but when it's a business and we're gonna require a certificate of insurance, I think it makes sense to have some kind of a fee and the $2 a head thing seems fair to me if that works for you, Sky. And again, I don't know how everybody else feels about it. Maybe it's more or less, whatever. I think it makes sense that it limits her risk of having nobody show up and having to pay a fee. And I agree with you, it's the principle behind it. So the $2 a head thing, if that's currently what she's comfortable with in her current arrangement, it seems to carry through here and limits her exposure to paying for something when nobody comes. So I like it. Me too. And I would say it would make probably most sense from a financial standpoint to just do it at the end of the season. You pay it at the end of the season or something like that, if that makes the most sense to Dorina. Oh yeah, just keep track of the numbers. And what we should do, the other part of this is we should just write up a simple agreement that we sign and you sign Sky which says you have the ability to use the bandstand up to an hour a week from Memorial Day to Labor Day or whatever you wanna say. And we agree that the fee will be $2 per participant and per class and that you will provide the town of mental sex with a certificate of insurance. Yes, Randy. I think the only thing that I have a question about is whether or not the times are consistent. And if we need to put any consideration into other events that are happening and who's got priority of different types of events. So I don't know if you're just kind of scattered with the schedule depending on people's availabilities or is this a Monday at 9 a.m. every week type of thing? Yeah, I was thinking either Thursday or Friday mornings at seven or eight. I might do like a survey and see what works best for the most amount of people but it would be like the same time every week. And I wouldn't think at that time of the day that we've got people lining up to use the bandstand, do we? I just think we think it sounds like a nice thing. Yeah, I think we should do it. Just, and I guess the other thing that should be in our agreement is that you agree to leave the field in the same condition you found it. Don't leave trash, don't make a mess basically, right? Nobody following it and nobody litter. There you go. There you go. Whatever you bring, take it back. So Sarah, if you could just draw up a simple agreement. Yep. Just covering those items and Sky look it over and if you agree, you sign it, we'll sign it and you're off to the races. And I'll see you all there. At our first class last day. Yes. I will say, if Victor and Durin to show up at the class, I'll show up. They're a lot of fun, I will say. And maybe I should include Randy, Phil, who knows? Anyway, good for you. Thank you so much. It's a nice thing. Well, I'm sorry we kept you waiting so long. Hi, I'm sending you an email about a micro business grant opportunity that you may not know about. Ooh, thank you. Business is alive. I need all the help we can get. It's been rough. So just look for your email. I'm sending it from my Gmail. Okay, thanks Liz. Yep. All right, thanks y'all. Have a great night. Hey, thank you. Bye-bye. Approving the minutes of the March 8th, 2022 select board meeting is our motion. So moved. Second? I will. Randy, thank you. It's been moved in second to approve the minutes of the March 8th select board meeting. All those in favor? Say aye, please. Aye. Wake up, Liz. I said aye, but I started to doubt if I was at the meeting, but this was just last meeting and I was. Just stay awake, Liz. Okay, we've approved our minutes. Reviewing and approving the class one and class three liquor license renewals for the filling station. Action likely. And we got copies of the application pretty straightforward. I don't believe we've had any issues with them which would cause us not to renew this license. I'll move approval. Okay. Okay, it's been moved and seconded to approve the class one and class three liquor license for the filling station. All those in favor? Say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay, we've done that. We've talked the sky. We have orders to sign. Did you get signatures to render? Are you still sure? When I left the office today, I had just yours. Okay, I'll be done tomorrow. Can you also, so everybody should sign the liquor licenses. I'll leave you out there with little sticky things. Okay. I can stop by tomorrow afternoon. How many signatures do you need on the liquor license? Three? That would be ideal, yeah. The DLC has been pretty understanding with the pandemic, but they're getting less and less though. So Randy, you'll go ahead and skip out. I can stop by today. I love seeing you, but I don't need to be there every day. Well, three would be really nice. Since we're not gonna have Steve and since it's hard for Liz. So it would be Randy, Phil and you, that would be great. Randy, what road do you live on? McCullough Hill. I didn't know that. I'm neighbors with Steve and Phil. Yeah. McCullough Hill too, so I'll tell you. I'll go down here. I thought you lived on Brook Road, Phil. I do, but I was just- You mean like the way they joined? Oh, it was right up the hill. So are you on the other side of where Susan Clark lives and Susan Warren? They live on the other end. Root, Randy, are you on the other end? I'm all the way at the end by Center Road. I see, okay. Cool. Corresponding. I think we're on McCullough Road too. Yeah, only the oddballs live on the other side of the hill, Liz. Wait, Randy, you live on McCullough Hill too? Just below McCullough Hill. Instead of turning up the hill, you just keep going straight. Oh, really, are there new houses? Right across the street, yeah. That house, my goodness. Whose is it? Right, Liz, behave yourself. My brother-in-law's. Really? Is it a seasonal house? Oh my God, Liz. I've never seen that house so just recently, it's really cool. Yeah. I wouldn't want to fall off the back. Liz Sharpe, are you starting to take over the habits of a former select person who shall go nameless? What, am I being a little forgetful? That's people's personal stuff, yes. No, I just, I noticed that house for the first time. Orca, orca. I'm just curious. It's just a house in middle sex. Okay, okay, okay, we're good. Correspondents, Sarah. No, there's no correspondents. I've sent you everything. Okay, so you all have next week off. Congratulations. Guys, I just, I screwed up tonight. I forgot to invite the fire department. I was wondering about that, so I didn't say anything. No, they didn't have any report anyway. Scott came on, but he left. I wish him, he was on here earlier and then he left. I got a note from Jeff. I saw him sign on. He will, he's happy to send you his report even though I spaced on it. Well, that's okay. Why don't you just send him a little note of apology and ask him to come to the next meeting, if you can. Okay. I think it's good to see him. I don't want to do that. No, no, no, I just, honestly, I forgot. I just, I don't know if, you know. Before we go, should we schedule what you're going to discuss at the next meeting? Like, are we going to take up ARPA stuff? Or are we going to do, how soon are we going to start talking about any of those items? Well, I think the two big items are starting to talk about how we're going to go forward on the fire department issue. And I agree the ARPA funds thing we need to dig into. So I guess, I think maybe what we need to do, and I know you're going to groan when I say, yes, special meeting, but I think maybe we need to schedule a meeting just to talk about the ARPA situation. I don't know how everybody else feels. I agree with that. That's a complicated issue. And we've got to figure out some kind of structure and plan an hour. You know, once the word gets out that virtually anything is eligible. And I went back and read through that stuff and it isn't exactly crystal clear, but they say exactly what you said, Durrinda. So I guess we have to take that for what it is unless they change the guidance, but I'm just afraid the flood gates are going to open. Everybody's going to want some of that money. And I think we have to be careful how we deal with it. So I'm not suggesting that the April 5th meeting be the special meeting for that. I think we need to set it at a separate time. So let's take one week off. Let's invite the fire department to the April 5th meeting and then consider setting up a special meeting after that to deal with or start dealing with ARPA. I would also challenge all of you to think about as much as we say we want to make it a public process, do we want to come up with some kind of a laundry list of suggested uses and then have a public meeting? Do we want to have a public meeting and have it be free for all? I don't know. I think that we should come up with a list and present that list and then open it up for public comment and suggestions for any other ideas maybe. I think that's fine, Durrinda. We need to keep track of, what I want to be sure we keep track of is, is the timeline on that matching grant for the fiber because it would be a shame if our intent is to give them some of that money, we should certainly give it to them when it can be matched. There would be a mistake to use that opportunity. Right. When do we think that is, Phil, do you know? I believe it's September 1st that I can call Jerry Diamatidis, who's the new chair that will check with him. Okay, it would just be great to know what that date is. I mean, I think we've got time, but you know, as I say, the weeks and the months roll by pretty fast. And Durrinda, we expect to get the second slot of that money in the June timeframe. Is that right? Yeah, I think so, let's see, is there a date? This doesn't say exactly when, but yeah, I think so. I mean, roughly in that timeframe. Yeah, I think it was half now and then half towards this summer or somewhere. Yeah, that was my recollection. I'll look it up, but yeah. I think one fell for like one year and then they were spacing it, the next one was in the following physical year or something. Yeah, right. All right, that sounds right to me. Yeah. I always think we're riding up the mud on East Hill today. I always think it'd be nice to pay from the Montpelier City line right up past my house. Maybe we should invest in some animal fencing. Electric fence. Yes, Sarah. I just wanna tell you that I'm not going to be here for that first Tuesday of the May of the May meeting. I'm actually gonna go to Poland. So. Oh my God. No, tickets are purchased. So that's good. Yeah. I'm going in June if there's no war. Well, as long as you come back, you know. Ditto. It would be very nice to arrange for peace over there before you go. Yeah, I don't know what's gonna happen, but that's so if you're thinking of special meetings, I won't be here to take minutes for them. When are you actually gone, Sarah? Do you wanna divulge that? I'm going Monday, May 2nd and returning Monday, May 9th. Okay. And I will be tired. Oh yeah. No, we're not expecting that. We just, just so. I can take minutes. I suppose I can take minutes. I'll take minutes. Well, we can work, we can work around that and also the meeting is recorded if push comes to shove, so. Yeah.