 Okay, good evening. I'd like to call the Monday, May 1st 2023 town of Berlin select board meeting to order With us on my left is Flo Smith Dave Sawyer is here via zoom To my right is Tor Nelson and Joe Stubb with us also is Vince Connie town administrator and Diane Isabel town treasurer Additions or changes to the agenda? I happen to have a couple of additions. I admitted putting on the agenda the Mowing roadside mowing bit They will be back today. We received one like to like to include that and then I received a note from the state AOT regarding the Riverton Route 12 bridge And the sidewalk and they're looking for an agreement and writing from us regarding the winter maintenance Just quickly discuss that with the board as well Okay, you said Tim was going to be in here Tim is with us, okay? Public comment hearing none Makaya Burrington right away permit. Yes, this is the one that we we talked about at the last meeting We rescheduled they weren't able to make it and we really wanted Tim to meet and speak with them and he has So Tim, I know you're here. Do you want to? Reach them on your discussion? Or not Now can you hear me? There we go Okay So yeah, I spoke with them a few days after that last meeting but they were very clear What they were exactly going to do when I spoke with them because I Don't I don't think they wanted to lose both entrants or to lose their existing entrance Add so there was a few options that were discussed was that they might just make their driveway that they have now currently bigger or Move to the new entrance and take out the old entrance I Don't believe they're on here tonight again. Are they? No, they're not here again When I left it he was gonna let me know he was gonna talk with the contractor that's doing the work and He was gonna let me know on what option they were gonna pick and I haven't heard from them yet I know there was an excavator there last week on by today. If everything's gone now, so they haven't done any of the Drainage work that they were gonna do Assume they're coming back at some point so Tim they were also I didn't hear you mentioned this but they were unaware of the state changing that Intersection off route 12 as well. Correct. They were not aware of that not not They were not aware of it when they were when they filed for this permit. No They're aware of it now, right? You made them aware of that. Yeah and You know, it sounded like They want to add more parking because if they have any visitors they have to park on the side of Chandler Road And that's what they were trying to change the driveway is was to add for more parking but He was discussing we discussed about him potentially removing some of the fence in front of the house and making their Front entrance a little wider and then making the driveway bigger in front of their house and Like I said, I don't at this point I don't know which option they're gonna go with if they're gonna leave the existing and make it bigger or move Move the driveway up the hill So they really haven't given us a definitive answer Okay, so I have a question here the permit says The construction of a new driveway and eliminate the old so I don't see options here Honestly, were they the ones that supplied the the picture the Google Earth picture of some sort Okay So I don't I don't necessarily see that this permit has options I mean just the permit itself is to eliminate one and Create a new well, I think I think they were under the influence that they were gonna be able to keep and Have some sort of loop driveway Well, I don't see Lou and I see eliminate Yeah, I know and they also include under the description of work to be done excavate old drive and new culverts but they also include that the Construction of the new driveway was to eliminate the old driver safety. Did they speak to you about their concerns regarding safety? It was it was mainly in the parking They have no parking so if they have gas they parked on the side of Like the end of their driveway and somewhat out in front with the white fences that was their safety concerns and He has a construction trailer for his work that he parks next or in front of his garage and Like when he's backing it in He's out kind of in the road but he wasn't Like I said, he he bounced around a little bit on which way he wanted to go if they were They were not gonna do a new driveway if they were just gonna make bigger parking in front of their house And keep the existing driveway like he was Back and forth when we when we spoke about what Their better options could be Well, I mean until they know what the state's gonna do I think they're gonna be in flux anyway Well, I think if you know in that site in the state gonna redo that that that Intersection right there on channel road. I think if they leave it where it's at They're gonna have a longer driveway. Anyways, once that's reconstructed if it stays on that lower end of the house Yeah, my assumption is if they if the state is gonna bring that road over narrow it up to one, you know Actual just left and right intersection like I explained to him like that hole where the road is now is gonna be turned into grass or potentially could be added on for parking for them or whatnot like I Don't know how I'm sure the state is gonna keep it as their right away. I'm sure they're not gonna deed anything back over to the adjacent landowners No, but that being said if that channel road comes down and it turns a little to the right to you know To square that up and their driveways on that lower end the state just can't block them off right there That's gonna give them a longer driveway to to still be on channel road because they're not gonna want to exit on to On to the main highway. Yeah, you know, I mean like I like My envision would be if they're gonna change it they're gonna extend the guardrails around the corner So people can't just shoot across the grass or miss the corner and then go out there So they would probably have to move their driveway on Chandler Road. It would just be At this point is it is it the best solution to go back to them and say, you know, right now It's not approved We want to wait until they determine what their final design is gonna look like before we can approve it And they're waiting on to see what route what's gonna happen with the route 12 and how far that's gonna move I'm sure at this point but yeah to Joe's point right it says remove and replace that's not what they're planning on doing right now So they're gonna have to redo this permit for what they actually want to do anyway Correct. Well, I Mean, there's multiple solutions that can come out of this but we're just guessing right now As far as I got from them like if they're not gonna put in that new driveway They're gonna use the existing one they are and make a parking area in front of their house on their lawn Right, but that's not on this permit. So either way they have to redo the permit And I don't think that you're gonna give them two curb cuts to their property anyways So it'll be just the one what I would hold off until until we know what's happening On that intersection personally Is that a motion to table? I that that's what my motion would be. I would table this until till we've got more information Either State on what's happening on that entrance That was my recommendation right from the start was We should wait till there's an actual definitive answer from v-trans On what that intersection is going to look like where everything's going to be and how much is going to change there before We do this and people spend money and then they have to all get ripped back up because it's not going to fit into the Scope of work that they're planning on doing there Well, since we have a motion, do I have a second second now we have a discussion Is it so tim basically when you talk to them they weren't clear on on just what they were going to do No No, he was going back and forth like they were going to put that entrance in temporarily at least To access the property for the equipment and a dump truck To do the work But then when they were there this past weekend they just took the fence down and they came in from the driveway with the excavator and did what they did out front and Um, the excavator was gone today when I went by there. So I don't know what they're I don't think they know what they're gonna do. Yeah well, all right the uh Any other discussion on this? comments All those in favor of tabling All right Those opposed motion cares Uh Can you reach out to them and explain what's going on? Yes And maybe they'll have a better idea Yep Um, okay, please approve vacation carryover. Okay, there were a number of questions Regarding what was in the contract and such in your handouts and what I said to you There's uh, there's the information that clarifies exactly what's in the contract. What can be carried over? And how much are they asking to carry over they were asking to carry over an additional 40 hours additional 40 hours for one year. Yep Due to military Right I think there's a family And a military yeah, there's actually two military leads and one family leave and somebody probably going to Another country for a month. These are all separate things. Okay, so again the assumption is there's going to be a bit of a Strain on the remaining to make To do overtime to cover those shifts I guess my only concern is It's not really a concern. Just more of a heads up I can see this happening again next year Yeah, exactly. I'm not opposed to it. In fact, I'll make the motion to approve I don't know if I can say or an increase of 40 hour carry over for one year for that two department union members Second That as long as at the end of the year we don't exceed the number of hours that were on the contract For the carryover that they needed those hours be paid out at the end of the year I wouldn't want to see it carried over You know past the year I think there's a what's there? There's a time limit. I mean there's a carryover amount of what was it 60 hours or Whatever the hours were So at the end of the the calendar year, I'd like to see that that was paid out I don't want to see that carried over, you know In a cure a cure more than what the hours of the contract allows, right? I don't mind it for that one year So if if the if the amount is 120 hours that they can carry over They've got 125 at the end of the year because of this we pay them out those five hours So they don't exceed the 120. That's what you're saying, correct? Yes. Yeah How often does this happen First time is this first time for them. Yeah, I think that there was a time that myself You know fairly stress stressful job and the time off and away from the office and out of the car is important Uh paying them off is better than anyone Curing more or losing it But the time off is is definitely important. It is any other discussion on this All those in favor Those opposed portion carries They can building and property ordinance So this was joke. Is this something that you might want to This was brought out and um so again, I uh Didn't reinvent the wheel. I went looking in the plagiarized with pride This document my best practice Was that best practice best practices? Okay. We'll go with that much much better terminology I looked at three or four and tried to you know find the best out of all of them and what fit The town of Berlin the best and this is what is the result of that this draft Um, it's far from perfect, but it's a place to start If we want to go that way and have an ordinance for that This is a place to start kind of baseline it We get to to fit what we think the needs are And what brought about the need for this? Well, uh, I think it was me Well, so there there's some some we have some vacant buildings in burlap and some of them have been put out You know for the whole world to see on social media. Um, I also know uh, recently Like k and w would just close their doors You know, and that's that's off the beaten path and not you know very visible to to the travel public and with the discussion of hilltop closing their doors to some of the A reduction in residents reduction residents whatever that might be. Um, I was just afraid of what where they might be taking up residents And so I said something to this Did his homework came up with this Back to you building is that the one on granger road by the way, sorry about that. It is T. W. Yes, is it on granger or is it on industrial? You have access of the rear access is on the industrial The real question with this is Do we want to start the process to have this ordinance in other words, you know, I draft it make it public It's got to be out there for a certain number of days. We have that public hearings on it Well, I mean you stop and look at it now the only We got there are probably several Buildings that are vacant At least two with a mile of each other In this ordinance is what constitutional vacant building like his k and w they're probably going to be storing equipment and stuff like that It's not going to be probably a daily use thing for a while. But what would constitute It being vacant if somebody has a property that is used for storage It wouldn't necessarily be vacant. So how do you determine that? I guess what you're considering a vacant building It's kind of defined in section two. There's a number of bullets statements in there They kind of define that again for discussion All right The trouble I see is you'd have Staples building is still vacant Has been for a while. Yeah Yeah, and I wouldn't worry too much about that Falling into just repair. It's not necessarily vacant That is storage for shops They are using it they are using it Okay Actually, Dave, I think section four even breaks down the definition of definitions a bit better I'm just seeing if I can pull it up while I'm on here. Okay, and if we were to improve approve this this would require a Building safety officer Well, we can change the wording, right? And this is Really just a draft to spark the discussion tonight If if the board elects to move forward with that then I'll clean up the draft I will, uh, you know schedule the put a schedule together that shows the public hearings You know the public notice it's gotta You know go in the face all those things I'll put a schedule together um with a cleaned up draft For the get it out to the board to review and comment on and have it at the next Next meeting or the meeting thereafter to start the process That's the real question is that we want to start the process To establish this ordinance I can see I can see the need for for for such an ordinance I you know without reading over what it is. I think that maybe it should be investigated whether we go forward with this uh And it may be put it on the next meeting to To dig into it a little bit give us some time to dig into it I think her as well. I think that would give us the time necessary for the review and advance And thank you for your time putting this together And for your suggestion I make the motion that we table this discussion Until we can review it more in its entirety and bring it back to a future So I'll circuit that motion any further discussion All those in favor Motion carries um Throw up the two roads and discussions or for discussion and approval to meet Yes, again the senior package Three Documents shows the location of the roads And a picture of actually both the roads the the brownsville's expansion portion as well. It shows you better to find Mr. Tim would you like to talk to those? Uh, so I guess which one you would you guys like to start with? I would Brownsville's Okay, so Brownsville extension you guys are all familiar with it It just Brownsville goes over crosses the road takes the right goes out to the private road Brown mill extension is a short little Road, I don't even know how it became a road at this point, but it's probably 50 to 75 feet long Just about enough to get a truck off the normal road and It's kind of a pain to deal with in the winter time There's not a lot of place for snow And pretty much we're plowing the end of somebody's driveway They had some concerns down there last year that they didn't like the way we were plowing it Because there's no place to put snow And they thought we were leaving an excessive amount of snow Up in their driveway causing damage to their property and so forth and it's Been that way as long as I know nothing's really changed on the way we've been doing what we're doing down there but they said that we've been causing property damage for A lot of years I guess so Like I said, it's it's just barely long enough worth of the town road to just barely get the truck up in there And then there's ledge on both sides and we got to push it up around the ledge and dump it off and So What are the statutes as far as throwing up a road? Again, there's a lengthy lately There's a well-defined process that we have to go through as far as putting out notification holding public. I think it's two public hearings um before to bring it to the public And what are the requirements to take and change it from a class Three to a class four That's defined in the orange book and I don't know those off the top of my head I'd have to look and see what's required for that But I think it's something similar as well to change that we have to go through public hearing at least one What makes more sense to me is that throwing it up just taking turn it down to a class four or a trail And the town still has the right to weigh and We don't have to be maintenance That's that's a good option. I will I'll look at the details for that And uh bring that back to the board Hey, I think it's the same gem for um for uh, what is it? You know what a name for it town highway 74 town highway 74 That's the same story Well, that one. Yeah that one is we just push up it and push it off to the side, but um I can't believe nobody's ever been hit there yet with the amount of traffic because we have to back back out in route 12 And it's pretty much you're backing out into there blind the dump truck People go into the opposite lane, you know, I mean we're half out. I've plowed it a couple of times You know when I'm going by for mic and stuff if it's not done yet and You'll be half out on the road people just go into the opposite lane to go around you instead of giving you the right Away of backing out into the highway Like so there's no place to turn around in there and it's Somebody's gonna get an accident down there sometime for plowing 70 feet of road that really isn't Enough for us to even be in there with a dump truck Is there a drive off of that? It used so I've gotten a few stories from it. We used to plow all the way up to the house To turn around up in the door yard the house burnt um Probably close to 20 years ago. I think now In that time frame and there was nothing there for a while. So they didn't do anything to the road and then somebody bought it I believe or at least rebuilt the house and then they Asked for the bottom of it to be plowed up to the railroad tracks and They kind of started doing it again and uh But like they didn't want they didn't want us to cross the tracks. They didn't want to store up in there That there was no place to turn around once they Redid everything up there I don't know what this is the case where there's there's just there's one house on the other side of the tracks that this goes to One home And you're saying there's about 70 feet of road to to route 12 and Yeah, I don't think it's that one. Maybe it might not even be that far Where there's a resident on there, so I guess we got to see whether we can resort revert that to a class 4 I don't know that you can though I know I was saying that to you I think that the people that are going to be affected have to agree to it Exactly, and I think that you're gonna you create a A liability issue if there was a problem up there and trying to get the fire department and stuff up in there Where we don't you know what I mean where it's already an established Class 3 road or something. I I don't know what you're doing that situation So actually we have bins to find out Yeah, is there a class 4 or a trail that goes beyond that house? Not that it shows on the map Okay Right now I believe the town maps show it only goes to their railroad tracks And then it's theirs from there out Yeah I think the only reason they ever cross the tracks before was just to get it to a place to turn around There's no place to put a turn around there neither is there. No, there's a there's an old Seller hole on the right hand side and then on the left hand side. There's all the trees and railroad tracks and it's We cleaned it up two years ago To try to make it a little easier to plow and it My memory serves me correct. It's quite a bit of ledge on the left hand side out in where the trees are Of course, would it be safer to plow with the pickup truck? We don't have somebody who runs the pickup every time Not every time Well, I guess probably the thing to do then is then just reach out to these folks and start the discussion Okay So I'm just looking at the orange book now and basically I'm just gonna plot some things because it's a class 4 Highway is going to be established by the way. That's not a long two or three. We do that The slight board shall determine which highways are class 4 town highways talks about trails should not be considered highways Why is it important to keep a class 4 do they have to be maintained class 4 highways Maybe maintain to the extent required by the necessity of the town The public good and the convenience of the inhabitants of the town or maybe reclassified using the same procedures for laying out highways and meeting the standards In section 302 this title Well, I have a motion to allow vince to move forward with this So moved Your second Any other discussion Those in favor Motion carries Um, okay town in pantmouth policy So that's another discussion um So Three weeks ago a longer. There was a meeting that's with um, berry law failure in berlin town administrators and police jeeps and such to talk about Trying to prepare for the reduction in the residents allowed on the program by the state at the hotels There was going to be some people vacating Examples of numbers to maybe 40 people say for example in the area together Basically on the street How are we going to manage that? What's what's it going to look like? Nobody really knows Um, well tell your talk a little bit. They had been working with the leagues of cities and towns in advance of this And they had developed this encampment Policy Procedure whatever you want to call it um Hand in hand with vlct. So vlcts have a look at this again. This has been uh, I I asked Well, there you did is what I'll ask them out later if we could use that as a baseline If they can send it to us to develop one Obviously for me to bring to the board as well To see if they wanted to move forward with the development of this type of policy to to help Really it's a tool to put some some guidelines in place on how we manage Encampments we know we have them We know they're out there, but what do we do if if A small group of people put it in a place that makes residents or others feel unsafe How do we manage that there's no guidelines for that? What are the police do right? But they don't have to do So this kind of put some guidelines to that and I'll try to provide some direction as well That's under under the fishing game regulations and there is a enforceable Thing in in in their laws about camp sites. It's right. It's right in the state thing and and that If it's pushed they have to enforce that that is a state law that is Enforceable under the fishing game regulations. It's clearly spelled out in there. I know we need something, you know, Locally, but this is on a state state thing and it's right in the fishing game regulations about these campsites No, but does that talk about campsites on private land private land and state lands both Says right in there. I mean, there's a whole Whole thing on it. I know that they don't care about getting a ticket losing their hunt and fishing license, but It is in the regulations Hey bud, I guess that's something I can certainly take a look at as well. Yeah No, I think we need to move forward with something but but there is that is Because I remember we had that encampment down there off. We were talking off of the river road down there So is that I guess my question on that though, Dave is If that's fishing game that that's a state Enforced one if if fishing game Decide that they're not going to do anything and it's still a problem for the town What's the town's recourse at that point if we don't have yeah, no I agree. We need one but there is there is there is one in place with on the state level now It's just anything else. It's enforcing it And but yeah, I do feel that we need something on a local level as well Because that would be my concern. We call we call the state on it. They don't do anything Well, and then also the cleanup provisions The world can end here. I mean, you know pick them up give a ticket, you know, like Dave said doesn't really matter But at the end, you know, the stuff is still there They're back to us to clean up any place right The way you look at them, that's like that site down there. It's a mess down there And that's on the landowners to pick up a lot of that stuff and and and and there's all kinds of hazardous debris down there Yeah, the one off the river though, most of that is located on the town portion of the property Not the landowners unfortunate. Yeah, unfortunately for him And I've already talked to Vince about the possibility of having communities people who have to serve their community service Do some of this. Yeah, we're gonna talk about that too because I got a Response from them that I included in your package Yeah Let's see here. So anything else on The town encampment. No again, the question is the same as the previous one. Is it something that We want to entertain moving a bit forward with there's a board want to review it. I mean, it's a preliminary draft. It's very similar Um, I made some subtle changes to differentiate between obviously month player completely not completely but A lot of differences between them and us and how we what we have and how we would do things So there's some subtle changes there But it's a it's a preliminary draft to promote some discussion if we want to move forward with that Well, you should take and look at state statute with fishing game also so you can plagiarize that Well, for sure. I will And then again, I'll uh at some point I'll I'll do similar month player I'll run if I lose cities and towns to get their perspective on it as well well Motion to have vince pursue this Exactly Any further discussion? Yeah So down in riverton, there's a swimming hall Just uh next to the bridge that's the trestle the trestle behind the fire station further down. Yeah Well not behind but anyway, is that is that like it's not necessarily a park or anything But but that would fall underneath this as well. Okay. Yeah, if there was one there. Yeah, for sure Anywhere town All those in favor Motion carries Emergency management plan annual update for approval So you have a cop. There's a hard copy on the on the table of the I think it's 46 pages pages Yeah, just that the state every year requires uh updates to the emergency management plan Must be submitted between town reading day and the first of may so Then updated some things deleted some businesses that are no longer in existence Some things have been added names have changed in a few places that sort of thing so The rest of it is all basically the same Something that's come up is that the the contact information and the appendices is Uh It changes quite a bit and it might not be having an annual update is sufficient. So I was Hoping with your permission The main part of the plan is the first Four or five pages That's the state provided Guidance it and has our most of the crucial information and the significant context So that that's something That you're signing the implementation plan To disable the proof the the rest of all the appendices or annexes are Just the contact information addresses emails that sorts of things So i'm hoping that that can be updated as needed and not have to Go through this review cycle every You know every time but And my hope would be to update that on a more frequent basis Could be anywhere from as whenever we find something needs to be changed like the bowling Alley Family center down there. It's going to have new ownership. We can have all the details on that yet They're going to be closed for a month here. I guess and and reopen in june. So hopefully at that time we'll know More about it inside put that in the plan That sort of thing but so the main part is the I can say those first five pages Up added some information That the state review of the last year's submission noted that we didn't have in there and they were in an omission Or something that should have been filled in and I've clarified that So hopefully they're This day will be happy with it this time around. There won't be any holdups with Getting it approved I move that we adopt the local emergency management plan effective may 1st 2023 and authorize the Vice chair to sign on behalf of the town The second okay second any more discussion All those in favor Those opposed motion carries Very thorough. Thank you. Thank you very much for your support Thank you. Thank you. Okay, approval license of permit vouchers and applications I got the script I move that we approve payroll warrant 23-22 for payroll from april 9 2023 to april 22nd 2023 paid on April 26 2023 the amount of 60,937 dollars 90 cents further payable warrant 23 g 20 with checks 22905 to 22 944 for payables in the amount of 156,147 dollars and 33 cents And also the april looking south bank statements for the general fund sewer water checking accounts And lastly the april general journal entries second Any further discussion All those in favor Motion carries, please don't forget to sign them There's a lot just You said we had uh since tim's here. Let's take and do the aot bridge. Yes, okay So in your package you'll see and You should see a note from Mr. Goudreau Adam Goudreau of the state He's looking what he's basically just looking for is for the addition of this sidewalk on the new bridge in riverton Confirmation from the town that it will maintain the sidewalk in the winter He wants that via email and writing and then they'll then they'll proceed with the conceptual plans for that sidewalk On that bridge And then they want to work on a formal agreement after that So that's just a one-pager in your package from them Looking for that Jim Is it gonna With the design of the bridge as it is Is there any way that the town can go through there with a plow truck and just wing the snow over the edge? Yes, I haven't really seen the complete design, but like there's an open sidewalk compared to what's there now, right? Yeah As I understand it though the sidewalk is going to be six inches above the roadbed or Some measurement above the road bed raised to some yeah to separate the road road bed from the from the sidewalk I'm assuming it's going to be kind of like the The Bailey bridge there by the high school in Montpelier You know that style Yeah So I'm just wondering if any way you'd be taking go down through there with one of the plow trucks and just wing it over I We could probably definitely wing it off But you know, I mean without having any speed it ain't gonna go More I guess it depends on the the style of rail that they put on the edge Like if it was open enough that the snow would go through it Then yeah, it would probably open up and stay open But if it's if it's going to hold the snow We're end up we're going to end up just packing the snow up against the rail That's it'll fill in the sidewalk eventually and we'll have to Go down with a loader or something and then again like All right, then we're going to have to set up a sign package in route 12 and like It's a lot of Not that you know, I mean we can do it all but it's you know, I mean To set up a sign package in route 12 go down there loader and clean that bridge off when it's a state bridge Like I guess we'd have to figure out the right way of doing it at that point whether you know I mean if that wasn't working we might have to look at a different option Well when they were when they were discussing the design of the bridge, I thought it was going to be a fairly open Guard I'm not a guard rail, but a railing system probably just steel tubes It's like a fence So to my understanding east my pillar has this type of agreement already in place Oh, yeah, right there at 14 and two. Yes. Um, can we get a copy of that agreement just so we can kind of see an idea of what in fact the state's going to be expecting from us I mean initially on a little bit hesitant about a range of this and so we See exactly what's going to be expected of us. I don't think we're really equipped to take on us around some responsibility at this time We do want to See what we can do as far as serving the needs of the residents in that area Well, the other thing is is the bridge as it stands now one of the residents has been Snowblowing the bridge or at least the uh, the sidewalk. They've been somebody's been clearing the sidewalk I you may know more about it than I do tell I don't know a lot about it other than somebody's been doing it If you get down to it, that's probably been a liability for the state or for the town Allowing them to continue See I was thinking of I'm thinking more of the state By the thing if the resident was doing that what If you could take and put them on as a part-time employee for just the Snowblowing or if the liability is now a liability for the town But it's not I don't think it's necessary on reasonable one depending on what the state would expect us to do Yeah, but I you know, I would see more Yeah, instead of just a concept that we're going to take care of this, you know, what does it look like? What is exactly are they're going to be requirements for us? You know After some of the inches or You know Yeah, and if if we go through and clear and the State comes through and covers it up again. Are we going to have to go back out and just all sorts of Stuff like that, which I'm sure the other towns have already Spurred out And here again, I don't want to plagiarize anybody, but there might be best practices out there Somewhere When does this not be into the town? I mean into the state Again, they'd like it as soon as possible like anything, but I'll I'll give him a call tomorrow Tell him what I'm doing and uh See how he responds to that and I'll tell him where we're at Well, I'm skeptically open-minded on this. I guess I would say Okay, um entertain a motion to have vince pursue this So I'm a lot of pursuit Second Any further discussion? All those in favor On Motion carried. So vince you'll have that for us next meeting. Yes, I'll have something I'll have a copy of what he small player does What their agreement looks like? hopefully a A date that the state needs our answer by as well And if I get that in advance, I'll also forward to you guys in between so you have a chance to look at what it means as well Okay, uh Mowing bins Over here Let's give it to Joe. Sorry, I've been open Mr. Dexter, let's see. I'm writing to submit a bid for the 2003 roadside mowing season post bid is a single pass mowing all set up all class two and three roads $5,000 And second pass on paved roads Would add a $700 to the bid I'm going to question Is scheduled to be performed using a John Deere to about 25 55 55 Goes into 90 horsepower Put through the five foot rule more The the five thousand is this I believe the same As last year's I don't think you raised this price did you Speak to him on the multiple passes on the yes bridges and whatnot. Yep. Yeah tim actually talked to him as well He dares for everybody's information. We had one other person contact about bidding I asked him to provide me What he was interested in bidding on and what we had I got no response It was published in the newspaper for five days as well. They hit the RFP for the bid Um, this is the only bid that that we have received It is insurance. Yep. He has it and he'll provide the information again. He's done it for us for the last three years four years Even over the town for probably five to six years they've been How do you compare the bid against the requirements in the RFP? They meet he meets all the requirements I make the motion to approve the bid received from donnell dexter For the 2023 roadside mowing season Proposed bid being Plus two and three roads five thousand dollars. That's the first pass and second pass on paved roads would be The 700 additional and the discussion that we've had with him in the fact that he has the insurance And he's been doing a funny job for us over time So total of fifty seven fifty seven hundred with the first and second pass Second Any other discussion on this? Hearing none all those in favor Motion carries Okay minutes approval of Did you find out about that in your package since you asked there's a statement from The leagues of cities and towns um their legal office on their evaluation of that And they basically say the minutes belong to the board Not the individuals that were or are on the board now. So it just belongs to the board They think it's fine for the current board to decide whether to approve previous minutes Okay Approval of march 20th 2023 minutes. I make the motion to approve said minutes And with just one Change and that's to take out page five because it's blank. Otherwise perfect So By the way, they also went on to say that there is no state law This has minutes have to be approved many boards do it as best as best practice Oh, that's good All right Any other discussion on those minutes hearing none all those in favor All right motion carries minutes for march April 3rd 2023 I make a motion to approve the monday april 3rd 2023 minutes with just four individual punctuation adjustments on One on page three one on page four and two on page five And i'll give those to vent so that can be done It's punctuation only Here a second any other discussion on those minutes hearing none those In favor miss the eye Motion carries Minutes for april 17th 2023 I make the motion to approve the minutes of monday april 17th 2023 with just one Not necessarily a revision, but I recommend on page three To uh, check on the spelling of ray lee mooney ur's first name and include your last name Other than that everything else is fine Here a second second any discussion All those in favor Motion carries round table Dave okay, so tour nothing sir Joe a couple things May 13th is a saturday. That is going to be an open house for about 70 fire departments within the state of the month There has been a lot of articles in the paper a lot of articles in the news anyway about Just uh tough to find staffing And so like I said, there's about 70 fire departments that are uh taking in this and berlin is one of them Just to allow people to stop in to see what they can do as a volunteer and it's not necessarily all You know putting on the gear and going to the calls it's other Other duties that also happen at those stations That's may 13th In berlin will be tended to So the other thing is we have um a vote coming up in august Right is that what we we've cited upon for the petition for that's what it's petitioned for um, if we go forward with this I would really like to see A non-binding vote Set out for the town residents To determine if the berlin fire department becomes part of the municipality or state is Independent it's kind of just uh Get a get a feel for where the town residents How they uh they look at that Well, non-binding vote doesn't necessarily have to be Doesn't necessarily have to be um Warned Does it What do you saw I I'm not more than I have to Yeah, it's more of a survey. So yeah, it's more of a survey that I can I can check it's been Rachel. Yeah I'll find out through bscd And as as soon as we uh find out if that's still good to move forward on I think I'll put it out there in front of the porch forum I don't social media We'll get a lot of town residents to come out nothing else to answer that one question Thank you, okay in the um I can't think of anything else at this Vince I only have one And that's to answer your question about Getting hold of the state on their program for health. Again, it's in his responses in your any package They're evaluating basically they're evaluating the future of the community restitution program The program was shuttered during covid and it's struggling right now Once they decide on the program They'll ask the district manager mike sweeney Um for our area to touch base with us Based on whatever their decision is on that program So I was just thinking it wouldn't be just for us. It'd also be for Montpelier barrier Where he has he's the guy that's going to reach out once they determine what they're going to do the program They're going to bring it back or do whatever So our decision is there's no decision right now on that I was just saying it'd be an easy way or not an easy way But be a way to take and get some of these campsites cleaned up to get the trash out Shovels and bridges in the winter maybe. Hey, that's an idea There is another option not necessarily available to us this year But is the diversion program It's outside of the department corrections program, but they've got a lot of their clients Are under community service Requirements as well Um, maybe I'm concerned about this year. So they were not on Top of the morning So they're not on the bias I can still reach out and see if there's interest there I think even with the uh with Community service from the department of corrections. We still had to pay something Nothing's going to be free here Certainly, I mean when they were shoveling You remember they were shoveling the hydrants The fire hydrants were the town And they were they were um I think it was maybe five dollars an hour or so. It's not much. Yeah Not for the But the trouble the only thing that that would bother me about Having them do the shoveling on the bridge the bridge. It's it's not something you can do On a schedule Right Yeah, I'd be I'd be hesitant about the the bridge, but um, you know, some of the other Doubting captains and stuff might be more impossible. We still have to shovel the hydrants And then snow you stop with the hydrants and you move to a bridge It's just kind of one thing But no, I mean when they did that when they did the hydrants They didn't do it every time in snow. They just they wouldn't clear them out We've we've had we've had uh that that program that we've had people from that program come in and Rooms in our power station. Yeah Something really very similar to the size of this These are all fresh We definitely if if they're going to clean up on these encampments We just to do our due diligence and kind of bring their awareness of of some of the hazards there Picking up because I I did walk one of them and There was a lot of needles and stuff around there. So They had to have some supervision and uh protective gear Yeah, well, I mean, I'm sure that the DOC can provide or they have a Place where they can get some gloves that would be suitable For that. Yeah Any elements? No, that was it for me. I thought of one other thing. I was hoping joe would speak to I've seen that he's already spoken. I've seen it in the media Regarding the two norwich university students that assisted the fire department graduation was at norwich this past weekend And now they are moving forward in their lives And you have their names and I wanted to see if you would you know vocalize it here So all town residents so Peter Sandry and Reno George They were they came to the Berlin fire department from norwich university. They were with us for three years and Very vital to the the department and the community and And truly the department and community will miss them Very much so And I thank them for their service. It was very beneficial to all of us Have you reached out to norwich for some more always? Well, okay, um If there's nothing else I'll entertain the motion to adjourn some All in favor A lot was quick Well, thank you guys we'll see you