 All right. Well, seeing that it is 630 and everybody's here, let's get this party started. I will go ahead and call the Village of Estix Junction Board of Trustees meeting for Tuesday, December 21st to order. Do we have any agenda additions or changes tonight? No, sir. Um, I have one or one question and that's the discussion and possible action about contracts. I don't know if this is. What's that? I have no idea what that is. The contracts, the 2nd item. Discussion of the action. Is that a placeholder or is that? I think it was a placeholder. So if you're not ready to go, I think that was. Uh, all right, go wait. Uh, well, I see now here's Greg with the same. Go ahead, Greg. Everybody, that's the, um, the same issue you talked about at the meeting last week, same contract issue. Boy, that's embarrassing. Uh, you guys were in executive session with the select card. Okay, that's helpful. Um, I was under the impression that your attorney had given you advice. Yes. And it was something that could be taken care of quickly. Yes. Yep. Oh, I wasn't sure what it was. Yes, it needs to be done. You will keep that on then. Yeah, okay. Thank you for that. So, uh, any other additions or changes or actual additions or changes? All right. No, I will say I didn't see any material for that in the uh, in the. I will take care of that when we get to the executive session. Okay, great. So with no, with no changes, we will go into public to be heard. So this is a portion for tonight's meeting, but if there are members of the public who wish to address the board about something that is not on the agenda, now is the time to do so. So for those of you who are using Microsoft Teams, please go ahead and raise your hand or tag into the chat feature. For those of you at to Lincoln, please go ahead and raise your hand. And Raj, I would look to you. Is there anybody in the room with their hand up who wishes to address the board? No. We, everybody wishing to speak. We have a couple of guests here for I believe the next item. Yeah. So then I see Microsoft Teams, Harlan, we have your hand up. Floor is yours. Yeah, I do. Thank you. And to be perfectly honest with you, I'm not sure if this is appropriate to bring up here. It's, so we're, we're all village employees or village residents, but we're also town residents. And there was, I've got a concern with a mutual aid agreement for fire departments. And I was wondering if it was okay to bring it up here. There's a mutual aid that and I'm, I'm more concerned that it kind of gotten forgotten. But when COVID came out, there was a concern about possibly mutual aid calls together. And some of the automatic mutual aid services were stopped. And I would like to know if the mutual aid service could be reinstated for the fire departments. And my largest concern is the Susie Wilson corridor and route 15 out in front of the forts. There have been several bad accidents over the years in those locations. And with the automatic mutual aid not being active at the moment because of where the town border falls, you would literally have to wait for the town fire department to re to get out to you on Susie Wilson road. And I believe there's at least two others, the village and potentially St. Michael's that could respond quicker. And we all know that second saves lives. So I don't know if it's a, if the village has something to do with the mutual aid, or if it's just an automatic mutual aid that the town no longer participates in. But it would be great if some attention could be brought to it. Thank you for that, Harlan. I know Evan has heard that and I can chat with him when he and I talk next outside of the meetings. Just so that way, I can also get the input from our fire chief. Thank you. I see no other hands up in Microsoft teams, nothing in the chat. So we'll go ahead and move out with public to be heard and into agenda, our business item 5a tribute and approval of resolution of appreciation for Jim Jutris. Can't say that this is a joy, but certainly a well deserved, more than well deserved appreciation, to say the least. And George, did you want to kick this off? Certainly, Andrew. Thank you. And Jim, I'm about to say a lot of words, but I think in a lot of words, but I don't think this could be many times longer and there aren't adequate words to express and fully capture what you've provided for this community for so many years in so many ways with leadership, your technical skill, your dedication to the job. I could go on and on, but I'll read the resolution of appreciation for James Jutris and some of it will be captured there. So here's a resolution by the trustees, whereas James Jutris was hired by the village of Essex Junction as wastewater director, chief operator on December 12, 1990. And whereas since that time, James has also held roles as Essex Junction Public Works Superintendent and Water Quality Superintendent. And whereas James will retire on January 7, 2022, concluding more than 31 years of dedicated service and leadership to the village of Essex Junction, as well as the towns of Essex and Williston. And whereas James is a highly respected and highly competent water quality industry leader in the community in the state of Vermont and parentheses, I can certainly attest to that because I've been at meetings in Montpelier with James and I can attest to the respect that all the other water quality people folks at the state level and from around the state gave him. And in all of New England and regularly provides guidance to other facilities. And whereas James has been an excellent mentor who helped staff develop personally and professionally. And whereas James maintained positive working relationships with the towns of Essex and Williston with respect to the wastewater tri-town agreement and always demonstrated an ability to find common ground on issues. And whereas James's selfless approach ensured efficient cost effective operations at the wastewater treatment facility and whereas James oversaw and led a $15 million facility maintenance upgrade at the wastewater treatment facility from 2011 to 2014, as well as numerous smaller improvement projects. And whereas James created a successful biosolids land application program with North Williston Cattle Company that is one of the only remaining programs in Vermont and has been recognized by national trade magazines, including treatment plant operator. And whereas James obtained grant money to help the village purchase the combination sewer cleaning truck more affectionately known as the Super Sucker 5000. And whereas James was at the forefront of technical advances in the wastewater and stormwater fields throughout his career, mitigating energy use at the wastewater treatment facility and improving nutrient removal from wastewater, including a partnership with Dr. Apala Raju Badiradi at the University of Vermont in the Vermont Phosphorus Innovation Challenge to remove and recover phosphorus from sidestream wastewater. And whereas James has remained passionate throughout his career about water quality and regularly reminds others that wastewater treatment is the first defense of public health. And okay, I'm going to take a deep breath now. Everybody, hang on. This is a big paragraph. Whereas James James's expertise and dedication have been recognized through many individual awards, including the Green Mountain Water Environment Association's contribution to Association Award 1997 Green Mountain Water Environment Association's Elizabeth A. Walker Meritorious Service Award 2016 New England Water Environment Association's Alfred E. Pellequin Award 1995 New England Water Works Association's Water Works Leadership Award 2001 New England Water Environment Association's E. Sherman Chase Award 2004 in the Environmental Protection Agency New England Region 1's Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator Excellence Award 2013 and awards for the Wastewater Treatment Facility, including the American Council of Engineering Company's Grand Award to Aldrich and Elliott P.C. in association with the Village of Essex Junction for Engineering Excellence on the Project Essex Junction Wastewater Treatment Refurbishment 2016 Efficiency Vermont's Energy Management Award 2016 The Efficiency Vermont Best Practices Innovation Energy Leadership Award 2021 The Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence 2018 The Environmental Protection Agency New England Region 1 Wastewater Treatment Plant Excellence Award 2009 The New England Water Environment Association's Energy Management Achievement Award 2017 The New England Water Environment Association Residuals Management Achievement Award 2021 And The Vermont Governors Award for Environmental Excellence and Pollution Prevention 2003 Now, therefore, be it. Hang on. Resolved that the Board of Trustees on behalf of the staff and citizens of the Village of Essex Junction hereby extend our most sincere appreciation to James for his dedicated career in making Essex Junction and the region a better, healthier place to live and work. Adopted this day, 21st Day of December 2021 by the Essex Junction Board of Trustees. And Jim, you and I had a coffee a while back, and Jim is going to go off the grid for a while. And after reading all that and all you've done, you deserve to get off the grid for a while, my friend. But I'm going to now introduce an old friend of yours and kind of an esteemed member of the audience. Everyone is esteemed, but this individual is particularly esteemed. Someone you know from the past, former Village Manager Charles Stafford. Charles? Hey Jim, good to see you. I just want to stop by and honor your service and pay my respects. Jim was always willing to step up, and he was the public works director when I was here. We needed him desperately to fill a hole. And he took that on and this into his other responsibilities. He was always there for his peers. Harry Shepard, my Public Works Director, sends his regards. When he first started in the profession, he was wondering what to do. I said, call Jim. And Jim was always there for his peers and was a leader and environmental stewardship with biosolids. And I'm going to tell you my favorite story with Jim is not only was he smart and conscientious, but he was willing to do what it takes to get the job done. One day I thought I had something very important on my mind and I went down to the wastewater plant to go see Jim. And I asked where he was and he said, well, he's in the pump room or some some room and Jim was in hip faders, hip deep literally. And I said, wow, yeah, whatever I thought was important at that moment that was no longer so important to me. And I said, Jim, when you get a chance, come visit me in the office. And so anyways, Jim, I wish you the best in your retirement. Thanks for all you've done for Essex Junction and the Tritown communities. Thank you, Jerry. And I remember that day quite well. Appreciate that story a few times. Thanks for allowing me to speak and keep smart. Thank you. And you know what? I think it happened. I haven't heard the actual live sound of people applauding, but how about it right now? You're going to say something? Thank you. George, thank you so much for reading that. Really appreciate that. You've certainly encapsulated more than anything that I could say. Jim, I certainly do remember. I believe you were the second staff member I met with shortly after becoming elected and quite frankly took advantage of the facility that you've overseen for so many years and truly did not comprehend just how important that facility is and has been to our community. Can you show me the path of just how important that is? And frankly, I appreciated over the years how every time you've come to the board with some highly technical scientific concern that still goes over my head, you're able to bring it down to a level that I can understand, at least enough to know what we need to do, have completely appreciated and thoroughly appreciated your leadership for the water quality in our community beyond just the village of course, the entire Tritown. So I appreciate that. Thank you, Jim. Thank you very much. And I knew Ricky Jones would get the super sucker in there somehow. We're very proud of the super sucker, Jim. Yes. Andrew, if I might, Jim, I can echo all this stuff. I've been here four years. You were one of the first people I met. I know just enough about wastewater treatment plants to be dangerous, but I knew right off the bat, you knew everything there was to know about a treatment plant and beyond that. You really have an excellence quality to yourself, your profession, your staff and what you're trying to achieve down at the plant. And this will get a little bit gross, but you know what's going on at the plant. And when you deal with COVID, we had even talked about how the science is that you could detect COVID in your community through the waste streams. You can't necessarily know where exactly, but you know it exists. And then we talked about phosphorus and the phosphorus challenge and working with UVM to patent something to remove phosphorus, I think is going to be dynamite for the environment. So it has been an absolute pleasure and a privilege to work beside you. Thank you, my friend. Enjoy your retirement. Well deserved. Thank you very much. Go ahead, Amber. I just wanted to echo Andrew's comments, Jim. You have always explained things to the level where I can understand them, like the cliff note version, which I really need. You've got quite, you've had quite a career and I'm glad you could spend it with us here in the village. And I wish you the best of luck in retirement. And I hope you hope you do something real fun. Roger, Dan. Yeah. Anything else? Good. Well, all I say is that just as with you, Andrew, Jim was one of the first village staff members I met when I was elected to the board. What was it, 11 years ago, I guess, or about almost? Anyhow, no, I was very impressed with the operation down there. And just in the last 10, 11 years, how much the changes that have come and very much so related to your involvement and pushing for these things. And like Andrew said, that I never question anything when you brought it forward. In fact, there may be a time in the future when we reach out to you with questions, who knows, you know? But thank you very much. And I'm very happy to see you retiring and enjoy it. Thank you. Thank you very much, Dan. Jim, I'm really excited for you, for your retirement. I'll just say that to keep this brief, everybody's pretty much said everything. The one thing I think we all have, though, is just the experience of that tour. I didn't get my tour for the wastewater treatment facility until well into my first year as a trustee and as one of the newbies here. I haven't had that long to work with you. But I came out of that and my friends still pick on me because for a few months when I saw them, I was like, oh, you could only get down there and see what we're doing down there, see how cool it is. It is just immensely impressive. Your knowledge of everything regarding water quality and the environment blows my mind. It's very much appreciated, like everybody else has said. I just know when there's something coming forward from you and your crew, it's going to be well documented, well researched, and very much the path that we need to follow. We'll miss you and wish you the best. George, was there anything else you wanted to add? Yeah, I will add one last thing. Jim, after everything has been said, I would say it took me a long time to understand that what you are in real life terms in my mind is you are a frontline environmentalist. It's great and lots of people talk about improving the environment on a philosophical or theoretical level, but few people really get into the front lines, the technical components of that, and take the time to study and to learn and to take on all of the responsibility that comes with that. And you are, I hope you have been an inspiration to so many people and hopefully some younger people who really want to get into improving the environment and addressing environmental concerns could learn a lot from you, and I hope they follow you in your footsteps. So thank you. Well, thank you, George. And being a frontline environmentalist is why I got into this field. It was part of my original intent because you can do something about the environment every day, but it's the supportive environment of the board of trustees, the management, the staff, and the progressive view that the community has about learning and doing well. And it's the support of the board that provided the successes for the facility and for its staff. And I'm happy to be a part of that. And I appreciate it very much. Thank you, Jim. Thank you, Jim. Are there any members of the public who, Greg Morgan, if you don't mind, I'm just going to go ahead and read what you wrote into the chat here of Greg Morgan former trustee. I was on the board that hired Jim. I have told many people this action may have been my most significant contribution to the village. Thank you, Jim. So thank you for that, Greg. Thank you, Greg. Harley Smith or yours. I would like to echo what George pointed out is being a frontline environmentalist. Obviously anything that goes through that plant goes into our rivers and into our lakes. And the accomplishments that I am now aware of, and I was aware of some of them before is pretty outstanding and amazing. And I really think that you set the bar high for anybody to follow in your footsteps. And I appreciate every you've done for this village. So enjoy the retirement very well deserved. You've left us in a really great position. And I really appreciate it. So thanks, Jim. Thank you, Arlen. Thank you, Arlen. Gabrielle Smith, go right ahead. Hi, Jim. My name is Gabrielle Smith, and I live here in the village and I've been here 16 years. I don't know you and anything about wastewater treatment except enough to know that you've made such a significant difference for our communities and for our environment. And that we've been very fortunate to have you for 30 years, your dedication to what you do to your crafts, to your staff and to our communities is a precious thing. And I just wanted to thank you. Thank you very much. All right. So with that, George, would you like to go ahead and make a motion? The motion is that we it's to adopt this resolution for James Jutris. And I will make the motion that the trustee, the board of trustees adopt the resolution and appreciation of James Jutris this date December 21st, 2021. Second. Thank you, George. Thank you, Dan. Any other comments from the trustees? I've got lots of comments, but I think for now we'll save them until Jim comes back and visits us again and talks about it. He tells us all about the north coast of Maine and looking north up into beyond the caribou up into Canada. I think that sounds great. All right. So hearing none, all those in favor of the resolution, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Anybody oppose? Great. I pass unanimously. Jim, can't thank you enough. Thank you. Thank you very much. So our next agenda item is a discussion and a possible action about contracts. We will have that in executive session. Moving off from that, we will go into the consent agenda. Motion to approve the consent agenda. Second. Thank you, Amber. Thank you, Dan. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Anybody opposed? I pass unanimously. Thank you. That brings us into the reading file and board member comments. One thing I wanted to point out in that reading file, get another award for the wastewater treatment facility under Jim's leadership from efficiency Vermont. It comes quite that regular occurrence of having that recognition. The other thing, as many of us may have heard from the select board meeting last night about their potential desire to take a position on separation, we have no, this was not an agenda item, so we cannot take any action. But are there any questions, any comments, anything anybody wanted to air at this point? Andrew, I would, if you wouldn't mind. It's George. I would like us to consider over the holiday inviting the select board to please take no position and to just join us in supporting of the charter initiative as it will be introduced into the legislature with the new session. I can get into my reasons why, but I think that in my mind, the votes of this past year have been overwhelming, conclusive and very, very clear about the direction that the two, our two communities now are headed in. And I would like to suggest that we start our new relationship, at least proposed to the select board that we start our new relationship on a positive note where we stop seeking to put one side or the other to try to get some advantage and we try to approach this with mutual respect. So I would like us to consider that and inviting the select board to ask what exactly did they think they will gain by talking about their increase in the tax rate? What would they hope to win by that? And is that, is any small gain they get from that worth jeopardizing our very good and very cordial relationship that we've developed over the last few months working with them on these contracts? So I'm just putting that out there. It's my own thought. I'd like to explore it and develop it a little bit more with the rest of you at some point. Thanks. Thank you, George. I'll heartily agree. That's fairly similar to what I had mentioned at the meeting last night. You know, I'll just add, I completely agree with George's comment and I was going to have some to say, but I'm going to leave it to what George said. And the only thing I'd add to that is, you know, one of the other reasons that would be nice to move on is that in many cases we're still going to have co-located staff working side by side. If we've heard anything over the past couple of years, it's been very heartfelt and serious feedback from staff on how this process has impacted them in their work life. And I think another good reason why it would be nice to to see this through as a pair of boards together would be to honor that feedback and understand what we're looking forward to for the people that work for us and what that means. So that's the only thing I'd add. That was great. Dan or Amber, is there anything else that you'd like to mention on that? Any other trustee comments in general? Well, so completely different note and it sounds really petty at this point. So it's been so serious tonight, but there's been a couple front porch forums and I've noticed myself, you know, we recently passed a restriction at 7 a.m. on garbage pickup. We can't mechanize garbage pickup and it seems that there's a that's not necessarily being followed yet and I imagine that's just a communication issue. So I don't know if we have someone that has time to kind of reach out to the companies again. I think it was the Red Can family in this case that I've noticed at 545 on main on Pearl Street and I think was mentioned in Summit Street just to kind of give them a friendly reminder. But that's kind of what I noticed at the front porch forum and I was driving somewhere the other morning early. I noticed it as well. So but it's all very new. So maybe they just didn't get the information. So to piggyback off of that, if I may, I believe it was Saturday morning around 415 when our dog needed to use the outdoor facilities and coming down countryside or coming down Brickyard Road, turning onto Mansfield Avenue was a trash truck, which if there's trash truck driving around at 415 in the morning, pretty sure I know what they're doing and it's not, you know, a firefighter drill to make sure they can get around the community. And it's more than likely not driver training. So yes, would greatly appreciate the follow-up to the haulers to remind them of the ordinance, which I believe, Amber, you may have brought this up in our last meeting. That's exactly what I was going to say. I did bring it up and asked that staff give us some, the first question is, when did the ordinance go into effect? Because we had the 60 day period. And then the second question, what kind of communication was delivered to those haulers? So I did ask for that. And I think Marguerite took note of that. They're planning on doing the next meeting after this. So the 11th? Okay, if that's the date. Great. Thank you, Evan. Anything else? With nothing else? Just trying to find the motion language. We'll go ahead and make the motion. The trustees make specific finding that general public knowledge of contract negotiations with an employee would place the village at a substantial disadvantage. And I would further move that the trustees enter into exactly the session to discuss contract negotiations with an employee pursuant to one VSA, section 313A1A. Second. Any further discussion on that motion? Hearing none. All in favour, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Anybody opposed? Great. Passing in. See, thank you. Whether we take action or not, town meeting TV, don't stick around. We'll take care of it from here. Thank you. Mr. President, this is the last meeting before Christmas. So Merry Christmas everybody, all of our fans watching at home and New Year, please be safe. I know that you would have remembered that too. So I'll let you finish that thought. Happy holidays. See you next year. Same to you, Evan. Thank you for bringing it up. Thanks. Thanks. Merry Christmas. Thank you all. Trustees, I'll assume it'll take a few minutes to transition. Yeah. So say five or so. Yeah. See you in a bit. See you then.