 So I'm going to call a meeting to order at 5 o'clock on my watch at 459 on the official Cabin Hall clock and We have Paul seminary here, and I apologize. I've already forgotten your name Jess Jess Clark Who is interested in being on our zoning board of adjustment? Any amendments to the agenda? Well, the only thing is that we're going to have to postpone the update on the middle sex Vermont or emails because Phil is Not had to go to a funeral. So he said he would prefer to be here for that and also I need to add the Appointing the annual appointing a select board delegate to go to the V's the LCT annual meeting I think some you've done that before in the past I've been in the past There have been years where we have not it we have the people where you have not but it's but there have been years where you have to correct Somebody can go with a good thing, but it's not but it's not it's not a Rutland I can't a very class that day There's gonna down and back in Rutland now as well. It's a All day long It was one thing when I was buried another thing when it's Rutland Well, would you would you remind me of that in a couple of weeks and let me see where I am because I can go available What do you get out of it? I would tell you it's it's nothing more Than the stuff that we all get in our email and everything else But it is nice to look some of those people in the eye and you do get to meet them And it does make it different when you call them up and ask them about you know It's the old thing. I mean and you meet other people there. I'm not saying it's totally worthless I'm just saying it's a long day and a lot of it is repetitive and a lot of it doesn't apply to us So you listen to all this mishmash. Yeah, I've been to it in the past All right only designated city or town delegates may vote And if you want to go I this like word has to sign this to approve this and put in the minutes and have to sign it So you could do this now And then if something happens on October 2nd you can't make it you can't make it. Let's let's do it the other way Yeah, let's put it in the minutes that I'm going. Yeah, we have time Okay I did but that doesn't mean I don't want your Minor I'll rock Look at this three minutes ahead of schedule good thing road foreman Paul seminary plan to burn it up, too So I I'm gonna I'm gonna paraphrase a lot of what I'm gonna have to say, but I'm sure there's gonna be questions So bear with me and ask what you need to long story short. It's been it's been a tough season What storms we had with basically the winter to the mud season right through to all the storms and everything As far as trying to stay with our five-year plan is Going out the window. It's just at least as of right now. We're starting Monday. We'll be back on our May 1st Yeah, yeah, that's that's the reality That's the reality So so to steamroll off of that work on the damaged roads is all done Barnett Hill lower Barnett Hill Sunnybrook Road West Hill Macy Road in other small areas that That that were included in all those storms right as of right now Those are all completed minus the fact that we just have to get some of gravel resurfacing on that Um I'm sorry And you are martial great. Yeah, Joanne Gray, okay and I wish to be heard on something or you just here to observe. No, I just I have a complaint Okay, I stand by we won't keep you too long So fuel tank at the shop all prepped for concrete. We're basically ready to go Steve's gonna get in touch with Blue Gendron That's that'll be done this week Well tank outside the for the tank. Yeah, it was on temporary for right now until we rolled into the new year and everything We finally got that that'll be done basically this week and we'll be able to do his deal So we're good. We also have our permit for that. So that's all good Attended an emerald ash borer class two weeks ago The conservation commission is well aware it's in town We've got a lot of trees as of right now where we stand with that. I talked with Lee Rospin Unfortunately, it sounds like he's gonna be stepping down as chair. So I don't know where that's gonna leave Yeah, I don't know where that's gonna leave us I don't know if that's Planning to do that So either way as of right now They do not have an official inventory in town. I'd really like to start with the main roads See what we're looking at but I there's gonna be a lot of trees that bottom line There's gonna be a lot of try to be hundreds of trees when you say a lot thousands You spawn pillars about 2,800 No, they don't need to come down But if they're not treated they they there's a 99% chance that they will get hit within the next 10 years So basically starting with some people say a lot sooner. Yeah, it could it could be and it's a You've seen some here in town. Yeah, I have not but there's come for me. They do have confirmation It's in middle sex. Oh, it is meaning meaning UVM extension the people who know Where they're all that they have everything in the tree absolutely So basically, I'll That I'm just more touching on that but but bottom line is I'm gonna be working with them as diligently as we can so as This this becomes a real issue, which you know, it's gonna start becoming the co-op is working in the stove Oh Washington should I hook somebody up with you? I mean Mike and certainly talk to Mike and he can point me in the right direction Yeah, you know a lot of this will coincide because I think they're hoping people would do inventory is good I think and I think they're I think the Regional Planning Commission will help a little bit as well But either way, I think they're really gonna let it fall on the towns and Lee said it does sound like they This is not news to them there. They've got preliminary stuff in mind So I'll try and work with them as best I can as they work through that transition Get an inventory. So just to just to back up a little bit and I don't want to take a lot of time Oh, no tonight. They're my understanding of this is if we take the trees down while they're still alive They can be used for lumber. They can be used for firewood. They can be used for value They're some value. Yeah, and it is the most economical time to take them down because once they are in In the dead five years five years, and it's Right, it's not I've got it. Yeah, I've got it So just it's literally gonna be if we are trying to do this in the delayed action mode We're gonna be tang at least twice as much to take these trees down and it's gonna be much more dangerous And it's gonna be harder to get somebody to do it. Yeah, so, you know, my question is and you know, I Think inventories are a useful thing to know that some idea what the scale is but If there are loggers out there qualified Experienced loggers who can deal with this problem. We need to get them signed up sooner rather than later and say listen All we know right now is it's a boatload of trees, you know, it's years years of work Yeah for depending on the size of the outfit we buy So I think we need to be proactive about getting you know nuts not study it And then everybody else has everybody signed up and then we can't find anybody Let's say they're already I'm is telling us if you can't treat your trees like the city of Montpilier You need to figure out now. What what are you doing? Because it's not if it's right. It's when Mom Piliar only has 40 How do you treat them they actually have an injection process? It's a two-year cycle That they go through and it's about eight hundred dollars a tree It's actually there there you're actually able to buy the equipment and the the pesticide yourself now And you only need to go to a day tree, but Yeah, whatever it's between five and eight hundred dollars. Yeah, I don't know what it is But if we have if we have special trees like if we had a beautiful ash tree out in front of the town hall It's absolutely worth doing it. It is beautiful trees, but you know, we might have I don't know if they're any around the school But I'm guessing we wouldn't have half a dozen trees that we would want to treat and if we're going to treat them We better be treating them soon because once they get it, it's too late So you want to treat some so that you have them To continue to grow that's what I've understood. So we don't want to like that every single Oh, no, so I'll never get that every single one The fact of the matter is you're only in the right away Right away at the roads and then wek is going to do the right away Electrical all I'm all I'm saying is out of thousands and thousands of trees I mean if we did if we did two dozen trees, I would be very surprised I mean, I have one tree on my land that I'm probably gonna do But only one and I have hundreds of them on my lane sure So I'm facing the same problem. I've got to have somebody make get somebody lined up to Cut all my trees and it can't be the five years later Johnny Picard approach either It's got to be Get in there and do it approach, please don't put that in the minute. Anyway, I'm just saying yeah I'm just saying I'm all for inventories and all for yeah classes and all for studying Yeah, we need to it's our it's going to be our problem at the end of the day Nobody else's and ones that are out of the right away that fall in are still our problem Just like all the other trees, right? So we just need to be aware of I want everyone to be aware of that I'll be working with them as we move towards what what possible solutions are because I don't think it's gonna be a yep This is what we're doing and then you just tell the public because I think that's not gonna sit well I think it's gonna be more involved. I feel like we'll get there when we get there Doug growl no longer mowing he did the first cut this spring And then he started the second cut did Culver Hill Government Hill Wood Road, and then his second mower died and he's officially calling it quits He's the guy we've used So he's done it one and a half times or one half One one time in a day, and he's giving us the day thanked us for all his the years of business, but he's Can't do it any longer with but with his help and all he's got some health issues, too Exactly, so that that's one of the things that we need to be thinking about going into next year is Either how are we gonna hire that out or at some point? Do we look at how we're gonna do it and and deal with brush as well? That's that's a big thing like a piece of it like a piece of equipment Renting leasing Whatever hiring the problem is just doing the road sides alone is not is not enough We can't keep up a brush simple as that so that's that part again not a big thing for just so just to be clear a machine with one of these Mower things either the chain one or the lash and slash one. Yeah, that has the arm and goes up Can deal with brush as well as the road to the correct the catch is What takes Doug a week or two with two of those machines? You will not be able to do in the same amount of time with that mower because it's substantially smaller His mowers are seven to eight feet. These are only five five. Yeah The ones with the side arm We've ran to smaller. Okay, it's a smaller thing, but it's able to go way up in the air Correct, so you can cut back, you know all our roads what you're getting narrower and narrower and narrower as the brush grows in And in the past we've done it by hand No, we still do it's just the rate of Rate of accomplishment Yeah, compared to what you can do with that cheap That's that's the bottom line. So nothing to worry about right now, but I want to I want it to be known It's kind of set in thought Do other towns have dollars They're they're beginning to this month. Oh, there's a lot of brand new one. Yeah, that's under how much are they? 150 grand You know but that you would use like how many times a year ideally you'd most still mow the twice a year people seem to That seems to be a big thing people don't mind paying to have the roadside's mode twice a year Which it does help it's not spreading the invasive species, you know before it goes to see that's that's it The catch is using that in between trying to get all that roadside brush But that kind of leads into another part of this which just takes another guy off of You got there We're saying I'm sorry Oh, yeah, what is the cost of rent that machine in deck? Oh, I think we're three thousand a week Yeah, I think it is yes somewhere around there and how many weeks would we need to Just just anyway to yeah, I mean just to do the mowing itself would take a month For one mow for a single roadside model, right? So you'd really be doing that twice. Yeah, so that'd be like 24,000 a season Yeah Yeah, plus plus the guy And again, that doesn't include that's only the time to mow the roadside So if we were going to just I'm just trying to get my arms around this so if we were going to engage in a More active brush cutting program. We could easily spend including the pay for a man 50 or 60 thousand dollars a year Right so you take the pay for the man out which is probably 10,000 of that We would we would pay for a very nice used piece of equipment in like three years Yeah, it'd be just like the excavator. It would literally To three years that it would start making you money back Yeah, if you were going to continue that process. Well, that's a good thing for us to think about it budget time I just wanted to be known. That's all well We will not not unless we try and contract someone now which is probably so do we have I mean my I don't mind if the if the if the roads don't get cut back the second time I mean we went for years with only doing it once a year But I think what we do need to do and probably it means we need to hire somebody with a bush hog and go around and do the Intersections, yeah, cut those back because the sight lines are bad and I've heard that from a lot of people Oh, yeah, so I don't know who that is But we have a number of people in town who do that who do that work and I think we need to yeah Figure out how many intersections it is and how much time it is and get that Lined up. Do you agree with that Steve? Yes, I do Yeah, you need to do that Which one Okay Go ahead. I'm sorry. No problem. No. No, it's like I said, I'm gonna try I don't want to stay within here But winter sand continues to you know kind of be a big expense for us Some some small prospecting on our town pit has shown that there might still be value in there Just some small preliminary stuff that Steve and I just kind of poked around with our back. Oh We've found some sand and gravel how much and for how long we don't know until we we do some Some more testing more extensive testing You know, I've been talking to Steve about trying to find all the lines that apparently Mike Patterson is willing to help us out with Fred McCuller rolling borderline borderline the property balance. Oh, it's all surveyed you I just asked him if you were flying it so that You don't want to be great It's a little I could tell you it's a little unclear because over the years. I'm sure I'm sure stuff Just so we've got yeah some guidelines where we should be and where we probably should avoid it. Yeah So that that's a good thing and we've got some community involvement with that that hopefully with our you know With those people we can we can see what's really a value there and what what's available to us The other part is trying to figure out what we can do across the road, which we've talked about several times I'd like to set that motion. It's not hard being a neighbor. I think it'd be better I would like to be more involved with it, but I think it'd be better No, we do not it's a private landowner, but I have talked with I have talked with him and he's Game we haven't talked about any particulars, but he's interested in doing it. So And we've talked about this in the past, but the game plan would be It's it's relatively easy for the town to get the permit much easier than it is to open a commercial pet Plus if he truly tried to open a commercial pet The neighbors should be berserk because there'd be huge trucks going up and down the road and all all that kind of stuff so Trying to make a deal with him where? We go ahead and get the pet license did solely for the town of middle sex We pay him so much a yard for the sand and if there's any gravel a gravel that we extract from there and then we agree to Put it back whatever putting it back is When it's closing just rest if we get right restoration if we could make a deal like that It would be tremendously to our benefit in that the price would be Significantly less the transportation would be way less and as I said to Paul earlier today What we used to do in the old days is have two sandpiles one over there And one at the town shed and have the loader one place in the back though the other And that cut down a lot of the back and forth on the trucks because for that whole side of town Yeah, they could go down there and get get their sand rather than going all the way back to the pet So all in all if we could make the deal it would be a big boom a big boom for us But this gentleman who owns that property is not an easy person to deal with so I think yeah But I think that Go ahead Bob. Yeah, no and like I said, I want to be proactive with that both with our fit in with that I think it's a benefit of all of us as a whole it really is so one note on What on our pet up there? We have had an offer For somebody to come in there at cost For the because you need a large excavator Mm-hmm the dig is deep as you can go. Yeah, and Fred McCullough has often do it at cost. It is cost At some point that we can arrange it. So yeah, because our excavator doesn't have a long enough boom Right, we can't we can't get down deep enough to really see because we got quite a bit of overburden in some places And that's what we need to find out how much overburden we've got there to get at the good stuff So overburden means dirt before you get to the gravel So we need He can do that this you know based on his schedule But it'll be before it could be before winter or pre-winter Just so that we get an idea so we can get an idea of what we've got there Really weigh it out and because you know we what we don't want to do is throw away a resource that may be hidden underneath there Still have no way No, throw away as in not using which is just as good Which is one of the same at least for this so we I just want to make sure that You know, we really put the effort into seeing what what's available Town garage insulation, I know we've talked about this a long time We've put money in up Garage really was fun I'm not pushing for anything if if Nothing serious is going to happen down the road with a new facility that we should definitely Figure something out for some at least a little bit insulation in the roof The snowflake sizzled A lot of dollars flying out of the roof the bottom line is is we've discussed we've got other Issues town clerk's office is another issue But you know my thing is Before we pour any more money into that building to really have an assessment of it done and say is this building worth putting money into or are we better off clearing off the slab and Building a new structure because what I don't want to do is spend 25,000 dollars Insulating that and then bulldoze it down three years later. I agree That's not a good use and that's and that's my thing if if that's a route We're gonna look you know There's a window there if it's going to be this amount then it's not worth putting the effort in So I haven't gotten any bits on it No, because I'd like to see first off what Really, I want to make sure that there's no future plans to do something or soon enough where we're throwing money I think that I think the first issue Mary is to is to have someone tell us if that building is worth Save and if it is worth saving What the cost of what would save it? Like Not so much an energy person in an energy. Yeah, so if it's okay with you guys, I'd like to at least figure out Yeah, just what that might be what that looks like for us just for sake of knowing because otherwise we need to know We're on that we use to say you use a structural engineer up there to come in with the building I'm gonna Just reach out to all my resources Walkway outside There's been a big ship none of the doors is working the door at this top there is working the door down here is working both rubbing against Frost keeps I don't think it's a frosty. I don't know if you've been Well the same issue applies here Figure out Someone qualified to be able to do that So at the end of this Really just to wrap it up We're struggling to keep up with with all the damage all the damage and and all the maintenance schedule maintenance pavement potholes It's tough to work. We're doing our best to try and keep up But with the amount of damage we've had this year. I know it's not every year. I'm worried that we're we're going backwards It's just really tough for us to try and keep up with everything that's going on I'll be honest it's become more of a triage list Where is it the worst and we start from there because we just can't stay on any kind of schedule at this point And it's it's tough. It's it, you know So I don't know as we go into budget season. Do we talk about Steven? I have talked about it before whether we Subcontract certain projects whether the culverts Ditching brush Small stuff or do we do we lease equipment purchase? I don't know or do we hire additional help part-time help for the summer I? Know I'm just Well, I'm getting to the point where I feel like we're we're fighting losing battle. I Think we are going backwards right now this year But I think before we jump into anything. I think we just let us Get through this season and then you and I can sit down try to come up with a plan Come to the select board with What we perceive as a as a solution, right? Yeah, it's worth and I think the other piece of this is and I Don't know the best way to get a word out I hate to spend the money to send everybody in town a letter But I know a lot of people don't look at front porch forum So I don't know how we do it But I would much rather let people know now Where we stand in terms of our five-year plan and say, you know, we had this discussion at 10 meeting last year We basically pushed our town plan back a year now. We pushed it back another half year You need to be aware that these weather problems and issues that we've been dealing with are Putting us behind and you're going to hear more about this at 10 meeting times So get ready but but tell them right now because people are asking me hey This was the year we were supposed to resurface east ill. What's going on? Well, no nothing's going on because we've been doing everything else And I think we just owe it to ourselves and owe it to the community to get the word out there And I don't know the best. I don't know the best way to do it I think if it means a letter it means a letter because I totally agree that like, you know people are No one goes to looks at the minutes No, they have every right to go and look at the minutes and the transparency is super important because this weather is not going to Change we're not going to be having you know, I mean yes, there might be a year of reprieve But in general we we're going to be you can't be playing catch-up People and that's the reality of living in the country and living with 95% back roads So so anyway, we all need to be thinking about totally agree with that What's the what's the cost of sending out a letter posted printing mailing that 600 right? Yeah used to be around It's about right. Let me just take that off the top of my head It's 50 It's like I mean if we if we if we write the letter and give it to somebody and have them mail it We stepped all the tax bills, so 50 cents a letter and we have 900 in some houses So we just have to it's how much do you take us to stuff those tax bills? Well, there was three of us doing it There you go So it's 500 bucks if we don't have it done by an outside vendor if we have it done by an outside vendor It's probably 50% more. I'm just guessing I would guess so yeah We get I mean we could all do it again. We can just nail letters Because they don't all have to go out of one see the run like the tax bills It's no pressure. You can do it in between phone calls. You can do it So the next question is who's our professional author as oh Oh, I can write. Let's see Okay, so we do this when we draft a letter and you guys would do it and then the next board meeting I just think we're really need to do About people with private culverts because when I drive up these till road, there's especially one culvert Yeah, my neighbor Yeah, and you said they had to say that they were gonna do something and it looks just as bad and crushed and horrible So I always says they're not doing it that you think they're waiting for you to do it They know that I'm not doing it. I've made that perfectly clear I've already maybe sat in and fixed it to where they can safely drive across and They seem happy with that. I don't know if they're happy, but I've made my statement clear you neglect your culvert for so long and I'm All right, are people doing Yeah, yeah, it's if they want to get out comfortably then my neighbor had to totally redo this On the same side of the road. It was tremendous water Going all about it. Yeah I'm all done unless we've got some questions. I just have a question. What was is was this unexpected the sad story of the transmission? Was all right. Yeah, how much is that? That was after we did the other So we start out right now. Yeah, right up red. Yeah, what's that? What do you think cause that? Steve talked to the mechanic. I was so fed up with them. I Yeah, I just And Paul and I actually talked about this earlier today because conveniently enough my car broke down right at the town hall Down garage. I should say couldn't have been more perfect If I had to break down I just have a funny feeling I know other towns do the same thing But those trucks aren't meant to take 12 yards of material and the weight of the plow in the frame and the weight of the sander It's a lot. It's more than they're meant to handle. I think I don't know what you think about that Steve Is this our 10-time truck? 10 wheeler. Yeah, well any of our any of our vehicles, but especially And maybe maybe this transmission problem is is just a flu If those trucks without that equipment on it, what it would what is a plow and plow friend in a senior way three or four thousand pounds guy Right So that's a lot of a lot of extra weight. So anyway We have some stuff to think about. Yeah, but we sure didn't get any clear. Oh, it's up to money Yeah Sorry, really sorry you came in Yeah, well, it's it's tough believe me every Walkdown Monday morning and the driveway is gone and slow and behold. That's not the only issue in town. So Yeah, unfortunately, that's like Liz said I don't feel like this is these are just rarities I feel like this will be more often than not it has been it's become more often We had some heavy rains in the last two weeks didn't we my driveway was like The good thing is the grounds a lot drier so you know rivers are lower than ditches aren't nearly as full So it's we had one bad storm, but it wasn't as bad as that end of May early June Well, that's the worst time because the grads are super saturated anyway. Keep going has no ability to sober up We need to we need to move on. We need to move on. Thank you Paul. Yep. Absolutely. We've given us some good expensive things to think about Thank you for that I'm gonna suggest that we amend our agenda a little bit and hear from our Hear from our guests. How much time do you need? Okay, is that all right with everybody sure that's why with me that's gonna put you back a little bit. Is that a problem? Okay? I just have you want to have a seat somewhere My name is Marshall Gray I'm Joanne Gray. You probably remember me from the phone call. I do phones That's a three-slip yardstick That's a pothole on the three-mile bridge road. It's not good. Really should be fixed. I know you're busy It's like everybody's you know, but wait a second. Can you can you say it's to the rest of us to hear it too? This is a picture I took It's on the three-mile bridge road and That's a three-foot yardstick Enter on to the bridge Bridge and the wheel tracks On the bridge on the bridge as you enter to the bridge that's to the bridge It's right in the wheel tracks and if you hit it just right the car hits and mine does and when you meet somebody You don't have a choice. Yeah And then you got the ones down by Paul's You got the ones by right there by Paul Oh What's the name John Paul John Paul's house? Do you all age where it has the big big one there? Can it be filled with some sort of it should have been a while ago? Then you got the one right in front of George Fox's George Fox's house, which is a pretty good size one, which is in the road Is this also three-mile? Oh, yeah, there's three good sizes. Yes, and the whole front of the bridge I call transportation because I wasn't sure District five because the bridge and they told me The town so I says well one size Berlin's we know the other size more time I called and left a message on the machine I was pretty I was pretty upset because I hit it with my car and I got a bedroom on my car I don't know if it happened at that time if I did it in another time But I was not happy because it's a pretty good size holy goes up onto the bridge And I called and I was not happy and I said you better do something or I'll let the media know because like I said Somebody's going to get hurt because if you hit it right you can hit that bridge The bridge is right at the bridge is right there And I called back and apologized and he called back and left another message My husband wasn't too happy so someone I works with lives in more town She gave up in middle sex gave me the numbers of everybody does So like for what's this like border? Well, that's who we are. I'm very scared. I have your name Paul hood Yep, Peter. He's called left three or four messages for you. You haven't returned the calls And I can't remember what the other name was on the list you called me every nobody returned the calls I think I don't think I know your name. I didn't call. I don't think I got a I just need to be fixed me because it's in a travel portion someone's going to get in here Okay, well, I would tell you folks and I know this isn't to make you happy is we have been struggling struggling since the spring I understand but we had an unbelievable winter. I mean, we have just been behind the eight ball These holes have been there for over almost a year maybe longer Do we have any idea of like what? That's all I'm asking. What's in comics and comics would make a difference Yeah, that's all I'm asking before somebody really gets hurt because if they hit that just right on the three wall bridge They're going to hit the bridge So there are some problems with some pieces of pavement here and there and I realized that I actually went over that bridge last night Although I had a flat tire this morning It really So I had an Road was I was pretty darn sure it wasn't in the middle sense. So I was my handset But it was a nasty loud Incomprehensible So I'm not saying I didn't say we don't need to deal with those problems. Well in the list. I showed you today had the potholes Pavement potholes right on it My whole tree. Yeah, you have a triage. So are we talking months? I'm just curious I've probably got two three weeks worth of work. Like I explained to peter I I don't know where I'll find that if We've still got winter sand to haul it. We've got grants that we still have to meet deadlines Believe me. We're I wish we were at the shop all day just waiting I wish that was the case. Unfortunately. I've got a list that we're literally looking for the the worst bleeding at this point Yeah, that's the tough part. Yeah So so my question is and I know it's a budget blower But do we subcontract some of the stuff it might be that it might be because As far as these potholes going you can put a little patch in some of these just and it's just great for a few weeks, but it If you fix these things you need to fix them, right? Yeah That's going to cost us the problem is we we go borrow the hot box from barry city, which they're They've ever they've been great. We thank them. We fill the propane But it's the process of hey, is it available today? Well, it's not today. It is tomorrow I can't tomorrow because I've got a fleet of trucks that we're working with, you know, so it's uh logistically it makes it tough And I'm saying we need one of those we just Unfortunately, and I return their call and let them know and there might be a thing where we need to get some small asphalt guy to come in and Cut these things out and patch them in and just get them done And I'm not pushing it off. Believe me. You know, I'm just a matter of that When when that's uh This goes back to your letter like people need to understand that it costs money and the votes are the biggest expense in our town That's the reality and that we may need to pay more for this stuff Right And the other if we're if we're gonna solve these problems The other thing is Which is which is my pet pee is that people expect Now year round to drive along at 40 or 50 miles an hour on these roads And if people know people live on these roads, they know where the potholes are You slow down and you've got to and yes, you might have to stop and wait for somebody else to go by It's not the end of the world. I'm not saying it's the greatest thing But that's there are we that people who can't get to their houses You know, that's a priority People can't get out of their houses when people would get those flat tires with the slate Remember sure Well, are you going to get but they also have everyone has a right to Describe when there's a problem and then We want to put her on the list for fixing And it's on there. I call them back and I Just with what peter said and I will tell everybody here That when I get a call like that like I talked to a guy today that asked me if we sold the greater A while ago. I did not return his call and I will not If somebody wants to be rude And like that. I don't you get calls like all the time. Yeah, all the time I just don't return them if they want to call and talk to me. I'm I'm fine. I'll talk to them about anything But when you get those type of calls and How many of those potholes you think we have Oh I would say it doesn't yeah It's and it's not a matter of how hard it's just there's worse. There's worse problems right now and that's what I'm You know, where where is the worst? Yeah, and that's where we need to start Well, and I don't Want to respond in an emergency fashion The people who don't even live in our town just because they're nasty Oh, yeah, relatively were nice enough tonight. They come down a little bit. They were nice Oh, yeah, I called them back and I told her kind of a rude message for first go around Especially, you know Why don't you why don't you call up the governor of some of the roads like the interstate anyway, anyway So I just think I just think we really May need to need to get the word out to everybody to try I mean I have never I have never had so many calls About the roads in the summertime in the wintertime. Yes, but summertime And I'm getting road calls. You're probably getting a lot more than I have but I got a couple of weeks Yeah, well, they're just saying what's going on. How come the water doesn't get a couple of those holes every day. Yeah Well, she's This is what we all get paid the big bucks for right? Yeah Okay, well, thank you Paul. Anyway, sorry to take up so much time, but we'll we'll get together some more and talk Thank you guys. Well, now we know the bad news coming up I didn't try to pitch a greater though So you'll be in though. Thanks paul. Yeah I'll let you know when you meet louis. Yes, please All right, I saw lucas today So So in your packet, there is a letter from jess Did we put a notice somewhere on the front porch Yep Thank you for your interest. Yes, do we have a motion? I You're still I was going to say Jared to the end of the meeting just to see what goes on. Well, you were welcome. You were more than welcome to stay We're not trying to we're not trying to shoot you away. You're welcome to come anytime And they have like um the vermont leaks of cities and towns, uh, don't they have like trainings for these kinds of like zoning Or they do every once in a while they can have uh, yeah, and they're good to go to they're interesting How many people are on the boat um zoning board with just five so far we've got phil Roger hurt they've been there for a while. Um, phil ross messler. No, no, he's never been as far as my history Who's phil? I'm sorry. So it's phil. Oh phil. Uh, dan chris goes across the street. Um the and uh, it's with roger hurt and No, mitch is the zea. Okay. Um and charlene bold It used to be in Also john demeter, but now john demeter has stepped off Yeah, how often do they meet on an as needed basis so they don't really need that much Well, good is appeal from the zoning administrator decision. That's usually what it is. Yes Oh, so this is where we got the deemed approval issue. Let's Okay So it's I'm guessing it's six times a year six or seven times a year typically mirror At most I would think so. Yeah It's usually variances, you know Yeah, it's variances and appeals from the zoning administrator basically site visits Get to know the town a little bit better the town a little bit better The challenges in getting everything written up within a timely manner. Do you have any questions? Yes, and sarah filled you in on some of the details of the job on just a few Well, Jess is also uh married to any white horn and amy is very knowledgeable about things like So Also Okay All in favor Any opposed Welcome Welcome aboard. Do you guys mind if I just turn off that air conditioner? Yeah, is that okay? Sure. Yeah, this one. I have a sweater on I'm always like it anyway Okay, cool Again, thank you. We we mean that sincerely We need people who are interested in doing these jobs. It's important. So thank you So Sarah, I know we're not going to make a decision tonight on this email issue Do we have a viable alternate proposal to what Or not So Yes, we had a salesman come in and I've got his information over there Who said that he baby can resort provide us with when I told him what RV was proposing for mailboxes that end in you know, middle sex dot or He said no, no, no, you don't have to do it that way. It's it's much cheaper and I did call him Um, he hasn't returned my phone call this summer So Phil just wanted to talk to him. Maybe have a brain. It just feel just didn't feel comfortable delivering You know, or whatever. So we're gonna do that. That's fine. Yes. We don't have any idea what the alternate cost is Not off the top of my head, but it's not 20 dollars a mailbox per month or whatever the crazy situation that was because that's just nuts That's too many people Yeah, because you had to do all the Commissions and yeah, and it wasn't he would I think that he was saying something like there was a flat fee of something Like I don't know a couple hundred dollars a year or something like that for everything So with the other I know but I don't want to I don't want to speak at a turn I asked him to write something down. So he just needs to send something to me. It's okay. Okay I just think we need to move forward on that. We never seem to get to it This is just a way of using all our personal emails Right having a town email Much better, but I do think A couple of those bills were in there because they were delayed in July I just want to know if you have some dry documents there. Yep. I do. I'll be able to thank You're up. All right. Good news is you all have your financials for the end of July So there's the good news is that the money we took out of the Uh paving is fun to float us. We're now able to pay back. We've got about Just shy, I think of a half a million dollars in our coffers So The taxes are So That's the good news. Um, so we didn't have to borrow Um, as you can see that unfortunately, there's a couple of Hi, my bills that have already sucked What we budgeted for the year So wait that 20,000 was for this fiscal year. I mean for the new fiscal year. Yeah Yes, and I believe so we are we are already $1,700 in the hole in our equipment maintenance for the year Anyway So, you know That we're just gonna have to watch some things I don't know if anybody has any questions on it or not. It's too hard to roll. I mean, it's so early in the year I mean, you know, this is one month into it some of the bills that are in the orders tonight are part of Are included in this because they were dated July And then some because they're august isn't reflected into these numbers. So yeah So this includes some orders for tonight. Okay, some is and some is and some isn't like that That trolley boys one I believe was dated July. So it's in this it's in this even though you're just signing the order tonight Um, but we'll know more when she Does the other one in a couple weeks Um, let's see what else was That's So Do we have a fairly good idea now of where we ended up the year? Um, yeah, we did a final. I think she did the final. Did we not get that? I don't think so. I thought we got the final number I don't remember getting the final number. Well, you weren't here at the last meeting. What did we get? I don't remember talking about it at the last meeting. That's for sure. Okay, let me uh, where are we wrapped up? I don't have anything Tax rate So I don't have it with me. So um, but I can get that for where we did end up, but I think I'm just I'm just curious I mean it was in the $70,000 right pretty close. I think the number I am giving you was like Pretty close. I had estimated 80 and I think we came in at 78 or so Yeah, the board discussed this and I do the cost of two major storms this spring the town was in the hole for 78,500 for fiscal year 19 How much 78,500? Yeah, for the whole Yeah Which is pretty good considering how We were pretty worried the worst we've ever done in my memory Wow Yeah, I don't ever know. I never remember being close to that And we started right down the same path again. Yeah. Yeah happy days Okay, thanks to Brenda. Yep. We never had bad weather like this. Well, and we had such a long winter remember It started in November and it ended in April So the cloud didn't begin in November and I heard it's supposed to be snowing Oh I hate to tell you Vermont alert has been beeping and tweeting about what's going to happen tomorrow. We're going to get it again. Oh my god. What? What? What? Drenching, soaking, red dots, downpours. I haven't seen that text yet But it may not happen here You know a lot of the storms have gone right around. They have gone right around. There have been lots of warnings that it turns out to be I haven't gotten my Vermont alert Scattered thunderstorms high Maybe I get alerts from Montpelier and I get alerts from Vermont alerts So maybe it was from Montpelier so I got better Well, we're not that far but it does, it can go right up right around us All I'm telling you is it could be happening again tomorrow Just tomorrow it's just a and then everything is going to be beautiful after that It's going to be in the seventh spill of California weather, sunny and sunny in the seventies I get scared. Hopefully I can get my car home from the Manhattan garage before that hits I don't know how that happened to your car. Why did it die there? When you drive a 74 Mercedes Mary Oh, your mother's car Wonder and amazement your mother so you don't need to know the details, but it has it has a known problem And I said to myself, okay I'm going to see if I fix this known problem And if I go up over the hill if the car dies, hopefully I can coast to the town garage. Well, that's exactly what First place was by 90 Thursday night, are you looking at that? Yeah, it's going to be blistering pop What at nine? Third sorry, wrong wrong town. No, it's because of the Somebody's going to be like it's not going to be stuck She's looking at mexico Okay approval Of july 30th select board minutes Is there a second? All in favor I Any opposed we've approved our minutes correspondence Do you want to go to the correspondence? Yeah, sure. Okay So the first person piece of correspondence we have is from the state of ramon concerning I think this is your packet too Mine That uh, there's going to be a hearing august 12th Tomorrow, I'm sorry august 28th. There will be a next year next wednesday If you want to provide your input on the putnamville Putnamville you guys I think phil is right the Stressing to the state that there were several school stops there school bus stops there kind of got Attention and it looks like the state has really Jumped into action. Nice. It is nice And uh, they are going to try to extend the 35 mile an hour zone So they're not going to lower it to 25 like I'll be wanting but they are going to thank you They are going to try to give people more motorists more warning and I assume that that also means that once they do that We direct our Washington county sheriff to move up and down that road. So to let people know So that's that any other Letter They do suggest that we try and have some people Well, I'm just the raising your awareness of this that it is wednesday Are the neighbors planting to attend, you know, because they're the ones Yeah, I did send this all to them and I have spoken to them since and I know because I was going to try and go But I don't know Oh Trans 2178 airport road very Vermont So it's up here in the hospital. No, it's like, you know, it's like we're all the medical buildings are out there And then we got the letter from Jim Colby objecting to the sentiment last at the july 30th slide board hearing that his 11th hour recommendations about the town plan So you I meant to go back and look at the minutes again But I remember the conversation and the question was brought up is does he have standing and I thought what we said was That we routinely listened to landholders regardless of whether they were voters So what does that actually say in a minute? When I read the minutes, it sounded right, so So the town plan was a visionary document Jim's concern might be better brought up after the town plan is approved and zoning regulations are being rewritten Phil questioned Jim standing in this matter since he's not a voter Peter said traditionally the board has always allowed property owners to be heard even if they're not voters Phil said one individual who is a substantially an owner should not be allowed to manipulate the wording of the town plan to His benefit he said he was quote pretty miffed and quote when he received this letter at the 11th hour He said he gives it no standing would send it to the quote and quote ground That's one person Well, all I would say is Over the years as much as we get frustrated from time to time with Jim we have given him time in our meetings We've always recognized his letters And you know, I think he's I think he's out of line and it's a good thing he wasn't there because I would have told him that I'm sick of his snarky Letter well, so do we I'm gonna with with sarah's help I'm gonna write a response to that letter and I'm just gonna say Jim I've been on the board for many years. We have always taken time to listen to you and we have always Recognized and responded to your letters in this case Where you were making suggestions at the last minute at the end of the process It was difficult to make well, I think that I think that sandy Levine said that he had a lot had a lot of input when it was before the break some of the issues that he brought up were addressed Right He telling were and he'd written a series of letters that were all forward So I mean it wasn't like he came in the 11th hour He'd been hurt all along the way and if he no, but he came in with that letter that we were referring to All I'm saying is you should say that That you understand that he had a lot of input and blah blah blah Now you're trying to raise the things that the board didn't adopt He's never going to change he's the same guy and if anything is he ages he's getting worse So we can look forward to more of that and if we get into the zoning process, I'm sure we're going to have plenty more long detailed Letters from him and on the other hand look he hasn't ruined that field so No, but only because we've been keeping him on it He'd leash marry excuse me remember what he would love to have ruined it He wanted to put a cheese barrel or whatever that restaurant Can't have grounds, you know, we've had all kinds of the sign up. Anyway, anyway Anyway, he is he is who he is and he is a large landowner And it's a very crucial piece of land that we need to pay a lot of attention to it And I know he didn't like the outcome of the last rewrite of the zoning regulations He thought they were way too restrictive making all that land conservation and He's still mad about that so The men she references that at the end of this letter where he wanted to build 12 to 24 housing units And then we changed that was never that again that was never a real proposal I mean he comes in with all you know, what's the sense of the select board on this proposal? Yeah, we say well doesn't look like it's going to meet the zoning regulations. Well, what about about you know, blah, blah, blah I'm just I'm just saying we need to be respectful of him We need to be polite to him, but we don't need to be too polite and on What Peter is saying he has come in a lot of times with these proposals and they are just a scribbled Thing on a piece of paper You know of an idea that he has but he's never Try to Formalize anything, right So, you know when I'm sure there's Excuse me. I'm sure there's more of that to come Correspondence that's it for correspondents I will say that I'm getting a lot of positive feedback about the four payments. Some people are kind of confused saying that that doesn't You know, I want what if I want to pay my taxes all once and you can do that You can pay your taxes all once people are still confused over the loss of the 100 discount, but they're happy about the four payments Yeah, but we lost that one percent discount Taxes are one of those things people don't remember for good reason. It's just like a psychological right Look at what a pretty day is outside. Let's go enjoy it Okay, well, we do need to have an Pick in the week is so we need to We need a motion to the lead to executive section. There's no other there's no other regular business. We're gonna be going