 All right, I think you're good to go sir. All right, we'll call the meeting to order 603 First on the agenda is to approve the agenda. Is there anything that needs to be amended? I just need to add a an executive session at the end for a personnel matter. It should take like five minutes Okay, we should just set the rules right now. Are we doing seconds tonight or not cuz yeah Yeah, we have enough limelight here. If it wasn't here, I'd say no, but I just want to be sure Yeah, so we just need a second Second okay second by gene all in favor Okay, I just get a little confused want to take in the minutes what I mean if I know I just want to be sure want to be And Paul won't Paul's not how will be with us this evening. So no, all right. So thank you First up we have Kurt Kurt is back in session. So he's here to update us on what's going on up in Montpelier Yeah, you first we can hear you Yeah So yeah, I mean Thank you, I want you to One reason why I want to come was just let you know that I'm still around And and that if there's anything that you need from me you know the You know that as you know the legislative session is out of session now and But doesn't mean that nothing is going on. It just means that we're not meeting as a whole And one one of the things as you may recall in my first two years was I really tried to educate folks about how the system works because we don't often really know and And so having been through one cycle I now know that when I when I very first started in the legislature I got there my first day and there was a stack of bills. I'm like, how did this happen? and And so the answer is is that basically from November 9th until January 4th is when Those people who've been elected are submitting bills and and that the Legislative Council is Working on those and starting to prepare those so if there's things that the town Wants the legislature to address or to think about or look into or anything like that during that period is the Best time to do it because once we're in session January 4th Then there's all then we're already processing the bills that are in and as you know by The first week of March we basically hit What's called the crossover period where all the bills in the house go to the Senate all the bills in the Senate go to the house And so if a bill hasn't passed out of the house by that point, it's basically dead And unless somebody resurrects a piece and tucks it into someone else's bill So it So just to kind of give you a timeline to give you you a sense of what how to make the system work Because last year, you know, I would have it without fail Some some member of the community would call me the day after You know, it was no longer available to put a bill in and say hey, I'd like you to do this bill I'm like Yeah, we're gonna have to wait a year and I'm sorry. I wish there's something I could do so So what kind of proactively get you know, let you all know that that's that's the situation The House that has some summer committees that are meeting I'm a lot of them are rules committees and stuff on how to how they're going to do business next year one of the committees that I'm not on but I've been following their their progress is a committee to look into changing the funding mechanism for the education fund to switch to a Income tax base Is what what they're exploring? It's a it's an idea that's supported by the Vermont League of Cities and Towns by the NEA Vermont NEA It's also I don't think they've had an official vote They've written letters of recommendation the principles association and a number of other so So that's and they're looking at a number of options, you know Certainly just switch all education funding to income tax base or or interim pieces of that where where some of it is is Income tax base and some of it is you know, you you don't pay on your homestead But you pay on the on the rest or and of course people have second homes They're you know what you know what they pay in so they're exploring all those options If anyone wants I can send you the link to that whole discussion and all that that paper because I think that's an important piece of Information for all of our communities that this is this is something that's being discussed Do you think it'll come to a plan that you actually vote on or do you think it'll just be You know another year of I mean hard to tell you it hard to tell especially since the What gets on the agenda is determined by the committee chairs and Election year and with a lot of retirees There's gonna be a whole bunch of different committee chairs And so not you know it kind of depends on who gets in where and what they do but there does seem to be an increasing amount of of interest and pressure on this Issue and so I don't know I'm pretty sure a bill will probably be submitted Whether it gets into committee or whether it gets out of committee It's hard hard to know a lot of these really big bills often take multiple sessions because they it's a incremental development along the way Yeah Hey, what they've been doing this for 50 years trying to figure out how to adjust the funding system And they've tried to settle for kind so I'm tell I'm glad I'm glad for you that you're not on that committee because you could be there 14 hours a day seven days a week and at the end of the session you will have no answer and I'm sorry. I'm so pessimistic I served the school board for 13 years I've followed it for a seven year before and sense and this is all been talked about For about 50 years and we're still in the bucket So good luck. I think sometimes it really Comes to a critical mass of of interest of people being frustrated and saying all right, you know let's move this forward and And of course it also comes out a critical situation on funding in the schools and again the more Property property owners feel the burden of that the more they express their opinion on it and the more more pressure arises so I mean I won't Guarantee that they're gonna do anything, but I just want to inform you that that is a committee that is Getting quite a lot of summer attention this this time around So I have a question. Would you know? when is the deadline if I want to get something into the State's appropriation bill sometimes towns can get into there if they're looking for money for a specific thing Any idea what the time frame is on that? Is that also because the into the appropriation? I Don't know the exact date I can Yeah, I can find out I can yes, I will do my best to find out they But usually that again, right and all that stuff has to get out has to get out of appropriation Appropriations by March. Yeah, so if I were guessing End of January Remember and so I'm not saying I will but I might have something that I want in the capital into the appropriations And then I know you got to take your chances and make it through the whole gamut and if you make it to the end You win, but I'm just curious just in case What that would look like just there's some new Apparently the state of Vermont has been lagging behind about five years from the EPA So the EPA finally got on the state For water and or for wastewater for sure possibly water but definitely wastewater because we just went through our inspection and Apparently we heard it right from them the state that There was that the EPA got ahold of them and said if you don't start adhering to EPA standards Then the EPA is going to start issuing your wastewater permits and not you will not to state so When we met with the state for our inspection all of a sudden there's increased wet testing and you kill Whole eye testing and we need to buy another $20,000 plus worth of equipment that if they've known that this standard has been coming and all of a sudden it's critical mass I Don't have the money for that and So it's so there's just some things that are just kind of that are coming So I'm not saying I will put something in the appropriations But I'd like to know my deadline in case I want to pursue that option On another note just out of curiosity I was telling Chris Jarvis about it. I had heard this information about It's called mental health first aid something for high school and maybe junior high and teachers where it's something that they've kind of piloted and other states cities and Looking where teachers and even students can get take these classes to be You know learning and mentoring and understanding more about, you know, mental health issues And I was just curious if that I know you're not in the education committee but if that if you're If the state will be looking for funding to assist schools Obviously the states kind of hit critical mass there They have a shortage of counselors a shortage of psychiatrists and For the whole state so I was just curious if you thought this state was going to be dealing with that through education or a department of health or How they're going to try to attract, you know mental health people to Vermont for Help yeah, I don't I I had not heard about it. I don't know if that committee Yeah, is up on that Either of course that'd be that'd be either or right healthcare or education Yeah, it's just such a big issue, you know for COVID and then after COVID and You know, I know, you know people who are counselors who are saying they have a waiting list And they want and then all of a sudden there's this huge waiting list and people just can't get the services They need and so which is scary and you know, certainly the suicide rate for young people is Just so Horribly high. I'm just as curious if that's on the state's radar either department of health or education or or everybody I guess, right? This seems like it's a big thing. I'm just curious if you'd heard I can I Again, I can I can query some of the folks And you know in those committees and just see if they yeah, it's on their radar Yeah You know, it's something that we're hearing about even at the office that we're hearing about people are having help finding assistance for their family and You know, I'm telling people call 211 college, but you know, they're not getting anywhere. So yeah I don't know. Yeah, so no the state told us at the school, you know Because we had inquired about that and because right now we're down like one and a half positions in our issue with counselors and and and the reply we got back is You know, we understand but you're required to meet these You know these requirements and it's like well, we can't hire anybody like you know I mean we've been we've been looking for years and can't hire anybody so Yeah, I guess a couple of things on while we're going through budget season ourselves. So Some of the things that are easy to hit you with Usually is and we're seeing it again this year is significant increase in health insurance You know for everything that's coming down with you know inflation and budgetary issues, you know in the state approved a 21% increase this year. I mean I was I I just you know in January. I know and we budgeted ten or and these are I mean I one I can't believe That it was allowed. I mean Sounded like they asked for 30. They did and they got 21, but I'm like, you know this You know normally a jump for us is 10 12. Yeah, we've been lucky We had seven we've had you know and we budget because the rates come out in January So obviously we budget 18 months out just like to stay so you're kind of you know your crystal ball So we take the current rates and then we'll do 10 12% and then yeah 21 and a half. I was like, oh Yeah I mean we're talking, you know at a small town like this, I mean it's significant You know, I haven't done the math up of what that is going to do for us but that you know if I had to guess that's One to two pennies on the tax rate just just for us to if we if we decide to keep you know health insurance funded They're exactly the same, you know, we're talking one or two penny increase on Taxpayers just for health insurance. I mean that hasn't gotten to You know the slew of things that will be going for a budget of anything from fuel to salt You name it that we use for the town. It's all gone up. I mean everything's up Salt's up 10 bucks. Yeah, I mean, I love it that they use You know that inflation's up 10% but I can't find a product that's up 10% They're all up 15 20 30 40% so I don't know how inflation is only up 10 But I mean we're going through our budget and this is you know, we like to hit the budget at I wouldn't say a high level but you know What are kind of our our wants versus our needs up front right and and I don't think we're Too over or outlandish, but I mean we're already talking our budgets You know without even looking is up a quarter million dollars on a town of this size, right? I mean and and and you know what that means is you know about every $20,000 is one penny as you know, right? So I mean you start thinking, you know, we're already talking 1213 cents you know and then To provide relatively the same services that we provide this year, right? So and we I mean can people afford 12 or 13 cents on the tax rate, you know, not for very long So what cuts and services are we gonna have to start making and I think that's gonna be the the difficulty for our board here the next month or two is to Find out, you know, what do we perceive to be an honest affordable tax increase because it's happening And in what services are we gonna have to minimize because of that? So and I mean health insurance kind of just put us right in the backseat already. It's kind of like Retirement a year and a half ago when all of a sudden hey, you know, we're had 20% of the retirement. It's like You know, so I I don't know what discussions are having at the state in regards to curbing some of these costs or Yeah I You know, I came into legislature in a golden age of of our bar, right? So so yeah, the I think legislature was Probably, I mean There was there are definitely those folks that were trying to you know one-time money But but there are some other people that it was a little tempting to leave it there And and I think that's we're gonna we're gonna see in these next two years Suddenly, okay now that money's not there anymore You know both of that and that now you got to deal with the real budget and and I think it's going to be It's going to be an interesting Session around there trying to what do you cut? How do you stay within budget? How do you all that stuff? You need people who who are who live like you and I do But at times the cut when the time to draw in that belt we do And I also wonder this 21% on top of the 19% and all that are they is somebody up there who's pushing this stuff pushing municipal government and school systems and every everything that's funded Down from the state to start running like a business because who in the business world is offering the insurance and the health health insurance and the retirement that Municipal and school order This meant people right yeah, because this meant people don't have the sort of a plan anymore A lot of them gone to 401ks I I would actually assume that the state would do that at some point say boom if you are before this Then you have a defined benefit plan if you're after this you're going to for okay like new hires get x y or z But it is interesting and it's such a tough market that as you know I mean the state's got a bunch of empty seats up there that they can't find people for I know they have a lot of holes and You know we can't find people and so it's also very difficult to cut a package on existing employees when you're Can't find anybody else to work So it does and I'm sure the state is in a very in the same situation because I know you have a lot of departments that are understaffed and So it's I just I'm still trying to figure out where all the people went I mean we have a low unemployment where did everybody go did I have like a bunch of people must have retired But I'm like where did everybody go because after COVID, you know It seemed like we became this real shortage and I think unemployment So what to point something percent of Vermont right now if you believe that yeah, I'm like you know, so I mean It's just a challenge. You know with us like you know the last half a dozen years. I mean our challenge in this town was to fund the You know future accounts to to build infrastructure that was lagging, right? I mean so we've been kind of Getting back up to speed and now that I would I would say relatively, you know confident that You know the last budget cycle, you know We kind of got to what I would perceive to be like on that plateau where we should be and now Now we get to start talking about these if we want to stay with the The services, you know, what are we? You know either we're gonna have to ask for the Cadillac or we're gonna have to cut it back here And it's challenging because it's just kind of it's disappointing to see that You know, we had everything going in a right direction and now we may have to render some services I mean Ellie's looking for money for for for rec tonight, you know, and and there's a slew of Other pieces that are great everything that benefits our community. But now, you know, you know just Let's just say just a health care increases alone You know, I now we have as a board to figure out Do we just accept those increases or do we have to find two pennies to offset that in the budget? And and I think just sometimes at the local level, you know speaking for myself, but it just seems like Nobody at Montpelier hears us, you know, it just it it's They'll take care of it. We'll just push it down to the lower level No, they'll have to deal with it because we're we're not gonna deal it like retirement like You know, we put a band-aid on it. It's good Bethel's got to take care of it and you know these towns It is sometimes this seemed like that I know you're the new guy But it's sometimes it doesn't seem like the voices are being heard, you know in Montpelier that The frustrations that we have at the lower level, so we want you to go just say no Or yes or yes for anything that goes for Bethel Who disagrees For me, it's a justice issue I remember Being so grateful that I was on a defined benefit plan Because it forced me to save enough for my retirement when that Defined bent to in order to match that I would have had to have had 15 percent in IRAs and I would not have been able to retire Had it not been for that now I know the world has changed and that a lot of folk in the private sector Have moved to away from a defined benefit plan I also know that there's a lot of talk out there about social security How security is? We can have a longer conversation about that but I Just strongly feel as a citizen and as a select board member that offering Especially in a low unemployment time fringe benefits that make a difference a Can make a difference in employability and I also understand I Understand that that it hits towns. It also hits the state in terms of its Retirement and health care and all the rest of it so I'm Now does that mean that maybe we ought to ask those folk to budget out 18 or even 24 months I think that there's Provide some sort of an escape clause for those of us who have already budgeted and We'll find it extraordinarily difficult I Think that that's something Are you still on the same? Committee Same committee. I Am a two-nose Until January 4th, but we're not we're not meeting so and then that's entirely up to the to the speaker Who will who will sign committees? I'm hoping to be on the same committee Yeah, we and we met in person for the end of last year But we were but we are gonna be the latest rules have come out are in person No masks or anything. They're they're gonna drop off because as they pointed out they Even though officially even now if you go visit the state house, you're supposed to be masked, but no one is And so they've just finally said, you know, obviously we're not enforcing this anymore So so why why hold us to it? So it's in theory. It's business as usual Yeah, thank you for coming and then Let me know just send me an email when you want to start you came monthly during the session if you want to start that in January Just email me and let me know if it's the the Second or fourth Monday that works for you whatever you want. Just email me and I'll work in all All or so whatever works for you. I just appreciate you coming because it's nice to have a legislator who comes in Yeah, but I have a sense of when I'll know something in January I'll yeah probably this either yet the second select board meeting or maybe the first one in February one or something Yeah Do you know any updates on that the reapportionment that was going on reapportionment? They didn't go through have you changed your district or anything or is that? Oh, oh the redistricting. Yeah Yeah, so I mean so my Assuming I'm a reelected And which I think I've got a good shot at My district will be Bethel Rochester Stockbridge in Hancock Pittsfield got put in with Killington and And so so that would be my district in fact That's where I've been doing most my campaigning is in Hancock because I don't know any of them. I didn't I do now So that would you gain Hancock and lost this field? I gained Hancock lost Fitzfield and And and then they did the weird thing if they took Rochester out of Windsor County and put it in Addison In the Senate So Yeah, and and the same is now true therefore for Hancock because Hancock is in Addison County So they still have the Addison Senators, but now they've got a Windsor County You got to pass out a road map Yeah, so where you're at on the total pole here Yeah, I mean I'm still just glad I didn't get Granville There was that discussion and I was just like, you know East Granville West Granville you can't get there from here So Great people in Hancock, so I'm sure you get to meet some great folks. So all right. Well, thanks Kurt. Yeah. Thank you So yeah, I'll just if you just email me. I'm just curious like I said about the appropriation schedule Just in case I want to try that out. I I know it takes a lot of work, but um, I've done it before just so just in case I just would like to know for sure I don't want to miss any important Thank you You and the senators who are elected be resuming the breakfasts I Think so. I mean part of the problem this time was was Dave not I mean, you know first there was a pandemic but then Dave Dave wasn't sure about hosting those kind of events in his so I'm I'm open to those breakfasts and I'm sure the senators are as well. It's just Because I think there are a great opportunity to get out there. I wish all my towns did it So Yep, good luck it in November. Good luck in November Are you running unopposed are you running unopposed? Oh, well, there you go And the next appointment we had was Nicole So they I gave them your The information that you gave me about the resilient communities program and just explained that it was no monetary Component that it's just manpower only so I gave them a copy of the rules plus your You know, you're the application you want to submit Because this is really bright in that category the over the past few years the state of Vermont past the climate action plan One of the things that came out of that was a lot of funding another thing that came out was a lot of pressure to adhere to these Enhanced energy standards. I think those are from that Act 174 updates from our last town plan update And you know, it's exciting because the energy committees have traditionally been pushing for the policy now The policy is here. So we can act right but we can't because we're lacking resources And so what's in that application reflects things that we've talked about in the energy committee The first thing right at the top is that regional energy coordinator discussion Which as I found out is actually pretty common like Browdo or Bennington County. They have an energy coordinator Windham they have an energy coordinator You know, we have one right next door Jeff Martin with those seven towns Those seven towns also have higher median incomes than ours So when this application, it's not for financing. It's just for planning help the Vermont Council of World Development has this program where they award assistance human resources to three to five Vermont communities And usually I don't like to rush applications if I want time to think and sort it out But this one we've actually been talking about for a while. These are all things. Hopefully everyone's familiar with So that is what's in front of you at this time To do that and and it's nice that I was happy I mean money's great But manpower is the key sometimes so the fact that when you said that to me I kind of read through the rules and then I was like emailed you back and like soul manpower no money I'm like, this is this is great. And especially do because your town committee and you know, you're Hampered everybody's got jobs and work. It's hard to when a lot of this takes a lot of time So I was grateful that you guys found it and did the application. So So as I said, there's no matching funds, but per your grant policy You know, you just need to approve or not that they can submit the request And what do you currently have for membership at the energy committee? Next meeting hopefully we'll have four and One thing to note is that the co-chair Chris Schaeffler, he lives in South Royalton. He makes the trip over So I'm kind of think about that regional focus I kind of feel like we're stealing him from South Royalton and I would kind of like to see us have better Sharing of resources in that sense. So right now we have three The proposal or not just motion to approve From that list, what would you prioritize? Is there something not on that list? You want to see folks on the internet? Regional coordinator and the growth of the committee Recruiting him I thought, you know Just the way I think anyways is in order to come up with any type of plan, right? Because essentially that's what we're doing is we're putting a plan together is is to find out, you know, what is our current? Foot print so I mean I kind of when I was reading through those I mean, there's a lot of questions I have when it comes to like, you know Regional coordinator like, you know, where is it? How much you pay like we're talking about our median household income is? Lower than our neighboring Areas so, you know Theory will pay a little bit more But the first is would be curious and I don't think would be take a lot of time is to figure out What is our current footprint? You know with I mean, we're not a big miss municipality begin with so trying to Trying to formalize our footprint. I would think would be kind of a reasonable Easy time-keep to to do And in some of these we'll probably take some discussions on, you know money logistics You know or other types of financial help either at the state level or regional level or but I That was kind of the one that stuck out to me when I was reading through it and I was thinking about the I Don't think it's a priority to deal with the green vehicles. I just I just think that's too soon I think we're just a ways away from that but I I know there's been a lot of talk about that Evie Asked about that charging station And I'm just really curious about that about When we pull how long is it gonna last? Who's gonna pay for the electricity? How long is there sort of a warranty on it once the thing? You know, what's the life expectancy? Is it only five years? Is it gonna if someone have to sit there for eight hours or because what are they gonna do for it? You know what I'm like, I'm curious about the Actual how that thing is gonna work how long it's worked and who's paying for it and how is it gonna be who's maintaining it and then What happens when it just say I'm making this up just say it only has a five-year life expectancy Is it gonna cost us a fortune to get rid of like I don't That sort of thing that was my concern originally. I know we talked about this a few years ago I'm assuming somebody could put a credit card in there and Pay for their own electricity and and that because I did make a note that you know about running the Conduit that you and I talked about making sure I cover that base But I'm just curious about that because I don't know anything about it so for me If they're gonna give you manpower, I'm like well and somebody has figured all that stuff out So we shouldn't I was just curious about that just the whole How thing actually works and I guess some of it having gone through the exercise a little bit over the last couple years Because we for a while that I think it was right before you came on with the board Nicole when We were we were actually talking about a charging station Level to charger something like that time and then the grant or something changed or whatever it was But you know, I know it's a town committee But sometimes I guess like the way I see is instead of maybe a town having a charger station like what can our town committee do to Offer their time and assistance to local businesses to develop something like that. So like instead of the town of Bethel putting in a charging station. What about You know talking with Champlain Farms or or McCullough's on Maybe giving them the right direction Maybe they could put a charging station in for for nothing and they don't know about that or and then I kind of looked the same thing would like you know instead of You know a town endeavor is how can we help our residents develop solar wind Alternative measures that Really anybody on the town level say climate change isn't real. This is a waste of time I've just heard everyone have really good, you know, like discussions questions They want to ask Information that we need because the industry is changing so rapidly and it's just ridiculous to ask volunteers to stay on top of that and be You know, like this level of professionalism when you're not getting paid And so, you know in this case I just want to make sure that when we send this application in whether or not we get it We're telling somebody that we're not just gonna have you put this all on us, you know We do need help here and we can be the squeaky wheel that gets the oil It's tough to keep track of all that means why we write like planning grants to get Assistance because we can't keep track of all the the rules and the changes and the you know So I totally Feel your situation and I really appreciate you taking the time to do the application I think it's it's a good one and I Pulling for you to get it. So when one side gene In terms of the charging station I Would encourage consideration of renters before businesses in terms of location and Working with landlords to provide that was one and the other is compatibility is the only compatible charger a tesla or Are there other systems that might also be? Whether we're encouraging business owners encouraging homeowners and like downtown apartment owners Or or the town to do installations It's definitely going to take some you know planning discussions and just time As well as money But the money kind of seems like the easy part when you think about all the questions About charging stations And so but that's just to be clear. We've tabled that so we're you know, maybe we could revive it But we're we'll see how this application goes. We'll see how our goals go for the early next year The barn I dreamed up center Because I'm gonna tell you something there's some mega bucks it's spent there And I know I've I've installed a bunch of these charging stations nothing like that But that's like the Taj Mahal Charging stations with four charging stations and two places to park Who the hell designed that? And we've got enough power coming in there to run half the town of Randolph That's what I do for a living So I would like to know what the hell they were thinking and they built that because I'd like to understand Like the you know, definitely the business owner decided that that would bring value to their business either now or sometime soon It is something I'm glad that they replanted the buffer with some trees after that, too Linley do you want to make a motion? Okay, just need a second She moved to approve the grant application submission Hey all in favor Now back to a question for you while I have it on my mind Thank You Nicole And it has to do with climate initiatives is So we talk about climate initiatives and how you know we want everybody do weatherization and everybody do all these pieces, right? So I'm in the process of replacing all the windows of my house Because they're old and they need new windows and gonna go through the process of reinstating all that stuff and people are like there's so many grants out there to get money and you look through the grants and This is where I have a hard time With the state does the state want us to do this or not because the grants are only offered to a small minority of people That typically don't even own a home, you know I mean so like you could get 50% of your windows covered if you are under a certain income or You know, I mean and it's like the minority of people that use that is so small And I'm like if this is really a climate initiative that the state really wants everybody to be a part of and winterized And why not make that Equally available to everybody like why only offer that to a certain Subsection of income people rather than why not offer it to me because this is I make more money Doesn't mean that my cost or you know That That you want to start with the the most financially vulnerable folks and the ones that will never be able to like You know push come to shove if you actually had to weatherize your house You could probably find a way to finance it whereas there are definitely some people who just Yeah, as you say they they fall into a category where where they they they can barely afford their living space and so The idea is is to start with the most vulnerable populations and work your way up the stream and so that's that that's kind of the reasoning behind all that and So far at least in the past Couple arounds of the weatherization it I mean it the board clears that the money all gets gets distributed so it's not it's not like You know all the all the lower income folks have have have taken advantage of it And so we have no way to give the money to and so that's the That's the thing so it is helping Project I would just start looking at other things like if I was gonna do an alternative heat at my house or different ones and it's like there's lots of grants out there, but 99% of us don't qualify for those grants and it's like if this really is about You know a footprint and reducing our footprint when you offer that to everybody to reduce your footprint, you know, or is it just when or is it just typically a We're gonna say we want to do something because it sounds nice, but oh actually reality. We're not gonna really fun You know, I mean it's you know, right? I like I mean he's back there. Yeah, I mean he's the insulation guy Hang on Lenny There's some available to everybody It doesn't matter if you make a hundred thousand or a hundred million you can get up to a certain amount back They've teared it for the lower income because they have no disposable income nothing, you know Very rarely. Most of them have to get a loan to get any of this work done And they've made it so that it's a little bit more of a carrot and quite frequently they live in Houses that are not are much more in need of it than most of us You know, I had worked doing this with the weatherization program before I went off on my own 17 years ago and The the houses where people couldn't afford to pay for any of it and the state had to come in It ran from the little old lady on a pension to places where Quite frankly, I thought they should have been torn down. I You know, there were some where I went. I can't believe we're putting 10 grand into this place, but They had that was their house. That's the way it went But the reason why there's more available to that lower tier is because It's completely unattainable for most of that that group whereas, you know, a lot of people in the Mid to upper income ranges have more of a disposable income. It's Whether it's fair or not What we're having a problem with right now is actually finding people to do the work. I I've been booked out for years I'm literally I've just been in a day. It's been crazy. I mean, I I still haven't been to your house to look at You know, I haven't I haven't looked at a building for quite a while here. I Also in the summertime change out to a different line of work So puts me further further behind but I have I had three people call today and I said, well, why don't you try these people? Oh, no, they're they're a year and a half out too So it's He just literally changed out all the windows in his house cross street over the summer and I was asking him He's like, I didn't get any money, you know, but you know, and I wouldn't say he's a wealthy individual You know, I wouldn't say I'm a wealthy individual, but it's like Years ago, yeah, and and yeah, they had been kind of going in stages on there and You know, they did have that front corner there. She calls it the fishbowl Window there that was rotted at it leaked at one point in time and they knew they needed to get that done But they they went with the insulation I think there are a lot of people that want to Take a proactive approach to this right before somebody tells you you have to do something, right? But regardless of what your income is, you know, we all can't I mean I can't turn around and afford to replace every window and update my heating system and Reinsulate it and all that at the same time. I have to do it in stages, you know, like you were talking about And you would just think that there'd be more help out there for everybody, you know The EV situation if I wanted to put on solar panels and get a EV car There's about a seventy five hundred dollar Federal over so many years tax credit, but it's gonna cost me a hundred grand To do that. I don't have a disposable hundred thousand dollars to spend right now But there this is happening to those people this is on the other end You can afford a hundred thousand dollars. So you're getting these credits It is somebody needs to look at some of this stuff. Yep, Lenny Well, you all pretty much the three of you pretty much to encompass what I was gonna say but my question to Kurt is If they're doing these lower and these extremely lower income people first, is there a timeline? Where they're going to begin to release this more and more for people who are in the middle I've looked into it. We've looked into it a lot of Different ways and it's expensive to put that money out there and the grants They're not really available for her. Let me take me personally for me I don't qualify because of where we are, but where we are monetarily. So How does that work? If you're saying that the that they're starting with this Is there a timeline do they have an official timeline when they're going to start adding and including more people more middle-class people? Those who aren't available to the extreme looks like you have two things one the state has been short-sighted in terms of its weatherization in Giving a very low priority if any assistance to windows first That's a major loss of of wind of Support for the bows at the very low The state has also been short-sighted Although there are conversations now With of considering not just the low Income the lowest income, but the low to lower middle So That's Those are two places that I think the state needs to step up and That's may or may not help the people who are speaking here but it's Two things that I think need to be addressed And of course, I mean you're absolutely right and And the state faces the same issue that the town faces when with when it's budget, which is is if we put more money into that where we're going to get that money and Yeah, and do we take it from something else or do we raise taxes? No, right? Yeah, I mean so so yeah, it becomes those kinds of things and so there's always a little bit of a Push-pull you know whose priorities the priority of of the choice today and unfortunately I think what happens is is so I Think what happens is is this project gets a little money then that project gets a little money And this project is so am I and and ultimately none of them get enough to have them a Super impact, but at least everybody gets a little bit and I don't know if that's the right answer But but that is I think it's often the strategy that's employed State is going to continue to focus on renewable energy credits and clean heat credits for whether winterization or weatherization That's a place where it's not about your budget It's about somebody else's budget, and I think you ought to The state I think is short-sighted if it's going to go to the credit Pattern that it has gone to in the past They don't put much money into windows is because they don't make a big difference They try to put the money into some place where the improvement will be Significant the difference in a brand new thermal pain window and your old farmhouse window is Very small you can go through and seal up that little farmhouse window and the difference is approximately in our two over the whole unit Whereas you can go into your attic and you can add an R40 in that Huge amount of space and make a significant amount of difference As well as the air sealing component of it Air sealing windows Ads, but like I said you can go with rope cock You can put sash locks and things like that which greatly improve that old farmhouse window So really Is you know if the agenda needs to be pushed to this level then the monetary value needs to come up To the value that you if you don't have the monetary value Then then the agenda needs come down a little bit because you can't can't expect people regardless of how much they make To make these rapid adjustments, you know, I mean with We'll call it 10% inflation out there right now, right so But what do you think Ellie you want to go next? Yeah Well, you have seen that as the rec committee And we've worked really hard to provide for the young people in Bethel And so we made a phase one of a wonderful skate park say for a park And that skateboard park has been seeing a lot of activity kids and Various ages of people use as six months of the year The end of variety of people use it from all areas around not just Bethel, but as far reaching as Rutland and Lebanon and so When we were start doing the skateboard park we knew that we had to do it in two phases and we did the first phase and So in order to do the second phase we went and applied for a land water conservation fund we Applied for that fun two years ago and We were told and accepted that we could have 25,000 dollars as A matching that they would That we they would accept us to have 25,000 from that fund and we just had to match it by 25,000 We've been working really really hard and less and and we have made that match I met with Therese in September to confirm that we have raised that 25,000 and so we had in the in the two years that we have been fundraising for the 25,000 we have said to people help us out and In all our fundraising we said well face to we will we our goal is to raise this 25,000 and Do face to bill phase two and 2023? so So basically It's on Michael Parker's schedule for 2023 We have contacted him and he said, you know, it's he's got it Pennsylvania on the schedule so he's he's on board and So when meeting with Therese and confirming that we have raised the 25,000 She said that her concern is that the site work For phase one the site work was 10,000 but with inflation She was concerned that the site work would be 35,000 Yeah I think we spent what nine plus three around twelve I think for the first phase and how much not how much bigger it is But yeah, I just don't know it's hard to know And looking that in the improvement fun the Balance the last town report was over 72,000 The committee felt that that we're willing to talk to construction people and people that do site work and everything and See if we can get any discounts or anything and and work toward 5,000 of 35,000 but but we'd like to see if the voters or Would would okay us or you guys okay us to take 30,000 out of the 50,000 so Michael Parker has agreed to do the second phase for the 50,000 So I just want to clarify Your request so it sounds like the 30,000 that you'd like to move from From the recreational fund to use towards the skate park Sounds like would be just for the site work piece right okay of which we don't at this point Don't really know how much that may cost it may be significantly lower, right? Okay Is there you know before we get winter is there is there any opportunities to have a couple of site work Contractors take a look at Round about what would have to be done there and get maybe a Some sort of estimate that we could better than judge if we wanted to move that money, you know We're happy to do that We did you is talk to our Husband off the knee is been willing to to To help us a little bit on site work and stuff like that Who did the first one Dylan do that and and we have a list of we at our committee me and we made a list of people that we could talk to and We just haven't done that yet, but we're in Each of our committee members Agreed to a person that they would talk to To talk to these people and and we want to do that right away Paul or Dylan because Dylan did it last time Jeff Gilman any one of them could take a look at your drawing and just meet you over there and give you an estimate on How much it would cost so um or what obviously just a just an estimate, but any one of them So I guess yeah, so Active and really start planning and you know and do and find out all the things you need to do To get this done next year because that was be great to get this done So before we well one I think it'd be best to make a decision like that one the whole board So you're Paul's Paul's out right now But more so it'd be nice to gather a little more detailed cost potential cost information on that before So if it was possible, you know, maybe not for the next meeting, but the second meeting in November maybe that give you enough time to See if we can get some sort of estimate on What we're talking over the air because because the other thing too is You said we have 70 some odd thousand dollars or well, whatever we're at 89 so we have that money in there And then I guess at that point is depending on how much that does actually cost is you know Do we use it towards skate bar? Phase two. I know we have some other things coming down the pipe for Recreational department with pool and things that are gonna be kind of costly No, we're working on it D tree has been in contact Be thrown around me too because she had reached you might want to think about that That might be the first thing we did we thought she's she has reached out to them Is more in as a project for two or three years down the road Whereas we can get this project done and be done with this. Well, I just I'm thinking Elliot says It's gonna take us a little bit to just I mean It's gonna be huge we'll have them better numbers over the winter because we've been in contact with Gunite there was a local contract. They put us with a guy in Massachusetts and D tree has sent him dimensions and this and that and You know, so there's definitely we know we're leaking. We know we're losing money on you know electric and water and Chlorine because obviously we know we have a leak underground with the piping but yeah, it's it's it's gonna be a big ticket $70,000 Yeah, this project to work for the record center, right and They would like 30 so that leaves up with 40. I know and we need a hundred. Yeah That's that's why I'm saying Dave. That's gonna be a little tough. We're gonna need like Now we're gonna go back to the town and say, okay We need $60,000. Yeah, at least that's what I'm saying right now before we make a decision on 30 like that There's you know grants and other things to help with the pool. Well, yeah Yeah, but we haven't started looking and yeah, the other thing too is I don't remember I this was a discussion Ellie has a good memory about this sort of stuff But I remember when he did the first phase that there was prior times that the rec committee had gone to town Meeting and got appropriations for the skate park, which you gave them that money for phase one, right? You got all that. Yes. Yeah, so that may be the other option too is sending them to the voters whack You know 10,000 here 10,000 there where if the pool needs 60,000 we're gonna be asking them for $60,000 I know I don't want I mean, that's why I'm saying right now. It's probably best that we get some sort of Better guesstimate of what I mean if that site work to make it up is 12,000 versus 30 It makes our decision may be a little bit easier if it comes back and they say 35,000 then maybe we get a really figure What the bigger scheme looks like right? But it also sounds like the Ellie's got a grant that she has to use within a certain period of time or else She lose their matching funds, right? And basically, you know, we we are so I'm gonna hoe and so supportive that we've been, you know Well fundraising really well and and we're willing to do more fundraising, you know To get this done, but we we need some help I don't know if two weeks two weeks might not be enough time to get somebody to come out look at it and Everything I I mean if it does then just shoot Yeah, just find out and then maybe they'll be a lot less than I mean, I'm just throwing a number as I said Yeah We want to be proactive and yeah, we don't want to just Also consider the amount of people you serve with a great Skatepark versus the amount of people you serve with the pool the pool is for eight weeks out of the year We serve that a lot of people for six months with the skate park with the pool we serve a Few families for eight weeks. So I am thinking of numbers. Okay I haven't seen a lot of people And and we do workshops Where our workshops the kickflip workshops every summer has been very good and People come out for that. We have families and kids that it's been action-packed The the kickflip workshops both summers On raise and give you a check right in the middle school We have all the middle schoolers. Yeah, and they fund raise set over seven hundred dollars So so we have all these people that are really interested and the school has been over and used it Yeah, I said the programs from the school use it Yeah, it's been good. I mean you definitely see people there Yeah, and we had it sealed and so we'll have to have we have a sealed every year So they can Michael comes back and takes care of that. So No, it's it's been a nice draw Commitment needs to do. What's your due date for having a commitment on this? Is it this calendar year or? It's 2023 Right When what is your grant have to be spent I I don't know because they have been slow We haven't even seen the grant agreement yet. No, yeah They finally got back to us wanting a license of Certificate of insurance. Yeah, right So Yeah, we could have could have a couple more years I you know what it'd be interesting for you to you seem to have a good luck emailing her and ask her like when Tell her you went to the select board everybody wants to know we're gonna see the grant agreement because you're right You don't know what you're dealing with but basically what Ellie is gonna need is if the money doesn't come from the capital fund If you don't distribute money from capital but then she should then she's also saying that basically if you don't Do it she wants to be included in the warning for town meeting so she can go directly to the voters so that decision Yeah, no, no, I just want to be clear. I'm also thinking about Town meeting More we'll talk about beginning in June or July of the new budget year. Yeah, so you wouldn't be able to Do anything until July if it went to town or I mean or if we knew she got the money She could take the money from the capital funds. Yeah, we have this in the replenish so She'd be okay Yeah, yeah, no, that's fine. I just want to be clear that either or Ellie's we want to make sure she has both opportunities Yeah, so just come back to us in November if you make the first first meeting or the second meeting Just let Theresa know which one works best for you, Ellie And hopefully Okay, well, thank you Ellie's bodyguard bodyguards Thanks, Ellie All right, so Alex, sorry, we're running a little behind but thank you for being here Once again, I'm here for the waiver value ambush just looking for the Town to give us permission to run the same sections of road and same road crossings that we've been running As a map on file I'm gonna look at that map about those five Miles that I was telling you about and if I remember I'm sure I have your email Um, I will email it to you just to see if or I can look at your road You're existing map just to see if those are in conflict. I just I think I should just tell you Yeah, and there's other there's four other roads, so I just want to yeah, let you know just So I'll keep you in the loop. So I'll send you an email and let you know about that but I haven't heard any issues about Ramblers or vast or using the trails because you're obviously a local Entity of vast right, so So I have covered so we cover Roylton. We grew the Roylton trails Roylton has their own club that actually Maintains their sections of the trail But we contract room their trail and then we cover basically from Christian Hill right up by Where we come on to the Dean's property That's where we come into Bethel and then we come up. We cross the interstate there on Christian Hill Duck back in we cross up we go up to quarry road We run one small section of quarry road duck in cross Sanders Road cross Sanders Road again We run section of Finley Bridge We cross Finley Bridge cross 12 To plow the down the below parking Buried this summer It's it's something that I was I'm hoping that possibly we can get a grant through vast So like I said, they had some extra grant money and and so I think that that might be a possibility With all the action down there through Carly's meadow and the trails and trying to keep that You know, I think to maintain that more of a four-season area, too You kind of need parking over there somewhere. Yeah, I agree is a sensible place to park Plowing is a bit of a Plowing is a bit of an issue. I blew the transmission plow on that in my plow truck last winter for the snowmobile show, so Yeah, so So, um, yeah, so I haven't had any issues brought to my attention. I don't know if you have about the ramblers or roads certainly I Live on Finley Bridge. Yep, one of the places. I don't know if it's the only place that you're actually out on the road By the Almost at the bridge. Yep. Yep. Thank you Great job Coming in taking putting the signs out taking the signs down It's appreciated Yeah, we go we go there we just go up into the field and then we end up having to run the narrows all the way down through Until we cut up to Sandor To allow wayward rally ramblers permission to access the same roads as 2022 All in favor Lindley's raised in her hand. She's all set Well, thank you so much for coming tonight Condolences do for your loss. I'm sorry about that All right, so we will open it up to public comment now So if there was anything that wasn't on the agenda, we had a bunch of appointments this evening So if there's anything that's not left on the agenda, which is only three items now's now's the opportunity There is nobody left in person. So it would just be anybody that is online Which Lenny is just you Lenny so Lenny or Lindley you got anything for public comment Lenny says no Lindley thumbs up thumbs down. She's good Lindley's all right, and then we we added the or I added the item for And it's more noticeable on Church Street right now but it does happen in other parts of the town and parking on the sidewalk and and we had Brought this up I don't know maybe three months ago. Let's say or less and And in some of the locations that we were having the bigger issues we had reached out in regards to some of those problem areas of Parking making sure that they're accessible for for individuals to use the sidewalks and And I will say that there are times where you can clearly see that there are individuals that are doing their best To park off of the sidewalks, but there are also people as we some pictures that were in the In the packet in the packet that clearly parked not just on the sidewalk, but you know almost on the full sidewalk And the challenge that we have there, and I know the perception in in the community is Damage the sidewalks and yes damage can occur to the sidewalks and does occur the sidewalks But the the greater issue is the is the handicap accessibility For the sidewalks and I had brought up that three months ago there that I actually saw an individual that was having to use the roadway to By route around the sidewalks that were parked on so he or she was in a wheelchair Yeah, and a motorized wheelchair And so and you can clearly see by the pictures that are in the packet that this isn't like a tire on the curb This is you know the the vehicle is completely Half three-quarters of the way on the sidewalk so that it makes it impossible for anybody to go by there in any type of ADA compliance type And a stroller they'd have to go on private problem So the pictures are actually very handy because you can see way down the street that it's you know There's no room for a wheelchair and even if you were in a stroller or you know pushing a stroller You'd be pushing people on to people's lawn. So and I do think these are really good shots I mean I could certainly and you know church street It is obvious is the one that gets the most attention because the people drive by it We do have the same issues that occur from time to time on South Main Street. Oh sure and there are some at times That occur in other places You know On Pleasant Street sometimes but but more so on Church Street And I don't I don't think any of us at the board want to get to the point where You know do we want to put up signs that say no parking or do we want to? pass some sort of enforcement code to go out there and ticket people but I think at least Myself is this is kind of like the last ditch. Let's Get people to buy into making the sidewalks accessible or else we may have to look at what our other options are because Believe you know all it takes is an unfortunate incident where cars are parked on the sidewalk an individual Has to use the roadway and gets struck by or you know and it doesn't even have to be a Handcap it could be someone pushing a Stroller it could be a child walking on the road or and then we we will have some sort of liability to that so So I guess at the board level I was just trying to think you know what what are our brainstorming ideas to? Reach out to these areas You know should we reach out like we did before or with a little more? Emphasis on let's clean it up. We could send the photos with a letter You know we could send a photo to the left With another letter To the you know to the local church is because they did such a nice job of addressing it during Of addressing it You know during announcement time and say hey here are the pictures So you because this provides a really nice visual of what is happening We're not saying they can't park there. We're just saying be mindful of the fact that somebody in a stroller or wheelchair may need to get down that street and So maybe the photos would Assist because there already is a statue to a lot It's pretty clear it is So my question would be you sent the letter to the churches about we did Just about parking, but I think it was did we send do it it be more forceful or more? impactful to Find out what the potential Finds or liabilities of those persons parking illegally would be if we had to enforce it Sometimes when you tell somebody okay, you haven't taken your wallet for $500 They say well, wait a bit. Maybe we can find another place to park Yeah, I also think to the letter that maybe Just my wording of the letter maybe that people Interpreted it the letter less as ADA and more as just damage to the sidewalk from parking on it So perhaps, you know my wording wasn't as You know clear yeah, like not just I mean obviously I gave you guys a copy of the letter So maybe it needs to be more focused on the ADA than the pictures and could include what you know There is here's a copy. There's a Yeah Exactly, and that's the worry is it's I mean obviously ADA compliance pieces, but it could just be a child Someone walking their dog Someone pushing a stroller someone just having it, you know that this I mean in some of those cases Yeah Upright walking person would have some challenges to get navigates recently. So yeah, so maybe I could find out what the fine is Yeah, maybe not all of them But we have a parking lot that's down the street not that far And I'm sure in the wintertime it'd be a little more difficult to walk that extra 300 yards, but for nine months of the year There's plenty of parking down below and be considerate You know that Joe has a walk or or is 95 years old and you're 25 Park down there and let Joe park out back where there's parking. Yeah At the same time but there's municipal parking lot there's also the recreation area which gets plowed in the winter But does do they all have services at the same time? Don't know This one picture shows park cars in front of the brick church and in front of the Catholic Church So I would surmise that the two churches have Services at the same time I will also comment that there isn't enough room for my wife to get by and she would not want to walk on the grass She'd be walking with a cane I would Especially this picture that shows all three cars It shows an empty parking lot and front by the white church You're looking the wrong direction you're right if that's that's the house decide the Catholic Church Oh, okay, but still I think that I think the argument might be made Okay, I think the argument could be made that at times there are better places to park for individuals That may not have the need to have to park close But I also again, I will say that there are there are people that are actually trying Because you can clearly see like on Sunday you can go through there like this coming Sunday And you can see that some people really are taking a Chance to park I mean the streets really narrow anyways, but they're there parking right up against the curb And then there are other people that just don't care, you know I mean this isn't like you're going through and you see the tire up on the curb I mean they parked the whole vehicle on that sidewalk. I mean, it's yeah I think another letter maybe with the finding out much the fine is with a copy of the statue and the photos I think these photos explain More than the letter. This is a good visual representation of Imagine if you were in a wheelchair pushing the stroller you're using a cane, you know You're just taking up, you know one you need to be considerate to leave enough room for that's all we're asking for is consideration For you know people with accessibility issues Be not at a meeting of ours, but maybe it's you know, Teresa directly reaching out to Leaders within those churches, whether it's the the ministers or the pastors or even just individual residents who are leaders within the churches to Explain it a little more directly than a letter because I know on the first letter I feel that a handful of people who didn't get it and the letter was read at the services So it's not like they didn't have an opportunity It maybe was just it didn't quite sink in or the understanding wasn't there and so maybe a second letter is Maybe going to do a little bit of the same and kind of miss the point Whereas if we talk directly to people and sort of what vocalize these concerns Directly then they can regurgitate them and express it a little bit better than just reading a letter at another service That's true. Who's the pastor at the red? I know the priest came in the other day. So I know I can ask Pam his name from the Catholic Church, but who are the pastors at the Red Church and the White Church Does he do both? Who does the White Church because they're the same Only one church. Oh Okay, well, I learned I didn't know that so Tom Hardy Okay, so I could reach out to Tom and the local priest and speak directly to him He did come in the other day and introduce himself a Pam maybe registered. I mean I and I don't think that we want to I mean maybe it gets that point, but I don't think we want to have to go out there and take it everybody I think we want to just let's just work together and Park off the curve. Well, I'm happy. I'm happy to call both Tom Yeah, or Reverend Hardy or whatever his I mean, it's not a hundred percent always the church is there I mean, I will say that you know if Ford Fest is going on You see the same thing if there's some sort of event You know that there's you'll see that and at times you'll see it on South Main Street As well a South Main Street has a little more room But the other thing too is maybe it's worth considering At Ford Fest to speak to the Ford Fest committee and say hey, you know what? We would like to see some signage along here that said, you know parking available But don't park on the sidewalk just a temporary signage for the day that they could I just but I think that's a good advice Lindley, I'm happy to reach out to the local priest excuse me I can't think of his name right now and and Tom maybe just throw those like you're saying I think the picture You know happy to do that. I think the pictures would explain it very well, right? I mean, I Sure, I don't think it's necessarily a day. It seems like it was received as a damaged thing the first time around Yes, I think so maybe if they can actually see that if if you were putting this position to have to walk Could you make it around these cars? No, you couldn't so All right, I'm happy to do that and Happy to do that and I guess we'll just see how it goes and a couple months from now if it's still the same Then maybe we have to do some notes. We'll send Lindley after him. That's right. Yeah, that's a great idea We could write out just remember that in the spring We'll need to read it out to John and I mean that the Catholic Church just actually put out an ADA compliance Walkway Portable walkway, I guess I would So I mean there's obviously they are their own patrons are Needing those services and you know if they're parked on the sidewalk, how do you get by them to get to the Mass or whatever, right? So Not just regular, you know community folks walking through so right All right, and then we had Teresa's budget So I did fill in whatever I was missing last time town hall or parks Maybe it was parks. I guess I did fill in the rest of that and then So obviously this time you got the road budget My hope is to have the rest of the budget to you But you know we're down to staff members right now in the office So and I don't and I so I don't think the intent was to go through it like on a micro level tonight No, can I On the public works piece because we had a bunch of discussion last time. Yep The the the wages for okay works is how many full-time slash half-time positions is that based upon this is First is what we actually have because I'm just trying to write this is four people and one Seasonal full full time and one seasonal However, that means seasonal. I'm still in this struggle because we didn't have this I Wasn't clear in our conversation last time Currently the one seasonal is That I'm speaking of would be for Richard's Position last when Richard first Morgan held that position. It was full-time year-round They worked summers doing mowing and Put under water right water sewer happen. No, we split their wages in three ways so a portion of it went to Roads and for part of the year obviously was plowing the other part was water and the other part was park So this last year We had a seasonal person mowing Adam has moved on and my concern has been Because in the past we have paid Someone who had a CDL so you're paying a CDL rate to mow. I am nothing if not fiscally conservative So I was really struggling with that and so this last year We were able to pay a seasonal position for mowing which was the weight wage I felt was good for that mowing and then we were able to pay a seasonal but Richard and I had this discussion and Richard said, you know trees The person who takes that seasonal position or if we make it a full-time year-round like it was They do not technically need a CDL They only need a physical because that truck is not 25,000 pounds exactly However, it's it's nice to have the CDL case somebody else, you know broke a leg or whatever because they can't rotate in and out Just like everybody else could have so I think that it's something that we need to consider is Instead of having a seasonal summer and a seasonal winter. We may have to make that a Full-time position again and it's tough because the market is so tough right now You just don't know what the best option is so in this budget I'm saying it's still seasonal. It is a seasonal summer person at one wage and it's a seasonal CDL person as separate No, this Yeah, the one that we only have three trucks that require a CDL license. Yes, exactly And in the budget we're in currently How was that budgeted personnel wise that was budgeted for three full-time and two seasonal That's right three three full-time. Yep. Currently and seasonal thinking we could if we went with that The new plan we could have four full-time people. Yes And no season we would still need a seasonal to do Richard's route, right? Let me think about this for a second Dave because I've got Three I have three truck roads big truck routes and then I have The village and then there was the other position So we had five people plowing because one person alone managed pretty much managed camp Brooke Did camp Brooke did Excuse me Fall back and do some of the other smaller streets, but once upon a time one person you were correct did all of the other street people did everything and So at one point when we had a full rain we still had Seasonal so with four I'm still saying there would be four and a season so essentially the difference What I'm looking at this comparing it is overall is we This budget that we're looking at right now proposed. Yeah would be adding basically a seasonal and Benefits would be adding a full well I'm just saying because if you are now we're doing we have three full-time two seasonal, right? You're now we're going to four full-time one seasonal so essentially you're paying One seasonal more but now you're giving all the benefits right so when I calculated it I just said I did the Benny's at two people on a family plan and two people on a single plan because you don't know Who you're gonna hire? Yeah So that was the way I came up with it. Okay. No, I just wanted to write that I know Me Jean Jean was on that last time we were all trying to figure out how many full times part time Exactly, and and so we kind of got yeah So I also I don't know yet what the retirement increases were currently a 19.5 I just did like a 3% obviously our health insurance is a big jump Because we had budgeted a 10% increase because we only know the actual rate for half the year Also, too, I just made myself a note that workers comp is gonna be workers comp and unemployment Because we now pay unemployment insurance, but that's not an exorbitant rate So those were the big changes In the top I think I had tried to explain The rest of the but if you had questions on the rest of it Not so much I mean we could break it down more later, but yeah, I see there was quite a significant increase in the salt Yep, because they they They had gone from you want to Here they had gone from I think I made you a note here. I'm gonna look at that. Sorry I guess how much is this? Oh here? Sorry it had gone from I think we paid 73 or 78 a ton to 88 per ton this year And and it's interesting too because I have this note from VLCT saying if you That they were afraid that the rail might strike and if the rail strikes They're telling you to top off your salt now, and I'm like you VLCT should know that the state had not yet settled the salt contract We're limited to Cargill because American rock salt doesn't have a place to To stockpile at the last iteration so top off my salt pile I haven't even got a you know, I signed something to try to contract them, but I haven't even heard back from them So I'm like so push comes to shove That really comes for sure everybody's getting sanded because I don't know who's got salt You know I have to reach out to Ryan slack. I saw him this morning. I forgot to ask him, but So, you know there was a good increase in salt this year and You know so that was obviously our concern it That I mean ten bucks a ton is is a big jump So Chris I was saying that VLCT had put out a thing that if the if the rail strikes that we should be topping Off our salt, but the state hadn't said shut the roads down. Yeah, but the state hadn't Has not issue we let I don't know if they negotiated the contract and you probably heard American rock salt It's not coming because they have no place to stockpile in Vermont So we're dealing with Cargill now, but I think we need to reinforce to everyone that we are not a clear roads That's right state. We are not a bear roads They're not we are not I'm sorry if you have to get up at four o'clock in the morning to go to work That your roads are not perfect, right? I'm sorry I agree because This started 40 years ago, all of a sudden people were moving Way to hell off. Yeah in nowhere and sending a letter to the town town manager We need to get out of here for 30 go to work and we were doing it and I back then I said what are we doing? No, you can't think it would be helpful if you can regardless of what we budget Do you think it'd be helpful to put something out there starting now? To the public saying just a reminder that winter's coming sure kind of like what David get your winter tires on You know we're not a bear roads policy make sure that you're adequately It's a good idea winter tires or studded snow Or will drive and all that stuff if you want to be kind of a little bit of it And it maybe you could put a little blurb in there based upon this is where you can buy snow tires This is where you find Uncertainty of salt yeah put out now winter tires Not bear roads We're you know that'd be a good idea Linley if we just put a little blurb out there to individuals of you know Starting ready by the nature's gonna change pretty soon. Yeah, I think that we saw three weeks out So chances some snow mm-hmm. I think that we did last year to just kind of remind people But we can fight over the how much salt I cut my eyes and we go be Montana got 13 inches today. Wow And we do keep that on the website to just remind people we do not have a bear roads policy and But anyways, yes, so salt price have increased significantly The other thing too we're looking at is sand is current sand we get has a lot of organic material this year We are actually buying our sand the majority of our sand from pike and it's I use the term sand loosely It's a different material that will be mixing with local sand that we purchased but after Okay, but after talking to somebody The part of you know a lot of the complaints we've had about sand of Ben that it's so you know That's what it's very slimy or it's too fine or it's So probably because the amount of the organics in it So but if we switch to a better material then it's actually gonna build up the roads and not be just over into the ditches So that was taken into consideration in this iteration Obviously an increase in patching material culvert I mean the price of everything has just gone up in the highway rehab funds that we have in there that follows suit with Matt with the matching grant it matches the capital but says It matches the capital budget, which was way we laid out into the town of course so that matches that I made a note in here to add signage for Zvorek. It was something we had talked about certainly at the Because of that grant that and I mentioned it too. I asked Rebecca about it Sandborne stone and I just said look, you know, we don't have a number on the signage She thought it would be way more than five thousand dollars, but felt that We may be able to get a grant for that So I don't know if we want to leave five thousand in there is some sort of like match in case we do get a grant I don't really know but I so that's in there But let this point we kind of throw everything in there. Yeah, I also upped our e-raff That's if the bridge came in at a million if it comes in a little over that than this e-raff is a little bit low And we'd be finishing it off in the next year Over that we're gonna re-bid it Yeah, so I'm hold Cemetery still waiting for a quote on a Some tree removal I also added this year ten thousand dollars for sidewalk replacement. That is nothing, but Certainly we've had some issues with sidewalks. I'm not even sure what how much that would even get me when I came It was a thousand dollars, which was Ridiculous before that we had nothing and before that we had nothing so I threw ten in there It doesn't get you very far it doesn't So I increased roadside mowing because we've been on a tight loop as far as that So I don't know his pricing yet for the new year and last year Obviously we went to 14 and but we still haven't got all of our roads for roadside mowing at the price we have There's still places. We haven't been able to do so again. The citeration is just kind of this is where we're at See what's in here, but this budget came from AJ and Morgan and They also had one change to it. They had they got they didn't like the repairs part So they they're like look this is too much of a catch-all. They felt like we needed to break out tires chains and cutting edges So that was something that they wanted to see broken out so that people could better Understand what was in that? So he but I was so that was a change that they made So other than obviously the increase in gas oil grease and increase in diesel But at this point, you know, some of this is anybody's guess so Those are the updates. I did speak to mowing Judy About the budget for the Lister's so I just haven't had a chance to go back and and do the math But they were completely open to saying just budget for our regular hours and the rest we could take out of the capital appropriations I just haven't had a chance to go back and do the math for that. So I'm hoping fingers crossed in two weeks that I'll have the rest of the budget done revenues and the whole thing but You know, we need some stuff currently. It's just Pam and I so Well sometime around Thanksgiving Yeah, picking this thing apart. Yeah, hopefully level and yeah, hopefully we'll be able to I know that I'm still waiting on the fire departments and of course they had an issue the two chiefs being able to coordinate their timing and then Pam and I need to sit down and look at her budget And any changes that she may need to make for Next year. So then I just haven't sat down. I know changes will be Deetry moving away from the pool Bringing someone in there. So she has worked on the rec budget but was on vacation So I haven't I asked her for a couple things to think about what she was gone and to come back and throw some numbers at it So we will have a better understanding of that as well. So hopefully You'll see a full budget You had somebody asked me the other day, where do we get our electricity? GMP, you know, we pay for We have a we have a contract with greenbacker or green maple that kind of two different names and We pay We had a contract with them because we're part of a solar array So we do we do get X amount of kilowatt hours per Year from them. They're allocated individually to a list of accounts So like when we gave up the transfer station, we did a reallocation to move their stuff towards like water sewer GMP won't let you use any of allocation towards street lights But so that's how we do it so we pay them a set $4,759 a month For a percentage of our electric and some departments. That's the only bill they get others if there's overuse they get billed from GMP And they call it net metering. Yeah, right. That's the term that meeting. Yeah No About okay, I thought that was me during is when you're metered on you have your own solar on your own home Oh, and you use it and then you give back. There's it's something community or Group or there's another word for how a solar array that is not connected to anybody. Yeah, they just connected to the grid But x y and z people are Are invested right in that? Grouping because our solar array is in Roylton, right? So where I told where I couldn't tell you but maybe Dave knows but I can't tell you I think that's that gets to what the person was asking and then just a Just a comment If if I read the Constable department correctly it's $2,000 more for contracting it out than for Yeah, yep, and I did have a call today of a woman who and she encouraged us to to go towards that but to go towards Contracting If that's the case, I just want to go on record is saying that's a no brainer Oh I think he's the sergeant. He gave me his card Yeah, I do Came in Claude He's a captain, excuse me. Sorry Claude and he came in and asked What our status was? Because they have capacity and I just said, you know, we haven't gotten there yet I said the select board will make a decision the select board could decide that using the existing Constable budget that we go Because we haven't spent it that we go towards the sheriff's department sooner But I told him we hadn't really had that discussion yet and I would keep him in the loop So but he didn't stop by the other day Mm-hmm, that's all I have for that Anything in regards to the ARPA? Yeah, I'm assuming that I do gonna have a little more discussion here as we final our budget. Yeah, but I did I finally Sullivan empowers our auditor here the other day, so I asked Them because you know, there's just been so many iterations of the federal money and what that's why I finally talked to them and About the latest word on record regulations and they just said I Had told them how I had accounted for the ARPA money and they said look just make a transfer in from and For the ARPA and state like I can calculate out how much would be wages for like public works and whatever and they just said Do a transfer in state? We're using it to offset wages then the select board can authorize a transfer of our surplus from the general fund budget Into the capital road fund or capital highway equipment or wherever you're gonna put the money so They said that is the best case scenario because we took it We like that's for audit reasons is that yes or yes because well also audit reasons and the ARPA rules Okay, because remember we took it as revenue replacement. So this is the way we could do it. I told them that we had spent Some money already directly from it, but we had followed all of the the rules for procurement So this was their recommendation. So once you decide where you're gonna spend it I did update that sheet and just said it makes it easy for auditing wise if you put it into an account fund Yeah, which is where it is now if you spent it on 50 different things Exactly, and it's not a fund now. So I did take the money. We're gonna get minus the Laramie and did the balance You know still requesting $20,000 to transfer to the highway capital equipment fund and then the balance for either local match or your road work It's basically either or right because you're either gonna spend highway road money on road construction and updating some of the roads or But we had The match and it tells how much maybe is eligible to be paid with ARPA funds. So you're really right there I know a couple people have mentioned that I was low on my website update As you know, but we're not looking to revamp our entire website We're just looking to make some updates to it. So I'm hoping we can get it done for five or Maybe seven but maybe able to get some of the money out of the general fund budget But other than that, you know, obviously my push is still to do it on roads Do we have any idea? I know it's a moving target, but is I have the Lister's thrown their best guess of what The Grand List might be Is there any I haven't asked there any reason to believe that the Grand List will grow over last year Oh They're in on Wednesday, so I'll ask I know that you know, it'd just be nice to know if they think that it'll be somewhat the same or Well, I can just ask or there'll be a little growth. I mean at least we kind of know that It's the other way around if it goes if the shrinks then that's when it really hurts your Your budget so well, I can ask them because We obviously You know, they're out doing inspections right now And have found several buildings that were not taxed before us so We can So we're getting people in compliance So we can just make it especially this budget season where we're potentially talking about, you know, this inflation cost and You know the difference of the Grand List could offset some of that. Yeah where we don't have to take such a hard Look at certain items, you know, it's gonna be hard for them because Next year's Grand List, you know, they could run a 411 right now and tell us where they stand So but I know it's not exact number on the penny But no except they kind of say well, it looks like we're gonna see a little growth Yeah, I can ask or they say oh, it looks like a trunk a little bit Then at least we kind of know what direction it's going. I mean, we know we have a couple Obviously Bethel Mills is building a couple new buildings down there and but I will certainly Doesn't hurt whatever attack me a few minutes ago is getting you know, yeah Was all of a sudden I was sitting here and I couldn't So yeah, all right, I will happily ask them, okay Uh Town managers report. Did you have anything left in there that I do we received a notice today? All right, Pam and I did the cannabis control board would like to inform you that S cells is much in numbers a tier one small Cultivator outdoor has been issued a permit has been issued the cannabis establishment is within your municipality Please note the address of this establishment is not public information So they were issued a permit on 929. It's good for a year This is to grow but not so this is to grow me up and because any cultivation permits are issued by the state Not us. So apparently we're gonna get this I Would a small cultivator outdoor So this just says the licensee demonstrated compliance with all the requirements of their bubble bath So the state issues cultivation permits, so we did get that but I did find it was interesting that you can't That the that it's not public information the address that was interesting Well, it might be some of it might be a privacy because people Steal product right no safety concern. It was just I've got no problem. That was just an issue So I realize I thought and I apologize for this. I thought that I had updated you guys on this I Had a gentleman in Charlie Davis about pond road a couple of weeks ago or more and He was concerned about a Curb cut that we had issued on By am road because there was a road that connects by him to pond Well, he and I had a conversation about it. It wasn't on the state highway map And he was said it's a class 4 road and I'm like, you know, not so much. It's not on our highway map well, I went back after speaking with him and Did some research contacted the chief at the state mapping office and he was very helpful In 2010 The select board added just over five miles of class 4 road You know how we approve our highway mileage certificate every year Well, they received a letter in March and then another letter back in June saying We did not add your five miles five point eight one or one eight Because you did not provide documentation They discussed it at their June 2010 select board meeting, but nobody ever did it So I called the gentleman back at the state and I'm like look So now what, you know, because when we had the ancient roads legislation It was basically if things weren't claimed by then some of them went away and he said yes, but that was act Whatever one blah blah blah and then but don't forget trees then the state passed another and I'm like there so basically I Have to do a title search on all five of these roads to see if Anybody's deed Mentioned the fact that they entered their property off in town highway blank And I did pond road and I could not find Where anybody's deed mentions us and it's kind of a trick because some deeds do not mention where you access because they didn't necessarily have the right to Convey access over a town highway because it wasn't there But so I'm 12 years later and dealing with a 2010 issue and I Attacked Alex today about one of them and said hey, do you guys use this and he's like no I said good and I'll send you the map of where else I hope you're not because it may be If we can't prove that these were ever town roads Then they're not going to be added in and I'm not sure if we have to go through the discontinuance Process and say we're Discontinuing these or if we actually don't have to take any action because I can't if I can't prove But I haven't had the time to do I and so what I would have to do is look at if you've got three houses on that road I have to do three title searches and go all the way back To try to find in any of those deeds where they mentioned this town I know what the reason for the changes were because that was before the ancient road. It was around it was ancient roads They ancient roads was like 2014 I know it was then because it was their recommended well Richard And of course too who was on that committee? Rick Wright Tim Mills Carl Russell and Mr. Dutton who has passed away and I and so anyways hot Richard remembered seeing something in Tim's files. He went down and got it brought it to me. It was helpful And it was part of the ancient roads that they were doing this research and they had made a recommendation to the select board I found the minutes where they recommended adding this because they said that they felt that they found Some historical evidence of the road, but they in the same breath. They also said that the surveys of these roads were not complete so You know So it's it's a problem that I have not had time to look at Those folks were very lacking in documentation Is what I was I also served as president of the snowmobile club for 10 years And trying to find places to go I found some roads that Any Any person lay common sense because this was a road And I asked John Dutton about that and he said yeah, that is a road But we can't claim it because there is no documentation For it to be a road exactly and some of it is you telling me you're going to find evidence of 1558 that there's a wagon reeled ruts from 18. Yeah, it's not going to happen And so the only thing I can lean on is the fact is if somebody's deed Mentioned made a reference to it. Yeah, but you haven't found that yet. I haven't had yeah, you know a day. It's going to take me I don't know No, it's not day bum, but it's pond road is uh is now Buyem road day bum the lift on buyem road, right? Yeah, but but not this property that I'm talking about There's another piece that comes off buyem that he might but the one I'm speaking of is now owned by Alex it was owned by a bigger piece Well, they was telling me and then pond road It was beyond not on his property But at the end of buyem road as class 3 right when it went to class 4 he said you guys get in the wrong place well And there is two that connect Buyem and camp brook and they both are on this list of 5.18 miles of Yeah, there is one it goes. Yeah, but there's also one that ends up over on the camp bell Yeah, so I I can't tell you I didn't bring the map So I can't tell you where specifically these are but It will take me at least a full day if not to if or more to research these So thank you Did a title company could do Um, we'd have to pay a significant amount for someone to come in and do a search I mean and and I thought about the class 4 road committee, but No, I would take too long to do that They'll be too late and they're decimated because rick and tim and and three of the members passed away So it's alex reisterer chris fours. Who's also really busy and darryl dragetti Who's also swamped but to pay someone to do the research would be Pricy I mean I can do it. It's just going to take I just need to set aside You know some time Yeah, no, I know and I appreciate that but and I apologize. I should have told you about this and it just looked my mind Yeah, maybe you do have money in the budget for contract labor So maybe this is that I'm also going to see what detree schedule is when she comes back now that she's outside the pool She may have time to go in and and sit and and go through some deeds and um, or maybe I could get gene We'll just keep us updated on yeah, it's a I I could also ask gene actually I'm gonna ask jean bernum because lord knows. She knows what she's doing And um, lovely see if she'd do a research project, but yeah, so 2010 I'm like I said to the guy you've got to be kidding me. He's like no, we sent you a letter I'm like, oh, I'm sure you did but in 2010 you would have thought they would have You know 2010 I mean you would think 12 years They would have followed up a few times saying hey, uh following up on letter to do that. Yeah, I guess they just like where's the 2011 and 2012 you know, I don't maybe reference. I don't know. Oh by the way Yeah, I mean I have those so I don't know after a while they probably just said they notified you two times They didn't add three administrations ago. You know I was like you gotta be kidding so Anyways, those are my two issues was the update you on was just cannabis permit and the Highway miles, but that's a good thinking gene. I'll ask I'll ask jean bernum because if anybody knows it's jean bernum who could do the research. Yeah, that's And uh, doesn't need to be on your plate. No, I you know, it's just trying to get someone qualified to do it. So um anyway, so that's it and Of course, there's the minutes We had select board meeting minutes from the 10th anybody have any Changes to those are we good to prove as noted. Oh good. Where is that? There's a place where it said that Lindley moved something and it wasn't the past tense moved. Oh, I just see it right here. I found it Okay, good moved. Oh, Lindley moved to table. Okay, perfect. All right. I'll make a note to fix Fix one here. Okay. Thank you. It's always nice to be anything else Here and I just need a motion to approve as amended So moved. Okay moved by jean Second by Lindley all in favor. All right. All right And then other communications there was things in the packet from the energy committee and recreational committee One other one I have from a break Yeah, and I gave you the update on that working communities challenge. Um, And then Lindley I have um After swing by the office where I can email it to you. Um, I had I see that thing for a second. Please the cannabis Cannabis thing yeah, I printed out um for everybody this guidance for municipalities from the cannabis control board Just to Let you know because if you don't put it on the warning to vote I have a feeling it's going to be petitioned to have you put it on the warning So this just gives you some information. I made a copy for rick Benson to just to Understand the issue a little bit better now that um, they finally come out with some guidance So it was I think in june So I have a hard copy at the office or I can just email it to you and you can Print it out yourself. Whatever's easier. Yeah, and it's no rush. I'll just I'll email it to you I email Lindley cannabis thing. Um I just um Printed out hard copies for everybody just you know, save your ink. I'm so Um, and just so you'd have some history on it That's it Working communities challenge thing is what I've been attending reports back to Yep, the select board about yeah, I just I saw this. Yeah, can't somebody Sorted this to me. I don't know or I don't remember anyways, but I thought You know Okay, any other business to come before the board If not I just need a motion to enter into executive session in regards to personnel So moved by Lindley second second by gene all in favor Hi Okay So we will enter into executive session. We'll be making any Any decisions coming out of it. So no you will oh coming out of the executive session. Yeah, okay But it's okay for orca. You can I'll just put it in the minutes later. Don't worry about it. So if you guys just Shut down Then stop recording that'd be fine, but we do need Yeah, Lindley won't go away. It'll just be we just need orca to stop recording So, okay, but Lindley because I'm the host so Lindley can stay on So do you want orca to pick up and head out or you want them to just is it it's gonna take five minutes? So it's it's fine. Um So we'll just have orca shut down and just step out for like five minutes We'll get all our stuff done and then come in. Yeah, okay perfect Does that work for you? No No, don't worry about it. We'll just wrap up. We'll be fine But thank you. Yeah