 Call the meeting to order First on the agenda is public comment. This is comment on anything. That's not currently on the agenda Sally Yes, excuse me. I'd like to give you a brief report from the library if that's okay The summer reading program, which I think we've told you about before Has been an absolutely tremendous tremendous success Courtney and Kate put together weekly bundles that are age-appropriate They give the kids a free book. They give them craft projects. They give them all kinds of extra stuff And they put together I think it's a it's a six-week maybe an eight-week program I'm sorry. I don't know that but they give them the kids two weeks at a time a Hundred and seventy youngsters have signed up. That's twice what we had last year for the reading program So I guess that tells you we're doing something right there Amy had a mom call recently to say that she was so happy that the kids were continuing to read over the summer and Keeping up their reading skills and they're so excited about the new books And then they get to keep these books, which is really nice So they're building a little bit of a library The downstairs bathroom Has an ADA Renault, which should start the week of August 24th The contractor thinks it'll take two to three weeks and there will be disruption Unfortunately, but the library will still be open as much as it is now Which is I think you can go in on Monday and Thursday And you can make an appointment to be there to use a computer and it's limited But so we have people excuse me people able to go in We just hired a new IT consultant after parting ways with the town's contractor That is Josh Trudeau from Gifford. I don't know the man I have not met him, but I understand that he knows an awful lot about networking Which is what the library really needs and The book discussions as in a book group The library and Bethany church and for jointly have been sponsoring a series of books a series of discussions dealing with books on racism and There was a discussion about a week a week and a half ago on Just mercy. I think there was two two days one evening followed by one morning I think that all together there were in the 20s in terms of how many people came The next one is how to be an anti-racist and that will be Tuesday September 9th at 7 and Wednesday I'm sorry, September 1st at 7 and Wednesday the 2nd at 10 in the morning And if any of you are interested in that you can get the book or find out about Joining the discussion either through Kimball or through Bethany church We have I think we've also told you before we have a new kind of an informal thing a book chat There's no preparation required although prefer that you choose a book and read it, but we choose different Genres or top or general topics and the book Subject for this coming month is traveler travel memoirs So that will be interesting I'm quite enjoying the book that I'm reading and it's so informal and just easy and laid back and fun So things are still moving along We're chugging and and all the staff's staff is excited and interested in everything that's going on. We're doing good things So if there are any questions, I'm happy to try to answer them Who's doing the bathroom renovation? I'm sorry Pat. I don't know that I I did but I don't have the paperwork in front of me Okay, thanks If you'd like me to find out and tell you I'd be happy to It's not a big deal, but I just be interested Okay Great any other questions for sally? Okay, thanks sally Okay, thank you Can it move on to approval of the agenda? We have a few amendments to it Yes, if I may ask the select board to entertain adding three items to the agenda the first Two items are both under old business. The first item would be norwich solar The second item would be appointments To discuss appointments to the east valley community group and fire operations review committee And the third item would be an executive session under 3 1 3 3 to discuss current employees of the town appointed employees of the town Any motion to approve the agenda with the amendments? So moved I second that And then the second all those in favor. Hi. Hi posed Abstained motion carries Thank you Next is the consent calendar. This is meeting minutes and warrants We have meeting minutes for july 9th and july 16th Larry pointed out in a recent email about meeting minutes for Larry, I believe it was for june 26th The 24th, I believe yeah So adding the minutes of the 24th and the warrants Any motion to approve those? I'd like to Point out an error in the in the in the minutes from 6 24 on page three Where it talks about the vote for them for the motion for the resolution the racism resolution On the bottom of page three It says that mr. Armstrong and mr. Satgutze abstained But I believe that should be mr. Armstrong and mrs. Prasad. I voted for that Okay, I will work on our end to make the correction if everyone agrees with that Any other changes? Not for me. That was it Okay Motion to approve with the changes to the minutes of the 24th So moved Second All those in favor Aye post gained motion carries New business first up is the review of the bids for custodial services In your packet you will find a an action item sheet that includes the one bid that we received for custodial services Just as a reminder to the board the bid was advertised in the herald was posted In a statewide bid posting site as well as posted on the town's website We received the loan bid from our existing service provider and We recommend That the board accept the bid You said it was up from last year. How much was it up Adelphal? It is up slightly. I don't have the The amount from the previous contract The addition is mostly due to a Waxing and stripping of the tile flooring in the clerk's office That was something that had been left off of the existing contract In the clerk's office wanted to include that back into the contract just to make sure that that area remained clean I'd have to take a look at the current contract, but I don't believe it's it's more than $4,000 from the previous contract Other questions on it any motions? We approve the cleaning bid from Burbach's cleaning I will second that All those in favor Hi Stain Nays Stain all good Streetlight petition for Lincoln Avenue We received a communication from Mr. Nicholas Pappas who lives on Lincoln Avenue He had indicated that the light in front of his home was very bright And um, he also had indicated that several of his neighbors felt the same way Um Rather than just take one resident at their word what I suggested to mr. Pappas was that if it was urgent and that he felt very strongly and a way for me to confirm that his neighbors felt the same way Is to ask him to complete a A petition that included the purpose for the petition And that it includes signatures from his neighbors Mr. Pappas did that collected signatures from the neighbors that surround The area covered by the streetlight and submitted it to the town for review Uh, green mountain power has said that they are willing to Remove the light because the existing light is the least powerful light that they have in their Um in their arsenal Uh in there so they're willing to remove it. They just need the town to tell them to remove it So any penalty if they take the light out? Is it a longer term contract or anything? No, there's no penalty. Uh, they they would just remove the light as As a request as a way to fulfill the request from the town They wouldn't charge us for it. It would be done free of charge But we don't have a like a three-year contract or anything with them. So the cost of it would be removed too That's right. No, it wouldn't it wouldn't increase any any existing contracts that we have with green mountain power would not be affected The telephone the diagram that we have the the red dots are all are those all the homeowners who have signed the petition? Uh, yes, all of the dots Uh, let me just take another quick look here Uh, the street all of the red dots are the residents that have signed the petition and the yellow dot is where the street light is located Okay Sounds reasonable to me yeah, this is in my immediate neighborhood and um I've made that loop in the evening hours not in response to any request but just because that's where I walk my dogs every night our most nights and That light is quite bright. So In reflecting on it pardon the pun So I'm comfortable with this and I also recognize the names of Most of the signatories here and trust their judgment. So Are there other lights around that common area? So there is still some light um Yes, I believe there are Or yes, there are I should say um, I can't I can't say for sure how many but The area is well illuminated Thanks other questions comments motions I will move that we approve the removal of the street light as requested by the um petition signatories and ask, uh, the electric company to do so Second that All those in favor Hi, hi Okay, opposed Stain Motion carries logo for Randolph conservation commission The Randolph conservation commission has created two logos that they would like to use One logo would be used in publications and another logo would be used for You know if they were to commission signs or just For items that were other than letterhead They have asked the select board to consider the logos and In your action item sheet you would have pictures of the logos uh the Color logo and then also the non color logo would be used By the conservation commission So just a policy question adult oh um Are we getting to where we have? Way like different logos for every group in randolph you know, we have the welcome signs that are in Coming into the village and coming into randolph center or like We just approved a completely different one for east randolph We have a town logo And now we have a Independent committee asking to have their own logo uh, that is That could be a challenge. We don't have a I would say a um a color scheme or a process or a policy in place that says As committees and groups have to follow a certain signed scheme um It could create one but I think the the conservation commission would Potentially point to the sign in each randolph that is very different from the current ones and And Maybe ask why there's main is not or may not be approved But we could create So one's one's coming into a physical location in town announcing the town But now we have a separate committee of the town looking for its own logo So are we going to approve a different one for the development review board for the planning commission for The fire services committee, you know what I mean? Like how many different Logos do we want to have out there representing the town of randolph? And I guess a question for josh Where do we get where do we get this to a point where it's a like an identity crisis? you know, I mean like Shouldn't we have some common branding or a theme To what we're doing Um, yes, I mean, um, I think having too many logos definitely does um It uh, it it does not We should have a common theme Every committee should not have their own logo We should have a color at least a common color scheme font That that would be ideal um the uh The the fact that a lot of different bodies of the town doing work feel like They Want to represent themselves in a way Um, that is different from the the towns Um, I guess says something. Um, I guess this says that they They the the town's logo might not be a calling to them Um, but it also shows some some real initiative to represent their community So I see some positive in that but I do agree. I think I think there should be some uh Some central color ways and fonts that we should be utilizing as a town in all of its committees and boards Yeah, yeah, right as somebody with um You know Basically 40 years of experience in marketing communications and publications and logo development Um, I fully agree with josh At least some general consistency and guidelines in terms of logo use I mean of uh font usage and placement color scheme and then Giving some leeway to each individual committee or town entity to adopt That agreed upon look to its own logo is is one thing but having every other committee willy-nilly designing its own logo is just inconsistent with good branding and and and Of the town and identifying of the town If I may I'd like to add that The conservation commission did reach out in advance of creating a logo to ask if we had um some kind of a plan or a book or Something that would guide them in creating The plan and my response to them was no we don't have A formal process yet to guide creating of logos. So Yeah, I agree. We don't have anything yet adult. All my concern is that you know this logo While it says the word random it doesn't identify whether it's random mass or Some other state, you know What we really want to do is make sure that we have A way of tying all these together as being part of random The town sure right so it's not A group out there on its own it's a group that's appointed by the select board. So it's a town committee and How do we You know, we could say we like this and everybody else has to follow that pattern, right or But I just wanted to make sure we were putting some thought into this that we don't end up with all these Different ways of identifying each group. Yeah I think it's particularly important as I read the background to this where it says that they would like to use this on Town forest kiosks and in correspondence promotions and publications To me that argues even more for a consistent look if we're going to have this logo up Throughout our town forests and conservation trails and Conservation sites it just feels like it should be consistent with An integrated look for the whole town If it's helpful, I can reach out to the Conservation commission I could potentially attend their next meeting and say it wasn't it the board If the action is to table the This particular issue I could let them know that it wasn't for this like of the logo It was more an interest of having a common theme throughout the town for all the committees Uh and ask for their help in creating a process that can guide creating logos for other committees Well and to have it somehow So that there's features of it whether it's you know, I think font is good and whatever But I think there's also needs to be some type of a feature that's in all the logos Yeah, yeah, something that ties it all so everybody's like oh, that's random, you know, and it doesn't have to be You know, they don't have to all have just the morgan horse in the middle of them They can change the name of their committee type thing. That's not what I'm thinking I'm thinking there's just needs to be Some feature that helps tie it to the rest of them I think I think there's some opportunity to have that conversation at least in terms of the economic development council and the work with Randolph and motion marketing piece We are starting those conversations for another issue and Website and so naturally we want to develop Something that can be used across town Materials and so we will be talking about color ways and fonts and maybe as we discuss that We can incorporate what all the other town Bodies are doing to see how we can work together in creating something that resonates with everybody Those are somebody on the arts council that might want to work with you guys on that um I would Without without putting this out for you know, a public bid or anything like that I I would like to say that Valerie school crafts work on the marketing piece that just came out Randolph in motion It is extraordinary. She is clearly skilled in creating a graphic identity for a piece like that and Um, I don't know that someone on the arts council would need to weigh in on it If we have that level of talent in the community that could help us develop this Well, the only problem with that is is Valerie's position at her job has increased her Demand for her time. So I don't think we're going to be able to utilize Valerie as much going forward so I don't think she's available to We can ask her but she implied to us that she was She's tied up There's no one on the arts and culture committee right now that is a graphic designer or Or logo developer per se. There's a rich a richness of different artistic Capabilities there, but this is really a graphic design Issue So whether we go out and and seek other Other counsel on this or not might be You know something we want to discuss Local development is a really Specialized talent And and then establishing what's called an identity kit where you say, okay Each individual committee can adapt the logo in this way That's that's all a pretty specialized skill set. Um, and I think it merits us to look into it, but I'm not sure that the arts and culture committee is the is the Place for that it's more of an economic development issue in some respects All right, any other comments on that? Perry if you're trying to come through you got on mute. Sorry. So I agree with tom. Um, I think that Maybe that we need to look at the economic development committee and josh can Maybe run that by them the next meeting and we can further the conversation but I know what you're talking about because I had to go through that process myself and This time consuming. Yeah I think we'll be happy to take that on and josh if if If Valerie is not able to take this on Based on years of experience working with graphic designers in a variety of non-profit settings I might be able to steer the economic development committee towards some other Graphic artists that might be able to assist with this Great. Thanks. That would be very helpful. Yeah Adolfo what we need to make sure we message back to them though is that we applaud the initiative Of them creating this and that it is actually kind of a neat design for what their committee does It is. Yeah, um, the only concern is that we end up with 30 Different logos for the town of randolph. Yep Yeah, I'll plan to attend their next meeting and I'll I'll I'll reassure them that it wasn't their design. It was it's just that the town is lacking What it needs to have now that we have more activity in all of our committees and commissions. Yeah Yeah, I'll I'll I'll share that with them Great. Thank you Main street guy cables We um, I've had a restart of the conversation of the existing guy cables over main street um, the conversation was restarted by ramen The group that is formed to help provide social service or to relay information of social service social services That are available to residents in our region They were hoping to Place a banner informing residents of services that are available in our region as a way to further promote What's available for help? And so that started the conversation we have Our ecdc we have julie here in the meeting who agreed to speak on behalf of the request to have The cables brought back into service Julie you're there. Yeah, I'm I didn't know if I could unmute myself or not Hi, um, yeah, I don't know, um, how much I need to say about it. We um, the first step was that the The banner uh guy, uh, that was attached to red lining was repaired because for many years it was um It was down because of a previous repair that was Not done correctly. So that's been fixed. And so now it is possible To have a banner across main street and um and so ramen would like to do that and we're the fiduciary for ramen so Um, so we offered to to initiate the request Uh, I understand there are other issues around sign ordinances and things that are coming up that um that uh, we've been you know, learning about from adolfo and are um hoping to be able to find a way to carry on this tradition Um, but for the time being, uh, I understand that It's under the old ordinance and so we'd like to make this request now with the understanding that if there's um In any way that we can help and be involved going forward In making sure that the banner can be used in the future. We'd like to do that Um, so that's and if anyone has any questions So In my time I thought there was uh multiple times that that Banner has failed And the last time we took it down when we took it down. It was when mel was the town manager And there was a discussion about changing it off those buildings and moving it to some posts down by the main street bridge to uh, get it off of The get the liability of damage to the buildings removed And I don't know Where the research on that as an option ever went if at all forward, but um That's the first that's the first time I've ever heard of um That discussion and if you're talking about the posts that exist Currently on the bridge. I'm not sure they're high enough In the air It was to set new posts. There's A conversation with the power company about cleaning up all those lines there And it it dovetailed into that discussion You know, if you look at that bridge, you got power going down both sides or utilities going down both sides because one is managed by the power three mountain power the other ones managed I believe by the What used to be doing the telephone I don't know who owns them now, but And they refuse to work with each other because nobody wants to pay a fee to the other guy to be on their poles And that's why there's Utilities down both sides So there was Discussion and this all Was in around when the fire station stuff was going on. We had it again about the utilities About forcing them onto one side And then it would clean up That whole mess right there at the end of the bridge on the Downtown side of it not on the fire station side of it on the southern side And then you would set two new poles that could be nicer poles to put the banner off up there The idea being then the infrastructure would belong to the town and Would greet people as they came into town But not I just there was a whole conversation about it And I believe at the time that we decided we were not going to put the Guy wires back up There was a discussion about that the town if the guy wires went back up in the current location That the town wanted no liability Of it and that was something that the owner of the northfield savings bank was not willing to do So there's two things to my mind and I've had quite a few discussions In the course of this process because I'm involved with ramen With both julia and adolfo and there are sort of two different tracks happening here One is that ramen and racdc are putting in this request under the old sign ordinance, which is still in existence because we're still pondering the new one And the second issue is that is just that that any further discussion of where a banner might go Or who might be responsible for it or who might be responsible for ensuring it and what its content might be Is really relevant to the new sign ordinance Not to the existing one. So this is essentially a one-time request In the here and now under the old sign ordinance for ramen to be able to post A covet 19 pandemic related banner For a time to be determined under the old sign ordinance With the understanding that racdc has strengthened and put environmentally, I'm sorry engineering Related engineering wise sound anchors into their side Of of main street of the of the red lion building And so we're we're really dealing with a one-time request here And these other issues can be mitigated or resolved as we move forward with the sign ordinance Which by the way is on our agenda this evening So if I could treat me at this is the first time that we have ever heard about that We understood that the reason that the banner wasn't being used anymore was because the anchor in red lionin came down And we wouldn't have Put it back up if we thought it wouldn't be used But there are a couple of things that we probably should do If we want to continue to use it one is you know, sort of what you were talking about with the logos Is that there need to be specs For the banner because it's my understanding from talking with bob right that the reason that the last one came down was because It wasn't perforated sufficiently And so it created too much of a sale which you know exacerbated the The problem with the previous repair So I think there's ways to do it safely and what I'd recommend too what I would ask is that The certificate of insurance that the town gets from whoever puts the banner up covers the building owners too In that way if anything happens everybody's covered Well, I think the challenge what one of the challenges to overcome is Is the installation part of it? You know, I think traditionally the Randolph center fire department had been asked to put the banner up But if if a banner is being put up by the town Then is the implication that the town would have to ensure The banner and the buildings if if something were to happen or is the requesting agency um going to ensure The banner placement and ensure any incident that were to happen if the cables were to come off I think the way your current Uh your current language reads It's installation they're in they're ensuring the installation And uh it being up as well and the taking down so You would ask for the same coverage certificate No, I understand that but I think that if but if the if the Randolph center fire department is doing it then Our group's going to then say well The town put the banner up So we're not responsible if the banner were to cause damage Well, we can just not have the town install the banner Yeah Yeah, but it becomes I think financially unfeasible If the town can't do that because you'd have to hot hire A bucket truck or something. I don't know it seems like that's Something you could get over if you know because it would be With the understanding that the town is going to be doing this and that that's part of what you're You know you you're waving liability for that, but they know how to do it They've done it for years. So as long as they don't fix the buildings I think that's They can certainly hang it up that that would be my take at least I don't think there's ever been a problem with them hanging them So it seems like the thing to do then is to start off with asking the Randolph center fire department again If they're willing to hang the banners, I don't know who the liability falls on I think going a little further back in what Trini was talking about the concept of having these on two poles would Would eliminate having the need for the fire department to actually replace them because if you did this correctly It wouldn't take but maybe three or four people to put the banner up from the ground similar to a flagpole so Going forward that's another discussion, but That was another thought about having the poles at the other end of the down by the bridge Do you mean that they would be the banners would be raised similar to the way we raise a flag? Yeah, I think that's a police system for the police system or something like that on each pole Absolutely, then you don't need to involve the fire department at any point in time to hang a banner So I mean that's how it's done in a lot of places these banners are on two opposing poles And you just have a team of people, you know, whatever it takes for people maybe to you have to stop traffic Obviously, so you need a little bit of traffic control here and then you know two people literally should be able to pull them up a flagpole You could possibly do that same thing with the buildings too. Yeah. Yeah, you might be able to do it You just got to make sure that you secure that so that obviously, you know Whoever's you can't let somebody come along and untie the ropes Right, okay. That would be that's a concern in both loops. Seriously. Absolutely. That's a vandalism thing that could happen So you have to be thinking about that but possibly yeah, maybe it's a pulley system that That's used and then removed or something. I don't know with a little bit of engineering time I think it could probably work it out and it could probably work in both locations Or it's got a locking mechanism on it or something like something that you know Maybe it's maybe it's a steel cable with a with a lock or something right exactly But again, we're sort of moving into a longer term discussion here. Yes The question is for the immediate future under the existing sign ordinance And given the the ramen's efforts to really respond to the pandemic and educate people in the town about issues surrounding that Do we want to grant a one-time for now one-time only permission for ramen to consider under r.a.c.dc's fiduciary control putting up a banner On the existing cabling The longer term discussion is clearly fraught with a lot of um legal issues and bureaucracy and all of that but The the present discussion is just about this one-time request correct On the problem is that the documents that came with our packet are not talking about a one-time request This agreement that's been drafted by r.a.c.dc for everybody to sign talks about issuing permits using a banner permission form Substantially like the one attached right right No Town will issue permits to applicants for use It's not about what is the agreement between the town and ramen for this one-time event That's what we need an agreement on and the other concern I have is it we don't have anything that says the northfield savings bank side is Ready for this to be hooked in Because their side gave out once too um Based on the discussions that I've had with julie and with adolfo over the days running up to to to this meeting um And julie you can you can uh correct me if i'm wrong But I think the letter that julie submitted dated august 11th, which is also part of our packet today In in in many respects supersedes the mo you um And and draft permission form that uh, we submitted Several days ago, um because as this discussion has evolved it became more about this one-time uh ramen banner being erected on the existing cabling and um with the understanding at least I thought between adolfo and julie and myself that um Um Further discussion of the banner program in the context of the of the new sign ordinance would come at a later date That's right. I was asked additionally to draft an mo you for use of the the cables and then um After that it was you know clear that the planning commission was revisiting the ordinance for various reasons and that A dogmen adolfo raised the the question of just requesting this one immediate banner be allowed to be put up I do I do um Should add that some of the conversations that we did have over the week and I included a request for me to To to find out if the northfield connections were Are secure as as Julie as you mentioned the connections are on the red line in building um and one of my Uh continued points was the portion of insurance where where I didn't I didn't feel comfortable recommending to the board that It approved this with the town taking on the liability um, but it would be a different situation if a either northfield or our acdc would agree to take on the liability um, and then it would be more of a partnership as opposed to the town incurring all liability And then also putting up the banner With the town when you say the town and current liability I'm sorry when when you say the town and current liability Do you mean that our insurance company would be required to to pay in case of some sort of an accident? Yeah, yes Can I say that that's okay like it's unlikely to happen and that's what insurance is for that's what we pay for um, and I don't think we should let this get in the way of putting up this banner I I I would like to add larry that we don't have our insurance isn't necessarily like a traditional insurance where we are We we do we do pay and are insured in the way that a traditional insurance isn't is is kind of out there But we're a part of a group and If our insurance company And they've done this before I think it was a year that I came to randoff They asked a member town to leave they expelled a member town from passive Because that group was not following The procedures that passive was was asking them to follow They were putting themselves in in a place where they were becoming a liability to passive so passive can if if The board approves this and if the board accepts all the liability and the falling of the cables Causes, you know, it's you know, I'm hoping it doesn't happen But there is a chance that they fall and to potentially hurt someone seriously passive can Kick us out of passive Yeah, Adolfo, I think we actually had to have that listed separate in the insurance policy For the town of randoff and it was removed when when we quit Having the banner up there and it was on two fronts. We had to have There was coverage for damage to the buildings But also liability for the cables if they were to come down onto anything underneath them So so treeney, where would if if Looking toward the future if we were to erect holes Somewhere along the bridge at either end or in the middle or whatever wherever they might be Where would the liability? For those You know the erection of those banners be where would it fall? and and secondly Under under whatever evolves as the new sound sign ordinance Who would determine the content of those banners? This is a this is a constitutional issue that's been Litigated by the supreme court at this point in terms of Purview over content. So we're really, you know, this is a complex Is a much more complex issue than Issue of a content. I'm not even gonna wade into issue of liability and whatnot If we owned the polls which we don't own the building And we managed who was allowed access and whatnot then that liability falls on the town And we would we should be making sure that that's listed when we list all our different Facilities that becomes a facility and then when we list our risks on the liability side, it gets listed there What we had before was we didn't list it wasn't a facility. It was under Um I forget the categories, but it's like least property And then we had it under general liability risk so if we owned the polls And we controlled who had access to them not I don't care what the content is but who could put a sign up And all that then that liability we would need to ensure for it My concern right now is I don't think we're insured for anything And you know, yep, it's uh, maybe it's low risk But you know, it's happened before the wire pulled out with the bricks attached to it and it came down There was some damage Um, but we had it listed if it's not listed passive isn't going to pay for it It if it was listed before I'm curious why the repair wasn't made I Can I can add to Trini's point about two years ago There we had a period of high winds When the winds knocked down several trees one of those trees destroyed The chain link fence that surrounded One of our reservoirs one of our water facilities When we went to submit to pass if a claim to repair the fence, which was roughly about $1,200 pass has said that the fence To them is considered something called the property in the open And because we had not reported the fence in our insurance claim They denied the claim um, so if if we were to Do something the effect of voting to or the board was going to vote to put up a banner On wires that are currently not listed on our insurance policy Or our coverage passive to it can say the town is not covered Which they have done in the last two years while I've been here we do have an option of While I've been with the town Banners have only been put up on the gazebo I know that uh, frankenberg has put up Banners there not for frankenberg agency, but for a walk-a-thon And other banners have been put up at the gazebo That that that could be an option while the sign ordinance and the conversation is ongoing for advertising banners equally as visible and You know, it doesn't span Main street, but it is in an equally visible location in the village But now if oh could we ask the insurance company if it would be covered or how much it would cost to cover it? I could ask them. I don't think they you know Yes, had I I could certainly ask them. I don't believe that they can make changes Mid-year because we have to submit everything Uh in december for cover to start in january. So they cover everything on the calendar year um I can't ask them sure They they can't add a writer to the policy in mid-year that Extends additional coverage I I don't know that I would have to ask them um I haven't had to encounter this while I've been here and I I don't want to tell the board. Yes, they can do it Sure. Um, yeah, but yes, I could call to ask. Wow. Okay So let's assume that we can get coverage And our field savings bank comes back and says yep, our building is solid No issues. Um Then we follow the old banner form For this one Is that correct? We we can yes Right, so if we're following the old process because the new sign ordinance isn't in place For this then I would assume we would follow the process that we had in place for banners And so reading the form um We allow Would we have to issue some type of waiver or something or are you looking for this to be in play Not more than 22 days I know tom said Uh, put it up at a certain day with no Removal date right a waiver for the 15 day prior Seven days after because these are usually events not right, right? messages like Well, this is certainly an event we're dealing with unfortunately. It's one with um No discernible end At present, um You lose the effectiveness of the banner if it's been up there eight months Right. Yeah. Well Yes, yeah Except that we have no idea how long um The need for ramen to respond were for the country and the world to respond to covet 19 is going to go on It's not it's not a fixed event like the festival of lights or the illuminated forest or winter fast. It's um a pandemic I mean, but but to your question trini I I think this has always been seasonal I don't think anybody would want it up there in the dead of winter Because that would I think increase everybody's concerns um So but I could see it being up for the rest of the fall To a certain end date whatever that is You know, whatever seems like a reasonable sort of seasonal end date So there's an end date because it has to be if we open it up For use it has to be open to everybody So let's assume you put your banner up and somebody puts in an application to put another banner up in 21 days What do we tell them? You know, if we look at our form you get 22 days 15 dates prior and seven days after and it's generally a one to three day event that we've allowed on there so Do we tell somebody else they can't have access to it? Or do they have a well, do they feel like well your message is out there you've had it out there for three weeks It's our turn Isn't it in our purview to amend the the um form to say that Because this is of the unique circumstances of this that we are giving ramen permission to extend its Posting of the banner until I don't know October 31st or something like that depending on when they when we finally get it up there I mean the the permission form is a creation of um You know a former select board and and and the former and still existing sign ordinance, so Don't we have the capacity to amend that in these circumstances? These are really unusual circumstances. This isn't um, you know This isn't the new world festival or the festival of lights. This is a a group that is trying to respond to an emergency that is impacting our town and It's you know, it's not winter fast. It's it's a pandemic And this is an organization that is providing the people of our community with Critical resources to weather that pandemic. So I I just feel like we're I understand that we need to To be cognizant of liability issues. I fully understand that um, but I'm just concerned that we're um getting into the weeds here and letting bureaucracy um supersede public The public good That's my take on it bureaucracy. I think it's looking at The the banner goes up. How long is it up for? What is the Reasonable amount of time that that message Should be the one posted over mean street? I've suggested that october 31st might be a reasonable amount of time What never knows when winter is going to arrive here, but I agree with truly that um having it up there through the winter months, um doesn't necessarily make sense, but You know, we don't know No one knows when this Issue is going to end and what when the need for what ramen is trying to offer the community is going to obey so my suggestion would be that we That we consider giving permission for this to go up on the existing guy wires until late fall a date that we want to set um and That would preclude any other organization from jumping in and saying hey, you know We want to be up there for our hour two weeks to promote our event. First of all There aren't very many events happening that anybody would want to promote a Chandler is basically with the exception of an outdoor concert, uh, at farce hill in the coming days. I mean There's no Chandler season We don't know we canceled the fourth of july parade We don't know what the festival of lights might look like. This is all such a speculative time that I feel like we need to put aside those kinds of event specific considerations in this instance and let's just get it done Tom and julie. I have a question. I don't think I know of What the content of a of of the ramen sign would be? Not because we I'm looking to police it but just because we're the conversation from the board has turned to events and promoting for something it could be germane to What ramen is considering putting on the sign something like, you know, a food donation event happening three weeks from now I don't know what The discussions we've had And i'm part of the communications team for ramen as is Tim Caulfield from brookfield the discussions we've had with linda anderson And others on the ramen team is that it would be a very generic message It's not going to be fraught with a lot of words. It's basically going to be Something like COVID-19 response ramen whatever the website address is dot org I mean, you know and anybody with any marketing sense knows that any more than five or six words and a web address on a banner Which is essentially a billboard You know the comment is going to be the content is going to be very generic and it is not going to be event specific it's going to be For lack of a better word response specific in terms of what ramen is trying to do for the community during these times Okay, how about this? so how about we find a way to issue a permit for a period of time and then if we think we need more time You simply reapply and we can grant another round of time Maybe initially it's eight weeks and then come back for An extension would that solve the problem? I think that I think That would be absolutely fine. Julie. How do you feel about it? I think if we were to grant a permit For a banner to be because we still have to create this banner. We still have to determine the content If we were to move to grant a permit for a banner to go up Until october 31st I would be perfectly comfortable with that um, that sounds fine to me. I mean Yeah And and just just before I had the purpose of the mo you initially was to just actually initiate some clarifying discussion like this Because it always has been a bit of a mystery to us how the whole banner thing works um As sort of representative of the building owner too So I think this is good discussion to have to make sure that everybody knows exactly where they stand and How long, you know, the season is and things like that. So for this one, absolutely I think that works perfectly And um, and we'd love to you know to be able to have more discussion about it so that we can nail those other questions down for you So it seems realistically to me You guys have you got to get permission, you know, you get the permission to do the banner You got to create the banner you got to get the banner, you know Or you got to create what the logo is going to look like or what your content's going to look like and then you got to get it produced So theoretically it might take two weeks to get there, right? So if on september 1st you launch the banner and you go for eight weeks theoretically you'd be near the end of october right So I I think that's a reasonable You know a reasonable solution to this situation currently great I think it is too perry um, but it needs to be contingent upon us getting coverage through passive Yes, I think that's all yeah, what we talked about before. Yes, you need to make sure that that's all part of the equation here And I think we've got to have a different Form for them to sign Because we're we're not following the old form and we're not ready for the mo you that was drafted Far from it. No no So it needs to be some other short version that Hits the major points or we write in Whatever is different Well, I think then the Delpho could get started on having the conversation with the insurance team and see what you come up with Yep, I could do that so, um Let me make sure I'm synthesizing this right and I'll make it in the form of emotion Um, I I move that we authorize town manager Belone to reach out to the insurance company clarify to our insurer clarify the liability issues here and then contingent upon that we adopt a new form to be developed to Enable ramen to post a banner on the the cables that exist between rsc dc and northfield Through october 31st 2020 Does that seem to cover all the basis? I'll make a motion to second that and then we can talk about it, right? So I'll second it Okay We have a motion and a second any further discussion Hearing none. We'll call the question all those in favor Hi, hi opposed abstain motion carries There that was easy Thank you Marjorie, I told you to check in around six o'clock thinking we'd be ready for you then but Good Next up on the is the arts and culture committee sculpture display And I am going to if you'll just give me a minute I have some remarks to address that and I just want to pull them up here. So give me a second Okay, so the Marjorie Ryerson who has joined us This evening and and who is a member of the Randolph arts and culture committee has become increasingly Collaborative and in partnership with ross burges who for the past seven years at the direction of former town manager mel Adams has been maintaining the gardens and park At forest and elm streets at the gateway to the village and After being contacted by Marjorie on ross's behalf An internationally acclaimed sculptor and artist here in Randolph who many of you may know paul calter has graciously agreed to create a garden size sculpture to be Donated to the to be gifted to the city the sculpture is called lemon lily And the intention is to erect this in the central garden At what the community has come to know as the so-called ross's garden Paul is willing to gift this to the the city the This is contingent upon our executing a contract with Paul that would recognize the gift and that would also assure paul that if the In the unlikely event that that garden Falls into disrepair or ceases to exist that the gift would be That the gift of the sculpture would be returned to paul or his heirs in times in the future Marjorie has done an extraordinary amount of of of background work to To determine how this sculpture might be installed that has included The gifting of a granite post to which the Sculpture would be attached from jeremiah bernard of the green valley memorials He's offered to gift the post To the town for the erection of this and installation of this sculpture from And it would be um the the only cost that would be incurred on Jeremiah's end would be for cutting the granite post To the appropriate size for installation below grade on a concrete pad In the existing garden Jeremiah estimates that that polishing and cutting of the post to size would be approximately At a cost of four hundred dollars The only additional cost then would be For the digging of a hole sufficient to mitigate frost heaving And the placement uh in that hole Below grade hole of a concrete pad on which the post would be installed And so essentially we're we're looking at uh executing a contract with paul calter here for the gifting of the Of the sculpture with With assurances that it would be returned to him and his family in the event the garden ceases to exist and then Essentially having the randolph building and grounds department work with experience installers of these kinds of sculptures and granite posts and and In this case that would possibly be The the green valley memorials team of dale and germaya bernard And installing this hopefully installing this sculpture In a time frame prior to The first deep freeze of this coming season Small footnote tom if i may yeah, their last name is barnard Dale bernard. I'm sorry My bad. I've been driving through burn Okay, thank you and the whole suite of the gardens ross didn't just maintain She actually built them and there are many many gardens It's not just the sculpture goes in the center garden, but there she has built gardens all around that park area So she's she's to be credited for all of those. Yeah. Yeah, and and For those of you have who have not had the opportunity and maybe many of you have had the opportunity to go up there and see Uh ross's handiwork this sculpture would be an extraordinary addition to And really an honor An homage to ross for all the work that she's done The other thing I would say on behalf of the arts and culture committee of which both marjorie and I are members Is that one of the things we have talked about? Extensively in the several months that we've been an entity is the creation of a sculpture walk In the village that would extend Really all the way from the vtc campuses and the campus and the paul calter sculptures that are there Through uh jim sardones as well dance Karen peterson sculptures at um the vermont veteran cemetery in chammler. This would be An addition of a sculpture to the sculpture walk at the very gateway to the village In a gorgeous space that is the product of years of work by one woman And it would be an honor Uh For her and it would also be um a really beautiful piece to bring to that garden um a couple questions Did you get a quote on the concrete pad? No, we have not um We have not done that Marjorie you haven't looked into that at all. Have you I don't believe in our discussions that we've built You told me the town would pour the concrete so I have not looked into that Yeah, yeah I have a neighbor who has a concrete mix very often to lend us if we wanted to just buy the material at central supplies So it could be a fairly simple Inexpensive task Yeah, yeah, and the post needs to be embedded in the concrete not set on it It really needs to be made very secure so no one will steal the sculpture ever And also the it's primarily to address the frost heaving aspect of things too and this is where While the building and grounds department might do the installation they would need to do it under the expert guidance of Individuals who are experienced in this kind of installation It's similar. I would think to what might be done in the cemetery if someone has a small obelisk On their grave site or family grave site I would think in this environment to mitigate frosty that would also have to be placed into some kind of a concrete base But no, we've not gotten a quote for that So the other thing is um, have you talked about Or is your group the right group to talk about naming the park something after raz? It seems like if we're going to put a sculpture there, we ought to have a name for the park uh We've we've only had sort of behind the scenes conversations about that Marjorie and and Adolfo and I have talked about this and My understanding is that there has been some Very informal discussions about naming the park and My my recommendation is that we get the sculpture in place Prior to the winter and maybe look at having some kind of dedication ceremony that might include Um, the naming of the park whether it be in rosa's honor or just the formal naming of it um sometime in the spring of 2021 when all of her incredible handiwork is in full bloom And again, thanks to marjorie's um work um It so happens that paul calter is also a musician and has a musical group. And so for example We might be able to have a public dedication ceremony renaming the park officially and celebrating uh rosa's handiwork and paul's sculpture Once we get through this covet, uh 19 And Excuse me, tom. Yeah, I have reached out to the garden club and talked to them about the continuity of protecting these gardens after rosa steps down from what she's doing And I also reached out to elijah hawks the principal To to figure out if students could do community service under the guidance of an adult who would maintain the gardens that rosa's designed She's put an unbelievable amount of time into designing these gardens. She knows everything about What she's done and is meticulous about it. And so I I want to figure out and paul was very concerned about this But I want to figure out a way to keep these gardens going For the next hundred years or whatever it takes so that We can make sure that park stays Maintained as a gift to randolph um, I would also add In terms of assuring the perpetuity of the park and There by the sculpture. I see I see my fellow rotarian and president of the sunrise rotary club Sonny holt here and Want to point out that the sunrise rotary club has built a garden shed for rosa's at that elm street location And just today At the meeting of the noontime rotary club. We had a brief discussion about service projects that that club might take on And one of the things that came up was how can we come together as community to assure The survival and the maintenance of this park in in perpetuity and I I I think it's reasonable to assume the rotary clubs might get involved Um, certainly the randolph garden club Such as it is I think it's just a You know, if I may interject The sunrise rotary club has already decided to take on as one of its projects and I think that town has already approved this to provide Benches to be put up in the garden People So, uh, this is an extraordinary person who has created an extraordinary Resource and and and a really restful peaceful space for this community And and now we've got an extraordinary artist who's willing to step up and give to the community Um a sculptor that will further enhance. So I I hope that we can find a way to uh make this happen I I can't believe that the um, I simply don't believe that the cost of of pouring a concrete platform And properly installing this post and sculpture is going to be that exorbitant I'm not sure who we might go to to seek Quotes on that Or whether building in grounds could explore the means of doing it themselves um the biggest issue and And marjorie has raised this because ross has raised it is how do we put that post into the center of an existing garden? Without unduly disrupting the flora that's already There and in place Rocked pathways through the garden and everything right. We're not gonna We can't just go in with a huge backhoe and dig a Four-foot hole and pour a concrete into it. It's gonna have to be done a little bit judiciously but If there are given that the post is being gifted given that the sculpture is being gifted I would hope that we can find some discretionary funds to cover the cost of proper installation Um, and you've all seen in our packet tonight is a photograph of paul's work And those of you who have all been up to the gardens Um, know how beautiful they are and paul's work would only further enhance that beauty. So Have you looked at volunteers to help with this? I'm just thinking we know we've got a money problem in the town budget and I know you're You've got 400 for the polishing. We don't know what the concrete is if we have to do a very specialized dig In the middle of that garden to avoid damage and we have to pay somebody to come in to oversee Installation and whatnot. There's a lot of variables there two of which could get pretty costly I'm All the area for the concrete pour is so small that I think what we could get volunteers from and Sonia, I hope I'm not speaking out of turn here is that we could get a couple of members of the rotary with some shovels to dig the hole I don't think it's a complicated task And we can make concrete and pour it in the hole How big is the the granite post The the granite post is currently 12 feet long No dimensions the hole to fit the post would be how Well, when the concrete base has to be bigger than the post, but you know the post I don't have an exact measurement From Jeremiah who said he was willing to give this post to the town and we could cut off the piece we needed from it But he was guessing it was 12 feet 12 inches square Yeah, so we're probably talking a two foot by two foot hole here, right? Exactly I mean, this is you know, they sell post so diggers at central supplies, you know Well, and I suspect it's not that complicated. I think it's just pretty simple. It's very simple. Okay, so it's an expense of them simple So I think you're right. You go find some volunteers, you know, there's probably some folks out there that would be willing to contribute some money I don't have much of a problem finding funds for when I need to find things for Winterfest and as you saw for the 4th of July I think you can raise some cash here from some of the members of the community to cover this expense And I think everybody sees the value in that garden, you know, I stopped and talked to Roz the other day I think you were there just after I was and she's excited about it I you know, she's like, you know, this was something she's wanted to see happen now for whatever seven years So, you know, now she's finally, you know, something's going to happen there and I think it's a great addition So I think there's a plenty of volunteer people out there that be more than happy to cough up what you need here Fund-wise, I agree You find it pretty easily And Trini, the cutting is not $400, the cutting is $100 to cut the post And if we want to wait until late September, Forest McGregor is coming back from North Carolina with equipment With which he could cut the post for us, but it being $100 and the need to get this sculpture installed before fall gets late I think we should just go ahead and find the $100, it's not a big deal Polishing, Jeremiah said would cost about $300 But I don't, you know, I think we can figure out how to find those funds fairly readily From outside of the town Right, well, from outside of the town budget, right? Yeah, I think you're going to have no problem, I think that's a real easy lift I'd be willing to bet if we asked every member of the Arts and Culture Committee to give $25 they would, you know I think we can make it happen pretty easily Yeah, so basically all you need from us is permission to do it Well, what we need is, per my discussions with Adolfo, I'm prepared to just put together a motion that basically says that we authorized town manager Belone to execute a contract with artist Paul Coulter spelling out Paul's donation of the sculpture to the town of Randolph for installation in what I'm calling Ross's garden for now The contract must also include a clause stating that the town will return the sculpture to the ownership of Paul Coulter and or his heirs in the unlikely event that the garden site is not maintained in perpetuity So that's basically what we're asking for and I noticed that on the action steps the action sheet that Adolfo has provided us with and I'm perfectly comfortable with this. Let me just pull that up Where did it go? Basically Adolfo if I recall you stated that said contract would not be executed until we identify an installation plan and the cost thereof. Have I got that right? Sounds about right, yeah So I'd like to make that motion and I'd also like to add to the motion that we try our best to get this whole thing installed prior to I had put October 15th initially in a motion I drafted but I think we could extend it to October 31st. The key thing is to get it into the ground prior to the first deep freeze Yeah Any further discussion? I have a question. Are the pictures that we have, are they the actual sculpture? Yes they are, correct Marjorie? Yes, that's the actual sculpture. I don't know what you have multiple pictures. I sent one picture to Tom I think you have two pictures But I have two pictures on my phone and he has it sitting on a concrete base that he had in his house but I made it standard blocks to me or whatever it was. it's approximately two and a half feet high And he built it, well I'll read this, he said he built it out of six crescenterate around a central point And he said hexagrams and hexagones have historically been used for protection against misfortune and as a good luck symbol I thought that was a very sweet thought on Paul's part to make a sort of a good luck sculpture for the town of Randolph. Perfect, we need some. He put every other job of his aside after I asked him, put them on hold and did this, concentrated on it for the last couple of months and finished it last week. Perfect. Sounds like Paul. Sounds like Tom. Okay. Sounds like Paul. Yeah, there you go. That's me. Any further discussion? If not, we'll move the question. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Post. Abstained. We seem to have lost Leary. He's moved away from his mountain home. Yeah, he's probably gone on a walk. I'll record that vote. I see him on, I see him listed on the meeting. I just don't know if he voted. No, no, he's just disappeared from the screen. He's gone for a little bit. He just walked away. He just walked up the mountain or something. I'll list that vote. Marjorie, may I ask that you put Paul directly in contact with Adolfo to begin working on the contract? Does that seem appropriate? I would suggest the opposite. I would suggest that we form a simple contract from the town and send it to Paul, stating just what you said, Tom. You know, accept his gift and we are very grateful for it. I don't think it needs to be legally authorized. And, you know, he's a sculptor and a musician. And I think we just write something simple, thanking him for this gift and acknowledging that we will return it to him if the park is not maintained into the future. And I'm happy as a writer to help Adolfo with that simple contract, but I don't think we need to involve Paul in it. I think he just was worried that it could be, the park could deteriorate and his sculpture would sit there in high weeds and stuff. So it can be simple, but I think we have to bend over backwards to thank him. And I'm more than happy to show up with my shovel on the day when... I have multiple shovels. I'll come too. I need a postal log. Yeah, Ger. Hey, this is good conversation. Okay. The agenda's still nice. Let's go. Moving forward on grants, we have a COVID-19 grant, the CDBG and the digitalizing land records. Yes. I would like to ask the board to consider approving or authorizing the town to apply for COVID-19 grants that have been recently been made available through the state. Some of the specifics of the grants are still yet to be developed by the state agencies that are managing these, more specifically the CDBG-CV grant. Guidance was issued early on. Guidance was changed after the state received additional information from the federal government. So we are working on getting to the final guidance so that we can apply for a grant. Josh, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the more recent guidance for the CDBG-CV grant is that grants would have to be made available to nonprofits that provide a service like providing food for those in need or providing housing for those in need. It's not so much restricted to just nonprofits in terms of Randolph's case because the percentage of low to moderate income individuals has changed recently from HUD's calculations. Any one project in the town does not meet the requirements for the percentage of individuals, 80% below area of median income. So any project that is applied for has to be very specific to benefit low to moderate income individuals. So before when we started talking about this at a municipal level, that was not known and we had conversations of what public services, the municipality provides to the community could we then create an application for. But since the income guideline changed, we were not able to do that. I have had conversations with Julie and some other organizations in the community about some of the needs of their clients who are traditionally would fit into that low to moderate income individual status. And so those are ongoing, but the reality is that a lot of this information came out from the state and they are requiring us to go through the same BCDB process in a very short window of time. And so we're still trying to figure out if we can pull this off and is there a project that would be competitive and helpful? So we're trying to just roll with information as best as we can. So the request would be to authorize staff to seek out a project. I think it's less detailed focus for the digitizing land records grant than it would be for the CDBG CV grant. But because of the tight deadlines, I don't believe that we can wait until the next meeting next month to share what the project would be unless there was a special meeting. That's correct because the application deadline is September 8th. And again, because of the VCDP requirements of having a public hearing and then you need to have the public hearing at least five days before the application due date, it's really, we can try to develop an application over the next week and that's just about it. Josh, did you say you're working with Julie to see what there might be for projects? Julie has communicated to me some ideas for some projects, yes. So can this be the public hearing, Josh? No. Would it were that simple, huh? On the agenda. Yeah, now it has to go through the whole, the same 15-day warning in the paper. When was it in the paper, Adolfo? Sorry, yeah, I know, yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's one of those things where unfortunately the process is going to reduce some possible participation just because the timeframe is so short. How do you, coming up with a project like that in August when people are on vacations and it's just really hard to pull off. But I think, speaking with Adolfo, I think it was important to get the select board's view on it because there was a chance that we could come up with a project. It would be focused on a demographic that is low to moderate income that might help them in meeting the challenges that they have encountered because of COVID. That's in essence what the grant is looking to do. So I'll just highlight. One of the ideas that Julie had tossed out to me was utilizing technology for seniors in their residences so that they can be more engaged with what's going on so that they don't feel as isolated so that they can still participate in community life but also be safe in the confines of their residents. Seniors are traditionally the demographic that meets that low to moderate income definition. So that would be an opportunity there. I think it's worth the effort if we have a project that makes sense of putting it in even if it means we have to hold a special Zoom meeting. Yeah, I think so. I think if you've got some target projects I think you might as well launch it. Can't hurt. And I think the senior ones probably a really good one. I'll move that we approve the planning grant application. I'll second it. Our conversation, we're not approving. Are we approving an application or are we approving them to develop an application? To develop an application, right? Yes. Great. So our next meeting will work so that there'll be time enough. The application due day is September 8th. So we would have to have a public hearing before that. Yeah, by the 3rd of September. Is that doable? It's possible, it's possible. I'm looking at Julie and you right now because it sounds like you guys have got it. So I'm just asking, if you think it's doable then I think I'm good with it. Yep. Barely, yeah. There's some talk that they may extend it but as usual, it's mostly talk at this point. So... There's a lot of extensions. Just ask me. I know about them. It's basically doable, but if the application is not trivial, so we would have to, I may be happy to help whatever the decision is. But, some work. So we have a motion to... That's Josh and Julie to go forth and develop an application. Is that correct, Pat? Yes. Okay. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Stained? Motion carries. Housekeeping item, Larry. The sculpture park, the sculpture to receive to go into Raza's park, you had stepped away when we voted. Do you want to remain as abstain? Do you want to go on record for something else? I'll go on record approving that. Okay. Thank you. Thanks, Trini. Thanks, Larry. I wanted to move you out of the abstention if you wanted to be a help. I appreciate that. Thank you. Kimball, I... Julie and Josh should get back to work probably at this point. We have to have a public hearing before September 3rd. Yeah. I was actually looking... I actually got a piece of artwork with the same conditions that Paul made, and I was trying to find that template from the Arts Council for you. I'll have to do that offline. That'd be very helpful. Thank you. I'm sure. Adolfo would appreciate that. Thanks, everyone. Next up, we have the Kimball Library. Grant requests. The two grant requests provided by Kimball are the traditional requests made every year. The Courier Grant Request and the Community Connect Request. There has been previously made... been comments about the amount of the grants. They're typically under $1,000. With a local match that is provided, that is matched by Kimball. Amy has every year said that she does not mind that we apply or that she applies for these... that these amounts and continues to submit requests to the Select Board every year. Adolfo, is a Courier Grant. Is that a Courier, like they deliver stuff to... people who might need stuff delivered? No, my understanding is a Courier Grant is... it's a part of an interlibrary exchange. So it's folks who check out a book at a different library. If it's only here at Kimball, it will be delivered from Kimball to that other library in the back. Okay, I'll make a motion that we authorize. Amy to secure these grants or apply for the grants. I'll second that. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Abstained? Motion carries. Let's go. Kids infant capacity grant. I think it's grow kids. Opposed to that. Okay. I'll make a motion that we authorize. Amy to secure these grants or apply for the grants. I'll second that. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed to that. Let's, let's grow kids. Yep. Oh, yep. Sorry. I left that part out. Um, this is, this is me. Um, but let's grow kids. So this is, um, a grant opportunity opportunity that's coming up. Um, again, uh, with a due date in September. Um, and, um, as, as you might be. Um, I think it's a, I think it's a, I think it's a grant that we were awarded at the beginning of this year. To do a childcare assessment. Um, which is ongoing. Um, and actually, um, we had a, a meeting yesterday. Um, that. Where the consultant delivered. More of the deliverable. So her work is just about done. Um, she's done the assessment. She's, um, she's done it. Um, she's done it. So we're, um, planning that. Um, We have identified the goal of delivering properties. Um, and has developed. Um, business plan financials. And a strategy for the childcare task force. And. Uh, the town of Randolph to, to utilize. Um, And so, um, let's grow kids has this grant opportunity and. They're still so much to be done. To apply for this because let's grow kids is aware of the municipal planning grant that we were awarded and the work that our consultant has done. And as well as individuals at the agency of commerce and community development. And so we've been encouraged to to apply for this grant to help with phase two of this project, which would be to hire a consultant to manage the project, which would involve engineering of a potential site. And reaching out to potential vendor and helping them get familiar with regulations just trying trying to find the right vendor that would take over this space and just help with that process we know that there's still you know we still need to secure a property project but let's grow kids has told us that this is the way for us to get into the pipeline. We submit an application, and then they will put us into a direction that best meets the needs for child care in the region. This grant opportunity is specific to creating new infant and toddler childcare spaces. So this is what this is what our project is, in essence, doing. We've identified a demand of about 100 spaces with many of them being infant toddler. And so we would, we would like we now we don't know, to be honest, we don't know who, who should be the right entity to apply. We had a meeting yesterday and we were informed by let's grow kids that the town can apply GM EDC can apply, or a community group like just the task force can apply. And that's something that we were not that we didn't know about until yesterday. So, I think, in general, the town is supportive of this kind of work. And so that's why I had asked Adolfo to have this on the agenda. And hopefully the dislike board would agree for us to seek funding for this. And if and it turns out that the child care task force can apply and they're willing to do that then we would support them anyway we can. But this this is a great opportunity that does not have a match requirement. It's really flexible, and they have some flexibility in how much money they will dole out for projects. This particular grant is capped at 50,000. However, for projects that meet regional need as this would. There's another pot of funds that they can they can dip into if there's increased project expenses. So, that's a little, that's a little update on this grant opportunity. Questions, thoughts on whether the town should be the applicant. Is there any, is there any negative reason for why we wouldn't want to be the applicant. That would be if there's a match requirement, right? How that would be made, you know, do they allow kind do we have partners. Right. So there's no match requirement so. Right, there's there's no match. You know, GM EDC is, is obviously able to apply to, however, they are also the entity that would be the lead on securing any property for this. So, I don't, I don't, I don't believe that that it would make sense for them to take this one on in addition. And, and, and we, you know, there is ongoing conversations about this with the enterprise center so seems like I can't see a reason for the town not to apply for this. That emotion is that emotion. Sure, I'll make the motion that the town apply for this grant. I will second. Any questions or comments? Hearing none, all those in favor. Hi. Hi. Opposed abstained motion carries. Thank you. municipal planning grant. I believe that notice earlier this week I believe I'm sorry I believe mid last week that municipal planning grant process is now open. Just with the timing we thought it may be best to share information with the select board and ask for approval to potentially apply for a municipal planning grant. Those typically have, I believe at the 10% match. I do not have a specific project in mind, although Josh and I did briefly discuss the possibility of applying for a municipal planning grant to have a full review of the branch would property for potential housing. I think that's one that I know the select board has discussed in the past that members individually have expressed interest in. And if we were to secure a grant for a municipal planning grant we could hire someone to perform a review and share it with the board about what housing at that location would look like. Now it would work. Questions. Comments. Sounds reasonable. I'll move that we applied for that in this little planning grant. Second. All those in favor. Aye. Those abstained motion carries. I read your lips to be an eye Perry. He seems to be munching away on something. So Josh is that on a different schedule than the other planning grant. Yes, it is a, it's a different schedule and it's a different process altogether. The, this one is not due until October. And there's, there's no public hearing has to happen. So it is not to follow that, that process. So next on the agenda is old business. We will start with the sign ordinance revision. So the select board had previously reviewed the provisions to the side and ordinance. I had the process confused. I was following a process for changes to the land use regulations, which included a number of other tasks after connecting with our attorney and then also speaking with sunny. We realized that the process is less cumbersome than the land use regulations change. But by that point we had missed a deadline to post copies of the ordinance throughout the town and then also to advertise in our local newspaper so that we could then create a problem by just moving forward. I thought it best just restart the process. Ask the board to reconsider it again and if it were to approve the process now requires me to post either a summary of the ordinance, the proposed changes with our local newspaper and then post five different copies of the paper throughout the town for for review. And then at that point, the town would have up to 60 days to appeal. The changes through their own process which would just require an appeal process to the cancel the changes to the side ordinance. And if nothing is is collected within that period of time, then the changes to the side ordinance would go into effect within 60 days of the select board, adopting them so if they select were to adopt the ordinance today and no changes were to be requested or then they would go into effect 60 days as of today. 60 days after the public hearing or 60 days. There would be no public hearing required it would be 60 days as of the vote of today. I'm going to bring the agenda upon town staff posting the notices in the Herald and posting the five copies throughout the town for folks to be able to to read them. One issue that I'd like to raise goes back to the discussion we had earlier this evening, which is a question. I know that the existing draft of the sign ordinance that's before us makes references in one area to banners on the downtown light post banner arms. But there's no discussion of any potential banner that may go in any location across Main Street again and I'm wondering if we shouldn't incorporate that language into sign ordinance as well. Okay, why don't I read the the current change about banners in the proposed sign ordinance. Okay, we did address it. Okay. Okay, it's comes in under banners over public road. Okay, an organization person listen to install a banner across Main Street or any other public street in the town shall receive permission by the select board prior to installation. Such permission shall be granted if the design of the banner is not offensive to common sensibilities. The organization or person granted such permission shall be responsible for installing and maintaining the banner. The applicants shall provide a certificate of insurance showing commercial general liability insurance in the amount required by the select board. That was the form that Tony was talking about earlier. The town of Randolph remained as an additional insured on the policy. The approved banner shall be removed within seven days after the event it is promoting takes place. The town accepts no responsibility for any injuries incurred during the installation or removal of the banner, nor during the time it is in place. We felt we didn't want to get more specific than that. Okay. In any case, if someone wants to install a banner, you know, they have to go to the select one and get permission from the select board, you know, with the liability applications and all of that. If you get too specific on that paragraph on banners, then you may run into problems. Okay. Tony, that would apply to that language would apply to the discussion we had earlier this evening relative to the banners between red lion and presumably if we did in the future erect the polls that he spoke of along the bridge and either the foot of the bridge or either end. It would also apply to that as well. Yes. Yeah, just just one comment on on banners. Probably what caused the damage to those buildings in the past is probably heavy winds, even though you have a banner that has cutouts in it, you know, to mitigate the wind velocity. Be very careful. You know, if you get banners, if you get wind powerful enough, it can rip apart quite a bit. Yes. We have a banner up there for, you know, two months, you ought to pay a lot of attention to the weather and see what storms might be coming through you may want to take it down. I like the idea of having the polls, you know, over the bridge and they should be solid polls, and you should be able to raise them by hand and take them down by hand in a hurry if you need to. So that's my point. And the other question I would have is in the context of that language who determines what is offensive to public. Taste or whatever the wording was there. Yeah, yeah, we we had a discussion on that and and I guess in the final analysis. I think the select board can make a ruling on that. I mean you wouldn't want a bunch of swear words. No, obviously, for, you know, nudes or anything like that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think the select board could decide, you know, that that's quite all right. Yeah. Yeah. But otherwise, I don't think there is any any changes needed that Julie initially wanted to make changes to that particular. Yeah. And I mentioned to her that, you know, she could incorporate those changes tonight or discuss them tonight. I don't think they were that. You know, real. Yeah, real import. Yeah, real import. The language she sent to me was in an email was specific to the cables across mainstream and it sounds like this language embraces that without getting into that level of specificity so. Yeah, we left out where the cables would be or anything like that you don't want to get specific. Right, exactly. It's too far in the weeds. Yeah. So if the process I did forget to include one item to share with the board, the process to commence the adoption of the new sign ordinance would also include that Shannon and I placed the full text of the proposed sign ordinance into the meeting. So the full text of the new ordinance would be in the meeting minutes. Five copies would have to be placed in conspicuous places throughout the town for review. And a summary of the men of the changes would have to be published in the local newspaper and that we can all do fairly quickly. But all for I think you could use those talking points that I provided with you. You, that could go into the newspaper for the, as far as the major changes. Those have been very helpful sunny thank you very much for having done that has been very helpful. So the, is there any place in the ordinance that restricts public banners from having content that's political or religious. Anything. Left up to whoever's on the board. Throughout the entire sign ordinance we we scrubbed that pretty prolifically and we took out anything that might have been favored. One organization or another organization. There's nothing that would be considered against free speech in the current signed ordinance. We basically complied with that Supreme Court decision, you know that went up to the Supreme Court and it was a town of Gilbert that sued their town, because they were restricting a sign, put it by a church. So right now, any signs have to be content neutral. That get that guarantees free speech. Do we define content neutral. I think that's in the, in the major portion of it. Let me see if I can't find that. I was looking at the definitions. I don't think we have definitions per se but let's see. It says the design ordinance proposes a content neutral signage code based on the Supreme Court's decision of Reed versus town of Gilbert. It recognizes that government signs a government speech intended to ensure public safety, but must also be interpreted in a manner consistent with the First Amendment guarantee of free speech. That's basically the introduction to the ordinance. It's basically say you can rule for or against a sign, based on its content. Well, that's a problem. Yeah, could be a problem. Yeah. There's, you know, a lot of people feel that they want to say what they want to say and well, you can't deny it. I think that dovetail with the what you read to us earlier about offensive to the public. I'm forgetting the exact language but yeah, yeah. I mean, offensive to public sensibilities. Right. I mean what one man stealing is another man's floor you know it's just. I think the select board, you know, in their good judgment could say. Yeah, that's free speech, but it goes too far in this is content and may go up to the Supreme Court you may win you may lose but I think basically what the sign ordinance says right now is you can't really rule for or against a sign based solely on its content. I can see a slippery slope. There's always a possibility. Your approval is all subjective. We've removed any, any barriers, any, you know, parameters for it. Well, we haven't done that the Supreme Court has done it for us, right. I mean, in essence, Perry you're muted. Here's our headphones. Hold on there we go. There we go. So anyways, yes, the sun is correct this created, you know, one or two meetings I'm so pretty healthy robust discussions about that situation so I think that is a Chinese right it's a slippery slope but I don't see any way around, you know, what could possibly come up as somebody wants to put a sign up. I mean, we talked about this great length. So, the current the current ordinance has has phrases like, you know, for different types of signs, and then it gave an example, you know, for example, a church meeting time. Okay, and again, maybe three other examples. Okay, what would be approved. Well, if you go strictly on those three or four examples you're excluding everything else. Okay. So what we did we basically took out those exclusions on any sign that said, you know, here's what's appropriate or what is not appropriate. If I have a business, and some people find it offensive. And I put in my application for the sign and the sign ordinance approver, whoever it is doesn't like my business. Can they claim that it's offensive and not issue the permit. I think it would have to go to the select board. I don't, I don't think the, the sign ordinance, the signage officer, who in this case is Josh. I, if I, if I could add Trini an example that actually real world example of what happened about two years ago. I believe there was discussion within the state legislature of allowing the sale of marijuana at different storefronts. And when that discussion was ongoing here at town hall we received a number of calls, I wouldn't say a lot but we received calls from residents saying a town needs to block fees they can't be in the village they can't be in the village. There was a discussion internally amongst staff who realized that we couldn't, there was no mechanism for town government to not allow a business, if it was an approved legal business. Yes, within the village area, and Trini to your example, if that conversation were to happen again, and a marijuana sale company were to open or a business open in the village. It would potentially apply to place a banner on the guy wires over main street, which would most likely spark a lot of conversation. Some people would be offended by that. And you know that's, it's not, it's an example that could happen because it almost did happen about two years ago with the conversation in the state legislature. The legitimate business under existing state statutes. I don't see how we could preclude them from or prohibit them from correcting a banner I mean, you know, what, whatever we may feel about legalized marijuana or whatever, if, if it's a legitimate business operation. So we could preclude them from putting up a sign or a banner that, right, that's, that's the point but really we have to do what we're discussing is, you know, is that a problem. You know, yeah, it could be it could be a situation where three members of the board are adamantly opposed to it, and then decline, hanging the banner and then the business then has a case against the town. Right. That's the problem you if it's if it's declined. Okay. And it goes up to the courts. You know the town could suffer a lot of lawyer fees, you know, 250 300,000. It may cause to fight it. So, I would suggest then that the three select board members who choose to decline, you know, have that burden on their shoulders. The libertarian in me is saying hey, you know, so legitimate business it's a legitimate advertising method it may not be a business that I approve of but, you know, it's not too bad. It's not restricted wouldn't be restricted to just businesses, though, any, any group could put up. Yeah, sure. Well, yeah. I mean, it goes back to the discussion we had several meetings ago about the Black Lives Matter banner in some respects. You know, I wouldn't want to see. I don't think we can be policing. We should be in the business of policing content, unless it's patently obscene or offensive. It might be offensive to our personal or political. But the town might not but the town might not want to be hosting a forum at which controversial views are posted we might just not want to be a part of that business right like, I think that's really the decision here like, if, if anybody can post, you know, I expect and reviews and in this public forum. We just need to be prepared for that and if that's something that we want to possibly see happen. Then that's fine, but we need to make that decision, you know, if you want to have a potential for, you know, there to be a place for people to post controversial thoughts that's, you know, basically a town, a townwide forum. I think that's the decision that we're talking about here. Yeah, I don't agree. I don't disagree at all. Could I under this sign ordinance could somebody apply to put a banner that said Trump 2020 across Main Street. Yes. Sure. Yeah. And then that's there for 21 days well there comes arguing on both sides right. And then they could have a bind Biden one too so it's like, you just give the time limit it's like okay you had your opportunity you know they're putting signs on all the corners. I'm just saying it's that you're going to get that you're going to get that conversation you know one pro life one abortion rates one, you know, you're the hot topics are apt to show up there. Right. Well, that's assuming that we have, you know, we approve guy wires across Main Street either at their current location or on the polls across the bridge that you've speculated could come in the future. And the Supreme Court has basically said we, we can't am I right, Adolfo that we basically can't control the content we can control control the amount of time it's up there for, but if somebody wants to, you know, pay the price to put a make America great again up there or, you know, it's not much we didn't charge anything did we. We haven't charged anybody. Make a banner, we'll even put it up for him. Center fire department will put it up for him. I wanted to get on the polls so that you didn't have to deal with the fire department. Well, in practice, this has not been an issue in the past, right. Right. So, and it seems like something that's, you know, nice for the town to have if we if we can have it. I think we should, you know, continue as we have in the past and if some of the you know one of these scenarios pops up that we're, you know, afraid of, then we can deal with it. We might decide at the end of the day that having a place for people to post all sorts of controversial messages is not something that the town wants to support. Right. Make it not available to anyone if that becomes the problem. Right. So that that's, yeah, that probably good where we'd end up going is if it becomes that way then we just have to say none. That way we're not discriminating against anybody. This is specifically banners we're talking about what about signage. No, it's all, it's all signs. All signs. Okay. Yeah, well then. I mean, we can't ban signs. Right. Now, but this, this banner is a particularly noticeable town supported. Yeah, yeah. So it has a kind of a special place. And we limit the use of the banner location over town to only town. Information. Like we box in what the banners used for so it's used to notify people of available resources or events or things like that or no because once we start saying events were onto pro life marches and let me read to you something that Julie sent to me. And I think she might have sent this to you as well, Sonny. Banners advertising an event now this is banners, not signs banners advertising an event for installation on the banner arms this is the light posts in the downtown or on cables across main street shall only be allowed for town events, town sponsored events sponsored by the town's designated downtown organization, or events taking place on town property. So it specifically becomes an event oriented promotion. Is that legally in keeping with with the Supreme Court. I think we would have to check with. I would have to check with our attorney but if it's the challenges if it's a process that's open to the public, then it has to be content neutral and it's fair game for anyone. If it's exactly just for government, then there is no, there's, there's no way that the select board can is essentially controlling the content because it's only a government it's only a town dissemination of information for town specific events. So it's not. It's not a banner advertisement process open to everyone. It is just the town's method of communicating. So it's close to the public. It's just government events. So let's pick some, you know, specific events then winter fast, and the festival of lights, if we simply as a select board endorse those as town sponsored or town endorsed events would we then be able to promote those on a banner across mainstream under the under the under what you've just said. I would have to check with our attorney for that. It does in in general conversation and makes sense in that the town would have to vote to be a part of the event as a sponsor, or as a as a co sponsor or the immediate sponsor. But I, I would feel more comfortable saying that I would speak with our attorney before saying yes or no. When I looked at Julie's comments, I had no problem with her recommended changes. Well, the thing I'd like to say about those things are the events is is those are all public gatherings and so the select board issues a permit for those two so maybe that's the way that that can work. It becomes part of the permitting public gathering. I mean, it's right now I mean you know if you like lights those things all have to have a town permit for gathering so I don't know whether that help. It hasn't been a number of years since I've been involved with this kind of issue but when I was the director of the first night New Year's Eve celebration in Burlington. There was a process in place for getting banners up for events across Main Street in Burlington and also across Route seven in Burlington. And that process was overseen by the church Street Marketplace Commission, and you had to apply every year for a one or two week time slot in which you would want to have your banner up. This is probably before the Supreme Court decision but it was entirely event focused it was not issues focused it wasn't ramen COVID-19 outreach focus it was strictly for events. And the church Street Marketplace as a legal entity of the city of Burlington oversaw that process. The key word has to be a public event. Yeah, yeah. Last mile ride fallen because they've hung banners up before. Yeah, exactly. Public event right you got to register to participate. We have to register for winter fast to. We ask everybody to register. Where would the new world festival fall in you have to buy tickets to it. I mean, I don't know. I mean, the public we get from a public gathering permit. Right. You're not these are not private events you're there you're not excluding anybody from coming even though you are charged. Absolutely. So, you know, people have the free route right in the will to come so I know I'd consider them to be public events. I mean, if somebody was going to hold a political rally well I guess that could be considered a public event also. Another piece of the puzzle. What Julie wrote, or what she added to what I presume the Planning Commission had had written was town sponsored events or events, or events taking place on town property and the issue I raised with her was well, Chandler is town property. During my tenure at Chandler, the State Democratic Party rented Chandler for a rally with Congressman Welch and Senator, and Senator Sanders. Now, they rented it from Chandler as the leaseholder for for the building but it's town property so you get into this issue of well, you know, when we have to promote the Democratic or the Republican or the progressive parties event at Chandler on a town banner or town approved sign. It's kind of a sticky wicket. If it's helpful. I could potentially suggest to the board that this this topic it could be tabled until I've had the opportunity to speak with our lawyer to see whether the changes that are being proposed by Julie makes sense whether if it's a government only advertisement. Can we do that or if there is a banner wire process and does it have to be open to everyone. I could have all of these questions potentially answered by by our attorney and then I could work with sunny and then bring it back to the board at the next month's meeting. That makes sense. Could I could I also suggest Adolfo that maybe, and again it's been a couple of years since I've dealt with this issue as a nonprofit administrator but could you reach out to the church street marketplace commission in Burlington and just ask them what the current status of their banner program is and how they're administering it. Absolutely. When you do that ask them if they're aware of the, of the, of the, the, the supreme calling. Yeah, yeah. I mean, they may not know so just be nice to know. Yeah, yeah, I may cause the downfall of that problem. I'm not asking you to do that I've just asked if they're aware of it. I would offer to do that for you Adolfo but the leadership there has completely changed since I left Burlington I don't know anybody that's there anymore. And I don't even know if the banner program resides there anymore but at least a phone call would clarify that. Absolutely I could do that. Yeah, sure. Yeah, and that is a totally event driven banner program, whether it's the Discover Jazz Festival or the Champlain Valley Fair or whatever it's totally event driven. Well, there's plenty of communities in Vermont that are hanging banners so I'm sure the cities and towns or the lawyer or somebody must have an answer to the question. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we'll do that. Okay. So we have a motion to table. No, we'll bring it back on the agenda. Hopefully next month. All right, next up is Norwich solar. Their agenda. We have received additional material from Norwich solar. We have received additional material fits with what the select board had requested at the previous meeting which is to obtain confirmation that the neighbors of the property the Gilder dales approved of the project. It's a matter that we did receive we received from Brandon. I don't believe it met specifically the details of where specifically the array would be, but the signatures do do comply with the Gilder dales understanding that the project is going to be next door to them and that they generally agree to a general area. We have Brandon Malley here from Norwich solar branding. It's on an awful. I took a look at what Brandon sent in along with that was a plot plan for the revised installation of the solar array. It has been moved from the original position. And it does clear the view for the Gilder dales. And I think it's, it's fine. It's a good plan. Thank you. And, and you have the plan that accompanies the letter uses an existing reference point on the property up in and a stump. What we, what we use as an agreed upon point to reference the array limits off of so. So there's kind of an independent basis for the change. So, happy to answer any questions. And I just wanted to say I appreciated the time of everyone involved planning commission and select board. I think it's a good result for the neighbors and really we we appreciate the opportunity to go through the process. Can you just answer one quick question when it says the array is going to be installed as far east as practical. Generally illustrated the, I do a lot of contract administration and the words generally. As practical, make me a little nervous. So any scenario under which this would move west through the process to the point where it would be a problem for them or are you saying, if you can't get it within that area where it's not in their view shed you might have to make a smaller project. Right. So it'll be as far east as practical but not west of the agreed upon point. Okay, thank you. So, and that that point is the there's an existing iron pin and a, and a stump. That is there at the property line. That's referenced on the plane. Thanks. Yeah, thank you. I guess you now are looking for us to approve the letter. And you didn't like a Delpho signature on it. Well, it hadn't it turned out it hadn't actually been signed by the planning commission yet. And select board approved it to be signed. So the request is, is to have you sign it and also the planning commission. Sunny. Yeah, we, we've been holding off on our signature because we wanted to go through the select board first, but it does require planning commission chairs signature as well as the select board chairs signature to go forward. Um, did we need another motion on that, or did our motion last time make it approved upon a read these documents coming in and being acceptable. I think the previous motion was contingent upon receiving the approval of the neighbors for the project. So I don't believe a new motion would be needed, but I, I'd have to go back to look at the minutes because I believe the motion was for me to sign. As opposed to the chair of the PC and the chair of the select board. Okay, so we'll entertain a new motion. That's the question first training. Um, we, we have a good agreement from one a butter. We haven't heard from any other butters, if, if, if one of the other neighbors or any neighbors even if they're not a butters, or to object to this project, what would be their recourse if the select board goes forward right now. There is no other a butter Larry, the same family that's putting this in owns all the rest of the land on all the other sides of this. Also, I just wanted to add, and thank you for your time. This is the beginning of the permitting process and all butters have legal standing in the state permitting of the array and receive all the notices and have legal standing and can come up and can comment. And the Gilderdale's retain that standing going forward. So at what point in the process would, would they be able to do that. So the process from here on out entails something called a 45 day notice where a permitting package gets served to everyone that has legal standing in the process, including the butters met 45 day notice includes some preliminary site planning and the description of the project. The permitting process that's so called CPG certificate of public good, all of those parties retain standing all the way through final issuance. And in fact, through the open period of the permit. You know, even after the permit is issued. If there are any issues with the installation of the array, the butters have legal standing and can make filings with the state through the public utilities commission. How do you say in something you're muted. I wondered what their standing is in relation to landscaping and so forth or, or what. I'm sorry that I may answer that I've taken a number of trips to the place for the solar array. The original plan and the revised plan. But if you stand in the middle of that property and look all around east, west, south and north, you don't see another property. Okay. You saw one property in the old plan and that was the Gilderdale's. Okay. The old plan and they've agreed to that moving out of their basically out of their view. So I don't know what other butters would have a complaint about, but there's always that possibility that they could complain. I think basically what we're doing right now, the select board and the planning commission is is signing that letter saying this is a preferred site. The process doesn't end there. Yeah. But I asked what once it goes beyond that level. And the butter could disagree with what in terms of what landscaping or color of the paint or what they can complain about anything that really outstanding. They're really not going to have a whole lot of five process. Right. Exactly. They can complain about everything right they don't like solar. They, you know, airplanes might have a glare flying over we've proved that's not right. And then another one but the main one is aesthetics and the folks that actually look out their window and see it they're the ones that have the most standing if you will. My concerns the same thing it was before that the town doesn't really have a process to deal with us nor any guidelines. It does seem like a problem if we're if we're going to be deciding whether sites are preferred or not do we do we do so in a way which doesn't seem capricious. And the rock a lot of time and planning commission meetings talking about it that's the only way it's going to get resolved. I remember correctly Perry. I believe it was one of the planning commission meetings early on. I believe it was attorney Brooke Dingledean that had mentioned that the subcommittee that was charged with reviewing the environmental portion of it or the energy portion of the of the town plan. They chose to not take any action because the state is really driving the issue. And the towns would have even if we had something included in our town plan. It wouldn't carry the weight that the subcommittee wanted it to carry. So they specifically chose to not take any action. But to Sunny and Perry's point the option was made available to the members of the community that had an interesting creating an energy portion of the plan. They just chose not to continue with it because they they came to the realization that the town really still had to comply with the state process. But this is an exception. This is an exception to the preferred sites. So shouldn't we have some guidelines that we either grant the exception or not. I mean we grant it because it doesn't affect any of the neighbors it's well situated or whatever. But if you don't have any guidelines then you basically have to approve anything. So long as they so long as they meet with the with the requirements in the in the land use regulations. I've used the wrong term when I said preferred site. When the planning commission looked at it. We waited against what was stated in the town plan and nothing in the town plan. You know could prevent this from going forward. So would with it would there be an example of of us of a site where the select board could say no we're not going to let that go forward and have a defensible rationale. So would we do that in Randolph Center. 100 acre one. One of the challenges that I believe was was realized by the segment of the town community that wanted to have preferred sites identified and established was. They brought in a guest speaker to speak during a planning commission meeting. And the speaker specifically said that she was concerned that towns were setting preferred sites and forested areas and that that was something that she didn't agree with and was very concerned with that. What I don't believe she addressed or even acknowledged was something I realized during the meeting but chose to not speak about was that areas typically owned by towns are wooded areas. And that's why towns throughout Vermont had had established preferred sites in wooded areas because that's the only land that they really owned. And they were essentially identifying areas within their town where they felt it would be best to have these solar arrays, even if it was on on wooded land. So it would be very difficult to have a preferred site process in Randolph. If we only specifically focused on public land because much of the public land that the town owns is wooded area. And we could set private property as preferred sites but it would be very difficult for the town to enforce that essentially telling companies, you have to build solar arrays on private property. So what are some of the challenges that I feel exist and that some of the the subcommittee members realize as they were trying to take this on. If we look at the letter that the Norwich is asking us to sign the very last sentence in that letter says this letter is solely for the purpose of providing support for the project on the section is 103. Basically, they're asking for the support of the planning commission and the town of Randolph select board. Even though it says up in the subject preferred citing designation on a rule as 100. We purposely did not put in the town plan areas for preferred citing for the some of the concerns that awful just raised. But in this case, you know, they use that term but we're basically say and we support where you want to locate it. In other words, there's nothing against it. I think my question has been answered yet. Yeah, about about establishing preferred sites. Well, no, the question was if, if someone comes up with the site and the slack board says no, without having some sort of process that we're relying on is that can, can we just do that, you know and have it be defensible. Exactly. The point was when we went through this and it's been, you know, this, this dragged on for probably close to two and a half to three years. And you know this all started with the state coming down here with a map showing us what was preferred sites, challenging us with coming up with enough solar which in our case we needed 180 acres of solar. In order to meet the renewable energy goals by 2050. And when you started talking about needing 180 acres. You started scaring people. And then, you know, we went to the other extreme where, you know, people are coming in demanding that you couldn't see it from somebody else's view shed five miles away across the East Valley or wherever. So, that's where this whole subcommittee came from. And in the end, you know, the results of the subcommittee conversation was that you know through a net Smith's conversation that you know what we had in place was probably the best we could get. And, you know, she was recommending that to the subcommittee that we, you know, we not alter this too much, because it was going to open up a bigger can of worms. So, we can start the process over again, you know, I, you know, I understand that I understand exactly you're saying that that doesn't answer my question. Yeah, just what you're saying and so, you know, in order to make it, I don't know what you make it defensible somebody could probably turn around. If you deny to permit, you know, or to deny this portion of it you maybe you could be sued for it I don't know. It's, you know, this is all on chartered territory was probably going to take a court case to figure it out. Well, I guess it just points to what Pat was saying is, you know, if we had at least something in policy that would give us some guidelines in terms of what we approve and what we don't then we might. We tried for two and a half years to come up with policy Larry. You're saying that there's just there's just not there's no way to do it. You couldn't make everybody happy. It was an ongoing conversation month after month after month. And that's why we set up the subcommittee was the subcommittee wanted to take on that challenge, and they came back months later and said, I guess we're good with what we've got. One thing I looked at as far as view of the solar array. Nowhere on route 14. Can you see that solar array the way it's going to be positioned. It's actually hidden from view. And that was one of the criteria that we talked about was making sure they weren't in public view. Yeah, my, my feeling is this may be actually a good site but we don't have a process to actually deal with it. That's my concern. We do have stuff in the ordinances, Perry, I think that talks about landfill sites and so forth are preferred sites. Yeah, they are, but there was no guidance going any further than that. Right. We're going to catch all cause that basically will allow anything, unless we have some sort of guideline. All the guidelines were there, you know, 10 acres. Okay, not, you know, not viewable from, you know, other places around town or the roads or whatever there was, there was a lot of that discussion. Another condition that we looked at was that the state, the state strongly encourages that any power from solar arrays stays in Vermont. And that was to get away from, you know, huge developers coming into Vermont, you know, getting 100 to 200 acres, and that that power goes outside of Vermont. Because Vermont has a criteria that we have to have so much solar power within the state. So that was another condition that we looked at, and this is not going outside of Vermont. All the power generated. That's a plus. So we're not going to answer the problem tonight about a potential criteria being more specific. We've heard the challenges the planning commission has had trying to get to something like that. The question before us tonight is, does the select board support this specific solar array project. Yes. If I could get the select board actually had a motion and voted on it last time. This is just about that's already been answered. Yeah, it was a motion. If you would have accepted our town manager to sign we would be done this. And I thought first of this particular project I just, as things come up I'd like to just know where how we're going to handle projects which might be more controversial and, and we're going to do that. You know, similar to, you know, act 250. You know, you have to jump through a heck of a lot of hoops in act 250. So no matter what project you're going to approve or support, you'll always, you know, end up with complainers. So, I don't know. I think it's a good project. And I would support it fully. I would also point out that it's consistent with the resolution we passed in the wake of town meeting at my very first meeting as a member of this select board, putting the town on record as being committed to meeting the state. And our own in our own town plan around our own goals here in Randolph for meeting meeting our energy generation from renewable resources by 2035 and 2050. I really am convinced that all the work that the planning commission has done working with with Norwich on this is in keeping with the goals we've established for our community in the past and I think we should move forward with this. Let's cross the bridge of future projects when they come before us. This is a very much an evolutionary process that we're involved in right now and I don't think we should I don't think we should hold back on this project because of that. Is that emotion. You made you made the last one. What should them just to get clarity what exactly should the motion. If I could make the suggestion I believe it would be to the board to set the, the property that is designated for the solar as a preferred site and then authorize that the town send a letter to the planning utility commission saying so. And then the signature on the letter would be the planning commission chair and the select board chair. I will make that motion. Consistent with what Adolfa just recommended. I'll second it. Motion in a second all those in favor. Hi. Hi. Opposed. No. That was an opposed Pat. That was an opposed. Yes. Okay. Abstentions. Motion carries. Next up on the agenda is committee assignments. We have unfortunately one current vacancy. Within the fire operations review committee. We have a member from the Randolph center fire department that had to step away from the committee for personal reasons. Randolph center fire chief has asked. That that person be replaced with another member of the, of the center fire department who's named Allen Williams. I would like for to vote to appoint. Allen Williams to the fire operations review committee. Also move. Second it. All those in favor. Hi. Opposed. Steamed motion carries. Thank you. The second item under appointments is for the East Valley community group. We've had three members. We've had a request from the chair of the East Valley community group to appoint three members to the committee. I believe this will require the select board to amend the total number of members of the East Valley community groups, because I believe there currently are seven members and they have a full roster at seven. The request is to add three additional members. Bringing the total to 10. We extend the size of the committee to 10 and approve the additional members. I'll second it. Could we hear who the members are. Yes, I am sorry at the start of the meeting I did share with the names, but it wasn't sent in advance. So my apologies for that. The names are Joan fear Ben. The second name is Bobby circum, and the third is Kimberly circum. The comments. Questions. I don't know those people, but if the group thinks that that's going to be helpful, I'm supportive of it. I agree. Yeah, I just wanted to name that's all our three names. They're all they're all current. There were all members of these Valley community group before it became a town committee. And the issue has been that when it comes down to vote for voting, these three long time members can no longer vote and so that that's potentially creating issues within the group. All the question. All those in favor. Hi. Hi. Motion carries. Thank you. Other business. No other business for me. The initials report. I have four items. Run through them very quickly. One is, we received a request from the National chimney association. We're requesting that the board at some point consider selling the chimney or the smokestack at the branch would property to them. Or donating. A member of that group drove through Randolph for some reason and they saw the chimney and are interested in relocating it to their place in Ohio. I haven't confirmed whether or not it's, it's, it's a joke or not. I just I think a letter thought I'd share it with the board before. Yeah. Do they have a chimney museum or something? I have, I, I because of the letter and the request, I haven't had the time to Google the. I'll look into it and provide more information of the board as, as I find it. If you were at the couple of hundred thousand bucks, I think. I can't see that we want to give that way. You know, that's serious money there. We want to hold out for the highest. I think we should hold out for the highest bidder on the chimney. Yeah, absolutely. No question. The other two items. One is I received an email message from a resident on Pearl Street. I was interested in potentially starting a garden on Pearl Street on a location along the branch with property. They were not specific with what location, but they've heard a lot about what Roz has done and they're interested in doing something similar to that. So I did share with them that there could be a housing in the area and there could be a community garden. So I did not authorize the creation of a garden, but that I would share the, her request with the select board and that I agreed to continue working with her to see what her plans are. And then I would report back to the select board. Uh, the. Is that a community garden? Uh, that is something that they would, they, they weren't very specific. They just said that they like what Roz is doing and wanting to do something similar. So that's something that they would like to do. Um, the third point is that the Randolph conservation commission. Is working to establish a parking area for the forest in the north. Part of the town, the, the rabbit track. Um, I'm working with them, um, to establish. Essentially asking them to answer some very specific questions about where the parking would be. How would the neighbors would take it? Um, I think the parking would be large enough for large trucks or just small cars. Um, so working on some specific details before I can bring more information back to the select board. Uh, and the third item is, um, several months ago. I had, um, asked the transit, they had any interest in potentially having pilot projects of introducing recyclable material in the repaving process. Um, and I think that's something that we're really trying to make use of bottles that we could grind up and use instead of oil, use more recycled bottles. Um, conversation kind of stopped at that point because there was very little research about it. Uh, I received notice from local roads, which is a part of the state process. I understand it correctly. They shared with me that a project in California is doing this now as a pilot project. Um, so I'm going to go into some more details. I spoke with the company that's going to be doing the paving. They confirmed that their material can be used or has been proven has received positive results in negative 60 degree temperatures. So I'm starting the conversation again with Caltrans. I've asked the trance to join me in these conversations to see if we could potentially do something in the state, not necessarily in Randolph, but in the future. Um, I think that's a great question. I think we could, we could have a, we could have a new recycled based material. If it's proven to the last in winter weather. So, um, I'll have more information and I could share that with the board as we collect it. Um, otherwise that's, that's what I have for the manager's report. Okay. Adolf, I have a question. Um, we, we're in a previous meeting. We've talked about the following up to the resolution and I think that's a great question. Um, I don't think there's any direction on that now. Uh, I, I, if I remember correctly, I think the, the board had decided. To potentially create a committee. Um, and then have the person who would share that committee. You know, work with me to see what we can do about changes or changes. Um, I, I've, I've, I've been in a holding pattern to see. What comes next. Um, if a committee is going to be formed or not, or. I thought Trini that you were going to have that on the agenda tonight. Well, it was, uh, Tom actually was writing. A document that he was going to circulate to everybody. I believe it was last week, last weekend, Tom. Uh, and the document never surfaced. Right. Um, I guess I would like some, some guidance from, um, Others on the select board is to exactly what. They envision that committee being and what its role. Um, Would be before I draft anything because I. I don't have a sense. Uh, that we have consensus on what that. Committee might look like moving forward and what exactly. Um, we would do institutionally to address. Issues of racism in the community. It's, it's just, it feels very vague to me right now. The whole point of the subcommittee was to figure that out. Yeah. Um, Whether it's educational or whatever, I thought the committee was going to take that in hand and figure out what things would be reasonable that we could do. You know, maybe what we can do. Well, Pat, do you want to help somebody write what this committee is? What the church is. What that's what I'm getting at. I don't really feel like we understand quite. Yeah. Sure. Let me come up with something and then. I'll email it to you. Okay. Sounds good. And we can discuss it at the next, uh, at next month's meeting. Okay. Sounds fine to me. Yeah. Thank you, both. Is that the end of the manager's report Adolfo? Yes, that's it. That's the end of it. Okay. Uh, next is, um, And this is for a written state transaction as well as a employee issue. I'm going to be executive session. Can I ask a question when you're after the motion was seconded? You want me to ask the question now? No. We're going to have a second. There we go. My question is if we're talking about the. Our town clerk and the treasurer in general, that's not executive session. If we're talking about our town clerk and treasurer as a person, that's executive session material. But if we're talking about whether we want to appoint, we'd like to go to an appointment system or whether we'd like to keep it the way it is. That's not executive session material in my mind. That's something that the public has a right to know what we think on that. Um, I don't agree with you. I think the, the challenges is the way the request was made. It wasn't, it wasn't made clear if it was a conversation about the retirement, potential retirement of a person. Or about the position itself. Um, so. Without that clarity. The only thing that I could have done from the HR perspective was to ensure that the confidentiality portion is there at the position that currently person that currently holds a position. Is protected. Um, so if it was something that was less. Less person specific and more position specific. Then that would be something that in order for me to add to the agenda to even request to be added to the agenda. I think would have to be a very specific. This is what we want to talk about. As opposed to. A general request. We want to talk about. The treasure club. Well, or the town manager. Given that, given that we have not received a formal. Um, Resignation or retirement notice yet. Why are we even. Having this discussion at this stage. Until such time as it really needs to be addressed formally. I don't, I don't get it. If the town wants to move from an elected position of the town, Clark town treasurer. Right. Hired position. We need to vote in November. Okay. Otherwise we will have no time for which we can double fill. For training. So training. Do we have time to, do we have time to discuss this at our next regular meeting? Uh, so that will, I don't know, Larry, because, uh, your ballots have to be prepared and advanced and warned. I don't know what that timeline is. But the HR issue is a different issue than this. This one that we wanted to talk about, but we have another HR issue. Um, so. That part is still relevant. But we. We do need to decide how we want to handle. Town clerk counter and if we want to put it out to vote, because I gotta believe if it's going to vote, it's got to get. Put on a ballot. Because early ballots go out. When. Pretty soon. Yeah. Yeah. For some reason, the, the. 45 days. 45 days stands out in my head about. Yeah. I believe that's correct. So if we want to do that, maybe we need to call a special meeting very soon. Just for that, that topic. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think at this point, the select board would not be able to talk about. The position itself, because it's not on the agenda. And the agenda has already been approved. Um, you know. Sorry, Pat. I think if we had known early on, we could have made a decision. We could have made a decision. We could have made it, but it was under the executive session. With my understanding that the board wanted to speak about the potential. Alleged retirement or. Comment. The HR portion as opposed to. The position itself. Not the person, but the position. So we have to hold a hearing for. The grant application before September 3rd. Okay. So we have a motion and a second to go into executive session for real estate and personnel. Any further discussion. Those in favor. Hi. Post. Abstained. Motion carries. Just to clarify. We. We want Adelpho. On the real estate one. On the HR one. If I, if I may ask the board. Once I do exit the meeting, I could exit the meeting and zoom will continue. If I could just ask the secretary of the board to just keep track. To exit executive session and the motion, the motion to end the meeting. Unless someone on the board wants to text me and then I could rejoin the meeting afterward. But. If someone just kept track of that information, Shannon and I can then add it to the minutes. We can do that. Thank you. Let's see who's our secretary. Okay. Good night, everyone. I'm texting Adelpho. Thanks, Shannon. Before you go. I am still here. Yep. I'd like to thank you for your service. Sorry to see you go. Thank you. Good luck. Thank you. I totally agree with that. Yeah. Having you, Shannon. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Shannon. Point out that Shannon's on vacation this week. So she agreed to sign in while on vacation. So. Well, I have also. Learned a lot and enjoyed working. Thank you. I totally agree with that. Having you Shannon. Thank you. Thank you so much. Good night. Good night. Good night. I am going to, at this point, I know we have work immediate on the. On the call. So I'm going to remove them from the meeting. Since we're entering. Executive session. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Not, it wasn't an easy decision to make. If you ever want to come back. Okay. Thank you. Thanks, Shannon. Good night. Good night. I am going to, at this point, I know we have work immediate on the,