 meeting at the extension board or trusting any additional agenda additions or changes. There are no changes or additions to the agenda. We've listed that you're doing interviews with the Housing Commission Planning Commission and Development Review Board. There have been two additional applications that came through since the packet was posted to the website. So Maggie Massey's application and Dylan Zwicky's applications are not in the packet that folks are seeing at home, but they are going to be interviewed tonight. But no changes to the agenda. That's just an update. Great. Board members, any agenda additions or changes? No? All right. Don't have to approve that. We'll move on to public to be heard. There's a portion of the meeting where members of the public can comment or bring concerns to the board on items that are not on the agenda for this evening. So Dan, is there anybody in the room there? Yes. Anybody here from the public would like to speak on something that is not on the agenda tonight. So that's public to be heard. An issue that is not on our agenda. Anybody? No? I guess we're all set. Okay. I have to see Mr. Maki. I hope I'm saying that right online. So why don't you go ahead? Sure. Thanks. Yeah, that's fine actually. Way worse has been gone to my name in the past. So my name is Erhard Modka. I just wanted to introduce myself to folks and to folks who are watching on YouTube. I am running for Chittin County Senate from the new central, Chittin Central District. And just by way of brief introduction, just let folks know I've lived in Chittin County for over four years with my family, my wife, Sydney. Can you hear me okay? Yeah, I'm going to stop you for a second. I don't believe this is the appropriate venue for this sort of introduction. Okay. That's fine. I understand why you'd want to, but that's just not something we do. All right. Other boards do it. So I thought I'd jump in. But if that's inappropriate, my apologies. No problem. Yeah. Okay. Well, thanks for understanding. Okay. Yeah, but no, of course. Seeing anyone else. So I guess we'll move on to the public hearing we have scheduled. So I'll call the public hearing to order for the FY23 proposed water and sewer utility rates. And Jess Morris is here to explain this all again for the second go around. Welcome. I think you made it. Nope, you're not. Sorry. Oh, maybe you are. Can't hear you. We'll give Jess just a minute to get her audio situation taken care of. Yes, please. Three people here in the audience. I saw a couple signed in. Is everybody signed in? Okay. All right. Thank you. So if folks just joined us, we're about to start a public hearing for water and sewer utility rates. And our finance director is having a little bit of trouble with audio. So we're waiting for her. I don't want to jump the gun. But do you want to, should we go on to talk with Colleen and come back? Give it a few more minutes. I don't mind waiting. Let's just give it another minute or two. If it was obviously just a business item, I wouldn't mind switching. It's the public hearing notice. Right. So I'd like to hold still for just a second. Thanks for your patience. Yeah. Dan, do you know if George is joining us or is he? George will not be joining us tonight. Okay. Great. Out of town. This move to Wednesday nights is really throwing my trucks, taps and tunes Wednesdays off. Just so you know, trustees. As the person that requested it, I have the same feeling this afternoon inside. How are we on it? How late? How late do they run? Not late enough for when we're going to be done. I had some unhappy children as well. Oh, really? Like, just twist the knife, Brad. Just get in there. Oh, the kids are unhappy too. Well, I'd like to see the part of the hockey game maybe later. So Jess is going to work, is going to try calling in to see, and then I can rotate the slides for her. Okay. Okay. You want to sign in? Good. Right there. We're just waiting for the finance director to get a link. I think her internet has some problems that she's going to be calling in. That's the first item on the agenda. I didn't even know where I was going. It's okay. Hey, Raj. There's a member of the public here. Can I just ask her if she's the item, ma'am? Do you have an item that you want to discuss that's not on the agenda? We have already opened it up for public to be heard, but... No, I'm here to be interviewed by my own house. Yeah. Okay. Can you hear me now? Yeah. We got you. All right. Sorry about that. No problem. For some reason, the mic on this laptop does not work well when I'm at home. So we are on our second of two public hearings on the water, wastewater, and sanitation rates for FY23. Again, using the same calculation methods as established in prior years. Brad, if you want to go to the second slide, I actually might still be able to share. That's easier. Okay. So in summary, our combined rate is increasing about 7.7%. This combined rate is for water and sewer and sanitation. The next slide shows a history of five-year averages with FY23 being, for the most part, in line with those historical averages. The 7.7% increase for FY23 translates to $41.78 per year for the average residential property using 120 gallons per day. On the next slide, we have the water rate. The water rate is seeing the highest increase this year due to a 5.8% increase in the operating budget. That increase is driven mostly by employee benefits costs and increasing one shared position from part-time to full-time. This budget also has a 3.5% rate increase from Champlain Water District, the fulfilled rate that we pay for the water. This increase is normally about 3%, so a little bit higher than normal this year. The wastewater rate is a 10.6% increase in the operating budget, and this is related to that same shared position I just mentioned, increasing to full-time. We have other various cost increases associated with changing state regulations and unfunded mandates coming from the state. Our sanitation rate has the lowest increase this year at 1.5%. We have a $7,750 increase for planned debt repayment, and then some slight increases in the admin fee and pump station costs. Our large water user rate is the rate that is charged to global foundry. Also calculated using established methods and agreements with them. This is calculated based on actual and projected usage. We have an increase of 1.8 cents over the current rate to 11 cents per thousand gallons. The wastewater treatment wholesale rate is the rate that is paid by the town of Essex and Williston for treatment through our wastewater facility. There's a 9.7% increase in this rate, and the budget for wastewater has an increase of 10.6%, with significant increases for biosolids land application, chemicals, and electricity. There's also a planned increase in the transfer to capital in this fund. And I believe that's it for the presentation. I'm happy to take any questions. So at this time I'll ask if there's any members of the public in person at Lincoln Hall or on the Zoom call or on the phone that have any questions on the FY23 water wastewater and sanitation rates as they were presented. Nothing here. Thanks, trustees. Any questions for Jeff? No. Jeff, thank you so much. That was great. Appreciate your perseverance. Yeah, sorry for the delay. No problem. It happens. All right. At this time, I'll close the public hearing and return to business item 6A. Consider approval of the fiscal year 2023 proposed utility rates that were just presented. I'll move that the trustees adopt the FY23 utility rates as presented. Second. Do we need to read this up, Brad? Are we good? You're good. Okay. Dan, proposed, amber seconded. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. As opposed, nay. And we have passed the FY23 utility rates. Move on to business item 6B, a conversation with our HR director, Colleen Dwyer. I think she's here. I'm here. I don't know. Good work. Yes. How are you all? Good. How you doing? Good. Thanks for taking the time to meet with me and Brad, thanks for initiating this process. I wasn't sure if there was a way that you guys wanted to start, but if not, I'll just jump in. Yeah. Why don't you go ahead and if you have some prepared info, prepare remarks. Sure. Yeah. Well, the six-month department look back, so what I so I knew I started on February 28th. I'm also new to municipality work. So the past four months have been me learning a lot about how municipalities differ from the private sector. I think that it is definitely a learning curve and even just over the past month, I feel like there are certain things that have started to click and I'm starting to understand a little bit more about how municipalities work and how I can take my knowledge from the private sector and, you know, be able to successfully operate as the HR director for a six junction. So that's been like kind of the biggest thing that I've been doing these past four months. I think another theme that has come up in my work is compensation. I think there's a lot of people who have felt that there is a need to look at that and I think, you know, when we renegotiate the contract, it's definitely something that is going to be needed to consider. I think we have a great benefits package. There's a lot of great things that the village does for their employees and I feel super grateful to reap those benefits and it would be nice to have some balance between the benefits package and the compensation package. Another thing that has consumed a lot of my time and I couldn't have like done any of it without Brad's kind of direction is the city manager hiring process. So it's been, I think, there's been a setup where we will, it's very thorough and there is going to be no stone unturned to try to find the best person for the village given everything that we have done or will do to make sure that's done well. So just even, you know, the recruitment and hiring committee and engaging the community and just the thorough process that we're engaged in right now to make sure that those candidates are properly vetted is happening right now and taking up some of my time. Along with, you know, we've hired about, this doesn't include the seasonal people that EJRP is kind of dealing with right now, but since I've started here, there's been 10 new hires, eight of them are full-time people, two part-time people, which makes the, you know, exciting stuff for the culture of the village show. That's what I've been doing. What I am moving towards in the next half of my work is I'm sure I'm going to shadow every department, so I'll spend time, and I did this with public works already, so I spent time, I spent a day with the, that department and seeing how they work and it's a good way to get to know folks personally, you know, as colleagues and then, you know, letting people get to meet me as their new HR person, and also getting a snapshot and an understanding of what their work entails, if I'm going to be making decisions about their, their employment, then I think it would be a good idea just to spend some time with them and get to know them, so I spent a little time with Robin at Community Development and Public Works at Brownell. I spent a day with those folks and then go into wastewater next week and then the other departments are still working on the time, you know, for me to get to spend time with them, so that's been definitely one of my favorite things I've done so far is like just getting to know everybody, so I did that. We are working on giving feedback to Department Head, so we did the fire fighter survey and was able to give Chief Chris some feedback about his department and it was really a positive experience, spending time with Chris talking about the feedback from the fire department and what is going well and what opportunities for growth there is and Chris was amazing at receiving feedback and really a professional about what he's going to do next, so it was a really nice way to start that and so Robin and I are working on finishing the final draft for that and getting that information out to staff or to Department to Department Head staff so that we can get feedback for people's growth and just kind of expanding on their emotional intelligence, whether it's like self-awareness, motivation, self-management, like all those things that emotional intelligence make up and it's I think providing feedback is really going to help people grow and then the another thing I'm excited about is like looking at building culture and I think that, you know, walking in three months ago I have been, I don't know what the right word is, but I've been welcomed by staff in a really warm and friendly way with the goal of setting me up for success, so I feel like the bones and the foundation for a great culture is already there, it will be really nice to kind of be intentional and maybe this is already happening because again I'm like so new but like intentionality around communication, teamwork in the hopes of like lowering burnout and increasing employee morale would be really nice to be a part of and to help assist in that. So that's like what I'm did, what I'm looking forward to, I think in terms of opportunities that, you know, good for the trustees to know is that I think there is some opportunities for efficiencies and I think that would just be whether it's, I think it's already starting with payroll going biweekly in the future, like there would be nice to have some more automation including like an HRI system that is more employee focused and allows for employee engagement, so working on this stuff and hopefully that will be something that this time next year we'll be able to check off the list that, you know, some of these things are happening and the culture is always a work in progress and so that's something that will always be on my agenda of like helping build and shift. Do folks have any questions for me or feedback from me? Happy to take any questions or feedback. Amber Dan, anything? No, thanks for all the help on the hiring. No problem. I guess the one last thing I would like to say is, you know, I haven't had a million jobs but I've had like several jobs in my lifetime and the way that the village is towards each other and the community, the employees is just really pretty special and I feel really lucky to have found my way to this place and I hope that I'm around for quite some time. That's really wonderful to hear actually. I'm so happy that you're that you're feeling welcome and that your first few months have been rewarding. I'm sure it was interesting jumping right into the manager hiring process and all of that and all of that time. And I'm excited to hear, you know, how it goes over not any particular period of time but the near future and long term around building culture. It sounds like what you're saying is, you know, the village is already starting out with a good base in that respect and I do agree. I think it's always, there's always work to do. So it sounds great. I know you've only been here short time so that's quite a bit to go over for three months. Yeah a lot has happened. Yes, a lot is coming. Yes and there's times where I thought things would go one way but then I learned like, oh, you can't do that in municipal government. So luckily I've been cut off at the past before I made any wrong turns. Also the village way. What's the biggest difference do you think? What have you noticed that's the biggest surprise between private and municipal? I think, so I think it's a two way, it's a positive and a negative in the sense of like slowing down is, you know, and being more intentional with the pace, you know, how the pace of municipal government is. And so that has been like something that stands out to me because in my last job it was a very fast pace. Like you just had to keep moving and moving. And here it's like, okay you got to slow down and be thoughtful and it definitely works better because there's I think going to be less mistakes but it can be internally frustrating because you want to keep moving forward and you want to grow and move forward and not to say, you know, it's just a different way of moving towards the end result. So that's been a shock for me. But I'm learning to find balance with that so that, you know, I don't want to get complacent and be like, oh well that's just, you know, I have time to do that but my role is I have people's, you know, jobs where if there's a decision that I need to make, the anxiety that people experience when they're waiting for a decision that it's about their life, I need to be considerate and like continue to move forward and maybe push the pace a little further but also balance of like, did we look at every angle which Brad has been really good at encouraging me to explore. That sounds great. Yeah. Well I'm glad it's going well for you and we're happy to have you here. Thank you. Thanks for taking the time tonight. Yeah, thank you. All right. So if there's no more questions for Colleen we'll move on. Consider amendments to the Housing Commission Charter. Who is going to introduce this if anyone? That's me. Awesome. Unless it's Brad first. No. You're good Gabrielle. Go ahead. Thanks Brad. Thank you. So, oh right somebody's sharing their screen. Thanks. Hi Gabrielle, welcome. Hi, thanks. Sorry. The screen keeps changing around. Apologies. So I'm the Vice Chair of the Housing Commission and I live here in Essex Junction and I'm also just on a little side. It's a little bit of a sweep. I think this is the last meeting of the Villas Trustees now. Oh good grief, I didn't even think of that. All right, let's all just take a minute and just kind of like. I know, right? Okay, all right. Okay. Just noticing. Mom's gone. Yeah, mom's gone. So the Housing Commission has been asked by both boards to consider our recommendations for transitioning from a joint commission to two separate commissions. It's our understanding that both municipalities want to continue to have a housing commission but that they be separated. And we've given that quite a bit of thought. We had a day of retreat with staff support and these are our recommendations for you. They were approved last night at the select board meeting because they were in your agenda and I know you all have a full, they're in your packet and you have a full agenda. I'm not going to read anything aloud for you but the essence of our recommendation is really comes from a place of wanting to ensure as much continuity to both municipalities, housing commissions. We've been around for not quite two years. We're new commission and everyone on the commission is learning the ropes except for probably Mia Watson who's quite the expert in housing. And so we felt that if we were to simply separate at this point and work with the commissioners experience that you have on board, it would be a couple of people, two to three people in each community and a big learning curve again that we felt would set back the work that we've done so far and the progress that we're making. And so the recommendation is to have an interim period between now and no later than April of 2023 and that we expand the number of commissioners on the joint housing commission to 10 that are appointed five and five by each municipality. That is based in our understanding that there are no more regular joint meetings and we felt that that would enable both committees commissions or both I'm sorry both boards to set themselves up with our own appointments for then the separation later. All current appointments appointment terms would would stay and so that would mean Katie Ballard has one more term one more year. I would have if I'm reappointed would have three more years. We do have a vacancy right now. It is from someone who Michelle T. Garten who lives in the town outside the village and sorry we have a vacancy plus pending vacancy coming open as the term is ending and the current commissioners not going to reapply. So we recommend that the charter be amended so that we have a quorum of five which enables us to continue to do our work in business while we're onboarding new members and recruiting new members and then as of no later than April of next year we would envision whether or not you all have determined that we're formally separated or not we would begin to really function as two separate commissions and once we're fully separated we would ask that the new chargers for both both new commissions would have seven members again with a quorum of four as we have now. Thanks for that. Yeah that sounds reasonable. I think we've all read through it. Hey the board members have any questions on it? Great I do not. Looking for the memo just to make sure I understand what we're doing. Any comments on the job description trustees? No okay. This sounds great. I guess if there's no questions I'll ask if there are any members of the public in person or online that have any that wish to comment on this. Come up to the table either in tune Lincoln or raise your hand on Zoom or speak up on the phone in another couple seconds. All right with no comment I'll entertain a motion from one of the trustees I think it's on. I'll move that the board of trustees endorse its separation proposal improve the revised joint housing commission charter anticipating that the final resolutions to separate the housing commission and the proposed new charters will be provided by June 1st of 2023. Dan made that and Amber seconded so with no other comment all those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. As opposed to say nay. And so this passes. Gabrielle thanks so much. I hope that was relatively painless for you. Can't wait to hear what you all are doing and thanks for all the effort. Thank you. All right we'll move on to interviews to consider appointments to the housing commission planning commission and development review board and I think we have an order to this. Yes and I'll just do a quick quick intro so we have nine members actually three from each of those boards that you just listed Raj who have submitted applications and are planning to attend tonight to be interviewed and so you all I think you can roll right through all nine of those that order is is right here and then decide at the end if you'd like to evaluate those in executive session or make appointments without the executive session so that'll be up to you but the first one up is Gabrielle Smith. Well welcome Gabrielle how are you? I'm doing great. So great to see you again. Did you all know this is the last meeting of the S extension board? It just didn't occur to me. Have you heard that before? It didn't occur to me. Didn't occur to you. We're not going to take another moment though. Sorry about the puppy. It shouldn't keep going. That's usually his call for opening a door. So I am reapplying applying to continue in my role as a commissioner on the housing commission. I've been in this role for not quite two years since the committee started and it has been it's been a really big learning curve for me. I came to the commission without much housing experience at all so I've been learning a lot along with most of my colleagues and I've been kind of astonished to think about the scope of the housing not only the housing crisis in Vermont but beginning to really understand more deeply just how interconnected it is. There's there's so many factors that affect housing and I'm very aware of the privilege I've had my whole life of having a stable place to live. I've never been unhoused and I am unaware of a lot of the strains that people come under when they are having to live in unsafe housing situations when people are struggling to manage rental units when they have lots of pressures on them. So there's all kinds of factors that I'm aware of in addition to learning a bit more about the development side and as we work on inclusionary zoning. So I am feeling that I'm just ready to be in a place where I can contribute even more to the commission. I'm especially ecstatic to be hopefully on the on the commission for the city of Essex Junction and to while focusing on on housing issues and advocacy in our own community and advocacy I mean advocating for housing in our community and serving as a support to the to the city council. Also really aware of the interconnectedness of housing not just with the town of Essex but also with all of those around us. I've been attending some of the regional planning commission meetings connections where they have all of us meeting a couple times a year where we have a chance to talk to each other within the county other housing commissioners in different communities. So all of those things are just we don't want to do this for another three years and I believe that in a stronger position now than I was when I was first appointed to contribute to the work of the committee. That sounds great. Dan Amber do you have any questions for Gabrielle? You know Gabrielle I don't have any questions for you either. I'm really grateful that you're willing to to do another term and you had mentioned earlier the interconnectedness of other social tournaments and other things. I'd love not tonight but I'd love to hear at any time what may come up as something that may need to be addressed in another way. Maybe it's not part of the charter and the purview of the housing commission but it certainly might contribute and any of that that you that the group wants to bring to the trustees would always be welcome and there certainly are a number of things. So please feel free to do that and in the interest of brevity just I think we'll let you go. Again thanks again for being willing to continue the work. It's appreciated. Thank you all and have a really great night. I think our next interview is with Tatanisha Radhita. Is she in person? She's here Raj. Okay great. Take a seat at the table. Hello. Hi how are you? Can you hear me so okay? Doing well. Thank you for applying for this position. I don't know if you'd like to give us a brief introduction and maybe talk about you know briefly talk about what your motivation is for this and what you want to to bring. My motivation for this is that I was once homeless I slept in my car so I know the crime zone being homeless and needing a place to stay and a decent place to stay and affordable place to stay. I work two jobs and I still cannot make my rent and I have two I had two small children at the time so this is important to me it's near my heart so I would love to be a part of this I wanted to know how everything works and what I can contribute to the decisions or whatnot for everything that goes on with it. Have you had a chance to attend any of the meetings or watch any of the I don't know if there were two of them before okay um but um that was um maybe the beginning of the year and then last year. Okay um have you sorry I'm just gonna keep asking questions for a minute I guess um have you um served in any volunteer roles in any committees for the town or the village in the past? I am on the EDC I am also with the CJC um I volunteer for them as well um and the EDC board and then I've been on a couple of other things with the planning commission I helped with that I just got done Juneteenth so I volunteer for that as well everything that they have I'm basically there everything. That was almost a rhetorical question because I kind of was aware of most of that um so I just wanted you to have a chance to say it um and explain it um and again I heard Juneteenth was amazing so thank you for thank you for participating in that. Thank you. Um trustees any questions for Tottenisha? No I don't I'm thrilled that you are willing to do this again I keep saying that um I don't want to put you through a lot of this so um I you know thank you very much for throwing your hat into this I look forward to hearing your perspective I'm sure the group looks forward to hearing your perspective and working with you um and I don't I can't guarantee that we'll make decisions tonight I think we're trying to make decisions tonight but um we'll keep you updated and um thank you. Thank you. And is Ned daily online or is he in person? In person. Okay okay great okay let's wait for the table switch oh hi sorry I didn't see you there I was looking over here Ned welcome um thank you for joining us tonight thank you for um volunteering for this um I didn't know if you wanted to give a brief introduction and talk about as I as I asked earlier you talk about your motivations um an interest in the in the housing commission uh well I've lived in here for 10 years now probably for the last eight years I've been on the the Essex Planning Commission so I have a have a real background in what some of the issues are in in development in in the area it's and it's a there's no simple solutions it's a it's a it's a complex problem that that deals with builders developers several town boards zoning regulations infrastructure you know is a key and I've really I've spent most of of my working life I'm not not working anymore probably all my working life really in either construction or design and development work with a pretty wide variety of people and and on different types of projects and my my strength is basically taking a lot of unrelated parties and joining them together to make a project to build a to build something or to come up with a good end result uh and there's a you know variety of players that that need to be brought in and I I think part of part of what my strength is is basically understanding where the different parties are coming from and uh how we design a program that gets them involved and gets the project we wanted uh you know I see I see a lot of things facing the state of Vermont uh and to be honest with you housing is is a critical issue and if we can't provide housing for affordable housing for a very wide range of our working people that we're destined to stagnate and there's not going to be growth and but I think uh it's a challenge that I would definitely like to take uh some of my my background I and the reason I'm looking at this is as a representative of the planning commission I work with some people on the housing commission uh as part of their discussions on inclusionary zoning uh not concluded yet but I think I think it's it's it's been a good process and you know I've enjoyed working with the people and I'd sort of like to continue to be able to do that Ross you yes I just know thank you um thanks Ned for that for that introduction and and Dan or Amber do you have any questions for Ned excuse me I was wondering if Dan or Dan or Amber I was just wondering if you if you review uh either trustees any questions well I just one question um you said you were on the planning commission for the town and now with obviously the the town's um development and what their needs are how do you see the differences between the two is there is there you see yeah I am not on the planning commission no you were I was yeah I'm just curious what your experience from being a member of the town's planning commission coming in looking at the village being in the village um and where we go forward is different from where the town uh are we from the same I think we're almost there's uh it's two very different situations uh I've been involved for more years than I'd like to admit on this the ETC the Essex town center which we've been struggling to get they struggle to get off the ground and it's still and that's one that's basically at this point blocked by infrastructure I think I see the city or you know the the village here as more complete as far as having the support for infrastructure and all to be able to to accomplish something uh limited only by the fact that there probably aren't as many available spaces to do it I think that's probably the biggest challenge is being able to develop affordable useful housing uh and it I I think one of the things that probably drives me the most is I also I'm I'm a real bug on quality I will not accept something just to get it built of it's going to be poor quality because in the end no one wins in 15 years later we've got we've got something that's terrible uh and and you know we just uh my wife and I both kind of kind of decided we wanted to do some things while we're up here and enable uh and so here I am good well thank you for your dedication to you know the community in putting yourself forward to this position yeah so yeah you know I one of the things I do have have the time I still have have a lot of contacts and and design basically all over the country so yeah I kind of in my spare time keep up on what the latest things are doing and different and always looking for better ways to get to that end conclusion which is to develop deliver a good product to to the people well thank you well Ned thank you very much I appreciate it if amber if you don't have any questions I I don't um I again very appreciative of you um stepping forward and being willing to put your name in the hat for this um as I said earlier I'm not I think we're going to try to make decisions tonight but if we'll keep you posted one way or the other um and uh and we'll be in touch thanks very much thank you thanks so we're out are we moving on to planning commission now correct yes looks that way that's right yeah Diane is uh is seeking reappointment and you have two new members okay great Diane it looks like you're online yes I'm online I was like I can figure out how to get myself unplied here nope that's the wrong one come on Diane we're two and a half years into this well hey um anyhow so darn tiles um it won't do what I wanted to do there we go come on ah there we go good there we are so so welcome you're for folks that don't know you're currently on the planning commission you're asking to continue on the planning commission um you've provided us with a bunch of information but I guess I'd love to know um you know in your time on the planning commission which I think is extensive what what do you think um you're most proud of and um on the flip side of that what are you still hoping to to accomplish or finish going forward well my my accomplishments are I guess you can say I'm one of the few people that are still around that manage to write that comprehensive plan write the first municipal plan actually um right I work with a bunch of people who are still involved in the community regarding uh utilities and facilities uh and getting the first one off the ground so um no I won't mention any names but they're they're they're out and about and still involved so I'm proud of the fact that we have a municipal plan that we have a comprehensive plan um and that we're we're guided by that um in our land development code so of which we are updating right now um the cycle generally is uh as Amber and Dan probably will remember that the next step will be to rewrite the comprehensive plan um as to you know our vision of what's going to go in the future and uh one time when the comprehensive plan was done I I got a lot of marching orders to try to get the variety of people involved to facilitate each component and having the discussion trying to get the public in to discuss their plan um because that's the time to talk about it is what's your vision for the future so uh that should be next um in the and where things are going and since we're going to be a new city this would be a good time to get a new start that's great when do you anticipate that process getting an ideally getting underway probably in a year okay great good so get a get one year under our belts and okay um it it's to do it well it really should be a activity for three years um to really have that discussion of where things are going and it should not be rushed uh it should be comprehensive gosh darn it we're using the vocabulary so um but in all essence it's it should be it should be getting a lot of people involved um you know it shouldn't be the nimby part it's here's the chance to talk about what's going up in the backyard um or the front yard or the side yard or across town so um it's it's something that we all should be talking about because it we are a small community everything really does affect it quite friendly for you guys that that that live in the neighborhood with me anytime pro street gets all socked in you can't move anywhere um until certain events flesh out and flesh out and you can get back out in the street again so um and that's nothing going on in my neighborhood but it's you know a few half miles down the road so um I think the timing I think the timing is great um you know becoming a new city and then taking taking that deliberate time to to engage on what what we want that city to look like and be I think it's great and a lot of people have been involved in the last couple years here so I'm hoping that people really do step up um because I've seen more people getting involved and it was encouraging to see that there were people who were um asking to be on the planning commission um it's it's been like pulling teeth and it's nice to see that that um people are stepping out one of the volunteer and getting involved it is really a great way to have an impact on the community for sure yeah Dan or Amber any questions for Diane no I was just going to comment that I do think that that's one of the um the important things and helpful things about splitting the the pc from the into the and the drb is that those folks who really want to focus on planning and and and I know this and I think you know this Diane as well is that there's always been this intention to try to focus on planning but applications in that process drags it down and so now you have a whole entire committee that there's a sole focus is let's let's focus on planning and so I think it's going to be great and I agree I'm glad to see so many new faces and um and all of these applications that we've seen tonight it's great and thanks for agreeing to stay on the planning commission you're here welcome I agree um also nice to have that um uh experience so that it's not an entire new board you bring with you Diane yes your experience so you can mentor some of the newer members and give some guidance and a little background you know from your past so that's good I appreciate it well what what I've seen are the people who have applied to be on the planning commission I think it's going to be a great discussion as to getting us going forward I'm uh I'm looking forward to it it's uh it's kind of like remember these guys been for the last couple years but don't scare don't scare them off now no no no we see no three people we could definitely have a core of I I mean the the having seven to kind of put us snagged in life um but you know it's uh I think um I'm hoping that we can attract a few more you know and uh and and make this a truly you know a community wide event and and discussion you know to that note I think if people realize as you explained that the next few years three or four years will be you know engaging in a conversation on what the community is supposed to look like for the next 10 or 15 or so I think I think that'll be pretty motivating to get people to step up too I think there's a lot of people in our community that really want to that are really excited right now especially to think about that and have an impact on that so I know we'll be using using I know we'll be we'll try to get that message out as well to fill out the board so with any other questions um I just want to say thanks for for putting your putting your name back in for continuing and um we will let you know oh hey thanks a lot yeah yeah we'll let you know yeah sort of probably soon okay sounds good thank you thanks Diane um all right next for the planning commission Scott McCormick he's here is Scott with us yeah he's here good no oh in person great okay hi Scott thanks for joining us you're welcome I appreciate you putting your name in for planning commission I guess I'll I'll ask what I've been asking everybody or something close to it you know if you'd like to take a minute and give us a little introduction of yourself and and what's motivating you to um to participate in the planning commission sure thank you very much um um as you know that my name is Scott McCormick I've been a resident of Essex Junction since 1988 so going on 34 years now um however the caveat is that I've spent 17 of those years uh working and living overseas mostly in Asia Africa and the Caribbean managing projects environmental management climate change adaptation wildlife conservation trans boundary water resources for a consulting firm in Burlington that was called Associates in Real Development then ARD and now Tetra Tech ARD um I retired from full time in May 1980 sorry 2018 and uh since that time I've been basically enjoying retirement life and doing a few consultancies uh the other day I noticed the application or the request for volunteers for the planning commission I've been looking for things to do in my retirement um I've had a lot of experience working with municipalities both well let's say regional governments national governments local governments and communities but albeit all all of that pretty much overseas um and I think that a lot of the issues that municipalities face worldwide are pretty much the same as they face in the United States um I've had a lot of experience with uh local government devolution responsibilities going from national governments to local governments and the the teething that's response required um for local governments to adhere to and adapt to those changes what I what I'm interested in I did have a chance to look at the comprehensive plan I have to congratulate people it's extremely comprehensive that word more than I guess um but I think it's all highly ambitious and a lot of the things in there I think are also things that you could consider to be what I call outside your manageable interests or things that you may not have complete control over that require as Diane was saying the input of stakeholders in the process community members private sector uh municipal officials department heads etc and I think that's a challenge that you're going to face in the next couple of years um I have a fairly significant amount of experience working with stakeholder groups both facilitating dialogue and getting people towards implementation of strategic plans work plans etc so I'm very interested in what Diane was talking about and looking forward to possibly participating in the implementation of the comprehensive plan getting people involved from the community from the private sector etc and I think that that's something I could uh uh contribute significantly to the planning commission thanks for that um yeah you mentioned work towards climate change adaptation and that's something I'm sure will come up as as the next iteration of the comprehensive plan and and as we work through planning I hope that that takes a pretty big amount of time for consideration how can how can this community become more resilient what can we do to to address um those issues locally what practices can we put in place and things like that so um Dan amber anything um for Scott no um thank you obviously you have a lot of fast experience um you know on a larger scale than just a little villager city here but that that the diverse background and experience obviously will help us you know moving forward I mean you've got um information that probably none of us have ever you know heard or seen experience from the experience overseas and you know comparing it and as you said a lot it's very similar there's similarities between there and here and how they were able to accomplish goals or get on the right track I think we really could use that um information in that expertise I have to admit there is a learning curve even though I've been a resident here for 34 years I haven't done a lot of participation in village activities but um I do think that there are a lot of similarities municipality municipality regardless of the location so I hope that I can contribute thank you yeah yeah thank you very much I think um I think especially as we move forward of the next two to four years um you know public engagement is going to be um is going to be key in getting people to come and talk about these things um and uh appreciate you putting your name in for this and taking the time tonight um and I think as I've said before I think we're going to try to make a decision uh as soon as as soon as possible and we'll be in touch um one way or the other um whether we've made a decision tonight or we had to wait till the next meeting but we'll keep you informed and thanks very much okay you're welcome take care yeah okay Elijah Massey yes got you great well thank you for putting your name in and volunteering and uh being here tonight and again if you if you like to take a minute to introduce yourself and talk about you know your motivations uh for for seeking a position on the planning commission thank you thank you Raj um so uh like Diane and Scott very interested in the opportunity to serve on the planning commission to be specifically engaged in our community particularly as Diane pointed out at this time when the community will be re-examining a very robust as Scott noted um and comprehensive um kind of guiding document so uh a really interesting time for this opportunity to come up um in terms of kind of background experience I'm kind of the opposite uh end of the spectrum in terms of village residents from Scott uh my family I've been here maybe a tenth uh in the time that he's been in the village coming up on three years so provided a different perspective in terms of you know the various demographics that our community encompasses I'm also originally not from Vermont I'm a flat lander from out west and have come to Vermont later in life so that brings a whole other host of perspectives you know about our our state and our communities um since I've been here I have been actively engaged in community development work I worked for the USDA's rural development agency for five years um and uh based on my pillar as part of that time uh was fortunate to be able to serve on the board of the Vermont Community Development Association which is a statewide municipal member organization that folks may be familiar with they convene biannual events around issues that are of concern and of interest to Vermont communities I recently changed jobs still working with the Department of Agriculture but no longer with the rural development agency which then I had necessarily vacated my board position with the Community Development Association and as a result I'm interested in engaging with community development work a little bit closer to home hence my interests in the planning commission um I uh yeah I think as you know Scott clearly has a much longer or deeper pedigree in terms of um facilitation and community engagement work but that is also something that I have a professional background in I've worked I volunteered with the Vermont Council on Rural Development in the community visit process and several different communities around the state and I'm really interested I've participated in the UNH Extension Community Engagement course again as part of my work with rural development so really excited for the opportunity to potentially apply those the skills and those practices here at home specifically around kind of garnering stakeholder involvement from you know all segments of our community if I am selected and have the opportunity to engage in the process that the planning commission is involved in I have kind of finally I had served in local a specific role briefly I was on the white walk bike committee when we first moved to the village the birth of our second child caused me to step down from that about a year ago but now she's one and a little bit more self-sufficient so this seems like a good time to re-engage if there's there's interest in you'll have me so happy to answer any questions and that's a little bit about my background that's great I'm impressed that you have a fairly self-sufficient one-year-old so that alone that alone is like get up get up if you can do that with one-year-old Dan Amber any any questions I'm good Elijah that sounds great I've read what you've what you've provided to us your background sounds very interesting I wouldn't worry about you know comparing with anyone else we need a variety of perspectives and skills so I honestly don't have have many questions for you thank you for serving on bike walk and and thanks for putting your your name in the hat I hope the new position with USDA goes well and we will be in touch as I said earlier we'll be in touch soon and keep you informed on how the process is going excellent I appreciate your consideration all right thank you and DRB so I don't know if Kristen is here tonight is she in person she's in person here Dan I'm glad you're there because if none of us were there that would be really unfortunate hi hi Kristen how are you good how are you good one of those new people who's been sitting on the sidelines watching all of you do great work so oh you're very kind full disclosure I have the pleasure of working alongside Kristen at UVM and various projects over the years thank you for stepping up so you know as we've been doing I'll I'll give you a minute to or a few minutes to you know introduce yourself and talk about you know why you're why you're here what you're what you're hoping to bring yeah um so like I said I've been I live in the village I live actually in walking distance to this office in the five corners and been here since 2007 my husband and I and my son we love the village we're so proud that we're going to become the city of Essex Junction and I think that's probably part of why I really wanted to get involved as I said I've been watching from the sidelines I really think everything is you're all doing an amazing job and things are changing and I love the direction and it's going and I just really want to be part of it and be involved and I do have I feel like I have a huge learning curve I'm usually in my position at the I work for the University of Vermont Foundation for the last 20 years I'm the executive director of alumni relations for the College of Medicine and so usually I'm on the other side of recruiting volunteers so I I feel like I spent all my time recruiting volunteers that I usually don't have time to be a volunteer so I know how much work goes into even simply just meetings like this so I really always appreciate people coming out and being a part of that but my I now have a 12 year old son who's at ADL completely loving it and I just feel like this is a good time for me and a good time for the soon to be city of Essex Junction I also as I mentioned I'm I'm not ever originally ever minor I'm I grew up in New Jersey and my parents and my family were really involved in the town my parents were both small business owners my brother is actually the town administrator in my the home my town that I grew up in and so worked in and out of the town government like four jobs as a when I was a young person so I do have that experience and I always enjoyed it and yeah so that's kind of my reason for wanting to get involved so I think you're on you're on mute muted yeah I wasn't going to mute my dog is crying a lot because I won't let her out so so thanks for that what do you what are your feelings about the direction the village is going with its with its village center village downtown and and a lot of the infill development that were that is coming in the conversation around you know affordable housing and housing issues yeah I mean I I loved all of the the discussion just tonight on the housing commission and the planning commission I think they're all these are all really complicated and also intricately intertwined issues and you know right now I'd love I love coming down on a Saturday and seeing people walking and and just being a community and it I know when I first moved here I thought you know five corners like is that ever going to be possible and now it's like my god like you can actually see that it's possible to have this walkable downtown city and I feel like it could be expanded and I and I really like the the housing combined with the retail that's you know in the town that I grew up in in New Jersey you know I've watched it evolve over time and you know that's really kind of what they kind of went towards in order to kind of keep the downtown alive is have that mix of retail and and housing together and I I think there's also just the you know talking about the housing the need to keep it affordable and then have a variety of options as far as just merchants and different stores so right now I think I mean so far I feel like it's it's it's going well but obviously it's complicated I know I'm always interested in like what's happening with like the Crescent connector if that's I mean I have a lot to learn and I haven't really read that much just in what I've read in the papers but you know things like that just kind of it you know I I would think that there'd be a need and a desire to kind of expand out the city center hopefully yep yeah well I appreciate your applying and like you said about the development and the state has moved away from sprawl they don't want to see sprawl so we're looking at density and hence the projects we have occurring here in the village center are toward that end of bringing people into the village and keeping them from moving out and you know developing further out and sprawl occurring so it's it's at balance and you're exactly right there's a lot there's a lot of factors that play into the whole yeah and I I think you can I know that that happened in the town in New Jersey that I grew up in and I know people always think of New Jersey like it's totally all sprawl but if you look up Westfield New Jersey it's a very similar downtown as this and they really have worked really hard to kind of keep it alive and flourishing thank you yeah thank you Amber no okay Kristen we're gonna let you off a little easy okay thank you so much for for coming tonight for volunteering and we will as I've said earlier we'll be in touch keep you informed in the process hoping we can make some decisions tonight and hope to see you soon okay great thank you thank you um Maggie Massey welcome hello hello how are you I am well so I am guessing that I will be starting with the same question that everyone no you got a completely different one because you tried to guess um no yes please if you if you wouldn't mind you know introduce yourself talk about what you're what you're why you're here yeah absolutely so um feels a little funny to do the same thing um right so our backgrounds will be very similar with I moved here about three years ago um and I have been kind of trying to find a way to be more involved with the community um and I would not refer to my one year old as self-sufficient but others might decide that is an appropriate phrasing um but I think kind of we have really enjoyed sx junction and where we live and just getting more involved in kind of where the community is heading and where the city is moving forward and so I volunteered for the city manager recruitment team I thought that would be kind of a good way for me to see what it's like kind of volunteering and participating on a group just with a kind of a shorter time commitment not a three-year term um to learn a little bit more about how these things operate the time requirement how much work needs to be put into it and I would say I had a very good experience with that um so thank you Brad for making that very positive um and from that I kind of had made a comment um that I was looking for other committees that might allow me to be even more involved um and I was sent the openings for the planning and the development review committee um and while um I feel like I have a stronger background in community development I served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay uh and then got a master's in public administration from UVM and did some community development courses there um I also have a lot of experience reviewing applications so I served as a Peace Corps recruiter uh and interviewed and recommended so I wrote like the FOIA bowl official recommendation on people for service and then I volunteered a few times for different application review programs so like a Spanish speaking grant program through USAID um and then I've helped mentor students as they're applying to college through STRIVE and just kind of reviewing college applications for that so while I do feel I could have a stronger background in kind of the architecture land review part of this position um I am confident in my ability reviewing application and kind of following guidelines and things that have been set for so I think for me I'm excited to have an opportunity to look at and kind of take what the planning commission has set forward and their goals and what they'd like to see and just make sure what the soon-to-be city is doing aligns well with that so that sounds fantastic um I don't know why I didn't put the two of you together um but I think it's hilarious what if you think yeah I think it's hilarious one of you thinks you're one-year-old self-sufficient that's a whole nother conversation um Amber Dan any questions I'm good no I'm glad the I'm glad the hiring process and that whole experience was so positive I didn't doubt it would be but I'm glad that it um that it had that impact on you and that it encouraged you to uh to to continue being involved especially in this way um your background sounds great I don't doubt that that what you're bringing is appropriate for for what you're what you're asking to do so how do you feel about you know where the village has gone to date and sort of where where you see it where we see it going in terms of how it's developing and how that whole process is coming together what's being brought here and all that I've been in favor of the development that I have seen kind of thus far um in terms of kind of not sprawling a more densely populated center and area and just kind of trying to find ways to set up housing for people where they want to live and where they want to be and focusing on making that a possibility I would say too that I could do more to review the official plan and kind of see how I feel that all aligns but in terms of me as an Essex Junction resident I have been very pleased and excited about the changes that I've been seeing especially as it relates to five corners and you know our house is walking distance to that and we have very much enjoyed kind of all of the amenities and opportunities we have around us which has been it's been very nice to see it be developed and intentionally developed sounds great but if if Amber and Dan don't have any any further questions I know I don't again I appreciate you putting your name in and for coming tonight and for being willing to to serve in this way so we we will let you know I'll just leave it there thanks so much thank you take care all right where are we Dylan's wiki am I saying that right you are awesome good well thanks I'm just gonna scan we apologize we kind of got your your information a little late so I haven't had a chance to kind of go through it in detail but maybe you can start you know as we've asked everybody to with a with a brief introduction and kind of what you what you can bring and what your motivations are for this and I'm going to turn my camera off but continue on Bluetooth as I let my freaking out dog outside but I will hear you thank you and hopefully my dogs will stay settled so everyone can hear me thanks for having me today my name is Dylan's wiki and I apologize for the late nature of my application my wife and I are probably some of the newest residents to the village of Essex we moved to our house here on Waverly streets just at the very end of May and so are still getting settled I am a Vermont or I grew up just outside of Middlebury and ripped in down in Addison County I left for school and came back shortly after that and have been around Vermont we previously lived in a town of Essex and then we're looking for a single family home and so experienced many of the challenges that Gabrielle spoke about in terms of the challenges that we face across the state here in Essex and really everywhere in terms of addressing housing challenges it is extraordinarily difficult to buy a home today and we feel very fortunate to have landed in Essex Junction you know I've always had a keen interest in responsible and thoughtful development in my gay job I spend time in the Vermont legislature and have spent quite a bit of time following the committees of jurisdiction as they grapple with questions of how to how to encourage and regulate development in the state and so I would say that is my what I bring to the table in terms of experience I don't have a background in land use planning my background is in political science and economics and my day job is mostly on the policy and advocacy front but I am always interested in listening to and everyone who's willing to come to the table and make a thoughtful decision about the evidence that they present and my motivation for applying to the DRB was really as a new resident of the village of Essex soon to become the city I really and I'll take a stab at the question that you've asked previous applicants is that part of the reason that we were so happy to land here in the village is the direction that it's headed really impressed with some of the work that volunteers and elected officials have done here in this community to to make the village more walkable more livable and to promote some of that infill development that I think is the right direction to head as we think about land use here in the state and making it easier and more affordable for everyone to live here in Vermont and I hope to be able to play a small role in in helping the village and city move forward as along that path great thanks for jumping on that question Dan Amber do you have any questions for Dylan no I'm good okay sorry about having to step away but I was listening no I think you know as you were talking I was scanning what you sent us and listening to what you were saying I think I think that's great I don't have any further questions for you welcome to the village city soon to be city so thank you very much for putting your name in for stepping forward and you know as I said earlier we'll let you know certainly later thanks all right trying to find the agenda here I think we've I think we've gotten everybody yeah yeah that's all nine eight o'clock on the dot nice work wow so as I mentioned before and I think you've alluded to Raj you have a variety of choices tonight you can proceed right now with making motions and appointments you can finish the rest of the agenda and go into executive session to talk about the appointments and then come out of that and choose whether or not to make some appointments tonight you are down to members and obviously we have the luxury of video today so if for any reason you were unsure of things you also don't need to make appointments tonight the only thing I would say is most of those boards won't have quorums and just won't be able to meet between now and July 13th when your next meeting is however I've I don't think that will be a really a problem for any of those groups I reached out to John Alden and it doesn't seem there's no applications in the pipeline so we're not going to hold anything up if for some reason you chose that you need you thought that you needed to wait but those I think are your choices for tonight great um Amber Dan do you have any so we do have we do have video George and Andrew can watch they can't ask any questions there were any follow-ups as a result of that um so that Raj I was just going to say that um I did have communication with George earlier today um he felt pretty comfortable with uh what we had uh you know for candidates and what you know the things moving forward in their meeting so I don't think he had any major issues at least I kind of feel like Andrew is the same way I didn't see anybody that I think would would raise red flag if you two agree um Amber it seems like you're on board so second question do we feel like and I guess I didn't ask what what Andrew always asked that I feel bad about that I guess but uh if folks um well I guess this question is always do you want to be interviewed in executive session not if do you want us to talk about it in executive session so do you either of you feel um it's kind of dog is killing me do either of you feel like uh we need to go in an executive session to make these decisions okay I don't either so with that um there are a number of motions here can we make them all at once yeah what you want so I I'm going to I'm just going to ask real quick let's let's start um try to do this quickly but any the two of you have any comments about any of the candidates that would cause you any concern I don't have any comments I'm comfortable with okay all right okay just wanted to know my only comment is again I want to reiterate that I'm very excited to see so many new folks come out and apply makes me very happy and not only that but we we this group is has a big range in a lot of different ways and it's a lot of really interesting experience it's a really interesting group of people to to come and and work on the city's behalf so all right so how do we have it looks like we might have to do all three of these right yeah you can do them all together at once uh or you can you can do them as three separately it's up to you um I don't mind doing them all together if somebody wants to read them okay I will move that we approve Gabrielle Smith three-year term to to Tasha Tata Nisha Tata Nisha yeah rededita rededita for three-year term Ned Daly for two-year term Katie Ballard for a one-year term Maya Watson for a one-year term to the housing commission I also move that we appoint Diane Clemens to a three-year term Elijah Massey for a three-year term and Scott McCormick for a two-year term to the planning commission I further move we appoint John Alden for a one-year term Kristen Gidea for a two-year term to the development review board do we need we should add um oh the other um Maggie Massey to the yes to the DRB and and um Dylan Swicky Dylan Swicky as well Dylan Swicky yes and if you wouldn't mind just adding Robert Mount as well he is a current member of the ZVA but I just think of the formality it'll just round out the five is he going to DRB he is okay so yeah all right that that as well I'll second all that great um with a no further comment all those in favor of Dan's motion say aye all right that has approved three to zero again thank you to all of our applicants tonight for being willing to serve and for those who are continuing on in their positions it is greatly appreciated and it's going to be an exciting few years ahead as we transition to a city all right so consent agenda option to approve the consent agenda second great all those in favor of approving the consent agenda say aye aye consent agenda passes reading file board member comments anybody the July first celebration uh looks great um thanks for including the plans there um that's coming right up it's kind of hard to believe um and yeah totally forgot that this was the last trustee meeting I sort of feel like we're not all here and and that's a little weird but um glad Gabrielle brought that up it's a little kind of a little odd um Dan's going to cry but without an executive session I'll entertain a motion to adjourn so moved second all those in favor of adjourning say aye all right great the trustee's meeting is adjourned