 to have the floor first most if not all these organizations have a report also in your in your town report and I wanted to thank you for the past years that you have approved our appropriation this is the fourth year at the same level request of $15,000 we this year has been explosive in terms of rides that have been provided to clients we have jumped in Randolph just in the circulator in Randolph to 9,000 plus rides whereas last year it was 62,000 but 6,200 rides things are just going by leaps and bounds we will be us receiving shortly from the trans to new electric buses that we'll be trying out to see if they're safe won't run out of power in the area that we cover around Randolph so it's a moving group and organization and we really would appreciate your continued support the other plug I'd like to make is that because of the increases in demands it would be great if any of you have time and have your own vehicle if you could volunteer even a few hours a week to volunteering to transport individuals to doctors appointments and so forth so if that is the case you can either call to BT and ask for Val or you can talk to me I'd be grateful and again thank you so much thank you very much are there other organizations here to speak we can still Ben Rampton I am not officially associated with the historic playhouse theater but I moved to Randolph recently and I thank my lucky stars that there is a historic theater in town I know that in some folks mind this may be more trivial or luxury or something that is not absolutely essential in the town but I would refute that the theater is frequented primarily these days by seniors and it's a wonderful place for seniors to be able to go and by families with small children and it's not just a fun pastime it's not just a way to entertain kids for a couple hours film has the power to change lives open hearts educate in light and as you've probably seen in the barbecue film to create a larger sense of awareness for the spectrum of human experience of gender of society and it's in fact on all of us so I would just encourage everybody to not view it as a little thing it's an incredible incredible gift that this town has a theater and I hope it is here forever thank you thank you very much you'll be able to vote on all of these special appropriations on Tuesday okay we're going to move on to article 25 we are cruising through this agenda I'm gonna read it to you maybe yeah I'm gonna read it okay it says shall the town voters authorize any general fund surplus not necessary to level taxes or which is not applied toward any emergency reserve fund shortfall and any highway fund surplus not needed to level taxes to be allocated 20% to the highway equipment reserve and 80% to the highway paving reserve so with this article about is how how we will use surplus funds come on up Mr. Roche you do you do I can't hear you you have a good loud voice but thank you thank you for the motion this is going to be voted on by article by Australian ballot on Tuesday we're gonna switch gears so article 26 through 30 require or invite they do not require they invite discussion and action from the floor article 26 is to hear and act upon any reports of town officers and committees these town reports are in a start on in this they're in this report they start on page 37 I don't think there are any other supplemental reports is anyone aware of any supplemental reports so if there is no objection I will accept the reports of the town officers and committees and hope that you take this book home and read read them it's it's the chock full of information for you so moving on to article 27 no miss Rice come on up did you object to me accepting the articles come on please Nancy Rice again just a quick question I may have missed a page in the report but it used to be that there was a page that listed the debts that the town knows what banks and other information and I just wondered if I missed that or it seems like a piece of information that would be good to know and that I suspect it will look into the other parts of the town report but if it could be a separate page I appreciate that thank you I notice that the the school district does have a indebtedness notice starting on page 95 I don't see it for the town budget doesn't mean it's not there thank you for the point so would you please raise your hand if you are on the budget committee currently and present okay all right the next portion of our meeting with with respect to article 27 is to elect and fill vacancies on the budget committee now sometimes well what it's going to be fastest if I have a sense if there is if there are people who are competing for the seats or if we have people who want a particular seat so let's let's talk does anyone know the answer to this is someone like a burning desire to explain any of that now because we can take it one at a time all right so we have a we have a term of three years which expires in 2027 and I'd like to open the floor to nominees for that seat I just want to give you a preview we have a seat for two years and and a seat for one year so okay let let me just briefly move on to the seat for two years is anyone is there a nomination for anyone to fill the two year seat okay so I have a nomination for Jovo see for the two-year seat yep I'm just getting a sense of the layout of the land right we'll go back we will go back to those seats in a minute anyone else being nominated for this the two year seat how about the one-year seat what are we going to do I'm worried about the budgets committee so do I have a nomination for the one-year seat I'm sorry last name Ken Haffner okay all right let me go back one more time so we have a three-year seat we don't have a nomination nominee for that seat at this time for the two-year seat I have a nomination for Jovo Chi and for the one-year seat I have a nomination for Ken Haffner but I'm opening the floor to nominations of other people I want to give you enough time to step up or just enough time to make everybody feel so uncomfortable and guilty that they just agree okay I can't who is the nominee who what is the seat and what it who is the nominee okay mr. Voce do you accept the nomination for the two-year seat all right thank you very much so let's let's vote on the two-year seat okay this is for the term of two years expiring in 2026 if there is no objection we will use a voice vote there is only one candidate it is Joe Voce mr. Voce you can have an opportunity to say a few words but you don't have to either I'm gonna I've invited you to speak and I want to hear what you said but I can't hear you so you have to use the mic thank you very much okay all those in favor of Joe Voce filling the term of two years expiring in 2026 say aye all those against say nay the eyes have it and mr. Voce is going to fill that seat thank you very much we're gonna move on to the term of one year so this is the last term listed it says it's for a term of one year remaining of the two-year term so it expires in 2025 and we have one candidate mr. Ken Hafner mr. Hafner you're welcome to say a few words you don't have to but if you do come up just maybe introduce yourself first of all do you accept the nomination I've got some experience with budgets I don't know how many of you remember the use to be in town here something called a george deac and resource conservation at all the council I was essentially executive director of that position thank you very much since there is one candidate and there's no if there's no objection I will use a voice vote for this vote again this is for a term of one year remaining of a two-year term which expires in 2025 all those in favor of Ken Hafner filling that seat say aye those opposed please say nay the eyes have it and mr. Hafner will fill that seat thank you all very much we're gonna move on now to articles one at a time we're gonna do articles 28 29 and 30 let me say a few words just about these articles each of these articles requires a to go forward and they don't have to go forward you don't you don't you're not required to take any action at all if you don't want to but if you want to take action on all three of these will one at a time some will given the body an opportunity to move that we adopt the article the article must be seconded and then we'll have discussion and possibly a vote so let's take up article 28 article 28 reads shall the voters authorize the select board to appoint a town clerk as provided in title 17 Vermont statutes annotated section 2651 e is there a motion I think we have to have a motion to have any discussion tell us your name Matthew Johnson is there a second and tell us your name thank you it's been moved and seconded and now would be a good time for some discussion on that because in fact I feel that if we appoint one he or she might be subject to the whims and Lucy of the select board so that's all I have to say thank you for your comment come on up I see a miss Misuko way in the back thank you madam my name is Joyce Misuko I was the town clerk and treasure for the town area for 23 years this is my first time since 2021 coming back to town meeting so it's nice to be on the other side of things and to see a lot of family faces I have very strong opinions about positions since I served in it there are a lot of things that are done in the clerk's office and I truly believe that it is very important to have an independent voice within town government that is not just the select board each elected office the officers have their own sets of duties that they are required to do under statute and I truly believe that someone who is appointed would have less of a desire to oppose something that the select board may say because their position is in jeopardy they take a position that they oppose so for myself I truly believe that we need to continue to have the clerk position position and I would recommend people to vote against this article thank you very much is it yeah just the last I don't disagree with anything anybody who said so far philosophically but I also think realistically we have to think about what we're going to do with the people that we have now in the jobs that we have now emory is doing us emory I'd love to work in with emory as a justice of the peace as you know someone on the conservation commission and someone who works at the library it's been lovely but emory is done with that job and he is doing us the grace of staying on until we can figure this situation out and one of the things that may not be apparent but I believe is true and someone can correct me if I'm wrong is that if the person is elected the way we've done it the way I believe Joyce got this job in the way emory got this job that person needs to live in town correct which means that person needs to care enough about the government and work for the amount of money we can pay them which isn't much and afford to live in this town which is very difficult right you know does anybody here want this job nobody ran for that job so far and so it's going to be very tricky to figure out who's going to get that job I agree that appointing somebody does have the problems of yes having that person have to work for the people who also control their job but I also think realistically we want someone who wants this job in any way they can get somebody to do that job I also agree with paying Trevor more money whatever we can do to get people want these jobs to do the good work of the town the way emory has the way Joyce has before I believe we should be doing those things thank you thank you very much other discussion on article 28 good morning I'm Larry Samowitz vice chair the court and the slick one has had a lot of conversations about the town court position over the last few years in fact when we had this issue come up when Joyce decided not to run for your election three years ago now I was very much in favor of keeping the town court position as an as an electric position in the last three years we've had enough discussion and I've learned a lot more about how it all works and I have changed my mind on what I think the right thing for us to do there as I'm just pointed out in order to be the town clerk you have to live in town and I think as she also pointed out that the pool of people that we can draw from is really small and I think that numbers actually gotten smaller as the nature of the population has changed as the nature of a position has changed if we appoint the position we can choose anybody who is legally allowed to work in the United States it's obviously a much bigger pool and you combine that with the fact that municipal job positions are getting harder and harder to fill in general we're looking at the possibility of really having a hard time finding someone who can do this job really well and it is a really important function of town government we need somebody who is really top-rated if we elect someone we might find someone who does that well but I think there's also a significant risk that we elect somebody who does not do that position really well I do really understand the concerns about having the select board appoint somebody and having that person appoint basically report to the select board that is a legitimate concern I think in practice it's a really minor issue and you know when when you go to vote for your select board members you know we serve at your at the will of the public and so there you do ultimately have that check on the other piece of that is that when you when you report to the select board you're not reporting to a single human being who can really kind of tell you what to do you're reporting to a body of five folks and so the authority there was much more diffuse and so I think the risk of real sort of nefarious manipulation that's being alluded to here is really pretty unlikely on the other hand it's not I should say I shouldn't say that way there are many cases over the last number of years in Vermont where folks have gotten into that position and have caused quite a bit of trouble before we've been people have been able to get them out of that position and so I think basically we're bringing away two risks on one hand we have the risk that the select would do something improper in terms of their authority over that position which my feeling is that that's real but really very small on the other side there's the risk that we could have someone elected to that position who is not a good fit and does not do a good job and can cause really quite a lot of problems for the town in a very short period of time and if that person doesn't want to get better at their job or if that person doesn't want to leave their position it's not easy to get them out whereas if we have a point somebody and they're not great but yeah we can go in and we can say you have to go to this training you have to do something to do a better job and ultimately if that person is really not responding well yeah we can let that person go and do it before the damage is done so we're really playing two risks here I think that the risk of having somebody elected that position who doesn't do a good job that is a much bigger risk to the town than having the select board perhaps you know influence that position in a way that is improper and you know when we talk about what that might be it's it's pretty nebulous like what the select board would actually do and I think if you look at the history in Vermont of these positions that sort of behavior is extraordinarily rare whereas people coming into that position who are not qualified is far more common so I think we are ready in this day and age and remember you know these positions were set up a long time ago and it probably made I'm sure a lot of sense 200 years ago for the town clerk to be someone elected by the small group of people who live basically in the village of the town but in 2024 I don't think it really makes sense and the trend in Vermont over the last number of years is more and more towns are moving to appointed town clerk positions for exactly these reasons where we're not alone this is this is what's going on and there's lots of good reasons behind it and I hope you'll vote yes to change this position to an appointed one thank you is there other discussion yep come on up article 28 hi I'm Mimi Bursing I'm the assessor in for the town of Randall registered voter I'm still undecided on this vote as a resident and as someone who works in the government so my question is because my relationship with the town clerk is very symbiotic we share a lot of the same duties as such as like so this like the finance sorry here we go sorry I have extreme stage right so just bear with me so there's a lot of us in the departments that share symbiotic relationship with the town clerk more so than the treasurer and I want to say we're voting for two separate positions right now third separate than the treasurer when Emily steps down which he will do we will be appointing someone anyways so with that process will the rest of the town people I mean workers have a say in who gets appointed or will it just be this like board that's my question thank you for the interesting question so with most positions that are vacant there's a process we go through and we advertise it get names in go through that process and then there's a some level of public hearing on it because it's decided at this like board meeting and so I think it depends on the position that's being filled but it would make sense in this case to have some folks on a screening panel or on some type of process there by which we look at their skills what they you know what they can break to the table and how that measures with the needs throughout the town so I would say yes there will probably be some role there thank you are the half here again and I'm doing the same kind of thing I'm looking at what's before us and wondering is there a way that these could somehow be merged could the select board select some candidate options and then vote you're shaking head no so the answer is that the select board or at least mr. Sardis not certain of the legality of doing doing a hybrid system like that but it's clear that the position should it become empty will be filled by the select board an election will follow if I understood the first answer hang on one second right that's right thank you so my PS would be I'm just in the general concern in the number of different scenarios that I see voters being left out of the equation and so I would like to somehow try and encourage the vote voters still have a say thank you does the Vermont League of Cities and Towns require that the individual who fills these roles there's a statute come on up mr. Ward put that microphone right up I'm hearing great arguments on both sides and I've been for months I've been wondering how I vote on this and I'm still not sure but I will say that the analogous people who are elected by us are the budget committee and I think it's a process that works pretty well so that's in favor of having some publicly accountable individuals doing the function that we delegate the piece that I want to just bring up is that I think there's going to be some unintended consequences by all of the articles 20s and 829 and it's going to be related to what happens with article 30 if we start stop having any other votes here and it all goes to an Australian ballot and we don't like the town clerk or the treasurer then I think you hear from now none of us will be here because who is going to come out of bed to vote and budget committee so I don't have an answer to it but I think it's just one of the unintended consequences that I want to point out and maybe those of you who believe in town government and town meetings will think about that too thank you very much this Tyler come on up thank you Hi Stephanie Tyler I'm still on your select board as well so part of the reason why I am in favor of I voted to put this article to vote today all these two positions particularly is because we're looking at Orange County Sheriff's Department situation right now and that's really motivating to me that we can see the consequences of an election and having someone in this position that would not be able to fulfill that position or could just decide not to show up at all and that will leave our town hanging so we would have no power really or be a really long process to work through trying to hold that person accountable if anyone was elected so that's definitely we can see kind of those consequences that happen and so that's where puts it in jeopardy and it's like we've said those blackboard are elected folks and obviously I won't be on the select board forever so I am in favor of this even without having like thinking about the future who might be on the select board because if you want my not trust as much and I trust our current slack board but I still think there's a lot of checks and balances in this and a lot of public input that could be happening and actually we get eventually push it back to the election for the elected position if we want it to as well that could be what that happens so that's why I voted to put this article out to vote today. Thank you. Ms. Mizuko hang on one second I want to see if there are I see you back there and you're entitled to speak twice I want to make sure there are no other first-time speakers. Ms. Rice please come up. Nancy Rice I just have a slumbering I mean this seems really basic but could someone explain to us the duties of the town clerk as opposed to the treasurer because I'm a little rusty on that. Well Mr. Mathias could do that he's sitting right here he currently has both jobs. Yeah come on I'll take notes I guess. Hello everyone. So currently as it stands town treasurer I'm just mostly the intake of payments because we're an adult party has a finance department kind of treasurer responsibilities are a little limited in terms of other in respect to other towns I do sign up payroll and AP warrants all those kind of things so you do need to know ideally have a banking background as treasurer or some kind of certification experience to that regard understanding of maths the town clerk is that's the election capacity here there is marriage licenses death records birth records the land records is the primary responsibility of time clerk and that's deeds will anything that goes in the land records so it's a lot of people work in both respects town treasurer is mostly the one that intakes payments to that finance can double check my work and make sure that nothing nefarious is happening there's a lot of other responsibilities that go into that and the daily routine. I don't have that list in my mind at the moment but it is lengthy. Thank you very much. Other discussion. Okay we're going to open the floor to people who would like to speak a second time. This is who could come on up and of course you can also speak for a first time. We won't stop you there. Thank you. The way that I got the position of town clerk and town treasurer was back in 1997. The then town clerk and treasurer was Doris Bowden. She had decided that she was going to retire in the middle of her term and she was going to retire January one the select board put out an ad in the paper advertising the two positions because it is two positions. The clerk is one elected position, the treasurer is another elected position. In that ad the select board listed the qualities and qualifications that they were looking for in an individual. So at that point in time I was working with the visiting nurses at the time and I was becoming unhappy with the work I was doing there and looking at that advertisement I was intrigued by it because I looked at the qualifications and the duties that they listed and I looked at it and I checked off yes I can do that. Yes I can do that. I believe that in the current scenario ever will be resigning if it gets elected again. That it puts the position in the situation where the select board will be given the opportunity to appoint a person and I believe that there is someone else in the town of Randolph who might be interested if they really knew what the position was about because that's how I got it. I looked at it, I looked at the qualifications and the duties that they listed and I said hey yeah I can do that. The drawback into the position is that yes you have to stand election every few years. Randolph has the opportunity to change that from being a three year to one year if you want more control over who the individual is in running for the position. Randolph had the situation way back in 1974 I believe where they elected an individual to be clerk and treasurer. That individual stayed in office for one month and resided because that person realized they were not qualified to do that position and were unable to do it and that put the select board in the position of appointing somebody and in that case they reached out for Doris Bowman and Doris Bowman served over 24 years almost 25 years. So we had a similar situation. The select board had to appoint a clerk and I was appointed. Once I was appointed I had to stand for enough for election at the next election so I was appointed in January and I had to stand election in March and then after that I had to run for office every three years. So I believe that it is possible to find an individual who resides in town who has the qualifications that we're looking for. When we have the same area, the select board is going to be opportunity to do an appointment. The drawback to being an elected official has been pointed out that you can get somebody who's not qualified and you cannot get rid of them until their term is up unless that person is results. But I still strongly feel that there is an individual out there. If you can advertise and let me know that this is what we're looking for. These are the qualifications that are needed because the role of the clerk is far-reaching. You've got your vital records. You have your land records which if you own a property you have to have that because you're not going to get your mortgage or anything else unless the information for the land records are done properly. You've got your dog licenses which are required every year and these are duties that are laid out by statute. The clerk is required to license the dogs and required to issue full licenses for marriage licenses. They're required to handle elections. They are required to be part of the board of civil authority which acts as for managing the elections but also in doing tax assessment appeals when people have disagreement with the listeners as to the value of their property. They're part of the board of abatement where if an individual has a cause to appeal to have their taxes reduced or totally eliminated, both the board of civil authority and the board of abatement act as quasi-judicial boards when they are hearing such appeals. So there are a lot of technical things that have to be done and every day is something different that needs to be done but it does need somebody who has an attention for detail and if you put the information out for what you are looking for I believe that you can find it. So that's why I truly believe that if you handle it correctly you can find somebody who can be elected to the position who will want to be there. So I still strongly feel that you should vote for this question. Thank you very much. Thank you. I'm just making another call to see if there is more discussion on this article. I do just want to point out that we did actually advertise that the election was up and the only person who submitted a petition for either of these positions is actually Emory and so we have put a call out to Randolph asking people to step up to put in a petition and no one stepped up. Also it's if we think about the the traction to this type of position as elected as an elected position is it could you could have a job and then on Tuesday you could not have a job anymore depending on how elections go and that's a really hard way to live life it's really hard to get a mortgage when you're elected position and that's your income and so it's a really hard way for folks to feel comfortable and take that risk of becoming elected position and then possibly not having a paycheck anymore because of a vote changing and so I think that's also a huge detergent a detergent. I had had one. Determined to stepping up and as we were moving forward it's hard as a younger person to take that on with families and just possibly not be able to pay bills or buy groceries the next day for your kids because your paycheck's gone and it doesn't pay that great so we're not gonna have a lot of heavy savings in this position so it really dies narrow the amount of people that we could pull from. I think having an appointed position feels more comfortable knowing that if you're showing up and doing your job that you're gonna stay there and have that position and as far as Slotport I mean I I mean I love you Emory. I barely talk to Emory. I say hi, I steal candy and I can talk mostly as a stay day within the town hall and through Trevor our town manager, whoever that might be in the future too. So looking down the line big time I just I don't think the Slotport has a huge influence on this person I think creating it as an appointed position will actually set us up to have a really qualified person step into this position. Thank you. Other discussion. I'm also gonna sit because I also have a terrible stage fright. My name is Mary Mitchell. I'm the assistant town clerk and treasurer since last June and I had a couple points that I wanted to share. One just to preemptively say it because I've gotten quite a few questions about this. I am not going to run for the position of town clerk because I'm very good and the general consensus is it takes roughly three years to become fully trained in everything that you need to know in this position and I wouldn't want to put that on people you know not knowing nearly enough that you would require of me because I care enough about this town to want to make sure that if I do a job I want to do it well. That being said if we stay elected and I don't want to influence people in one direction or the other it's totally a decision of the town. If we stay elected my only concern is that the person has a couple qualities that Joyce absolutely had which is what made her so wonderful for those years and now as she helped train me as well is that they really do care about the town and that they understand that they're coming into a group with people that I have seen is really a wonderful like team it's I've never seen a group of people that work so well together and have all these departments and even when there are different opinions on something everyone can team up and come together on a conclusion to help the town and it's really a wonderful thing to see so if someone comes into the position and they're elected they would need to be ready to join that team and want to work as a partner to it despite the fact that they would be their kind of own sovereign land. The other thing is they would need to feel as confident as Joyce did that they can take on all of these responsibilities because I'm not in a position to provide the necessary training and that's just one thing I want people to consider is Joyce I'm sure would be willing to help in Emery while he's still here but that's help for only so long and that's help that I can't provide because I'm still too new and I want to make sure whoever comes in as a new clerk can do their job a hundred percent and give you exactly what you deserve to be given for service because I wouldn't be able to step in and help in that regard. Thank you. Thank you very much. I just want to sum up a couple of things that you've heard. You've heard about the changing of the job and as we look at the way legislation is going and requirements that's not going to get easier. This position not only needs to know what's going on today and how things have been in the past but they've got to be able to adapt to what's coming. The value of these records and the value to the town of them being handled correctly is immense. I don't know if you've ever gone to a town outside of Randolph that may have had a person that was brought in through an election that didn't want to play with the other players. It's miserable. And then you find you need a document and they point you to a pile and say it's in there somewhere. Good luck with it. Not a place we want to be. I believe you've heard how how complex this position is and where it's at and I think that's key to this and getting somebody in there getting trained and making the investment as a town in that training and bringing those skillsets up and keeping them up is no easy feat. But remember if they're elected the select board has no say. We can't make them go to training. We can't require certain office hours. We have we have no say in any of the performance of that office. So while there's some nerves there about this like we're having a say there's also a pretty other pretty high risk on the other side of them not having to say in what happens to this position. So you know those are two different things that you got to be thinking about and weigh in on this. I for one support this. I believe your government ought to be open and available to you. I believe your records ought to be organized and available to you and you should have a clear expectation of what you're going to find when you walk through that door and ask a question or have something you need. And I think the only way we're going to get to that is for there to be some standard that's set and that can be set by the select board. Thank you. Is right. Sorry to talk so much. But I just have a question. If it's too low pain, can't you make it make it pay higher? Thank you for the question. Miss Versa, would you like to answer that question? Today, if you just use a mic in the same way we don't set the office hours or the standards for a town clerk, the select board also doesn't set the salary in the budget that comes in from them. So if it's too low, it's because they set their own salary too low. So no one can be heard unless you're using a mic. Thank you for your question or your answer. Who sets the salary? You set your own salary? I set the proposal then the town or the general plan. So it's not preset. It was set in a proposal to the select board. Is that correct? The general plan to then be voted on and approved by the town. Yes, I could have increased my salary by $25,000 and said please say yes. But that would have been a fair bit. When I started the position, it was $42,000. Now I currently make $59,000. I have asked dozens of people, if they're interested in the position, the one qualified person in the town who said they might, said they won't even consider running if it's less than 72. I think it was their figure. So then this select board, should the people go to the position that they are supervised by the select board? The select board willing to set the salary according to the candidate's request? Please. So what happens when you hire a position that is part of the select board's responsibility is there is a job specification and a salary range that goes out, that candidate comes in along with the others, you narrow it down, you get to that one that you think is awesome and then you enter into negotiations and the salary is set during that process. So it's not to say that we have a dollar value and take it or leave it. There's a whole process by which we have that communication with them. But that does have to fit within the general fund budget that gets passed by the voters. Thank you. All right. Further discussion, Mr. Sackwitz. The other piece of this, which we haven't spent much time talking about, is the treasure position. And while there are separate articles on the morning, they're connected because, as you know, and I think I've heard, we have a single individual who fulfills both those roles in town. And we haven't talked about the treasure position yet. But just to kind of get a little to get a little bit ahead, I think it's important to talk about it, even though we're not at that point in the morning yet, because the treasure position is actually a more technical position than the core position is in some ways, and actually requires more financial savvy and a financial background for the treasure position is actually much more important. And if we are looking for someone to be the clerk and the treasurer, it's really going to be the treasure parts of the job that are going to be the harder parts to find somebody who's going to come in fully able to do that role. And I don't, if I'm wrong, Joyce, please let me know. But my understanding is that Joyce in the past has supported moving the treasure position to a pointed position for those reasons. The way the roles work together in Randolph, neither position is sort of medium enough to be a full time position on its own, hard time positions are very hard to hire in these kinds of situations. So we kind of have to do both, or just, or neither is what I'm saying, because of the way our town government works. And if other folks have comments about this or have other opinions, I think we should know for sure. We should hear from them. But this is my understanding that if we were to move the treasure position alone to be in a pointed position and leave the town court position as an elected position, it's going to create difficulties in how we actually staff our town government. And if we keep them together, both appointed, one of the things which we're really are going to have is a lot more flexibility in terms of how we manage the workload in the town offices. And one of the things that Trevor has done a really great job over the last few years is figuring out how to make best use of the staff that we have currently, how to grow that staff, how to move around the responsibilities so that we're using the folks that we have in the most efficient way. And if these positions are appointed rather than elected, we'll have a lot more flexibility in terms of how we actually staff our town hall, which means more efficient government, less costly government. And I think the benefits there are again, outweigh the costs. Thanks. Thank you. Further discussion? You may be ready for the question. We're going to let if there's no objection, although she's spoken twice, we'll let Ms. Mizuko speak once more. Yeah. Because her Mr. Sackwitz stated her position. Is that all right? All right, come on up, Ms. Mizuko. We really don't want people speaking three times, but it seems fair. Joyce Mizuko, in commenting on what Larry said, the budget for the town clerk and treasurer is combined on the budget. And so therefore, if you end up having two separate people as a clerk and the treasurer, you're going to end up having to have two different salaries for an individual. There are ways around that. You could have your elected clerk and you can have your elected or appointed treasurer and then each could appoint each other as the assistant. And therefore, you can still have one salary for the individual. But the comments earlier regarding who sets the salary for the clerk or the treasurer. Ultimately, everything in the budget falls into the hands of the select board. The select board controls the money in the town. And I can tell you during my tenure as clerk and treasurer, I began at a salary of I believe $22,000. And the select board and I never objected to the salary that was put into the budget because overall, I felt that the select board was being fair whenever they gave me salary increases. There were a couple of different times where I did comment after looking at the Vermont leaks of cities and towns, salary comparison for different positions across all the towns within Vermont, that my position for what I was being paid here at Randolph was significantly lower than what was shown into the survey that the LCT had shown. And the select board chose to raise my salary accordingly. So overall, I had felt that the select board was fair in setting salary. But ultimately, anything to do with dollars within the town is in the hands of the select board. They are the ones who ultimately prove the budget which is presented to you. Thank you. Thank you. Any last comments? I just want to tell you, come on up. I'm Christine Zettles and I live in East Randolph. And I had to leave for part of this conversation. But I just have to say I feel like these last four questions on the warning are really an effort by the select board to take away the people's opportunity to weigh in. And I recognize we elect the select board and that there's not a ton of competition for those peace places. And I recognize that we elect a lot of people and there's not a lot of action, not a lot of people saying, hey, I want that role. I would love to see our select board make a better effort at getting people to town meeting and getting people involved in the process because that is part of the beauty of living in Vermont and having this direct participatory possibility. And I want to interact for my kid too. And I would really need to see town meeting gutted, particularly after we just recently made the change to having town meeting on Saturday. And we haven't had the opportunity to have very many of those to see whether people will carve the time out of their busy lives to come or not. So I want to know one of these measures and I hope other people do too. And I recognize that it makes life more difficult for elected officials. And I hope that you can continue to do your jobs as well or better than you have been. And I will be looking at my own life for how I can support you and the government. Thank you very much. Other comments. So I'm I'm assuming there's no other comments. We're going to vote on article 28. And I thought I would just give you a little bit of an overview of how we will do that today. Okay. So I am going to proceed with a voice vote, which you're well familiar with. But I want you to know the process, which is this, if I have any any doubt as to what the proper result is, or if I think one of you might have doubt as to what the result is, Roberts rules requires me to abandon the voice vote and do a standing vote. Okay. Where we will ask the board of civil authority to help do a count. So we rely on voice votes to move the agenda forward. But if it's not obvious, if the answer if the if the vote isn't obvious, then we will move to a standing vote. I want to tell you two other powers that you have. A single person here can just demand a standing vote. So one of you one person can ask for a standing vote. Seven of you can ask for a secret paper ballot. And we are probably prepared. We've got index cards and pencils. So if seven people want a secret paper ballot that can also be done. And that's for all of the following articles. But I thought we would give it a try with a voice vote and see where it lands us. Okay. So are you ready for the question? The question is on the adoption of article 28. That the voters shall authorize the select board to appoint a town clerk as provided by 17 VSA section 2651 E. All those in favor say aye. Those opposed say nay. I'm going to have a standing vote. Because I'm not sure I have doubt. So if I could ask for three members of the board of civil authority to come forward. And if I could have those index cards from Forest McGregor and the pencils. No we don't need the index cards and pencils. What was I thinking. All right. We need three board three members of civil authority. Looks like we have two. Yeah. Okay. I'll be the third. So what we're going to do. Yep. We're going to have we're going to divide the the group into three sections. I have not heard seven people. I have not heard anyone request a paper ballot. Yeah you can. Would you would you like to. Okay. Do we have seven. One two three four five six seven. Okay. All right. So I will take those index cards from Forest. All right. Every go hand out pencils yeah. If you could turn my mic on. Can you turn this on. Is this. Oh okay. This seems like a convenient break but I'm going to give you instructions so you could all stay with me. Okay. We need some if I could have your attention please. We have some index cards going around and we have pencils going around and these guys are working as fast as they can. Now if you want to vote and you are in the balcony come downstairs. If you are not a registered voter of the town please come over here. Thank you. Okay. Raise your hand if you do not have a pencil. Okay. Pencils. You'll also be able to share pencils. That's an easy one. All right. Now raise your hand if you do not have a little slip of paper. Okay way back there back in the back. Back back row. Who has the paper. Looks like it's coming your way. Yeah. Hey Forest. Can you bring some paper to the people in the back row way in the back or Jessamans got it. Okay. I'm going to we're not going to vote until everybody has what they need. Pencil right here. These folks have these these folks. Can you share. Yeah. Okay. I'm going to look around. So with everyone who plans to vote please sit. Okay. I just want you to raise your hand if you still need something to write with. And I now raise your hand if you need a slip of paper. Okay. Everybody has supplies. Great. Okay. Everyone please be seated who plans to vote except for Miss Haffner or she come on to the front for me. The four of you are non voters. Is that right. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Emery would you come down here to handle this column. Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Yeah. We can vote because it's I will get a piece of paper. Thanks. I will. Yep. Okay. I'm going to reread the question to you. Article twenty eight. Shall the voters authorize the select board to appoint a town clerk as provided by the statute. Okay. That's the question. What we're going to do is I'm going to reread the question to you. And you're going to either vote. Let's say yes or no. Those are your choices. When we do it orally we say I or nay but don't do that. Say yes or no. Okay. So go ahead. Write your response. Write your vote on the piece of paper and hang on to it. Shall the voters authorize the select board to appoint a town clerk as provided by the statute. Right. Yes or no. Can we put twenty eight on them if we're going to collect them for another one. No. Yes or no. We're going to give everybody just a second. Okay. Everyone has had an opportunity to vote at this point. And so the four of us are going to make our way up the aisle to collect your ballot. Okay. Stay seated. No. Thank you though. Please stay seated. And if you can stay quiet that's even better. All right. Good bye. Here you go. Ready. Go. How are you. Good. I was just thinking about you. Yeah. All good. Thank you. Good question. Thank you. Did you get him. You got him. All right. All it's been handed over. Have all of the ballots been handed. All right. Now what we're going to do is we're going to take a few minutes and we're going to count them. So now is your opportunity to use the restroom. Do some jumping jacks whatever. Okay. Come on. Come on. Let's all meet up here at the table. Oh you got one. Yeah. Okay. First have index cards. So you're not. Yeah. Thank you. Just so you're not. So how should we do it? Should we put it? Let's pile them into the piles. Okay. First. Someone has literally sealed it shut. I have these parents that don't have the stickers on me. Great. Okay. We're going to use them next. You all nice enough about you. I'm right. Just when you're on the record. What. This is being recorded. We'll record a blank. You guys monitor me. Okay. Sounds good. But this is a blank and there's one blank. So okay. So I'm going to count. You watch. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Oh gosh. One. Two. And you watch for me. Okay. So I'm not because my brain might. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. I understand. 11. 12. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 46. 47. 48. 49. 40. 41. 42. 43. Put these in a safe location over here. Wait, what are those? They're all in the box. Okay. All right. Plastic bag. So with the with the two of you mind sitting in the chairs. I was wondering what they were. The nose have it and the article has not passed. And I'm going to tell you the vote. It was 42. Yes. 44. No. And one blank. You article 29. And I have captured my board of civil authority up here on the stage. Okay. Article. Article 29 is a similar article. Not the same but similar. So let me read it to you. And again like article 28 this has to be moved to the floor for discussion. You're not required to do it. Article 29 says shall the voters authorize a select board to appoint a town treasurer as provided in 17 VSA section 26 51. Is there any motion? Thank you. Did you catch that? Emory? Yeah, that's been moved. Is there a second? Michael Pat. Thank you. Yes. So would you like to have I think so would you like to have no discussion? Is that what you're suggesting? Okay. And what do you mean by moved to table? Yeah, you can. So let me let me let me pull out my my notes about what what in Vermont is colloquially known as Passover right. It has been moved and seconded. And but we haven't discussed it. So this is an objection to consideration. Okay. And so you are objecting to consideration. You do not need we do not need a second to object to considering it. The effect of not considering it is we would move on to the next article. There cannot be any debate about the objection. It can't be amended. And two thirds of the body would have to vote would have to object with you. Okay, so we're going to have a voice vote right now. And it is I see a couple hands, but there's no debate on the objection. So I'm sorry. I do not wish to debate. I'd like to know if we don't debate or consider it that way. What will the conclusion be what what will the consequence be? No, if if we we're we have to vote now right now on whether to not consider this at all. Yep. And if you don't consider it now, we no action will be taken at all. And we will move on to article 30. What that means is the status quo will remain the same. Okay, so this article 29 will not be passed. It won't be lost either. But voters will still select a town treasurer. Okay, so again, we're voting just on an objection to proceeding to take up article 28. I'm sorry. 29. All those who object to considering article 29 say I those opposed to the objection say nay, I don't think you have two thirds. I think people want to discuss this article. Understood. I'm glad you raised it. So article 29 has been moved and it has been seconded. Is there any discussion about article 29? Mr Webster, do you have a comment? Thank you very much. You certainly are within your rights to do that. Um, article 29 is open for discussion. Mr Ward, come on up. Yeah, Jerry Ward, it seems to me it couldn't be much to discuss there. Really, the reason I'm in favor of tabling this emotion is that it's been pretty clear that the two physicians have been linked for a long time and there's good reasons to continue linking them. And with that being the case, I think we should be tabling the treasurer one proposal also. So just to let you know, you may not to complicate things, but you may someone, anyone may move to postpone indefinitely action on article 29. Now that discussion has begun that motion to table it forever. Table it requires a second. It is debatable. And the majority may pass that. Okay, so I heard Ruth Tucker. She has moved to postpone indefinitely any action on article 29. Can I have a is there a second? Did you catch a second? Say yell your name. Okay, great. All right. So there's a motion before the body to postpone indefinitely action discussion on article 29. And that is on the floor and you may debate that. But you may not have much to say about that, but you might. Shall the voters postpone indefinitely any action on article 29? I'm not seeing any discussion. So I will put the question to you. Shall the voters postpone indefinitely any discussion or action of article 29? All those in favor say I those opposed say nay. The eyes have it. And we will move on to article 30. I'm hanging in there. I'm hanging in there. Okay, and so are you. So article 30 reads shall the town of Randolph vote on all public questions by Australian ballot. So you've been doing some voting today from the floor. This this article would move questions like the ones you've been voting on here today to Australian ballot. The Australian ballot, you can look up online why we call it that, but it is the ballot that you're familiar with and that you'll be voting on on Tuesday in town hall. So all of these other articles are voted on by Australian ballot, but we still keep some articles that that we vote on from the floor. Would anyone like to speak in favor of the article? Thank you. We do have to have a motion. Awesome. We have to have a motion it or not. It's up to the body. Thank you so much. So to even discuss it. We would someone would have to move it and someone else would have to second it. It's been moved. Is there a second? Jovo she has seconded it. Thank you. Article 30 is now open for discussion. Mr. Bochi, please come up. My reasons for being in favor of this article as as we as we see here at town meeting today. I mean, my reason for me in favor of this article is we see a town meeting today. We have a population of 5000 people, which 89 of us chose to come out here today. Due to due to financial issues and the times that we've had recent years and pandemic we're just paying what it costs us for the equation. Most people have to still work on Saturday. Um me, I was in my office this morning at the Central Monument Medical Center at six o'clock morning in a construction project. I had to come here, but tomorrow I can't make it here. But what I can do is I can offer an absentee ballot to be able to be able to cast that vote. I can show up on Tuesday before seven o'clock to be able to cast that vote. A lot of folks just can't come out. I don't think this dissolves town meeting in any way. I believe that we can have a town meeting and still discuss like we're discussing today what's going to be on the budget or what you're going to vote for on Tuesday, if you so choose. So that's my reason favorite is to me, it's a democratic way to allow everybody to have their voice when as we talk about police departments, as we talk about budgets, as we talk about our select order, our treasure, or anyone's position treasure in town clerk. So that's what I'm going to say about it. Thank you. Thank you. Other discussion. Come forward. Come. Mark Kelly. I'm just here to say that more important even than good town government is good town community. Good community is created by face-to-face discussions by getting to know the people that you're working with, the people that you're living with, and the town meeting is a place where that can happen. It happens rarely, once a year, and it's our chance to see each other in action, see what people are thinking. I know our last question that we voted on, I probably went back and forth between the two sides, maybe five times deciding yes or no. And all that because of hearing other people's good reason. We will not have the benefit of that good reason if we don't have a time waiting. Thank you. I have Ms. Mizuko next, and I see you. Thank you, ma'am. My name is Matt. I'm a writer. Joyce Mizuko. I did some research before coming to this meeting on this particular question because the way that the question is worded, you're looking to have Australian ballot on all public questions. What I was researching was the fact that when the town changed from having a town meeting to vote on budget questions and for voting on public questions, there was a special town meeting vote, and the question was presented to the voters as four different questions. One was a question for voting for the town to have the budget questions voted on by Australian ballot. Two, there was the question for the police district to have their budget voted by Australian ballot. Three, there was a question for the sewing district to vote their budget by Australian ballot. And four, for the water district to vote their budgets by Australian ballot. And at the time, there was the question of whether not to have all questions voted by an Australian ballot, and there were very strong opinions both ways for having everything Australian ballot and for having everything remaining as a town meeting where everything was voted on the floor. And eventually, it came to the compromise of having just the budget questions being voted on an Australian ballot to at least give the opportunity for more people to at least have a say in the budget part. But there was very strong opinions to remain to have the public questions remain from the floor of the meeting. And I only point this out because I think that there will be problems in the future if you vote this question and say yes, that only solves the problem of voting the questions for the town as a whole. It does not solve the question for the three other districts. Thank you. Thank you. Come forward. Thank you. I think on the voter rolls, I'm listed as Margaret Whiteneck. I said Peggy Whiteneck previously, so I want to make an order of that. Thank you. I think that a town meeting has a role, an important role, whether or not there are Australian ballot issues or town meeting voting issues. When I come to town meeting, I don't necessarily know what's going to be voted on at town meeting. I come to town meeting because I want to be an informed and active member of the town, not necessarily because I'm voting on a specific thing. I can vote on an Australian ballot and still value town meeting whether or not there's any vote taken at the town meeting because I can become an informed voter by the discussion that happens at town meeting. So I think town meeting has a value and I know that having an Australian ballot will expand the number of people who are able to vote on an issue and I think that's a value also. Thank you. My name is Elliot Hap. I just have a clarifying question. If we vote to move all votes to Australian ballot, does that mean we will not have town meeting anymore? The group, the town, can still have a meeting for discussion but any vote would then be moved to a ballot. But we can still discuss what we're voting on on the ballot. As far as I understand it, that is correct. The someone else may have other information. What I as I understand it, what would be lost is voting from the floor as as you do today by item for some items that the select board may put on the warning and for items that you all may put on the warning. Budget items are always by Australian budget, by Australian ballot currently and that will remain the same and some bonding issues must be done by Australian ballot. That won't change. Ms. Rice? I wish we had a system where some young person would answer this. Well I think it's important to actually talk with each other. Put that microphone out. Oh yes. Thank you. It's important to actually talk with each other and sometimes people bring up items under other questions if they last that long. So there's that part too. This is mentioning that. Thank you. Mr. Kelly, I think have you spoken about this article? Okay. Let's just give other people who have, I'm sorry for getting you up. Let's have other people who have not had an opportunity to speak. I think Ms. Versard, I saw and then I ignored. I won't take it personally. I think there's some confusion out there on this article and it's not bringing town meeting to an end and there's no attempt here by the select board to gut participation from people. The challenge is if you look around we have less than 2% of the registered voters of Randolph sitting in this room right now and rightfully brought up some of them are working. Some of them have little kids. Some have sports events that are taking place today. Other priorities. The conversation was it didn't seem fair that only those people who could attend a meeting on a Saturday morning could make the decisions that the rest of the town had to live with because their schedules didn't allow them to be here. The intent was to allow the conversations to still take place. People to gather. You can express your opinions. We can have the whole conversation but the vote itself goes so that everybody in town has an opportunity to cast their vote. It seemed like a way to get more people involved and to get a better representation of what the town as a whole wants to do. So this discussion that's taking place right now all the conversation everybody weighing in all the education of each other's viewpoints and whatnot would still take place. You just have all the different ways through absentee valet when the treasurer or the town clerk's office going to the offices on Tuesday to vote all those opportunities would be there to help people find a way to get their vote in also. Thanks. Mr. Kelly, hang on one second. I want to give I see you and first time voters first time speakers is Tyler. Yeah, go ahead. The reason why I support this more as a law or working law I should actually be in my business right now speaking of business owners in town who are also residents to all of them are. They're all working right now. They cannot leave their businesses or shut them down. It could be with financial collapse if we did that every time. But looking around the room I can count maybe by parents of young children here. That's it. If I count myself maybe six and maybe there's a few people I'm not sure if you have kids or not. That's very, very limiting for people in my situation. I normally last year I actually came during the snowstorm with all three of my children if you were here you remember that because they were loud and obnoxious and everyone gave me looks that I was here. And that's just not really feasible to do. And so we're asking people in my situation to not have a say in tapping our town. Looking towards my select board role that I've had this year. I thinking in my head I could think of at least 20 people who asked me about what the votes are asking questions outside of town meeting and talked to other people as well about what information actually is in that those conversations are happening and can continue to happen here but they are also happening in spaces that are not here. But they are not allowed to have a say because they couldn't make it today on these other floorboat articles. So that's why I believe this is a good opportunity to offer a voice to everybody who would like one. Thank you. Come on forward. Maria. I think this is an existential question. And I think those people that if this is this is a question that only these people are going to make I don't think that's fair either. I think this is the question that needs to be brought up before the entire time in which we haven't prevented. You can't just backtrack. So with that in mind and with what I said in mind I believe that we need to think about how communications are important with resulting voting and how it's changed things. I think we don't I think the question of communicating with each other is a problem in this country and I think particularly in this age of making things simpler and simpler. I do believe that there are people out there that could be here very well and I think it's their problems. I'm going to say it that way that they're not here. Not everyone. There are people that have jobs that require them to be there. But I think there are people that could be here. But I think as we let go of the voting on what we vote on in these time meetings we get less and fewer and fewer people coming and I think it's really important in the character of Vermont and I think it's an important as it is leading this kind of voice throughout the country and I really get very disappointed when we limit and eliminate things that have been important and continue the process of growth and understanding between people. Thank you. Come on out. Thank you very much. There's been a motion to call the question. So let me tell you a little bit about calling the question for people who don't know what that means. It means voting to call the question would end debate and require a vote on the substantive motion. So to call the question we would need someone to second that. Okay we have a we have a second. There cannot be any debate on this motion no amendment and two-thirds of the of the body must approve the motion to call the question. Okay so calling the question cuts off debate further debate. All those in favor of calling the question say aye. Those opposed say nay. The ayes have it and so we will proceed to vote on article 30. Last vote of the day people so again my plan is to do a voice vote but the rules require that if I have any doubt as to the result or if I think even one of you has doubt that we move immediately to a standing vote. Again seven voters can demand a paper valid one person can demand a standing count from the beginning. There okay we shall do a standing count. Thank you. To do a standing count we are going to have I think Jessamine and I can do it together one section at a time. So one of us will both count and then we'll compare notes yeah. Okay okay so what I'm going to ask you to do if you are not a registered voter to please move out of the seats if you're upstairs and you want to vote come down. Emory if you want to vote take a seat. I'm going to come down there hang on. Once everyone is seated we will have the vote. This is on article 30 it says shall the town of Randolph vote on all public questions by Australian ballot once we do the vote you know we'll ask all those in favor to stand and the key is you have to remain standing until we count you okay so don't sit down don't leave just stand and stay standing and remain seated if you oppose the motion okay is that clear. All right article 30 shall the town of Randolph vote on all public questions by Australian ballot all those in favor please stand and remain standing. All right let's do this section this is we'll call this a BNC okay stay standing please stay standing thank you and shall we vote I know me either me too all right all right so let's add these up you may sit why are you so fast did you see what I did there but you can't you okay all right all those opposed please stand so we're gonna count me and you one two this is section C stay standing if you would you might have to walk okay Tim are you standing are you standing I have 18 I have 17 one I have 18 okay okay you can um sit while we add it up that's a lot of math for me 26 36 40 I'm just gonna do it myself okay so 26 wait so 26 36 40 okay thanks am I done counting what yeah the nose have it and the article is lost and I'll tell you the vote those in favor 35 those opposed 40 okay we have um a little bit more to do and that is to do any other business proper to come before the meeting this is going to come on up let me hand you this thank you thank you to have more detailed explanations from the select board in the hero perhaps about what they're doing we feel that we don't know what they're doing most of the time and we would very much like to know and we don't know a lot of times how they're spending our money we we understand that they only meet once a month but it's it's pressing we think a number of us that we should know more about what they're doing so that's I'm finished thank you very much I just um well I just want to say um Ms. Gwynn said that the board meets once a month um are the are the are the meetings where do you post notice of the meetings so uh select board and then those are posted in three public spots right so there's um not only the agenda is out there in advance not just for the select board but for a lot of the committee meetings they're able to be attended in person or by zoom and the link is on the agenda to attend by zoom they're also recorded and you can go out and watch those after the back to um sometimes Tim's folks are at the meetings sometimes or not usually you'll find there'll be some write-up about what was discussed and what we did at those meetings um there's a lot of well we don't control the reporters so unfortunately that's not ours um you know we've got it out there on video you can watch it yourself and make a mural mind about what we said and what we discussed because two people you know I can tell you I disagree with the reporters sometimes and their statements about the meeting so usually a phone call will have a conversation and can come back online but um we can't control that and um I think we've done a very good job at getting this stuff out it's on front page forum ahead of the meetings what's going to be there there's links there to it there's minutes that get posted there's all kinds of stuff if you have a question too a lot of folks aren't too bashful I don't see any of the ones that are in that ground but a lot more are too bashful about Columbia the next day to see what we talked about in my whole detail was so my number is published but thanks yeah I just yeah come on up I just quickly while we I had a little bit of other business since I just want you to be aware about something about town meeting if you have a really good idea that you think we should enact right say you want all the schools to put solar panels on on buildings or whatever whatever your idea is you can come to me and I'll help you write an article that you can put on the warning to be voted on and again some of them must be bought by Australia Australian ballot some are voted by the floor but if you have an idea get in touch with me about how you might be able to pursue that through the power you already have just wanted to make that offer my name is Inger Krupa I just wanted to recognize that maybe there would be more people here but it was not just in the paper I got the information that we have a meeting from someone else and that was Patrick Emery so I'm sure it's in the paper thank you I I did I thank you I I'm glad you're here I did see it in the paper but we'll stay in touch with with your town clerk to get that warning that's the other thing the book that you have you can ask the town clerk to mail you a copy in advance and and they will come on up you can ask for whatever you want I would like to bring to the assembly a question put a referendum up for a vote and that's regarding the warrant in Gaza I'd like to ask for a ceasefire in Gaza a vote on that so any vote that the body has is not binding of course you could ask people's opinion people are not necessarily required to answer yeah what would go ahead I just I think it's a big issue in this country and I think it would be other towns do it other states are thinking about it and I'd like to have a vote yeah so again you should reach out to me so that we can get an article warned perhaps if there's something that's germane to do that other business I see hands I've got one minute I've got this other speaker but come on up you got it you got the floor my name is Molly Mullen I am a registered voter formerly known as Harness my dad Mitch Harness took one last one last year before he died just a couple weeks after town meeting day I am running for select board this year if you have any questions concerns please find me before Tuesday I can be reached email phone however I would like to talk to me voice your concerns I would all love your votes on Tuesday thank you thanks very much greetings thank you my name is Patsy Franchin before we adjourn I think we owe a debt of gratitude to me and the budget committee okay other business quickly I just want to say thank you to whoever was responsible for identifying the individuals to who our town court was made an honor of the Butterfields they are so deserving well just one last I just want to get in the habit of coming up on the microphone and saying thank you to the people who we appreciate um as someone who's on the board of civil authority and the elected justice of the peace thank you for your vote um I'm on the water committee and the conservation committee this town only works because we work and I appreciate everybody who showed up today I know it's not super convenient I mean for anybody really um democracy is a huge pain in the ass and I really seriously right and I really appreciate the people who show up I hope I can encourage other people to show up especially because we're voting from town meeting next year as well as this year I also work at the library and probably know that I fixed most of your computers do you just want to say thank you to all the people we've already thank thank you to you thank you to people who are going to come to vote there's more positions and ways to help out in town than we have people to help out in town so maybe if you don't come to town meeting and you can't do some of those positions you think about ways you could serve if you've already served and you're done thank you for having already served I just wanted to say it's difficult we appreciate it it's difficult thank you thank you there's a long list on page 11 of people who contribute to keep our town running I'm trying to camera Morgan thank you for reminding me I would like to thank I know they're not here for his years and years and years of service on the budget committee and doing a bazillion things for town I'm here mostly today to make sure that he did not get nominated for the budget committee because he has done his time but I would encourage again as Jesmyn said if you have a skill or an interest or anything please be on a town committee because we're graying out rapidly and most of the town is burned by the same five people or so so it would be awesome if we got more people involved thank you thank you town minister and assessor we're still going through our town one we're frazel and say if anyone has any questions comments concerns please come with me I have office hours each for Monday through Thursday but you can always give me a call or an email and we can set up a time that works for you to go over and discuss anything that you want to discuss thanks thank you very much I'm Iris Edwards vice chair of this select board but also one of your two representatives in the general assembly and I told folks that I would stay after town meeting to talk to folks about things that are going on in the state house and answer questions I do not necessarily expect we'd still be here at one o'clock so for those of you who are really itching to get out of here I don't plan but for those of you who wish to stay and talk to me about things that are going on statewide I'd love to hear your questions and talk about those issues thanks thank you I've got a couple more speakers and there is a motion to adjourn would you kindly withdraw the motion to just allow these last two people to speak I'm not going to labor right now I am going to make something available to you if you are interested I am concerned about things that are changing in schools in some areas of our state and I would like to make sure that those kinds of things are not going to affect the climate member in Randall so if you'd be interested there's a recent release video called war on children and I highly encourage all to get informed and then we should talk further thank you yes if there's no objection we have permission for a speaker who is not a registered voter for those of you who I haven't met I'm Chloe Powell I just hit the year mark as the executive director here so I want to thank the community I've come just down the road and partnered but we are strongly excited things coming up so thank you thank you very much and if there is no objection would adjourn the meeting it sounds like there's no yes I Mr. Webster I didn't hear you the meeting adjourned and that takes a vote it does it does take a vote and is there a second second okay all those in favor of adjourning the meeting say I those opposed say nay the meeting is adjourned thank you