 Okay, well welcome to February's select board meeting for February 19th a Tuesday night Our agenda is fairly full we'll start with approving the agenda as Presented unless there's some changes Make the motion that we approve the agenda as a present second that No further discussion all in favor say aye The consent agenda items Minutes of January 28th meeting Fairly big liquor license list for cold holler cider mill Butler Street Pizza Village Market prohibition pig American Legion Thai smile restaurant Fast-stop Champlain firms kinnies Cabot foods Oak Hill Corporation and Then a permit for a festival for permit for not quite independence day on June 29th from 1 to 10 at the ruster park Rusty Park Beer garden Rusty Parker Park beer garden and last is a Resigned certificate of highway mileage is there a motion to approve this please We approve the consent agenda and agenda items as listed Second second that okay any further discussion None all those in favor say aye. All right. All right And the public is there any public ever come up speak Maybe we should just change public to ever coffee What I'm going to say has absolutely nothing to do With the state police quality the work they're doing which I think is great We've seen more blue lights in the last several months and we did for a number of years What I am concerned about and I know it's gonna be extremely difficult to do I'm hoping that you're gonna find someone who is So Excited about having something on their agenda that we can find somebody to be the meet a man to meet a maid Call him out of your wish. They do not have to be a law enforcement person A lot of problems on the end of the street Henders people backing crossways of the street corner, etc. And You see it personally, I didn't pay attention Unless he's got a new sign out if he does that makes for that's a bit more than the legal amount I think but This guy's packing up the curb this cash back very Safe positions, and I think this is nothing to do with BSP with Joe and because of new gentlemen But I think it's something we need to look forward to it. It's not gonna be an easy task to find somebody that's So excited or foolish if we want to get to the job Thank you Anyone else? Okay, guess not. We'll move ahead Now about a discussion with the Vermont State Police So let me see if I get Dave on the line here and Joe if you want to come up here. We'll give you a hot mic Yes, this is Mark Mater and you're on live on a speakerphone at our select board meeting here in Waterbury We've got your sacrificial guy lined up here to speak as well. Joe is with us and So I will The the chair Just Speak about any particular issues and flow that he wants to go with this and then we'll we'll get moving on Good evening Dave. Thanks for being available here tonight Yeah, totally understood appreciate you being available by phone So I guess tonight there the information that mark sent us they're going over The stats there on calls and whatnot Can you give us a little bit of an insight as to how you think things are working here so far based based on the Program that were under Together So looking at the one graph here that we have On The amount of calls that the Middlesex troopers versus the resident troopers There's about a seven percent Divide there forty three percent Middlesex trooper sponsor response and then 57 percent Resident troopers I Guess that kind of Probably got me more curious than anything about why that number is so close based on the the days that The resident troopers are here And the remaining days that are not here. I'm curious to know when the Middlesex troopers are seeing most of their calls And I guess a bottom line is I I Was hoping at some point And I want to go shooting myself in the foot here but I was hoping to see that the resident troopers were taken up more of the Middlesex graph then then they currently are only from the perspective that to relieve pressure off from Middlesex To allow the the troopers that are responding here in town to perhaps be more available elsewhere Can you lend any information towards that? Saturday and Or Sunday and Monday evenings So I think a lot of the the calls that just just looking over them both of the calls seems That we're taking our come in during the during the weekend during the daytime which is a Time with a Waterbury resident trooper. They should trooper is not there So that that's going to take a lot of it, you know, and I think that just kind of goes with Your area and the amount of traffic is supposed to come and go Through Waterbury on the weekends. I think it's just kind of the the nature of the beat But to that end, you know, if if not Concentration and all of that which all of those cases During the week would obviously fall to the middle that's true. So there's a certainly Even even with that number so close the the amounts that is taking off The troopers and metal taxes is great because I know a lot of those which that would be The time in which they would be dealing with those calls Actually, Dave, this is Mark Mater. I'm gonna have the board look at a trend Graph that I included on the six month run It actually does a pretty good job of showing that differential with with the coverages when we started in July Of course, Rick Rick was on some lead time initially and Joe was was here full-time and at that point the middle sex troops still covered most of The calls and the two lines the orange line are the resident troopers and the gray line represent the station troopers and You can see during the the main part of the fall on everything it very clearly Resident troopers were pulling Much more of a share of of the total calls when we get into November December That's when Rick was getting ready to Pull the pen and he was burning up some lead time and then was gone for a while and then you had the transition getting Keith on board and so that that flipped a little bit and I know we spoke about January January has that same sort of off-site tilt where it looks like the station troopers are picking up more than the resident troopers, but there was some National bear duty and some lead time affiliated that too, but I think the most important thing we're hearing from you and We'll pick Joe's brain a little bit on this too is that It seems as though the station troopers appreciate the fact that they've got somebody here to cover the workload out of Waterbury and the Waterbury troops are are Making an impact with what they're taking off the burden for the station troops So I imagine this might be a tricky question as well and maybe even possible impossible to answer I don't know how familiar familiar you were with the With the village police department when it was here and I'm curious to know if you have any indication as to Maybe how much more or less is being done With the resident troopers here as opposed to having what village police force was here prior And I don't even know if you could even track, you know Responses in the village versus responses in the town I think to that There's certain types of activity that you could match up one to one but The village police force did different types of policing than the troopers do so, you know There's no parking enforcement happening now. That's that's not a knock against the state police We do going in that they weren't going to be doing that village police did quite a bit of that you know general Door-checking and and you know in and out of businesses while certainly the last few years of the Waterbury police department That was a challenge to get that to happen It's just a different kind of police force and it's a different activity that these folks do It'd be interesting to see as time goes on in terms of the Traffic stops and things like that. I know that Certainly outside the village. There's far more traffic stops at least anecdotally Observation-wise than there were before I see people pulled over now whereas Back in the day before this contract not that they didn't do traffic enforcement in Waterbury, but they weren't here 80 hours a week doing that kind of work So it's hard to measure in many respects, but I think the service that we're getting now And the activity that this shows is good Just to your earlier point Cristiano I Think is the state troopers on about 16 hours a day out of the Middlesex barracks in general Yeah, they usually go from 7 a.m. Till 2 in the morning, okay, so What's that? Are you suggesting that the there's a larger volume of? Guess calls on the on the Saturday Sunday Kind of timeframe as opposed to the rest of the week as a rule I mean yeah, I'd say during the weekends are definitely busier before I'd also forget this point As far as like the Middlesex troopers and the the Waterbury troopers like taking the calls For example like Saturday night. I was dealing with a Woman who crashed and who was drunk so then after that the other calls that came in the Middlesex troopers had to take So that goes towards the the 50% of that or whatever the number was so Just when I'm tied up the Middlesex troopers even while I'm on shift Have to take the calls that come in like it just happened to be a family fight that happened So they had to respond to that so did you take Richard's place? I'm on my shift I'm on my shift Are you seeing more activity in the village or in the center? I'd say definitely in the center. It's where it's been busier one of the questions that One of the residents asked me here when you're on route 100 That's part of our area If we pick up people there for speeding, I mean do the speeding how do the revenues that come from the tickets? Work do they go to the town or the state leaders? It's going to depend on how the trooper goes to take it So if they're on Guptell Road, and they write a ticket on the municipal ordinance It's it's town revenue when the town goes get the money I don't remember at this point whether the town has a piggyback ordinance the village used to have a An ordinance that covered sections of route 100 as well. So if if If why were you police officers stop somebody going up the ramp for example on route 100 or in front of Billings Mobile? Even though it's a state posted speed limit They could write that on a village ordinance because the state statute allows you to overlay across that ordinance I would imagine the troopers if they're writing an ordinance a ticket on route 100 They're using the state statute and that probably goes to the state. Well, the concern from the resident was that you know Is waterberry paying for the troop the resident trooper being on 100? Well, rule 100 isn't waterberry. No, I'm sick. Yeah, don't Misunderstand what I'm trying to get here get a point. I'm trying to get across they were just wanting to make sure that You know if we were spending Tax dollars for trooper on route 100 there We're curious to know whether we were getting the money from the tickets as well as part of that So that was the question that I was asked to ask. Well, I know what Dave Dave has broken out some of the stuff on the Violations and for the most part I I know when when Joe and Rick first started we we had the discussion over that We provided them with the updated Municipal ordinance listing that we have and Generally speaking the speeding violations and probably some of the stop sign violations if if they come up are Within the purview of the municipal ordinances but a lot of the other stuff like the DUIs and The driving license suspended right everything are all state The only violations that we can get fine money from our speeding and stop signs Any kind of defective equipment? crosswalk enforcement Do you live certainly none of that revenue comes to the town it didn't even come You know when the village police wrote those kind of tickets that went to the state, too It's not doesn't come to a municipality, so So Dave has there been any discussion amongst the higher-ups there as to And this is just a generic question as to whether or not This same program might be beneficial elsewhere in other towns Obviously They're they're very interested to see how this all plays out the probably the biggest thing from a state-of-the-art standpoint is you know these this project this contract added to people to our overall number and You know, it's it's great as long as we have the numbers to fill it, but Just as soon as the barracks, you know staffing issues things like that Start going down that, you know, we might have we would look at having to pull from these contracts if we got You know really big into the this contract business, so I think they they really want to see how this How this shapes out long-term life just to make sure that we're not overstepping and you know committing to these contracts that We may not be able to deploy staff. Yeah And one of the things that we've looked at with The data that we're trying to capture is to just get a sense of What the workload looks like and also one of the issues around whether Station troopers or the resident troopers are covering calls is really because we Only established the the shifts and the coverages. It was based on what traditionally looked to be the primary workload Components and if what we were seeing over a period of time was that we'd missed the mark on that It would give us the opportunity to adjust, but I have to say the only Variation we've seen in that split between the resident troopers and the station troops really has been a result of Covering for some leave absences and it looks as though really what we've Picked out for shift coverages Meet the needs for the bulk of the service calls Joe someone asked me to week or so ago What's your estimate of the of the 80 hours of the 40 hours that you're working? How many of those hours do you actually feel that you're in? Watering I had somebody say well, you know that this is great for the state police because they get to have their people In middle sex running around and they get paid by water I said, I don't think that's the way it's supposed to work. They're supposed to be here I think you are but I'll let you wait So I Every shift it takes you probably 35 minutes to get here depending on traffic So I sign on at 5 p.m. And I'm here probably 535 to 540 and then you know at the same time going home But unless I have to run up to the barracks because I don't have everything here right in Waterbury that I need like to download my Video camera I have to go up to the barracks and download that and everything just because we don't have the Computer and everything here. So if I have to run up to the barracks, you know that so that might take an hour Yeah, if that, you know, yeah travel time and downloading it and stuff like that, but You know that usually will last me a whole week without having to download my thumb drive So from your perspective, you're pretty much in Waterbury when you're working. Yes Yeah, and then a lot of the other receptionist and then a lot of the other troopers You know that they come in town as well. So just Why I was busy and they like to be in town also and Have you had an occasion and Dave you can answer this as well? I know there are times and you just gave a good example when a troop had to come in and take a call because you were tied up The troopers who are signed to Waterbury. I assume That there would be a reciprocal kind of situation where if there's a lot of action happening And then there's a call somewhere else Do you folks have to go to Ducksbury more town ever to to take a call or is that just in a real emergency situation? I think since I've been here. I've taken Three or four calls out of out of Waterbury, you know, just everyone else has been tied up and And something happened. So but I didn't count them on one hand that I've had to leave the town for so the Middlesex troops are Doing much more in Waterbury than the Waterbury troops are doing outside of Waterbury, right by far. Okay. Good That's what I hope to say Not that we object to your going if you need it, but you know, and I think that's really I Look at that as a not necessarily a negative thing that You know, we're paying for the state police to be here for 80 hours a week But it's not to the exclusion of getting coverage from the Middlesex barracks if they're needed they're going to be here So if they're taking 43% of the calls, I Think we're getting a higher level of service than we would be otherwise if we just said Sorry, the two guys in water. We have to take everything and nobody else from Middlesex ever comes into Waterbury. I think our Value would be diminished. So I don't see that as a big problem The other the other point with that bill is it oftentimes Cases are triage calls are triage and by having the presence of the two troopers here in town I'm sure we get responses to stuff that Might sit on a shelf and not not get any answer. So I think it puts us in a good position But it also gives you the opportunity to know the community that much better, right? You mentioned a minute ago there about downloading Is there any benefit one way or the other or is that something that we could I don't know what it takes to do that? So we have into their systems. Yeah, but we and I this is just again. It's a question Is it worth Looking at us being supplying that ability for you to do it here at the fire station or no Well, I'm not sure what's involved, but yeah so it's a What is is it all of our videos are downloaded on to our the our cloud for the state police so they have it on their computer system and Whenever we have like an arrest or something that that's all caught on video So that's all Downloaded so then when it goes to court or something the the clerks at the barracks They have they they burn the discs and everything get it to the defense attorneys So I just think it'd be a little difficult if We had at the fire department for like the clerks I didn't know if it could be done at the fire department and sent to Middlesex But I think with dying perspective, I didn't know if it was beneficial. Well, I'm not sure exactly what's involved, but knowing what little I do know about you know Whatever technology this and the like You know, I'm sure this state has it's a secure system. It's their system There are people are gonna have to be involved in it. They're IT people So I think it I think that while it might save a couple of minutes in terms of driving in Middlesex I think the overhead and the expense Involved in having a new port and then have to maintain that would probably not be worth anything else that Dave On the graph here, you've got property incidences you got disputes between persons obviously service assistants is pretty much, you know, like explanatory self-explanatory The property incidences and the disputes between persons Can you just touch a little bit on what some of those things are about? You know, they can be like vandalisms for the property stuff People calling in theft complaints as far as the the property disputes and then The other disturbances are like family fights or you know people actually getting into fights or assaults on everyone is That's what those are when we Did the research prior to entering into this project? We really took a look at What the nature of calls were here in Waterbury, and we we took a multi-year perspective and we looked at the village TV as well as the state police calls and Frankly the breakdown that we're seeing is pretty consistent with what what we saw over that multi-year period it shifts a little bit from month to month which is why keeping a running tally on this will give us a better picture, but and in most circumstances that the True crime aspect of stuff is Fortunately a smaller proportion of the overall that's the traffic related stuff the calls for service a lot of Interactions that take place to keep stuff from getting out of control and We seem to be staying along that same track Let's hope we can continue that Dave if you've got anything else to add or if you don't we can kind of let you off the hook and Joe as well unless you've got something you'd want to add I got one more thing We're starting this it's called intelligence-based policing. It's a new actually the middle sex barracks is doing it as well Intelligence-based policing so that's the name of it and what that is is where Troopers will go and they'll meet with the community members at different locations and Keith and I are actually starting this in Waterbury now so like twice a month we're gonna meet and We spoke with chief Dylan at the fire station and he's allowed us on Thursday's late Afternoons early evenings to host these meetings with the community right at the the fire department. So, you know People are welcome. They're gonna send a press release and everything like this to For the town, but our one we're first starting is the 20th of this month at a 3 3 to 4 30 at the fire department and That just you know, everyone is welcome to come and just meet with Keith and I just talked with us about issues and This can go as far as like someone who's having trouble with their heating Paying their heating bill, you know, seeing what we can help them with To you know, someone who's driving drunk all the time just any information and then we just try to To work with that the best we can so We're gonna set up a press release and anyone who can make it is welcome to come and meet with us and You know, it's just if people are seeing things that we're not just bring it to our attention and we'll deal the best we can so That we're hoping to do that twice a month and if it doesn't work for people We're just we're trying it at 3 3 to 4 30 for the first one And if that's too early in the day, then we can adjust and do it later in the evening Keith is willing to adjust his schedule as well to sign on later in the day later in the morning And that way he can work into the evening as well so we can both be there. So I just wanted to Let everyone know about that as well. So the goal basically is a little bit of personal interaction Yeah, we just people the residents here in the town and to get to know them right to know you and yep Everyone just common, you know, if someone's saying hey my neighbor is having problems with paying their their heating bill You know, we can see we can do to provide services for that or if hey my neighbor is driving drunk every day You know, or with a suspended license or people are speeding up and down this road Just anything they didn't want to bring to us, you know, we're that's that's the purpose of the meeting so just to get everyone in the community to come forward and just meet with us and Discuss everything that's going on so All right, well Dave I appreciate your time I was gonna say we'll look forward to the next time hopefully see you in person appreciate it. Thanks Thank you very much. Thank you taking the time to join us and now folks know that you're not really a ghost, right? Thank you You Just for your information we post those up on the town website, so they're available there month to month when the LT Provides us with the numbers we we crunch them out into this so that month to month We're looking at the same stuff and seeing what if any sort of changes Good night Okay Next item on the agenda is a little discussion here with the Now in Thompson and the Conservation Commission. You'd love to come up Like hedges Sure, they can see right here Talk about some invasive species. Okay. How'd you do it? Well, thanks for having me evening select board members Bill and Carla For those of you that may not know me. I live on corner Perry Hill and Henry Huff been in Rotterbury over 20 years and for the last 10 I've been living there and Henry Huff and Been battling at least a half a dozen invasive species That were on the property when I bought it during the winter months I'm actually making some progress with What what scares me a little bit more I think is wild chervil This is a very aggressive invasive plant. I have some fliers on that that I Can put produce for you a quick little fact sheets on wild chervil some other ones also There's a there's an article here that I'll leave with you from the University of Vermont extension service that talks about wild chervil and it's aggressive entry into our state Not weed which most people are familiar with and then frag mites or the common reed Is one that Is pretty prevalent in town as well as Poisoned parsnip so wild chervil and poison parsnip are phototoxic Plants so that you might have heard of this where if you cut them or get the juice on your skin and the sun is exposed to that you'll blister And some some cases scar are from those So it's it's a it's a hazard to people playing in their fields or whatever, but it's a it's spread rather readily by By seed or by rhizome, you know through the root structure, but mostly by seed The town's mowing patterns tend to Are the timing that tends to be after they've gone to seed and so we're just spreading those seeds around town Chris you I don't know if you're familiar with chervil, but Across from your place. I'm gonna chervil is another word for it cow parsley. It's what I was told by the Davis farm. It's the white flower. It's the white flower. That's a chervil not wild chervil Okay That's yeah, you're right. It's horrible And on your side of the road where it's mowed regularly. It's pretty well kept in check I go around with a weed whacker and try to keep it at bay because I see what it's doing The fishermen said to me one day How come you don't have it on your property crests? And that's because I'm right after it to try to keep it from going to seed But the problem is it's so abundant across the road that it's just you know I think I'm losing fighting a losing battle here and I Fighted on my property by digging and pulling as much as I can and I go up the road In the direction that the mowers would come towards me and try to get it away from my property I've shared this with my neighbors. I also shared this with The newspaper the local newspaper about two or three years ago. There was an article on what on invasives and I I also work for the agency of transportation the Asset management performance bureau and do budgeting with them and so I've been working with the state to try to get them to also have more frequent mowlings to knock this stuff down before it goes to see and Well, I'm having difficulties there because a second mowing or an earlier mowing it really Would would require a second mowing is about another million dollars for the state of Vermont And what would the ideal time be to do the first mowing? I'm not Exactly sure. I think that when we or at least when I see the mowing on Perry Hill Which is I think Around town. It's all about the same time. They they rent the The mowers for a week And they go through once and that is just about the right time To catch it. Usually it's in bloom on that the first mowing of the season And so it's prior to it going to see Now So if you mow it before it goes to see That doesn't do anything to that just that just Kills the natural propagation By spreading on the seeds, but it can still keep growing and spreading with its root structure Yes, but not nearly at the rate that it does by seed. Okay, so There are Probably dozens of invasive plants in this town We're not likely to eradicate Any of them completely, but we do need to try to manage them because these plants are taking over These environments where other Plants used to be I mean they will force other plants out that maybe blossom later and provide pollinators flowers later in the year and They showed if they're in a farmer's field that gets bailed the trouble doesn't dry as quickly as The rest of the hay and so it can spoil the hay as well So there's enough, you know, there's a burning that can happen. There's a number of reasons why the town would want to try to Manage this so What we've passed out there Talked to the public works director about you coming in and he's been working with the highway woman, so In 2019 we have three weeks of going scheduled as opposed to the one week that we've done in the past then We rent and say we rent a roadside bar right now. So the first Calling is scheduled for June 15th And then we have two more weeks at the end of July and the first couple days of art. So We have To staff and and you know the highway forming gets Fair amount of training through both the trans and the Vermont legal cities and towns about this kind of stuff. So The rest of the handout that I gave to the board is just You know, what would options be if we wanted to Have a much more aggressive learning schedule Costs us about thirty two hundred dollars a week to just rent the machine And then of course we're providing the operator. So there's a week's worth of pay going along with that we used to have a More on the trackless Machine that we use for Plowing the sidewalks and snow blowing the sidewalks. We had it over them. We had it. There's a boom a more arm And actually put it over a car drill and everything else But it's costly. It's about thirty thousand dollars as you can see to buy that more and then Another five thousand dollars for additional. I guess it must have a tire event Supports it when it's out there So about thirty five thousand dollars to buy that machine to put on the trackless The note there that silly has put in is that if we do this We're going to have to replace the machines a lot more frequently than we do now because that it's a lot of torque and weight And it just hit the machine Took a big the machine Yeah You know, I don't know how different the world is today in the road sites As I told you a couple weeks ago Chris when I first came here Know how we really had his fine-wall track or whatever it was with a sickle bar on it and went out and just rolled with that You know, that's enough hot, but Anyway, I'm not here to recommend anything. I'm just telling you that for this year We do have more mowing scheduled will try to get Have three weeks worth as opposed to just a week or two So anyway, I don't need to cut it That's right Well, my my stepfather Mowed the road sides in our town of Lamb Grove during the summer months, but I don't believe that these invasives were around back then now. These are relatively new And So we're really fighting something different than what we were doing there there We were just trying to keep the woody woody plants from growing So, you know, I'd just like you to consider that we're up against something Much more aggressive than what we've ever seen before the poison parsnip That's a that that burns people's skins even more so than the chervil That is also very aggressive. It blossoms a little bit later in the year You'll and you'll see that yellow flower very similar and in shape to the wild chervil So, you know, I'd like to think that the town could try to At least hold these invasives off from doing more damage To our environment than what they currently do But the reason we came to you and I'm sorry, I didn't introduce the other conservation commission members, but I've John Beard and and Alan Thompson here as well is that we received a letter from forest and parks requesting that the conservation commission work with a select board to try to Halt the spread of chervil to the state park In Little River as it's the mowing practices that we've been doing or tracking the seeds up towards the state park and they're concerned about It's arrival there. So that's one of the reasons why we're here today So is there something besides Mowing that you want us to be doing our mowing practices. Is it just timing? And the other question I'll just ask it now. I mean, I'm concerned. I've got invasives in my yard that I'm fighting as well You know, we're talking about Six foot wide swath along the roads that we mow and you got a fire, you know A whole field in Fishman's field that's covered with the stuff. So I'm not sure You know, what line of defense mowing six feet along the roadside is Well, unfortunately Yeah, the kind of the horses out of the gate here Unfortunately, yeah, and I understand your concern and I agree with you You know, we we've been kind of batting this ball around a little bit in the past. They're about, you know Mowing more and more frequently, but again, it always comes down to dollars The June 15th to 19th time frame You know, I'll do do a better job there this year of trying to keep track of I mean, it's it's well into its flowering stage at that point I Don't know definitely. Do we know when they were mowing last year? So it would be based on that I mean if they could get out a week before What we did it last year that would be terrific Well, it says right here while the trouble you can see it Blooms white flowers in Maine June. That's what I was going to suggest that by the end of May It's already what I'm seeing. It's already well into bloom And I'm after it at that point and I'm now I'm having to go actually up into the woods Not only do I walk around my fields because there's areas that apparently Through the ditch ways where the water runs it's being carried that way the seedlings are getting dragged because that's where Seems to be more prominent along the ditch lines, but I'm also seeing it up into the woods So I'm going up in there and trying to cut it down as well and to catch it because I was told that if you can Cut it down enough before seeds it'll finally it'll kill it, but I'm not Not having no here on the backside. It says do not mow after June As the plant has set in seeds by then so it sounds like you know that first one is In June so maybe moving it up July 22nd to August 2nd. I'm not sure what that does if we mow it once it it's not We get around all the roadsides. I don't know if we can do it all week So yes, some of it is off the town right of way and on people's private proper Property, but much of it is still on the town's right of way and hasn't gone on to people's private property So if we can mow the right of way the whole right of way, which is more than six feet Or wherever we can get more than six feet I think we're going to go a long way to arresting it if we can get get out there before blossoms or as it blossoms because it it really is an issue and Mowing is about the most effective thing you can do other than spraying herbicides all over the place, which I'm sure the town Isn't going to start doing So That would be my concern my suggestions here Would be that we mow early and often That perhaps we can work with the town to The conservation commission can work with the town to determine Where the hot spots are where you know if it comes to that we can't mow Everything early, maybe we can Over time determine where are the hot spots that we need to address first and maybe twice a year or something but I know on my own property by pulling and mowing I'm able to arrest and Make some headway with some of the invasive plants that we have on our property So I would encourage you to consider that I also have fliers here Frag might use the common rate and I think the Conservation commission has come to this like board and and mentioned those two plants before because you need only look to this to the town sand pile And frag might ease is growing on top of that So, you know just by sanding we're spreading seeds around town And when I looked on maple Street, I saw that town Street sweeper that used to gather up sand Dump Occasionally on the side of the road and that's where the knot wheat started and it took over a large area So there's a lot of things that we really have to consider when we're really trying to manage these invasive plants because they're insidious the other unfortunate problem we have is you know ditching our roadsides is a must and Available places to dump those ditching's are Limited and most of them end up being people's private property And that goes a long ways to spreading those species as well You know to find a facility that all those ditching's could be dumped at and Yeah, I don't know If there's any way of treating that after it was you know brought to a certain area whether you could treat it to kill the invasive species You know, that's that's a really real big problem is how to deal with that aspect of it as well So so yeah, there there's Quite a bit of information out there about having healthy soils that support the native type plants It's when the soils are weakened through putting sand out there or salt those types of things that Weaken the native plants and so these invasives just are opportunistic and take right over It's funny because I just a couple days ago for the first time ever I heard a Thing on it was just a commercial UVM put on the radio specifically talking about the impacts of salt use and how it's Go to turning our roadsides acidic killing the natural vegetation allowing for invasives to grow and Contaminating the water, you know, I just testified up at the State Health's air on the 14th Bill was there as well in reference to You know our road problems And Not only myself, but there were other town officials there that were quite concerned about the amount of salt that the state's now using to Keep the snow melted and it's the problems that are coming from it One guy actually said to the representatives, you know, we've gone out of our minds with the amount of salt But we're using on our roads these days And something needs to be done about it, but So now it's I was happy to see UVM starting to address the issue I did talk to a gallop at the farm show who was in charge of the Lake Champaign Plain Basin project that she was the group that was working with Canada in New York and Vermont on cleanup of Lake Champlain and She said that there's a lake in New York that has been so contaminated by salt That it's just it's destroyed There's no life left in it at all and I hope we don't put ourselves in that position right and You know the invasive Species issue is coming up in quite a few places Sunday at UVM there was the Northeast Farmers Association NOFA Northeast Farming Association and they had a workshop in invasive plants and they had an expert there who's a does consulting work and works with communities and others to develop plans For how best to try to manage invasive species but I I think I'd like to think that between the Conservation Commission and the road crews and And others interested in town we can try to figure out where our biggest problems are and how best to manage them and So If you need Assistance or would like recommendations, I think the select board of the Conservation Commission Would be glad to provide that Alan where there are other things that you wanted to You think we should hit on here tonight? Bill Woodruff came to Our last conservation Commission meeting and he was all ears with excited list of what we had to say and we kind of concluded with the idea that we would be presenting to him some options for For management, and then he would turn that into Action items or budget requests so for next year's budget I think there should be some research done if you could help us with that on and we just this was discussed at the Remounting club there the night that you had the meeting up there the little meeting on wildlife impacts air from climate change The seasonal birds that nest in the fields Was suggested that These invasives were actually ruining their habitat You know most people like Sarah squirrel up the road beyond Fishman's She wasn't mowing at all and I don't recall she mowed last fall late or not But typically people tend to not mow until late in the season because of the songbirds and From what I gathered at that meeting at the Green Mountain Club These invasives are pushing them out of those fields Anyway, so for me, it's a double-edged sword. I Want to keep the invasive species away of course I cut and bailed my hay So that I you know that songbirds Can't be there Unfortunately, I'd love to have them but But with the invasives it's booting them out anyway So they're on the losing end of the stick no matter what what we do Public works folks we would be We would be Just preparing a priority list and action items that we think are most important to so One of the things I know is a very good information by the way. Thank you It looked like in addition of Bill's observation about the timing of the mowing It also spoke to Cleaning of the equipment because I can just envision that we spend the time to target these areas mow and Then with the equipment not clean we end up going along and mowing someplace else and spreading it more So I think in your conversations. That's a it's probably a good issue to To discuss as well. I think yeah I think the part of mitigating that problem is mowing ahead of time before it goes to seed that way the seeds Don't get on the mower and get dragged because you're right You know, so if we can somehow Planet so that we're ahead enough so that we're not actually getting it getting into the seeds I think we'll be on the better end of the stick Bill and Celia were Celia had suggested to Bill that they're very familiar with these issues and are Will you welcoming of any ideas that we have so we look forward to Working with them about it So we'll be back here Next year Okay, but just off the cuff. I'd look at option number three Well taken so I do also have this these other handouts here Now we so that you're fully informed of Just a handful Issues to consider yeah, I was told me that was called Calharsley One benefit to not we didn't I hear it makes excellent honey So you can eat it as well Sorry many cultures Appreciate your time Mike Good good shot on my back side there Okie-dokie See what we can do about it tonight job very well good up and visit Always a pleasure. Well, this is sort of a Tradition to meet with the select board a couple of weeks before town meeting. I Guess we may talk about the Who's moving the articles? I Just wanted to mention Because we had talked about this after town meeting last year Just as a reminder to members of the board, I think it's very important to Think about what you say before You say it Stick to the issues that Are being discussed as a right as a result of the motions that are on the floor and And If you think perhaps you've been speaking a little bit too long then probably you have and Aside from that We've we've talked about it and looking forward to a Good meeting again this year I Do think it's important that I say this before and I get pushed back every year, but that's not going to stop me from saying it again I think it's important for the select board to recognize That town meeting is not your meeting Your meeting is when you folks meet on Your regularly scheduled meetings town meeting is for the Residents of the town to ask questions and hear answers and Listen to what you have to say and for you to listen to what their questions are and I think if I have one comment That's more important than others it is in many cases, I would have to say Questions that the residents of the town have about issues are more rhetorical in nature they're asking a question and Oftentimes those questions don't need answers and the biggest criticism that I have about the select board meeting because I've been doing this a long time is that The members of the select board have this feeling that every Every question that comes up needs an answer and I don't think that's always the case So I Realize that that that's a skill that you develop after going to meetings and listening to people and so I would just Just caution you to be careful And if you do answer questions be state the facts and be brief So I'll say this When I first started on the board. I was quite green to the process I think I'm going on my seventh year. I Still seem to have learning curves once in a while But I'm doing my best to try to get better at it your statement here about Questions don't always need an answer Is there any benefit to perhaps either you as a moderator or if somebody comes up and makes Asked a question or Would it be appropriate for you or one of the board members to say would you like an answer to that or not? I think that's helpful. I think that's very helpful I've tried to do it on occasion. Sometimes I don't think of it sometimes there's a you know a lot Is there are other things going on going around and I'm trying to keep track of motions or amendments or things like that And and so I don't always get the opportunity to say that I try to from time to time But yes, I think that's something that both the board and I can do can't can do better We also had spoken about at one point here in an earlier meeting about Maybe doing something with article 20, which was the Business That may legally come before the board during the meeting Perhaps taking and moving that around somewhere more appropriate so that we devoid the issue that we had last year You have any input on that how you feel about that? Bill had suggested having some conversation during the middle of the meeting About their issues can you elaborate on that? So if you remember last year the whole gun issue came up at the end of the meeting and And you made a couple of rulings Some of the some of what you said was you know, well, this hadn't been Worn and we really can't take any binding action We ended up letting some people talk and then there was criticism afterwards Some criticism afterwards suggesting that you know Had we known this issue is going to come up. We would have stayed and you know, you can't please everybody I mean people come and go throughout town meeting So the question I asked the other meeting ago was is it a appropriate and be possible when we take the break to allow the state representatives to talk and do the You know the the Keith Wallace award that at that point while the meeting is somewhat recessed Could you ask people there if they have any general topics that they want to talk about the other business article doesn't come up until the very end and Oftentimes the crowd is thinned out and people who might have other business just can't stay until after lunch So it was just a conversation we have here and we said well Jeff's coming in a couple weeks. We can ask you I mean You as well as me Want to see interaction at the board at the town meeting? I Think it's a great opportunity for the board to receive Input from our townspeople The problem is dragging them up to the mic and getting them to speak is a difficult One of the key topics that I want to discuss this year And I don't know we'll talk about What article is appropriate to bring this up is? Our deteriorating infrastructure issues and how to deal with it. I don't know if you've seen any information but just recently Bill and myself and Vice chair from Stratford along with Several other representatives from towns from information that we had sent out encouraging them to come to Government day up at the state house To sit in front of the agency of transportation expressing our concerns and asking for For a Senate gas tax to go strictly to the towns for infrastructure problems I heard you on the radio. Yeah, well, we're going to be actually Today Dave Graham called me Thursday morning at 935 will John fry tag vice chair Stratford and myself will be there again Discussing this issue. I don't know if you heard me talking to the governor the other day about it This isn't going away, you know, this is a problem that all towns are facing and it's a huge problem The reason I got involved with John was to try to find another alternative of resources Because it's so huge in this town and other towns to help try to pay for these infrastructure We simply just can't burden ourselves with the amount of money. It's going to take to fix them through property taxes. It's impossible So I want to have that discussion at town meeting. It doesn't look like the state's interested in addressing the issue this year You know, I'm going to I'd like to have a discussion at town meeting as to how people feel about The issue what their ideas are what they would propose or like to see other than property tax You know attachment I guess and how would you feel that What what approach should we take on that? Well, because It's not something that you have warned It's I would suggest most appropriate under article 20 The issue I think that you're trying to get at is you want to discuss that or you'd like to discuss that you'd like to Get as much involvement as possible when is a good time to Bring up article 20 and I think if if if you want to do it under article 20 again, I think that's the most appropriate place for it You can always suspend the rules to move article 20 up to whenever you want to talk about it and whenever you think they're the most people here and Emotion to suspend the rules you can do either by unanimous consent or Suspension of the rules which merely requires a two-thirds vote Just another question Did you in the select board report did you write about infrastructure about I did so article for To act upon the reports of the several town officers for the exceptions of claims and compensation So that is usually the time we tell them if you have questions about last year's budget But if they had a question about how managers report if they had a question about the select board report Plans they could ask those questions there, right? Didn't I would suggest get a plan so you got to find somebody to ask a question under article for To bring up this select board report and and say, you know You express some concerns about infrastructure. Why don't you tell us about it? I mean, I think you can do that Oh, I think I think you can too, but I think again, it's got to be relatively limited under that particular article Not something you can spend a whole half hour on or something like that so it's hard to it's hard to It's hard to solve problems when you have limited input, you know, that's that's the issue there And it's hard to get people Guess to wake up and pay attention to some of these critical issues if you don't have these important discussions, so Yeah, I think we probably could find somebody that But again, Jeff just said that that really needs to be limited scope. So You know, maybe suspending the rules moving article 20 Up would be the better move That would that would that would let you have a more wide-ranging discussion Because of the nature because of the nature of article 20. You just have to realize that Should someone want to make a motion that you'll hear me state that Any action that's taken is not going to be binding on the select board under article 20 Yeah, well at this point I'm just looking for information input. Yeah How's the rest of the board feel about that? I mean my only quick thought is as we look at the meetings following town meeting to Put it out there that we're going to make it a major discussion that one of these meetings I Don't know how much how many answers we're going to get at town meeting versus speaking No, at length in one of these meetings. I understand that you have more people as input, but If we're looking at things that we don't have control or we have control over tax rate We don't have control over what the state does. I Guess there's things we can lobby for as a town But I don't know I think having a better consensus from the public as to how they feel about this issue might give us A better direction to go in Obviously, you know as well as I do You're not going to get the people come into one of these meetings That you're not even a fraction what you're going to have and you can call a special meeting as a select board meeting to talk about roads But I'm guaranteeing you you're going to see about what you got here now Well, we did that when we had the discussion on the state police You know if you want to have discussion on it have have discussion on on the budget and have someone make a motion to increase the The highway budget by a sufficient amount enough to take care of the roads If you run out on a rail, I mean that'll help you with your discussion And you'll get some ideas And it'll also make a much more interesting meeting for me So mark well, I mean either any of you here, I mean What's the objection to move an article 20? I mean nothing says it's got to stay there forever if it if it works out that It's a flop. I mean next year goes back to the end of the line I'm just trying to get more people engaged about some of the issues and we've solved pretty much everything else in this town when it comes to municipal Issues for the most part got a handle on our police Enforcement we've got a handle on our municipal building our library our fire stations Really the only big ticket left is our infrastructure and that's huge. It's what what percentage of our budget is it bill? Well, the highway budget is Probably more than a third of the budget easily And it's getting it's going to be getting a lot worse if we don't start addressing the issues Well, I think I'll leave it up to you guys to decide I Would you know I would suggest I think If you want to have a wide-ranging discussion on This issue or any issue Think about what you want to do and make a decision as soon as possible and then you know starting a Week or 10 days before town meeting just start putting Posts in front-page forum that that if you want to move article 20 up So you're going to go articles 1 2 3 4 20 and then 5 6 7 8 to 19 And the reason why is maybe that'll help you because a lot of people read front-page forum and Maybe that's a vehicle to to get people interested to come and discuss at a town meeting Even if you leave article 20 at the very end Because I think Had While it was an interesting discussion on The whole gun issue. I think as was pointed out a lot of people would have stayed had they known that it was going to be there If you start publishing in front-page forum that you encourage people to talk about how we're going to pay for for infrastructure improvements and the various alternatives I Increase the gas tax as opposed to a 25 or 30 cent increase in the municipal property tax rate You might get some people to come in and stick around for the meeting for the for the last article I Can't remember if it was last meeting in the meeting before where Bill talked about making it a priority to Start to make a plan surrounding at least the road Scenario that we've talked about we have never really asked Bill to heavily work through a Game plan there. I just don't like going into town meeting and making people fear things and costs and future and you know, I think We've we're presenting a budget on what we believe is right now, and then I think we talk about what Our plan is moving forward and knowing that that is one of the biggest Focuses for 2019 that we tell them what the plan is verse necessarily Making it look like we Don't have a plan. I think that's the worst thing we can do is sit there and say we don't know what to do about this Be scared. It's gonna cost you a bunch of money in the future Where I'm seeing this conversation Go around and it actually goes back Chris to your your initiative with this four cent gas tax proposal and it's and at the earlier meetings we talked about was just the Timing and the groundwork that you have to lay before you try to get that but you've you and John Really, I think had a good impact there and there's a bill that's been introduced relative to that so the thing is the governor is opposed to it and The primary committee leaders that would be integral and moving it forward are not interested in doing it I think the crux of your discussion is trying to get feedback from Folks in the community how they feel about that Strikes me as though that will be a topic under our 20 and and that would be your opportunity to To speak about that the question is do we leave article 20 where it is and have that diminished group or do we look to move it up and just point about kind of getting that word out there to have folks thinking about it and Weighing the pros and cons to it and also letting them know that we're interested in hearing feedback from them makes good sense, so it's just a matter of the mechanics of Utilizing an article 20 do we leave it where it is or do we do? The process of trying to suspend the rules moving it up when you said two-thirds On the rule suspension, that's two-thirds of those in attendance, right? Yeah, we could do that by show of hands. So could you ask the specific question? Under article 20, would you like to spend? To move article 20 spend the rules more move article 20 on the premise to discuss issues pertaining to how to move forward with Some different options or look into different options. I don't know how you would word it in reference to how to help mitigate some of our infrastructure Expenses well I'm not going to do that. I would entertain a motion that that that'd be done and Emotion to suspend the rules is in order and I'm happy to work with With you or anyone else on a motion So that it comes up Moderators can't make motions. So so Jeff to your point earlier, and I'm starting to wonder a little bit about the Expediency of moving article 20 up You talked at the beginning of the meeting or when you came that this is really the town's meeting Not the select board's meeting mark. You suggested that Maybe we try to advertise and get people to come to select board meetings To talk and help us we build the budget for next year what we're going to do for infrastructure If we move article 20 My first question that was formulating was okay, how do we get out of article 20 to get on to article 5? because At no time is anybody really going to be able to say I call the question on article 20 That's the problem with anything I don't want it. So if you move it up This is the select board's issue Mm-hmm, and we might spend a lot of time talking about it and then we're going to want to move to the budget and other things and Maybe now we've precluded other business from coming up from the public. So I'm not sure it makes It makes sense to move it up in terms of having a lot of people to talk about your issue But it might not be their issue and they may have other issues. They want to talk about under article 20 and We're going to spend a lot of time on this one issue and never get to anything else So I'm that was my concern. I think maybe just leaving it where it is and dealing with whoever is there to talk about the issue you know I I Think Jeff's point about the fact that this is the town meeting as opposed to the select board meeting you have 24 meetings a year that you can put this on your agenda, right? So Well, yeah, I understand it's the tip is the voters meeting but do you really think that that kind of cold turkey that you're going to get a lot of real Interaction from the public about I mean you think about infrastructure every hour that you're awake every day Well, I think I'm thinking about this particular. I'm not so sure I think about this particular infrastructure problem because of its potential impact to the property tax and Residents of the town of Waterbury. I guess that's my biggest concern But it's if it wasn't for that Probably wouldn't be so Is it possible to split article 20? and have an equal opportunity to Bring up business at the end like normal and to add section in I Mean it I I Mean there's a there's fair amount of people that show up for town meeting or elderly. They're not gonna Probably aren't gonna stick around I'm not Aiming at you and you can just say that there may be some Interesting discussions on the earth of 20, so think about staying to the end of the meeting. It's absolutely Well, I can read things like that at all during the meeting. I have no problem with that and and and we have some interesting precedent to To to say, you know, don't leave You never know what's gonna come up miss something Meanwhile, there could be some stuff. Of course, I don't I don't think I've ever looked at from porch forum with my wife I try to stay away from that black hole as much as possible, but I Suppose that there's somebody that probably could put some information out there Yeah, I just thought it might be a good opportunity to get some feedback Heavens knows we don't have a lot of Opportunity for that. Well, as I think to Bill's point You probably would get better discussion if you Well publicized a select board meeting where you were going to spend an hour on How do we pay for infrastructure needs? Because I think people would people who are interested in that topic would come to the meeting and You might get an even bigger attendance than Then you would at town meeting if you're going to if if people know in advance that these are some of the issues That you're talking about and it's a potentially big pocketbook issue. I Mean if I'm going to be on TV there on Thursday, like I'm certainly going to throw a pitch towards somebody Wanting to have this discussion at the end of town meeting that seems to be the most appropriate time based on You know to the articles that we have I Could tell you one thing in the time that I've been on the board one of my more frustrating points or concerns against is that people's reluctance Want to get involved until Issues become explosive Just It gets to me after a while you know, I feel like throwing my hands up and back in my bags and Go somewhere where I don't have to worry about it Move to home I've got a place already for the meeting where there's a population of 38 people, so I could really distance myself up there, but You know, it's like it's almost like You're putting in the effort, but nobody seems to be There with you Well, you know, if you want to talk about that Go to that go to the annual Harwood meeting I was there You know the members of the board outnumber the members of the public So is there a consensus that we're just gonna leave it the way it is Okay But as I've said to as I've said to you before Chris and as I've said tonight and as I say to folks you know occasionally occasionally, I'll get a call before town meeting and I Am absolutely willing to work with anybody on putting together a motion That they want either to amend an article or something that goes into new business Just because we put it together as I tell people doesn't mean it's going to be a success But I'm happy to get them To the place where they can at least feel like they've Had their time discussing things and and for me, I think that's the most important part about town meeting And I'm always willing to help folks do that I Think one comment on your comment about not necessarily answering every question sometimes I fear Because we Have a lot of time and meetings that we do discuss things in detail that if someone were to state something that basically is a question But it's more of a statement and the question of whether or not it really needs to be answered I would fear that since we're kind of put on display that if we sit there and stare back at them and don't Answer or say anything when it's posed as a question can be Misinterpreted as we don't care or we're not listening So I think that that's that would be one concern in those in those scenarios that I Don't want anyone to feel like We're not thinking through or addressing concerns. So I guess that's one thing that I have to kind of think about Well, you know, maybe another way of Dealing that is dealing with that is when someone asks a question that may sound more like a comment than a question I can be More tuned to saying is there just as a means of seeing where they are Is saying is there a particular member of the select board that you'd like to address that and that way if they say well No, I guess I don't or well, I just like my question answered then we can then we can move on from there Okay, did you want to go through the distribution of the articles? It's up to the board that's your choice Pick what you want I'll suck up the rest Articles two and three or Australian ballot no discussion article four to accept the reports And dates for tax rate, I'll do the tax rate Jane's not here, so we get to pick which one we have to throw her into the bus Again, I don't care what you guys Whatever one you wanted or a couple of whatever I don't care We're on article seven now. I can take sure I can take article seven hot. Yeah, Chris Jane for And You got to read all that yeah, yeah, you can read twice twice. Okay, I'll do it I need more Mike time And I have to pay of that the person that typically reads article eight more than anyone Because I read it once I read it as emotion. I read it again. I Yeah, I probably read that more than anyone else. I was late on my taxes last That's six we all have that senior moment. Yes, we do Thank you for not complaining about it. Hey, it was my own fault. I Muddered a little bit but didn't I Carla Okay, thank you look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks That was the moderators workshop So build one question I had was if the motion for the Money for the amulets is in It's not They've got taken out right where were you originally gonna put it in a special article? No, no, I had it listed in On the spreadsheet Okay, I thought it was somewhere. Yeah So it is a special article, but it's not under article 11. It's it's own special But it's still in the in the articles that are that are listed in the report. It's still in article seven It's only article seven Okay, so it comes up. So I think especially I think it was be listed here Listed with those in the spreadsheet in the town report, but it's just on separate article on the warning It's fine. Don't worry about it We're not doubling up. Okay It says if it were article 17 It's just we're moving it to the beginning of the meeting because it has Significant budget impacts And we want more people there than less anything else Thanks again Jeff Manager's items rest is up to you though Okay, so very quickly it won't take long to get through these I would like The board to authorize the approval of a grant agreement and Then sign the grant agreement we agreed for the select board agreed back months ago to apply for a Planning grant to look into the Concept of a community center There's been no commitment made that we're going to have a community center, but it was just to hire a consultant to Look at the community Involve some of the other organizations in the community like the senior center That's looking to do something more for a community center than we have now The grant award Was made to us. It's a thirty five thousand dollar grant. There is a eleven thousand two hundred and fifty dollar match the select board already authorized the use of Six thousand two hundred and fifty dollars of Community development involving loan fund money toward that match so it's not taxpayer dollars about local taxpayer dollars And then the other five thousand is in kind staff time that would go towards it so I would ask for a mention to be Made accepting the conditions of the grant Late to make that motion so move. Yeah, please your second. Okay Any further discussion all those in favor say aye aye opposed nay Motion carries stain consistent Okay, next is north Steyer fireworks. Yeah, the town has been paying for the fireworks display and I just like the authority the authorization of the board to sign this agreement. It's for the NQ ID. It's Ten thousand dollars. It's in our budget. We've done this for the last four or five years Right. I'll make the motion that we authorize the manager to sign the North Star fireworks contract for the NQ ID celebration Second that no further arguments Seeing none all those in favor say aye. Hi. Thank you Just calling your attention again to the Email that I sent out the other day. I sent you all the new bylaws for the watery ambulance service Each of the governing boards of the towns that Was he serves now has the ability to appoint one trustee Not that I'm asking you to do it tonight, but They have a meeting at the end of April. It would be nice to have a trustee in place Appointed by the town by that meeting so the person could attend that meeting typically our Point all the rest of our So we have to move this up Is do you want us to advertise that there's a position of a trustee to Wassie available and have interested parties contact Carla or me and then bring those names before the board Schedule them to come for an interview or what have you but it would be good if we could get you know in before in March So we get an advertisement out. Yeah Great. Thank you and that's it except for the The legal issue that We have here and I would recommend that you go into executive session for that I'll move to find the general public knowledge of the details of potential litigation Involving the town of Waterbury. We're clearly placed the town at a substantial disadvantage Is there a second well second those in favor I Move to enter executive session to consider potential litigation involving the charge of mr. Oak and K Versus town of Waterbury and related confidential attorney client communications Made for the purpose of providing legal advice to the town Other second I'll second all those in favor say aye. Hi