 the call the May 3rd, 2021 select board meeting to order. Any agenda additions or changes from staff? Greg? Nothing from staff. Any changes requested from select board members? There's Pat. Apologies, I think I was in another meeting. I clicked the link and I was the only one sitting there and six 30 year old around. And I was like, okay, this is definitely weird. So. Okay, okay. All right, so no agenda changes, so no need to approve. Next item of business is public to be heard. This is a time for attendees to make comments on items that are not on the agenda. Is there anyone wishing to speak during public to be heard? Either put up your hand or indicate in the chat. I don't see any hands up. Okay, in that case, let's move on to our next business item, which is a public hearing, Dennis. Okay. This is on the water sewer budget. Before I forget, I wanted to pass on one piece of information, select board heard the broader view of the water sewer rate discussion last week, but one of the item or two weeks ago, but one of the items on there was we had requested this money or at least permission from the state or grant from the state to look at our water loss program. And we've gotten a mail this week that they agreed to do that. So they're going to contribute a couple of days of professional staff with the right equipment. We know how to do it. We just don't have the equipment and we're not as used to doing it as they are. So they're going to come in, look at those areas that were identified in the report that the town had done from the surveillance data and look at all those sites and see which ones might actually show that there's a leak and which ones maybe we can forget about. And maybe all of them, we just don't know. So that will occur sometime this summer. We don't have a schedule yet, but that has been funded. So that's great. And that will help the water system so that we can hopefully find any extraneous leaks out there and get them fixed. So that's a positive item. The water budget has the budget itself went up 3.5%. The rate increase is proposed at 2.8%. The sewer budget went up 3.7%. And the rate proposed is at 3%. If you take a look at the budget costs, there's only really three drivers to the total budget costs. One driver is salary, overtime, and benefits. And if you look at our increase that's proposed between both the sewer and water account, those costs amount to about one third of the increase. The other two items is the cost that we, the town bearers to buy water from the Champlain Water District and the cost of the town bearers to have the wastewater treated at the village wastewater treatment plant. Those two items together account for 50% of our budget. So essentially 83% of our budget increase is tied to increases to either obtain water, pay the village for treating the water and for the salaries of employees and staff to run the water system. So the rest of the items actually, and especially in the water department, we were able to reduce a number of costs so that the other items did not have to contribute very much to an increase. And we also have two new pump stations coming online. The town had 14 pump stations. We now have 16 pump stations and that's a substantial effort to both maintain them and to pay the electricity to run the pumps to push the wastewater downstream. Overall, if you look from the broad base of what's happening, it's about an average water bill for an average user. We consider an average user to be a single family household at about 200 gallons per day. People obviously use less. Some people use more, businesses use more, some use less. But that for an average single family residential user at 200 gallons a day, it's about a $32.85 increase in the water bill from the previous year. The previous year was a 1% increase. So this is a little bit higher. In the previous year, we had costs, there were much in excess of that 1% increase but we held the line trying to keep costs down because we understood that with COVID there was a real need to kind of button down and do what we could to reduce costs and to absorb some of those costs within the structure of the system. And we were able to, we hope we're able to do that. That financial account won't really bear fruit until the end of July or the beginning of July. But at this point, we appear to be okay based upon our water usage. If you compare that yearly cost for water and sewer increase and you just look at the cost, it's actually, it's not the increase. I'm sorry, that's an average monthly cost of about $33 a month. And then you compare that to every other utility. I can almost guarantee that your cable bill is probably $200. So they're about to give or take some if you have TV and internet access and a bunch of other stuff. Electrical bill is probably three times that and gas is probably in that same range. So of all the utilities that a residential or even any business residential or business in town pays, this represents essentially a good deal as far as getting clean water and getting rid of our wastewater and doing it in a way that meets all the standards. And quite honestly, from awards that Shampoo and Water District has gotten it's some of the best water in the country. That's kind of a broad overview. And if there's any questions that the board or people may have, I'll try to answer them. All right, thanks Dennis. Any questions or comments from the board? We went through this last meeting. Okay, then any comments or questions from the public? If you have a question or want to make a comment please raise your hand or indicate in the chat. I see Betsy done. Oh, thanks, Sandy. Dennis, I just have a question about the water lines. I was just informed about, I'm not sure if that's enough if I'm asking a question. Is it true? Do we have asbestos in our water lines coming out here into the Birchwood? I'm sorry, can you say that again? Do we have asbestos in our water lines coming out here to Essex? And are we looking at the long-term use of that? And when does it have to be replaced? If you go back in the history of the water systems in the state, you have to go back to the 50s and 60s and the pipes that were being used at that point in time. We do have some sections in the town which have asbestos cement water lines. Those water lines pose no threat to anyone. They are sealed and though the asbestos cement has been tested over and over again, you can ingest asbestos and it's not gonna have any harm in you. The only problem you can have with asbestos is if you breathe it. So the only danger that those pipes really pose is if we have a water break and our employees are down there cutting that pipe and that pipe particles go airborne, they're at risk. And so we have special equipment for them. We have special pipe cutting materials that uses water to cut the pipes so that we cut down on that. Not much fun in the wintertime, but it's really not an issue at this point in time. The issue that EPA has going forward and most of you probably know that is letting the water lines. And that's not really in our main water lines at all but it is in the lines that feed some of the older houses, especially we serve houses in the fort and there are some old lead lines in the fort that will probably as a result of action over the next couple of years, will probably end up having replaced some of those services. Not a lot of them, but those go back to the 1890s, 1900 when that was built and they were using lead lines at that point in time. So we've replaced a lot of those but there are still some out there. Well, thank you Dennis. Thanks for putting that thought process to rest. You're welcome. All right, thanks Betsy. Any other comments, questions from the public? I don't see any hands up. There's Patty Davis. I just want to say that we're so lucky to have Dennis. He just knows his stuff and he's going to keep us safe with all our pipes. I just know it. So I really think we have a gem. So I want to throw that out there. Thanks Patty. I have to agree. Thanks. Anyone else? Okay, I don't see any other comments. Greg or Evan logistically, do we have to have a motion to end the public hearing? Yes, please. I make the motion, we close the public hearing. Do we have a second? Seconded. Thanks Vince. Any further discussion? All those in favor of closing the public hearing about water and sewer budget and rates? Please say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay, motion passes. Moving on to business, first business item 6A, consider adoption of the fiscal 2022 water and sewer budget and rates. Dennis, I believe there's a memo that has the wording that you're asking for. I think we need to read it all, right? That's what we've done in the past. That's what we've done in the past, yes. And we will put information out to the public, both on the webpage and elsewhere that essentially summarizes what the changes are gonna be. I do know the other thing that the public may be interested in, because I think they've already perhaps seen it, is the finance department's gone to three times a year billing. In the past, it was two times a year. So if people get a water bill and say, oh, great, I really conserved water, you might just wanna look at it and multiply it by three and multiply the old one by two to make sure you're in the same ballpark. If there are issues, you can call your office and we can figure them out. But just let everybody know they should expect water bill three times a year and sewer bills. Right. Okay, any other comments from the board or staff? Okay, does anyone have the motion available to read? It's a long one. Yeah, I got a handy. Thanks, Pat. I will motion that the select board approve the proposed budget as submitted, resulting in the following changes to the rate and billing structure of water rates and fees. Increase the water rate from $5.62 per 1,000 gallons to $5.78 per 1,000 gallons. Increase the water initiation fee at $1,000 base fee per connection plus $5.73 GDP of capacity to $1,000 base fee plus $5.78 per GDP of capacity. Set the minimum, excuse me, set the water minimum charge per year at $180. Interim or final billing request at $35. And for sewer rates and fees, increase the sewer operating fee from $9.64 per 1,000 gallons to $9.93 per 1,000 gallons. Maintain the sewer initiation fee at $1,000 base fee per connection plus $10.30 GDP of capacity and interim or final billing request at $35. And do we need to include that last? Yeah, I think that needs to be there too. Also, the rate change and interim final billing requests would go into effect on all water sewer usage with the billing period starting after the spring 2021 billings. The first town-wide billing under the new rates would not occur until the fall of 2021. Okay, thanks, Pat. Do we have a second? I'll second that. Thanks, Tracy, for discussion. Looks like Evan wants to make a comment. After you guys take the vote, I'd like to say something about our water and sewer systems, if you don't mind. Okay, okay. Any discussion from the board? If not, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay, motion passes 5-0. Evan, comments, please. Thank you. For the audience at home and the board, I think you guys pretty much know, but water and sewer is very heavily regulated by not only the state of Vermont, but the U.S. government. We follow very stringent standards all up and down the lines. So we take great care to do these things. And yes, it is expensive from time to time and it's very expensive to pump a sewage uphill until it can get into a gravity-fed sewer and get down to the treatment plant. That's why we have pump stations. We have great elevation changes in the town outside the village. And we are always trying to get sewage into a gravity-fed area where it's going downhill. In terms of water, again, and sewage, we're under great pressures from the state and the federal government to remove as much of the minerals and other things that go into our treatment plant, including phosphorus. And so a lot of what you're gonna be hearing or have heard recently is how do we reduce phosphorus in the water that is going into the Winooski River and then ultimately Lake Champlain? This is very difficult to do once it gets to the plant. So we're always trying to reduce phosphorus before it gets to the plant and looking for new technologies to cost-effectively remove it before it goes into the Winooski and out into Lake Champlain. Shout out to all the men and women in our departments that deal with water and sewer and the job that they do. And I've mentioned this to all of you before. If you have ever been on a water main break at two in the morning at five to 10 below, you will appreciate the services that the men and women do on your behalf because they really take great care to make sure by the next morning, you have something to be able to take a shower too and get the kids to school and yourself to work. So thanks for the moment. And Dennis, thank you for your presentation. And please thank all the men and women of Public Works and the treatment plant. Thank you. We'll do. All right. Thanks Evan. Okay. Moving on to business item 6A, hearing for a dog bite complaint. Greg, you've taken this one. Sure, I'll kick it off and then turn it over to the police. About a week ago or exactly a week ago on April 26th, the manager's office received a complaint of a vicious dog. It was following an attack on a victim. The victim made the request that we have a dog hearing. By law, we are required to do so within seven days. This is the seventh day. The police have been involved. Rick Gary and Chris Ashley, our animal control officer are here tonight and they can provide more details about the incident itself. After the hearing, the select board has a few options of requirements that it might want to impose on the dog. The memo in your packets has that list of options in there. I believe some steps are already being taken by the dog owner, but I will defer to the police on what those are. And I believe the victim is here as well. So you may wish to hear from her and from Ms. O'Born and her taking what happened. I do not see the dog owner on, but I could be wrong on that. But with that, I will defer to the police if they have anything else to add. Yep, thank you, Greg. This is Rick Gary. I just wanted to remind the board that at the recommendation of our attorney, this is a quasi-dugitial process where the board is acting as hearing officers. So it's going to be treated kind of like a hearing. We'll start with animal control officer Chris Ashley, then we'll take statements from the victim and our witnesses and then the dog owner and then it'll be turned back over to the board for discussion and a decision. Chris, are you there on the phone? Yes. Can you go ahead and give us a rundown on the report, your investigation, please? Okay. On April 25th, 2021, in the evening, I was notified of a dog bite incident that had occurred earlier in the day at about 11.25 in the morning. Essex police officer Brett Williger had been dispatched to Autumn Pond Way for a report of a dog bite. Upon his arrival, he met with the bite victim, Shannon Oberon and her husband, Keith. And he had been informed that Shannon had been mauled by a dog in a hallway. Spoke to her and she said that she had walked out of her apartment. And as she was coming around a corner, a dog attacked her. He took pictures of the injuries that she received. She was taken to the hospital shortly after that. Officer Williger did go upstairs to speak to the female who had been walking the dog. Her name was Myra Bolanger. Sorry if I'm not pronouncing that correctly. She told Officer Williger that she had been coming inside after walking the dog for the dog owner, Mr. Queely. They had met two other dogs outside, which got the dog that is called Titan excited. When they came out of the elevator, they met suddenly Mrs. Oberon and that seems to have startled the dog Titan, the dog lunged at Mrs. Oberon and the fights occurred. That ended Officer Williger's involvement in that. The next day on April 26th, I called Mr. Queely. He had been out of town and Ms. Bolanger is his girlfriend so she was walking the dog. So I had spoken to him, left a message for him and he had said that he's got two muzzles for Titan and he is looking into training classes. On 427, I spoke to Mr. Queely again to talk to him about the measures he was taking to keep his dog Titan under control. It's a large apartment complex, multi-stories, three-stories and there's potential for other problems. So I wanted to make sure that there was a good safety plan in place. Mr. Queely said that Titan now goes out with a muzzle on as well as an electric collar, as well as a choke collar and he is using a short, strong lead to hold on to Titan and Mr. Queely said that he will be the only one taking Titan in and out for dog walks and he was aware of the quarantine rules which he said he would obey. I asked Mr. Queely what he thought was going on with Titan as this was not the first dog bite we have had. There was another one that we had on March 19th, 2021 and Mr. Queely wasn't sure what had changed in his dog's behavior up until that first dog bite in March of this year. There hadn't been any issues that he was aware of. He's also trying to get a trainer to help him with the situation and looking at the behavior and being able to modify it. Mr. Queely told me that he is moving at the end of May to a house with property so that will also alleviate some of the issues obviously living in that apartment complex. And then I miss O'Born and after how she was doing, she told me that she was recovering but was very sore with multiple dog bites three that were considered bad. She had, she told me that she had six stitches and the rest of the wounds were left to close up on their own. She was on prescribed antibiotics and medicine for pain and swelling. I asked her if she would tell me what happened on the day of the bite. And she said that she lives on the third floor of the apartment building, same apartment building and floor that Titan and Mr. Queely live on. She left her apartment which is 10 steps approximately from the stairs and elevator. She was going to take the stairs to go downstairs and out. She really doesn't remember exactly what happened as is normal in a stressful situation but she was by the stairwell and she wasn't sure if she opened the door or the female who was walking Titan opened the door but they both met up suddenly by the stairs. The dog was on a leash but lunged it, Ms. Oborn and went straight for her chest. Ms. Oborn fell to the floor but she wasn't sure if she was knocked over by the dog lunging at her or if she fell down by natural instinct. She does remember hitting her head on the floor. She was able to pry Titan's mouth off of her chest and then she put her right arm up to block the dog from biting her in the chest. That's when she got the bite wounds to her arm. At this point, Bollanger was able to pull Titan away from Ms. Oborn and bring it back into Queely's apartment. Ms. Oborn told me that last month she was walking her own dog and encountered Mr. Queely walking Titan. Titan snarled and lunged at her dog but Mr. Queely was able to keep Titan from making any contact with her dog. I explained what measures Mr. Queely was taking to keep Titan from harming any one else or any dog and she was glad of that. She asked about what the parameters were for the select board members in deciding sanctions for the dog and she said that she didn't. I gave her a variety of examples and she said she wasn't interested in having the dog euthanized but was very happy with the measures Mr. Queely was taking and that the possibilities of what the select board can do. I also spoke to the apartment complex manager and Borshers to let her know what precautions Mr. Queely was taking and that Ms. Oberthead requested a hearing before the select board. Rick, do you want me to mention the March incident? I think we're all set. The select board can certainly, does the select board have any questions for Officer Ashley? I think we're all set. Actually, I do. Do we know, I noticed that the dog was not registered at the time of the incident. Do we know if the dog has been registered since then? As of Friday. Actually, I can speak to that. As of this morning, the dog has not been registered. The owner, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, Chris. The owner has been instructed that it must be registered. With COVID, registrations are significantly down. When I talk to the clerk's office, in fact, we've got a huge amount of dogs that aren't registered. But we will ensure that that does get done. And I think Chris correct me if I'm wrong that the owner said he was going to make efforts to get that done. The dog's rabies is current. Yes, and that is correct. And all he needs to do is to pay the fee and make sure they have the registration on hand and they should already from the last registration, which was in 2019, it would have expired in 2020, April. Any additional questions for the ACL? Let's see, Patrick's got his hand up. Yeah, I saw in our packet of information that it looks like Autumn Wei has requested removal of the dog from the premises. And I heard you mention that Mr. Queely is going to be moving. Do we know if he's moving within Essex? I'm just wondering, again, we have in the past restricted some dogs that have had aggressive behavior from visiting Essex dog parks. So I'm curious if we know where the dog is going to end up, if it's in town or if they're moving out of state, then obviously some of our restrictions may not matter if we decide to implement them. I do not know where Mr. Queely is moving to. I'm moving to South Barones and I wouldn't be worried about the dog barking anyway, because he's tightened his dog fear reactiveness entire life, so we don't go to dog parks. Okay, thank you. Well. Any other questions for the animal control officer? Hearing none, I'm going to move to, I believe, Ms. Osborn is present, is that correct? Yes, hello, I'm here. Hi, do you have anyone besides yourself that'll be testifying today? No. Okay, I'm going to ask you to raise your right hand please. Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth to help you God? I do. I do. If you will please, if you'd like to make a statement for the select board about the details of the incident or any thoughts that you have, thank you. Certainly, and if I may, I would just like to state that the reports provided by the police officer and animal control officer sound thorough and correct from my perspective, so from a factual standpoint, I have nothing else to add. I do appreciate the time and the consideration that's being given to this tonight. Thank you. Are there any questions from the select board of this witness? Ms. Osborn, I'd just like to just confirm your, the animal control officer did mention that. You seem to be approving of the measures that have been taken by Mr. Cooley thus far. Could you, I guess, in your own words, is that adequate for you? We ended the dog, cannot go outside without a muzzle. I heard the choke collar mentioned as well, the electric collar, just kind of want to get an idea for whether or not you are comfortable with that if, or if you have any further thoughts on it. Well, I'm definitely comfortable with it in the short term. My basic thoughts, and it's hard to reconcile these two thoughts, but on the one hand, I do not, I would hate to see an animal destroyed or euthanized, so if there's a way to avoid that, I would love to see that happen. On the other hand, despite muzzles and safety precautions, this dog is simply not socialized as part of our ability to be around people. So, I know that your board has a number of options to consider as it relates to that, but I just can't stress enough because of not just the incident last week, but also my prior encounters with the animal and the fact that there was another bite reported in March. Unfortunately, this dog just isn't fit to be around strangers. So to the greatest extent, if that could be mitigated, I think that that would be the best solution. Okay, great. Thank you very much. Thank you. Any other questions from board members? Any questions from staff? Thank you, Ms. Osborne. Mr. Queely, I believe I heard you are present, correct? Yes, sir, I am. Thank you, sir. Do you have any other witnesses with you today that would be testifying? I do not, sir. You do not. Will you raise your right hand, please? I will. Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, to help you God? I do. Thank you. If you could please go ahead and introduce yourself and get some history of your dog and what you know about the incident for the board, and then they will probably have some questions for you. Thank you. I just want to preface this by saying, Ms. Osborne, I'm extremely humiliated that this happened. Obviously, it's very embarrassing. My dog is like a child to me. So to hear that something this unfortunate happened is embarrassing, and it's been keeping me up at night for the past week that it happened. So I am truly sorry, and I am doing everything in my power to make this right. As far as the situation goes, Tayyan is a four-year-old purebred German shepherd. He weighs 110 pounds. He was the runt of his litter and has been fear-reacting to dogs the day I got him. I have owned him since he was 13 weeks old. And I will respectfully disagree with Ms. Osborne. Up until the last month or the end of March when that first incident happened, Tayyan has been good with every single human being he has ever met in his life. Whether that person jumped out from behind a corner and he'll do, or if they were guests in my house or if they were met outside. I do not know what has caused this behavior change, which is why I am seeking further training. Earlier on when Tayyan was a puppy, I probably spent a good $3,000 to $4,000 on private training sessions with him. He is well-socialized. He has good recall. He is a very intelligent and well-behaved dog, which is why this is even more concerning for me and why I am very focused on fixing this before it becomes a permanent behavior change. As far as my understanding of the incident goes, Myra, which is the girl that had been walking Tayyan, she told me that they had been outside and Tayyan saw two dogs and got scared and was reacting. So she tried to divert him away and bring him back inside and that he was still kind of elevated and anxious when they came back inside and that they were heading back to my apartment off of either the staircase or the elevator. I don't recall which way they came from. And as they rounded the corner, Tayyan got spooked and reacted aggressively, which obviously led to the very unfortunate injuries that happened. Myra then told me that as soon as Tayyan was removed from his oborne, she immediately brought him back to my apartment, put him in his kennel and then that was the end of the incident. I was about five and a half hours out of state at the time. I immediately ended my trip. I drove back north, picked up two muzzles on the way, one soft and one like hard plastic. And now any single time that Tayyan has to go to the bathroom, I try to make it times when there are less likely to be people, whether that's midday when everybody's at work, I will come home from work and take him out then or it's very late at night before I go to bed. And he does not go outside without at least one of the muzzles on his E-collar, the shock collar, as well as the choke collar. I am the only one that takes him out. And when I do take him out, he is on a short lead. Typically I'll hold on to one end at the end of it and then I'll hold on to the other end as close to his neck as possible until I have complete physical control over him. And those are the steps I'm taking. I am moving in less than a month. Hopefully I will be out of autumn pond in two or three weeks. And then again, he doesn't go to dog parks because he's terrified of dogs. And I'm gonna continue with those mitigation measures for as long as he's alive, regardless of the training I get for him, just because I would never ever want to see this happen again. Thank you, Mr. Queerley. Nothing further? Nothing further from me, sir. Thank you. Board members, any questions of Mr. Queerley? Yeah, I have one. I'm the only one asking questions. Mr. Queerley, I just wanted to get some clarification in some of the testimony that we've seen, or at least that was in our packet. There was a mention of you being a trooper. Doesn't sound like it, but I just want to get some clarification. This isn't a police canine. Is it like tight and doesn't work? It does not work. Okay. All right, I just wanted to make sure that, I guess I would probably approach this a little bit differently if we were dealing with a police dog versus... Yeah, it'd be a significantly different process that way. Right, okay. Thank you, appreciate it. Yep, thank you. Thank you. Any additional questions for Mr. Queerley? Yeah, there was mention in there of some, also some additional training you're going to do. Is there a timeline for that? So probably not until I move, just because I am buying my first home. So I'm going to be pretty broke for the next month or so. But I have a trainer in mind who I know who is the trainer that I worked with when Titan was a puppy. And I'm going to be going direct with him to try to establish a timeline and a payments plan. Okay, thanks. Thank you. Thank you. Any additional questions for Mr. Queerley? Do we have any other witnesses to testify? Hearing none, we now have all of the testimony and we're going to turn the matter back over to the board for deliberation and a decision on how to move forward. Okay. So I know there's a list of options that were included in the memo. It sounds like many of them may have already been put in place by the dog's owner. The ones that I think I would recommend the muzzle, the short leash, I don't do any other board members have any other thoughts or comments on what should be required. Go ahead, Pat. I realize Mr. Queerley mentioned that. He doesn't go to the dog park. It does sound like honestly most of the mitigation measures that are in place are ones that we would recommend. I mean, I think typically as a board we've tried to avoid euthanizing dogs in the past as well. So I would be content with those measures but I would also include just for the sake of formality that just suggest banning tying from any Essex dog park or public areas until they've moved to South Burlington. It's just obviously we have no purview once they leave the town boundaries but it's just more of a formal thing even though we know it's going to be gone in three to four weeks. I think we should still probably go ahead with that action. Thanks, Pat. Tracy. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing as far as, goodness I lost my window here, as far as requiring the dog to be on a leash wearing a muzzle whenever it is in public places in Essex and I think that would still take effect if the dog were to come back into Essex for any reason. I would also like to include immediately enrolling the dog in further training classes. I understand this is the second event in a month and I don't think that that should wait given that there's still three weeks left before the anticipated move date. All right, thanks, Tracy. Okay, so what I've heard is requiring a muzzle went out in public, requiring a leash, banning from dog park and requiring training I don't know that we haven't in the past in the past because of the difficulty of scheduling immediately and or the cost. We haven't typically we've typically, we've said within three or six months to get training scheduled. We haven't, you know, Tracy you suggested trying to get that done earlier, but we saw Gary and Ricky were nodding your head when I mentioned that. That is what the board has decided to do on two previous cases that I believe that training window was out as far as six months. Anybody else have any other comments on that point there? Vince, go ahead. Yeah, I think maybe not immediately, but like a month, like 30 days, you know, in the event that the sale falls through or something like that, you know, we would wanna make sure that, you know, if this dog is gonna be continued, is gonna continue to be part of the community that he's trained and that he has the training that he needs. I guess responding to that, Rick, maybe you have a more specific idea, but as far as available trainers in the area, I know sometimes they can be booked out or they end up doing, or they only have classes available, you know, every six to eight weeks. So it may not be possible for Mr. Cooley to get that done within a month. I'm absolutely, you know, open to hear otherwise, but I just wanna make sure that that is a realistic turnaround that they would be able to do. Go ahead, Tracy. Oh, Rick, I'm sorry, did you wanna respond to that? Right, you're absolutely right. We don't know what I would do and maybe we could default back to Mr. Cooley. If he's got a person he's worked with before, they may be able to fit him in. So again, we've had a couple we've used before and the last process that happened, they started within three weeks, but it took six months to get it completely done through the training was the window that we allow. They were able to get it done. But again, with COVID and everything that's going, I have no idea what availability it is. Okay, Tracy, I saw your hand next. Yeah, I'm fine with removing the immediate, but I mean, my underlying comment is I'm sure Mrs. O'Born wasn't expecting to have to pay emergency room bills. So I don't wanna make this contingent upon, you know, oh, I'm moving and I don't have the money right now. I just want the board to send a clear message that training is absolutely needed. Thanks, Tracy, Vince, your hands up again. Yeah, could we do something like maybe, you know, like within like 30 days having a date that they're going to start the training or something like that, just in the event that Mr. Quilley stays in the community, you know, rather than enforcing a hard date, just saying that within 30 days, there must be a date within like the next six months or something like that, the dog's going to be trained. Yeah, I would be okay with that. All right, and that way, you know, if in a couple of weeks, Mr. Quilley's out of the community, then that's, you know, then there's not much we, there's not much jurisdiction we have as a board to enforce that, but if Mr. Quilley does decide to stay in the community of Essex, then we've, I think we've kind of met our requirements and our duty as a board. Thanks, Vince. Is he done nodding? Thank you. Okay, so Rick, what's the, what are our next steps here? You need a, do we need to make a motion with those requirements encoded? Yes, sir. Okay, Vince, I see your hand up. You willing to make that motion? I am willing to make that motion. I move that the select board enforces the following restrictions on the dog known as Titan, that the dog be on a leash and muzzled whenever outside and that he be excluded from, or that he be barred from entry to all dog parks and other parks, including Indian, Indian Brook Park, Saxon Hill Park, et cetera. And that his owner is required to within 30 days provide proof that he has a, that he has a training scheduled for the dog within six months to remedy behavioral issues. Thanks, Vince. And I heard a second from Don. Any other comments from the board? Rick, does the wording of that seem appropriate and adequate? Yes, sir. Okay, thank you. Okay, all those in favor, be signified by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay, motion passes 5-0. Ms. Osborne, so sorry for this incident to have occurred and thank you for coming forward to talk to us about it. Well, thank you guys very much. Have a good evening. Yeah, okay, thank you. Goodbye. Sorry about this, Ms. Osborne again. Okay, moving on to business item 6C, considerate resident requests that the select board share potential texts and messages created during past select board meetings. Greg, you wanna kick this one off? Sure. So the select board has received a request from Mr. Bill Silverstrom to turn over all text messages, Facebook messages that were produced at select board meetings recently in the past. In one of the requests, I believe it's two months, another one, it's one year. But point being that there's a request for information from the select board. Mr. Silverstrom asked that the select board turn over these records on their own volition outside of the public records request, public records request act law. That is certainly your prerogative. Staff does recommend that you treat this like a public records request. That would stick with precedent, stick with practice that we have followed in the past. When people are requesting public information to go through the statutory process of this, doing so, make sure that all shows that you're complying with the law shows that we are providing all records that are relevant doing the process correctly. It also ensures that your rights are followed. We would be, staff would take a look at the records and review them to see if there's any exemptions, bring in the town attorney if need be, ensure that we're looking at considering all records and withholding any ones from a public inspection that may be exempt for personal reasons, private reasons, legal reasons, stuff like that. So that is the overview. Happy to try to answer questions. And if you want to discuss it from a legal perspective, the town attorney, Bill Ellis will be here tonight and we can discuss this in executive session as well. But hopefully that gets the conversation started for the board. Okay, thanks, Greg. Any comments or questions from board members? Do we want to have a first, I guess do we want to have a public discussion about this or should we convene in the executive session later, Pat? I do think it would be most appropriate to convene in executive session. I do have some legal questions that I would like answered but I will defer to the will of the board. Okay, anybody else? Is he gone? You're off mute for something to say? All right, makes me think. I don't have a cell phone. I don't know how to text this. So I don't really know what Bill is looking for from me. I have no problem with releasing whatever he wants to hear from me. I don't have a problem with it. Tracy or Vince, any comments or questions? Yeah, I mean, I usually err on the side of, unless it's something's legal and premature disclosure would set the town at a disadvantage, I'm fine with open session, but if there are legal questions that need to be answered, I think that's best done in executive session, but I defer to Pat whether those legal questions need to happen in executive. Okay, sounds like there's some, I don't think I have the right word. Preference to have a discussion, at least have a discussion about the legal ramifications of the public records requests with Bill Ellis. So I guess we will do that later, but we would wait till later to make the motion to go into executive session, correct? Right, okay, so we'll defer to that. I do see a couple, or Vince, I see your hand up now, go ahead. Oh, sorry, I was just gonna say we should probably bring it to the public to get their input, and then if they have any good questions, we can kind of include that in our discussion, maybe come back to the board a little bit. Yeah, afterwards. Yeah, that's what I was gonna say, see if a few hands popping up. And so, I know we have, this has been discussed at our last meeting, it came up during public to be heard, but since it's on the agenda here, board members okay with hearing the public, and then we can have our executive discussion, executive session discussion later, and we will certainly disclose after that. We can't make decisions in executive session, so we would make the decision outside of executive session as to what we're gonna do. So, okay, I'll move on to the public then, Bill Silverstrom, I see your hand up. Yeah, so I just wanted to clarify, can you hear me? Yes. Okay, so after looking this all over and thinking about it too, it just, the whole situation is in a very gray area, obviously, because it involves social media. And what I've also seen is looking back at some of these meetings, it's obvious that people are paying attention to something other than what's going on at hand. So I'm thinking this was either the tip of the iceberg or this happened before, which is why I made the request that I did to see what was there. With Facebook Messenger, to make you aware, you can have a chat group as well. If there is a chat group that was taking place as much as I requested what happened during those meetings, which is when you reach in the, you know, service to everyone here in the town, especially in paying attention at those meetings, those chat groups can also continue. And if they continue outside the hours of the meeting, and there's more than three people or three people, that also I believe constitutes a quorum. So I guess the problem that I have is where do we draw the line at what becomes public information that needs to be added into these meetings as part of the actual meeting, because they were meetings that happened within the meeting. And if a meeting of three people happened outside of the scope of a select board meeting that was not in a general or executive session, is that also public knowledge and is that something that should be disclosed as well? So that's kind of, it puts us in a very big pickle here. I didn't know if this is something we should even be bringing to the Secretary of State and Vermont Attorney General to take a look at because it's kind of serious. And you know, again, the reason why I asked the members to disclose this is because this happened and you already admitted that this was in violation of the rules that you have on the board as it is. So this warrants an investigation as opposed to just a request for public information here. So lastly, I would say that looking at the whole thing, it seems as more kind of trickles out over the last week there were some other things that came out, I guess. So where are we at with sitting there and looking at all this as a whole? So is that a question you're looking to have answered right now? Yeah, I mean, you're using social media on the side of a meeting within a meeting. And you also have one member who's no longer on the board who was part of that, who was a member at the time whose messages should be public knowledge at that point that happened in the midst of those meetings. Just like this is all recorded here now. So we'll have a discussion of that later on in our executive session and thank you for bringing that concern. I can say that we are all aware that we're very cognizant with emails that we do not have email discussions because those are definitely potential violations. The social media one, yeah, we'll have a discussion later and we'll let you know what comes of it. Thanks, thanks, Bill. Yep. Patty Davis. Yeah, this is unrelated to the whole computer end of things because I'm like Dawn. I don't like to deal with social media. I like to deal directly at the meetings and I just wanted to say one comment about the Secretary of State, Jim Condos. He's awesome. I got quite the education from him in and in 2018 when I was very upset about a sign being removed on Saxon Hill Road for the safety of the public using the road. So the reason I'm telling you this is Jim Condos actually put a law out saying that any kind of public record whether it's a written form or computer or I don't know about the computer end. I know that's what you're focused on, Bill Silverstein but I just wanted to say that the Secretary of State, Jim Condos, there's statues and laws and public record and for any type is gotta be open. Since July 2019, Jim Condos put that law into effect. I don't have the statue in front of me but I learned a lot from him. Thank you. Thanks, Patty. Bruce Post. Hi, can you all hear me? Yes, Bruce. Okay, thank you. I'll be very quick. I know the Secretary of State used to do a transparency tour and would invite select boards and other civic officials, perhaps even the public to the meeting. I would suggest particularly given some of the things I've seen on my wife's Facebook page about folks questioning why this has been done and everything that you invite the Secretary of State to do a mini transparency presentation at a select board meeting. It would certainly benefit the entire select board and I think it would benefit town staff and certainly members of the public who see the importance of these laws. And just let me read one paragraph from the Vermont League of Cities and Towns brief run, the open meeting law. And this is something that affected me when I was a select board member too. Transparency is an essential element of open and democratic government. In Vermont, primary means of providing transparency are the state's open meeting law and give the VSA the statutory sites and the public records law and the statutory sites. These laws implement the command of chapter one, article six of the Vermont Constitution that officers of government are trustees and servants of the people. And they're at all times in a legal way accountable to them. And therefore I would like to recommend that the select board consider inviting the Secretary of State as soon as possible to do a presentation, invite questions and comments from the board, the staff and also the public. Thank you. Thanks Bruce. John Demerit. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, John, go ahead. Thank you. I was just wondering, should the people that may be involved in this as select board members, should they excuse themselves from the executive meetings and or anything that really has into detail with this subject because they are possibly and most definitely involved in this. I guess it would just be my request that the select board could check the legal avenues of that out, if at all possible. We can ask the question, but I'm pretty sure that we would be required to have the entire select board present if they're available in an executive session discussion, especially and especially specifically including anybody who maybe in question is violating any policy. In fact, our policy says that if we have a discussion about it with such members, they have to be in the executive session when it's discussed. Okay, if things turn out to transpire that more investigation needs to be put into this, would they be excused from that? I'm not sure that we should have the people that are involved defending or being involved with that. And I don't know if I'm incorrect with this thought. So I'm not sure how their involvement would impede the progress. I mean, they have to be involved. If somebody, if an additional investigation needs to happen, then we all need to participate in that and provide all of our documentation in support of the investigation. So, okay. Okay, well, I sincerely thank you very much. Yep, thanks, John. Any other comments from the public? Irene. Thank you. From my time on the select board, I learned that voicemail messages and emails are also subject to this public records request law. So I would hope that Bill Silverstrom's request could be expanded. If certain members of the select board are emailing each other during a select board meeting, I would hope that that would also be brought to light. There should not be any written or recorded in any manner conversation going on. And as for the boundaries that any one of these public records request has, anyone like Bill Silverstrom or anyone else who puts through a public records request can set the boundaries in time and space, subject matter, which particular members are being asked. So I would just want to encourage through the chair, let's not be too narrow in our scope about this, please. And not just limit it to the things that Bill imagined. Thanks so much. Thanks, Irene. I see Lisa LaBerge. Hi, Andy, can you hear me? Yes. Great, how are you doing? I would like to ask that the select board also consider that these texts communications are a violation of the open meeting law and need to be investigated as such, which is different than just the request for the information. I wouldn't, I'm not a lawyer. So I definitely think you should consult with the lawyer about how to process this. But if there are communications that are held outside of the meetings, these public meetings and they're hidden, then there's another piece to this, which is violating intentional violation of the open meeting law. And I haven't heard anyone actually mention that. I think Bill hinted at it, but I think that also needs to be acknowledged, addressed and reviewed by the select board. Did that occur? And then to follow the proper process in terms of what you need to do to rectify that. And should there be any charges or penalties? I understand there's fines and different things that can happen when that happens. And again, I wonder about select board voting on them themselves in terms of this investigation. But I think that's also really important. And I wish you the best figuring this out. I'm not sure what the next step is, other than maybe consulting the town lawyer, but I think we need to do that. Okay, thanks Lisa. Yeah, that question certainly can come up later in our executive session. And there's no means for us to block a request for public records. The question is whether to divulge the information outside of the process. That's I think the question we will be discussing. And with regard to the open meeting law violation, we can also ask that question. And I understand that there is also a process for someone to allege that a violation has occurred. So certainly if we develop evidence that indicates that such happened, then we would certainly go down that path as well. Okay, any other public comments? I don't see anybody on the phone. So, okay, so we'll revisit this later, going into executive session later. And return to the motions to do that. Okay, moving on to business item 6D, consider approval of human services funding for fiscal year 2021. And I understand TAMI is on to make a presentation for this. Take it away, TAMI. Hello, everybody. I'm here to do our fiscal year 21 presentation on human services funding. For anybody who's new to what we've started last year, we have new guidelines that we've put into place to basically guide applicants, but also to kind of bring things more into proportion so that we're encouraging agencies to ask more of an apples to apples type of comparison in what they're asking for. So rather than one asking for $1,000 and another asking for $52,000, we're somewhere giving them an idea of what it is we're looking for in an application. With those guidelines last year, we funded, I don't remember how many applications, it had increased. This year, we received 33 applications, which is 10% increase from last year. So I guess that tells us. And $270,000 in requests, which is a 45% increase. So I look at that as good news because that means that we've accomplished our goal of getting the word out there that this funding is available, making the pool of applicants more diverse and bringing more, a broader reach to all of the different focus areas that the southboard is looking to do. So the bad news to all of that is that we had to find $88,000 worth of cuts this year in what we had for a budget. I don't know, Greg, if you wanna share the screen or if you want me to share my screen, are you able to do that or should I do that? Tandy, I'm happy to, but if you want to pull up so you can jump around that might be easier, otherwise you can just direct me as to where I should be highlighting at any moment. Okay. I have it up, it's not a very good version of it. So maybe if you don't mind sharing it and I can just direct you to go down if you need to. Thank you. I'm gonna tell you what to do, Greg, that's, if you don't mind. Enjoy it, Tandy. I'm gonna enjoy that. So yes, I provided a cover memo. There are actually two items that we're gonna be looking for tonight. One is to approve the award and then the second item which is on the agenda is to approve the focus areas. So to start with the awards, out of the 33 applications that we received, we ended up taking the top 11 and recommending a 90% funding. So yes, there it is in green. And then the second tier of 11 top total scores would be funded at a 75% level. The bottom 11 unfortunately are just not going to be able to be funded this year. And that's unusual that we would have 11 applications not funded, but that's because this is a more competitive grant process. And so it is a positive thing. I would note that some of the changes that our committee has put together, which we have great committee members, I think a few of them are online tonight with us. And it's a very time consuming process to go through 33 applications that are all somewhere in the range of five to seven pages long. It's a lot of work and everybody that's doing this is doing this on kind of finding time to do it. So there's a lot to it. But we are going to look to doing our scoring, maybe some weighted scores so that people who school or like for instance their services to Essex residents would score a little bit higher. It would be worth a little bit more case by that. We'd be able to come up with some ideas, I think for next year that are going to maybe even streamline the application a little bit more for us so that there might not be as much to read. And also for the scoring to try to make it a little bit better. An added thing that we decided to do was to provide the scoring to the applicants this year. So rather that with just the award letter, they will get a copy of how they scored and how we scored them so that they can make improvements in another year and realize that, jeez, I didn't score while there, I didn't demonstrate my need enough or whatever it happens to be. They'll have an opportunity to make some adjustments. So with that, I guess the total we came up to be right at 153.322, which is the total of the budget that we have afforded and the plus or minus kind of, I filtered, it was like $700 and I kind of filtered that in through the top 11. So that's why that's kind of like 90% plus there. I don't know if anybody has any questions or Andy sat on the board with us. He may have some additional comments or there could be some people from our committee that may have a few things that they would like to add to our process that I might be forgetting. Okay, thanks, Tammy. Anybody else on the Human Services Funding Committee that want to make any comments? This is Wendy. I think Tammy covered a lot of what we had discussed and really wanted to be able to wait more in the Essex categories to better highlight the organizations that helped more locally. Thanks, Wendy. Anybody else? So yeah, as Tammy mentioned, I was part of the committee. This was actually the issue that got me to run for select board back seven years ago. I was involved with the food shelf out in Jericho was trying to figure out how to, and it was actually Irene that cued me in that 1% of the budget goes to Human Services and I tried to get money for the organization and it took three years because back then the major criteria was who did we give money to before? And so I think this is a, it took us five years to get there from when I was first elected but I think this is a much better process. I'm pretty happy with it. I think it will, it's, we used to add organizations by individuals going and finding them. I think this is a better process where we have, it doesn't rely on individual members namely not me going off and finding new organizations to fund. So anyway, I guess that's enough. Any other, any, the board members have any other comments or questions about this? Patrick. Well, thank you, Andy, Tammy, Wendy, everyone involved. You know, like Tammy said, I know it's a lot of work. I was curious, do you, we usually get the applications as part of the packet? I could realize that this year with 22 of them or so that it might have been harder to include but I'm just curious if they're available and if they were, I'd like to just, I always like to browse through them just to see what people are asking for or what their areas of focus are. So I don't know if that can get made available or mailed out at some point, but I'd love to see it. Yeah, I don't think I provided them last year. I didn't think I did. But yeah, no, it's a really, it's a very, very thick file but I'm sure we can make some arrangement there. Yeah, I might have been thinking of it here before then. Apologies. Yeah, in past years, yeah. And whenever I started here that we were providing the full everybody's application which is kind of a hodgepodge of things like some applicants had a one pager and others had 20 pages. So I'd like, I'm glad to report that now it's a little bit more the same. And so that's a nice thing but it still ends up being a very lengthy process and that's why our review committee kind of goes through that and it just makes these recommendations instead of bringing the applications to everybody so that we're not going through the whole process again during a meeting. But I'm happy to, you know, I can look at it maybe trying to get something out to you. I'd have to figure out file size and how I would do that, but I think I can get it done. Yeah, to be clear, I'm not looking to make any changes or adjustments. I trust the committee to have assigned all of these with great care. I was more just, you know, for my own knowledge, you know, just to kind of see what the requests are, you know, who they're coming from. Let me see who they're coming from, but, you know, details about, you know, how they might want to be spending the money in Essex. You know, so yeah, absolutely nothing in regards to questioning the allotment because I think you guys do a fantastic job with that. Thank you. I see Evan has a comment. There's a couple of other comments. Before we make any motion on that, do I have one other piece to add to all of this and that one of the, and maybe this will pertain to what Evan wants to speak to, so he can maybe speak further, but there's one of our applicants this year is new. It's the, oh, helping voices for inclusion for Essex and Westford. And this is a, they're a new applicant this year. They're very new in general. And they had requested that they wanted to know if they could apply that they were in the process of applying for a 501C3. So one of our requirements is that you have to be a 501C3. So the award that we are recommending for them would be contingent on, you know, completion of that process. And I did speak with Sarah Macy today to, you know, to make sure that in the event that that gets dragged out for them, who knows in COVID days, how long something like that could take. I have no idea. But if it happens to go past June 30th, she would be able to assign that. So that in other words, if even though we go past the fiscal year, if we have to wait to award that, we can still do that. And perhaps maybe set a deadline. So I just wanted to say that because that wasn't as part of my documents that were in the packet, but that was one of the recommendations from our committee. And I don't know if Andy, I know Evan may have more to say about that. I know he stands up, so. Go ahead, Evan. No, Tammy, that was not my comment. I knew you were going to cover it. Maybe you can touch upon for the people in the audience and some of our new members, some of the improvements over the last couple of years that the committee has made at the suggest, some of the suggestions of the select board and of the committee highlighting how you've gone about improving it to the point where you got 33 well-deserving agencies to apply. And maybe a little bit on the focus areas. Sure. So when this was handed over, I guess to me, the first thing we did is I researched, I know Andy did some research. We all kind of did some research into, we met as a group, first of all, and said, you know, what could we do? What are some things we should be doing and looking at? And I looked at, I went back actually to past Essex select board meetings and read the minutes and what were some of the issues? What was the struggle? You know, why were we having such a difficult time figuring out how to fund people? So I took notes there. Another step we took is we went into other places and said, what are they doing? You know, for other municipalities that have human services funding, how are they awarding it? What kind of policies do they have? So a combination of some of those sorts of things we were able to put together a draft policy and then draft guidelines. So there's kind of a two-part process. I think that the policy we had before was a one-liner, one sentence. 1% of the budget and that was it. There was nothing else. So we added a little more meat to the policy. That's included in the packet this evening and basically put a timeline to it so that we're doing the same thing we're staying consistent each year. The guidelines we took and stepped away from the policy so that we are able to adjust them on an annual basis as necessary. And part of the goal there would be in this instance where our applications have increased so much, we're able to now maybe tweak these guidelines a little bit to make our scoring a little more fine-tuned, so we can make some changes that way to make it as we're dealing with this more competitive process. And we can also change the focus areas. As Evan mentioned, before last, I think the first year we did this we had, we had five focused areas, but really technically there was only four because one of them was called other. We found out we had a problem with other because we were not comparing apples to apples anymore and that made it difficult to score. So we eliminated it last year and replaced the other category with the diversity, what did we call it, diversity and inclusion? Excuse me for just a minute while I take a minute to say what I wanna say, diversity, equity and inclusion category. And that was a request from the select board last year saying, could we either do something scoring-wise or focus area-wise or something to add that into the program? So again, we were able to go to the guidelines and say, you know what, let's offer that. And so we did. Those focus areas are based on a few things. We look at, or they're recommended on a few things. We look at UVM has a report and Andy's got a better handle on some of these reports that we look at, I would have to actually look it up to remember what they were. Yeah, it was the ECOS report from the CCRPC. We used the UVM Medical Center as required to do a needs assessment every three years. So we used that to base for a lot of the, deciding what the categories should be. Yeah, so that's what we used. And then last year, the suggestion from the board members we created the new group of which we had two applicants for this year, which was nice. And with these guidelines, we put them all on the website. We made a special page for them. If anybody wants to look at that, that's on sxvt.org slash human services. We did, I do a huge outreach. I put, I do some press releases. I send it out by emails. I've been looking for organizations that are, that kind of fit into our focus areas and just trying to get that word out and let people know that there's funding available. So multiple things we did to change this year but in years past, but it's been working. Thank you. Yeah, initially my understanding was these things used to be argued out at town meeting. And then it was 1986, I believe that there was a vote at town meeting to dedicate 1% to human service funding based on the manager's recommendation. And so then it became the manager's job to figure it out. So we're doing all this to help you out Evan. Well, and just remember a couple of years ago, the manager would come to you with a recommendation and you would spend an hour dissecting and changing the manager's recommendation. Now I created a committee of really smart people and they make a recommendation to me and I bring it to you. But the group and Tammy, if you could please name out the department heads and others that are in the group, that would be great. But these people put in a lot of time to make sure that this is done right. And I'll mention this, it's $155,000. It's 1% of the town's budget but we take this very seriously. We wanna make sure that this money is helping our community and those within it and that there is transparency and that these are agencies that are working hard on behalf of our residents and our businesses. And I think it shows in the work. And so, Tammy, if you can give the names of the people on the committee please. Sure, these are all volunteers. So we have Travis Sabataso, Andy's on our team, Wendy Hisco, Bradluck, Rick, Gary, Heather Packard and Marguerite Ladd joined us this year and myself. Thank you. And thank you to all of them for their time and their efforts. That's it, we'll answer any questions. Yeah, and we do have a motion that's in the memo if everybody is in satisfaction with it. Any, yeah, we'll go to comments first. I think you got your hand up. Yeah, thank you for all the work that you did on this, folks. I really appreciate it. It's a lot of effort to go through and find all these worthy causes. I just had one question. And I'm sorry this didn't come up before when I read the packet over the weekend. Would someone like Vermont Adaptive be eligible to receive from this grant list? I'm not sure what a Vermont Adaptive does. Oh, like Vermont Adaptive Sports, they do like skis for people who like ski prosthesis for people who've lost legs and then, you know, for people that like can't ride a normal mountain bike or bike, they build them or buy them, they build them or buy them bikes that can fit their lifestyle and their ability. I just didn't know if this was someone who, if this organization would be eligible. Well, one, if there were a 501C3, two, they may or may not score well if they don't serve our community as highly as maybe what they do is elsewhere. But we would have to see their proposal as it relates to our guidelines. But if you have a contact, we can add them to our contact list and send them something for next year. Yeah, Vince, I'm familiar with the Vermont Adaptive and I believe they've, part of the application process is to just list how many people in Essex would benefit from the service. So that's something that they would need to include in the application. Gotcha. And they work at a lot of ski areas and do a lot of outreach. So it's very likely that they would qualify. Yeah, and so in one of the categories, the description of it is to eliminate barriers to under-served populations. And so that would certainly, they would certainly fit into that. Yes, I would. I would never discourage anybody unless they, I mean, really, if they're 501C3, give it a try, you know? See how you score, see how it pans out. I mean, for sure. Evan, have a comment. And I'm sorry, I forgot one more thing. I also forgot to thank the citizens of the community. It is pretty darn cool that they give 1% of the budget this year, 155,000 to the people of need and other needs throughout the community. It's a pretty darn cool thing. So thank you to them as well. Thanks, Evan. Any other board member comments? Okay. If not, there are two motions we need to make. Motions we need to make one is to approve the awards and the other is the, there we go, is to approve the categories. I don't know if you want to review the categories first or not. Do we have the categories listed here somewhere? Yes, we have them right below that page. Oh, I'm sorry, further down then I guess, sorry. There we are. There. So the categories, the five categories are access to health and behavioral health, affordable housing or housing assistance, child or family support for healthy relationships, diversity, equity and inclusion and then emergency food and disaster relief. And these categories again were based on the CCRPC's ECOS report and the UVM Medical Center every third year review of community needs. And we also included the diversity and equity based on a select board request last year and then also of course everything that happened this year with that category. Any board member comments or concerns or questions about the categories? Okay, we don't often take public comment on this topic but I see one hand up. Is the board okay with taking public comment? I see at least one thumbs up. Okay, Lisa Laverge, go ahead. Hi, I have a question about the ecumenical ministry being part of these donations. While you were talking, I looked it up. It's, they're not, they don't have a, they're not listed with the Secretary of State in their business, but they're churches and not everyone feels like they wanna go to a church and I am a big believer in the food shelf and I've donated, that's where I've given over this COVID time because I'm lucky to be working but I wonder about giving public monies to churches to give it away when there's other non-religious organizations that can still take the money. And I was just wondering if there's a reason for giving to the churches. So we're not giving to a church there. The ecumenical ministry there does have a 501C3. It is the 501C3 name is Jericho Underhill, ecumenical ministry. It does not actually include Essex because when it was formed, Essex was not served by that food shelf, but when it was expanded to include Essex, they're doing business as Essex Jericho Underhill, but their base 501C3 says Jericho Underhill. So that may be why- That's why I couldn't find it. Okay. So, but they are an independent, fully independent. Their bylaws don't allow them to do any, you know, any religious outreach or any of that stuff. There's no handout tables. There's no, I'm trying to think of the right word, proselytizing or whatever the right- I still need place to go and get food if you need it that you don't feel pressured. Yeah. People's names are collected, but there's no personal information taken. There's no requirement to prove that you're, you know, you're in need. So it was more of the religious overtones of going into a church and needing to collect money religiously and I'm a believer in separation of church and state. That's all. Absolutely. We had a year ago or so, we had a very long discussion about this particular and also the heavenly pantry in the village also requested money last year. And what we ended up doing for them because they don't have an independent 501C3 is we gave money to the Vermont food bank that then could be used by heavenly pantry. So the money went to a 501C3 for the sole purpose of serving a, so they could only buy food with it. It could not be used for any other church services. So we're, yeah, we're, we have in the past been very stringent with regard to avoiding the church and... I thought you might have, but thank you for explaining it to me. I do appreciate that. Yep, thanks for the question. Okay, any other, I see Annie Cooper. I appreciate the conversation and I appreciate the reminder, Andy, about that discussion where I was very concerned that we feed our community. And I just wanted to clear up a fable that I have never been on the take from any churches in our area or nonprofits in our community in that regard. My passion on that topic at that time, as you are aware, Andy, I can see by the look on your face was solely to find a way to strategize to feed our community. And I'm so grateful that we got to that. And I just wanted to take a moment to, to say that. Okay. Thank you. Any other comments? Okay. If we can get back to making our motions for this. Go ahead, Tracy. Just for clarification, do we need to include the caveat about voices for inclusion in Essex and Westford being conditional upon reaching the 501C3 or is that understood in the recommendation? That would probably be a good idea to make it explicit. Okay. Then I will make a motion that the select board approve contributions to the human services agencies as presented in tonight's packet with the caveat that the recommendation for voices for inclusion in Essex and Westford is contingent upon them being granted a 501C3 status. Okay. Thanks, Tracy. Thank you. Thank you, Don. Thank you, Don. Any other discussion? All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay. Motion passes five zero. Thank you for that. Next motion. I will move that the select board approve the focus areas as presented in attachment C as human services priorities for FY 22 human services funding. That was second. Seconded. Thank you, Vince. Any other further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay. Motion passes five zero. Thank you for that. Thank you, Tammy. Great job as always. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. And thank you, Greg, for showing the screen. You're welcome. All right. So let's see. Now we move on to next item of business, which is six F consider transferring portion of remaining merger funding to Village of Essex Junction for separation exploration. Greg, do you want to kick this off? You want me to do it, Greg, or you want to do it? No, go for it. Oh, thought I'd give you a segment off. I'll take it. As you all have in your packet, obviously we all know the result of the merger vote did not pass and the revote did not pass. About a year, year and a half ago, the select board chose to use some surplus funds for the purposes of merger. That was mainly whether it was gonna be for legal opinions, any printing costs or any extra costs related to maybe the elections or whatnot. So roughly $70,000 remains in those surplus funds. And so the question is, with the village now wanting to explore separation, does the town select board wish to reallocate some of that money to the village so they can do their legal work in this endeavor and then decide ultimately in the future what comes of that legal review. And that's the question. Okay, thanks, Evan. Board members, any comments, questions? Don. Given that the money originally came from surplus funds and was designated for merger and the merger issue is a mute fact now, I feel that those funds should be returned to the surplus and maybe designated later on, but right now they weren't designated for separation, they're designated for merger. Thanks, Don. Vince. So if we were to split this on the grand list, would this provide us funds to do our, the quote unquote, town's legal research while giving the village back their tax dollars so that they're not paying for our legal research? That is correct. Okay. I guess I'd be in, I'm more in favor of that option than that way that kind of helps the town, I guess pay for the costs of investigating the legalities of separation without taxing the village to do it. We're using village tax dollars to do it. That would be my preference. Thanks, Vince. Pat. Yeah, I would agree with Vince. In this case, the 42% of the grand list is how they arrived at that final number. And we did talk about last meeting how it would be difficult or very difficult for us to kind of justify how does the village pay for the village residents pay for legal fees that the select board is specifically looking at just because that's how we collect the taxes. This seems like a pretty fair way too while it's not strictly merger related. I think none of us can argue that this comes out of those discussions. And I think also it's, I think it's a respect thing. I think it's a way for us to split it in a fairly equitable way. We know that both of the municipalities are going to need legal fees for this. And if we are using that surplus, we have what the town has set aside a very specific number. So I think that has been said, we're not running into a situation where we are taxing part of our residents to cover legal fees for something that they may not want. This seems like the fairest way for handling it, in my opinion. Thanks, Pat. Vince, is your hand still up or are you back up again? Sorry, that was a late, no problem. Tracy. Yeah, I guess I have a few thoughts. We haven't decided whether to use those surplus funds for studying separation, including the FY 22 budget includes the entire town, not just the TOV. And it's still the duty of the select board to include all town residents, including those town residents who also happen to live in the village. If we do decide that these funds should be used for separation planning, preparing the town for a smooth separation will benefit all residents, including those who are also residents of the village. Additionally, we don't even know what the scope is on separation. We don't have a projected plan. We don't have a timeline. We're not even really sure what's involved at this point. So I think that until we have a scope, a discussion regarding separation timeline, the scope of that, what's included, what's not, I really think that this discussion is premature. And I would like to have at least the skeleton of a plan before we decide how and if we would use these surplus funds for that purpose. Thanks, Tracy. So I'm on the fence. I very much understand and see that it would be certainly be a good gesture. It's a small amount of money. I think by approving such a, if we make a motion and approve it, then we are in effect reallocating the surplus funds for a new purpose. We can absolutely do that. So, any other board member comments? I see a few hands up in the public. Okay, so if board is okay, can we move on to public discussion? Okay, Betsy, done. Oh, thank you, Annie. I cannot envision a time where I have ever, in all my years of being paying taxes, get to say what my taxes are going to be used for. Ultimately, certainly I get to vote on a budget, but things change. And I don't think it's about them not having voted for this or saying they wanted their taxes to be spent in this way. That's just an odd way of looking at taxes. And the village is asking us to give them money to help them separate from us when they're not allowing us to hear anything about what they're doing, because they're doing it behind closed doors. There seems like a very unevenness to this. I'm not sure what to say other than this. Thank you for your listening. Thanks, Betsy. Mary Post. Hi, thank you. First of all, I just wanna say I was really struck by one of the members saying that it's really, it's all about respect. And I think that's really pretty ironic dealing with what you're gonna be dealing with later on in your executive session, but just wanna let that one go by. Cause I'm wondering about, what about respect for those of us are the town outside of the village? This is the village who's decided that they wanna separate. And some of the people from the village have made it clear whether it be on Facebook or even be in these meetings, that they don't wanna have the town be a part of that discussion at all. And I know that that's short-sighted because they really have no choice when it comes down to deciding what we're gonna do with these ways that we're already cooperating. But the point is that they've just made it clear that they want nothing to do with us and yet they want our money. It just is really rankling. Thank you. Thanks, Mary. Rachel. Hey there. My apologies, Mr. Chair. This may have been more appropriate for our public to be heard, but I was about six minutes late to the meeting, but it's loosely related. So I think I can go. I wanted to say that I live in the town outside of the village. These are my personal thoughts as a resident of such. I'd like to talk about accessibility to local government. And I'd also like to make a bold assertion that in my opinion, these meetings, the content, the time of day and the length are not accessible to the average as exposure. I think having these meetings via teams is beneficial. Publishing them on YouTube is also great. So thank you for those first steps. But having two meetings per month lasting four plus hours and starting at 6.30 p.m. are really impossible for working families with school-aged children. The very population that will be most adversely affected by separation from the village. This select board is only hearing from people who can regularly attend these meetings. This select board has done no outreach to the town outside of the village residents to explain that services are gonna be cut and taxes will go up as a result of the separation. Town outside the village residents who don't follow these meetings have no idea what's coming. So again, accessibility, clarity, and succinct information is what I'm seeking. And I truly hope that we see some creative solutions from this board. Thanks, Rachel. I guess I wanna comment on a couple of things that have been said so far. One is, Rachel, we're having our first, the select board is having their first discussion about separation later this evening as part of an executive session. So we have not developed any strategy at all or any discussion about where we're gonna go. And certainly communication will be part of that discussion. So yeah, thank you for your comments there. The other thing I wanted to comment on this other folk, other comments have been, have said that the village has asked for this money. I don't recall that we actually have a formal request for it. This is a select board initiated or staff initiated and select board initiated the offer. So just to clarify that, I don't know. I know there are a couple of trustees that are on the call. I don't know if either of them wanna comment on that at any point. So anyway, move on. Bill Silverstrom. Yeah, I think it's, I agree. It's a little premature to be moving those funds because the village may actually look at things and not decide to go that route. And they may say the separate and share actually works better for them. And until then, and you get a concrete decision on that, I don't think they should be pushed their way. Maybe put them in an escrow account for the time being instead of putting them back to the fund and then make that decision a little bit later on. Thanks, Bill. Scott Moore. Hi, Andy. First, I wanted to say thank you for the clarification in regards to where this request came from. That was my first question was to ask if this request came from the village or if it was as you just clarified the town staff initiative. And then secondly, when it comes to this, my understanding is this money was raised through town taxes, correct? Yes. And as a member of the town, even though I live in the village part of the town, any money for that in theory would be spent for the benefit of everyone in the town, regardless of if that is in the general fund for snow plow, salt expenditures because we had a rough winter or whatever happens to be. So it feels fair to me that if this is for the benefit of everyone in the town, it can't be a quote unquote them, quote unquote wanting my quote unquote money. So I really do believe that if this money is decided to be split, it does go split the 42% as noted by the grand list. Thank you much. Okay, thanks, Scott. Melanie, you're there, you're on mute. Sorry, I was trying to find out how to unmute myself. Hi, Melanie Tupay. I wanted to also thank you for your clarification and I'm also gonna apologize because of course during the last person's comments, one of my kids came down and asked me a question. I totally understand what I think it was Rachel said about the timing of meetings. I don't think there is a good time for meetings, just give my personal input. Everybody's busy in these meetings are long. So thank you for trying to make it possible for people to attend them regardless of how and I would appreciate it if people would continue to try to find creative ways to reach out to people. So thank you for that. I appreciated that clarification. I have not heard the village asking for money. I am a village resident within the town and I do appreciate what the previous speaker, again, I forgot his name, I'm sorry, what he said about that the money needs to benefit all of the town, the residents in and out. And I liked the thought about perhaps putting something in escrow because these meetings about separation are not happening behind closed doors, they're in public meetings that people can attend if they'd like to, whether they live in the village or not. And there is a lot of discussion that needs to happen. But it's happening out in the public and there's being reported back to within the, within the scope of those meetings. And I think it's really important that we work together to try to move forward. I think that merger is not gonna happen. It's been voted down multiple times by those who don't live in the village. And I know there's people on both sides and both in the town as a whole. And I think that we do need to figure out how to maybe use these funds in a way that benefits everyone. We are gonna need to look at what's gonna happen as the village looks towards separation and that is gonna incur some expense on both sides. And I think that it is very thoughtful and I appreciate the select board considering the fact that it does, it is a conflict of interest if you will for the select board who represents the village to spend money to hire a lawyer, for example, to look into things that don't benefit the village portion of the town as a whole. And so I think we do wanna be looking at those issues and weighing those carefully. And this could be a source of money that could help alleviate some of that conflict of interest. And I think that that's worth keeping as an option but I also think perhaps it's premature because we don't know what the needs are gonna be in that area. I hope I was clear, thank you. Yep, thank you Melanie. Lisa. Hi, this is Mark Roberts actually. I'm also a registered voter in Essex. I just think that any, that it's town money, it should stay with the town. I don't think that we should be giving money to an effort that basically doesn't benefit, is not in the best interest of the town. So I think that money to benefit everybody in the town should go back into the general fund. And we should, or save it for the legal bills that we're gonna incur if the village decides to separate. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Can you say your name again, Mark? Mark Roberts. Roberts, thank you. Thank you. Okay, Aaron. Good evening folks. I'll be brief. Other folks have largely said what I've already said. And also to that point, I have children to wrangle to bed myself. I just wanted to say I live outside the village. I actually agree a lot with what I think was Scott Moore said. I think Patrick and Vince made some really good points about, even though we are talking about the village, they are also town residents and this is the town select board. So ultimately I trust what you guys are gonna do in terms of how you choose to allocate that funds. But I support splitting that between the village and the town entities. Thank you. Have a good night. Thank you, Aaron. Megan Humphries. Hi, everyone. I just have one thing I wanted to say. I wanted to clarify that this is not just town tax dollars. This is town and village tax tax dollars. So if there is an equitable way to split that first funds to support council for what will happen next, then I think that's the fair way to handle that bucket of money. And I also wanna echo what Rachel said about accessibility of these meetings. I really like, I've been able to join for the first time because they're on teams and virtual and I can do them. I can listen while I'm putting my children to bed, but if there are other creative ways for other families to get involved and to be able to participate in these meetings, I would appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks, Megan. Patty Davis. I think it's great that we've had so much more participation in these meetings. And I think you guys do a great job trying to make it accessible by letting the public speak. And this is great since we've had our meetings. And I just wanted to throw that out. Mark Roberts, I definitely agree with you, but I also agree with Megan just spoke about equitable, the 42, whatever the equitable split is for our, for attorney fees. And my question is, can one town attorney, Dan Richardson be an attorney for two separate entities of town that wanna separate? I mean- So Patty, there are different legal teams involved for the village and for the town. Okay, gotcha. I was just curious. Thank you. Yep, yep, no problem. Adam Newhart. Hey, just a quick comment. I do wanna reiterate what Rachel said. I do really appreciate that these meetings are on teams because I'm in a similar situation with a two and a five year old and attending in person would just be impossible. I'd also like to call it, I think I heard someone say why spend money on something that's going to benefit the villagers and not the town. And I feel like a broken record, but I wanna remind everybody that the village is part of the town. Thank you. Thanks, Adam. Harlan Smith. Hi, Andy, thanks. Appreciate it. I don't even know if I wanna speak to the split of the money. I'd prefer to speak to, it was mentioned that it could be used for legal fees, but it was identified as merger funds for all aspects of merger. Am I correct in that assessment? It was yes. It was surplus funds that were identified to be specifically spent on merger. Okay, yep. So in separation, I believe both the town and the village will be looking at expenses for other items that go along with that, not just legal fees could be outreach. I think outreach is probably the most important information going out to the public on both ends from the town and from the village. I don't know, I feel like the legal part is, I mean, it's part of it, but to say that the money's gonna be used for that, I don't know, feels a little divisive to me where in reality it could be used for public outreach, public information and those aspects. So, and obviously as people are pointing out that villagers do pay into the town budget, so however that split works out is maybe that's equitable, but I just wanted to say that maybe it's not all just lawyer fees, maybe it's outreach, which is probably more important than the lawyer's fees. Thanks. Yeah, thanks, Harlan. And some of the reason that this came up and was posed this way around legal fees is that at our last meeting, there was a discussion about that. The question came up about whether, the question of, I guess fairness was maybe the word that was used around whether the village residents should be paid for town legal fees and village legal fees for the opposite sides of a discussion. So I think that that was the word, the legal discussion came in, but you're correct that originally the money was intended for any purpose around merger, which, yes, and could include outreach. I don't believe that if we decide to do this that we will strictly limit how it gets spent in that way. I don't think we're gonna be tracking down where each dollar gets spent if we do this, but thanks for your comments. I'm good, thanks. Okay, thanks, Harlan. Annie Cooper. Hi, thanks, Andy. I'm trying to lower my hand at the same time. So I also, per Adam Newhart's statement, feel sometimes like a broken record, but I don't mean to sound like one and I just wanna make sure the point is always clear that no matter which way you slice the town right now, I am an equal town resident living in the village as any town resident living outside the village. So when we say town, it's confusing because some people use the word town to mean the TOV region of the town and some people use the word town to mean all of us. And when we talk about the select board, that is all of us who live in the town. When we talk about the budget, that is for all of us that live in the town, inclusive of those who live in the village. This tricky part is it's not a matter so much of like to call it fairness or whatever because the fact is that when I'm standing in my home and I know I've said this before, when I'm standing in my home, I'm standing in the town of Essex the same as Adam Newhart or Rachel LaZot or Aaron Ennis or right, I'm standing in the town of Essex right now. I'm also standing in the village of Essex Junction right now. And while I'm standing here, I'm also paying taxes to two municipalities. And until that changes, the budget that the select board talks about involves and includes me. And the budget that the village trustees talk about involves and includes me. And that's literally the center of the issue but also the center of the complexities and that can never be tossed aside. So until there is separation legally, there's really no route for our tax money for the town, all of us, to be utilized away from village residents because we are equal town residents. And I understand how complicated and confusing and hard that is. And I don't mean it in any other way, but mutually. So I grabbed these lens cleaners from my bathroom to look like, let's say this is $6, right? And this is the merger money. And even if you take the $6 from the merger money, you give three to the village municipality and you keep three for the town municipality. So let's take the village money away for a second because that goes say to the trustees. These three dollars for the town still includes me as the village resident. And there's no getting around me. That's, and it's exhausting and it's problematic and as confusing as that is, that's the case and that's the truth and that's how it is until it's completely, until separation is done. Thank you for your time. Thanks, Annie. Gabrielle Smith. Hi, everybody, thank you. I think I was one of the people for sure who brought this up at the last meeting and I wanna thank you all for giving this such consideration. When I first saw this in the meeting packet, I thought maybe this is a way for us to feel all a sense of fairness. It's not literally, as Annie's noting, it's not that clean, right? But I feel that it's an effort. I don't know that it's going to be the one that you end up deciding to do. As a village resident, I certainly would never feel that the town ever owes me a rebate. So for me, it's less about the money coming back to me than it is about the, at least the appearance or effort to create some clarity around funding, particularly for legal fees. So I'm not necessarily voicing a strong opinion one way or the other. I just wanna let you know how much I appreciate that you are making this effort to try and come to terms with this. It's difficult, I think, to find a way and I appreciate that you're moving so quickly to try to come up with some possibilities. Thank you. Thanks, Gabrielle. Bruce Post. Hi, Bruce Post. I forgot to give my address last time, one Cindy Lane. First of all, the those who say they're happy to select board is trying to be more convenient in holding meetings. When I was on the board, our meeting started at 7.30. I was half asleep when I got to the board, but that was okay, because most of the decisions were made before I got their editorial comment. You're being asked not to give money to village residents. You're being asked to give money to a separate municipality. And that's what the village is. The village has designated a village employee to run their study effort. And they did so because they felt that he was totally paid by village funds and this should be a village effort. And they are talking about allocating village funds for the study purpose. I see no reason why the select board should give money to a municipality that wants to carve out its own niche and separate from the town. And in those messages that were on earth a couple of weeks ago about what I consider to be the illegal meeting, one comment was made to prep the town for paying. And I can't see paying for my own paying. If there is separation, we've been told there's gonna be a big price for the town outside the village taxpayers to pay in terms of increased taxes almost immediately. I think we ought to keep as much money for the town outside the village as possible. Thank you. Thanks, Bruce. Margaret Smith. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Okay, thank you. I just wanted to say that in terms of clarity of public meetings, I was observing the trustees meeting last week and they, unlike the select board, they decided to hold executive session at the beginning of their meeting so that anybody who wanted to lessen in would maybe get tired and drop out. And it went on for at least 50 minutes of executive session while they played Musac in the background. And as a longtime resident of the town outside the village, I will say that Annie, some people may feel that they're residents of the village in the town, but I've never felt of a resident of the town and the village. I've always felt totally shut out of whatever the village was doing. So thank you. Thanks, Margaret. Irene Renner. Thank you. In light of Margaret's comment as well as another earlier comment about the village trustees holding public meetings on separation, there was in fact a comment at a recent trustee meeting about how it's too bad that these meetings just can't be village residents. So it's not lost on me as someone who lives outside the village and has many friends in the village that there's a whole lot going on behind the scenes, not just the 50, five, zero minute executive session in the front of the last trustee meeting. But in fact, if you look back at their agendas for several weeks, in fact, several months, they've been meeting with their attorney about next steps for the future. So- So Irene, is this a select part issue you're bringing up? Yeah, Sam. So I would encourage you to remember that village residents wear two hats. They are village residents, but they're also town inside the village residents. And that money that you're talking about splitting on behalf of perhaps some town inside the village residents should be spent on town inside the village causes. And that would not be separation. Separation is a village only movement. Therefore, I would request that you remember that the town is facing a credible threat to its sovereignty from an independent government known as the village. And I would urge you to take those funds that you have and set them aside for protecting the town's interests, all the interests of all the people who live in the town, yes. But many of those people who live in the town as well as inside the village don't wanna separate. So they'll be counting on the town to spend its funds putting forth a reasonable front against separation, not filling the coffers of the village so they can more easily separate. Thanks. Thanks, Irene. So Lisa LaBerge, I see your hand up. Is that... It's Mark Roberts again, sorry. Yeah, you spoke before. Is this something new, something quick? Sure, I just wanna point out that I've lived in towns and villages before and I've never seen such problems. I mean, White River Junction, I don't even know what town it is, but I think it's Putney and they have five villages and they manage, I just find this whole conflict that somehow or another, because I live outside the village, I'm against the people that live in the village, it's simple. They just need to tighten their belts, that's all. I'm sorry and that's enough. Thanks, Mark. It's White River Junctions in Hartford and they have five unincorporated villages. They're unincorporated though, so they don't have, the villages themselves don't actually have governments. Deb McAdoo. Hi, everybody. I don't even know what I wanna say. My ire has been raised. I just have been living with tax inequity between myself and the town for so many years now. I have been dishing out checks to you guys every year. I get booed at town meeting. My input is not considered. I'm sitting here trying to trust four people to make a decision where I think they have a clear conflict of interest. The four manager, I don't know, Evan, why you're not on Valium, I'm considering it. So I really just, I mean, this really is, it's crazy to listen to these meetings and what goes on. And I think that I'm not really contributing anything positive because I just really wanna make an observation that it's really, this is such a contentious situation that I wish that we could fix it. I don't think we can. So I hope that we can just try to be amenable as we make our separate ways. Thanks, Doug. I just wanna say that due to HIPAA laws, we can neither confirm nor deny that Evan is on Valium. I appreciate that, Vince. I pray for you, Evan, I do. Okay, Ken Signarillo. Thank you very much. So I do think these remaining merger funds should be reallocated to the town as a whole, cost of separation that it will be likely to encounter legal and outreach and otherwise. If there is to be a segregation and or transfer of any of the funds, that's kind of a recognition that there is the town inside the village will be getting a portion. And therefore the town outside the village needs to get a portion. And some committee, like the one that the trustees just created might be able to use those funds for its work. For the time being, though, I think it is premature. The town as a whole, including the town inside the village, folks will need to have their town interests represented and the funds should be used for that at this point. Thank you. Thanks, Ken. Betsy Dunn, you have not yet spoken on this, have you? Go ahead, Betsy. There I am, sorry. Yes, I did a little bit in the beginning. I do believe that the whole little issue a bit is that it was intended for work on the merger. And because the merger is now a done deal, all those funds should go into our general funds and be determined by you all how you want to use them. Maybe not even for separation, maybe there's some other big thing that has just come up, but I don't think it needs to be giving away any money because we're not. We're keeping the money for the use of the town and all those people who live in the village, yes, you're part of that town and who knows where the money would get spent, but I don't think on separation for you guys. Thank you. Thanks, Betsy. Okay, let's see, is there another hand? No, that's Betsy's hand still up. No, no hands, anybody else? Any other comments? We have a double-edged sword where we've made these meetings more accessible so they are longer because they're more accessible, too. There's that factor as well, more people are speaking, which is great. I see a hand up now, Pettie. I just want to say that this has been great. You guys are doing an awesome job as our select board because you let us speak and you don't know how liberating that is. Okay, thanks, Pettie. All right, let's come back to the board. Any other comments board members want to make based on hearing from the public Vince? I just want to say that, you know, I respect the public's opinion but my position hasn't changed and we're not really negotiating with the people of the junction. We're negotiating with the board, the board of trustees, which represents the junction and I feel that we need to, as a board, like make a peace offering, like, you know, even if it's just a small token and I don't mean that to say like we have to do it or that we don't have to do it but it's, I feel that it's a show of good faith and I feel that it's a fair thing to do and for me personally, and I feel like it's the right thing to do. So I just want to say my opinion has not changed but I do appreciate everyone's comments. I do understand, I do understand but I disagree with the logic that this is not in our self-interest to do. Okay, thanks Vince. Tracy, I saw your hand go up. Next. Yeah, I just want to, you know, echo comments that I heard from the public that, you know, residents of the town, the town is the entire town and that includes residents who are also members of the village. Any money that would be spent on items like communication, public relations, things of that sort benefit the entire town and that includes residents that are also members of the village. We're not talking, as far as I know, we're not talking about specifically spending this money toward legal fees because we have not defined a clear scope. We have not defined a timeline. We have not defined any of this. And for that reason and that reason alone, if this comes to a vote this evening, my vote will be no, specifically because those details have not been hashed out and I believe that it's premature to be having this conversation without, prior to having the discussion about those details. Thanks, Tracy. John. Back to my original question, can you legally use funds that were designated for one thing for something else? Yeah, the select board can reallocate any of the surplus funds anyway it chooses to. Even though they originally designated for merger and now you're, okay. Yep, yep, because in the case where you don't spend it, you burn it, you throw it away. We can always, yeah, we can always reallocate anything as we choose. I'd rather, I mean, and as Tracy said, I'd like to see a plan before we actually designate money for something. Yeah, and I'm a little bit thinking that maybe we have a discussion later about with Bill Ellis about what the process is potentially could be, what the schedule could be, what, you know, those kinds of things, we will have a discussion later. And I don't know, Evan and or Greg, whether we can have this discussion again at the end of the meeting after we've had that and potentially vote whether to do this or decide whether to do this later in the meeting after we've had more. I'll make a suggestion. I'll let Pat speak if he wants to go first since he's elected, I'll wait. I was just going to suggest that. I mean, I would be happy to, if we want to have that discussion first, table this question until our next meeting, then we can have our discussions that we need to have tonight and get a clear review. That sounds, I don't think two weeks is going to cause any issues one way or another. Pat covered exactly what I was going to recommend. I don't, again, it sounds like it was brought up for a discussion because it was asked of me to find some creative ways to do this. So sure enough, it was here for discussion. I don't even know if I really thought you were really going to vote on it tonight. So I think you should table it. I think you should get your questions answered by legal counsel. I think you should ask and submit some things that you want staff to review in order to be able to come back with some answers in two weeks. And if it doesn't happen in two weeks, it could happen in four. Any concerns with doing that from other, from board members? So I think to accomplish that, we could just move on to the next agenda item. We don't need to make any motion. We just ask you to bring it back to another agenda. Just a motion to table. Do we? I don't know if you normally do that. Just, we just say come back in two weeks. So. There's no motion to table, so. Yeah, I think just, just come back. All right, we have a motion to table in a second. Actually, Andy, I said there's no, you have to have a motion in order to table the motion. Right, there's no motion to table. Right, right, right. Just come back. Okay, I thought, I thought that was what I heard, but then I heard a second and then I said, maybe I heard what Tracy said. Okay, okay, okay. All right, so Evan, please bring this back in two weeks and Kate, unless we tell you otherwise. Great. Thank you. Great, okay. And thank you for the discussion. Yeah, and thank, yes, thank you. Certainly thank you to the public for all of the comments. All right, so now, moving on to the next money question. Item 6G, discuss American Rescue Plan, act money and possible process for sharing funding with Village of Essex Junction. Greg or Evan? I'll take this one again, Greg. You have the rest of the slides. So, I know that this particular program has been in the news. I don't know for the people at home, if you've been playing along with all the news, the federal government has set aside several billion dollars for state and local governments in recovery act funds. The guidelines for the use of federal funds has not come out, but what we are hearing in advance, and this is more to the select board, not necessarily to take a vote tonight, but to understand that this is coming and how they may decide to allocate the funds is likely to come at a per capita citizen of roughly 21,000. They're likely to use the 2019 census numbers that they have from what they do on an annual basis. It's not the official census of 2020, but it is the one that they have in Washington for all, I believe, lots of different types of municipalities. What is yet to come is the rules on how the money is to be spent, on what it could be spent on, and who is going to get the funds. Right now, we are hearing that it will go to the town, which, as we heard earlier tonight, includes a village and a total of 21,000 people. And when I want it, you all to start thinking about, let me go back a step. It also sounds like we're going to get roughly three years to expend these funds. It also, because it is federal funds, there are likely, I mean, and not even likely, it's going to be a guarantee that we're going to have to track these funds as if we got a federal grant. And for anybody at home, anytime you get money from the government, it's not free. There's always expenses related to taking federal funds. You have to fill out a lot of reports. They do inspections. They do audits, things of that nature. So what I really want for this is just to give you that update and start thinking about is there, again, we have a village inside the town and start thinking about how some of these monies could be allocated in terms of the village in the town and processes. And there are lots of things to think about that you both share. I'll give you, for instance, you both own the tree farm property. You both own Indian Brook Park and reservoir. There's lots of paths in the village in the town that we would suggest you connect because it makes sense. So there's a lot of projects that if they fall within the guidelines to give you that sense of some process for picking out projects for the use of those funds. Oh, and one other thing that you also share with the village amongst many is a wastewater treatment plant that has to figure out a way how to reduce phosphorus in water. By the way, once it gets to the plant, it's very difficult to remove phosphorus from water before it gets into the creek. So that's what you have on your agenda. And we just want to keep you updated on that. We are, and Andy, I don't know if you went on last week's. I think we're going to hear it, I believe on the 10th or the 12th. Yeah, I attended the VLCT's Advocacy Chat this morning and there's two things. One, what they expect by the end of this week, we'll see to get the guidance from the US Treasury Department. The other thing that was said, and I asked the question twice, two different ways is the current view is that villages will get their own allocation. Oh. Incorporated villages, I should say incorporated villages will get their own allocation. So we may not need to make any decision unless we decide to do any joint projects. So we'll keep our eye on that. I had not heard that this morning, but want to keep an eye on it is going to be a significant amount of money. We are going to look at things like areas where we lost revenue or anticipated revenues. We'd like to look at doing some of that first. We also are going to look at from a staff perspective, any projects that we could get matching grant monies to make our monies go farther, we want to look at that. We also want to just recently, it's the first time in the last couple of years, our congressional delegation asked us if there was any projects we wanted to submit for federal funding. That was somewhat new and of local, of recent vintage. They've done that in the past, but earmarks were a bad thing in Washington for about the last 10 to 15 years, but they asked us. And so we did submit a couple of projects. So you never know where, how to stretch these monies, but that's the process that we know. And there's three buckets, right? There's money that's going to the state that then we may have the opportunity to apply for. There's money that's coming directly from the federal government to municipalities. And then there was funds that were intended to go to county governments, but we don't have county governments in Vermont. So they're going, that money is being redistributed to towns. And so the question, the incorporated village piece of that may be treated differently for the money for municipalities than for the county money too. So there may be a variety of flavors of all of this that we need to keep our finger on. Just to keep my life interesting. Yep, yep. Pat, you're mind-me-up. Conscious, Tom. Man, I can't get through one meeting. It was an idea that I've actually seen implemented in some school boards around the state, but I would be really interested in considering setting aside some of this for a community committee. Maybe a portion of it that we would have our own residents tell us what's important to them, whether it be obviously, depending on how this comes gets allocated, but I think it would be a really good idea instead of kind of, obviously we're gonna sit up here and try to direct that as best we can as a board. But I think it would be a real good community effort to have our citizens tell us what's most important, like what do they wanna see that money spent on, set aside, whether it's 50,000 or like 100, however it ends up getting set out. There's certainly precedent around the state for doing that from different municipalities. So I think it could kind of go a long way to just making people feel like they have a say in what's coming down more than just sending an email off to the select board. Any other board comments, Tracy? Yeah, I think that's a great idea, Pat, to get community input on how ultimately this gets spent. I would also, being a member of the Joint Stormwater Committee in dealing with this last risk control plan, I think that would be a great use of these funds. I'm also thinking a little outside the box as far as the tree farm, there's the White House and the tree farm and I think per state guidelines we're supposed to keep that maintained and it would take some rehab to do so. So thinking along the lines of rehabbing that building and utilizing it in a way that benefits the community. Immediately I think of pre-K, school-age care, things of that sort, just throwing ideas out there. And I also, I think Evan mentioned also leveraging grant funds, but just from the state using the CARES Act funds, being very careful. You can't use those funds to pull down federal money. You can't use it as a match. So just needing to be careful of those guidelines when they do come out. And one other thing, I'm sorry to interrupt, with the White Building and other things, there's also been a comment of the need for meeting space. So one of the things that we'd like to do with that, one of that, if we do renovate that property is have more activities throughout the early evening so that it is not such a lonely out of the way place. Any other board member comments? Should we open up to public? Betsy Dunn. Thank you, Randy. I'm very interested in asking the people what they want and rather than have to pay for a big firm to do a survey, send out a monkey survey and ask people to fill in what they wanna do. And it'll be a bit of email to read, but you'll get their genuine answers right off what they want. That's all I have to say. Thank you. Thanks, Betsy. Penny Davis. The public was so involved in deciding what to do with Saxon Hill. It was great. So people physically came in, put little dots under what they want the area to be utilized as and overwhelmingly passive recreation, overwhelmingly. And I think it was for everybody, not just town outside the village because everybody uses it, even out of towners, which brings me to my next point. Whoever put the gate up, that says do not enter to prevent the ATVs from tearing up the road, Saxon Hill road. They should, my husband just thinks they don't even have a license to drive those things. And they don't read the signs that say no ATVs. And somebody from the public works did a beautiful job. I saw the gate this morning for the first time. So we need to have signs so people know where they are in the woods, the place is packed. And Saxon Hill road needs a sign that says dogs need to be leashed on a public road all the way to the gate. I want the money to be used for that. Thanks, Patty. Irene Renner. Thank you. I'm confused about a couple of statements that were made earlier. One is that everybody owns Indian Brook, the town and the village. Last I knew it was the town recreation department that manages it and that it's owned by the town. I was chair of the select board back when people voted to purchase the tree farm from the state. And when that was finally wrapped up, it was just under 50 acres that went to the town and just under 50 acres that went to the village. Again, I'm not sure why the ownership is being conflated. It is owned different parts, but not jointly by the town and by the village. Thank you. Thanks, Irene. Annie Cooper. I just was a little uncertain about something, but that's okay. Thank you. That's good. All right. Any other comments from the public? I don't see any. Okay, Evan, you're not asking for us to do anything just for information discussion. Just for information. Yep. All right. All right. So let's move on. Next item on the agenda is we will have an executive session at the end of the evening to talk about our separation discussion in the executive session. Move on to the consent agenda. Someone like to approve or make a motion to approve the consent agenda. I make a motion that we accept, sorry. Can we approve the consent agenda as presented? Thank you, Don. Do I have a second? Did I hear Vince second that? Yeah, a second. All right. Thanks, Vince. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay. Consent agenda is approved. Moving on to the reading file. Any board comments or discussion? Make the motion that we, I guess we accept the reading file with many thanks to Fran Kinghorn for the years in service to the Cemetery Committee. Second. Okay, so we don't approve the reading file. We only discuss it. So, but thank you for your comments. Thank you. Yes, I understand from her letter that she's been anxious to step down for some time here and appreciate her sticking in there with us on as long as she has. Any other comments? I do want to make a point that this is Public Service Recognition Week. And like to thank all of our wonderful staff, all of our municipal staff, all of our police department, our firefighters, our first responders, our teachers, our, why am I missing the word? Healthcare workers, everybody who definitely, and our elected officials too as well. So thank you for your service. Hopefully somebody does something nice for you this week. I know my wife's a teacher and they're having a creamy truck at school tomorrow. So anybody want to take me out for a creamy, I'd be happy to go. Have a new year. I got you Andy. Said I wish it was 70 degrees for you. Oh yeah, yeah, it's true. It's going to be cold and rainy. So maybe it might not be the best. Yeah, yeah, good point. I'm going to bring your golf umbrella. Actually, I'm subbing at ADL tomorrow. Good afternoon when the creamy truck is there. So I will get it. Okay. Any other comments? Okay. So we have two executive session discussions to have. So we need to make the motions for both of those. I've got the first ones right here. All right. I move that the select board make the specific finding that general public knowledge of confidential attorney client communications made for the purpose of providing professional legal services to the body would place the town at a substantial disadvantage. Do I have a second? A second. Thank you, Don. Thank you, Tracy. Go ahead, Tracy. I will also move that the select board enter into. Oh, we should vote on the first one. Each one individually. Okay. Yeah, let's vote on. Okay, so any further discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Okay. Motion passes. Sorry. Go ahead, Tracy. No need to apologize. I move that the select board enter into executive session to discuss confidential attorney client communications made for the purpose of providing professional legal services to the body pursuant to one BSA 313A1F to include the town attorney unified manager and deputy manager. Second. Thank you, Tracy. Thank you, Don. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Okay. Aye. Aye. Okay, motion passes. Let's see if we can find the other one. Andy, before we go, or Greg, I do not have a link for executive session. I sent it to everybody a couple of hours ago, so you should have. Okay. Okay, I'll go look. Okay, thank you. That's a failure. It's the same motion for both executive sessions. They're both about legal services, so I think you are uncomfortable. Okay, good point. No need to make the exact same motions twice. All right, perfect. Okay, so I think it is unlikely that we will come back except to adjourn, or we could probably adjourn straight from the executive session. I don't, Evan or Greg, I don't see anything we need to come back for at this point since we deferred the discussion about the legal fee funding. We may wanna come back and disclose what we've decided with regard to the investigation, the other Gregor's request. Yeah, right, right, right, right. Okay, okay. So what I was thinking of doing is you all leave this meeting. I'm gonna leave the meeting up. You'll go into the second meeting. I'll be there in a second. And then this meeting will be this one that we're currently in stays live until we come back. Yep, okay, okay. So for the people here, we're going into executive session. We will be back when executive session is complete. Don't know how long. Okay, and I'd ask for a two minute bio break between this meeting and the executive session. So see you soon. Okay, it looks like the board is back. We need to make one motion. I have it up. So I'm gonna go ahead and do that. I move that the select board treat Mr. Silverstrom's request as a public records request and authorized staff to work with Mr. Silverstrom to respond to the request. Second. Thank you, Don. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay, motion passes five, zero. Any other comments from board members before we say good night? I would move to adjourn, Mr. Chair. No, I would second that. Thank you, Tracy. Motion is to adjourn and non-debatable. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? All right, good night. Thanks, everybody. Thank you. Thank you, staff. Thank you, public. Night all. Thanks for sticking around. Yep, good night.