 But if I'll keep an eye on it. So as chair of the Rochester Select Board, I find that due to the state of emergency declared by Governor Scott as result of the COVID-19 pandemic and pursuant to addendum six to executive order 01-20 and act 92, this public body is authorized to meet electronically. In accordance with act 92, there is no physical location to observe and listen contemporaneously to this meeting. However, in accordance with the temporary amendments to the open meeting law, I confirm that we are making public access to the meeting using the Zoom platform. And you can find access to these meetings by going to the town website, looking at the posted notices throughout the town or asking the direct link sent to you. And there's somebody else who wants to get in. And boy, you know, when we stop doing Zoom, when will I ever say the word contemporaneously again? I don't know. We'll have to bring it up. Really? All right. So at this point, does anyone have any additions to the posted agenda going once, going twice, gone? Doing. Yeah. Terry's here and wants to talk about lawn mowing. All right. And you have me down, do I, do you need my topic? No, we're just, you're here as a guest on the agenda already. Okay. All right. Cool. All right. So let's start with the meeting minutes from the prior meetings. If we have two sets, April 26th, did everyone have a time to plow through those minutes? Yes. Yep. I'm okay with that. Yeah, I mean, I'd move to accept them as presented. I second that. All in favor. Aye. Aye. And then we have the May 10th minutes and was the meeting on the 10th or the 11th? 11th. 11th, right. So there's a little bit of a mistake in there. Wait a second. Wasn't it on Monday? Monday night? It was a 10. It was a 10. All right. The minutes must have been typed up on the 11th. The 11th. Okay. All right. So the meeting was. In the list of people that attended the meeting, it did not list Peter Jensen, Kimberly Tenor, or Jeff Gephardt. I thought maybe they should be added in. Add those guys. Yep. And I had a question also, Jeff, you're here. You could clarify. It said that date for the, um, the Moe demo, electric electric Moe demo as being May 27th. Is that correct? Yep. Okay. Just want to check that. 11 to 2 PM. All right. So with the additions of the other attendees to the meeting added to the minutes, I'd move to accept those minutes. I second that. All in favor. Aye. Aye. Okay. And we've got, I don't see Kirk white here, but Sue, you are on the agenda as a guest and what's on your mind? Yeah. I wanted to request the use of a very small portion of the park for 4th of July to have a booth. And you're all familiar, I think, with the Rochester high school repurposing committee. There's a small part of that, which is the arts and learning committee, which I'm on. And we've decided, and this has nothing to do with using the high school. In fact, we've decided we're gonna stay at committee no matter what happens. So we know that there's a lot of summer events coming up and we didn't have any events last year. So we really want to give the presenters a boost by highlighting all the things that are going on this summer between the library and the players and Pierce Hall, et cetera. And so we're putting together a compilation calendar and it'll be available. We're gonna have a booth, like a 10 by 10 booth, maybe over toward a park house during the barbecue. And secondly, because we are arts and musicians, we thought it would be nice to have some music. And now that the rules are a little looser with COVID, I called just in case to ask Jake and his friends if he might play on the gazebo. So that's my second request is to use the gazebo. Here's my question for you, Sue. Are you talking about Sunday, July 4th? Yes. Okay, that's right. During the barbecue. And the barbecue, because the barbecue's during the day, there's a concert that evening on the park too, but that's okay, great. Thank you. Sorry, I just want to make sure. So you're thinking during the barbecue and then music during the barbecue, if possible. Yeah. Okay, thank you. So did I see a park use application? Yeah, I didn't want it. Yeah. Okay. I don't know if you saw that, but... Which one is it? Because it just says Pierce Hall. No, this is separate. Yeah, it's not on the new business here, but it's in there. So I thought I thought I'll show you. Yeah, it is done. It is in there. So I'm just a high school repurposing committee. That's who's requesting it because they're officials. I only have four things on my agenda I had. Yeah. But I don't see anything about learning committee or arts and learning committee or anything out there. Do you have any questions? I think I pretty much said what's on the application. Yeah, I see it there, Sue. Everything seems all right. Yeah, I think that I might approve of that. I'd move to approve that. I second it. All in favor? All right. Okay. Great, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Martha Slater, you're also listed as a guest. Okay, yes. It's down under new business. This is my formal application for, on behalf of the players, I'm co-producer of the Harvest Fair and it would be Saturday, September 11th, which is going to be actually 20 years to the day from the infamous September 11th. And so, because we always have it the Saturday after Labor Day and we didn't have the fair last year. So we'd like to be able to do it this year and we think we can. So I'm hoping that that's okay with the select board. I would think that by that time, September, where the governor's talking about relaxing a lot of the restrictions after July 4th, then it's, you know, it's, I assume it would maybe be laid out in a little more spread out manner. Yeah, well, we have it, you know, and obviously we've had 30 some odd fairs now. You know, you can just walk through and it's a lot easier to keep your distance from people unless it gets super crowded. And we figure, we'll just do the best we can and it'll be outdoors. And by then we're hoping that a majority of the people in the state will be vaccinated and we're hoping for the best. But we'd like to have the fear again if you're okay with it. Frank, Pat, you guys have any thoughts? Just stay off the front as much as possible. We're still, I'm a little concerned with the grass there, that's all. Yeah, well, we're going to be having the stage over by Huntington House like we normally do. And then there'd be the flower show on the bandstand and the entry gate would be over on the corner by the skip mark. But yeah, we're going to try to put most of it like two thirds of the fair, excuse me, of the park that's towards the Huntington House side, yes. Yeah, that would be great. Convoys the use of the front as much as possible. Yeah, anyway. So I'd move to approve that application. I second it. All in favor? All right. We thank you very much. Well, we thank you for pushing forward with that. Good. So, well, while we're doing all these approvals or applications for park use, we might as well just finish them up before we jump into Jones since we started there. So we also have an application for the 4th of July for Pierce Hall having their barbecue. So I moved to approve that. Didn't we already do that? I thought we did, but it's on the agenda again. So we'll- Oh, it is? Yeah. I thought there was a Rochester School Seniors thing. There's one of those, too. Yeah, it looks like- Oh, I didn't- I don't have the other one then, I guess. Yeah, that's- I have a question about that. It says, for graduation celebration. And then someone told me that they thought Claudia Sherwin, whose daughter Jillian is graduating for Sharon this year, was organizing this. So I was wondering, is this supposed to be a public event or is it a private event or do you have any idea? It's on the application. It sounded, to me, when reading it, it was just her, you know, to help the graduation and probably some alumni just celebrate graduation. You know, so it's probably- It says high school seniors on the application. Purpose of events, celebrate our kids with the community. I think that's wonderful. I'm gonna try to get in touch with her to write something separate about it for the paper. Yeah. I'd move to approve that one. I second that. All in favor? All right. Okay. And we already did the Pierce Hall last time. All right. So we're doing the kind of boomerang agenda attack. So Joan, what have you got for us tonight in your updates? What I got, three items. First, remember Rogers Brook, which is might be the last culvert the town has on Bethel Mountain Road going down towards Camp Brook. Back in December, I put in an application was the second attempt for a grant to replace that culvert. Yeah. It was denied a second time. So I talked to Cricket about it, because if you remember, Hutchins did repair work on that site back in 2019. Primarily what they did is dump a whole lot of rock on the outlet side of the culvert, which is out of really steep slope. And there was a huge sinkhole there that was being created over time by a perched culvert. The culverts perched really high up. And so it was just digging a big hole underneath it. So with that, they dumped a lot of rock there. And Cricket feels that, even though it's not the prettiest thing and the culvert itself is a bit undersized and does need to be replaced because it's kind of corroding, it's not in any danger. And she feels it'll stay, the slope itself will stay stable for a good long time. So I would propose that that project just sort of be put on the back burner and keep an eye on it and maybe when funding is improved and towns aren't all frantic to get work done, they'll be more room for us to apply for a grant and replace it then. Okay. Okay. So the next thing up is the bid process is about to start for the retaining wall, which along with those five stone line ditching projects that went out to bid and are being awarded now is the final FEMA project from 2019. Cricket has just finished the plans. I've sent a bid advertisement to the Herald this morning and just want to give you a couple of dates. You don't have to remember the second one because I'll remind you of it later, but there's going to be a pre-bid meeting, sorry, pre-bid meeting on June 2nd at 10 a.m. if Frank or anyone else wants to be there and I will come in for that also. And then the bids will be due June 28th and the project needs to be done sometime this summer and it does have a stream alteration permit. So we've got a deadline. I think it's October 1st. I'm working in the stream. Any questions on that? No, and we have the design set for that? Yes, Cricket just completed that. And there'll be a set of plans available in the town office and I've also, or Cricket is going to be posting it on the state procurement site. So hopefully we'll get a lot of good bids coming in for that one. And then lastly, as far as I know, those four hemlocks were planted last Friday. They were, Joan, I checked. Hallelujah. Where were they planted? Where were they planted? On the Henry property. He put two on this side of the brook on the house side and he put two on the other side. Right. On which property? I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. Henry on Brook Street. Henry. On the Henry property. Yes, it's a camp. It's a camp property. It's a huge amount of work for a small project, but I'm really glad that it's been done. And I will let the Henry's know and I think they'll be pleased with the results. Okay. It was the last item for the Bethel Mountain Road rebuild and dealing with our final payment from the state, which should be coming at the end of the month. The end of May or the end of June? The end of May. Oh, of course, I'm not promising, but all everything has been signed and delivered and it's just in the queue now at the controller's office or whoever writes the checks for the state. So we might see it in the next week. All right, good. Good. Thank you. Yeah, thank you, Joan. Harry, you were here, you wanted to talk about lawn mowing? Yeah. The mowing hasn't been done. Down back to school, they've done it once. The ground, the grass right now is a good foot or higher. They aren't doing any weed whack in there. Doing the sewers maybe every other week or every three weeks. You know, we're paying this guy to do the work. The firehouse, they don't weed whack at all hardly. You know, there's a lot of donated help to build that firehouse. Can't we just keep it up so it looks halfway decent? You know, the rest of the property, I mean, the well house and everything looks like crack when you drive into town. And the sewer sites, you know, I kind of take a little pride in our sewer sites. We've had some recommendations from the state because they look so good. I'd hate to see him come right now. Besides that, we just put 360,000 in that one. So now you want to run it down? I mean, come on. When he goes more now, it's going to kill everything, it's there. So Terry, when you say down behind the school, are you talking the, or the Little League field is or over further by the- Over further, it's where our septic is. Okay, over like where the old high school fields were that area. No. No? Back to grade school. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Excuse me. I had made mention to the person that does the mowing once about last week, maybe a week and a half ago about this. So I would have thought that by now he would have been caught up. No, I've mentioned it to you and I've mentioned this to Frank. Ah, but nothing's getting done. I mean, why are we paying him? We aren't getting anything for it. Contract reads once a week or as needed. You know, I don't want- So I have a talk with him, Terry, that's all we can do. Yeah, well- I don't give him a check. That's plain to do. We'll have to have a talk with him. That's all we can do right now. I don't think we should be cutting him any checks anymore. Well, he's still mowing some of it. Well, dock him. We can do that too. Yeah. But we'll have a conversation with him. I mean, I just- You know, we put a lot of money in these systems. You know, 2 million in one, 360,000 in another and you want to just let him go? Come on. No, we don't. No, we'll- We'll address it. Yeah. We should be up and running now. It's pretty much spring has sprung for sure. So, yeah, we'll, thanks for bringing it. I've seen somebody down there mowing several times, but you know, I couldn't tell you exactly how often. I just, I've seen- Yeah. All right. Thank you. Good. Is there anything else on utilities? Did we ever enact that rate change that we're going to do for the water? Well, I think we should really meet. I've got a lot of information and I got it all done, but I think we really should get together and do this in person. Okay. It'd be a lot easier to explain and to go over the numbers. You have those numbers on a sheet, Terry. Can you leave them in the office? I haven't got it 100% done until you can, so you'd understand it. Okay. Is that possible to do? I should have it done tomorrow. Okay. If you could leave that in the office, we can all at least look at it so we have an idea of what we're looking at. It'd be good. But we really need to get on this because we're failing a lot more so than you think. Is this water and sewer rate change? Excuse me. You're correct. Okay, thank you. It hasn't been done for 15 years. Last time it was done in November of 2006. Wow. Well, put the information in the office there so we can look at it. Yeah. Great. Jeff, has got any reports from the... Yeah, I guess that was one that they maybe didn't mow because we asked him not to mow in ahead of the electric mow demonstration but Terry's talking about more places than just that. Right. He's talking about the septic field. Yeah. And our ask of John not to mow was just the ball fields down by the task courts. Well, we had the first of a monthly lecture series that the energy committee put on with a presenter from Efficiency Vermont on heat pumps. This is done jointly with the library. We'll be doing that monthly through October. We've got the mow electric commercial demonstration day coming up on Thursday this week, screen around cleaning up my grill and buying hot dogs and such, borrowing pop-up tents. And we've got the three vendors coming of the only commercial grade zero radius turn mowers, you know, big wide decks and quiet. So that's happening. When was that? I'm sorry, I can't write as fast as people talk. The 27th between 11 and two. And that's the mow. Mow electric. Mow electric. Thank you. Yeah. And let's say I was contacted by Pittsfield and I don't know how to pronounce her last name. She's the board chair down there. And she would like to get the municipal, the Triton municipal committee back together. I told her I'd be willing to do that provided people did their, did the work of getting, you know, things properly warned and showed up for meetings or return phone calls to help me reschedule. I've talked to Monica Collins. I haven't heard from her yet who Hancock's representative would be. Let's see, what else? We did have the meeting with Green Mountain Power last week and did a walk through of Rochester or drive through of Rochester to take a look at siting for potential generation field. Looked at the substation, pump house. And Frank and I are gonna meet tomorrow morning to get the clear definition of the boundaries of what would be within the resiliency zone. There are technical reasons and voltage differences that won't enable us to quite capture all of what we consider the village. But we need to get that defined so that Green Mountain Power knows what the load is that they're gonna be needing to satisfy and what the storage needs would be. Let's see, and the ad hoc energy committee renamed itself the Valley Energy and Climate Action Committee. We don't see any reason to exclude people from Granville Hancock Stock Bridge or Pittsfield. And we know that there are some people in all of those towns that have interest in this. So we need to grow this group and that would be a good way is to open it up to the Valley, the 100 Valley. And then finally, the Capstone Agency, the Community Action Program Agency that serves our region here. It wants to come down and is gonna utilize the energy committee as a vehicle to talk with all of the towns about how the energy committee might work as eyes and ears for the Capstone Weatherization Program. And hopefully then we can get people that have problems with their homes, particularly low income homeowners or renters that have problems so that the efficiency of their home serve through the free weatherization services that Capstone offers. So we're stirring the pot and things are starting to happen a little bit. Oh, Jeff, I have a question about the Green Mountain. You know, I left that meeting a little early. So their scope is only in the village and that got a little bit smaller too. Is that what you're saying? Yeah, the scope would be the village where Peaveyne Drive, the River Road across the way and Robinson Road, those were definitely not really feasible to connect to because of the grid. Frank can explain that better than I can. And then we were going down to the well pump house on 100, that would be the Southern boundary. And to the East, it's, there's one house on the right side of Brook Street and the Cliff House is up there. The Cliff House is up to the Duggers House. Those would be included, but anything outside of that would not. So it's mostly to the North and then going up Brook Street and Bethel Mountain Road where it thins out and those would not be a part of it. And it's wherever the equipment is at the appropriate voltage and, you know, I suppose one might be able to grab those other units but you'd have to do a tremendous amount of work probably to the electrical system and probably make it not cost effective for GMP to do it. Okay, so no Brook Street beyond the first house and no Kennedy Drive. Kennedy Drive is in there as far as... Kennedy Drive would be in there, Patty. Everything in the village at the junction of Brook Street it's the old Clesson Blair House. And the Cliff House is on the right. That's the end of it there. And the Ahood Apartment House would be in the village. Robinson Avenue, Peaveyne Drive, South, the high school wouldn't be. The whole village would be. The Wefield would be and down to the pump house and everything in the village. Okay, and the high school would not be because... The high school wouldn't be unless we altered the service there. Okay, elementary has a generator, so that's... The elementary would be. It would be, but it hasn't generated. It's pretty brilliant on its own already. Okay, so people have interest, so they wanna know, what about me? Yeah, the resiliency zone is basically, it's what Green Mountain Power can do for itself really. And where it comes in handy is they would look at putting the money, some of the money or most of the money upfront for the facilities and the equipment. And they could operate at any time they wanted to to separate us from the grid, where we'd be on our own grid. But there's no, as far as incentives for the town, as far as power savings or anything like that, there would be none. Benefits though would be, a good portion of the town is getting renewable energy. And globally, well, in Vermont, the use of the batteries for peak shaving helps keep down the peak costs. And that does get reflected on everybody's rates. To the extent, so it's a town thing that we'd have to consider and look at. And they're gonna size the grid to see what would work for our community for low capacity and all that to give us some idea of what we'd be looking at. So we'll see. So did they find a suitable solar spot in town? Yeah, the ball field right by the Little League field, all that area right there. That'd be ideal, because it's right close to the grid and everything. Okay, and the river didn't bother them. Well, it's out of the floodplain. Yep, just that upper area. Little League field is out of the floodplain. Yep, okay. Perfect. And then finally, we did get awarded as the participant for 2021 in Vermont Council on Rural Developments, Climate Economy Model Communities Program. Catherine Shankman and Vic Roboto and myself met with John Copans of the Vermont Council of Rural Development. He explained how this program works. And Vic and Catherine and I went through a meeting where we identified potential core people for a first meeting of this group. But it's kind of a restart of Envision Rochester. We're gonna definitely want to look at everything that was done there and then look at how we go forward. And in particular, marrying what we need to do to be sustainable and resilient in the future with energy needs both municipally as well as the citizenry of the town. It should help us more rapidly develop a holistic plan and be ready hopefully for the infrastructure monies to file for grants and get it done. Perfect. Well, you know, for a relatively new position or assuming the position of the energy coordinator you're keeping quite busy. He is. Yeah, I'm gonna try. After we get a couple of things done I'm gonna try to ratchet back a little bit. That's why you're paying him the big question. Getting a few more recruits in the energy committee gives me the ability to delegate a few things and that makes it easier. All right. Get my sanity back after Mo Electric is done. Yes, well, thanks for your energy. Is that all? I don't wanna cut you off. Yep. Do we have anybody here to speak from the library tonight? I don't think so. So on the new business, the other we have a driveway permit for Martin Waters which is on Brook Street there. And I had reached out, they didn't put a drawing or a map of where exactly they want it to go. I think I can tell just by driving by where they're parking their truck as it is now. In talking with Cooter about it, he's pretty adamant that we maintain the swale that travels that south side of Brook Street there. That would be, we could see, proving that permit with that condition that they're not planning to fill in that swale and putting in a culvert there in conjunction with the swale does not really compute very well. So I guess we'd really need to get clear with them about their thoughts and feelings about how that would work keeping that swale. So do you think we should just table that until you have that continued conversation or approve it with the, prove it, so I can, you know that stuff that, approve it with that condition that we're not compromising the swale. I think we should approve it with that condition. Yeah, all right. Yeah. Okay, so what is the exact wording approved with? With the condition that the existing swale will be maintained? Or Kevin? I would think you'd wanna have them put a design in there to do just so that they show it on the application. Yeah, so with the completion of their application with the drawing and the condition that the swale is kept in place. So I'd move to approve it with those conditions. I second that. All in favor? All right. Okay. Okay. I don't know about your guys agenda but mine is starting to run out of stuff. I would just give a little update that we did get some response from the state on the signage for the Bethel Mountain Road. And they are going to install signs on route 100 and on route 12 to indicate that the posted road and so forth. I think I sent you folks an email on that. Oh, is this regarding big trucks, Frank? Is that what you're talking about? Yes. Okay, I'm sorry. Overloads and 24,000 plus so they would like us to get people together that live on that street to jot down when they see a truck come down there and note the time and the direction. They're going in as far as coming down the hills they're coming down or they're going up. And if we could maybe pattern that for a month and see if it's a continual use or if it's just an occasional so if we could, I thought I'd reach out to Catherine somebody that's there a lot that can just doesn't have to be accurate and just jot down a few things when they see it. So we can get some idea and we can also look at enforcing it a little bit that way which is what they'd like us to do and reach out to the DMV and all them folks. And all them folks. So you want them to anybody reading this could say they could call you if they've got a problem. If they see No, they just keep a figure on it and then we can collect it after a while and see if there's a pattern there. That's kind of what the state is looking at how they're addressing it. Yeah. Nancy or something you want to attribute? What kind of trucks are you specifically looking for? Well, I think they're looking at anything that could possibly be oversized. Like a big long trailer truck. Trailer truck, a big box truck might be overloaded. I mean, there's a lot of things and a lot of them may not be but they just want to get it so that we have an idea of where they're coming from and where they're going. You know, as far as if they're coming and turning on off from route 100 and going over or are they coming from route 12? That's kind of the direction they want to know which direction they're coming from. So we need citizens to do that, keep us aware of that. So then we can report back to them and that may make them change some signage. They're still leaving it in the open to change things as they go forward to put more signage in if they need to or whatever. This is not an end necessarily. It's just the beginning to try to alleviate the traffic a little bit. Pat? It's a good idea. I'm a little apprehensive about calling in the public. I certainly would not endorse anyone in the public to confront a truck driver to stop a truck. No running out in the road. I think an effective way of documenting it is have your phone handy and take a picture of that truck because they have DOT numbers and phone numbers on their doors or on the box of the truck. Also, we do get deliveries in Rochester so some trucks may be using Bethel Mountain Road and they're not through traffic. They're actually delivering to Mac's Store and to Skitmart and stuff like that. So I don't want to have people accusing our delivery people and having us does not get delivery. And I just, when I was taking pictures and then I was calling the number that I was asking for dispatch but I wouldn't encourage people to do that. Please just document it and let us know and we will go to the next step. I don't want to create a situation where people are putting themselves in any type of danger running after trucks trying to get them to stop. Oh no, they don't want us to do that. They just want to have some kind of idea which way the trucks are coming from, what kind of trucks they are. That's all. What kind of pattern, if it gets a pattern of when it happens more often that would be easier to direct the enforcement activities at the good times to hang out. Time the enforcement to when they're gonna be there, when they're coming. Local contractors have overweight permits that they pay down every year. So, they'll get reported repeatedly. How dump trucks getting reported all the time. And it should just be stated publicly that there is a process for local contractors to pay every year for overweight permits. So they kind of are allowed and they are also going locally. They're not working the target through traffic, not just every truck that goes up and down the road. Yeah. All right. That's a step. Like you said, it's the beginning. Nancy. Yeah, just a step. We're not gonna eliminate it. No. I just have another thing. I'd like to shout out to Dick White and thank him for the work he did on the bandstand this week, this past week and also the flagpole in preparation for painting. Which I think Frank has got Zeus coming to do the painting. And so we're gonna get spruced up. So they're gonna paint both the bandstand and the flagpole? Quite. Just the lower parts. Zeus is donating his time. We're buying the paint. He does have workman's comp. I struggled out with about three or four painters already. So I don't know about the buildings. Everybody's gonna be really busy from here on out. So I'm still in the process, but it might be canceled for this year that way because everybody's so busy, but I'll keep on it. So Nancy, the work that Dick White did on the bandstand to get it ready for painting? Well, he just did some repairing of rotted wood. Okay, so in preparation for painting, is he going to do the painting as well? No, Frank just told you that Zeus is. Okay, that's right. I'm sorry, excuse me. All right, last call. Anyone else have something to talk about? I think there's still some nice light for gardening. That's where I'm going. Oh, thank you, everybody, for all your hard work. Okay, thank you. You want my woodchuck? No, you can join mine here. Yeah, I just lost all the lettuce I planted over again. Every single one piece. Has anybody had trouble with a bear? Because a friend of mine who lives in Randolph right near the hospital on Rosewood Drive has this big bear that came and tore up her garden and tore her little tool shed and knocked it all over the place. And she saw it. She got pictures of it doing it, so she knows it. And it was a big bear, yikes. No, I haven't seen that, but. No, I haven't. Oh, no. Be well, everyone. And I'll see you around town. Have a good evening. Thank you, folks. Night. Bye-bye.