 Are there any additions or changes to the agenda? I could give a brief update on some clerk information. Who's talking? Jeremy Matt. Update on some clerk stuff that I've done. Okay, good. And Phil, I wanted to let you and others know that John Russell and I have switched positions. I'm back to being the delegate and he's going to be the alternate for the next year. Okay. So node. Wait, who's the alternate again? I'm sorry. The alternate will be John Russell. John, okay. Yeah, we're just switching. We kind of agreed to do that when he agreed to come on as a delegate for a year. And that's been approved by our local select board. We met with them last week and they approved it. Okay. Is there any public comment? Is there any public? Okay. Hearing none is to pay treasure update Jeremy, I think you would send something out this afternoon. Yes, so I'd like to give you an update on finances and such and also at some point get a get an approval to to pay our bills. So, if you refer back to the email that I sent, we've got Fred's deliverable the final. Final feasibility study. We had we got a bill for that quite some time ago. And the remainder of the payment for that is 21,236 dollars and 33 cents. We've got our esteemed clerk Jeremy Matt, who we are paying him his monthly stipend plus the cost of doing some of the stuff he's going to maybe update us on and the next like clerk update agenda item. And I sent you the invoice for that back a straighter. We had had her go to the secretary of state and change the registration for CV fiber, etc, etc, and part of the process cost her $20 and I thought that was reasonable to reimburse her for that. And then one thing that I don't have a concrete cost for yet is the cost for a box of checks for a checking account. I think they're going to be $12 and 99 cents, but I didn't want to include a concrete number in this yet. So all told minus the checks we're looking at paying bills in the amount of 21,506 dollars and 33 cents. And I move that we pay those bills. When we can. Second. Second discussion. I thought Becca already got checks. Yes, there was. Yeah, there was like two rounds of when this was supposed to happen and the checks never ever actually appeared and I actually even went back into the VCC history and try to see where did they charge us for the checks. And then I called to order checks and they never appeared and I talked them to them today and I said, okay, can we actually get checks now. And they said yes, and then she actually gave me gave me her name and her contact information she said if you don't see them. You can come yell at me. So I'm feeling confident that we'll get them this time. Okay. Chuck question. Yeah, I'm wondering if we could amend the motion in some way to just take care of our clerk payments going forward. So we don't have to revisit this all the time. We certainly could. The, the practice, I mean, and so my practice when I was on the select board was that whenever any of the bills came, we would usually just have, you know, here are the bills and we usually just moved at the aggregate amount. Understanding that, you know, these things are going to get paid but I'm, you know, obviously completely willing to roll with whatever the governing board would prefer to do. So my take on it is as long as someone is staying on top of cash flow, and we get updated, you know, every once in a while on that perspective and we're meeting our obligations that something like that that's going to be a recurring cost that we we just maybe move, move it once a year or something like that. Okay. So assuming that we have this going on a regular basis we get pretty used to it. It seems like it takes like maybe 15 extra seconds maybe like 30 seconds or is okay here's the number we prove yes let's go forward it just kind of keeps everybody. Kind of keep a base of well we're spending where we're going without really a huge waste of time and obviously if we go into a long discussion on every single one of these and that's something else but I just like to stay updated. There's something else that that we might do that some municipalities do is something called a consent agenda, where there's a whole bunch of items that are non controversial, and somebody moves the consent agenda and it's a whole package of like, Hey, we're paying our bills, here's the list, you know, we're approving this petition, you know, here's the list that is not really going to generate any discussion but that we need to as a board, you know, give approval to so that doesn't exactly solve what you're talking about Chuck but it would essentially not. This wouldn't be a discussion item. So I like the sound of that. So basically Jeremy, it's that hearing no objection. We approve the orders for paying checks that have been presented before us. And then if somebody has a question, or wants to speak up about something or wants more detail. They will do that they have the responsibility to say hey I have a question, and then they'll ask that and then, then we'll go back to the original assumption that here no objection it's it's approved. Okay. So I mean, I think that seems reasonable going forward and then just only have discussion items for things that would be like, hey we need to spend $5,000 for this. And have that stuff approved ahead of time. I thought we had something somewhere in the bylaws about approval that was needed for a certain expenditures above a certain amount. Am I am I wrong about that or no we did that the finance committee did come up with a set of guidelines that were like really old and back when we had no money and do that. So, you know, it's there but you know it certainly might be revisited or amended given how we're doing business these days. Right. So we should dig up that old language and figure out exactly what it says. So we can make sure what we do now messes with that. Try to find when it was I can't remember the exact wording that was finally approved. I think I've got a cop. I think I have a copy of it because I think I might have written it frankly but I'll see if I can find it to bone and then if I can I'll give you I'll send you an email let you know I need some help. Okay, okay. Yeah, I think it was a purchasing policy and if you can't find it Alan I'm quite sure that I have it somewhere. The policies the same thing as a bylaw. Are they binding or the guidelines. Well if there are policy we should be abiding by them. I mean there's okay. So I, I've had to go so deep into the answer to the very question you, you've asked, serving on a school board and also having a board of directors at the ACLU. The basic way to think of it is a bylaw is more or less like a statute or law. And then the guidelines or policies are have the things that you come up with to say how you're going to follow the laws that have been approved by everybody in implementing certain actions. So they, they do carry the force of not a statute but certainly they're binding on us. So do we want to update our policy to be for a higher amount. Or are we going to just. Well we have to figure out what exactly we wrote because I think Jeremy's right we wrote it when we had no money. And so probably $100 seemed like a lot of money just that. So to keep this moving along we do have a motion we have a second. We've had a lot of discussion. More so about purchasing policy or paying in other ways do we do we want to have an amendment to the original motion and second or do we want to dispense with the motion and do some research on whatever we may have for policy. So we'll put back to that. At the next meeting. It's, you know, as the person who brought this up. I am comfortable with what Jeremy proposed I think it's a great compromise that still keeps the board on the loop of things but also speeds up some of the blocking and tackling if you will. And, you know, I would be comfortable with just approving the motion as it stands on on on the table now. And then in the future just ask that these be brought in the manner Jeremy described. Okay. I can. Essentially. Yeah, okay. Any other discussion. Could somebody repeat the motion since I joined the call about a minute ago. Sure. Oh, no, go for it. No, you're you're the clerk you should be able to do this right. Thank. So, Jeremy Hansen listed off some some bills that need to be paid the remaining remaining amount for the feasibility study and invoice from the clerk for services and for registration of stuff with the Secretary of State. And a $20 charge from Becca Schrader for also some stuff with the Secretary of State and then lastly was ordering a box of checks the total amount I think Jeremy was $21,506 and 33 cents. And the motion was that you moved to pay those bills. Thank you very much. Okay. And we had the second on that truck. Okay. So here are no more discussion. Unless there is a no vote. I'm going to consider this as having passed unanimously. Is there anyone voting no. Okay, then we'll take that as a unanimous vote. Thank you. This is a good time. Jeremy for you to jump in with any updates that you have. Jeremy map. Okay. Hold on one second. Hold on one second. I have a couple more items. Oh, okay. Super fast. I just want to get the bills paid. I have, and I like I mentioned the email I have the check for the broadband innovation grant that part one. That was $228,656 and 33 cents. I also have a check from the town of Cabot. Or not the town of Cabot, but a, a grant that we got from. And Andy, if you're on this call refresh my memory, what development organization or whatever. That was from. That was CCIF. Okay. Okay. And that was in the amount of $421 and 20 cents. So those will be deposited. By the end of the week. Still outstanding. And I have an email out. With. With them. USD or role development. There's should be a check coming from them in the amount of 7,736 dollars and 47 cents. So those are, those are still. Okay. Okay. So the check is still outstanding and the remaining 29,000 ish will be in the bank account by the end of the week. That's all I got. Any other questions on those items. Okay. Okay, so it took a little bit of wrangling, but we do have two trade names registered with the secretary of state's office. And those are CV fiber. And central Vermont internet, C U D. And those are owned by CV or by central Vermont internet, which is our official name for tax filing purposes. And those registrations cost $50, which is part of the amount that I'm asking to be reimbursed. So, brief update, but that's all I got. Thank you. Any questions for jammy. Okay. Moving along. Next item is. Yeah. Is it V CUDA? Is that how we're saying this agreement that now we get selection. You know, popular when I was a kid, but I was a V eight CUDA, I think was probably more like, more like that, right. The CUDA. There you go. All right. So I sent along the inter local agreement to establish V CUDA. This was something that's been. There's been a certain amount of agonizing over with the attorneys and this and the other CUDs and this is the state that we've gotten to. I guess I'll make the motion that we authorize me, the governing board chair to sign this agreement to establish V CUDA with the other communications union districts. Just a second. Second. John seconds discussion always seconds. Sean's quick. No questions, comments, criticisms. This doesn't commit us to any money or anything, right? Like, no, this is this is just creating the group. Just creating the group. I think it's a great thing to do. The CUD needs to work together, having some sort of formal organization. I think it's good. Sorry, go ahead. Go ahead, John. Mars. Has it been decided if it's just the CUDs or other entities as well. I think, I think the consensus was that it was just going to be CUDs. I mean, this could be edited in the future. If we were going to incorporate other organizations, but right now it is really just about communications union districts. Okay. Any other questions or comments? Yeah, so just to clarify, Siobhan actually on your question around financial obligation. While the agreement does not constitute any present financial obligation, there is actually a line in the document that reserves the right for V CUDA to require a membership fee to cover nominal expenses incurred by V CUDA on behalf of the parties such as postage filing fees and other incidental expenses. So it is possible that some amount of financial responsibility might arise in the future, just based on the current writing of the agreement. So I have a comment. In the discussion the other day with the people putting together the agreement or finalizing it. There was the question of whether V CUDA could be a vehicle to pass money to CUDs from the state or other entities. And at least for the time being the consensus was that it would not be that. So it might lobby for things that might lobby for money for us. It might advocate for things but it wasn't. It isn't conceived at the moment as a vehicle to pass money to or from CUDs. Right. And that was the conclusion of the person who drafted this. So Paul Giuliani wrote this. And it's he wrote it with that and with that exact objective in mind that it wouldn't be the place where it would go. It wouldn't be the place where it would get it would get a bunch of funding that would then pass down to the members. Tom. No, that was my question exactly. I'm looking at section number four, which says by majority vote of the V CUDA governing board additional municipal corporations may become parties to this agreement upon application and upon such terms and conditions. The board shall deem reasonable and appropriate. Did the attorney who reviewed this have any questions, whether the statutes, the state statutes that created CUDs, give us the power, working together to allow municipal corporations to become parties to an agreement that we make. Corporations include everything from towns to school districts to a number of other entities, I think so this is pretty broad and it seems like it seems like a power that maybe the legislature did not envision we might we might want to exercise. So I can actually answer that directly. The CUD statute does indeed explicitly offer or provide that power to CUDs to enter into. I'm going to, I'm going to misquote the statute, but if you could, if you dig it up, you'll see it to enter into cooperative agreements to work together to achieve the goals of the district. So yes, that is explicitly in statute. I guess I wondered why it said additional municipal corporations, as opposed to additional CUDs. Yeah. No, go for Michael. There, there are ready districts in Vermont, or there's one at least. There are town municipality that have their own broadband systems and potentially they could become members in the future. So municipalities they're involved in broadband like Burlington telecom was one now it's private. Okay. So even though the title of the organization is a communications union district association entities other than a communications union district could become members. Okay, I think that would be be rare. And, and I think in the case of something like Newbury. I think Newbury is going to end up joining a CUD anyways. Yeah, the individual municipal groups, you know, the individual towns that are doing efforts like this, they may decide to join this, you know, as a, you know, like with the league, you know, we might have them on as an associate member because they're not really a CUD. Okay, got it. Thanks. Any other comments questions. Okay, hearing none. I'm going to do the same way we did before. Is there anyone who is going to do sense. No. So, hearing no, no votes, no no votes, that means they're all affirmative, right. Yeah. We'll consider the unanimous vote to enter into the agreement for the CUDA. And I believe we need to pick a delegate. Is that true. Chairman. Yes, we need a delegate and an alternate to the VCU to board, just like a town needs a delegate and an alternate to our board. Okay. Everyone have interest in stepping up to be the delegate. I would like to say I think the delegate should be the chairman of our board, whoever he or she may be. So as the chair changes, that delegate position would change by name, but still be the same position. And then the alternate, I have no suggestion at this point. So, so like, so the chair is the ex officio delegate. Yeah, I don't know what that exactly means. It's by virtue of the office. Yes, yes, sir. That's what I mean. Yeah, I mean, how do you feel about that? That's, that seems fine by me. I mean, if eventually somebody else is going to have to have all the, all the glamour of, you know, running the meeting so why not. Does anyone want to make that motion. You want me to restate it. Sure. I move that the primary delegate from CV fiber to V CUDA, the, the chair of the board. Second. Second, Alan. Chuck. Okay. Any further discussion, questions, comments. None is anyone opposed to the motion. Opposition. We'll consider that a unanimous to have the chair be the delegate to the CUDA. Moving on. We have two things. Alternate. We still need an alternate. We need an alternate for it. It could be you. We could make. Volunteering or someone. David. I want to do. So David. He's been nominated. For a nomination. Yeah. And so. And any other nominations. None. David, are you okay with that? I'm great. It sounds great. Okay. Is there anyone opposed? We'll. Consider that unanimous. So we will be represented by Jeremy as chair in the position as delegate. And David will be the. Alternate. What's next. David, is that you? That's me. So I sent out a couple of emails on the subject. And they spread sheet on the subject. And the summation that I have is that we had interest from a number of people that were interested in teaming with us to do art off with having CV five or participate with them since we can't get on it directly. And so we met. And so we met. Washington Electric sort of came in and said, they were going to do it and please would you join us? And so we. Met with Washington Electric co-op and had a good round table with them. And those to summarize. I think in my, some meeting notes. That everybody got. But the basic. Jeremy. And so that's how that table like a generated that I sent everybody that summarized. The various alternatives in terms of what the bent and the financial benefit was. And it really became clear that work. Is the probably the best partner for us to work on this. Part of the deal though, is that we have to. Team partner with their bidding entity, which is art. I don't know. The name of the company, which is going to get. For work and also over model electric co-op. And to do that, we need to. Come up with $5,000 to have them do all the paperwork to include us in the bid. The business development committee met last week. And we had a meeting with the board. And voted to recommend to the board that we. We do the joint with the partnership and, and come up with the $5,000 to be a full member. In the partnership. This allows us to. Participate with them. If there's questions about census blocks, we want to bid on. We, we can work with. An RTC and WEC on that. We felt that we, in a lot of ways, I think the development committee felt this is sort of earnest money to show a little bit of commitment to WEC. So that we can keep moving forward with them because in the end, it looks like, I think we came to the conclusion. Having them take on this, the, the, the build out of their network with us or for us. And then we'd be able to see is a pretty decent financial deal. Cause they can borrow money pretty much. Yeah. I think that we've moved forward with that. And I think we should have a, a commitment to this. So we're going to be able to manage. At no interest. And, um, We think there'd be great partners to work with. So I wanted the tables I sent out was showed you on the part, the phase one roots, summarize the. The amount of mileage that was in WEC land and what was, you mean about in power in the majority is in WEC. Even in that phase one development. That we joined work in the I doff bidding process as a team under the auspices of NRTC and to come to join them with a $5,000 contribution or fee. Actually, it's a fee, not a contribution. Okay. So second. Second. Okay. Also kick off a comment on this. So back in March, we actually earmarked some money $1,500 toward advertising potential private loan program. Now, Phil and I attended a great session with a number of the people who helped run EC fibers, private party loan program. And it turns out that advertising your loan program is in fact illegal. That money that we earmarked for that purpose combined with the fact that we are tabling that avenue for now and really pursuing grants rather than a private party loan program. I means, you know, that money can go back in for that and we're not going to, we haven't spent any of it and we're not going to spend any of it in the near term. So I just wanted to point that out. I don't think it's going to happen forever. Because it's, well, there are other ways you can spend some money to help it work. There's a workaround. But because we're not pursuing a private loan program, it's rather irrelevant. We'll have other advertising needs in the future, but the loan program is not going to be one in the near term. Other questions, comments about. So I have, I have a couple, a couple of comments and unfortunately I missed the end of the discussion of the business development committee meeting another farm related thing pulled me away but I don't. Excuse me, I don't disagree with the, with the motion. And I see Ray actually wrote something in chat, somewhat to the, to what I'm going to talk about. So if we agree to work with WEC and their consortium, it will prevent us from having conversations about our deployment and our bidding strategy with any other parties that are participating in the auction so our good friend Michael up in and if cloud alliance is bidding on any of those then he can probably not come to our board meetings anymore. Or as a, as a participant. So, let me comment on that, or do you want to finish. I'd like to finish I'm just saying that and then valley net for whatever reason if valley net participates in this as well and they go and bid we can't share the bidding strategies we can't say. Okay, you work over here will work here. So we can't collaborate in that way. And we could not be able to disclose anything about what we're planning on building. And once, once our name gets put on that in that short form so the, the advice that Carol Monroe from valley net suggested, and this is something that I did present. I did mention to folks on the business development committee is that we may be better off. And again, I'm not sure how I feel about this we may be better off, kind of sitting, sitting it out and waiting and seeing as the dust settles who won the, you know, who won the bid. And then wait until, and just make sure that they know that we're a willing partner and we will help them build out in those areas that are in that are in our member communities. I'll shut up now. Mike comment. Yes, please. So, I agree with everything Jeremy said except at the very beginning. As long as if, if, if CD fiber joins the consortium within RTC VC, WAC and 55 other cooperatives across the country, electric cooperatives. Only those members of the consortium are able to discuss any bidding strategy whatsoever. That doesn't mean that they can't discuss other other parties can't discuss other issues with any of the members but nothing related to art off and art off bidding can be discussed. If we think art off bidding strategy would be would take place in meetings, then yes, then I would, and, and I am participating in the auction separately, then yes, I would not be allowed in the meeting because that would be potential collusion. But if, if, if we're careful not to discuss art off and art off bidding then, then CV fiber could join a consortium cloud alliance could be in another one or a soul bitter. We just wouldn't be able to discuss those issues at all. We wouldn't say where we're going and what we're bidding and what our strategy is. So that's that's a fine point but it's an important point. The idea of sitting it out is what at the moment. The any case UD is also considering sitting it out as Jeremy described and, and it's an interesting strategy it, it, it leaves a lot of freedom in the hands of the CD but it takes some of the control away. In terms of what gets it upon what prices get set what were how low we're willing to go what if, what if, here's, here's an example, what if we're is unwilling to bid any lower than a certain amount because they feel they can't afford to build below a certain amount. But CV fibers interest is that we would bid very low because we're intended to go there anyway, and it's going to help us fulfill our mission. So we have different possible business objectives. If we're in a consortium we can talk about that. If we're not in a consortium we're barred from talking about that. So that's just an example of many I imagine would take place. So there's some real advantages to being in a consortium. And there's some real disadvantages as Jeremy pointed out. And the last time. Go ahead. Sorry. I have one more comment but I'll wait, go ahead. I can't see anybody anymore so I had a phone. And she. Oh, I couldn't tell who's talking and should I finish or you want to go. Those David healer. Go ahead, David. I want to, I mean I talked to Carol Monroe that day that we met, and she was an opinion to join work was a good idea so Jeremy and I had different conversations with Carol so I don't know. I just, what's the, what would be the benefit of not joining being able to talk to a bunch of people about something we have no say in versus. Yeah, this is David, I don't have access to the minutes from the meeting but we, we summarize bullet by bullet those kinds of concerns you just raised. Yeah, that's what I thought. Well I was at the meeting and I don't have it. For what it's worth I did send around the minutes to that meeting right at the start of this meeting so everyone has them and I think they were part of Jeremy's materials a few days ago as well. So if you want to review the more in depth discussion from the meeting that that is available. And this is can if I can summarize my position on this, Washington Electric is a is a unique partner to CB fiber in that there is at least the possibility that they can construct and it may be even own fiber that will be used by CB fiber. This is related to the business model work that Fred Goldstein is pursuing. And so working closely with them as they think about our dog, so they can understand more closely what exactly the financial repercussions are of their participation in the auction and therefore their, their role forward I don't think there is another partner that plays that role that we would have that role with. Certainly we want to be partners, potential partners with Valley net and easy fiber, but they don't have that same geographic parameter that we need to talk to them about we what needs us needs the work that we've done to better understand what a construction looks like in a way that no other potential partner does. So that's the reason why I pretty strong supporter of us partnering with them and yeah this is a discussion of the art off bidding, they need our help they need to understand the financials that we can provide them. I have no qualms about not being able to partner with someone else. If weck loses, then we're open to partner with those whoever does win in those areas, but we want to help those folks construct their bits. I want to come back around Michael I think you had a little bit more to add. And I got something when you get a chance. Yeah, it was, it was on a slightly different topic, but it goes to Siobhan's question of what are the disadvantages of joining this. And I'm not advocating for this I just want it to be clear. So there's a $5,000 fee to join the consortium to be to take part to have NRTC prepare what paperwork they need to prepare I mean it's sort of a profit thing for them but that's okay. But if we in any way participate in the bidding strategy and want anything assigned to us at the end. In any way, I believe there's a second $5,000 fee. We need to get a little clarification from NRTC and or Weck about that part. Because we may be voting on a $10,000 thing instead of a $5,000 thing, or maybe just the $5,000 joining the consortium is sufficient, but I'm not. It's, I am still confused as to what exactly the second $5,000 entails, but it sure sounded like in the meeting that most people pay both 5000 fees. And so, that's my, I'm not saying we shouldn't but I do think we need a little clarification of that. And in regards to, I agree with what Ken said. Weck is a very fine partner for CV fiber even though I was competing for that. I support Weck as the selection and Weck's territory extends into both EC fiber and the any K community broadband territory as well as ours, and they probably will end up partnering with all ECUDs. And I don't know valley net might even end up joining the consortium it's hard to know what they're going to do because they're looking at a number of different strategies for different purposes. So it's, it's a nuanced question whether we should sit it out or join the consortium there's advantages to both. I'll do it again and Michael I respect your opinion, but we with the business development committee did go through this voted to do it. I'm not sure about the second $5,000. But the $5,000 is actually has to be committed to them this week. So I need to either take action positively and negatively but I, I think you have money to water a teeny bit. This is Jerry I'd like to add to the conversation. If I may, we're going to, we're going to hang stuff on Weck polls, no matter what someday. And we have a lot of overlap, territorially with Weck. We have a lot of overlap in our in our mindset or reason for being the Weck came into being because the the electric companies at the time. We're in stringing wires out here, and we're doing the same thing 50 70 years later. And I think there's, there's a lot of overlap in the cooperative concept of both Weck and CV fiber. We are going to have to work with them. At some point, this art off has kind of made us, you know, pushed everybody's hand because here's an opportunity to get grant money to hit these underserved areas, which both Weck and CV fiber are very interested in doing. So they forced our hand a little earlier maybe then we would have liked to, but we're going to need to partner with Weck at some point, and they need to partner with us. And I fully endorse working with Weck. We should take that step. All said, County Matt. So, the thing that kind of clinched it for me that Weck is the best way to go is that it, we kind of decided that going with Weck doesn't lock us into any ISP any of the other partners, they're going to want to be our ISP. The other thing that David mentioned is that Weck is able to borrow money at very low rates. And from what he was saying, not only are they willing to do that for art off areas, but they're willing to do that for non art off areas that overlap our territory. I think from the table that David sent out it was something like 70% of our mileage is Weck. The other thing is that we're not really leaving any money on the table by partnering with anyone else, because I think from what David found looking at his maps, something like 98% of our art off eligible census blocks are in Weck territory. That's all that I had to say. Anyone else? Yeah, this is Greg Kelly. And I believe that the second, if I remember correctly from the presentation that was made to our meeting that the second $5,000 would be only required if we actually were bidding. The $5,000 is sort of the entry fee to get in to the consortium. That's, if I'm remembering correctly. Also the non discussion period only lasts up until the bidding is done. And after that there's no restriction on communicating with any parties. Other comments. Questions. So we're voting on. I've lost track of the motion. So, do you want me to repeat that. Yeah, please. So it is a motion to join Weck in our doff bidding under NRTC and to pay the $5,000 fee although we may want to consider if there is that second $5,000 fee authorizing that. Just a suggestion. Okay. Who had the second on this. Chuck, I believe, yeah. Okay. Okay, as motion by David. It sounds from what Greg was saying that the second 5,000 may not come into play. And I guess if it does come up. We have to vote on that separately. So we have a motion in a second. I think let's proceed. The way we are right now, if there are no objections. Again, the way we've been doing this is, are there any no votes on this. Motion hearing none will consider that it has passed unanimously. Yeah. So David, that was both items. The art off and the work piece. I'm assuming. What about the update from business development. Committee. Is that your item to consult with me. I didn't present that. Okay. I was just going to say. I don't know if anybody else has anything about what Fred presented to us, but Fred provided us an initial very, still very early draft of the, the spreadsheet for the business plan. Which allows for, and so there's, there's still some things that are missing and there was some stuff he was in the process of adding when he provided this snapshot, but it's there. And I have not had a chance to play around with it, but you can change things like take rates like when we're starting different, different parts of the projects. You know, Interest rates. How soon, you know, people, people take, you know, take up service. So if we have a take rate of let's say take rate of 40%, how many of those come within the first two months. And so there's a way to sort of stretch that out and rather than expecting like, yeah, we've 40% take rate, we're going to assume that we have them all in day one. And then we can change things like how much churn, what's the cost of this individual component, what's the cost of labor, what's the cost of insurance. All in there and all tweakable and very, very, like I think, like I've said before, very, very exciting to kind of a data nerd like me. Just being able to play with it and sort of run different kind of run different scenarios through there and see like, well, when is it that we get to be abit positive or when is it we get to be cash flow positive, and so on. So that's, and he's continuing to work on that we should have. I honestly don't remember when he said he was going to be done, like, done done with the whole business plan, which I think will include a report like an actual write up, and that spreadsheet. David, do you recall that. It was about two weeks behind so I think we were the journey to the milestones you're supposed to finish by the first week in July. Do you have a Jerry early July was the date that they were supposed to have a document for us. Yeah. And now he's saying it's about two weeks behind. Okay, so mid July, I guess, then is what when we should see our final, final, final business plan. I've also asked him to essentially put a couple items in there that that will directly and easily translate into the veto loan, which I actually have as a later agenda item that we can talk about in a bit. Okay, any other comments, questions on this agenda item. Didn't sound like there's anything here that requires emotion. The state recovery fund request is the next item. Is that yours. Yeah, that's mine too. So this is very, very fluid. I've sent you some links over the last week or so. Right now, the magic is in. I don't think I even sent you hold on one second I have a message from Rob fish. I'm going to forward to all of you that I got it. It's like 425. Let me send this and then I'm going to refer back to it. So, right now there's a bill. It is h h 966. In fact, relating to COVID-19 funding and assistance for broadband connectivity, housing and economic relief. There is a part of that that contains an $800,000 carve out specifically for funding CUDs through the end of the year. And so I've already asked, you know, looking at our timeline going ahead, I asked Chuck, and kind of the communications committee to think about, you know, how much, how much is the communication committee need. You know, could they spend by the end of the year to essentially get us rolling with some of the things that we were kind of planning on doing anyways, or things that we could accelerate so that we can, you know, increase the speed of our deployment. of the year to essentially get us rolling with some of the things that we were kind of planning on doing anyways or things that we could accelerate so that we can increase the speed of our deployment. And Chuck, correct me if I'm wrong, but you came up with about $30,000 of things that we could go and just do. So. That is correct. Cool. I'm glad I'm remembering that right. There was a little bit of variability there in terms of assumptions around whether we decided to actually pursue a private party loan program or if we wanted to do a little bit of advertising around trying to garner gifting. And the biggest variable was when we would actually try to start selling presubscriptions. So, that's obviously entirely dependent on a lot of other dominoes falling into place, but if the dominoes fall in the way we would like them to fall, then we will probably start spending to that tune, that order of magnitude at least, by around the end of this year. So, and I did put out a call, must have been last week and I said, the legislature was looking for, what is our next year of budget look like? And then David on very short notice put out some amazing, put together an amazing spreadsheet that looked at, well, what if we hired an executive director? Well, that would be an exciting turn of events that somebody that could manage kind of the day-to-day things and really get things rolling much more quickly than all of us volunteers could do. So, that was included in there, a consultant to look at more wireless, these sorts of things are in there. And so, this whole question, this whole exercise may become moot if Senate finance says, nope, 800K SNP, it doesn't make sense. So, they're literally deciding this in the next 48 hours. So, if you look at the email that I sent you from Rob Fish, he does a pretty good job of putting up the lay of the land. That said, we need to still be ready. Should they fund some or all of this, we need to be ready on the order of two weeks, be ready to pull out a budget and apply for a grant and say, these are the things that we wanna do and we can do by the end of the year to check these particular check boxes. And as a quick reminder, the bill as it's written right now would allow for costs of CUDs that are under these three umbrellas to be covered. One would be consultant fees. Two would be administrative expenses. And three would be, this is sort of the potpourri question section, other recovery planning costs deemed appropriate by the commissioner. So essentially handing the decision-making power of everything else over to June Tierney. Again, still supposedly apparently trying to abide by the federal rules that were there and that's still some, I would say not 100% lack of clarity. And I feel, I can't see Ken right now, but I know Ken's gonna have something to say about the federal rules. But the reason I wanted to put this out in front of everybody is that, could we get that funding that kind of earmarked for us? We need to be rolling on applying for it soon. And not that we have to have this in front of us right now, but I guess I want everybody to be thinking about it. And if you have things that definitely need to go or can go and fit within those buckets, if you have those, yeah, put them together or send me a message and we'll make sure that when that request goes out that we include them. And if this goes forward, I'll have this on the next agenda too and we'll have something a bit more concrete then. So that's my report back about how to spend $100,000 in six months. And as Jeremy said, I will weigh in here. One of the factors that needs to be considered not by us but by the legislature is the extent to which this is actually eligible under the federal program. And the certainty is that if we take work that leads to connectivity before December 30th, then that, we're rather certain that that expenditure will be covered by the federal program. So whether the legislature puts in the language that kind of restriction will find out in the next 48 hours because it's only on, where it's $100,000, $800,000 for everybody out of 1.25 billion, the feds probably aren't gonna be looking with that sharp of magnifying glass. But if the legislature is concerned about eligibility, then they will put some language in there that the steps that we take as a CUD should lead to some increased connectivity by December 30th. And that could be a challenge, but it's a possibility. So this is Greg Kelly and we could do something that we have a plan to have fiber. We could put wireless up in order to meet that time deadline and then it's replaced by fiber in the future. So that's an option. And that's certainly been something that has been noted and pitched. And actually I think you may even see Rob Fish mention that explicitly in the email that I forwarded. So could the buy-in that we have to do for the ARDOF thing, that $5,000 come out of this? No, potentially. Because the ARDOF bid gets us a foot in the thing and then we could put up the towers and get people connected by the 31st. Well, again, that would be something that DPS would have to decide. I mean, is it a consultant fee? Yeah, kind of is. Is it an administrative expense? Yeah, kind of is. I don't think it would hurt applying for it if that door is open for us then. But I don't totally know. Any comments, questions? Again, I don't think this is an item that we need to take any action on at least yet. Can I make a comment? Sure. So in regards to fixed wireless, there is a provision in the bill as it stands now to fund fiber to the home in underground conduits to low-income individuals. And I think it's intended to fund AC fiber deployments to trailer parks primarily. And in that same provision, fixed wireless to anybody with emphasizing students and staff of K through 12 schools and facilitating telehealth. And that's an $11 million item in the proposal. And then this 800,000 that would go to up to eight CUDs, eventually the 100,000 for us. Part of that could be, part of it or all of it could be used for fixed wireless extending the aims of the CUD. Separate from that other provision or in concert with it. I just wanted to bring your attention to that. And it's possible that either or both of those will not emerge from the cutting room floor tomorrow. So it's really important for those who think they can influence any of the senators to listen in and find ways to communicate with them. One more piece that we need to be ready for and that's the cable line extension. There's a couple of million dollars which has gone through many iterations but seems to be pretty much a constant that there'll be cable line extension dollars. And the language, I believe it's the current language allows the communications union districts to essentially veto any of those cable line extensions. And my memory serves, we have 30 days from the date that a cable provider proposes the use of cable line extension additional funds for us to definitively act and say no. So that's something we're going to need to be ready on to be aware of when those proposals come about and look to see how they might intersect and undermine some of our proposed build outs. And if so, then we would have to step up and say no. And we actually included the same provision in the section five which includes the fixed wireless. So the CUD could say no, that fixed wireless deployment is not in our interest. We veto it or not. So that veto provision is in both of those. David, did you have something? I had something. Go ahead. I just want to make sure that CUD has had the some authority over some of those extensions. Okay. Good. Yeah. So I want to point out that the bill right now is in Senate finance. Senate finance is chaired by a Washington County senator and Cummings. So she is. I think most, well, most of the folks on this call, she's one of your senators might not hurt to say, Hey, this is something that's really going to help reach out to her and I mean, like reach out to her in the next four hours. Because she will have, you know, she will have some, some sway in this. And if you, if you, if she's hearing from a lot of different people, especially, you know, those of us sort of in the grass roots organizing to get connectivity here in Washington County, I think it will carry some weight. So. What do we want to say to her? I've been kind of wanting to contact her, but not sure what to say. Well, so I've got a letter that I put together. I can send that out. I haven't sent it to her yet, but I've been meaning to. So if that would be helpful, you send it to me now, right now. So, so, so your senator, Mark McDonald. He is also. He is the vice chair of that committee. So you should reach out to him instead. I mean, although obviously you could still reach out to her as a chair, she's just, I just communicated. I used to live in Washington. And so I've communicated with her in the past. And so she knows where I am. So, yeah, but yeah, he, yeah, I've communicated with him as well. I'll shut up now. If we could all be emailed two sentences. That we could not necessarily use a word by word for word, but use to build a very short email to the senators. That would be really helpful. They don't want to see anything big and long at this point. I'm sure they probably want to see two sentences from constituents that will give them support that will give them cover to show support for the appropriation of the money. So if, if either Jeremy or David or somebody could just, you know, literally get us two or three sentences out on email. I'd certainly be happy to email and also mark because I know him. So, you know, that would help me. I have a minority opinion here. This bill in some form will pass. The issue is there are several sections to it and there's a lot of, of back and forth as to whether that $11 million should be available for specific projects, the 800,000 for the CUDs. I think that's one thing that letter from us to say section, whatever it is, I don't know what section it is. Please support that because communication union districts are largely volunteer bodies. This will really help professionalize us that I could see a message from us get the head nod, but in sort of support the bill. I honest, I don't think that helps to be quite honest. I mean, they, they need to go through each of the sections and determine which ones they keep, which ones they grow, and which ones they cut. And so it's the CUD piece for sure. And, you know, I don't know if we have time tonight to go through and determine if we have a common sentiment on each of those. But anyway, I think we have a common path with section five as well. That's, that's the valley net and fixed wireless one. I think that we can all support that one. So funny you mentioned this about a common, a common threat or whatever I actually sent out. I sent out some commentary to Senate finance and Senate appropriations appropriations will also be looking at this tomorrow. They don't have the bill currently, but they will, they will have some opinion about it. Obviously. I just posted a link in chat. That is that commentary that I sent to Senate finance and I break it down section by section. So I say, you know, here's what it is. If it passed as is, it would be great. In particular, we hope that sections four or five and six remained unchanged. And I say section four. Here's why we like it. Section five. Here's why we like it. Section six. So take modify use whatever you like in there. And then there's a bit of a suggestion at the end that was a response to some testimony from Lauren Glenn, Davidian about kind of a complaint that, you know, why isn't broadband deployment being managed at a statewide level. And I said, well, there's two, two things that we can do there. You know, two things I think would be good. There's, you know, put it in the hands of DPS. That's, you know, very clearly within their, um, their bailiwick and they're in, you know, they're in the executive branch. They're in state government. Alternatively, I said, assign this responsibility to V CUDA. And let the communications union districts. Sort it out from there. Um, so whether or not you want to add any of that sort of stuff in there, that's, uh, may or may not be helpful, but there's at least language in there for sections four, five and six. Thank you. Welcome. Okay. Any more discussion on this item. Okay. Moving on. I think the next item is what Vita loan prerequisites. Yes. So, um, I actually started filling out the, the Vita loan documents just to get a sense of what we, what we need, what we, uh, what we have. Um, and just getting a sense of the, uh, the timing of what we need to get. So there's some, there's some stuff that was a surprise that, um, so we need to list the ownership and principles of our organization. So no, no ownership. So that was easy principles. I don't think it would be a stretch to say the executive committee. I don't think it would be a stretch to say the executive committee. I don't think it would be a stretch to say the executive committee. Chair, chair, vice chair, treasurer clerk. If that, I don't think that's. Too complicated. Um, and then they're looking for all of our socials. Okay. Again, kind of makes sense. And they want resumes for all of us. So that's, that's fun. So just want to let you know that we'll be putting those into our application. Um, the other thing, um, one is a CPA prepared business financial statements or tax returns for the last three years. So because we have been in existence since 2018, we are going to have to budget and budget for it and pay someone to do that work. Who is a CPA so that we can apply for the Vita money when we're ready to do that. I don't have. I don't have a budget. I don't know how much that's going to cost. I don't know what's, what's involved. Is there anybody that wants to take on the kind of process of sussing out the cost and the process for that? No, it's very expensive. It's, it's, it's equivalent to an audit. Yeah, one of those letters. But it's, so it's, it's going to be $2,000. I don't think it's going to be more than that. There's, we don't have. It'll be more than $2,000. I mean, so with, with the fire department, the Berlin volunteer fire department, we, they have an audit every year, every other year, and it's not, it's not that much. It's not $2,000. Okay. I mean, they have a lot more money moving around than we do. So it should be a pretty simple thing. And correct me if I'm wrong, Jerry, do you remember how much that, how much we pay there for the audit? I don't remember off the top of my head. No, I don't. But it wasn't $2,000. That, that sounds more than, than we were looking at. And do you know the name of the firm as the audit? I can't, yeah, we could dig that up. I don't remember it off the top of my head. I'd be willing to approach them. There's already a track record here of doing it for municipal organizations. So. And you said, and so, so if I give you their name and you would be willing to reach out to them. Yes. Okay. I will find that out. Used at the fire department. Okay. Cool. And then does it, does it make sense? I mean. In the interest of time, does it make sense just to say, Hey, you're hired or do we put it out to bed? That sounds very reasonable. I think we should just fire them if they're willing. And what is our deadline for having this done? Whenever we want to apply for the, for the Vita loan. So when we're done with the business plan. When, well, I mean, so we may not apply for it until we know about the Northern borders money. So Northern borders money is end of August, right, David? Yes. So, so we have time to get a quote. And then bring the board for. Yes. Just recalling my memory that we had made some comments or some policies rather a ways back about doing RFPs over certain amounts of money. And that's where they just want to just make sure we're going right by that. Right. And that's, that's actually a good point. We may need to explicitly, I don't have that policy in front of me. We may need to explicitly vote to bypass that policy. To do this. So I suggest that I'll get a quotation from them and we can have it for the next month's meeting. Perfect. Perfect. So next agenda. And we'll, we'll, we'll get that, we'll get that policy. Let's see. Bidding policy. Okay. That's, that sounds good. Okay. So that was one of the things we need. The other thing that we need and maybe David, this is a question that maybe you can answer. There is a provision under business plan. That there is an independent feasibility study by an engineer acceptable and approved by Vita detailing blah, blah, blah. Is that, do we have to have a set a second. Like a second look at this by another engineer that Vita is trying to approve or is this, is this just what we are, what we're getting from Fred and it's been previously approved by DPS. Do you know, I read that as being Fred, but probably we're something checking. I don't, I can't imagine a second engineer. I can see a second fiscal. Financial review, but engineering. No. Okay. All right. So I will, I will follow up with, with you and young at, at Vita and see what she says. All right. See you. Okay. And that was, yeah, aside from a bunch of other like paperwork. There's nothing, nothing so surprising in here. So if all goes well, you know, we'll be looking at applying for the Vita loan. If everything moves quickly, September, October, September. Okay. So that's all I have with that. Okay. Any questions. Jeremy. Other comments. I'm moving that along. I think we're up to approval of minutes from. Junite. Yeah, so I had one thing on that real quick. In. on reports back about recent meetings. Jeremy Hansen reported on the following meetings based on testimony from someone, possibly last name Mansfield, the Vita turnaround to approve CV-5 for a loan could be on the order of weeks. I didn't catch that name. Could someone remind me of who that was? Tim Nolte, Mount Mansfield. No, it was Leslie Nolte, N-U-L-T-Y from Mansfield Fiber. Thank you for that, yeah. Okay, thanks. Sorry I missed that. Some of these conversations go a little quick and it's hard to keep up. So moved. So moved. So second. Jeremy seconded. Who seconded? Okay. A further discussion. Wait, so who moved and who seconded? I missed that. It was Jeremy moved, but. Jeremy moved. Who seconded? David seconded. Right in? Okay. No further discussion. Let's just do this the easy way. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. All those extensions. You guys have it. Aye. I didn't find the unmute fast enough. Okay, we are ahead of schedule, which is great. And time for round table. I'm going to go first this time. And just to say thank you all for behaving and making my job easy this time around. It was great meeting. And once again, it seems like every time we meet, you know, we're just making more and more progress. And that feels good. I guess I'll just wander around here on the screen. So Jeremy Hanson, you're next. I'm good. And thanks everybody. Allen. Yeah, I got to tell you, if you've been living with a slow internet connection, you ought to get yourself to a fast one. The next time we have a meeting, the difference is like being inside the room where things happen, as opposed to standing at the door and hearing maybe some of it, but not being able to participate at all. It truly is amazing. It really makes a huge difference. So we're doing good work and it's really important. Can we use that as an advertising as we start to roll out our service? You got it. You got it. I mean, this is going to be recorded. Yeah, sure we should, but it really is true. I mean, I'm, I'm not just saying this to, to, to valid to, to explain why I'm sitting in a really nice place in the middle of nowhere by Lake Champlain. It's, it makes an incredible difference when you have a higher speed internet, you feel like you actually can participate. And that your participation is equal to everybody else's. And when you don't have that sense, because things are jumpy because you don't have up to date images of the people who are talking or you yourself, the audio is not good. It's, it's a totally different experience. I'm, I'm, I'm amazed. I'm really glad I had this opportunity to experience it. So we don't have to pay. Right. That was hard to hear by the way. You must have a slow internet connection. I do. I was. Can you tell us whether what your connection is at home and what you have there? Okay. So my home connection is about seven. It's supposed to be seven. I'm not sure what the connection is. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. But it works. It's about seven. Supposed to be seven down. And point seven up. And here in Burlington, I was told, and I did a speed test. The connection seems to be about 70. So 10 times faster. Download. And 50 on the upload. A difference. Please. Lead in. Yeah. Yeah. I'm jealous. Then great advertisement. John Morris, thank you for inviting me y'all to welcoming to me to this board meeting. I still feel like I'm getting my feet on the ground. So I'm having trouble understanding some things that we're discussing, but I'm sure I'll catch up someday. And specifically curious about the information that was provided by CV fiber dot callus the red and the green and the phase one build up. Where do I read more about that. That means you haven't gotten a copy of the feasibility study. So, so, John, I'll send you a copy of that right now and that that's, yeah, that's, that's a board only document at this point and that's, yeah, that's the feasibility study that we paid, paid some pretty good state money for, but that's a good goes into a excruciating amount of detail about where we might build. So let me send it out to read it all. Okay. Michael. No, I'm good tonight. Thanks. Yeah, I'm good. And really, I do appreciate what Alan said and listening to him and watching him. It is so clear that he has good signal. And I really would like to see a sort of marketing example, we could put up on YouTube or something to show this is what you're like when you're at three one and this is what you're like when you're at at 7050. John Russell. John has a slow connection in Worcester. So this is what you're like with a slow connection. There's your somebody fell. Or can I'm sorry. He went back to me. He's going to mail that in. John. No, just thanks to everyone for all the hard work that everyone put in. And I don't have anything else to add. Thank you. Tom. Ditto on that. Yeah, thanks for everybody. Chuck. Two things. First of all, just as a continuation of the loan, private party loan program topic. I just wanted to call out that, you know, based on the session that Phil and I attended, we received a great deal of information on how to structure the program, including template legal documents we can use. I feel quite confident that if the board were to decide to move in that direction, we could do so very rapidly. Also, I want to reiterate that I think the decision we've made to hold off on that program was a good one. Because, you know, money is really starting to be available out there for our purposes and let's try to go get the free money first. And then my other point is I would just like to echo Phil's sentiment and go one step further and say, this is one of the most productive and sane boards I've ever had the pleasure to work with. You know, we clearly have a very uniform vision of what we all want to see happen and and we all seem to be willing to work together to do so. And so I want to thank you all for, you know, making this a pleasurable experience on an ongoing basis. So, thank you. Right. Pleased with the progress and that's due to the hard work of many people for the last couple of years. So, thank you for that. Keep moving. I jumped over a path. I'm good. Fred. Yeah, I don't have too too much. I just wanted to, you know, note that everybody should take a couple of minutes if you haven't checked out the whole Starling project. I know they're going beta public beta has sign ups and gigabit per second download 20 millisecond latency interesting stuff that should be going live for public beta in the next four or five months might be interesting competition. Did you skip me? What's that? Did you skip me? No, I haven't gotten to you. Oh, okay. Just for that, you can go last. Jerry. Nothing to head. Thank you all. Jeremy. Nothing to add but your phone can have my turn. Okay. David. I think I don't have much to offer tonight. So thank you. And the final word goes to. Oh, Chuck, you sweet summer child, if you had been at the first meetings. The first six to eight months were, were awesome. They were, they were, I mean, you should go back and look at the, at the video. It's all out there. So I just want to say I'm really glad at how much work we're doing and I sent my email to Cummings and McDonald and I put the text in the chat if you want to see it. But yeah, great work everybody, you're just awesome. And what Chuck said. Anything else for the good of the agenda here before we close up. I guess that's it. We'll see you all in a couple of weeks. Okay. Thanks everybody. Thanks. Bye bye. Take care.