 Select we're meeting to order we have girls cook Shelly We have Megan who else do we have anybody else? we have Sarah Seidman and Shelly Desjardins Dave McGeeta Dave McGeeta Sandy Levine They're in the audience you don't see the audience Oh And then there's Barb and Greg People who want want to speak who I can't see you're just going to have to You're just going to have to gently and politely interrupt uh for the others wave your hand or Shake a fist or do whatever you need to do. So are there any uh, are there any amendments to tonight's agenda? No Okay, so with that the first uh item on our agenda is Vermont integrated architects to discuss the town hall study And serve the results from the community needs wants et cetera, et cetera Is that you Megan? That's me. Okay. Well, you are on welcome again All right. Great. Thank you everyone. Um, I'm not there in person Um, I look forward to being in person with you. Uh, next time we meet. Um, I'm I am I able to share my screen? Go ahead and give it a shot I'll try Can you see that? It's coming on. Yeah. Yes. There it is. Okay. Great. Uh, so I think we've got about 30 minutes together here. So in that time our my hope was to high-level review of What we learned from the survey that you did with your community I'd like to review and draft a space program Um, and I'll describe a little bit when we get to that point about uh, what that document is and what it will do Of course is a part of our process And then um, we prepared a schedule Looking forward to the Next meetings for our study approach and just want to confirm that uh timeline. So briefly before I dive in quick update On some of the work that we've done thus far. We did have a kickoff meeting um With a group of representatives uh from town of middle sex a few weeks back. We've prepared this schedule. We did some Measuring of the existing building as well as photographing and documentation of existing conditions We've prepared um existing site plan And floor plans and we've also as a part of that initial site visit did a 3d Scan uh, that's basically three-dimensional photography that builds a little model for us of the existing town hall and we've shared those back um With your team. So we've got sort of good foundation and good ground work to get us moving on a great process here um So to start on the survey um I'm not exactly sure if it was Who put the questions? Together, but it was a great set of questions and I understand that it went out to your Community, there were 241 Responses received which to start up to say kudos to you town of middle sex That is a very engaged community and That's that's pretty wonderful. Um So at a high level here, I'm just going to hit the couple questions and some of the big takeaways. I will say that Deeper in the comments. Um, there's a lot more nuance and a lot more information that's shared back and um, we'll continue to discuss that as a part of the process And feel free to jump in and interrupt me if you want me to stop. Um at any point um, so this first one was about location keep the town office centrally located and um Looking here over 75 of the respondents. Um, saw that as important to some level as you dive into the comments Centrally located in the village. Um, there's some conversation there about what that means. Um for the community So some really good insights Um question two was Regarding the historic character of the building and again, you'll see Not quite as strong on the extremely important as the last question, but overall 69 of respondents really felt to varying degrees that that was important To maintain those historic aspects The next question was space available for other community and social gatherings and The really kind of strong response here at 83 percent Of responding that that was extremely important very important or somewhat important The fourth question was kitchen facilities and if those should be included in the renovated space and also Be accessible for meeting social gatherings Or community gatherings and together 65 felt that that was important space for a community food shelf again, 75 percent um So that that was important to some level to be a part of this To be considered as a part of the spatial uses of the town offices um, so question six, uh, then sort of shifted gears a little bit and was speaking more to the performance of the building um, and so the question here was should the town office meet a higher environmental and energy standard than just current building code and An overwhelming 90.95 percent or 221 of the respondents Feud that as important The next question then kind of stayed with that same vein of environmental and energy standards But then related it back to grant funding or how to pay for that Any additional premium? And so 93.7 percent Felt that that was important and to kind of relate this back to the results that we saw in the last Sheet that I had up here. It's only 2.8 percent more Felt that this was a a need without grant funding. So that's sort of the shift there likening it back to the cost implications And Question eight This again was staying in that vein of environmental and energy standards Related to the town office and should these only be done if they could Produce long-term operational savings and cost and that was a 69.36 percent. So that's 21 about 22 percent less than just felt that it was necessary. So that's kind of the demonstration of the Again, the fiscal performance. So which And then finally, I will say the last question I spent a fair amount of time with this was, you know, are there other questions Or insights that you would like this study to address And there were quite a few responses there people were offered the opportunity to give feedback So we're working through those many of them responded and Were questions around cost and we're really kind of raising questions about what this study should be about of comparing this Facility to see what could be accomplished here With renovating the building or if it would be a new building, which is exactly What our study is setting up to do in this initial phase number of the other comments really related to accessibility and Being able to improve that so that the upper level was more accessible To Yeah to all residents So I'm going to stop there any questions on that or any comments This is Liz. I would just comment that on the final question How important is it number eight? How important is it to you that meeting higher environmental and energy standards be done only if they produce long-time operational cost savings? I think almost That that I think was a bit of a trick question that That if you wanted if you wanted long term if you wanted that but But not at any cost, right? Like this is saying So so if I really wanted it done no matter what I would say not at all important Because this was around only if It produced long-term operational cost savings And so that I think is doesn't this answer doesn't really tell us exactly what people were thinking because I'm not sure That I mean people might have answered. Oh, it's very important that we have long-term operational cost savings But not at any cost, right? So I'm I'm not sure how valuable that question was but Whatever we we've created those questions, but yeah Okay any other Questions or comment and and I do think the the comments that were shared related to each of the questions and especially the last one Do help sort of I think you're right Liz for those folks that maybe Their answers here are somewhat misleading you get a little bit more insight when you start to read the comments People go a little further to describe that Okay So our next I think what we've At a high level distilled from that is um Really what we're going to look at next is the the space program And so this is essentially a laundry list of square footages And usage what the building would be used for and so I'll bring up a document here in just a second But what we've gone through is tried to catalog the various spaces in the existing building And how many square feet are currently? Attributed to those uses and in some cases we've already learned from our kickoff meeting things like the vaults for instance Should be expanded in size and so what we're trying to do is come up with How much square footage do we need for each of these different uses and then we'll go Once we're able to confirm that we'll go back and begin doing some layouts for folks to react to So what we learned from the survey and some of those survey comments I've included here some line items related to some of these Additional uses so community gathering spaces kitchen space things like that So I'm going to bring that up again So here try to zoom in I'm here you can see These are the existing spaces And they're noted by which level they occur on you're all very familiar with the building And the amount of square footage per each and what we're hoping to do is kind of go through here We've under we've heard already that the vault needs to be expanded We've assumed expanding that to twice and then in general Really wanted to kind of work with uh you to understand And I can do this live um of are there Particularly like how are we thinking about each of these spaces like for the town clerk? Is the current space allocated even though it may not be in the same space? Is it an appropriate amount of space? Are you asking us this Yes, you're asking us to comment. Okay. Are you guys able to see it? Okay, okay Well, sarah, what do you think you're the person you and dorinda? Who are downstairs on that first section? Yeah Megan is um, I'm not seeing any space for any finances I see listers office lister closet and storage. I don't see any financial space. We need a financial space For store. That's really important. This is a town's home That's where they do all the accounting bookkeeping and also storage of their financial records And the size what do you think what what are you thinking like in terms of Well, I think at least has to be uh I think it has to be Size of the lister's office, frankly I mean, I think that the what you're saying the lister closet and storage that that closet is holds Bank records it holds supplies it holds office supplies. So it's way more than just for the lister's My back the listers don't have anything in that closet. In fact, yeah, they don't have anything in that closet So there needs to be somehow and it also I think that the nature of Finances is that they do need to kind of be able to concentrate. I think when people are coming in and coming out There's a lot of distractions. It's very hard to do your job there While also being accessible to the public just in case someone wants to come in and pay their tax bill Sure Okay, so a financial space that wouldn't be for accounting bookkeeping and storage of records and you're thinking, you know similar in size to this To the office Yeah, 260 ones for a beat That's the lister's office Yes It's a shared space currently and At times we have up to five people in that office and it becomes very distracted So I would say even half of that You know the between the listers and I don't understand where the small meeting room is versus the large Yeah, so maybe I can back up here for just a second So this is the lower level floor plan and I can see if I can try to share both of these on the screen At the same time side by side so you can Testing my zoom abilities here Okay, so this entry vestigial is this space here So these numbers on the side of the program document that you have in front of you correspond to the number that's on the drawings Um, so town clerk three is this area in purple. So the vault there. So in general, I think by going through this we're Basically hoping to say, you know the area for the clerk Is about right or it needs to be about 25% bigger And you know the vault is needs to be bigger and needs to be doubled or tripled. So I think that's in general so We can work through Each of these and then what we have heard to this point. I just added financial space here. It's sarah Mentioned the other things that we Had questions about in our meetings to date. There was some Mention in our past meeting Of should a highway department office have space here in this building Should there be additional meeting space in addition to Any of these that are currently up here something that would be added Should the historical society have space in here and do they have is it Sort of display space is it storage? um, I just put storage in general because that's always a concern and then from the Survey results we saw the question about kitchen space and then also the suggestion of community food shelf So at this point what we're trying to do is line out in broad strokes What are we trying to achieve with the facility to come up with overall square footage? Which would then assess, you know, can we meet those needs within this existing building? um And more likely that in addition would be required and that'll begin to help us understand what size addition And then we'll start to do some of those layouts to better understand it and then that would be compared against The potential uh new building or square footage to basically say You know for the same size amount of square feet to accomplish these things. Um, this is how much would be needed Hey, Megan, can I ask a question? When you're when you were looking at the top floor Did you consider this area that I used for land recording? At all as part of the town clerk's office because that used to be all downstairs We had to move it upstairs when we built the cobit counter um 15 19s that's one oh two All right. Oh, yeah, it's all the meeting. It's it's all right there. Yep And so I think we could essentially say, you know, you've you've got about that amount of space there So we could say it's that space plus the clerk's face You did with that upstairs Right, so I could do that takeoff and add to it if that if that's what you're saying is like This amount of space and that amount of space for you seems like what is needed Okay, because that's a really important part of the town clerk's office We can't kind of operate without that that square footage That's how much so we doubled it's basically we're going to double the town clerk Not using this space up here, but say that we need twice as much town hall I mean twice as much town clerk space as what's on here Because yeah, because what you've got now is 166 and 166 and there's that I don't see any change and then I don't see anything for recording Right, right the drafts that you have in front of you was our working copy. And so I've got as we work through it here Right. Um, so I just heard twice. So I've I've doubled that and then for the vault. I've doubled that Yes, Sandy How do we consider the possibility of Space being used jointly Are you are you talking about like shared roles like Cheryl is both the select board assistant and the book keepers? Or like maybe the food shelf could be as part of something that's otherwise used as a meeting room or Meeting room could be the listeners could possibly work in a section of the meeting room Or or even the efficiency of of the square footage or is it are we just looking at Look at what you have now. What's what's missing from what you have now that we want to make sure is Going forward and then you'll figure out how best to make all those uses fit together Yes, I think what what we're trying to understand here is, you know, this needs to be Separate or this need so for instance with the example of this small meeting room Like we need a small like one meeting room that accommodates Eight to ten people and then we need another meeting room that accommodates Four to six people and then for something like the food shelf. I guess the question is You know, should this space be accommodated here? And if so, you may not necessarily have an idea of square footage, but if you could share with us that it's, you know um Someone else to speak to who might be able to help us hone in on that amount of space would be very helpful or if you're like, oh, I think um, there are You know It's a small closet or I mean, we're trying to The level of um the needs in what you're interested to have included here. Does that help? Thank you Just You know, you can see my hand I have a question or comment Dave Mejia Yeah, go ahead Dave. Yes I want to make sure we're not getting ahead of ourselves right now. I think we need to do that a little bit Um, but I think we're going to go through and gather what the needs are Part of just doing is saying when are those needs happening Some might be full-time some might be certain time of the year The day and we can look at all of that and then maybe some things that are Coincidence or non-conference. We can say space and use have different procedures in that space space Yeah, absolutely and I think understanding um As we go through These spaces it's like okay. There's often a need or we anticipate a need um That we'd like to be able to have two meetings at the same time And those two meetings probably wouldn't both at the same time be for 40 people We would schedule those we would handle that operationally, but it may be like well, no, we'd rather We really see that it's mostly a need for just you know one meeting space and then we would have someone else go into another space for flex spaces So, excuse me. I have a couple questions one one question is and this is really a question for you, sarah But as as more and more of our town records are digitized What's our obligation to keep those old books On site can't they be stored? Somewhere else some kind of an archive. I mean I just I just wonder if we really need what the question is Do we really need to double the vault space? I know it's tight now, but it's mostly tight Because there's a lot of stuff in there that almost nobody ever looks at Well, that's not true. There's a lot of stuff. I have to store voting. I have to store ballots in there I have to And the problem is the legislature hasn't caught up the legislature has not said you're allowed to store this stuff off site The legislature wants the paper records in the town vault and they want Uh, you know, we can we can save some Space by getting rid of an indent a card catalog I'll still have to keep it in the building somewhere, but I won't have to keep it in the vault But they still want I still have to make paper copies of every single digital record. I think And I have to and I have to yeah, I have to keep a paper index. I have to do all that Okay, so you think you think doubling the vault is what we need to know Yeah, yes Okay. Okay. So my other question is um With regard to the with regard to the meeting space issue um we had quite a Go around with the school district about Our ability to use that school building, but certainly we're going to need to use that school building for any large meeting no matter what and Guess what the school building has a kitchen bathrooms You know a lot of capability to do a lot of the things we're talking about so I just want to be sure When we're creating I mean, we want to be able to have select board meetings. We want to be able to have Small-sized public hearings, etc. But I just want to be sure that we're not creating too much meeting space because you know and and uh you know right now Our the meeting space in the existing town hall is is barely used. I mean we hold our select board meetings up there now every two weeks um But that's mostly because of because of covid concerns and using the having space to use the owl and have members of the public there but uh I just I just don't know how people feel about our Our ability certainly the our ability to use the school. I should say for for potentially other meetings I mean they've certainly been been snarky to us in the past about Being able to have access to the school and that's Definitely an issue which we go through this process if we're going to be able to use the school On an as-needed basis with proper notice. That's one thing if every time we go to use the school They throw up all kinds of roadblocks. That's a totally different That's a totally different issue I would agree that the The um space downstairs the small meeting room plus the large meeting hall Um doesn't necessarily have to stay the way that it is right now, right? Like where you have this one giant open space that is rarely used for anything significant And then you have a meeting space downstairs where maybe there's overflow of people looking at you know documents and things like that um I think that this upstairs can be I think that we need to think about this upstairs And what function this upstairs serves, right? Does it serve multiple? Rooms like a small meeting room if people want to have a little knitting club Does it feature a little corner for a food shelf? Is this where we have our meetings? Like our select board meetings and downstairs actually gets turned into Some more meetings, you know some more office space for dorinda right And maybe that doesn't maybe you don't have to push the building out then Because we're not going to have town meeting here. We've already just just discerned that like that's never going to happen Any large-scale public meeting is going to be where we want hundreds of people to come is not going to be here Yeah, so let me pick up on a couple threads that I heard there. So I think um In this in the space that you're currently sitting in There, um, I think the last time we met there were things of you know audio visual and acoustics could make it challenging uh to have a meeting but If that could be remedied um as a part of this project, um it Would it be a reasonable and a favorable place for the select board? to be able to meet and then if there was Something that required a lot of community input and there were many people that came and showed up, you know It could accommodate quite a few or it could be um, so I I think we'd say maybe it's for It could typically accommodate maybe 12 to 20 But then could grow to a larger group if needed is that fair I think we talked about like 40 to 50 people maximum That you would have in a larger meeting space But it could be two smaller spaces that one space expands to 40 Yes, right. You could have it be where if you wanted it bigger you moved the slide right or something If I may just remember that this is where we hold this is where voting happens So, uh, we're all used to absentee voting, but there are still people who show up vote We're going to need at least one two three four five or six, you know voting booths so Good point. Is that about half the size of the upstairs space? Yeah, it takes up the almost the entire space now We just I kind of rope off this but other than that, you know by the time you get the Check out check out table and get the booze and give everybody set you really need almost the whole space Except for that part sandy that I have According to up over there when we vote in in ronnie. We don't have that whole space He'd be surprised We've got we've got 10 more minutes on our agenda and we barely started here So I think we need to be all be thinking about all these all these issues but I think Megan's got a lot more to tell us in a short period of time to Do it we can we can run over a little bit. We don't want to run over a half an hour. So Let's keep let's keep moving Okay, um, thank you Sure, so the the main focus of what we're interested to cover today is really to understand your needs And so really trying to get a sense of this program. I think Beyond that I've shared the schedule um With the team I believe you have a copy of that um in front of you So at our kickoff meeting, you know, the deep gray here are the upcoming meetings The agenda for those meetings are what we hope to discuss and accomplish is listed Below each of those Um, and then these green bars are sort of that the prep and the work that's happening between those To to get ready for that next meeting um, and so I guess Uh a question that we have we have lined out these various meetings Part of our proposal and requests for our services for the study, you know, was to be having these conversations here Um with the select board and so we put that forward. We're happy to continue to do that um, some of these conversations Do take some time As you are understanding and I'm curious do we want to Proceed with having this be a part of these select board Meetings or should it be sort of broken off as a special meeting or with another? Task I think the answer I'm sorry I'll Hold on just one second I think the answer to that Is we just need to think about when we're going to have one of those meetings how much time it's going to take because We work very hard to limit our select board meetings two hours and we have other business We need to discuss so if we need to have the answer is if we need to have special meetings Sure, you can have it. We can have certainly have a few uh, a few special meetings Um, if we can do it During the select board time, that's great But as we work our way through this process, there's going to be a lot of stuff to talk about so it's going I think it's going to be some kind of combination of both Yeah, somebody else Wanted to speak My question wendy I think the smaller committee that we had worked on this project was going to try to do as much as we could without the select board Uh, we could certainly issue the select board some homework that we want to have done at certain times But I think we really need to be judicious about how much time we're asking for the select board During this beginning process We'll check in with them. We can share information with them. We're not hiding anything But I think there's a lot of work we can do that's not going to take up the full board's time Yeah, that's exactly right. That's our intent. Sure. Okay. That that's helpful. That's more um typical I think of what we've often seen um to have sort of a smaller group and then kind of reporting back Um to the select board and those meetings are also typically open But you know understanding you have much on your agenda that you're trying to achieve here and spending Two hours to look through floor plans or things It is is difficult to do with everything else that's on your plate. So does it make sense then to circle back? um Who should we Who should we connect with then about that smaller sort of task force? You can connect with me or whoever Um Sarah has it. Sarah seedman has a question I just i'm here representing the middle sex historical society and we would just like to be part of that small group or part of the process We think we can be a a real asset to our community. Uh, you know in exhibits and then Showing off to the people of middle sex their heritage. So Just want to make sure I we're included at the table So Megan is sort of the next step then to um as a smaller group You know look at what our existing sizes You know come up with some proposed sizes based on what the feedback comes from the people that actually use those proposed spaces and sizes Um, you know, for example, like the server room. I don't know if it should be bigger You know, who do we ask on that? You know rb technologies? You know, so I I think that there's a lot more sort of questions We want to get so that you get a better sense Because on the 21st it sounds like you're coming you're going to be coming back with a drawing or A proposal of what this might look like. Is that right a month from now? Yeah I mean we we need to um nail down the program so we can buy the 21st have those Initial plans and concepts for you to react to and say we like that. We don't like that these two together um, I guess looking at the schedule that we prepared for you I'm going to throw out a suggestion here and see if this makes sense as a way to proceed um, you know each of these meetings and sort of the tasks that were associated with them were suggested or We were responding to that they would go to the select board and I guess my question is Um, I think it makes sense to stick with the same cadence And to stick with those same agendas, but maybe it's more with a smaller task force and so we're meeting at a different time than the select board and then Maybe there's someone from that committee that could be reporting back to the select board on updates at those times And then maybe we come back For our final i'm going to bring the schedule up here again so everybody could see it you know, so um I think Quickly we could try to connect with that group to really finish that exercise that we just started on the program And then somewhere around February 21st, you know We would come back together with that smaller group to kind of look at those items and um Sorry, where am I? Sorry, we are on February 21st today So I think here in the next week if we could connect with folks to kind of firm up that space program That would be really helpful. Then we could come back to that smaller group sort of around March 21st To then review plans So we kind of move through here and then maybe come back to the select board And at the end to sort of share this is our progress to date. This is the study. This is what we've come up with Um, and then along the way, I mean, there's only two more meetings remaining um along the way um Giving updates does that? Yeah, go ahead. Um, maybe I I would suggest you meet with the smaller group ahead of the select board meetings So that Liz can report to the select board at the select board meeting What the outcome of that was? And and I would almost argue Not that I want to take up your time megan but that It's really I think important for townspeople to hear it from a professional so that we're still going to meet With a subgroup and you know come up with Some of the things that you're looking for here and that might mean also meeting with you guys, you know for An hour over zoom, but then inviting you back on the 21st to give An overview again. I mean I that's sort of What I would like to see I don't mind giving the update. Um I just think it's important that the townspeople hear from the professionals So that there's a little so that there's buy-in from the community, right that this isn't just Liz and the select board and this little group coming up with these ideas, but that this is, you know Working with you guys on this Um another smaller design meetings or Study group meetings if we call them they would also be open to the public. So true We could make them open to the public. Yeah Yeah, they're randomly in the middle of the day, right like When we're like, when can we all be right? Sure. So we can take a look at that um and kind of assess related to our Our steps forward. I don't have our proposal in front of us just regarding hours and things like that But we need to look and let's let's figure out what makes sense for middle sex and and do that So I will and then to connect with is it sara and liz is that makes sense to connect with you as leads on this Yes, Sarah Peter can I just say is it uh megan I'm wondering if maybe you guys would like one more week of time Would it help if you had if you guys moved your meeting to the 28th of march? Would that help if you're going to have these little committee meetings because you're coming up at a really fast deadline? Um, well, I think for us We're at a point that really needing to nail down the program what's in the building before we start drawing so I think it would love to connect with um The lead on who's putting together that other committee Let's figure out what makes sense for the cadence Of the meetings for that group and with the town and then I think once we figured that out Let's Look back at how that dovetails in with the select board meetings and the updates You know, if we're not able to move that quickly then I think we we pivot I think they can't do anything until we give them this more information at this point Like they're just sitting here waiting. Okay. So you so you do have to meet earlier like on the 21st versus the 28th I think so I think that's preferable because they've got other projects. They're working on too Yeah, actually the exercise that we started here going through the program if we could get together with that smaller group like we did Just a few weeks ago and kind of and it you don't have to have answers to every single one of them with an exact square footage But it's more like that could be shared. We want space for the historical society, you know The food shelf should be here But we don't know how big could you help us figure out how big, you know that kind of thing where the food shelf Absolutely shouldn't be here. I don't know but any of those insights that you've been able to Because of course, you know your community better than we do But I think that we should be meeting with you before the 21st because 21st is the select board meeting So we need to in the next week find a time That we we don't even need to meet with you first. We need to meet with ourselves and and talk about like what we're what we have come up with based on our conversations with everyone about size, right? and So Then we need to meet with you so that you can do this drawing Right. Yes. Thank you For you all to meet to kind of assess. This is what we think we want in approximate sizes. I do think before like Just emailing that back to us I think we would want to That's not really going to work. I think it would make sense whenever you've had a chance to review it and digest it yourself to be able to come back to us And say like okay, tell us more about this and then I think we'll have questions like could it be shared? Do you really need that much? How about this? Yeah, so how about I Reach out offline and we'll try to You know, maybe in the next week or two um Try to have that meeting to kind of confirm the program And then um, we may need to adjust some of these other select board meetings depending on um how the rest of the process goes But we'll we'll cross that bridge when we get to it That sounds good sounds good Okay Anything else quickly Megan you'd like to tell us tonight any questions anyone quickly We're excited to be working with you and seeing a response of 241 residents is really pretty pretty awesome So we're excited to be involved with such an engaged town. Thank you for the opportunity Thank you Thank you So we have uh scott here from the fire department She I will so You all got the um the email that I sent to sarah yesterday So you saw we had six runs 10 so far this calendar year Of the six runs three were mutual aid out we went to two structure fires and A vehicle off the road surface As far as training last month we did not since it it's one of those Um Skills if you don't use it you lose it so we review it and repairs Our 1986 rescue went in for repairs and needed a new hydro boost pump Not only does that deal with the power steering but also the brakes Uh took a couple days for them to get hold of the part. So it was out of service for three days That's going to continue to be an issue with that hold of the vehicle um We have had our first meeting with Lakes region fire apparatus To go over to get An estimate of what a new rescue would cost Looking at the possibility of talking to e1 as well So we're starting to go ahead and look to see We know it's going to have to be done. We want to come with an educated Guestimate on how much it's going to cost and What decade it might actually arrive probably right now they're saying if we Said today we were going to get it. It probably wouldn't be until late 24 early 25 before we actually get it And that just makes that rescue that much older the the current one um We're still waiting to get back to paperwork from zole on the new aed We got the tax thing in so we're waiting for them to get their act together and send it back to us As far as the fast quad we had 12 12 calls uh nine were medical only and three were in conjunction with um motor vehicle accidents Any questions we we did have an increase in our average response were up to over five Responders per call, which is pretty good Any question Um, so the the only question I have jeff is You're keeping your eyes out for and I know all the issues But I mean you're keeping your eyes out for a good used one right for the rescue At this point i'm not wasting my time on a used rescue Because used rescues are going to be about the shape that ours is Even coming from dod. They're going to be old Because that's a that's a vehicle that's not replaced often. So it's run to its Full used capacity, which is 25 years old So right now i'm concentrating my efforts on A new one because that we will have for 25 to 30 years instead of getting something that may last us Five may be 10 years If if that does if another cold chest your rescue pops up that Kind of could fall into our lap Then yes, but as far as We we certainly know and you've been telling us for a long time about the about the rescue and we get it and uh You know, we should we should make sure that's in and i'm not sure it is now Is is the rescue truck in our capital plan at all? Yeah, it was due to be replaced last year Review that anyway, okay. No, it's definitely something that uh, you know, we had a budget committee meeting tonight and the discussion about renewing the efforts on trying to Uh, get some of these right in front of folks again, you know, uh and to hear to your point It's it is in there at a hundred and forty thousand dollars on the cip So yeah, and we should get an estimate back here in a couple weeks and what They say it is what we're looking at is something that We could we're not getting all the bells and whistles, but we're getting something that we can expand The town's not getting smaller Um, so we're looking at getting something that gives us a little room To expand on stuff we need to put on there, um, but we're not going hog wild on this thing And we're looking to trying to do they will work with us in getting A chassis through the state program which reduces the cost I don't think e1 would be amenable to that But i'm going to reach out to them and see what their cost is going to be Can you can you expand on what e1 is for somebody? It's another it's another company. It's the the same company that built engine one So they're a company they have a rep up here, but they're a company down in florida Um, so it's just it's that's the name of the company. They just specialize. Okay. They do fire apparatus. Yeah, okay And of course to remind vtech closed and no longer is an option to us We have the mo you Okay, yes, I know we do so, um, we need to, uh Consider whether we're going to finally approve that mo you or not is the question and you have a copy of it in your packet I believe And we did discover that that that language that was of concern in the last meeting has been in our How many so many sarah? I think you're conflating to mo use That one that when you approved last Wow the last meeting that was for the ambulance service This is the mo you for capital west capital aid capital capital fire mutual aid capital fire mutual aid It's a different mo you you guys have it here And are there any changes in this year's from previous years? Not that I no, I mean we I did look over the the, um The bylaws and we need to go through and make sure all the inventory stuff that they say that we actually have on vulnerable trucks Um, but that's a That's a that's our task So in the past No, that's something that's something it's this is what you It's a constant check to make sure you have that equipment and do the hose testing and It's annual thing Can I ask a question was this any was this an understanding with the middle sex violin tier department previously or the town of middle sex It was the town of middle sex that signed on for the capital fire mutual Okay, but who signed this it has the select board. Oh, I guess because we made that change I don't know if that affects anything imagine the select board because I don't think we never did I I never Signed one of those in the past. I just wanted to make sure we didn't have to change any some with them because we made the change That equipment or there were any other questions or concerns that case is there a motion, please. Sorry. Who was that? Nobody, uh, I'm just finishing reading All right Just hold on one second Peter. Sorry. Oh, take your time. Take your time I don't recall ever saying that that's why I asked I don't know if this has ever had to been had been signed since the original back in Was it 1970s? They're talking about the 70s So He started to talk about funds to maintain and stuff. Do you recall this Peter? Yeah stuff like that Peter, I I think we need some time to look into some of this stuff To be honest with you there, you know, there's they're talking about, you know Making sure funds are held in separate accounts and all that I just asked Rinda and it's nothing. She's aware of so Who would we ask though for a help on this? Who's the who who created this mo you? Probably joe alzworth who is the president of the An easy system chief in burton berry city And there's also something in here about Committing to at least 10 years after the date of the project's initial operation Is this isn't for that new service that they're talking about down? Well, it is talking about radio systems and stuff as well and I had that same that had that same question So I believe it's it's both. It's committing To the radio system Which was I think that that mo you Last month as well as The capital fire mutual aid system right that one that was going to cost us all kinds of money on in the future Is that what this is? I think it's tied. It's tied together to some extent Bullock three Yeah, looks like it's tied together with that to some extent right is that the one it says my payers going to house the money Or was that what's something about mom failure was in here? Because yeah, it just does say that mom failure is going to facilitate It's going to be the agent 2.4 million. I think it's 2.4 million. They've gotten so far Mom here is going to house it right, I think the main reason is because They're the dispatch for the capital mutual I would suggest with all of that that we passed over this for tonight Is there any particular urgency just to approving this tonight? I don't think so Now the next meeting for The group is next month So it's not a it's not a this month thing And this is what i'm not quite sure they're they talk about a plan and then they talk about a project But they don't actually define project. I think it has something to do with the thing that was presented I think it's tied together with that. It's all tied together with it. Yeah The thing that we signed a few weeks ago the project. I agree with you peter. I think we pass over and look into it some more Yeah, I don't I don't disagree Maybe they're just feeling like they want more. Um I don't know a commitment or something. This is why they're having new mx I mean the question is should we ask somebody from that organization to come in and meet with us and answer our question I mean we can we can read that stuff and every time I read one of those documents. I pick up something else I would like to I would think it would be nice to nice to at least have them Have them uh zoom into our meeting and be available to answer questions That makes sense. Yes, that makes sense I can email them and cc sarah on it and That would be great chef. Thank you How about the second week of here? How about your second meeting in march on the 21st? Because that will be the fire department meeting. Does that make sense? That sounds good As long as there's no reason that it needs to be signed I don't ever recall saying it Okay, I'll I'll reach out to him And uh, like I said, I'll cc sarah on it and I'll Say for the 21st and around 5 30 ish would be my guess Uh, he's coming in so I would say 5 40 5 40. Okay Thanks guys. Anything else for the fire department? Your things. Thank you Moving right along highway report. We're back on schedule. Good job Yeah, we're actually a little early. Oh, look at that to rest Yeah, oh, let's see. We had some repairs on the freight liner And we've been working on filling holes in the roads Hot holes, right? Hot holes and mud holes And hopefully, uh, they'll harden up for a little bit longer, but who knows Did we uh go to work road today? Yeah, we did We need to do more with it. But yes, we need to do more with it. But yes And we're doing using our material from the pit the stuff we made last fall All the tailings you mean all the the gravel we made from the tailings and the asphalt millings When you ripped up center road, is that right? Correct. Okay. Yep. Yep So that's where we're at That's your whole report. Yeah First of the month Another week We need to be thinking about going to put in an order for that new truck Yes, I I'm waiting to hear back when they're going to have pricing within models The models that we would be getting So we can get an accurate Which I heard would be within the next few weeks. So it'll be coming along We hold to that price whatever price they're going to give us but we know that isn't necessarily going to happen either, right? We can try it Yeah I hear you. Thank you. Uh, thank you, Eric. We got a couple new, uh Negotiators, so Yes We have a different negotiator Peter Yeah, I hear you the Frenchman He's tough so, uh So while we're while we're talking about proposals for vehicles and all that kind of stuff I just Bring up the excavator. It looks like that's on the The plan of replacement for 24. Um, have we started looking into I Just started writing up a spec form for that as well They're not normally as uh Hard to get as they're not they're lead time isn't as far out as the trucks. Yeah We're talking probably 12 weeks Prejudice report Duranda I don't have anything I was hoping to get you a budget status report But the last week or so has been extremely busy. So Um with taxes being due and Everything else. So that didn't happen. So hopefully for the next meeting Let's see. We need to approve the minutes of the February 7th, 2023 select board meeting I move that we accept the minutes of the uh, that was too easy February 7th Second I wasn't there No, I'm just abstaining because I wasn't there Waters You've got plenty of people that signed the order. So I presume you will Uh, review them and do that um Correspondent sarah anything just received an email tonight from Um Russ Bennett who says that there's plenty of water in the colby property would like to discuss that with the board I'm going to recommend that he wait until maybe about april. You've got an organizational meeting You've got this via stuff. Is that okay? Yeah The other thing is that um, I received an email from stephanie smith from fema on Thursday friday, actually Saying that after a months and months of delay with the homeowner on rich road Who was to was required to produce receipts about Money that fema had given her Back in 2012 Stephanie has found a workaround and now they can go through with the closing on the house and rich road I'm going to need some guidance from the board. I just want you to know that our end the lawyer end was done in august And we have been waiting for fema to come around and go forward and they have put the brakes on this because of these these receipts issues We now have only until october Of 2023 seven months down the road To close send out rfps for asbestos consulting Send out rfps if we need to for asbestos removal send out rfps and get Deconstructed including digging up all the utilities and returning the property to its natural state I don't know if that is feasible. I'm not in that this industry and I don't understand if that's but I don't know if That's something the board would like to discuss. I feel very very nervous about going forward I don't want us to be stuck with a with a white elephant. So to speak that fema subtly says we can't have I mean, this is a 2020 12th event and this is now 2023 that we're dealing with this I don't know the ability that to push that date back I have I asked Stephanie and I have not had a response Well, let's see if they can push it back. I think I think I mean this this has been a slow struggle every step of the way Let's not run up against some hard deadline that kills the whole thing after all this Well, we've just been dribbling our thumbs waiting for them to come around So I don't is does that sound like a crazy timeline to do that? Maybe that's not crazy Eric you're you're a construction guy It could happen fast if they can get if they can get the abatement stuff taken care of That's going to be the hold up. Right. It will because we have to do we have to do it through a technical process We have to sissue our peas. You've got to choose the Contractors and we have to you know Consider several factors when we do choose the contract the physical work I just know struggle Still is struggle to get anybody to do anything in a timely manner and Contractors as far as I know or and maybe maybe your experience is different Randy But I already have people telling me they can't do things until next year boiler replacements roof replacements things like that So I'm I'm just a little nervous that Getting those abatement people in there in a timely manner might be a struggle. I don't know. Maybe we should call them and ask them I'll call around Yeah If anybody knows Do we do that? Do we have a report on what need on on what hazardous materials need to be abated first? We don't know anything about this property. Yeah, I didn't think we had seen any Zero about it. Yeah, it's not it's not our property. It's belongs to a hot private home And we don't know about any underground oil tanks or any of that stuff, right? No, and you would have to dig them up and and fill them in and same thing with aseptic It's it's not just knocking down buildings. You have to return read Remove all the Isn't too bad the underground oil tank can be a nightmare. I just I just don't know what the what the lead time is so I'm I'm hesitant to not be concerned about that date without knowing about the availability of people to do this Okay Well, I'll get back to you, but I'm going out of the way. So I feel bad. I'm not going to be really available until the end of March Yeah, I know but if you're worried about it, I'm worried about it is what I'm saying. So Let's see what let's see what Stephanie has to say I mean, I have to I have to believe they can they could push back that deadline if we need to as long as we're making a good faith effort to get it done They certainly have no residency to drag their heels, right? I'm sorry I'm just saying they don't they don't move with the greatest of speed either. So Oh she has to say but um I don't disagree with any of that. We don't want to be we don't want to be rooting around trying to do that when the ground's freezing And the rain's pouring down and et cetera Let's uh, we need to spend a little time talking about preparation for our informational meeting Um, how we're gonna do that. We're gonna do it. We're gonna do it by zoom Right, are we gonna have an in-person option at all? Yes Yes, you are Yes, we are We We will do this the way we're doing our select board meetings where hopefully we will be in person and People can zoom in and people can also show up in person, right? Yep so, uh Phil, I did I did read your uh, your report on on front porch forum. Thank you for that. That was that was excellent That's undoubtedly gonna be uh, where most of the most of the questions come I have to believe Yeah, thank you for that um I don't know what else we really need to do other than be the uh Victor and Eric be ready to answer questions about the roads and other other board members be ready to To talk about budget budget issues and and randy if you would If you would get together a little, uh Speech about our cip plan because people are going to be confused by that Oh, we can't just defer it to the chairman of the board I'm sorry, are we going to have a Whether he can he can respond or not, but uh You've been the most involved in it. So it would be great to great to hear from you and then we can all Answer questions, but I just want to be I think in and I just got the town report I haven't had a chance to really study it, but I mean to me Those are going to be the big, uh Going to be the big big question items Yeah, I haven't seen mine in the mailbox yet Yeah, I haven't either I have we got us I got mine a long time ago We got us I think I got in like a week ago. Oh, really? Yeah, I got mine on the mail man just doesn't like me. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I got it From the top's largest today saying I was going to get four papers in one day when they finally got their act together with the post office That's really helpful Wait, but peter i'm sorry this I we I know we had informational meetings the last few years Is there an agenda like I'll put together an agenda. It's basically the warning It's basically the warning we go through the warning, right? That's how it's done. Okay That's what I thought Going going through the warning is is relatively Straightforward it's the budget. I think that's going to elicit me. I mean maybe I'm wrong So I hope we get I hope we get a good I hope we get a good turnout. We just don't get you know half a dozen people But we'll see I asked, uh I asked uh Susan Clark about how we make our uh Informational meeting exciting and interesting so people will show up. She said it's pretty much hopeless People people don't show up Um, let me see if we get like I think last time we got like 20 people of which it was all like The people who work for the town Several people are interested But but Susan's going to be there, right? As we as we go forward tip telling down the path of having Australian ballot a permanent potentially a permanent thing I mean, we just need to pay attention to how we do these informational meetings and make them as As concise and as good and as interesting as possible and Hopefully allowing people to zoom in we'll get more participation. I don't know We just have Does it as far as everybody knows they will you all will be there for that informational meeting? Is there anybody who can't be there? I just put it on my calendar. What's the date? Vic has a question Peter Vic has a question Are we going to invite the people that are in the special articles to Come and talk Is that a question for me? That's what we did. That's who came last year. I think the chairman deferred it to the Time clerk In the past Vic we we start we start doing that. We're going to have a No, they did that I said I said I blitzed them all last time last couple of times and said we're having a meeting on the you know the 28th or whatever and So tune in they were our guests those were the people they came to the meeting That's why we were up to 20. So yes, exactly. That's exactly right. I remember this. So if anybody has any questions about you know What the money's for they should be able to answer that they do at town meeting right Oh, that's that's fine. And certainly the You know the bigger ones the library and and some of the bigger ones people are likely to have some questions. Yep Anything else anyone? Uh, you are going to one of you guys is going to need to come in to sign the orders because I can't sign because I wasn't here So it's not fully signed not the orders just the minutes. I mean the minutes rather Minutes from last Can I sign them and scan them sarah? Does that work or do I need to come in? It's not a big deal. You know what if you just have used to prove the orders when you get a chance I'll leave them out there and you happen to come by just sign them. How's that? Okay, or fill This is Phil's last official this is Phil's last regular meeting Thank you for your service Phil. Oh, it's the cake. Where are the cocktails? Where exactly? It's all sitting on the table just out of the video. Yeah. Yeah, there you go. You're having a party without me I I see how it works So Phil It's been a wonderful experience working with you and I sincerely mean it that we we thank you for your service as they as they always say and I hope you stay involved in town stuff. I don't expect you to continue to have to write the financial reports We'll have to figure out We may need your advice and counsel, but we won't Uh Father you about trying to Thank you Peter. I appreciate it. Yeah, it's been it's been fun. I've enjoyed it. So how how many years has it been? You know just four. Yeah I was due to two year terms Really? No, I had I filled out one term and then a three year Oh, okay, right Who did you replace? um counten Oh God I've been on this board too long What are you working to do 10 years? It'll be 10. Yeah Peter's like how many years for you Peter? I don't even know I'd have to I'd have to go back and look at this for a long time Maybe too long for a long time What? Oh wait 35 to 40 Really? 40 years on the board close 35. Anyways, I think holy smokes Yeah, I think it was 1970. That's dedication Have you been the chair the whole time? No. Well, Kelly was before him I started out on the budget committee Can you grade me? So, um, can I just since we have a few minutes before we have to do the Board of Civil Authority we can't do that early, right? Because we don't have enough people they're all going to zoom in at 6 30 Probably Can we text them? We've got 14 minutes to fill it up Well, no, I was just going to say is so as I'm making the meeting The subgroup Who would like to be involved in that? Sarah, I would like you to be involved in it at the very least from the town. I just have a yeah, you're going. When are you leaving? Um, I'm leaving at 13. Oh, this will happen before then Okay, it will happen like next week. We have a town meeting and all sorts of things. Oh, right But you know, yes, you can squeeze it. It's just kind of a crazy time here But now the taxes are over. It's less. Do you want it to be after town meeting? No, I think we should do it as soon as possible. Yeah, I think so too. Like I'm thinking like well next week is town meeting Oh, no, so We could I'm thinking next week Right and darinda. Do you want to be part of it too? Yeah, I think as far as getting And what about you select board people? Who would like to be involved in this sort of subcommittee of thinking about this space? I think it'd be great to meet here too. So we can actually Happy to be Liz. I just don't know how available I'm going to be for meetings, but No, I'm just saying I want to make I I don't want to like Not include other select board members if they want to attend like a vic or randy It's gonna be in the middle of the workday most I don't have the time. Yeah, you don't have the time. Okay, what about you, vic? It'll be during the middle of the day. Probably the middle of the day. Yeah, I don't want to do night 10 meetings And then neither does anyone else I do too. I just I flex my time. No Eric. You can't have any time off Okay So, um, so darinda and sarah, I'll just include june if you want to come how about that But you're not answering me. We do have to be careful, right? It's having three of us on that. Yeah, we would have to warn it Yes, we would have to warn if there were three If you only have two it doesn't have to be yeah, I'm just saying that peter was Peter was talking about possibly a technique. Yeah. No, I don't know what mine is either yet. Um, Don't make sure three people. I don't yeah, let's just not do three. Yeah, that's what I was just getting at though So three people and then we don't have to warn it Um, so then it's dave. It's um Sandy it's one of the weatherization people Yeah, greg and it's um sarah seedman or patty because they wanted to be they've already Reached out to me via email So, I mean I think there's plenty when you say weatherization people you mean the energy committee the energy committee people I thought that's what you meant, but Um Okay, so sarah and darinda are there days that are better for you than others? Um, I it's easier if I don't do it on a tuesday or thursday, but other than that it doesn't really I mean I can always change that if maybe Okay, my My day of wednesday the first or march 1st looks looks good. Okay, maybe like on warning things So maybe what i'll do is i'll reach out to sandy and Try for wednesday and yeah, maybe try for wednesday. Okay That works good. Can I say something before you get off that topic? Yes You're ready. I'm ready I just had a conference. I've had it. I've been in conference with the road foreman Right now We talk every day. Oh, okay. Yeah We don't think you need a Highway highway crew office in this office. That's a bad idea. Okay, so no highway crew Office and I knew that was I didn't think that didn't quite exactly because they were talking about if it was going to be relocated That's a different situation I don't think it should be separate this far away from the no that didn't make sense to me either I think the comments that were made referred to that that if it was relocated over by the highway garage That's a different story. That's totally different. That's when you would include a space in it But it wasn't as if it's Survey results online and I think that people want to see the comments as well. Yes I've asked about that. Yeah, lowery will put them up. Okay. Just could you just send a link to the town? Websites I can put it on middlesexpermont.org. Yes. Yeah. Um speaking of what's up on websites and whatnot. Um Is anybody can anybody answer the question as to whether or not the proposed chaining changes from the planning commission and the regulations were Isolated and put up on the website and not just the full document I got some phone calls recently about that. Um, and I I had Said that I thought they were put up on the what's next middlesex website The changes just the changes but not she had that But not the full document. They're interested in not having to read through the full document to dig out the changes You know I have this in several spaces like I have it in a zoning space I think I have the one with the changes in there There I can I can put it up. I mean I I want to give people what they what they're going to vote on so I need to give them the whole document And then I need to give the zoning the new zoning map I can go look to see if I've got another I'm just so nervous about it because I don't want to put up something. That's wrong. Do you know what I mean? I I do and that track changes to raise me nuts when we did that in the last time of the zoning rigs It was all a mess So maybe what I'll do is I'll ask sandy to send me a copy that just highlights all the changes I think I have one down there. I think I have one on the website, but I'll put it right on the front Okay. Yeah, that's that's fine. I'll reach out. I need to help with the website I can't keep doing this website. It's a bad platform and it just it requires too much time for me to handle it I just need good volunteer in town anybody if you know of anybody I think my neighbors across the street might be able to do it If we do who does websites? Well, I just need someone to update it and streamline it and make it somebody that's into that Yeah, Ron sweet That's not a bad idea. That's a good idea six six one eight We're a full service select board. Yes, so uh, after after all after we get everything done with elections and everything That's going to be one of my summer projects my 2023 project You know, okay, I will do that Is there a backup time besides wednesday march 1st? Like I could do monday. You could do monday. Let me look at my um calendar I could do monday Monday, I have a meeting with finance at 11 If you guys can want to adjourn this meeting since we're just talked about scheduling I can Let's adjourn the meeting and give everybody a little the little break before the board of civil authority meeting I am going to uh, you have enough people for the board of civil authority meeting les Chris is here. Yeah, I think so Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna skip out of the board of civil authority meeting. All right. Thanks Peter Okay Phil you are adjourned Next week he's not going anywhere. So I could do um, yes You guys I could do two o'clock on monday. No Two o'clock on monday's not too late