 Yeah Than anybody else. Yeah. No, all right. It's six o'clock. We'll call the meeting to order Paul is on Okay, so first on the agenda is to approve the agenda Is there anything that needs to be added? I? Need to move Killington stage race up to under the appointments because Gary Kessler I can see is signed on and So I hadn't I wasn't sure if he was gonna be able to make it, but he is so I'd like to move that up Maybe under Laura Woods Okay, sounds good Yeah, no, we're good. Yeah, I was just I was double-checking the the executive sessions so All right all in favor and then we do have some Spots available. I know Fran Bruce staples which have not seen them here or online yet So what we'll do is just hold their spot if they do attend So if we if you're good with it Laura Woods, we can go with you 14 minutes early That doesn't happen very often so So Laura is interested in becoming the Bethel's tree warden Let's see how can can you make sure we can see her okay? How did you want it Jean? Did you want a gallery or speaker? Yeah, that's what I have it on gallery, but I don't know what I think it's Zach. Oh Move his I Know Did we so Laura has expressed interest in the tree warden position have we had any other Applications for tree or no actually I had spoken with Carl Russell a good year ago about it after our Tree warden many years had had moved and He was a little bit interested at first But then he was just so busy that he said he didn't think he could take it on so okay But we received a very nice letter from Laura in the packet talking about all of her experience and And I had it here and I'm all right put it right here. So she's You threw me off with the double-sided thing this time. Oh, did I I'm sorry I had quite back in all kinds of different orders usually Kelly Where I put it usually Kelly does it and I so but she was out. So I had to double sighted gets me every time so you're Anyways, so Laura. Do you want to just? Say hello a little bit about yourself so I Saw this kind of as an opportunity to kind of bring the skills that I already have to more of a local level As you might have read in my letter. I'm a lake and shoreland ecologist with the state And a big part of my job is reviewing projects under the state's shoreland protection act and that has a lot to do with vegetation and tree management. So I thought Maybe these skills would be useful since I definitely You know you I review statutory language and then apply that to real-world situations. So I thought Maybe I could bring that to this position So if you looked on the website, I think I sent you a link right so that you were so okay I just want we don't want to blindside anybody. There's a Process to it, of course, and I think there might I don't know if there was on the website I sent you but sometimes there's like a little training and maybe either through them Yeah, and then usually Usually the tree warden is a one-year appointment is that correct it's pointed anally right yep, okay Yeah, I want to make sure because sometimes there's some that are pointed every two or three years. Yeah, no, they're appointed annually, so Well, we're just thrilled that you're someone's interested and and obviously we willing to take the training when it comes up and so that's great Absolutely The person who did it before was an arborist So every once in a while that road foreman would call him about his opinion or he'd come and he'd either cut a tree Or he'd talked to Alan about it and then sometimes we had a logger come or whatever But it was nice to have someone who you know, we understood so Alan would know Hey, what how's this tree? Is it in good shape or what's going on or whatever? So it's always nice to have somebody with some expertise to guide you Sounds sounds like the a good fit Okay on paper So Kelly will send you a letter, you know, that just says that you've been an appointed she'll she usually does all the appointment letters and But that's great. If you have any questions or anything, let us know and Certainly If just send me an email like what's the contact information? I don't believe we have it on the website I think we make people call us so we don't give out your information But I'll have to double-check and see but certainly just send me an email and let me know what number and email You'd like people to use to reach out to you Thank you. We appreciate you volunteering And second we have Gary Gary Kessler, I don't know how many years in a row now it's been but the Killington stage race so every year Gary or somebody else comes to visit us in regards to getting permission for The portion of Vethel so welcome Thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks for getting me on the agenda for this evening So we haven't been Haven't had the race for two years because of covid Unfortunately, so looking forward to bringing it back after two-year hiatus the race is The day that we would come through Vethel is the may 29th And I think we go on North Road. So basically it's it's 107 onto North Road into Barnard and We'd have six groups be riding on North Road. They'll start At different times, but I think the first field would probably get to North Road depending on how fast they ride starting from Killington at around 10 o'clock and we'd probably everybody would probably be off by about 11 30 or so So the the request is to be able to use North Road for that portion of of the event We have the this would be The 10th year that I've organized the race Not including the two years that that of course, we didn't have the race. We have the state police that that Lead each field. We have police at all the intersections. So we would have Most likely sheriffs at the intersection at either end of North Road and actually in Barnard, there would be several of them and one field will do North Road twice They'll be the first ones to go and they'll be the last ones to come off North Road when they do it on their second lap They'll come back down 12 or north on 12 back on 107 and then do North Road a second time So that's the that's the request We have the race is a permitted race through USA cycling, which is the Olympic governing body for cycling in the united states We have insurance through them and I would have the town named as a as an additional insured I don't I mean again, you're letting me use the road without cost. So I don't really think there's any Um, any real issue there, but I'll I'll be sure to get that as well Okay Any questions from the board Uh the uh As I looked at your route It seemed to me that the the route took you took you on 107 and route What is it that goes uh Yeah, it comes into Bethel pass the fire station 12 No River Road Anyway Into the town but you well in into the the town border is out on 107 between Barnard and and So my question is whether uh The res if the resolution as we have it I'll suggest while you're in Bethel, but is there a different Or is the state responsible for the state highways is is fundamentally my question or are we uh Really asking from the time you enter Bethel To the time you leave um It's it's the state is um I have get permission from the state to have I have a permit that lets the riders ride more than Then to a breast on on state highways So all the state roads are approved through a work with v trans and the public safety for that But whenever we go on to onto town roads specifically like like north road then If it's on a state highway, then I do approach the town about Using that town road just to be sure it's okay that yes. Well that answers my question I was just wanting to make sure all our ducks were in a road I appreciate it Okay, just need a motion So you'd make a motion to authorize the chair to sign only requires one signature more trees more trees Somebody's signing it. Okay, so we just need a motion not only to authorize Uh killington sage race usage of the north road but also authorization for Myself or trees to sign on behalf So moved Okay, how long favor All right. All right. Thank you. Hopefully it's uh a good day and Good, I appreciate that. I hope it will. I appreciate your you're approving it and hopefully we'll we'll have a good turnout Hoping we'll have around 500 racers and people come from all around the northeast and from canada to To uh to do the race and I think people are looking forward to it after not being able to Several years because of the pandemic. So I know i'm looking forward to it. So thank you very much I I appreciate it and I'd be happy to get any feedback after the event if there's anything we you think we should do differently Or if you hear any complaints from from people, we do put signs up Four or five days before the race on the route just letting people know that there will be a bike race Um on you know on on the sunday so that residents are are notified of it that way and try to get things put in the paper as well And um, maybe I I could put something on front porch forum In your area if that that would also be helpful. So glad to do all those That's fine gary. Or if you have something you want us we can put it on the on front porch forum too If you just want to email it to me, then then we can certainly put it out there for you too. That's no problem Yeah, you too gary. It's nice to see you Yes What's that? No, you can sign it We'll be done. It'll be like Yeah Okay, are you're zack can can you hear me right now julie? All right, so I just think everybody has to kind of focus on their mic a little bit Maybe when you're gonna motion so julie can hear you Did you hear me? That's all right. I got okay All right, so I don't know um We should even if fran and bruce aren't able to make it. We might want to talk about their request Since you know what it is. She's laid it out Pretty well before so i'm not sure if you still want to Talk about that or if you want to wait and have them come it's up to you So they have somebody staying there currently for five weeks. Yep So are they paying for that? Honestly by the time I prorated it it was wasn't going to be worth my time to make it do so um because You know you had to prorate the rate and they weren't coming till march 7th and the bill that they received was for January I had to think about this again. I just have to go through this in my head So it's september october or september january february march So it'll just so it would be yeah, it would be like three weeks in march, so This is where it becomes like You know and I think why we were thinking more on the commercial end of things why Why we didn't want to do that is because we get ourselves Well, there's two reasons well one reason we had was There were some buildings that it was difficult to split right so if you have a five Apartment building and you're using one but not the other four. How do you how do you split that right? So that was kind of the reason but in this case it's like I mean I could see Again like remodeling. It's completely gutted. There's no usage Or no potential usage. I guess we should get that but when you start talking of potential usages then you get into Well, it's vacant and we're trying to sell it but now we got somebody in there, but now you know it's like you know It's still on the market, but you know which is and that's been one of your things with the commercial property before is I mean it's still in the markets Well, obviously when you have a commercial property you most likely Make arrangements for save money for when your place is vacant, right? That is one of the things you talked about in the past, but um Yeah, she had emailed me and said oh We got this traveling nurse and she's gonna come in and I'm like all right look for the 20 bucks or whatever It's not gonna Behoove me to go through an adjustment. She was willing to do it She let me know right away that she could you know, I was gonna prorate it or anything, which was very nice of her and um I had assumed that they would be here But I think that's always been the challenge is you know, the vacancy rate makes more sense for a you know single family resident You know if they do go away for a period of time an extended period of time that you can simply go on vacancy rate where When commercially you always have the potential to earn income now When when does the current uh our current thing starting in in other words when If this is a renewal when's the renewal date? Um, so it would be the next April we would put is in may but it would run for april may june So because we built a month Back the month we're in in a month. So the one we game right now was january february march Yep, so we already gave them three months, but we could Say we would We could extend it for for three months, but we would begin that three month period When the renter moves out You could I mean, um Which would be five weeks. So if it was may march Seven it's basically it's only a couple of weeks. Yeah, so I mean but you're not talking a lot of money Probably take more time for me to do the calculation of my salary than it would be For to actually make the adjustment and all that so But I think the the intent of the board at the time was There was the likely position that they were going to sell right In the immediate future like a month or whatever and so we Most of the time we haven't done extensions unless they're really Usually if they're remodeling right unless they're don't have the potential to rent it out, you know I mean and right now they have the full potential to rent it Or sell it or whatever so, I mean how How long does the board allow somebody to do extensions? You know, I I think we were pretty leaning on three months Now we're at you know Going for another three months You know, they have shown this potential because there's a visiting nurse in there, you know Um And some of the liability comes to the property owner that you know invest in a property like that It's no different than the Arnold block or anything else like you're investing, you know Into that and you have the potential to rent it out Well 75, but it's like it's like a 50 dollar difference right now or something like that, right? So they're getting about a 50 Right because they're still playing about Yeah, so they're getting like let's say round dollar 50 50 dollar advantage For a quarter that's on the water and they have sewer too, right? Yeah, and I don't know what the sewer I'm I'm guesstimating that one e you for them is probably in the 300 dollar range. Yeah, one e you is 304 Yeah, it's like 304 for everything. Yeah for for water and sewer One e you per quarter So then if we're talking 75 percent of that, you know, it's a little less than a hundred dollars 80 bucks Okay 300 a year would be 75 no 300 quarter 300 a quarter I don't know. I I was looking over and I Probably would have been more interested to to visit with them to see You know where where they're at with it. Um, but the market would like for their, you know, um But the deal we did make was we would give them three months. We never said that we would definitely give Six months or nine months. No, you said you'd have to three months saying and and you know, they are not here this evening Well, we also don't have to make a decision No, no, it's we don't have to hear them out, but you could you could just honor the No, for I mean the commitment that the town had done for now I mean you could go back and charge them the full amount and then they could come back to the board again to To grieve if they wanted to do that way because they can come back. Um They certainly can I mean they could come in the beginning of april too. I mean, right, you know, I mean last time I may not have sent the bills out. So because they were in they were in here in february, right? When we did that because we were midway through it. So I mean Because we went backwards and did it for them. So Yeah, so the the normal bill is It looks like we adjusted their bill down to 239 56 from 308 61 Down to 239 56 So $70. Yeah, so that's the amount. So well, what we can do is we don't you don't have to do anything We could just say Well, I don't think we had we hadn't made any commitments on a More than a quarter. So we had given them a quarter relief So they didn't come they certainly knew they had, you know, I invited them and sent them the zoom link and everything So yeah, so just to sort of counter what Chris's commentary on this coming into this I was sort of thinking that I'd be open to doing another three months but then being clear and tapping it at that that You know, we've provided some extension to give them a little bit of leeway, but also At the end of the day, we can't we can't do that endlessly on spec of a property selling or not selling because you do it for everybody We've got other landlords So I I would be open to that but I also I think Chris's point of They have the potential to rent and they are even in fact in in small amounts, but they are in fact renting in so Then, you know I hear your point that it's not really worth your time to go in to get 20 dollars But that would be like me saying, you know, I'm gonna Whatever I'm living in new york and I want I want my You know water bill at home to be like that. However, I'm going to come back on the weekends, you know So it's like, you know, I mean it's kind of like all or nothing. I guess in my book But I would just say my my thing would be based upon that The deal was three months And here we are going into the next quarter and There doesn't seem to be The the follow-up commitment through them That, you know, there was no commitment to go to a second quarter. So maybe we go back to Normal charge of the bill and then if there's a grievance they can take that back up with the water But if they came in the middle of february It's only been six or seven weeks. It hasn't been a full three months. Well, I know I know we prorated it back I'm just saying since we said we would give you three months They've had a relatively short period of time to sell it. That doesn't mean it I'm just Well, I think we defer the conversation defer any decision until we've had a chance to speak with it Or you can give one more opportunity to come before the board and we can make a decision then Two weeks from now isn't going to be much different. We're not going to extend it until we talk to them I think we did make a decision Well, I know we've been pretty adamant with others in the past that they To come before the board right to have any type of consideration. So yeah, I would agree with that Paul you have anything to add to that or? No, I think that's uh, I think that's the move that I would go with to defer until they invite them back to the next time and then Take go from there Yeah, that sounds good to me I'm kind of leaning so it's not renewing it myself, but We can cross that bridge when we get there So we'll give them one one more opportunity on the second Monday of April I don't know what date that is but 11th All right So, uh, we will move forward with public comment So if there's anything that is not currently on the agenda That anybody would like to comment or take up with I see ellie raising her hand very quickly Now's the time to do it ellie you go first Uh, I just said I wanted to say that um, it was very appreciative to the governor governor scott today, um gene Farron griffin and myself Went to a wonderful vorac event We um risk we are receiving the vorac grant and um, we were able to to go to the event They did a very nice ceremony with um The vorac committee speaking the governor did a wonderful speech um, the governor was very personable after they talked and and um The um let us know all about different things the governor spoke to to any recipients. Um um One on one he asked to know about our projects and and for each other recipients to to um to share what they were about and um And terese we did the photo Yes, we did a photo It was windy so my hair wasn't so well, but So so it was cold and windy, but we did a photo outside And um and and it was uh, they had a hot sider for us and cinnamon buns and And we got to talk to representatives um from the area different representatives were here Our representative from wood stock was there um and uh lindley i met somebody from danville that had met you or lily um And i got to talk to them. Um, and um, so uh, so it's exciting. I'm amazed at What other towns and other people are doing? um trailblazing Different things that other towns are doing. It's amazing Um all the different wonderful outdoor projects that verman is undergoing. It's it's just wonderful to see Well, thank you so much for going. I'm glad that you and gene and farron were able to go I couldn't go and You know, rebecca couldn't go so it was really nice to be able to when we put it out there You guys were so quick to say we'll go. I was so thankful. Um, we'll go as long as gene is driving, right? I think that's I think that's the way the email. Yeah, so it was great. So thank you. Thank you so much for going I would like to I would like to see it in the record. Uh, the Bethel has been granted Uh 331 thousand and change uh, and so and we were There were 24 grant recipients communities We were the third highest Nice, and so we we had our grant is one 15th Of the total, uh, and so that's We're i'm in a very celebrity mood I have just put some A video of the entire program, uh on my um Google account and uh sent a link to treese And as I am able to refine the pictures somewhat and do some editing so that we can crop ellie's hair out and she won't have to We can do that and we'll uh, but those will be made available and actually replace what is there Yeah, so it's a great ad. They didn't want us to announce until Um, you know the governor until the governor headed out Yeah, so we knew and we mentioned at a steering committee meeting and so people knew but we were asked to Keep it to ourselves. So but it's a great project and um trails and benches and kiosks and all sorts of fun stuff and I talked to um Um, uh, rebecca sandborn stone She's helping to pull together the stuff that the state needs from pricing and things that she'd used to build the grant on and certainly the first number one priority will be Finding a someone to manage the grant which was something we had put money in the grant for For his project management. So that will be um, maybe we can find someone locally, you know, that's our hope either a you know committee member or I mean, it's a paid position and it's a lot because it's it's trails It's it's going to be overseeing a lot. It would be nice to have somebody that's a little bit intimate with the project to oversee Exactly, you know, we'll see we have to see what the procurement policy is right now Um, rebecca has an email out to them and she cc'd me to figure out what you know, because it's federal funds You know, um, or is it federal funds? That's the first one because if it's a pass through from feds, it'll depend But so that's certainly something that we'll be working on Um, fairly soon. So it's exciting and kudos to rebecca The new manager director coordinator of the vorac program Yes mentioned that our Application was the best written application of all of them That's perfect. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you Absolutely Good. Well, thanks ellie for sharing that with us Do we have anything else public comment wise or Julie, do you still have your hand up or you're all set? Okay You're muted. I think we got it Oh, I know Okay, so you hand raised. I didn't know if it was prior or not All right, anybody else public comment knows the opportunity We don't have anybody in front of us. So We will move forward So we have the uh, Bethel select board rules Of procedures that we kind of went through the last couple of times and refined a little bit and Tonight was just a motion to adopt them, which we do annually And we had made some amendments to it this year and unless anybody has any Further comments paul or anybody else just need a motion to approve them So move Okay, all in favor All right Sign that Paul there'll be some stuff to sign if you want to swing by the office tomorrow If you feel like it otherwise you don't have you have enough signatures here, but if you want to feel free Okay, sounds good And next we got a couple of liquor licenses first store first one we have is um, Sambore a class two liquor license Just need a motion to approve that So moved Second. Okay moved by linley All in favor. Hi. Hi. Okay. I just have it Paul's not here to disapprove it And the second one we have uh, both a first and third class liquor licenses And outdoor consumption permit for baby bar Unless we had any Which I don't think there's any concerns on that just need a motion to approve that one as well Okay, all in favor So there should be did you sign that one? It's coming back. Yeah, it is going to take okay. All right. I'm here to side tag these ones got a couple, right? Yeah, so you have three different ones one for each license and and then we have a A couple of coin drops. We got the fire department's request for two coin drops one is for the 28th Of may and the other one is for the third of september Unless anybody has any concerns with that to approve Yeah, the fire department's on the agenda first Sum it down now So and again to go with the motion that you know That all requirements in regards to the conditions and the permit applications there are matt, you know, the signage and all that Yeah, there's 12 conditions listed on the bottom of the permit. Yeah So we had uh motion by I didn't hear one nobody yet motion by dave. Okay, all in favor All right, okay Okay, and then we also have The recreation committee that has a request for a coin drop on the 7th of august Just need a motion for that one move to approve With the requirements that all conditions on the permit are met Second all in favor Squeak that one out ellie got lucky I Mean not that it matters I was just thinking I was looking at the conditions there and I know like years ago. We used to have Two locations, you know, it was sometimes we do it out in front of You know the Champlain before Champlain farms and then we moved it up to Church Street, you know, I know this is like our designated spot now. I was Maybe at some point. I don't know if it should be like in the conditions We should say it's you know only on church street only or I mean, I know Most of the time everybody knows where it's at and we do it but Maybe if we ever update the forum, maybe we could think about just You know, that's our one spot or something and usually the conditions. I think well, probably some came I mean it mentions that I mean they mentioned on the application church street, but you know Pretty much the only place we allow it to be now is there Maybe somebody had a problem with it. I can't remember what the reason was down in town Yeah, because it wouldn't be on a state highway. You used to do it right out front of Champlain farms, you know by the print press Right by that There's a lot going on right there Make sense Okay In the conditions number four I would request of editorial change from board of select men to select board I just happened to see that Well, I mean there's There's a million places where if we wanted to go down that road there's You know the liquor license says the same thing the you know Because if you look at the liquor licenses they say it on there Well, I didn't catch it there, but You know, so there's I was just looking on One of these ones from babes where there's states and on there in the fine print And I think they originally came from the state the Coin drop application. Yeah, it's probably all uh, yeah, because it comes if you had someone, you know If you're on a state highway, you have to get state permission. So Probably but we'll made a note have to tell you change it Does there's a copy of this go to the state or anything like that one? No, if it if you were on a state highway, you'd have to get Then it would yes, and they have to approve it you have to approve it and they have to approve it but In this case If you were like detour in traffic and stuff then that's Off from a state highway, then it goes to the state It's just one of those little things that when we come across it we should I believe we should make the change and We have the conservation commission's grant submission requests for Rec area bird camp Yeah, so they want to they're going to write a small grant to buy the poles and adapters for installation of bluebird houses at carlos meadow and to purchase binoculars and bird books journals for the recreation center bird camp workshop, so There's no Match of matching funds, so okay Okay Do we actually need a motion to that or is it just well you normally do you had been doing in the past because you just wanted to Keep track of so many people were writing grants who had matches who was up to what so normally you guys did just Tell them it gave them permission for them to actually go ahead and submit the grant request. Yeah, okay So linley approved it all in favor Hi And white river alliance requests to use a transfer station for hazardous waste day on the 16th This is something that you normally get received of every year they They send one to us and one to royal ten as well This part of the probably part of the grant process Because you get a reimbursement for your sweep, so Okay, all in favor So motion by gene Not according to the thing And then we had you know, unfortunately we got Neil fox Has put in his resignation um For health's officer and I don't know how many I think he's I don't know how long he had been doing it, but He told me that had been he had done it since he was chair of the select board I was gonna say it's gotta be every year. I've been here and that's 16 years So he's been the health officer in the town for a very long time and yeah, he said that he um That was when we chatted on the phone the other day. He said that He went he's like I still don't know why I didn't when I get done chair I didn't resign from doing this So god bless him. He's done it a long time And uh, he was Come again, yeah So he was um, he's not sure If he's going to resign also from the Ambulance board, but he said he'd let me know and dave altragetti is gonna step into that role if meal He hasn't decided yet, but we had a nice conversation on the 23rd So we do, you know that health officer Position is open um, and I know just from helping out in the past and doing some of the things with neil that I think it's one of those positions that can be It can feel like it's very time consuming when you haven't experienced it very long So like I know whenever I was filling in for him because I didn't know A lot of the process like it would take me, you know Minutes or hours worth of reading to make sure that I did the checklist correct and who I sent it to you know But I'm sure if if you are well educated on On on that and experience with it. I'm sure that it goes faster And it it's kind of one of those things that you know, they um You know one week you can be very busy and then you might not be busy at all for a month, you know So it it kind of goes in spurts Two things do we need to affirm or vote to Send a letter of appreciation and accept the resignation I always just think it's a nice thing. Yeah, so I'm just I don't think it's yeah Normally, I don't think we have to but we should I mean there's been I'm just asking if we should do that before we talk about how Whatever process there is for replacing And and the second my second comment is Perhaps we need to discuss what was in Teresa's report About do we want a select board member or whatever to To step into that role. I would like to Have that conversation as well. So I would move That we accept his resignation With a sincere recognition and appreciation for the work and his contribution over the years Okay Okay, all in favor I think a lot of times is a lot of times the second is good because If there is any opposition to the motion, you know, I think the second kind of flushes that out, right? Yeah, go ahead object But I mean definitely I mean we talk about You know citizens in the town of you know and You know, I I call these community service, right? I mean, it's absolutely You know And we have so many people that have done things for a very very long time that You know, unfortunately, we've had Some people have to resign based on different things here of late and that we've had to fill those holes and um I think sometimes we take it for granted what a lot of people in town do for us behind the scenes that we don't see I think that's true But it's also, you know, a great opportunity for somebody else to get involved in the town And and you know pay their civic duties towards helping The health officer one is Probably probably overall one of the busier ones to get involved in but again, it's uh and very important It's very very important and it you know, it's not one of those that you can say oh, I dedicate 10 hours a week to it You know, it it's sporadic. You know wintertime is very busy. Um, you have a lot of um heating issues or You know tenant owner type disputes, um, they get flushed out Um, I think that's the majority of it is tenant And then it's pretty yeah Probably just not all of them. I mean once while you get into a somebody something bad at a place or something like that, but um But there you know, it there's a very You know kind of deep formal training on it and to get Not really certified but trained up on it and There's a manual and there's a on the website on the health department website And then they do trainings vlct does trainings But you know my recommendation is that we get two people so you have a health officer and a deputy health officer Obviously the state statute's clear as if we don't have a health officer it automatically falls to the chair of the select board but it would be nice if um You know, anneal did say he would be around, you know It's sometimes he's hard to pin down But he did say he would happy to help or give opinions or whatever if people You know just starting out You know that he would be happy to give you know somebody some Two cents the other thing we talked about is um, or I mentioned in there was talking about right now. It's a stipend and um It would be I've never I have no idea how many hours neal has spent on it You know the reporting didn't come to the town office. So I don't know You know if I'm sure that was inadequate So it may be something where you decide look Let's let's set an hourly rate and then put somebody, you know They could submit a time card or maybe increase the stipend or Something like that. It's Obviously right now the stipend is set in the town You know the town voted on the stipend but um, if you need to increase it then You know, we just would have to find the money somewhere else in the budget After when I read the packet I I looked at my life and The lives as I understand it with the rest of the select board I probably have the time because I'm retired and would be willing to serve in that position If that was your desire to have a select board member do that and uh Before there is any conversation about compensation I would recuse myself from that conversation or even absent myself From that conversation. So And I think it's you know looking through this and I think we we have talked about Our compensation packages for all of our appointed Officials, you know here of the last year And you increased some and we increased some and I think the health officer one was definitely one one of two positions that I could think of that, you know The $600 stipend is not up at the time. So I want to emphasize Yeah, if you Want me to be the health officer That I want to be absent When you're talking about compensation We can that's a comp and that's a conversation If you want me to do that position that I shouldn't be here for Yeah Right now it's just in the stipend in the town report But one of the things is so one of the things I think I mentioned in here that Obviously we need someone to at least fill the position or Or two people to fill at least for now and we can certainly advertise so that And you know since it had just happened obviously it wasn't sure what everybody wanted to do So we could certainly advertise too for a health officer And then maybe the purse just because somebody's takes it over Tonight doesn't necessarily mean you have to do it forever. We may find some other people that are but it's in the meantime We have like three pending Or two possible that's that's the My other concern is that We've got some things happening in our family That will make it So that where I would be able to best spend my time In the next two weeks would be in training and looking at at manuals and so on Rather than actually looking at particular cases. So that would be a An understanding that At least for the next two weeks and probably but that makes sense Somebody whoever comes on has to get caught up. So that makes total sense gene. Yeah, and it takes it takes some time I mean usually The the instances that happen are Usually it takes a couple of days to actually well, I I understand that I'm just I'm just time with the person and then it becomes a Process over time to go through But no, you're right I'm and I'm willing to to spend the time in the next two weeks to do that I mean, I like I like the way that you know like trice was talking and you know I mean, we obviously need a health officer. I mean that's right No, but I think I I like the idea somebody else great, I like the idea of call the health officer a deputy or whatever All the different titles, but having a two person a backup a good strong backup. I think It really works You know because you never know somebody goes out of town or whatever and In and right now it defaults to a person, which is the select board chair Which you know, I understand why they do that, but at the same time it's like Doesn't mean I'm Qualified to do it. You know, I mean so it's like, you know, somebody spends a lot of time going through this And if if they're out then the select board chair falls on that doesn't mean select board chair is Is um, they just statutory, right? It doesn't mean I'm qualified to go do this, you know I I did go through some of the training there a couple years ago to help out Neil, but you know, so it's kind of a One of those old things but You all see the need Yeah, I I mean, I guess my opinion is It doesn't matter to me if it's a select board member or a member of the community I mean, it's always nice to have somebody a member of the community get involved and do their civic duties But as we know, there's not a lot of people banging down the door to do things So it'd be great if at least if you had somebody tonight Because we need one and then we can or maybe two depending what you get tonight And then we can advertise and then see sure we're going to at least it covers everybody's bases And it doesn't dump it all on one person. It's saying, okay Maybe you do every other or you can you know something like but I would strongly suggest even if we do have a board member On it for now or on it for the long term that we do find that second. Oh, I agree You know not give up on the process and no no Find a primary and the board member Could become the assistant. I mean, that's uh In thinking about this, it's such an important position But I also think that we'd be better suited And maybe it's that each of us as board members reaches out to one or two people in the community that we feel Might be well suited for this and talks to them directly about hey Would you be willing to step up and do this either? As the health officer as or as a deputy health officer and just see see what we get I know when we were looking before I had asked a few people Just for names and recommendations. So like I have a few people I'm ready to ask and You know would be happy to reach out to and I think regardless having at least two people Then gives us that backup And if we get three or four then good for us Yeah, I don't know if there's a if there's a limit on how many deputies you can have I don't know Paul, what do you think? Well, I think that's a good idea. I think we should advertise it as well as having somebody They have genes interested in doing it. I kind of thrown it around myself but You know, it's a good idea to have somebody in there, but then seek out some other folks from the citizenry and Have a good backup plan because we never really had that backup plan and There's a lot more involved in it. I I went through the manual today and it's quite a bit It's quite a bit to it. There's everything from From septic systems to plumbing to animal control to insects. You have to know an awful lot about building Regulations and requirements. So it's quite a bit to it. So I think that's a good plan So if we um, so right now tress to appoint somebody Neil Neil Neil's term would have ended in march of next year. That's right So we would just be appointing somebody until next march. I don't know. That's I'm not sure I don't know that I'm not sure if it's an automatically a three-year term, but they can always resign and um But I mean normally if it was let's say it's like board position. It's only for or I know Tree warden. Let's say it would only be for the remainder of the year, right? If it's a municipal elected position, but since this is appointed, I don't know the answer So of how long it's going to be. Um, but certainly, um You know, but anyway, we'll find out but certainly, um It it could be the full three years. I just don't know. I didn't think to Ask because you're right. Normally under elect rules We would just fulfill, you know, someone would fill the remaining service, but I don't know the answer to that And that that's another way to approach it at this immediate moment Yeah, let's just say we're going to appoint somebody for a year And and if we find somebody before the end of that year great and if we don't We've got a year to find somebody Well, and the other thing too I can tell you is is you're gonna I'll fill out this form But in the end someone's getting a letter from the state and it's going to tell you whether you're serving a year Three years I don't think that that's their, you know, a state rule and I just don't know the answer off the top of my head So, um, but either way, even if it says you have your point for three years You can still resign once you found another person. You would just someone could resign, but um I mean, I guess the only the only thing that I would the concern I would I guess the way I look at Committees or appointments is, you know, we You know As the board As the select board we try to delegate these other responsibilities to other members of the community to get involved, right? That's their opportunity So if we do appoint Let's say a board member or two, right? It looks just thrown it out there What does that mean for? An identity of the You know, let's say lindley is talking to somebody and they say, yeah, I'd really like to do that Two weeks from now, you know That's a pretty bad Well, well, I guess I guess I'm serious No, I'm serious If I know paul's got some interest as well as gene. So I'm just throwing this out there So let's let's say both of you are representing us on the help end of things and we do have somebody from outside that wants to do it I mean is this Are you guys looking at it as a temporary thing like I'm doing it to help out Or is this something like I would like to do this permanently or you know, I guess that would be my question because I I personally would like to see people from outside the select board doing it. I'm doing it because It's a contribution to the community that I could make and because It needs to be filled. We need to have somebody now it It's a combination of that, but I'm also willing to step back Or to move to a different From the officer to assistant or whatever And or to be completely devoid of it as as opportunities And and paul it would be As far as I'm concerned Officer deputy or whatever If you were willing at this point in on this quote emergency basis There could be more of a let's share the responsibility rather than One person do it all Well, and I think that's the next question I had is I'm pretty sure that you can only have one health officer Right, and then everybody else would be a deputy or how we how we work together could be Yeah, the only other option you have I suppose is that you could Is it will automatically fall to chris now? And we could advertise it and you all could reach out to several people and chris could just be the health officer for Two weeks and then you may have found a citizen candidate. Um, so you could also do that is is You know One of the one of the situations also is that the training that you'd have to go through for this position It's not it's not just two weeks. I mean, there's a lot more to it And to do that on a temporary basis and and have people coming in and out Um Over the long term. I don't think is a good solution I think we should take the time And establish somebody who wants to do it, you know on a full-time basis With a deputy and they could do the training and and move along through instead of doing it kind of piecemeal if you will Um, I think that we should take the time to do it Um, you know have chris be the the health officer temporarily advertise it get some names Go through the process like we would normally do because the training is You know, there's a lot more to the training for that position than Two weeks of of training so do we want to Do we want to table this until the 11th meeting and then Make a decision as a board on the 11th, you know That gives a little bit of time if anybody else wants to come forward He's statutorily now as the 23rd minute neil resigned. It was automatically press I have a truck. I don't it doesn't matter where he's at. I'm picking him up. We're good to go. Well, yeah, that makes sense Yeah, and I think if we don't get any serious Interests then we look at pauler gene Or both or both. Yeah. Yeah, okay. Is that Sound good paul's up Okay, I like glindley's I Yeah Just defaults i'll be all over their website again Yeah, I like the idea of everybody of everybody from point of everybody Reaching out to a few people that they know I think that's nice because the personal connection is always It's always good. I'll reach out to neil as well and see How he may may or if he wants to do any mentoring He said that he would be available Sure, you know by phone He can't do the inspections and he did say in his email that's in your packet that he would be Falling to do a little bit and you know, he can be difficult to reach at times I'll reach out to him, but he said And he also gave us a name for the local fire Warden to who or jay moody who's not fire warden fire inspector who's helped him and And things so um, okay. All right. So we'll have it so in the meantime. It's just going to automatically default to chris Paul brought up a really good point earlier, too Which just in in each of our thinking of who we're reaching out to that There's quite a diversity of of skill sets here And so if we're if if we're given the opportunity to be choosy and we're able to pick somebody who's got that building background But then somebody else who's got more of the health background, you know It'd be nice to kind of think about a diversity of people and not just Going from one angle or another and then hopefully we're able to pick people that compliment each other well So then even if one is the officer they can call on the other person to say hey, can you consult with me on This issue. It's not my area of expertise. Yeah, I think that for neil was good in the sense He he did insurance so he understood, you know that aspect and Other towns I've done we've seen I had there was a doctor for a while did it for a long time then Visiting nurse took it over and um, but you know what everybody has, you know Handles it a little bit differently or just a different role, but um But no, so that's fine. So it automatically will default to chris by statue and we'll I'll put it out there and I'll we'll get an ad in the paper and I'm just thinking I had all this extra time. What was I gonna do with it? Oh, yeah, I've been from porch forum. Yeah, so I have advertised so we'll do from porch forum We'll do facebook that that's a good approach website and but I really appreciate you willing to Step up gene. That's very Kind Yeah, yeah after that Okay, so the 2022 appointments, um, I just gave you And all you have some letters here One from sandy ferrell. She's interested in being the trustee of public funds. There was a letter in there from Scott putney for human services advisory board The rest of these are all people who have kelly reached out to and they've agreed to um Renew, you know carry on doing what they're doing already. There's a couple we hadn't heard from so you'll do a few more appointments in april Um, but these are the ones that we had so Aside from the trustee of public funds. I think the other ones could all be one motion Um, the trustees should be separate because that's an elected position Appreciate it Oh Oh, huh. Yeah, there was I don't know what I do with it. I um, I thought when I did the packet that I scanned it It's not a double sider. Oh, you know what? I bet that I put it I had to give kelly back the list of people we hadn't heard from So maybe I inadvertently put his letter in there because I don't see it in my packet right now either But he wrote a nice letter He'd attended one of the meetings at least one right and he'd been on it before and he was asked to be appointed so Okay, yeah, and I'm so yes. I'm apologize. I had it. It must be in the other stuff. I gave back to kelly um But everybody else is you know, doing the same thing they did before Looks like we have red lights in the background. I know I saw that I know I was like look at like I don't know why what's going on doing that. Do we need to leave the building flickering? But I know I was looking like is that is it like a fan light or something. I know I don't know why it's doing it Okay, so one motion we can do to to set the appointments for All the above except for the trustee of public funds As laid out in our agenda So moved Okay, all in favor Aye Okay, and the second one is we would need a motion Uh To appoint sandy ferrell as the trustee of public funds until the march 2023 town meeting election We can only appoint until then anyways, right? Well, I guess yeah, I guess talking about because she's the other ones are This was an elected position obviously since carol passed away. It's the remainder. It's not adding enough to remainder of his term, but But she wrote a nice note and Paul had spoken with her and she'd be a perfect fit Okay, did um, did We moved that No, Paul did Okay, all in favor. Hi. Hi One quick comment Do we Is any thought been given to a couple of these positions and maybe we don't need anymore I'm not sure you need the wear of bowl and wood or Fence viewers or pound keepers anymore. Um I'd have to go back and look at the statue But some people I some people like being reappointed to those positions I think they're old vermont ones and I think some people like the fence viewers that is that so legal That no there's nobody there that has the expertise to be oh, I know. Yeah And um, but so I'd have to look up, but I think it's fence viewers and I think wear of colon wood You may not have to anymore, but I think some towns just do it out of tradition because it used to be um There was one more wasn't there inspector of I can't remember what now, but um anyways, so uh, yeah, so in the future we could look at that for sure All right I remember seeing a memo and I think I can't remember which ones. I don't know. I'm pretty sure it was where pulling wood and I think the fence viewers were Not needed anymore throw out is uh, I don't know. It's kind of an old vermont tradition. I guess I didn't really wait wood What I don't know. They ever wait wood who's all measured. I know. I think it was inspector Of wood and way or of coal. I think was the original I had you had a guy once call about that somebody the guy went out because he was mad. He didn't think he got a full court of wood And uh, so luckily it was the guy from johnson lumber who was the inspector of wood And so he went out and was like, you know, either he got count the pieces or whatever, but it was pretty funny Yeah, that's what I'll do. It does make you it was funny. I'll call them out next year and I'll be like I don't think I have a cord here. You stack it for me and tell me And I'll plan that now All right, anything further on the appointments the town manager report. I think that uh We have left Waste water to license. Yep. I was just scrolling through to see what was in here. So yeah, so richard did on the 24th He just um He did which is actually Unusual they usually say it takes the guy who has been doing the training. Wayne Graham said And most people don't pass on the first time so he did so he's fully licensed and so which is great I'm very excited about that richard and I actually met with a gentleman today um before I came Who is a certified wastewater operator from a obviously a much larger plant in heartford And he's willing to come on and do every other weekend and cover richard's vacations So that's something that we'd been looking for and we were looking for someone with more experience Obviously than richard not last this gentleman has over 25 years of experience. He came highly recommended Richard and I met him tonight nice guy and He's what he'll do is he's when richard goes away in august for a week this gentleman will He's going to take a week off from his town and Cover for us and uh, he's also willing if needed to get his He was water certified at one point, but he hadn't been a while But he's willing to get his water certification again if we need it and so we had a good conversation He's going to shadow richard for a little while He they utilized the pumps that we want to replace with the american rescue plan money because the pump Died last week. So richard had to rebuild a pump and So it was nice and he it was funny. He came to the plant today and and was looking around and We were and he I said, you know probably seems like the stone ages compared to some of this stuff They had in harfield. He said well, I haven't seen the uv light like that in a while. He said so we had a good conversation So I think it could be a really good Partnership for richard and obviously we need someone to work every other weekend. So he's not always working and Now have you decided in regards to? Will there like be any restructuring? I know like before when greg was here we did The half position for water sewer Came about yeah, you know, yeah the utility position. Yeah, I talked to richard and I talked to alan about it and And I was never a fan of that situation anyways but we What we decided is I have an ad out right now or be in this week's paper for someone for the summer to mow so they'll do the mowing work with richard so that they can flush hydrants and You know test valves and clean suck out valves Put in the foam inserts and do that and handle the mowing So that would be that'll be good obviously no because it's seasonal There's no benefits and certainly can't guarantee hours in a specific week What was the restrictions on the 18 18 because they're going to be in the road And if richard had a water main break or something, you know, this person would be able to be there Be a runner or do whatever so And as we know too as the summer goes on it becomes more in august and drought like that We wouldn't be mowing all the time So I had said specifically in the ad the job description that there's not a necessarily a guarantee of hours I think it will be full time But would be 30 or more because on a good day it takes them so long to mow There's also some fence maintenance at some of the parks and some mods and ends to be done Um, we've kind of used that position a little bit to do certain things if we need stuff done around The office or someplace our cemeteries maintained Cemetery's go out to bid and they are maintained I actually have that bid out and we'll award it on the 8th. That's under the guys of the Cemetery commissioner. Yeah. Yeah. So that's Cecil. So we put out a new an rfp and and So we'll see we bid out three of the cemeteries separately. So So this person just mows, you know town who's the guidance counselor at the high school now The law Nicole a month is it still I mean might be Might not get anything out of it But may may want to just forward the information to over to the high school and maybe they have a graduate and senior that wants something to do for the summer before they leave or You know Might get something. I mean, I know we used to have two individuals in the town I lived in used to mow lawns and paint fences and I have one application already and But that's it. So I talked to allen but doing that and then we would bring in someone to do the winter Another seasonal position just like paul feeney is now we would bring somebody else in for seasonal For the so, you know, we just talked about it to see how it would work and instead of having this one person Kind of full-time especially now It's not like richard is, you know, isn't a few years away from retirement. So it's I'm gonna try something. No, it's a little differently Trying to be a little more efficient with but we'll see how it works out All right, so that's the plan for now. But yeah, so congratulations to richard. It was awesome I was really happy for him and and he was very excited. So he had his test his pump broke down He really had he had a week us for sure The next one is the our april 11th meeting is certainly the first part It's going to be dedicated to just the first part of american rescue plan money You know, we have talked about using american rescue plan money for sewer You know upgrades and infrastructure Obviously when we first got the money it was either broadband sewer water and so we know we have some need Significant need You know some of these pumps are Really old now 35 years and they're not they're not going to go forever and the price tag on them is We can do it now with american rescue plan money. It's going to be something we want to really look at but So trying to get, you know, some public input on how to spend the money There will be it they've kind of kept, you know, freeing up the rules a little bit too It looks like we may be even be able to use some of the money towards like the town garage and things like that. So, um You know, it's exciting because it's five hundred thousand dollars, but Would putting some of this money towards things like replacing the pumps will that lower the price tag on the subsequent phases of our water sewer replacement or those separate like is it just curious how we've Yeah, it's separate because the the phase two of the water right now I think we're let want to say 1.6 or 1.8 million had nothing to do with sewer plan at all So and and there was no money set aside over the years for the pumps You know, I mean it was the whole thing problem with the rates weren't right that whole situation which we've obviously have tackled So no, this would be so by taking care of I mean some of the needs I'm wherever the pumps that we have a generator that we need under replacement We need we're getting pricing on right now under the church street bridge Possibly a roof I have to see on the On the plant itself. I mean and that's just sewer plant need like that that we could think of so Obviously, you know, we we probably could use some of the money towards Offsetting maybe the bond but It's tough because if we get a good deal with dws or f funding You might not need to do that But we all know we would be looking for money to pay to buy down a bond for the town garage because I had 600,000 and you know So, um, you know, and while it's wonderful that you have $500,000 but You know, I had a meeting about this a few weeks ago and and um with deal with two rivers And it was a group of us at med and We kind of love because we could spend that like that, you know And that's just the need now It's like you want to see something if it's like 4 million, you know, then we can really get some stuff done But they've also loosened the parameters on the money So, um, but the good news about putting it into the sewer system is obviously it helps downtown businesses. It helps Stabilize your rate increases. Um, because you know, these pumps are talking like a hundred, you know, 1525 thousand dollars. So Boy, it's all it's all good. Yeah, it is. You're right. It is It's all we have a list of all the need and if it, you know Chocks it off. There's no match. No funding and no interest rate. It's It's a great thing. It's just really laying out our needs. So we'll we'll discuss that more thoroughly Yep, on the 11th. I just wanted to put it out there So people knew that we were going to be talking about American rescue plan money Um on the 11th and we'll certainly um put it out there and try to advertise them more So people understand what we're what we're doing with it or what we're doing with some of it and um But that I think is it Okay, it's like we're meeting minutes from the 14th Just need a motion to approve those unless there's any revisions Move to approve Paul's got things. Okay. Paul made the motion Okay, all in favor All righty So the rest of the stuff in the packet, there's a notice of violent of alleged violation I'm just regarding a property that needs some cleanup. There's drb minutes Um planning commission minutes forward festival minutes energy made brts joint board minutes All sorts of stuff in the packet for minutes planning commission minutes So Okay It looks like the forward festival has set the time Uh date for the 24th of september Anything else to come before the board before we Head into executive session Oh, and are you cold board all the above? I'm like you have this very stoic look on your face through the whole meeting I'm like is he watching a video in the background or what? I wondered I would say you looked kind of bundled up, but it is hopefully spring really shows up here eventually Yeah That's right Time for an energy audit Amen All right, so we'll just I'll just need a motion to enter executive session to discuss the annual evaluation of the town manager As well as to discuss confidential contract negotiations with the town of royalton Um in regards to our interlocal agreement So moved Okay, all in favor All right All right, so 7 24 p.m Okay, bye. Thank you. Bye everybody. Bye Thanks for coming