 Go welcome everyone 615 January 23rd, and I would like to Confirm that we posted the agenda in three public places right and on the website and emailed interested parties so we can Move forward here and the first item on the agenda is The minutes from the January 9th meeting which looked I didn't find any mistakes in there They look plain to me So I'd move to approve those Second all in favor. All right. Okay. Yep, and we have some distinguished guests here tonight Well, um I could so we'll juggle around the This is the process here a little bit and go with the biggest crowd in the room Can we stop for just one second? Yes that part has his hand up already and so Is there something that you need to Say at the beginning of the meeting He's got his hand up Martha does he's gonna say turn heat down his probably Excuse me. I can't hear anybody or see anybody. How about this good now? All it says is kind of Rochester. It doesn't show any picture of anybody, but I can hear you. Thank you There we go. Yeah, thank you very much. You know, I'll meet myself and and that's what it was for draft to we're good Testing testing testing Roger. So for all you missed was we approve the minutes from the January 9 meeting Thank you. All right, and So what this is for Becky yes, yeah, yeah Well, okay, Becky go for it I'm the Dillington tax collector in town and there's a property on little hollow 48 and a half acres the owner passed away five years ago 2018 of February and I cannot sell that limb and I spoke with Jim Barlow your town attorney and Asked him You know what I can do and he said that the select board could agree to Contract with him or call him. He could set up Because the select board needs to set up in a state appointed administrator and then it can be sold But I can't sell it. I think the fellow died in test day. I just I can't sell it So if you would agree to talk with Jim Barlow, you could get this show on the road It's $9,000 worth of taxes and interest in penalty at this point 48 and a half acres little Yeah, I don't see any reason nuts and give Jim a call and We will yes All right, that was just a warm-up for the West Hill bridge replacement discussion I think that's where the big crowd in the room is here to talk about what what's up Did you guys have some concerns? Okay So go for it Chris, Brian We're sort of here to answer any questions that you might have and then Brian's gonna talk about like how In what role we can support you which I think we've covered before but just so everybody hears it, so So our role here so that the agreement is directly between the town and eastern federal lands of the Federal Highway Administration So in the past we've been that middle man and then you would invoice us so but this time we're able to work it out So the agreement's right directly would use us construction goes on you'll invoice them directly Our role is this acts as the the government stewards So we have to just kind of make sure that there's that the steps in that are following the processes and things like that There's certain steps we have to take and reporting and stuff like that which we're doing as part of this We have to do it three times a year reporting And So we've checked off everything up to this boy where I saw was in the Herald this this week I got advertised for construction that sometime in February with exactly what they were do So then our role after that So maybe a step back so the funds are only for I want to say it's 80% Maybe 90% I forget the exact number than the mat the town is responsible for the match There's two components of the match that your computer components, but The big part of the match will be you've also got a grant from provide you see a transportation Structures grant to make up because we're a little we're a little low on what that highway had for funds available That'll cover all of your match But then other components are we funded this their agreement would you guys funded the design with VHB And then the the final thing is we can Our plan all on has been to act as the Resident engineer construction inspector for the town So we would have somebody that would be out on site inspecting one of our engineers to be out there Keep me up with the contractors submittals things like that Tracking quantities and invoices so that when you guys get an invoice they can just relay that right to you that yes It's accurate and whatnot sometimes Past projects we've done you guys have contracted That out to other folks, but we can provide that service to you And that's what we agreed to when we started this was because weren't sure the B-trans funds were going to come in so but all of our time can be used as that match so Which is always a help on that to cover some of that That's our big role. It is your bridge. We can't make decisions We can't sign it then but we can we can inspect document it and provide that information to you guys And we do have the 10th bridge Yes Yeah, so that's So that is currently being used, but that's another project that we're building this year so it's supposed to be out the first of June we're anticipating that coming out and And then it would be available to be used up here You're still looking at a finishing date October Yes, that's what was October 15th. I believe was in the contract You know it was October but it wasn't sure of the date So you can be doing prep work Before the first of June before you have that bridge So or do you have to wait till? Probably not gonna be a lot they can do anyways because of the they can't get the stream It's that's that's really gonna be that July one that's gonna really control the start date, right? That's when the snow actually melts Right Now that we have snow all the money is secured for you at one time We had a delay because the money wasn't allocated yet for something for you You have you have your thumb on all of the fun. Yeah, we don't have to raise the debt limit again Well, let's go for it Thank you Yeah, so it's it's we use them for our Partimbers sales and there are so they're they're rated. They're designed for for an HS 25 Which is 90,000 pounds a little more than handling it than you guys though Legally could bring up there anyway Oh, yeah, okay, and then the Final bridge, what is the way that's the same same way it's different It's a different design loading, but it's the same same final way that it'll hold those 90,000 pounds It'll carry so the temporary bridge will be there sometime sometime in June. Maybe yeah And when one will at someone know for sure when that will be in I think the first thing is the award the contract and then the the the contractor will start setting their schedule up It's probably gonna the main the main Thing is gonna be Getting the materials their pre-cast beam. So that's probably gonna control their schedules when they can get the precast in And I just hear that the final bridge expected to be done October 15th. That's what the contract has Yeah, I know it's in October. I don't know the exact date I know it's October. Is there anything that would maybe hold these up and these dates not nobody bids on the job Call all your bridge building And did I hear over here that the bids are that the 10th of February 10th of January? I Don't anticipate anything. I mean really those pre that precast is what's gonna control. So that's You know, it's kind of a supply chain thing, but we're only enough in the year where I don't think it's gonna hold up anything Once the temporary bridge is put in place Construction equipment would have access. I mean, there's not gonna be any issue there. No, okay What's I got a question? What's the you explain the alignment of the new bridge? It's not gonna take that 90 degree turn. You're gonna run it It's yeah, it's slightly It's not a big huge difference. It's very minimal, but yeah the so the ends of the the high end The coming down out the hill won't you won't come down it to make it'll be a little easier transition They they looked at it for like a lot of trucker semi trailers coming down. They can make a corner So you're gonna go more To the east It's flared more isn't it isn't that as I understood it. It's gonna be flared a lot more on that end So that when you come into the turn you it's gonna be wider on that side so they can make that swing So that's pretty much how that's gonna work there It's gonna be pretty much in the same place 73 and is right where it pretty much where it is right now But that on that on the far side it starts to start yeah, it starts to flare a little bit in turn to get a better Don't remember what those were I think they were just regular rails on that I believe No, I don't think was I don't think there would I Yeah, yeah No street lights, right I think the school could use it The bottom No, I if it does they'll have to temporarily like make access to them or maybe move them without being on the contractor to make sure That they're still access to them. They can't stop Little bit wider it's got to meet current be trans standards 22 feet wide, maybe So the forestry service is paying for a good portion of this bridge Assuming that they're going to want to start harvesting up there So we aren't paying for we paid for the design the funds are coming through the federal highway administration the eastern federal lands through a flat grant which is Federal land access Program so it's for locally local county roads that are That are access to federal land, okay? So is there going to be logging up there once the permit bridge is put in place there is planned timber sales Okay, up West Hill. Yes. Do we know when that would start? How long would we go for? Well once they I don't know when it would start But once it does like our timber sale contracts run About five years. So once they're sold they have five years on their contract to get them complete They can't extend out beyond that. There's like this year We've had a kind of a stop stop and start season, you know The contractors can't get in to do the work so they can ask for an extension of that contract so we can go out to sometimes seven years There are multiple probably Two to three different timber sales that will come down off West Hill Road down and use that bridge They probably wouldn't start any sooner than 2026 and that's just when they're sold After they're sold that contractor, you know can choose to start right away or they can choose to You know wait a couple years depending on what their work schedule is But they still have the same that same contract window that they have to work with them okay, and I don't know if this is even an issue but if there were any damage from logging With the who would be responsible for repairing the road? Yeah, so that's between the cut the logging contractor and the town After they're done. They have to check with the town to make sure that the road is an acceptable condition And if it's not they're responsible to make any repairs like if a culvert gets crushed or rut start to form They would be responsible to either repair it themselves or reimburse the town. Yeah for that repair Are they gonna do any widening in spots because I hate to meet a luck truck on a couple places I'm not sure what John has playing there I know he has a bunch of work that he needs to do up there Ditching and replacing some culverts that he's held off from doing so I would imagine once that he gets access to there He'll probably put that on the top of his list to do that road And I'm not sure if he's doing any widening to speak of I would doubt Seriously, he would but I'm sure he's got culverts to replace and ditching to do I do know that and re-grabbling him sure Our timber sale contractors wouldn't be doing any of that type of work to the town road They would use it as it exists. They may do you know on Forest Service roads They might use some widening but not on the town road unless there was you know That would again, unless that was negotiated between the contractor in the town outside of the timber sale contract itself How many acres are gonna be involved in that sales of that timber up West Hill? I Don't know off the top of my head. It's in the hundreds of acres Up there. So there's sale. There's sale out West Hill road our West Hill road for 42 There's sale out Jones Mountain Road That are down kind of down and off the end of the road to if you went to the very end there are timber sales out there I don't know the exact acres. I can get you that acreage if you let go up be in the back toward Bingo road and the other side it will be up on top and there's some of that Yeah, they're gonna go up and then kind of down towards bingo into the bingo basin And then there's a new road proposed new Forest Service road proposed in there To be constructed to haul that timber out that's down there because the current road that's that Goes off the end of West Hill road like if you go past the last house. There's a road there you can follow out It's in fairly bad condition. It's pretty wet And it would be what we call an adverse skid So they would be hauling the timber like trying to get up to that road where they're gonna harvest They'd be hauling it straight up the hill which tends to cause more resource damage So the idea is to construct a permanent road maintenance level one It would be closed when we were done with it wouldn't be open to the public after that And that yeah, so close and then but it's not an adverse skid So we have truck haul of that road, which is a much better situation for a resource perspective We have a question from someone on zoom Barb if you'd like to go ahead Can you hear me? Yeah, okay. Do you have a chat version where we can add notes to the chat? No Okay, that's about it for the moment. All right, you can give me a Uh, could you give me a phone call, please? That's kind of important Yep I'll stand in front of the office. Okay. Yep. Take two seconds. Thank you You want me to go do that Uh, so you can hear your notes too Ariel Okay, sorry Obviously there's been some Real protests from groups Not do not want any trees cut. Just be known that I'm all for this whole project. It's Good for everything if you understand how it works um, do you feel as though Any of these people are capable of filing injunctions and holding this whole project up Not I mean anything's possible. So I could file an injunction and you know on our current decided timber sales Once they get sold to a contractor It's it's more difficult to stop that contract action But prior to that they could stop potentially stop the sale of that um Most of the attention by those groups right now is focused on our upcoming Integrated resource project, which is the telephone gap integrated resource project down in chitenden Um in killing tin and mendon in in that area Um, that's where their attention is focused not so much on the current Robinson sales Except using them as an example Of this, you know, what what our timber sales look like We might escape that just because we're Moving forward. Yeah. Yeah quickly I mean but anything is possible, you know, they could they could Someone could sue to stop the sale of future timber sales related to the Robinson project, but we haven't seen any of that yet Would that affect your bridge? No, not okay unrelated Completely on remember that the bridge that's brian said the bridge isn't funded by appropriated forest service dollars and is unrelated to the Our management of the national forest it was a program through Fed highways that you could apply to to get separate money. We're just Helping in the implementation of that money on the ground Nobody in zoom any more questions. No, everybody looks good Well, it's been a long time coming, but thank you for all your work and support We're happy to see it happen as well. Yeah, we'll look forward to working with you. Yeah, we'll get around. Yeah. Thanks for coming in. All right. Thank you for having us Okay So the next agenda item as a discussion about the sheriff services are we going to go with the Windsor County or Addison County and Pat's been Digging into this deeply it seems to me that the interesting thing about the Addison County is from one thing I read They were not going to charge us for travel time Correct, which is a big difference travel time within the within. You're right. But once they're here Whereas I believe with the Windsor County sheriff. We were Yeah, it was a big chunk of our budget was going to Getting them here and getting them home Just paying them for a good year Well, both both sheriffs that we're talking to Windsor County and Addison County are Sheriff elects right now. They're not actually Right in office yet, right? So they will be by the end the middle the end of next week and um I do have some preliminary numbers from Addison County And I do have Notation from Windsor County that he would be willing to work within the number that we put into our budget So I would say as soon as they hit the ground Will probably be one of the places they run to first both of them and So we're we'll be within budget Whichever way we just Let them sit at their desk So we'll table that a little while until they I did receive a call from Ryan Palmer and I know he's working on his budget So he had called to ask if you had made a decision Um, he could work his budget. So I just wanted to give you that information Right and I did get back to him If it was last week Yeah, I did I did get back to him saying yeah, this is our budget Yep Go ahead Martha Excuse me. I I can't hear anything Pat is saying. I'm so sorry Um, did you guys table this for the next meeting or something or what? Yes, we're tabling a decision on the sheriff's service Okay until our next meeting because the sheriffs have not been elected into office yet Okay, and that it does that happen at town meeting or uh, no they get they State They've been elected. They are elected. Okay I thought they had been elected. So you've tabled it basically to like till the next meeting should I say that or what? Yes, yeah All right. Thank you garden to interrupt. Excuse me. Thank you. Also, Rob Has his hand up as well. Do you rate it? Do they get it? I just want to just reiterate that there's a sound problem that I think is coming from the owls audio Because sometimes the the voice is really clear Sometimes it's not and it doesn't seem to matter where the thing is pointing on I'm just pointing it. I'm not having a big complaint. I'm just saying there probably maybe there's a software problem or something Or a mechanic. I don't know what it is, but there is a sound problem. Thanks So you can hear me. All right Yep, he's nodding yes frank Can you hear me? I can hear you fine And a pat is almost completely off mic most of the time Some people in the audience are on and they're not others. It's a very odd thing. I don't I don't technically I don't know what it is, but it makes it really hard to follow Nancy in the room couldn't hear pat talking either so pat's got a cold But maybe it's uh worth it uh calling Come in and check out our own Yeah, you should take our owl to the vet I suppose Thank you, Rob. Yeah, that's good to get the feedback. Yes. Thank you. We'll get the animal control off So um next on the agenda is the topic of approving the fiscal year 24 budget And sign the town meeting warning now Did you guys get any email? I was on the phone with Barb to heart who is back in town I got an email at 506 this evening 506 this evening and Time to digest. Yeah, not much time to digest but the the the gist of the matter is she Talked with Nathan and the monies that we had Dedicated to the budget from the forest fund a couple years ago never got transferred in and in in his opinion That is money we could still apply towards next year's budget since it hasn't been used and basically the the the um Question on the table is um if we want to skip signing the uh approving the budget right now and have one more glorious budget meeting to to See if we can't knock it down just a little bit more When does the budget have to be signed? I have to when do we have to post it? We've got a little it's got to go into the town report the town report's got to go in no later than this thursday Two days from now And the the the forest service I know we haven't used it and we haven't um, but it's always been Brought forward from Nathan's fund balance as our beginning balance that same amount so So it has been accounted for and that's what I was curious if that is part of It's part of the well. We brought it down to 80 80 some thousand when we were in our last meeting and we didn't use it But um, it is part of the fund, but it's good that she now has told us Go ahead barb you're on Yeah, well that was the question that dude and I did have And that's why I raised the question with Nathan about what the what he would allow us to do or what the rules would allow her to do And basically he said that it's okay if it's in the budget and not spent but you're free to go ahead and spend it now So he was pretty much giving us the clearance to be able to use that money should we choose to So So if that was already included in the fund balance, then isn't that part of the number that we are already we've already Spent it in the budget then I think that's when we raise the question with him is can we still use it and he said yes So apparently whether it's a fund balance or not, maybe not be the issue I mean he's obviously aware of what the fund balances are And how we arrive at them in his so I guess it's Well, let me let me say what's the other thing It's not just this money by itself that we're talking about because that would be a smaller amount But in conjunction with the funds from the revolving loan fund, which had been on the books for quite some time So the question between the two of them gives us about 16 000 dollars Which in effect in that memo reduces our would reduce our tax increase down to a smaller number I'm not sure you're ready to disclose that number, but in reality it would reduce our tax burden Probably, um, I think significantly. Well, actually it's it's half of that because it sounds like the The the first half of that the force fund is already In the the fund balance That we've carried over so it's it's wouldn't be It wouldn't be as much as that go ahead. Sorry. Yeah Well, my understanding was that that was Authorized in 2021 and if not in the 2022 budget now that is why some of these questions You know have to be asked and answered If one wants to continue to try to reduce the tax burden Nancy the forest fund In the town report for the year for fiscal 21 For 7500 dollars It did not appear I'm gonna find it it Did not and then it appeared Yeah in fiscal 21 it appeared it did not appear in fiscal 22 Nor is it in fiscal 23 So it seemed to me that it does not exist in the general fund If We didn't budget last year for it now I could be very wrong Well, I guess it Goes back to the statement of whether it was budgeted and not spent in one year in the second year presumably Especially now with two years have gone by that may not be an issue as it relates to the general fund And I guess that's kind of Where I'm coming from and anywhere Nancy's coming from But again, if the overall picture is the combination and maybe some other things that perhaps could be found to Reduce this significant increase in the budget For the taxes I already want to put it and I know that there's always you know, we all want to get things done and I Can't agree with you more on that Whether or not it's worth anybody's time or effort to put in another meeting to see if there's other things be in addition to this That may affect Major increase in the taxes If you send it out of here Thursday It will sip until next week anyway. She won't get on it And that's that For timing or no, we're okay on time Time is okay. We've got plenty of time to warn To post the warning too. So it's a matter of whether You want to take another look at this the revolving fund might be worth and the revolving loan fund has got like $8,000 in it too That might be I'm warning another budget and finance committee meeting and I did send a text off to Greg White. I don't know if he's in town or not Knowing him. He's probably on the side of a mountain somewhere out west. Yeah, he's in british columbia british columbia. Yeah I'm doubt that he would be available. We also have to have a special select board meeting to approve the budget, right? Yes, you're good here We could do it right after a budget meeting Yeah, we could warn both meetings together actually we'd have to change the warning if we decide to do the Whatever the outcome of the revolving loan There might be a question there that would be added to the warning But that's why you don't want to rush with the warning, right? Because there somebody else may come up with something else that should be on there That's why we waited till after the 18th 19th. Yeah Well, if we can fit it in it's probably worth looking into I mean, I think it should be done It should be done I think this may be Wednesday if it's possible. I do think this force fund is is Nothing to talk about. I think it's gone or it's in the it's in the budget It's already accounted for in the But not having been spent No, it's counted for in the surplus It's not in the fund balance Balance coming forward coming forward. Did we use all the general fund last year? No, no, that's why we have that we had a fund balance last year too. Yeah, but we used it Yeah through the taxes We put it in and reduce taxes just like we did with this fund balance So are you guys available Wednesday this week It's gotta be this week. Yeah tomorrow Well, that would be I can't be here tomorrow. No, I mean I gotta water I got stuff going on Because I can't be here Friday either so at least through zoom. Yeah. Yeah, so three o'clock Yep tomorrow Wednesday Wednesday Wednesday, I'll email the group Okay, email the group and and warren the So this would be a special meeting. This is not a three-day Turnaround no emergency. I think it's something Go ahead Barb Of the I don't think it's going to be prolonged situation I think it's a discussion that maybe between now and Wednesday We can review again this question of being in a fund balance or not fund balance and take it as a package All right Wednesday three it is No snow storms. Yeah, right Yeah Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Welcome home. We knew we were missing out on something when you're off Probably the only meeting I've missed in 20 years. Yeah I'll teach you Do we have anyone from the library on zoom? No, no, I don't see anyone in the room here so And highway department they we know what they did today Still doing still doing Terry is not on zoom. I presume Is jeff get part? Yes. Yes. Hey jeff. Yes. I am I all Well, let's see a little bit of update on the green that power resiliency zone Um, the contractor gmp hired for that is norwich solar And jeff martin who you may remember from uh, two rivers out of qui chi regional council is now working for norwich solar and is the project manager Um, he says norwich solar filed the 45 day notice a Apartment that they have to submit before the certificate of public good application can be sent to the public utility commission So that 45 day notice was sent uh on december filed on december 2nd Um, once the 45 day period is up, which was january 16th Uh, then they would be they would submit the actual certificate of public good application to the public utility commission As jeff says, uh They the puc can be quick or can take forever Um, their guess is that uh, if the puc acts fairly quickly maybe late summer They would actually be able to start construction And Martha do you have a question for jack? Yes, I do. I'm sorry starting construction on what that solar array we've been talking about or yeah Yes, the resiliency zone Okay, and that one gets down by the tennis courts. No, am I right? Nope the uh, gravel pit uh adjacent are part of north hall apartment Okay, so resiliency zone um near gravel pit In north hollow would be correct to say Uh, no, I know just just over the 73 bridge Right, okay near gravel pit just over 73 bridge. Okay. I'm sorry It's it's very hard for me to hear everybody tonight and I I apologize. Thank you But maybe we can turn the bounce down because you guys are plenty loud coming out of the owl I'm sorry, that's okay. No, not a problem. We can hear you Okay, um the next update would be the electric vehicle charger. Um They still have not received the equipment uh or any update on its shipping date There are some breakers and panels that they need for this They're telling us that uh, if we want a celebration to uh Bring attention to this and to electric vehicles in general. We should be shooting for a mid june or june a date um There had been a little hiccup there for a while Their engineer told me that they were going to drop back from two dc fast chargers to one Um, and then they would also have two level two chargers Uh, I pushed back a little bit on that. It's why is it the change? I mean given this transformation we need to make and uh I'm not sure exactly what happened. I also talked with christin Carlson, I believe who's the pr person for cream on power and I Mentioned that little issue and and now uh, they're back to the original plan two dc fast chargers and two level two chargers Good job. We need to keep hold them to that Uh What else here um the remod council on rural developments climate economy resilient communities Is a renaming of the program that we went through with them this past year um They've awarded uh To several communities uh this year as they did in the past. Um, we were uh When we did it it was just one community because of covet um Bethel has won A seat in that program What they wished to do was to discuss an inter municipal energy coordinator position Uh for bethel south royleton randolph prochester and Some other local communities um the directive that uh, I have um from the board is to um Agreed to nothing and find out what's going on and bring it back to the board So that's what I will be doing There are towns that have done this kind of thing and um And in some cases it's worked well That's uh, that's a lot of towns for one energy coordinator in my mind, but In any case, I will monitor that and inform the board of what's what they're talking about And you guys can decide whether it's anything the Rochester's interested in or not um the library There is a pretty good Grant coming from out from the department of public libraries in vermont. I'm sure there's going to be a great deal of competition for it uh I am currently working on The guts of what would be the scope of work for that project The building has led paint on it and um, I think the best thing for us to do is to Take the clabbered and the other cladding off of the building Install a membrane on the building that will allow moisture through the wall to the outside um create what's called a vented rain screen basically have a uh a um spacing between the the membrane and the um The exterior cladding and the idea with that is that uh The cladding Wets and dries at roughly the same rate and it doesn't blow the paint off Um, we've got rod around the windows. I think uh normally and I don't recommend uh replacing windows But in the situation where the windows are as bad as they are here with the The amount of work we're talking about Um, I think we should we should go big on this Project and see if we can get it done done right and done right for many many many many years into the future um As I finish up on that Scope of work. I will share that with the uh the board and the library trustees and we'll see where we go from there But I'm I'm stayed and I'm setting it up as two Contracts one is the lead abatement portion of it Yep Do deal with all of that in the demolition side And then a different contract could be same people but uh because of the The smaller number of lead certified uh firms out there Um, I think we want to have it in the two two stages One that does require the license and the other one which would be putting things back together And then finally um with the Kristen's uh support and help I have all of the fuel deliveries now records on that for 2022 and so i'm gonna wrap I hope the spreadsheet attracts all of our community energy uses and get that to you So what what about the roof on the library? Um, I have not been looking at the roof on the library. Okay. I know that's something that they brought up that um Also of concern So if the board would like me to take on that as well, I I will give I can do it. So who is um writing the the grant applications at the library trustees or are you helping them with that? Um, I am going to ask to help with the with any application on the grant other than putting the scope of work together Okay, yeah You know, it'll it'll be the content for for what is to be done to the building certainly Yeah, I've also been doing takeoffs on the the um The three walls that need the work Um, and we'll get material estimates so that we get an idea as to uh where the how you know what this might come in at Um, I'm not going to be very Um Estimating the labor would be very difficult. I wouldn't have much confidence in my estimate of the labor on the project But I would feel pretty secure giving you an idea of the the material cost. Yeah As well as the fact that there probably will be some options here because that First floor cladding is very unique and likely very expensive for cladding to replicate and install Nancy's got a question. Does historic preservation have to get involved in this? Did you hear that? I don't think so. They have been to Town and have looked at uh those with uh members of the trustees and uh myself and with jennette Um It did not seem like uh, there was a any major concern about a modification there Nope They weren't too worried about it More interested in the preservation than the historic part Okay well Thanks again, jeff for um all your focused energy on this No problem. Yeah, my apologies for the the beginnings. I've missed yours Oh, that's okay. Like with my exercise class. Yeah Okay Um, I can't anybody else have questions for jeff No, no, um where we come to the public comment section of the meeting is You want to do the grants update? No. Oh, I'm sorry. I keep missing that grant that all my notes kind of blur that out It's okay. I don't have any this week. You don't have any. No, we're just all right this week's been kind of quiet. So kind of quiet. Yep It looks like um rob gardener may have um public comment. All right Rob, can you hear me? Can you hear me? Yep So I'll make this real brief as as you guys know, uh, the select board knows I I have some problems with the plan for the high school building Uh, but what I don't know and you can guys Can sort of put me out of my misery here Have the three of you has the select board committed To the concept of the feasibility study Described the community center and the multiple renters and all the rest that are you guys committed to that? Have you decided that that's the plan or is there is there some time we're going to talk about? Absolutely not. No, we have not committed to that. That is, um a favored plan by Some people on the repurposing committee, but um They are just they're really to gather information for us. And that's not we're not We're not um signed up for any specific plan. We're just looking to get as much information as possible About the building. Okay. That's very helpful. So, uh You know, I'm just a grumpy guy from the south end of town, you know, so, uh if if I can complain and you know, but It seems to me there ought to be a process by which we examine this Plan that's in place because I think most people think that's the plan And and and have a discussion with people who are not necessarily on that committee About the different options and any other information we should get in this kind But but I don't know how to do that and that the committee I don't think wants to do I think committee has done a tremendous amount of work and they're all friends of mine and god bless them, but If there's going to be other options examined, I think there needs to be another Forum to do that, but you don't have to decide that tonight. You've already answered my question, which is It's still an open question to you. So I would just say this if there's any way I can help you I'm happy to help you, but uh an awkward sending you long emails. Yes That'll be helpful Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. No, thank you. Thank you. Yeah I think one of the Potential scenarios that we can pretty much write off the option list is for for housing And we did explore that and we did explore that and that's um, we got a pretty resounding Several times. Yeah several times a pretty resounding no from multiple different Directions and basically any any federal funding funding for any Large redevelopment project the the proximity to the floodway is Puts that way down on the bottom of any list of any funding sources for that It's um, so that's really not not a likely scenario Okay, thanks. Um, yeah, you're welcome Our aid to the town paying for the heating of the building again this year. No, no Okay Can you hear me or not? Yes, we can hear you Robert Thank you, christin You know god bless robert gardener for uh being so uh aware of what's happening with the school I uh Just uh talked with a young gentleman That has Started a business not too long ago that you guys approved His business is growing through the roof and I think that Economic development should be the key ingredient to the use of the school and A major part of it like if everyone focuses on economic development It'll create jobs It'll create economy. It'll create jobs for young kids And then we part of the school Could be an art center It could be a lot of other things, but I think art your town It's not my town as you guys will know But the economic development key Or or need I think should be just a very serious focus. It's got great opportunity It's uh, it's a lemon and the town of rochester can make lemonade and I truly believe that so You know You know again, I'm not on any of these boards the planning board the zoning board the whatever board But economic development should be the real key and housing is another thing I I truly believe that because there are people living in buses Uh campers along route 100 And housing is definitely a need and that could be a shared space I I believe my three minutes are just about uh, just about uh, we've got another 30 seconds I just I just I just hope that Whatever transpires at the school After five six seven years of me being involved with the demise of it Something will bloom there and be Make the town happy when they drive by And pay their taxes their school tax Yeah Listen, uh, everyone have a nice evening. All right, and I wish you all well Thank you, robert You're welcome. Yeah Um anyone else on zoom No, no hands. No um I think that's it. Thank you all for hanging out for the Full experience and um, I moved to adjourn Second all in favor