 So we're calling this meeting to order Sharon left her keys in the car and they got cold and our car won't start. She's happened to warm up the battery in the key fob Electronics So you called you call the meeting to order changes additions to the agenda Okay, I'm going to executive session for personnel Okay, pursuant to one VSA 313 a3 I'll second it and we like to invite An applicant for the treasurer business manager position to join us So I accept that as a friendly amendment to my motion, okay Okay I Okay, okay, so here we are Yeah, we're ready to go. Okay, so we came out of executive session and we're getting ready to come Back into we're and we're coming back into our regular session we went into executive session under one VSA 313 a3 which is the provision on state statute that relates to appointing Or employing a public officer or or employee I am ready to Accept a motion to take actions consistent with discussion in executive session Is there a second any other comments questions all in favor, please say aye Okay, okay. Can I just I just want to make a statement Start off the bat here. We don't have a recording secretary. Yes, so if I'm taking notes Yes, we need to slow down when we do the motions I need it to I'm not going to take the details I just want you know I'm not taking the detailed notes like we used to have because I cannot do that and only what is required by law Yeah, right, so I will take some I'll make some comments if I can remember No, you got to slow down the motion. Okay, so That that is a Comment really for everybody and for the board Take your own notes what we had before was somebody who took notes not minutes Moving forward we're going to have minutes this item discussed voted Table you're not going to get notes So the the camera is on so that's the notes and Denise You need it if you need us to slow down and repeat the motion then then just let us know that we need to do that Okay Is anybody Minus the minutes I've looked at most of them But I haven't had a chance to look at all of them And I don't think everybody's had a chance to look at all of them That's so I would like to defer the minutes to the next meeting So that leaves for the consent agenda reappointing Ryan Edwards for a three-year term in the DRB Reappointing and Winchester as 9-1 1 9-1 1 coordinator and reappointing Thomas Jared Thomas as a one-year term on CB fiber. I made the motion did somebody second it Okay, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. Okay Sure, okay, so In addition to the person that we just interviewed I did have another email from somebody else, but they didn't attach a resume So I've asked him for a resume Haven't heard back That treasure of business I got it another email from somebody interested in the position, but he did not attach Resonate so I've asked him for a resume Yeah, I've reposted the DPW ad in Seven days the Times Argus the hard work is that a lot league of cities and towns they're online Form that you do so if you can think of anything else I'll put I'll post it on front porch forum Denise is also checking when we talked about this Denise is checking with the town of Middlesome of Berlin which hired a They just hired a DPW position there were four applicants they picked one so it makes me think well Yeah, maybe they had somebody that was like their second choice or something so we'll check so we're in a check with town of Berlin What what else do you want to know I'm trying to think there's something we we have the open Conditions spreadsheet and I had a couple of people that I talked to Rob Richards back living in Callis on max Gray Road. I asked him about being way or a coal I asked Steve Owens about planning commission or some other Empty slots I'm not sure what we're going to read up the roads advisory committee. I don't think that's right yet to Talk about people that might be interested We had an email from David Daniel Kenny doing the swim program and He doesn't no longer want to be chair of that committee And that's a town appointed committee. It's a one-year term. So we that's an open. That's open now and And did you say that Barbara's gun? Is going to post it on the town website? Yeah, you said you were going to post I Can we maybe we can catch up tomorrow, okay, thank you so much. Yeah So that's about it on that we're just trying to continue to recruit to Fill in some of the slots. I mean obviously swim committee doesn't really need to do much until it's slow season Wait, you ready tomorrow? Oh, you can if you want it for a plunge polar bear polar bear, right? Okay Anything else? Not what somebody has a question. I got to the update I do love the idea of getting that on the website though the Active opportunities Yeah, that will be helpful Okay, is that clock working again? Or public comment, right? Is there anybody here for public comment on items not on the agenda? No, oh Great We have a few minutes for public comment. You want to come forward, right? Okay, three. All right, so Why don't we start with woman? Can you come forward and join us so that we can March? Come up and join us here at the table, please Concerning the project, what dam is that? A couple things want to maybe take off your mask just for you and John and Mark. Are you really? There's not no action, but I wouldn't recuse myself Just for clear for the camera in the audience Go ahead. I will I will you know, I do kind of keep an eye on Mike We have about 15 minutes for public comment and somebody else wants to speak for if you just be mindful of that One one of the things that of course we are anxious The state of the dam and we're trying to We would like to reach the goal of being able to Get fixed next summer. That's kind of even though this is We're trying to reach that So one of the things that That I do want to just give you a quick update on the the engineer they Jeff Tucker said he could come and do a presentation for you on the 19th of December If that would work for you guys and I wanted I wanted to give him he's Dubois, right? He's the president I guess. How long would you need one thing to speak? We have Where's my December? Oh, I don't have a December 19. Oh December 12 December 19th is not December 19 We are having a regular meeting meeting because we're not meeting an irregular meeting on the 26 FYI I had actually gotten dates and I often you know because he there he's expecting to have He's got 90% of the plans and How how long let me ask the question opposite March how long In a perfect world if you could wave a magic wand, how long would you ask for on the agenda? Which I which is not a promise. It's it's a What would you like? Yeah? Yeah, I could ask him how long he would feel it would be required You know, I think he's gonna be presenting this stuff in paper. It was more maybe questions just to make sure he's got it off so Minimum I would think 15 minutes. I was thinking I was thinking could be all day, right? How I'm gonna I'm going to I'm penciling with my pen 20 minutes, okay? And I'll get back to him and if that night works for you guys too, and do you even want to come and do a presentation? We're going to be here that night, right? So it's a regular meeting not on our regular meeting diet, so it's not a special meeting But it's a special it's a special meeting and a regular Second or fourth. It's a special meeting that will in every other way look like a regular meeting It would be Right informational presentation If you could get us I mean not a not a book but you know some a document Yeah, something To look at it in advance that's really helpful, right and if there's permits We probably don't want to have a good understanding of what they are So maybe we get like a blank copy just to look at ahead of time Okay, and then the other question is do you feel comfortable if you wanted to wait to the beginning of January To do it in that meeting. I would rather you know, he's I Rather just do it on the 19th of the town the beginning of January we're going to be doing crunch time Yeah, with budget and learning and all that stuff Are you going to be looking for sick for us to approve permits at night? I don't Earlier we can get the permits and the better I'm not a hundred percent sure that I that could be and then we Get to them ahead of time so you could Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, if you could so that if we could have them By even by the meeting on the 12th so that yeah Okay And the other thing We we wanted you to calendar the bond question potentially for your next meeting So that we we're getting a little anxious about getting to the generally to the deadline for the and Concerned about making sure that they know his shows So yeah, so not Fletcher said that he would have something for us for the meeting on the 12th Fletcher is the town attorney handling this matter and We have been explained and we've been exploring maybe retaining outside bond counsel because we were concerned about the the timing of the Whether we have an answer an answer. Yeah, yeah, and he assured us he's time. He talked to John I talked to him And he said he'd have something to us by the 12th, okay But at the end of the day or just to be clear We need to have the council that works for us. That's right. It is contracted with us You could bring in a hundred experts that could disagree with our attorney and likely Well, obviously our attorney would hear them out But likely would go with our attorney or our attorney to address the differences So we have been thinking about doing outside counsel and we'll have to Just to be to be safe trying to come up with all the different Potential issues if there's issues with not being able to go on whether we needed a second opinion On that and yes, then the timing would be such that we wouldn't be able to Do that. Yeah I mean still I mean if we had a disagreement right with your counsel that it's I don't see it getting resolved if it's substantial Right. Yeah, it's it's it's not no print. It's to me. It's not so much shopping for yes, it's about getting solid Well, and as Bob explained to me Yeah, it's not explained to me whatever bond Item goes on the town meeting warning if it gets approved and that Item goes to the municipal bond bank and then it goes to some bond place in Boston So what he writes and what he says and what he does has to be right And he's making sure that he covers all the bases does all the research Representing the town representing the town's interests. Yeah We're anxious I showed you the picture last yeah Yeah, you know and so it's all out of Trying to get that but you know town meeting is not I mean it's preferred, but it's not essential We can have this as a separate vote. I think the fire department They were separate. Yeah and we and and and the the question is being Though what we're talking about is the warning a Bond item on the agenda for town meeting warning the warning and we have a we have until the Yeah, the genuine, you know second at the not that we want to wait that long of course, but Getting the getting the warning item on the agenda is a matter of this board and we can Hold special meetings to make that happen The it is fully it is fully on Bob's radar. Yeah One of the things you should know is that it's a certain inflexibility in that either the work begins in August Which means we prepare for the work of the summer or we lose you here, right? Yeah Yeah, but but but the time for the vote is still March Yeah, I'm just saying yes, you think about Another You know and there's no guarantee even if it goes on the warning when we did the fire department It got shot down the first time and we you know not to say that it would and I hope it wouldn't But you know, we have to be prepared for that too and what's plan B, right? But that we can worry about later. Let's just do plan a I think we need to wrap up and let Craig speak Okay, so First of all, I'd like to thank you all for serving. I'm on a couple boards and I know this is probably the hardest board in town So so thanks so much. Thank you. You're volunteers appreciate it And On the board of the Maple Corner Community Store, I'm actually the president although that holds no particular power So it's basically like the money might not think of Whose volunteers and everyone's step back except for me But what I wanted to say is the Maple Corner store is all our shareholders know loses money is Is currently funded through the largest of pandemic money and we're hope we were very hopeful that we can Turn it around and get the store to make enough money to break even Within, you know, the time that we have which is a couple years of funding The store can't afford flood insurance if the dam flooded the store probably knock us out Besides that if the dam Was drawn down by the state, which is probably one of the more likely scenarios of the state will show up with a Excavator and and draw them and pull the dam down They don't have to think that they have to think they have to warn you guys. I think they can just do it Whatever they want because their job is to protect public the public and public roads and things like that Maple Corner store would not survive without Curtis We get much more revenue in the summer when people are voting and swimming on the pond then When they're when no one's In the winter this time of year is our slow season. We're very seasonal business We lose money for sure. We'll always lose money in the winter without Curtis pond. We lose money in the summer as well so We depend on the pond If you look at most real estate ads in this neighborhood, they will talk about how they're there in the location of the year Maple Corner store in the whammy bar. That's obviously affecting real estate values around here It's obviously affecting the real estate value of my house and others around so it's not just the pond And the houses on the pond But Maple Corner store will disappear about So I just wanted to let you guys know the ramifications we're watching You know the word is aware that that we depend upon the pond to survive So I just wanted to let you know that that's quite important to I think to call us To all the shirt all the Taxpayers of Calis will suffer Thank you, John We wanted to increase our request for the upper funding Jamie more me was supposed to be here to sign the letter to would you like me to Wait for Jamie to sign it or just is my signature good enough. Yeah Any citizen can yeah, yeah Okay, yeah, I'll just hand that Guess the mark must have got my spreadsheet Okay, thank you I've been able to attend And I've been one is watching from the ease And it's been distressing and I know each of you personally for a long time And I wanted I was planning to thank you as John just did I've served on lots of different boards and different organizations in here in town and a number I'm just finishing up my ninth and final year as the call coverage I'm really going to miss your passion Tell me and I particularly visit when it verbose certain counterattacks, you know, I mean really A lot of errors in my quiver He'll still be there Not gonna come to town meeting And so anyway When I was first asked to join the Kellebever board my first question to Michael Katzenberg who had called me who was then the middle sex rep who founded their phone books and And I said well, is it a functional group because I've been on the words We're not Essentially functional and I couldn't do it and I had to resign and and so I've been I've not been attending. I have not witnessed others input and And yet what I've thought what I've seen from afar has been distressing and It seemed dysfunctional and so I just I want to ask you five Do you think it's working? You know, have you have you found your footing because it seemed for a while that you were mired in the muck and Again But if there was Were things that were making it Have you found a way to address them or do you think there's a need? to call in and outside Assistant someone to work with the group to say Well, maybe Maybe this is getting our way or that or is it a procedural thing? There was a lot of talk over the past six months about the lack of I Have no specific Critical comments more of concern and I've been wanting to say something like this for a while Fortunately we were put on the agenda so here I am so thank you for listening. Thank you. Thank you And thank you really thank you for your service on Kellogg Hubbard Library Thank you so much. We had At the last meeting if you have a chance to watch the orca conversation there was some we had a Longer period of public comment. We had some conversation with folks in the public I do want to move on to other agenda items But I'm gonna I'm gonna just look at my colleagues and ask I I'm gonna presume to respond on behalf of the board if that's okay I think that we think We we actually Really function very well as a board believe it or not. It's been very hard We're in hard times. It's hard to hire. We do need help We interviewed a candidate for some of the help we need earlier tonight We've interviewed before and it hasn't worked out, but I personally speaking now just for myself I feel good about how this board functions as a group So I'm glad to ask the question about how we feel because I'm going to respond to it Yeah, yeah, it's it's a hard environment, but I would add to I mean this board has actually taken on a number of issues They have been pushed off It's a long time and their device was somewhat, you know, but they need some of these things really need to happen But it's time to get to move forward. So it's you know, it makes for some hard times I would agree we share we've done very good. Well, it's good and you know the public I mean, it's it's Not everybody is here in these meetings all the time. They don't really know what goes on in These discussions sometimes information that's not accurate gets out there Often that's the worst. I guess but you know the round is people show up and they begin to We try as best we can To leave you know to kind of bring them up to speed on what we're doing You know and in the end I think you know things are moving forward. Yeah. Well, we've been yeah We've got our challenges between COVID and there have been a lot of things that have hit us that were Certainly they might look like this functionality. They were not there a function of the time You know, but I think the board's bringing some things forward that are going to be real benefit to the time Certainly procedurally It seems that many people airing their views on Front-forged forum didn't really understand what executive session is and I thought I mean could one of the select board members say well actually Look at this part of Vermont statue and it lays out And I think that's exactly we didn't kind of have a period like you just said we know it's a lot of Front-forged forum discussion. Yeah, and we made room here several times for public comment and people did come Yeah, and I had a good session here by and large Was I thought much more productive Discussion yeah, we're not perfect by any means and we heard I think Really thoughtful measured positive Suggestions about what we might do to improve and we're working on it. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I so I felt I feel like in a lot of ways It's it's wonderful when people actually get in the room Yes, it's just very different Different than of course We can do some back-and-forth And that's how a lot of misinformation got disseminated because I don't think people did it intentionally They just didn't know they didn't understand the whole picture and sometimes, you know You say something they don't have all sides of the story and then you find out and I think some people that have been here have Realized and learned that there's more to this story and they're like, oh You know, that's what I mean is some people just kind of like oh now I get it And we we cut we've made a decision as a board and I went back and looked I think it was in January That we're from porch forum was not going to be our social media You know from porch forum Twitter all those kinds of things are social media and they often can lead to things Being worse with people saying things. They wouldn't normally say to your face You know, it's easy to type something up and hit send But it's a lot harder to sit here like you are and having a conversation And I've done that quite a number of times. I just thought back to being in this room with a room full of Cala citizens with Alfie answering to the fact that there were 90 or 100 trees marked for Yeah The roads committee was re-invigorated right. I remember saying, okay, you know what it's put up or shut up Vitalizing it correct. I'll put your name right okay. I'm gonna thank you very much Thank you. All right, let's move our Meeting along to the next topic Steve You're next come on up and join us. How are you Steve? Hi Steve, so I'm gonna ask you this is a direct directly coming out of the Conversation or some of the input from the last meeting And we we Say we're gonna do this and that's one of the things that we drift from If you were to articulate for us the motion you're asking us to make tell me right now what that motion is So we all know where we're headed in this conversation First let me just explain my request that's it well The request is annually In this town it's done differently in a lot of towns around the state But we've always come to the select board Annually to ask for certain roads to be opened legally which is required by state law for use by the snowmobile members who are Actual members registered legal members of the Vermont Association snow travels We do it on behalf of the local club, which is the cast woodbury mountain tables. We cover two towns So I've done it and would bury and I do it here And it gives you the opportunity to ask questions to see Talk to me and whatever you need to do But basically it's a governmental function that you simply need to if you choose to approve the use of Certain highways as listed on that list in the town of Dallas for Legal snowmobile, right? Okay, and it's only from December 16th until April 15th. That's the Designated season for snowmobiles. Okay, so I'm gonna ask I think Denise has it Maybe you'd like to lay out a motion with a motion would a what would a motion look like? I moved to approve the mountain tamers Request for use of that vast trails From the from December, what did you say 16th? It's December 16 through April 15 December 16 through April And that if there are any issues that arise on the trails that the mountain tamers group will address those Sure, but it's wrote but it's town roads. Well, it's town roads Yes Right So we are approving the use of the use of the listed roads as snow machine trails As listed in this letter listed in November 12th, 2022 Letter from Steven Gray trail master of a mountain tamers snowmobile club to the select Okay, so do we want to list all the roads in the motion? What can we just read a lot of we just refer back to the we can't I'm just asking the question of how we want to Articulate a motion so so the motion is the motion is to approve List a certain a certain is used by the remote association of snow travels local club Mountain tamers mountain tamers of use of certain town roads for snowmobile travel from December 16 16 through April 5th, okay, is there a motion April 15 15 so moved Is there a second? To be clear in the motion that we're approving the annual vast trail request of The mountain tamers to use the town roads as noted in the November 12th, I Wouldn't put vast in there. No, that's okay. No, that's the parent organization Okay, so be the mountain team clubs that do something similar to this They end up being a trail used by bad. I might point out on that list. There are seven designated roads but only two of them are for main trails the others are for Personal access to somebody's house who can't get on the trail To get right so we got little segments in five of those for that Yeah, there's only two so I would just say the request by the local snowmobile Okay, so the way the use is a trail that'll cover it and it's in your crossing the road You're not it's driving well running along I think I I think I got it Right across public highway, okay, it's close to the right angles possible But if we have to use the plow portion of the road, okay, then we'll have to have the sluck board in point example on Singleton Road So trail crossing in between his house and the trail crossing which is you know some chunk of road But not miles and miles. Yeah, so can I ask a question to I mean that would be subject to safe use of that word Actually, hang on now. We're going to where's can we get a second? Okay? I think I got it. I think I got it written down Oh, I'm sorry. I made the motion. You made the motion. Is there a second? Mark seconded Yeah, the question is that the safe use of that road and what constraints are on those? We don't want people driving 90 miles an hour. No, or you know, that's the Presumed it is going to be used safely if it isn't And mentioned we want to know about as much well, we'll hear about it and then you will yeah And are there and Steve did you make changes over what people have experienced in the past? You said there were a couple no, no, the only difference between this list and last year Quite a few years before that last year We had an additional request for a small piece of long meadow hill road because of the logging operation Okay, and we have a tenth of a mile We asked for a tenth of a mile open there to get around the log landing because the logger didn't want us going into the landing Okay, you approved that last year. We don't need that Okay, so other than that, there's no people's general experience in the past is what you're asking for this year. Okay, that's useful No, we have not voted any other questions any other clarifications you want to offer us just If there was a problem, we want to know about it as quickly as you do and I think this is a statement on that request Which are legal anyways With the trail going across then in the road foreman or whoever has problems about let us know Yeah, you're very good about that. Thank you. Yeah All right, and the Leonard Road stretch is holding up well since we've Okay It might be what All in favor I Okay, Steve, thank you very much Do you got everything Time line to tell me Barbara do you want to join us for this one? Sure, you're the keeper of the timeline You're the keeper of thank you for being the keeper of the timeline We've already started working on our on the budget you're aware of that I'm sorry saying that you're aware that we've already started on the budget. Yes, uh-huh, and we've pulled out our select board report from last year to Make sure we're on top of that. Okay, and we're Meeting again for the budget on Saturday on Saturday this Saturday at 2 a.m. Right. We met not you So, thank you, I love all the color code. Okay. It's really easy. Yep. Yeah I've used it this done it this way the last few years It's really become kind of the current operation force out of the town office And this works for us Anything In particular we need to decide but we didn't warn this we can talk about in person We don't have any Action items well before we switch which to just a conversation about that Barbara Is there anything in particular you want to highlight or underscore any changes we need to have? So this is information only and what you come on tonight's agenda is in person or zoom information So is that what you guys are going to talk about tonight? Yeah, I wanted to talk about we'll just talk about that Yeah, we don't have to decide tonight, but right here in conversation And I suppose the main consideration is how COVID and RSV is well, and that's what I wanted to bring up I as you know, I'm on the Board of Directors at the health center in Plainfield. Yeah, and at our meeting last Just before Thanksgiving, you know, he gives us an update on COVID and all these other Dr. Matthew of everything that's going on around us, and I asked him I said, you know in your opinion Where do you think we're going to be at this winter with? You know all that's going to be a lot worse COVID now this RSV Virus that used to be just mainly kids got it now adults are getting it. Yeah, he's very concerned. Yeah he's very concerned that Over the winter, there's going to be a huge Uptick he doesn't think that all the reporting is being done, you know, people aren't necessarily reporting when they have COVID Yeah, you know So he's very very cautious because I asked him about town meeting. I said, you know, we're gonna be planning for that. He goes In person Yeah, as you know, I work with the COVID vaccination clinic over work there in the last almost two years and We're seeing lots of reports of not only an uptake of COVID, but RSV It's just really really taking someone explaining what RSV is It used to primarily affect pre-meas I can remember when my grandchildren were pre-meas that have to get RSV shots for two months in a row To to prevent from getting this respiratory disease and it used to just be usually babies and young very young children Over the past six months. It's become very predominant And you'll see we've been seeing it on the news with adults with older children, teens, adolescents, young adults and old adults and Hospitalizations are skyrocketing. So it's a long thing? Yes, a respiratory disease that is not COVID Hospitals are at capacity. Hospitals are at capacity. I know a lot of it is this RSV Yeah, and yeah, and it's very high. It's highly contagious It is completely separated apart from COVID other than the fact that both respiratory illnesses Is it due to damage that that earlier first COVID variant did to last? Oh the Delta? The Delta that was so bad. I don't I don't know. I'm not a clinician So I don't know all those details, but but we're concerned We at the town office are also concerned about this winter and Both COVID as well as RSV as well as flu, right? Because people weren't flu was way down the last two years because we were all wearing masks I said we are all married and well, gee, you're being careful. It makes sense, right? That's right And so now, you know, most of us are not wearing masks now. So flu's gonna be raging back again, right? Well, I already is I think so I know that that We would be very comfortable as the town office running the election part of town meeting With it being the way we've done it during the COVID years being an informational meeting We'll still hold the in-person election The balance and authority has already voted to hold that at the school. Yes We would change that if the select board because you guys decide when and where town meeting will be if you decided to move town meeting I'm sure to be there would move the election side to follow Do you mean if we did it by a zoom then we would do We would still be having an in we still have to hold an in-person polling place, right? Right, but we would be what we would move it from the school to maybe here You know, I suppose that's a possibility, but maybe not. So why would you say my clothes? Well, the schools best school schools are closed anyway, right? They close that week The school has better access for parking for getting in and out and the biggest building does for a bigger space Well, yeah, what I heard you're suggesting is that we could do an in-person town meeting and not suggesting but we could we could have But the vote but could we have town meeting we went through this two years ago, right? We've done this two years in a row had this kind of similar discussion I think we are all feeling like maybe this year Maybe we're gonna be safe, but it's When we thought that RSV had me yeah, so it's really it's this like words call But I can speak on behalf of the town office that we would be very comfortable moving ahead with the way we've done it during the COVID years with an informational session. Yeah, so I just want to understand one issue is how do we hold the information session? Now we don't like the information. Well, what if we did it you know, I'm still I'm sorry the morning of my zoom, right? So but but it's not it's not how to hold the informational session. It's whether to hold an informational session separate and apart and in lieu of A regular town meeting which is because if we do an informational session session Then all voting is is Australian, right? Whereas if we do town meeting is on the floor everything well not everything but most of the votes are on the floor I think not Australian. Yeah, I think a lot of people might be hesitant to come to in-person town meeting You know, especially if we have a spike that not just dr. Matthew But other people are predicting all you got to do is watch the news So we have on the timeline For January 9th for the select board to make this determination Okay, and it really must be made By the 23rd because that's when you sign the warning and right by state statute That's the warning that's the left That's when you need to sign the warning and you have to have decided about tell media time for it to be in the morning So really sooner rather than later. Yeah, January 9th is really is what I put it on the timeline for you guys to decide So you still have another month right right well or more we have I'm going to repeat just so we all get in our heads we're meeting on the 12th in a regular meeting We're Meeting on the 19th in a special meeting In lieu of in lieu of a meeting on the 26th. So the meeting on the 19th is special other than that. It's regular Okay, special in its timing. Yeah, and then we won't meet again in a regular meeting Until the 9th of January of January, right? So We have two more meetings. We have three more, but I think it You know, we put it we were putting the question out there That's why I'm raising the issue now. Yeah, we have time to think about it I just people call us. Tell us anything. Thank you. We're likely not going to decide until then the very day of the 9th What? In terms of the health implications We could decide before Oh, okay We could just decide. Well, we could decide we we could we I said we could make a decision We could make a decision we can make way before the 9th, right? If we weren't going to do it in person No, we can make a Either way job we can decide. I feel like deciding. We could decide, you know You know, I know, but they'll let little head. Okay It's going to be in person and masks are required. I don't know I Suppose we did say that but I don't know that you can I don't know the force it require I don't know if we can require masks at a polling place. It's an election and I don't think the state I Think the state has dropped that That option to wire a mask Interesting, okay. I don't know that but Jeremy would be a great as a question. Yeah, Barbara. I'm gonna Thank you, Barbara. I Want to make sure that Barbara has everything she wants to say. Yeah, no, I'm not just gonna ask you guys Let me have the questions on this timeline. Not yet. Not yet. That's great. Thank you That we should keep it. We'll keep it handy. So we're talking about budget. We're talking about our report We're talking about making that decision anything else that you want to make sure we don't that we you wish we were talking about But we're not yeah, I think not. I think that's fine as long as you pay attention to the purple and the green Okay, oh, yes, yes, if you know of If as you guys hear if an incumbent is going to be running for an office or not Let us know because by December 15th is the first day the town clerk will be posting on front porch forum The offices that are up for election Okay, and it would be nice if we can indicate if that is going to have me an open seat or not So as you guys start hearing from incumbents For any of these positions we've heard here from people who say they're not going to run again But it probably would be wrong for us to say yeah, no, they need to they need to But if they think they're letting you know and that's the official way to let them know and guys just let us know Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're on the same page. So we're on the same page exactly because you know Some people might be interested in running for an office if they think it's open seat They don't run against an incumbent. That's right. Maybe they'd run for an open seat. Yeah Okay, all right. Thank you. Thank you I encourage you to be cautious It's a hard decision and you're not gonna know enough when you need to know And I would also again speak on behalf of this town hall There were many of us And the least the last time we had an in-person town meeting at the school You asked well, how many of you would rather have Counting at the town hall and two-thirds of the people raise their hand. Yeah, they wanted it Oh, and so yeah, I remember that way possible This is where a lot of us would like to be and I understand all the advantages at the school Yeah, that's their spacing issue with you know contagious diseases isn't really it's yeah, that's a really big deal We did we did the math though. I think it was last year. I think we were on the zoom I remember getting my calculator out and I don't remember the assumptions we made but I remember that I did the math and There was no way even in the school gymnasium that The normal number of participants in or people who show up participants in town meeting could distance Yeah, we did that we should we figured out with the six-foot spacing. Yeah, but last year we did a hybrid John was here in person. We set up the Puppet out really well School meetings Right it was yeah, it was I mean last year was It worked well. It was a lot of work for you and Cliff and others who Set up the space, but it did allow people It allowed people who don't have good internet. I think that's that's the other thing we did part of the problem But anyway, so that's that's a perfectly Reasonable option because internet is great for people who have great internet Coming soon to a town hall near you. Yeah Because there were candidates perspective candidates for open positions and they may or may not have had Adequate internet to introduce themselves So it gave the incumbents an advantage and we didn't think that was a good public policy So that's why but there's still the internet Speaking right meetings because of that. Yeah. Yeah, we did. Yeah That was not a town. That was It was different right right No, we did remember the in-person meeting here. That's when candidates spoke. Yeah, that was candidates for Select board. Yeah. Thank you. We're gonna have Yeah, Denise you want to talk about yeah, our foot is the American Rescue Plan Thank you, really so I don't know We just got a request tonight. Oh by Rene We just got a request tonight to increase the Curtis pond damn request from 30,000 to a hundred thousand Arpo funds the piece that I don't have and that still leaves us if we were to put that on the warning I mean we talked about putting worn Certain items on on the warning like we do with the social services appropriations, right? What I don't know is how much it would cost for this traffic calming study Rick. Do you have any idea? the traffic calming study, I mean what's What I have no idea what that costs. How long I don't know yet. I mean we need a figure Just even a rough Well, we have we have to we're gonna put this on the morning We have to have all this information. Have we vetted getting back to curse pond damn? Eligibility for that project being that we don't own it We've our funding. I'm gonna I've got a call into body. It might be a Bob Fletcher thing too. Yeah, I'm gonna start with Bonnie I've got a call into her at BLCT where she now works and one of her her role is Arpa Yeah, so that's so that's another thing that we are sort of bite brazing it here I don't know every other meeting in some fashion we are we let's just say out loud We're we've got a chunk of money from Arpa we've said we've we have chipped away at it as projects that we wanted to work on for a long time have come forward we last meeting we approved a lot of not a lot with even a lot of money, but taking the digitization of our land records to another level Right, I mean the tip there's still money that we are going to bring to the voters and say here We we decided as a board if it's a town-related project right that the town's going to benefit town-wide like the cuts system the generators right for emergency Services TV fiber. Yeah, that we would approve those which we have already done and These other appropriations request like Twin Valley Senior Center First pondam East Calis fire district Those are the types of ones that are going to go on the warning, right? Well, I would phrase what we decided differently things like the traffic calming somebody could say well I don't need benefits if you go through Adam yet. That's been how to calm Road design for traffic calming has been This is a topic right now. This is a town-wide study. I think this is what we talked about I mean, I'm gonna say but I What we would do to approach that to begin with to get funding we did a couple of phases obviously right you already know this You have to do your scoping studies to begin with and then from there you can begin to actually break to Specific projects so it's a multi-year kind of but this was for this. This is right a study my suggestion would be that we do Focus on the villages because that's really where most a lot of the speeding problem is the worst And so we could break, you know, I would I mean I used to do these in the regional planning commissions Now this has been, you know, 10 or 15 years right back. So We would often You know, we would end up in village locations We'd spell allocate like five thousand dollars to do us a scoping study To come in and look at the problem and come up with those potential solutions and estimated costs From there the towns would then you'd actually go out and get an engineer to engineer that and so that would be separate So, you know, I would think with us we can you maybe you and I can toss some paper back and forth because what's going on in my head is yeah County Road not a village but Lightning-rich Actually kind of is I mean I'm with you County Road is a major problem and you've got Directly impacted by that right, you know, I mean, I mean, and that's why what What I was looking at in previous notes was a town-wide traffic calming study but we have to define I think to Get a sense of town-wide isn't going to be Denise. How many miles of their roads? But that's I think why you have somebody come in and Look at the roads. I mean it's part of a study. They're going to go around and look at all the roads And they'll probably Recommend that we focus on certain roads. We're not going to be the ones making that decision That's why you hire this engineer person to come in and do a review I mean they they drive way too fast on Bain Kamoli road. Is that going to be part of the study? Probably not what it's it's a matter of great. It's more a matter of priority to start This is out because your right speeding is an issue everywhere, so but you start with your low-hanging fruit, right? That's and then you work backwards Yeah, but we also don't want it, you know It's good to know That what we're doing with our roads right now is not making things worse So if we're heading in a direction say widening, I know that's a third rail issue in this town If we're inadvertently widening our roads and as a result traffic speeds are picking up We don't want to be doing that Accessibly We need Denise you are starting to say even even if even if we We pencil the hundred thousand for Curtis pond What's still we would have 80 roughly $80,000 left And that seems like a lot. You know, that seems like would be a significant Amount of money to do have somebody come in and say, okay, here's here's Calis drive around the roads Where would you focus our traffic calming? It wouldn't be anywhere near 80,000 to do a scoping step They aren't that expensive. I mean the order the expense comes is actually the right. It's Feel very comfortable. I thought that we were actually not just scoping but You know, let's just say on County Road because County Road speak limit. It's been on here. I think for the you know, almost six years I've been on the board County Road, so there would be not I Don't know what scoping means exactly, but that it would it would literally result in a proposal That You know is you know for this five miles of road You should narrow it you should add a bike lane you should whatever what it does what these studies do They do a couple things they establish need right which you need to access funding To get grants to execute and then they come up They look at different alternatives and they come up with a preferred alternative That's what they so they make a general recommendation. You said this is generally what you need then the detailed engineering Comes later. That's what a scoping study does. So it works at the comprehensive problem It's first established. Can we recommend that they look at certain areas? Yes, this is Right, this is our our priority County Road lightning Ridge But Adamette but to be fair to everybody in town They should look at the whole town and see if there's other areas where they would recommend. I mean you take North Callis Road that then becomes peaking peaking Brook I'm on that road a lot. There's a lot of speeding and the road is wide Well, they'll look at that's what I mean. They're going to look at town. Why they're probably not going to look at Bain-Kamoli roads, but the major throughways, right? Well, look at they'll look at the quarters You know where we have quarter movements. You've got a lot of volume of traffic They'll probably also look at accident data, you know, they actually look you want to look at that because that's Relevant to these things that tells you a fair amount So that but I would say that, you know, definitely the quarters and the villages You know, we'll be starting and I don't mean just down in the villages But those approaches because that's often where you have concentrations We need a we need an amount it's a chicken. It's a chicken in the egg I would say, you know, 15 or 20,000 is more than enough Okay, so even in these times, I think so I can try to verify that. I was gonna say at least 25 Because I think because we don't want to be sitting here in a year and say what do you mean it's not enough, right? And also You know, we have to spend this money within a certain amount of time. Do we have to spend it? Yes, okay How much time it I think we have another I don't know if this I can't remember off the top of my head. It might be 2024 But that's one of the things I want to run this whole list of every item that we have By Bonnie and make sure that they all comply with the ARPA Requirements and she may say, oh no, you can't do a traffic study When you talk about the dam It's really important to explain that the town will have irrevocable offers of dedication Before any of the money is spent. Yeah So so anyways, so that's so we are building this list, right? That will go in front of the voters as a one right item on town meeting right to spend Whatever is I mean some and you know Originally we thought, you know, well the board could decide but I've talked to a lot of different towns and they're having the voters decide You know on items like this list other than town Related car so that the voters have input which they should right Yeah, we're doing a hybrid we've we've approved some things that have been Yeah, like I said waiting for a long time for approval. Okay, so anything else you want to say about ARPA? Once okay Craig and Carolyn and Jeff Jameen yeah, grab a chair and join us shorter chair Maybe push that That's that hazard chair. I know it's been it's I'm sorry Yeah, why don't you use a different chair? Yeah Yeah, we warned you Start by saying it's been an honor. It's really It's been hard work being on the board for nine years But I started thinking in my head today, and I didn't make an actual list of all the different people It serves on the board while I did some just for one year and others, you know, because their term expired or whatever I Had no idea how long I would do it No, we should be we thank you and they finally said hey, buddy Out the door and I'm most pleased that we found Jeff or he found us great great We've got a great robust application process and vetting process so We had how many talents candidates at least four We yeah, and we interviewed I was on the I was on the East Monk really one's At least six So it's a maximum of 15 has to be a majority from Montpelier But it's so much happened over the past nine years Wonder from a state that was still coming out of Not good place with the former director and then Tom come coming on the word. He was great And the board was really committed to change and working with the staff And now we have two administrators Carolyn and Jesse Lynn who does more of the HR and of things Payroll and etc. Carolyn is an MLS holder master's of library science and is a librarian and The work that the two of them have done together over the last Yeah, yeah, I've been with the library for six years and Jesse and I have been co-directors since July 1st of 2019 Yeah, yeah, we're meeting her. Yeah, and as you mentioned the hard work of this Board during code the library to we had to shut down How do we provide services? We expanded digital offerings? We expanded physically the Wi-Fi? zone around the library And you expanded delivering books to various locations books. Yeah, which was great Yeah, we still do that in an on-demand way But people now are back to coming to the building where the library is part of your Running your errands So we're seeing a lot more people that want to come to the building or at least want to pick up the libraries Well, it's out of town But we're still doing home delivery And I'm gonna let you speak a little more Do you have any opening salvos? I'm sure I have to say it's one of my family Directly across from the maple quarter store and what used to be Steve Gallagher's And my wife and two sons are there with me I grew up in middle sex and often spent time After school waiting for my parents to pick me up at the caliber library Because they were school teachers and they would get out after me There's some time gap, and so I spent many many hours there So it's a special place to me I left for a month for 25 or 30 years, and we just moved back 2019 before the world Yeah, well I'm so pleased to be here But especially pleased in the face of code, you know, you live in Boston. That's right. It was for about 20 years publisher and so I deeply involved in all the books I've published nonfiction books and Yeah, I saw this opportunity come up and thought that sounds like a great and where did you see it? How did you see? I saw it posted It was Good to know Strictly word about hey, who do you know and we've come so far from that And when we had these spots open up I sent out a mass email to all of our All of our patrons from the towns that were effective with the towns where we needed new town reps and and said Hey, this is an open application process where if you're this is something that you've ever thought about doing Yeah, I think that's actually I think I hadn't seen it Great See you guys are back to normal schedules at the library. Yeah Yeah, and we're last year we Circulated more than 350,000 You know and more than 350,000 circulations 357,000 and change and that's as high as I've ever seen it I mean books in books specifically People were reading more because they were home more with coven. I do think so. And you know, we heard report this all and I'm total This part but you know, we've heard report after report from people of you know All of all of this time when I was isolated when I had to be home when you know when I was when I was working from home I couldn't really see anybody being able to come to the library and pick up books even when For the brief times where the doors were closed and people couldn't come in and browse We helped people tremendously with making recommendations and doing these deliveries and Doing we did so much we did more readers advisory than we ever have before when people couldn't come in and browse They were like, okay, you know, I love Louise Penny. Who should I read? It's like, okay. Well, you need to start on the Pernod Sheep of police series get you on some modern locker and So so we did a ton of that and we've heard outpouring of This is how I kept my sanity. This is how I still felt like I was not wonderful the wider world. It was tremendous Yeah, it's been really tremendous and that coincided with now we're more than a year out from No longer charging fines, which is one of the Board of Trustees decisions, but I'm the most proud of as a professional librarian. I think that's a huge move towards Equal service, you know, the people who need the library the most are often the people who are the least able to pay fines or For whom that those are cost-prohibitive And then they stop using the library and so I'm very very glad that that doesn't happen anymore. Great Yeah, so we're having a we're having a tremendous year. We our program participation is still down You speaking to the conversation you guys were having earlier about About people wanting to gather in a place and be physically in the same space with others We're definitely still seeing some hesitancy around that. We haven't quite gotten back to those numbers yet But we're hybridizing as many as many of our library programs as we can or we're recording them So they're available after the fact and then we're not and we're not counting all of those Views all of our YouTube views if we were doing that then our our numbers for participation You said you've increased your Wi-Fi does it reach outside the building? It does. Yeah Yeah, that was kind of a perennial problem. The walls of the original building are 22-inch thick Dumberston granite Dumberston it is from Dumberston. Why get it next door when you get it from Dumberston This is I've read all of the original All of the original work about the the building and we brought something up from Worcester, Massachusetts And that must have been interesting It's really what I really love to see. I mean it's mostly in the spring summer and fall Yeah, I love to see all the High school kids and the young kids sitting hanging out in front all around the yard Etc. They're in the library and the library is a gathering spot It's just great and I think part of it of course is the Wi-Fi Absolutely, but so what you know, it's great. I'm gonna get them there So we've got yeah, so we have Wi-Fi all around our building now That's that's available for people connecting outside. We did that's an outdoor seating this year That was very well received Yeah, exactly. We have we have had outdoor events We did our our principal story time outdoors until just a couple weeks ago when the weather finally turned and I Didn't expect that it would be as well attended as it was for as long as it was but boy Where people were just bundling up in their jackets and showing wonderful It's been great So yeah, one of the things one of the For better reverse one of the things that we're seeing at the library now is more gap filling and by that I mean, you know, we're starting to see I Think the folks that were already down and out are more down and out than they were maybe prior to the pandemic And so we're getting what do you mean by that? What I mean is I Think that I think that there are other social services that are stressed right now That are maybe understaffed and overworked And so we're getting things like in-depth benefits questions from people like, you know, like I'm Losing my emergency rental assistance funding. How do I get on and apply for an extension? And we're getting that at the library Yes, right, who can you where can you go when and I experience this personally when you call The economic services division and you get where experience experiencing Higher than normal call volume 37 thin line But you have a question that you think is a pretty simple question. You know, where do you go to ask it? Right the public library. So we're getting lots of these types of questions at the desk. We're getting a lot of a lot more We're getting it more coordinated and on the same wavelength with some of the Interfaith community that does all of the meals I've been trying to attend the homelessness task force meetings in Montpelier Because we see people from all of our surrounding towns that come into the community center to get benefits So these are you know, these are all our people collectively and so but we're seeing in the library people coming in and saying like Okay, you know, where can I go to where can I go to get a meal today? Is there like who do I connect to trying to find shelter? Are people going there or do you anticipate they're going to go there at $7.00 or 650 a gallon eating oil prices to get warm But you know, so it serves as sort of a social services Strikes me That's telling the fact that would be that social services agents would be interested in Using that as a hub collector, you know some kind of a satellite Some kind of a limited presence Conversation with some of those folks about having a floating social That's that's in the works for sure Yeah, I could see that being I could see that working Really well something like AmeriCorps or there that might be a good That's Carolyn, that's what you meant by gas You're filling your the resource your social services. Yeah, you're filling a social wall. You're attempting to fill Recognizing attempting to fill the social services information gap. That's really That's books checked out. Yeah. Yeah, our actual collection is right around 70,000 items it where we're at capacity We've been at capacity pretty much the whole time. I've been at the library So so 70,000 items give or take is roughly what building what the building and all okay, and then we have another Over 80,000 digital items that people can connect to so we have We have a streaming video service called canopy. We have a We have a couple of e-book and audiobook and digital download applications One is called the the other one's called palace, which is brand new We don't even have the information yet on our website about it But we've got patrons connecting starting to connect to our ideas. Yeah, I think one for the minutes I think I'm gonna put in a link to your website. Yeah, absolutely Really one of one of the other things that we did through the pandemic was we made most of the library services Available through the website so things that you used to have to come in and fill out a paper application for you can do online Now so requesting an interlibrary loan book or signing for a library card connecting all of those services fine I have information. We have instructional videos. We've written instructions to try to Get as many people connected in whatever way works for them And I I'm really hopeful for the day when broadband infrastructure is Such that more people can also connect. That's that's one of the things that I've seen as a disparity It's always been a little bit of a Little bit of a chicken and an egg a little bit of a link figuring out how much to stress digital services Understanding that there are very real limitations to how people right, right? Yeah, there is some people just don't want to do Digital they don't they don't want to they can't afford it. It's not available I mean, there's a number of barriers to access and we're all about reducing those barriers to access Oh John was showing me the video canopy canopy. I'm like, yeah, I made a note of that. Yeah Wrong So we have a brand new strategic plan this year the trustees approved it in September and I've got copies of the short version of it. Anybody wants them. I'm happy to leave them We also revamped our pride. Would you mind just passing me stuff? Sorry, I don't I don't want to gloss over this Talked about when I started can every year. Yeah, we know that Yes As you were talking about the things you've faced in the project you're trying to do It's really satisfying to have this three-year strategic plan that now As part of that process we have a new vision and vision statement. We have stated a commitment to diversity equity and inclusion I Also brought copies of our most recently completed fiscal year annual report those All of this is also available on our website And then Neat of tonight that I'm here for is to ask for a motion to add an article to be March I Was gonna ask you if you we're not gonna vote on it tonight But we will make a note of what your ask is So that's 2024 Yeah, it's so when when a carol make you yeah, but yeah, I say the number again 29 898 and that's level funding and that's level okay. This is for fiscal year You know your fiscal year the same as ours. Yeah, it's yeah, July So this is so it'd be fiscal year 24. Correct. Okay. Okay. All right. So you're looking for a warned item Yeah, yeah, we'll have to you guys You're so supportive. Yeah, you guys are you've always been very kind and generous and said we'll put it on the morning Yeah, you know, not every time does that So we gave you a hard time one year about the increased Craig It was like four years in a row Level on it and we readjusted the formula. So sometimes with down Worcester and Cal's went down actually and so Oh, it's just going down Every year tell me he's a and it could go up sometime Right. Well, the library is so much back to the community The markets is based on a per capita amount You know based on the latest census how many Residents and Well, it's got to be but it's also it must also reflect the budget. So it's truly impressive In these times with with everything somebody just mentioned, you know, how much heating oil is now with everything everything going up and and Staffing needs in demand. I'm I'm very impressed Right, right. So it's we're not a municipal library like Oh They're part of the town the city budget Yeah, we come to a pillier and they pay the lion's share certainly and the other towns There is yes, so you just work off the industry we pull off the budgets made up of Oh 25% 25% from the town No, it's a little over 50% about 25% from the interest of the endowment and then the rest is fundraising and Yeah Are you part of the district heat system? Yeah, that's a good thing right now It does and those those costs have gone up recently and that's not Building the physical plant is not in my bailiwick So I don't want to speak too much to the specifics of that Is it so a town meeting talking points all of these points that you're making that there's no no more penalties the Yeah, the on the online Access is that Craig are you gonna? It's gonna be Jeff. When does the transition happen exactly so By the trustees at the November meeting, okay, and his term will officially start in January at our annual meeting okay, which is when the trustees which is January 18th Our meetings are always the third Wednesday of the month Five o'clock either be square. We meet nine times a year So January through June we take July August off. I'm still saying we know this right you will forever And then September October November so January January through June. Yeah, January 18th is the annual meeting and that's when trustees are officially elected for another three-year term so jump and At least two others who are new trustees. Maybe there are three and Then it could be someone is now about to start their fourth year So the first year of their second three-year term So I have served now three three-year terms, right? Yeah, so Maxed out, right? Yeah, I'm sorry you've maxed out That's a great model That's a great model Yeah, it's still none years. No, it's not well, it's a lot. It is a lot But yeah, it's a lot, but it it it ensures It ensures stability I would imagine if you can live long enough to max out And once you were off the board for two years, you could theoretically Yes, I think it's gonna be important to let people know that it's level funded again You know in my in my work, I manage another thing several million dollars worth of contracts and the cost Increase this year from the city of Montpelier, so it's we are we're In previous years and I end the trustees vote on this every year So I can't make any any sort of a guarantee Where we saw an increase from the city of Montpelier one year and then the next year saw increases from all over our Next year You might have said it and I didn't I didn't take it in This is how many years of level funding this is the second this is the second one second one for Calis now I understand why the city of Montpelier isn't fixing it's drinking water Is there any Being being mindful of the time and that yeah, we are we love hearing this, but I'm also really we're all really anxious here Rick's road report. Yeah, anything else you guys want to add any other questions I'm happy to answer any questions as they come up All right, thank you Capture You Know I think people will like that. They're much more easy to read. Yeah, okay, Rick road support Okay, I'm winter power roots. I'm gonna stand though Let's see generally speaking I think because John will test thank you all I need to be gone. Thank you for making me transitioned over now from a lot of the obviously road grading and we're into kind of win-win maintenance period There's been some standing going on primarily now by our mouths of mine. We still have soft roads We do yeah, they're not Like they're like slippery like they are their mother. Yeah, they're getting the rest of us. I mean we're waiting for things to freeze up I noticed that but I think they're the guys have been focused on Things like removable hazard trees right now. They're doing we're moving fever dams and thank you Sharon for your You're welcome. I passed it on to Tyler. So texting a photo to Rick Excellent way to make him aware of Yes They've been maintaining the trucks. I think we had Peter struck me at a Hydraulic over Problem failures, but he ordered the parts fixed that so that's actually cool fast Fixed it out. You fix the house. He's done Thank you John Yeah, I hope you go back and tell him how many times I've given you a pause I think it's some point this winter. It's not paying up They've already been out there on Friday I think they couldn't do sanding and what I'll do I'll work with Peter that said that we know When crew aren't going to be available to be called in if we have an event And we should know who is just going on leave and who's actually available So we have an idea of what our staffing potential is so we'll try to track that I think on the equipment front every Yeah, like I said everything everything's up and running. I think you've been mainly We've got what this winter we'd like to come up with some kind of solution Maybe we'll try to as time allows work on a pallet for that chloride tank If we can sort of set that up in a dump truck instead of using that trailer So we'll work on that as well The chloride trailer that was being used should have been retired probably some years ago They had an axle rust in half And it was the frame is Swiss cheese. It's unexpected. It's not safe. Is this the trailer they were pulling it They weren't supposed to yeah. Well, yeah, it's a thousand. It's a thousand gallon chloride tank Well, what are ways eight and a half pounds per gallon? So you're talking in excess of 10,000 On a trailer that was And we can also thank the crew for You were being told to do this by the previous road commissioner And that's what we're looking at the option the short-term option will be to rig up Well, not basically a pallet frame for that tank so it can be loaded empty into a dump truck like you know secured Filled great a chloride pull it off pull that maybe that'll be a permanent solution I don't know we have to look at that. We'll look at the treated chloride options to because it might be if if like the the Traded chlorides Corrosive and don't damage the truck bodies, which is that's a risk. We run, you know with burning more I don't do it under those metal bodies I don't doesn't like regular chloride that choose through them like cheese. So I do have a question I noticed one time I was in and It was a winter time and the truck that Alfie drives was full of salt and it was in the heated garage They have to be so it frees up. So is there a way we could get those things hosed down for the I don't know. I'm just thinking aloud because that's the problem Well, if we're not eats the trucks will the sand I mean you're spending is putting sand on most of the reds, right? But that's the no, that's the truck that spreads assault. That's the truck. I'm talking. Oh, yeah Yeah, I don't know. We don't have a washing bay We've you've actually mentioned that I think at our meeting, but those are very tricky To put in because of the water runoff issues on them So it's something we can look at Well, I mean if that truck could be outside and plugged in rather than inside. So it's not freezing at all So it's not freezing. Well heated thick a heated garage accelerates corrosion. It does. It's yeah, yeah It won't Again something we can check out But anyway, let's see. Let me keep going so I don't run out of time Yeah, they've been Yeah, I think this week the work on hazard trees on Robinson Hill Road and Marshfield Road They're trying to prepare for you know, just avoid winter hazards and then there's brush brush and small tree removal and they're shipping that as they go So that that's again kind of and they chip it and leave it on that person blow it They blow it right out on the ground. It's just what you it's like mulch. Yeah, right But yeah, but they don't take it back. You guys don't haul it and we just blow right on to them Yeah, yeah, and then the beaver dam removal the Peek and Brook Road and then Still work to the two that they're working on and I told them about the gray road the Damn to there's actually one there is one off of Toby Hill that I out But I don't know if it's in the right of way the dam and I don't know if it's a hazard or not I have to walk that look at the dam. I don't think the dam on gray roads in the right of way, but Well, I think that they've been so busy Winners cup. Yeah, I know in part in the recent weeks. They've been also been clearing out You know Were you guys on Marshfield Road this morning? Yeah, what was it a tree down? Oh What the tree fell on the roadway Yeah, and anyway back. Yeah, I think they're right now We've got talking he was about to put another just replenish our chloride supply because we're running a bit low We've had to you know, we don't have a lot of chloride that we use so we just have County basically the county road and then Spur on Lightning Ridge up to the school, which is really short and then probably some aprons They aprons on that, you know, so you guys saw the marshy road Departus goes up to the cemetery. Oh by the church Bridges yeah, the Moscow woods. I mean they did the stabilization work on that. That's That's done for the winter What about the grant? I don't have I mean the You know, I need permission from our board and we get to I'd like to soul source that way That's a wolf just get them to know That's what I'm asking about. He's got a bribe. You have I think I said Well as soon as we can do it so we can get so souls. I would like to get you know We can put it on if you ask the state you're waiting to hear back. Yeah, I hadn't heard back from the state yet Okay, I am waiting I just have been gone this week. So so we can't do this approving this Right What is the item that what's what was she the name of the item? It would be a engineering this would be Soul source contract to develop engineering for the temporary repair for the Moscow woods bridge Rude it's bridge 27 Nivy five these guys. Okay, so the soul source contract to develop engineering Temporary repair and I have to contact I gotta make Engineering, right? Yeah, it's the wall. Yeah, it's Christmas now Rick's retired. I got it Okay, I got it sort of Can you read my writing? I got it. I got it Okay The whole I definitely want to hear about winter plow roots because you guys have been reshaping the plow roots Yeah, and I don't have the roots per se yet. John. Do you guys have a new plow roots written down? Or map or mapped out. Yeah We're basically doing the same thing Are they similar? I know you redistributed some of South Africa And you redistributed so that the Rodeo time is more fair, correct? It's good. Yeah I'm more on odds than any Right Right because what you what you guys told me and I think you told rick is The former road commissioners route was three hours and everybody else's was like six six or seven So you think more equally going with what options it's going to do is he's going to take there's places It's a pain to get the bigger trucks into and he's moving around a little more than out of the route He's getting it done. We haven't had anything big yet He's walking out Yeah, I think they're trying to feather him in right? I mean you're going to gradually get him So about come january he'll be able to again. Yeah We didn't know about the minute per year Oh Because you've got a little to number of hours. He's so this is where we used to mention like last Getting some Getting access to a second You know, we'll call kind of part-time And you know bruce had offered to do that on As needed if we wanted but we could try to find somebody I think it would be really smart for us for a couple reasons and that will call kind of range Is then if we get a really bad event we can actually Double you should see you could advertise I would I would encourage I mean do we have the budget for it? I don't know right depends on what That's a good question. I'm why don't why I think we need to look at where we are budget-wise. Yeah Well, this is what I would say here too if we can You know if we we don't did right this minute, right if we can build this in so we're We're this is working toward our future if we can do that next year We just make sure we've got the money, you know in that next next fiscal even there that helps us We may have the residual in the budget now because we haven't been We might had out for it. You know, we you know, we always yeah, we always wanted to have Redundancy so that we have you know backup, but also so that the guys can arrest we need to rest them in big events Yeah, yeah, it's a real safety issue. Well, we want to make sure you guys are safe and not Driving, you know too many hours You know, I mean your safety is really important. This is a big deal and big events and you know, frankly It concerns me a lot. There's no predicting with the climate change where we're going what we do know I mean, I've talked to Scott with you at the national water service quite regularly You know those guys Are you seeing these warming trends warmer weather longer warm falls? And to me, you know what that means is we're going to have more moisture pushing up in the past. We've had these Arctic polar fronts it kept moisture south of us Well, it's not necessarily going to be there now. We're going to see warmer temperatures. So Heavy wet dangerous snow the jet stream shifted and more volume more moisture because it's warm, you know So your precipitation amount becomes greater and this is So we and then coupled with the fact is as John will tell you You know the warmer we're far better off and really cold cold temperatures got very hard roads And you get good traction in really cold wet high loft snow or dry The closer you get to that freezing point the more dangerous and the heavier they get everything about it gets worse And then you got a road that's not and the trees fall over You've got trees that are not frozen very well. So the clouds are damaging. Have you Have you considered Um I'm thinking about messaging. So last year We were doing um you The the you part of we but you you were doing Fairly regular posts. I'm going to be I will actually very I've just I've been trying to I mean I have limited time too Because I'm working I know you do I know so we go but what I plan on, you know as important information comes out Like the we have these weather events. I'll start doing regular if I do it every day. I'll do it we'll put You know critical information about What's happening and what you know road conditions are I'll get something onto the website if we had if if everything were set if we had full staffing and Under regular, you know, if we were just I would love to have just informational sessions every year as a matter of course Okay, just to invite people in to hear what what do the changing weather conditions Need for us because people need to understand. Yeah, I think part of what we have to do is manage expectations It's it's you know I think it would be yeah I'm glad to do that too. I think there is value because we're we're Having to change the game and we don't know exactly how that looks I mean nobody does. I mean the natural other services trying You know to give predictions But what we do know is how these roads behave. We know how they behave in march Right versus january So if you've got five or six, right starts to look like march Well, and they and it's done it So rick, I think what what we've heard over the years two is people want to know what the plow roads are We okay I know you've been out of town and you've been busy, but You know, maybe the guys can mark up a map like yeah, and then we can post that on the website So that's fine. Yeah, we can do because I mean people have asked for that over the years We can never seem to get it. Is there any I mean, I don't know what do they use the question is what would they want? people want to know Times it so that they know it's plow Well, they know that if you're if the plow comes by at 10, you're not going to see a plow again until two two or whatever Just understanding what the I think that would go a long ways and In meeting expectations of you know, we've only got so many people to plow the roads We only got so many trucks Um, you know, and we know and I think and we're focused on safety Focus on our safety for our crew plus the school bus routes to get done first Well, we'll try I mean I can talk to people. Let's let the guys You know, we've had a lot of turnover on the crew So we've got to feel our way into this so we can even really predict that though Is there Hounding these routes a little bit we can probably give rough times if If it's a snow night where and these guys hit the road at three or three thirty more That's we weren't doing that all the time with alford right there. They're in there early So they'll have an idea of roughly what time, you know, they're going to hit Yeah, I mean, that's all I think that's all people are want even just even just to see a map of what the routes are We'll put that on that's easy enough and we'll try to get and to be reminded that plowing stops after Seven o'clock seven p.m. And if you're starting at three, that's that's a You guys got to have enough time to get a decent night's sleep. Well, that's exactly that's a 16 hour day We can't have a working 16 hour day. No, so I know yeah, so making sure people understand the reality of Road management during storms Well, that's where there's our strategic plan. So we're staffing right right flexibly That's where you know having If we can find them, you know kind of You know as needed as needed part-time drivers here we can call in. I mean, right There's a huge advantage That's the most important thing I think you've said What do you need From us. Well, I think in that I would say John I mean, I would I would think we would want to have at least another temporary that we could Call on what do you need to do to get that? We talked about this at the beginning. It's it's looking at the budget And then we can we'll look at this year's budget see how we're floating Right, you know and that's going to be a little tricky because we got so many wild cards running right now But we had budget we had budgeted for I mean, I think there's money because we had budgeted for five full-time road crew members And we're not paying a road commissioner right now I think that there is money, but we can't do anything counted the road commissioner though That five counted alfred's position right right, so we don't have but yeah, so I think you know, we could put it But we're also still yeah, we have to Alfred used to just Calls, you know, he knew people and he would just call them and adam and tell us today. You're our temporary right, so it's so but I yeah, I mean we've always we've always thought there was a need I think I love that we're thinking this way I I you use the word strategic plan. We talked. I think that's great a year ago. We talked about What what were we calling it like the? Having an aware of the contingency planning the contingency planning around It what if the storm is a is a 3 a.m. To 7 p.m. Storm not not only Having an extra person is great, but what if we don't have an extra person? What does that mean? How do we how sure how do we make sure that people understand? It doesn't mean the guys are plowing for 16 hours. It means You guys this is what it actually looks like You got to plan it you got to plan around the fact that they're not Right. Well, I think I can really work with this crew. These guys are good And we'll be able to do that. We do need a little time for them to really Work together as a group. There are a lot of new guys, so we have to figure Right. Well, I'm right. They have to just really get familiar with it So right now though what I'm hearing is that Dana can't work until January 1st So, you know, who knows December can bring a lot of snow Well, it typically does so I think that the worst kinds Yeah, you know, do the guys know anybody that's got a cdl That could be a temporary one of Bruce does we've got But it's that do we have anybody do I mean do we have anybody else? Well, I do think advertising I think just putting the word out there if you feel confident We have the budget for it then putting the word out even up front porch forum or harvard kazan or other places and temporary Yep, and they have to have they already have and they have to have a cdl license. We can't have it so that Well, no, we have to come out. We almost need it. We almost get We need it when it's To the truck cdl and only There's a different level. We need a class b, right? Yeah, you're a class a and a and then we what does that mean that's 80 What I think this is great. Um, we've we've had some time tonight to John John, I was gonna say John you're here. Is there anything you want to add? Yeah Issues that nobody can predict sometimes like moves you used to break down you get park beyond road next day Now it's taken two three weeks. Yeah, okay. That's another part of the contingency. Yeah guarantee when you order stuff now Well, Peter and I were just talking about that this morning. Do we have any things that we should be ordering ahead of time? And we have our chains and have most our stuff in hand, but you know just miscellaneous breakdowns Yeah, you can't I was Peter and I were talking about that this morning I said, what is it that we what makes sense to keep in stock and it's difficult because our trucks don't have a very long life We have five six years, right? And then we trade it and then so, you know, you only go out by a four thousand dollar hydraulic pump as a spare That's only going to be good for a truck that you're going to be getting rid of in a few years so you And they already have the equipment to make their hydraulic hoses I mean, I think with us it would what I would say would be more strategic in the planning is things like You know on these plow trucks We currently use You know electric over hydraulic what they call they have electric control systems that control Yeah, and it's a servo controlled hydraulic pump and they're Problematic they like to use them because they don't have to do as many hydraulic hose penetrations into the cab But the hydraulic systems if you have a pure hydraulic they're like a lot more reliable So, you know, we might want to look at that when we're purchasing our trucks and as the guys have said too We, you know, there was this push to get bigger and bigger dump trucks Well, we need to have at least one or two. It's like six wheel, you know smaller dump truck I'm in a court based on prior conversations. We want to keep a mix And our inventory But you can they're more maneuverable and you've got when you're pulling a trailer or something like that There are advantages. We still should All right, this is one of the reasons we wanted to get bigger trucks was so we wouldn't have to Make as many return trips to pick up material So we should keep it on our tickler list that we need to find a central location to store Central location for the garage so we don't have to keep running up Or that or that we've looked we've looked at, you know Options of where can we where can we run all the time on 14? Well, we've looked at options of where could we put another We actually looked at a property. We thought we had an agreement to lease At least for an interim period to stock pile material and maybe get a second payloader to load trucks center town off county road But that chain Something changed and then the folks backed out of it. So we've got there's one last thing I do want to cover and that is on the radar science The guys got three of the bases in one on the west county road one of these county road, right? We selected we met we selected And what I meant what we didn't get with our signs were the mounting plates. So I've got to get hold of wolf at The guy we all have to get plates to us as soon as we have those we can actually We wanted lightning ridge by above dug lulley's up at tucker road. We cited that just below tucker So we thought that was the best good. So we're we're just waiting for a photo for the town report of that of dug and rick and some of the guys They've done the work with the sign Bala champagne Crissing the speed sign. We'll have somebody approaching the sign at 70 and have dug up In the sheriff down there Is there anything else I just I do want to highlight that some of the what feels really important to me is as Having having crew that can rotate in and out, which we don't have right now. These are these are what we don't have We don't have crew who can come in and out We have unpredictable weather. We have a supply chain issue all of which adds You know brings to the point that people need to be patient around road maintenance in the winter That's that's well and also I want to just emphasize the town report Emphasize, you know, we're very you know, we want to make sure that our road crew and our road crew the safety of our crew is safe Yeah, and that the work, you know, they're not you can't just do 16 hour days three days in a row No, it's not gonna work. No, all right. Good. Good. Good. John. I'm really glad you're here for these conversations to Yeah, thank you. Well that I think we've got you know with us Yeah, I think the the next thing I'm denny's that are working on the budgeting pieces too I mean we've got some real wild cards there. I don't even know how to begin to handle because of the Interruption in our grants, you know with the grants that were operational this year that have not happened and So it's going to be tricky to figure them out. I found a list Yeah, I know that you got the list, but then the question is how all that Translates forward right well we and well with that things that were supposed to be Expended this year and right right. Well, it's the fact that we shifted districts Well, and the fact that we have a list we can follow up on the list right So we'll get uh, we will uh, we'll do our best on this piece and I think Yeah, and I think you're right. We're helped I'll work on the communication piece with the town People really liked that last year. They did. I Yeah There's there's an opportunity for really meaningful roads report in the town Well, I was I was trying to do in my reports and there, you know remember I was doing it during during mud season when when then we needed regular reports, but I always add in Every week. I added different Right. Yeah, people people really kind of the tip of the week and it was about Yeah, it was why we you know, why we do ditching or why we now or and how You know, there's a reason and how we do it right and there's uh, and I was trying to do that We'll continue that because it's educational. Absolutely. I think we do you brought up a good point that This, you know, we we have a few guys that manage a lot of road a lot of difficult road And we have limited resources and so We do we only have so much flexibility And they we actually do really well given what we've got But there is a limit to how far it goes and we get hit by things that we can't predict And especially with supply chain issues things like that supply chain weather and we're stopped. Yeah safety All right, so this is good. Thank you rick. Thank you. John. Yeah, thanks for thanks to you and the crew Okay, so let's let's just highlight again our upcoming meeting schedule. We have a meeting this coming saturday to Then we're gonna have more numbers for us on highway. That was one of the big Right. Um, yeah, yep here at 10 just like we did last time bring your notes from the The budget we meet 12th, is it the 12th? It's a regular meeting on the 12th as a regular meeting and A special meeting on the 19th, but that that's because we're not meeting on the 26th In there somewhere for sure. We will have to do some pop-up meeting for You know, maybe, you know, new new candidates for positions more budget meetings. There's Other things hitting our radar as we saturday build towards town meetings We yeah ignore ignore this november 28th, it didn't find its way out on december 12th Um, I'm skipping it. Okay, wait. I mean rick's trying to catch up 12 three saturday at 10 A regular meeting on monday the 12th and then another That's seven or are we doing a six? I think you should assume six assume. Yeah Yeah, put six on your calendar and then what's the next one and then the next one would be in And then the next one after the 19th would be in january. Then it'll be january, right? January january 2nd is the monday And we have offered at this point to the crew to meet on the second or the 16th Depending on what's going to work for them. So keep those Mondays in mind After you know after the holidays and so January 2nd or 16th Yeah, hopefully we'll be in good shape on the budget and town meeting by then So I'm jumping ahead to future agenda. Is there anything under just a round robin that people want to raise? mark I think the only thing I was worried about is the dand. Yeah, you talked about that. Yep, john round robin Well, what's What's been on my mind tonight just talking about speed is county ruby Um an informal discussion about maybe just posting the 50s as 40s Morning traffic ordinance amendment. Yeah, we have a here. We have a hearing just do it get it done And move on. I think we should do that just for consistency on that road the way we trump up it down There's there's enough there, you know, honestly, I don't almost have care about the 85 percentile rule on that that is silliness I don't agree with that that philosophy. It should be the same for the whole road. I agree I can and frankly at two in the morning when I was in a rush 15 years ago. I've gone 90 probably to East Montpelier Just telling you that at 75th or 90th percentile is a bunch of boulder dash. They've been 40 since So do you guys do you want an agenda item to make a formal proposal? On it. Well, we would need it's a traffic ordinance change. Well, that's actually we've had this we've had carrying this Traffic control ordinance update reduce county roads feed limit next steps. John and rick. Yeah, it's on the 12th Do you want 15 minutes in the agenda that yes? Yes, we need to we need to warn the amendment to the traffic Control ordinance, so we would be voting on that. Yes. Do you have an amendment? And the amendment would be to change the zones that are 50 to 40 Well, but it needs to be more than that because we have an ordinance and somebody actually needs to pull up the ordinance Yeah, no, I understand that. So you're going to do that. So I can do that not just verbal job No, no, I understand that. Okay. So what meeting are you suggesting? I'm I'm saying 12 to 12 Oh, wow. Awesome. Well, it's already on here for the 12th. It's already there. Um, anything else in your mind? No, okay, Denise So we can uh, no, that's good. So we can also even direct The road crew to get the the speed sign so we have to order the signs. We may not have them in inventory Okay, yeah, I don't know how many there are you have to do Okay, so at 15 minutes and you're going to oh and also also we had mentioned the transition Where we go from 40 to 25? Maybe that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter in this you were going from from 50 to 25 You can only jump in 15 to 40 You can go 15 mile per increments no more. So if you're going 40 to 25, but it's nice to say speed Slow speed up ahead Because all of a sudden you you're at 25 and you're in violation. No, you have to have a We don't have a reduced speed We don't have those so we should get some of them. Okay, so maybe you want to list of the signs the guys need to add order Yeah, okay. So maybe I'm putting this for 20 minutes. Um, if if we can have that if we have a time Uh rick anything on your mind that you haven't had a chance to talk about yet I know we've already talked about uh the wolf the uh, and that oh, yeah one one more thing we've got I need some I need some help. We've I don't know We have to get uh for the loose road project We've got to get the easements that are out of the right of way that they have to do some work We talked about this and I was going to kind of when you're ready. We're going to contact the town attorney. Yeah, we need to do that Right, we can do that. I'm just waiting for you to give me the go. Okay. Okay. Let's go. So, okay All right, so looking you have the documents All right. So looking down the list of what's on for next time. Um, we have the dam we have A piece we have a bunch of minutes to do we have a bunch of minutes We have an ecct item that I paired out the wrong version But if you go into the folder for the 12th, they're starting the the items for the 12th is more complete than what I have seven Jeremy is coming to talk about He's going to make a proposal around changing the the grace period for taxes which relates to what goes in the warning for town meeting We're also we have the woodwork. I'm going to say we have the fire department's coming the fire department and they have two Two items to talk about which is the recruitment incentives And are they going to give us their budget? Um, I don't know Oh, what was the other thing because I asked them to send it to me Was it something about an exemption for? No, that's the incentive. No, that's the incentive. We're calling it the something But there's something else and I didn't put it on here, but I will look back in my email you and stuff me already Calcer of standards history I think it goes. Yeah We I don't know if we're gonna have time to do all this on the 12th Well, we'll We may have time to Hit the highlights on that one, which may be what we need right now. The second email said that's the she's so then Appointments, I'm just keeping here always. We're working through some of those I'm going to cross off install installation of speech science because we just got an update on that And Yeah, use of american rescue plan funds for traffic calming uro design Next steps, right? So kind of already do that tonight. We did that tonight and I made a note of 30 000. Yep Okay Not to distract, but Do we have to warn? Other than a select board meeting deserve to prescribe the warning period for it's an ordinance ordinance. It is. Yeah, there's a whole thing Yeah, there's a whole we can we can we warn it We can make the change And then so we'll warn at the december 12th meeting, right make the change and then Could you let me finish talking? That you have 45 days the public has 45 days to petition To not have the ordinance go through it. Okay. Okay, so you know which is always backwards Yeah, okay, cool. So all right. So I just have to get you to line. Okay. Got it I require that people eat chocolate Um And then Future agenda items so this carries us into december 19th I have to reach out to jan. I haven't heard from her anymore about the zoning regulation changes curb cut That's so I want to keep it. I want to keep carrying it, but it's I don't imagine it happening, but something else will come up I'm going to say there's going to be stuff that come up, especially with budget season and the warning Yeah, it's going to be stuff that's going to come up And hopefully as people start to realize that we're starting to talk about our compliance putting it on the warning And some of the other things for town meaning we've made certain people Um, okay, so I ask you guys a really quick question. I know something that's actually important In in our longer haul and that is about Do we have any ordinances that that restrict? upland properties, you know from draining to dumping excess amounts of water into our road ditches you know because that's a major problem of Major erosion if you have to over armor your ditches they don't use them Sometimes you can't fix the problem. How is this water going to go there? Well people who like to drain properties not just their drives But they drain on our drains and it ends. Yeah under drains are just swales, but it drops it You know, thank you. He drops it into Our road ditches. I mean our road ditches at high elevation an upland And then all of a sudden you've got a huge volume of water that you've got to transport to the bottom of the hill You can't do it. Yeah This has been a problem in towns like uh, Lincoln. We got that going on here Well, I don't know yet, but I was curious. I'm only asking to know if we if you know of any ordinances And I've got to really read through and carefully see exactly what we got If we don't we may want to look at that because this This development happened just This can be something that really plagues you in the back side These are very hard problems to fix and very expensive We say that should I don't think we have an ordinance like that We can I think right I have a great ordinance policy requested section. What would that be called? That would be I would say uh drainage just call it for drainage Drainage property property drainage and property drainage into roadway ditches into roadway ditches. Yeah, because um The what you do is they have to be when they they have they need to be forced to They want to drain their property. They have to keep it in sheet flow off of the right away So okay, I'm going to put this as a under the ordinance create ordinance and policy section here Okay, so we're wanting to adjourn Do we need to go into executive session for anything? No, I don't think we do. All right. Is there a motion to adjourn? Favor, please say aye. All right