 All right, so it's nine o'clock we be here and as chair of the Rochester Select Board I find that due to the state of emergency defined by Governor Scott as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and pursuant to addendum 6 to executive order 01-20 and act 92 this public body is authorized to meet electronically and in accordance to act 92 there's no physical location to observe and listen contemporaneously to this meeting however in accordance with the temporary amendments to the open meeting law I confirm that we're providing public access to the meeting using the Zoom platform and we have advertised the meeting in free places physically in the town and on the town website and also electronically through people who have expressed the interest to do so so we have just you know quick agenda here but does anybody have any additions they want to make to that agenda we at some point today I just want to make an announcement that some point today the warning will be ready for the select board to come in and sign okay all right so that we it can go with it can go to the go to print all right great that sounds good it's good I'll be in there so the basically the the driving issue of that now as it started snowing again outside my window is the changing in the contract for sidewalk maintenance in the town music mountain maintenance has um agreed to give up their contract for that and John Gorton is willing to take that on and it's um so I I suppose we should agree that that's um a good move to take um excuse me doing does John Gorton have a name for his business or would I just say John Corton what is he does have four seasons property management yeah four seasons property management thank you so Julie do you have difference forms for John on file at the office there yep I do so I'll I'll type up his uh new contract today and that'll be ready as well he's doing it for the same money oh good he is doing it for the same money but he has may request as if he could get paid ahead a little bit because he needs to invest in equipment for his tractor he needs to invest in a snow blower so go ahead what is the amount of money that you pay every pay for the winter what is that Julie it's 2,500 maybe something like that it was a little more like 13 13,000 divided by six maybe by three no it should be six months oh yeah okay yeah because we pay monthly so like see if I said like we're looking at we're looking it up right now I'm sorry 2,200 a 2,250 and that's you through April does that does that cover the sanding and salting there too it does yeah is he got something for that or does he have to um he is gonna use a broadcaster for that okay yeah and he asked about that or using the salt from down at the town garage which I said right yeah that's that's the source of that we provide that for the community really right under his contract to provide is that correct right under his contract to yeah and we don't invite the community to come take buckets of salt but they're welcome to take sand for their own use not for uh you know not for business purpose right but but John has access to that for the sidewalks yes we provide the salt for that yeah yeah so he is um actually going to be purchasing two pieces of equipment there's a larger blower that goes on his bigger tractor that um which is a little oversized for some of the situations in town and then he's also going to buy a smaller walk behind snow throwers so um on smaller snow falls and for some of the more intimate corners around town he'll use that because his tractor is too big to get into to everywhere so if I said that he he asked to be paid some of that in advance so he could purchase more equipment that's correct yes okay thank you sorry to interrupt you um does does that include him uh not with this contract but he also takes care of the skating rink is that correct uh yes and then probably that's smaller um that this contract doesn't include that that's a separate deal with the um right I realize that yes but you're just wondering if that that equipment will help and take care of that I think it will I think his tractor was a little overkill for that and the smaller blower would be a a good tool for that and in addition he also asked if he could store his tractor in the old fire station because there it is right in the village and um relatively empty I talk with cooter and he's got no problems with that they've there's seems to be plenty of room in there so instead of leaving it somewhere under a tarp or or transporting it every time so I didn't see any problems with that yeah no I think that's all right yeah the only thing I worry about is the salt in there we always washed our fire trucks off when they were in there but I don't think there's any power or heat in there no there's there's not yeah yeah um so he may want to uh do something at the town garage I don't know if we should clear that with John or what that maybe he wants to you know wash off his equipment every now and then every now and then I have any salt load inside that building okay that's a good idea I don't know I mean you can ask John about it I don't really know what the ramifications would be on that how much he'd get really but yeah yeah I don't know um you know that or um make sure that that's cleaned out um at the end of the season in the building too and clean that out well yeah yeah because we don't want it to rust anything that could be rustable in there that's all yeah print this out make a note here um so the the amount he was looking at if he could get 5500 up front that would cover his expense which is basically he's taking over mid-month so the the half of this month and then um so it's it would be I think that's that's reasonable maybe you do I'm confused 5500 is more than I only have 2250 through April that's a monthly payment of 2250 oh per month okay pardon me I thought that was a whole minute yeah pardon me I'll fix it thank you right and so he would be asking for basically he's taking over mid-January so he'd be getting a January contract and then um February and then half of March would make that up and that's still totally in the in the window of winter and when we'll be needing the surface so I think that's um you know the money's in the budget I don't see any problem with doing that do you guys no not at all I mean I got a couple complaints on the side that they weren't loud but nothing too serious I know the last storm was kind of hectic anyway and and it's a little bit stressful heavy stuff yeah well that last storm was what prompted this transition because um Music Mountain um failed to materialize to take care of that he got overwhelmed with his other commitments and that's when we had had this conversation with John at the beginning of the season and and Music Mountain said they wanted to keep on with the contract and at that point I think John had had come and cleaned up when Mike couldn't get to it and so that's what prompted this um finally it was too much for Mike and he's like yeah let's let John have it so um so if we um I guess we'll have to draw up a separate contract for that but we can um all right so I don't think um there's nothing that we need to make a motion on right or or here we are we could I move that we um mid-season reassigned the sidewalk maintenance contract to four seasons property maintenance all in favor all right all right and then the second thing on our agenda is um a letter that we had Joan um right up on our behalf in support of the um a grant application of big town projects for the better places program which is a program that's been brought forth rather quickly in an attempt to um support local businesses and vibrancy in the village or during covid time to um enhance opportunities for people to to be outside and um access businesses and so this is um basically would be this is not something that I would be able to sign because it's um regarding a project that I personally am involved in but it's with the um the basically the improvement of the the streetscape and helping to define the sidewalks between the gallery building and the um p vine drive headed towards the new park down there so there were a couple typos in the letter that um Joan wrote and we clarified that it's the application to the better places program it's a grant application to that program so I clarified some of that that um wordage but um I couldn't get everything you said so Julie if you're there is it possible for you to to email me a copy of what it is that they're going to be doing with this project yep thank you very much so that I won't have to ask everybody to repeat it I'm sorry this is merely just a support letter for for you to get yeah there's no um there's no financial um right commitment from the town whatsoever it's just a letter of support and awareness of the project and that that's um it's called big town projects and okay well then in case if I just said go ahead I'm sorry big town projects incorporated is the non-profit organization that's applying to it the grant needed to be applied for by either a municipality or a non-profit organization okay and the goal of it was to improve this streetscape and help define the sidewalks at the north end of the village would that be correct to say or not yeah yeah that's uh that's a good good piece of it I could um I could read it for the record if you'd like since we have here I'm sorry to be a pest about this that's all right you're right as fast as people talk it's addressed to the 2021 better places program committee and attention um Richard Amor on behalf of the Rochester select board I'm pleased to provide this letter of support for big town project incorporated application to the better places program the plan site improvements your grant would fund will reconstruct and connect the green mountain bike shop the bike rental center and the new vellum on in and complete the transformation of a significant sector of Rochester's commercial district the project will improve traffic patterns and the experience of pedestrians and bicyclists that the appearance of the streetscape and address onsite drainage issues in addition the vellum on in renovation is turning an underutilized aging structure into a hostel and lodging facility which will create local jobs and enhance the growth of tourism in our valley together with the big town gallery the bike shop has been a vital center of commercial cultural and community activity in the village district for over 30 years the project dovetails nicely with Rochester's improvement efforts in the village since tropical storm Irene including the construction of a new park with river access the installation of a park and ride facility a ccd village centered designation a stormwater master plan and a detailed sidewalk planning study town-based nonprofit groups have been part of this effort too for example the recent renovation of the pierce hall community center rochester is partner with the rochester Randolph sports trail alliance rasta with the mission of developing and improving outdoor recreation opportunities such as the new vellum on trail the bike shop and gallery bring a diversity of visitors to our small town for outdoor recreation culture commerce and community gatherings the vellum on in and associated improvements described in their application will make rochester and vincenty and even more attractive and welcoming place to visit stay and enjoy so thank you wow okay that's why i can't i can't vote on it because i'm involved in in the the businesses that will be you know partially affected by this but it'll be uh so it's basically a letter um that the town is aware of the the the progress and patty of a question yeah um the end result physically what are we going to see as an end result of this great money um physically what you're going to see is the right now if you start from the bike shop and head south all the way to the old simpson building it's some solid pavement and kind of a free for all traffic access in and out of route 100 and what we're going to do is define two driveways in and out of those properties and and instead of just you know 100 yards of of driveway access and we're going to be removing some asphalt and greening up on our property so it'll be more um some outdoor outdoor spaces but you know pedestrian and and places for people to hang out you know versus um massive asphalt and cars parked everywhere so when do you estimate that this work would get done this would be happening this summer i think the grant when it's uh improved has to happen within three months so it's going to be this this spring and summer it's coming spring and summer okay yeah and this just a partial this is just a it's not um and it's not going to take the whole whole project over frank you had a question yeah uh is that is that subject to zoning uh what your improvement is you kind of have to let that out to zoning don't you or do you um i don't think so there's no modifications of the building structures there's we have been in touch with um detrans they're concerned about access in and out of route 100 and a crisp term that we don't need an 11 11 permit because we're not asking to add um access to route 100 we're actually defining and reducing access to route 100 so um it's not um and then in terms of it's been identified on our sidewalk plan as a needed section of clarification and the sidewalk while we're not talking about building a sidewalk right now but by defining the driveways and defining the edge of payment it will basically um bring to um visibility the existing sidewalk that is there that's been commandeered by vehicle traffic at this point i i think it's a it's a great project i'm not against it at all um i would suggest though that you um when you have a finalized plat of what you're going to do there that you would submit it to the town to the zoning and just let them really review of it yeah i mean i don't think it would be anything that would hold you back or anything else i just think it'd be nice to put it out in the open for everyone to see yeah and also um if that's something that when you do get that done and you do decide to do that i think it would be good to put a little summary of what's going to be happening in the in and when in the in the herald so that you know people could know that you know they don't necessarily all look at the town website or whatever you know yep no it's definitely would want to have the the finalized plans and clarity and yeah and and you know presenting it to the zoning we're working with v trans now it's like that's the advice we've been given as we got to start with the state and move back from the road because they really that's their you know the main concern there and then right yeah i know uh we talked with john and and jone and i we walked a village there the other day and we kind of like to have something when they do pave the town through again that we can step out to the edge of the right of way at least and we may even want to go further in a few places that we may have to do something on our own but i think it's it would behoove us to do it at that point yeah so it's like that's not happening till 2022 so we have this right to really identify and and in this corner of town at least i think this will make a big step towards clarifying what what's going on there you think they might also do some repairs to the the section of sidewalk that goes from park row in front of the park house and in front of the in front of the old catholic church etc i mean down to the catholic church in turn that is kind of yeah that's been identified on the on the master plan is a is a hot spot that needs to be fixed yeah that needs to be fixed we that i suppose you remember back to it's been a handful of years now when we did this townwide sidewalk study and there were some recommendations in there that well the debon king's recommendation was like oh we know it sounds intense but it's best to just do the whole town all at once you know and and get it done with and that's the most efficient way and that's um that's not the way that we're going to be able to deal with this you know so we when they put the new water line into the park house for the sprinkler system we took that opportunity to establish the sidewalk was from the park house going east up along the park you know so that we attacked that little chunk of the sidewalk that was another identified vague spot where it was just a cars and people blended so but yeah that section you're talking about is also another yeah okay thank you i'm speaking of which i also heard from my neighbor dian mckinley this morning is the park house generator is arriving i think it's today either today or tomorrow good yeah this last power outage really brought to the forefront the the need to have that hooked up well they've been fundraising for it for a long time and apparently walt wells told him that he was head of it and he told um dan and they were very very very excited because yeah especially now when they're locked down because they've got five covid cases yep so um so any likes i had to i had to recuse myself from from this one but i'll leave it up to you guys to you know approve or not the town's recognition of this project in your um um support of it i can make a motion that we do support the letter of support for um the big town organization to uh apply for the grant second i can second that no i'm favor okay all right thank you guys um and i think that's our barring the barring the typos though yeah right right we'll um have that improved and and actually had it signed by um john allen the select board assistant but i might maybe we should just say that um select board and have you guys sign it as a select board not the select does that make sense if they could you know make get rid of park and red and you know the typos and go ahead we'll consign for you so i'll um have that over at the um town office when they're going town um sign the warning that'll be over there too yeah all right okay so i think that's um that's all i had and um we'll see you guys again monday right yes thank you and i'll i'll call john gorton and let him know that um what that we agreed to accept his offer of cleaning up our village for us knowing again yes yes it is knowing again he's going to be he's going to be spending a lot of time down here if he's doing the school too he finally did get on the skate space the other day so that's good all right thank you guys okay later