 All the meeting to order First on the agenda is to prove the agenda So anything need to be amended or we are good to approve as written. No energy committee contact of me And they want to be postponed for a to a future meeting maybe the next meeting, but it depends if they get Apparently they have other changes they want to make to the purchasing policy, which they didn't state submit the first time I Told them So that's it So wait, no, that's more under American rescue plan. I want to talk about issuing an RFP for the sewer pipe sewer Pumps, I'm making pipes. I'm like help me out here Sewer sewer pumps. I had to think where you're trying to I know I'm like pipe sewer pumps and the generator So that's just I mean still part of the discussion, but yeah Okay, so all we effectively did was we moved energy We deleted the appointment for 615 for the energy committee, correct? Yes, sir, okay But we probably I do that on a public comment quickly, sir. Yeah, you're that or other business where we want to do it Okay, just need a motion to approve as amended Hey All in favor doing seconds I Do in seconds so Chuck's not here yet. No So we'll just We'll just keep an eye out for Chuck when he shows up. We'll just go back to him for everybody's good with that Just move up to public comment. Is there any public comment this evening wopping two people here Make sure you guys get in line No, no stamp eating to the front So and just make sure that during public comment session Depending on who's taking the notes make sure that your your name and sometimes address of where you live so I appreciate you folks Introduce myself. I am teams key Vermont certified beekeeper on board of directors of the VBA as well one advisory board I used to work in the U.V. Medical Center a couple years ago when COVID broke out I decided to live my full-time life dream and that is Being a bee farmer as well as a honeybee breeder I'm just now received a grant to bring Queen bees to Penn State University Been featured in bee culture magazine did a self-designed major to Norwich graduated Norwich University I also love farmers markets, and that's where I sell my honey And be high products The reason I'm here. I've been speaking with Kelly as well as meeting folks from the community through Bethel's Forward fast as well as pitfields fast. I'm also been doing Randolph's farmers market as well as South Alton's farmers market And a meeting a couple of folks through the different town festivals someone had mentioned to me that Bethel's farmers market at Just pretty much banished and court is sort of deceased from the farmers market and COVID so To put it simply barb and a few other people asked for myself if I wanted to spearhead it and try to revamp and get it going again And I volunteer to do it, you know, I love working with community on variety of events I do things with Vermont law school speaking engagements about Honeybees important honeybees and farming, etc. I work with leading commercial beekeepers in the state of Vermont Chas Mirage the Mirage family Michael Palmer, etc. Etc. The long story. I'm here to as Kelly Suggested come here to try to seek some contribution towards minor things like a banner and or some sort of Aesthetics to tour sort of like attract people as they go by I'm revitalizing a single board sign that was sorted into lapidated But I revitalize that repainting and so forth and out of my own pocket making some sort of contributions I placed together a couple fliers which Kelly has posted through various sites for Bethel Long story short, I live just across over in Stockbridge just across Gainesville Bridge But you know, I do things in the town next door y'all in my name So I'm here to as Kelly, you know said I keep trying to do that To seek some donations in or contributions For a banner and or small things that will track, you know, the kids and families and so forth It's going to be introduced as a farmers market slash food market and we're not charging a fee to the vendors We are asking vendors based on conditions that will have to a group of volunteers who will be You know, like myself a leader in or contributor on some level so forth Well, similar to what you all have but nothing in concrete because this again is an infant stage in the tendency So I'm here to say this is who I am from James P. And we'll begin the process starting May 30th, and we will follow the Schedules has been every Monday from 3 to 6 p.m. So if you go to the site, I believe that Kelly She's initiated already and has put forth what I've already, you know printed out which is a small advertisement You all can share this And share what I've introduced to the public to sort of draw people there and again We're gonna, you know have a people that will screen so there's not like a junk market is very friendly and family oriented We also really want to try to make it a fun place for people to come down to one a Monday evening Okay Facebook the front porch forum and and on our website Was on Facebook. Oh good Yeah, next to the white church. Oh nice Like I thought maybe I was wrong, but I thought we had some sort of banner at one point Bethel Farmers market Make it a little little fancy with a nice flower board You go to different towns, you know, I'd say Half the towns anyways have some sort of good That's banners or you know, so I you know, I don't know how much of any idea how much a banner would How you all would agree on what you would like it to be being very plain and simple where it's a white Flowery border for something that just features, you know, I stored down presentation For you know something that's you know pleasing to where it's not, you know, such an instruction Or you need to add another device to hold it up, but it fits pretty aesthetically nice with what's already out there Yes, man, so that you know, would you be you know vandalized or That No, I think it'd be great if there's talk about expanding it because we have the where the ban shell is now and then there's some other Property right next one to the front of the road. That's also town property. So With you know brain some of the farmers also I'm working with on doing a track and parade those kind of things You know the fire department fire department Met a few of them that are also be keepers Yeah, so there are a bunch of families that have been doing it, you know, you know as a family tradition Just like you know maple syrup and so forth. So there are a lot of people that are excited to be on board So just you know trying to see how You know, it's like work being involved as well. I'm also seeking donations again. We have the northeastern organic farmers market Mofa there are they're involved with me Getting grants and I've already written the bar hill Licker that puts out grants to support You know people selling honey in our farmers market So I'm also trying to seek donations whether it's you know Their time to set up some moves or so for the remote be keepers association They're also volunteering to send information through me. So I could set up a table So we want to try to make it where it's a community form, you know, more than just a Artie spoken with my wife She works for the Center for an agricultural economy up in Hardwick. I know I know of you through her and we Buy your honey before and stuff and they sometimes do like small-scale grants like 500 to a thousand dollar Grants for essentially for startup ventures that are agriculture based, which is absolutely What you'd be so I can your emails here So I'll sort of have I'll forward it to her and have her reach back out to you and see what See what they might have as well because I know they do it's sort of whatever they have available at the time But they may have something that could kind of help propel things a little bit as well Yeah so well first thank you for trying to Get the farmers market back up and going again, you know COVID and other things have really Shot down a lot of Extracurricular activities that we had going and you know trying to get that back together And it's always it's always hard because you know nobody ever wants to take the point on anything, right? So so I appreciate you taking the point on that So I just want to make sure it sounded like but I didn't get it a hundred percent for me But it sounded like you were looking for the board to maybe partner on getting a banner. Is that kind of the Reason what I you know, I just don't want to just you know jump in and poor You know hard-earned money, which I really don't have And to revitalizing a program that you know has been already established That I'm sort of like Eric, you know, I'm sort of feeling to get it going again So, you know, I want to try to put as much sweating as I can But you know just to see what also what you know partnership Well The best way to get some action from the board would be to Think about a specific item that you'd be looking for the town will call it donate, right? I mean we wouldn't just naturally think of a donation normally it'd be more of like if you proposed the town being a sponsor of Let's say the banner costs Then I guess I guess that's just what I would need from you or or somebody from the board to make a motion on And then we would you know discuss that and and and you know make Make a decision Yeah, we did we did we did some for a grant for the downtown. I don't remember if we used ruler or spalding I don't remember have to us yeah Yeah, I mean I think so because I mean I think if we just look for a common donation We you know that may or may not ever happen or or in the time frame that you want it to where if it's more of a specific Item motion that we can make to approve and you know, I don't know if we say Not to exceed a certain amount or you know something like that so that you know you know Either James or or Therese can look for a price at spalding or somewhere else to get a banner Or you know, I don't know what the word You know Visible No, that no, I mean it will come out of the general fund So I just would think the work with James to purchase a banner Not to exceed a dollar amount and then we can kind of judge by size once we know how much you know What they cost and we'll be able to say okay, it's not big the banner is because it's so much money We have to spend so I don't know. I mean I can't remember What we spent When we bought those to the other grant, but I you're probably looking a hundred two hundred dollars I'm thinking up to 50, but yeah, I don't know. I'm not the banner guy, but Donation out of the out of them or help us halfway So what do you think would be a value not to exceed or give us you know 200 or something like that I Think that if you're especially even get them to put their name on it So just need a motion to approve the we'll call it Donation to the Bethel farmers market for Advertising banner not to exceed 200 All in favor hi There you go So I'll have Kelly reach out to you James and Paul and then she can contact some people get some pricing and then you'll have an idea of you know How big it can be that sort of thing? Take care Here Do you know Teresa typically do towns have budgeting for their Farmers market or is that typically separate of the town or usually they're separate of the town They have they'll usually make the vendors that rent tables and they kind of pay a fee to the vendor And then so it's usually a separate thing Okay, but I could see what he's trying to do is something a little more you know easy less You know so and we'll see what I'm just wondering for budget time Is that is that a group that we're missing that maybe you should have I don't know should be on Services piece of it or maybe should be an appropriation to the board I guess we'll have to see how you know because I'm sure like banners over time need to be replaced or yeah They probably don't need a lot, but We do Yeah, yeah, or down the road if we appropriate a little bit of money Towards it every year Yeah, yeah, they could go there sure just nice to keep in mind. Yep All right We're just finishing up public comment right now, and then we'll get right to you gentlemen We just skipped on the public comment, and then we'll we'll get right back to you. So Oh, and I think you're the only one left in the public if you have any comment other than that I Guess I'm here as Owen Just to let you know that we're doing this pride event. I think Lenny has updated you about that as well whole bunch of stuff But the Bethel equity inclusion committee did vote to host the movie screening that's gonna happen on Sunday I'm just gonna be actually here at the town hall at 2 p.m. So that's gonna be Sunday the 26th and so we're gonna view the movie together the movie is pariah. It's about a young Queer teenager And it's written and directed by a black queer Filmmaker, it's really great And so we're gonna show it here. We're gonna have like popcorn snacks. It would be very cute We like vibes and then we'll have a discussion afterwards. So we'd love to invite all select board members And if you want to help spread the word about that We're also having a We're starting a recovery meeting for people who identify as lesbian gay bisexual transgender here Who are in recovery, so whether that's a or you know narcotics anonymous or Other types of recovery programs and that's gonna kick off that weekend at the Arnold block And then that'll be a recurring weekly meeting So you could also tell people if you hear of anybody who's looking for support around sobriety Looking for a safe place with other people that might identify as lgbtq to talk about addiction That's gonna be a really great meeting. It'll actually be the only Recovery meeting that I know if that'll be in Bethel because the one at the faith assembly isn't happening anymore So I just want to update you about that location for the meeting. It's gonna be on on that the Arnold block Yep So the Arnold block is going to be Sunday or sorry Saturday at noon. That's the 25th Um, prior the screening of the movie will be Sunday the 26th here at 2 p.m And I didn't mention it, but I will anyway Friday. We're doing a Pride prom and that's gonna be geared more towards young people who identify as lgbtq and their allies It's gonna be at the white church It's a free event all ages no alcohol will be happening here It's gonna be fun to For the movie no everything's free except for the drag and burlesque show at our bar, but that's already sold out So Surprise for a group gonna be every Saturday at noon or just that one day and then you guys will set a schedule We're kicking it off every Saturday at noon. We're still figuring out where it's gonna be every Saturday All right, thank you We're we're in Public comment right now. So if there's anything anybody has it's not on the agenda now is the time to bring it up Not yet. We we got Chuck next Actually, he was first, but they weren't here yet. So we went to public comment And then then we'll get to the water sewer piece of it So hearing none, I don't see anybody on I get there's a reflection. I can't see Okay, so we'll close public comment and we will move to Chuck and Central Vermont quad runners Ken Carter, and this is Chuck Lyman. We're here on behalf of CVQ are and really blame you help us with some trail stuff. He's here with us We're here to ask permission to use the same roads that we've been using for the last several years to connect with our trails and To find out if there are any concerns any issues we need to address talking with Teresa I gave him the same map that you last week. I think the only I Think the only ongoing concern that we had and we I believe we first brought it up to the snowmobile club Yeah, is that and I can't remember whose property is that comes, you know, if you come on Cooper Hallows on it's on the left where there's Depending on the time there there's stormwater that runs off that trail We've had some issues especially during early winter with moisture coming off there and freezing on the road and getting icy and And you know trying to figure out a long-term solution being that's not the town's property on There's nothing out there about maybe a potential of some water bars or something that we could install Hire up that trail that could divert some of that water away from that point I Don't know if we had any other concerns with any other Trails of the roads pieces of it, but I think that's why it keeps coming up and And I know it basically it's between your club and the snowmobilers that use that so yeah There is a town road down below that that would eliminate that but it wouldn't solve the problem if it isn't taken care of but We've never used that down below there I mean it is it is it is a town road that would would not have that problem down on a corner It goes get down into the gully there the hollow part of it Yeah down just blow that right away and on the short corner of the town road actually goes to the left Yeah It connects on to that, but I don't know why they've always used that but there used to be a feel school house was there And somebody used it as a camper or summer home or something and they probably did want people coming out through there, but That's just another option We didn't write our trails The last two years in Bethel because we lost our trail And so we weren't able to get up there and we have no place to unload and and to ride So we didn't get up there to do anything with that We're hoping to be able to get around and get our signs up this year so that at least the local people can ride and I Think we're gonna maybe park at race house one day in June and get our signs up right around the trails We get our signs up You can take a look at that at that time How do you lose your trail head just it's on somebody's private land? It was somebody was letting us use one of their fields Yeah, and they had other usage for it. So we ended up having to stop using it. So we had no place to park Well, we don't want to give up our permissions because there's still local people that can ride from the house So we don't want to give it up. We're just we're trying to find another trail head and work more on our trails there yet, but The conservation commission is working on the I'm blanking on where it is The town forest Quimby town forest and they're working on yeah on range. They're working on a sort of parking area there Could that be? sort of tag teams Where is it so? Yeah, you're probably gonna do a better job What or range and then you know where Quimby forest is They're kind of at the end. And so what the our trail takes in the range row Yeah, because well because that's it that the conservation commission is Trying to work on a forestry plan for dealing with the timber at Quimby and at the same time They want to build a parking area up there. So do you know fair and Griffin? I could send you his email But you do in contact you could figure out where they I don't know how far down the road that is I think they were looking to do it this fall, right? But for future as a rule of conservation group, they do not like four wheelers They don't like to have them on their land. I've not seen I don't know how they would feel about that But as a rule, we don't have a rapport with them at all. Yeah, I think the trails were Maybe the vorac grant aren't those going to be well, I think I think the trails would be open to to all activities You know unless Seeing if there's some mutual you guys could work together and figure that out Okay, what's okay, I have Chuck's email. What's tens? Okay, I'll Okay, so All right, we'll do that All right, we'll do it We are working on getting all of our landowner permissions legal in Bethel Some land has changed hands. So we're working on that That's why raise with us tonight because he's going to be working on that our sport is growing But I'm sure you've all heard about the controversy in the south About them wanting to open up trails there I ride Different places other than here and I ride out of state. I go to West Virginia in February and And So the sports growing we want to grow We don't want to go real fast We want to grow slowly But one of the things that people always ask for is can we get to a gas station or somewhere to eat? So with growing the Bethel trail system Would the board be opposed to opening up some other roads to get into town something to think about I've thought about it a little bit and we Our trailhead used to be on the sand hill So if we could come from there and come around down on the church street down the bridge Through Main Street down through the intersection and back on to P-bike One way we're not crossing traffic Just curious kind of what the board kind of thought about that Yeah, it would mean a lot for the businesses in town. I know when I ride in West Virginia Everything is opened up down there. You can go just about anywhere and get food gas repairs anything Just something that the board You know the board Feel free to jump in just kind of what I'm thinking is I think probably will work the best is because things do take a while to Have action on something like this because it could become you know a public comment period to see if you know how The citizens want to act on it But it might be handy up front ahead of time is to make a proposal to the board of You know Yeah, so I think in the meantime would be you know What would be helpful to get the information out there sooner right is to make a proposal to the board of it You know kind of what you're thinking or how that would work and that way it gives You know the board some time to think about your proposal as well as maybe What are a plan B or C if we don't really like that particular road that comes in or out and then it also Starts to open that conversation slowly to the public to start getting the information because I think and a lot of those Especially some of the areas that have recently expanded very quickly I think you get that kind of that shock and ah at at the At the public level, you know where I think if you kind of ease into it over time I think it's easier to accept an inside the area You know just thinking at it my way is maybe church Street might not be Coming down Church Street with sidewalks and all that may not be the best route in or out of town But you know maybe coming in you know on the backside of You know on the backside of Sand Hill down to the River Road, you know in that Peabine in that way might be You know a little better suited, but you know or there's a million other probably ways that we can get in and out That way we wouldn't be crossing Just come right up here onto the Come in the back way of the town Yeah, and you cross a little bit of State Highway, but I don't know what their rules are I know Alex Reisterer was talking about wanting the school to plow the parking lot down by the The softball fields and stuff to have more parking because I think they're looking for the same thing Which is how can they people access? No snowmobielders access downtown Bethel or even possibly McCullis So yeah, so but I would say that you know the board and you know We're more than willing to hear proposals that you know have a potential of benefiting the downtown Right and then bringing more business into the downtown area one other thing probably would be good to do is maybe you know Start drafting a proposal of the route that might come in and out, but also talk to the downtown businesses on Here's our proposal and what can you do for us? You know and the only reason why I say that is you know currently there's some Not some there's quite a bit of missed opportunities in the downtown especially on Sundays You know and I'll say it again for the second board meeting in a row, you know There's 200 plus kids playing soccer down here on this field But there is no place to eat on Sunday, you know, there's no pizza place open deliver pizzas They could be making a killing right now, you know, but it kind of got to go both ways, right? Like you could build it they come and nobody's here, right? So, you know talk to maybe the gas station because obviously there's only one gas station So the gas station and in the food industry and and anything else that may come come along with that Because they can park down below walk up the bank go through the tunnel underneath tracks and access Main Street that way And I believe that's all blocked off It's like a 15-foot drop you can see it where it's kind of blocked off. Yeah. Yeah Yeah years ago, I know that that's one thing that Farron Griffin is looking into because there was some interest in rebamping it but we're not sure who owns it and Whether it's owned by the railroad or we're not really sure I was looking into doing a little going to talk to the Historical society and then he could come in and take a peek at the land records, but it's funny that you mentioned that Yeah, when I go to West Virginia, I mean, it's all whole country down there It's just kind of cool to go in and see some of these old places They have stairs you've got to climb to get to a lot of the stuff so I'm sure people would you know Wouldn't have a problem climbing those stairs to go up Yeah And we have no idea what condition it's in so Something to bring up with Farron because he was the one kind of spearheading that Yeah, so I again, I would you know kind of think about putting a proposal together and get it to the board You know ahead of time because it probably will take some time to to get it all put together and permissions and The trail system before we consider it, but I wanted to just see what the board input was before we Well, again two years now the board could be different people That's right And ideas and you don't know right, but at least we've kind of started the process, you know So I guess at this point just need a motion on to allow the central mark quad runners access to our Roads yep the existing trails because they have a map so it's nothing has changed so it's per their existing map Is put together a list of all of the roads with the sections of road we use Because of self-royalton's club starting up and then having such an issue Barnard asked us to do it because The select board one of the guys on the select board in South Royalton called Barnard and said hey do you have ATV trails in your town and he went Yeah, but I can't tell you what they are and they have a map too So what they made me do is go down and list all the roads and from Whatever point whatever point I will get that put together Maybe after schools out And I'll get it by the office For wreck and with the Bethel for all as we're thinking about signage and You know attractions etc in the community that that's something that needs to be Should be included if we put a kiosk up that says this is what you can do in this town maybe you know having Having a permanent trailhead We have kiosk that we put up And we have Trailed ethics that's on there to be a math and all that stuff We don't normally we don't have a garbage can in our trailhead and stop break We don't have any problems with trash or anything up there Things in the works right now to do some major These are the hiking trails and these are the Kind of things throughout the town. So this it seems to me could fit very well into that outdoor recreation planning That is already in process Some of it's being funded and talked about right now. So We don't have the grant agreement yet for the Bo right grant once we do will be hiring somebody to oversee it So I'm sure, you know, they'll probably get in touch with you and Alex rice for and other people to Talk about you know what the money can be used for and try to get everybody Hooked into the same system. So we'll make sure we get you connected to them once we It's gonna be a little while until we get all the grant agreement and stuff apparently the state's a little overwhelmed right now with the process Right, but I'm just saying that is as part of our recreation Yeah, I'm saying we'll put them in contact with people when we flush it out So you had a motion to authorize central my quad runners to use the roads outlined on their map Okay, long paper. All right, good luck. Thank you We just closed we just closed the public comment period a few minutes ago Cecil did you have anything? Public comment that's not on the agenda if it's about something on the agenda will get to it We talked about raising the cost of cemetery All done well, it's a good thing I asked or you've been sitting there for a while Yeah, thanks. Yeah, I see Lenny I'd see He's on. Did you have anything you want to add to public comment or are you good to go? You're on mute by the way You are aware of pride the Pride Fest and what's going on and So that's pretty much it I just wanted to express how I think this is important for the youth of this town For the people of this town and for businesses in this town. I've spoken to several businesses They're excited about this and I'm hoping that it generates business for them and brings more people into the downtown area That's part. That's one part of the mission of Pride Fest The major part of the mission is to celebrate everybody And to make sure everybody realizes they're included in this town and in the world Especially the younger generation with a lot of them going on I would like to encourage all of you to attend at least one if not more than one of the events There's a pride prom on Friday night There is going to be a showing of a movie dealing with The coming out of a youngster and their family There's going to be discussion afterwards and that's going to be Conducted by the EIC so I think it's important that the select board be a part of this as well The members get out and see what's going on and see the people and see how it turns out That's pretty much it Hey Lenny Thank you All right, I think that closed public comment because there's no longer anybody around for it Thank we had everybody. All right, so then we have the water sewer Discussion in regards to the water rates every year and June it ish time frame we talked about the water and sewer rates for coming year so in the packet we had I don't know if trees want to take us through it, but the Last year's rates versus this year's rates One thing, you know just I was kind of going through and Trees I can comment after I can go first or So just kind of looking through Right now the proposed rates for water is about three dollars and sixty four cents more a quarter per EU When we're talking the water, of course when we back up we just finished our first leg of the Water main updates of which if we went back and Paul I didn't have the exact Number, but I'm sure you have it somewhere, but when we started talking about the water sewer Especially the water rates And I could be wrong, but the When we first initially assessed the 2.8 million dollar upgrade of we'll call it phase one We there was proposal about once that went through which it was Authorized that we'd be looking at somewhere around 13 dollars a quarter Potential raise And but that was before we started either acquiring or hearing about some potential Grants that we were that either we did get or didn't get and And I want to say that once we talked about that and through some of the The potential grants that either we were assured we were getting or some that we thought maybe we would get Yeah, that 13 or 12 whatever came down to like Six or seven dollars a quarter if I remember right that's on somewhat in the ballpark and so, you know these rates here are Mostly going to be affected on Starting to pay for that loan And this is the this is the most current number we have from them. We're waiting for the final Updated amortization and loan agreement because I have an email from Patrick monks getting us to where we wanted to be There was some additional savings that they were able to carry forward and apply to our loan So when I call the finance office, they hadn't got the information yet, but Through Patrick's email. I just ran the amortization schedule on that. So this would be the Estimated loan at this point That's the DW SRF. Yeah, that's the loan. So that's the no interest 28,000 or something 26,000 150 no interest for you know, 40 year loan payment with all the So I yeah, I had you know, I I don't know if anybody else I fielded two questions On some people in regards to the proposed water Rate increase and why we were raising water rates and I said well these are directly for the water project that we Were approved for that we just finished And then to kind of going back through and quiz and Therese, you know, we started at you know, 12 or 13 dollars that got down to six or seven dollars that then final Well, at least right now our best guess with everything that's coming in is three dollars and 64 cents so Yes, it is an increase, but it's also a very modest increase compared to where we had budgeted and Approved the bond vote for so Just wanted to make sure people understood that line item says meters. Yes That's metering at the station. No, that's we have meters at the laundromat We have meter at meters of laundromat Vermont castings dandelion acres and No, no, and so sorry dandelion acres laundry man laundromat Vermont castings and And Yeah, GW so we realized during the that there's you know, we have talked about starting to meter larger businesses And you know, so certainly I'm in favor of that we talked about metering the whole system eventually, you know It's once you get the you just gonna have to wrap it into a bond at some point, but we during the water Construction Tim had found there was one building that one business at least that's using some more water in their Manufacturing so we he'd want to put a meter on there So and I think there's two lines So I think it's this could be that could be just enough to just meter one building But it could be you know, a revenue source that we're missing Well, we have to do it every so many years and yes, so yes, and so we just had really I think he'd kind of If he had tucked it into like maintenance or something I just wanted to start calling it out because it's a requirement of our permit, right? So I did reduce Well, I think in the past repairs And another lot and that's something else to try to cover that so Reduce that I did have to increase building maintenance or not. Yes Well at the water department just because we have a couple of doors and stuff that Richard's gonna need dealt with Other than that, I mean a lot of it is pretty similar You know there's not really a big increase in the budget itself And then we have these sewer rate schedule Which appears to be $3 and 28 cents Increase per quarter. Yeah, so there's some savings there obviously and in labor social security You know retirement So there's obviously some savings There we have some, you know equipment that's getting older So we did increased equipment maintenance by a few thousand dollars Tim had reviewed the budget, you know in January when we did the original draft for When we did the original draft for town report So a lot of that, you know was pretty similar some of the supplies of lab supplies have just gone up in price It looked like two of the biggest movers that I saw was The reserve fund which yeah, I think was identified as not Appropriate and enough revenue for future projects And then the reimbursement to the general fund which was Projects that had been done past the working paid back So I think those were the two biggest movers in the budget So if you look the actual the budget is actually down by you know If you look the proposed budget itself as a decrease in the budget But what happens is I kind of included the math that you know Timid and I used to do this together and to kind of let you know it's if it's all it's all based on EU's So every time you know a building maybe was a four apartments and now it's one apartment you lose three EU's So that kind of changes and as you have buildings that aren't developed So they're not a full capacity or you give someone a vacancy rate or you give someone a break while they You know do something it it affects the EU. So that's really what drives it since you don't have meters Is a reserve phone number have on them on the increase Well, I don't know. I'm not sure it's it's not it's a relatively small Impact everything. Yeah, I I didn't do the math. I mean we could you know, you know, you're doing another You know you're not doing so we're gonna do the sewer pump So we're gonna do the generator those are two big things that take care of it We know we need some more tree work done, which we had budgeted for that was expensive I think that the sewer one of the buildings may need a new roof here in the next couple of years and Currently there is no, you know, no a surfund and we know that we are trying to get Into this next bond the 1.4 1.6 million I I can't remember calling right. We're trying to get some more of the work done on the tanks and also including an expansion Oh Well, that's more for water, but anyway, that's ready for more for water, but for sewer anyways I know he's looking at more tree removal or Not he Richard now along the bank and that there's a roof So there's no money, you know set aside for that, but certainly it's you know, it's something that you could reduce So it looks like if you do the quick math on it that It lets us say you you didn't have the reserve fund Which there's always seems to be money in that reserve fund but the In the past you just the addition so let's say extra twenty five thousand dollars in that fund is about It's just over Three-quarters of a percent so the total budget's going up one point six eight of which Say three-quarters of that is that is the increase in the reserve fund Appropriation So it looks like that's probably that's probably about half the increase is that Appropriation for I think the good thing to to think about is like we're seeing now is without American rescue plan money We'd be sunk because we'd be looking at replacing those pumps to the tune of a hundred and twenty thousand Plus this generator as there is no reserve, so I think that's one thing that You know people need to understand is the age of the sewer plant and so putting money aside for future projects is not a bad thing About seven dollars a quarter All part your rate is Well, it's going from one eighty six twenty one to one eighty nine thirty nine Six ninety two combined What's route water a rental? rental Revenue or something maybe yeah Yeah, we haven't gotten to that point yet, but you know there are some communities that have to do that unfortunately You get in the cities. I mean it's pretty much Auditing service water water departments audited and all that just gets paid for the general fund that audit You know we don't divvy it up amongst these guys amongst different people, so and The obviously the sewers Salaries and a little bit of water obviously represent You know Richard The new chief operator and then of course I had a Clayton Whitmarsh who does do water and sewer every other weekend plus he covers Richard's vacation so when he's a level five wastewater, which is nice so since he has obviously 25 years and You know we needed someone with more experience not less And then the other thing worth noting is the vacancy rate Hang on which day of the week you checked it was you know somewhere in the 77% Area so So at this point we just had increased it to the 80% as a Solid number to look at for any type of potential vacancy rate We don't normally give you all the math, but I thought you might see what We do what goes into it Yeah I mean, I think I you know I'm kind of looking at overall I think you know to get to the approved $13 a quarter water down to Let's hope it stays there at 364 right now after that bond boat is pretty for 2.8 million Yeah, it's pretty good. I mean, I guess the you know the sewer rate schedule is starting to go the other direction Which you know it's just basically the same thing that we're in the water hole on right? It's just so long that we've allowed things to get out dated to the point where they're becoming very costly and Increase that reserve fund. Yes. Yeah for the future. It's just gotta Well, yeah, if you look at it, and I don't know what it had been historically But I mean when you're talking anywhere four to six thousand dollars Yeah, that we've been putting in there and if you don't make money that year if you take a loss Then you don't fund your reserve, right? But I think it also just kind of goes to show The need to appropriate some of that money towards some of the sewer plant Because we you know if not we would have to adjust the rates even higher to account for that Yeah I hear you. Yeah, the other thing we had talked about too was the discussion about the next Waterbond next phase the 1.6 1.4 1.6 million is the possibility of you know putting that on to the full taxpayers instead of the users because there's limited users and eventually They just can't drive the rates too high for for the users. I mean, it's my theory is they pay for gravel roads and You know we pay for downtown stuff, and I mean they all kind of works out It's still one town one community so that is something that we had discussed and we already know we have six hundred thousand dollars To offset some of that bond and then of course we're waiting to see what the you know programs are going to be for funding so And we're almost at full design on that as well Well, I'm not I think we're not that far yet Well, we're pretty far into design it really depends on the state how it goes through the approval process So it could be something that gets bit out this winter And then goes into you know next construction season, but I don't know yet. I know right now There's still just several steps to get through through the state level so So I guess one question I would have is so being that we increase the reserve fund From let's say four or six thousand dollars to the thirty on the sewer But currently we are carrying You know seven thousand on the water and I understand that a bulk of the water projects that are coming are coming by bond Yeah, vote because you know we've waited so long, but is that is that seven thousand? Either worth putting in there because we're going to bond boat anyways Well, or is it not enough money to fund the system over 40 years? You know I think it's a start because next year you have a loan payment That's we're gonna pay off one of the loans and water because that's the other thing isn't the sewer ordinance the sewer ordinance Specifically states that the general fund needs to pay for the debt of the sewer doesn't say that in water So water currently has three loan payments that you know and sewer doesn't have that problem So I was thinking as we leave the reserve fund now And then when we get we pay off that next bond loan you could put that automatically to level it out You could just shove it right into the reserve fund. So then you don't really have to fluctuate too much Okay, but yeah, it's an interesting. I don't know why the water Ordinance didn't get written the same way, but that's the way the sewer ordinance got ready Okay Any other questions in regards to the water sewer rates? You have any questions, Mr. Berry? No, I just thought that since we're raising race, which is which is fine because everything is going But I would like to open a discussion Some of us landlords have all gotten together We kind of feel like we're being unfairly charged for our rate not the dollar amount But the usage rate of the way that you calculated usage for our belt. It's for example a fire bedroom house in Bethel with a half acre garden a couple cars to wash and the laundry room are Charged the exact same rate of a small two bedroom with no guard no cars to wash and no laundry room Where and those two bedrooms house two people normally sometimes it's two and a half people There's two and a half people And we're being charged the exact same amount And as Prices have increased across the board on everything we got to start typing our belts and looking at things And so we're gonna be coming together with a proposal to say what we feel would be fair for our units Another example is that we have I have two SROs with your single room occupancies 225 square feet One of them is 300 square feet a two-car garage Is 400 square feet. This is about about a one-car garage It houses one person in the 18 years that I've had it twice There has been two people in it in in one of the units So normally it's a one person occupancy and I'm charged point seventy five percent of a Five or ten bedroom house Right and obviously my water use each is going to be much less So we need to take a look at that as we try to provide affordable housing in Bethel We we did we are happy to pay for our water usage, but we'd like to pay for what we use and not It's just unfair. It's just unfair. They're a family of five or ten You know if you have five bedrooms, the state looks at it's ten people in the house and they're being charged the same rate as two people in a two bedroom or I'm paying point seventy five percent for one person in two hundred twenty five square feet So we need to make some adjustments on that so late so far Bethel has just fallen behind on what the state guidelines are, but they're not a statute. They're not a law It's not just like we can choose whatever this like or choose whatever they like Or whatever they need fair to charge for for our use each We could also put in water meters, which is in the past. We have discussed With different people that were on the board at the time Which is fine, but we need to be charged at the rate that we actually use the water and not for any Comparison to a five bedroom house or four bedroom house with so many more people in it So we we just want to fare we were having to pay for what we use But we'd like to be fair and over the last couple years as the rates have increased so drastically It's really good. It's really it's really hurt The the income on our buildings For example, I know pay eight thousand dollars to the liver block and I paid sixty two hundred dollars in taxes So my sewer water usage is much harder than my taxes and I'm using much less water than the equivalent number of people And you know as long as I've been on the board we we have recognized that there is a An unfairness when it comes to the water usage from like examples that you just had from you know a One one occupancy to a five right So there's definitely definitely I think we've all agreed that that that is happening under our EU system But what we're trying to do is we're trying to manage the cost of the system So that we don't shock everybody with the rate increases and the only reason why I say as we have explored About and this is where it gets the water gets muddy a little bit but it's we've explored the cost of putting water meters on our current system and The information that we have collected upfront on it is We would be more equitable with water usage But instantly everybody's rates are going up if you use a little bit or if you use a lot of it So that's kind of where we're at right now and and on and then the other piece that we're trying to get through here As well is we have a system that is severely outdated Okay, so we're trying to you know had this system been managed well over the last 40 years We would have been slowly putting money into maintaining the system rather than all of a sudden Let's say very little water Maintenance or water increases for many decades and now we're having to raise rates because we have to come up with money To fix the system that's falling apart. So we're we're trying to manage both of those pieces It's unfortunate, I mean like all these towns in Vermont, they're all towns all the infrastructure We have to pay to get them fixed up have no problem with that What is unfair is The way that we are being charged for less usage Than other people So what you're saying is how are we going to raise the money? Well, instead of trying to get it all from us downtown. They have multiple use buildings Add a little bit to the other people that are actually using more water so that you keep your keeping your funding the same And I totally understand I get the concept that we have a closed system We have a limited number of people on the system. We don't have any developers building big tracks We can't add people to the system and we have set costs I get that and that's what you're saying right there. I get happy to pay our share We just don't feel like we're paying our we're paying way more than our fair share now When we're being charged for a small two-bedroom that has two and a half people The same rate the same a dollar amount because you're assuming that we're using the same EUs as People that have five or ten people in their house in their homes We're not a complete full design yet And obviously the state's gonna be getting additional funding like ARPA money and this and that I wonder I've been talking to Tim about metering all the businesses at least start with like businesses and apartments So we could get a fair, you know read and obviously we'd have to figure out a rate for them And then eventually do users because it's hard when you do like a 40-year bond a lot of the Meters are gotten better now because they don't log up So there's not as many parts and so they may be good for 20 years but maybe an opportunity to reach out to The state and Wayne Elliot and see hey, is there we have only a few meters in town is it How much would it be to at least meter all the businesses and not just downtown businesses But like people of apartments or other businesses Bethel Mills and other you know people We know that have Airbnb's or multiple rentals and maybe we start by metering that and then kind of otherwise What you're saying you're basically saying we could charge residents like a 1.25 or a 1.5 you We would just have to figure out like a census of how many people are in each house or something But I get what you're saying The problem with the meters is we don't if we did a meter on the LaBeer block or on the Arna block or on the different multiple days building here We would need a reference point on what the other people are in homes with five bedrooms or 10 people or more people So we need we and I think it's I think if the easiest thing with no money up front with no money up front cost of putting in meters or added labor cost for reading leaders and that sort of thing is to just look at at a square foot cost or a an occupancy cost or a Pendulum cost so when we do but design apart when we design septic systems the state looks at one bedrooms two Bedroom three bedrooms four bedrooms can they assume that there'll be two people in each bedroom and You can you can control your cost of the infrastructure of your septic system If you only have a two family a two person family you put in a one-bedroom septic system and you can control that cost a little bit So there's already a formula set up in the thinking of usage Historically in the state of Vermont, so It's not tough to say You know like okay not looking at it Not even looking at occupancy if we said bedrooms this house has three bedrooms. We can kind of assume it's six people You know wastewater slash potable water, you know Formulate as part of the water rule to go through and it's not to calculate you use and so You know, that's a an interesting thought is what you're saying is doing it on The part that we because you're right it takes advantage of I mean There's still people that are going to squawk when they have a three bedroom home and only one person lives there, but Could has the capacity for six people, right? So So you have You can't assume that that has the capacity for six people. You don't know the conditions, right? Particular well, it's like my house for an example you would say The number of somewhere You gotta find some kind of base, but I mean, I think we've all agreed that Water meters or meeting water usage is probably the most fair system. However, I just want to get that out there again 80% of the system is fixed cost. Okay 20% of the system is variable cost variable cost is the water Fixed cost is everything up until you turn your faucet on So if you go and we've already gone down this exercise if you go put meters on every single place tonight, okay? I'm just gonna make this up if trees Uses 10 gallons a day and I use 20 gallons a day Her rates going up my rates going up, right? You're not gonna You're gonna use the same amount of water everybody's rates are going up that that's because we did this Three years ago, and we had a number somewhere in the half a million dollar range to put meter This was just installing meters This is not counting who reads the meter who does all the maintenance to the meters and all this half a million dollars would instantly go on the fixed system so How you pay for the fixed system is everybody's rates go up So that their people That Maybe this person pays a little bit more, but everybody's rates are going up and what we're trying to do right now is we're trying to Get work done in the system raise rates Modestly as we go But not shocked a system Looking at bedrooms and using the equation that the state of Vermont already uses which is the sewer system and Using That's a new If you look at my house, you would say it's three bedrooms and you have three occupants But only two only one of those occupants lives there full time the other two occupants live there half time So why would it be fair for me to pay three bedroom people when there's only one and a half? You know, I mean we can go on and on all day with all the different scenarios Exceptions would be this thing. Oh, I know and because I just had I just had a conversation with a sewer designer And it doesn't matter you you paid to have it or you didn't but we're built that house paid to have a three-bedroom system put in even if only one person lived there so the state's system is Consistent maybe not always equitable But it's consistent If you have five bedrooms, you pay for five bedrooms worth of water You choose to have five bedrooms You choose to have one bedroom Consistency, but we also got to think of some of the exceptions we have on our current system, right? We allow which we could change if we went this way is we allow for let's say Because we're talking about a resident that has a potential of five bedrooms, right? But what about a business that has a potential of five? Apartments that's only one apartment, you know, like how can you how can you say that my house has a potential of three? Not being used three, but then tell a business that you know I know yours has a potential of five, but your remodel, you know, you're only using two So we're going to charge you to right you'd have to shoot they would have to be on five, too You know I mean like I mean where we do have Exceptions to the rule right now will we do allow a business that may only have you know a capacity of five It's running on one I think apartment buildings is where you might do that Exception but about business has like GW plastics, okay a lot of they have I don't know how many Seven bathrooms. No 14 bathrooms That makes a difference Rather than two They are meter They pay 15 gallons per day per person per shift for their people and then they water for manufacturing is metered so but You know, so I mean Kevin's point is not it's not wrong. I mean I can understand what he's saying about Assessing About assessing, you know someone I when there's he you know, when you know, there's a house of five and You know, there's five people in there and they're getting one EU. I mean when you guys got sued What did the the judge said it wasn't? Perfect, well, it was fair it was fair and that was the settlement here when you got sued. Yeah, but um, but He has a So, I mean, so I think that he has a good point about that. That's hard to figure out how many people live in each house but Yeah I mean we We definitely have the argument is about we definitely have talked about, you know that option. It's this in my case And in some of the other landlords that have small small living spaces there for rent It's the extreme like my as our rose they are so small And they're paying 75% of what a large House with a large garden with car washing at laundry going on and that's just so blatantly unfair When that if you were to look at the usage than one person uses versus this house it would probably be closer to 25 or 30 percent of of that house and So it's just gotten way out of whack and as the prices have gone up and we're you know Like we're all good solid citizens and we've always just paid. We pay our bills on time and we're providing, you know, both Dave and I You know, we don't get any social service funding we keep our rents low because we try to find housing for working for monitors and And it's tough and these rates are going up so high And they're unfair. We finally it's time to kind of do a little A little lobby to say, okay, look, this is unfair. We can't keep doing this We can't afford it our tenants can't afford it and and it's just blatantly unfair So happy and let me state that I've said this before we're happy to pay our fair share We're happy to pay it. We just want to pay for what we're using and Chris. I understand It's a closed system. If our if our If it if it costs us five million dollars a year, we have to produce five million dollars But it should be produced fairly from the people that are using the system And you're argue with Chris keeps coming back to we have to produce ax amount of money. Yes, let's do it fairly Yeah But we can go down that road another time I guess because it doesn't seem like you know, we'll just agree not to Do you know? certain Certain places in Woodstock Almost think like certain places fire district sometimes they do like a Flat rate per year be interesting to look for similar systems similar size to see how every if they're unmetered to see what And we did the exercise four or five years ago where we you know We didn't get into all the nitty-gritty of the whole thing we started off with let's Let's do a due diligence and just see what the upfront cost is, right? And the upfront cost was enough of course we had a lot of other stuff going on We had to plan for the you know waterline upgrades that we hadn't even started talking about and And it just I remember looking at the figure saying you know We're gonna have to do waterline project number one waterline project number two and some of these other will call minor upgrades That aren't minor, you know, they're hundreds of thousands of dollars and and we just couldn't justify Paying for the hardware for the metering up front and all this other costs coming because Because we are shocking the user we have to like there's no other way to pay for the system so Because that's all that is a big cost is an added cost to the system But we can be more fair without adding without adding upfront costs By just being logical and looking at the situations. I mean 225 225 square foot home is Gonna use a much much less Then a fight back or a three-member house or a house with a family of two or four I mean someone and see if see if we can find some similar System similar size and see if they're not metering. What other rates are they doing and and house You know, I'll talk to someone at the state to that that and see Well, we can come up with always. Yeah, I mean we'll continue to do our due diligence on I think So, let's see what we can find out and Figure out how everybody else is doing it. That's not metered. I mean, there's got there's obviously other systems There's got to be somebody there's got to be multiple towns of similar size that are unmetered and So we'll do some research and try to get some more information together And kind of show what we feel the percentages should be I'll see what I get from the state and try to get some information together and then share it with you and and Dave Somebody else is going to have to make up that difference if I'm paying 30% of What I'm now paying 75% for Somebody else has to make up that because we need that for our budget to make the system work So it will be dispersed amongst the other people that are the normal homeowners that have normal houses and And it would just be a smaller increase for them But it would be fair Because we'll have like a elderly lady on a fixed income who lives and maybe she has a two bedroom house But only has herself and then she's mad because she's paying a full EU and you know, so You know, so we get it from all sides, but certainly let's look at what there's out there Unfairness of a hundred percent metered is And I'm going to use electricity as an example It costs as much to run a 220 line into my house as it does to run a 220 line into some any other and and so it if So even if I am a small user of electricity, I still have to pay for that infrastructure And and so just doing it only on the volume of Material consumed Is there's there's a there's a downside to that as well in terms of there's probably no perfect solution Should pay more than a multiple-use building that has higher density that has one sewer line coming in It would have one meter and we would be servicing eight units so That should be cheaper. We shouldn't be charged the same way We don't have eight separate. We don't have eight sewer lines leave in the building And we don't have eight freshwater lines coming into the building So we're actually saving the town tons of money So If you have ten connections or one connection Yeah, there's some sort of nominal amount of money to initially put the connections in there But what we're talking about is the system the main system To the treatment plant that is where 80% of your cost comes from now connections to that system Connections to the system. So is is the responsibility of the private citizen Yes, it brings in 220 power And if you in every doesn't matter the size of the house You have to have a service panel. It has to have a you know, you bring in your main power and And and that's you are right in that every house have to have and that's a part of the cost of Hooking on your palate You have separate metering for each part we do but we only have one service that comes in we have one primary service that comes into the whole building You know we continue to look at all different aspects of how we make our system better But you know it's hard for us to do everything overnight in this So we're trying to again, it's we definitely see where you're getting but we're just trying to get to that point overnight is difficult But it becomes challenging But then you have to in that in that form of system you'd have to interview every single user to say I know you have a five bedroom house, but oh you only have two people. Okay. Well, you know, I mean like Like how would you do that? Like you would have to interview every single person? Because you've always used the same model you've always used the waste water I've seen the numbers before and trust me everybody's water is going up And then you're gonna have to reduce the amount of water that you're using yeah, and you're still gonna pay more money That that's the end result. I mean that we've done this math before but we can and we'll You'll look at it Any further another little I Have to say yeah, what about the guy who has a two bedroom house? He's very wealthy. He's got 17 cars. He washes every single one of them every day He's gonna use a lot more water than the guy that has a five bedroom house And it was a lot less money. Well, yeah, I mean everything the only way to pick that up is meter That's what Randolph does Randolph meters the water and Sewer is charged by what goes on the water meter because the sewer has to handle all that water So the guy washes his cars and waters his lawn and so on and so forth pays a hell of a sewer bill Yeah, we came I came from a meter unless you don't have a sewer Up here in town. You absolutely. Yeah, but we got all of us I came from a meter system and you got the base rate gave you. Yeah As was calculated in the base rate and if you went over your hundred gallons per day within that quarter Then it kicked you to another rate So if you were filling a pool or you had a flowing like a broken toilet that was running or then Yeah, then your your bill went up and and you're right And if you had sewer your sewer bill went up because yeah what it's coming in it's got to go out so So Yeah, I mean, there's a big difference. I mean you can group Single-family residents you can kind of group all of them and I mean they're all kind of really they're all related They're from the exact same family Right that some are big some are small some have tons of people in a small space Some have few people in a large space Some have a lot of people in the large space, but they're all single-family residents And then what we're talking about is multiple family residents like the LaVeer block and the Arnold block and Dave's building here and Those are a different a different grouping and So I think that it's too difficult It just be too awkward to go how many bedrooms do you have and how many people are living in your house and how many times are you getting up in the night to go to the bathroom and You know all those different questions like that And and people just kind of assume With their single family, you know, like they don't make her quite as much with with with their sewer and water rates or what they're being charged and It's just a different ball game we're talking about multiple use buildings and it doesn't foster. Yeah, I mean I had this discussion Years ago. It's like we put in low-flow toilets and float low-flow shower heads and nobody else Are motivated to do that. We do it just because we you know, it's I feel like it's the right thing to do even though Vermont is not herding for water but But should somebody who is trying to conserve water and put in and invest in upgrades And pay the exact same amount Thank you. Thank you anything else further on water sewer when when Therese do we have to at these to go in effect July 1st? But do you need a motion from us this evening or yes? Yeah, because the the amount this List this right here is going out in the water bills that are going to be issued We like to put it out in the with the water bills that are being issued in May so that way people have a heads up They get that they get a copy of the link for the CCR Which is your consumer confidence report information about please don't flush the following things in the sewer system So you always approve the water rates this the second meeting in May I mean if you're gonna make Since I've been here five years sure. Yep. I'm pretty sure I'll wait at least long as I know Long live in here you have and um, you know If you were to make some sort of change in the EU rates, it's gonna take time to figure that out anyways And figure out fairness you'd still need to raise the same amount of money So even if you were gonna do some EU change during the year You know, I would suggest that you have a public hearing about it, but and then they don't let people know but It's almost like what they're looking for is a residential rate versus a commercial rate But like he said it's hard. I mean we just go by the Portable water, you know, there's a whole water rule this thick and we just use a certain section of it And that's how we bait. That's what you've been basing it on so Okay, all in favor And we have the two rivers transportation advisory committee Representation Appointment so it looks like Bill Hall is willing to fulfill that seat for us for one more year Any motion on that we get a motion on table all in favor Okay, and then I just kind of our continued discussion In regards to the American Rescue Plan act money trees was nice enough to put together a Hand out for us that kind of shows, you know to date what we've some of the conversation points that have been included in that that Still ongoing I will say number 11 I was newly added the amphitheater style seating in front of the library I didn't redirect them to the library and let them know that was library property not town property and that the library I already was working on a project to make themselves more 80 accessible and increase seating so I did Told you I'd add to list but also steered her back to the to the library So one of the things we have been talking about for since the minute we heard about American Rescue Plan money is upgrading the sewer pumps that are beyond their useful life and You know, which would be a same thing with the generator on lower Church Street You know, this is you know, we're looking to add, you know another 20 30 years And something that's not gonna be added to the rates won't be added to the tax rate won't be added to the water rate Won't be added to the sewer rate. So current last time We spoke with the gentleman who was doing the you received one estimate on the sewer pumps and one estimate on the Generator I am not issuing any of those Because I have to put out an RFP because we did find out that because it's federal money We have to go through the process, which is fine a problem with that So what I would like to do is When I come back from vacation so the beginning of June is craft the RFP for the sewer pumps and for The generator and get it out because some cases we're looking at a six-month lead time And we know that the sewer pumps are now being rebuilt like every 18 months So this is just not an ideal situation for us. So obviously the key stone of the money was to be spent on the Infrastructure, it's also going to help downtown, you know businesses It'll help especially because the sewer has the capacity to expand the sewer plant can get larger So that's kind of He could so if someone out Business out, you know there, we do have more space and sewer so it will have I believe it could add to the economic development Yep, we had them all spec by our engineer already. Yeah, I mean specific locations Because the ones in the actual plant. Oh in the plant. Yes. I'm sorry. I should have said that yes You know Right no, I'm talking about the plant one so they were in when the building was originally built and the so That's when so those are the ones we're looking at replacing and upgrading so obviously technologies come along way in 30 years and You know, these are going to be a hundred You know probably twenty hundred twenty five thousand dollars, but it's be something that won't go on to the rates and I think so anyways, I just want to move forward with the RFP so I can get this we can get the best price And we can get and then move forward with spending some of the American rescue plan money And then make a decision on how to spend the rest, you know, by September I have one. Yep. I couldn't tell you right now. You'd have to read it Yeah, so we had we had our The engineer come in and actually he and he recommended a guy and then that guy came in and then the new guy We have Clayton with Marsh. He said that's what they run in and Harlan or Hartford Hartford those as well. So, um, so we'll spec out for those and then see where the pricing comes in But there's it for six months out. We really need to So just to make sure so you're looking for permission right now to just go out with the RFP Yeah, I want to go out doesn't mean that you know We would still have a decision once the prices come in if we want to move forward or those prices are not correct Right, right. I mean, I think that yeah, I mean, so I wouldn't have any issue with going, you know, getting prices and I Think that I'm seeing how that that fits into our Right, I mean, I think that sewer water had been our had been a priority because originally when it came out It was water. I'm sorry. I guess water sewer. Well, I guess I put it to you this way Is they're gonna borrow the money or we're gonna use American rescue plan money So either way they're much needed upgrades and um, so I think that um, yeah Because when it came out it was either water sewer broadband New right new and then they said we're like we don't need new we need to fix what we have and then you know That came out so and obviously we still have other things that we want to do with money There's 583,000 so it's not like this is gonna take it all because it's not Currently yes So but again, it's such a lead time now with everything so alright So I will move forward with RFP and we'll get some pricing and that was all I had on ARPA money Do you have anything left on your town manager's report? So we did oh so more good news on the grant writing front We were awarded another $20,000 from better roads program used for culver up sizing firm removal stone lining ditches Etc on a portion of right road near the river So there is a town match horse, but still that's another 20. We also awarded a paving grant for Christian Hill Thank you very much. Chris Jarvis for help of that the project estimate was for 437,000 $250 the grant will cover 80% of that expense So thinking that both of these bids will go out this winter and then for you know spring for construction next summer I'm attending the cannabis regulation webinar tomorrow at 10 a.m Just to try to get my head around what's what's that what's gonna happen there And then the planning commission is meeting tomorrow night We'll have our first meeting with two rivers They will have already they've have already done a desk review of our zoning bylaws So it'd be interesting to see I know that the planning commission would like to take June and July off Because Rick Benson will be gone and so we'll see what Kevin Geiger where whoever comes to the meeting for two rivers and see What we have for information I Am met with team better block last Thursday spoke with a representative weight with a partnership and there may be an Opportunity for us to partner with them to get the boat launch currently a pee vine removed. It's it's not in perfect shape And apparently quite underutilized So there, you know, we talked about maybe taking that one out leaving the bank there Of course for people to sit and down if they wanted and then but going across the river to the one under the River Street bridge and Fixing that one up properly. So they said that sometimes they have Availability to write grants and fund raise and get money and they like to partner with towns to do that So that's that one private property there or is that all-town property? It's all-town property Is that yep? Yeah, so hopefully that comes through You know in pipeline was in town last week lined the culvert under Pleasant Street to the ball field or failed repaired to catch Basins at the wreck area and they're just we're working on cockadoodle the structure near there and then they'll be back this Friday to pump out the remainder of the leaves in the pool and Just remind her I'm gonna be out of the office Wednesday, May 25th through Monday, May 30th I'm enjoying some of my built-up vacation So maybe want to just double-check trees that river that I have enough vacation Cuz I got more I got like I have some comp time. Yeah. Did you like unpaid content? Yeah, I have a gazillion of it. I'll give you a check on the river strike No, it's that River Street access because the only reason why I say it is years ago, and we we redid 107 yeah Eight years ago probably we try we were gonna put our trailers in there and We were under the oppression. It was the town's land So we came in and got permission from Keith at the time to put our trailers there We'll come to find out when we went there to do some well We hadn't even put trailers there, but this gentleman who is a caretaker for some other Property owner came down and freaked out on us And then we ended up getting a map and it was Sure enough this lady owned a portion of it. Huh? Yeah, was it Peleus? So you may want to just Miller Miller so apparently a piece of that okay is privately owned So I don't know when you go down under the bridge then because that's ours Yeah Put it in it was was a conservation camp or something I just said no if there was any issue with somebody okay Yeah, apparently you have to get from private land down to that I think okay, maybe I know we take care of that road I know we found out the hardware, so I just wanted to okay. Well when they go and look into Yeah, exactly They could we got the contact chamber in there yeah, that's a big hunk of pipe that goes almost all the way the river We'll have to so well once I hear from my earth partnership. We'll definitely take a look at the tax map, so No, that's all I have for Tom Andrews report. Oh Wait, you just wanted I want I do want to point out one thing. Sorry is to make sure that you saw the nice Volunteers spotlight on Doug and Joanne March. I just wanted to make sure you saw Saw that all right and select board meeting minutes from the night of May It's coming Someone already posted something about how many Fridays until Christmas it was I was like stop would you stop? We're not ready for that yet Wasn't here guys I can't second it no all in favor we'll go without a second or I've just messed Teresa all up tonight all right, and There was a slew of Other communications in there, so hopefully everybody had an opportunity to look at those No Mentioned that you had sold John had sold a couple of containers yeah for $1,500 I think of something like that. Were they the big containers like? Lucky a lucky's kind of a container. Yeah that style Would not like they were open containers. Oh, okay, not enclosed. Okay. I was just thinking because Use one over He's digging deep The board actually Any that were closed it was just the okay. I'm just the open ones. Yeah, thank you I guess I got a map all the property owners in Bethlehem All right, did we have any other business come before the board did Dave did you have something earlier you about a road? Yes I've been I use the I don't know what the town road number is but it's a road that goes down in the East Bethel from The Four Corners there from toward end of town highway six No, it's it's Morris is perpendicular Yeah perpendicular to that road the road goes down. It's called the oxbow road I just wanted to make sure you that has been What's the word I want? Graded no It's been Pretty much okay, I mean I go down there on my truck and at five miles an hour the whole truck comes off the ground And it's not it's ledge That sticks up four or five inches. We haven't the ditches aren't there the water is running down the road It's a three Okay Either blasting or a foot of cover Going out through from the at the top I scratch both sides of my truck With the because this road sides haven't been mowed for years and years and years and years I don't care about Somebody It's just too unsafe, so I don't even know why it's a three But anyway, so it needs to be a brush clearing the roads needs tension bushing outside mowing Okay, and the water goes everywhere All right, I'll have been elected. Yeah, I'll have more good I know they were on North Main. I talked to him a few minutes before Ford. He was like well This hasn't been a lot of fun today dealing with there on North Road and There was a pipe some work done that wasn't done maybe as good as it could have been and They had some ground water coming in there, so they're trying to pump that out of the hole They're trying to get it dried so there he was dealing with that so They were still at it certainly at four so I did get some positive comments in regards to the Crosswalks and stuff and yeah. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Cuz I There were some years where it was July and we didn't have painted so no We had that they got out there and may and did that this year We had an agreement that they had to do them before Memorial Day and before Labor Day And we did do I don't know if you saw on front porch forum But we did do a nice post about the bulb outs and we did put it on Facebook for a couple of hours Until the comments are more ridiculous and completely inappropriate So they didn't even read it to understand where they're going to go that we're not putting all of them in or anything So I had Kelly pulled the post so hopefully people if you want good information you should read from porch forum and So there I did ask her today to forward it to all the committee heads and stuff so committee chairs Let me be they could pass it along to their members about where the bulb outs were going to go in and I gave them additional Information about the history and what they were etc. Etc. But the post were so Inappropriate that it just I just said take it down Kelly didn't need to spend her weekend fielding I know a few years ago the state or Monk amount gave us a different Way to to mark crosswalks that actually last longer We and we've done that in some places, but down here we did the same old red paint which by Labor Day will be gone But they do on on Church Street certainly do the The block markings and I think the red originally was because it was stamped into the concrete Obviously since the water project you don't have that anymore a Morgan had red paint So he was like you know what let's just do it up right and look make it look nice right now and I think at some point yeah, it'll probably go to the block style like it is on Church Street and But he had some he had some of the paint left and said you know what let's just do it up and do it up nice So it was his car told me didn't have to do the red, but he wanted I know one thing And we had talked about the board level years ago And I think maybe there was either you need to get permission from the state or maybe they wouldn't let you get permission But I was in New Hampshire this past weekend in a town that had just painted their crosswalks, and they do blue And oh wow just because you don't come across many blue things in the road like it stood out like yeah Whoa, you know that's something different, you know where you know red is like the color you see all the time But I think we had a discussion at the board level one year about an option and maybe Greg or somebody had said well there's actually State of Vermont doesn't allow for There's only like a couple of colors that you can have it and blue wasn't one Oh, no kidding. I don't know. I've never heard that but I noticed that this weekend. I said I was kind of neat That is yeah, no, I definitely get your attention like that's something different. So All right, and then we were just going to Finish up talking about Teresa's goals. So Unless there's anything else come before the board we'll enter into executive session to Quickly recap and finish Teresa's goals And we won't be making any decisions. So So you'll be able to be fine if you do a lot of minutes. You will make a good evening. I don't know says because you'll make We'll make an agreement. So it doesn't matter, but I got it to the minutes You but you don't need to say no no no public decision One dsa 313 a3 You