 is in and I'll keep an eye out for more as I go in. I seem to have misplaced my script for the COVID authorization to conduct a meeting, but I think I've said it enough times that I kind of remember what the deal is that the governor has imposed a state of emergency allowing the open meeting law to be circumvented by using in this case, the Zoom platform and you can find the access to that meeting connections either on the town websites and the posted agendas throughout the town or by requesting a specific email to get the connection information. Let me let somebody else in here and here we go. So at this point, do we have any additions to the publicized agenda for the meeting tonight? Dune? Yeah. I didn't see it on the list, but I saw after talking with Patty this morning that we might make a quick discussion about whether or not to do Fourth of July parade. Okay. Okay. Thank you. We need your old business coming forward. Oh, I'm sorry, excuse me. Yep. All right, let me see. I think we've got everyone in here. There was, I did get some an emailed request to make sure that there were a couple issues on the agenda and those were the signage on Bethelmont Road and what Rall 2 River Autocreechy Regional Planning Commission plays something about redistricting, which I'm not sure exactly what that is about, but let me admit some more folks here and a question about the continued use of Zoom platform for these meetings. So I'll add those to the agenda. And I think we'll start then by looking at the minutes from the April 12th meeting. And did you guys see any corrections that you, let me get this person in. Any changes to those minutes? No, I only saw one typo that had no effect on what the statement was. All right. Yeah, there was a couple of other small things, but no effect either, Pat. I caught a couple of them. No big deal though. All right, so I'd move to accept those minutes as presented. I second that. All in favor? Aye. All right. All righty. So we've got those minutes and we have a variety of guests in here tonight. We've got a bunch of people I'm not sure that I know. We've got Kirk White and did he make it into the gang here tonight? Not seen him, but we've got Arthur Lins and Mark Shea. And you guys have something that you wanted to speak to? No. Maybe if they come back later, we could... Do? Yeah. Arthur Lins is here. It will be, well, he was gonna come for the able waste. Okay, all right. So then we'll get that on our agenda there, then we'll get to it when we get, and Zach, how do you pronounce your last name, Zach? Convacus. Convacus, Convacus. Did you have something in particular that you wanted to chat with me? Yeah, so my business partner and I, Jake Flood, who's also on the call, we are in the process of opening a compost facility up on Jerusalem Hill. We, part of the requirement is to get a town, a letter from the town supporting it. And so we wanted to bring it up on the slide for me and people had questions, they can answer, he can jump in, he can answer any technical questions you may have about the facility. But basically we needed to run it by you guys to the plan and get approval from you guys to be able to move forward with our state permit. Okay, the state permit that just wants to know that the town was a little bit, how big of an operation are you talking to me? So it's considered a small facility based on the volume of food scraps that are gonna be handling. It's less than 200 cubic yards of food scraps a year is what we're banking on. The threshold for a small facility is 2,000. So we're obviously well below that. What's that? 2,000 what? Cubic yards. Cubic yards, okay. Of food scraps. So that's the threshold for a small facility. Anything under 2,000 cubic yards a year of a processing of food scraps is considered a small facility in the state's eyes. And excuse me, you said you expected it to be about 200 cubic yards per year? Yeah, that's our upper threshold at the moment. Zach's adding some new accounts as he goes. Yeah, so basically what I do is I go around, I work for it is picking up compost from residentially and I've been doing it since last July. And Jake got recently got his permit through the state's bill, the open facility. So we've run projections and that's the 200 yards is what? We came up with the permit and he... What happens at the facility? What type of process, it's a processing facility? So basically what happens is Zach will, four days a week he'll collect his food scraps and they get brought up to the facility. And basically all the facility is, will just be a gravel pad with some concrete blocks around it to contain the material. And the material will get mixed with, obviously it's pretty wet, so it'll get mixed with some dry matter to contain the moisture and basically get mixed twice a week with drier material and the landowner up there is actually going to be doing the mixing. So he's our kind of the third part of this is his sort. So... Your entity is a profit entity? Sorry, what was that? Your business is a for-profit business. Correct, yep. Okay. Nancy, will you have a question? I just wondered where on Jerusalem it's going to be. Poor Brown's property. Yeah, all the way at the end, essentially. Yeah, and we've spoken with everybody that lives of his neighbors, who he has. And they're all okay with the territory we're putting in. So they're all giving us the okay as far as being neighborly. Also going to be fenced in. The area where we're going to do the mixing is fenced in. So animals won't be able to, especially like dogs won't be able to get into any grapes and stuff like that. How does the state look at your business? Is it a commercial or is it considered ag? I'm not, I think it's considered a commercial business, I guess, but it's mainly agricultural. I mean, basically the distinct, so if you're on a farm and you're composting farm waste and whatnot, they don't require you to have a permit. But as far as like a facility that processes food scraps, you have to be, you have to go through the training, which is what I did earlier this year. And then you also have to be registered. It's a new thing they're doing the last couple of years is they're actually having facilities register. Everything that happened before was kind of grandfathered in. So basically every existing facility didn't have to go through this whole process, but they're trying to, they're trying to upgrade and be kind of more neighborly, I guess, as they kind of expand this program. So. Do you plan on having retail there? No. Selling to the public? Is that good? No, I mean, we're going to be delivering, we'll be delivering it to people and we're going to try to get it into stores eventually, but we're not going to be setting up shop on this property to do retail. That's not part of the agreement with Stewart. Yeah, he doesn't want a bunch of people up there running around. So you would be bagging? Potentially, we got to figure out the process and how we're going to do that. I mean, most of it's going to be bulk deliveries. And when I say bulk, it's going to be in Zach's trailer, eight by five trailer. So it's not. But we're also going to be, we're going to figure out the bagging part of it though. Yeah, it'll be bagged at some point. Just at the moment, we're still figuring out the best way to do that. Is all the compost coming from, I know Zach, you have a business where you go around and pick up people's compost. Is that where it's all coming from? It's all coming from my business. That's slowly where I'll just come from. And I'm unpermitted with, what's that? I was just saying, so, you know, people wouldn't, it sounds like people wouldn't be able to go up and drop off there. No, no, no. Stewart wouldn't want that. But basically like as far on my end, as far as like transporting compost, I have a permit with the state. I have to renew it every year. Permit numbers two, three, two, five. And then I also have a permit for every district that I'm in that requires it. I'm in 64 towns. So each district is different. So I mean, you know, we're in complete compliance and everything's coming just from the 64 towns that I operate in. So Nancy, you had another question there. I just wondered if there was anything written that we could read about the whole process. Yeah, there's definitely, there's a bunch of literature online of the ANR. I don't know exactly what the website is, but if you, I have a bunch of it because I was in the program. But yeah, if you look up, I'm trying to think I got, I have a bunch of literature that I have that I downloaded. So I, you know, obviously I needed it. I can forward it. For sure. I would think that the zoning of that area is what really comes into play. And that I, without looking at a map, that's probably what residential agricultural. So that's considered, I think it's conservation residential districts. Yeah. Yeah, conservation residential. I would think they'd want to apply for a conditional use through the zoning, planning and zoning board. Planning and zoning. Yeah. I would think so. They would have to in order to cover their bases and seek a conditional use for what they're trying to do. It's, because it's kind of a borderline commercial ag, I would say. And I don't have anything against it, believe me, but just so that you're covered, I would think that you go through and the process of getting a permit through those planning and zoning. That would probably serve the purpose very well of getting a better of support from the town if you've actually went and got a conditional use permit for that activity. I would think that it's, I think it tends more on the agricultural side than as a business per se. So I think that it's a good likelihood of being an approved activity, but that would be probably the way to go is to approach the planning board and that they meet the first Tuesday of every month, which is coming up in a week or so. So, you know, that would, I think that'd be the best way to go here. Did you have a specific, did the state require a specific, what they wanted from the town or? Well, so the state actually didn't require, the only thing the state requires is that the, you know, basically a statement saying that the, it's in the application process is asked if there's, if anything in the town zoning basically excludes compost facilities within the zoning itself. What basically what prompted this coming up is we have to get a letter of approval from the solid waste district. So when I talked with them, they said that they wouldn't sign off on anything until the town did. So that's kind of why, yeah. I don't think this is normally part of the process, but, you know, we obviously want to do whatever we have to do to keep everybody happy. So, all right. I've got a question. I'm just wondering if you have any kind of a site plan that was prepared for getting your permit from the state and if that's something the town could see, just thinking there's a lot of streams up there, headwater streams. And I think maybe the main concern outside of the zoning would be just making sure that there's no, you know, nothing that flows into a stream or a wetland up there. Yeah, that's part of the application process as well. So it's kind of rudimentary at the moment because, you know, the A&R and Atlas program is a little tough to use, but we do have a site plan. One of the big requirements was mitigating the storm runoff. Yeah. So Zach and Jacob, am I correct that the name of your business is Vermont Black Gold Compost? That is correct, yep. Hey, great, thank you. Yep. Pat, you're one of them. Jake, what is your relationship to you on the land that you're going to be using? Nope, Zach and I went to high school together. So we're really good friends. We've been friends for a really long time, so. So where do you live? I live in South Burlington. I'm from Castleton originally. Okay. There's a possibility that the owner of the land may be the one who needs to apply to the Select Board, the Planning Board. I'm not quite sure if you're leasing the land or what you're doing, but it may fall upon Stuart to go ahead and start filing these documents. I would look into that if are we you. Okay. And I would think also that the Planning Commission would be the one to write the letter because that's really their jurisdiction, not so much the Select Board. I was curious. I was reading through the zoning documents. So does all that apply, even if there's no permanent structures or permanent changes happening to the land? It's a change of use for the property. And it encompasses that, but a change of use is when you start doing something different on a place where and your borderline commercial kind of thing. And because the town does have zoning and has had zoning for years, I would just think that would be your way to go. I don't see any issue with it personally. And I don't think the zoning board would have any issues with it either. I think if you just have to direct the plan and it would also aid in your getting all your rest of your stuff because you've gone through the planning and zoning process, I think it would help you in the long run for what you want to do. And let's just say if your business triples and quadruples in size, you don't want to have to go backwards and apply for any permits later. You might as well get it all on the up and up now and hopefully the business grows. Sure. Yep, absolutely. Yeah, we just have to talk with Stewart about that. I don't know what sort of bandwidth he has for figuring out the planning, paperwork and all that stuff. We're not able to do that. Well, it would have to come. You guys could do it and just have Stewart sign it. Okay, right. I don't see where that's a big deal. I submit the plan and the process is all laid out really. They'll have to mourn a conditional use hearing and landowners can come and anybody that might be interested in what you're doing there and offer, have anything they disagree with on it or have concerns with they'll voice that and then the planning board and zoning will put conditions on your use. Like maybe hours of day, you can use it, just stuff like that. It's really just a process that helps everybody and kind of keeps it going. So it shouldn't be a big deal for you, I wouldn't think. Sure, all right. Yeah, we'll get it done. Yeah, is there any sort of paperwork or anything you can point us to for that or? That would go on to the town website and just fill out or go to the town office and that would be the zoning application that has a change of use as the option or a conditional use permit. I guess just the zoning application if you want to do a change of use and we can kind of figure it out as you go at the meeting. Okay. Okay. I mean, we want to do whatever it takes to make you guys happy with it and if it's able to go forward, then great. Okay, thank you. Yeah, thank you for letting us know instead of just that that sweet smell rolling down the valley. Absolutely, absolutely. Good luck. Thank you. Diane Carlton, you're listed here as a guest. Do you have something on your mind? I do. This is John Alexander as well. We purchased property up on West Hill and originally the bridge was going to be done, I guess maybe this late summer, but it's been pushed off and we're wanting to build up there. And so what we're hoping is to get some information on who do we follow up with to find out like when it might be built and is there somebody we should be in touch with that we can kind of follow up on that? Well, we're working in conjunction, it's really the Forest Service that is driving this bridge project. And as Frank, do you have an update on where we stand with that? Joan could probably address this issue better than I could. Yeah. Yeah, sure. Nothing new since last time we talked about it, which is that I think primarily for funding reasons at the federal level, but also possibly due to COVID delays as well, Forest Service decided to put off the project until next year. Originally our plan was to go into construction sometime this year. The plan preparation has also taken a lot longer than we expected. It was supposed to be done two, three months ago and it's still in the completion stages now. So we will not be, well, we still have to know also that we have funding from the Forest Service. They haven't been able to pull that together yet. And so that's totally on them to do because the town does not have funding to do the bridge. The only reason we're able to do it is because of the Forest Service funding. So we expect them to come through by sometime next year, which would mean spring, summer of 2022 is when they would do the replacement. And is there like a, like if it gets moved out again, shall I say? I mean, is there, will it be at this meeting that it gets like announced as far as, yes, it's moving forward or how can we follow the process? Definitely be updates on the progress on there. And I would be too worried about it getting continually bumped forward because they do need to do this bridge for the planned timber harvesting that's going up there. And that is, they're not under the gun to get this done, but it's much more real than it would have been two years ago, that's for sure. And so at right now, you're anticipating it's going to be built in spring of 2022. Is that what you said, Joan? No. Oh, sorry. Spring or summer. Okay. Plus as close as we can come to a date at this point. All right. And is it my understanding that an address or anything, email or something, we could, you know, keep you updated if we hear any news. I mean, that would probably be the way to go. Wouldn't you think, Joan? Yeah, sure. So if you would send your email address or whatever to the town, we will keep you updated on changes or anything else that comes up. I appreciate that. Now, we appreciate you coming and building a house. Yeah. And is it my understanding of your patience? Is it my understanding that they're going to put in a temporary bridge during the construction process? And if so, do we have any idea what the weight capacity is of that temporary bridge? Yeah, there won't be a temporary bridge. I don't know the weight capacity. I imagine it would be probably more than what's there now. Yeah. I don't know what the specs are at this point. Okay. All right. Thank you very much. Yeah, no, thank you. All right. Bye-bye. Joan, you've been helpful answering some of these questions. You want to continue on with your updates? Sure. I don't have a lot to update you on because it's the same stuff I've been doing for the past number of months. I worked with Kudo over the past several weeks and put together the bid notice and the bid documents for completing the last of the FEMA funded road projects that have to be done by the end of this calendar year. So that bid was, the bid notice was in the Herald last week and it was posted on the state bidding site as well. And I think I sent you an email already letting you know that we'd be opening the bids on what did I say, Monday, May 10th and making a decision within a couple of days after that. And the projects consist of five different roads, some of them with more than one ditching site, the stone line ditching. Some of them are on the small side and some of them are fairly large. So in the other FEMA project that we have to complete this year is the retaining wall for the stormwater outlet on the town property. And I've been working with Frank on that to get the landowner permission from the abutter. It's Peter O'Connor and I forget his wife's name. It's Terry O'Connor and Peter Jensen. Okay, yeah, between you and me. Getting those names confused, so my apologies. Anyway. Joan, did you say that the stormwater outlet was on town property? The outlet itself is on town property. Okay, thank you. Retaining wall which is caving in and it extends on to the O'Connor property. So we had to make sure that we were gonna be able to do the work there without, you know, having to have their consent. So Frank was able to get that on Friday. We'll do a temporary easement and see if we can get a permanent easement as well. So then the future, the town will be able to, you know, go on to the property and do any further repairs that might be needed 50 years on or something like that. So Cricut is finalizing drawings for that. She's gonna put together the bid documents because they're a bit technical. And so probably by mid, middle of next month that bid will be out. Bid notice will be out for that as well. We probably have right away there because the sewer line is there. We just couldn't find it. Yeah, well we did find easements for the sewer line but not for the retaining wall. So it's a little, you know, that stuff was all back in the 70s at the most recent. So. Right. And so otherwise, I think I mentioned at the last meeting that there were still review, a FEMA review process going on with the work that was completed way back at the end of, by the end of 2019. And I think we're almost at the end of this process but I have said that before. And then I was wrong. So anyway, the latest set of questions had to do with whether we had received or gotten permits and whether we needed permits for any of the work that was done during that period. And Chris Bump from V-Trans has been very helpful in hooking us up with the right people at the state and federal level to make sure that there were no permits needed that we had missed. So far we have a sign off from the state's stream engineer, Jared Borg and from the US Army Corps of Engineers, both of those parties saying that we did not need any permits. And the last one will be Tuesday. That's the 28th. Hooter will be going out to all the, there were four sites they were questioning. So Hooter will be going out with the woman who does the wetlands work for the state. And hopefully she'll come to the same conclusion that there were no permits needed. And once we have that, I think we'll be good to go to complete that or at least wrap up that part of the FEMA work. So that's all I have. All right, thank you. Tony, what's up at the library nowadays? Well, nothing very different yet. We're waiting for magical things to happen, of course, with the COVID business and so on. Our next trustees meeting will be the 11th, I believe at six o'clock. Okay. Is Terry Severy make it in? They see that he wants to talk some about the utility rates. But yeah, I'm here. Oh yeah, okay, I didn't see you there. Yeah, what's, what are you thinking? Well, we haven't put much money to the side for raising. I talked to Frank a little bit about it. I've talked to a couple others and I'm gonna get some more, Frank and I thought today may I get more, I'm thinking if we could raise it, you know, just a little bit, even like a 10 cents per thousand is what I was thinking. And that doesn't raise anybody's rate enough to kill them. You know, you're taking that, even say 10,000 gallons, that's only gonna raise it $10 a quarter. That way it puts it on the users. I mean, most towns have fees for residential and fees for commercial, we do not. And at the time we're setting all this up, we felt that the businesses get hit for quite a few other things all the time. So we decided that everybody would pay the same. And it's based on usage anyway. So if the business uses more water, they're gonna pay more anyway. Right, and our biggest problem right now is everybody puts in a little flush toilet. So we aren't using so much water and so it's kind of, can't even back at us that we don't have the money. Terry, a question is- Even in the manholes, I'm having a lot of problems with solids built up because we don't have, we have probably six or eight manholes, we have to flush at least twice a year. Terry, question, you said 10 cents per 10,000 gallons. No. I thought you- Yeah, for 10,000 gallons. No, no. For 1,000 gallons. For 1,000 gallons, pardon me, thank you. And also, was that for businesses or for businesses and residential? For everybody, both. Okay, thank you. Yeah. So 10 cents per 1,000 gallons, okay, thank you. But- I'm glad I asked. Talk a little bit. I'm gonna get some more information from, we're probably one of the cheapest towns in the state right now for fees. But I will get a bunch of other numbers from other towns and report back to the next meeting on this. What are we paying for 1,000 gallons currently? You're paying, for water, you're paying 40 cents, I don't know, 30 cents per gallon. And then the sewer department, you're paying 65 cents. So this wouldn't be affecting the sewer rate also, would it? Yes, it would. It would. We need to, we have, and our fun, we don't have a great amount of money. I think there's like 17,000 in one and maybe 18 in the other, somewhere's in there. I can get accurate ones for the next meeting. But you take the sewer pump that we're gonna do the walk around on Friday, they've been in there since 84. And I know last year they were talking that they're getting pretty weak and just one of those pumps is 20 grand. I do have a spare one sitting downstairs right now, but that only is one and that's just what the cost of the pump. We still gotta get it all tied in. Water pumps run around 10 to 12 grand. And I'd be willing to bet within the next year till the other one's gonna go because they last about 10 to 11 years. And the money's just not gonna be there. I mean, this year, if you look at, we got, you know, say 17,000 so in the water, 4,000 that's gonna go for cleaning and reservoir. So that's gonna knock that down quite a little bit. The reservoir we have to get done every five years, mandatory and it runs around four grand. All right, so you're gonna gather some more information and give a final recommendation next meeting? Yes, I will. I'll do my homework better. How was that? This is a good start, yeah. But I just wanted everybody to be aware of it instead of dropping a bomb. Yeah. Thank you. Is there any help, Terry? I'll give you a hand. Okay. Jeff, if you had a question. Yeah, Terry, you mentioned to walk through on Friday. I've got on my calendar meeting at the town clerk's office at 10 tomorrow. Yes, I do it with you. For that walkthrough. Okay. We have that for the sewer every year and Fridays. I'm pretty sure you don't want to go on that one. Okay. I'll see you tomorrow then. I've got the forms from Efficiency Vermont that they will tell us what they recommend and what they can incentivize. Well, that'd be great. So that will segue right into what you have for us tonight, Jeff, as the energy coordinator. Not a whole lot. We are working on getting the GMP site visit scheduled, rescheduled so that Frank can be in on that. And I will be meeting with Planning and Zoning and we've got Dan McKinley also invited to the GMP site tour. So we can integrate that. By the end of this week, we should know how we did with the Vermont Council of Rural Developments, they call it Climate Economy Model Communities Program. And pretty much have gotten the, there's no reason why we couldn't give the performance contractors the data that we have. It would not violate any state statutes. It does if you're a school, but not if you're a municipality. And working on getting the MoElectric campaign demo day scheduled sometime the last week of May or first week of June. What was the name of what electric? MoElectric. B-O-W? Yeah, M-O-W. Oh, M-O-W, MoElectric, I'm sorry. Not like MoElectric like I'm turning MoLite sound. I keep dropping the W, it doesn't look right. So MoElectric demo day. But I have checked with the state, told them what we were planning and they identified what part of the COVID safety we need to meet and it shouldn't be a problem. Really shouldn't be much different than a farmer's market kind of thing. All right. Okay, thank you. Got to all the rates. So probably one of the more critical things timely that we have to do tonight is adopt our local emergency management plan. That's due by the first. And Vic, do you have anything you want to speak about on that? It's pretty kind of boilerplate, but important boilerplate. Yeah, just that each town is required to have an emergency management plan and each year is required to be updated, reviewed and adopted by the select board by the 1st of May and it'll be sent into two rivers. I've been working on this each of the past five or six years or so. The update this year is pretty minimal, a little bit of clarity on some of the roles, some updates to some phone numbers and email addresses. And that's pretty much it in terms of edits. One thing that we'll have to do after the first year is when Lindy Stetson becomes principal for both school campuses up to put in her information as the contact person for the emergency shelter, which is the elementary school. But right now it's Bonnie. I noted one other thing there, Vic, too, that the town manager of Bethel is Terese Kirby, not I think you got somebody else's name in there. Okay, thanks for correct that. I didn't notice it before, but I did notice it today. Okay, thank you. So is this something the board is voting on tonight to adopt this? Yeah, I was about to move to adopt that plan with the correction that Frank just noted. I can second that. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All right. Okay, good. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. So, Arthur, are you still here to talk about the able waste proposal to not only increase the frequency of your service, but expand it to the neighboring towns? Yes, I don't think I'm on Zoom and I apologize for that, but can you hear me? We can hear you, yeah. Okay, so as you know, right now your guys' program is first and third. You run eight o'clock in the morning, two, 11. My proposal is what I would like to do is, and I have to have your blessing because you're gonna be considered the host town. We do a program in Granville and a program in Hancock. On the second and fourth, you guys are the first and third. So nobody gets done on the bye week, the fifth of four months. So what, and some of each town is going to each other's other towns anyways. You all pay, Chester pays for your recycling and able charges for the trash and that funds the other part of us to be there and the disposal and all that. So what my proposal is is I would like to take, and lack of a better word, make all three towns a tri-town agreement with you guys, but you would be the host town. So we would pull into your parking lot where we do now 52 weeks a year from eight in the morning to 11. You would pay no more money than you pay now as they pay. The benefit for you guys, it's really simple, by allowing, by you being the host town and allowing the two other towns to come there, program 52 weeks a year for the same money, program 24 times a year. The benefit, they have a two-hour program, each one of them do. One is the morning and one is 11 to one. They would go to a three-hour program. They would go 52 weeks, not 24. And they would be much more consistent, but their drawback is they would have to drive to Rochester. I'd go to Granville and Hancock. The first start is to have your guys' approval. If you said we couldn't do that or was not willing for our Granville and Hancock to come there, it's a new point for me to go any further. Right. Personally, I think that sounds like a pretty good deal for us. Do you guys have thoughts about that? It sounds great to me. I don't see a downside to it, as long as Art can talk the other two towns and driving. That's most good. You have to increase the truck, your capacity at all for those weeks, or would you still be just using one truck or possibly two? Well, we would still be using one truck because now we have a split load truck, 34 yards. But this is the kicker. Your program runs right now every other week and sometimes you run three weeks because on your bye week, that truck never, never pats out is by your businesses or your big recycle factors in Rochester. But instead of them coming once every two weeks, they're gonna come every week. They're gonna have the volume. The volume of recycling or trash should not change in these programs. I don't see, they're just changing, we're just changing the times opportunity to get rid of the same amount of product. I don't know why the product would go up 52 weeks a year opposed to 24 times. Yeah, I'd split it up a little bit more. So I'm correct. They should even it out. They should even it out and make it much more consistent. But absolutely the answer to the question is we would start with one truck. If we had a desire to have two, we would, there's two people that go there because the program needs the service part of the program taking care of the customers. We need two people there. I don't need to put another truck there, but I personally don't think that your volume. So Mr. Lins, the time would be the same, what would it be nine to when? No, you are, well, Rochester is eight to 11. Eight to 11. Okay, that's right. I'm sorry, excuse me. Thank you. Right, and you're right now first and third. So you would be eight to 11, the only difference is you don't have to worry about the first and third. You'd be there every week. Yep. You and you have to come every week. Eight to 11 a.m. every Saturday morning. Yes. Okay. Yes. All right. I think you have our encouragement to go forward and present this to the Hancock and Granville. Okay. Okay, thank you. Thank you so much. You're welcome. And I will keep you, I will schedule another meeting once I go to theirs. And if we can put it together, hopefully we can, we'll just write a simple amendment to your contract. Like I said, your price will not change. So it's just the structure. Okay, thank you. Thanks for the time. Okay. Thank you so much. You guys have a great night. All right, good night. Bye-bye. The next item on the agenda was the old firehouse building. Is this a remnant of the past meeting? Is there something specific about that, Julie? No, I sent him an email and he said he spoke with you over the weekend. Yeah, he's all set. Okay. Yeah, I thought so. Thank you. Which means nothing's happening also. No. So now we've got a driveway permit for Aggie close for her property on Robinson Avenue. And I spoke with her earlier today about that. And I guess we're wanted to give you a little more time, Aggie, to nail down exactly where your property line is just to make sure that we don't step on anybody's toes. Exactly. Yeah. Can you hear me? All right, yeah, I hear you. Okay, sorry. I've only done Zoom meetings with doctors, so I apologize. Yeah, I had spoken with Julie and unfortunately what I didn't know is that there was no survey for my property. So I'd asked her to look into the butters and maybe they would have surveys so we could figure out exactly where that boundary line is. I know that what I'd spoken with, I spoke to David Harvey, he came, we looked at it and I'm 99.9% sure that it is on my property. However, I wanna be 100% sure that it is on my property. I looked for pins, I could not find any. So I guess a friend of mine who is a realtor has offered to come with me to Town Hall if it would help Julie to find out it is the one boundary really that is the issue. And I'm ashamed to say I don't know who that is. I know that it's Amy. I know their daughter, but I don't know them because they don't live there, they just use it as business and I've never met them. So we need to look at that, make sure that it's within the boundaries. Yep, it should be easy to, well, relatively easy to, even if you don't have a survey, it should have a verbal description in the deeds and I would think a little research should be able to nail that down. I'm very much hoping so and I would love to do it as soon as possible because I would love to just, make this parking issue be a non-issue. So we'll gather more information and then maybe we can finalize this at the next meeting. That would be great. David is saying he could do the work at the end of May. I'd love to have what happened as soon as possible. Great, thank you. Come to anyone else have any questions about that? Or I guess we're just waiting for more information. Yep, all right. Are you happy with that, Burma? You okay with that? Sure, you don't have enough information. You're the one that's gonna be most affected. You don't have enough information yet. Right, so yeah, we'll table that and gather more information. Yep, yep. So we have a park use application for green up day. I saw that a little announcement sign go up there. So I think that's a little nudge to, I'd move to approve that application and presuming that they're gonna follow the COVID practicalities. I can second that. Yeah, I talked to Nick to put something in the paper and he said that he's basically going to be there to hand out green bags and collect bags full of stuff from people. And he asked me to put in the article that people are, you know, to cover, to observe COVID practices, et cetera. So hopefully we'll have a successful green up day. Yeah, all right. Okay, on favor? All right. Okay, green up day is coming. Spring is actually coming. We've already talked about black gold compost. And so the 4th of July, I'm kind of inclined to think that maybe we should just put it on hold for one more year. I know- You know, Dick, excuse me, Doon, I kind of agree with you. I heard from Becky Doné who deals with Pierce Hall events and stuff. And she said that they're going to be doing a chicken barbecue like they did last year. And they're also hoping to be able to do the 4th of July dash race that they've done in the past. And I guess they would do a lot of, you know, I don't know whether people would wear masks or what, but she was talking about, they'd have to follow COVID guidelines. I talked about this with Patty Harvey this morning. I don't want to disappoint people because I know people enjoy the parade and everything. But it seems like I heard from the governor's office finally, and while his wording was that he was allowing, he wasn't going to have any restrictions on the amount of people to be at a gathering after July 4th, but he was, what would you call it? Having all kinds of ideas. I'm losing the word that I meant, but it was precautions. That's it. He was asking precautions, people to take all COVID precautions and from what I've been seeing on the news and online, it seems like so many places, once they open up things a lot, they get another rash of COVID. Now, certain activities like the park concerts that we're having on Sunday nights and stuff, people, that's a whole different ball game. People can separate each from each other, you know, and do it that way, whereas our parade, we always seem to get just a big crowd and it's very hard to keep people far enough apart. And I don't know, I don't, I feel uncomfortable about this still. It seems like we're still- I mean, we've made it this far. I think that we could celebrate in a quieter way one more year, you know. I mean, I don't know how anyone else feels about it and I don't want to disappoint people like I said, but I just kind of feel that way too. And there would be the Pierce Hall event, you know, with the barbecue and that kind of stuff. I don't know. Well, what does everyone else think? Vic, do you want to comment? Yeah. I think we should remember the pandemic is still here and we'll be here through the summer and beyond. And secondly, that children under the age of 12, 13 will not have any vaccination available until probably next winter at the earliest. So they are vulnerable. I mean, they're relatively protected in the school setting because it's a very well managed, controlled environment. But kids running around in groups or mixing with adults in a parade setting is a different animal. So I have concerns about it. I spoke with Monica Boyd, who's the vice president at Gifford who manages their vaccination and testing program. And she is also concerned about that kind of setting. The governor's guidance right now is, you know, you can gather after the 4th of July, but masks and distancing are still strongly recommended, though not required anymore as of that point. And, you know, assuming that the vaccination rate continues on track. So if it's any comfort to saying maybe not this year, I would just say that I would second that. Thank you very much. I feel better to hear people say that because I was feeling like I was, because I've been the organizer. It's okay, Martha, you're not letting this down. You're just being yourself. I don't want to disappoint people, but on the other hand, I was worried about it. And I talked, like I said, I talked it over with Patty and I got the feeling that Patty agreed with me. So, okay, thank you very much, guys. So I guess that's it. We'll skip the big 4th of July. Jeff Hart, you're muted. You're still muted. I'm muted. There you go. Had to do that at least once a day, huh? Yeah. I have the GMP resiliency zone community profile. Julie and I have answered everything I think that we are capable of answering. You just approved the LEMP policy. So that's good. It's needed in here. Who should I work with to get the rest of the answers on this back to page form? I'm tearing up there. Okay. I'll reach out offline to pick a time or just send, I'll send you this and that's probably the easiest thing. I don't think there's any more I can really add to it. No, thank you. Thanks. Good park parade. So we have the only other things were the additions that were made to the agenda through an email with some questions about what's happening with the signage on Buffle Mountain Road. Frank, you had no update on that, right? I basically have been in touch with several people on the state level. I'm still trying to get permission to get some signage on Route 100 and at the junction 173, indicating alternative routes instead of GPS and the mountain road. And I'm working with Bethel. Therese is on vacation this week. I did talk with Chris Bump last week and he thinks that what we're trying to do is a good approach. At least you're not going to stop the traffic. So it's just impossible to do that. But maybe some added signage indicating where 89 is from here might be useful. And also indicating coming off from 89, going west and north with signs indicating what routes to take. And also on Route 12 before you get onto the Camp Brook Road. So we're trying to work on it that way and I think that will help some. And we've been working in communication with folks in Bethel who are feeling the same way, correct? Yes, I've been in touch with Therese, the town manager there and she's on vacation this week. So and last week, part week she was gone too. So I haven't really talked to her this, but I will keep going on it and keep working on it. And Chris is helping as far as getting in touch with his superiors more. And he said, if he doesn't get anywhere, he's gonna let me go at him that way. So I will keep on it. I'll make phone calls at least once a week just to try to get some movement on it. Thank you. I have some comments regarding the road signage, June. Yeah. Is this Robert? This is Robert. Yeah. I just want everyone present in the meeting tonight to know that the signage that was placed on Bethel Mountain Road and Middle Hollow Road cost taxpayers about $45,000. That's about $1,500 per message. And I talked to Chris about it, his supervisor and V-Trans. And basically they had no clue about what was really needed but they knew they spent 40, I think it was $42,800 for what doesn't direct anyone to anywhere. It was helpful. It was a good start. But I contacted Chris and basically he shook his hands and said, hey, good luck. So... So... What he is saying about that, we're talking about increased signage to try and direct trucks before they turn on to stuff a mountain road, but that's, I think that'll be money. Well, it's not just the trucks turning on to Bethel Mountain Road, whether it be on Rochester side or the Bethel side, it is the flatlanders, pardon the expression, that when they come into Rochester, they have no clue where to go. There's not one, two, like, I travel 500, 600 miles a week for North Hollow, and there's always signs in towns to say where to get onto the major highway. When you get into Rochester, you're basically lost. Well, that's what we're talking about changing. That's what we're talking about changing. Well, what I need to suggest to you is that the project that cost us $45,000 took about five years to be executed, and it was executed incorrectly. The advice I can give to Frank, and to Chris, and to Therese is that they need local input to understand what is really needed, not VTrans corporate or VTrans, you know. That's what's happening right now. So we're on. No, you're assuming that's what's happening, but it needs to happen. Frank just said he's calling them every week, and that's about as local as you get. Well, no, what I'm suggesting is ask local people in Rochester and Bethel and along this road. I'm in the middle of it. I have tractor trailers coming into my door yard that have to back up three miles to get out of here. I've got people coming in at 11 o'clock at night in the winter trying to get to Sugarbush, and I end up in, I'm disgraced because they're using their GPS, and I'm just saying, I'm so sorry, your GPS is wrong. So I've been through this for four years. Yep. So it's not. Yeah, we know it's been, this is not the first time this issue has come before us, and then what we're reporting on is, you know, the current attempts to move forward on that and to, and I think that having, like you mentioned, signs directing you to the interstate, not pointing up Buffa Mountain Road, it would be a good practical step in the right direction. That's what we're talking about. Well, I pushed, I talked to Chris about that, and you know, maybe there, maybe people in the town of Rochester don't want like signage on the park, but you need to. We're talking about signage on Route 100 before you even turn on the park. Yeah. Well, Robert, I saw Nancy had a comment she wanted to make, I want to spread this out and get more input. What were you going to say, Nancy? I was just going to say, I came over the mountain tonight and talking about signage. As you've come down to the T with Middle Hollow, there looks like someone knocked over one of those signs. Yeah. Yeah, Nancy, you're right. That sign was taken out. It's been over and done. Well, I just want to suggest to everyone, when I pull out of Hooper Hollow Road, it is a death trap. People are coming over the mountain right at the end of my road, at 70 miles an hour. So my little Subaru or the Volvo, and then a tractor trailer comes over, or a tour bus. Robert White and I have helped more people crashing into trees that the paper never knew about. And I'm just saying, it needs the cooperation of both towns. And I know Frank's working on that with Therese. But someone is either a family or a 17-year-old person is going to be sadly... Yeah, people have died on that road before. No. Well, we have a major moose crossing. I didn't tell them. There's a major moose crossing on the flats when you go above Hooper Hollow Road towards Rochester. Well, they didn't sign that. So all I'm requesting is that rather than take information from the local people that know the road, like Nancy Woolley, like Martha, that drive it every day, before you even go to V-Trans. And by the way, the reason why we don't have any towing companies of AAA people in this valley is because they got so sick and tired of a $90,000 Audi stuck on a snow machine trail. They just said, we don't want it. Yep. Pat, will you raise your hand about something? Okay. Howard Doyle now has a tow truck. I was just saying. I know. We've spent a good five minutes on this. So could we move on to the next item or? Yes. Yeah, yeah, you're not. So, Robert, you also requested some clarification about two rivers out of Quiche. I'm not exactly clear about what your question, you didn't understand how they get their funding or what is your question about two rivers? Well, I was denied to put my questions onto the agenda and now you're asking the questions that I placed. I was denied having them warned. No, I actually placed them on here. They were too late to be on the printed agenda, but at the beginning of each meeting, we asked if anyone has any amendments. And so that's where I added what you had put onto the, I don't think you quite understood that. I thought that Pat had. Well, I think you should go back to the orca recordings when you asked, would anyone like to add anything to the agenda? So that's what I thought. So now that's been changed. Well, so that happened. I did that for you because you didn't make it to the meeting at six o'clock and you had communicated your desire to add those. Now there are not things that we can make specific decisions, but we can talk about them. So what was your question about two rivers? I have a major question with regards to the, where the money comes from to two rivers when the town tax base can't afford improvements, whether it be in Rochester or Bethel, Hooper Hollow Road was just upgraded. So the towns, but can I answer your question? Well, you already did. I was just trying to answer the question. Would you like me to finish? Yes. Okay, so for 16 years, I, we survived up here at Hooper Hollow and thanks to Jerice and two rivers, we got grants to upgrade Hooper Hollow Road and they did a great, they did a good job, let's just say that, but the money ran out. They never finished the project. So, so I, what I'm trying to get, what I'm trying to ask everyone present tonight, including you, Dune, is where, if the tax base cannot afford the support and infrastructure of a town, where does the money where does the money come from to feed torque to then be given to town? I don't understand. Where that comes from is they are quite a helpful ally in applying for grants and helping the town execute the contortions we need to go to access money from the state and from the federal government. And out of those projects is written in to is written in their cut. So it's basically they, just like any grant writer, they get a proportion, you know, a percentage of the monies generated by their work. So the bulk of the money goes to the project and they get a cut for their making it happen. It's just like when you wash windows, you know, whether it's a private person or it's a business, you know, you give them a bill and they pay it. But no, Dune, you didn't answer the question. The question is where does the money, where you're saying that two viewers out of Quiche get the federal and state funding, is that what you're saying? They're grant writers, basically very- No, I'm not asking if- Yeah. And that's how they get the bulk of their money. You know- If the money comes, wait a second. They're grant writers, like ghost writers, where do they get, where does two of you out of Quiche get the money to finance what we can't afford? I guess I don't quite understand your question, Robert. I mean, it's there, they get the money from the projects that they create, different sources. They get it from funders, from funders. And those funders can government funds or private funds. They know where the funds are. They help towns locate and identify the funds and then they help the towns apply for the funds and they get it cut. Yeah. And it's federal and state funds, right? Yeah. So- I'm not discounting anyone that supports and funds to River out of Quiche. Those persons that are funding them, that's a new public information. It is. It is. I mean, it's not, there's nothing hidden about it. It's, yeah, I'm not sure what your confusion is about that. But the- This is not the place to keep going. So you had another question about the redistrict green, redistrict green, how do you pronounce that? District green. District green. Yeah. What's the story there, Robert? What are you talking about? Well, according to the 220 census, Rochester is, if you look at the geographic and political map of the Windsor County or the Rutland Windsor County voting district, Rochester is like the red haired step child. So there's a number of people that really want to annex Rochester to Addison, Chittenden, or Orange County, which I think is very logical. That's first I've heard of this. I haven't heard anything about that. Well, I'm just saying that if everyone present tonight goes on to the senators maps and whatever and look at Rochester, it's in the middle of nowhere. And Windsor County, the county of Windsor, including Rochester, is so gigantic that I don't think the senators and the represented and voted politicians, they can't handle it. It's like Chittenden County up in Burlington. It's way too big. So this is, and what are you asking us to do about that? Well, I think everyone, the select board and people and residents of Rochester should look at it and look at it logically and understand, you know, the political dynamics of it. And the 220 census will, you know, basically pretty much demand how Rochester is placed within voting districts and counties. Well, that's not really something that we have control of here in our town. So it's an interesting thought. I'll be curious to see how that plays out. So first I've heard of the thought of them restructuring the counties. Pat, do you have some input on that? Last time this was done and it was in 2012. I don't believe that we were affected at that time. But it took a couple of years after the 2010 census to do the redistricting. So I think this is an ongoing thing. And especially with COVID, it might be another couple of years before it's resolved. If there are people, Robert, that you feel are concerned voters in Rochester, that you feel are concerned about that, then please have them get into contact with their representatives. Right, well, it's not a, I'm just announcing this information. And by the way, it's mostly people from Pittsfield, Stockbridge, Bethel that are looking into the redistricting of Rochester. Okay, good. It's kind of like a wake up call. Could Rochester could end up in one of the other counties? And it's all due to the political dynamics of the 220 census. And yes, your doing is correct. It will take, just like the signage, the new signage proposed, it'll take probably three to four years. Okay, so noted. Nice. Thank you. And I think the last thing that you had questions about is you're wondering why the select board is still meeting via Zoom while businesses are open. Yep, that was on the agenda. On your agenda. No, not on the agenda, but trying to be put on. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so. So basically we're following the guidelines from the state government. And just like we use those as part of our reasoning to not have the fourth of July parade this year, we're still not out of the woods than the COVID situation. And we're, until we're directed otherwise, I think there we're gonna continue conducting the town business as safely as possible. So you, your business as a bike retailer is essential. Is that correct? A lot of people think so, yeah. Okay. And Patty's hardware store is essential. And I understood her email with regards to feeding animals and keeping people warm. But I think it's time that towns, including Rochester, should talk to the governor and say, you know what? We can have a socially distance select board meeting without having to run and get codes and passwords. Just let's go back to socially distance. Why in God's world can everyone shop at max, shop at the hardware, shop at the bike shop and not go into the town clerk's office, socially distance in a proper way and not be on a telephone or a computer? Robert. Robert, can you hear me? I'm here. The buildings have, are only allowed 50% capacity. So what's 50%, what's 50%? Five, five people. So why can't we, why can't we have a, an outdoor select board meeting on the parking lot? Robert, this is... How can I have a parade? I personally... We have, we have, we have outdoor church meetings. We have had more people showing up on Zoom select board meetings than we regularly did and in person select board meetings. And, and except for cases when there was a big, big kerfuffle and some really big issue. And in which case we also have multiple screens of people showing up on Zoom. I'm doing just, I mean, I attend every meeting because I cover them for the Herald but I'm also a registered voter. I truly appreciate the fact that you have continued to do the meetings via Zoom because I know that I have lymphedema and I can't walk without a walker. It's much easier for me to be at home to do, to be the meeting. And I believe you're absolutely right. It seems like there are, I've been covering the meetings for years. It seems like there are more people attending the meetings this way at this point, you know, in time. And because it's maybe easier for them, I don't know. But I appreciate you continuing to do it and we'll be glad to continue to do it. I would also like to add that I appreciate having a Zoom meeting. I don't drive at night, I don't drive at dusk and I wouldn't go out to select board meeting under those conditions. So I also find it very convenient and effective. Thank you. You know, we may find out. Who was, can I interrupt? Who was just speaking? My name is Burma Cassidy. Hey Burma. Hey. What I was just about to say is we may find that once we do resume physical meetings we may keep a Zoom component specifically for people that can't make it to the meeting or people that are, you know, property owners that are out of town and, you know, have something important to say. They haven't built their house yet, you know. Dune, does that, would that cost extra for you to do that? I don't know anything about this. I'm not the technology person. It wouldn't cost any more than it's costing us now to do it. Oh, well, then I would be thrilled to death if you were continued to do that at some point. You know, that's just what- Well, well, Dune, Martha, I'm so sorry to interrupt. Dune, I think the compromise, and I totally understand and have compassion for those that cannot get to a meeting, whether it be, you know, driving or whatever. I totally get that, but there should be a compromise. And if Martha wants to not get into the town clerk's office, I think that is fine. But I think the in-person meeting is really important. So maybe we can do a 50-50. Like anyone that wants to join us via Zoom, let's roll. Anyone that wants to come in public, let's accommodate them. But this is getting kind of painful. What if more than five people showed up at the town office for a select board meeting? And- Right, we have five already with the three of us in Julie, and if we ever, that leaves room for one person. So it's really, Robert, we're gonna just follow along and run the course with, you know, the directives that were given by the governor and, you know, that's where we're at right now. Well, I think we've worn that conversation out. But lastly, I've requested from Julie the Board of Civil Authority minutes from 2004 to 2020. Those are all on the website. I'm sure. And I'm not going back to 2004. Oh, not to 2004? No, I don't know. I don't know why they hadn't been put on there. I'm not finding them myself. Well, Julie, the last time I visited the town clerk's office requesting the Board of Civil Authority minutes after the 2018 election, Nancy Woolley was there, and we couldn't find them. We couldn't find anything. So you're saying it doesn't go back to 2004, but- It's, they gave you a book. Well, I don't understand why when I requested the book in the town clerk's office, you couldn't find them. There was no book. No, I gave you the, I gave you the book. You went through it. No, you did not. No, no, you did not because I was looking for very specific things regarding election days and the Board of Civil Authority's involvement. Nancy Woolley witnessed it. There were nowhere to be found. Robert, it can be taken care of. It can be taken care of? What does that mean? I believe you probably can go visit Julie again. She'll provide you with the material that you're looking for, that she has already provided you with. Nancy, I've never been provided with any Board of Civil Authority minutes in the town clerk's office of Rochester. She'd never provided anything. Are we done? I think that, I think that that's, I think that we're done, Robert. If you need help finding deeper minutes, I'm sure that Julie can hand you the books that you can corrales, but they're not, they're not on the website. I didn't realize how soon, I guess, when did we start putting stuff on the website? I guess after that. I think we had a website in 2000 so far. Right, right, so that's like, so. So there, there, it just takes some digging, Robert. I'm requesting that the select board in the town clerk to provide me the Board of Civil Authority minutes from 2004, whether they're digital or printed or copied. I don't have the time to sit in the town clerk's office looking for these things. Well, and we do, yeah. But that is the, wait a minute, Robert. If you're asking, there's minutes are there if you want to research them, but you're saying you don't have the time to sit there and do the research. You know, you're asking people to look for things that's in that you know is in your head. It's, you know, you got to be willing to put the work in if you, if you want to do that, Robert. I think any, any information that any casual observer or pedestrian wants from a town clerk's office, the town clerk should be able to provide them in a very proper and timely way. And they weren't, were not. Well, so I'm just asking guidance. As I said to you in my email and Frank and Patty, I'm asking for guidance on how to find the board of civil authority minutes from 2004 to 2020. It's not my responsibility. They should be recorded and very, very properly secured. So Julie, you know where the book is that would have the minutes that Robert is looking for. Yes, I do. Yeah. Okay. There you go, Robert. So Julie has the minutes of the board of civil authority of Rochester back to 2004. Is that a fact? I have a book. I haven't read through them. So I don't know exactly what is in there, but I can look at it. Okay. Well, maybe over the next week, I'll give you a call and if you find some board of civil authority minutes in 2004, I'd be happy to read them. Okay. All right. I think that's it. Unless anyone else has something they want to talk about tonight. Nope. Thank you. Thank you, Frank and Patty. Thanks everybody. Good night. All right. Good night.