 meeting to order. First on the agenda is to approve the agenda. Is there any amendments or anything to add tonight? I don't have anything. No, I don't. Move we accept the agenda as written. Okay, all in favor? All right. Public comment inquiry. There's anything that anybody would like to bring up that's not currently on the agenda for this evening. That was the time to do it. Jesse and Owen did you guys have a specific question or? Yeah, we came I don't know how this is formally entered into the meeting but we're here to talk about our water rate. And also just to kind of share with you all what we're thinking is gonna be the future for the next couple of months for the bar. Okay, sure. So that's kind of connected to the water rate. Yep. So water bills were just generated today so they haven't mailed out yet. And then obviously part of the discussion we're gonna have tonight is the new water sewer rates. But your specific EU and how that's calculated. Certainly you and I can talk about two. We probably aren't gonna get it resolved tonight because I don't have that spreadsheet with me to figure out how you're calculated. I think I have a little bit of information but we can certainly chat about it. So why don't you go ahead and tell us what's going on at Babes. So obviously we have not been open for months and months. It feels like a very long time. But I think we're just based on what we're expecting the governor's guidance to be based on guidance for other types of businesses that are starting to reopen. It's looking like a diminished capacity max. It's looking like obviously a lot of different health standards that need to happen in the space. And with the diminished capacity, we're looking at about like 14 to 16 people maximum being allowed inside of the bar. And so I think for us after like a lot of sadness and mourning and the crunching numbers and having different types of ideas like maybe we'll do carry out maybe delivery, we're kind of coming to the place of it feels like we might have to kind of hibernate for a little while. And that it's really like obviously like the regulars are our lifeline and big events are how we pay the rent. So like without both of those things, it's really hard to think about us being like sustainable. And especially when we think about the winter and added costs of winter, plowing, heat, all the things that happen. So we're kind of thinking about hibernating just kind of maybe we'll do some catered events, maybe some pop-up events, but really not thinking about being back to a level of business that we were at for probably 12 months at least. And so just preparing for that. And so in that we're we're not anticipating having the number that we have for our water rate is based on a conversation that we had with Greg Magger when he came in and we kind of chairs and we kind of thought about how many what our capacity is how many people are seated. And that's just gonna be that's gonna be different for the next year. Sure. It'll be at zero. And that is how it's calculated for bars and for restaurants. Actually you're a little bit unique because Tim Mills and I had this discussion about you all because normally it's 35 gallons 30 35 gallons per seat per person and we felt that was not fair to you guys because of the fact that you're not serving big meals. And so we came at it from a different angle and we're charging you the 15 gallons per seat. And that's how we were looking at it because obviously you're not cooking big meals there to you know, twice a day. So are you thinking that how does your heating system run? Do you need water or are you thinking about just shutting off the water and closing up the building? I don't think we're gonna shut off the water. We kind of want to. So we're right now because we opened on June 15th. It's also a period where a lot of our big contracts annual contracts are up for renewal. So like our insurance contracts and things like that. So you know and in searching for next year's rates we're having to be honest with those people about okay I don't think we're gonna have a karaoke night. I don't think we're gonna have a big dance party. I don't think that's happening for the next year probably. Right. And so but we're still wanting to ensure the building in case things get better and maybe we can open. Well sure and you could probably yeah. Yeah makes sense. We're not the limited coverage yeah. Yeah so we're not at the point of like shutting off water but we literally not had anybody in the building in three months and probably won't for a while. So yeah I guess. We're trying to just kind of stop the bleeding honestly. So this is one of the ways of just being realistic with y'all that we are not using water right now or customers are not using our water and so if there's a way that we can minimize that cost to us for the next couple of months that would be awesome. But yeah so yeah so what the select board has done in the past is they have you know given people like six months at a time like but usually it's been for a building that has rehabbed you know what I mean like maybe they somebody bought a really you know place that need a lot of work and so then they have rehabbed it but I mean Chris what's your thought about about this about the and the boards about the use can you hear him. Yeah yeah I can hear you just trying to think through I mean we're kind of in unprecedented time so it's yeah typically typically how we approach you know as water commissioners in the past is you know the rules are the rules unless you know what we did is to allow certain individuals to to purchase places to fix up in the downtown we've done some things where you know you know forgiving water or sewer for a period of time while they fix it up which is not what we're talking here I mean there's and my guess that you guys are not the only ones that are going to be in that situation so right there's probably going to be some other business owners in town there are probably looking at things the same way you guys are so I don't really know right now what's the board other board members thinking I mean it's probably something you know in the past we've done it on a case-by-case basis but you know right now where the way things are going and you know there might be some businesses that may not open this year or may open in a very less capacity than they're used to you know how we're gonna deal with that do we deal with it as a everybody as a group together you know this is what we're gonna do as a town or do we continue to do it on a case-by-case basis what do you all think we have in the past done vacancy rates I don't know well that would affect the businesses number one and number two we have a board of abatement if it comes to that and that would allow a case-by-case handling of each each business I don't know that's my thought but the board of abatement it's not for water and sewer it's for panel taxes and penalties and interests things like that tax assessments the select board does that okay does that I think that you know if you look at the vacancy rate that's a good option I don't know how it applies to this particular case but you also have someone else like you know like Dave the sandwich shop there who hasn't been able to have any bodies in the building eating but is still you know functioning as a as a business in a way so that's a different kind of scenario so I think we have to stick with the case by case basis when we consider what to do right because right now we're at zero income and zero customers so right I I think that the case-by-case basis is definitely the best and you know obviously we're here tonight to discuss the sewer water budget and all that and what really covers the budget you know is the EU so each individual so every account like if it's a resident it's one of you but businesses pay more than that so when Tim and I work through the budget and all the numbers that's what we're based in the raid on is how many EU's people are using so we need to be very cautious about what you choose to do as a board because we've built the rate around X amount of EU's and if we start cutting those to vacancies or not no no offense to you guys Jesse you know I'm just telling you how it works if we start cutting people's EU's and rates then we're not gonna cover the nut which is you know the bill so so I'm glad you guys are here tonight to you know have this conversation and I think to Paul's point I think that you may get other businesses asking for this because I mean coffee noodles has no one in their dining room either no one is using their bathrooms right like there's just there's there are yeah it's a different world that we live in right now so that's true just wanted to raise it you know it's available and we're honestly we're just crunching the numbers over here and figuring out how we can survive this so it's it's an exploratory question right certainly we have had other people you know bring this topic up we do know that while cock-a-doodle may not be able to see people in the restaurant they're certainly able to do you know good takeout business and so some people actually have done better than others so we understand that and obviously it's unprecedented we do know that however that there's been a lot of money about two billion dollars flushed into the state for people for businesses to be able to get through this and if you use it for payroll or use it for utilities there's no payback to that that's just a you can use that if you use it in different ways outside of the parameters set and Lindley can clarify if I'm wrong then I think there's a half to one percent payback but I was understanding if it was used for payroll and utilities you didn't pay it back was that your understanding Lindley it sort of it depends that's again a case-by-case the way that prove it so you know without knowing details and I don't think we need to go into those for just no no certainly not it really does vary case-by-case because like the Arnold Block has no employees so we will get no nothing from the government right because we don't have employees and it's all based on that so it really is not I think the criteria we should go by I agree about the vacancy rate piece and I sort of want to ask a clarifying question of Jesse and Owen on that which is you mentioned maybe doing catering in which case you'd be you wouldn't have customers in your space but you'd be using your space to then clean whatever you use for the catering right it depends sometimes that's a plastic cup situation sometimes okay because that was kind of my question was in a vacancy rate situation I think my understanding is we act as though the water shut off or we physically shut the water off and if that would hinder your ability to do those catering gigs that kind of thing that would make a big difference I think yeah I think we're gonna like to be in a place where we do have access to water because we've been in there cleaning and sure yeah but it's not yes Teresa what do you think about you know cuz I'm sure again I think you know Jesse no one's case is probably gonna be you know multiplied here in the coming weeks or months of other potential business owners that are in the same situation as well what about on our next select board meeting inviting maybe senator McCormick or one of them to join us and see and see what they're think well not only see what what the options are for our business owners in town but also maybe we could also at the same time have some of those business owners on the Zoom meeting with the senator to express some of the concerns that the business owners have and what they need from the state government to supply them you know kind of get that back and forth this is what we need we know you have money how are you gonna give it out you know and maybe get some of these answered or if not maybe just getting our legislators interest perked on what what what people might need sure I don't know if maybe Sandy if we ideally I think probably if we could have both dick and sandy on would probably be would be the best and then and then maybe if we could get you know half a dozen of the business owners from downtown on that might be in similar situations of Jesse and Owen to kind of talk about you know what does this path forward over the next six twelve months look like you know how can we weather that and then and then once we have maybe some information from them then maybe we can try and think of how as a town we approach this you know is that in you know I know we don't want to change our EU calculations but is that in maybe some payment forgiveness or working payment plans or you know doing it on a case-by-case basis where you know some things are forgiven you know I just kind of what are options and you know maybe there's a bunch of money that the state potentially will have available for business owners that can make payroll and utilities I don't know but Jesse and Owen do you feel like you've been reached out to like have the information about what the state's currently offering or do you do you feel like that's been easy for you information for you to get we've been pretty up up to date we're kept into a network of yeah of business owners a restaurant and buyers around Vermont who have been pretty we've been in touch with legislature and okay good yeah yeah yeah and we were I mean we applied for we were approved for a payroll protection loan it's freshly you can't welcome our staff back right now because we still can't be open in the way I mean it different it would be different if we start we had a larger food menu but because we have such a small food menu the the law still requires that we serve a meal when we do take out and carry out cocktails there's there's just all the little pieces that it's hard to you know people are like when are you gonna be open we're like there's so many little pieces that it's very hard to answer that question but number one we're not allowed to have our actual physical bar open right now yeah so it's just been hard yeah yeah it's been hard to use because I feel like a lot of the resources I've heard from other types of businesses are actually very helpful but I think for the service industry particularly the bar and restaurant industry who are mostly closed right now and are also a very specifically cash like it's just a cash flow issue yeah it makes sense it makes sense that you're in a such a weird situation we kind of were wondering about that reading updates and where you stood and when you could bring people in and we're still trying to figure out if we're gonna be able to open a pool so you know it is it changes and in your right I totally understand and I feel bad I mean it's a it's such a tough situation for business owners right now especially for someone like you guys you know we hadn't been in business all that long and then boom COVID yeah yes yeah yeah so our next meeting is on the on the 8th is that right yep 8th so we can get feelers out there to see if maybe Sandy and and Dick can join us and maybe at the same time when late if you know or Owen and Jesse maybe you can get a you know a half dozen of the business owners in town that maybe are most impacted by this to join us on the call and you know they can express the frustrations that they're having on you know board and yeah yeah there's nothing set in stone now maybe you know maybe Dick and Sandy can go to Montpelier and advocate for these folks yeah well and I was thinking about this a little bit Chris in terms of because I agree with you that we have as a board we have to think about this as a bigger picture you know as the water sewer board we have to think about what's the bigger implication here but I also think that Jesse and Owen have a very unique scenario and then really the other two businesses that are impacted that I think would change would be cock doodle and the sandwich shop and those probably should be handled separately from you know or thought about separately from Jesse and Owen scenario because they're so different but aside from that whose business is drastically changed by customers not I don't think in terms of water sewer usage I think those are really the three businesses in our downtown that are drastically impacted I don't know if others would would make a case for somebody else but for the most part everybody else is still able to do business still probably using similar levels of water you know like even here we're using we've left everything at pretty much exactly the same because we're using the same things we would have used but it wouldn't be the same for like Jesse and Owen have no one in their building so I guess I'm just saying I think I agree with you that looking at this as a big picture is the right way to go but aside from those three businesses I'm not sure I I can identify any any others that are drastically affected in terms of water sewer but I think you make a good point the insurance offices Lindley are working they just can't have people come in the door but they're all working so you're right Jesse and Owen are in a you know sadly unique situation I agree with you has anybody checked in with the the creek house ginger they're fully closed I think they're not even doing takeout are they on water sewer no okay but she has a takeout window right she has a take window but they've been closed since March 15 yeah I don't think they're planning to do anything at least as far as I've heard that's a good point Jesse I'll reach out to ginger yeah I'll reach out to her so thank you maybe in addition to what Chris is suggesting about our next meeting and this is sort of a question for Tim and Teresa is there a way to sort of do some projection ideas of what might work incorporating what Jesse and Owen's case is and what cock doodle and the sandwich chop cases are and then sort of so that at that meeting we're looking at here are one or two potential plans of what might work what might not work what numbers look like realistically if we do these different scenarios I know you guys just did all that works it's fine what just see they don't have that big an effect on us it is a small effect it does play a part in that but like you said the cock and doodles actually been fairly busy would take out and I've heard some stories from what's going on inside they're doing okay ginger doesn't play a part in this bill so if we only have you know some minor adjustments with the buyer and maybe one other person it's not gonna have that big an overall effect on where we have the budget laid out right now and it's only temporary too well it's a direct correlation because there's a cost per EU so every time we cut somebody from a regular EU to a vacancy rate so sure Tim and I could say okay let's say we bring Jesse and Owen to whatever to say zero and we reduce the sandwich shop if we made a couple of reductions are not of specific businesses say we lost 10 or 11 EU then what you're gonna see is we can do that and what you're gonna see is a higher rate for everybody else and how much that will change is not gonna be horrible but we can certainly do that Lindley run some options look at that look at that option and see what the what the impact would be of a couple of different scenarios yeah it's that's not you don't just snap that out you gotta have some numbers to actually lay with it trust me I made the formulas that does the figuring so you'd have to know kind of exactly what you're talking about and I want out yeah that's what I'd have to do Tim is kept we'd have to you and I would have to sit down figure some businesses give them a specific change in our mind you know what I mean and then you and I would have to reduce the amount of reserve to use and run them so we can do that then I guess my comment would be him you can weigh in here is maybe you don't adopt the budget then tonight and you wait until next meeting to adopt the budget because if you adopt it now and then you make some decisions which are all fine with us maybe you need to do it maybe you shouldn't be doing it today all you as long as you get it adopted by June 30 yeah but again if we're just talking small changes to it may not affect the budget by the line it can always be it's like if they went down to a vacant it probably wouldn't be life-changing right but if they close the building and they go to zero that's they're like same as anybody in town that goes to Florida yeah true but it's like seven point something their sewer is doesn't really matter because they're at that flat rate right the water could be but we could run a couple numbers it's okay the other thing too and I don't know if there's any other you know non-utility questions out there in regards to COVID and how it it's affecting our community communities but you know we could also bring those questions forward to you know representatives on the show there are pieces of it I mean even you know I was talking my barber and even when she goes back to work you know the cost associated with going back to work is almost not even worth working it's you know every single person you have to you know have a completely different bib and you know change out all your stuff and you know I mean it's just and you know one person at a time you know isn't even worth being open you know you know so there's probably a lot more at stake than just water and utilities at this point you know there there are definitely some businesses that are thriving because of COVID you know local hardware store is doing very good because nobody you know people are staying locally and buying locally you know so there's you know definitely some people that make out on it too so you know I would just suggest I think it would be really neat to you know if we could get both of our representatives on the call would be awesome or if not just one and maybe lay out some some of the questions that the community is having and it may you know the business owners and maybe some of the you know residential people as well on you know what relief is out there for us and what what are they thinking is coming either in the first bill or the one that's being worked up now and you know because I think it's hard for us to make a decision so we kind of know what all of our options there and I'm happy to reach out to Dick tomorrow and then can certainly we can send an email out to businesses and I'd hate to you know for us to make a decision and find out two months later that you know whatever you know there is money available to you know pay for this or rather than us have to you know take a lot of knee-jerk reactions at this point so in theory there's supposed to be another federal stimulus bill of some kind if they ever get their acts together down there so there may be some more business relief funds available maybe yeah and I think you know one would think that you know Dick and Sandy would have quite a bit of information that they could share with us or at least maybe make some recommendations on you know what path to take on this I'm sure we're not the only community that's having these questions no I had this conversation too with the dick and somebody else too because you're right I mean there's a lot you know stimulus money but like Lindley made a great point it doesn't it's not going to affect everybody right the way it works so certainly but yeah I'm happy to reach out to dick and some local businesses and see if they have questions if they have questions maybe we can even get them to dick in advance I can talk to Lindley and and just see I think they both have email lists of people all right so unless we have any further questions on that I mean I would say just on Jesse no one's end of things is just you know make sure you guys deal you know just continue to work with Teresa on this she's gonna be the one that will be able to you know work with you know setting I know we're going through reviewing current EU usages now so maybe they were saying earlier that might already affect you and then you know I would say you know after we have a talk with the representatives maybe we have a you know maybe as a group we make a decision as a group based on a couple of the businesses in town or maybe we have you guys come forward one at a time and and see what more we may or may not be able to do for you so we appreciate you taking time out of your day to visit us usually Doug's our only only visitor yeah thanks so much yeah good luck to holding everything down during this pandemic crazy yeah well just here I'll just give me a call at the office I mean email and we'll you know work through it if you guys have specific questions for Senator McCormick or you know or Sandy Haas you know let me know and we'll get them to them in advance to see what else is out there for you guys thank you now be safe thank you appreciate it take care so anybody any further questions in my answer that are Chris you have a barber I have a barber how do you do that the same barber that I've been going to since I can I don't even have to say anything I just sit down she cuts my hair like that's just the way it works I couldn't even go to another one I wouldn't know what to even say so all right so any anything else under public comment inquiry anybody else have anything else Doug or Alisa right Alisa we got the bench reset at Pevine it looks awesome I did see that thank you yeah it looks great thank you yeah thanks for letting us know yeah I'm gonna put her around down there and just I've had someone offer me some hostas and stuff so I'm just gonna do some planting and stuff down there but nothing in the way of mowing or anything like that but no Richard's got that covered yeah yeah yeah so awesome okay moving on so the so next on we had the water and sewer budget discussion and rate setting for 2021 any questions about the budget or anything obviously you know Tim's doing a little math here so obviously if you took out some of you's you're talking about a slight increase from 119 to 121 but we already know that Kevin Berry mentioned the sandwich shop so this is where if you know one so you take off the use for the babes and then which is you know fine then you take off for the sandwich shop and then what if cock-a-doodle comes to you you know we have to figure out I guess in my mind is how do we quantify this you know maybe Lindley or somebody has a good idea but if they're doing takeout and their business is just as good if they had seats like how do we know whether their business is good or not I how do they make you know if they're making up and take out what they would normally have done in seats how are we I don't think you can I don't think you should be able to use their quantity of business if they're not using the water that's where it's at because that's what we're charging them for is to have the water available and how much they use and how much they deposit into the septic so if they're having a million dollar year that should but nobody's going in the store that their their income should not make a difference well Mike we obviously don't meter the accounts so we can't really quantify how much water they're using and maybe they're doing takeout so they don't have people in the restaurant but not everybody that's in the restaurant uses the bathroom but obviously they're using water for dishes and you know maybe they're not the ones to do that but I'm thinking more like the well yeah the babes is more is the big one as far as what's going on there because if they they use a little water but if they have people they use a lot of water yeah sure probably cockadoodle uses yeah that's a good point probably cockadoodle uses 80% of the water when they do takeout then if they had people in there right that's kind of my question I know the sandwich shop because certainly we already know because Kevin Barry was here not long ago and he had the same thing about them is maybe Dave's you know business is doing great with takeout but not with seats so this is what I'm saying I just think that it's something for you to think about because once you come up with that idea or that thought process you're gonna have to apply it to possibly at least three businesses so babes of course is different because they don't use the have the volume of people wears cockadoodle even with the front clothes they could be making pizzas like Matt you know or Dave maybe is doing a ton of sandwiches so it is it's that's what I'm saying Dave is just something to think about baby doesn't have a kitchen huh babes doesn't have a kitchen right exactly that's my point yeah water usage oh I think they're no brainer they're totally easy I'm just saying you know what I'd like just be thinking that we also know that Kevin Barry has mentioned it and you know we're talking about cockadoodle and just we could have a couple other businesses so it's hard to know how to quantify all that is my point how do you use figured for the Arnold block it's based on basically Greg and I sat down and by space figured out the number of EU's we use based on the number of people and when Teresa and I looked at it this year what changes is so insignificant that it really wasn't worth changing much we have we still have the apartment going and then we have a few office users and so aside from that very little change so we just left it as it was so yeah the Arnold block such a different case if we had the kitchen here up and running it would be different but we haven't yet so it didn't really make any major changes yeah it is usually each business is if it's yeah she obviously is unique and because of her uses certainly where you know someone like you know mills hardware those guys we go by what we did was decide you know went through all the spreadsheet that we had for commercial businesses made sure we had all the commercial businesses in it and then applied the correct water supply rule to every business which is something that had not been done in the past we actually gained a couple EU's lost a couple here gained a couple there but just making sure that everybody was treated the same so that you know what that's the way it's supposed to work and it looks like you know looking through the water and sewer a great schedule that the increases are pretty pretty limited for this coming year you know it's dollar dollar on the water and you know whatever 40 40 cents sewer I guess one question I had in that is and it made sense to me that the you know if the rates go up slightly than the vacancy rates would go up because that's a fixed cost do we know why the rate the the vacancy rate actually went down on the sewer and the things I had wondered that I think that we had paid off a note so some of the stuff we did go through this time and make sure that all the fixed costs were the same but we had we paid something off I don't have last years with me right now but we also had a reduction oh I know we had a reduction in some costs okay from one year to the next so I think that was what me look I've got this I mean that was that was pretty pretty much the only thing that really stuck out to me when I was reviewing it and I just said oh that's kind of interesting that vacancy rate actually went down a dollar 70 or whatever yeah we reduced a couple things we reduced postage we reduced legal services so Tim had certainly made some cuts in his budget mm-hmm to we had reduced a grant match that we had and you know we have a few things like that so we also make some EU's so the one you pick up EU's that also helps right so we're thinking with the the 21-22 schedule that will start to include the water bond pieces yes yeah okay so we did I know Paul had mentioned that was certainly concerned about people taking a big hit this year when we knew we were having the water bond so obviously we looked through the budget pretty seriously and and to make sure that we could try to keep the rates that was one of the reasons that we tackle the project of making sure that actually people are being billed what they should have been billed like Bethel Mills went up because they weren't you know not everybody was being charged the same and that was a problem so we went through and made sure everybody was being charged uniformly that everybody who had to our department in their building was being charged for an apartment and trying to make sure that across the board that we you know we updated this spreadsheet that had been created a while ago that someone had created but nobody maintained so we went through that this year with some you know it took a while and now but went through it so we also gained a little so which was nice all right so what do you want to do about the water budgets do you want to adopt it now do you want to wait I mean what's your I think at this time I mean regardless you know I mean we're only talking the potential of maybe you know a couple of businesses that are actually going to be affected by the this utility you know I guess my my opinion would be to to move forward with the rate schedule as as it's proposed and and then any adjustments would be made after the fact just like we would on any normal year if you know if we adopted this now and someone comes to us a month from now and they're gonna whatever remodel a space and they want something you know obviously changing all the EU's again so you know one of the things that Tim and I had talked about was obviously we know we need to update ordinances and that'll you know come when we have more time to get to that but one of the things we talked about was the possibility of just change of saying to people that once your EU is set in July it's set for the year because we have these fluctuations these both the water sewer budgets oh the general fund money so every time that we lose money you know by reducing EU's or something just more money that they owe the general fund so one of the things Tim and I kind of went back and forth about and you know about was the pros and cons of saying okay July 1st this is your EU no matter what happens during the year this is what you're gonna pay and then so if a new business comes in they win right they get to have some time where they are charged whatever the rate was before but it's hard for us because we're not flush with cash so every time we monkey with people's rates you know if they go to vacancy that's great they're covering the nut at least but if they don't if we shut them off entirely then you know that's that's hard for us I think it makes perfect sense to look at it as a a yearly or an annual schedule of you know this is the snapshot at that time and I mean unless something majorly happens to the business or the resident inside that year right any small little things you know it just you wait until the the next year and then you know fill out your new questionnaire or whatever and make your adjustments but yeah rather than you know in the past there's been so many adjustments made to the accounts over quarters and I think that's where we get ourselves in trouble a lot of times is you know we're making all these adjustments and it's true yeah that's what Tim and I've been saying too we were kind of bashing it out through the budget and then just kind of back and forth about pros and cons and so um but anyways yeah we were we were happy that the rates were you know such a really small increase this year we figured that would make everybody happy so what about the school they asked for any change I mean there's no yeah you're talking hundreds of people and there's nobody there don't they haven't they don't pay all summer either yeah they don't pay all summer so yeah two and a half months and if they don't open in September right we currently we calculate their rate so that we take into consideration the fact that they're closed in the summer so we do that when we in their formula for creating you know how many like John's always terrific about responding so we know how many teachers how many kids this and that so we know what they're you know what their parameters and we give them a break obviously within the formula for the summer but this is exactly what we're talking about at some point there's gonna be federal aid and we can't give everybody a break because we can't afford it and we don't qualify for the money so the school can they can get the governor is talking about all these school budgets going back to vote and if they do that they're gonna be looking of course some money somewhere I did see I did see today that if if the town of Bethel like as with towns have to borrow money because we can't come up with our school tax money because regardless of whether we collect it we have to pay it all to the school by June 30th they did say that if we had to take out a tax anticipation note that there's money available down the road that will hopefully pay for that you know interest but that's the thing is you know I had this conversation with Dick McCormick I think it's somebody else saying look we can't keep we can't take financial hits you know and he said we shouldn't have to because they flooded the state with you know leave right now two billion dollars and and well I think the school is going to be eligible for some aid to to cover you know they're part of the payroll protection plan if the school got that day that it also was cover utility bills I don't know their financial situation my wife works in another school district and they haven't heard anything like that yet about the payroll protection and utilities yeah I you know again I'm not super well versed in that but I do know what I do know about the payroll protection is that it was to be used for payroll and utilities but whether or not the school qualifies I don't know maybe Lindley knows I don't know I'm not even I don't think that the school even applied because they're on a budget so technically everybody that had a contract through June 30th they had to honor those contracts through June 30 that money's already been slated for those positions and so at least all the conversations I've been involved in from the administrative level about that was that every job that existed had to be maintained because the money was already technically there in a way you know it's not actually there but right here it is and so I don't believe that would even qualify to apply for it at this point I don't know moving forward how that would work maybe a different story after schools didn't open let's say in the fall and that probably be probably different yeah so yeah and so they're doing you know they're obviously you know like we are hoping for a good tax collection and the schools in a unique position as Dave knows they're gonna get all their money whether we have it or not whether we collect all the money or not the school gets paid from gonna get paid from us gonna get paid from Royalton and I don't know what the state's doing but we have to pay we will pay ours you know full vote so I was curious only how that worked with the contract so yeah can we just to go back to the point you were making earlier Teresa about once the once the calendar year once the rate is set that's it for the calendar year would that then exclude abatements or would abatement still be allowed like if somebody came in and said you know whether it's the situation like babes or even the Dylan McCullough renovating an apartment building would we would we be excluded from being able to do abatements I guess is the question well we don't know we were just kicking around an idea this is just what Tim and I were talking about we've just been we were brainstorming about it when we were doing this because we were saying okay you know Tim did these formulas we did all this math and you're trying to figure out okay you know every time we change something it you know makes it a little difficult so it's nothing written in stonelandly Tim and I were just talking about ideas when we finally both have time to work on a new water sewer ordinance so I don't know it's just something we're kicking around right I was just curious how it would work if if you've said that if we said yes to that would we then exclude ourselves from being able to do abatements or not just how that would work I don't know we haven't really thought about that much you know thought all the way through it we just kind of were kicking around ideas about basically how do we stabilize a rate was kind of what we were thinking is you know for us we were trying to think about stabilization so we were kind of thinking about that but that's a good point Lindley I'll make a note of that so when Tim and I rehash this conversation you know we'll think about that because yeah this like where it's always as water sewer commissioners always have the ability to abate so maybe we just need to build a cushion of eues into this thing and then we're kind of cover it well changing rates and abatements are just a little bit different you know if someone abatement my mind is something completely different than having instead of having three eues you have five or three you have one that's a change of use right right abatement is that there's some reason some bigger reason why you want the to stop so I don't know I would take that in consideration when you're thinking about we will thank you I think the biggest thing is like in the past we've heard you know different accounts like um now that the name's slipping the ones that have the two properties that came came to us there late last year oh hill and holly hill yes remember trying to trace the quarter by quarter adjustments that were made on those accounts yes it was crazy and I think I think you know if I got terese right the abatements would still be on the table and any major change a major change might be change in ownership or you know closing down or renovating in the middle of the year or something right I think what we would do away with would be all those small adjustments like let's say linley's place decides next month that they're going to get the kitchen going right so maybe that kitchen would not be identified for the remainder of this year but then next year you would start to pay that whatever increase on you know I mean um so we just probably do away with some of those nitpick adjustments that yeah because yeah it is especially if everybody calls you every quarter and all of a sudden their apartment's rented their apartment isn't rented their apartment's rented it's it's you know it's tough yeah I agree with that well and that that clarity helps a lot because I think where I was getting confused was rate change changes if those included abatement process or not but it's sounding like you're you're looking at really two separate things of rate for the year and that's it and then if somebody comes for an abatement process we deal with that you have to you have to maintain the abatement process that's a statue established by statue has to be available to taxpayers yeah absolutely but yeah so that was all lately we're just kind of we we were just kicking around ideas about stabilizing stuff on how to you know keep consistency within the rate so the money keeps coming in and so we can have the ability to kind of you know deal with these changes so what do we think about the rate schedule that's proposed I mean I think it you know I mean the changes are you know very small well it just kind of depends if you're going to give them a vacancy rate or if you're going to give them a year off it ends up being around $3,400 out of the budget if you give them 70 years but I think now you know I mean I guess the way I'm looking at is you know we got to set the rates um and then you know whatever happens happens I mean it'd be like no we can you're right Chris we can live with the 3,400 going away um we just tighten the belt somewhere else in another corner and we'll make it through another year it's not a big deal a lot it's not to say we'd give them a whole year of right and also maybe as many options right we could do it we could do it like we've done with other people in you know three quarter increments you know or quarter by quarter or six months or um but if we postpone it because we're not sure what's going to happen in the future it's no different than whatever building burning down overnight and then you're stuck with you know a change a major change yeah you could kick the coin you could kick it down the road for the year right worried about what's around the corner so I guess I with that said Chris I just so you guys made a decision you know I guess if anybody else you know has any more discussion on it at me again I think you know the water schedule rates that are proposed here are you know very well or you know the water's going to go from 1,835 to 1,1945 so it's an increase of dollar 10 a quarter you know and then you got the um gallons um thousand gallons a meter uh which is going up 24 cents yep the vacancy rate um would be increasing as well which uh 40 69 dollar 69 if I read that right um so that's going to go up a dollar 69 um and on your sewer rate schedules going from 180 208 to 180 256 and um I can't see where anybody could complain about these rate increases they're less than a 1% I mean what goes less than 1% right so yeah nobody should be playing so I would say right now I mean and I it's guaranteed that we're going to have some small bumps in the road when it comes to utilities and probably even taxes this year um but I think it's important that we do set our rates as we normally do this time of year and and we're just going to have to deal with those little bumps as they come so I would agree with that so unless uh anybody has any further discussion I would entertain a motion to accept the proposed 2021 uh water rate schedule so move second okay all in favor all right okay I just have it any further conversation on that well just about water sewer is we always put out the letter every year with the new bills or we put them out in the bill that goes out this month which is actually going out tomorrow so it's going to be the same schedule that goes out in the bill so people know the water sewer rate schedule I made a note for people that some commercial accounts may see an increase in their EU as we reviewed each commercial account to be sure their EU calculation was in line with the state of Vermont's water supply rule have their link to the consumer confidence report in here because and that's already on the website that that's out and then I did give a brief update on the very bottom about the water line project schedule that's something people had been looking for so we have the schedule from May 18th to July 17th so in the next bill we could put in another little blurb about the schedule um so this letter will go out with the water bills which will go out in the mail tomorrow all right I will move on to uh roadside mowing bid I may not I didn't see anything maybe didn't put anything in the packets but I didn't see anything in the packet of USOs no there wasn't if you looked at the town manager's report it said that the roadside mowing bids are due Monday at three so I was gonna let you know oh I'm sorry that's okay I thought it meant yeah okay gotcha so they came in today so we got one bidder um Music Mountain Property Maintenance which is Michael Ketchum which is the gentleman that did it for several years prior um so that bid is on my desk and I had roll out of running around this afternoon so I haven't opened it um but I was hoping that he would bid because I knew that somebody else was not going to he was the only bidder so basically I'm really just looking for a motion um for you guys to authorize me to negotiate a deal with this guy he did a good job in the past we never had any complaints and I was actually very happy that he bid so what did we what did we have um set aside for roadside mowing for the budget um let's see what did we have seven or nine thousand um and uh let me see if I have it on me um I don't let me see if it's in my thing I'll look at my excel spreadsheet on my on the computer yeah I went to grab it I got halfway home and I'm like ah I forgot that bid on my desk let's see let me look I guess the only concern I would have is just uh making a motion and playing out that it's well yeah obviously I'm not gonna authorize no more than I make the motion to not exceed what we've budgeted yeah I can look at let me see if I go online if I open another somebody have a town report nearby because it will tell you in there um I'm sure I do but where I know I'm just gonna look at the website hang on real quick and um I can look so I'm so I apologize I totally left it there when I headed out I'm assuming that um that it's on our website Mo do you have yours up handy Lisa's good job nice yeah I can't get the website to come up so my internet must be so Lisa it would be under the public works she's looking yeah I don't have mine here and I can't get on the website for some reason of course well Trice you were saying a motion to let you negotiate and so if what David's saying of just not having it exceed the approved budget amount yeah that would be fine yeah and I could plug a number in tomorrow so yeah I just can't get it to come up on my website on the website right now so some reason I was thinking $10,000 but I was thinking seven or nine but Lisa's I see her she's looking you're muted you're muted Lisa Lisa you're muted she you can sign it to us there you go nine thousand for 2021 all right okay thank you I would uh entertain a motion to allow Trice to enter negotiations with what was the name of the business um music mountain property maintenance with Michael Ketchum property maintenance um to not exceed the budgeted amount of nine thousand dollars so moved we'll move okay all in favor hi hi okay nice have it Abby's eye in in the background all right and anything further on the roadside mowing no we have an idea when we would do the roadside mowing this year Jill yeah I said that told them uh we could start July 1st it had to be done by august 15th I had done some research because we had someone come to our meeting if you remember her she lived in east Bethel was concerned about the bees and the butterflies and the whole thing and so I did try to look into that and I figure out when the state did theirs but um you know it's kind of July because we don't have the money so what that's right when it has to be so I am going to ask him to obviously if there's big milkweed patches and avoid that and sounds like he's done it long enough so he knows what uh what he's looking for so okay all right next up we have the line of credit at maskoma savings bank so we're looking to extend the terms of the current line of credit that we have with them yeah and then yeah for the April flood so the current balance is 283 thousand 46 and 88 cents it's on the documents you received I have a check which will be going out with this um we got some money from FEMA so we'll be paying down another 127 thousand 97 dollars and 69 cents that was in the report so um obviously we don't have the money to pay this off so we need to extend it um it's going to require signatures so yeah you can make the motion and all that and then if you could just come in individually if you come in the handicapped entrance park near the mailbox as you come in my handicapped entrance bring you right into my office and I will put it um right there on the shelf I'm going to be out of the office around 10 to be at the rec field but people could just come in and sign it and I could leave it flagged for you right there if that works for people so after the payment that you have it looks like we'll still have a balance of about 155 thousand yeah and that doesn't include I if I have to take a draw which I might pay for um pee vine um I'm getting the study done right now the hydraulic study for Pinello and I already talked to FEMA about the possibility of requesting an extension because I'm not going to be able to get that new bridge in this fall because of COVID I'm already we're already behind on the hydraulic study and I need that information to obviously do the bridge design so um but I may need to increase this to borrow money for pee vine but I'm also hoping as projects are finishing and they're getting through FEMA that we'll get the money I did reach out to um Kim Cancunera the other camp the other day at the state Chris after our last meeting and she said that that looks like I'm getting ready to get some more money as well so as I asked her how long after it's you know set you know that they approve our project do we actually get the money so so we're waiting so in the paperwork that you have here it says to extend the line of credit of $203,046.88 right does that actually you know you said you're making a payment at the same time so does that mean the loan now would be $155,000 instead of $100 no because we need we need that cushion to pay so no it won't that we need to extend um because I need a little room on that line of credit to um to borrow you know because it was a line of credit up to well that was gonna be my next yeah that was gonna be my next question was what so you're saying right now the line of credit max would be $183,046.88 283 28 yeah what yeah I'm sorry yeah that's really the way she wrote it was for the principal let me look through the because when we got it originally we got it for more money because obviously I took out like $650,000 and so basically what she's doing is she's giving us this 283 and then we'll pay down on that so but it'll give us a little more room in case we need to borrow for pvine and then obviously by the time panello comes around this thing will be renewed so I think we'll be okay for money-wise okay and and that extra interest is that something that we've accounted for with the $110,000 number that we put in the budget for town meeting day or we didn't know at the time because we were hoping that it would be covered through FEMA so we weren't sure um but I that shouldn't hopefully yeah hopefully it covers out because we've got a project like pvine came in underbid the bridge came in so I'm hoping Chris that it's in there if not we'll have to pick it up in the next budget because we were hoping yeah we were hoping FEMA was going to pay for the interest on our line of credit as well as our audit the the yeah and they're not going to apparently not going to pick up either but we didn't know that till after the budget so we may have to tag it into panello which will go into another budget year all righty when does that need to be signed trees tomorrow well it'd be nice let me see if she has a date on it I think if you honestly if you have it signed by thursday or friday that would be fine because you're going to have today's date on it so if you all get it signed then I could get it in it would be nice if we could get have it signed by everybody by thursday and then I could get it to the bank so can I do it when I come in to do pay it look at payables or yeah of course yeah okay just to reiterate you want us to go up the handicap yeah that way you're not coming in the front door yeah because the handicap will bring you right into my office you can park next to the unboxers we're actually coming inside yes it's fine you're going to be way more than six feet from my desk so you'll be fine I will put it over there I'll try to find another clipboard and put it on there near the door so if I'm not there you'll see it so is there a motion for this they haven't made it yet oh okay all right all right would we actually be extending the terms or would we entering newer terms well I think she's calling it an extension because we had the loan already so these are their terms they're saying it's just a change in terms agreement basically because we've paid down the amount and then we're just doing it for another year the interest rate still two percent I think that's still the same actually that might be less than the rate she gave us before which was three so basically she's just considering a change in terms which is very nice for us makes it easier okay so I would entertain a motion for us to see so the interest actually increased from two two point zero to two point five the disbursement request on here I'm holding paperwork that says it's a two percent interest rate letter B under description of change in terms there's the current interest rate of two percent is hereby increased to two point five percent and will remain fixed until maturity that's funny because she lists it on the front page under disbursement request it's still listed it she's saying it's a fixed rate at two percent so I'll have to ask her about that so why don't we um do this when we um so and honestly it doesn't matter because we need to sign it anyways because you need to extend the term so whether it's two or two point five we we don't really have a leg to argue with these people about this yeah because you're right but it's funny how she says that but the beginning I didn't catch it anything rates have gone down they shouldn't go up yeah so I'll just clarify it with her so I guess basically we'd be looking for a motion to extend basically we'd look for a motion to sign the disbursement request and authorization and the chains in terms of agreements with the april 2000 and 19 female line of credit okay we'll get somebody to move that so move move okay second second okay all in favor and I'll email beth tomorrow and find out and let you guys know what she says well I mean it shouldn't go up I mean no it's just funny that everything says two and then it says two point five so I'll ask her yeah so but the good news is we'll be paying it down so that's good we're slowly getting our money back from FEMA and so that check just came in and how much more do we have outstanding from FEMA right now um I don't have the spreadsheet from last week that I sent you that was because we got all that we had got our federal highway money that was the biggest pinch was the federal highway and we got all that money back so um it was more for some reason I was thinking we got federal highway money back Chris not FEMA money federal highway money I miss both oh for some reason I was thinking yeah that spreadsheet I think we were somewhere just under 500 000 left right I think part of the deal was that we had received some of the money and I hadn't dispersed it yet so it might have shown up in the spreadsheet but I hadn't mailed the check to maskoma okay so all right any further discussion on the extension of credit and maskoma for the FEMA work we have a town managers report I know we went over a majority of it already but anything that's no there was just um kelly had uh so everything we've covered so far but the only other thing was that the transfer station people had posted I guess on the town spacebook page that they were concerned that they had gone to the transfer station and the employees were wearing masks but people that were there were not wearing masks and a couple people were upset about it um Jen got an email about one responded to it did a wonderful job responding to it and you know bottom line is the governor has encouraged quote encouraged people to wear masks so if they don't they don't um right it's encouraged but not it's not mandated not mandated yeah yeah so that was it but she um she it was one of them happened to be a couple um that was a little bit older and and she she was great she sent them a wonderful email and gave them a couple of options and it was it was terrific well I was in that came out prior to my trip there on Saturday so I was kind of watching as I was in line for an hour um just kind of seeing how people were flowing in and out and it didn't it didn't appear to me that really there was much cluttering going on of people and it seemed like people keeping their distance from each other you know either bringing in the recyclables or whatnot so I didn't see any issues there she's got it running like a well oiled machine down there other than it was just it was gridlock trying to get in and out it was a little challenging but yeah I'm sure maybe hours staying limited as they are I do actually I think that I do see her staying um at probably possibly I mean it's up to the BRTS board of course but I do um see her staying maybe to the seven to one once they open again maybe something different for contractors her and I've discussed it I think it's a great idea because it may reduce over time down the road because then people are gone by one and it gives them a chance to actually get some other business done people will be trained to you know stick to the seven to one nobody will be in the office um you know I don't think she's going to open the office back up which I think makes a lot of sense and so you know I will obviously depend on the BRTS board what happens down there of course but um I think that she has some some really good ideas and certainly Moe would be better to comment on that than I would and one one thing I noticed when I was there um and I'm sure it's always been an issue but right now it's at a larger scale because you have so many people again I think somebody hit it on the head earlier you know everybody's just home and they're cleaning and you know these instead of being in the back of a pickup now it's in the back of the pickup that has a trailer towed behind it you know literally when it's their turn to dump they're dumping everything and and it could be you know wire mesh or I mean there's just so many things that are not sorted that and I watch the um I forgive me I don't remember the gentleman's name that runs the loader down there but I watched him having to spend extra time of him actually going in soon as somebody dumped he would pick certain items out to go bring them over and put them in the steel dumpster um when you know these people really should be sorting their uh waste a little better I mean I I'm sure people aren't going to be perfect but they clearly could have stopped and thrown the wire in the in the steel bin and you know throwing your cardboard in the the dumpster right there but it seemed like it was easy just to dump it all there and you know I don't know how we crack down on that but people are lazing well then yeah there's a lot of stuff that could be better sorted and um that clearly isn't we could we could hire more people to do a lot more work but we can't afford it yeah so I did notice that this weekend that it seemed to be putting a little extra work on the gentleman that was there that Wayne yeah be Wayne but revenues are got to be up there because there was a a whole lot of product coming in that's for sure our revenues are up yeah anything further Teresa on no I'm good okay uh we have select board meeting minutes from the 11th of May everybody have a chance to go through those yeah look good so Lisa I'll email you uh the correct spelling of Lili's last name thank you it's not an easy one I'm gonna put it in the chat okay I appreciate that thank you and now now you all know the correct spelling of her last name so there'll be no mistakes from here on out right that's great so it's r a okay aren't we you're close Lisa very close I was close yeah I think I even got it close although she's not in the background tonight is she okay all right no well and at least you didn't use Facebook and put Lili Hart right there you go all right thank you yeah I'll fix that off so that's the only change except the meeting minutes as amended all in favor sorry about that emails popping through my computer as it was interrupting me all these pop-ups here coming through and there there was a there were a bunch of other communications the energy committee going through theirs I so it sounded like I believe we talked about this maybe a month or so ago that I believe the energy committee bagged the the one charging station in Bethel correct yeah yeah so that's been bagged okay I thought that was I thought we had talked about that I could remember and then the count meeting committee had theirs Chris one quick question on the energy committee do we have to formally accept the resignations of those committee members well they would have to be formally brought before us yeah before we could do that you know so I would I'll reach out to um I will reach out to Nicole and ask her if she received emails or letters from these people to get them on forwarded to us so that we can so yes you would accept the resignations so I'll reach out to her to Nicole so where does that put them for a committee if they're two are leaving I I don't know anymore they had some people I can only leave them two more I think they have three members total three total no because but they had because they had a couple other people that were interested so I'm not sure and then with COVID I don't know if they've picked up anymore or not yeah at the top of that meeting it says we're down to three okay so yeah them and everybody else because so I'll ask her for Lauren Elmore and Jose Lazos resignations yeah well you know they're so they have three but they they're funny they usually pick up people they they usually make out all right the planning commission is what's going to kill us because we only have a couple people left and everybody on currently on the planning commission wants off so that's so peaceful that's um both Andy's and the other very nice gentleman I'm forgetting his name so there's four Peter thank you Peter Doran so I have four on and they all want off well Peter's running there for about 30 years I know God bless him have you ever been on that on those that committee who me anybody I've attended their meetings but I've never been in a position to be on a planning commission but it's a tough gig yeah it's not it's not an easy one to be on it's not it's a lot of reading it's we tried to get Joanne Marshall to join in Doug you know Joanne she we needed someone to crack that whip but and they're at a real critical point in the in the change to the planning too the town plan well they're all at this point committed to finishing but I think what you're going to see is town plans going to get through and then you're going to have a mass exodus but they all at this point are being very wonderful and agreeing to stay on certainly I have done some of the work Dave Aldergetti like any pieces that we've received I've got from Sarah Wright from Two Rivers so that I've reviewed them I made changes to like highway Dave and I did the emergency services so we're trying to help by doing some of the sections too so you know I don't know what we do at this point but you know that it's kind of sad because the town is has really turned things around quite a bit here over the last you know four years or so and and now that we finally have good momentum going forward and now we're losing you know our committee members slowly you know and there really has been no new committee members coming on here the last few years and yeah it's hard I have people are you know they're busy and then of course COVID and we have had some people that have continued with Zoom but you know people are busy and huh I saw Doug just uh was patting sprinkles oh I hadn't seen in a long time we have had people you know that I think are are interested but they're just saying how maybe they have a young family and so but some of these meetings are just once a month and I know we have tried different Facebook techniques we've tried you know all sorts of stuff so I don't know maybe we'll have to put a mail or in with the tax bill this year maybe getting people to say hey you know what here's your tax bill you've got a problem with your tax bill join a committee you know what's going to happen and you know as if more of these phase out I mean it's no different than the select board right I mean at some point you know the members that are on this select board are going to phase out and if we don't have people ready to pick up where you know committees and select boards are at this town's going to go revert right back to what it was and it's true how I mean I I could probably find many different ways to use my time you know with my family and kids and whatnot but I mean kind of all need to pitch in and do our civic duties if you want to keep things going forward right I don't know how we get that out to people because everybody's got an excuse that whatever their kids or work or don't have time but if you look at all of us here except for Doug we all uh we all don't have time we made time but that was the only one that's got all the time in the world other than so I don't know how we get that out to people I mean they they really got to understand that you know it's going to get to a point where it's going to be critical. Well I think it is I mean with the planning commission I think we're there and we have done Facebook posts we have had stuff at town meeting we've done announcements at town meeting we've had things in the newspaper that never gets us anywhere so I make it I just made a note on my thing maybe we'll do an insert into the tax bills and just say look you know what we're looking we're asking people to give a couple of hours a month and maybe we'll think of some really catchy wording and but Chris you couldn't do anything with your time that would be more fun than this. No probably not well you know the idea too with you know whatever it is if it's a select board or committee is you know you never want a mass exodus of people I mean you want to be able to exactly you know it takes time I remember when I came on to the select board the whole first year was just really just sitting there absorbing information and learning the process and it takes time before you can actually be you know positive to your group and you know have a say and know what you're doing and like the planning commission I can't imagine if if we went from you know if everybody left off that committee and you had all new ones I mean you know I know pick up the pieces but actually be productive and positive going forward with that. Well we went through this winter before COVID Kelly and Pam and I we went through the like 911 addresses and tried to go up every single road in our minds to who lived there we sent out personal invitations Doug and Joanne got one and so we tried to think we asked people I you know who else would they know they gave us lists I mean we sent out got easily 30 to 50 personal invitations inviting people just to the planning commission. Yeah but I think it's challenging because people when we when typically when people are asking for names to join a committee you know they think that it's I mean even though it is optional you know they think it's more about you know all there's a bunch of other people out there that'll do it I don't have the time and I think people really get a note now that if we don't have functioning committees then we're going to be in trouble. I know if anybody has any great ideas I'd love to hear them because we have I mean as I said we've done personal invitations ads in the paper Facebook posts town meeting I mean we've done so we'll try the tax bills that's something new I even had researched some kind of catchy language to try to get people's like you know laugh or to kind of get them to look into it a little more so we'll try and insert in the tax bill and see. I've got a brilliant idea guys. What? You join the planning commission you're allowed to drink at babes. Are allowed to drink at babes. Oh you're not allowed to leave the select board. We need more people. That's true. We'll start holding the meetings at babes that's right we need 14 seats we'll get you 14 seats. You can only have 14 in the building. A lot of people clamoring to be honest. We could that's right. We've got nine people on the committee plus the servers and a minute taker you got 14 you're there. No I just I don't know how we do it it's you know it is frustrating because we have you know gotten the town kind of going in a really good forward position I'd hate to lose lose all that and again if people just leave all at the same time it's you know it takes years to rebuild that you know it's not something that if you found five bodies you're gonna be able to just take off again that takes time. I'll reach out to some other people that I know in municipal government and see what they've done how they you know how they've found people to volunteer probably it's a lot of shaming people into it I don't know I'm not sure. Good job for Julie Dave. Yeah go ahead you let her know you ask her. I will. Yeah well I know you know I know there's you know not only is there a lot of people that have left the committees but the ones that are holding on if you look at it are the ones that have been there for quite some time you know yeah it's a matter of time before they you know just really can't do it anymore. Right yeah Peter Dorn he told me he said Teresa I'm just tired I've been doing this for 30 years he's like I just but he god bless him he's they've been hanging in there so all right well we'll try to I'll ask around see what people have done for ideas and obviously if anybody wakes up in the night with some brilliant idea call me tomorrow. Already given you mine. There you go that's it babes sorry we got that one down. All right so it looks like we're hoping Chris that our next meeting is in person I guess I don't know. I would say right now let's you know it's challenging because the governor's address on Friday was very difficult to understand because he relaxed you know he extended it for a month but he relaxed some wordage that comes along with it so it was kind of challenging to really figure out where you stand as a whatever a business owner or a person and it does say right now you know currently that you know we can have up to you know a group meeting of 10 and we currently have eight on the phone so you know I don't know what we're gonna do as a group as you know do we want to show our support for people that are opening back up by you know meeting in person and if we do have you know certain exclusions based upon you know health or something like that we could I guess the way I was looking at it is maybe running it like we did the last meeting before we went completely that's what I was thinking Chris I could have a zoom meeting set up so you could participate either in person or via zoom right and then maybe we can transition back that way you know over the next meeting two or three you know go from you know zoom to kind of half zoom back to hopefully you know a normal setting one thing to think about um especially given that we're going to be inviting like Dick McCormick and maybe business owners is it's a little harder to hear the folks on zoom and the folks not on zoom and we're thinking about inviting more people than probably 10 or the potential for more than 10 to show up would it be a more functional conversation to do something like that through zoom and then look at the next meeting as yeah that's a better a better way to approach it so if we did yeah if we did another zoom meeting for the eighth then that would mean the 23rd all right 22nd 22nd 22nd would be our first one and you know I guess the 15th is when the order is supposed to run out again right all right and so we might know more by then um yeah Lindley don't you have addresses for the businesses because you were in the group with Jesse and Owen yeah and I was gonna talk with you separately about that we do I have I'd have to go back in and look at who's who's we've actually gotten to sign up but I think we have most of the downtown business plus some additional ones but we mostly you're talking for water stew or just right um no well or anything I guess Chris was saying for both maybe what I'm thinking is I wonder if you could just send everybody an email and say hey we're trying to get people together for this meeting maybe they would be willing to send me their questions in advance if they had any specific questions then I could get them to Dick McCormick um and Sandy Haas if she's I don't know if she's even doing anything anymore but I'll have to but I'll let I'll ask Dick if he's available that night and then um but if I had the questions in advance even if he can't come maybe he could give us answers right in the right direction I'm glad to you about um contacting that list my other thought was um since Sandy's sort of on the way out and might not influence us as much um seeing if uh Allison Clarkson so we'd have the house and a senate representative yep so and I'd be happy to email her okay that'd be great so we we can chat more details tomorrow but yeah that'd be thank you yeah that'd be good so zoom for next meeting and then potentially first in person after that yeah that'd be nice okay and I didn't um I personally didn't have time to go through the budget there tree so I will um I'll send you any questions I may have okay later yeah that's fine please the question about the uh on the rec committee's uh report uh concerning the pool now I don't I don't know as the governor's released that you know the information to let the pool open but the tentative dates it's basically six weeks and I'm wondering whether the expense is worth the six weeks that it would be open well you guys had already talked to D tree and approved the dates that she was going to open um before um COVID-19 and yes we're still waiting we don't know if we're going to be allowed to open we're assuming at this point we may not be allowed to um I'll probably do swimming lessons uh you know we're still kind of we're still waiting as well for the governor but yeah it's because I think her her explanation for you all had been that due to leap year it was kind of this so she went for the shorter season it's only a week shorter than last year um if I remember correctly so so what I have talked to D tree about is obviously depends when the governor is going to let us open if he lets us open on time then we're good but what I'm what her and I are both concerned about is what sort of parameters are going to be put around that so we're playing it by ear her and I have discussed the fact that if we can't open the pool to in a way that's manageable then maybe we don't this year um obviously the pool need there's some maintenance that needs to happen around the there at the at the rec center for the pool there's currently some paving around the pool but it doesn't go all the way to the fence there's some painting needs to be done there's some fiberglass work so if the pool cannot be open and managed in a in a feasible responsible way then maybe we don't open this year but we certainly would be able to yeah we'd save some money um but we'd also be able to get some maintenance done so we're just waiting right now I think in the at the news conference today there was a pool that they spoke about that that was not going to be open that it was maybe it was in a state park or one of the campgrounds I didn't see it park it was a park yep park yeah and Woodstock is an opening their pool this year either yeah so we're just waiting where you know we we don't know yet we have some possible you know lifeguards and like I said we didn't plan on doing probably not be able to do swimming lessons and if we can't do swimming lessons we would like to do a mailer to the community just reminding people about water safety we have had some drownings in the area is reminding people that there's links out there via the red cross for parents to be able to watch you know something about water safety and maybe even just working with their children on previous skills that they'd learned at a prior you know level of swimming lessons but we don't know so I like I said I didn't see the governor's thing today and I wondered about myself because there was a pool at at least at one of the state parks that I could remember and some of these people are just making their choices now like Woodstock they're not being mandated by the state right now you know and if we can't open the pool then we we're not we probably can't do family fun Fridays you know we're just really not sure right now so we there was some other recreation stuff out today and I looked through it briefly and sent it on to Deidre to look but still was pools and beaches weren't open I don't know well I mean it I know it would be nice to see the pool open I know the biggest thing that comes to mind is kind of kids and safety and you know if the pool doesn't open then they're probably going to be swimming in the river right exactly and that is a lot the pool is a lot safer than the river is exactly and that's what Deetree is very nervous about and we've talked about this is are we going to have to have someone at the gate you know with a clicker like how many people is it families do you sign up in advance you know we just don't know yet what the parameters are going to be that the governor's you know if he's I have a feeling there's going to be some restrictions we just need to we'll find out what those are and how we can manage them and if we can yeah all right anybody have anything further I'm also is there is there an update at all on the tax collections how the how that went no because um they everything was due Friday so we were just processing today Fridays and then of course because you all accept postmarks so I probably not gonna I won't know till the next meeting what we're looking at well Doug kind of looks like a lifeguard so only doggie panel that it's a small pool Doug you don't have you could jump them in their water wings we'll be all same I throw them a donut ring with a rope yeah oh god all right oh well there obviously must be a cutoff date of when we need to you know go forward or cut bait with the pool right well we were talking about that this afternoon actually because we you know she has a head lifeguard that has the opportunity to take a different job and we were kind of just saying you know what point are we gonna call this and I honestly you know I'm gonna reach out to the eight um I'm gonna write to the agency of commerce community development tomorrow and just say look any idea what we're looking at here because we need to fish or cut bait here and figure out what we're gonna do because obviously even if we open I really doubt we're gonna do pool passes we're probably only gonna be able to make have to make people pay as they come and if we can only have X amount of people in there at a time then we're gonna have to have somebody at the gate turning people away that's gonna make people unhappy I'm not you know otherwise are we gonna have them book it in advance you know I don't know so I'm gonna write to the agency of commerce and community development tomorrow that's what I told Deetree this afternoon to see what they're thinking well and if it is limited capacity which I would imagine it probably will be you know then they you know if we do open you got to look at things instead of paying for the day just at the pool you may be paying for an hour or two to sit up yes that's what Deetree and I were talking about and then it's gonna be okay we have limited lifeguards so now we're gonna limit the hours of the pool so maybe instead of opening the pool at 11 we open it at one and we're there from but we're there from one to seven but it's it's just gonna be tricky because we're gonna end up you know we could have turning people away so and how do you do it no contact you know situation there at a pool I mean exactly we're just not sure so I had told her her and I and actually Matty their daughter Matty Feeney who was you know led the pool last year was at the office and we all kind of chatted about it and I told them both I would write to the agency of commerce and community development tomorrow to see you know they've got to be thinking something right now give us you know just give us something but yeah my you know worst fear is we call it and say no we're not going to open and then all of a sudden the governor throws the doors open and we're going you know and people are mad I don't know all righty no easy answer on that one all right anything further or are we all set for the night I'm over your journey okay second second all right all right all right