 Good evening. I'd like to call the regular Berlin Select Board to order, meeting to order for Monday, August 15th, 2022. With us is to my left is Carl Patton and Dave Sawyer. To my right is Flo Smith, Joe Staub. Also with us is Vince Conti, the town administrator and Diane Isabel, town trader. Additions or changes to the agenda? I do have a couple. We've asked to provide a letter of support for the Midway Avenue solar project. There is a copy of the letter to the packets. And also when we come to the round table there's a couple things to discuss. But also we've got a request from the Planning Commission to set up a special meeting. They'd like a special meeting with the board to review some proposals for the branding of the new town center. And hello? Yes. Yes. My name is Meredith Dodge. And I don't know if this is an item that we would like to dress during the round table. But I am the treasurer for the Berlin Historical Society and would like to address the office access to the society. I just recently got noticed about the situation. So I apologize that I did send an email. So if we could address that tonight, that would be great. You would have just gotten the email. Well, when we put that in public comment and you can start now. And if you'd like, I can read the email since you likely have not had a chance to see it yet. Sure. Okay. Unexpectedly we found the interior door that provides access from and to the office space for the Berlin Historical Society has been changed sometime recently, I guess in the July-August timeframe. But this was done without our knowledge or consultation with us. And so it has created some significant ingress and egress issues. The egress issues that we no longer have direct access to the common areas of the building, the restrooms and water facilities, and a display case belonging to the society from our private office space. And our membership often utilizes this office space outside of town hall business hours. So this creates a big issue for us. It is understood that office space needs to have access to restaurants and water. The ingress issues, we no longer have the ability to control access to the office space of the Historical Society from the common areas of the building. The door change allows anyone to enter our office without permission and or our knowledge. The Berlin Historical Society, we have many valuable and irreplaceable items in the space as well as valuable office equipment. So we have an obligation to safeguard these possessions of the society and not be able to lock the office is a particular concern to us. So we'd like to request that the door not be returned to its original configuration so that we can access the office. We have access from the office to the common areas and provide the secure access method from the common areas to the private office space. And we look forward to your resolutions this matter so that we can ensure the safety of our members and of our historical items. You know I'd just like to reiterate we strive to preserve and share the history of Berlin for the benefit of all in the town and we appreciate the support of the town in achieving what we try and do to maintain and preserve the history. Okay on this this was not on the agenda so we can put it on the agenda for next time around then. We do have concerns because I guess that wouldn't be until September and that leaves us with not being able to safeguard the office between now and then. So I guess that would be a little bit of a concern if we wait to address this until the next meeting. Got you. Well what's the board's feelings on this? I could put something temporarily in place for that for that door until we're discussing further. Well what would that what would that mean? I can have the door locked on this side so there's no access into that building into that room. What about I mean can you temporarily put it back until we can the way it was and so that we can address the matter since it was changed without our knowledge? Okay yeah so we just put it back to the original configuration and then we can address any reasons why the town thinks there should be a change. Yep okay can you get that done this week Vince? Yeah okay anything else? No thank you very much. Yep okay the site visit let's see here capital city grain decision on tax exemption Tim? Yes yes I'm here thank you. So I was invited to the select board meeting after I raised a question because we were we were very surprised to receive a tax bill since the town meeting the ballot vote this year had passed the resolution that we submitted saying that we were requesting full property tax exemption. We've received the tax bill and the town is taxing us for the education portion of the tax and we wanted to find out why this was change was made from what we thought was pretty clear wording in the article that we submitted. I was told this was a select decision so my team folks how does that work Diane? Well at the meeting at the where we do town meeting you know it was a valid item on there and he's saying that you know it was for full I you know I don't know I went through it afterwards you know before we did before we did the taxes I said okay here's the minutes for that meeting we brought the town clerk in and the town minister is now how am I understanding this am I understanding it correctly you know are we supposed to you know all of it or just the municipal portion and it was consensus of the town administrator and the town clerk that it was just the town portion and it's kind of my understanding too but I wanted to be certain that that was the case so we built it with the school portion and so they came back and said well we thought it was for all so I guess we need to clarify that because I'm well can we even abate the the school tax part of it I don't know that's I understand that on that note I did get this from Barb's Lusinger today actually and she's the uh works in the department of taxes that's and it's highlighted that we can abate it basically in summary what it says but then it has to be redistributed made up we still have to do the rest of the town to the rest of the town right missing something which which we understand yes so it's not similar to a tax deferment of a new construction project that's in a tax deferral district is not the same way it works not not only no because uh tax problems what is the tax stabilization they pay the school portion and everybody else does pay the school portion so you just wanted to be certain that who you know they could go to the board of abatement for certain that's what we did last year they went to the board of abatement and the board of abatement did abate it but I just don't know you know all the other evalities around me so I can the select board do this or does it have to go to the board of abatement who are we talking about here Tim uh in terms of money yes in terms of uh the school school portion for the school portion for this uh current tax year is uh $5700 and still and how is your how is your usage doing well it's come up some since last year when we you know you were there at the abatement hearing um but we're still by no means you know have everything going that we had before the pandemic but uh we you know we we thought when we were asking for this exemption that we had made it clear that we were looking for full tax exemption which means does exemption from both parts uh last year in 2021 the board uh chose to change our article so that it was only asking for abatement or for exemption from the municipal tax so that's why we changed the wording this time I thought that we had that covered and how are you um how is the burlin usage doing oh we are back up to at least two times per month which is the minimum that we put there which has been the case as I think you know since we started that in 2016 except for during the covid times I won't say yeah we didn't have much going on that I know weston's co-op uses it twice a month for their board meetings and stuff yeah that's yeah but beyond that there are many uses besides that I'm just saying I know those yeah twice a month that's used and it's for their board meetings do you have any contingencies where burlin resident wouldn't be able to utilize it is that perhaps based on if there's not enough availability at that time yes if if someone else is already reserved the hall then we have to figure out a different time that the burlin resident could use it but that's just a pre if there's a pre-existing reservation thank you any other on this here a motion so last year they went to the board of abatement to do the thing my freelancers probably that's where you should go board of abatement yeah I'm not I'm not at a point of wanting to make a motion at this time I think it should go through the board of abatement when uh you know where they're going to meet next because they're telling us news so she's the one that's going to have to be set it up yeah I can help her set it up but I don't know what she'll have you know what she'll set well it'd be good practice for it I guess I can help with that motion to send us to the board of abatement I'd make a motion to have them go to the board of abatement uh for this school portion second any other discussion all those in favor all right Tim yes I do that I'm just I just feel like the mouth the wording was changed without our knowledge or yeah any chance to discuss it and just I'm the treasurer for capital student grants and I'm also the rental agent so I can answer questions about who's renting kind of from memory otherwise you can go to the website and look my name's Mary Chernau and I I just wanted to say that I was part of the decision in 2016 to make it uh and then that's when it was a full and then the board changed so that it was only for the town tax so when we had that happen what does full mean town tax means town tax and full means also town tax it means full all things and so that's why we wrote it that way and it passed four to one town people knew they were going to have to pay a little more was that for their taxes for this was that how it was read in the article they'll say full in the article it says full yes they say full property tax so it's actually uh it's actually in this in here as well it was uh in the 2021 annual report it said for article four shall the town grant a continuation of the full property tax exemption for a period of one year to the capital city grains number 469 property located at 66 12 from on route 12 in exchange for free use of the property by residents a minimum of two times a month pursuant to 32 vsa section 3840 so yeah I mean what you just read to me says full property tax and I'm and I'm a little ignorant in this so does that mean property tax or is is when these bills come out is it when municipal tax and property tax how how is that it's usually property and education so I mean in the article what you just read to me said full property tax and a continuation thereof so from the year before the but the year before was just that piece so that's where it was right when it was specified as municipal tax yes so it is confusing from the year before it was municipal tax the full property tax and municipal tax portion it was just a municipal portion just a municipal portion and they went to the board of evasion and got the property tax done school you got the school part of them yeah I guess I'm still not comfortable from what I'm hearing and not knowing legally what how we stand on that again I think it's just confusion in the wording all around to be quite frank um and I think if they went to the board of evasion right and they got it it shouldn't be an issue to go to the board of evasion again and repeat the process my only thing would be to eliminate again we'll have the same clerk next year hopefully as we do this year there shouldn't be any confusion should they apply next year I think the understanding will be clear at that point that it will be property and educational tax and we can make sure the wording is is clear to prevent any further confusion going forward after that I had no idea the property tax only applied to one part of the check that I pay for my property and see I what else this is I feel the same way and I just want to say I'm in full support of the Grange because you guys do a good job so I just I just may be uncomfortable with that I couldn't make a motion based on what I'm hearing and not knowing that I think it just adds a little your time just to get the the board of abatement to probably work with them I hope that that will I hope we're certainly willing to go to the board of abatement rather than you know have to pull this out of our very small treasury this is a large amount of money speaking of the treasury today is the day that the tax the first the first instalment so do you want the payment now because yeah it should be now so that you don't we brought the checkbook along because we don't want we're we're not looking to pay penalty right or anything and we wouldn't want you to have to pay a penalty either good uh while we are here I want to drop off some posters for a concert that we're hosting for the town of Berlin in the Grange this Sunday this is David Foyard site play every town tour and we offered the use of ours our hall which has a quite a nice piano got it tuned in everything that's a free concert at four o'clock with a potluck dinner to follow I'd be happy to leave one to leave both of these here if it could be put up on a boat and board or whatever yes I think that would be wonderful great thank you so much for passing around everyone can see it now yeah and then Vince can put it up thank you okay I guess that we are basically done Mary will bring you check in in just a minute thank you okay uh I would just like to say that uh just to ask if we put in an article next year for exemption from school and uh municipal taxes is that clear enough oh yeah okay yeah if we had known that we would have put it that way and when you uh when you submit your article taking uh run it by Vince first sure sure okay well thank you for uh thanks for your time but we're not done yet oh okay all the little in favor oh hi sorry did not mean to that's all the way of democracy that's uh motion carries okay so have you finished your public comment for a second because I was here for that okay better roll yeah all right uh my name is Dexter Laver I'm running for state senate Washington one district which is all of Washington county plus three new towns of stow reintry and orange so I wanted to come here and introduce myself to the select board um I've been nominated by both the republican party by committee and also by the libertarian party as committee so I'm running I think number one priority will be you know affordability to make Vermont an easier place for people to survive at the lower ends of the income spectrum and especially young people and older people it's hard for people on fixed incomes and the elderly to afford to stay here and it's hard for young people on small young incomes to get a start here so if we can make the state more affordable I think that they would benefit as well as other people in lower income categories another one of my priorities is um just to make sensible policies I think that we've seen a lot of policies in place you know you know practically 20 years of democratic party control of the house and the senate we've seen a lot of policies especially around things like climate change health care and education that just aren't sensible so I would like to be a voice for sensibility and some of the policies we need are forward we might have some backtracking to do to to get there and I just want to point out that you know I don't belong to either of those parties so I'm sort of a non-partisan independent type candidate so I hope to build bridges and build relationships that work in my period something that's really needed in these times so and I'd be happy to hear about what you think some of the priorities ought to be for legislature to make your lives easier and make life in the town of Berlin better because I think that we can all do better okay thank you thank you thank you uh i'm a little confused here on my agenda it says site visit dodge farm reconvene town office but on the dodge farm site review it says decision of town taking over road so I think we'll backtrack to that okay okay that was put in there you know the decision statement was put in there in case the walkthrough went in a manner to convince the board yeah so well let's take in here with the the views of the board on this well I'm no expert but uh it certainly seems like there's there's some potential drainage issues that that may prevent the road from being up to town standards at this point it seems pretty close but and certainly a lot of effort has been put into trying to get it there but and I wasn't on the board last year so I don't know exactly how the agreement was worded but it seems like it was supposed to meet town standard before it was accepted as for the town to take it over I said it also seems like from the history of other developments or other subdivisions that typically the town took them over once they were paved or as a condition of the town taking over so I'm not sure again I wasn't here last year so I could be easily influenced by somebody who was that knew better the agreement or the the decision that was made by the previous board that probably researched it and discussed it a lot more than I did okay Dave well I'm going to say that I was only one that made the motion last year to adopt the dog farm uh after a discussion about bringing the road up to the town standards and being a little ignorant not going up and walking the thing since I've walked it and and currently being up there on a daily basis I've seen a lot of what I feel are issues that need to be corrected um and then talking about these other subdivisions in the the town which I kind of feel set a precedent spec and you know 87 and I think that was 92 or something like that of these subdivisions that it was required that they be paid before that the town took them over I just see a lot the impact on the road crew having to to uh to keep them roads good up there you know with mowing keeping the culverts clean grading where I feel part of that road is a good solid base but I don't think there's anything up there really degrade at this point so that's that's what I think about it Joe well I think uh I think the surface course the top code is probably a little on the thin side and some of that was looked to be very suitable for top code and that very upper part of the course was uh something that needs to be addressed needs to be covered up the drainage I guess I'm not overly excited about the 90 degree culverts that they're running straight across 90 degrees of the road I think they're going to admit they're going to lose a lot or miss a lot of the runoff and I think it's that middle section where we have multiple driveway culverts you're going to have quite a velocity of water flow down through and I think that once it jumps out of that ditch I think you're going to have you could have some issues with that well your observations I concur with everything that's been said that was the first time that I'd been up there was tonight and I was also at the meeting in January and I seconded Dave's motion I do agree with the road being brought to town standards and like I said with everything that's already been said my concern is you want it to be safe but I also feel like what Dave said in terms of there really isn't anything in my opinion that needs to be graded at this juncture or what I perceive I'm open to conversation further about it but that's it for right now the only thing I noticed was the the well I didn't know a lot of things but the the ditches were fairly shallow along the road and the only thing I could think of is when the snow goes in there in the winter from the plows and packs and freezes when the water does start to run the ditches aren't deep enough to keep it in the ditch it's going to come out somewhere it's going to flow it won't have a chance get to the culvert before it crosses either crosses the road or runs down it that being said the the amount of work that was done there and the hardly the way the road was laid out or the way the the final product that we saw on the top coat I thought was pretty good I mean it was hard it wasn't crumbly or any or had a lot of round stone in it um you have anything to add to this Tim you know what I mean you guys have covered it there's drainage issues you know I mean but like me and Jail found the pipe that the the inlet is completely buried the bottom of it the bottom of it was cleaned and shoveled out but the pipe is completely full of gravel and the head of it is covered right over and bypassed right by or it passed so the culvert is the cross pipe is just sitting in the road not doing anything there's no way for water to get to there is one thing we found tonight and then you know like we discussed up on the top there's there's no top coat to you know I mean it's fairly sizable stone in that culver sack and out through there you know I mean it can be graded because we can grade three it's dense grade but it's gonna pop tires or it's gonna be like driving on a cobblestone road past that point and then you mean like Dave said all the all the previous developments have been paving before the town has taken them over it cuts down on the longevity of the maintenance to the the highway department as far as you know if it's paved we plow we salt it it's open and you get minimum runoff as far as like sand and dirt and the ditches doesn't the ditches you cut back on your ditching considerably because you you don't have the material filling in the the ditches culverts don't get filled as quick they can grass in and and it does its natural thing the grass slows water creates less erosion and it absorbed you know I mean grass will absorb some water it'll keep things dry but you know my understanding of this right now we still are required under the agreement for the easement to the water water works way is we plow and salt up there anyways we plow and sand now with the agreement for access to a motion on the town taking over the road I make a motion that we continue with the agreement that is currently in place at this time and not take the take them over his town roads second second oh okay even Steve any further discussion uh Tim any ideas on on the corrective measures up there that are going to break the bank you hear me question some more top drafts in certain places you mean like Joseph or you said the ditches really aren't deep enough compared to like you go look at our gravel roads our ditches are you know three feet two two feet deep because we we don't we got 60 miles or roughly right around 60 miles of road that we have to maintain now and we've had a fairly productive year no measure it per say but you mean I'm guessing we're probably close to 10 15 miles worth of ditches in this year you know so and that's only and that's not complete ditches and some of it is just towing the edges and making ditches with greater and picking it up like that also but I mean it takes a while and we got to make them deep enough so we don't have to go back in two years because they're full running back out in the road and scaring the road and then we stay getting in towards there throwing water on off program with the erosion so I'd respect for the folks that live up there I think it would be good for us to make a concrete definitive list of what specifically needs to be done and if it is done then then the board would agree so my question that's for that is to make a list as it would be done as if we went and did it well we think the list would have to be so the road would get what I'm saying though is it it to be to what we would normally like if we were to go up there tomorrow and and ditch the road and and gravel it to meet town sound to what we maintain our roads at you know what I mean because you know I mean everybody has their own standards and on paper and you know I mean so is that what you're asking for us to do is to put a list together on how we would go and do the work ourselves yeah I would think uh yeah yeah uh Joe well you're talking about the ditches not being deep enough but you can't go any deeper than what the culverts allow yes so for the ledge for the ledge correct we run into that daily you know what I mean right so in some cases you won't have that two foot ditch you're right you're that's 100 percent correct you know what I mean you're only we running you know I mean we were ditching over on chase road today there's multiple places where I was hitting latch you know I mean we you're getting close to 18 inches still but you know we shoot for that 20 to 2 foot you know because most of our pipes now are 18 inch try to get at least two feet ish worth of cover over the top of them so your bottom of the pipes are three between three and four foot you know so that's where we get our depth from that also helps with the depth though not not for just different perspective is the depth of it also helps us with frozen pipes you get a little bit of ground warmth out of that is some of the reason so that one cloaked culvert should be clear yeah you know I mean they did straight pass that one that one should be found wherever the head of it is and it would have to be a berm would have to be reinstalled so the water don't flow right the water now is just flowing right past that it's it's gotta be completely clean now would you look like it was just full of sand didn't look like gravel and in the minutes of the monday january 17th meeting prior to the motion it does say the road will need to be brought up to town standards with a transition apron from the paved road of approximately 40 to 50p you know I think it's what 75 I think now 75 correct but the town standard referred to a76 so I would standard a76 I'm positive they won't show three four foot ditches on the a77 I would ask um you you've been bowing that for 10 years I guess me somebody has yeah how did how did the water come down the hill last year without doing the ditching that we did was down the problem yeah it's icy it was flowing in the road yeah so you don't think that the ditches that we created are going to keep that from happening it was cut back on it we're like Brad said it's been done for two months okay you mean like Brad said it's the snow packs and that we deal with all the time in the spring time where we don't have or some other places where the road didn't look like I wasn't here in the spring but when I did get here the road didn't look like a river had come down the center of it from the sides of the road you're pretty dry spring this year I think I'd like to speak a little bit more to this before you close this out um the idea of paving that road we went uh with the premonition that you folks and grandfathered us not to pay that that is why we put the $40,000 into the road thinking that we did not have to pay that and I think if you go back I wasn't here that was a Roberta deal with the water slide two years ago so I don't you know we embarked with that thought process that if we beefed it up to town standards without pavement that the town took it over so the way the motion was made and approved on January 17th was uh the motion was waived by Mr. Sawyer to adopt the Dodge Farm Road as long as the road is brought to town standards and includes a paved transition apron of 50 feet seconded by Ms. Smith uh and the motion passed okay so the idea of having to pay that should not be in question at this point time so the point of trying to make the other point I you know deeply disturbed because we met with Tim the contractor and I met with Tim and we went through the list that was provided by the town as to what was needed on that roadway we walked that road and determined what needed to be done and as far as I can see I believe it was done according to that conversation also in that conversation I invited Tim to come along anytime because we wanted to do this one time didn't want any surprises at the end although if you remember me saying that so Tim has been there several times certainly been there since we put that cobblestone you're calling it on the top end that was there over two months ago you know it's it's um it's disturbing to come down here and find that something that was okay then is not okay today I have a letter from a contractor saying that he talked with you and everything was great except for those two trees which we cut any apron in which we paved I guess that's my story I can't do any more than that I can have that sure so yeah I made it up there once they're in that whole process because they were there for two weeks and I was also a man short so it's not like I have a lot of free time to still get to visit stuff like this not that I don't want to because I want to but I can't be everywhere as it wants also if you remember I had asked for extra ditching in between driveways and I was confronted with it's already grasped in we really don't feel like we need to do that and I said I I stressed my concerns that I did believe that that should be done and then again at the bottom where we looked at the scouring in the S corners you know I asked for the berm to be removed for the water to bleed off slowly and not be collected and that berm is still there and the water is still flowing down the side of the road until it finds a spot to get on and my answer to that is we've had hellish storms in the last two months you've got hardly in wash and that road is a great road I think but I've said my things like we discussed up there minimum traffic that road was rolled and corrided and compacted we don't have a roller to compact it will be loose gravel when we grade it and do the fact that it's low traffic the cars really only travel in the center of that road versus like chamber road or cross down road where they use two lanes your sides don't get the traffic to compact the gravel down that's why you have grass coming up through you know shoulder area so just to try to move this forward because we're we're getting into the into the details a little bit back to your point Carl right with regards to the document for the town standards but we have that this clearly I mean we approved that last year right as clearly being the defining factor for the town standards you don't have the full report in there but we have it here so it's clear of what in my opinion it's clear of what needs to be done and the standards that it needs to meet are in here it does refer to the state standards in here as well with a lot of standards of what they need to be it also breaks it down it talks about the culverts and it talks specifically about acceptance as well so when the board does and I'll read section 12 and it's when the road has been completed and inspected the town may begin normal maintenance for 12 months after 12 months of maintenance if no serious defects have been observed the deed will be recorded and the road will then become a town highway in accordance with the provisions of 19 vsa chapter 7 during the 12 month initial acceptance period any flaws or defects which are pointed out to the developer or owner will be their responsibility to correct during this period the town will order and erect the necessary signs right so again um when the board is ready or the highway superintendent is ready to accept it it still goes through a year period right so all the seasons are covered any defects that show up there's the ability to identify them and correct them during that period as well also for the inspection process just to be clear so there's no surprises down the road either in this let me find it I just saw it in the inspection process here it talks about perhaps doing the town before sorry or the town in section 10 before final inspection for final acceptance may take inspections samples and or core tests and the developer shall reimburse all costs incurred for that so that doesn't say they have to but it's it's in there to cover that as well right so again I think this is pretty clear it's been out there from the beginning of this process and to your point Carl I think this covers it so if there are things we just need to communicate them and highlight them once they're addressed and then we come back to the board if the board chooses to accept it at that point it still goes through another year where we maintain the road and identify any defects that have to be still a responsibility of the owner to take care of I just want to be clear on that because I don't want to reinvent the wheel on this we've been we've been doing this now for close to a year close to a year at least anyway since yeah since we rolled this out so I think it's here you just need to accept that that's what we're following and at this time I don't think it's up to the standards that's my personal feelings I haven't read through those a hundred percent I don't feel it's up to a standard that we should be accepting the roads at this point and the motion I made I feel stand and I think it was one of the most recent meetings that Roberta Haskins attended as well where we talked about the 12 months and Roberta I won't quote her but there was some conversation regarding the 12 months and maybe waiting the 12 months if this was you know may come to pass in terms of what other things are found or considered to be a flaw within that time period and like Dave said I stand with the motion that we made in January at this juncture if you've done this all those in favor of the motion all right the motion carries I can expect a list at some point in time thank you very much thank you Ray appreciate you when you get your list up I'd like to see it too yeah see well I'll do the same thing before we'll do a summary report to the board for approval once the board approves it and it'll go to the the owners yeah excellent we'll just go through Tim and the board thank you Vince okay cornerstone catering request approval yeah there's a copy of it should be a copy of the request in your packet they're basically having a company employee party where they're serving beer wine in the parking lot at Norfield Savings Bank for you I think you're right on Thursday of that's why it's an early one that's this Thursday the 18th it has to be approved by the board for the clerk to sign off on it and for the state to issue it as well I make the motion to approve the request to cater malt vinyas and other spiritual liquors it's from cornerstone burger company the event is this Thursday August 18 2022 and it's 5 to 8 p.m. and the approximate person's expected expected I should say is 100 to 150 what's the location is physical address is 1021 pain turnpike north at the corporate office that is the corporate office corner Stewart and with this event the chief and has been notified and so I don't think I've said this yet I wanted to bring it to the board first but you'll have a copy of it I second that motion any other discussion Vince at some point didn't the board shift all of these over to the town clerk I think I'm trying to think I seem to recall there was a discussion that this would be something rather than us making these approvals there's a streamline it the town the town clerk would do it I think I think mr quinn did that one I must have missed it or flanked it out because but I will uh I'll validate that and if that's the case well we'll take it and pass this motion anyway so it and the thing with these is there's something that when these get approved that you know like the chief they do get this and because five day at that that location there they're notified in advance before we do it right yeah any other discussion on this the only thing I was going to ask is do they have their own insurance and all of that because I didn't see anything on this that indicated insurance okay I carry a liquor line but you can check them on that too then thank you anything else all those in favor motion carries uh sign purchase and installation approval request or around the pond what's that one about Tim's favorite so we've got another request there's a copy of this in your package that uh a few of the residents around the pond have asked for some additional signage we put up the speed limit signs so those are those are done but they're looking for some additional signage now are they what they're looking for have that put underneath the speed limit yeah I think it whatever same post whatever Tim's good judgment is they need to be they're willing to but yeah using the same sign post is what I would recommend as well not asking for additional and how much is this going to be uh I think the quote that I saw on this was roughly 35 bucks a sign did any signs we talking that's what you asked about Tim what's your estimate somewhere between six and eight yeah it's gonna say eight if we put them at all speed limit signs here in motion of this move to accept the sign purchase for the caution signs around Berlin pond here second I guess I'll second it for conversation do you really think this is gonna make any difference no I'm a huge proponent of safety but I think that that's excessive and I think it's a given that folks should be safe around Berlin pond for all of those reasons I wouldn't be opposed to one or two but not ten I'd be in the favor of one at each end of the walk you know the main travel area correct we can get away with four right I even think four is excessive I think it's well you got what you have one there at the return right on Brookfield road yeah return on mirror lake road yeah turn right on mirror lake road yeah right on mirror lake road and then what if you go straight past Brookfield road yeah I don't really believe they're gonna do much good that's just my opinion no there's been studies put out now that there's over a month of signs and people don't distract we use a 36 by 36 orange fluorescent sign and I've been told that I didn't see him was the right look in your side mirror it's a hundred feet behind it was there was there reason or an individual that was very motivated to put the sign up yes Phil Gentile he's made comments about the speed down to there yeah he's come to the board before as well as there's been an accident out there well last summer again at Phil's place he put out a caution children at play okay because they cross the road to his property there as well and um um some uh some lady in a car ran over the sign dragged it down the road when it came out from underneath her car the pickup truck behind it ran over it as well okay but there hasn't been that children joggers bicyclists or pedestrians injures as accidents no none that have been reported dude have you found out what those uh radar signs cost I haven't yet what the speed the like the one you saw on the way to yeah but I mean they have they have those small ones they've had one up here on the cross down just pass yeah the paint here by itself and look you don't know what those cost this is just shoot from the hip because I think I heard it was somewhere around 3000 I was gonna say the upper part of 1500 p.m. they're pricing well and I'm sure it's dependent on what you get is what you pay for you know what I mean you can get a cheap one that might last a day and you get ones that are solar powered that are I think some of these are battery operated of some sort you do catch your attention because you're coming up at the speed and you see them start flashing and it catches your attention I personally don't believe these will do that good but like I said I'd be in favor of a couple of them think you're on the edge of oversignage and taking away the natural beauty but that's what you want all any other discussion on this all those in favor of the motion all those opposed all right all right motions defeated uh see your approval license permits vouchers and I just like to remind you of the additional life of what the additional uh letter of support midway solar midway solar yes and there is a copy of the of the letter in your package as well okay um let's take a look at it it's up off midway avenue up behind the price chopper not price chopper yeah bowling alley yeah both price chopper it's price chopper yeah how many kilowatts that it's a good size uh huge fail project is it visible from 302 no it's gonna be hidden back in there and you won't be able to see that without the only and see this from the air one of the uh one of the owners was uh was here but he must have left it's on the sand and they're just looking for a letter of support yeah he's just looking for a letter of support to get his very short here motion I make a motion to uh be in support of the midway solar project a second any further discussion that has no conflict with any of our zoning in that district no the only request that's been made is uh for the during the at the end of the construction that they ensure that uh vine street is returned to its return to it as good or better condition vine street or vine street vine street so they're gonna they're gonna access from that side and they agree yeah I just for the discussion on this all those in favor all right all right motion carries and branding of the town center that's just to set a date with the with the planning committee so I will I will pick a couple of dates send it to the board let me know if you're willing and able to attend any of those dates and times and I'll coordinate that meeting and get it set up and scheduled but it'll be within the next probably probably the it'll be before the next like board meeting so within the next two weeks okay when I have that they'd like to sit with you sit with the board okay and once again approval of licenses permits vouchers and applications I make the motion to approve payroll warrant 23-04 for payroll from July 31st 2022 to August 13th of this year to be paid on August 17th in the amount of forty four thousand seven hundred eighty two dollars and sixty six cents also payable warrant 23g04 with checks 22193 to 22253 for payables in the amount of sixty seven thousand eight hundred ninety two dollars and ten cents july journal general journal entries reconciled july bank statements for the general fund and sewer water checking second all those any further discussion all those in favor hi hi motion carries uh round table carl uh just a quick question uh tomorrow is board of abatement meeting is it and that's six p.m. here okay i want to confirm that no that's bca bca yeah it's different what's the bca bca is civil authority all right yes okay i hate acronyms until i learn them then i like them dave i just want to where we're at on that sewer project that we talked about down off in 302 do we get any more information on that the where that was left off was with the public works to generate a letter to the residents has any of that happened or i haven't heard anything yet about a letter going out i can validate that with tom but i don't believe that it's been gone out to the residents yet because we saw that one landlord's got a piece of property their house would not anything happen yep exactly that was the next step we move forward from there well i just wanted to mention a couple of things the riverton bridge i wondered if there's an update to that and i also wanted to add that a few people have mentioned to me for safety purposes maybe something could be done for people coming off cross town and then going right that they've seen people who just immediately make a right and they're not paying attention whether anyone's coming down the hill from the riverton higher riverton area um so i don't know if you tim have any ideas or thoughts there but i've had two people mention it to me that they've seen it happen with someone coming the other direction from the fire station yeah i seen it the other day and get you something's coming down behind them probably not because they believe that the light placement was placed there to go inside with crosstown that's why the stop bar is back behind the guardrail so we have a stop sign you have to stop to stop sign correct if you're taking a left you have to make sure there's no traffic coming from the left and as far as turning right onto the bridge that'd be running the red light correct and that's what two observers have mentioned to me is people coming off crosstown taking a right with traffic coming from the fire station direction that's you know that the back border lines the people don't pay attention to signs and i mean that's no different than running the red light out here right here it's a red light you run it you run it so for awareness i wanted to bring that up there's plenty of awareness that you know i mean they have road work ahead road work one lanes spring work the state put up permanent signs which makes me believe that that probably is going to be like that for the winter thank you another thing i wanted to bring up is have you gotten any status update in terms of lovers lane bridge the only thing the state's telling me right now and the regional planning commission is that it's on the list it made the list yo um hey last saturday was the first open house at the fire department i want to give a shout out to the times argus dave del corp for the nice write up for the i think it was talk the town is where i read it um we had many people come through and i think we have maybe two new applicants um and i think i gave gave vents um some quotes for uh new base station for the eoc yes and so it'll be a new package as well if it's not he'll put it in your packet before i thought we're gonna probably discuss it next well we are i put it on i put it on for the round table to come up to raise awareness so we could discuss it at the next meeting okay and so this right here would complement the the town highways radio upgrade as well as the pds upgrade because as soon as they put the their radios in play now the emergency management cannot talk to those people they're cut out yeah any old stroke no emergency operations center eoc yeah all right the eoc yes it's it's so painful isn't it i'm sorry um um partridge farm update uh i spoke with uh mr probo from partridge farms home orders association uh today with regards to that and he clarified some information for me as well they're not really looking at any funding for the project from the town uh they're looking for grant support from the town for us to apply for grants for that like the one that we talked about for the uh design phase yeah so i did speak with him a little bit about that that there might be a possibility there that we can apply for some grants um so he did clarify that for me the only portion that we'll be responsible for with the state is it's about it calculates to a little over two acres of of road surface so that's under the three acre permeable surface that's it's all rolled into that whole eight acre apartment though it's part of the whole firm date so that's my update for that um i'll have some grant um information hopefully uh for the next agenda for the board meeting okay oh i do it one more of course i do we have no doubt i'm sure this will be happy for you guys to sign this is for the appointment for our new town clerk for her appointment she signed it she took the oath our our notary this diane uh was able to uh provide the oath so i just need a board signature on that and i need that back i think that uh one on that purchase firm that design grant that they have to be able to get closed i think i think they're award well there's two application periods for that second one okay yeah first one i believe is closed yeah yeah there's one that's gone by already because they're going to award that one sometime in september there's also the there's still one available i can talk to you it's all i believe if you get 100% funding for that's not our point okay any executive session oh sir motion to adjourn i'll make a motion to adjourn second all those in favor all right all right motion carries