 present at this meeting either in person via phone or via Zoom who would like to address the board. I am seeing none. I am hearing none. Therefore I will close the public comment period. We'll move on to item number three which is the consent agenda consisting of the minutes of August 24th, 2022. Program updates, the executive director update, finance report, and a solid waste implementation plan inclusion request. I want to make one point in that the minutes of the August 24th, 2022 meeting, the header starting on page two of those minutes states that it's the July 27th, 2022 meeting, but in fact it relates to the August 24th meeting, a minor correction that I'm sure will be put in the permanent record, but I just wanted to point that out for the record. Are there any requests to remove an item from the consent agenda for discussion? I am hearing none. I am seeing none. Consent agenda then is approved as presented. Next item on the agenda is item number four, personnel rules and regulations, requested changes. This memo begins on page 21 of your board packet and I'll turn it over to Amy Jewel at this point to lead us through this. Thank you. So as the memo states, we are looking to make some changes to our holiday schedule. You'll notice the memo heading. It says discussion only. It actually is coming to the board for board action requested tonight. We did bring this to the executive board to discuss and they were in favor of moving this forward to the full board. So change number one that we are interested in changing is removing president's day from our holiday list, which is the third Monday in February and replacing that with the Juneteenth holiday and our justice, equity, diversity and inclusion committee, which we're really excited about has just recently started. We've done quite a bit of work. And one of the conversations that we had as a committee was that that the Juneteenth holiday, the hope was that the district would want to recognize and celebrate that holiday. And when we looked at the holiday schedule, Sarah wasn't comfortable with the addition of a holiday, but did look at the schedule and say in place of perhaps president's day is one that we could remove. So that is request number one request. Number two is our current holiday schedule. And it's been this way for 30 years is that it's been a day and a half at the Christmas holiday. So that's 12 hours total. So Christmas Eve has always been a half day for facilities. And we recognize that that is difficult for most of our staff to spend time with their family. And we had requests from the staff could we close for the entire day. So if this is approved, it would be an addition of four hours. We had the discussion at the executive board meeting for some of us, we can use vacation time to supplement that, but not operations folks because we don't have other people that can fill in. So when when they request December 24 off, because of family things, the answer is generally no for most everybody because we don't have 25 other people that can fill that slot. We did look at the number of folks that go to our facilities and we had the conversation that we assume most of them will just go on another day so it doesn't feel like a loss of revenue. It does mean we'll be busier on other days that following week. But we think that we can handle it with the staff that we have. So our hope is that the board would approve removing President's Day, adding the Juneteenth holiday and then including December 24 as a full day off. Are there any questions? First of Saturday, do you want to add anything? Anything else? No, that covers everything. Very good. Let's take these in two parts. We'll open it up to commissioners for questions and discussions. So the first change which would be to remove President's Day from the holiday list and add Juneteenth in its place. Are there any comments, questions, observations from from the board? It certainly is a nicer time of year to have a to take a day off in June. On the other hand, of course, it makes the winter a little bit longer if you're looking forward to a day off. And I would take a just got widespread support from both the committee and what you can tell from staff. My personal concern is that it really should be something that that staff would like to do. And it's not just kind of a top down decision. So it's requested and supported by the staff. I personally would be in favor of it. No, it definitely was. And the support for the Jedi Committee work in particular has been very strong. And this is something that was identified earlier in the year back in April or May. And it really was just too late in the fiscal year at that point to request this change. So we told the members of the committee that we would bring it back for consideration earlier in the next fiscal year, which is where we are now. Thank you. I just think that I think it's great to add Juneteenth. I think it's sad to drop President's Day. And was just was there any discussion about just adding Juneteenth and not dropping something? There was, yes. And, you know, due to some of the conversations that came up as a result of the Gallagher Flynn study, which did say that we have a good supply of holidays already. We thought that it would be more readily acceptable to do a swap for one of kind of the lesser holidays. However, we would not say, no, no, no, don't let us have a February day off. You know, certainly, Steph would absolutely appreciate that very much. But we were being sensitive to to the results of that study that said we already are on the on the higher end of paid holidays. We are with other municipal organizations for the holiday but in that study looked at private as well. So that's why. But I'd be all in favor of letting our set. We added it. That'd be a wonderful email to send out. And so it's the opportunity to amend emotion when we get to that. Well, I feel like, you know, voice in the wilderness, probably. Any other comments or discussion? Yes, we have any evidence that this caused any problems for commercial customers, particularly the Christmas Eve clothes? We're we're on the just on the Juneteenth one, we'll get that's going to be I'll recognize you soon as we get to that one. Safe. Yeah, same question. Yeah. But this is somewhat of a public facing change. Well, is it actually Juneteenth? We would normally have been in operations for the public facing operations, the drop off centers. So this is a change, but no, no diminishment or diminution of the total amount of time that's available for people to bring their materials to either drop off center or to the Murph. The Murph would not be affected. Because they again, we contract for those services with Kasella. So they are Kasella employees. So that schedule is unaffected. We're talking just about CSWD facilities. Again, just staying with the Juneteenth holiday. Any other questions or comments? And let's move on then to the suggestion proposed change number two, adding four hours of holiday time, which does have a budgetary impact that's identified in here because it would be additional hours and an additional benefit. But Rick, you want to ask your question then? Yes. Will this have any negative impact on commercial customers that were closed entirely on the Christmas Eve? So again, for the Murph, no. For the environmental depot, all the commercial customers have to make appointments anyway. So that will be unaffected. We don't see much commercial activity at the drop off centers as it is, that tends to be mostly residential. But there could be some impact to small businesses if they, you know, were intending to come in on that day. And then at the Mountain Compost, again, it would be minimal. We don't tend to see much inbound material on a Saturday, which is what this is this year on days where the Christmas holiday is midweek or on a weekday. That is a consideration. So what we normally do, and what we would continue to do, would be to run a skeleton crew for inbound material acceptance only at, say, the Green Mountain Compost, for example, to make sure that haulers could, if they were collecting on that day, would still be able to drop off food scraps. And that's something we do normally. And we would continue that practice. And we did have discussion at the exec board about the impacts after Christmas, which is really when the demand for for our drop off centers is high with all of the post Christmas material that needs to be moved. And I think it was quite emphatic that there would be no no change was entertained for the day before or I guess would be New Year's Eve itself. Correct. New Year's Eve is not effective. This year, though, with Christmas on a Sunday, it is a little different. So Amy, if you could explain that again. So when it falls on a Sunday, our facilities are closed on Monday. So we'll be closed on the 26th, because that would be the observed holiday for staff for this for this year. And when it falls on a Saturday, the observed day is the day before the admin, it would be the day before for operations that are normally open. It's that day. Correct. Excellent. Bring your hands up. Thanks. I'm curious what the Jedi committee discussed as it relates to adding hours to a denominational holiday. I don't know that there was a dress. So it wasn't. Okay. That's a good question. Yeah, we can certainly take a look at that. Other questions and comments from from the board. Again, I'd point out that there is a dollar impact of roughly $6,800. Should that should the additional hours be incorporated into a personnel policy? And personally, I think it's, it's considerate. And I'm always concerned about work life balance. The day before Christmas is is generally important family day. And I think it's a, it's a good step forward for the district to, to give our employees the full time off. Well, the full day off. That's just my opinion. Bring your hand is up again. But Katie, let's let Katie go and then bring a little good cycle back to you. When I was appropriate to make a motion to adopt the proposed changes as presented by staff for Juneteenth, in place of President's Day and adding four hours for staff on Christmas Eve. Thank you. It's been moved. Do we have a second? We'll have an opportunity for further discussion. A second. Actually, Rhonda, you can't second because you're from Winooski and bring us here, bring us here at the meeting. Oh, I'm sorry. No problem. We're still looking. I'll second that. Thank you, Leslie. It's been moved and seconded to, to adopt the changes as presented. Bring your hand is up. Yeah, I was going to ask about moving them separately. About what? Moving them separately. Moving them separately. That could be, I think that's, that's a, can we take that as a friendly amendment here? Katie, would you be okay with amending your motion to take, take them in separately? The first part of that being proposed change number one? Sure. I would like to propose that we adopt the first proposed change and adding Juneteenth holiday in, in a place of President's Day holiday as presented by staff. Thank you. And our second year also, would you be agreeable to that change? Yes. And I would like to propose that we adopt the changes to the, add four hours to Christmas Eve to allow staff the full day as presented by staff. What we want to do, Katie, is take them as two separate motions and not vote on, on them together, but have the opportunity to vote on each requested change independently. So if your motion, I hope would be the first motion would be just to deal with proposed change number one, which is Juneteenth. Okay. Paul, I'll second that. Thank you, Ken. So it's been moved and seconded to deal just with proposed change number one of President's moving or removing President's Day from the holiday list and adding Juneteenth. So further discussion on this motion and this one proposed change. I'm seeing none. I'm hearing none. All those in favor of adopting the motion or to remove President's Day and add Juneteenth in its place to our holiday calendar, please say aye and raise your. Any opposed? Say nay and raise your hand. Any abstention? The motion carries. We're now on to proposed change number two. Katie, I'll entertain you to make that motion. Okay, I would like to move that we adopt the addition of four hours on Christmas Eve to allow employees the full day off as presented by staff. Thank you very much. Do we have a second for this motion? Second. Thank you, Rick. It's been moved and seconded to add four hours of holiday time on December 24th. Is there further discussion on this motion? Seeing none, I'm hearing none. I believe them were ready for the question. All those in favor of adding four hours of holiday time on December 24th. I'm sorry. All those in favor of the motion to add 24 hours of holiday time on December 24th, please say aye and raise your hand. Those opposed, say nay and raise your hand. Abstentions, please. Two abstentions. I believe the motion will carry as presented and voted. So we'll have four hours then to our holiday schedule to our time off. Thank you very much. We're now ready to move on to item number five, which is the bond vote update of the materials recovery facility. I'll turn that over to you, Sarah. Thank you. And I apologize. I had intended to have an update to the last month's memo in there. But there is information, both the materials that were were sent out and I have information in my executive director update about the bond vote. We are proceeding with lots of presentations. We've had several this past month. I gave two yesterday, only yesterday, I think it was yesterday. And we have some additional presentations coming up. So yesterday was the Burlington Transportation Energy and Utilities Committee and the town of Shelburne. We have I believe when new ski is coming up is no, but yes, when it's coming up, as is Williston for select board meetings. We have also been going to Rotaries and to the much of the chamber, Jen, you would know better if we've got the chambers coming up, but we have been going to the Rotaries as well. So there's been a lot of great conversations. We have not had great attendance at our public forums. So that was why we initially reduced public forums down from the planned four down to two. We do have the required public hearing will be on November 1st and that will be here at Williston Town Hall. And Chen and probably forgetting some things fill in some blanks for me please. We've been we have the FAQ. I'm sorry, my camera's not turning on. But we have a Q sheet out that has been distributed to our drop off centers, town clerks that want them. I'm sorry, not town clerks. Yeah, on our website, we have the FAQ and also a fact sheet. And we had the postcard that was nailed this week and has arrived in people's mailboxes. And lots of impressions from our digital ads are it's really ramping up and getting notice. Thank you. And I will reflect on and just draw highlight to one of the items in my executive director update on the financing. And I did have a conversation with the representative from the EPA and their grant process is is still in the works. They are hoping to have the applications ready for municipalities to utilize by around mid October. The federal government fiscal year is in October to September fiscal year. So their goal is to have some money out very, very soon and have the applications reviewed within about 60 days after that period closes. So a very quick turnaround, particularly for the federal government. So the hope is that we would have results and know if we are being awarded a grant very early in the next calendar year. So we will certainly apply for the maximum amount that is available for application, whatever that is determined to be. And they are still determining what that range of dollar amount is. Again, the process is for this particular round of the infrastructure grant, which is what we will be applying for is a competitive round, which bodes well for us because we have probably one of the very few nearly shovel-ready projects, again pending a positive outcome on November 8th, ready to go. And again, looking at implementing significant technology that is aligned with the EPA's goals and really fits the bill of this grant program. So I'm feeling very positive about our potential for receiving some funding from the EPA through the SWIFR grant process. And I will certainly give another update as soon as I have it, but definitely in the October Board Packet in my memo. Discussion questions from commissioners. I do have a question. Should we have a successful vote in November? How soon then could you lock in the interest rate on the loan or on the monies that we would borrow? I'm always concerned about the rising interest rate environment. I don't know if you have an answer to that tonight. I don't, but I will double check with the bond bank to see when that would be when that would be locked in. I will have that in my next update as well. Thank you. Other questions or comments? Again, I can attest to the exposure to certainly online every time I'm on social media. I see something about about the Murph medias because I don't do much on social media and I don't click too much, but there's a lot of a lot of presentation I'm getting exposed to. And kudos to staff for working on that. And am I correct? This is about the time that the staff recommends that we as representatives start posting stuff on front porch forum in addition to what the district is posting or not. Thank you for the question. Very good question. So I would like to have Michelle and Jim work up a revised calendar. So we will get that revised schedule out to commissioners within the next couple of days. Certainly by early next week. And so just to kind of, I want to make sure that we are aligning those posts properly. So let me make sure that we get the most updated calendar out to you before anyone does anything soon. So thank you for asking that question. That was important. Again, there are two parts of this. One is certainly to vote, but the more important part is how to vote and the issue of information about our project, right? You know, just to make sure there's awareness. I would like to say that the Jericho town clerk has done a very good job of making people wear on front porch for help to vote for the CSWD bond. So yeah, you have a very good clerk in Jericho. She's wonderful. Other discussion on the materials of the Murph bond vote update, part of our agenda tonight. We are moving right along, which I'm sure is well appreciated by all of us. We're now ready to move on to item number six, which is an executive session for the discussion of the Murph contract amendment and administrative lease. Do we have language to enter executive session? I move that the board of commissioners of the Chittenden solid waste district go into executive session to discuss the Murph contract and administrative office lease where premature general public knowledge would clearly place the district, its member municipalities and other public bodies or persons involved at a substantial disadvantage and to permit authorized staff, other invited interested parties and the solid waste district attorney to be present for this session. Thank you. Anyone care to move this motion? So moved. Thank you, Leslie and Jericho. Do we have a second? Back to me, Walston. Thank you. All those in favor of entering executive session, I didn't catch the comment. All those in favor of entering executive session, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? We'll now move over to executive session for those folks through December 31st, 2022 under the same terms and conditions that they've been operating under for quite some time. It's within late most recent contract. Any discussion on the motion? Think we're ready then for the question. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Say nay. Any abstentions? Contract is extended. Thank you. Next item on the agenda is other business. Any other business to bring forth to the to the to the body? I would only point out for upcoming meetings in October. Finance committee meets on October 12th, 5 p.m. The exec board I believe is October 17th and the full board meets on October 26th. All those meetings are open to all commissioners. If you want to know what's going on, going to those committee meetings is really valuable. So always encourage you if you've got the time to attend. No other business before us entertain a motion to adjourn. Well, Paul, you have a question or comment? We can't hear you. There we go. No, it's our end. You're you're sad. Okay, let's see an emotion to adjourn that we have that has been moved and seconded. So move. Thank you. Do we have a second? Thank you, Katie. All those in favor of adjournment, please say any opposed. They may. Any abstention? We are adjourned. Thank you all very much.