 Welcome to the April 24th, 2023 edition of Rochester Select Board meeting. This time Dune is not attending, so I'm back, we get two of us again. We have posted this agenda in three different places and the website. So we are conforming to the open meeting law and it has been emailed to all interested parties as well. Due to the fact that I was in attendance but only listening in I had a poor signal when I was away. So my iPad didn't work, so I was using the phone so I did not participate as a Select Board member in that meeting, our last meeting and Dune is now away. We're gonna skip the prior meeting minute approval until next time when all of us are here. That would be the meeting from April 10th. Do we have Martha Slater here? Yep, she's here, you're on mute, Martha. Hi, is this the time for me to talk about Fourth of July? You might as well get it going. Okay, great, thank you. This is my annual formal request for permission from the Select Board to have the Fourth of July celebration, some of it I organize and then some of it I just sort of oversee, you know. Anyway, it will be on Tuesday, July 4th and what I have organized so far is that the this year's theme will be hometown happiness and it will include the Independence Day Dash, 5K Run, which the Ridgeline Collective and Pierce Hall Community Center are going to co-anchor and the tennis tournament down on the town tennis courts that the Proximas, Evelyn Walt Proxima are going to organize and then of course the parade and Crystal Lapel has let me know that the fire department will be doing the fire, the traffic control at either end of the village during the parade and also after the parade, along with the barbecue on the park, there's going to be the whoever shows up jam band is going to play on the band stand and Linda Anderson has volunteered to organize games for kids like she did last year. So there'll be things like this happening throughout the village and I'm hoping that the slick board is okay with that and the only thing it will cost the town is the usual things where I asked them the money comes from the Recreation Committee budget and Julia Kristen has, I send the bill to them as far as the paper and envelopes and stamps for sending out the invitation letters and also ordering the three trophies and that's it for first, second, and third place. So I'm hoping that that's okay with everybody and I checked to make sure that it will definitely be on, because it's on a Tuesday, I checked to make sure that it won't be on a Monday because sometimes government holidays are on Monday. So I called the post office being that they're a government organization and they told me that their schedule from the government came that they were supposed to be open on Monday the third and closed on Tuesday the fourth. So I went with that hoping because of course it is the fourth of July, it should be on the fourth. So anyway, sorry. Okay, so yeah, with no surprises, it being very routine as far as expenses are concerned. Yeah, I mean, I don't know if any of those costs have gone up from last year, but I think the stamps are a little more than they were last year. I think postage stamps have gone up a little, but anyway. Yes, correct. Okay, sorry. I move that we allow Martha to spend her parade budget. Second it. All in favor? All right. All right, there you go, Martha. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. It's been over 20 years that I've been doing this. So I've gotten, so I know what I'm doing, but still. Thank you. We definitely appreciate your efforts. Thank you. We did up that budget last year to accommodate the cost. Increases. Okay. Speaking of Martha Slater, let's move on to the second thing on our new business. It's Slater Skate Space Land Transfer. Correct. Hi, Dean. Been a busy week in that department. I called Evan today and he's not on Zoom because Cricket and I have come up with a different plan, creating an easement between two already surveyed posts that basically severs all of the land that has been built on her, the property that's the Skate Space that part that has been built on her property and also the drainage that is included, which is what we need for Skate Space and creating an easement. Can I hop in? Go. Just to be super clear, it's Martha's land, so it's Martha's decision. I chatted with Martha about an easement probably six, eight months ago. I think it was last summer. We had a nice talk. She was amenable to an easement, sounded like a good plan. Hadn't really heard too much of what was going on since. Dean looped me in this week and said, hey, everybody's thinking about a land transfer. And I said, really, okay, what's that? But then sounded like the cost, which is understandable of a land transfer as one, I'm not sure what Martha feels and she's the one that gets to decide. It's her land. And two, it's a lawyer on each end. It's another survey. I kind of said, well, where did the easement idea go? And Dean also discussed talking about actually even trying to get the paid part of the Skate Space off of Martha's land, which is certainly an option that's on the table. But I mentioned that doesn't actually solve the entire problem because there's drainage structures for the Skate Space that are still on Martha's land. Even if you take the asphalt part away, there's still some infrastructure that goes with the Skate Space that would still. So I took a quick peek back at Martha's survey that Norm Smith did when they parsed off the Skate Space from Martha's lot and noticed some two already defined points. Basically the back corner of Marv's lot and the back corner of the adjacent lot on the south side. And those are certainly already defined points recorded in that survey, recorded in the land records of the adjacent survey. So it would be really quite simple as far as I could tell to kind of just define the land west of those points in a paragraph or two paragraph easement that gets recorded just like you record easements for septic disposal. Actually the town store line is in that area too. So there's all sorts of, I've got some other pictures here too. There's all sorts of kind of town infrastructure that occurs on that little trapezoid part of the Skate Space obviously that the town store line is there which obviously has its own separate easement. Some of the drainage structures for the Skate Space run across there. And it also kind of that line basically follows the toe of the slope which is something Martha and I had talked about as being kind of a topographic defining feature as you know that lower terrace versus the upper terrace. And she had said you know that lower terrace definitely just let it continue to be used in perpetuity as it's being used by the town. So I guess my just guidance to Dean was why throw the easement option away so quickly for a more expensive land transfer option if Martha's okay with an easement and the town's okay with an easement. It certainly seems like a good option to me. So I guess I was just reintroducing that option into the mix cause I don't think it's nearly as pricey as a full land transfer. It doesn't require a survey. I think it's a decent option but certainly it's up to Martha. The benefit being we don't have to have two lawyers in a survey. We don't have to subtract any part of Skate Space. Martha doesn't have to subtract from her lot. Right. And it's, I did talk to Evan and the reason he's not on Zoom is that I basically said to him, let us figure this out. And then you know, and he is offered if the board decides to do the land transfer to do it at a reduced rate. That's not what we want to do anymore. We would rather have the easement. And I think Martha, she and I have talked about it. Right. And her decision is really the ultimate end of what she wants to do. Well, excuse me. Do I understand, Dean, that you agree with Cricket that the easement is probably the better way to go in your opinion? Yes. Okay. Well, I agree with that as well and I'm perfectly willing to agree to it. I was very glad to give that land for the Skate Space all those years ago. And I love looking down there, whatever the season and seeing kids and families down there. I mean, it gets quite a bit of use. It really does even though, of course, it needs some work right now, but it's still in usable shape and it gets used and kids really like it, you know? I'm perfectly willing to sign. You know, I assume I have to sign something for an easement or whatever when you get it written up or whatever, I'm not sure, but I'm willing to agree to it. Yeah, that's how I remember chatting with you about it, Martha, and I really appreciated our chat, but I'm always one to kind of try to figure out the lowest cost, simplest solution that achieves everybody's goals. And I think an easement does that. So I, and if Martha feels that way too, then I don't know why making it more expensive and more complicated is necessarily worth it. If the goals are achieved by an easement and it's simple and low cost, then. A couple of points to make here. Town doesn't own the school property, so you really need to be having this discussion with the school. This isn't school property. This is the town, this is the skate space, yeah. Okay. It has nothing to do with school property. Okay. It's the town property that actually, I talked with Julie about it was still sort of on the parcel map part of, that was another mistake that had been made at the parcel mapping level, but she got that corrected that it was still sort of shown as part of Martha's law, but Julie now the parcel map consultant, and I think they fixed that to show it as two separate lines. I just, I got a question about it too. As board, we had mentioned that we thought that we preferred to keep it clean and have a land transfer rather than an easement. Martha will be paying property taxes on a piece of property that she's allowing someone else to use when she goes to sell her property someday. She will have that easement, that blemish of an easement on her deed. Those are just all factors that need to be revealed to all the parties because we don't have lawyers to inform people when you're just going for an easement. Oh, go ahead, I'm sorry. Go ahead, go ahead, Martha. I was just gonna say, I hadn't thought about that. I mean, I will agree to either one, but just because I want the skate space to be there and be used and I certainly don't need that piece of property. I hadn't thought about the fact that someday if I sell the property, I've owned it for 38 years, so I keep forgetting. You know, anyway, I'll agree to whatever the board and Dean and Chris come up with and can agree on. My concern about the land transfer is wasted to you this week or last week, that there's money that needs to come out and come into this. It basically, if it's a land transfer, my understanding is that the town needs a lawyer, Martha needs a lawyer, and we need it surveyed. And Martha shouldn't have to pay. And so she was very adamant in donating this long ago that I've donated this property. I don't feel like she should. Absolutely not. Right. So it also comes down to where the funds are going to come from to pay two lawyers and a surveyor. I just got one question on the original. Maybe Martha can answer this and maybe you can. I don't know. On the original gift, was there ever any clause put in there that it reverts back to the original landowner if it's no longer used as a skate space? It's an entirely new lot on the survey. Right, I realize that. But was there anything ever, do you know? I mean, I don't know. I'm just wondering, and if you go with an easement, I would think that that would be a clause that you'd want to put in there. I think it was already gift to the town, as I understand it, but I don't know. That could be, I don't know. I was just asking that question. And the other thing, if you do go with an easement, I think that it would be permanent as long as that space was used as a skate space, and then it would revert back to Martha as her land or whoever owned the house. Yeah, the language of the easement would be important. Yeah, I mean, the language that you use here is going to be important down the road, I think. I don't recall anything that Frank, you know, in the original paperwork that we did all those years ago, I don't recall anything about it reverting although maybe it was, I haven't got that paperwork in front of me, I'm sorry. You're right. No, that's quite all right, Martha. I was just questioning that. I was wondering if there was a revert back to you if it was no longer used as a recreational area for the community, that was always just a question. But maybe if we go with an easement, that should be put in there, that that part would be reverts back to her use or that lot itself. You know what I'm saying, Dean? Yeah, I actually, I think the wording that I would use, I'm not a lawyer, but the easement of the use of the recreation area in perpetuity, basically, that it continues to the next owner. That easement. Is there an answer or a line easement going right at this point? Yeah. That's, I think. What I'm saying is if it's no longer a skate space, say 30 years down the road, skate space is gone. Right. That it just reverts back to her, I would think that the easement would no longer be an issue. I would think that, that's an Evan question, but it could probably be written into that. I would think something like that should be written in there for that case, and then there's no gray area on that in the future. But I think the easement would work fine. I want to be clear too that I don't want to muddle the water. So if the town and Martha, who are the two parties that are, if they prefer the land transfer, that's fine. I just wanted to bring the easement option back up as a low cost. To be, to tell you the truth, an easement is my preferred thing, but I wasn't going to disagree with the other if that's what everybody else wanted. Okay. I'm from discussions with her personal discussions. Yeah. So Frank, are you saying that the entire parcel would revert back to Martha? No, I was asking the question of whether or not it was ever put out that way because Martha donated the property for use, for recreational use, towards escape space, basketball court, whatever you want to call it. If there was anything in the original agreement that stated it would revert back to her law if it was no longer used in that way. And that was all I was asking. I don't, Not that I care. I mean, I just was wondering if that was the case. I think the original was a true land transfer where it was that down place. It was totally gifted to the town. As far as I can. I mean, in that way, okay. But I would think if- But moving forward, I think that's an important language if you went with the easement option. Right. You should write in it. Easements, the language of them does matter greatly. What is it being used for in continued use and perpetuity of that use, you define that existing use and you define all of the existing infrastructure that's on it and repair replacement maintenance of that infrastructure, but no more. Things like that. Yeah. Make it super clear. So it doesn't encumber it more, encumber that property more than it needs to. Right. And that's what I'm getting at, Cricket. I'm not trying to- Yeah. And I mean, for Martha's, you know, there is, you could say it all, it's a stain on the property, but I mean, reducing it in size by almost a half is, it's totally up to Martha. I would go with her preference. She's the one with the original generosity to get from. I don't have a problem with that. And to tell you the truth, when I bought that house in 1985, I was astonished to find out after I signed the paperwork that I owned that field down there, because it doesn't look like it belongs to the property and no one had mentioned it to me when I was shown it by the real estate agent or anything. So, and for a number of years, I had little kids in three jobs and it was very hard to get down there to mow it. So it didn't get mowed as often as it should have. That's back when I could mow things. And so I didn't have a real problem with giving it to someone who would take care of it and in honor of that little girl who died, et cetera. That seemed like a good use for the property, much better than I could do with it. So. Who writes up the easement? You have to have Evan do what I've done. I can reach out. I mean, if that is the decision to do the easement, then I would, because he's offered, you know. And you have those funds to cover that. I think it would still have to come out of the art books. Yeah. It would just be a lesser amount. Right. So instead of five or 7,000 for two lawyers in a surveyor, we're dealing with one lawyer. If that. Yeah. Right. So when you talk to Evan, just make sure that that language is in there, that it reverts back to that lot. If no longer he is. He should sit with Martha and figure out exactly what she wants for language. Because we should protect that. Protect her for that. Exactly. I mean, I think that just be a good thing. He's offered JC because she lives close by. And maybe I can set up a meeting with JC and Martha and be a part of that and kind of. Yeah, let me know. You need me to be there with you. Okay. Yeah, I think a representative from the town and Martha and Evan and a rep for Rick. And just to make sure that Martha's covered there. Exactly. And then when, if it's no longer used as a skates base, it can revert back to her. If you guys are, if you guys are setting up a meeting, it needs to be some place that I can get in because I can't do stairs. And you'd be more than welcome to come to my house or whatever you would like to do. I think we'll probably come to your house, Martha. Okay. Just give me a call and let me know when you guys figure out what you're planning to do. I thank you very much. Yeah, you're welcome. Thank you. Yeah, town. Thank you too, Martha. Thank you, Martha. Wonderful. You're welcome. Thank you, Cricket. Okay. We have a path. Yes. Okay. Let's move on. We have a driveway permit for 2,600 North Hollow Road. That is a vacant lot. Just beyond the North Hollow Farm. In the dip there. Oh, yeah. And so we have an opinion from John Champion. And so I propose that we accept this unless you have discussion. John was good with it. So I second the motion. All in favor? All right. All right. I don't know whether this ever gets signed or anything, but it is publicly accepted. And yeah, another driveway cut. We have, this one is a double. It's a two. It is two lots that are located near and or on the Greyhawk Access Road. And John has a letter with that one, too. John Champion has lent his opinion. Let's wait on that back here. About. Instead of hands-gratching, we can read it. And I will read it. The two proposed driveway cuts off the Access Road. I found the town ditch is adequate for stormwater runoff, but it is not adequate to accept a 15-inch culvert. The applicant will have to ditch the town road in order to make the stormwater runoff system work properly. I think they're requesting an 18-inch culvert. I think that's gonna be the standard from now on anyway. So with those notes, we can go ahead and approve these two. You may want to mention that those lots don't border the town road, and they did receive permission from the Greyhawk Owners Association back in 2004. They granted 30-foot access points for those lots. It's part of the subdivision. Mm-hmm. So I move that we approve both of these driveway access permits. I second it. All in favor? Aye. Takes care of driveways for tonight. Next on our list is a letter from Jan McCann. She is wearing her shelter team hat tonight, and she is requesting funds for a volunteer recognition celebration. Recognizing volunteers for their work and commitment is important to all organizations. The shelter team leaders want to acknowledge the diligence, loyalty, and willingness of the volunteers that serve our community. We also want to acknowledge all the diligence, loyalty, and willingness of the volunteers. But at this time, we're not exactly sure where we would be able to pull the funds for a meal, volunteer recognition meal for 12 people. So I'm gonna kind of look into this a little bit later, but we would be more than happy to possibly plug it into a future budget if that's something that is requested to be done on an annual basis. But at this point in time, we just don't have anything pinpointed in any of our budgets for this. So I'm going to forward this, do a little research, but I'm not quite sure in these tough budget times that we're going through if we're gonna be able to plug out a $250 monetary donation for volunteer recognition. Not that we don't love our volunteers, we certainly do. Excuse me, Kat. Excuse me, would it be correct for me to write that the board will look into a possible source for funds for this and table the issue till later? You got it. Okay, thank you. Pat, I have a question. Yes, ma'am. Is this request specifically for the shelter team or does this include all volunteers in the town? No, 12 people. So I'm assuming that's all just the shelter team. Next on our list, we have a request as started a couple meetings ago about changing the name of what is now called a road off of Sky Hollow. It's called Valley View Road, and it is a dead end. So the definition of a road is a thoroughfare that connects two points. And since this one is not, the landowners on that road are claiming that they have a lot of people driving on it because they see it as a road, but then they decide, they determine that it doesn't go anywhere, so they turn around and go back. So they have a lot of drive-bys. So they're asking to change the road, Valley View Road to Valley View Drive. I did pull off definitions of roads and drives and terraces, and I happened to live on a loop, but there was no definition for that one. And it was interesting, this could fall under the category of a drive or a terrace, but drive would work for it. And so I'm not quite sure if we've done all of our research, if we have to warn this or not. I don't believe so because I think it's a private road, it's not a town road. Yeah, it's not even a public road. It's not a public road. I think they want to change the name for Valley View Drive, and I don't think there's any. And they would be responsible for putting up a new sign on themselves. So I move that we accept this, change from Valley View Road to Valley View Drive. I would second that. All in favor? All right. So we will drop a letter to Mary Ellen and Sandy Webster, and let them know that we do not have a problem with that. Now, they also do have a responsibility to report this to the 911 address so that the ambulance does not go to the wrong spot, and they are aware of all of the particulars they need to do to make this stick. We cleared out Dengus anyway. Yeah, I think we did. So that is it for our new business, and we will move on to our departmental reports, and the first one on that list is the library. You're up, Tony. Well, do you want to start with this? Well, I assume Pat, you and Frank, read the letter that was sent, and basically we just want to keep you appraised on what the current thinking is on what can and cannot be included in this capital projects grant. I know Frank was at the meeting here at Pierce Hall last week where they were talking about the municipal energy grants that are going to be available, and perhaps the work that Jeff has talked about would be appropriate for that grant, but that's also federal money. So it's looking like any sort of replacement of the cladding and the weatherization projects wouldn't probably be funded by either of those, so that may have to come from town funds or some other way to fund that, but it doesn't look like federal money via state grants would be an appropriate way to go. Do you have funding to cover the new roof? That would be an appropriate part of a capital projects grant. So that is definitely would be a green light for you since it's been deemed that the roof is in the need of serious care, and we've recommended that standing seam would be a good replacement for it historically. Yes. We've gotten one of two estimates we asked for, and the estimate that came in at this point is $79,000, so that would be something we would certainly put in the capital projects grant. Also looking at that sagging area there on the second floor, topping off the insulation once the roof is replaced, and probably replacing all those fancy wooden posts for the ADA ramp which are failing, and fixing more of them just doesn't make financial sense. We've spent over $100 a post already on the ones that have been replaced. So those are the things right now that look appropriate for that grant, but doing the things that we talked about the last time we met with you doesn't look like they would be approved. So. I would go back to Greg and see if he could recommend a contractor that specializes in historic preservation to see if you could get an opinion from that person. At one time, we had such a contractor right in our valley, but no longer, but yeah. Are you talking about someone that would mill, custom mill clay? Someone that would understand what Greg is looking for and what you're looking for. Someone that could make it work so that the cloud boards are either still the same or exactly what you had. There are contractors out there that specialize in historical buildings. So maybe I would take Greg to the next level and see if he can help you meet his adverse effects problems. We didn't ask, but as his letter states, they're fairly comfortable that the moisture problem I saw that has been solved by the flashing we did last year. But we still have rock to address and repair, correct? Well, the rod is primarily three windowsills and that would go into the grant. That's about it. But just a paint job would not be approved as part of a capital project. I haven't had a chance after I got Doreen's letter. I haven't had a chance to talk with Jeff. Jeff has his hand up. He does, yeah. Let him speak then. I haven't had a chance to talk with him. What say you, Jeff? Lower my hand first. There were a number of things that I would take issue with with the report from the architect for the preservation trust folks. You know, I have found someone who can mill the decorative mill work for the building. No pricing has been provided on that yet. The real difficulty with fixing those windows in place is how to flash the window opening so that we don't have water running behind a weather-resistive barrier. The, you know, if the cladding had to stay the same and I really don't see why clabbered is acceptable on a first floor and not on a second or vice versa. But the thing that is really against the current building practice and building science is to smush two pieces of wet wood together and hope for the best. And that's what we have in that building right now. We really need to create a separation so that the physics can work and the cladding, wets and dries at roughly the same rate on the inside and the outside. So I, you know, my thought was that I would go back to that estimate and adhere as closely as I can to their recommendations, but I don't want to compromise on creating whether an appropriate drainage plan for that building, it just kicks a can down the road at great cost. So maybe since there's a weatherization aspect to that part of the plan, maybe that would be more appropriate to go into the municipal energy grants that are at about the same time and not put it in the capital projects grant, get the roof taken care of and those other things and put the whole cladding, insulating part in the municipal energy grant. Who owns the library? Trust these. I did reach out to two rivers, Otakwichi this week and ask them where we are, how we go about level two audit to get some of this, the, it was the Merck grants that would require a level two audit, which is essentially on what it's similar to what the library's had twice before, yet the duration in time that has passed means that those audits will not work for this current grant application, we'd have to do it over again. I was also counseled that we would likely only get support from the state for one project and that I should be looking at prioritization there. Frustrating thing is that the library is not one of our big energy users. If we were going for bang for the buck, we'd be looking at the garage and the town office, but of course the town office is kind of entwined in the high school and versus the office and the office versus the high school. So there's a lot of places I could work. I continue to look at the library and also I think we should come up with numbers for a fix to the town garage. I also sat in on the seminar that was presented last week for Merb and ERP and a question was asked and answered where these buildings have to be municipal town-owned buildings. Someone was pretty specific about their library and they said that if it's not owned by the town, it wouldn't qualify for this particular grant. Well, since our library is a municipal town building, shouldn't be an issue. Okay, it's not owned by the trustees. No, no. No, there have been multiple legal opinions. It's every year it's in the town report under what the town owns, the library and the contents. It's insured under the town building's insurance policy and you can't insure a building you don't own. We can take that to the state when we apply for the grant. And Dune knows, maybe you guys need to talk with Dune. I know we just did a hundredth of thousands of dollars worth of work to the library just 10 years ago. So I'm just saying what was discussed in this meeting. They also did say that they, like Jeff mentioned, that they would give priority to old leaky buildings first. I don't know who wants to compete for that prize. And they also had an analysis on all the municipal buildings in every one of the towns and Rochester was in the middle, not super efficient and not super inefficient. So that was interesting that Big Brother has been watching our utility bills. Yeah, so anyway, just wanted to clarify what the thinking is right now. If whoever the library director is, is gonna be writing the grant, what we have found out so far from Vermont historic preservation folks, the state librarian, what would be approved and what would not be approved. Just wanna keep you in the loop. Okay, well, if we get a new roof, that'd be a big plus, okay? And then we'll see what we can do to work out the rest of it. The other part of this though, was the inspection of the roof, not everything that was supposed to be done was done. Don't know where to go with that. We didn't contract it. So I'm not quite, well, we didn't hire them. We signed the contract. We agreed when you hired them to promise to pay them. So you're asking us to get in touch with them and ask them why they didn't do what they were asked to do. You're asking us to do that? Yes, I mean, nobody at the library signed the contract. We didn't pay them. I'm just letting you know that when I spoke with the estimator, the things that I spoke to the estimator about that were supposed to be done, the things that were not done, making sure that you're aware. That was the Vermont Construction Company. Right, so they did not go into the attic to locate the leak and fix the simple leak as was discussed with the estimator. So although they inspected, and let us know that all of the fasteners are old and brittle and in jeopardy, they didn't locate where the ones that were actually gone that are letting moisture into the attic and plug the holes. Okay, Vermont Construction Company, thank you. Yeah, I think that was like a $1350 bill or something. Yeah, it's under $1500. I don't know if that's already been paid, if there's any leverage to... I think we paid it already. I think it was paid last month. And is this the appropriate time to thank you for your service? Yep, not a couple months, I'm happy. A couple months, I don't have that time. You will talk to you later. Not at first. We'll talk to you again, I'm sure. Thank you. Okay, highway not here? We're assuming things are going well? Yeah, things are, he's getting ready for starting to scrape roads and waiting for it. To clean ditches? Yeah, he likes to get them done here pretty soon. He's scraped some, but he hasn't done the actual really scraped job that he wants to do because he's a little early yet. Yeah, yeah. So he's kind of waiting. I remember when we had the April 15th flood and the trucks were driving up and down the street. It was too early for them, that was for sure. Okay. Anybody ever wondered why the May 15th exists? Yeah, that's why. I saw it myself. Energy coordinator, utilities operator is not here while swimming that water. I did speak with him and the walk around went well. Good. Things went really well, it was great. They had the buggy to bop around the village and saved a lot of time, a lot of walking around. So everything looked good. He did have a conversation about thinking about getting some new valves, but after looking at things over and talking with some other folks that have the same type of equipment that we have, that our valves are in as good a shape as anybody else's and that they've got a lot longer life left in them than what he thought originally. So he was happy with that and he wasn't looking it forward to anything else, so. Perfect. He felt good about it. I think we have Jeff on the line. Yeah, I'm on the line. Basically giving you the report, I have it off for a little over a week here, so just getting caught back up. So, everything's good then. We're good. Grant updates? I don't have anything to speak. Good. We did get that one for the Rogers Brook 56. Culvert number 37. Yep. Yep, 56,000, we were granted that. And we are waiting to see if we get a class two grant to couple that with for the Bethelmound Road. And if we do get the two combined, we'll be doing that work this summer. Where's Culvert number 37? Rogers Brook on Bethelmound, Camp Brook Road. And we'll be looking at daytime shutdown for that for probably a week. We don't know when we'll do it or if we will do it this year or next year, but if it's gonna happen and because traffic control is just so expensive, it just costs so much. Right, and it does delay the project quite a bit. So we'd close, shut it down for six, seven hours a day and then open it for the evenings and commuting times. But that'll come later, we're not sure if that's gonna happen this year or not. Okay, under all business, we do have the emergency plan from Larry Pleasant. We're going to forward that until we have a full board and we'll take a look at it and sign it. There's also a couple of things that Larry Pleasant has to also do to present it to us. He needs a certification. So we're moving that a little further down the road. Excuse me, Pat. LEMP, the acronym there, what does that stand for? For some reason I can't remember. Local Emergency Management Plan. Okay, thank you. And am I correct that the following item, road name change was the thing you already discussed? Yes. Okay, thank you. And that Local Emergency Management Plan needs to be updated every year, I believe. Yeah, every year. And now we're ready for some public comment, new business, concerns, discussions. Well, I did do one thing. I called for the fertilizer on the park and that should be getting here. They said they'd do it this week so hopefully they'll show up. If you see some action, just let me know so I can let John know that put the picnic tables out on the benches. I told him not to do it until after it was fertilized. So we'll get that out after. And I also wanted to make a note. We have a vote coming up on May 2nd. So everybody, plan on coming out on May 2nd and voting for the school budget. We have a vote for whether or not the town would like to have cannabis retail in town. So there's lots of neat things to vote for. So come on out here. We'll see you on May 2nd. Anybody else? I've got four things. Step right up, here we go. I don't know if this is the appropriate place to bring everything. Okay, so if I could just run through my quick list and then we can go back. I have, the four things are number one, the use of cones by private individuals in front of their homes, orange cones. Is that something, I find it confusing when neighbors put orange cones in the middle of the road, if it's not town related, if the town didn't put those cones out, if they're just trying to slow traffic. The second one are neon signs. I don't know what our local rules are about neon signs, but I feel like there's more recently at our skip mark. I just don't know what the rules are, and especially with signage in Vermont and how we like to try to keep it to a minimum. I question that. This is sort of a bigger thought. I'm wondering about the health of our forests and trees in general. On top of Hawk Mountain where I live, even in my own yard, I find that the tree health seems poor. And I'm not sure if that's monitored by our town and in the event that there was a fire, how quickly that would spread on top of the mountain if the tree health isn't good. So that's just a concern I have. And then the last one I have is about Airbnb's and what rules exist for them right now. I have someone looking at property directly across the street from me. As potentially a second home. He already has another home here too, Yurt up in the mountain somewhere. And during COVID it was extremely stressful. The number of places that were being run as Airbnb's and the people that came in and abused them, the noise level, just the number of vehicles. Does our town have any policies regarding Airbnb's? I spoke to a gentleman who has property in Hancock and is being forced to have sprinklers put into his place. Do we require that of our Airbnb's that they have sprinklers installed? And then also use of fireplaces and outdoor fires. So those are my things. Do you live in Hawk? I do. Okay, well Hawk has some pretty specific bylaws. So to address some of them, if private homeowners are putting cones into the town roads or the town rideways, it should be noted to the town and the town crew will definitely be addressing it. So if you did see that happening, you could call Frank, you could call the office. You don't. He's the road commissioner. Yeah, it's a, unless the town does it, it's not appropriate to do. I'm not sure if there's any rules against it, but I would have to look at that. But it's not opposed. People aren't, you're supposed to do that, but occasionally somebody might just slow people down if they're having a group of people around or something like that. But other than that, it's not supposed to be out there. As far as the forest goes, that's really not anything we monitor. There's a lot of national forest around here and the Forest Service keeps a pretty good eye. We do have a forest warden. As far as fires go, that you have to get a burning permit at certain times a year depending on the weather. Air BNB, we don't have any rules per se as a town at this point. We've talked about it, but we haven't addressed it. Neon signs, there is a sign ordinance that's monitored by the zoning board. So that would be the planning commission would have jurisdiction over signs. There's also state rules on signage as well. But the town does have its own sign ordinance in neons. There is an issue with them, I believe, in town notice. I mean, there's window neons are one thing, but large neons I think are outlawed in town. I believe, I don't know for a fact, but you'd have to check with the sign ordinance that you can get a copy of that in the town office. It's in the town plan, in the zoning regs. So regarding the Air BNBs, is that something we're going to look at as a town? Can we help? We've talked about it, we're kind of on the fence about it because it's a hard thing to try to come up with rules about because it's a gray area for everyone. I mean, there's, to me, it's issues of, you make people that have hotels and everything go through all these fire codes and the fire marshals and they have to do inspections and all that, but these Air BNB people, they don't have to do that. There's a whole, so it's a gray area for towns that I think every town is wrestling with the same thing at this time. We're kind of hoping the state kind of steps in and does some monitoring on that. So we've discussed it some, but we haven't really figured out any path forward with that. So I don't know what to tell you on that. In a lot of the places around here, that's what's happened is people have bought them and used them for Air BNBs. And Great Hawk has had discussions on this issue as well. It's kind of a, it's a state problem, but yet every town is dealing with it and with the same question marks. I mean, some towns have tried to deal with it, I think, but there's a, it's a really a kind of a gray area of trying to make rules on what people can do with their house if they have a house, if they want to have somebody stay in it and run it out that way. Martha has her hand up. Yeah. Martha. Oh, I'm sorry, I can't tell who it was who was the lady who asked all those questions just now. I didn't recognize the voice and I can't see her on Zoom. So who is that? She's very shy. Is me what? Stay your name. I'm Anjanette Lemak. What? Anjanette Lemak? Jeanette. And what's the last name? Anjanette. Say Anjanette. Lemak. Carl, Carl, Kristen, tomorrow and she'll scream out, Martha. Yeah, I can help you tomorrow, Martha. I'll talk, oh yeah, thank you. Thank you, sorry to bother you. Those are great, great questions. Yeah. Also the state of Vermont is looking into the Airbnb issue. It's being debated in the legislature. If someone's gonna do build something by land intentionally across the street for me to build something like that, I don't wanna stay. I wanna start looking for somewhere else. Well, Hock has a bunch of covenants there, too, that you have to have an approved building. But still, right? It's still, it's still. But yeah, I understand what you're saying. We could all find ourselves in the same situation next door. I have two Airbnbs in my neighborhood, so. And you're getting a new one too, right? Yeah, my dogs are, you know, they have to discover new friends. And then the next weekend, there's more new friends. City of Burlington just passed an ordinance on it. There, the state of Vermont is starting, their first step is to do a registry. And that way, if you were doing a long or short-term rental, you will need to register it with the state of Vermont. That way, they can take a look at what they have out there and start taking steps towards what they wanna do is free up housing so that there are apartments and houses for rent for people that wanna live in Vermont all the time. So there's different entities looking at all of this to see, you know, is this hurting or helping what is this doing for our state? I think we've got it. Let's wrap it up.