 I just started recording on my end, so I guess we'll start the meeting at 6.05 and I'll try and keep an eye out for more people that want to join and Welcome all in your cyber worlds As chair of the Rochester Select Board I find that due to the state of emergency declared by Governor Scott as we go result of the COVID-19 Pandemic and pursuant to add in them six to executive order 01-20 and act 92 this public body is authorized to meet electronically In accordance to act 92 There's no physical location to observe and listen Contemporaneously to this meeting however in accordance with the temporary amendments to the open meeting law I confirm that we are providing public access to the meeting by telephone video or electronic means and We're using zoom for this remote meeting all members of the board have the ability to communicate Contemporaneously during this meeting through this platform and the public has access to Contemporaneously listen and if desired participate in this meeting by By contacting the town clerk and requesting invitation to the meeting or Signing in on the posted meeting agendas which are posted in Three public places and on the website correctly. I Think so yes Okay We previously gave notice to the public of the necessary information by for accessing this meeting including how to access the meeting using telephone video or other electronic means in our posted agenda and it's also been posted on the website and We have provided a mechanism for the public to alert the public body during the meeting if there are problems with access so Let me get Robert Gardner here real quick admit him So if for some reason during this meeting you experience problems with your access You can call me at 802 767 4 4 6 4 as an emergency Way into the meeting if you have something you really need to say and it's not working through the system as well back up Continuing the meeting if necessary in the event the public is an unable to access this meeting It will be continued at a time and place to be determined By hopefully we will not need to do that Please note that all votes taken during this meeting that are not unanimous will be done by roll call vote in accordance with the law and Let's start the meeting by taking a roll call attendance of the select board members in attendance Hendricks is present This present at Harvey next every present Frank's every's present. All right, so So on we go first off. Does anyone have any? Additions to the agenda that they would like to make at this time. I I do I have one I would just like to bring up the topic of a Possible Town garden allotment system. So I'll put that on there Sounds good Oh, I've got a bunch of stuff to ask But I don't know if you want to go through that now if you want to get on with a meeting and see I want to put them on the agenda that way we okay, I Just want to reiterate that the town plan is worn for next meeting on the 27th and We there was a thing that came out from the Vermont League of Cities in towns today that we've got that large Education payment that we're gonna have to make here in another month or two That's they they're gonna hopefully do something. We need to bone up our legislators about that a little bit and I saw Sandy Haas the other day and she said that she was gonna attend tonight's meeting but She hasn't I guess get on so a lot of people might be used to the 615 Meeting time. I'm not sure how we got on to the 6 o'clock. I guess the cyber world's a little more punctual than the world but so we got the the Town plan warning for next meeting and the education payment possible relief By the state. Yeah, that's and that's a big payment. So I'm not sure we're gonna have money enough to cover that through You know just a regular tax tax burden So we're probably gonna have to look at some other avenue for paying that but we're gonna need to do it You know, we're gonna have to Find out about it quicker than not. Yeah, yeah Another thing I was wondering in Because the crisis the COVID-19 crisis should we be meeting more? Maybe you know a little more frequently than we are. I mean, this was a long period Stretch. Yeah between that last one. Yeah I don't know if you if anybody's got any input on that I Wanted to ask Vic a few questions if I can but I'd wait until after we get through the agenda stuff. Okay I also would be looking forward to working with maybe some voters in Town coming up with some idea of how we're gonna run our election in the fall if we are still In a lockdown situation and come up with some ideas that we might be able to use Going forward maybe several different things whether it be a drive-through voting type thing and and or maybe Voting in the gym and have people spread out and rip the Voter rolls and like thirds or whatever so people aren't all gathering in one spot Go through the voting Just different ideas that it'd be good to get a group of people together thinking about it Yeah, yeah, just because you don't know how I don't know how this thing is going to play out I think nobody does really it could go for You know another six months. It could go another year. I mean if there's no testing being done That's gonna really cause some issues. I think and can come on anytime. So I think we ought to look at that And another thing I thought about was the taxes as far as our Budgeted plans and delinquencies and that I think we need to have a good idea how we're gonna handle that As far as you know, I know Becky has a lot of the Responsibility there, but maybe we come up with something where she can work up some good budget plans for people where we still have money coming in I got a real sneaky suspicion that probably our delinquencies are going to be up in the next few months And and we're gonna have to come up with some idea so that we keep money coming in. I think it really is Imperative to our financial And a couple other things we need to think about is what all the people that run our budgets if they're Really Putting their needs before their wants and we really got to make sure everybody's being tight here Because I think it's gonna be a tough it could be some tough sledding going on down the road here and And I think we ought to look at the road Work and make sure we're doing the right things there. I know we've got some grants out there and If we can get them or if they're even gonna have them now due to the way finances are gonna be even the state's gonna be in trouble with that, I think And that's I guess that's about all I have good I'm about out of paper No, that's all right It's all important stuff. Yeah I feel like kind of like I jumped out of an airplane without a parachute here Two times so I really don't know what I'm doing. But yeah, but now that's um That's why you got voted in We've had another couple people join and are there any other additions to the agenda at this time Is this do I say something at this point doing what I'd like to say? Carol, no, you're already on the agenda. Okay. I'm already on there. All right on the agenda. Yeah, okay. Thank you I have a quick question. Yeah Regarding the Porta potty that's right next to the new fire station. Is that open for the public to use or not? it's This usually closed in the winter and opened in the spring so it's probably About open to be used, you know, once it would be okay with the COVID virus to use that or Well, good question. Who's gonna be sanitizing it, right? Right? So that's something a question to put on that I would think we'd want to close anything like that I don't I don't how do we have? Yeah, we don't have people around to handle that. I mean now Basically, yeah. All right, so we'll put that on the agenda too and and talk about that right now We're still just gathering. That's a good one Berman. Thank you. I would think what does the fire department have? control of that or something I don't know Therefore that little park. Yeah, that was part of the requirements of the Conditions of the park of the grant for the park that we'd have So I would think we'd be able to put a sign on that pretty easily. Yeah. Yeah, and close that off These are things on Saying something there Patty. I lost you is that it? Is that for the amendment To the agenda Amanda. Yeah, you're gonna Amanda the The Bronfisher coos would like to talk about water and chlorination Well, what you said water and it started raining again, look at that We did get something doing I got a press release on my Harold email from the state about from the state water All right, great. So we'll get on to that and then we can you can share that with us when we get to it I don't have it in front of me. I'm sorry All right, but I was gonna say they should have sent it to the town too. I would think All right, so any other additions See none and there's nobody here waiting to get in I don't think so let's move on to the prior meeting minutes of the March 23 meeting and I Would move that we accept those a groundbreaking First virtual meeting minutes as recorded Yeah, no in favor. All right. All right. All right. So that's a unanimous on that and have we had the The annual town meeting minutes approved by the moderator yet. Yeah, they're fine Okay, they're signed. So I'd move to accept those as approved by Dan McKinley the town moderator for that meeting and I do say that. All right. All in favor All right. All right, and then again unanimous great We have So this may shed some light on some of the other questions we had so why don't we jump right to? Joan if your updates that you have for us Yeah, can can you can you hear me? Okay? Yeah. Yeah So a bunch of things some of these are just updates on things that we've discussed before but sort of by way of reminder of nothing else The Mount Cushman Culver replacement project. We have the construction funding in hand most of it a state branch Structures grant and the White River partnership is committed to funding the 10% match so Assuming that the bids don't come in higher than the funds that we have on hand We shouldn't the town shouldn't have to put up any cash for this one As for the bidding I've been working with cricket and the partnership to prepare the bid package and it's going to go out With a cover letter that explains the uncertainty of the timing of the work And that's going to apply to you know, any of this state funding Frank you were sort of referring to that and that's certainly the case for Any state funding that we either have in hand or expect to have With some applications so I'll be submitting pretty soon We really don't know if there's going to be a construction season at all this year At least where it comes to state money and maybe federal money as well. I don't know what FEMA's policy is either So that's still a big uncertainty And the path I think we're on now with the construction that we're hoping to do this this coming season would be Go out to bid unless we hear something to the contrary about that and Contractors would bid based on the Uh Based on not really knowing when exactly construction would take place whether it would be this year or next year And that could certainly change But we just don't know at this point So we thought the best thing was to proceed with the information we have and that if it changes It changes and it's going to affect everybody. Yeah, so I hope that sounds okay to you Okay, I think that's Way to go. Okay. Good. Um, so that also applies to The applications i'm submitting. Um, originally the structures and the class two roadway grants that the trans does The deadline was going to be april 15th, but they pushed it back to May 15th So that gives me a little more time to do stuff at the same time It also adds a little more uncertainty about when we'll know whether we have that funding or not Obviously if we don't get the funding this year, we won't be doing that work So the home you said class four roads, I apologize. No class two. Thank you. Yeah so, um One of the applications i'll be submitting. Uh, if you remember cricket did the, uh engineering design for Neeson brook, which is the culvert below terry's on feffel mountain road That needs to be a replacement because the work we've done up till now has just been temporary so, um, the plan has been to submit first structures grant for that replacement And combine that with the rogers brook Cross drains or it's actually a culvert that better roads That was an application I put into better roads. Hmm. I'm forgetting now when that was february january. I can't remember now um Those two would be done as basically two parts of a single project with one contractor bidding on both um And that's the other thing that we hope will go ahead but We'll have to see whether you know when and if those grants are actually made and when we can do construction Um, and then I'm also planning to submit a structures grant just for engineering work on helbrough, which is up on townline road um cricket and and uh cooter went to go look at that Maybe three weeks ago or so and That's also been a temporary fix and it's in pretty bad shape And I don't know if you know that culvert. I haven't seen it until last week It's in this big dip in the road And uh any big brainstorm Hopefully not like the one we've just had today. Uh could really uh do a lot of damage on that site That was a temporary fix a few years ago also And needs attention. So that would just be engineering and hopefully if we get that grant I mean if nothing else certainly cricket, that's something that cricken can do Um, because obviously it's not construction at this point. Um Uh everything is just topsy-turvy right now when it comes to all this stuff. So, you know, we'll just have to see what happens um Same message basically for the fema projects. I've been working with cooter to put together Very simple bid packages For the work that still has to be done on some of those incomplete roads um And I have to find out from fema what their policy is or or will be With respect to doing construction in the short term But meanwhile we'll just have that stuff ready to go and if we're lucky Maybe we'll be able to do some of them Uh late summer or fall and just get that work done Um, I also have to check on how long we have to complete these projects Uh under the current fema grant. There there is a deadline. I can't remember what it is And I don't have my files with me on that at the moment But I will also look into an extension if we need one and I'm assuming they would grant that because everybody's Going to be on the same boat Yeah And uh big Is that for culvert replacement? I'm sorry, which is that for culvert replacement? Which which one are you? The last one you were talking about with cooter and is that uh, yeah, that's how brook up on town line road That's a culvert. Yes. Yep And and the culverts on jerusalem and that that's all part of a grant too. Is that correct? That's that's under fema. Those are cross drains there I think they're like one culvert, but that's all fema there Okay. Yeah, and uh, we're we're still waiting to hear back from fema on Whether they're funding that or not there's there seem to be a possibility that they first they said no, we're not going to fund that and then Uh, when cooter went out in the field with them a number of months ago now It seemed more likely that they would so hopefully they will because there's like 21 of them or something that needs to be replaced Um, and so also the I'm sure you have a question about the status of reimbursement for federal highway on bethle mountain road and the the fema work that's been completed and it's still in the works I've been in touch with both the fema representative and thought we work with and with uh v trans about the reimbursements and Anytime they come up with another question You know, where's the proof that you spent this amount of money on that project? I've been providing it to them. I think they have everything that they want from us at this point Though you never know when it's over till it's over, but both of them are proceeding along. I know that And dune I or did I send that to all of you? I'm sorry. I don't remember There was an email from dead pierce woman. I'm working with a v trans who said she's working really hard to have the reimbursement for bethle mountain road to us by june So I am due to check in with her again this week and see how she's doing Well, that would be good if you could keep on top of that one. Yeah, yeah I think I sent you my email about that where I sort of made a plea And she got the message so she should be working on it Um, and then I want to make sure you remember that we have a special meeting on Wednesday, I think it's wednesday april 22nd To open the bid submitted for the west hill bridge replacement project The bids are all going to be coming in electronically And we'll set up a zoom meeting. I don't know who's you know, who's going to want to attend But I guess that's what we need to do make it a full and open Open public meeting It's for what I'm sorry. Excuse me. Joan. I didn't hear west hill bridge replacement. Thank you Uh, this is being fully funded both the engineering and then the construction itself which will be next year This is fully funded by us far of service So So the rfp has advised the bidders that we're not going to be making any decisions at the meeting because it has to go through a technical review Um, uh, and we need to make sure that obviously at the review who follows the federal guidelines. Um, so that anyway At least two of you need to be there and if all three of you can That would be great and I'll be asking uh, julie to set up a zoom for us You want to set a time? Oh, oh, I'm sorry. Um Let me look quickly at my calendar. I think it's I think it's four o'clock Or I think so. Let me just check. I've got my calendar right here Yeah Sorry That will be set up electronically through zoom. Yeah, julie will set it up through zoom Uh, and the last malice I said, I don't know if yet if you had a chance to look at your email Oh, I wanted to I did want to say that we have we had 13 Uh engineering firms who showed in who asked for the rfp Of course, not necessarily all 13 are going to bid but I think that's a pretty good sign that You're probably hungry and looking for some work like this. Is that for the west tail bridge? Yeah, that's for the west tail bridge. Yeah um Okay, so that's it for construction and then I just wanted to point out by Fairly late the afternoon. It was like 4 30 or so. I sent all of you um An email that came from uh vlct And apparently there's uh some movement afoot to in montpelier to request that the state take out a loan to uh fund the education fund And the school district taxes that ordinarily, you know towns are going to be paying they're going to come do in but may june And the idea is to ask the town to take out. I'm sorry the state to take out a loan Instead and make either some or all the payments that are due on behalf of the towns Because towns, you know, like rochester are all having expecting difficulties with revenues from uh property tax payments So it seems like it's just in the very beginning stages Is it was a rather eloquent request that came in from the town of colchester, which I guess vlct is working on now So you'll have that on in your emails if you haven't seen it yet. Yeah. Yeah. I second the motion. That's a good idea Yeah, and actually I uh vlct was asking if you want to contact Our state reps and and senators and asked them please to support it So that's all I have Certainly is something we ought to do Yeah, that's a that's a big that's a biggie there. Yeah, I mean if nothing else I think a lot of towns are all going to be in the same boat. So they got to do something Yeah, so that's that kind of speaks to the the addition that you wanted to add to the agenda frank about the education payment come and do And it sounds like that's um You know, we should definitely make some noise around that. Yeah Yeah, and I was kind of hoping sandy was going to be here Tonight so we could put the bug in her ear at sooner Then later. Yeah Well, I'll give her a call after after the meeting to um put the bug in the rear. Yeah Yeah, good idea. Yeah All right, so um Thank you, Joan. Is there anything else or is that that covered pretty much? Yeah, that's it for now. No, that's a lot. Thank you Thank you for um Well, I'm glad you didn't have to drive all the way over the mountain in a rainstorm to join us I'm just doing that actually Yep, so the only um Is not anyone here to speak on behalf of the library but things are pretty quiet around there as they are um around the rest of town The um No one tutors not here from the highway department We've been blessed by a relatively easy mud season so far. I mean there's of course a few potholes um popping up here and there but they're um, you know You know checking the culverts and and we're gonna get working on grading the roads. So we're um I guess we're um No big fires there in the road department And terry is not here to speak about the utilities, but um while we're on the utility aspect of the agenda Nick do you want to speak about your concern about the um the town water? You're muted right now, but there you go So if uh, I just have a question this is Amy If we as townspeople decided to write a petition and send it to the state could we get that chlorinated water to stop or is that not possible? um I don't know if it's possible or not. It is uh, I don't know if you read or not sandy haas said a pretty eloquent letter written to the anr Presenting our case and our request not to do that and that was um Pretty clearly denied. I did hear and someone um speaking With the governor and it came to light that he was not aware that this chlorination mandate had been imposed upon the small town. So um I think that perhaps um You know knocking on that door is is um Would be worthwhile, but but yeah our initial um request to um to Ask for a waiver or a variance around this were not um There was no vehicle for a waiver and it's um and it should be clear that there is no Problem with the water. There is no contamination and there's no evidence that the virus had spread Through that mechanism. Anyway, so it's really they the way they put it it was In an abundance of caution. They wanted to minimize the chance of anyone They figured they chlorinate everybody and and kill off any germs that are in us So it was less likely that we'd go to the hospital. Unfortunately, I don't know if it's um if it can to health or or um Or uh hinders health having that chlorination personally I'm not drinking it But oh, I am It's um I guess I did see sandy's letter and I did see that she made that effort and I Watched it on front porch for him being discussed. I just was curious if there's any way to I mean if a petition was signed to send to the state so Maybe I'll look into that and then see if it'll make any difference I mean sometimes when voters talk to the governor things can happen. So yeah, yeah Well, it was interesting to me that the governor was not aware of this. So I think that's where to start making some noise Definitely. I mean it seemed we were told that it was a governor man. So that's that's where it broke down Yeah, yeah Oh, yeah It's not You're trying to make coffee or tea. It's just It's awful Um, I'm from a spring right now, but that means we're getting on the road and we're driving to go to spring to get water So that's not really good either to be leaving the town to go get water No, that was one of the points that sandy made in her letter that it was contrary to the Stay-at-home request order made by the governor if his people are being forced to leave their homes to go get palatable water um the There is a spring now that's running up on um fisk road that is um Um Ben Falk connected that up and he had he installed it last summer actually. It's um, I guess pretty obvious on the Just after you turn off of oak lodge road down on fisk road down on the right You know a several hundred yards or so and um that's um They when they put it in last year they they tested it and then found it to be clean It hasn't he's got no guarantees of what it is, but it's um I would drink it. So anyway, you know, we don't have to drive all the way to stock bridge Nancy um in a in a press release brian redmond who is the drinking water and ground water protection person indicated by rule community water systems have to have the capability to disinfect and they were instructed to disinfect When the state of emergency is over. So is the instruction quote unquote Yeah, so I guess we'll see how long we're in a state of emergency Found it. Yeah Terry a couple days ago and he said all his reports have been Looked at by the state and we're in good Uh standing with him and he was hoping that he wouldn't have to keep doing this for very much longer That's what he was hoping Dune, can I ask a question quickly? Um, I want to make sure I have this correct. Um You looked into a requesting a waiver for this you you talked to someone from the yeah, sandy haas actually wrote a pretty eloquent letter to agency of natural resources then Julie more Julie more that was but um, and then that was um and and asking specifically if there was a waiver process and was informed that indeed there was not and this order was Made at the Just uh effort to be overly cautious in this Ptenuous situation we're all in Okay, um, thank you very much. Yeah. No, thank you. Might as well have it clear Well, I I get confused sometimes when people talk really fast and I can't write can't write as fast as he talks So Let's see the um Um, so while we're on this topic which leads into the whole covet situation Um Frank you wanted to ask vick some questions and vick is here with us tonight. You want to um, you want to continue with that Sure, uh, there's just a couple of questions. I was wondering how the the home shopping's going Is that being utilized much or? uh Yeah, frank. We've had uh 17 deliveries and in the first two weeks Uh, we've got a great team of volunteer drivers. Uh, sue. My wife has organized this and it's been aided by uh cash advances from the Rebuild Rochester foundation that then gets reimbursed by the people who receive the groceries So we're we have to work around what max is able to do in terms of of they can't take Telephone charges and so we we have a whole process in place to To deal with that it seems to be working out a little cumbersome, but it works out people are very grateful and It's going well at this point. So that's great. So good and it's it includes Rochester and Hancock Yeah, Dorothy Robson is coordinating the work in Hancock and I've talked to Bruce Hyde and the select board in grandville. They're They're thinking about doing something similar, but they would probably do it with dan sergeants store up there, which The dan will take telephone orders and pack things up for per side delivery. So So so far so good That's good. How about the food shelf? Is that being hit harder now or you know? It's interesting Catherine shankman and I were over there today. We met with Kevin and Ruth McLaughlin and And I'd never been to the food shelf before Actually be there. So we got a good sense of how it works and what their numbers are I'd called the food bank up in berry a couple days ago They they deliver food to all food shelves in the state And they said they are gearing up for a major increase in demand over the next several months because of the You know the economic conditions and the loss of employment and so forth and Indeed the numbers they gave me for the Rochester food shelf said that the numbers here had doubled between january and march veggie van go which is a food delivery free food service that giford offers I was told by bethany silo a that their numbers had had doubled from about 250 families in March to over 500 in April they've already done their april distribution And so the indicators are that the demand is going to increase significantly. So we did have some conversation with Kevin and Ruth about dealing with that and and So you may see some solicitation for more donations of money to the food shelf, which would be a great thing if You know the need goes up and so so this is um, you know one of the things that we're looking at As maybe so the next wave of activity is going to be around food security Not just here, but really everywhere. There's been articles in the paper about all over the country food demand is is up pretty significantly from food shelf operations I I would I want to thank you guys for doing such a good job with the newsletter It's really a lot of good information there that comes out I think it's a good you guys have done a great job there. Thank you Yeah, rob rob gardener and uh, lizzie shack. Are you having another newsletter soon? Yeah, there's one coming out this week Um, could you just put a little bone in there about the census? About the census. Oh, um, I'm not if rob is on the line I'm not sure if we've put the put the issue to bed or not But if we can put something out on social media Even if it's not it doesn't necessarily have to be this next one But maybe down the road just to bone people up to do the census I mean, we mentioned it at now meeting but not everybody attends and your mailer gets to about everybody in town and I think it's an important thing we need to do and Whether people take care of it or not I don't know but if we put the plug out there it might be that's a good way to do it Well, we've done the mailer every week for the past. I think this would be the fifth week And we we think that it's probably not needed on a weekly basis at this point But uh, you know as issues come up and as I say there are other Ways to get the word out to the public And we'll do that Excuse me. Could I mention since you're talking about food and everything? I talked to erica herrington down at the school Today and that meal delivery thing that they've been doing there for the kids She said they've been doing an averaging a hundred Children every week that they've been giving meals to You know, they're that the monday wednesday friday meal deliveries Yeah So that's for breakfast and lunch breakfast and lunch and Each day they get the meals for two days of those two And you can pick them up at the school and also one of the school buses is going out and has a route To drop them off for people who can't do that. So I just thought that that has to do with food security and everything Yeah, you know the whole issue Really needs to be looked at comprehensively for For the area and I've been talking about that with uh, monaco columns and bruise hide There are a variety of different sources of Free and low-cost food for an increasing number of people who are going to need it And uh, you know, how good a job we're doing overall versus what we could be doing and You know, what are the resources available? All that needs to be looked at and we're going to start working on that Martha, uh, was that two schools the hundred kids? Is that both schools or just our school? I believe it was for both because I got um, um, I got an email from Erica herrington with some school news He had said rochester and stockbridge school news and she mentioned the the figure of a hundred kids So I believe it was for the combined two schools. Yes That is correct. It was for both schools. I did put a um bolted up on the town website Good So the let me see leave that for now I guess frank the um Joan kind of answered are your questions about the road work and whether grants are going to be Coming in I guess that's going to be a moving target and we'll see Today when I was in the town office there looking over some bills and uh asked him about gravel how much need and You know, we just paid a bunch This month for what he hauled and there's a pretty good stock pile up here But he figured he'd probably have if he didn't Go overboard with with resurfacing this year and and really chose Well, he he looked at maybe he'd have Maybe half enough up here now to do what he has normally would do So we'd be looking at some more money there for gravel at some point So just to put the bug out there for you. Yeah Yeah That is traditionally um in the past has been Something that got us in trouble as a gravel budget was the easiest one to start picking away at and and cut in When things got tight, but this might be a year where we have to resort to that Yeah, yeah That's what I was thinking too So that that ties into your request to talk about the you know, the budget committee and how the The needs versus wants and how you know, we're going to at some point sit down and kind of look at what we pass for budget and and See what the projections are going to show us and see where we can start pinching some pennies Um, that's going to be an ongoing project See got In terms of um Voting and how we're going to work that in the fall election. It's good to bring that up and put it on the radar I don't know if we need to discuss exactly How we're going to approach that at this meeting, but it's definitely something to Um To look at and see how the mail-in voting is going to evolve around the country in terms of its usability and legitimacy so that's um I guess that's to be continued Yeah, I believe that uh, most of that will be controlled by the state. Anyways, I agree. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, I think it will but I think uh on a On a with our geography, we're going to have to figure out some avenue of how to Proceed with whatever the state recommends we do Yeah, you know, I mean as far as how we handle it If if they allow mail-in voting, it's one thing But if they don't then we're going to have to figure out some way to do Person voting where we still keep the distance Yeah, if this thing is still here and I got a feeling it will be You know this things couldn't draw out for quite a while Could be a drive-by voting thing you drive up to one booth and check in and And pull ahead and mark your choice and then drive up to the next one and let it out Sanitize it. Yeah. Yeah, what a mess Yep um So in that um, I'm gonna save this for now. We've got um You know, show these we've got a couple things that um, we have the uh In terms of the new business, we've got an approval of the able waste management agreement for 2020-2021 You know that's um at the town meeting people pretty much um Well that pretty much a voted to approve the recycling this isn't the recycling budget though This is the waste management No, it's recycling. This is the recycling. So there you go. That's um It's um, you know, the town did vote to approve that but is um, is that something we want to Drag our feet on and something that we would we need to really cut expenses. There's um, there's a big chunk right there But then again, we have the same agreement or the argument that We're saving a lot of people from driving out of town to get rid of their trash And it's it's a good service to have so excuse me Do you and I was going to say not only is it recycling and trash, but he also offers a compost service composting, right? I take advantage of and I'm sure what other people do yeah so um It's um What do you think the other select people on this should we go ahead and execute this this agreement? I think we should go ahead with it. Um, it was strongly supported at town meetings. So, um Providing the service in town is probably the better way to go even now Yep Yeah, I I'd have to go on with that. I think it's it's something we really have to We we should offer Yep I'd I'd move to uh To approve and execute that that agreement and then we can sign it individually At a distance Yep, and I Second that in all in favor. All right. All right, that's unanimous I believe that I saw that the uh food composting is being pushed back until january 1st it is it's um I know they're talking did they finally make that decision? I know they were entertaining pushing that back. What do you mean? Legislature the legislature Require relaxing the requirements on the food composting and perhaps even recycling um in the current situation just to um Make things a little easier on everybody. Okay, but we still be allowed to do it, of course Yes, no, I don't know what they um, yeah, probably and For a while maybe a year. I think I've been bringing the compost. Yeah, they may not be required to Deliver it to a composting facility. They may be allowed to just dump it along with the trash in that situation, but Yes, I hope not. Yeah We also have the um for the approval of the white river alliances Wants to host a household hazardous waste day on august 15th saturday august 15th and um, I would I would move to approve that in the um one in the optimism that things will maybe Um be relaxed a little bit more by then, but it's also a situation where I've observed it It's not a a crowded situation. I think that people could come and deposit their their waste in a in a safe way So I'd I'd move to approve that request. Oh, what do you guys say about that? I can second that Yeah, yeah all in favor All right. All right. All right look at that Um Then we come down into the new business carol. Um, you're up. You had uh requested to um, you had an idea of Suggesting a walking maze Yes I don't know what happened in the uh I'm seeing someone's face here and before I was seeing the meeting I was seeing different people. But anyway, can you hear me? I can hear you. Yeah. Oh, okay So I had a thought that came to me and I agree along with Um frank here and some of you that this is going to go on longer than um than we think and um I had an idea of something maybe the town could do and Is a walking labyrinth maze which Is a walking meditative exercise that Is good for adults and children And it could be done in a very large circle and you would mow a design in the grass in this round circle Where you could go in one end and come out the other And it's very large because you have the the width of a lawn mower And then you have the grass in between the designs and then it just goes into a labyrinth design and um, and then you have enough at the other end you would come out the other end and um It would have to be done in the early spring because that's when the grass is coming up And it's just good for the soul the body and the mind And I think it would be something since we're I don't think we're going to be doing a lot of gatherings And I think it would be something that would be Um, like I say meditative I actually had a vision of maybe the flags that are at the farmer's market or the flags at the harvest fair being um Two to walk into and then two at the far end where you could come out of so there's a beginning and an end and just uh The walking meditative exercise While this is going on and then when this all ends we can Mow it unless people really enjoy it and then maybe we could keep it So it'd be clear you're talking about doing this on the park the downtown park Actually, I took a look at um, the park And I don't think there is a place big enough And I also looked at the park down by the firehouse and I don't think that's big enough So I think the only place really to do it is probably Um, and I couldn't do this by myself a design has to come up I did mention it to robert finkel and he liked the idea I thought it was a nice idea a good idea and um Like I like I said, I couldn't do this myself The design has to come up and then the person that mows the lawn Would have to it would have to be okay that it was it was done. It would just be something that could be enjoyed by the town's people and So where did you have in mind carol if not the park or the other either park? So I'm thinking the only place that's probably big enough is down by the school You mean like one of the ball fields Um an area that's flat and yeah one of the ball fields I said, you know, eventually it gets mowed if when and if this all ends But something to do for the summer or you could get out walk and meditate at the same time and just Came to me and I just thought I needed to express my opinion to the town Do you have an idea about the diameter of how big of a space you actually need? I don't I just know that it should be round if you go online and you look up um Labyrinth mazes you can see there's many many different designs It would be simple because we certainly don't want whoever mows it to Get nutty. We just wanted to So I have a question um, they there was a Sign put up saying that all the fields down at the school and the skate space and everything playground or the federal were close to the public now Because of the I don't Yeah, I don't think they want groups of people, but this is something you do by yourself And where you come into it versus where you go out of it Is quite a far distance Depending on how big it is So you're thinking about this being uh, uh one person at a time. Yes. It's one person at a time um with or without dogs did this There's there's still some more questions about that and yes the recreation areas at the school um You'd have to get the person of the school Not necessarily the town for that I don't know who mows the um The school grass The town mows the ball fields. Um that are down by the tennis courts, right? Well, isn't that because we owe them? Yeah, the town owns the fields by the tennis courts where the two Baseball diamonds are in the back stops and then the um The big hay field in between that and the school is owned by bill thrill kill and the town the only um big town School-owned fields that have got the smaller ball field and then the soccer field behind the school Should be the two two places there I think had he had the right idea there dune I think we should check the deed on that to make sure that if it's not used for Um athletics or whatever it might revert back to farmland Because I know when we did the power line going back down to the school years ago The only way we could get right away through that Long stretch there from mr. Kirby was to put it underground And we when went failed that one year we tried to bring it back up overhead just to save on But we never could do the field behind the school there Yeah, we're missing. You know remember mr. Kirby there live. Yeah, we're uh, what I forget what the heck Well, her name is now there now Jeff and Nancy madder live there now. I think or no your lives there Yeah, uh, yeah, mcfetress But you know, he may have had some kind of You know thing in there because I'm sure that came with that was a piece that the town may be purchased with a idea in mind to Use it for athletics, but then when it got You know if they ever changed the use on it It might have to revert back to farmland that I'm just saying that could be an issue there We we need to make sure that that wouldn't be an issue for any changes we make down there. I would say We just have to research it Yeah, well, it's um Carol it's a interesting idea and it's um, I guess we should you know, it's put out here now to How many we got 15 people in this meeting and I think that it's um We'll um think about it, you know, if we can't drum up some interest Okay. Yep It's just an idea of something that we can do while this is going on right and that's something that on the the the COVID task force was also one of our thoughts was How do we um instill some optimistic things into the town instead of just managing bad news And so that this is this would be a step in the in that direction this also kind of segues into the issue that they're the idea that I had put on the agenda about developing a garden allotments I love that idea I love that idea and that is sudden I was thinking of the the town property which is the ball fields behind the tennis courts which is It is in the flood plain, but it's also right next to the river which makes it easy to get to get water Um, it's where the town is paying now currently to mow it and it's being used predominantly by dog walkers Which is um, which is nice, but um, I think that um, we've done a little bit of research on um, the allotments and and it would be something where You know, it is a small contract drawn up and in a small fee for um And then there's issues of you know, does it need to be fenced in so It keeps people's dogs and in deer and what have you from tromping through it you know if I'm thinking like a 12 by 24 plot for 50 bucks a season to run it and you know if the town Or we got a volunteer farmer with a tractor mounted rototiller to do an initial you know, um cultivating and and Get some manure in there. It's just it's thought and then if we're also looking at some food insecurity going forward they um You know, you can eat canned beans till the cows come home, but where are you going to get fresh produce? That's that's the catch, you know, and um Anyway, that's um Dude, what do you envision the water source being for the gardens? Um, well initially I think that being adjacent to the river people could just get some buckets of water, but um I would being in the flood plain we'd have to verify that it's allowable, but we could build like the picnic structure down in the new park was allowed in the flood plain because it's The main bulk of the structure is raised up and the water can run through it and if we had a water tank up on stilts That um, we could fill with a pump once a week or something. We could you know pretty easily do a little little hose system in there um so But being right, you know initially right next to the river you could you know, just um awesome buckets over There used to be a water fountain right at the corner of the tennis court that Yeah had uh It went out with Irene Yeah, oh, okay. Yeah But in terms of you know, um, I wasn't thinking of hooking the water source into the town water so much because Who wants to water their garden with chlorine anyways? Hopefully it'll go be hopefully it'll be gone. Yeah I'll make a comment, Jim. Yep So in my experience in the city This kind of thing's really popular And we love it. However The issue of water when you consider depending how big the plot is becomes a real serious thing. So Uh, and I guess washington dc when char was involved in one of these things Uh, they had a spigot there But even with the spigot when you consider the amount of water people were hauling to their Plots and how heavy water is and everything else that became like one of the most Difficult problems in the in the whole thing. So I think that's a functional issue The other thing is they always look pretty ramshackle These these places in the city each person have their own thing. They have their own style Their own pilot junk They're all complete and they and they look pretty ram ramshackle. So how they how they look may not matter I don't know. You're talking about a big visible area out there And uh, I I don't know how you try to get people or if you should get people. Well, they um, they the um I was kind of cruising some Um some Guidelines for uh, existing Allotment systems and they get very specific about Um, you know What's allowed what's not allowed how much or where do you put your compost? You're not putting stuff on passers You know, it would have to be very specific about Um, you know, what what is what is allowed and what is not allowed? You know, don't want someone building a shed and moving in down there But uh, yeah I downloaded from our town in main their guidelines for community gardens Yeah, um, which is pretty specific and you can pick and choose from it and I'll leave it over with julie tomorrow Yeah, that would be interesting to see so you can look at it. We definitely would have to have some Some directions there and directives so it's not they even have applications Yeah, yeah I know in in england. There is even waiting List there's some of these some of these plots. I saw as far as a 17 year waiting list for people access to these plots I think it's a very interesting idea, but I think it's probably a fairly big project You know, yeah, it would be um, it would be It'd definitely be something to take on frank. You're a gardener. What are you thinking? Town and and I have to agree with robb on it, you know, hey Um, the one that comes to mind for me is the one there's one at the college down in south roe open on that going out towards hurricane flats past the high school and there's probably three gardeners there That garden and there's probably eight others that have weeds So it's a mish match of like robb was saying it can look kind of hideous If if they're not cared for that would be my biggest fear on putting a community garden And it's fine if if you've got people that really attend to them and having garden as much as I have in my life I know how easily they can be uh, they can get away from you Yeah, I I have big gardens too I mean after the fruit starts ripening I don't weed So they look like crap when you by the time to get around Uh, but I do get a lot of food often too. So yeah, it's really up to what people want I I I have there's pros and cons to it But if people really want it and they want to put the effort into growing stuff It's great. But if they don't then it's you know, it turns to it becomes a A public nuisance really So you can limit how many sites you have to Yes, it does make a difference Yeah, but it's really if if you had some rules about it I You know, I don't know if you make one rule you got to make two because you forgot something in the first rule Uh, you pretty I don't know There's a lot of The agency of natural resources would not want us putting any type of phosphorus fertilizer down by the river It's got to be all organic. Yeah Yeah Well They certainly put the Organic can be high phosphorus too Yes, it can no question about it But I don't know it's something to think about I don't I guess it'd be interesting to see how much interest there There was you know, if we um, if there are people that would You know come on, you know, I guess we put it out there and martha you can put it in the paper that I mentioned Yeah, how much worth as a thought and if um, if there is It'd be and we're curious to see what is the interest in such a project and if You know It's uh, this is strange time and it might be worth doing something a little little creative to to um Again, only you know bring some fresh food to some families But I was just thinking, um, you know the our farmers market has been very popular the last couple of years on the park And who knows if we're going to be able to have that this summer right now. There's a moratorium on on the farmers market, right? I mean, there's a number of things that we might not be able to have this summer But that was one I was thinking of Um, so yeah, I mean I I rely on the Stuff in the farmers market because I can't have a garden anymore I can't physically do a lot of the garden work, but um Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people might be interested people like me Maybe who live in the village and maybe they physically can do it, but they don't have the land for it or something or You know I think yeah, anyway, it's uh putting it out there start that discussion, you know Come to it Yeah, I don't know why you wouldn't want to just to see if there's interest It could be good Yeah, yeah All right. We ought to check to make sure we could do that with that Right, so if there's any legalities in the deed, I have no idea It it could be a little reminder of the bingo property there years ago with the school, you know once the school Got rid of it. It had to go to forest service land or whatever. I know there was a stipulation in that deed where he couldn't have a building on it or anything so All right Frank one other thing that you had brought up which we should mention again is the The hearing before the next select board meeting on the town plan And julia, I believe that the the draft for that is available on the town website. Is that correct? Yes, it should be it should be all right because that's what people would wonder about how they could go and see that I know we had had a physical copy at the town office for people to see but obviously that's not something we're encouraging right now Yeah Can I jump in for one minute dune? Sure. Um, how long does the meetings usually go on? Um, the select board meetings. Yes Boy, you never know. I've had them as quick as 15 minutes and as long as a couple hours a couple three four hours Okay Um, I I'm just I'm going to say bye now, but I want to commend everyone on That is here And all that you do for the town it's very impressive and um, I just want to commend everyone That worked so hard for our town. So I am gonna I am going to say bye And thank you for letting me put my idea forth No, absolutely great idea for coming out and um, hopefully I'll hear something and And talk about it more. Okay, and I love the gardening idea I think that's wonderful because I think so I think people will come out and want to do it People are thinking about home gardening more. That's for sure So thank you all and again, thank you for all that you do All right, you're welcome A quick question before you get started. Did you said that hearing on the town plan before the next select board meeting? Or did you mean like at the next floor before we'll have a special meeting for the the the hearing on the town plan before the The select board meeting Like board meetings at six the hearing would be like maybe We would probably have the the hearing at six and then the select board to follow Okay The hearing notice as a six o'clock six o'clock. Yeah. Thank you. I just want to make sure I had that correct in the paper And then also to make clear that you can access the draft on the town website if people have questions about this is a plan that was already had a public hearing with the planning board and where public had the first in the largest Well, not the largest but an opportunity to make comments and Some of those were incorporated into the plan. So this is this um This should not be considered like a. Oh my god. I I can't miss this right This is my chance and then we're going to turn around and start rewriting the plan in a couple years Again, it's a constantly moving thing, but this is um part of the process is the planning board Creates the plan and Presents it to the public and then incorporates the public Comments and then presents it to the select board which then Brings it up again for the public to see and then adopts it. So that's the process here Okay, that's a good idea frank to to mention that again All right, we've got um Because I think that I'm running out of Oh, frank had one more question. He mentioned should the board meet more often. Uh, yeah. Yeah Yeah, what do you what do you this it seems like a real long time This because occasionally we get these three weeks in between because of this last one, but um, I am I have um, I don't know what to your what's your thoughts frank. So what would you like to do? Well, I I don't I don't really have any thoughts about it. I just wondered if if the You know the situation we're in warrants more a little more contact but I don't know I I think uh it's it's kind of like I think maybe we will can revisit that if Things get worse down the road. I think and maybe and I did call Vermont league of cities and towns and if we do need a To go into executive session. We can do that In an open meeting We just have to sign off from this Right, probably talk on the phone or whatever in an executive session situation And then join the meeting again And if we do it on a special meeting You'd have to have a warning that we're going to have a meeting open a meeting close the meeting Right that could right and then come back So They said that was legal to do if we needed it. I I don't suspect we do we just have to Then communicate any decisions that were made Or actions taken at in the executive session. So we can yeah, in fact, we have one warned for Tonight after this meeting and I I could monitor and it would just basically You know have everyone sign off and then the three of us can stay on and then we can I guess We could communicate back to to Julie and how to do that with orca media and turning off the camera turning on the camera, but um, It's not um, I think a lot of it's it's not um Um Yeah, it's But back to the topic of of meeting more often I guess I feel like I've been meeting a lot with the task the the task force that we've been meeting twice a week and it's um And so I'm I'm feeling Meeting out it's awkward that we can't have this All more of the select board involved with it without it being a public warned meeting And then it it makes it less agile for sure. So we've been Trying to communicate and so the letters that we've been sending out weekly have kind of served as a to keep the public and everyone Connected with what we're what we're talking about in the decisions that we're trying to make to to keep things going but um, we can totally warn A special meeting, you know with a 24 hour notice advance and we can have an emergency meeting without any advance Um, if something really drastic comes up. So we do we do have the ability to to meet more often Okay, that's that's fine with me. I just I was just throwing it out there because I'm new to this I don't really know And it was a long time since our last meeting because of the way the month fell that you know, it's the second In fourth monday and then that gave us three weeks instead of two this last one And there are several select boards that are meeting weekly now like over in Bethel. They are They decided to do that. But I mean, it's it's all in what I don't think they have a task force, but I'm not sure I don't think so. Yeah. Yeah, I don't think Bethel does have a task. Oh, they do. You're right. You're right. They do. I'm sorry. Excuse me So, I guess we're good with it then if you guys are happy I'm I'm fine with it I mean any time that any one of us Feel the need to to gather and call a meeting we can we can do that Just have to warn. Yeah You could probably check with you Um, Frank if you were looking for a specific information you could check with rob Who's the director of emergency management and heading the task force if you had a question? He could probably give you some information about Okay, I was thinking more along the budget I don't see info and and that's And they're very likely there are we're going to have to sit down and talk about some of that stuff Sooner than later. Yeah That that was my More of an issue for me than Than what everybody I think is doing a good job We do have a line of credit that we had Established for the belco mountain road project. It's still an open line of credit with Some availability to it. So we do have a little bit of a cushion of credit to sit back on if we need right Burma, did you have a question? Yeah, I just wanted to raise this question The vermont department of natural resources may have limitations on whether or not people can take water out of rivers and streams to Water gardens because I know that there was a time when people were thinking about setting up little pumps to get watered for their gardens and it wasn't allowed by the state of vermont. So I'm just throwing that in the mix while you have that idea for roiling around. Okay. No, that's good. Okay Yeah, I had that in my notes from it. It's Yeah all right, uh, is there um Anything else that anyone wants to talk about before we move into the executive session Uh and just uh frank, I'd be happy to work with you brainstorming for voting options Okay That's fine. I I'll be in touch with you Okay And I can I can also send you information frank that I get from the state Okay, that'd be good to know I just Want to make sure we have some options that yeah We can adapt because this thing changes so much and it may it may be mute A moot point at the time we have the election, but if it doesn't if it's not then at least we have options. Yeah That's all I'm trying to Figure out great All right, so um, thank you all for joining us. At least we didn't have to drive out in the rain So patty and frank can stay on And we can have our executive session and everyone else can click out Thank you everybody. Thanks for your hard work