 Good evening My name is Ethan Bowen and I'm standing in for Dan McKinley as moderator moderator tonight And I know that Dan really starts this meeting with a little explanation of basic explanation of Robert tools of order We will go through the warning and I just want to make sure everybody has this amended warning We'll actually work off the real warning need this amended warning has some changed numbers Article 5 which will point out when we get to it Just one quick little area that'll be explained by the select so anyway, we'll go through article by article and The basic thing is all I'll ask you to move read the article out I'll ask you to move the article Which means to bring it to the table literally in front of us to work on and then it will need a second and And I'll sometimes Excellent Julie if she can't see who the second is I may call out just a name I don't I know you all my face. I may not have a 61 year old brain may not name may not come So once it's on the table Then we can discuss it it's been moved then we can discuss it is there any questions about any article and the Purpose of the moderator is to make sure that everybody is heard and that all questions are answered and that we move also in a reasonable time, but if you have a comment on some issue We like to limit your comments once until everyone's gotten around and no more I think what do you do with the select board? We do five minutes. Do you do two minutes? Five minutes. So if you have a comment And then it's at some point when it's clear the questions or if there are no questions or questions of all bananas Then we will put the motion up for a vote Almost all the articles can be voted on by an eye or nay local the first three articles under article two need to be by ballot and I can explain that a little more when we get there That we will need to either submit a ballot or if there's only one Candidate that makes it quite easy if there's not what we'll definitely have to For each of those three it's select board Other than that I I'm used to the rules in order of the school board, which is a little looser So if I do forget somebody and somebody's much smarter than me, which is quite possible About Roberts, I just asked you raise your hand and say point of order moderator and And just sort of explain what your point is and I've probably I noticed that Judy is well for Julie is well-prepared I'm not sure I have time to read all this Before I got up here, but I really appreciate it. Thank you so much She wants me to succeed The first order of business actually technically I shouldn't even be talking yet because I need to be Elected usually it's by this chairman of the select board. So if you'd like to take over for article one And then we can I owe I should read the warning first. Sorry Tell her Rochester, Vermont annual town meeting to be held in person Monday night March 28th 2022 7 p.m. The Rochester School Auditorium the legal voters of the town of Rochester County of Windsor State of Vermont are hereby notified and warned to meet in the Rochester School Auditorium 2 2 2 South Main Street in said town on Monday March 28th 2022 at 7 p.m. To transact the following business article one elect a moderator for the coming year Dominate Dan McKinley Understand he's willing to take that this is for the coming year For the coming year and then we're going to have a temporary moderator So everything Somebody moved McKinley was moved by Burma seconded by Mark I Sounds like all in favor all in favor Signified. Oh, no all in favor signify by saying I All opposed Now the eyes have it guys have it. So, um, thank you, Dan, even though you're not here and Ethan Do you have to vote me in I don't think I think you just a point you You're doing a good job so far All right, great. Well, then let's get on to article two to elect all town officers As required by law number one to elect a select board member a three-year term Open nominations for a select board member Martha Dude Henry says we nominated you. I have a second Catherine Sheikman seconded Any other nominations There being none I'll put it to a voice of voice vote Well, I guess no we have to move that nominations be closed So moved a second Seconds I'll take glory All right, all in favor signify by saying aye Now dude Hendricks for a select board for a three-year term all in favor signify by saying aye Yes, I can now once the voice votes happen I can instruct the town clerk to submit a one ballot in the name of and I think that's the right order If you think it's different, that's fine, but I think that's how it's done But thank you for asking just to make sure I will now instruct Clerk to submit one ballot in the name of doing Hendricks for select board Thank you very much for keeping an eye on me Number two to elect a town clerk for a three-year term Open the floor for nominations Yes, Nancy Julie Smith has been nominated you may have a second. Yes Mason seconded Any further nominations Careful raising your hand there cherry There may go further nominations other than motion to close nominations so by Lori Gordon seconded 61 year old brain I do the best I can with it. I may have to hit it a couple times to keep it going Um seconded All the favor closing nominations All in favor of Julie Smith for town clerk for a three-year term signify by saying aye Opposed The eyes have it the clerk is instructed to submit one ballot in the name of Julie Smith Article number three to elect a town treasurer for a three-year term Open the floor for nominations. Yes in the back Joe Mcdonald Julie Smith a second one that nomination Second Susie Smollett. Got it. Any further nominations? There being none or a motion To close nominations Yes, Kelly Kelly seconded Yes Shane close Look at it a All the favorite closing nominations signify by saying aye Thank you all in favor of Julie Smith to be the town treasurer for a three-year term signify by saying aye All opposed the eyes have it instructed to submit one ballot in the name of Julie Smith Congratulations to Julie Now to elect a lister for a three-year term and these can just be done Caroline merits to succeed herself Seconded in the back. Yes, Arsenault seconds it wonderful. Thank you. Any any further nominations? Being done all in favor of Jess Arsenault as being the To elect in terms of Carolyn mayor to be a lister for a three-year term signify by saying I All opposed the eyes have it Carolyn there is a lister Article 5 to elect a collector of delinquent taxes for one year term Yes Is there a second second for my capacity seconds Nominations Nominations all in favor of Becky Klein being a collector of delinquent taxes for a one-year term signify by saying I The eyes have it number six to elect a tribe or a library trustee for a five-year term Yes Barbara Shenton the incumbent Our Shenton has been nominated. Is there a second? Yes, Susie Smolen Thank you for the nominations being none All in favor of Barton Shenton for being a library trustee signify by saying I All opposed The eyes have it our Shenton is a library trustee number seven To elect another library trustee for the remaining one-year balance of a five-year term Yes Dory Jones Diane I mean story Jones is there a second second Thank you. Keep those hands up. I might not see you right away. It's so dark up there Further nominations There being none all in favor of Doreen Jones for a library trustee signify by saying I All opposed Eyes have it number eight to elect a trustee of public funds for a three-year term Yes, Nancy Sandy Pierce has been nominated and a second Catherine Shanklin. Thank you for the nominations None All in favor of Sandy Pierce as a trustee of public funds signify by saying I all opposed They may the eyes have it Sandy Pierce Number nine to elect a cemetery commissioner for five-year term Yes Michelle snubble has been nominated by Tom. Did you see that a second on that please Nancy Woolley got it for the nominations being none Shells all in favor of Michelle snubble signify by saying I All opposed signify by saying nay Eyes have it. She'll snubble. Congratulations to all the cameras. Thank you so much for serving Article three Shall the voters authorize the treasure to collect current taxes pursuant to 32 vsa 4791 Move the question So moved it by garden shenton seconded by Burma and the discussion Article three being none I think we can safely move to vote all in favor of article three show the voters authorize the treasure to collect current taxes pursuant to 32 vsa signify by saying I All opposed Carries Article four Shall the voters authorize payment of real taxes in four installments with due dates being Monday, August 15th 2022 Monday November 15th 2022 Wednesday February 15th 2023 and Monday May 15th 2023 by physical delivery to the tax collector before 4 p.m. On those dates with postmarks not accepted as proof of delivery I want to move that question to the floor Kelly Kelly seconded by Robert Mayer. Thank you Any discussion on article four being none We can go to a vote all in favor of article four signify by saying I All opposed Carries Okay, article five so I'm going to read the original as it was in the book And there's a number that we probably need to amend according to the recommendation of the select board But I'll read the original because that's really how it should be done because that's illegal Article five show the voters authorize total highway and general fund expenditures of $1,397,11 Of which 966,359 should be raised by taxes Let's move the article second it and then we end the discussion. We can amend it Okay, so if you move that article article five somebody move that for me Yes Bond Okay, so I believe the select board has an amendment to propose here All right, I would amending The total Is to $1,295,460 with the Amount to be raised by taxes being eight hundred and sixty four thousand eight hundred seven dollars and the reason for the discrepancy between these two numbers is that because the last year when we Did not have a physical meeting we voted by Australian ballot and the way that the ballots were laid out It fell in a different order than when we do this in person so basically The original number that we have is including all of the appropriations In articles whereas if we voted for that and then we improve those articles would be double pain notes That makes sense. So we basically had to back those numbers back out of the total So then we come back and vote the specific articles Any questions about that? Well, let's we have to propose the amendment first I mean, I think you could propose an amendment. I think you could propose. Yeah, I think that was proposed Yeah, and you second it Robert that that sounds good to me So we have an amendment on the floor to change the numbers from That shall be general public expenditures from 1,397,011 to 1,295,460 And the amount which we raised by taxes from 966,359 to 864,807 There any discussion on the amendment being none all in favor of the amendment signified by saying I All opposed the amendment carries now we need to pass the article the new amended article So if you read your sheet, that's really what we're doing now Article five show the voters authorize a total highway and general fund expenditures of 1,295,460 of which 864,000 to 807 should be raised by taxes Oh, it's already moved. We just have to vote on you have a question Sorry, can you just wait for the mic especially with the heater on it's a little hard for people to hear here Yeah, thank you so much for your patience and hold it hold it close Mason Thank you Is this the location where we talked about the budgets in the In the program tonight? I mean I'm kind of looking at the article When do we break it down and talk about the Yes, I would say so Is anything else is specific So, yeah, this would be exactly the time if you have questions. It's it's about this article This is the budget that you're passing right now. So, yeah before we vote on it. Absolutely. This is the discussion So raise your questions, I think we have one question. I was a little disappointed not actually see a letter by the public trust partner Which we haven't seen so basically when I read the data sheet All I could understand is that we spend 15,000 on a Rhode Island banking firm to throw darts at a dartboard for our investments and I'm just disappointed not to see a written report explaining which directions we're heading with different investments especially after the climate initiative That we passed in 2020 it would be interesting to see how official it's helping really Dude, can you speak to that as far as the investments? Hey, is there anyone here from the uh, the trustees of public funds? I could speak to that Sandy Oh, yeah, thank you. Yep all the way over Our investment Personnel are local They are they live in Vermont. They work for a bank But Sandy, can you bring it a little closer to your mouth? I'm just having a little trouble hearing you. Oh, okay. Yeah, that's much better. Thank you Oh, yeah, it's probably different closer. Yeah Yeah And they are trying to invest their money. So we get as much out of it as we are Not very much in fossil fuels anymore. They have been trying to reduce our investment in fossil fuel We have quite a lot of investment in solar and but I can't be absolutely sure The percentage I really don't know do not invest in guns and rifles Our goal is to make so we can give it to the town Our secondary goal is to Because we're looking towards the future if you would like to have This money grow also. So it's useful for Our citizens of the future Is that it? It's your question, mason Sandy, can you just hand the mic over please if he has a follow I was just curious. Has there been one another in other years? Yes, there has been one in other years and are The chairman of our board happens to be Okay Is there a satisfactory mission to get one? Yeah Very good Further question Katie right in the back. I can't see who it is, but uh Cindy. Oh Cindy. Yeah, there you go A couple heads in front of you So, um with the report, are you just curious how much Usually the trust Gives money to the school over here And if they're not being a schooler, they're just wondering where the money Well, I'm sorry. I'm having trouble hearing you, Cindy. I'm wondering how much Are you delegated this year? I'm impressed to help the town And if it's going for a school or it's going to something else this year That's what I'm curious about the report myself Sandy can you speak to that? Whoop Katie yep I'm going to get your work out tonight Whoop Cindy here's the mic here I can I can speak to how much if you look on page 27 of the town report Is that Frank? And Cindy was that you wanted to know how much they contributed to the school or the town or both But you wanted all of that All of it Yeah, I got it right here. We've got um page 27 It's uh 74,000 Is that the amount of the fund or the amount of the gift? So that's a total fund amount It doesn't It's how much the fund contributed to the town Very good, okay And Amy may I speak Yeah, I'm Amy. Amy wilts has been doing quite a bit of extensive work on the trustees Giving to the school and we're actually as a school board still working on that right now to get all that cleared up and make sure They're actually usable some of these funds were dedicated to a high school and things like that and we had to Sort of reorganize that but I believe there's going to be some Gives is a totally separate thing from the town now. Yeah, that's really at the school board. Maybe we can give you that information Excellent further discussion on the budget Mason one more Which is separate from the school board? Yes, what's going on? Yes, so we That's the fossil fuels that we turn around and we're dumping it into fossil fuels over here Yeah, we yeah I shouldn't go to I mean there's so much So the question relevant to the budget would be The amount of money that's being spent on the high school building in the budget So I think that you can speak to that in the budget. Um, nothing Is that the $12,000 that the trustees of public fund chose to give to help? For the heating of the high school while we're all enjoying it right now that we're inside Because it's freaking cold outside, but it's the basically to in the process of Trying to decide what's going to happen with this building have to protect The building and not let it just freeze up because then that would just decrease the value dramatically Catherine. You want to speak to that? We asked that the you know Mason, I hope you know that We're currently conducting a feasibility study on repurposing the high school And in order for the building to be accessible to the consultants There was a contingency or a condition by the school district that Rochester pay an additional $15,000 for treating the building this year In order to keep the doors open There were three different representatives out of school board meeting that I went to That basically said if you shutter the building, turn off the heat, turn off the electricity You will not have a building Because it's on a slab and so the idea while a feasibility study is being conducted to be able to give The voters the information that the select board would like them to have in order to vote being an informed vote We agreed to the $15,000 and the trustees helped And another point on that That is money that is to be spent this year. That's not money that is included in the budget that we're voting on right now This budget we're voting on right now comes into play like first Through the discussion on the budget at this time If it's not I'll entertain a motion to call the question Yes, so I'm Burma seconded by Robert and all in favor call the question get to the vote Say you're fine by saying aye All opposed say nay guys have it So again, I'll read this out the new numbers article five So the voters authorized total highway and general fund expenditures of $1,295,460 of which $864,807 shall be raised by taxes all in favor signify by saying aye All opposed signify by saying nay The eyes have it article five passes Article six Shall the voters accept real property in Rochester village owned by Rochester community care home ink dba park house A non-profit tax exempt organization providing services and housing for low-income and other elderly persons From property taxes for five years FY 23 to FY 27 pursuant to 32 vs a 38 40 Move that question Joanne moved it a second, please Kelly Kelly, thank you any discussion on this article Joanne Oops, we rolled up just wait for that Okay, he's quick I've no matter how you vote tonight. Thank you everybody in this town for voting this for so many years It is extremely helpful in keeping our budgets where we hope it will be So thank you for the discussion on this article Yes Yeah Anybody's vote, but what is the tax? What would be the taxable value of that building? Does Joanne do you know Frank I don't think it's been it hasn't been taxed in a way a long time. So I don't know anybody knows that Wait Nancy Yeah, Louis would be Yeah So I I'm sure we can find out for you, but I don't think we have that tonight Further discussion on this article being done, I believe we can move to the vote Exempt property tax for The park house Article six all in favor signify by saying aye All opposed signify by saying nay Nice have it. Article six passes Article seven shall the voters appropriate 43,314 dollars 48, sorry 48,314 dollars towards operating expenses of the Rochester public library So I move that question for me, please for capacity seconded by suzy. Thank you Any discussion on this article? Yes In the back, Becky Klein I'm first following back to express my thoughts that we have a lovely library It's always available the books I've ever wanted or available upstairs is a lovely Museum, which is a lot fun to visit and My comments Are not to be offensive I think the trustees are great people they spend a lot of time Working for us in that library But I would like to suggest that it can I don't know can we Can this 48,000 dollars be amended? The leaves from the slurry, yeah Much like the board uh the budget finance committee every year They look at the Fund that's after they At the week after week after week they go over the general town budget Line by line Knocking out $50 here $100 there $500 peanuts but when it adds up All they're doing is looking to keep the Amount to be raised by taxes And So I'm thinking that But I'm thinking that because the library has shown balance in their chapter back 2019 Unrescripted funds, which to me says that it's money that doesn't go on in the annual campaign And they'll Fond or any of that it's unrestricted And so 2019 there was over 8,000 dollars of unrestricted money left over at the end of the physical year In 2020 there was Over 10,000 dollars left In the industry At the end of the year 2020 there was 8,900 dollars left and unrestricted funds at the end of the year I notice in the in the budget report in a general report that for This current budget we're in The trustee has allotted $4,600 to offset the funding that they would have asked the channel In the Offset Offset the money that they would have asked the town for And then In this 2020-23, but is that what they're working on now or yes? Yeah, they're only asking $12,000 to offset I also noticed one other Then the trustees have two Investments on the current contract And the winning fund the winning fund that is restricted to I think both And the current contract fund is unrestricted money In 2020 they did use any of the funds that they could have drawn out They draw out funds it's a moving average So they they had scheduled to take out I think for the past two years it's been like $3,326 out of the current contract on the restricted fund and They in 2020 they didn't take it out In 2021 they used only half of those restricted funds unrestricted In FY 20, they budgeted FY 22 What we're in the fist of the year one now that we're spending money on They budgeted, you know the amount they have all kind of used any of the gap were According to the general report. I don't know Maybe you can say have you taken any of that money out from Perfect after Not yet. And we've got three months to go And they haven't taken any of that money out. I think we could safely say I mean I personally would like to see $5,000 taken out was $48,000. I think we could safely say we could lower this request by $4,000 So So you meant how you can do this is to propose an amendment? Yes, which would be to lower the number to $44,314 Yes And then you would need to have a second and then we would have discussion on that amendment And then if we vote on the amendment and if it passes then that would be the new number if it doesn't pass Then we would go back to the original number of $48,000. Okay. Um, I'll take that as an amendment I'll show the voters appropriate. So the number to change to $44,314,000 is in a second To this amendment The discussion on the amendment Yep, we got right over here susie I brought my own microphone Can you all hear me? Hold on Can you all hear me? No I can't use a regular mic. Can you all hear me now? Okay, uh, since becky mentioned it, I would just like to make an inquiry. It's been, uh, um, or no, no becky, excuse me that, uh I I too value the library tremendously But you made reference to the museum upstairs. It's my understanding that that museum is being downsized and that the Historical society needs a new location. Um, if this is not correct, please correct me anyone from the library And if this is the this if this is indeed what's happening, we also need to consider as a town having a New location for our historical society. I think it's an important piece of the town Going forward So is there anyone from the library that can comment on that? What? Who's speaking sorry? I I'm not under the impression that it's being downsized This actually is is more germane if I may To the to the full article as opposed to the amendment, right now we're discussing The specific amendment so we can I don't want to cut you off Susie But I just want to let our comments to be specific to the dollar change of a $4,000 reduction in the budget So, um, we have uh next year Some of you may not know who I am but I've been paying taxes here for 55 years So I held a press meeting almost as an expert They also may know that I'm close to spending money In the case of Rochester public buildings They are under undergoing an aging process as I am And I would say that it's very important to have reserve funds available For emergencies that happen in these buildings And we're not talking about a gigantic amount of money That's going to reduce anybody's taxes by an appreciable amount So I am totally against moving $5,000 Out of $4,000 Very good. Thank you Then we have up in back city, Sutherland. I'm on left here, thank you so much And then we'll go to Barb I believe Yeah, Cindy first. I'll be in the back, sorry And then I'll get Cindy, um, I was wondering if anybody from the library could speak about the money, but I Have a thing a whole number. I know that you know disasters happen and things happen I already had a savings of $5,000 I don't have a savings of $3,000 You know, it's fair. Miss the major buildings, any of the library's most important Do you have a challenge? I don't know. I have a name I'd also of course I think any of you have a question Good. Dan, Dan, did you want to speak? Yeah But no, I'm sorry, I'm not just Jeff, Jeff is an expert In this past year We have had an audit done of town buildings and From the standpoint of town and state energy In our community properties We can't get to them The library yet because the library is taking on a lot We are We are seeing sills on one side of the building a lot now We have very Unconditional Lower cladding on the building And I think we're going to be seeing There's a lot of We're talking about a movement here Just to stabilize and save that money Back to Becky I almost think that this budget isn't operating But I don't think that I don't think that The school that the Learner is asking for money To Build a campaign fund Although I do know that there's $36,000 sitting right now In a Annual campaign fund I don't know if that Is earmarked For the building I don't know that But this is an operating budget For the discussion on the amendment On the floor, yes In the back budget I can't take you, that's a good thing to go I've been to Maine Global As far as operations are concerned As two years have been less than usual So I would be welcome to base This next coming year On the numbers cited from 2019, 2020, 2021 That's because it's been so unusual I don't know Through the discussion on the amendment It's not, I believe you're ready to move The question The amendment Oh, Andrea Oh, you're waving My eyes are like a hawk The brain isn't So we have an amendment On the floor That is, shall the voters Appropriate Change the amount to $44,314 Towards operating expenses The Rochester Public Library All in favor, signify by saying I All opposed, signify by saying Nay We are defeated We are back to the article as is written Are there further discussion? Mason, hold on a second Please wait for your mic I know it's technology, but it's useful I move To amend Article 7 Shall the voters Appropriate $50,000 Towards operating and structural expenses Of the Rochester Public Library There's been an amendment To amend the amount to $50,000 Even Is there a second for this amendment? I see, oh, Bermacastity Has seconded the amendment We have an amendment on the floor To amend the amount to $50,000 Even For the library operating expenses Of the Rochester Public Library It's in any discussion Well, I can't change the wording All we can do is change numbers We can't change the wording So they get to spend So they go to change the wording Of a warning Yeah, you can only change numbers You're calling a warning an article A warning article A warning article cannot be changed The language cannot be changed We can't redirect money to go someplace else All you can do is change the number Up or down? Would you like to speak to this? Thank you for re-building I just want to make sure that everybody Knows the fact that the town Has a building So going that Into the library's budget Wouldn't necessarily be going To pay for those I think there might be An article that was With that, but not For the discussion on this amendment To raise the amount to $50,000 For the discussion Being none All in favor of raising The amount of the library budget to $50,000 Seem to be by saying I All opposed Seem to be by saying A You guys have it? You're back to article 7 Sorry, A's Thank you Get used to that You're back to the original article Further, just have to check Any more discussion on this Call the question We'll be at least enough To let that happen Show the voters appropriate $48,314 Towards operating expenses of the Rochester Public Library All in favor of Seem to be by saying I All opposed Seem to be by saying A Article 7 passes As we Article 8 Show the voters appropriate $20,400 to continue funding The fast trash and recycling program From July 1, 2022 Through June 30th 2023 Moved by Amy Seconded by Kelly Kelly Thank you Any discussion on this? Yes, in the back To one end, Donald I have a question I have not An attempt to actually look for it In the budget, if you can talk In Grandville, should there be Anything towards this? No, nothing So I guess in a way They chip in because There is an expense on their books But they don't give money To the town of Rochester Further discussion On article 8 Being none, all in favor Of article 8 Only $20,400 for fast trash Seem to be by saying I All opposed to be by saying A Yes, I have an order of late passes In article 9 So the voters authorized the select Board to borrow an amount Not to exceed the $105,080 For the purchase of a western Star tandem truck For the highway department So moved by somebody Move it, Burma Cassidy Seconded by Robert Mayer Thank you Discussion on article 9 Placently Hold on a sec, careful Do you explain borrow? Yeah Keep in mind that's your question Designing borrow And if that's the amount What's the interest? Um, so Go to page 28 And give you details on that And we will have to The interest on that $188 a year. What percentage is that? It's not locked in yet. But it's pretty though municipal rates may have access to 2.9% interest on the loan. But it's not totally locked in yet. But we're waiting until we have the approval to borrow it to actually sign the papers so we can't tell you exactly what it is. Thank you. This amount is already figured in the $864,807 that we've already raised by taxes. Further questions on article 9. May I say it once again? It hasn't been approved yet. I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. We're being asked on something that's not approved. No, we're asking you to be approved of this article. No, no, no. The process, the county, is not going to approve for this borrowing money. Is that correct, Jim? Is that what you just said? We're asking you to approve us. We're asking you the permission to approve the part of the money. We've already done that. We have looked at it. We have not signed the papers yet because we're asking you for the approval. Further questions on article 9. Okay, we're ready. Should the voters offer us like we're too far on it now? Not to exceed $105,080 for the purchase of a Western Star tandem truck for the highway department. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All in favor signify by saying nay. The ayes have it. Article 9 passes. Article 10. Should the voters authorize the select board to borrow an amount not to exceed $65,165 for the purchase of a Ford F550 4x4 crew cab truck for the fire department. Somebody move this article for me. Yes, brother. And seconded by Burma. Thank you. Any discussion on article 10. None. All in favor of article 10 65,165 for an F550 signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed signify by saying nay. Ayes have it. Article 10 passes. Article 11. Should the voters appropriate $9,000 to continue funding the town buildings and property reserve fund. It's your pleasure. Kelly Kelly moving it. Robert Mayer second. Thank you. Any discussion on article 11. None. All in favor of appropriating $9,000 to continue funding the town buildings and property reserve funds signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed signify by saying nay. Ayes have it. Article 11 passes. Article 12. So the voters appropriate $1,000 to continue funding the tennis reserve fund for an ongoing and future court maintenance. For ongoing and future court maintenance. It's your pleasure. Moved by Robert Mayer. Seconded by Susie Smollett. Questions. Yes, Mason. Wait a second. Wait a second. The tennis reserve fund. It's a town fund because the Rochester Recreation Department report doesn't talk about the last page. I mean, how did we do that? Page 92, the Rochester Recreation Department. So the tennis reserve is a separate organization. How does this all work and how did it get warranted? So I know the history of that. So I guess the difference why that's not included in the funds for the recreation committee. The recreation department is that that's more for funding, you know, specific activities and staffing for people to run programs for kids. The tennis court itself is a physical, you know. It's a physical town property that requires specific upkeep. So it's been separated out, you know, because it's a particular specific item. On page 22 is what the reserve fund is. So basically it would need to save up money for known resurfacing and larger expenses. Whereas the recreation committee is that expenses is funding activities, you know, not a physical thing. That means maintenance. Anyone want something to use? So the tennis courts are in the flood plain. Is there any way that we can start looking to move the tennis court? So that the maintenance will be as much? That's really a practical way to think about the expense of moving them and finding another spot to put them. This can be way more than what we're talking about here for periodic resurfacing. It's one thing that's in the flood plain that was allowed because it does not stick up above the ground level. It does not impede the floodway. You know, it may take out the fence and there was damage done to it during Irene course, but that was actually cared by FEMA funds to carry that, I believe. So it's, yeah, in terms of your suggestion to move it, I don't know where we move it to and where we get the money to do that. Further questions in Article 12? Being none, all in favor, appropriating $1,000 to continue finding the tennis reserve fund. Signify by saying aye. Aye. All in favor, signify by saying aye. Yeah, I saw that. Article 12 passes. Article 13. All right, get a list here. Should the voters vote appropriate? Should the voters vote too appropriate? The following sounds as requested by these community agencies. Center Vermont Council on aging $3,000. Claire Martin Center $2,066. Greenup Vermont $100. Orange County Parent Child Center $250. Quintown Senior Center $9,849. Safe Line Inc. $250. Tri Valley Transport, formerly Stagecoach $1,300. Vermont Rural Fire Hydrant $100. V&H Visiting Nurse Association $4,800. White River Partnership $875. We have been safe $250 for a total of $22,840. What's your pleasure on this article? Somebody move it. I'm going to have it. Please. Seconded, Amy. Thank you. Any discussion on this article? I'm getting none. I won't read the totals again. I'll just read the total. That's okay with you. Article 13. All these appropriate following sounds for a total of $22,840. All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, signify by saying nay. You guys have it. Article 13 passes. In Article 14, you transact any other legal and proper business to be brought before said me and I believe there is a report. Is that it, Catherine? Would you like to speak at this time? I'll get to it. I saw your hand in Mason. Hi. I'm Dr. Botto and Catherine Shanklin. I'm here. We are co-chairs of the committee that's working on a plan to repurpose this building. I want to give you an update on where we are with this project right now and what's coming up this summer. In the back of your town report booklet is a two-page summary that gives a brief overview of the project, history and scope and some of the costs involved. I'm not going to repeat what's there, but I'll be happy to answer the specific questions from that. I just want to provide a couple of comments and then just open up to any questions anybody might have. First of all, the model that we're working on is to enable this building with new tenants to be self-sustaining over time. That is that rental income would pay for the expenses to operate the building on a big, big annual basis. Having said that, though, there is after the period of time when it's going to need support between when new tenants are identified and actually come in and occupy the building, get into that in a bit. There's a significant amount of work that needs to be done to this building to make it sustainable over time. It's the heating system, the electrical panel, window replacement, just a wide variety of exceed improvement, different sources of energy that's being used today. So there's a lot of work to be done. The consulting architects that have been retained through the grant that we received estimated $2 million or more depending on the final scope of what the building is going to be used for. So there's a lot of work to be done that's going to take time, and potentially there's grant funds available to support that. So our intention is to identify tenants who would make a provisional commitment to come to this building, contingent on the building being upgraded, getting the grants to come in, et cetera, and make it feasible for them to occupy the building. Now we have put in the plan that you see in the back of the booklet, another program is that our potential to come to this building, the adult day program on childcare, a number of other things. And that program plan is still of all effect. Just today I learned about two additional potential sponsors who are very interested in coming to this building. So it's, as I say, it's an evolving process. We're not there yet, but there is a deadline coming up. So this summer there will be a warned town meeting to hear the output of this committee's work, what recommendation is being made and put it through a town code of whether to acquire the building and take responsibility for it. I would also say that there's a number of alternate possible scenarios for this building. One is, in a festival, a hostile world, we find tenants or even a buyer for the building, take it over and take responsibility for it. Another is that the building is just left as it is. The school board holds the building or really has no use for it and really can't afford to put money into this building. And they have the elementary school to take care of it as well. So if nobody else takes responsibility for the building, it'll just be boarded out, put a fence around it, and it'll sit here indefinitely as an empty building. Another option is that it would be demolished. But that's pretty expensive. One study was done that assessed it would take $770,000 to demolish the building. And where did that money come from? So we're trying to work towards a future for this building where it continues to be an asset for the town, that it pays its own way, and it's something that it's ready to be proud of. It's not a sure thing by any stretch, but that's the goal of the work report. So we can stop there if you can, Catherine. So we're talking right now to a number of people. And we can at this point because it's just not the appropriate time to announce who they are, but there's some significant tenants who have expressed serious interest in being part of the building. And the issue that we have in terms of the conditional commitment is that the town doesn't hold the building right now. So we can't literally make any contracts or anything like that. We can just do conditional commitments. If the town, when we get the results of the full feasibility study later in June, and the town decides to acquire it, we can go forward with that. As well as starting to draw down the funds. Federal funds are available right now, and we need to present a full proposal with reliable tenants. Now, I want to just say that we are a proposal. We have some components that at this point, basically the arts, they can't really sustain that portion of the building. We still want the arts in the building, but we have to balance that with tenants that actually can pay their way. We have wonderful long-term established arts programming here, and their budgets basically keep their programs going. And they have never had to pay for this building. As a matter of fact, we've paid for this building as a part of our school budget, so it's certainly paid for it with our taxes. But we've never had to really take on paying for this building separate from school. And the consultants have estimated right now that it would cost about $97,000 a year to sustain the building, which Julie and I went over these numbers this week, and I hope this is accurate, but that would break down to $9.71 per $100,000 of value of your property. So you can take that number and see how it would impact you very directly. And that could be the scenario for that year that we're trying to upgrade buildings. I'm worried about drawing down the funds. I'm worried about drawing down the funds, because I do believe that we'll be a very good candidate for especially the federal funds. But I'm not going to stand here and say, it's not going to cost you money to sustain the building either in that interim until we can get tenants in place. So it's been an honor to do the work. It's been a lot of work. I mean, I work full-time jobs. So this is like weekends. And my day's off to work with creating surveys and then telling the numbers. Lolly's here too. Do you want to say anything, Lolly? Anyway, we're open to questions. I'll just go to Mason, and then we'll go to Mason. Wait for the mic, sir. OK. You've spoken about federal grants. I feel sorry about the flood plain. We were fortunate, and I agree, that it only dumped the water. It wasn't the wind. We started filing wind and logs. And we easily could see the water level rise higher than this auditory unit would. What's the cost of the insurance for renovation? What part of that have you discussed in the sustainability related to climate change? You know, it ran down the building farms to the Superbars for Union. I'm sorry. John, you're going to go on to the district. One for the flood. I have just a couple of comments in that regard. The consulting architects we're working with tell us that there are ways to mitigate the risk of floods. And so the only portion of the building is actually within a 100-year flood plain. Secondly, these architects, these GDA associates of Montpelier, they've been hired by... Jeff, Jeff's here. What's the energy consulting service in Vermont? Energy efficiency Vermont. So this firm has been hired by Efficiency Vermont to design their firm. This is a company, an architectural firm that's very aware of energy conservation. It's part of their mission of their organization. So, you know, if this goes forward, and this architect presents a plan for us, I'm pretty confident that we'll get as good advice on that front as we can get. Just sitting around here. So I just want to say, yes, we have a consultant architect. We also have Dick Robson, architect, who's been part of our committee since the get-go. And the reason that flood mitigation didn't happen when the post-Irene repair was going on, Mason, is because the insurance company would not pay for flood mitigation of this building. But it is a doable thing. We're told that by more than one professional. Cindy. Cindy, in the back. So I have a question. Have you put any thoughts in moving the town offices to the Dooling and then selling the town office there to help subsidize the cost? I love what you're doing. I think you should go on to it. And you're using that. I'm just impressed to have people at home. I think with Ryan, I think it would be a good place. Yeah, that idea has been post-ground, but we haven't had a serious conversation about it yet. And it's very much likely because there's good possibility that good things could come out of that. For the reasons you describe it. We don't have to get engaged with the select board and I think we've commissioned a subcommittee to look at this. But the study that Jeff mentioned about the town buildings having been assessed identified that the town office building is probably doing something else with it or putting a lot of money into it. So I think this is the time to really face up to that question as well. And this might be a reasonable solution to move that function here to something else with that property. That property? Where the town office currently is is a better property for housing, for sure. This building is on a slab. Yes, in the back there. And please identify this up. Can it see from here? Diana Tiesel. Very bad. Burlington High School with the PCBs. I'm wondering if any of the consultants looked at PCBs, asbestos, or glad Haynes in the building? Asbestos was looked at by the blackboarders, those kids. And someone had been done on mitigation. I'm not sure that work is complete yet. I don't know about PCBs that's typically in the palace with fluorescent lights and popping our own windows in other places. We have not pursued investigation of that, but that would have to be done as far as the reason it's described. And lead paint, I don't know, this building was built in 74, so it could have included lead paint in this construction somewhere along the line. Down here? Drop. There you go. I'm Rob Gardner. And first of all, I want to thank you and Catherine and the committee for all the work you've done on a tremendously complicated subject. There's a particularly wise man in town here, one of the elders of the town, who said to me, the decision to buy this high school is going to be the most important financial decision that town makes in decades. It's a huge, complicated decision. So what I want to say to you guys, my message to you is about public information. My sense, and I love you guys, you know I love you guys, I love you guys. But my sense and most of the information that's been coming to me is a lot of good news, exciting programs, how good this would be to the town, all true. But what I'm not hearing about is the bad news. There's a lot of bad news about this. There's a list of every single problem the building has that adds up to the $2 million. I know you have this because I gave it to you. But I've never seen that list come back out, and if I were going to spend that kind of money, I'd want to know as many details as possible. I'm not accusing you guys of anything. I look at this. I think it was from a public information standpoint a big mistake to pay $15,000 to the school board to pay for the heating here. A decision I think is correct. But to do that without public discussion, and I was in the slot board meeting when that was discussed, it was passed. That was a mistake. It wasn't because anything wrong or the decision or anything wrong would do. But if there wasn't a consciousness there of transparency and sharing information with the town, if you guys are going to have to vote on this, and this is a difficult, extremely complicated subject, so I don't take up any more time. I'm just asking you to try to keep the bad news in the package too. Thank you. Thanks for having me. I think it's well taken. Just everybody's awareness right now sits this Black River study that lists up any great detail. All the problems with the building that was a study of the school board commissioned several years ago. So it's on 2018. So this is there and we'll try to do better. Can I respond? So you may go to look at this report. It's impenetrable. It is very difficult to read. It's hard for engineers to read. So I'm going through that report and another engineering report having to do with the energy costs for town buildings. And I pulled out what I thought was relevant information point-by-point. That's not hard to read. And you all have that. And you might want to make it available to people. I'm not trying to blow my own horn, but that's the kind of detail I think. If you just say to everybody, you have to give people information that they can understand and take ownership of and understand how big a decision we're making here. That's all. Fair enough. I think it was Jeff tonight who said that there was an evaluation of all the town-owned buildings. And there's like a million-dollar price tag on the town office, a million-dollar price tag on the library. And we're getting a two-million-dollar price tag on this 33,000-square-foot building which could conceivably pull in the functions of our administrative functions of our town as well as provide community space. Rob's absolutely right. I mean, you know, you don't get anything for nothing. When a full report in all of its detail is revealed to the town expecting you, right? Somewhere around in there, this town will make a decision. It's only been our job, really, to try to get that information to you. I have been encouraged in recent times in that it looks like we do have people who are very serious about moving in. Paying the consultant has put out a square footage and possible rental sheet on that. So there's no surprises there, either. But, you know, when this building was built in 1974, so its energy system was relative to that. If you came into the basement of my house, like CB Oil does, you'd have to bow down to my old burner. It's still working, but it's an antique, and so this is even more contemporary than that. It works, we're warm, but like Mason likes to say, we need to be more conscious about our oil consumption, and this is based on oil, so we're hoping that in an upgrade phase we will be moving towards a more contemporary energy system for this building that will take us further into the next 1,500 years. We have further questions for the making of Jasmine. Is there further business? Thank you very much. Not a question, but just the website of the state to you guys. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get it completely finished for this date, but we are working hard on the website that would include all of the documentation and the projects that we've made on this project, so you can look for an announcement for that. Hope in the next week we'll have it pretty well finalized and ready to share with everyone. And on that website we'll post a summarized easy to read version of the project that Rob alluded to. We'll do a better job about making it adjustable and understandable To end this positive note, even in the Black River study it said that this building was in good shape compared to other buildings of the same era, and the two architects have been working in the building phase have said it has excellent bones. When we last put this building on March 11 with Greg Gossens, he showed us how we can pull natural life into the library. He showed us the beautiful wood floor that's above the hanged ceilings. I mean, he has a vision of really transforming some of the more sort of unsanitary qualities of the building into something that will be quite lovely. And so, that'll be all part of what we learn and see when they give their old report with visuals. Yeah, I think, Matt, for the business to transact to be brought before 70, I've got Mason first and then Jeff. Good. Oh, sorry. I'm Martha. Sorry, I didn't see that. Sorry. I'd just like to encourage people to get a copy of the Rochester area climate initiative with work and to consider participating in one of the three task forces that will be following up on the climate and community identified and rated priorities. We have a portable housing task force and the task force will be coordinating that. We have a farm house and a factory and a high section. We work on that and value energy and funded action committee and we work on that energy related items. Our own as well as those that work around affordable housing. So again, I encourage you to get a copy of the Rochester area climate initiative. Sorry, Martha, then then Mason. Well, I was going to make a motion for Karen. Oh, okay. We've got this. It's fair to give a fair here to everybody. That's a weird one. There's American business. Sorry, I can't answer. There's a very urgent business. It's town related. No, you can't add a motion to the warning. This is business. You can talk. It's questions, but you can't add anything to the warning. That's why there's a warning so that everybody knows what's coming and has to be out at the time of the morning. I'm not trying to show you the situation. Okay. The fact that we're here tonight with democracy is quite excellent. I would have liked to appropriate thousand dollars to the organization Save the Children for the purpose of creating more of these efforts as soon as possible. I think it's a collective group of people sitting here with democracy that businesses are doing and an opportunity to talk about it to make it happen. Thank you. Can I make a motion to adjourn? I think so. There'll be no other business to bring forward. It's just one more comment since I never can keep quiet. I had the bullet just on Perk Street and I would like to do a shout out for the town road group for the great job they've done. I'd like to give a shout out to our mic runner tonight. We hope for the business and for the committee motion to adjourn. Seconded by Susie Smollin. All in favor signify by saying aye. The ayes have it. Good night.