 Welcome everyone in the room and zoom for the October 9th version of the town of Rochester select board meeting and this time I checked to that it is posted on the website right and and three public places and email to interested parties so we can move forward with this meeting contrary to our last attempted meeting where there was a failure for it to post to the website so in honor of upholding the open meeting laws we canceled the last like board meeting and we'll pick up where we left off there and the first item that was on the agenda for that meeting and is on the agenda for this meeting is the meeting minutes for the September 11th meeting which I read through and they look appropriate to me I move to approve unless you have any changes no I second that all in favor okay and have is Larry Pleasant done in zoom or he is going to maybe show up in person to talk about emergency emergency management so we'll put him off for a little bit and we had the August treasurers report which I would do thank you for putting that together and we're about ready to move into our budget and finance committee season so I guess we'll be taking a much closer look at these treasure reports in those meetings so I've moved to approve the August report I second it all in favor all right and we have the capital assets policy we're going to propose amending that policy software and movable equipment threshold amounts to up to $10,000 what was it and this was recommended by Nathan by Nathan the auditor right and what was the limit the threshold for less than $10,000 but we trust Nathan for a lot of guidance and things so I've moved to approve this recommendation I second that all in favor all right and number four on our agenda here is there was a park use application for October 11th for library children's author as a guest on the park but the word from the crew here in the office is that considering the weather they're going to withdraw this application and do it inside so this is a move point so we'll check that one off of our list and we'll move back on to Larry who you're here to talk about emergency management I understand you're in discussion with people on the shelter committee and such you feel that it would be very helpful to have some some radio communication yes we could have we were sorely missing radio communication during the near disaster the near disaster near disaster that was kind of like a dress rehearsal yeah at least for us it yeah so you want to tell us like who you're thinking should have these and how many we're talking about sure so so what we're looking for our our five and an extra five in a backup making six total we'd like to be able to communicate on two bands one is the emergency band obviously so we can be in touch in the event of emergency but we don't want to chatter on that and we have to talk about some of these medicine or something so we'd also like to get I believe it's called a V VTAC VTAC or VTEC chip I heard some people talking about it on a zoom zoom meeting and they said that's exactly what that's made for us this this kind of thing do you know about the VTAC yeah VTAC there's four of them one of them VTAC four is made only for that we use VTAC one on fire scenes and we also use VTAC some for fire extractor traffic so I would say if you're going to get anything VTAC three because I'm not interested in having any on the top to dark or anything else so I so you guys have got in terms of the fire department you've got some pretty high end radios I understand I was talking with Steve I believe it is that central Vermont communications that's yeah they run about a thousand bucks and a thousand bucks he was recommending to me that there is a cheaper one the Kenwood NX 1200 AVK run about three hundred dollars which would probably do the job he says that's what they sell to a lot of smaller departments and emergency groups and stuff so when something I say is you get what you pay for you get what you pay for yeah the thing is is they're gonna have five radios they aren't gonna know where three of them are and out of those three they're all gonna be dead I mean I've been in the fire department 50 years and we've used them once and we have plenty of radios to give to the ones that need it the ones that have radios that want them shouldn't have them how many radios do you have how Terry enough I mean I think we got 12 12 13 so when you have a fire call what's your use use little usual usage you have guys on with traffic if there's traffic control do you their radio then who else do you have and all the officers have them and all the officers and Kristen how many do you usually have a spare then oh we have two three spares you have two or three and we could get some up for it if we needed it like I mean I had plenty of radios to give the ones that needed it okay that's that's the big question the problem I have with having more radios is I cleaned out the seller when I started on this board and every single radio that was down there was obsolete and not worth a cent and nobody wanted them and so my feeling is if we have too many of these things they're not going to they're just not going to be useful if we have enough in the fire department and in emergency situations we distribute them to the people that need them I think that's the better way to go where we can keep track of just a few because in all the emergency situations that I've been in in my life and there's been quite a few with the power situations that I've seen the more people you have on a radio the worse it is you need certain few people to be in charge and you need Indians and that's really the basic thing now I think in your position as emergency management you probably in a situation that requires like Irene or something you would have a radio because he would see that you had a radio and I think that's the way we should work that stuff I should be only the heads right exactly that hand every person there that's a joke right I'm with you a hundred percent because as far as to go look for people you aren't gonna do it we're gonna do it so we're gonna have a base of operations right a command center will be set up here yeah probably right here and someone's going to have to be staffing that well there's a radio right over there yeah so we need to be in in communication so I need to be in communication there may be somebody else on the road thank you for going house-to-house again it'd be good to stay in communication as best we can well you find house-to-house you gonna find fire department's going to do it for safety reasons so we're gonna have people have radios okay so is it possible once I get so my question is is it possible that we could get a second chip installed in an existing set of radios some some number to be determined maybe three perhaps I don't know if we could take those have the people stick another chip in it charges for whatever that is 200 bucks that'd be perfect right it's fire getting on a chip you're talking to you really gonna have to get a radio print so you're gonna be a year get that yeah that's what I was wondering so what is I mean the only thing which is something they're welcome to look into I just think that it's an easy process I mean right so so what would be a recommendation from you because you're a game radio they'd be some stipulations on it because I don't care if you are we don't want you chatting all the time right and I don't think that's a frequency that's the only reason you know what the state police will shut us off because they aren't gonna put up with somebody talking on it right so it's gonna have to be a I gave a lesson when I handed out during Irene and the people had them knew how to use them and we didn't have any problems right and another thing about radios too is they need to be exercised frequently like you can't just can't be mom tractor they'll be dead or maybe an hour album and after you know they are cheap main thing I don't care if you buy the cheap ones it's still going to open batteries yeah so I guess your Larry's thought on this is that of having a way to so he wakes up in the middle of night and then the roads are washed out and it's not gonna be your first priority is not gonna be to drive to his house to give him a radio but if you had something no he needs to come to command center and then he'll have radio because he's not gonna do any good at home when we have an emergency in my training with both the ambulance and I took a fire department training there's an incident commander correct one person that runs the show you got it is there is there a circumstance where the shelter team would not fall under that they would fall underneath the incident commander and and it would not be the whole crew it'd be one person down there in charge right so that incident commander depending on what the problem is would either be chief or first person on chief would not be that probably or or Larry it'd be one of him but there again I don't know what he's taking the classes or not yes but you should mm-hmm so the incident commander would be the one to be the point person if the fire department had a couple extra radios say they would be only the point person for what's going on we have a trouble up here they're an Irene that should have been taken care of that we got trouble and come down the but if the show before he makes a call he needs to talk to people the other people if the shelter team is being activated the select board knows about it right the only one radio down there the fire department will also know about it so at that point in time we typically have a meeting to determine whether to open the shelter or not so at that point if there were a couple extra radios housed at the fire department it would be easy for them to access the fire department and then you could have your two or three or five radios whatever you needed chances are we're gonna be already called with they're gonna be busy you're gonna be busy you're in charge of the scene so I'm in charge of safety of everything that's right that's right so I'm here in a in a support position to handle media to handle questions from citizens just so that somebody's the point if there was a need for radios you could grab them from the fire department where they're monitoring and exercising them just like we did down there in there be under the jurisdiction right that would get one would be under the jurisdiction of the fire chief right that would be aware that if the shelter team was because you got the radio already right anyway but he would need one to go right but if you're in the command area you don't leave the command post right you do not leave or myself or somebody else who's right in line would would be would be manning or humaning the the command post at all times correct right bring a sleeping bag yeah yeah now I just just to add this may be a benefit or maybe a waste of time to even mention it but I live off-grid and I have enhanced my battery system myself with cells I have a satellite communication and I have a cell phone repeater so I'm in pretty I'm pretty good shape if things go out I could still get it I can still I could still be I'm still be able to call out so if everything's put everything's down as long as the satellites are still working we can get out I can go to your house you can come to my house we have hot showers so in the long or the short of it is then the radios that would be accessible from the fire station would be the higher-quality radio anyway it would be showed how to use them because we like I said you're gonna be on all we have to have a training with a couple of people they'd be exercise you probably rotate rotate them around me easier to do the training the day you hand them out because if you do it now they aren't gonna know right you can't use but you might be a busy man you might be somewhere else where not and whoever's there may not know that we have permission to take the distance you are gonna take them I'll have an officer bring it to you and then there'll be a distribution system set up for that yeah I mean that'll be their command and they'll be able to we're good about getting you go around and I got people on both sides of the river so it really right because they will be aware of people that may need assistance that you may need to know you have to go get somebody somewhere yeah okay I'm so glad we clarified that thank you yeah thank you thank you for bringing up but it's good that we're talking about it now not in the middle because I do think that the process we have a group of radios controlled by a group and they can distribute from there because the waste I saw down here the disposal of that stuff was just heartbreaking really I said holy cow all this money just yeah and ours are on like a rotation of being maintained and going to the coming back with new parts exactly you can rely on which is expensive and you don't have cheap ones or right it doesn't pan out and they don't reach out yeah so it really doesn't all right thank you that's possible scenario we have another part use application and that one is for August October 20th at 4 30 to 7 the Rochester PTO giant pumpkin way and that probably won't get hampered by inclement order so I'd move to approve that I second it all in favor all right hi right we had a request to talk about our friend the owl here and and what it is and what did it cost and who initiated the purchase I guess that is it seems to be working all right now I think there was a bad cable connection or something but I think it's pretty obvious what the owl is doing is allowing zoom to seamlessly interact with the meeting visually and audibly and that we paid a thousand dollars for it and I believe we use ARPA funding for that and that happened first purchase right when we resumed in-person meetings in 2020 so it's it's basically it's just a tool to facilitate open meetings of people that can't or don't want to be here in person you can choose one or the other because it's cause any echo while you're doing that or you have your hand up so we'll let you go owl was an acronym for something does it stand for something no so I just muted his phone also muted so he's on you'll need to unmute your Robert are going to save your question for the public comment period so we can move through the agenda and just take notes and remember what you wanted to say but would and please only sign in either on your computer or the phone because as you heard you can cause a disruption there my question now your question was is there is an acronym for something yeah it's just that well it's you know kind of they think that owls are can look every direction and this has like a 360 degree view it it responds to whoever is speaking and focuses the okay in that direction so if I just if I described it in America was a tool that allows zoom to facilitate open meetings would that be that's correct yeah thank you yeah so Robert leave that to your to the public comments so we can get through the agenda because it's I don't think that's proper with regards to the owl is Robert let you wait till the public comment session to talk about this I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry the concern about the owl is on the agenda and I have every right to speak about it tell me what to do in the public comment you do so please no okay I've muted him come back in the public comment talk about this you're you're welcome to witness the meetings but you're not here to direct the meeting so we answered the question and we answered the question that's on there yeah so the next item on the agenda is to turn this off okay so we have where were we number nine is formally approving the Nimrick as the firm to do the townwide appraisal so I understand Julie approach several several entities 17 some of them are no longer in business Nimrick is pretty darn familiar with our information it was the best price so I think that's it's kind of a no-brainer to award that to Nimrick yeah other towns are using the same service yeah so I propose you do that I second that do we have any idea when the 2026 2025 2025 that's when they're gonna start the proposal sorry it's gonna start but it takes a year to pull together grievances yeah and our last one was what 2012 2011 2012 so yeah it's happening yeah I'm sorry on the agenda it looks like we skipped over the access mobility elevator lift to your contract oh I'm sorry pardon me so the um the access mobility elevator lift is a three-year contract for the maintenance of that and I've moved to approve we have no choice no choice yeah on the second I don't know how many elevator lift companies there are out there right all right yeah just notice that and then we have a management representation letter for Payson Holly which is our auditors auditors right they did the draft of the audit for finishing fiscal year 23 we're lucky we're lucky to have them yeah yeah so I've moved to move to sign that letter second all in favor all right okay this is actually you have to sign it and I'll sign who me this is treasure nice they're great people to work with so Tony welcome any exciting news from library other than that slowly getting painted painted yes you probably will I don't know will you have any contact with some of the historical people and so on about the painting and we're just just doing the upper piece and the front yeah that's all not touching the lower section at this time because I think we've got to do something different there yeah I'm not sure what but that's a whole different game so we're just getting the upper painted okay and in the front yeah thank you yeah and I was gonna oh we're having a trustees meeting tomorrow afternoon by 30 I believe and our library director is here and we'll probably say a few things that are beyond what I would say I just wanted to introduce myself as the new library director I'm Maya Newroot if you don't know and I would like to say that I am so thrilled to have this job it's an amazing library Jeanette has done such an incredible job with it so I am looking forward to many years of building the collection and creating more programs and finding ways to keep the library relevant for everyone in the community I invite you wholeheartedly to come and check us out at any point and if you want to hear a Vermont farmer talk about his cute little animals and the cute little books he writes about him he'll be here tomorrow so thank you Mike thank you Mike thanks for taking it I'm glad you're excited about it yeah yeah all right any I see they've been stockpiling sand and with broken trucks yeah they're still dealing with broken trucks and they did the final inspection on the bridge which that's good and everything's good there there's they got a lot of truck issues right now that the new truck and the drive shaft fell off there was a smash the radiator so we're gonna have a new radiator in that and then the other truck has to go back in that's under warranty though isn't it no because the drive shaft fell off that's not a warranty system so we'll have to stretch that going to the pump and he is hauling sand he's you know we put a bunch of barriers up because we had to build the painted there and and he kind of stacked some blocks up around it which I think was he said he'd been wanting to do that for a long time so that was good that we were able to get that done so that's always pretty much doing getting ready for winter I guess that's about it we're just coming yep it is Terry if you've got any Martha you got a question I'm sorry a question for Frank because you're based you're the board's liaison with the road crew right I just I always call them at some point within a week or two before Halloween and to just remind them they're the ones who always take the benches and the picnic tables off the park and store them for the winter that was just it's getting to be that time so if you think of it the next time you see them yeah I'll mention to a Martha thank you thank you very much I appreciate it I'm the park I am the park committee that's why I'm bothering no problem all right Terry what's new in the utility world well I thought usually about the checkbook has got quite a bit of money in it and something you guys need to take out and put it into the the reserve funds there's like 92,000 in it and you haven't done it last couple years should be getting done every year to see where we stand and so we can do some maintenance that should be done yep and I wrote it my report that next year I'd like a couple of manholes that need to get replaced we got two sewer pumps that's going to have to get replaced and then water I think we should try doing a couple hydrants each year because we're way behind you know armor 40 50 years old they're starting work really hard and doesn't seem good way to free them up but you know years ago we had me make up this you know what we should be doing and we haven't done any of that mainly because we hadn't had any money until we raise the rates last time and but looks we're doing pretty good on it so we need to start doing some of this maintenance or else somebody's gonna get kicked in yeah so and you want to just pick some of those things off a list and start I did write it down my sheet when you read it that for budget finding this all right that'd be good and you know I just put down rough numbers I have no idea what it's gonna cost I mean but you when we have our meeting then you can come in and talk about what do you what do you recommend we stuff in the reserve I think you should stuff all you can there's some things that are still not quite even though the rates have come up I was looking at the draft audit and we're still at like negative 20 in the books so really then show it getting better because it was at negative 80 so we're doing a lot better than we were so we're just not quite a hundred percent out of it so I just I just want to go over all that first before we like say we're gonna throw how much into it right and I don't really think it's that we can just say okay we're gonna take 30 and put it here and 50 and put it there like I think we have to you guys separate water from the sore so we'll come up with a number that we can a little bit to make sure that that we fully understand this if we do it each year you're gonna know what you can afford to do yeah next year it's a number that we have to run through the auditor so before we can say what we would happen would be you know like I foresee it being at the end of the audit when we get like our final audit then we would know what our books ended you know the prior year and then we would be like okay now beginning this year we can go ahead and transfer 20,000 to the water and fit into the sewer or whatever the case we almost have to do it a year after you we need to wait until our audits been finalized yeah this year you need to look into it this year because sewer pumps gonna get done this next year where you got money or not yeah and we'll all we'll connect with Nathan because it's putting us weight I'm figuring I'm down 20% on on what it's costing us and what we're getting hit for it 20% less than what they should be so it's time to change them what are the pump stone stairs so the ones are gonna go in we've already paid for them the holes you haven't paid to get them in there because the other one's gonna be all taken they gotta take bottoms off to make them fit into what's there so it was more expensive buying the pump or putting it in well I'm the condor right I think I gotta run the condor over and up to the box because it's not there's a junction box inside and it's no way we're gonna do that bull again yeah so you foresee putting it in being more expensive than buying the pump itself no probably not as much but as much but a chunk yeah it might be it might be a little expensive this time because he's got to do some electric we gotta do a little digging configuration and I'll have some like I'm court put a boot in so it doesn't leak I'm gonna call him this fall and see if I can come down so I'll have a good number yeah in the spring I think by getting it ready now I get a better price that they won't be so busy in the spring that we can do it and be good to get that number sooner than later for the budget session so we can I gave a rough number rough number okay that would be probably I think pretty close but yeah we got to start doing some of the stuff I mean yeah because it's gonna cost big bucks then so yep okay and then we need to get the mowing done down to school that we feel the grass is this high I'll talk to Joe and we need to double mowing to tone because it's fall I know he's getting married this weekend I think yeah but he's got a couple guys leaving that work for him mowing all right let's get to hey and down there no yes terrible that's the I mean next year you got to really think about getting us done it's gotta be done weekly on that field that we're gonna keep it alive yeah yeah yeah I'll text him get a hold of them all right is Jeff get part in the zoom yes hey welcome Jeff I'm not a whole lot to report but Harry Falconer has helped us to put in application for the municipal the Merck program municipal energy resilience assessment we have put in an application there for a level two energy audit and a level two energy audit is a level one is a walkthrough we've had all of those that we need level two is an actual diagnostic analysis of the building and recommendations for improvements Harry and I in discussing it felt that the office was the best primary target for us with almost fifty nine hundred dollars annually in fuel and electricity followed by the town garage yeah that's generally you can pretty much count on getting your first choice and possibly the second choice that's that's what I've been led to believe yeah I know there are 22 towns that already have gotten grants through this program and that the second round closes at the end of the month and I probably need to apologize to all you guys for burying you with the fuel data and graphs you presented it well it's easier to see what was going on with it so I appreciate it that's not that not like some of the things we can see well that's um that's a good step forward I know it's taking a lot of little steps to get there but thank you for being persistent no problem no Christian you got any grant updates I've just got two little things we've received our reimbursement for our grant and aid on Cooper run and North Hollow so we received the full twenty seven thousand dollar reimbursement and for FEMA we we're still working on things we've currently got three projects we have a Jones Mountain and then we have a debris what they allowed us to combine all of our debris locations into one and then a project on North Hollow so I've been spending hours in the portal answering questions and providing documents so that's where we are with that North Hollow by the farm yes yeah fine Mike right that intersection they found fish there yeah I saw that so yeah so that two-foot culvert's gonna turn into something else and we're not sure exactly what it is yet because they'll have to do the other one below it too so we'll have to wait and see on that fishing for money they actually were they look like they're right I was surprising really I'm surprised all right so now we move into the public comment section of the meeting in which we hold at three minutes so Robert now is your chance if you had something that you wanted to say this is your your time to do it if you're still there he is still here his phones muted but his computer if you just want to unmute your computer Robert or maybe he doesn't have anything does anybody have anything you've got a couple of different anybody that out there that wants to talk about anything else and we'll we'll now it's your chance and go in once go in twice and thank you all for coming I move to adjourn I second all in favor