 Welcome. It's 7-0-1 or thereabouts. And I call the 2020 annual town meeting two-quarter. I am Dan McKinlay, I'm your moderator, town moderator, moderating from the past year. And I'll serve moderator until the week's the first particle. And then we'll see what happens. I'd like to start us out with the Pledge of Allegiance. If you're able to stand and join us, down in your heads, Pledge of Allegiance. We reply on behalf of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Nicely done. I think that was that me? Or was that you moving that? I don't know. So the town meeting, as you know, is covered by state law and Robert's rules up to later. I'd like to remind you of some of those general Robert's rules, to make this go a little bit smoother for both the season's town meeting doors and the new folks that may not be as up to speed on Robert's rules. You may speak twice on any article, first time when you're recognized by the moderator, then you may speak a second time if everyone that wishes to speak has had their chance. You may speak for five minutes at a time and hold them 10 minutes. The business that we're here to conduct is on pages 235 in your town plan. If you do wish to speak, please stand if you are able. And we do not have microphones to run this evening. Unfortunately, they haven't woken up since last town meeting. And they're up here just sort of dormant. So they're really going to need to protect your voice. And if you can, you're technically supposed to address the moderator, but if you can turn and talk to the folks and protect your voices, it'll help a lot. For non-lecture articles, we'll attempt to decide by voice vote. But you may request a division of the House, which means a showing of hands or a rising. If you don't like the way the voice vote sounds or if you'd like to be more accurate. Similarly, a paper ballot can be requested by seven voters. And we would do that. But I really know that there are some of the officers are elected by paper ballot. Remember that to cut off the debate or call the question. You must be recognized before you do that. Can't just shout out, call the question. You've got to wait till your turn. There may be several people ahead of you. But when it comes to your turn, you can call the question. And it takes two thirds vote to end the debate. And if we get two thirds of a vote, we'll end the debate. And we'll vote on the table. And if we don't get two thirds vote, we'll continue the debate. It's up to you. Speeches must be confined to the merit of the question at hand. You will not be permitted to attack the person or the motives of the person. Please keep your comments on the merit of the question. Only award articles may be considered. Body being action cannot be taken under the article of other business. The role of the moderators to help you accomplish your business expeditiously and fairly. Please raise your hand. And I'll recognize you in the order I see you. I'll try to call you by name. But may not know you, or I may know you for 30 years and forget your name. But I might have to say, hey, you black jacket. Until later, if you please. And again, use your best outside voice. The moderators ruling can be appealed. I want to remind you of that. And I encourage you to do so if you think I'm not following the rules. I'm really here to follow the will of the assembly. So I won't be offended if you want to appeal my decision I made. You don't have to be recognized. Your head up and recognized if you want to appeal. That one you can just shout out. Say you don't want to appeal a ruling. And I would explain my ruling. There's a second to the appeal. I'll explain my ruling. And then we'll vote to sustain my ruling or not. If you think I'm violating Romer's rules of order, which very well may be, you can also call out a point of order. And we'll discuss that and consider whether I'm in the ballpark. The moderator can use unanimous consent. And that just allows us to move things along. When I say if there are no objections, that means we'll step a step or two like closing the nominations or allowing a person a third of time to speak. Something like that. So I'll say if there are no objections, that means I'm skating around with some rules. And if you don't want me to do that, do you say, no? I object to that. And that's perfectly fine to do so. Romer's rules does not allow for reading from papers or reading a book or an article or a paper. But that rule can be suspended. So if you rise and plan to speak or read from papers, just let us know. And we'll say if there are no objections, we'll let Jane go read from papers. At this time, I would ask that those that are not registered voters, please raise your hand and make yourself known. Thank you and welcome. It's been our practice to allow non-registered voters to speak at our meetings. And I would use a unanimous consent here. I'd say if there are no objections, we'll let our visitors speak this evening. Right, well, thank you. I don't believe you can't vote. You might get the heat of the moment for your hand up about something, but keep your hand down. At this time, I believe there's no opening remarks from the select board at this time. They will place dignitaries, although the representative has his in the front room. Would you like to say something? So as usual, when I come to you this time of year, we are at that point in the legislative session when we're just about ready to draw a fence and say that any bill that has not come out of committee is dead for not only for the year, but for the biennium. This is that we are in a two-term biennium, and this is the end. So we have one. We're off this week for town meeting. We go back and we have one more week to vote our bills out of committee and get them on their way to the other body. So any House bill that hasn't come out of committee by next Friday is finished, and any Senate bill the same. And then we'll spend the last two months or so looking at the bills that have come over to us from the other body. The big news, some of them are live that you've heard. We did pass minimum wage. We overrode the veto last week. And the minimum wage, which is currently $10.96, will go to 1175 next January. And on January 1st of 2022, it will go to $12.55. And at that point, unless there's another bill next year, it will then go back to the consumer price index increases that we've been seeing this last time. I think it was $0.19 from last year to this year. So that's what the CPI does. Major issues this year, we really have decided that it is time to take some action to address climate change. And we're trying to be careful about that. Traditions we have. I'm part of something called the climate solutions caucus that meets every week. And I think there are 87 of us between the two bodies who are members of that and come pretty regularly to those meetings. The House just passed last week the Global Warming Solutions Act, which basically will put into statute the carbon reduction goals that have been part of us with part of the state vision, part of the state plan for several years, but they weren't in statute. So this puts them in a statute, and it creates a council to look at them out on the front table. I have a written report that has a little bit more about that bill. That obviously moves to the Senate. We're hoping they won't tinker with it too much, but they probably will do something different. I also want to remind you about the census. It's just about, you're just about to get something in the mail on that. The census folks are, because of all the publicity last year, they are very nervous about what's called a complete count. I met with a member of one of their employees this summer, and apparently the town of Goshen participated so little that they got, that only half of their citizens got counted. It's important because it affects the money that comes to us from the federal government. When we do our, when we do our budget every year, nearly, I think about $2 billion of what we spend in Vermont is money that comes to us from the federal government, whether it's for highways, for subsidies, for child care, for work that's done by the health department, which is gonna be very important now. All of this, we rely very heavily on support from the federal government, and much of that is tied to knowing how many people we are. So please, when you get it, you can do it by mail. You can do it online. You can do it by phone. If they don't hear from you on the first try, they will try again. But please, please do it, and please encourage your friends and neighbors to participate. It's really important that we do that. I think it's also, I also wanna just let you know that the health department is really bearing up to address the steps that Vermont is gonna take to address the coronavirus. We're hearing a lot about that in the news. So if you go to the Vermont Department of Health website, it's right there at the very top of their website and you can, there are links to what you can do, what physicians can do, and they'll have all of the latest updates on steps that they're taking. And I think with that, I will say enjoy the meeting. I'll be in town all week if you have questions or concerns for me, and it's good to see you. I move to the morning of the business at hand this evening. The morning reads the town of Rochester, Vermont's annual town meeting to be held Monday, March 2nd, 2020 at 7 p.m. The legal voters of the town of Rochester, County of Windsor State of Vermont are hereby warned and notified to meet at the Rochester School Auditorium in said town on Monday, March 2nd, 2020 at 7 p.m. to transact the following business from the floor. Technically I should read the warning, but I think it would be happy not to if there are no objections. I will not read the entire warning, but we will go through it, article by article. No objections, thank you. You read it? Read the warning, please. Read the entire warning. I'll read the warning, and I need warnings. So, I did think so, that was, do I need a second on that? Asking to, suspended rules, and there's an objection. I would make a motion, I would accept the motion to suspend the rules. That would be a second and a two third vote. But if the general would like me to read the entire warning, I would do so if there is not a motion to, not a suspended. A motion to suspend. Second. Seconded, the motion to suspend the rule to read the warning, and it's been seconded, and I need a two thirds vote to suspend that rule. All in favor of sustaining that rule, say aye. Aye. As opposed, say nay. Thank you. Question, where can we find the morning after this meeting? Right here. The morning, is it in the town plan? Town reports. Does anyone have, is there an extra one that we could give to the general? If you're a register voter, you would have gotten one in the mail. Anybody have an extra one? I'm sorry, I'm leaving the album, but I don't have any. There's an extra. There we go. Hey, we got an extra one for you here. It's available online as well. Yeah, we're bringing it to you. Back row. Back row. I'll go the rest of the way the way out. Thank you. Thanks, man. So we'll move to article one. Article one to elect the town moderator for the ensuing year. Nominations. Nominate Dan McKinley. Dan McKinley's been nominated. I'll second it. Second it. Any other nominations? Close nominations. And that's the clerk to catch one vote for Dan McKinley as town moderator. Thank you. We know it's not always clear that it's sign of a good job. It's just sign of someone else not wanting to do it. Article two to elect all town officers as required by law. One, a select board three-year term. Two, town clerk one-year term. Three, town treasurer one-year term. Four, Lister three-year term. Five, collector of blink of taxes one-year term. Library trustee five-year term. Number seven, trustee of public lands. Number eight, cemetery commissioner. Number nine, cemetery commissioner. For four-year term. The other was a five-year term. Number 10, agent to prosecute and defend suits. One-year term. Number 11, agent to convey real estate. Starting off with number one, the select board position for a three-year term. Nominations. Nancy. Moderator, I'd like to nominate Frank Severy. Frank has been a lifelong resident of the town of Rochester and has been quite active in town affairs for many years on the planning board. Seconded. Seconded. Seconded. Seconded. Predominations. Here none. We'll close nominations. Wait, where's Frank? He's not going to do this. He's still smiling. And we'll ask the clerk to cast one vote. One battle for Frank and Severy. Thank you for offering a serve. I appreciate it. So, and he didn't mention who is, Frank is replacing, then that would be Tom here. And we'd like to thank Tom for his three years of service on the board. And I don't know if you have any parting words of wisdom for us, but thank you for all the projects you've taken on and your contributions over the years. I appreciate it. Number two, to elect a town clerk for a one-year term. Currently, I hope, Julie Smith. I nominate Julie Smith. Julie Smith has been nominated. Julie's been the second. Any other nominations for town clerk? Hearing none, close nominations. We'll ask the clerk to cast a ballot for herself. Thank you. Number three, to elect a town treasurer, one-year term also held by Julie Smith. Nominations. I nominate Julie Smith. Julie Smith, the nominated. Second. Seconded. Any other nominations for town treasurer? Hearing none, I'll ask the clerk to cast one vote for Julie Smith for town treasurer. Thank you, Julie. The list for a three-year term position held by Julie Ghosnag. How many years have Louis Louis listened? A lot. A lot of years. Over 30. I'm here to start off. Nominations for Lister, three-year term. Louis has been nominated and seconded. Any other nominations? No other nominations. We'll close nominations. Ask the clerk to cast one ballot for Louis Ghosnag, or Lister for a three-year term. Thank you, Louis. Nominations for a one-year term currently held by Becky Klein. Nominations, please. I nominate Becky. Becky's been nominated. I second. Seconded. Any other nominations for the clerk to elect a town treasurer? Hearing none, we'll close nominations. Ask the clerk to cast one ballot for Becky Klein, or the clerk to elect a town treasurer for a three-year term. Thank you, Becky. Six, a library trustee, a five-year term currently held by Tony Goopy. I nominate Tony Goopy. Tony Goopy's been nominated. Seconded. Any other nominations? Hearing none, we'll ask the clerk to cast one ballot for Tony Goopy for a library trustee, a five-year term. Number seven, a trustee of public lands, a three-year term currently held. Funds. Public funds. Funds. Funds. Yes, funds. A trustee of public funds for a three-year term held by Mike Hardley. Pardon? Nomination. Mike Hardley. Mike Hardley's been nominated. Seconded. Seconded. Any other nominations? Hearing none, we'll close nominations. And ask the clerk to cast one ballot for a trustee of public funds for a three-year term of Mike Hardley. Mike, a cemetery commissioner, a five-year term currently held by Morgan Hardley. I nominate Mara Hardley. Mara Hardley's been nominated. Seconded. Seconded. Any other nominations? Closed nominations. And ask the clerk to cast one ballot for cemetery commissioner for a five-year term for Martin Hardley. Thank you, Martin. We're going to have a cemetery commissioner for a four-year term, which is currently evaded. Any nominations? I nominate Nancy Woolley. Nancy Woolley's been nominated. Seconded. Any other nominations? Hearing none, we'll close nominations. And ask the clerk to cast one ballot for cemetery commissioner for a four-year term for Nancy Woolley. Thank you, Nancy. And ask the clerk to prosecute and defend suits for a one-year term held by Bill Matthews. Nominations. Do you like to nominate Bill Matthews? Bill Matthews has been nominated. Surprise. Seconded. Is Bill here? Yes, I am. Thank you. Any other nominations? Hearing none, we'll close nominations. Ask the clerk to cast one ballot for Bill Matthews for the agents to prosecute and defend suits for a one-year term. Thank you, Bill. Thank you, Bill. We're going to find the last officer to be elected. Number 11, agents to convey real estate in one-year term held by Pat Hardley. Nominations, please. Pat Hardley's been nominated. Seconded. Any other nominations? Hearing none, we'll close nominations. And ask the clerk to cast one ballot for Pat Hardley for agents to convey real estate for a one-year term. Thank you, Pat. Well, thank you. Article 3, to hear and act on the report of the auditors. Do you want to move this article? I'll move. Seconded. Any discussion? The report of the auditors. Hearing none, we'll move to a vote to accept the report of the auditors. All in favor, say aye. All say nay. If anyone said nay. It's a report. Article 4, to hear and act on the reports of the town officers. Move this. Step out of the vote. Seconded. Any discussion? Report of the town officers. Hearing none, we'll move to close discussion and move to a vote. All in favor of accepting the reports of the town officers. Hearing none, we'll move to close discussion and move to a vote. All in favor of accepting the reports of the town officers. Say aye. Opposed to say nay. Article 4 passes. Article 5, shall the voters agree to pay all taxes for fiscal year July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021, fiscal year 2021 to the town treasurer that's provided by law. Seconded. Seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll move to a vote. Shall the voters agree to pay all taxes for fiscal year July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021 FY21 to the town treasurer that's provided by law. All in favor say aye. Opposed to say nay. Aye's had it. Article 5 passes. I think he refused that one. Article 6, shall the voters authorize payments of real and personal property taxes in four installments for fiscal year May 1, 2020 and May 1, 2021. Okay, it's been Friday, August 14, 2020. Monday, November 16, 2020. Tuesday, February 16, 2021 and Monday, May 17, 2021 by delivery to the tax collector before 4 p.m. on those dates. Postmarks are not considered time to be payment. Those other like to move it. Moved. Seconded. Seconded. Discussion? So we'll not repeat that. And we'll go to a vote. Article six, all in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed say nay. Ayes have it, article six passes. Article seven, shall the voters authorize the total fund expenditures for operating expenses of $1,88,700, of which $780,550 shall be raised by taxes. Do we have a second? Do you want to move this article? So moved. Moved and seconded. Discussion? Yes, Louie. I'm wondering if we, well, as I understand it, please correct me if I'm wrong that we're this year, in an effort to rein in the taxes, are not funding the funds. Do I understand that correctly? Not funding the reserve funds. Is that what you're, yeah, yes, that is right. Go ahead, Louie, this is for you. I'm just curious, going forward, what the idea is. What's the plan? I understand when this came from way back when and where we got to where we are now. But I'm just curious how we move this forward. Well, there's definitely, this was kind of a bump in the expenses. So this was an effort to kind of not respond to highs and lows of the expenses. But that said, this has been a vehicle we've used in the past few years bit by bit to try and keep the budget in a moderate rise. So we're hoping to bring some of those reserve funds back. But there's also thoughts that perhaps instead of putting money away every year to save for a new truck and then why not go and finance a new truck and use the money. That way when you finance a new vehicle, the people that are paying for it, paying for that finance charge are the people that are actually using it versus people paying for it. Now a truck that will be bought in the future. There's one philosophy about it because municipally, we're eligible for really good low interest rates. And the interest that we get on money just sitting in the bank is not that good. So that's part of the philosophical discussion that is covered around that decision. You want to say anything? Oh, so leasing, it opens up the possibility of leasing equipment instead of purchasing equipment. We're not saying that we're going in that direction. We're just opening up the possibility of it in the future. Save that all over again. It's like four bikes. All right, try another microphone. Try another mic or just talk louder. There you go. Hold it close. OK, heat the mic. Third or repeat that? No. I have a curiosity. What is the fund used for? Is it like an emergency fund or is it just? There are several reserve funds. There would be like the fire equipment reserve fund and the highway equipment reserve fund. There is a reserve fund for maintenance of the tennis courts. There's a list of them on page 17. 17. And the total what? Total. They're all totaled individually. They're all normally be funded. Don't have that number. That number varied. It varied from year to year sometimes. So talk to the microphone. The number that was placed in reserves varied from year to year, depending on the budget and how much we felt we were able to put into each reserve fund. All right, so if voters of Rochester wanted to vote extra money to cover the reserve fund this year, how much was not being funded this year because you wanted to keep the budget lower? We would have to go back a couple years to come to that number. I don't know if I can give you immediately a number. I mean, we could go back and get a pencil and add it up. But on page 17, it shows the history of what those are. You can go. I don't have that answer right off the bat. Can you give us a ballpark? A ballpark? 500,000, 200,000? Much less than that. We're talking probably Nancy worked on that. Around 100? Yeah, around 100. It seems to me that cost or some possibility that it makes sense that you don't have a reserve fund for a vehicle because you can purchase in a vehicle, get a loan, et cetera. But some of the things that you are not reserving for, like for instance, general maintenance of buildings or tennis court maintenance, I don't understand the rationale behind that. So an explanation, please. I guess the main rationale for that is the taxes and to keep them, when we started the process at the budget committee, we're looking at a 22% increase in the taxes, which would probably be turned down at this meeting. We're thinking we struggled to get it down to just over a 4% increase in the tax rate. So that's basically the rationale is to present a budget that's acceptable and is not gonna be shocking. And it's a struggle. I spend way, way a lot of time debating all these questions. I got a question on that. Will you just... Hang on a second. Can you focus on one of mine that you already recognize? You have one chance to speak already. I'm gonna see who else and then I'll come back to you. Do I get a follow-up to that? A follow-up question to your... Go ahead. You are saving money this year. Can I give you a share of that? The select board has decided to save money this year, but what is the implication in three years when you have five buildings and a tennis court that need repair, need to be taken care of? It seems to me that you're gonna spend money or spend money. You know, maybe you... I don't know exactly how much was decided for each particular venue that you were dealing with, but it seems to me to absolutely not fund at all. Seems foolhardy with money. I just wanna say his numbers don't add up. He says it was, he set the budget at 22% increase and he didn't wanna deal with that because we were rejected. So you get it down to 4%. But that 18% is equivalent to $100,000. That doesn't make any sense at all. No, the cutting of the reserve funds is only a portion of the manipulations that we did to come up with the whole budget. That doesn't represent the whole amount. So we could put this back and it wouldn't amount to very much then, right? Your percentages. About 5%. Nancy, do you have a number on that? I think it's about one cent for $9,000 or $10,000. Greg White could probably answer it more succinctly. Let it, that's close. Any under per $10,000 increase in the budget? So it'd be about 10 cents. On the tax rate. Yeah, per 1,000. Okay. 10 cents for 100? 10, so can someone explain that? Greg, can you explain what that means? You might have to stand up and... Yeah, what it means is, for every $2,000 increase in the budget, that the price per 100, so it'd be, it's a penny per 100 and multiply it by 10 to get whatever it is per 1,000, so you can go from there. So your tax rate is based on 1,000? Yeah, that's on the valuation of your property. Go ahead, David. Could the select board please explain some of the other, what you call, manipulations that were done to the budget to keep it from increasing to 22% so we can put this reserve fund non-unfunding, we can put it in perspective. What else did you unfund? What do you want? For example, here are the comments, questions in the back. The question was, what else, what other funding changes were made to get to that 22% in addition to the reserve funds? Yeah. I hate off the longer, we knock that down. Well, one was we used some of the existing reserve fund to pay off the balance due on the loader, so therefore that is not a loan payment that is going to come be paid in the next year, and so that was a big one, that was like $18,000, $20,000. The constable expense has gone down by removing our law enforcement constable and hiring the Windsor County Sheriff to cover that. What else? Lots of little bits and pieces here and there, but it's like we're shaving away, it's a challenge. Anything come to mind, anyone on the budget committee that'd like to speak up about that? I think I would say also that when these cuts were made, they were discussed with their department heads, and they felt that they could work within it. So the reserve fund has as an advocate only in this project. Excuse me, can you wait to be recognized so you can have a hand up back here, go ahead. June, yeah, Ethan, Mohan. June, I just don't think you quite answered Brenda's question about if you're not funding some of these things, because obviously your lease and the loader or things like that, that makes sense to me, but not funding building funds and things like that, is that pushing the money to some time later when we may have a bigger expense? It is pushing it later, but there were also some spikes in expenses that came this year that we are reacting to that we don't expect to have to deal with next year, so we do plan to. For example, legal expenses were significantly higher than what we're historically used to. We also had some employee benefit increases just by virtue of choices made by employees, and it goes on and on, but those are just a couple of the big ones, yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would point out, I guess that there is a balance in most of these funds at the moment in that you're talking about not depositing for this coming fiscal year. Right here, right, yeah, it's not like we We didn't dream of it. Used it all up. Jeff, welcome, you got to talk to me. Jeff was pointing out that there are some balances in these funds, so it's not like we eliminated the fund. There is still money that has been put in there over the years, and we just couldn't afford to put more in this year. Any other discussion before we move to, yes, to the back? Yeah, I have a quick question. I'd like to know if there's an answer to the fellow's question in the front. What's the plan? A couple months ago at the town plan public hearing, there were three suggestions for new committees that could support the select board. I'd like to know if the select board's made a decision about whether or not there's going to be the addition of a conservation committee, an energy committee, and an economic development committee, which could help supplement our revenue in town. There is definitely movement towards having the energy committee, and there's actually a quintown movement in that direction between the valleys. In terms of a conservation committee, I have not heard of any activity in that direction, and in what was the last economic? Economic development committee to come up with ideas for great revenue to support the budgets. In terms of an economic development committee, there is, I would think, the Envision Rochester Initiative has been taking some dramatic proactive steps in that direction, and that's been... That's an independent point. So my question is, what is the select board doing that could have a committee that's appointed by the select board, and therefore accountable to us and to the select board? That's the best way to find it. Do you guys now plan to be adopted yet by the select board? It's been encouraged, it's still under development. Yeah, it's the first meeting, but it's not... The planning commission has revised it, but you're waiting for a hearing on the town plan, for the select board to adopt it. For the town plan, yeah. The town plan, yeah. But in terms of the town doing economic development, that is not a committee that is currently been banging on our doors, asking to do work. I guess you're saying that it was presented out of the meeting as an option, but presenting options that is helpful if it has volunteers to join and to carry those options. That makes sense. Just as a follow-up, so we have a budget committee that's carving up our tax, our current taxes now, but from what I understand, there's no committee focused on coming up with ideas to generate revenue. So as our expenses go up, what's the plan? More taxes. More taxes, more efficient taxes. It would be great to have some volunteer grant writers out there in the crowd. I suggest, as far as... Is that you with your hand up, back in here? In other nations, other sovereign countries, they tax profits, so if you end the year with a certain amount more than you began the year with, those profits are taxed. And when you speak of grants, many companies that give out grants or write for grants are actually multi-billion dollar companies in the first place. So if we were to begin taxing profits, the companies that generally garner the most profit are the ones that are using the most input structure and delegating the most tax to be done. And it frees up the working man's pockets so that way more of the dollar they earn ends up directly into their pocket. And less of it, feeling like so much of it is already taken away before they ever receive anything in the first place. Can we start with a question? Can we start with a question? John? Yeah. I'd like to point out probably under state law, we can't do that anyway. And none of these billion dollar corporations happen to have in the headquarters in Rochester. Not yet. Not yet. You can't work it on that. In Google and they want to make the money. Yeah, we're talking about budget. I think the discussion is to bring the people up to the thought about how to raise funds. Ethan, did you have another comment? Are we working on a specific amendment here? We are not. A dollar amount, so I just sort of. There's no amendment. There are people making comments on the budget on how we're trying to make more money. Martha and Chris, Nancy. Martha. I just want to call the question if possible. Okay. Steve, all the questions. The question's been called to end the debate. All in favor of ending the debate, is AI? AI. It was supposed to say nay. Yay. The guys had it, they closed the debate and we'll move to a vote on this article. Article seven, shall the voters authorize total fund expenditures for operating expenses of $1,088,700 of which $780,550 shall be raised by taxes. All in favor say hi. Hi. As opposed to nay. Nay. As had it, article seven passes. I'll make some discussion. Article eight, shall the voters appropriate $45,625 towards operating expenses of the Rochester Public Library? So I'm going to move that for you, please. Move, and second. Discussion? All in the back. Well, I won't make a short statement regarding the library. Those who were here last year probably recall that there was a lively discussion about the library about your last year on how to fund it. A little out of the wall, please, if you can. I'll try. Following town meeting last year, I attended a library trustee meeting to inquire about their endowment funds and the spending policy regarding those funds. That's part of what goes into funding the library budget. The spending policy was quite dated and predicated on a policy agreed to with the investment firm of record. With the approval of the library trustees, an investment advisory committee was formed to review and make recommendations to the trustees on management of the endowment funds for the benefit of the library in perpetuity, which is what endowment funds are supposed to. The committee included Fars Newton, Wanda Durham, Sandy Pierce, myself, and library representatives. A review determined that the investment policy in play did not correspond with the spending policy before the funds and might result in the completion of the endowed funds within approximately 12 years, meaning that the 16,000 plus that was being put into the budget would no longer exist. A recommendation was made that spending needed to be severely reduced. It was further recommended that several investment firms be invited to make proposals of how they would manage the available funds to ensure perpetuity while stabilizing an annual spending policy. Members of the committee and the library trustees heard proposals from Northfield Savings Bank Investment Division, Community Financial Services Group, and Edward Jones. The committee reviewed these proposals and recommended to the committee rather to the trustees that the Northfield Savings Bank proposal best met the concerns of the committee regarding stabilizing the principle, providing growth in perpetuity, and increasing annual available funds to support library programs. Additionally, Northfield Savings would charge no trades for fees to acquire the funds from where they were, and no annual management fees to hold the money. Trustees ultimately transferred the funds to the Northfield Savings Bank for the foreseeable future. Upon recommendation of the committee, the trustees adopted new statement of objectives regarding the library endowment funds, including a clearly stated spending equation, which will keep these funds into the future. So personally, I'd like to thank the committee members and commend the library trustees for stepping forward and looking at their funds and then moving their funds in a way that would keep me perpetuated. Any further discussion? Yes. Thank you. I'm just curious. I can't really understand the library budget, the way it's set up, it's a little cumbersome for me. I do bookkeeping for the town of Rochester. And I had a discussion with the trustee of the library at the beginning of the fiscal year, right after the end of fiscal year, where the library checking account had about $8,300 in it that's unrestricted money, wondering if that $8,300 is being used to offset any of the expenses. Any of the trustees want to address that? Well, if it's restricted, it can only be spent on special expenses, restricted. If we have a restricted fund for books, they can only go into books. So I believe that's the case in that. We cannot move it to any other, we cannot pay anything else, let's say electricity with that with restricted funds. You want to follow up on that? I can answer that. This money was in your checking accounts, an unrestricted checking account. Your restricted money flows from your restricted accounts through the checking account to pay restricted expenses, like memorial books, or I think maybe adopted author or whatever. I'm just curious to know if you did use that money. Maybe the horse has got out of the barn. Maybe next year you can take a look to see maybe you could offset the $45,000 that you're asking the town for. You had no liabilities at the end of the fiscal year. All your liabilities were paid, so I expect your restricted expenses were paid. But I don't know. I'm just a being counted. Well, unfortunately, our treasurer is not here. Oh, Barbara. Barbara is still out. Yeah, she works closely with our Genet. So I'm just curious to clarify. I'm sorry, like, non-restricted. We spent on bills and stuff like that, so I'm sure that's going to be used, right? Yeah. I don't do the folks. Becky, I think the biggest use of that money, as Walt referred to, we had been drawing $8,700 a year out of our Kirk endowment fund, which was an unsustainable amount of money, which with the new policy has been reduced to $3,300 a year. So right there is over $5,000 of reduced income that that will go to pay for the year. Different session. All right, ladies and gentlemen. I'll hand it back to Barbara. Just like to say that as far as the paying for your buck, you're doing really good for the library. Yeah. We're doing really good. Go ahead. I'm not disputing that the library is equally well. I think they are meticulous. Every month, they go through their balance sheets, their budget reports. They'll correct me if I've classified something wrong. They're very meticulous. I'm just concerned about the $8,300. Last year, it was a $6,500 balance left in the checking account with no accounts payable, no liabilities ahead. So I would very much appreciate it if next year, when you start working on the budget, take a look at your unrestricted balances in that checking account. You're operating in checking account. Yes. Of course I am. Sandy. I was just wondering, does the library have a reserve fund? No, we don't. Does the library have a reserve fund, is the question? No, we don't. We asked for it a couple of times, but we don't want that reserve fund. Here's the bill, but no. Not anymore. So good. They have money left in the checking account on June 30, but we don't get in our income from the town or from other sources right away. So we go a month or two without that input. So we have to be able to pay the bills that come in in July and come in in August from something. And so having some money in the checking account, June 30, pays those July and August bills. I have to go on. I have something that hasn't spoken yet. Becky, go ahead. I just wanted to just say what an amazing library we have. And I just think it's just a fabulous resource for the town. And I couldn't be more pleased to have it here. So thank you to everybody. I'll call the question. You may be recognized. And they call the questions after a couple of times. People are calling it out. Just be recognized first. Diane? All the questions. Excellent. Questions being called. We'll have a 2.30 vote. We'll end discussion. All in favor of ending discussion? Yeah? No. Opposed? No. We move to a vote on Article 8. Shall the voters appropriate $45,625 towards operating expenses of the public branches to public library? All in favor say aye. Opposed? No. Let's have it. Article 8 passes. Article 9. Article 9 shall the voters appropriate $16,340 to provide ambulance service from Wendler Valley Ambulance. Someone move that? So moved. Nathan, move it. Seconded. Thank you. Discussion? Yes, Nancy? I think Robado is not able to be here tonight and just ask you to share your comments with you and refer you to the WERVA budget summary and comments on page 44 in the Town of Court. WERVA is requesting a reduction per capita from $63 to $60 made possible by a slight increase in expected inter-hospital transfers and tight control on expenses, including moving the health insurance plan from Blue Cross to MVB. And additionally, WERVA received about 100 calls from Rochester in 2019. For discussion? None. We'll move to a vote. Call an article 9. Shall the voters appropriate $68,340 to provide ambulance service from Wendler Valley Ambulance? All in favor say aye. Aye. As opposed to nay. Ayes had it. Article 9 passes. Article 10. Shall the voters vote to appropriate $20,400, $1,700 per month to continue funding the Fast Trash and Recycling Program, receipt of recyclables and trash with residents paying for trash per bag, from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021. Shall I move? Moved by David. Seconded. Seconded. Discussion, page 9, we'll move to a vote. I'd say something. All right. We separated this out as a separate vote because this was one of the items on the budget that had a significant increase. So we thought we'd share that with y'all to make the decision instead of just that was one of the pressures on the budget this year. John. John, can you stand, please? Thank you. I don't use the program, so I'm not that familiar with it. Being or paying her bag, what are we paying for with the additional was $20,000 here. The recycling, that was how it initially started out as the recycling offering. And then when Ablewaze took it over, they offered the paper bag service also. Do you have a follow up? Do you have any idea of what we're getting for $20,000? There's a fair amount of money. I mean, as we're collecting already a bit of recyclables. Well, basically it's their service twice a month to be present there. OK. Judy, did you? Not answer it. OK, yeah. I wanted to say, I use it as do many people in town. And not only do I use it for recycling and for trash, but I also use the compost service that they have now. And composting is becoming, I believe it's the summer that it becomes a state law. And I found that's really helpful. I understand it has gone up some, but I found that they've done a good job. So that's just my opinion. I really appreciate the free services that they provide with the composting, the recycling, and the trash. Ethan, and your? Yes, Ethan Bowen. Just curious, and my memory may be faulty, that I remember it used to maybe be once a month. Yeah. And is there savings there, and is that a possibility? Good question. I don't know. It became twice a month when Able Waste took it over from Benson's. It also turns when it's filled up. Yeah. The volume was too much. Yeah, the volume was pretty extreme for a month. I remember that. We used to have to drop a second container from night to four, and it was a lot. I remember that. Y'all want to hear? I just want to also mention that it's also a great source of fundraising. Organizations like PTO, and the church, and different classes, grades at elementary school now have been very successful in raising money for their trips, or teachers' days, and all kinds of events. Could you speak to how much of the recycling is actually being recycled? Good question. I brought this up at the meetings. That is, your guess is as good as mine. I fear that there's pressures for it to be less and less. But they assure us that they take it to a facility that is still processing as recycling. But once it's in the truck and it heads down the road, who knows? Mr. Questioner, yes. One last thing I think we all agree there's nothing more important than cleaning up our own mess. Having grown up in Vermont, I know that 50 years ago, the Connecticut River was so badly affected. When I grew up here, 50 years ago, the Connecticut River was so polluted, you couldn't do anything with it. And now it's a class A minus river. All of this happened because of recycling, because of people doing the right thing. It costs more money. It's a pain in the neck. But you know, long term, we would be up to our knees in styrofoam cups in crap if we didn't do something about it. So I agree completely with it, whatever it costs. Mr. Questioner, if I may, a second time, Ethan. Dude, I totally supported, too, and used the service. Shouldn't we know that we're getting what we pay for? Part of why this discussion is taking place. That's why we're having this discussion. And then to have talked with them, and like I said, they have assured me that they are taking it to the proper facility. But I have not driven behind the truck myself to see where it goes. Yeah. We're looking for volunteers. I'm Irene Smede, and I've been looking for compostable trash bags. And I noticed that both our retailers or whatever, or store friends in Rochester, don't have big trash bags. They're compostable. But they do have the smaller ones for actual food scraps. So let's urge our local businesses to buy compostable bags so that, you know, when you do take your trash to the landfill, it's going to break down faster than it is now in these bags. And you take years and years and years to be composed. So that's just a suggestion. I believe that is part of what Able Waste is providing. They sell them. Yes. OK. For $4, if you go, may I say? You're right. Sorry. What's happened with me is I have a five gallon plastic bucket. And when I go there, the bag they give me is a green compostable bag. I pay $4 for the bag. And it takes me like a month and a half to fill it up. But that's for food scraps? For food scraps. But I'm talking about the garbage. There's so many people in town who have Airbnb's now. And I help a few people close up their Airbnb's. And the trash is just unbelievable. So all these bags that don't decompose are going to our landfills. Anyway, that's just my suggestion. I haven't found an optimal way to answer myself. To buying bags that are not going to be there 150 years from now. So anyway, if anyone has any thoughts, I'd be on the committee to find the supplier and provide them for town people to buy. David. David, what about the people standing in the face of the group? The states have slowly been taking out of the waste stream all of the things that do break down. So the idea that a trash bag containing non-biodegradable plastics and metal, mixed materials, the idea that the bag breaks down and makes the stuff in it break down further is not the case. The stuff that's in the bag doesn't break down at all. The stuff that goes to the landfill, the stuff that won't break down, you're taking out paper, it breaks down, including a single-stream recycling stream, which includes now all the other things that do break down. And hopefully, they're being separated by X-coms somewhere, and the last one is going to be one place, and the cardboard is going to another place. The big plastic jugs are being made into little plastic jugs. But the trash bags, the real trash, they don't need to break down. They're going to be buried with all the other stuff that doesn't break down. In coventry, do you think? Right on the Georgia Lake, not for me, though. Chris? Can I call the Western, please? Yes, you may, sir. Fresh as we call it, all right. That's how it's stated. All right, we'll have that. We'll move to a vote. On article 10, the voters vote to appropriate $20,400, that's $1,700 per month, to continue funding the fast-trash recycling program receiving recyclables and trash with residents paying for trash per bag. From July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021, all in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed, say nay. Ayes have it. Article 10 passes. Article 11, shall the voters vote to eliminate the Cruiser Reserve Fund and transfer the remaining balance, $2,794.31, plus any additional interest, to the general fund for the purpose of offsetting the Winter County Sheriff's contract. Moves, thank you, Reverend Secretary Geary. Thank you. Discussion? One good idea. John? I don't keep up with the heavy, lost-car constable. No, he's sitting in the back corner there. A law enforcement status. We have made the shift to contracting out with the Windsor County Sheriff. So then, therefore, we have no need of the Cruiser Reserve Fund, because we're not going to buy another Cruiser Reserve Fund. Mike, we have some clarification here. This is $2,794.31, but in the Reserve Funds, it says $2,795.34. It's Japanese, but I don't know. I don't need this Reserve Fund open. Probably a difference between interest and interest. That could be just the difference of the interest that is accumulated. But no, there's no desire to keep the Reserve Fund open. That's what the article here is to do, is to close it and use that fund. Yes, sir? My question is just from the select board, I guess, are you comfortable with the coverage that we're getting from the Sheriff's Department compared to the coverage we're getting in terms of the police keeping in the town or the beginning from the customer? We're comfortable. I will speak for the other two. I think we're comfortable, and I believe we're actually getting more robust coverage than we were in the past. Just, did we sell the Cruiser? We did, and we have used some of that while we used that money to offset some of the expenses for some fire department equipment and such to, again, to whittle the budget down. And the office, of course. Katherine? I was at that pre-meeting meeting on Monday night, and Evelyn Kruksma expressed her concerns about no longer having a fund for the tennis courts and the value of the tennis court being around $100,000 in the need for repairs to that recreation facility. And I know that there is a broad contingency of the town that sees Rochester as a recreation destination. Bike trails, rostits, all really wonderful. And I wondered why we wouldn't take that balance and put it into the tennis courts at this point because they aren't funded. Their line item is not on articles. So I just wondered if that was a possibility rather than putting it in the general fund. I assume the sheriff is raising money with tickets. We don't need to offset what he's doing. He's earning his way by keeping us all in. Right, we're paying the sheriffs, but he's bringing in revenue. Right, but he's not totally paying his own way. There is still an expense with it. So we just figured that was a logical application of that because money had been already allocated for law enforcement purposes. So we figured that was a logical way So you say offset, but really what you mean the cost of it is more than what we're bringing in. And revenue is for law enforcement purposes. Yes, yes. Byrd. I'd like to propose an amendment to Article 11. I'd like to propose that we delete all the wording within the parentheses and put a period at the end of the word general fund and eliminate all the wording following general fund. So the article would read, shall the voters vote to eliminate the cruiser reserve fund and transfer the remaining balance to the general fund. I second that. And it has been seconded. So we have an amendment on the table that would eliminate part of that if I can say for the purpose of offsetting the Windsor County Sheriff's contracts. Any discussion on the amendment? Could Larry please explain why he wants that amendment? Thank you. Yeah, so there's the question of whether the dollar amount is correct. And so we would be forced to only eliminate this amount. And we could be stuck with the cruiser fund that has the pennies in it, because that's what we've told stafferites then to do. And there's no reason to direct where this money goes. It could be, I mean, all monies that are voted in the budget are spent at the discretion of the select board, all monies. Just because it's a budget line in the proposed budget, it's not actually prescribed that that's how it's spent. So just return this money to the general fund and let the select board make the correct decision on how to spend it, as they do for what purpose. Larry, clarification, were you also eliminated? Was the amendment to eliminate that parenthetical there, so there's no amount? The entire. Yeah. Any discussion on the amendment? So we'll vote on the amendment. So we have an amendment to article 11. And it eliminates the parenthetical there with the dollar amount and the initial interest. And from the end of it, where it says for the purpose of offsetting Windsor County Sheriff's contract, it would be an amended article. We reach out to voters, vote to eliminate the cruiser to the reserve fund and transfer the remaining balance to the general fund period. All in favor of that amendment? Say aye. Aye. Those opposed, say nay. So the article has been amended. And then we vote on it again, we'll discuss it again. We'll pick it up, we'll vote on it again. We'll discuss it again then. Yeah. Is there more discussion now on the amended article? Anything? Move the question. Questions to be called. All in favor of any debate on this amended article? Say aye. Aye. Those opposed, say nay. Aye has had it, and the debate. As amended, we'll vote on article 11, shall the voters vote to eliminate the cruiser reserve fund and transfer the remaining balance to the general fund. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Those opposed, say nay. Aye has had it, and article 11 passes as amended. So you get that, Julie? Now that was worded. Article 12, shall the voters vote to exempt Pierce Hall Community Center, a 501c3 nonprofit organization from the property taxes for a 500 period, 2020 to 2025, fiscal year 21 to fiscal year 25. We'll move that. Seconded? We agree. Moved and seconded. Kelly? Discussion? It's probably. Does anyone know what the tax implications of that is? We have a figure on that. They haven't paid that. They haven't paid that. They never paid that. They never paid that. They never paid that. And when they were not there would be a. It would be the value that. The property tax. Thank you. I'm sure they'll go with a second grant. I know there's not that much. Sorry. Sorry. Any other discussion? No. Yes. Oh, OK. Go ahead. Hi. Bruce. Can I refer to my notes? Yes. Mayor, all objections? You can read from your turnouts. Thank you for asking. I'm Bruce Lowelli. I'm one of the board of directors of Peersaw Community Center. And I've been a board member since 2007. And first of all, we'd like to thank the voters for attempting Peersaw to build from the property taxes. And you've done that for the last 16 years. This is not a new request. Just every five years, we have to come back to the voters and ask for that exception once again. The board of directors manages the operation of Peersaw. And we're all volunteers. There are no paid salaries in the operation of Peersaw. We spend countless hours of volunteers every year. Hundreds of hours, if not over a thousand hours. And we do all of the operation there. It's everything from managing rentals to cleaning windows to mowing the lawn or shoveling snow. We're working for the directors. And we put in lots and lots of hours to keep that building up and running. Since you last voted the exemption in 2015, we've made some major progress. And I'd just like to highlight some of those items. So in 2015, we finished installing lower level windows and the Department of Historic Preservation allowed us to replace those windows because they were in such bad shape. So now we have new energy-efficient windows throughout the basement. We also finished constructing the accessible restrooms that are down in the lower level. And they're fully accessible to people with disabilities. So then in 2016, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of Peersaw. And in order to get ready for that wonderful celebration, we concentrated on cosmetic items, mostly in the auditorium, painting walls, painting the ceiling that had had 100 years of coal smoke and cigar smoke. It had made a tremendous difference. It really brightened up that whole auditorium. We also upgraded or restored the under the balcony lights, the historic lights. We also restored the beautiful chandelier that's in the center of the ceiling. That had been laying on two saw horses up on the back of the stage there, and that was restored and put back to where it now is. In 2017, the big project was to restore the whole front entrance, tear down the old port cachet, redo the steps and rebuild the whole thing. And that was quite a project. And we had the governor here to cut the ribbon when that was opened up. For 2019, after several years of planning, what started out as Michael Crickard's senior project became a reality this past July when we opened the Peersaw Community Fitness Center. And we underestimated how popular that fitness center is. It's tremendous. I hope somebody here that uses it will speak up about it. But we average over 10 people a day into that, the gym and the rest of the fitness center. So our feeling is that Peersaw is the real asset for the town of Rochester, really for the whole valley. We encompassed over five towns in the upper White River Valley. And we think it's an important asset and one that will become even more important now that the high school is closed. We don't know if we'll be meeting here next year at this time. Maybe we'll be back in Peersaw like it was for years and years and years. The town meetings were held in Peersaw. So we hope you'll see it that way too and we urge you to both pass this article. Thank you. Further discussion? Nancy? Nancy Estevan Sons. Can you hear me back there? No. My name is Nancy Estevan Sons and I am a member of the Peersaw Board of Directors. My present title is Vice President of Programs and PR. And I urge you to approve this tax abatement. And on behalf of the Board, I also thank you for past approvals of this tax abatement. It's helped us tremendously to become a success. Another thing that I'd like to, another person that I'd like to acknowledge is Dr. Val, who passed away this past year. She was a tremendous leader for us. She devised the plan where she broke the whole project. It was tremendous into five different phases. And we went ahead and we would tackle a phase, completed, pay for, go on to the next phase. We're almost done. We have some things to do still. But when we finish, there won't be any debt incurred for the restoration of Peersaw. This is my 20th year serving on the project. Our first two years, we were a steering committee. And then we formed into a Board of Directors. We incorporated, became a non-profit tax-exempt organization. So I strongly urge you to please approve again of our tax abatement. Mr. Moderator, just a question for the Peersaw Committee. Of what events, I believe there are some. Do you donate the space of the use of Peersaw to the community? I believe Starry Night? We hold a Halloween party that's tremendously popular. And at no cost to the community or anyone attending. We also have Starry Night, which is a program that I organize where I bring the children, I organize events at the school, to bring the children to Peersaw to things at the beginning of December. And the children just love it. And we also have a little ballet class that we do every year, which is minimal expense to the parents, let me like $8 a class. And at other times, we might do other things that are for the community. Okay. You'll let them go. Bruce has asked that we talk maybe about the fitness center. And I just, I don't use it yet. But I never use it. But my children have. And our youngest son who is just left to nest, he's in college. When he comes home, that's what he does. He just goes to gym. And actually he got, that was the best present for him to get him a membership. Because it's, you know, like unfortunately, as we know, there's less and less young kids in our town. So when they do come from college breaks or, you know, to visit their old parents, we want them to be around. So instead of, Daniel used to go to Randolph. He's very, you know, most young people, he's into working out and stuff. So he used to come to Randolph to VTC. Now he goes to, you know, Peersaw to work out. He's very happy about it. So I hope, you know, this will stay popular with our young people and not only young people. I want to start working out there too. So I couldn't hear everything Nancy said from back here. But I just wanted to acknowledge that Peersaw is also a site, a rain site for the entertainment, events, the park concerts, and we have gone there several times. So I thank you for that. I just want to underscore what Bruce said about the volunteers. Every event, and I've been to many events at Peersaw, there's always a board volunteer there. They're committed totally from the beginning of the event to the end of the event. And including the fitness center nights, they are there. So these are unpaid people who make this facility work. And I'm really interested to know what the next phase is going to be. Can I tell the question? Certainly. Questions? We call it all in favor of ending the debate. Say aye. Aye. As opposed, say nay. We'll move to a vote. On Article 12, shall the voters vote to exempt Peersaw Community Center, a 501C3 nonprofit organization from property taxes for the five-year period 2020 to 2025, fiscal year 21 to fiscal year 25. All in favor, say aye. Aye. As opposed, say nay. Aye. Seven. Article 13. See if the voters will vote to appropriate the following sums as requested by the below-listed community agencies. Central Vermont, nationally 18,000 and $3,000. Klinger Market Center, $2,066. Greenup Vermont, $100. Quintown Senior Center, $9,849. Orange County Parent Child Center, $250. Safe Flying Incorporated, $250. Stagecoach, $1,300. Vermont Rural Fire Hydrant, $100. VNH, Visiting Nurse Association, $4,800. White River Partnership, $875. Women's Safe, $250. Bertone Love, $22,840. Moved. Here. Second. Second. Discussion? Things that help different people in our community and I think we should fund them. Right here. Right here. Right here. Caller question. Questions to be called. All in favor, closing debates. Aye. As opposed, say nay. Bates closed. We'll move to a vote. Article 13. See if the voters will vote to appropriate the following summits requested by the below listed community agencies. If there are no objections, I won't read through the whole list again. For a total of $22,840. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Those opposed, say nay. Bates closed. Article 13. Bates closed. Article 14. Article 14. The town of Rochester adopted the below climate emergency declaration to inform and guide town decision making. Whereas global climate is changing at an unprecedented rate due to human activities driving massive emissions of species and threatening human communities worldwide. Whereas the United Nations panel on climate change reported in 2018 that we need a drastic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 to avoid catastrophic global warming. Whereas residents of the town of Rochester suffered significant losses due to increasingly frequent extreme weather events, and that action is required to promote greater resilience. Now being therefore resolved, the town of Rochester declares that a climate emergency threatens our town, state, region, and entire natural world. And being further resolved, the town of Rochester trusts Rochester will make climate change an integral focus for town planning, policy, and decision making, and will work towards a more renewable economy for a more resilient community. That's okay. Second. Second. Seconded. Carried. Discussion? Catherine? No answer. I applaud the fact that we're including this kind of action in our town policy, if we vote to do so. But I would add some language just in consideration of town resources to add the additional language at the end to the greatest extent possible according to the resources available to the town. Because we'll do our best, but we have to recognize too that we can only do what we can do. And I also thank Lizzie Shackleton and her group for taking the discussion. So Catherine, you're proposing an amendment to the article with that? I am. Yeah. To the greatest extent possible. According to the resources available to the town. And that's the very last part under more resilient communities. That would be in the very last part. Okay. Now there's a second for that. That was the second discussion on that. Rachel, they'd like to hear you on sitting in there. Yeah. Lizzie's last name is actually Shackleford. Yeah. And I'd like to make a second amendment. I'd like to add on to that. No, no, no. Can I have a second to go to my parliamentarians? Yeah, no. Can we, can we, can we amend the amendment? First amendment has to be certainly a good process. Load it on. Then you can take a second. No, you could amend that amendment once. Oh, if she's amending the amendment. You're amending any amendments? Yes. Oh, very good. Okay. So we're only amending right now, which is what Catherine threw out there with saying that sentence to the back. So that's what we're discussing. So you can amend it as Catherine amended it. Yes. I'd like to exactly hear it verbatig. I'd like to add a comma and the next phrase and in accordance to Vermont law because there is some laws that are being developed right now at state assembly. I'm not stacking. According to resources available to the town and. Comma and in accordance with Vermont law. Period. Thank you. Thank you. I'm going to get a second on that. Second. We'll discuss it. So the. I'm not going to read the entire thing. I'm going to read the last paragraph if there are no objections. The point of order. I wanted to say one thing. We have to dispose of this amendment to the amendment. We could pick up another amendment to the amendment. So we have to. So we are under no objections. But I'm just going to read the last paragraph. Be it for the resolve the town of Rochester will make climate change and interplanetary. I'm not going to read the entire thing. I'm not going to read the entire thing. I'm not going to read the entire thing. I'm not going to read the entire thing. The town of Rochester will make climate change and intercal focus and town planning policy and decision making and work towards a more renewable economy for a more resilient community to the greatest extent possible according to resources available to the town in accordance with Vermont law. Just. Let me read that again. Please. Okay. Be it for the resolve the town of Rochester will make climate change and intercal focus for town planning, policy and decision making and will work toward a more renewable economy for a more resilient community to the greatest extent possible according to resources available to the town in accordance with Vermont law. Discussion? Cindy, did you have a comment? You can't amend it yet, but if you have a comment, I have a question. I have a question. Please stand up. We can't hear you. A lot of this is theoretical and I'm just wondering, does this mean that we're going to assign a climate change committee to, as part of this, as part of a, is that going to be a committee? That could be. I do not read it as such. I'm reading the wording, but anyone else? That was not the plan. That was not the plan of the original thing, was merely to have you consider these issues, to consider it when you make a decision before you do something, rather than just make a decision without arbitrarily looking at anything. That was the whole idea of this cause, was not to necessarily change what you do, but rather to make you think before you act, and that was the total focus of this, rather than actually involve a whole lot of changes, but rather just to have the town people consider our environment before they go ahead and do something. My folks, please raise your hand and be recognized. Don't shout out. Larry? So we're bogged down now in multiple amendments. But what I would like to suggest here is that I think what's given people pause about the way this was originally drafted, or at least let me just say what's giving me pause, is exactly, I think, the sense of getting, is the concern about how the language, as originally drafted, would impact actual day-to-day decision making of the Select Board and force them to do what, or to not do what, and be questioned every time they make any and every decision. And so I get that that was perhaps the sense of what Catherine was trying to correct by her amendment. And so I would, but now we're bogged down in this amendment. I don't see it as bogged down. We're discussing this amendment. But we can't keep amending, amending, amending that I had intended to try to amend out the references to the decision making. But, you know, I don't know how to do it at this point. At this point we're going to dispose of, it's not a great work, but we're going to deal with the amendments that Rachel put onto Catherine's amendment. And then if that passes, we'll look at the whole thing as amended place, and then we'll vote on, discuss Catherine's amendment as amended if that passes. And then if none of those pass, sorry, we'll come back to you with amendment number three. So we're in discussion of the amended amendments. Who's the track? I think Bill, and then Barbara, and then... So Dan, can somebody address if the state is actually going to put something into law and we're voting on accepting it right now? Can somebody talk to that? Sally? The legislation that is pending right now deals with having a plan at the state level and having state departments work together to work it into state planning. It does not. There is no... I don't foresee any mandate for the town, certainly not within the next couple of years, and it would probably come back to the legislature before it turned into anything like that, but I don't foresee that at all. So I don't see that that's an issue to worry about tonight. Barbara, then... I guess it's a question of interpretation. Is this a suggestion or a very strong mandate? How much latitude is it before it happens? One thing to say if the suggestion is, another thing to say, we must... I'm not clear about how... Can I have my answer for our discussion? Are we still on the amendment to that? Yes, we're still on the amendment to the amendment. Because I can speak on some other things, but not on the amendment. Okay. So I have Ethan and then Mr. Bushner in the area. No, I guess as well. And maybe this is to say that the amendments aren't necessary because I think, for me, the key word is intangible focus on town planning is that we will make climate change an intangible focus, which does not mean you have to. And I think that what this is, this is a great statement, particularly this last paragraph, is that when those of us who do go to a select board meeting, you can look at this and say, well, what's the focus here? Are you focusing? We can ask that question. And I think it makes it very clear that we're going to ask that question. We're going to focus on climate change issues in the planning of town budget and in how the town is managed. So I don't believe we need the extra language. I believe it's covered in the language that's already there. I agree with that completely. And I'd like to add that as I understand from speaking to somebody here earlier tonight, that Marion Leonard brought the same issue up 15 years or so ago. And it was voted on in pass that we would do exactly the same thing. But unfortunately, in the last 15 years or so, there's been a loss of focus on people. And we're just trying to bring your attention to the idea that, as Ethan said, we are going to focus on something rather than just generally accepting whatever's put in front of us. I was the one who mentioned that to Mr. Bushnell earlier. Shortly after we moved here 18 years ago, I think it might have been 16 years ago, we all voted as a town to have the select board make all of their decisions with Earth in mind, or the Earth in mind. And the discussion went around the fact that we would need to be addressing environmental problems in the select board. Hopefully that's been happening. I think generally speaking, that is something that goes on. I think this really codifies it a little bit more. And I agree completely with Ethan about the key term being focus. It's not a mandate. You have to spend this extra amount of money because of this. This is an integral focus. It's not a requirement, but it's a strongly worded article for our current crisis. So I agree that. I don't think we need the amendment because I think it stands as is. But I just wanted to also clarify the with Earth in mind. Okay, Irene, David, and then Arm. Well, I just want to say that this is not unique to Rochester. You probably all know that. You're probably seeing it in the news. I think what it's doing for us as a community is it's bringing up a subject that we all want to talk about. I want to just recognize how this community pulled together during Hurricane Irene. I didn't live here again. I lived in South Royalton and I couldn't even get here for months and months. Well, I just want to say that that was an issue that smacked me to wake up and say, you know, Vermont is the safest place I've ever lived. And yet we have a weather event that changed so many people's lives like other places around the world. We're now in a more vulnerable situation because of our climate. And so I think this is what we did when we first started talking about this that brought this to the town agenda was okay, all around the world communities are doing this and we're safe and we're protected in Vermont and we have green everywhere around us still. And we want to follow this global movement and put it into our town plan that we've made a statement that we want to follow this path to save our environment for our grandchildren. That's where it came from. It's not unique. Lizzie didn't really write it all by herself neither did any of us. The UK started something like this years ago and it's taken they can hold. People are doing it everywhere. The article is aspirational. The amendments both of them are aspirational they don't require the town to do or not do anything but as evidence for why we need to pass something like this when the trustees of public funds are asked to take money out of oil companies and put them into something more environmentally politically correct we were told by the trustees of public funds they're not allowed to think about that they are required to make the most money for the town with these funds that they can and so shut up and I think they should think about that. Hold on to them right here. I just want to say that I think it's time that we stop basing our reaction to climate control on a dollar it's time we start doing something the more we keep putting this off the more it's going to cost us down the road it's already costing us billions and billions and billions every year and flooding and everything else I mean where are people going to wake up and get the message if we don't start doing something now it's going to cost it's going to cost either way but it's going to cost more down the road I think if you look at this article it says the town of Rochester it doesn't say the select men of Rochester it says the town of Rochester and that's us and I think it's important that we all stand up and recognize that something's happening in our world and we need to recognize it soon That's what I miss you Nancy earlier This declaration came about through the climate change committee that has newly been formed you're all invited to join us most of us the chairperson is Elizabeth Shackleford we refer to her as Lizzie and she spent many hours researching the decorations that have been put out by different towns as well as other governments in the world and she came up with this declaration for us that does not mandate anything to be done it does not incur any expense what it does is provides for the consideration to the climate of any planning or decisions that we need to make and I personally feel that oh she Lizzie regretted not being here tonight she was unavoidable for her and she asked me to put in a few words and we regret that she isn't here because she was through a great job so since most of us that have joined the committee and most of us period do not know that much about climate change our committee is our objectives are to research and learn about climate change to pass on that information to others also to make sure that we learn things that we can do individually and not make our climate worse and try to make it better and also one of our objectives is to inform our government officials of concerns we have of decisions that are made that affect the climate change for me my moment of waking up was when I learned that besides being the catastrophes on television and having experienced what we have experienced right here in our valley when I learned that the scientists that had made predictions of how fast the rate of climate change would be they were very surprised to see that the rate has accelerated at a much higher pace and when I heard that that even surprised them and when I heard that I felt that I had to wake up and do something so I joined the climate change committee and I urge you to I have a sign-up sheet in the lobby there that you can sign up and get information and know when our next meeting will be and try to do something toward bettering our climate rather than making it worse so I urge you to pass this declaration, this article with this climate emergency declaration for the good of our grandchildren, our future generations, our country, our planet so please do so I think if the Board if I can hear what they feel about the wording I think the wording as stands is fine, I think we could move forward on this I hope we can Jeff and then Ethan and then if someone is going to have to call the question he asked a question so I agree that this is a very significant challenge that's facing the globe and we're part of the globe and we have to address it as part of the Board in terms of taking care of the business with the town it concerned me when just the phrase integral focus I would prefer to have it be consideration in talking about not requiring the town to do anything right on the handout it says take action, consider energy consumption impact in purchasing new equipment, building new facilities bidding town contracts how our town office runs so I'm concerned that in this age of being sued quite a lot that we don't set ourselves up for friction on every day to day decision that we make in the town so I would I'm not making an amendment because there's already an amendment out there, but that's my feeling is that I think that the word integral means essential and yes it is, it's essential that we face this I'm just concerned that we don't unnecessarily bog down the town's business putting restrictions in more of an inspiration than a restriction so that's my thought do you have anything to say? I agree with it totally I agree I would agree with doing I think there's I think that there's some liability here it's concerning so I agree with doing I think it's a little overreaching and we need to be very careful that we're not going to be hurting Rochester residents under the guise of environmentalism I think we have to be very careful about this I support article 15 as it's written I think the amendments are well-meaning but I think unnecessary I'll just I'll just I'll just I'll just our legislature really needs to hear from the communities of Vermont to get serious in Montpelier and we need to do just the same integral focus to me means that as the town makes decisions it considers what can be done to reduce carbon emissions in the state and position our town for survival in the future we're already seeing the economics on renewable energy dropping to the point where fossil fuel projects are being scrubbed because they are no longer good investments what are we going to do in this community when we're heating with oil with propane and the housing that we own when that fuel that we've been using is no longer available to us we've got to get on the stick and start planning for it so I support the article 14 that's written and I'm happy to work with the energy committee in reviewing these as regular as part of the regular procedure in making town decisions I think that's what Interpol focused on thank you I'll come back to you for a second time is it back as I did yeah I appreciate everything that's been said here and I certainly am concerned about plans as much as anybody in this room but I think I like the amendments and I approve of them because I feel like we elected our select board and they have the real reality of the constraints of their budget and just like when I go to purchase I have to quickly choose what organic items I'm going to purchase and they can't be all because I can't fill my grocery bag full of all organic items so we pick and choose and I feel like with the amendments it offers at least a lacing of protection for the select board as far as others coming back to them and saying why didn't you do this or why didn't you do that because I feel like we have given them the power to decide in many ways of how to make these decisions and we do have to trust them and I think it's pretty clear how we all feel about these items now and to keep that in mind and just a bit of that's where I can think of this protection for as far as for the select board for the backlash that may come their way for making a particular decision that somebody may feel affronted by anyway. So I like the amendments. Annie and I are going to go back to them later. I represent the town of Rochester. Can you stand up? I represent the town of Rochester on the Tuberculosis Planning Board and attend a lot of meetings and over the Christmas period there was a really terrific presentation about state mandates that are coming to us at some point. So by 2050 we will be required to make significant changes and those initiatives are coming from the state. So we'll have very concrete things to work on. So whether it's about how we recycle how we use energy specifically electric cars they would like us to move from just slightly under 3,000 electric cars on the road. They would like us to be more like 90,000 electric cars by 2050. They are thinking about insulation and weatherizing more appropriately. There's a lot of different things that we can do that will be very practical that will make sense to you. This is very loose. It's really a gesture that we all get on the same page about climate change and I think that's appropriate. It's a good ambition. I think what is being expressed here is that we have to remember that we are a tiny town with a tiny budget and we don't want to hamstring our community and get us wrapped up into things that we can't actually affect. But there are concrete things that we can be doing and they will take time for budget for. So being aware of what those things can be is our responsibility and the community can figure out a way to absorb some of these suggestions. The state is planning and those mandates will come down and we will have an opportunity to debate those things. I think it's just sort of being open and recognizing that this is very ambitious and it will require a tremendous amount of effort from the community to address. I think I really liked what was said here by Brenda that it is the town of Rochester and not just the select board. It's a three person select board and I can tell you that they do everything they can to do the town's business as efficiently as they can as does the budget and finance committee as does planning. But it is a volunteer position as we all know. More volunteers will be needed. What a order. Yeah. Technically, we are only supposed to be talking about the amendment in this discussion time. So what your amendment is in front of us right now, that's the technical. Just so we know, we are tender, basically a lot of us are talking about the entire old articles. Until we get back there we can't really talk about it. I liked the amendment. No, I'm just, I understand. Let's just fill this up. We're just going to start this agreement and we're going to talk about the amendment. I got you down nowhere. So the point of order, where are we? So right now we are in the amendment to Catherine's amendment which was to include in accordance with state law. That's all we're talking about here. It's hard to not think about the whole thing but that's what we're talking about. Should we add that piece to Catherine's amendment so that we can raise this in possible. So in order of the hands going up I have the gentleman in the back behind Chris and then I have Larry Pleasant and then Martha. I just wanted to say that when it comes to the environment and the climate using resources responsibly and turning towards things like we're going to be reaping what we're sowing that's what got us here in the first place was farms and the introduction of industrial machinery to agriculture that was the driving point of coal mining and many other things along with trade and so in defense of where we live and the amendment and the article as it is is that it goes right back to just proper waste use and keeping track of our waste where it's going, what we're doing with it so yeah it's non-binding and if some other people are like nope we want open coal fires downtown all the time burning and raging let them come in and put forth an article and we can vote on it again too but in the meantime it seems more pressing to live more locally and consider it an accurate representation of other communities around the world point of order yes let's just discuss this comments here have nothing to do with the amendment to the amendment and we kind of stick to things that we're going to be here all night talking in circles good, we're trying to focus on the amendment should we add the court to the state law very pleasant was next up oh wait I was just going to see if we could call one of the questions there's only one question can we what's our next thing we have to vote on the second amendment can we do that I would love to vote on the second amendment so the questions we call we're going to have a discussion on the amendment the amendment of the amendment which is about the encourage with Vermont state law so to close the 2 thirds vote to close discussion all in favor of closing discussion on the amendment to the amendment say aye close the closed say nay close the discussion we'll go to a vote on the amendment to the amendment I'm just going to read the last paragraph if there are no objections we have further resolved the town of Rochester will make climate change an integral focus to town planning policy and decision making and will work towards a more renewable economy for a more resilient community to the greatest extent possible according to resources available to the town and the amendment to that was the in accordance with Vermont state law all in favor of amending the amendment say aye close the closed say nay next one more time all in favor of amending the amendment say aye aye close the closed to amending the amendment say nay I'm going to go with the ayes have it no I have to hide the ayes thank you very much so we're going to need a show of hands and I need what do you guys call a civil warden for help with counting hands a few of you up here we'll section it up count hands what do you guys help maybe count this side over here I'll do that side so we're going to divide the house with a show of hands part of the mess you have a point of order well the point of order is don't we have to vote on the first amendment before we can amend it no thank you for the question so this is the ayes raise your hand for it I think you want to amend the amendment okay now we're going to do the ayes if you're not in favor of the amending the amendment please raise your hand you got that one 57 ayes and 33 ayes so the amendment to the amendment passes you were right thank you David you sit a little louder stand up alright so we have before us an amendment that's been amended the article as amended the last paragraph they have further resolved the town of Rochester will make climate change integral focus for town planning, policy and decision making and will work towards a more renewable economy from a resilient community to the greatest extent possible according to resources available to the town in accordance with Vermont law call the question the question has been called are we in favor of the amendment in favor of amending discussion on the amendment the article as amended say aye sorry the ayes have it discussion is closed we have a vote on the amended article amendment it's for voting on making the second amendment voting on the approving the amendment right the entire amendment amendment has been amended and now we're voting on the amendment just the amendment one more time just the amendment is the greatest extent possible according to resources available to the town in accordance with Vermont law no objections I won't read the rest of it and we will vote on the amendment the question has been called on the favor of the amendment say aye close the post saying aye ayes have it the article has been amended now we move to a discussion of the amendment the article has been amended the article has been amended well I'd like to call the article because I think we've done a lot of discussion never answered my question I've had my hand up for some times no you had your hand up and you were and then I put it down and let you vote but my hand was still on you weren't recognized someone called the question that had been spoke yet right and maybe you never came back to me no because the question has been called in the end of the discussion I want you to consider one thing before you go any further and that's the one line in this all of you seem to have disregarded including the three of you people there who don't seem to want to make the effort and the line is please consider energy now the word consider means one's very specific thing about it it doesn't mean you have to do anything and that's what I want to express to all of you people this does not require anybody in this town to do anything except to consider it which means to think about what's happening and what we're doing and that's all I would like to say to you it's just before you vote would you rather have the people that represent you in your town consider things thank you this is ended we are no it hasn't the article the article has amended has been called we haven't voted on that yet right so we're voting on ending the discussion about the article that's been amended all in favor of ending the discussion say aye all those who would like to continue the discussion say nay the discussion has ended we will now vote on the article if there are no objections I will read the entire resolution I think it's important okay I don't mind article 14 to the town of Rochester adopt the below climate emergency declaration to inform the town decision making whereas global climate is changing at an unprecedented rate to human activities driving mass extinction of species and threatening human communities worldwide whereas the United Nations panel on climate change reported in 2018 that we needed drastic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 to avoid catastrophic global warming whereas residents of the town of Rochester have suffered significant losses due to increasingly frequent extreme weather events and that action is required to promote greater resilience therefore resolved the town of Rochester declares that climate emergency threatens our town, state, region and entire natural world and the further resolved the town of Rochester will make climate change an integral focus for town planning, policy and decision making and will work towards a more renewable economy for a more resilient community to the greatest extent possible according to the resources available to the town in accordance with Vermont law all in favor say aye aye those opposed say nay aye's had it article 14 that's about 100 we appreciate the help of the points of order and many of you so thank you for keeping us on track article 15 to transact any other legal and proper business to be brought to the force said meeting please I just want to acknowledge all the people involved with Brook Street and just getting that done, getting the money for it, whether it was the engineers and just doing a really great job and I really appreciate it so thank you I would like to mention that the planning board with the help of two rivers out of Quiche has done a really thorough and good job on drafting the next version of the town plan which they presented for a public hearing at the planning commission meeting two months ago and for public comment and now have submitted that to the select board and now the next step is that the select board will present the town plan draft to the public for comment and do we have time for that we don't just probably next not the next select board meeting but perhaps one over but anyway keep attuned to the notices that you will have opportunity to check out the draft of the town plan and give your input thank you