 Thanks very much for coming. Welcome to Calis Town Meeting 2024. I'm guest sealant. Article one is to elect a moderator and for that I'm going to turn the podium over to our town clerk, Tegan, to conduct that election. Would anyone like to make a motion to elect a candidate for a moderator? I would move Gus Sillig to moderator. Gus Sillig has been moved as town moderator. Do I have a second? Second. I have Mark Mahaley seconding. Do I have any other nominations? No, but I want to vote against that guy. You'll get your chance. If there are no additional nominations, all in favor of Gus Sillig, serving as moderator for the Calis Town Meeting today, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? Opposed. Gus, it looks like it's you. Have a good day. Okay. Good morning, everybody. Article two is to hear and act on the reports of the town officers. And before we get into that article, I think I'd like to start with a few thoughts. I've been coming to town meeting since 1977. This community has been having town meetings according to the Westin case history since 1795. And I think it's a really important thing because we are living in a country where democracy is at risk and I think practicing democracy is a great thing. So thank you all for taking the day to do that. I'm going to talk in a minute about how town meeting works. There are probably a few people who are here for the very first time. I know many of you are very familiar with how it works and I'll bore you through that discussion. But before we do that, I began last year by saying we were really rusty at town meeting because we'd had a couple of years of Australian ballot and an informational meeting through the pandemic. We're still feeling a little bit rusty. And the other thing that we did last year was to elect completely new town leadership, five new members of the select board, now a sixth. We've elected a new town clerk and for the first time we have a town administrator. And I wanted to introduce our town administrator, Kari Bradley, who was over here today. He grew up in Calis, went to school here, came back to the community, and we're really glad that you wanted to do this work. And I don't know if you want to say a word or two. And do we have microphone runners? Hey everybody, Kari Bradley. Yeah, I really am from Calis. It's show. Yeah, so I live on Long Meadow Hill Road and went to this school, D32, and moved back here with my family in 2019. And took this job four months ago. And so town administrator number one question I get, what is that? What does that entail? I wear a lot of different hats. Certainly Road Commissioner is a big part of it. And I don't drive truck, but I oversee those functions. And I don't have a road background, so I've been learning a lot. And I really want to express appreciation for the road crew. Tyler and Peter and Ed and Dana and John is our new foreman. And also, and just thank them for all their patience and support of me and a big part of my job is to support them. I also want to thank Toby Talbot for all the help he's provided to me and to the town. I won't tell you the details of this right now, but I'm sure it will come up in a little bit. Another big part of my job is overseeing the truck reconstruction. And one of the acknowledge, Sandra Ferber, who came back at her retirement to serve one last year, she'll be retiring in just a matter of weeks. She's on vacation right now, but she's just in such an amazing job. Her systems are rock solid and I just really enjoyed learning from her working with her. And then the rest of the job is really supporting the select board in all that they do. We've got a bunch of different projects underway that I'm trying to contribute and new things come along all the time. And I just want to thank the board members for their supportive and thoughtful leadership, and we're very lucky to have them. Okay, and then by way of introduction, this kind of year between early frost and then smoke in the sky from Canada from nearly a month, and then flooding, it feels almost like a biblical time. But I wanted to, and just signing up to be on the select board is a big deal, but to sign up this particular year has been a lot of work. So I wanted to just thank all the select board members and starting with our chair, Ann Winchester. Do you guys want to just say a word and introduce yourselves to the community? Hi, I'm Ann Winchester. I've lived in Calis since, at least, sorry, is that better? It's a dinosaur. No, I've worked in a little sex to marry some people who had a house in Calis in the late 70s. So I've been a member of the Calis community since then. And it's been absolutely my pleasure to work with you all. I was going to do this later, but I'm just going to, for a minute, call on your attention to the back of the town report. Did you see this organization chair? I'm closer. This town report, this list of all the people to make Calis go to the board. You see all those people in blue, staff who are paid. The ones in the very bottom box aren't paid much. They're paid stipends. The others are all volunteers. And take a look at that green box. Those are boards and commissions of sometimes sevens, sometimes nine people. And these are all the people who make Calis go. I haven't counted out how many people that is, but it's been such an honor to work with all these people during the last year. So thank you for the opportunity. I grew up in Maple Corner and still there. I'm the general manager of the Maple Corner community store. Like Ann, probably know most of you from some part of town life, some committee or something at the store. And it has been a lot of fun. When I ran for select board, I didn't really know that much of what to expect. But it's been a lot of fun despite the challenges we faced over the last year. And yeah, thank you all. Hello, can you hear me? Are we good? Okay. Ann, actually was raised in Montpelier. I don't know if that makes me up a lot. But I've been here for about eight years. It's been an amazing year to get to know I know many of you from my place. Don't work at all the various offices. But getting to know the community better in the last year and I know we'll get to it later. But thank you to all of you. And so many of you I know jumped right in with all of our challenges in the last year and we're ready to do anything that was needed. I think you all should get a round of applause for yourselves. Jordan Keys, like Ann, I had the privilege of marrying into the callous community. Wonderful family in Maple Corner, but I've been an official resident of callous for a little over two years, but around for about 10, almost 11 years. And over the last year, it's been a real pleasure serving with my fellow members of the select board. And I care deeply about the issues that the community faces and being involved in helping chart a path through those kind of turbulent waters. So, Kara, you've already gone. Oh, just Donnie Ruterino was unable to come today. He is our other select board member and he had a training because town meeting is a day off for a lot of people, but not for all people. So, he was unable to be here today. Thank you. Okay, so a few words about how town meeting works for those of you who are new to this or just rusty like me. Today, you are a legislative body. The select board is up here to be accountable to you. But they don't necessarily and they may have some knowledge of stuff, but we are all equals. We all get one vote today. Their vote was to present this warning to you that you find in the town report from pages four to seven, which is what we'll work from. I've been asked, when can you bring up various kinds of questions? And there are two times in the meeting that that can happen. In the article we're on now, article two, to hear the reports and act on the report of the various town bodies. And if you've read the town report, you know that there's budget information. There's this report from the select board. There's a great anecdotal history of the flood that Erica Heilman and Tobin Anderson prepared. There's reports from the Cemetery Commission and on and on. So, lots of information in the town report. You can ask questions on any of that during article two or you can bring up some other thing that you think is important for the community to hear about. You can also bring up stuff that's not in the warning under other business. The difficulty with other business is we can't do anything that is binding under other business. So, you can't tell the select board they need to spend money on something under other business. You can ask questions about the budget now. You can also ask questions when we come to the articles on the budget where we're spending money. So, that's generally how things, how the warning works and how we will work today. In order to move an article, in order to act on an article, I'll need a motion and a second and then we're open for debate. And I'll go back and forth as best I can across the room to call on people. Once you've spoken, you're likely to have to wait quite a while if other people want to speak before I recognize you a second time. And if you're really passionate and want to speak to an issue a third time, just wait a little bit and see if somebody else might make your point for you. In Montpelier Statehouse, you actually have to get special permission to talk to an issue for a third time. So, we want to make sure everybody has a chance to speak. The meeting is being live streamed, but there isn't going to be external participation unless somebody uses the chat feature and then a question will be relayed to me that I'll ask. But people who are on the live stream cannot vote in order to vote. You have to show up here. You have to sign in. And to speak to voting during this process, there's three ways to vote. You can vote by voice, calling the eyes and nays. Somebody can request a division of the house, and then we'll count. The Board of Civil Authority will help me count the votes. And in order to vote at that point, you need one of these things that shows that you are a registered voter. So if you haven't gotten one yet, at some point you should head out there and get your card. We can also have a paper ballot if there's a really divisive issue. And anybody can request a paper ballot, but six others of you need to agree that we're going to have to vote by paper ballot. Those are under Robert's Rules of Order, which is how we conduct this meeting as I best interpret them. I've often found that we make mistakes when we go too fast. One of my jobs before we take a final vote is to reread the resolution. And I will reread the article so that you know exactly what you're voting on. If you're confused about what you're voting on, you can ask for a point of information or ask for a point of order if you think things are out of order. If you think I've made a mistake, you can ask me to reconsider what I'm doing or you can challenge the ruling of a moderate. And if a majority of you think I've made a mistake, that's the way it'll be. And I will do my best not to take that personally because I know I've made mistakes. It is requested under Robert's Rules that you address the moderator and not each other. We're a little bit loose about that, but the idea is really to depersonalize the debate by having questions go to the moderate. We are to be civil. You're not allowed and I'll rule you out of order. I don't have a gavel today so I may have to pound my shoe, but if you start calling somebody a liar or a cheat, you're going to be ruled out of order and the microphone will be taken away from you. I know some of you think you've got really loud voices and you don't need a microphone. Some of us are old and we don't hear as well as we did 10 or 15 years ago. So please wait for the microphone no matter how loud you think your voice is. We'll get it to you. You'll get your chance to speak. An article can be amended. Anybody can propose an amendment. We'll then debate the amendment. There can be an amendment to an amendment, but you can't go further than that. We'll just work our way back that way. I will, from time to time, if I think the question's gone on, the debate's gone on for a long time and people are repeating arguments that have already been made, I may say, are you ready for the question? Oh, now I've got a moderate. A moderate, I won't have to use my shoe. Thank you. Be careful. Let's see, I lost my thought here. If you think debate's gone on too long, you can call the question. It takes two-thirds to call the question to say we're ready to stop debate and move on. So if two-thirds of us are not ready to stop debate, we're going to keep discussing an issue. Let's see, the Select Board will have answers to questions, but sometimes Select Board members, people will state something in the form of a question, but they're really just making a point and not every question is yours to immediately answer and you, like everybody else, need to be recognized by the moderator. But again, we'll be a little bit loose about that because sometimes it's very clear somebody's asking a question and one of you may have the answer that somebody is asking for. I think that covers the rules, so we are open for discussion of Article 2, which is on the town reports. And Karen Lane, you get the first question as soon as somebody delivers you a microphone. Hello? Not a question, just a motion to spread praise and appreciation to the East Calus Community Trust and our profound appreciation for the rebirth of the East Calus General Store and its wonderful general manager, Jess Quinn. Many, many thanks. We're so glad to have our store back. Again, Jess, as somebody who lived next to the store for 30-some years, I know it's a 7-day-a-week thing, so thank you for being here today and thank you for being there every day. It's much appreciated. Okay, we have a ferry. And please identify yourself. How's that? Okay. My name's Barry Bernstein. I live in the East Calus. And I've been here 53 years and I just want to say, first of all, I want to say thanks to the town report. It's been a really great thanks to everybody who's participated. So any comments I made today are more questions and thoughts as opposed to any criticism of anybody because you've offered a lot of hard work. Roads. These are the worst road conditions I've ever seen. And I think we have to thank Mother Nature for that, because I know the road really works hard. But I've been having trouble getting off my road several times. I'm not quite sure where the fourth or fifth mud season, but it feels like continue. I couldn't even almost get up, get here from across the road. So my question for the select board, more for thought, and maybe as I run through the select board, the road highway budget, I'm concerned we don't have enough in there for materials. We're not going to be able to do the roads the way we've done in the last 50 years. There's just no way it can continue. And I'm glad to see we've got a grader in there. It's a lot of money, but we really... Comments I've heard from all the time, as long as I've been here, I'm sorry, we have a tendency not to grade deep enough to really get to the potholes. But aside from that, I think we're going to really have to rethink how we do it in terms of gravel and what we put in. I know they put some gravel up this year on my road, which is Bliss Road, on the last house before work there. So I'm sure you've been talking about it, and I'm sure you've been thinking about it, but when I saw that we had the same amounts of gravel and other material, if we're going to pass a budget, I want to know at least that you've got enough room to do more because it's going to be essential. So that's kind of the question of, do we amend the budget and give you a more leeway for materials? What's your thoughts on it? Okay, yeah. Thank you. So with the roads we did, because the budget was a very deliberative process and trying to minimize increases on folks. Last year we were unable to tap into state funding that we get every year to fix certain sections of the road. So this year we have two portions, which, okay, which off the top of my head, I'm not good with numbers, but I want to say it's like $153,000. And I met with the guys yesterday like this. Okay, I feel like I'm eating. I'll share your filter. So with the roads, we do have to retool post-blood how we do the roads. We can kind of use the same practices that we have in the past. So we are already starting the process of looking at specific, and I know there's a section on Bliss Road East Hill where it kind of culminates there, where we will be working on smaller sections but doing them more deeply. So we've got roads that are flanked up by swampy stuff on both sides that need to be done a certain way. And so the goal is to do fewer sections of road but do them right, and then the next year do fewer sections of road but do them right. And things that are going to be more resilient moving forward, because after having to replace some of the roads this past summer, we don't have to do it again. We're hoping that the vast majority of roads that we had to do massive repairs on will hold up in future events because we tried to be very careful about how we put them back together. So we're hopeful to maximize that repayment from the state this year, and then we'll visit it again in the next year's budget. So your question? Do you need more? It's not just these calluses. It's all, it's not just Bliss Road. I mean, it's every road. No, it's every road. And Tyler, there's also, you know, the number of people we have to do the work. And then we'll cover them up. But several materials, it's not a padded budget by any stretch. But I think our goal was this year to tap in that $150 or so thousand dollars from the state reimbursement to maximize road roads we could get fixed to get fixed really well. Barry, you don't have a microphone. People have people who can't hear you. So this is state funding so they can match. We put it in the roadway and they give us most of it. So for this summer, we're the roads that we were going to be focusing on. We're doing kind of our usual going through the whole thing in part to kind of shift and have a practice of really doing smaller sections really well, because then the people that aren't on those sections are like, what about my section? And we have over 70 miles of roads. So it's going to take a while to get there. But we're going to do that this year with hopes of softening the raises and both the budget and other things that people are facing. But we're going to try to do good by the roads yet. Okay. Anything else? Anybody? Anything anybody wants to raise? Matt, make the microphone please. Hi, I'm Matt Gardner-Morse from County Road and Calis. I noticed on page 55 that our vehicle fee last year were $112,000. And I'm just concerned that we have legal liability insurance or something to help cover big illegal expenses. Thank you. So glad I had the privilege of talking to this one. So I'm going to be a little as transparent as I can in answering that considering the ongoing litigation issues that we have. The reality is that we are living in a more litigious world. And so we exceeded, far exceeded any budget, any normal budget that we had been kind of earmarking. So this year we tried to take a more responsible approach to making sure that we have something in there to address upcoming legal expenses. But the reality of our ongoing situation is that we are in kind of an awkward gap of coverage because neither party are seeking damages, and that isn't necessarily covered by our litigation insurance. We're just kind of arguing about who's right. And so in some ways that seems like a pretty reasonable argument to have. Ironically, that puts us outside of our coverage for that. We are exploring making some changes to our coverage to try to help avoid that situation in the future. But that's where we stand on that particular issue. If I go too much further into that and probably our attorneys will probably slap my hands. Thank you. Okay, we have a hand up over there. I'll leave the sheets. And I wanted to thank everyone. Last year you gave $4,000 for a handrail at Curtis Conn. Remember that? I wouldn't like to have our debate on it. Well, it is done. Is that Curtis Conn now? John McCulloch was the architect. Josh Bobbitt Lottie from Hyde Park built it. And I had a wonderful team. Jamie was the liaison. I had Heidi Thompson and Meg Doxson and Renie Degas all worked with me. And we must go down and see. It's gotten a process that's there. Looking over the pond and we really hope it helps older people, young people of all kinds. So thank you very much. Yep. And? It's on. Okay. Dan Olson here on behalf of the Planning Commission. We have two vacancies on the Planning Commission. And I'd like to encourage people to check in on the Planning Commission. We're kind of rotating and getting along with new people. And it's an exciting time. So look us up or look them up. I've got to learn to say that. And it, you know, enjoying the crew. Now the second thing we want to talk about on the Planning Commission is we're getting ready to rewrite the town plan. And we really can't do it interactively. And so we're asking all of you to think while we're making these decisions in 2025. What do you want in Calis in 2035? And as you think about it on our, we have a display on the back. Melanie and Jared are going to be at the table. We have a list of all of the things that have to interrelate with each other as the town plan is being made. And we want you all to put on that, or what's the most important thing and priority you think should be in the plan as we move to 2035. And I want to encourage our young people that are here, anybody, even if you're 12 years old or whatever, because in 10 years you're going to be 22. So let's get the young people to also talk about what they want in this town in 2035. So I encourage you to afterwards meet with Melanie and Jared and contribute. And you can even go to all of the Planning Commission meetings and contribute that way. Thank you. Oh, one other thing before I forget. There's a map in our section which has a conserved land that has all of the land there and there's little white things. That is what's called the developable land. That's where we can develop. Now, at the same time, Larry Bush in conservation is using the same map and he's going to want to talk about it because that's going to be where are the conserved lands. And so we'll have to work together in doing that. So look it over. See you later. Jan, thanks for your many, many years of service. And that is a pivot element. Larry is here but he'd requested some time to talk about the work of the Conservation Commission. There you are. So because you don't know me, my name is Larry Bush. I apologize for the raspy voice. For the last year I've been the chair of the Conservation Commission. I've been on it for about eight now. I wanted to take a couple of minutes to tell you about two of the things that we're proposing to deal with this year, unless circumstances come along with something we have to take care of, which happens all too often, I found. But the reason I wanted to talk to you, this group in particular, is because we're going to be doing public outreach efforts on two subjects. The first is exotic invasive species. The Conservation Commission and the Lakes and Streams Committee last year did a project that you can read about in our report to cut back some of the fragmites, which is a wetland invasive species. We learned a lot from that experiment. The main thing we learned probably is that this is not something that we can deal with, it's going to require public input, landowner input, and it's complicated and extremely difficult subject. But we're going to try to do two things, and I'll just mention one of them here because it involves the public. We're beginning stages of organizing some on the ground walks, interpretive walks throughout the course of the growing season so that people can encounter as many invasive species as we can find in a compact plot and learn about what they are, what their lifespan is, and what's the best way to eradicate or beat them back. So I encourage you to look forward to that, and if you have any questions between now and then, don't hesitate to get in touch with me on the town website. The second thing I wanted to mention is concerns that conservation easements to which Jane alluded. I don't know how many of you follow closely what the state's been doing in terms of environmental and forest work lately, but they've passed some truly mind-blowing statutes, which for the most part have yet to be implemented. In particular Act 59, which was passed last year, sets a state goal of having 30% of the land in the state subject to conservation easements by 2030. For that to work, and the details of it are being worked out by the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board in conjunction with agency of natural resources, and the final plan that the statute requires isn't going to be due from them until December of 2025. So this is a process that's playing out. So what we do know is that we need to find ways to encourage and help people who have forest land and also agricultural land to consider and hopefully decide to put their land in conservation easements that are sponsored and held by groups like the Vermont Land Trust so that this land will not only be forest land today, it will be forest land in perpetuity. And so this is something, again, we're hoping to have some public sessions on and look forward to your interest, hopefully participation in that. Thank you, guys. Okay. David Healy. I'm David Healy, the town's delegate to CV Fiverr, and I just want to let everybody know 65% of the town now has high speed internet, and if you haven't subscribed or signed up, please do. The remaining of the town is going to be a little tough to do without money, and we're hoping to get some of the federal broadband infrastructure money that won't be available until next year. So there may be a slight delay this year in finishing the rest of our district, but I just want to say this is huge progress for this town. Thank you. Got a hand up in back. Steve Chase from South County Road, Southwest Palace. There is a Southwest Palace, not many of you know about it. It's mostly under mud. I had to follow up Matt Morse's question on the budget. Page 59 on the dog expenses in CBHS. It went up $20,000. And is that related to the legal fees? And one other question about the budget that went way over in actual expenses is the general office contracts. Neamer caught. It went up from $8,400 to $95,000. Can anybody address that? Sorry. Do the legal one first? Yeah, please. So the answer, I guess, related to the dog issue. No, that was not. But what I failed to mention about the legal expenses that were somewhat unique last year were the labor negotiations that the town was going through for the road through. So that was a successful and long overdue negotiation to wrap up. It just happened to come out of confluence with some other legal expenses. But I can't speak to the dog one specifically. I was going to speak to the NEMRAC contract. So amongst all the changes that have happened over the last couple of years, Sandra further left as treasurer in fiscal 23. And NEMRAC, which is our association of financial services for Vermont municipalities, actually throughout Birmingham, provided treasury services basically for that year. And they cost more than doing it in-house. Sandra came back this year as an independent contractor. And so with this next year, we will fully bring the treasury service in-house and we'll start to look more like a normal line item on our budget. Did anybody else know about that? Yeah, so it is animal boarding related. It's not dog specifically, but it's part of the other litigation issue that is ongoing. At this point, it's about, well, we're probably approaching two years. A year and a half maybe. We're dealing with this particular issue. So, yes. Correct. Okay, we have a hand up in the middle there, Mary Alice. Everyone, I'm Mary Alice Prophet and I live on Jack Hill Road. And I just wanted to point out that our booklet that we received in the mail has a new item in it. And it caught my eye and I was really excited to see it. And it was the statement of inclusion, the declaration of inclusion, that we in Calis are a welcoming community. And I know as someone who is, I was born and raised in the South, we're still working on using language to articulate our values. Calis is a warm and welcoming place. And we all know that just from living here. I moved here a decade ago. My neighbors are incredible. Everybody's been so kind to me. But to see that written so that people who might be thinking about moving in to help with the many jobs that we need to fill in our area, to help with caretaking jobs for our elders as we try to age at home in place. I think that that statement is so important. Because what it does is it sends a signal out to people who might be willing to come to Vermont to help us in our time of need, as we're one of the oldest states in America, that we welcome you, we want you to be here, and we appreciate your help. So I was just very proud of our select board and whoever was involved in making that statement, just articulating the values we already have, putting them in writing. And I just want to say how much I think that's a great idea. So thank you for doing that. Thank you for writing that down. The microphone here. Okay. All right. Well, I'm here to talk about the Friends of Calis. So my name is Anna Mathison. I'm the President of the Friends of Calis, along with Carrie Stoner, Renee Grinkowski, and Brooke Rimmers. We leave the organization along with the community members who attend our meetings. We are excited to be hosting the town lunch this year. And we thank everyone who donated food and drinks and who are volunteering their time to make the lunch a huge success. So we hope you will stay and join us for lunch today. It's $5 a person. Kids under the age of 12 are free. I also wanted to thank, especially Carrie Stoner and Barbara Butler, who did the majority of the planning and organizing for the lunch this year. So they definitely deserve a round of applause from all of us. So I want to bring your attention to our town meeting bingo cards this year that we placed on everybody's seat. This is just a fun interactive individual game just to participate in town meeting in a different way than we've done in the past. And I want to thank Renee specifically for creating the bingo cards and putting them out for everyone. So have fun with it. No pressure. I wanted to share a little bit about both the Friends of Calis. The Friends of Calis was previously known as the PTNO. And it established in 2020 with the aim of expanding the scope of enrichment activities and better serve the broader community of Calis. And that's all of you. Last fall, we developed a survey that we shared and of 107 community members responded to that survey. And we have been working very diligently to use the results of that survey to help guide the programs and events that we've been planning here for the community. And so I want to highlight a few. We started Fiber Friends, which is a gathering of folks who want to socialize by doing fiber arts. They meet at the town hall on the first and third Thursdays from 6 to 8 and the second and fourth Sundays from 1 to 3. So if you're interested in fiber arts and want to gather and socialize, that's an opportunity. We also are starting a monthly Curious Calis Nature Walk. The first one was in the Chickering Bog in February. The next one is taking place this coming Saturday, March 9th at 9 a.m. on the Robinson Hill Trails and Robinson Hill Road. And that's going to be led by Rachel Pelham. But if you are interested in leading a nature walk and want to be a part of our Curious Calis Nature Walks, please reach out to us and let us know, because that is an event that we are hoping to have monthly. And then lastly, we have an upcoming Spaghetti Dinner, which is a fundraiser for the Friends of Calis. It will be here at the Calis Elementary School next Friday evening. We have Raffle Adones and we have registration forms on the back table, the swimming table, which I want to draw your attention to. There's some information in the back of the room. So some of the Friends of Calis information is back there as well. We are asking that people register by this Friday, March 8th. So if you are interested in attending the Spaghetti Dinner, which we hope you will, please register and you can bring the forms to myself or to Daniel in the front office of Calis Elementary. We also have animals hanging at the Community Forest in the East Calis and Maple Corner. And then lastly, we would love for your participation with the Friends of Calis. We meet every second Thursday of the month at the Town Hall from 6.30 to 8. We cannot continue to implement and advance our goals without more help from the community, so we hope that you will join us. And if you have any questions, all of our board members are here, so seek us out. We are happy to answer questions and provide more detailed information again about the Friends of Calis at the student table in the back of the room. Thank you so much. I guess for today, the only school board representative from Calis on the Washington Central Unified Union School District Board. I think tomorrow I'll be joined by another. I wanted to briefly thank Kari for his long service to the school board with the history. Kari Weiss, who moved out of the district and who had a more brief but also very important membership on the board. I wanted to mention two things. One, I'm available to my best to answer any questions people have about the school budget this year. It was an incredibly difficult process. It continues to be a difficult process. And I really wish the legislature would fix our process so much that we could predict what tax rates would be before we figure out what spending is going to have to do. It's a rather reverse approach to budgeting, but here we are. So I'll do my best to answer any questions people have. Please find me. The other thing I wanted to mention was that people may be aware that there's a configuration study being undertaken by the district. It's a scary and exciting process. There's going to be an update at our next community forum which incidentally is being held at Calis Elementary. That's the first Wednesday in April. I think we begin at 6 o'clock. It's April 3rd. So I encourage people to attend if they're interested in that process because I think there will be an update that afternoon. Thank you. Okay, we've been on the town reports for just about an hour, but go ahead, Barry. This is very brief. I was assuming that you broke out the town foreman, the road foreman, just so we could see that as separate from the budget just clarification. I just wanted to thank David Healy, who has put years into volunteering and helping to get the CB fiber project going. And if he got paid for every hour he'd put in, he'd be owning the whole town. So we're not going to pay you. But thank you very much. And I also wanted to say we're missing a member of the town, Benny Bush, who they had a fire up on Max Gray. And she was really burned. And I know she comes every year, came into town about the same time I did. And I just, I know we're all thinking about her. So I just wanted to mention that. Thank you, Barry. Anything else, Jamie? Do you need to want to say a word about the store that you're managing? I just wanted to thank everybody for their support over the last year at the Maple Corner store. We've had a really exciting year of growth. With the way everybody's shut down throughout much of COVID, having been open for the last year, our revenue has grown a lot, our offerings have grown a lot. It's been an exciting year. We are, if you come in the store regularly, you know that it's currently half walled off as we launch a new kitchen renovation. And we'll be opening our new kitchen, hopefully at the end of this month, which is very exciting. Yeah, it's great. And we're really excited these calluses open now too. It's been fun working with Jess a little bit. And I think there's a lot of opportunity for the three stores in town to continue to work together and grow together. Okay, thanks. I think we've now heard lots of the town reports, asked lots of questions. Are we ready to move to Article 3? Hearing no objection, Article 3 is to elect the following town officials, trustee of public funds for three-year term. I believe Scott Kronzkowski is the incumbent, is the first election. Nominations are open. Your name, please. Okay. And do we have a second? It's been moved and seconded. Are there any other nominations? Was that a move, a motion to close nominations and have the secretary cast one ballot for Scott? You're the maker of the motion. So I'm just trying to, we can close now, have a separate vote on closing nominations. Yes, I'm in favor. You're in favor? Okay. So we have... We need a second. And are you seconding it? Okay. So the motion has been made both to nominate Scott Kronzkowski and to close nominations and have the secretary cast one ballot. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay. Congratulations. Now we need to elect the cemetery commissioner. And I believe Michael Fullerton is the incumbent. Nominations are open. Okay. Do we have a second? And is that a nomination? And do we have any other nominations? Michael Fullerton has been nominated and seconded. Are there any other nominations? Hearing none. All those in favor of re-electing Michael to the cemetery commission, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay, Michael. Thank you for doing that again. We are up to Article 4, which reads, shall the voters authorize total fund expenditures for operating expenses of $1,693,548, of which $1,367,718 shall be raised by taxes and $325,830 by non-tax revenue. Somebody from the select board want to move that. And Winchester has moved it. To move Article 4. To add a second. It's been seconded. Discussion. Yeah. Get a microphone back. I'm Craig Lane. I live on Old West Church Road. Obviously, the dirt roads are paramount importance. But I notice driving the county road any time I go to town that it's breaking up to a significant degree. I don't believe the cracks were sealed last summer. It's something that really only would have taken a phone call. But I'm wondering what the plan is. Because I know we resurfaced sections of it a mile at a time what, ten years ago? More than that? I'm not sure. But as it really breaks up now, the freezing and thawing, I wonder what's the plan for the county road. Thanks. So you are correct that the general approach is to pay or resurface one mile at a time. That's because the, I think it's the better roads grant is provided by the state basically covers one mile of value. So Toby Talbot is our grant administrator and we're going to make a determination in the next few weeks of whether it will apply for that grant this year to take care of the oldest section which would be the southern most the first mile coming out of East Montpelier, which I think is probably in the worst shape. So certainly that's going to be a sort of top of this whether to take that on this year or seal patch and try to get through one more year. Yes, we've got a hand up in the back. Wait for the microphone, please. Right in front of you. I appreciate repaving there. It's right in front of my house, the worst section. And if I turn left to go to Montpelier, I miss it. And if I go to the maple corner store to refill my beer supply, I take it every time. I think there's a hand right behind you. I just had a couple of questions on the budget figures. I noticed in the proposed budget for a treasure it's blank again. Can you explain what that's about? Yep, I can take that one. So it became pretty clear when we started the budgeting process that we needed to really rethink the staffing model. And so the approach that we're planning for is that I will be appointed the treasure and then we will hire an assistant treasurer to help with bookkeeping accounts payable and payroll. As I'm learning the systems now that will help inform how many hours do we how much skill do we need for that position but we've accounted for that model within this time. And my second question is looking at the general hire expenses it would be really helpful to me I think the road crew is doing an amazing job. I have no idea how many people are on the road crew right now and what the structure is of who supervises it and is there a road foreman or is told to be the road foreman it's an explanation of where we are compared to where we were a year ago it would be really helpful. So yeah we have five members of the road crew currently three are full-time and then two are part-time. The budget has in it room for five full-time however the two works pretty well for us we have two people that came out of retirement to help and that has worked really well because they can they can fill in when we need all five a certain amount of flex in the schedule. And so the structure is I'm the road commissioner oversee that we have John Stafford is our road foreman who works on the crew and then the rest of the individuals are part of the road crew. Further discussion and questions in front Mac? I think there was quite a bit of ARPA money and I was wondering what the plan is for the ARPA money. You want to do it or you want me to do it? Yeah virtually all of the ARPA funds which was total of 450,000 so we're in that neighborhood so ARPA is American Rescue Plan Act with money that was provided by the federal government and the municipalities. Calis' allocation was somewhere in the neighborhood of 480,000. Virtually all of that has been obligated at this point either spent or turned over to whoever the beneficiary of that is going to be. I think the single largest allocation was 200,000 for the CD5. The dam got a portion East Calis Water District? Fire District received a large portion you know there's probably a dozen different beneficiaries and essentially all of that money has been spoken for at this point. Several questions I don't know but I'll just kind of try to go to them but not in order but what I noticed is that our delinquent tax amount has gone up to $7,000 compared to just a few hundred last year. I'm concerned about the people that have the hardest time with taxes having to pay additional so that's just more of a comment. I see that we're spending about $17,000 for the town hall but the upstairs after spending a lot of money including town money still not insulated we're talking about having to expand our town clerk's office we spend a lot of money on buildings and I know that you are all very thoughtful about it but I think as much as the desire to make the town hall upstairs into a community space I think we have to weigh that into our need for the town clerk's office you know I trust the judgment everybody I know I already spent a lot of time on it wanted to make it to community development but we it's just another thought question I'd have to refer to my notes there's a couple other things but I'll see if anybody else has anything to say before I move on. Hi, I already told us Barry, there is funds that we got from donations for the upstairs of the town hall we were waiting to see there was a couple of other grants that were a possibility that we had a possibility of getting so we kind of held off doing the upstairs work to see if we could get some of these grants and they didn't all come through so now we're at this spring and somebody will see some action upstairs at the town hall we are planning on putting in the lights and sound up there and be more active it was just kind of holding off for these other grants because we didn't want to do work that we would have to undo if we were going to try to either insulate or add some heating or things up there so we wanted to kind of hold off to see what folks we had so we do have some funds that we got honestly and some other ones so we will see hopefully this spring and summer some additional work being up there to set that up it's a real active community space and for plays and sound lights, sorry, theater and music and things like that so that work seems to have gone on hold for a little while but you will see forward motion on that soon. Thank you. Just to follow up with what you were saying Barry about Dilling from Taxes every year we come and every year people say that they don't know how they're going to pay their taxes this year they don't know how they're going to pay their fuel bill this year and we are all empathetic but I don't know what we're actually doing about it and when we talk about the town plan and wanting to be inviting of new people coming here I think it behooves us to ask how are we going to help people stay here who have been here and want to stay here and I don't know what the practical question is I know that I'm late to this question and maybe it's something for next year that the select board could look at but I was talking with Gus about it before land use there was we sort of dealt with we helped farmers on a local level before there was the state land use policy and I'm wondering if there's some way that those of us who are not particularly worried about the tax bill or to squeeze by it is there a can we be kicking in 100 bucks to help cover these these costs I don't know how that works I'm just thinking we really need to be personal about how are we going to help people stay here we have a hand up in the middle on this side I'm Mercedes I live right on Jack Hill Road I've been living here for over 10 years and I appreciate everybody I love Tom meeting Dave on the way so I agree with you and by looking at everything here in the budget there are needs and there are things that are wants and everybody is aware of that I'm going to touch on a very sensitive topic but hear me out so I know there's inflation everything just keeps going up including taxes so we're going to have to draw the line and try to see to differentiate what are the needs versus the wants like for example to be honest the Kellogg Hubbard Library it's now the growth budget keeps going up like now is $33,220 I understand a lot of people attend and go and it's beautiful but one of the things that I learned when I moved here is the library is not in Calis point of order does it this pertain to being discussed article there is a special article on this topic I'm going to let her make her point it's just an example so if we can I'm not saying just stop everything but if we look at just little things here and there that we could still support but take care of our own first and then see what's there left that maybe we can spare let's put it that way but let's consider and other articles like this come up what is a want versus a need because over a million dollars it's just a little too much so taxes the way they keep going up it's not helping the situation either it's not helping anybody so thank you okay there's another hand and there's Grant's hand there Hi Candy Andrea I know this isn't a lot of money and this is just a quick question but page page 59 under planning commission you can answer this interactive map program CAI technologies I'm wondering what CAI is going to do for the town and how that differs from the interactive map that we already have what more are you getting I know it's not a lot but still 3,000 bucks you got a hand up Hi Jen are you in a better position to speak to it do you want me to so that is a potentially a replacement to the interactive maps that we have and is a resource that is a lot more flexible and something that we can utilize to make managing and tracking documentation a lot more efficient what has become increasingly clear certainly to the members of this select board who've gotten way into the weeds and worked very closely with a lot of the different commissions is there's a lot of different groups within the community who could really benefit from a centralized resource like that and gain a lot of efficiency in their work to having a resource like that and making it more accessible and transparent for the rest of the community so that is why we're exploring funding that particular resource there is going to be a period of overlap for sure in functionality but it's a more robust piece of equipment Jen is that accurate sounds like close enough close enough we have a hand up to the grandstand thank you one other question there's a kind of a giant elephant in the budget for next year it looks like and I wanted to know what the status was of the one point I guess was 7 million that was spent on road repairs as a due to the flood and you mentioned that in the select board reports there were hopes that that team of reimbursement might happen in the spring and I'm curious where that's at and what the chances are that most of that money will come in I can speak to that so the figure is approximately 1.5 million with our total expense for flood related repair and that includes the time that our road crew spent on it and the use of our equipment but also materials and contractor work and Toby Talbot and Scott and Charlotte Passage have really led that effort of just really detailed work compiling all that information and submitting it in the form that FEMA wants it and they've been doing this since the last summer and we have now been approved for the very first distribution, first reimbursement including the state will actually cut the check so we had to go through a process of being approved by the state and we should be seeing that first reimbursement anytime now the amounts are still in flux because the legislature is basically working on that and so but what we've been expecting is 75% reimbursement by FEMA and another 12.5% from the state so it's hard to say what the timing on the full amount is going to be because there are multiple layers of review for each reimbursement from FEMA and then various divisions of FEMA having to do with environmental, historical and so on and so hopefully that will all come forth in the coming months but we are expecting a cash flow crunch because all that $5 million had to be paid and so that has basically depleted our reserves, we're down to about $400,000 in the chicken camp with a $200,000 tax bill to the school district coming so we're looking at our cash flow options, line of credit and so on and navigating that it's going to be interesting the next few months but we're going to be okay as the bottom line I'm going to hand up here and then we'll go to I guess I'm speaking in as a representative on this issue first of all I think this town was more successful than most in really pushing through the FEMA applications the FEMA process is bureaucratic and difficult and Toby Talbot and Scott and Charlotte Bassage and our town really did a great job I just believe there are towns out there that really couldn't get it together and it's really sad but in any rate there is a local as Kari said there's a local share which it varies but let's just say grossly 5% and on Friday the state the House and the Senate passed an act which went to the governor and I think he'll sign it because it had a lot of Republican as well as Democratic support which reimburses towns for most of their 5% and so we'll get a grant right away I think it's how much? $30,000 we'll get a grant of $30,000 right away and then the rest will come as the FEMA process arrives along but we are going to be almost entirely reimbursed excuse me I'd like to follow up on Artie's comments about the town hall and the friends of the Calis Town Hall are doing a lot of the work upstairs and that is not coming out of tax dollars it's coming out of fundraising and I believe in the budget there's $6,000 for a reserve fund which I think we're voting on today okay we have a hand in the middle and I'll just say our article is article 4 and we'll see if we're ready to vote on it soon hey there Tobin Anderson I'm in the anomalous position of being someone who lives here full time but my home is officially a second home legally and my recommendation to the town is actually given the question of how we keep people who are already living here here how do we allow people to live in their homes I feel like you have to tax second homeowners born I mean I don't like it it's really me you know and there are all sorts of reasons to feel like to retain the town's character and most importantly to retain people who have been living here in some cases for generations so anyway I just that's what I recommend is actually um make me sad thank you for that alright so we're on article 4 are you ready to hear the question now we have another hand third time Barry I know you know me well a couple questions I didn't three things I didn't actually raise one is I wonder if we can hear from the Curtis Pond damn I see in the report that we're at least $300,000 short of even getting this thing done and you know having slamming Curtis Pond for over 50 years and loving it I did need a very thoughtful letter from a water biologist whatever ecologist who said we really need to also be thinking about how long we will retain some of the ponds and some of the dams and it's you know it's $300,000 now but anyway I'd like to just hear from those folks because it is I would not put any money in the budget so I guess it would come but I didn't raise it already a couple questions the $45,000 from the cemetery is that that comes out of the budget it's a separate article Barry that's article 5 yes we'll all have to pay for it but it's not part of this article okay and the reserve phone for the town hall is that that keeps adding in so it's $10,000 for this year do we know what the balance is for that I mean I'm assuming it's cute but I wasn't and I won't ask before them I'll speak briefly to the Curtis Pond who looks for the others information yeah we thank you all for passing the $450,000 bond last year that was a very exciting one about a month ago we had a budgetary shortfall of about $380,000 just because of delays and dramatically increased construction costs from the estimates of a year before we've worked really hard we've closed about half of that gap through private donations we're working with a couple of community members on a contingency plan we had a grant that we thought was going to cover some of the shortfall that not everyone knows but unfortunately the grant did not come through and we were not funded through that but we have a path forward for construction this year that we'll be able to speak more about in a couple of weeks as it comes together and we start negotiating the actual contract but it is looking like we will be able to construct the dam this summer as scheduled without a dramatically increased cost or any budgetary increase to the town it will be through private donations the amount in any town hall fund at the moment is $558 yes just a quick question speaking of bonds and I'm sorry if I if it's there somewhere and I missed it is the beavers problem going to be resolved as part of the project I don't know if you noticed but they're destroying everything and I know we've been through some grants like there was like a few years ago reconstruction and they did something about that issue but just making sure it doesn't get ruined again after all that effort and money and work that goes into it thank you so I guess what I'll say to that is having lived here my whole life I don't think the beaver problem will ever be resolved it is a perpetual issue the newly constructed dam will be much stronger and less susceptible to problems based on beaver activity and there will be some aspects of the design related to that directly but beavers like to dam up water and they'll continue to do so but with much less risk to the dam the pond and the community can microphone will get to you it's on its way very briefly I took $1,367,718 for our budget divided it by 1,607 people I calculated it's $815 per person I'm kind of a numeric nerd sometimes but it just was an interesting fact and with that I moved to close okay we've got a motion to call the question that's not debatable all those in favor of ending debate please say aye those who want to go on please say nay okay and the question is we've closed the debate the question is shall the bloaters authorize total fund expenditures for operating expenses of $1,693,548 of which $1,367,718 shall be raised by taxes and $325,830 by non-tax revenue all in favor please say aye those opposed nay and the ayes have it we're on to article 5 which asks shall the voters appropriate the sum of $45,000 for the operation and maintenance of cemeteries would somebody like to move that article Michael has moved it we have a second we're open for discussion I'm not seeing any hands so I'm going to assume we're ready for the question all those in favor of article 5 shall the voters which asks us to appropriate $45,000 for the operation and maintenance of cemeteries please say aye those opposed the ayes appear to have it the ayes do have it and we've passed article 5 article 6 shall the voters appropriate $33,220 for library services provided through the Kellogg Hubbard Library would somebody like to move this article it's been moved do we have a second it's been seconded we're open for discussion right in front here my name is Jeff Dean I live in Maple Corner I live with my family I'm also the trustee representing Callis for the Kellogg Hubbard Library we had a question earlier about the cost of funding the library Callis's portion of it and I just wanted to say a couple of things because when we're asked to fund things we naturally think of the cost and I wanted to say something about the value we often think of public libraries as repositories freely accessible books available to be checked out by anyone of the library card and while there's truth to this there's truth and value to this libraries have always been more and in our contemporary context the circulation of physical books has been matched by other methods the library is welcoming to the space and whether you're looking for quiet or connection warmth in the winter engaging in informative programs for young and old use of computers and wifi or even that rarest of commodities a public bathroom the library has you got and for those who may prefer engaging from home either by choice or necessity the library offers online access to ebooks audiobooks streaming video and online magazines and courses so I hope the value of the library is not limited to books as a parent and I really appreciate the support today I also just wanted to add that the earlier commenter mentioned that the library is not in Calis which is obviously true but it's accessible to all of us who live here hundreds of us use the library including children, older folks and not only people go to the library but they get library services brought to them here in Calis we have home deliveries for those who are homebound we have community outreach where we bring books to community centers such as Maple Corner and Adamant and so it's not just really a place where people go e-mob earlier to get books there's lots of other things and the library comes to us as well as us going today, thank you okay we have a hand in the middle I just wanted to thank my lovely and beautiful neighbor over here for raising this question one of the kindest and sweetest people on Jack Hill Road I appreciate you so much I think the spirit of your question is important because you were pulling out of an example but the point you're making is let's prioritize taking care of our community first and I think that's a wonderful wonderful point and I think that the design of how we get to that is the point it's not particularly with the library budget I come from a part of the country rural American south where libraries are closed and culture reflects that the way that people think about history and education and telling the truth and being self-reflective is directly correlated with their values and their lack of funding of libraries so I just want to say that one of the reasons why I was so excited to raise my three children in Calis is because we're a rural community and we value hard work and we respect people who know how to work with their hands we also value education and I think that the way that we find the library every year is a symbol that our community believes that education and hard work are both equally important instead of life and in community and so I just think that regardless of the amount of money we send to the Hubbard Library the statement every year that we support it is critical in maintaining good culture here and we can have good culture and also be living in rural life so thank you so I was just wondering what the library is doing about the flooding in Montpeyre it's continually being a hit with floods and stuff and I don't know we're pouring money into a sinkhole oh yeah the library suffered about a million and a half dollars with the damage but nothing in the budget that's coming from Calis or any other towns are paying for that damage that is being paid for almost entirely by FEMA grants some state funds and private donations so that and part of what's being done to improve the prospects of the library for future funding is raising the mechanicals out of the basement where they've been up to a higher level so that in future floods unfortunately may well happen the damage would be massively less significant to the structure and operations of the building I'm not seeing any other hands so I'm going to assume we're ready for the oh there is a hand the library stopped taking fines is everyone aware of that and I don't know how much revenue they've lost accordingly so that's one aspect if you're used to paying a lot of fines or in your budget for not having to pay those fines is there further discussion if not the question in front of us is shall the voters appropriate $33,220 for library services provided through the Kellogg Hybrid Library if you're in favor please say aye aye if you oppose say nay the ayes have it and we have passed article 6 article 7 we often call the social services article it asks shall the voters appropriate the total sum of $30,377 to meet the amounts requested by the following organizations in the callous and central mont area which organization provides social services for the benefits of callous residents such amounts being reasonably necessary for the support thereof and then we list and I will not read 28 organizations asking for various amounts of funding which I think I understand to be consistent with last year's request is that right yes would somebody like to move this article it's been moved and seconded is there discussion David any other Barry let me get you a microphone I know we've been talking about money etc but haven't been an incorporator running a couple of non-profits in my past life it's really hard for most of these organizations to even get the press money from us given all that's gone on with inflation I would like to recommend that we I'd like to recommend or amend this to raise the amount by 5% which is $1518 not a lot but I just think we're talking about flooding I know one of the organizations I was involved in a month set up for Independent Living for Pediatrics the deputy director got flooded out I've been out of the space for a year I think it's just a small gesture so that's my amendment to this article and that was $1500 how much and moved and seconded that we add $1518 or 5% to the article I'm going to assume that that's the intent to give everybody here a 5% bump so that's the question in front of you we're open for discussion of the amendment seeing no hands all yes okay Hi this is Barbara McAndrew I appreciate that very much I just would like to decline the 5% for Old West Church we're at $500 I would prefer those resources go to the Woodbury Calis Woodbury Food Shell for others that are directly serving our community so I appreciate the point Mary but I feel like the funds need to go to direct service organizations to the article of the amendment all those in favor of amending article 7 by adding $1518 or 5% please say aye those opposed say nay nay the nays appear to have it the nays do have it and we've defeated the amendment we're back to the original article for $30,377 for the 28 organizations are you ready for that question all those in favor please say aye aye those opposed and you passed article 7 articles 8 and 9 are going to be separate but they really go together in terms of establishing a reserve fund and then creating funds and Mark just to put you on deck when we get through these two I'll ask for a legislative update from you so article H all the voters establish a reserve fund under the controlling direction of the select board to be known as the emergency measure reserve fund for the purpose of purchasing services and supplies in the event of a town emergency would somebody like to move this article and he's moved it and we have a second discussion Nick let's hear from our emergency management award winning officer Nick and this fund is for emergency spending for immediate needs in the event of an emergency event so when the for instance this would be for supplies or services for opening a shelter it might be for industrial pomp and slide if we ever have that experience and this is typically the select board would be voting to approve something like this but in emergency events where there might not be power or internet and so forth has happened a couple of December's ago this would allow for immediate purchase so the so that's the purpose of the fund I'll also address article 9 at the same time which would put money into the reserve fund a thousand dollars that money would not would roll over from year to year so if it doesn't get spent it just sits in there until it's needed and maybe that won't be for a really long time and while I have the microphone just also I'm going to put a plug for volunteer assistance with some of the stuff with the emergency management committee is doing should I kind of do that now? I'm not going to stop you so we have a number of projects going on we'd like to get they depend on volunteer assistance a couple of them that I want to mention one is the shelter in an emergency when needed and volunteers we have a roster we're developing a roster of people who may be available to volunteer in that situation is it's the Betty Copen are you here Betty? Betty can you just stand up and wait until people can see it Betty is working on maintaining that and speaking Betty can you just sign up there's no commitment you might call you and say are you available for three hours on this afternoon or are you available to to help staff shelter overnight and another on Saturday this coming Saturday in this building American Red Cross has come on to conduct a simulation training equipment to train volunteers on how to staff and operate the shelter so if anyone's interested in participating in that please see Betty and she is also in charge of that I'll mention one other project we have going on which is emergency radio communication some of you may know that with grant funding the town purchased antennas is one antenna that's now up in the town hall bell tower 18 foot antenna for emergency radio communication which it can extend much farther than what we currently have in town so for instance we can reach out to hospitals around the state from one state police the National Guard the modern emergency management and so forth so it's a backup means of communication emergency communication cell service and the other communication services are down you can hold in self-taught classes at the town hall on Saturday mornings for gaining FCC licensure to be able to use these emergency frequencies and Jane English is heading up that effort please now if you have any interest in becoming licensed to operate these radio communications please speak with Jimmy let's see if I've got anything else here sign up sheet in the back and pardon? oh yes thank you Jake just raise your hand Jake is also very involved with the radio communications project and he just put up the town websites you can put your name on the roster for a potential volunteer there on the website he has that sign up sheet and let's see we have other volunteer opportunities I'm not going to go into any more of them but you can speak with me or any of the members of this committee you'll find our names on page 39 of your town report and let's see if there are some hands up Jane do you want to make a comment who are licensed to use radios either commercial or hand radio and want to be on the list that would be called in an emergency it's not a big commitment or anything we are going to do a few testers going around town checking out where the town radios don't work and where they do work we're doing a lot of that kind of stuff so if you like playing radio let me know where are the shelters we have the primary shelter as we had a consultation visit American Red Cross and they said council manager school is a fantastic place for shelters so this is our primary shelter and secondary is town hall and also maple corner community center which American Red Cross said it's too small for us to get involved but you could have your own small local so those are the three we have right now also talking about getting something going at the east house community center I want to mention that the town is also purchased with grant funding and tenants for in addition to the one that's now at the town hall in this building at the east palace community center and town garage and maple corner community center so all of these locations could be part of this network of emergency communication which can reach far beyond the borders of the palace and I'll just say that our emergency management team meets on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month we alternate between east palace community center and the town hall so everyone is welcome to join us for those meetings that's it for now any questions any other questions we have something right here hi everybody Sarah black I'm not on the select board I'm just doing the zoom so I just wanted to say real quick this is my first town meeting so I'm still learning how this all works I should have done this during the town report part but I wanted to say a huge massive thank you to the entire emergency management team I don't know if you all saw them during the floods full disclosure Jake is my husband so I saw them all during the floods and they were out there in the middle of the night at the dam and driving around and they were working tirelessly and they have continued to work tirelessly they spend their Saturdays every weekend doing stuff for the emergency management team so thank you all very very much okay was there one other hand up David Healy I want to thank Sarah black for putting up the emergency roads web page on the town site thank you okay is there any further discussion of article 8 yep we have a hand there yeah thanks my name is Walter Pazinski I live in the Bliss Pond district I just wanted to say I think it's a great idea more of a process question is the intent that we create this fund and it becomes a lion item on the budget every year I imagine so but if so the question is what's the ideal amount that would be in this rainy day father it would not become a lion item it's unused it rolls over from year to year so yeah it's kind of a lot of there's a lot of emergency management but the Vermont emergency management recommends that a town have as much as $5,000 in this fund but we didn't think that was a good idea to request that so it's the request is for $1,000 you can vote to create or you already did vote to create though now we still have to do the voting to create the fund and you don't have to fund it but it is a great idea to have the fund in place if we need it but I recommend $1,000 in the context of all the conversation we've already had about needing to control the budget any further discussion are you ready for the article and the article is shall the voters establish a reserve fund under the control and direction select port to be known as the emergency measures reserve fund for the purpose of purchasing services and supplies in the event of a town emergency all those in favor please say aye opposed article 8 passes article 9 shall the voters approve a $1,000 appropriation to the emergency measures reserve fund somebody like to move that move to have a second moved and seconded further discussion if not all those in favor of approving a $1,000 appropriation to the emergency measures reserve fund please say aye opposed take a brief break to hear from our representative Mark Mahale about what's going on down the road Mark Pellier good morning everybody I'm Mark Mahale I want to start out by talking a little more about the flood Friday the state legislature also passed and I think the governor was signed legislation that helps towns that have lost a lot of taxes because so much property was damaged towns like Johnson and Mahpelier and Ferry they've just lost millions of dollars of tax base so the state's trying to help them out aside from that my view is that really this doesn't an inadequate job of helping towns during floods I mean Nick and his crew did a fabulous job if we were basically on our own despite assertions to the contrary we really didn't get a lot of assistance from the state and one of the things that I found in my work is that a lot of the state work on floods the future flooding needs help I'm worried about the future climate change means there's going to be a lot more rain we can't do rear view mirror planning we have to think about the future it's not going to look like the future in 2011 there was enough rain that Marshfield Dam almost failed we came close to having to open the floodgates if the floodgates of Marshfield Dam were to be opened the villages of Marshfield and Plainfield as you know them would disappear and they would disappear within less than an hour and there are no plans that are really good for evacuating people for emergency response that dam safety is regulated a lot of the dams are regulated by the public utilities commission which doesn't have any expertise in dam safety so I've introduced two bills and they're moving they're moving through the senate and they're in the house as well because senator Persley and I work together and these would change the regulation so that the entity in the state that does dam safety that has the expertise would do the regulation and also start a planning process so that we would decide how can the state realistically help towns in the event of future of future flooding and I just think that what happened to us in July will happen again it will just happen again so turning to something more fun Gabrielle Alina are you here she had to leave well she was I have a certificate which I'm going to give to the cause of her having to leave her husband who we fortunately hired would you please pass this certificate of appreciation from the secretary of state to Gabrielle I don't want to take much time I'm on the house appropriations committee which is money last year we had a lot of it and that's because we had a lot of federal money the federal money is drying up and so we have a very tight budget and we are working on all housing the whole housing crisis like safety schools every one of these issues is going to require really serious rethinking about how we do business the school funding you all know it the legislature is going to take a hard look at how we do funding personally my own view is that we ought to abolish the property tax completely and go to with respect to the schools and go to an income tax which is more progressive but I'm not sure that that's going to happen but it's kind of that level of thinking that has to go on public safety is a big issue in a lot of towns there's sort of more retail theft more car theft going on and again the issue is money the problem is everybody kind of agrees all the experts that if you the way to reduce crime is for people to know that if they're caught they will be punished quickly that is the time between being arrested and tried as quick well in Vermont right now the time between arrest and trial is two to three years and so if we want to change that we're going to have to fund we're going to need more judges more defense attorneys etc unfortunately the current draft budget the governor sent us cuts in every one of those areas and so I'm just illustrating this that we're facing a really difficult challenge because we're not going to increase taxes on the middle class in Vermont we're just not going to and so we have limited resources and have to think hard about them finally just a note on taxes speaking of which remember if you do your taxes you can get help there is a free tax clinic there's a taxpayer advocate if you need those people contact me four five four ten seventy four five four ten seventy call me up and I'll get them get you to them also there is a child there's a child credit child tax credit you won't if you don't apply for it it's an earned income tax credit people tend to forget that don't forget that if you want to talk further about the housing issue we could go on forever or if you want to talk about public safety or environment and I'll talk to you that's it thank you very much is there one or two questions somebody wants to pose okay Mary Alice and then we'll move back to our agenda as some of you know I'm a current student at Harvard Divinity School working on some root causes for public life in Vermont as correlated with people's religious spiritual ethical views one of my main takeaways from the last ten years of researching is that one of the biggest reasons why we can't solve a lot of our problems here in Vermont is because we're not welcoming any people so another way of addressing the issues that we're having is back to the housing crisis to consider looking inside of ourselves and being more self reflective about what we were given when we moved here to this place by others and considering whether or not that's a gift that can be given to others and passed along but the big root issues that I'm very concerned about in the legislature is the pay that's being paid to those individuals who are serving in the legislature because many people of my generation are willing to serve they want to serve they grew up in Vermont people like Dylan Teachout Burns and others they've had top jobs at places around the country they want to move back to Vermont and do this hard work and they know how to do it while protecting the landscape protecting our values and I just want to say out loud that I think it's critical that we raise the pay for the members of the legislature so it's not only a certain class of people like yourself Mark and I'm not saying this in any way to undermine the value of your service but right now if you can hop on an airplane and fly around the country for a vacation you are a very specific type of person who can afford to volunteer in the legislature that is not the kind of legislature that can solve and resolve our crisis and I want to thank Anne Winchester for the fact that she's come into the select board and mentored younger people I think the way that she's mentored this group of new folks in the select board is an incredible example of the way we can transition the state and public life but we can't wait until an entire generation dies and then have younger folks come in to serve and expect that they're going to do a good job so passing the baton has to be gradual and we have to respect and value the fact that people in the legislature have to be paid to do this work I am fabically agree and not because I need the money I mean I'm retired so I'm living off my retirement account there is a bill there was a bill in the legislature to raise legislative pay in my mind I don't think it would have much effect it really wouldn't encourage the young people to marry Alice because it wasn't enough but what it did do which is really important is provide healthcare benefits I think one of the reasons that young people can't afford to do it is unless you've got someone else in the family who's got healthcare you can't afford to serve so I agree I will say one of the reasons I've been feeling surprisingly happy and good about serving is because there are so many wonderful people in the legislature my class, my entering class was 50 out of 150 and a lot of them are really young really I mean like one of our best legislatures is 26 years old and she's good so there are young people serving but there would be a lot more people serving and people from diverse economic backgrounds if there was at least healthcare if not more pay so I'm there Alice thank you I agree okay we're gonna move on to our agenda and the next four articles are about how we pay taxes article 10 shall the voters authorize the payment of property taxes in two equal installments for the first installment due on a number 4-4 p.m. on a date that falls not less than 30 days after the tax bills are mailed but not earlier than September 1 2024 and the second installment due on a number 4-4 p.m. on Monday November 15 2024 somebody like to move this article and has moved it we have a second and moved in second and we're open for discussion yes Chan I just wonder if there's ever been a consideration for quarterly payments and the reason why I'm asking when we first moved into Vermont and moved in Underhill and we were young and we didn't have a lot of money sitting around and it was wonderful to have a payment system and I don't know why but the interest I mean I don't know I just wondered if you had ever considered it and if you haven't did you please consider it next year this let board certainly has not considered it and I assume it would be an extra burden for the staff so we would have to look into that but sure we'll think about it thank you Chan any further discussion of this article David town hasn't a lot of yet his age direct withdrawal from the checking account I recommend that the sector would look at that town Marshall does do that okay any other good ideas before we vote any other discussion if not the article asks to authorize payment of property taxes in two equal installments first installment due on or before 4pm on a date that falls 30 days after the tax bills are mailed but not earlier than September 1, 2024 and the second installment due on or before 4pm on Monday November 15, 2024 all those in favor please say aye opposed the ayes appear to have it the ayes do have it and you passed article 10 article 11 shall each property tax installment payment be made via one of the following options by delivery to the treasurer by 4pm on or before the due dates set forth in article 10 by U.S. Postal Service with postmark on or before the due dates set forth in article 10 or 3 by credit card payment via www.calicefamont.gov by 4pm on or before the due dates set forth in article 10 would somebody move this article and has moved it to we have a second and seconded discussion yes I'm going to start from adamant and there's been a lot of questions about credit card payments versus debit payments at our store and credit card payments have about a 3% fee associated with it so that people who pay by check are actually not getting cash back from their credit card that the other people are and I was just wondering whether we've ever considered if you do have a cash discount versus credit card payment because it does cost the town more when you use a credit card we have been talking about other ways people could pay we've been looking into it's kind of an automated clearing house for bank accounts and that would be discussed in the coming year okay we have a hand up here and then one in the back clear does someone who pays by credit card pay a fee additional to the amount when you wanting to speak to that could I thank you I'm Barbara Butler I'm the assistant town worker I live in beautiful North Calis it doesn't cost the town any additional funds for people to pay by credit card the individual taxpayer pays that 3% it may not be 3% when you go to the website right there it tells you that you will pay the credit card processing fee and it tells you how much it's going to be for you so the town actually does not incur that cost further discussion of this article and this article asks shall each property tax installment payment be made via one of the following options by delivery of the treasure by 4pm on or before the due date is set forth in article 10 by U.S. Postal Service with postmark on or before the due date is set forth in article 10 or by credit card payment via wwwcalisformont.gov by 4pm on or before the due date is set forth in article 10 all those in favor please say aye opposed and we've passed article 11 article 12 shall interest in the amount of a half percent per month or any part of a month be charged on unpaid taxes would somebody like to move this article thank you Ann do we have a second and it's been seconded we're open for discussion Barry? I've got a comment on both this and the next one it seems to me that six percent which are three and a half percent is not unreasonable but the eight percent flat fee seems to when you add it up to be quite a bit but people already have trouble paying the taxes I don't have a solution and I know that the tax collector I believe is paid to the eight percent but it just it seems the combination seems to me so somebody wanted to comment was actually more involved I'll take it and I guess Kari can correct me mischaracterizing it but we took a pretty close look at that and had a lengthy discussion a mindful discussion of it we were kind of aware of the challenges of paying taxes and careful not to put a fee out there that seemed too punitive but it was brought to our attention that we're not even collecting enough to cover the cost of our delinquent tax collector so there are other communities that do have a much higher and more punitive rate than that eight percent but we felt like it was fiscally responsible to at least cover our costs for having a delinquent tax collector is that about right that's where we landed on that there's a hand over there it's Michael A. I was going to ask about the eight percent first question why don't we do one article at a time get through this one and hold that question for the next one if that's okay I'll call on you right away when we get there is there anything more on this article okay so the article is article 12 shall interest in the amount percent per month or any part of a month be charged on unpaid taxes all those in favor please say aye those opposed say nay the ayes have it and we've passed article 12 so article 13 shall a delinquent tax penalty be set at eight percent of the total amount of the 2024 delinquent tax would somebody move this article and has moved it do we have a second it's been moved and seconded and now you have the floor okay a couple questions maybe one question and one observation if you had to go on mining your taxes what would you pay right now for interest I mean I know the rates are up but what I'm sure towns get a deal because they offer more than that well it depends on what the source is line of credit that's three point nine percent that's what's available so what I'm saying here eight percent is not what the town loses if they have delinquent taxes and I'm sure the delinquent taxes will not get extreme also as far as the tax selector goes for example in town of Harcourt the town of Yandere is a tax selector and basically that's part of the job part of the salary we don't need to have a separate tax collector we could have the town a ministry to do it save some money so I've been we lower the penalty to four percent and that it's not punitive the town the town will lose money because the infrastructure property and how they're operating the tax collector and that way we're not punishing people because it can't pay the taxes very pain in our situation for us anyway that's my motion okay the article is there's a motion to amend the article to reduce the rate four percent we have a second we have a second we're open for discussion on that yes hand up over here Jack Russell Mike I'd like to hear from the tax collector how much of a problem what are we dealing with we're making a decision without knowing information so I'm not the tax collector Sandra fervor our tax collector it intends to stay on in that role just to speak to your point that that is a role that's defined by statute I believe it's just required of us it often goes is combined but it is a separate function for the town also I think it used to be the case that the delinquent tax collector would be paid out of the proceeds that they gathered that's not the case anymore but I was going to say to the point that Jordan made we are not covering the expense of our delinquent tax collection through the proceeds at three percent and specifically in 2023 we had 216,000 approximately in delinquent taxes and we paid the delinquent tax collector 11,000 so we were coming in below that over four thousand short so in a sense we've been subsidizing delinquent tax collection you know as a town eight percent we would be gathering 17,000 that would be more than enough to cover the the wage that's provided to the delinquent tax collector plus benefits payroll taxes the point that Jordan also made is that we're not in line with the towns around us we did a survey of surrounding towns Worcester Marshfield, Plainfield Cabot and East Montpelier they're all at eight percent plus a one percent interest rate Berry City starts at three percent for the first month then goes to eight percent after one month and Woodbury seems to be the outlier they're at half a percent for the first month and each month it goes up a half percent unnecessarily complicated to me so that's where the surrounding towns are the third factor that was discussed when this came up was that three percent may not be sufficiently motivating because of the market rates out there so three percent essentially treated as almost a low interest loan is that the town is making certainly well below credit card rates at this point I want to point out that the I know Sandra takes this very seriously to work out payment plans and be as accommodating as possible when there is hardship in people and need time to make payments and of course as a last resort we have abatement which the reasons for abatement basically lowering the taxes are set out in statutes and we have a process for that we have a hand up back here please wait for the microphone but so we're looking at increase what is it now what is the percentage now I don't remember currently it's at three percent but my understanding this is fluctuated quite a bit over the years it has been at eight and it's currently at three so three to eight and the proposal put forth sounded like that was a four percent that's correct that's the amendment that we're being asked to consider now any further discussion yes has the amount of delinquency shifted in relation to what the tax penalty is or do they seem to not really be correlated has the amount that we have in delinquent taxes is it in some way correlated so the years that we've been at three percent does it seem to go up how much delinquency in the years that we're more like at eight percent does it go down? I haven't looked at that for a long time we're going to hand up them back and then we'll come over this way can you just give us a definition of what delinquent taxes compared to the unpaid or late tax they're the same delinquent it means late yes now Barbara Barbara do you want to get your microphone now wait for the microphone please I promise all day long people have been saying they can't hear there is a difference between a late payment and a delinquent payment if you do not pay your September installment on time that's late that's what gets one and a half percent interest per month on the unpaid balance you're not delinquent until the second installment due November 15th that's when it becomes delinquent any unpaid balance from either installment the first one or the second one any unpaid balance on your total tax bill is delinquent after if it's not full at the November 15th installment date and that's when the penalty that's up for discussion now gets assessed in addition to the one and a half percent per month there's a hand up on this side it was very interesting we had some people really talking about taking care of people in our town this sounds like this is something that we can look at whether it's four percent or five percent and maybe not eight percent and then Tobin actually said well why don't you look at raising the price for people who have come in and don't live here full time well I mean I think that this is something really serious this is a way that we can take care of people who are here so that's all I just wanted to say I'm for lowering the eight percent and I don't know what percent but to lower it okay the amendment is to lower the amount from eight to four are you ready for that question all those yes Michael you want to speak and let's get back in the habit of identifying ourselves Michael in field I live on the county road in Maple Corner area my question is do we know how much revenue this raises has raised historically because I don't know that and it's an interesting question I quoted the 23 we had 216,000 in change in delinquent taxes which brought in about $6500 in penalties at the three percent rate and we paid our delinquent tax collector $11,000 okay we have a hand up on this side I I'm Donna Smyers I have a comment on when you decrease the rate it is not always the people who need it who take advantage of it and I think the abatement program is appropriate for people who need tax relief and if you allow people who are good with money to get away with paying less they tend to be the ones who take advantage of it and I think it's more appropriate to have a fairly aggressive tax abatement allowance for people who are in need rather than allowing people who actually have the money I can think of some politicians with lots of money who will not pay unless they absolutely have to and I don't think that the billionaires who can make 5 percent should keep their money I mean not that we have them here but I just I think that we should pay as we can and encourage people to pay on time but I think it's more appropriate to have a hand in the middle my name is Jonathan just a very quick question the proposals mentioned half a percent per month and Barbara you mentioned one and a half percent can you just clarify that for us I miss both your okay I miss both it is half a percent one half of one percent and the article to reduce the delinquent tax penalty from 8 to 4 percent are you ready for that question all those in favor please say aye those opposed say nay nay the nays appear to have it the nays do have it and the amendment is defeated we're back to the main question which is whether or not a delinquent tax penalty should be set at 8 percent total amount of the 2024 delinquent taxes are you ready for that question all we have a hand up in the middle about 30 years ago I got that 8 percent penalty even though I had stuffed my payment in the mail but the mail got lost I've never forgotten that penalty I've never been late since but it works okay all those in favor I'm sorry I'm just wondering if there's a way to parse that this distinction who is sitting on the egg who's not paying until they can pay it full is there a way to understand what those populations are who are a small town are people not paying who can pay what's happening who are we talking about okay okay so when we were reviewing this and talking about this for folks that have challenges in paying their property tax I would have historically at times but one of those people sometimes works with folks that are proactive there's also the abatement program the 8 percent is to address folks that have means largely and choose because it's better for them to hold on to their money until they have to relinquish it and to pay on time which then sets the tone back if we're not getting in our revenue or we should be getting in our revenue so I think largely the 8 percent is based on the fact that most of those folks are folks that are of means and have the capacity to pay and are choosing to push it off and then that the folks that are struggling financially are Sandra works with those folks and as Donna had stated we have abatement and other programs that kind of help it's not perfect so at least some people that are struggling to pay are probably going to get caught in that 8 percent but it's largely to encourage people that have capacity to pay and are choosing not to and the hand up in front Cynthia gardener historically we used to publish a list of people who are dealing with their taxes to embarrass people into paying them I don't want to do that anymore but I think there's enough discussion here that we should form a committee to figure out what Calis should do about their taxes and I don't want to be on that committee I don't want to do it alone and we have a hand up in the middle of the back is it true that Calis is second to stow for the highest taxes in Vermont? I just want to know the answer to that that's what I've understood, I was a little shocked but I'm looking at I don't think anybody knows the answer to your question Cynthia joined the committee and we can find out I need help sometimes Are you ready for the question? And the question is Barbara I'm Barbara Butler I also want to remind you that even though we have two equal installments due September and November that you're not limited to paying your tax burden at that time that can be a lot of money for different households to have to come up with that two months apart so I just want to remind you that if it works better for you to please remember you can do household budgeting and you can make monthly or quarterly payments toward the tax bill that's going to be coming to you later in the year and we will credit your tax bills so that when those installments come around in September and November you've already been paying $100, $250 a month toward it so that you're not having to come up with a whole burden within two months of each other so we encourage you to think about household budgeting Yep Okay we've just had a motion to call the question that's not debatable all in favor of ending debate please say aye those opposed Okay the question's been called so the question is would a delinquent tax penalty be set at 8% of the total amount of the 2024 delinquent tax all those in favor please say aye those opposed say nay the ayes appear to have it the ayes do have it we've passed article 13 now we've got a bunch of emergency service articles it's noon time I'm sure some people are getting hungry and there is a lunch to remind you about so let's see how we can figure out whether or not that's up to you article 14 shall the voters appropriate $69,987 to fund the operating expenses of the East Montpelier fire department to be paid in quarterly installments starting July 1, 2024 would someone like to move that article we have a second we've moved in second discussion Andrew why are there two East Montpelier budget articles I don't understand why this split up into two parts I believe the second one is for the ambulance service is there discussion of this article yes in the middle I'm just wondering about the discrepancy by the East Montpelier why is the East Montpelier number so vastly bigger than the Woodbury number somebody from the select board want to address that James Daly Woodbury fire department we have two representatives from East Montpelier as well the differences is that Woodbury does not have an ambulance service that's your big and suing cost we do offer medical services we have a fast squad so we have a group of nine individuals who are EMRs and EMTs who come to your house and help you medical services with the ambulance to hopefully get you on there sooner that's a big difference early discussion yes Hi, Pam DeAndrea I'm just curious can someone speak to why the operating expenses of the East Montpelier ambulance my guest fire department went up so much I'm curious about largely cost of everything but also with the the rest user on East Montpelier hires for that ambulance is the paramedics people that are per diem and so they're coming in after their regular jobs like their folks that aren't getting benefits but there is a substantial amount of overtime and there's been an increase in need for them to be going out which is also yet increasing cost I don't know if one of the folks we'll probably like to speak to it better than I could it's like everyone else we've come up around this and we're not immune from those expenses and salary we try and raise it but truthfully we struggle to compete with some other entry level positions and other occupations and we don't get the money that we really need to operate from the communities and so it's a challenge we're scraping bottom and barrel even though it sounds like a lot of money but it does not cover the expenses and give us a lot of what we call ability to improve certain things we're struggling to upgrade computer systems different things like that because those are where we feel like we can put it off put it off but eventually you know the computer doesn't run anymore and what do we do and then that becomes a hit on a budget that's already lean we're not asking for 100,000 knowing we need 50 and then say we'll compromise at 75 and then we got 25 to play with we feel like we ask for 80 we need 79.9 to make it work there is ways to save a little bit here and there and we can do that but expenses go up we're developing a budget that's forecast a year out and we don't know what fuel oil is going to do in six months to a year and we try and have that flexibility to cover the essentials but we can't save money like other I'm not the pick on color hybrid library or any other agency they can cut back an hour of operation and then they can save some money they can cut back and say we're not going to be open on Saturdays anymore because the money we need to stay open seven days a week we're not getting it, so we'll just do it five days a week four days a week look at the Times Artists it used to be seven day a week paper now it's five days a week but the fire department and ambulance service they show up 24 hours a day seven days a week no matter what the conditions are if you knew what we had to go through during the flood driving out to Marshfield to double back up some back road to get to some other place to cross the road to get to Calis it was amazing what we accomplished and I don't think we're asking for too much and I understand when you look at the total tax bill it's a lot of money but look at driving your car do the math do you know how would it cost a day to run your car to compare it to the ambulance and fire service it's a lot cheaper you know adds up to be a lot at the end of the year so I don't know how to answer your question just we operate very well we really do we want the budget to go through this is for you Alan James when we were working on this budget with you folks you mentioned several things that were increasing your budget you could speak to it you talked for example about changing regulations and how you now have to have certified people and how you have to pay these people more than you've had during the past you talked about how the cases that you've been getting have been more complicated than they've been in the past could you perhaps address that a little bit to help folks understand why these costs are going up right now I don't have notes to pull from to pull on specific but the training requirements do go up the key the problem is is keeping our people working for us when they can go to the hospital and get a job for $28 an hour and I the most I can pay a paramedic level skill is $21 and change an hour and we keep competing with what's around us most of our workers have left us to go to urgent care to go to the hospital and we're struggling to keep trained people on staff most of us do it because it's a passion I respond with the ambulance I don't pass to get me immersed I donate my time everything I do the hours that I spend training going to meetings showing up here and there and everywhere I do not bill for my time it's $500 a year to be the fire chief and that's all I get for that but the call volumes are getting more we're dealing with more drug related issues with overdoses and it takes a wear and tear on your mental abilities when you come to these calls and you just see death more death than you should and it's nothing we can control unfortunately I don't know how we address those issues but I can't say that there's one thing that's made our budget go up we're just trying to stay ahead of the curve and not fall behind okay over here Hi, Rachel Sealy I support the request that you have for this month earlier that will absolutely be good and yes, I did notice that Woodbury was able to provide us with the calls break down between Woodbury and Calis and it would be really helpful in the future to have that information because I think those numbers really helped tell the story of how much work does for us here at Calis so just a suggestion for the future I guess you can have it Hi, Nick Ward Robinson Hill where the services that are provided are quite extraordinary and I realize that it's a variable cost service you can't predict exactly it's not a fixed cost and as I look around this room I think the demand for those services is not likely to go down I know that I for one would be pushing up daisies right now had they not made it to my house this time last year and Anne had the technology that was required to communicate with Burlington and CVH and take care of me that's expensive like Anne, I grew up in I was a city boy, grew up in Montpelier and we didn't work half an hour from the hospital we could just get there but here and with our extended mud season that we seem to have it's going to take even longer I just thank you for what you're doing it's something we're all going to be growing on okay so article 14 if we're ready for the question asks whether the voters will appropriate 69,987 dollars to fund the operating expenses of the East Montpelier fire department to be paid in quarterly installments starting July 1 2024 all those in favor please say aye aye those opposed article 14 passes article 15 asks if the voters will appropriate 141,903 dollars to fund the operating expenses of the East Montpelier ambulance to be paid in quarterly installments starting July 1, 2024 could somebody move this article we have a second discussion I'm going to support this but I just want to bring up for people who haven't been here when this was first pitched to us a long time ago when it was starting the ambulance service it was going to be self-supported I only bring up historically we have to determine whether this is the best way to provide ambulance services in the whole area whether there should be some consolidation I have no idea what the answer is for that I know we need the services just to kind of reflect on that I'm Rose Palachuk I have a long history with EMFD my husband has been a member for more than 35 years and I was the administrative assistant there for six years specifically when the ambulance service started I can tell you that the ambulance does bring in revenue and the annual revenue is split into certain funds and the majority of it goes into the capital reserve fund so this annual appropriation goes to operating expenses for the ambulance service but when it comes time to buy a new fire truck a new ambulance some capital equipment like the SCBA the self-contained breathing apparatus and other big expenses that money the fire department contributes directly from their capital reserve fund so yes there is revenue coming in and it's all divvied up and I think it's used wisely I encourage everyone to support the work of EMFD and the Woodbury fire department we need their services here in town thanks Albert and Sandy further discussion yes I just want to make one more comment that one of the things that's changed from then to now is truthfully volunteer when this organization first put the ambulance service together it was a volunteer crew and as Woodbury operates 100% volunteer those volunteers slowly dried up now it's hard to get anybody to commit their free time to volunteer for services no matter and if you look at any group within this town that relies on volunteers ask them if they're bursting at the seams and turning people away because they don't have too much help they may do and that's what we do we run a per diem model yes we pay hourly but it's per diem so basically we fight for everybody's free time and pay them for that time but it becomes a challenge because we don't have less and less free time even those that work can't or struggle to give free time because they want to be with their families they want to do things outside of their career job and so that becomes a challenge for us in the next couple years of and then taxes will go up some more because now salaries and benefits come into play for me as staff and ambulance right now we're looking we got people that can give us their free time on payment but that in the next few years I see is becoming more and more of a challenge because people cherish their time around families okay the question is article 15 whether the voters will appropriate 141 141,903 dollars to fund the operating expenses of the East Montpellier ambulance to be paid in totally installments starting July 1, 2024 all those in favor please say aye opposed the ayes have it and we're on to article 16 which asks whether the voters will appropriate 17,850 dollars to the Woodbury Volunteer Fire Department to be added to the department's truck replacement fund to be paid July 1, 2024 please say aye opposed and we've passed that article article 17 shall the voters appropriate 17,850 dollars to the Woodbury Volunteer Fire Department to be added to the department's truck replacement fund to be paid July 1, 2024 please say aye opposed and we've passed that article article 17 shall the voters appropriate 77,895 dollars and 27 cents to fund the operations of the Woodbury Volunteer Fire Department including 32,000 dollars to be paid to the replacement fund by January 1, 2025 and 45,998 $895 and 27 cents to be paid in quarterly installments of 11,473 dollars and 82 cents each to cover operating expenses starting July 1, 2024 any discussion? can we have that article moved? okay it's been moved do we have a second? it's been moved and seconded discussion okay I think we're ready for this one too so shall the voters appropriate 77,895 dollars and 27 cents for the Woodbury Volunteer Fire Department including 32,000 to be paid to the capital reserve fund by July 1, 2025 and 45,895 dollars and 27 cents to be paid in quarterly installments to cover operating expenses starting July 1, 2024 all those in favor please say aye those opposed we've covered article 17 article 18 asks does this authorize the select port to apply any highway department fund balance if you enter the fiscal year to the highway department capital equipment reserve fund and to do so each year until the voters vote otherwise would somebody move this article? and do we have a second again? thank you both discussion? yes we have a hand in back hi Brianster I just have a question why it's set all the voters vote otherwise as opposed to setting just some ridiculously high cap so since I'm the newest of the community I think on the select board I get to feign ignorance on the history of this article but essentially we would vote every year on how to how to allocate any reserve funds and what it could be used for could be plowed back into the general fund we thought it appropriate to have any reserve funds go into the capital replacement fund so that that is funded as efficiently as possible and not have to vote on it every year and discuss what to do with it or renew the article so that was the impetus behind the change in language here to kind of codify the intent of the original article when it was passed and why there isn't a dollar amount assigned to it is because none of us have a magic ball though I think as we discussed earlier today the reality is that we're going to be up against increased material costs the kind of habitual reserve funds that we would see building in the road budget are not likely going to be as significant so we will have to have conversation about this in the future but it would be nice to solidify this so that it's not up for debate quite so frequently I have a hand up in the middle on this side yeah we have King Callis I mean just to address that a little bit that reserve fund doesn't cover the cost for the equipment requirements those are on regular retirement we wear equipment out fast and it's very very expensive you can get over $200,000 for a contract you know a third of the money per grader and so what that ultimately does and we account for that in our budgets here if we have an access if we keep it when you're there it's less we bond for later so it helps even the tax rates out it's a good way to do that there isn't a crystal all but I think this makes a lot of fiscal sense for everybody are we ready for the question yes we have one more hand here I would like to make a motion that we strike the last line of that I think it's worth having those conversations each year okay we have an amendment today to to stop at the end of the capital reserve fund you ready for that question do we have a second to this amendment motion's been made and seconded okay so any further discussion okay so the amendment says shall the voters authorize the select board to apply any highway department fund balance at the end of the fiscal year to the highway department capital equipment reserve fund period all those in favor please say aye aye those opposed say nay nay's appear to have it nay's do have it and we're back to the main question and rather than reading it again we'll just add and do the do so each year until the voters vote otherwise so are we ready for that question smack I was wondering what's the current balance in our capital reserve budget I didn't see that in the budget well on page 70 is summary of the some of the funds so this is as of June 30, 2023 we had 124,000 and I know that for the purchase of the mower in the fall we allocated I think 35,000 from that so we're just below 100,000 above 90 but below 100 yep we can speak and then Tina Rose Kalchuk I just want to say basically what this means is we all know the highway budget is separate from the general government budget and at the end of the year if there's funds unspent in the highway budget it just goes into the savings account that's what this is about and then it basically will offset the cost of a new town truck or a new road grader or some other capital expense so basically it's moving it from your checking out to your savings account and it'll be there when you need it this is just a question because of the way the article is framed I assume that the article to not fund or move funds to the capital fund would have to be an article that would have to be warned so in other words citizens would have to file a petition to get it on a town meeting agenda Tina I think the answer to that question is that could be the way or if the fund got large enough a bunch of people could go to the select board and ask them to change the practice but yes somebody would have to do something affirmatively another question or a hand in the middle or a thought Walter Brzezinski was pond district I'm just curious I always wonder how much that amount as I support it it sounds fiscally the right thing to do but we're talking about the highway equipment fund page 70 every year we're going to see how much that item is and it's in the highway equipment fund correct yes is what I'm seeing our town administrators say okay thank you yes Scott Bassich I'd like to move to call the question and I'd also like to break for lunch okay the question has been called all those in favor of ending the debate please say aye opposed okay so article 18 shall the voters authorize the select board to apply any highway department fund balance at the end of the fiscal year to the highway department capital equipment reserve fund and to do so each year until the voters vote otherwise please if you're in favor please say aye aye opposed say nay the ayes appear to have it the ayes do have it and you passed article 18 we're up to the very last article that we discussed there's been a request to recess for lunch we could do that or we can try to do any other business that might need to come before the meeting now we don't need a motion to continue I don't think but if you're I know that we have at least one article although you've heard about or one item that has been on front porch form and I don't know if somebody's ready to speak to that okay well let's get you a microphone then my name is Cynthia Bellevue um it's Teresh from Johnson um I've been off the internet in my computer for a year and because of my brilliant neighbor I got back on with my computer on Friday and ever since then I've been working on this um so sorry I don't have a bunch of I have some friends of it and Steve will help pass them out just raise your hand this is a a callous resolution this is the callous resolution for a ceasefire in Palestine I started out with this really brief just a ceasefire even though I wanted to add you know stop the arms uh purchases or so if I'm nervous anyways um I put it on from porch forum and um I really had a lot of fair amount of people um feel that it was inadequate that they didn't say it that way but they wanted a broader um resolution and I really agree with that I just have been more and I need to keep it simple and I know that so this is as simple as I could get and um there are some copies of this which I should give to whoever wants them or Steve to help me I don't need it this minute but I need it okay well you might need it pretty soon and best if you could give Gus one or two okay so um the cap this is callous resolution for a ceasefire in Palestine these are my points citizens of callous Vermont call an immediate ceasefire in Gus and the West Bank we condemn all attacks on civilians in Israel and Palestine and demand a release of the hostages and detainees on both sides we call for an end of armed sales to Israel in accordance to the Leahy Law Safeguard Act of 2020 which prohibits armed sales to countries committing genocide or war crimes we ask that the billions of US dollars slated for Israel's war must now be used for massive humanitarian aid in Gaza no humanitarian aid should be blocked reinstate Amra we call which is aid to Palestine and has been blocked and not supported by our country recently so we call for change in the United States policy with the Israeli government such that the genocide occupation and apartheid of Palestinians will end and what's not on here is that I would like needs to be on here but to send this to our select board, our legislature our congressional delegates the president Kamala Harris thank you for finally saying it and that's suggested maybe the U.N. so yes wherever we can send this so to say that this town voted for this and I really like the hand count if that's not too laborious because I'd like to know how many people have voted for this and anyways so does anyone that needs a copy of this not have one or can you share them with each other so you're offering this as a motion and now we need a second it's been moved and seconded to adopt this resolution which would then be recorded in the minutes so is there further discussion or is there anything more you want to say anything before that there's so much more I would say but I feared it down the best and I appreciate I was ready with my pencil for a minute but I love this town is there discussion yes thank you Cynthia for this first of all Pam DeAndrea Duga Brook Road I am among some of the more non-popular folks on this issue but I would support this if and I see that some things have been sprinkled in here where it's both sides release of hostages and detainees on both sides I am against all the killing in the Middle East Israeli and Palestinian and I know that that was the original intent of this but I can't support this in the way that it's written that's why I asked for a copy because I see detainees on both sides this is really hard for me because there's hostages on one side and detainees on another side and I think this issue is more complex than any of us in this room unless we've lived in Israel or Palestine can speak to and I have family in Israel on October 7th this hit me harder than anything you can imagine I didn't want to say anything today about this but I just really I live here on stolen land and I don't agree with the response I'm not supportive of but if somebody came and kidnapped my kid and took my husband and wouldn't let him back and just so you all know it was along the BBC this morning that Hamas is negotiating a ceasefire but they're not willing to give a list of the hostages that they have nor will they release them all necessarily if there is a ceasefire and I don't agree with what's going on by any means as I'm sure nobody here does but I am not in a position of a callous resident on stolen land to make this resolution and say that there are detainees on both sides and to say that the detainees in Israel are not going to want to kill my family so I have a problem with this and I'm sorry and in terms of the words apartheid yes the South African government has said that it's apartheid there there's also security reasons for the blockades and it's just, this is not I don't want my arms going to Israel necessarily but I don't want my baby niece being put in her ketchup, I'm sorry I can't do this, sorry Is there further discussion? Over here? Less burn bomb I hold hard to support the ceasefire type of this amendment but I'm going to vote no because I disagree with the use of the term genocide Further discussion? Right behind you My name is Arda Huston The way I look at this is I agree by the way with Mr. what's less about the term genocide what I wanted to say was we've had barbarism on both sides I don't understand why people think that when Hamas attacked Israel on the 7th Israel was going to sit on its button through nothing it seems to me that there was miscalculation on both sides but I'm a little I'm not sure that our town has any weight in this other than if every town in America did it it still would not have much impact but what I heard from Kamala Harris the other day is the executive branch's answer to what's going on is that there will ceasefire and we don't have to just wait on this because they're working on it but apparently it's going to be a slow process that's what I have to say I support this motion but I'm wondering if you would take the friendly amendment with condemning Hamas's attack on October 7th because I think we can all agree and we can debate about genocide and what but there's obviously heavy destruction in Palestine and unfortunately there's too many men on both sides who deal with this and a lot of people suffer but if you would accept something like that I don't know who would please people but I'm still going to support this you can answer and then we'll go over there okay so I felt that I included that and on the second point we condemn all attacks on civilians in Israel and Palestine and demand a release of hostages and detainees on both sides now I earlier did have Hamas there's been about five drafts which I just couldn't get to I've had several people respond and I know this is a touching subject but I must say that the United Nations international court of justice has said this is plausible genocide I'm as upset with my own government and this is not to put us at odds with each other if you want to I asked the best I could over the internet if you have want to make a change maybe you could have the language for it and we could do that now but I felt that I included that because personally it was a disproportionate after 1400 people killed it's not right for anyone to be killed it was a horrific massacre but now as of yesterday it was 30,500 Palestinians killed and over 70,000 severely injured imagined children without eyes and limbs and and look at the pictures I don't look very much but it's just so stated there's so many things that this it's a very complicated situation but I felt that I included that if you want to reword that but I think that it's fair to say we condemn all attacks of civilians in Israel and Palestine and demand a release of hostages and detainees on both sides it's really broad in general but I'm anti-Semitic and I don't think this is and we have a law which is being ignored in Washington which is called the Leahy Law the Safeguard Act of 2020 if you want to check that out you'll see this covers that and it's being ignored we should not be selling arms to Israel and it's nothing against the people of Israel so I I just want to see if we can move this to a conclusion I think you've stated your position so you don't want to amend it further at this point there are a couple other people who want to speak and we do have a lunch that people work for I spent a lot of time on a lot of things and this has always happened and I spent a lot of time on this and so have some other people care I just want to say this is not anything personal I mean it's personal but it's I've done like this many people got in touch with me and I've done the best I can to be inclusive with everybody and so if anything's taken out of it I'd like the words I'd like to know I don't want to take it out that's what I said okay thank you Paul hand in from South Calis I've never quite been clear on the difference between a motion to pass over a motion to table but I would like to make whatever one is more appropriate in this instance it's just two devices for this otherwise really wonderful community so please let me know which one is right but that would be one of the motions okay I think it's a motion to table they may be one in the same if I check the books is there a second moved and seconded that we table this resolution which I believe is not debatable so I'm going to ask all in favor of tabling the resolution please say aye aye those opposed no the ayes appear to have it the ayes do have it the motion has been tabled is there any other business anybody would like to do and Paul it's probably the last time you'll be here as a resident from South Calis but thank you for the many years of service you've given to the community we'll miss you and Cornelia any other business to be done today and we do have a lunch to get to we can come back if there's a whole lot hi I'm working at the rabies shop clinic on Saturday at the east popular fire department from 9am to 12 noon to have your dogs and cats vaccinated $20 per shop and everyone needs to register their dogs here in Calis by April 1st right T.G. come to the rabies shop clinic that needs a shot thank you I believe that by the motion of people speak a motion to close this meeting is in order and if you have other business posted on front porch form to make announcements to your neighbors we have a motion to adjourn Paul any further discussion on adjourning and enjoying the friends of Calis lunch we say aye opposed we're done thank you all