 If you would turn to page eight in your town reports, you'll see the seven articles, plus yeah, seven articles we have to deal with, and the first is to elect a town moderator for the year ensuing. Nominations are now open. And now I'm going to call Galicia. Second. All right, and I will turn it over to the chair of the select board. Oops, sorry. Flip it off. Read for the nominations. Here another ingredient for the question. All the favorite college viewers for a town moderator for coming here to say hi. This is Paul. Thank you. This is my 20th year in this office, and I enjoy it, but I think sometimes I'm not gonna do it forever, so one of you is the next moderator. I know it, so keep thinking as we go through the day. My job is to help you do what you wanna do with the articles within the rules that are set by the state and by Robert's rules. And the second article, which is actually 26, is to hear the reports of the town officers for 2019. And the first page I think you would look at is page seven. Let's see, sorry. 14 for the select board report. And any questions that you have for the select board, they're ready, willing, and anxious to respond. So if you have some, let me know. I'm gonna go through the chat to the various sections of the report and give you an opportunity to look at the budget next. But this is the general select board report, and the budget is on page 17. Paul. Yeah, so I have one comment I'd like to make about the select board report. A little closer here. One comment I'd like to make about the select board report. It's important here that the life expectancy of the British, the British, is 24 years. Okay, anything else on the select board report? Let's go to the budget. It's the next page, 17 to 24 and five. Questions about the budget? Stop me if I'm going too fast, but if you have things, please let us stop. It's not an official town report, but the audit from the CPAs begins on page 27, and it runs, I'm sorry, go ahead. Come up with the mic, please. I'm moving near, and I'm just asking for clarification. Actually, within the auditor's report, and it's mentioned several other reports. I think the mic is missing. I'm sorry, okay. Matter. Within the audit, there's report 45, and it talks about the town entering into an option agreement to purchase the parcel or plan for future well sites. I would like to know, occasionally, are you actually purchasing the property or are you purchasing in the basement for these well sites? Just in case someone wanted to talk and they were not a resident or a voter, so they don't even have an objection, but they're speaking. Yes, that is an easement, and not actually purchasing the property, and as a matter of fact, we're only going to purchase one easement rather than two. That's changed since the five of us found it here. Any other questions about the audit? Then turn to page 77, the assessor's report, for the people that appraise our property, and then on the next page, we have the town court's report, including the names of those who were born here and passed away here in facets. All right, page 83 has the public works board report. Page is the board of civil authority and board of abatement, and the highway department, then the zoning administrator, then the police department, then the... Is that all right? That's all the questions. That's all right. Yes, Matt. If you've got the police department. So I'm curious, on the final page, page 91, the incident in this board of law shows a very substantial increase in number of incidents reported in 2019. I'm sure there's a nice relation to that, but I didn't see one clearly where it was intimated to explain why there's this substantial jump. It's the far right and the R, Matt, chart at the top of page 91. Matt, sorry, I didn't quite hear you. So on the chart on page 91, although the R right and the left are, yeah, at least the part of the incident takes the instance, increased from 3,345, every two periods of the explanation. I can hope that the police chief would be here because it's a lot more familiar with this than I am. I do know the department does handle increasing the incidents throughout the year, and I'm hoping many people come and maybe you can answer that before you start it. No, I'm just going to leave that to her. So I think I can also probably speak to this a little bit. I'm going to have to take a guess. I don't know the answer. Because we increased the amount of coverage, the amount of hours that are in this department is actually operating, in the last year we actually have had more of a full staff. That's my guess, Matt, is that because we've had more people out and for more hours, that that should account for that, too. I think it is a good question. I would prefer to hear from the chief of office, too. Right, it's interesting because if you look at the charts on the next page of the department, two arrests and offenses and 1-acid tickets, those who have not actually increased the number they've decreased. So press, we'd like you to get an answer before the meeting is over. You can all come to our meeting later on. Thank you. Here's one more one. We have the volunteer fire department's report. And for anything you'd like to say now, or you thought it was a good night, we have the article later on. Yes, so the reports are private organizations. But if there's anything here that you can answer, if you have a question, try to answer it. If not, back to page 8, there's no action on 26 we've just heard the reports. Article 27, shall the town collect its real and personal property taxes under a pause at this point? And you'll await the chief's answer. Did you hear the question? It's this chart. This chart doesn't fit the numbers that are here, according to the report. So Chief, I can't let it come to the floor. I'm looking at the chart at page 91. It shows that the number of incidents reported by the police has gone up substantially in 2019. And it doesn't, if you look at the charts on the following pages of aggressive offenses and warnings and tickets, those don't actually love that thing and they go down. So I'm curious, without anything negative, just curious for the explanation of what's going on. That's acceptable because there's two, I guess we were looking at this one just here. So the number of incidents seen on page 91 is a nine-page function that we had with this new salvage system that we use. It's a records-based system. Now page 92, under aggressive offenses, if I, you could arrest someone in charge of it with more than one crime. That's what that number reflects. There's a whole number of offenses that were arrested for. In other words, if I arrested you for two crimes it just counts as one arrest of two offenses. That's what the difference is between the arrest and the offenses. I understand that. So sometimes, if you're saying that the department changed the record keeping system, it was way out of the system. And what it does is it allows you to even document super watchability and stuff like that. In the case of criminals, that stuff, and we're able to document what was better in common. It's a more academic system that we have. But to answer your question about line two, I think I understand why it makes a difference. So in 2019, so if you were to use the old system, you say it was about the same, I mean, for you to use it to break your mother's interests. OK, mother's interests. More to you folks that have done it in our time of justice. I understand. Thank you. Article 27, shell the town, collect its real and personal property taxes to defray the expenses of the town for the period of July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021, installments. One fourth of the taxes to be due by delivery or US Postal Service postmark, no private postal meter, postmarks. Honor before August 15, 2020. One fourth of taxes due honor before November 15, 2021. Fourth of the taxes due honor before February 15, 2021. And one fourth due honor before May 15, 2021, with an 8% penalty and 1% interest per month or portion thereof to be charged for late payment or any installment. Will the voter raise that so we can discuss it? And second, discussion. Questions or discussion? All right, are you ready for the question? Here are no objections. I'll read it one more time. Shell the town, collect its real and personal property taxes to defray the expenses of the town for the period of July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021, and installments. One fourth of the taxes to be due by delivery or US Postal Service postmark, no private postal meter, postmarks. Honor before August 15, 2020. One fourth of the taxes due honor before November 15, 2020. One fourth of the taxes due honor before February 15, 2021. And one fourth due honor before May 15, 2021, with an 8% penalty and 1% interest per month or portion thereof to be charged for late payment of any installment. All in favor of the article, say aye. Those both no. The ayes have it. The article passes. Article 28, show the town exempt. The Berlin Volunteer Fire Department from Municipal and School Property Taxes for the period of five years. Who will raise that question? Rob, you in second? Discussion, will recognize the fire department? That's a joke. Do you want to know all about that? If you're going to talk, you should go to the mic and introduce yourself. Thank you for this consideration. I do know that most paid private sense of the funds that the operation funds for the department does come from the town. So I think you're doing yourself a great service. Would you know the amount of tax on two pigs? I do not know that. I suppose if you pay, how's the tax? We don't pay much. Nothing like being in the spot. This is actually something that happens in our office. It's a safety statute for us to be able to bring on the extension on the fire department because the fire department is not a town department. We have to ask the voters to approve the town, which are giving the taxes on the fire houses. Let me call that out. So this is the continuation of a policy with the audience in place that we've been doing this for a while. And so this is just continuing for the next five years. Exactly. Yes, sir. Just a clarification. Does this cover fire houses here in the Berlin corners and also in West Berlin? Yes. Any further questions on Article 28? If not, shall the town exempt the Berlin Volunteer Fire Department from Missville and School Properties Taxes for a period of five years? All in favor say aye. As opposed, no. The article passes. Article 29, to hear a report from the Berlin Volunteer Fire Department regarding the need to replace a fire engine. Anyone move that? The article? All right, in a second. Discussion? Yeah. Joe. Joe, put it here. OK. Come on. OK. My name is John Saab. I have the President of the Corporation of the Federal Fire Department. This is Ethan Hynes. I'm the Chief of the Department. All right, so we're going to be talking about, we're not going to be going in on a three-placement of an engine or a fire truck, let's just say. Before we get into that conversation, we're going to throw some definitions out to you. An engine. An engine has the capability of pumping water and transporting water. This is what you typically think of here. A aerial device, a power or a ladder, that is only, it's a large toolbox. It's an aerial device that has no means of pumping water or transporting water. So what we're looking to do is we have a fleet of sims and a happy van. I understand. Good morning. So right from now, we have a fleet of six trucks in our department. Three of them are engines. With one of those engines, we figured there's a rest of a truck for car accidents in the subject. One of them is a tower truck, and it does not have a water carrier water. One of them is a tanker truck. It carries 3,000 gallons of water. And that's its primary function. It has a small pump, but it's not meant to run out of water. And then one of them is our pickup truck utility truck turner. The useful life of a fire truck. Engine one is a 27-year-old truck. Engine two is a 31-year-old truck. Rescue one is a 17-year-old truck. And our top, that's 30 years since it's last, we are seeing, it's still, we are seeing, increased maintenance costs. Every year, we have to get the trucks certified for the insurance company and such. When we certified the truck this year, it cost us $4,500 to certify the company. Engine one, the 27-year-old truck, is, we've been told, maintenance technician, that the next time that we do re-work on the pump, it's going to be a major cost. And we're seeing electrical wiring in that truck fail all over the place. Two years from now, the maintenance of these vehicles is cost a year for the maintenance to maintain these vehicles or having to put more work into these two vehicles. And it's basically both of these. We do have a replacement plan proposal for you and for that plan. We've talked about the conditions of engine one and tower one. Within the definitions, I did forget to point out a quaint. And the chief did point out that a quaint is a multi-purpose vehicle that has the capabilities of being aerial device. It also carries water, and it pumps water. So our replacement plan, what we could do is replace the engine like we would normally. And then down the road, we end up having to replace that 41-year-old tower. Again, that would be very costly. What we're proposing is doing, combining the two, eliminating the two for one, basically, combining that with a quaint. And that would give us the capabilities of our aerial device, our pumping, and our carrying the water. Combining that, the cost of a new engine is going to be somewhere around $500, $5.5, that's $500 to $5.25 for $1,000. And the replacement of the tower, if we got a used tower, is going to be about the same to $6,000-$9,000. And combining them, it'll be about the same cost of replacing the two. But what that gives us is it gives us the overall maintenance savings. We have a never-increasing maintenance line because of these old vehicles. And also, the time and effort that the crew needs to put into the maintenance of these vehicles. If you're replacing Engine 1, the bigger is that machine to be able to be harder to get into at roads and driveways and such, it doesn't need a tower. Is that a lot of hunger in existing Engine 1? The physical size of a quaint truck, a combined truck, is about the same size of the aerial truck that we have now. We are going to maintain an engine, which is a smaller vehicle in each station. And then we're going to have the quaint in the main engine just next to us, in our main station just next to us. The current plan for responding to residential houses is the first vehicle that goes out the door is an engine because it is smaller than the tower. So we can definitely get on that driveway. And then the second truck that goes out the door is that quaint in that tower. That we should be in any way. We're not going to change that for residential areas. The first one will be we're going to maintain an engine in each station with this plan, the regular engine, and then we're going to have the quaint, which goes out the second to the residential locations. Is that one? Any other questions? I've got Josh with you, but he's not here. So the article says to hear a report from the crew and problems with your part of the project need to replace the plan. We're not voting. We're voting through your report. Yes, we've been discussing this for the past several months with the select board. And after January, the select board meeting the decision by the select board to request was to pull off on this actual vote until date of when it was proposal. The purpose was so the fire environment would explain their needs for the equipment and what they planned for. This particular piece of equipment is going to be an amount that the town is going to need to buy and scrap them through the fire environment itself. And if there's a credit bar when involved, it will be the town spread that you need to get a loan or a loan for this. And so we will be coming back to you as a subsequent vote. But we thought it was not in the time we wrote on that today without knowing about it, which is why we encourage the fire department to make some time to tell you what their need was. There is a, once this trial is improved and the earliest interview approved. Now if we had the August ballot, it would take another year at the equipment. So their job today was to just tell you what their equipment needs, their equipment needs replacing. It's already part of the department now. The department, the department, the department, the department. That's the department, the department, that's what we're talking about. So in this case, we, at the time of the authorized purchase of the Indian Inn, transferred to the volunteer fire department. That's an excellent question. And I guess that would probably be helpful to work, even though the town would be on the boat with the money. Of course, there's a very close relationship between the fire department and the town. So it's kind of a question I better not answer about it. My latest suggestion would be, since it looks like we have a whole capital needs over the next 10 years, is to have a plan to sort of when it would retire very quickly so that, so you have an idea of what the general cost would be going out over 10 years. Apparently the town bought the fire department a large piece of equipment in 2003. And since then, the fire department's been able to replace equipment, probably would use equipment. Periodically through their budget, which I might add is also your money, coming through the appropriation. So as far as replacing the plan, must cycle the schedule of replacing it, purely based upon the Asian expedition. All that came to the March for a vehicle was in 2002, that was for the area of rescue. I don't think that's out of our safety. And if you use it, you need to have it. But it is, I think, something that people might ask. How often is the latter few, and what might be used for, to begin action, and if we need to have it, but does that factor into the decision at all, or is it just when you have it? The latter, right now, because it's not combined, it's only a few. We, 50 times a year, this vehicle, your only question was, why do we need it? We need it. Or is the fire service guidelines, it requires a, every once. I'm not sure if there's, we know it's projected, but all, to go into their office, or if they're going to say, sure, we want to have the last truck. Absolutely. So thank you for saying it. I've got a comment, it said, so I've been residing in town for 12 years now. I've come to town many, many times. I have to admit, I still don't entirely understand the relationship between the fire department and the town. I also belong to another department of country, where the fire service is a municipal service, it's kind of hard to see if there's government, so it's a flat here that must be behind already, but I can proceed in what seems like a very reasonable path, it would be helpful, and maybe even a way to make it similar, easier to explain, which might have a forbidding that things get emerged, which I understand, it seems more complicated than with an IDT, the easier it was, if it was simpler to explain and to administer, and so this might be an opportunity to, if nothing else, provide a clear explanation, if not to think about maybe a different structure that might itself be similar. Now, I have no idea why this relationship, I'm not suggesting there's a problem with the way it is, apart from I can professionally explain things to people, so when it's hard to explain things to people, that often means that there's actually something underneath that could be simpler. It also sometimes means that life is complicated, and so it's just a start to explain things, so that could be the case, but if this will once again bring up the question of, wait, why, and who, and how, and the easier the activity explained, and more likely is to get to the question of hands directly, so it should be this or that. Most of the departments in Central Vermont are actually owned and operated by the town, us and Woodbury, and maybe one or two other departments are actually dependent corporations. The Berlin Fire Department organized in Berlin over 15 years ago, and when they organized, they organized as a non-cropped entity, and that's why you actually have to go separately on our budget every year, and when we have large requests such as this, why does this ever go? We operate 95% of the time when we operate forward for living. There are remits among all of our departments within Central Vermont, and it's then gone that if another town needs help, they call and we go, and if there are certifications that we need or help, we call and they don't. I'm not legally, I'm not entirely clear why it's created, I was in all the rounds 50 years ago for this, but that's the relationship, it's where technically we didn't have any cooperation, and I would have to probably refer to my historian side, somewhere in, I think, 1959 or 1961, the Berlin Fire Department, after a series of fire, fire, fire fires, opted to put this fire department together, and at some point, they did approach the town in an accident they wanted to take over, and I believe that the answer from the town was, not what they wanted, so not to say that there hasn't been that conversation, and it has just recent past, but right now we are where we are because the town and the department decided to be that way, I guess. There's no organizational matter that they have to do to you, that's on the board of directors of the Berlin Fire Department, there are fly laws for the lawyer, and they select one number, sit on that board of directors, it's the odd respondent, it's not the words part of the, of the department, right now, I've had 14, there's another group of board of directors that is the Berlin residents, and that's Jerry D. F. T., who's not here today, but there are two, oh, Jerry, it's Jerry, he's just hiding, so there are two Berlin residents, even though there are Berlin residents, certainly as the president of the corporation, as the 501C3 organization, we do have, we do have a voice, an elected voice, and the elected voice in Jerry, on the Berlin Fire Department, this conversation about, does it make more sense for this to be a, to be a talent entity, for this to be merged into the Italian department, we've had those conversations over the last year, last two years, we've not gotten anywhere, and I think they're having this conversation now, I appreciate you bringing it up, anybody has a thought, whether you think it makes sense for us to, to merge that, we'd love to hear from you, I mean, it would certainly simplify it, that that whole budget becomes, becomes part of our main budget, rather than being based on writing that we vote on, have to deal with separately, so if we need to buy a truck, that becomes the same process as if we buy a truck from the highway department, which is pretty easy, for the most part, folks at the company don't see that, that process, that just becomes part of the budget, becomes part of a capital line up, and we replace trucks with a certain frequency, and it will just become more like that, if we're going to merge, but we haven't gotten super far down that one research. Of course, if I may, of course if we had a budget on the floor, the Italian department would have a discussion about the truck. I'll just close in my conversation to say, for one, again, as someone who came from a place where government was a little more decentralized, I think it would make sense to me to pull it together, but I don't feel like I've heard the reason why it shouldn't be together, and I would want to hear the explanation for why it shouldn't be merged, the press now is not telling me that conversation. Thank you. So one thing that we did discuss was how long will it take is provided that the time improves the funding to get a new truck. A new vehicle is typically about an 18 month process, and the time that you set up the proposals, and the time that the truck is built into your door, takes about a year for the truck to be built, takes about six months or so for the big process to happen. So I just have a question about the funding piece of it. You guys are co-operation of the town and the other, are there any grants through the state or the federal government that we would be eligible for, and does that have a bearing on the time? Thanks. The federal government has a grant series called the Assistance to Firefighters Grant, the AFG grant. It started after 9-11, and they do have a provision for vehicles that grant cycle is typically an open grant period in December. They typically on board tell you if you're going to be successful on that grant in about an April. So it's kind of difficult for us because time may be a day to March. But that's not to say that you wouldn't be applying for that grant as well. As far as the success of vehicles is one of the most competitive portions of that grant. The last time I heard it was at least a 7-to-1 ratio of applications to dollars on board. And in speaking with a fire service vendor over the last few weeks about such a grant, the largest he's ever heard of a grant for a vehicle is around 700,000. Typically the AFG, the federal government, likes to award for small vehicles so they can get the money spent on it. I think it's important to note that the community needs to improve their total amount of course with a lifetime grant, and if we could it would be great, but for the reviving law, the full amount has to be improved. You said there was a budget projected out in 2015. Is there a place where that's viewable? No, I was just talking about the division of fuel on our footage. Yeah, the question that I had about why would we purchase a second public case, and there's one main case that we've been talking about, one main reason why we might not urge that would be the bookkeeping and accounting. I don't mean to put it diagonally, spot a wonderful town treasurer with this money, and essentially assigning our town treasurer the responsibility of maintaining books for the fire department, rather than contracting out with a separate bookkeeper and then the audit. Also, the fire department also works with the whole party for all of every two years, which would then be at least assumed by the town in that case. So there is a sort of a financial incentive for the board to improve what you've purchased. Just a turk stop, bookkeeping and accounting and all that. So the one last thing I want to say is for the fire department where I was looking for new members, we currently have about 30 members on the department, 20 or so are responders, but if any of you or if there's any, but if you know that it's interested in volunteering with the fire department, besides actual firefighters to go out the door, you have what's called corporation members that are support members that do not hard-finding functions to take that load off of our bags so we can concentrate on fire. Thank you. And then I'd like to say thank you to Jerry D'Amity's, our resident who's on the board and director, see for himself, a lot of his outside influences to the board. It always asks those questions and we then have to ask ourselves why we do what we do. So thank you, Jerry. And Jeremy Hansen who's been on the board for quite some time. I also want to thank him, this is his last chair. And for whoever takes this place, you do have some big shoes to fill. Thank you. Thanks. There's no action on the 29, so we'll go to 30. Article 30, shall the early annual town meeting be moved from the first Tuesday in March to the Saturday before the first Tuesday in March? We'll bring that forward, Bob, and second. Discussion? Thank you, Paul. So as I noticed this on the warning, I spoke with some folks that I know, the Secretary of the State's Office and some backwards information on this and they clarified that regardless of when your town meeting occurs, by state law, the Australian ballot activities still need to happen on the Tuesday. So I would be interested to hear from one of the folks who brought this to the morning in the first place as to why it's on the morning and what the expectations or reasons or justifications or hopes are important. I guess they are, but it seems like that's an important clarification that it would not be moving the voting at polls. And so the hope was to increase attendance and it's important to contemplate that the asking people to appear twice at different times as opposed to all of one setting and protection. And you all try to explain what the thinking was behind this. This does not eliminate a meeting right now that kind of does a pre-town meeting this year at your place on Saturday with the school meeting last night. And the pre-town meeting was set up with the idea that people could come and discuss in great detail all the articles, the budget articles, as well as allow presenters from the various organizations that ask the town for information, what the organization is about, et cetera. I think that we're always trying to think of ways that may be more convenient for people to come. And I don't know that for a good time whether it's Saturday or whether it's an evening, but any break is always a struggle. Also, I think that it would give an opportunity to hear what's on the morning and discuss a little details on the morning without people having to vote at the same time. Sometimes I think we miss out on some of the discussions on this floor by voting happening at the same time. It's not a perfect solution. I think it's just trying to think of ways to make it a little smoother, get the information out of the people, and as well as do what's best for the community. It does not say meaning you still have to come twice. Wait, this is quite a lot of fun. Are you saying that there will be no articles loaded on if the meeting were held on Saturdays? Would it be the same as what we do now, a pre-meeting on Saturday, and then come back to the gym here on Tuesday to vote on articles? Good question. I shouldn't have clarified about that. Buying the state law voting has to happen on the first Tuesday of March. So voting on the Australian ballot would take place on the first Tuesday of March as it does now. There's more articles, and I'm going to close here. You get to clarify that, and I'm going to close here. That's okay. So the effect of this article, if it were adopted, would be that this meeting would be on Saturday, and there wouldn't be a separate pre-ten meeting. It would go through all of the articles at this Saturday meeting, and then Australian ballot. Okay, with that clarification, I would just like to say that I'm noticing that the majority of the people here may have been to a few of these meetings before. There are a number of us, apparently, that are solidly working-age demographic. And having this important democratic function happen on a day when many, many people still have to work, even non-essential services, like my wife who works at the primary care office over across the road here, can't come because her office is open. So unless this is a state holiday, it seems counterproductive to have a democratic function happen when many, many people still have to work. So I would be in favor of moving this meeting to a time when more people wouldn't be available. Any other comments on article 30? Sorry, don't move to the next slide. I just have a clarifying question. Who was the sponsor of this, or what was it, or was it a group, or was it a select board? How was this part of the ballot? The elect would have sponsored this, I don't know. He's also the last judge of the ballot. It's kind of, best name for two of you guys. It's perfectly possible that he came to the tummy floor meeting. We had this robust democratic discussion on Saturday. It's also perfectly possible to, hopefully through the coverage of the first office, you could vote early, you could still vote. We had a certain talk in the window for voting. So it could be possible to get your ballots and vote there as well. So if you didn't want to attend, you didn't please, you didn't want to take time on your day. Twice the search and defer to the top first office, this is whether that would be a possibility or not. That Saturday blood test in Rosemary would be there anyway, he's in the floor meeting. So I would have happened if it was not going to be reasonable to accept the ballots at that time as well. I'm gonna defer to Rosemary this one. As you're being able to pick up absentee ballots, I just bring the department with me. The other thing is I'm gonna be selfish. See all that stuff? I have to get it all over here on Tuesday morning. It's selfish by having it on Saturday. All of that stuff can stay in my office for Tuesday. So that's my selfish reason for wanting to vote there and getting more of you in those seats on Saturday because more people should have to vote. The article doesn't say what time on Saturday. I assume it's the same time at 10 a.m. It's a tradition. Yeah. Okay. And the second question is if we do it on Saturday and then with the contested election for kind of office, we can hear from people running for those positions. Yes, in other words, what we did on Saturday this year, going through the 24 articles that were voted today by Oscar and ballot would be discussed in the same way and include the first article where we would invite the candidates that they wanted to speak to introduce themselves who were running for office. Good morning. Mike Stratt's record of those who came through last year's town meeting may remember me getting all nostalgic about town meetings and indicating that I may not come to them anymore because there's so little to discuss. And this year, we don't even have a school expatriate. But this particular is we did really back out to town meeting because I do think it's important for people to come to town meeting. And I understand that the main reason for the suggestion to move to Saturday is to get more people. So for that reason, I do support this, but I have a bit of a reservation in that I only think it will be effective if indeed there is substantial items to discuss and decide on during town meeting. So I will continue to advocate for less Oscar and ballot and more substantial discussions on the floor. So I support this motion and I support it as a step toward more content in order to actually get more participation. Any other comments on article 30? Yes, Bob. Yes, question for you. Question for you. Are you assuming that we would still be voting the articles 25 and 31 that we have this year on that Saturday? Yes, that's the whole point. Yes. And I suppose if you were counting the number of meetings that we're having and this was one meeting that's one meeting that we would be getting one fewer by not having a pre-town meeting as a separate meeting. Correct. Corinne Strasburg, for it's not just I totally appreciate the large efforts to get the stuff over here and that it would be nice to just have voting over at the town offices. I'm not sold on the fact that any more people would attend giving up their Saturday than they would today. We had our pre-town meeting on Saturday and there were about two dozen people there and a lot of them needed to be there as far as select board and organizations and so forth. I would love to see there be more to discuss. I'd love to see the town budget get back on before vote because then we'd have something to discuss and to vote on and more people would turn out to do so, I believe. And people can give other suggestions for what else they'd like to actually have on here to discuss but there have been studies done. A lot of people have tried moving their meetings around. There isn't a perfect answer over middle sets. They do a 4.30 p.m. today in the town meeting. That seems to go pretty well to not have it be totally in the middle of the day. Fourth day. Mr. I'd just like you to know that I have no idea of something happening on Saturday. I do have seen the substance town meeting slip over the 25 years that I've lived here. And I too would like to have more discussion but I do think it's important that you let people know. I knew that it was happening on Tuesday but I did not know it was something happening. Anyone else with a comment on article 30? Are you ready for the question? Bell, the Berlin-Able town meeting be moved from the first Tuesday in March to the Saturday before the first Tuesday in March. All in favor say aye. Those opposed no. The ayes appear to have it. You can ask the first stage is a standing vote so let's go to that. All in favor of this article, please stand. All right, thank you. And those opposed stand. 15, so 20 is more than 15. The article passes. Now you still have the right to a paper vote if you want, if seven voters want. Unless I hear otherwise, we will go to the next article, so, okay. Just a friend that suggested to the organizers that it might help to organize childcare. He probably would get some additional attendees. Good. Those final article, article 31, to discuss any other business that may leave before the meeting is by law something that cannot be used for a binding vote but in recent years it's been most delightful of the article set that we're from and we recognize that. Well can I go back to one of the reports that is just not quite so alert this morning. It's on page 80 King reading. Well this is a gross violation of the rules but if there's no objection. Just try, okay, make my day. So on page 83, is it really against the rules or are you buzzed there? No, this is a rule of order there. Oh, see, it's early in front of me. Okay, so on page 83 I noticed that there's a $2.2 million in sewer improvement. I want to know is that money being absorbed by the participants in the sewer system? Great, thank you. That money is coming from the sewer division and so the users of the sewer would be responsible. Obviously the sewer is where the government we are in the red, in the white zone. Yes, the red is not good. Red is not good. Now we are in the black and the sewer thank goodness is working well. Well there, what is the next steps for the sewer? Well the lead's been in support of the well which is water emissions are, the plant of the sewer, this is, there's 2 million and 200,000 was voted on by the community in August 2018. And this is for a gravity system that will go down in turns by two or more and it will eliminate, I think, three pump stations for this station. So that would say quite a bit that it will cause us to give an opportunity for more use of the sewer. Great, thank you. It's just a poster to the vote that just had just an observation that we made a decision 20 versus 15, so only 35 people made a decision just now that affects what, a couple thousand or so residents in the town. And that's exactly my point is we really need to increase participation in meetings like this so that decisions like this are truly representative and they're true democracy. And so I'm hopeful that the Saturday change will lead to some of this, it's about that. Thanks. I note the presence of our state representatives, are you inclined to address us? With your permission. We have already worked out that anybody who's a non-resident may speak, so, Anne, Donnie. And Ken, you're also. And Ken. Yeah, if you read my forums, you know, you want. Yeah, I've agreed my platform forums, you know I can be here, you're both, so you can cut me off and we'll both be read afterwards for as they mock up the breakwork we do. But sometimes I'm really glad because we do something a little off the deep end where they do an intense to kind of bring it back to reality so that there's a couple things the house has done really important and I support it. But we just passed two bills in the last couple of weeks where we really went a little bit extreme in terms of not putting any controls on our oversight. So we just sort of said, go for it other people and then we don't have to take accountability for what we just said. Good analogy is that at 46, you know, you realize that something didn't necessarily happen the way you intended it, but trying to pull back on it's really hard. So we passed the climate change law that we said, okay well we intended it. So I would be concerned about that. But it also is confusing but simply to be able to regulate so that it's safe and people know what they're buying, then you wouldn't allow advertising. And people said, well, you know, we're worried that it was unconstitutional because it's protected commercial speech. How could it be protected speech when you're advertising something that's still illegal under federal law? So we did a research with them, necessarily unconstitutional. So I offer the old does not commit any advertising. Don't know what will happen when we negotiate with what the Senate passed. Last thing I wanna mention is I'm on a healthcare committee and I know a lot of people are hoping for some big changes. If there's change in the federal administration, reality says even if there isn't, maybe changes in how our health system works will not come quickly. It's not possible to come quickly. So it really should have me do to make it more equitable for people. That's what we're working on. In the decades, heat to the valleys, there's some people who have huge obstacles. They have to pay 20% of their income to get out there. There's, you know, a cliff, so there's also something called a family glitch. So my committee's working very hard and I'm coming up, trying to come up with some ways that we can get some sudden reason to those specific groups of people who are particularly, inaccurately treated in our current system. So that's what we're working on in my committee and some of the house issues and I'm just going to talk about a few others and then we will both be around and also take questions here. Hi, everybody. So I'm Ken Goldsland. I'm in the 20th of August. We both are supporters of any town that we represent. Some of you can go to that board and talk to me. I always try to be available. Please let us know. It's our job. I representing both of you. It's very important in both towns to have a lot of income. Our school gathered in the state house and kids came down and I got to meet them. If I didn't come any time you want, in this case, the governor usually will have a coffee hour from eight to nine. You can come in, you can visit the governor to stop, then you can visit with us or you can visit with us before. It's nice to know if you're coming and we can come and hook up a special time that we can talk or you can see what we actually do down there. It is quite a conflict. There's a lot of moving parts that we take a lot of different things. Yes, we represent Northfield, we represent Northern, we represent the state of Vermont. There's 180 out there, just 30 in the sun, and there's a hundred and fifty in the sun. This is other business. Sister. Just like to point out that when you did report, you skipped paper 94. The committee, I joined. I think if there's no objection, this is your front. I will join the conservation of what we will be doing this year. I plan to put an event for but not for long. This will happen in September, slowly, so I've started now to prepare to do it. It's an opportunity to learn about what you can do about insulating your house so as to reduce your heating bills and do a little bit to save the planet. So I'll be doing that sometime. Thank you. I currently also slipped the cemetery commission and the development of the new board. Any questions about that? I'm sure if my wife would hear, she would say don't stand up so much, but she's not here, so... Kudos to the historical commission for putting photos on the front of the boat, including on the 400 car drive-in theater that I didn't know existed on the very monthly road. There were nights. I bet. I see that we used to turn the book over and be able to be to the other side and that's because of the school meeting. I just wondered, because we're all in the town here, does anybody who's no knowledgeable about that school board have a quick report about how things are going? Is there anybody who can speak to that? Anyone has a knowledge of what happened last night's speaker? Pat. Maybe Torina and I can do this together. I was going to push. I was sitting on the edge. I was just sitting here, realizing that there weren't many people of all their last night in Berlin, maybe five. This was a very important meeting. It was the first time the collective towns have met. They presented a budget. There were a lot of questions asked, like they just gave the total budget with no references to what our budgets used to be in the individual towns. The report itself, they had slides that was very informative, but there's a lot missing in their annual report. I think they got the pinch from the people that were there that perhaps that needs to be much more information provided so that we feel comfortable with this large number we're looking at. I also stood up and asked about since people pounds going down and taxes going up, and I think it's designed that we have to do a separate initiative to find taxes because there's nothing in 946 that will have the possible down. I think we have to realize that we're trying to process it with someone else, but I was very disappointed. That's not to be our meeting and I think we should show up. It's a lot of money and it's our kids. So, well done. Anyone else with comments on your other business? Did you have something to say? I'm sorry, I'm already here. I'm just going to make it for his words. Thank you. My name is Tim Swartz. I'm an early resident, but I'm the president of the Capital City Greenwich, which I know many of you are familiar with. I wanted to invite everybody to come over and see the results of our latest renovation. We were we've got a grant through the Belmont Arts Council and renovated our base, kingly with insulation, new permit, new ceiling, new wall, so it's going to be a very enjoyable place and much more useful. We've seen a lot, Jim, that we have an agreement with the town of Berlin which we got from the town which we very much appreciate. We offer free rentals to Berlin residents and organizations and that's something that anybody in the town can take advantage of can't conflict with previously scheduled things. Things like that. But last year I counted on it and we had 46 free rentals that were given to Berlin residents, their families and organizations. We're taking advantage of it. We'd like to have that building use more and as I said, it's even more usable. I've got a little display over there with pictures of some of the activities that take place in our great hall. Coming up soon next Sunday, there's a family dance which is called Dance, Sin and Jump Around. And if you've never been you should come just to enjoy it. People do that. Barrowing can't be to proof of heritage permission but it's a lot of fun with live music and dancing. The following Saturday we have our monthly kids training to play clothing exchange that takes place in that renovated basement so that's an opportunity if you want to come see that. And there we get over a hundred people technically getting used clothes that have been sorted and all being clean perfect clothes are kept. They're great things. Great way for families to save money so it's great to worry about that. Two, would you say potluck? Yes, that's right. Say it again because it's fabulous. And it might go well. We do have a community potluck on the first Saturday of every month at six o'clock. That's coming up next Saturday and we urge you to come to that. Before that, we are having actually a cooking contest what to do with the pound of ground beef or that is meat substance. So, for me this one of our challenges is a matter of fact, so if you can come for that too or bring the entry. It's not restricted to range matters. I'll be around for a little while more if people have questions about the range what we do there and the opportunities that there are for people to use the home. Thank you very much. Thank you. Anyone else? Anyone else to comment on the rest of the business? So, this year I'm so excited there's a very cool historical site to display out there. It's very cool. It started there where the Vermont shopping center is. So, there's a lot of cool projects out there. There's also simple work photos. There's now a book swap. One of those little free libraries next to the Kathy Hart shore in general local. We've got a little free library of business also. It's time to do dog licenses on and before April 1st. Do it through the mail. If you sent us the correct paperwork you can call us and ask us about it or you can stop by. I always love to get a reminder or I guess if you didn't know they're saying resource-wide but I faithfully update every Thursday afternoon. You can call 552-880-5 It's about a minute of me telling it. It doesn't say we're on the front of a minute. You guys come up and talk about it. Hey, gentlemen behind you. Watch, sit down there neighbors. This is being put on by 14th, which is I believe National Department today. Some of my members order you guys to come down and look at these projects. Okay, so just in case you don't know what this is $7.00 $7.00 Do you want to save or something? Sure. So just to add a little bit we are going to have some local celebrity judges. There will be competition for the best savory pie and the best sweet pie. So by all means make your best pie for get out for judging and enjoy lots of other wonderful dishes. Meat pies, pizza, shepherd pies you name it, we want to have it all. By the way Richard said I am an early resident and a member of the fire department I am not a responder I am one of the corporate members that some of our folks touched upon earlier and I am also the in charge of our ways and needs committee show which we can try to do fun events we want to encourage our community numbers to just mount learn about us and the department and the things that we do to encourage your participation you know part of my personal goal for the committee and the department is just to you know join more more involved and more supportive of our community so by breakfast is you know my way of kind of proposing that so please if I am open to conversations, suggestions et cetera so feel free to come talk to me about my breakfast or possibly any other events that you would like to see the department join in with the committee so our menu and finally hopefully our plug for lunch today we are serving lunch for anyone who is interested you probably saw a couple of our come in at the table there when we came in but we have corn chowder we have an instrument we have egg salad and two salad sandwiches we have chocolate or tapioca pudding we also have pie as a surprise this is the way it will be done to help promote our pie breakfast on the morning so come see us and enjoy, thank you anyone else with a comment John before I do anything about CB5 I have to take a moment as one of my last acts on this like we are to thank all of our employees including folks at the police department, the highway department our office staff and even though they are not telling the police on our fire department so you can join me to round up applause for them one of 18 towns and cities as a member of CB5 which is a communications union district it's a bunch of towns who have been together who have said that our internet is garbage and we are going to do better so our current net this year it should be some report I just wanted to say a lot of our technical questions for our current plan we got several grants USTA and two different state grants to do a feasibility study to find out where we should start building really kind of the high speed $500 a year in such a long time first where we should start we have a feasibility study right now we expect to be done with this plan because it has to be a financially stable model we don't take tax money for this this is all funded by revenue from all these subscribers and we hope to have that business landed and we have a good idea of where we are going to build first in May where we are going to be applying for a $4 million loan from Viva, the Monetary Development Authority which came out of the legislature so thanks to our legislators here who voted for that last year and who authorized community based international buyers to build those networks we are hoping wherever we start we are hoping to do the engineering starting again this year and hopefully in kind of our most optimistic arrangements turn your first people on your quarter to next year I don't have any idea I don't have that information for you but you will probably start seeing as I step back and select more time on the seat by the board you will probably see fundraising requests for loans and donations to that for also previous instructions if you are interested in the study of the service but you will see more from the on our platform Facebook and Instagram anything else of coming under a good business to mention a couple years ago the state statute changed so the 16 and 17 year olds can be one of the olds and I have two today working in Berlin kids I'm just a little here and I know that 32 is not going to call her everything Eveline Frazier and Kanger Norris they are juniors and seniors with 32 if any of you know any kids that are 16 and 17 years old that live in Berlin and they are left to work the polls let me know I will use their help one more time any other comments if not I would entertain a motion to adjourn adjourn in this area so moved and second yes all the fan can say aye aye I'll suppose no thus end with the 229th conversion count