 recording in progress all this town of Essex select board meeting for Monday February 26th order first up on our agenda agenda additions changes the addition done from staff before I ask if there are any from the select board I will note you will notice there is a change in the agenda the consent items are our first if you do have any item on the consent agenda need clarification on that you would session or the questions on now would be time to out of this or any addition none we will move ahead to public to be heard public to be heard is the portion of our meeting where the public and race concerns give feedback to the select board so if anybody in the room you can raise your physical hand anyone online in the zoom meeting you and the bottom of your screen you have a reactions button if you click the reactions button you'll have an option to raise your virtual and I will Betsy done and thank you for letting me speak I have a couple of questions for the board I I received happily I got the Essex news and there's an article that was about what was on the ballot and articles one and two are very clear they're exactly as they should be article three and four are not stated correct it concerns me article three says tell the town voters require the town annual report to list the location of commercial properties that receive a municipal tax stabilization benefit within the report fiscal year the amount of that benefit and the property that part is correct but you have added a statement that almost nullifies the reason for the petition you have added in parentheses this is advisory it's not advisory we're asking it for be required to be in the annual report in article four you've correctly stated that the petition requests that the voters will require the town's annual report to list the names position title salaries and benefits of all town employees within within the year annual report again you have added the term advisory we're not asking it to be advisory we want it to be required and we wanted so and when we went and talked to people we said that this would be you know you don't have to sign it you can sign it just so we can get on the vote but it this would be required of of the town to do and but at the bottom of this article use the you state that the town clerk received two petitions she did that were requested as requested as a non-biting or art or advisory articles further it states that the select board may warn the advisory or non-biting non-biting binding articles that are petitioned advisory articles do not require any action the voters who sign these petitions and those of us who took the time to circulate the petitions do want these articles we are asking for if the voters agree to them have to vote to be in the next annual report I find the action that you have taken is quite egregious it completely the advisory statement completely is a completely different slant to what's being requested and if you personally did not write the article for the asics news you still have the responsibility and the accountability for ensuring that information on a vote is correctly stated in its entirety whoever wrote this up it's the responsibility falls back to this board what I'd like to know this evening is how are you going to rectify the situation so that people don't think that this is an advisory thing that can just be like well they voted okay we're not going to do it we're asking it to be required to be in the town annual report good so on the advice of council any item that's brought forward as a public is not a binding you put that in there in an effort to be transparent the public out through and is non-binding at our last meeting we had a conference I don't anyone on the board unless it was something that would vote against the public but it does take action by the select in order move forward yeah I would just add if I may that's the um there as Tracy said the select board myself it votes pass we fully intend to include that information for next year the difference is that as part of the legal counsel there's not statute that says if this passes absolutely not a charter change it's not a ordinance change where then from on statute take effect and then take effect within an ordinance charter not a budget vote that is then the select board is beholden to by its nature it's not something that has to be done but I think the select board as I said really that's the will of people that's what's going to be done just looking at options of years from now the select board may look to cut costs in the report and not you know have a smaller report not have that information speaking from the staff standpoint uh it wasn't totally clear from from some of those questions I think the the commercial tax stabilization is pretty straightforward um a question about staff salaries talks about printing it including staff salaries for the year of the annual report fiscal year is calendar year is it um it does have fiscal year that wages is it it does say fiscal year okay but but some of that information wasn't entirely clear so going forward it was it was an advisory vote of we will do the best we can to comply but for all those reasons that's why that's why it's listed as advisory so anything that's taken and it's put forward from a petition is a advisory thing uh is that what you're saying no I'm just trying to understand this some would be but there's there's from on statute leaves out um something like an ordinance change our charter has a 5% of the registered voters registered voters sign a petition to to change an ordinance that's binding if 5% of the voters sign a petition to do a charter change that's binding um this is asking the select board to do something that they politically would comply with but for some reason they decided not to there's nothing in statute that says it has to basically because these are just line items and line line items don't have to be put into the annual report I guess what do you mean by line items well it seems to me if I'm doing a budget and I and I'm looking at the people who are who are receiving monies from this from the town and you put their names in those are become line items the people who are in one role this is the cost of their of their hiring it's a it's line item and I would think line items um would not become advisory they'd be binding I I'm just surprised at that that's how the lawyer came across and decided on that back but I am happy to hear that you are going to include it if it is voted that way by the voters that feels good thank you do you think and signorello how are you all I'm going to speak to somewhat of the same things they'll try not to be redundant um yes s6 news is really important I think it's a great effort and a lot of great information is included on this particular item I think that the information that was included is not accurate where it says the town clerk received two petitions signed by voters that were requested as non-binding the voters did not request it to be non-binding they are non-binding they are advisory we didn't request it that way so that's an implication that we asked for that wasn't us to put the advisory on there you guys did so it's not really fair to try to pin it on the petitioners not accurate secondly the select board may warn advisory or non-binding articles that are petitions advisory articles do not require that action is taken that part's true however the select board shall warn the statutes are very clear I'm reading it from the statute the warning shall also contain any article or articles requested by a petition signed by at least five percent of the voters of the municipality and filed blah blah blah in 47 days not may shall so what this is attempting to do is give the select board credit for putting it on the ballot you had a chance we came to you two months before it didn't do it we have to go out and knock on 500 um two or 300 doors get 500 signatures we get the credit a select board must put it on the ballot this implies that you guys put it on the ballot you had to you had no choice so I know that the chair of the select board knows this because at the town meeting talk he said very specifically that the select board was required to put this on the ballot he knows I don't know if you were there Tracy but I'm sure that you're aware of it as well so I'm not sure who's responsible for editing the Essex news it says news and normally a news outlet has an editor who is responsible for the content and if it is in fact news a responsible news outlet would publish a correction we have two opportunities something to be put out right away in Essex in the Essex news be the mailing list and we have town meeting coming up very shortly I think this information that was included in Essex news gives a misrepresentation of the facts two points simply we didn't ask for it to be advisory that was the choice of the select board and council the select board had to put it on the ballot did not take the opportunity to do it themselves there are two very distinct differences from what was suggested here so I view this as a way to sort of diminish the effort of the petitioners and it makes it look as though yeah not so important don't worry about it it's a diminishing in my view I don't think that was the intent at least I hope not so suggestions on the Essex news the editor should be listed in the Essex news that person's name should be in there so we know who's responsible for the content very very important and I think that that editor should read every single thing that's in Essex news when I was publishing and writing for the Essex retorder I took a journalism class I learned a few of these basic rules when you publish information about a third party guess what you should probably contact that third party and ask them for some comments nobody called the petitioners ask them why do they put this on the ballot but there is what I guess is it may be opinion that's included in Essex news in these two sentences or three sentences I think Essex news is a great service but when an entity is publishing information strictly about itself it's technically not news it's more of a bulletin or it should say Essex municipality news or Essex government news so that a user who's getting it doesn't get the impression that this is Essex news because it really isn't thank you and thanks for the feedback I'll take responsibility for the newsletter and the content that goes into it there is absolutely no intent to diminish the work that was done and a note here we'll look at a correction I think that's a perfectly reasonable place forward I'm not but the blame on the select board this is something that staff puts out trying to inform our community about what's happening we're trying to do the right thing here sounds like we missed the mark so we'll look at how to correct it going forward any third comments public being none we will move forward to entertain a motion to consent make the motion that we accept the consent agenda as presented a through g second seconded there hi hi post that we're moving into the business items section of our agenda first up interviewing a volunteer to serve on the police community advisory of vince if you want to come up introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about why you're um first of all wonderful job pronouncing the name again vince quesiti we live out in pinewood manner the quite honestly we've been here six years I started to put down roots and when I saw the notice I was reminded that aside from things around the neighborhood I really haven't done anything to give back so wanted to see if I could dip in with the business of the community guess if you could tell us a little bit about your background sure um born California raised in New York went to RIT um was got out of RIT went into the army for eight years um finished with that went into engineering uh first in Tennessee then we moved to New Jersey and then again six years ago we moved here I have wife of 26 years now and a um 15 and a 17 year old daughter go ahead candle you have questions I know I was just going to ask if you have any particular area in the police department that you are personally involved in or interested in that you feel you might be able to lend your expertise to no I won't pretend to know um how the business of police work uh functions I have family and friends uh it who are policemen but again wouldn't pretend to know uh what help they might need or where I could fit in I again was just more interested in just chipping in where uh they needed someone I'm assuming you read the mission statement of the cab with police I I read what um I was sent uh I guess that would be considered the mission statement yes ma'am so I how do you see yourself in acting as that mission being involved in delivering that to the public well if I understood the point of the board uh it's to I guess ensure transparency between the police and the community um and I guess without knowing the issues that we would face I I'm not honestly entirely sure how I would support that mission um I could promise you I'll be open-minded and do my best to uh to adhere to the mission statement go ahead I'm good I to expand on that a little bit the and I'm quoting from the mission the police community advisory board representatives will advocate for the systemically marginalized disenfranchised and oppressed members of the community how would you be accessible and um advocate for that population well my experience of that population largely uh stems from the the neighborhood I live in uh very very strong neighborhood foundation um great deal of I guess discussion and um effort goes into supporting that community already in my neighborhood in the Pinewood Manor Association um perhaps I can leverage that I I know they're very open to hearing about things like community action so if nothing else I could I guess use that as a way of spreading the word any other questions I'm good I'm sorry my computer just shut itself down so I've lost my candle are you good I would expect it from your army experience that you dealt with diverse communities were you stationed overseas or year in Bosnia year in Iraq yes sir all right so this seat has only been of advertise since February 19th um our process I won't call it a policy uh but our process is to advertise openings for 30 days before making a decision um it's only been a week so I I don't unless was this advertised for just an interview no potential action correct okay uh so we cannot actually take action tonight but when that 30 days day period has ended there will be action by the select board one way or another regardless of whether we get future applications and someone will be in touch at that point in closing do you have any questions for us I mean I'm open to whatever the job entails I guess is this this is a board that currently exists are you forming it it's a relatively new board within the last year yep um as of July 1st as as dawn said um so it is a a relatively new board yes I would just be curious if there's any examples of things the board has faced uh so far and and how they've handled those I think that they've mostly been organization forming and handling organizational items so far uh so I don't personally know just yet okay well again thank you very much for seeing me on short notice I know I just contacted you guys uh I think it was Friday so we appreciate the interest thank you very much thank you thank you next item on the agenda discussion and potential action to schedule select board strategic planning work session um as you'll know in the packet we typically have an annual strategic planning work session in the spring it's to discuss the status of town projects select board priorities for the coming year and staff have been nice enough to provide some dates as proposed any discussion on timing of the setting a date what times would work what times would not work based on the Thursdays are good not Saturdays sorry I like any of the evening dates I will also note that on Wednesdays I do work in Montpelier so 5 p.m maybe putting it a little close for me to get back on time but the Thursday dates do work and Saturdays do work for me as well um I don't know well any other just a minute I'm not to where we are with the dates so just just go out you can read the dates out and um yep so Wednesday April 17th from 5 to 8 30 Thursday April 18th 5 to 8 30 Saturday April 27th 8 30 to 12 Saturday May 4 8 30 to 12 Wednesday May 15th 5 to 8 30 Thursday May 16th from 5 to 8 and both weeks are selectable May 16th is not a select board meeting Monday night so Thursday May 16th you also might want to wait until Andy and Ethan are here to finalize it we can certainly narrow it down and take some feedback um and put that as a top priority and we'll say the only date I'm opposed to is the May 4th date not that I couldn't make it work but I'd prefer that not be the date I like the Thursday I would second Thursday all right so we will hold that for action until we have the full select board here uh business items see discussion about select board meeting schedule for 2024 2025 uh this is on the agenda simply for discussion per our charter we cannot set dates until after officers are elected correct um so this is just for review and discussion you get some feedback as far as the meeting schedule for this coming term any thoughts I'd like to see I'm glad they've accommodated all the holidays are there any conflicts with any school board meetings leave those are all on Tuesday they are now they changed them to Tuesday so they should looks good to me same here uh the only item that I would like to suggest for discussion um is potentially starting at six o'clock instead of 6 30 start earlier get out earlier I don't know how others would feel about it but I'm raising it now so people can have time to think oh yeah that works then you get more work stuck in there again food for thought just I have no issue with the I can do the one it might not work for might be Ethan though he and I both start our days fairly early but uh any other discussion on this item or do we have any public feedback um on thoughts on our select board meetings schedule for this coming year don't see hands in the room you don't see hands online I have a question for staff do you vote does it work for you guys to get everything already for the Monday I mean I know some boards of their meetings said like Wednesdays or Thursdays to give you more time to get ready for I just wanted to give you the opportunity to speak to that yeah thank you for that um I haven't given a much thought I think Mondays we've been doing it we're used to it I have no issue continuing it um I think we've talked about Tuesday in the past and floated that idea just to have an extra day to answer any questions that come in but it is potentially then conflicting with the school board so I have no no problems continuing with with Monday but um up to the will of the board okay seeing no public comment and Dawn you're good okay moving right along discussion about the process for the town meeting informational hearing there was items in the packet the town meeting flyer the process by which the meeting will be run this year since there is nothing to be voted on it will be a select board meeting informational hearing um if that makes sense did anybody have any questions discussion comments I have a question why are we in the gym and not the cafeteria for sound reasons we are going later on tomorrow and on Friday to double check um I think there's there's audio visual in both I think the idea is that of course since we're serving soup have it in the cafeteria for the the um town meeting showcase and the food and the eating and then shift over to the gym for for presentations I think we'll make a final decision tomorrow and if it doesn't work out great this year we can always try to adjust next year but that's why there's an awful echo and I remember for graduations awful echo okay if you're doing a presentation I'm sure okay we'll um let's just curious no I can bring that up I believe yeah we're going tomorrow to check it out for the first time or more formally first time basically Andy answers for the select board anyway questions are asked Andy and Greg yeah it would be the same as we did a meeting okay your comments would be they're fine good and our moderator will be in attendance now worked well last year uh any public comment on the process for the informational hearing at this point we do have our next three business items or four executive session so at this point let's skip forward file remember I would like to extend our thanks to both Rusty Brink and John Mangen for their service to the town and to express the select board's condolences to the Lawrence family on their loss Kendall I'm happy to see the library is going to be participating in the distribution of dark let's hurry and fentanyl testing strips packs are important I will call attention to the select board's essential training by VLCT informative time and also I want to appreciate thanks to staff for instead of just sending an email on the 8090 upper mainstream update including that in the packet so members of the public can can see feedback and potential progress toward realizing public-private partnerships and moving forward with those so with no other comment on the reading file I'm just gonna go ahead yeah something yeah no I was just I was just curious um we want to keep a close watch on I'm glad that sxb she's looking at possibly locating new town facilities there we just want to make sure that there's no conflicts between um what the town needs and what they need because they are private right yeah and we are very much at the beginning planning stages when is the rfp I know it was in the packet deadline was on Friday so we we received two responses yeah but yes those should be taken into consideration as we move forward um so without other comment on the reading file I would entertain our motions for executive session I move that the select board enter into executive session to discuss the appointment or employment or evaluation of a public officer or employee in accordance with one vsa section 313 a 3 include the town manager and deputy town manager second second handle I move that select board make the specific finding that general public knowledge yeah we need to what did I do so yep so for the first one we have a motion and a second sorry all those in favor please signify by saying I I I pose nay motion carries three zero I think I was trying to do it before I lost my screen I move this is like we're make the specific findings that general public knowledge of contracts would place the town at a substantial disadvantage don for a second thank you kindle do we mo yes we do vote on these separate okay uh motion made and seconded all those in favor please signify by saying I I suppose nay motion carries three zero I move that the select board enter into executive session to discuss the appointment or employment or evaluation of a public officer or an employee in accordance with one vsa section 313 a 3 to discuss contracts pursuant of one vsa 313 a 1 a to include the town manager thank you don is there a second second all those in favor please signify by saying I I oppose nay motion carries three zero all right wait a minute I gotta find the other one I move that the select board make the specific finding that general public knowledge of pending or probable civil litigation to which the public body is or maybe a party of would place the town at a substantial disadvantage thank you don is there a second second thank you kindle all those in favor please signify by saying I I oppose nay motion carries three zero I move that the select board enter into executive session to discuss pending or probable civil litigation to which the public body is or maybe a party pursuant of one vsa 313 a 1 e to include the town manager and deputy manager thank you don is there a second second thank you kindle all those in favor please signify by saying I I oppose nay motion carries three zero and that concludes our business items our agenda we will not be coming back after executive session um so thank you for attending and have a great evening