 All right that clock says 615. Are we at 615 now? Not on the computer. Not on the computer. All right. I'll talk slow But we have Posted this meeting Three public places right and on the website right now the email interested parties so we can move forward with the properly warned meeting here and We have the prior meeting minutes of November 14th, which I was not here for those so that's up to you guys to approve those if you If you choose to do so I Read and do approve of them Yes, I'll second that I write them to all in favor right you got those and then we had a November 29th Select board meeting minutes That was an emergency meeting called for some time Sensitive issues because the regular select board meeting was not properly warned and so we did not have it so I Prove of these minutes didn't have any changes. Did you Know Second all in favor And the first list on the New business is to review the treasurer's report Nice thick nice thick one. Yeah And it's um Thank you for putting this together once again. That's good to keep tabs on things I I didn't find anything super scary in there almost halfway through our year. Yeah, that's scary No Income was up comes out. So I just a little bit of it picked out the happy parts Looks fine to me. Yeah, so I'd move to approve second And we have Here asking for a letter of support for a Select board in conjunction with the park committee is submitting a grant to the Vermont Urban and community Forestry program, which will address the need to maintain protect and preserve the trees located on the park The grant also addresses the need to prepare for potential infant's infestation of the emerald ash tree borer It's a one-to-one grant the town is requesting the maximum amount allowable 10,000 with the town match of 5,000 and the match will Take into consideration volunteer hours time that staff assist with the project and donations of services and I've moved to approve that application. I second that letter of support for the application So bring your volunteer shoes with you dip we got to do that match and volunteer time Does that need a signature? Do you need a signature on that Lois Let's go on letterhead, okay I think we're a little follow-up with that dune I think the reason why we're doing that early is because the grant is due before our next meeting And so we just wanted the letter of approval going forward so we could get it in in time for the for the grant application All right, thank you for working on that. Yeah All right, and then we have a request for the winter event night before the night before Christmas and That is a little bit Well you did it last year right and then it kind of this was based on the porch of the cafe the new porch and It did kind of spill out into the street. So would you like to speak about what your thoughts are on that? Kirby Drive be closed because the people spill over onto Kirby Drive and That's a little Dicey We checked with the church We could have people enter from route a hundred of the federated church and then around the side and just come Part of Kirby Drive The people on Kirby Drive have agreed to that the church agreed to that We're hoping that you would agree to that the board would agree to that Obviously if there was an emergency we'd clear everybody off of Kirby Drive We would hope that we could get some cones and some saw horses Block the entrances and post signs and we would provide the signs And what's the time frame So yeah, and you have all the sounds like all the people that use that road which is not a massive Do we have input from the fire department long thing get them out of the way There's fire down there We can do but what do you think about if we do an announcement at the start of the show? Should there be an emergency? We would ask everybody You're not setting up tables on the road No People I don't yeah I mean we kind of wish they wouldn't be in the road, but they did spill over there last year Yeah, I think last year they spilled under a 100 a little bit, too Putting them over to Kennedy Drive would be better than Second I'll make sure you get them. I think we have some in the old firehouse and I Can do that for you I 1223 Moving right along we have Catherine you're gonna talk some about Clarification of the rebuild Rochester Catherine Shankman and it's going to my attention that maybe be a good idea to make a formal clarification of the What rebuild Rochester Foundation is it was established in the aftermath of? Tropical storm Irene There was a relief committee formed basically to help blood victims and we received donations and then distributed to applicants and I think the Federated Church was one of the 501 C3's That offered their umbrella to receive tax-exempt donations Peggy McKinley's brother who is an attorney helped to establish the nonprofit rebuild Rochester and So that's how we came about There's some folks on the board of directors that were actually part of the original relief committee in 2014 we expanded our mission To be able to go beyond flood relief Our mission statement is to assist in the rebuilding and revitalization No, the revitalization and sustainability of the Rochester area of community colon its individuals its organizations and businesses and That's what we do We put the basic part of our work or the largest part of our work is to receive Applications from people in financial crisis We don't do a regular, you know help we do basically a one-time help or whatever is needed We have two social workers on our board so that when an application comes in if there are other Funds that would meet that request We go and help people access those funds as well as the rebuild Rochester funds We also as the mission statement says I have on occasion also worked with certain community Efforts the first one was on the fifth anniversary of Irene 2016 August 28th, and we sponsored in partnership with area businesses like Harvest a day-long event In which there was entertainment and tributes and food For those of you who might remember it was a grand day. We also dedicated the Riverbrook Park and So that was in 2016 and then the pandemic rolled along in 2020 and We were very integral in receiving tax-exempt donations to help stand up a grocery delivery service that helped the people with quarantine and in isolation volunteers Julie was part of that people would fall into the town office and that would sort of trigger the system volunteers would then call the person who needed assistance and get their order fill the order deliver the order and Rebuild Rochester was part of that whole funding mechanism and then in 2020 we went to we agreed to go with a CV oil and Maple Soul to establish a warmer heat fund for CV oil customers that You need financial assistance in paying their bill and that's still an ongoing fund and then in 2021 we received tax-exempt donations towards the required matching fund of the Vermont Community Development Board grant planning grant that funded our feasibility study and continues to fund some of the work that has been Is being done by the Rochester High School repurposing committee which is kind of on behalf of both the school board and the select board exploring options for the repurposing of that building and now we Are raising funds to heat the building over the winter not something we anticipated but is a necessity to keep the building viable so We just wanted to explain who we are and what we do. We are not Connected directly to the repurposing of the high school project, which apparently there's some people who've been a little bit confused by that We do accept tax-exempt donations and that encourages larger donations And has been helpful and very useful to the community and as you can see multiple efforts. So there any questions? Yeah, what's your budget right now? What's our budget Well, what we do basically is we have a cap of a thousand dollars per applicant and If we run out of that money, then we're not able to But you know, I have to say there've been there are some very generous people in this community who regularly donate up to four times a year and So we're grateful and that really happened during the pandemic where our visibility was greater and So we're grateful for that. We're grateful for everybody who supports the work that we do and you know, let's just face it Won't we do without our community volunteers? I mean We have a volunteer government. We have volunteers without which the engine they're the engine of this community They really are I would hate to think what would happen if we didn't have volunteers so I want to put a plug in for volunteerism because It's so essential to small towns And if you want to know More about what the work that we do then please be sure to call me. We're listed Under Shankman books or the Shankman or you can get to Julie and she can get to me too. So all right. Thank you Thank you So next on the agenda we have a discussion about the Access to Roger's Peak land the 700 something acre plot of land up there that Nick Darbeloff was bought and is he here on zoom? Yes. Yes. Yeah, I am doing your yeah, do you You got the floor do you want to speak your mind there? Sure, I'll just first off. I apologize. I'd meant there. I meant to be there in person, but Did something in my back last week and it is taking longer to heal than I'd hoped As you know, we've looked at accessing the art chosen home site from a variety of different approaches from South Hall of Lane from Jerusalem Hill Road and from Bethel Mountain Road None of them are easy and and all of them have trade-offs I think we've discussed some of those At the end of the day, I think as I've indicated to all of you the the access from South Hall of Lane Would would seem to be our preference And there's a couple of key benefits from that approach unlike Jerusalem Hill Road. There are no Steep grades, which very much worry my wife and frankly in winter worry me Unlike Bethel Mountain Road, there would only be modest land clearing and minimal Really disruption of the sort of wild nature of the land and then unlike both Jerusalem and Bethel Mountain South Hall would allow power to be brought in which we would do underground At the select board meeting on August 22nd, it was suggested that we explore Coming in via Jerusalem Hill and then veering southeast down the vast trail and then doubling back and coming up to our chosen home site Northwest Up the up the grade I have looked at this on a number of topo mats I think it's it's it's it's an interesting approach, but I've yet to actually Physically explore it and I I have promised Larry Strauss that that we will do so and that path may offer a slightly lower cost But it will clearly not allow us to bring in power and and it also Doesn't get us Doesn't get any resolution to the demands that anyone visiting the house in winter Early spring would need a suitable four-wheel drive vehicle given the steep sections of Jerusalem Hill So that's that's where we stand I know the request was made that we if we were to come in via South Halloween that we would We would be asked to improve the road to a to a class 4 standard and After discussing that with with Ray Harvey who's been extremely helpful as we evaluate our options We believe that upgrading the legal trail To class 4 is something we'd be willing to do my understanding is that this would require proper sloping of the roadbed and and the placement of culverts at appropriate intervals But we would we would do the work to understand the requirements and meet those requirements if that were a possibility so I think that Conversations that we've had there the The thought was to improve it more to a class 3 road than a class 4 road because the class 4 designation does not really lend itself to to maintenance the town is not responsible for Maintaining that road and it's If we're gonna go through the work to do that I think that a higher higher level would be be necessary Would be or be desirable I think that it is important that you follow up with Larry on on Exploring the the access from Jerusalem Hill because from my conversations with him That it seems like there is quite a significant Logroad in place that that would bring you almost Directly to your your desired building spot. I know you haven't had a chance to hike that so I'd encourage Encourage that No, I hope to do it. I'd hope to hike it actually today if I if I've been able to get out there, but yeah, I Mean again, I I I do not want to discount it I do want to leave an open mind and I have one when we walk it and take a close look I Do remain concerned about sections of Jerusalem Hill to Anyone without a four-wheel drive and I Also would love to bring in power. I'm actually in the solar business I understand that the property could be developed off-grid But I also have an electric car would would hope to have a number of electric appliances and electrify as much as possible And so off-grid would not be a would not be inexpensive So that the fact that South Hollow allows power is is a significant Benefit So I As for class three or four, I mean, I think that I think it could be said that the class four could be achieved with Significantly less disruption. I also think that if we did class four it is fully understood that it would be on me to maintain it and plow of course Anyway, I'll let others offer thoughts I got a real issue with it for a couple reasons number one. It's a trail It sets a different precedent for our community than what's ever been set before so I'm opposed to South Hollow Lane To be honest with you when I originally heard your proposal. I was I thought about it as a plus To make it a class three. My name is Frank's every by the way. I didn't introduce myself But as I thought more about it and look through the rules I think we're set the town setting a bad precedent by Allowing a trail to be turned into a different class of roadway in That section because we have several other miles of trail in our community that are Unaccessible to us as a road crew or as a town to maintain and we'd have to hire Outside people to maintain that if we got a similar request from somewhere else to address a different trail So I feel strongly that we shouldn't allow a trail to be upgraded in that section and that distance For that simple reason And that's just me as a board member looking at it that way, however, I am open to Jerusalem Hillside Because it's a better access for the town to turn their vehicles around we presently turn around almost to your property Which would require a slight upgrade of Approximately maybe Two-tenths of a mile at the most I would think of upgrading Class four section a road to part of a trail to get to your land That would be A plus for the community to turn our present equipment around when we plow and grade and so forth So I am open to the Jerusalem Hillside, but I am not open to the South Hill hallow lane side so there's a Which would mean that in essence it would not be it would then power would pretty much be out of the question That's correct Or less that's up to the power company really that's not Michael That's a green mount power thing I mean if you were going to bury a power line from South hallow lane You could you could still approach the property from Jerusalem Hill and and if you're gonna pay for the expense of burying a line You could still bury a line down a legal trail and that wouldn't be You know changing the nature of that that trail You'd want to Make sure that that main oil tank culvert's not gonna give way and Rip your line out, but but that would still I would think that would be I haven't thought about this before now But it seems like that wouldn't preclude that if you're gonna trench a line, but Obviously if you if you're if you are working on the road and doing power simultaneously There's a huge cost benefit I'm not sure I'm not sure where to go here. I mean, this is a 700 acre property and You know, we purchased it really with the goal of having a nice home site and to basically come to the conclusion that we can't Be a home site with power and that we have to come up a very steep road to get there is is tough I guess You know part of me wonders whether well Part of me wonders whether we need to rethink the whole thing and I don't know I have to have to give it some thought if if I mean, we we we took a very close look at coming in via Bethel Mountain Road. There is a there is a possibility there Dune you had said to me that you prefer that we did not do that because of the habitat disruption I I understand that request but again it it it seems like that our hands are being tied From a number of different angles here with a very large property and desired to build a single home I'm not sure Well Hi nick pat harvey Um, hi pat. I am related to ray Um My thought on all of this is that you do have 698 acres there Um, and you seem to be pretty set on where your house would go. Have you considered placing your house? Site in a different area that would be a great compromise for you and access and power Out of all of that property. There's there's only one spot for you to have a house is I guess my question Oh, that's a good question pat. Um, and and we looked Uh, we looked extensively across the property and I can't say that there aren't other other possible home sites and that that Is something we we might well consider Um But but I guess I don't know whether it resolves the issue if we came in If if we wanted to come in and have Be looking north or northwest towards the green mountains Or the northfield range we would still be coming in on south hollow We would just be a lot closer than the home site is currently One of the things I I also promised larry and uh more than more than willing to to commit to is that we would We would come in to if if we were to improve the legal trail coming in on south hollow We would come into our land and at the landing which is pretty immediate Um On the eastern side or on the left if you will as you're coming in from south hollow We would then Immediately enter our land and go up on a private driveway So we would we would cease improvement of the trail At that point and we would not go all the way through to Where the the small cut road is currently So it would be about Just a quick look at the map Yeah, it would be it would be about half half way to the home site is where as you enter our land we would we would cut up Uh to an old logging road and follow that as our driveway cutting cutting in half the amount of um legal trail improvement And so I guess you know in a sense if if if we were to pick a home site Uh on the northern edge of our property It's it from a from a trail from a legal trail improvement perspective There would be no difference. We'd still be coming into our property Improving the road to our property and stopping there That was just the thoughts that I had on it Yeah, unless you came in from bethham out and road Somehow but you don't own property all the way to there. So that requires a Negotiation with neighbors up that way hollow. I I also thought would have Certain amount of access as well and there is power down Hooper hollow We don't have bought hooper hollow. I'm afraid so it's the same it's the same issue as it is on Bethel mountain road Correct. Yeah, we realize that You know perfectly willing to explore this I I think we had sort of had our site set on a on a Uh north facing home site Um, we picked one that has both um And you know, I I think we're pretty confident it would be it would be gorgeous um, and We would be interested in looking at other home sites that might be north facing and and not have southern access um But again, I I don't think it resolves the issue much Um Which still will still be faced with the same set of of of issues to resolve Right, especially if wanting to have powers is is um is directing your decision Um Pretty strongly. Yeah, I mean I'm in the solar business. So as I noted and and the building up building a solar plus storage Uh facility that would support A home site with electric vehicles and other electrical appliances would probably be Uh of a similar cost to bringing in power Um, and and we've sort of been through that costing exercise and uh I would You know, I would probably still do a small amount of solar on the on the property as it is just Because that's that's who I am and that's what we want to do, but it would be a much much smaller Effort than it would if it was an off-grid Approach Well at that the way it stands now the the the board would you know the town represented by us we would be Um supportive of the access from Jerusalem hill, which would be minimally expensive I'm just talking about physical access to the property here and we're um not excited about the um access from south halla, which would also be much more expensive For you to do that I mean we are interested in and um Having people come and build homes here. We're not trying to discourage that from happening. It's just the um We're also looking at protecting the assets for the town as a whole and in conversations We've had with the two rivers out of qui chi regional planning commission. They were very um discouraging of of treating a legal trail this way and then and cautioned us for just um Given that up um very very um casually Well, I I guess I would say I um again our our goal here was to build a home site it was not to uh develop this land and You know, we would be We would be willing to commit that that we would Never seek a subdivision along that road if it were improved. In fact, I would commit to I understand the difference between major and minor subdivisions and uh Within rochester and and would potentially be willing to offer Or forgo my rights to a major subdivision if you were to consider Allowing an unimprovement of that road So I guess I guess I would ask you guys to to to to give at least a little bit of further thought to this if you stick with your decision as you as you've Waited out this evening then I have no choice but but to respect it uh, or I suppose choose to fight it, but that's not really the the That's not really what I what I'd envisioned and in becoming a member of the rock rochester community I would love to have this I would love to have this land uh, you know Broken up as minimally as possible and I would be willing to to uh put something on the table that limits my ability to to to break it up if if The select board were willing to give further consideration and I guess I guess I'll leave it at that because if if all I'm left with is uh Is an awkward sight coming in off of jerusalem hill um, then it's a Then it's a land acquisition that you know I might hold on to for some number of years and and then let go of because we weren't able to do What we sort of dreamed of doing but There's still options here still willing to look around I I guess I would just ask all of us to have an open mind and and know that i'm willing to make some concessions if If the board were to reconsider Well, the next um step I would see to to formally entertain the the thought of reclassifying that road would be to for you to petition us to to um entertain that thought and then which would then be a process of Notifying all the budding landowners and and townspeople and and You know take input from more than just the three of us Sitting here at the table and and continue that that conversation. So I don't think we want to just you know Chase you away by any means, but it's definitely um, um A deeper conversation to be to be had Is this section of let's just say either south hollow lane or jerusalem um A type of road that we receive funding from V trans Four we get so many So many miles of our roads are subsidized a little bit by v trans That would if if we raised it to class three Then it would jump on to it even though the homeowner is the one maintaining it He wouldn't be maintaining the other class three It would be all on us and if we do anything like that We'd have to we'd have to have it as class three. We wouldn't want to just maintain a class four That's just not a not in the cards It wouldn't I can figure out wouldn't be would be advantageous for us to do that well nick, um, I guess we'll um You know continue the conversation. I would encourage you to um to reset that date with larry strouse to walk the um Walk the property some more because from his reports you have the bulk of a driveway to your house site virtually in place from that from the um the west side, but it's um It sounds like well, I mean Half the people around here use four-wheel drive vehicles to get to their home does not an unusual Usual thing I live in town. So But but but I also think that um, I think we're all aware that that Jerusalem hell is not is not for the faint of heart when the conditions are You know when there's extreme weather conditions or not even extreme serious weather conditions. It's it's a tough road It's just it is what it is Yeah Now there's a lot of people end up in the Murray's front yard on betha mountain road too. Yeah Yeah, but um, it sounds like the um the power access to power is is a big big um Big aspect of the considerations here Well, it is it is for us and I think that uh, because well because I I Really loved not to buy a fossil fuel vehicle in order to ask access access to our property I you know if if if the If the reclassification or if the improvement to class three standard um, where something you felt were important if if that's if that's a different deal than class four then I guess that's something we could consider but but frank did I hear you say that That was not something you would support either I I don't really support it turning to a class four from south hollow lane I don't support that at all anyway because of the The precedent setting that you're putting on the community For the other parcels of trails that we have that are inaccessible To us as a road crew from this side of the mountain we have several Excuse me We've got about seven miles almost seven miles of trail in town A lot of them are inaccessible to this side of the hill. They're on the other side on the Bethel side the Randolph side um, and we have to pay other towns to maintain those and in Our roads there, but they lead to a trails that we own That are public rights away And if a similar request comes in similar to yours and request that they Use a trail to access their property to build houses on we would have to accept the same thing as we would accept with you on a on the south Hollow lane side and I and I worry about that as a precedent setting thing Which down the road it could very well be and I'm not really looking forward to that type of thing It puts the town in a bad light So I so whether that's class three or class four Right Just upgrading a trail all together is is tough And I think on talking in talking with two rivers and in explaining the situations to them. They were under the Feeling that the possibility on Jerusalem hill was much better because it improved our Town access for turnaround for our vehicles Presently we turn around up there in a guy's driveway, which is very cumbersome for a A tandem truck that's quite large and and has a plow on it in the greater when they have to grade up there So we're in situations where we're trying to improve things And I just I just see that south hollow lane thing as a as a precedent setting thing that I don't think the town should should go forward with That's where I stand on it, but there are rules going forward that you can uh can take into consideration of petitioning the town to Getting voters to sign that petition to upgrade that south hollow lane to Make it a road and and uh bring it back and and we would have to listen to What towns people have to say and then we'd have to vote accordingly So you do have options if you want to pursue the south hollow lane more that way I just know I'm sure I don't want to take up any more time, but but I will just ask one last question and that is is the is uh the notion of Legally limiting the development of this 700 acre parcel of value to the town Back actually if we're going to improve the road It would be in our interest to have more than one house up there to up the tax rolls. That's not that's you know, that's um It's not that You know not that um Yeah, so that that's um That's that's not so much. Do you have a question in the back? No, you're just stretching Okay Larry stress So I just wanted to clarify A few points just in a big philosophical view um And it echoes a lot of what you've already said um, you know again Uh echo echoing in our own town plan um The town plan is this is a quote from the town plan The town plan is intended to act as a vision for the community and In regards to the trails Uh somewhat echoing what frank has been saying trails. This is a quote from the plan trails are used exclusively for recreational purposes and are not intended for vehicle access Therefore, they are not maintained and I think the underlying So let me just Start by saying that i'm biased um And uh and so i'll i'll admit that i'm biased. I would um definitely prefer that you know the road beyond my house You know remain as is um but i'm not uh I I think i'm in favor of nick Being able to access his property and build a house um And I think if the select board is of a mind which they seem to be Of working with nick to find a way to help him access his property You know i'm in favor of that I guess how I see it is um That on the south hollow end uh, you're talking about reclassifying or considering reclassifying half a mile of road Which requires significant amounts of road improvement whereas um on the Jerusalem end you're talking about 530 feet from stewart's house to the To the vast trail So I mean there's just no comparison on the On you know the work on the north and south ends of the road Um Now I mean the power issue. I can't really speak to the power issue I This the first time I Really heard really heard it talked out As has been mentioned there is a very viable potential driveway access Along the vast trail and then up an existing woods road To the potential house site And You know I You know, I just think that there's you know from the town's point of view If they are interested in considering reclassification A reclassification on the Jerusalem side Just seems to make You know more much more sense And you know to get from the valley bottom to the top of a hill You're going to have to go uphill Whether it's you know, Bethel mountain road or Jerusalem road. It's you know, it's the same elevation And it's we're going to require a four-wheel drive and I I'd also throw in four good snow tutors Anybody else have any Comments on this nick. Thank you for For speaking with us and I guess Encourage you to think and explore more and and we're open to input and Feedback from Community members and each other so I know it's okay. Yeah, not exactly what you were hoping to to hear but that's um trying to work with you here No, I think it's it's it's pretty it's it's disappointing because You know, it's a large it's a large acreage and Obviously it would have been nice to have had six months before pulling the trigger on acquiring the land Understand exactly what was and wasn't possible We will keep exploring but I would also hope that everyone keeps open minds and we'll just see where this goes And we will take a very close look at At the at the Jerusalem Hill access that we've been discussing Can I just um, there's somebody on zoom that I think was trying to say something even Yeah, sorry, I didn't want to interrupt. I've never been to one of these. I know when I should talk Well now it's your turn. Yeah All right, that's like I live on South Hollow as well. I'm one of Larry's neighbors Um, the first thing I was going to say Nick is you're going to want to plan on getting a four-wheel drive probably a pickup truck regardless of which way you come in I have to use my And that's flat so Uh, I I just wanted to just chime in one thing. I hadn't heard anybody talking about yet and uh, it goes along with the, you know Leading towards not using south hollow as as an access and and that's the current Use of the trail both by us towns people and also it's a I spent a lot of time up there That's an enormous wildlife corridor I think we all know as soon as you put in a road which Improved and increases vehicle access and the frequency of the vehicles going up the road The wildlife disappears and right now there's a lot of moose that live up there. I've been routinely getting a cow with twins As well as bulls and bears and all sorts of stuff up there And it's just something else to think about when we we go to upgrade these trails. We're not the only ones using them There's also this no-mobile though Well, thank you very much. I appreciate your time Yeah, thank you. Yeah to be continued Um, so the next item on the agenda is a discussion about the Grandville first response services to the town in the year coming forward Our um speaker did not show up tonight Speaker did not show up tonight. We had invited him to come and Talk about his plans Yeah Is that Dan? Yes I can tell you it's been fantastic to see that those first responders come I Live across the street to someone who's had to use them a lot and they are there before the ambulance comes Very grateful for those first responders that come down from Grandville Well, that's um, that's good to hear because we had also heard the opposite of that that they are um in the last year. So they've been That's our question to Dan was How often they do respond to a cause that they got heard that um It was not always the case that they were the first on the scene if if at all. Yeah And so we're that was our concern and hoping for some clarification, but um This this branches out of discussions had at the budget and finance committee meetings. So I guess we will Sir I just wanted to make a quick comment that I would also say something very complimentary about them. Um I had a really bad fall. I have to walk with walker and I I can't get up if I fall and I had a bad fall in the middle of the night about six seven weeks ago and um fortunately, I keep my cordless phone in a little bag attached to my walker and I Was able to call and they did come and and got me up and they were very kind to me I Anyway, that I was just, you know, very pleased to to be able to have that option So that's just my comment. Sorry That's good. That's why we're talking about it here to have input Okay, so I guess we'll um, I'll reach out to him again tomorrow and follow up See if we can't Get him to come in The next item on the agenda is another land access situation with the Sherman family trust Property update and I understand you were talking with their local Road expert did he shed much light? Um, yeah, I Bruce Welling has done extensive research on on our roads and especially on our trails and and class four roads, which The Sherman family lot is located off from Jones mountain up by you And and it is a town road according to Bruce. He's researched it found that The town had legally thrown up the lower half that goes down in the bingo Down near the beaver ponds It goes downhill to bingo road And the upper part was was considered a class four And at some point in time, and I'm not sure when that point was The slack board had given permission to put a gate there And which makes it a pent road But the gate can never be locked. It has to be open because it's a public right-of-way So in this case the Sherman property has right-of-way to that On that pent road What the gate needs to be unlocked? And that's all I've researched now We'll have to draft a letter to send to the Sherman family that states that we've Looked at this and and that they have access through that Pent road as well as the other landowner that yes. Yeah, yes that they all have access through that on the pent road Yep But it's technically that gate should never be locked Yep But at some time they must have got slack board permission to put a gate up there So Making it a pent road Just keeping track cars out of there and whatever but But it is a public right-of-way All right Do we have anyone from the library on zoom or in the room? No, not on zoom Not on zoom No, and I don't see in the room either Got any More highway talk you want to do? Yeah, I'm not really John and I are going to have to attend a zoom meeting tomorrow for CDL Drug testing and all that that's a requirement. So he and I are going to do that Tomorrow, we will be meeting with Greg Russ from the white river partnership They apparently have funds Available that they want to use on the river book covert over by Sally lamp ears And redo that at a hundred percent Coverage for that they're going to pay for that so Um, so john and I will meet with them Wednesday And that's about it. I think christin has got some Uh paperwork we need to sign for the uh, what's that? This grant Better roads better program Better better better roads That is uh associated with a rogersbrook No, it is sorry. Did I get ahead of you? Sorry about that and I guess also um in terms of update on the The west hill bridge. Oh, yes on january 23rd. They're going to be an informational Meeting with um, brian austin is it? And i may have misled you. I thought it was going to be this month. Sorry, that's my fault Sorry Well, it's good to see you before the you get snowed in But it but it is it is a gulf so they're telling us go for it So Yeah, we hope to see it when the original plan was to start in the spring and And be done by october so I'm sorry to bother you, but um, I didn't hear what frank the meeting on january 23rd is going to be about what I was writing as fast as I The hill at the um the bridge at the bottom of west hill or the hill above the bridge on the river And the oldest bridge The meeting is about the bridge at the bottom of west hill. Yes Yes replacing it on january 23rd Okay, thank you. Yeah, thank you sorry Yes, not to dive into this whole thing that's going to happen in january But there will be a temporary bridge or something that's going to give us access. Yes. Yeah, yeah And we have acquired all the right of ways for that so that should You know that part's all done with it's just a matter of then putting it out the bid I think and selecting someone going forward and To do the job and that was the hold-up last time was they didn't have a temporary bridge Right, that's all they said, you know, I don't know if they did or didn't but That's what they told us All right, um terry you got anything exciting on the utilities front? No, no truck That's very the body was supposed to be there today or tomorrow and then We got to go up and meet with The truck is up there the hind brake Filled with weight from the body and they're going to take it right in they Suddenly last week that the good chance we could have it by the end of the year this year We'll have once we get it we'll probably have It be in service, but it won't be in full service because It's gonna take a while to help that It's got to give us some thought before we drill holes So All right, thank you I talked with Jeff get part. He's not um, I don't believe oh, he is here. No, he said he wasn't gonna be here. All right. Welcome Jeff Yeah, uh, thanks Uh, yeah, I got hung up on a phone call and missed the first meeting I was supposed to be at Anyway, um Person has been helping me. We're gonna I'm gonna get you The very end of the year here a total on expenditures by building our asset account. What have you? Both electrical and fossil electrical is done right now, but We get deliveries from cb oil almost daily at this time of year. So When we have their Data the balance of the year. I'll get that to you guys so you can see where you are at the midway point um, we did have a conversation was that kasey at green mountain power and He had told us that they had changed their mind and they were going to go with one dc fast charger and two level twos In the question I had one of last week. He said that They're going back to two dc fast chargers and two level twos the Also the date He thinks the materials that they have on order and back order He should be getting in march, but he's cautioning us on electric vehicle demonstration day kind of event to wait until late May or early june to schedule that kind of an event I also have done a takeoff the side Library and we'll put together a couple of estimates for what Think it needs. I'm kind of guessing at what's behind the wall there You know, we you know, there's anything opening up that really tells us The situation the circumstance in that wall cavity okay and I guess another note on the the energy front is the the Resiliency zone for the um the project the micro grid project And um severies pit up there is moving forward. We got the What? No, I thought that was Martha there So we got the The 45 day notice list attached anyway It's um sounds like they're moving forward and that's kind of exciting for you guys know what that's About I believe but I'll just summarize it very quickly green mountain power is Is moving forward with putting in what they call Making Rochester village a resiliency zone where there'll be a Energy solar array with battery backup that will so if the grid goes down the Essential center of town here will have some backup juice for Did we do we know how long? No, I don't know how long it It will be for a couple days Possibly it depends on the solar, you know, how much solar they get during that time. It's right It's basically it isolates the village so that green mount power can basically use The energy that they have to power Rochester village with any time they Deem fit during peak season or whenever they have a spike they can shut the village off and run it off the battery system with the solar um, so that's what the They're doing and it's moving forward slowly, but it is set to go. Yeah. Yeah So but that's um kind of a nice asset for the town. Yeah, it'll really be a good thing down the road It's it's a step in the right direction. It kind of fits our town plan and in our What we're driving for in the future for the carbon footprint. So I think it's a it's a plus down the road All right, um now christin Um, let's see So we've received our second reimbursement for the cdbg grant Um on the eighth it was 21,852 That was nice um for the howbrook design um, I submitted and received our first reimbursement for that of 7,537 50 um West hill we have the bid proposal packet that's like 260 pages that we've been asked to review Um, so if you guys want to hang out and read it's fun Yeah So the forest service does in fact have the replacement bridge. So they're pretty stoked about that um That's it for that. They're going to be updating some dates right julie And then they said that they would be getting back to us But it looks like it'll go out to bid end of january Maybe early january Depending on where we get it all. Yeah Sometime in january. Yep um, I have a paper up there for you to sign For fy 24 better roads grant and that's for rogersbrook We've been working with rita and cricket on that quite a bit lately. So that's that And I submitted um, my first requisition for grants and aid on fist road Of 15,305 I did that last week with the help of ashley. She's awesome Um, I completed the portal work that needed to be done and then submitted for the reimbursement. So we'll see how I go That was scary But she was awesome. Um, and that's it for right now That's good. Thank you One question we did, uh They did ask for the west hill bridge what Powers the or what is the pole on the eastern lee side of west hill? What's running up running up those on the eastern lee side? What is that? The only thing is tell tell of it. Uh telephone. That's it. You know who the provider is. It's it's uh E.c. Fibers in there Under consolidated consolidated Okay, it's it's consolidated had the poles. So it's consolidated poles. Yeah, okay We just need to let them know that so we'll update with that. Yeah Green mount power stops across the brook there by the trailer Okay Alrighty I think we covered a lot of old business in our new business So we don't have a lot in the old business category here. Any Um public comment anyone out in the world or in the room have any Editions they'd like to bring to the meeting Zoom has definitely dwindled down, but they seem to be all set. Everybody's muted and happy by the looks All right. Well, um Oh martha. She just did a last second wave. Okay. Oh, she's good. No, she's good. All right right Then um I will um entertain a motion to adjourn I second that All in favor. All right. Thank you all for coming out. Have a good night