 It is Tom eating TV. You're ready to go. They're all I got the thumbs up Terry. So we're all set Okay, so I will call the meeting to order with my knuckles as the gavel the first item of business of course are the minutes we have the minutes of 2023 to approve tonight is there a motion? Move we accept subject to modification That's your second page one page two Well, yeah, I noticed on here. This was the under number five the motion by Greta and second by Ted There's a something in the last line of the motion that That's something with June looks like some kind of a Computer Corrections to it, but I think the actual Is June 30th page three at the top of the tops paragraph Three quarters of the way down there was public comment In support of the policy and they're sure it would have been and there was some opposition also any other corrections If not all those in favor of approving the minutes of February 7th, 2023 say aye aye And one abstention Jeff Okay, move on to public comment and Is there anyone in the audience at the town meeting at all who would like to make the public comment? No one no one here Terry About online Jess L with your handrails Jess, I'll connect you right now. Hello Thanks for letting me join I Just had I haven't ever joined a town meeting before But I had seen the agenda and I saw that one of the things that you're considering is a request for a new vaping License for a business and I had public comment on that. Is that appropriate at this time? Or is that something that usually do after you've already kind of opened the floor and talked about things? Usually we got information regarding what the what the person is planning on doing before we would take more comments Okay, well then I don't I mean that's the only thing I wanted to comment on so I you know I can wait until another meeting then if that makes more sense Um, it's very possible that we will go ahead and prove this tonight unless you have Make your public comments against it. Okay. Well, then I do want to say a few things First of all, I'm a parent. I'm a Williston parent. I've lived in Williston for over 20 years I have teenagers myself and I'm also a former teacher who works in public health and I can tell you as you probably already know that we have a vaping epidemic among our youth and that purveyors of the flavored Vapes such as the artisan vaping company cells like flavors like Was I think it was strawberry killer was one of the ones I saw on their website Appealed to youth over 80% of the kids that use vape products use flavored vape products A lot of them have a feeling that it's Mostly water vapor that it's pretty safe and when a community Sets up a vape shop in within the community it becomes part of the community norm It feels like it makes it feel even safer kids are more likely to Take up a substance And with substance use like that comes changes in the brain That affect their learning that affects their propensity for other substances to use down the road And I see that this business is Looking to be located right by the movie theater and the green Um at you know, I just feel like it's a dangerous precedent and that it and at a time when towns We're really trying to look at focusing on getting better from the pandemic and mental health issues and substance use issues are so Prevalent in our communities. I would really ask that we could really consider this. Maybe you look at having I know the health department do A health impact assessment or give a presentation on the potential Effects because I feel like this is really bad for our community and that's what I wanted to share Thank you very much Okay, thank you So moving on to the temporary event permit application for check on tuesday's Eric you have information regarding this as well as we do our packet yep So this is the fourth year This falls under the board's temporary event ordinance to consider this event because it's a series It's hila adams farm markets on tuesday's hence the name. It runs through most of the summer Before the other will be offering this. It's been a well run event for each year Consulted with public safety on this. They had a couple minor minor comments overall staff has no Concerns with this event For the board wish to approve a temporary event permit for this season the organizer kim. She she has something Some family in town who couldn't make the meeting tonight But she's certainly available to take questions if the board has any follow-ups and wanted to delay any action on this Good thanks any questions for eric regarding the application I assume there's no major changes to the format or anything that doesn't look like from the application that there has been No, but my understanding is essentially the same setup as last year with the mini golf And I know she fully had comments to traffic cones to separate the truck food trucks from the mini golf I know just from experience we we've had Had no real public safety issues up there things of they want to run a pretty well organized event That was only my only question what's changed and it sounds like not much nothing I'm aware from last year If there are no more questions then there is a motion suggested We'll move to approve a temporary event permit for trek in tuesdays at adams farm market for the 2023 season second Any discussion along the motion Very none. All those in favor of the motion say, hi Hi Any opposed We'll move on then to the issue that just brought up and that's the tobacco license requests and that request comes from the artist and vapor company and Eric, I believe we have uh, the company's representative as well I think i'm zon zoom. Actually, he's here in the room terry. Oh, okay So I can give a brief introduction and turn on to phase in from from arson paper So, uh, town clerk sarah mason informed me recently Some clarification from the state of vermont regarding a 2016 change that all local tobacco licenses Require approval from the local liquor control board, which is the select board and each municipality The town has a new tobacco license request from arson vapor It's in the process of moving into maple tree place. The business has received its zoning permit authorized by the town zoning administrator Staff has no concerns with the application as presented. I've included it with the agenda As submitted through the state of vermont portal And I can invite a phase in from arson vapor to come up and answer any questions from on the board this evening It'll be helpful if he could Tell us exactly what the proposal is before the board and What he will be doing at that facility So that's going to be our second location. It's not be moving from building country. Uh, the bollington store has been there since 2016 It's just opening a second location And that's going to be as far as the question for that public. That's our kids and stuff We are 21 plus you have to be 21 to enter the store and We have a store in college town and we have very good experience and we get like fake IDs and everything I have in my car to like fake IDs. We check IDs Everyone everyone looks under 40. We check ID if they don't have ID. We do not sell anything And very pretty stick about that like we get like I personally have right now like fake IDs are back full of that Maybe like 200 300 IDs And we pretty strict about that As far as the flaring thing that's like kind of if there is no access to the teenagers around the 21 so Don't think so. There was anything on that And we have like kind of a romant has a 92 percent wholesale whole tax wholesale tax on vaping products and we've been like one of Best seller at the state of romant for right now Thank you So when a person comes into your facility They would not have the product but they would buy it at your facility And Yes, they buy the product and The first thing we check on them. It's like ID ID them everyone who looks under 40 And there is no cannabis product we sell there. There is nothing like that All of our products are vaping in CBD. That's it Thank you. Other questions from the board The only question I think I have is Could could you further explain what products you intend to sell It's alternate to tobacco products. It's going to be alternative cigarettes. That's all we have just to help people quit smoking And artist vapor is One of I would say the country's leading company the vaping industry. We have 75 stores across the globe It's more than 75 right now, but that's going to be second location for me in romant Okay, and we have the bollington store since 2016. We've been operating. That's okay. And would would Where's your other location? It's an opposite downtown bollington. Okay Other questions from the board Just the the location so it's me it's maple tree place I'm trying to like place it. I know the Just said it was near the movie theater just visually. I can't I that's uh across from movie theater I Used to be h and r block. Okay. All right. That's Any other questions One other question popped in my head at your other locations. Have you had any violations? Uh, what do you mean by violation of your permit? For instance, you sold so into in bollington Yes, none none of violation still now till this day. We don't have any violations. We've been like kind of a Visit by fdh hack on us and all those things State of vermont did so many times Police does it all the time and even like sometime on Sundays and weekends and everything we've been Past every time none of the single from any violation from not even from us any vapes shop in vermont never had violation There is some violation That's most of them as a gas stations violations that been for the kids selling Some products hold the kids They think products all been by gaseous. So one of us thinks so one of a Vapes shop that's in I think so It's not used to kingdom I think so And ek vapers they had a violation that I'm not sure if it's exact those ones are now but they are those are like a new I don't know what exactly they are but that's the only violation that's from in vermont from the shop. Okay And do you do you train the staff who work with you about you know checking id and yes There is a one thing vermont state has anyone who has to work at the store They have to get a license certification education from vermont liquor control and board. There is a training for that Plus we personally do a training on site too And we do not hire anyone that's under 21 even the state like kind of you can 16 in a book and work but If they cannot wait and there's like kind of a something to that so we Never hire anyone. That's 21. Okay under 21. Okay. Good. Good. Thank you And I like the concept that you know, it's if they look like they're under 40 check id. Yes, that's our company wide Policies to for like kind of a check id for anyone for you or someone like we don't even know them with its first time visit We check their IDs. Okay, especially that's for our training process for new employees to let if I'm not there And I don't know they've been the regular ones. We check id. Okay. All right. Good. Thank you I imagine you have some security in place too and things like that to prevent you know Last prevention kind of stuff and all of that Yes, we do have like kind of cameras 24-hour surveillance cameras and security alarm systems and everything And none of our products are like kind of exposed to the customer. It's all behind the counter. It's more Of our kind of I think so all of it is behind the bar. So you have to bring it to them Other questions from the board Nope, if there are any there is a motion suggested for this as well I'll move to approve a tobacco license for artisan vapor for a one-year period through february 21st 2024 Was your discussion on the motion as I understand the regulations there's really nothing What we can do to but approve it if it meets the criteria And I if that's wrong like it if somebody told me but I don't think that is Nope, that's accurate. This use is approved under our zoning the zoning administrators issued a zoning permit already. Um, just as a Tobacco and liquor control board Needs to be approved by the municipality for the state can move ahead the state will be the regulatory agency Yeah I don't like I don't like this product, but uh, I don't think we have a choice but to allow it This is a similar process to what we're discussing with the cannabis control boards too, right? This is essentially the same We're gonna get the licenses for that and basically somewhat different. Okay. Yeah, okay. That's a mess. Well, yeah Yes, yes Okay Any further debate If not all those in favor of the motion Let's say aye. Aye. Aye Any opposed So we are taking care of that and moving on to the liquor license renewals and Erica new process Yes, a new process here. So you might recall the board for many years has approved liquor license Is on a yearly basis from a may 1st to april 30th calendar year Current liquor control has changed that process now for a rolling renewal. So what that means is It's going to be a set period for a year from when the license is renewed right now the town gets License renewal fees For that year that we've done previously So my suggestion for the board and consulting with town clerk sarah mason is to batch these renewals We have about I think 12 before you this evening. Essentially, these are the folks who have paid their renewal fee before april 30th I've suggested motion to approve it for a year from today We'll get additional renewals in the mail coming up the next few weeks and we'll The next month or so and bring these back to the board But it becomes a process where You're not having someone say a new restaurant that opens in march need to pay their license fee through april 30th And then pay another license fee for another year. I think that's what the state was trying to One issue they're trying to resolve here. So Our suggestion is to think about this rolling renewal sarah's been managing it. Well, there's a nifty portal system state set up I've given you a memo with a summary of the businesses that have paid their fee I printed out because we had two new ones to add since I put the packet together friday for CVS and chef's corner staffs reviewed the Renewals and has no No objection of concern to renewing these for another year Any questions for eric or yarding? The new process The one question I have is I see Asian bistro has a first and third class Do you remember what third class is? I think it's a mixed drinks of the right chief. Yeah, okay. I remember that because it's counterintuitive You'd think beer would be third class compared to bourbon, but no And do you know any of these have had a violation? There was there was one minor violation of one last summer, but staff is no for their concerns We had a letter notified. It was a first warning with kind of an undercover operation that the dlc does to these different establishments In your opinion, and I realize this It's difficult for you to answer this question. Is there a need to Because if there was a violation, let's say they sold to an under Hypothetically somebody sold to an underage Whatever consumer We'd ask them to come in and explain what happened just to make sure we're comfortable that they'd put in place but in this case you said it was minor so It's sounding like at least in your opinion. It does they don't need to we don't need to have them come in It was my initial feeling but certainly we could pull that one if the board wanted to invite that business in I shared it with chief fully. We've received a letter last last summer I'm regarding that First And and I'm I'm supportive of from the standpoint this is a responsibility. I don't particularly like us having But we have no choice And so if we're going to do it, we're going to do it. I don't mean to be preachy here, but You know, we're going to do it right and we're going to you know, we're going to do it, you know seriously So maybe for that one example, sure happy to just set up for the board. Okay Ted your thoughts and I agree, but we I don't think we should postpone the action tonight. No, not Yeah, you could um pull that one out of the batch we could do that or we could still approve it, but ask them to come That wouldn't be Sorry, sorry mouth mouth started running before the brain was fully engaged on that one Yes, let's pull that one. Okay Which one it was ever mommy and seeker. Okay any other Questions for our work regarding the the process There is a motion suggested, but it sounds like we need to exclude one of the of the Establishments from the at the list Move to approve liquor license renewals as listed in the memo dated February 21 2023 for a one-year period through February 21 2024 with the exception of Who's your second sorry discussion of the motion Hearing none all those in favor of the motion say hi Hi any opposed Moving on to ARPA funds requests from regarding the police radio equipment and Eric and I believe she fully and probably lieutenant more are here To discuss this as well. Yep. All of our police leadership take take the lead in the overview But I will mention to the board there I provide you with some more details of this request and if the board would like to discuss those details More specifically the board can enter an executive session as this relates to public safety But I've asked the chief lieutenant to give a general overview and if the board would like to enter executive session as part of this to Discuss the memo I put together. It's an option To chief lieutenant All right, I'll be very quick with this one It can get very technical when trying to figure out and talk about or explain Radio frequencies and how it all works There's a lot of different terminology that most people may or may not understand or know Um But the gist of it is is we were always on what was called analog frequency And we have recently switched to what's called digital frequency Sometimes is referred to as secure encrypted, but just so it's easy. It's analog and digital Over the years agencies have transitioned away from analog to the digital In chinning county, we are one of the very last state police actually just went to it last week We went back to it on the fifth. We've had it for years. It's just never been operational What it is is it is a secure channel. So it doesn't go across the airwaves and it can't be listened to by the general public So it is a secure channel for police operations With that we had to switch our repeater system. So before it was over at the fire department on the analog system But to gain better coverage we activated our old site, which Eric has been present at and it's been cleaned up quite a bit over the last year But now we're running our repeater off of the old creamery site The good news is is with this switch our radio coverage overall has improved significantly Especially on the south end of town where prior to on analog It was near non-existent at times But with that switch there are some problematic areas that we've encountered And it all has to do with the geography of the land that we that we live in here The areas that we're finding problems with the eastern half of town. So the village Going down into french hill area the far ends of north wilson road So We all have discussed in the past doing a major communication upgrade for the town of wilson Similar to how all the other chinna county areas have already done There's a large price tag with that But with this Minor upgrade that I come to you tonight with We should bridge the gap for like a three to five year time frame. It's not this is not a final solution This is just kind of a a big band-aid for the time being so that way Eric and the police department the fire department and you know, all the entities can kind of come together and figure out You know best path forward But in the memo that I I provided to eric, I think you guys have as well I spelled it out with three separate options. I'm not going to go to each one I just tell you that option number one is our best bet It what it includes is us purchasing some equipment It's used equipment. It's coming out of the state of new york. It's actually from saratoga county in new york They've upgraded sergeant shepherd has some connections through the radio world has been able to shake some hands and and and get some equipment and For the cost of $25,000 all in we can greatly upgrade our communications In the area and it definitely will be a worthwhile Venture because we have had some some issues with officers trying to reach out to dispatch and it doesn't work This is just going to be 100 absolutely not but it's going to be a very good improvement for us With this option Not only will we gain Gain some but also the fire department's tax channel, which they use for ground operations that will actually increase as well By doing this project I'll take questions on I don't want to get like too specific You know, there's a couple different locations where this receiving equipment is going to go and in the links that will be we be connected but But what I can tell you is that we know where everything's going to go we can have it done Most likely in 60 days Because the equipment exists and we have our hands on it so So the the tack is is when people talk to each other in the field That's how the fire department operates on the ground. So if they're at a scene They then go away from, you know, the shelver dispatch channel and they go to what's called the tack channel You know, and then either car one or car two they'll operate out of their vehicle and give instructions to You know entertains and this that the other thing okay, and as I understand it the the way it is now is that the Law enforcement radio in some dead spots in town They're equivalent of the tech tactical channel. They can talk to each other Officers can talk to each other, but they can't talk to dispatch Right. Yeah, you can go we do have like a car-to-car style channel that you can hop onto The problem is is dispatch can't hear it. So like our dispatchers now are over in Essex um and One of the main reasons is we had to switch to the digital channel was because Essex is 100 on their digital channel So when we do what's called a patch. So if you have So you have one dispatcher sitting the desk and they're now operating two separate channels So sxpd and wilson pd. They'll hit a patch button So when they talk it goes out on both channels But when that happens if you have a digital channel on an Essex side They have a communication And the channels are patched. It's now coming across on an analog wilson in Essex That's not a okay situation. So we've had to switch to our digital. So that way Everything is encrypted. Everything is secure By going this way it allows us to spend more time on the tower up on oak greenery that we want to build out And when i'm trying to rush and put money there, but it gives us time As this is operational to build it out and not put a lot of a large amount of money every year You know, we can downsize that amount of money and build it out and when that being rushed to get that Yeah, and in the memo I tried to simplify it with an example I really don't do that, but Like a car radio Is a hundred kilowatts a dispatch terminal is a hundred kilowatts A portable radio, which is what we carry on our person is five So the ability for that five to reach the distances is that's where we're having the trouble A radio wave is not going to go through a mountain You know, it's not going to bend and dip and stuff like that You've got you've got to try to find your your cleanest path of vision there But by strategically placing The equipment will be able to then reach different locations throughout the town and One of them will be over at Essex. It will be able to stick one over there. So I really don't have any questions, you know, I I trust for lack of better words. It's all sounds good But the why I do have one question is as you mentioned where you're going to be purchasing used equipment That's good in terms of cost savings. You happen to know how much it would cost if it was new equipment you were purchasing so I couldn't give you a breakdown off of the each numbers. I can tell you that Like the city of burlington For instance, they have a tower like what we are looking to do in the future They are doing a complete communication upgrade of just the equipment and I think they're rotted near five million For their equipment town wide or city wide So for us to do this project for this stuff alone, say we're saying 25,000 you're probably looking at 150 200,000 So significant. Yeah, and these have a lifespan. So like A microwave will have a lifespan of 20 to 25 years. So these have a good 10 to 15 years left on them Okay, but you know, they could last even longer than that. Yeah, okay And the equipment's available. So we don't have to water it right. Yeah, so it's there available. It's not that far away Saratoga's little over two hours from here and and Radio, not who we we deal with You know Supports it. Okay, good And and this is like I said, this is like a 30 to 60 day Venture to have the problem fixed and Probably to get the equipment brand new you're looking at 18 months just to get pieces of that coming in so So and and Sorry, I have one more question You I know that there's some benefits in terms of the area that now will have good coverage But there are these small areas it sounds like that there's going to be some liability by liability You I don't know if the right word is lose coverage, but the coverage won't be won't be great Yeah, so what we currently have you're never going to lose. Okay By adding this equipment you're going to gain you're only gaining. Okay, all right So you're not you're not you know, you're not shaking one hand and losing the other This is you're going to keep everything we currently have you're just going to gain Gain some and there's always going to be areas of no service. Okay, it's just it's just the way that the landscape is Okay, all right. Good We had a lot of issues in the south part of town. So this is you know, the improvement is great This is going to be a bigger improvement for us So it's it's you know with with the investment. Okay good Ultimately the the tower project is going to improve things leaps and bounds for police and fire So we're still working on it's we're kind of delving into what the permitting looks like for that That's going to be a process. It's going to take a little bit of time, but We're seeing seeing this gap for police Dispatch coverage. It's a solution. They've been created to find a cost-effective solution But we're going to need additional work with you know, for example fire dispatch coverage is not solved by this and they have You know we're talking about the southern part of towns, but it's been an issue for both public safety branches here for I'm very much in favor of the concept that what we when we I don't know if we're buying time If that's the right way to put it, but if that towers, let's say five years away We have five years worth of being able to build up the capital budget so that we aren't Looking for you know, signs of a chunk of change in one year It's in that's that it honestly is the smart way of doing it. So this really just gives that time right there That's what I need to do whenever I need a new bike Any further further questions for the chief lucenet I've just given given the parts of town that are Without coverage with the portable radios. I think we should move on this very quickly So then the question becomes is how should we move on we should just make a motion There's a motion suggestions I'm in favor of using the arpa dollars But that comes with a caveat that I'm still concerned that every time we have something that's critical and this is critical And we turn to arpa At some point that arpa that we have remaining is not going to be Nearly as effective for some of the things we're hoping to do with arpa. So we just need to keep that in mind I don't mean to be preachy again, but You're great I think this is as you said a critical expense and You know, we luckily have the funding to to make this happen right now. Um, but Yeah, I think we need to move on Long-term arpa spending planning sooner rather than later for that reason right and a piece of our arpa planning May be keeping a chunk of it for these types of projects And I should have um, I've been starting to draft a survey idea looking at what other towns have done So I hope to have that together here You know, I've been hoping around town meeting but yeah outreach during the community centers I'd be looking for a motion Move to allocate up to $25,000 of american rescue plan act funds for police radio equipment to improve portable radio coverage with dispatch Zero second Oh second There's a discussion on the motion Hearing none all those in favor of the motion say hi Hi any opposed great we'll move on to the community justice center location or relocation so Eric and I presume we're having well, we'll have uh the uh The executive board chair above Stafford is not sure we'll have She fully and we'll have more on this but they're Certainly welcome to be there. So Eric wants you to start Sure. Yeah, we've got Bob Stafford and chief folia joining us for for this so we're um, I'll let our Guests speak mainly to to this but we're looking at moving our community justice center from where it's been upstairs in the police station to downstairs to occupy was currently the community room space in the police station the CJC as mandated by department of corrections has been remote since the onset of the pandemic And now they're in the phase to be coming back Excited about it to come back and do it in person with probably it's not a little bit of hybrid still in in their operational structure It's giving us an opportunity to think about what that looks like and certainly what the physical space looks like and looks for opportunities for additional access and engagement We've come up with with a lot of moving pieces here, but we've evaluated If moving the community justice center downstairs and the police station What that would look like and then I've got some notes on memo about what's the effect of that In terms of community meeting space and our plans to address that with some other Spaces we can look for for groups to occupy primarily during the daytime hours and addressing what we hear more and more just more evening meeting space availability But I think I'll pause there and turn to Executive board chair Bob Stafford and chief Foley if they could just speak to the reasons they've discussed with chrysaline McSweeney of the director To recommend this It's not and ultimately it's not something that board would be asked to make a motion on but I'm looking for your consensus if I wouldn't want before without the board's support with with making a structural change like this Bob and chief Sure Good evening So we think this is a great idea and when I say we the community justice center Administrative team thinks this is a great idea christily. Unfortunately couldn't be with us this evening. So I'm here Representing the interests of the community justice center. I have to tell you as a former police chief I would not want the cjc upstairs in a secured area just because of the traffic That's going through there. Um really is not secure. I mean you're bringing in people from outside I think we've been very fortunate that we haven't had any incidences Moving it downstairs. I think really lends to accessibility to our constituents our stakeholders And it's a secure area. It's still in the police department. There's Ability to access the restrooms without having to escort somebody The footprint in the room downstairs is the same as it is upstairs. So it's the same amount of room We've had panels there successfully. We've had larger groups of people And we just think it would be a great area And we would certainly like to keep it within the police department for sure Yeah, I support that was you know, we we had this discussion right over the last year And how to know where a department correction says they wanted the community justice back into the building is not, you know, working from home or more and Wilson used to be on a bus show and there's no longer a bus show. It used to be a bus outside the top hall Now, so we've engaged the management of April 3rd place and they have A vacant office space. They're going to open up for their staff But they went a lot worse to use part of that to meet and greet people who have no transportation You know, they don't have their own personal vehicles They're you know, they have no way of getting here the bus bus line stops at maple tree place either You know across the street Wilson road, so it's easy access to get in there. It's in the old Yankee candle shop The management of maple tree place didn't have any walker space for their own people so Lutette more and I have a meeting with them trying to come up with uh, you know And so basically, you know, they'll be able to sit there and there'll be a desk Therefore to meet people who can't access the PD in a way. So they give access by by bus or You know And then being inside the police department, they have well to leave their own You know, they don't have to be escorted in the building upstairs and they score it down So we're trying to get away from that sort of, you know, law enforcement grasp on it So they're here voluntarily. Let's keep it that way Questions from members of the board Looking for feedback Need to be addressed I think I mean you just addressed it in the memo a bit, but just I mean that the The big concern would be the other community uses of that space finding different locations for Board meetings and and things like that. Yep Yeah, I looked at that with I chatted with our planning staff We see a lot of the the use for nights when there's select board meetings and d rb meetings scheduled the same time It occurs about three to four times a year So we looked at our new recreation lease space and that will be added with the d rb to to shift if it needs additional space with an overlap also looked at We haven't made this room as available with uh, since the pandemic and and this new system We have set up so i'm meeting with town meeting tv to set up a new protocol starting next month to Take the microphones and the equipment down after each meeting and store it So then we can make this room available After hours to mainly nonprofit groups ho ways to have a meeting space With our changes with dispatch. We don't have a Personnel on the police station after 4 30 most days So we we had pause groups coming in after that time as well So I look back to see who'd been reserving the space the last six months And there's really one consistent group and I've chatted with her. It's an artist support group It sounds like the cjc will likely still be a place. They could meet the um I'll have to show them what the setup will be but christenley has been open to you know One or two groups want to come in or more just depending on What their hours look like and and what the frequency is that we get open that up. Um, and if not We have some other other steel brick church the library some other spaces But I I think in the short term or the demand views during the day I I think we have solutions in place to make it work and then by having the space available for some meetings again It will address that that the man we're facing but The man for space isn't going to go away and our steering committee looking at community spaces right now is hearing it already And we certainly get a lot more feedback on that So it's not something I take lightly here to give up a community meeting space But I think there's a lot to be gained with the cjc on the first floor there Folks can come in and access Our staff and resources more frequently than than they have in the past and creates a community connection and engagement on those levels too so For the amount it's being used and the gain that the town could receive I I recommend the board to consider So I just want to make sure I understand the concept the concept is is the downstairs meeting area that used to be more of a community space will now be dedicated to A community justice it may be available on a very limited basis But that that remains to be seen if that will work or How often does Well, I guess the question is is is the function of that room going to be a the for lack of better words the office space In addition to a meeting area Yes, okay, it'll serve in the same function as it did upstairs where There was office space. So the administrative team could do their work Yeah, and then there is a an area where there's furniture and whatnot. That's Adaptable to hold meetings and hold panels when crystal league gets back. We have a lot of panels and we're going to be Transitioning back into person on person panels instead of doing it virtually. Okay. All right. Sorry. I didn't really understand how the upstairs space was How it worked. Okay. All right. I think that's what I need Having personally used the upstairs space for years while I was on the the CJC boards um Just I know that the that the the physical act of having to go and let somebody in every single time or having to be buzzed up prior to that, you know and making sure it was it was it was a, you know a process and and an extra steps that that um and I really appreciate the um concept that it was a You know, they were saying that this was in their physical barrier and and that um Really feels much more punitive model than the CJC is is aiming to be. Um, and so this is This is taking away that barrier and I really appreciate that Our plan at the board as consensus to proceed would be repurposing the upstairs space to the police A formal a training space for police that we can we can dedicate The only chief you were talking about the the maple tree place is going to make A space available for police meetings with citizens or the uh CJC people to meet people who can't get here So it's on a bus shoot. So it's easy With the free bus passes. They have yeah, okay All right while designing they have to learn when they have to go and meet the board Look at their contracts and things like that. So that's great. Yeah I I misunderstood what you were saying and it reminded me that I think and actually maybe terry and jeff We're here at the time, but my recollection was that for there was a parcel of land that the town had had rights to but one of the criteria is we weren't allowed to put uh garbage collection Or a or police department on it at maple tree place Um, and didn't we have some agreement with maple tree place about using it for parking or something? Yeah, we we finally did that the town still holds that land in maple tree place Um, I believe there was an agreement, but it may have never been signed off on because the ownership changed right before I was going to be signed off on So the town has space there. We're we're doing that uh feasibility study for a mode shift transit facility that See what that comes back with as one potential spot as the town as the side with that Distinct recollection that we weren't allowed to put police department there You would think most places most big developments like that has a A storefront a police department storefront. I was going to say I would think it'd be desirable This is like a segue Into that with okay. We've got a little office space here that supplement uh community justice program Down the road, you know, yeah Sounds sounds like great idea Yep, I think I think those uh That was a vestige of somebody thinking that uh police department would look a lot like, you know Hill Street blues People screaming as they go by lieutenant belger's desk and Thanks for the questions for our presenters I think we're looking at this point to say is there any objection to moving forward to With this relocation of the CJC and even any strong objections to that All right Sounds like we're in good shape with that one and uh, thank you Bob and uh chief owing Just one thing jeff this is your last meeting and it is. Thank you for your support So, thank you, I appreciate that. Thank you for your support we then on to the uh fiscal year 22 audit report presentation I think we have surely and someone from Sullivan powers that will be doing a presentation to us Yep, I'm connecting uh rick brigham. He's a partner at Sullivan powers right now over zoom And just as they're getting set up, um, the board has the draft this for your 22 audit report included with your materials Walk through it as we have the last couple years We're just a general overview, but I just want to take a moment to recognize surely and Mary gratton our staff account for the hundreds of hours that it takes to uh, put an audit together So it's no small feat and you know the town is audits speaks very highly to the the town's finances and its financial management by our team So I want to publicly thank them for all their work Thanks, and I think rick may be beyond him But I would just I really appreciate working with Sullivan and powers. They are Independent, but they are also a partner for the town Um, and I just there's nobody else with cpa experience and government accounting experience So they are just a big help to me to bounce things off. So I really appreciate it and they're a great team to work with Very responsive. So and since you were the audit committee as well, I'll let rick present the audit report Perfect rick. Thanks. Shirley. We can um rick, but uh, if you want to share your camera up to you, um, you can share it as well Okay Thanks, uh, thanks everybody. So yeah, I just wanted uh, take a few minutes to kind of go through the highlights of the audit report We're going to start with the big thick document Uh About 75 pages audit. That's the audit report itself I'm just going to whip through it kind of quickly just to kind of give you a broad scope of What you're looking at within the audit report go over a couple of communications for the board And uh, and then let you ask any questions you might have at the end um So in this document, we look the the pages one through four Are really the my charge. That's the audit report itself the opinion Uh, everything else in here is a is a result of uh, uh, what Shirley was talking about what eric was talking about Was all the years activity financial reporting process controls all building to this product to get uh, a good, uh solid audit report for a balance sheet and income statement for all the funds And so what we're trying to do in this opinion, we basically have three choices You have a what we call a adverse opinion, which means the financial statements aren't fairly stated Or a qualified opinion meaning they could be Fairly stated except for something But what you're what you have achieved is a unqualified opinion And I always when I when I do these board presentations I like to point out all the work that goes into getting an unqualified opinion You know, there are many jobs that i'm on or doing meetings where I don't get to relay those kind of results So when I see uh, all the work that the the town has get has done to get here I certainly want to point that out One of the things I wanted to just point out quickly if you look at pages five through 13 If I was focused on nothing else as a taxpayer or a board member wanted to kind of find out the the What was going on within the audit in a really user friendly kind of way I would be looking at this management's discussion and analysis It's a quick summary of what happened during the year in much more user friendly terms and and really is Gives a the taxpayers or anybody who wants to know All the detail that they need to know within that 12 to 14 pages There's a lot more activity that's in the rest of the financials if you're looking for a deep dive into What makes up that what makes up the cash balances? And uh, and those are we'll go into a little bit more detail in a bit But if I was focused on one thing I would definitely be focused on this management's discussion and analysis If you go to page, uh 16 this is where most places focus. It's basically the balance sheet of your major funds So when we're looking at this we're seeing yet if you're looking at your assets and your liabilities of your general fund You're basically looking at about four million five twenty four eight thirty seven in total fund balance And I think that's up last from last year from four million three five one six three four So a good healthy fund balance in the general fund and obviously The the fund balance in the arpa fund is listed there as well as the fund balance in the capital fund All the other funds are in the back of the financials and roll up toward the non major governmental fund section of this of this column on column four Of page 16 And so all the rest of the funds if you're looking for any of the detail of the funds you can look back to those schedules in the back If you're looking again, we we kind of talked about doing a deep dive If you wanted to really get into the weeds of a lot of the different assets and liabilities and revenues of the town If you're looking at pages 24 through 52 We call those the notes to the financial statements again It'll tell you what what amount of cash are collateralized And it'll tell you what kind of investment you have what kinds of receivables you have So if you're looking for anything in particular that'd be a good place to go to kind of get a little bit more of the detail Uh the on page 53 to 64. That's basically your budget actual for the general fund Um, you've probably seen it all year long So i'm not going to focus anything on that and if you read the management's discussion analysis You'll see the highlights of where certain revenues Whereover and certain expenses were over to kind of give you a quick summary of how the year went The last thing I wanted to talk within the audit report is the letter in the back. So pages 72 73 so as part of our um as part of our audit one of our charges is to give it a uh a A letter on controls And identify any significant deficiencies or material weaknesses that we find during our procedures Um, so i'm going to let you know right off the top. There are no significant Deficiencies or material weaknesses to be reported. So there were none in here. So it was a clean control letter Other of required communications that I have to um talk to the board about We encountered no difficulties in dealing with management We had no disagreements with management And there were no unposted audit entries for the year everything that we talked about with surely has all been posted to the financials and As a result there was very few audit adjustments The ones that were there were very small. So again, uh, we thought Surely and the team did a fantastic job in preparing for the audit and getting this report put together We did issue a management letter with just a few little comments of things to relate more to policies and They're they're not required to be right in writing, but we always do that just as a matter of fact to uh To kind of communicate to everyone. Hey, here's some policies you should do Here's some updates you should do a control manual getting that in place in written And so we've talked to surely about all those in length So, uh, I think they're all being worked on at at this point and getting Making good progress I think that's all I had is I didn't know if anybody had any particular questions related to the audit Let's turn that over to the board then for questions regarding the the audit and the process This is jeff. Um You know, thank you for that summary Actually, if I could make a recommendation, I would love to have that what you just gave me gave us You know, sort of as part of what you present to the select board because I found that so much more understandable Then than the rest of it. I mean as a for instance, you use the word unqualified opinion Yep, I hear that and I sit there and say well, it can't be a very good opinion I But yet it it is a good opinion that that was your point is yes, absolutely. You didn't have to qualify in any way Exactly. Yep. And and and maybe it's because I'm an engineer Engineer and finance are like just heading opposite directions So maybe that's a that's a that's a piece of it. Um But If I could just quickly summarize what you just said you would give Shirley and and the town staff and putting everything they needed together and how they complied with the rules and All that you would probably give them an a plus Yes We were I was talking with my partner before the before the meeting and he just wanted me to reiterate Shirley's preparation of the financials was excellent A lot of times when we're reviewing clients prepared financials There's a lot of changes and shifting and back and forth what he was mentioning was probably one of the best he's seen this year Okay, thank you very helpful Other and questions or comments Yeah Um, it was he mentioned that there were some things that you Is recommended that you work on and there are summary of of that Yep, it is It's the letter that starts Oh, let's see. How can I describe it? It's four pages, but on the second page it says fraud risk assessment uniform guidance policies That sounds like federal speech documentation and kind of control system conflict of interest policies Rick was very kind. These have been in this management letter It's just a matter of getting time to get to them We have a few of them that disappeared this year But that there's definitely more to come and some of this does come from the uniform guidance has to do with grants and that language in our Purchasing policies as well. So work to do policy wise for sure. Okay, so what I'm hearing about you said we haven't been able to get to it Which totally understandable? But it sounds like it's not a serious problem If you haven't been able to get to it and all all it's getting is mentioned as something we ought to be doing Yes, but we do need to get to it. Yeah Good. Thank you Further questions Yes If there are no other questions, uh, there is a motion suggested Move to accept the fiscal year 2022 audit report from the town auditing firm of selivan powers as presented Is there a second? I'll second. Um, but also, uh, well, I'll second Okay Is there any discussion on the motion? Yeah, the one discussion point I have is I wonder if the motion should reflect the very positive report we just got It may if you wish to have it I'll look to our two more articulate ones here about how to do that The movement has to do it Oh, um I also moved to to, uh, acknowledge the exemplary work of our town finance department in, um, having such a successful audit If you don't mind one small slight change that recognize and acknowledge recognize and Good, thank you. Do you second? And I second that So we have a motion now amended, I believe So we need to take take up the amendment first of all and move on to Uh, the question if if it is amended so If you're ready for that discussion and that question Then I was in favor of approving the amendment to the motion say I I Any opposed? All right. We have now amended the motion Is there any discussion about The motion at now as amended Hearing none all those in favor of approving the motion as amended say I I Any any opposition so none, but thank you very much, uh from Gentlemen from Sullivan powers and and surely appreciate, uh, all of the hard work. It's been done Thank you. You guys have a good night We'll be moving on then to the Champlain water district annual update. Um, are they ready to go, uh, Eric? Yep, we've got, uh, Joe Duncan here in the house and i'm connecting. Liz Royer our our representative right now on soon Okay Oh Turn over to Joe. We're all set. Okay. I will uh, I will just do some quick introductions See if Liz has anything you'd like to add Before I uh go into my spiel on Champlain water district But uh, I'm Joe Duncan general manager of Champlain water district and as bruce knows also a resident of wilson So I do thank you for having us, uh, we try and get in front of all the we serve water to Eight member communities and uh, you are the only one that takes us up annually on an update. So, uh, that's reflective of I think a lot of A lot of the different issues that that the boards are dealing with that they prioritize Things so I'm glad I thank you for allowing us to be here because it Doesn't always happen, but I think it's nice to be able to give you an update on what's going on in the world of water um, so Champlain water district is a wholesale water supplier to 12 water systems and eight member communities of which wilson is one of them and uh With our eight member communities. We have one Uh commissioner from each of those eight communities of which liz royer is your Representative, so I will uh, let liz Speak to that and uh, see if she has anything she'd like to add before we jump in Thanks, Joe. Um, yeah, so I have been the commissioner for about eight years. I think And I'm up for election At tom meeting day, so I'm hoping to serve for another three years So I've definitely enjoyed myself um and learned a lot and um, I think we have a really good relationship and really great communication between the board in the management at Champlain water district and um, I do my best to represent the town's interest With with the water district as well Great, so uh, to give you give you a little uh, little update on What we're doing and where we're going the uh the Champlain water district Is uh, is moving forward in trying to be as proactive as we can We are uh, first in the nation in the partnership for safe water excellence and water treatment Back in 1999. We've held that distinction of maintaining that level of excellence since 1999 It's something it's a process we do annually In making sure that we maintain that certification of a high level of treatment coming out of the plant So with that we try to be very proactive In in making sure we're addressing both treatment and infrastructure needs While also trying to balance What we understand to be the ratepayers who are supporting this So it is definitely something that I think has been learned over time of trying to make sure that we Put forth what's necessary in maintaining our infrastructure While also in operations while also Not trying to uh put a financial strain or burden on the on the users of the system And the way it does work is that we wholesale our water to the community such as wilson as an example And then wilson takes that water and distributes it to each of the users residents in commercial industrial users in their system So wilson has its own debt its own operations and therefore has its own water budget So the purchase of our water is just one portion of the fee that the users of wilson see In addition to the operations of of getting the water from where they purchase it for us to the To the end users and so You know one of the things that we try to do have learned is we have a lot of water mains that go past Of a lot of the water mains in the surf systems Then you can watch those older lines break and fail and you can watch equipment fail Our pipe is is young We were started in 1973 so we were in our 50th anniversary this year And uh as someone that was born in 1972 50 year old pipe is pretty young So uh, but so so it's also thicker than most other stuff. So You know when you look around at the nation and you look at the the condition of infrastructure Cdbd has the Has the ability of foresight to see how young We are in the ability to say we don't want to be in that position So we always try and structure our rates to uh to handle that And so we go through our budget process our budget process starts in october Probably a little later than maybe some of the systems and users out there but in towns But we get unrolling october december our board in january Formulate those budgets lizz walks through that with us to make sure that we are Being held accountable for the stuff that we're requesting and then we bring that budget forward and Have have an annual meeting the first tuesday in april this year. It is uh, it's april fourth Seven o'clock sampling water district would be an opportunity for anybody who's a user Not a user a Resident within any of our eight member communities whether you're a user or not If you reside in your registered voter within any of the eight communities Wilson being one of them you can come to our annual meeting and vote on the floor And so this year it was very challenging for our board very challenging for us to put forward a budget We've seen increases and i'm sure everyone here can speak to to what they've experienced But we've seen unprecedented increases That uh, if we took what our normal budget was we probably would have been around a 12 to 16 percent increase Chemicals alone are crazy. We've seen an increase of about 200 and chemical costs So normally we spend about four hundred thousand dollars a year in chemicals Next year we're looking to spend close to about eight hundred fifty thousand dollars in chemicals alone And so, you know, what we've tried to do is balance some of those increases with some of the The needs to say we don't want to go backwards because I think one of the the traps that we've seen over time and learned from other systems is You know, when you see if price increases you start to slice and dice and bleed So we didn't want to bleed because if we do that we are not being able to push forward with uh, maintaining the positive Momentum we have for for making sure things stay announced prevention today Save a pound of flesh later. So that's our mentality there. So what you're seeing this year is a nine and a half percent increase The uh, the rate currently Is 2.494 per thousand gallons. It will be increasing on the proposed budget to 2.731 That's about a nine and a half percent increase. What that boils down to is about a uh, 15 60 cent per year increase for a typical user About a dollar 30 a month. We've historically tried to stay below $10 a year and if you look at our historical average We average about even with this we're now averaging about nine and a half dollars increase per year. So we don't uh We hopefully won't foresee another increase like this anytime soon But our goal is to stay in that three to four percent range and we realize We could not achieve that in this particular year So that's a little bit about the budget We do have some projects that we are planning for Williston. There's a pump station, which maybe Sometimes you don't like to point these things out because you like to be out of plain sight But next to friendlies or former friendlies Is a small pump station to call that our attached corners pump station We're doing an electrical rebuild of that pump station It's nice because we actually have a second pump station off of Williston Of a off of mountain view to call that the Williston north pump station So we can run that station while we have the one down redundancy is a very popular thing amongst Our crowd and so So that it pays dividends to have stuff like that We are also going to be replacing some section of water line along Along route 2a as part of the v-trans project That that's continuing up from From Continuing up route 2a towards Towards mountain view industrial lab intersection from the from the river cove area So we'll be doing some of that a line replacement in coordination with v-trans And then we have a bunch of stuff planned at the plant that if we are able to access some of the The infrastructure monies we hope to use that for For some stuff at the plant for skater improvements Chemical building improvements and then some some tank improvements at the site So that's kind of kind of who we are where we are In and where we're going. I'm happy to get into any specifics about cwd Any questions on plans that we may have budget questions? anything and also jeff i want to say I'm imagining this is your last meeting so uh Liz and i are ready for anything you throw out What is time for questions from the board for jola was Right, I don't have too many but You know, as you know, I work for I work in a technical support group for the 2sr Programs and everything or especially that you know, the bil of the button. Well iij The infrastructure law Puts heavy emphasis on emerging contaminants So what do we need to know about emerging contaminants and champlain water district? so, um The uh The good news is that we don't have any concerns with the emerging contaminants the bad news is we can't access any of that funding Because you don't but the the big things that are out there for emerging contaminants. One of them is peposs and so In we constantly do testing at our intake our intake is about a mile and a half off the shore In shelvin bay about 80 feet deep um, not to say that you can't possibly get any contamination down there, but Lake champlain is about 1.3 trillion gallons and um shelvin bay is about 3.3 billion gallons. So Whether there's peposs in the water out there somewhere it isn't making its way down to our intake So at this point in time, we don't have any concerns with with peposs Um Mostly groundwater sources have that so uh, we're a lake water source. So will that change over time? We're certainly are testing and monitoring for but at the moment. We don't see that the other issue that's out there that you hear is Sanotoxins and blue-green algae That is a big concern in lake champlain most of that occurs in shallow Warmer waters that don't see the turnover that uh, that you would want to get that The blue-green algae to move along As well as some of the phosphorus loading that's occurring in some of those and settling in some of those spaces Being out in sort of the open bay 80 feet down Wow, we haven't seen that we are involved in in a couple different sanotoxin monitoring programs throughout the summer One of them is funded through the state that we've participated We haven't seen any evidence of that but again, we are monitoring for that and we actually have a We actually have a powder activated carbon system that We have that's offline right now, but we can put into service if we do wind up seeing any of those And that was actually put in as part of a lamprocyte application within the La Plata as part of the suspicion wildlife service because there was concerns about The the lamprocyte contaminating the drinking water. So we had an operation during During the application. So Um, yeah, we don't really advertise we probably should do a little more advertising people might find a little more cooler than uh, Then just sort of you tap and there it is, but um, but yeah, so that's definitely Something we're monitoring for but I have not seen any issues or concerns with okay and similar along along the same lines is Um, as you're probably aware, I assume you're aware Um, Shelburne is considering consolidating its two treatment plants to one and the one that they're going to Rumor has it they're going to consolidate two discharges to Shelburne Bay Any concerns there? Um, no, not really. I mean the right now Both of their plants discharge into ultimately make their way to the Shelburne Bay But obviously you'd have a more concentrated One if I understand it correctly, they're looking at the one off of Shelburne road Would put it a little closer to our source, right? Not really many concerns at this point in time, although we are we have been engaged by the state to uh To as to what will we be interested in in modeling or monitoring as part of that? So we are uh, I haven't it hasn't picked up yet But we are prepared to work with them and have given them Sort of our requirements for modeling our uh our intake to understand that we actually have done You stop me if you wouldn't want me to not say any more, but we've actually done a lot of lake monitoring over the years through a um Middlebury professor named Tom Manley who has modeled the the heck out of the lake We actually have a thermocline monitor a temperature strand from the bottom to the top of our of our intake that monitors the Thermocline so we can get a sense of when we might be impacted by upper level Influence but Anyways, the modeling that is done has a particular Path that the the lake tends to take under certain conditions whether it's winds from the north winds from the south High flows out of La Plata And so we have a good handle on on what comes into when it comes into the lake how it's going to disperse and what it'll look like So we hope to leverage some of that with that study to to identify if that new stream with a larger push Influences our intake. That's pretty cool So my last question it gets to the wholesale water rate. You mentioned chemicals and you said it doubled But that can't be this sole driver in it. What are the other drivers? Nope One of the other drivers is uh benefits We saw about a 10 increase in benefits. So the budget's up about 840,000 That's what gets you to a to a nine and a half percent over where we are today. And so So of that 840 800 excuse me 880 About 340,000 is chemicals. So that's that one makeup of the 880 There's about 150 in benefits due to the 10 increase in that We also have about a 75,000 dollar increase in Salaries not including you know the the benefits are up because the salaries are up as well as The increases in the in what we have to pay as a portion of our negotiated contract with the union So they compound effect, but the uh, the We have about a six and a half percent It's a little funky because we gave everyone it's a four and a half percent on the union contract But we also adjusted Did a salary survey with some uh With some neighboring communities to understand what the going rate is for union positions to try and make sure We were competitive and being able to attract people the net effect was about a six and a half percent increase For the bargaining unit employees. So you have almost 200,000 in salaries and benefits So there's about 540,000 dollars right there We have also made a heavy lift in our cybersecurity world So, uh, we've got a whole bunch of new server services as well as Server infrastructure we're making investments on so that's about another 75,000 dollars there And then the rest is just kind of some some give and take and I think if you add all that up you're You're you're not quite at 880,000, but it's probably 75 of that chunk. Okay is is Is the district having trouble retaining staff? Uh, we have we've had uh two positions That we couldn't fill for the longest time. We actually just filled that one of them the other day It was an electrician So, uh, could not compete for an electrician at all given the current market in demand for electricians and the the overtime The value of benefits versus cash in hand was was one that we were struggling with as well as a distribution maintenance text that that do our contract operation services Uh, struggling a little bit with the contractor market So we were having to turn over in both of those positions to the point where the electrician Been two and a half years since we've been able to fill it but that we are seeing we probably At least once a year lose somebody on the distribution maintenance tech side to To some other competitor Okay All right, that's it for me Other questions from board members thank you both for being here tonight Liz congratulations. I know that you're in on a post as I am and Liz happens to be my next door neighbor So thank you very much for serving. Thanks, Joe for all you do for the uh for the town as well Thank you. Thank you for having us. Jeff. We'll miss you I will miss you Thank you very much. Have a great evening. All right. Thanks you too so next on the agenda is the CSWD request for water connection fees and Well, CSWD has been here before They have a proposal for us tonight that's um They would like to present Sarah Reeves the general manager and Josh Tyler, I believe that will be joining us as well the operations manager So welcome. Welcome, sir Thank you very much and I apologize for some flagriness in my voice. There's Anastasia virus going around the office. Josh is actually ill tonight as well. So You're stuck with me, but I do appreciate your time and thank you for the opportunity to to present our our request As the select board is well aware and is familiar We've been doing some significant infrastructure improvements along Redburn Road And the largest of which we've been past year and a half or so has been to install a new water line Excuse me that will terminate just in front of our Organic diversion facility and it is designed to be able to alleviate The issues that we have with having to constantly truck in water from the hydrant when we are needing supplemental water for our processes So it's long been the district's Desire to to build the water line and with the materials recovery facility coming online in a couple of years The water line will also serve the purposes there for just for general water needs for restrooms and and whatnot but also for sprinkler systems And in the event that we do build an administrative building on that side of Redburn Road as well and You know, like seven or ten years Then the water line would start back too. So It really was designed to be kind of a a three three part service for for us. So with the most important one being with the Organic diversion facility. So we have completed So I completed the water line and The issue that we have for you tonight that we would like you to consider is to We're at the point of connection And we've been working with the town manager and with director public works For several months now on trying to understand The fee structures and and I know the select board has recently taken up the issue in the past couple of months and We had a Concern with the initial estimate The initial estimate for the connection fees was based on We believe an error, but the number was not an error, but the the rationale we thought perhaps was It was based on the potential for a maximum daily use And that number was intended to help the department to size the water meter properly So when we communicated with the Champlain Water District, they indicated that our potential heaviest daily mode of daily usage of water was They had no issue with with that amount The reality is we will That is not our constant daily water usage. We actually want to Try as much as we can to not use supplemental water And we do have a very specific recipe all composters do and we do need to keep a proper ratio of Of moisture in the mix so that it composts correctly and properly So our average over the course of a year is just over 33 hundred gallons a day And the request that we have is that our connection fees be based on the annual average rather than the potential One-day maximum use And that is the The bulk of the request that we have for you. We're not asking for a waiver Of the fees we recognize in the host town agreement that we are responsible for paying Paying fees like connection fees. So we are not asking for a waiver but we are asking for a A reduction from the maximum potential One-day use to our average annual use and I'm happy to To take questions hopefully I can answer them and Have the answers, but if not, I will Certainly get answers for you to time management. I want to speak to to josh And thank you, sir Questions from the board regarding the presentation the request Hey, sarah, this is jeff The the only question I have is I've read your memo and you know, it's very clear I it makes it's it's very understandable My question is do you feel That the solid waste district should be treated in the same way as all Commercial entities in in willis in our in terms of the Of the connection fee That is how the host town agreement is written So certainly if you know, we want to adhere to that that is how it's written I would Put forth to the select board that the operation that we're asking you to consider is Most unlike any other commercial activity. I think in the town I would agree with that Yeah, you know, it's not even really a typical Farm or agricultural use right because we really do want to rely as much as possible on On the incoming mix of of materials and we we strive very much to have that mixed the Homogeneous, but we do never really know with total certainty if we're going to have a Wetter day or a less what day and then obviously it's whether related as well so It isn't even as though we're a farm who you know is is putting in an irrigation line and you know How much you're going to use or any other commercial entity, you know, like a And the example of a car wash comes up a lot or a hotel Those business plans are pretty set. You have an expected occupancy rate that you need to make To ensure the viability of your business and we're we're just not that Just not that precise our recipes are precise, but our needs fluctuate on a daily basis. There will be days where we Probably wouldn't even use a thousand gallons You know depending on what's coming in if we have some very wet food scraps And that satisfies the need for the day. We won't use any supplemental water We could have a stretch of a week or two weeks in the summertime where it's extremely hot and extremely Dry and we would need to have supplemental water every day But would we need to have 14,000 gallons every day? Probably not So so The short answer to your question is yes That is in our host town agreement that we are to be charged like commercial entity And that's why we're asking for a reconsideration Of that fee because I I don't think that that this particular operation quite fits that definition Okay, thank you. Can I respectfully push back with a question on that though? Um, uh You say you're not like other agricultural Entities who will know exactly how much irrigation water they're going to need. Is that is that accurate? I mean farms know How much rainwater they're going to get do they know if there's going to be a drought or not? I mean, how how is that any different that you roll the dice you take your chances Well, that's that's a good point. I think if you're um And i'm not a farmer so I shouldn't speak for farmers I shouldn't presume to know that You know, the ins and outs certainly every farmer is going to want to rely as much on rain as possible um But they do know the type of crop that they're going to to plant and they may know if it's a thirstier crop Or not thirstier crop and they could plan for certain irrigation needs um, they will you know Have some estimations that they can they can utilize from year to year And they would also have their their annual usage, right? So we track our annual usage as well And that's where we were able to provide the estimation Based on the past three years of average use to say well our average use Plus a little bit more because we want to be able to make sure that we're planning for growth It's just oh just under 3,400 gallons a day on average use so Because we've got data to kind of back up but what we use over the years based on what we've had to purchase um, then You know, we thought well, this is as good data as as we could provide to Kind of validate the the anticipated Average gang movies Okay, so if an agricultural concern kept really good records like you guys do and an agricultural concern could look back and say This is the average we have on three years. We should cut them the sandbreak that we're cutting you I would recommend to the farmer to try Doesn't hurt to ask Thank you Well, there are other questions for uh for sarah Hearing none Thank you. We'll be discussing this uh In the future and um, thanks for coming tonight. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time. Thanks Thank you Moving to the manager's report Yep, a few things i'll highlight for the board this evening in my written reports Um, actually first, uh, we've included the finance report for the month of november surely and her team are just catching up on these right now After the completion of the audits, uh, she's included that in your report I don't know if uh, the board has any questions for for surely on the finance report I I don't and how could you beat that audit report? We're not gonna have questions for early for months All right, I'll press on then Um, we distributed this evening the quarterly report for the second quarter of the fiscal year I've left a hard copy for the board and terry left a copy in your mailbox this afternoon It's following the kind of revamped format. We we put together and thanks to erin dickinson for her lead on this It it says transmitted by me, but erin is doing all the work put together So it's I should get put her name on instead of mine So correct to the work and our department heads for putting all the content together for for that Um Local option tax reports Received our second quarter. It's the night of second quarter updates here the uh for our second quarter of local option tax total just over a million dollars Um, it exceeded our budgeted amount for that quarter by 90 000 dollars Year to date through two quarters. We've exceeded budgeted for those two quarters for about 225 000 You might recall as we put the f5 24 budget together We tried to project that our overage with the revenue from the local option tax would be around 300 000 dollars in f y 23 we try to factor that into how the fund balance would react entering f y 24 So good news is we are very much on track for that number, but we're in quarter three, which is historically the low quarter So i'm always interested to see where the numbers land now But um, overall good news or we're exceeding budget. We take our conservative approach here and Over a million dollars that course pretty darn good. So we're uh in a good position there for for right now Um, just to update the board of the town property removal at 54 92 Wilson Road was completed Thanks to Bruce and his team for coordinating that it was it was certainly a a challenging endeavor to get that taken care of Appreciate the the amount of time we found a contract that had an opening in their schedule to get this get this cleaned up Um, the price was expensive. Um, it was just over 33 000 dollars for everything that went into this We will be getting 5 000 of that back for community cleanup funds from cs wd It's obviously it's not an unbudgeted expense for f y 23 So we'll just have to follow our follow our bottom line this fiscal year to solve that issue And just update our community center scoping and library assessment steering committee I think we have a clever name about to roll out with the marketing here But this is going to kick off on march 4th That we have a open house that recreation is running for the new rec zone over on harvest lane Todd's setting it up from nine to four with a different Instructor demoing a program drop in throughout the day every hour So we'll have members of the committee watching our our survey at that and then also tabling before town meeting And then some time in the library as well Design the survey to kind of be a two-step approach step ones interviews And general qualitative feedback from community on on items for community space recreation space library space Then we'll build off of those responses for the written survey that will likely be Be did in early may or so Anything else you want to grab that for No, I I think it's going to be a big a big push With the consultants we've determined we're hopeful and getting upwards of between 500 and maybe a thousand folks to provide input so lofty goals in terms of that but Really feel that it's important to to get as many voices as possible and that's you know from everybody from kids to adults and seniors You know weighing in Be watching fellow website launching and push you the next couple weeks get the word out That's all I have for my manager's report this evening. Terry Good. Thank you Moving on to the last thing that we'll take up before we go into executive session and that Pardon me. There's other business eric you um Drafted a letter that I saw earlier today regarding a senate bill S 60 regarding local option taxes and perhaps you'd like to discuss that We can be nice if we could take action on that to to allow The chair to to sign it Yep So this is something of bill introduced by senators chitney and ron hensdale Where in our district and also serve on the senate finance committee just over a week ago With monitoring this and chatting with other managers about it The proposal on s 60 would Allow any town to offer a local option tax upon vote of its electorate So it doesn't affect wilson, but this is who I've been interested in still in state law the Mechanism to be able to take a local option tax vote is tied to your Equalized grand list to pre act 60 in the late 90s. So Certainly, I think it's below a dollar 10 of equalization. So That would remove that requirement and allow any municipality in vermont to vote to offer a local option tax Since we are there wilson that part of the bill doesn't affect us But the part of the bill of particular attention is proposing that the state tax department has data surrounding the local option tax receipts We've been looking at this in the town for years to see if that could be shared with us to help us With our future forecasting for local option tax receipts understanding And it's not shared generally because of proprietary business information The proposal is to allow the tax department to share that in confidence with the manager and or select board of municipalities that have a local option tax To treat it with incompetence, but to help model our projection for revenue without sharing that publicly So I chatted with the senator chitin about this last spring as something potentially that the town would be interested in He's introduced it with senator rom hindsdale the other Communities in chitin and county that have a local option tax i've chatted with and they're They're the managers are all certainly support of this and our brainstand request their select board I consulted with senator chitin and he suggested a town the town sending a letter To the senate finance committee would be helpful in this endeavor They are taking a testimony on this on thursday from vlct If the board is interested in authorizing the chair to sign the letter i've drafted or any amendment to it I could submit this tomorrow and I'd be happy to testify with the proceedings on as they are taken up in the committee The next week or two as well The the letter reads fine to me My I I had for some reason thought that x 60 the old x 60 requirement in order to be able to Have a local options tax. I thought that was deleted years ago. No, okay Well, you learned something new every select board meeting Other comments regarding the the letter Looks good. So sorry. We're good to go and uh, if you terry you are so articulate in your letter Okay, I get better the more I serve right So we're good there I think the only thing left to say under old business is A huge thank you to jeff airs for his service on the select board for 25 years and for other things that he's done in the town of other commissions and boards that Just I really wanted to be there tonight But you don't want me there tonight because of my my voice and other stuff that are going on with Uh, a virus infection. So at any rate My personal thanks to you for all of your service and The rest of the board join in uh with your Congratulations Thank you. It's truly been something I've enjoyed. It's been an honor. Um, I wouldn't change a thing. Well, maybe not quite I'm going to miss it. That's the honest truth But it is the right time There comes a point I'm sorry There comes a point in time Yes I'm detecting that I don't have quite the drive and That I used to have and when you start to recognize that it's It's it's time and uh, so yeah I very appreciative of of all your service for our town as well and and have learned so much from you And uh, we'll definitely miss Your your all the questions. I don't know that any of us will ever be able to fulfill fill your shoes But your vast knowledge on so many different areas and and Because of your tenure you have a knowledge base for some of the historical aspects of the issues that that will be greatly missed Well, thank you. It's You know, one of the things I think I can honestly say is every select board You know, there's a new select board every year every select board. I've been on has been, you know, a good select board And and and from so many of you, you know, particularly those, you know in attendance tonight You know, I've learned so much from you And that you know, that question is part of I think what makes being on the select board for me so enjoyable is that I'm continuously learning there are things. I just you know, didn't realize don't understand and It's that part of it that was a big piece of what kept me You know election after election Kept me going Yeah, again, I'm going to miss it The only thing I would add is I two things one. Um, I want to express my appreciation to you personally at another time Because I have a lot that I would say And I look forward to that and the other is that um, you know, I've Over the years, uh, in my in my profession I've come to realize that there is a huge difference between intelligence and wisdom and, um, uh, I would say that you you have You know, it's it's an objective thing to say you have both. Um, and um, the intelligence that you brought to, uh, to these meetings and the wisdom that you brought in, uh, Honing in on key issues and then Making a determination, um, was really serve the town well the town The town is a much better place because of you So thank you. Thank you, Jeff. Thank you and I would be totally remiss if I didn't One of the things that I think is so great about our town is our town staff We truly have a a We truly have a great organization I use this example Back I back a while ago in my position with the state of Vermont. I used to have to go to select board meetings And and variably and some of these were small select boards three three person select boards You know, they're the they're the folks out there. They're looking at You know, how you know putting in a bid on a used dump truck, you know That type of thing And I always felt it was important to let them know that I was on the select board because I wouldn't want them To find out, you know In any other way And then you know, it variably be like where well williston and they roll their eyes and go, oh my god You know, you just have so many issues problems in williston and My response back is no your job is much harder than mine because The staff is able to prepare us so well And and and and do the task or get us the information we need That it truly makes our job you know, um I don't want to say easier but From the standpoint of we have everything we need And and yes, some of the decisions are hard um, but You know, it's just you know, I don't know what else I can say other than it We are truly blessed with uh the staff that we have On behalf of the staff, thank you very much and thank you for your your dedicated service Thank you And I had hoped to be able to speak to staff at some point. Maybe if there's a chance to do that I would like to just because You know, that is my honest true feeling and I would like them to know that Sure. Yeah, we're broke. We have a staff picnic sometimes. Okay. That would be great current Tomorrow Sounds scary. Yeah, what's the event? One of my favorite stories of staff is we had some big snowstorm and this is before we even had a snow blower So I'm shoveling my driveway, you know, by hand and I'm out at the end of it, you know getting to the end of it and the town Snowplow goes by and of course, you know, there's a lot of snow that now ends up on the end of my driveway You know that part is always has to happen. There's nothing else you can do But the part I'm trying to bring out is there's rick mcguire hanging out the window I Well, thanks everybody for sharing your thanks for to just People also Under other businesses there any other business to need to take up tonight before we move on to executive session You're done and we can move on with emotion of them to Going to executive session Let's continue with the way we normally do I'll move to find the premature public knowledge regarding contractual agreements would clearly place the town in a substantial disadvantage And further move that we enter executive session to discuss three separate contractual agreements under the provisions of title one sections 313 a1a Entitled one sections 313 a1b of the Vermont statutes and invite town attorney David root public works director Bruce whore and town manager Eric Wells to join It's through a second second Sorry discussion on the motion Hearing none. All those in favor of the motion say aye Any opposed? All right, I'll join you in a in a few minutes downstairs