 Okay welcome everybody in the room and on zoom first I'd like to confirm that we posted this agenda in three public places and on the website and emailed interested parties so we're conforming with the open meeting law so we'll open up this February 26th starting off with the pre-town bond informational meeting and for the town of Rochester and welcome everybody this I'm just will open this up you guys have all I've got the reports in the in the mail and have studied them in detail yeah and who's got the first question all right that was easy this is on the bond well it's the pre-town meeting and the since the bond is a big chunk of what we're presenting figured we'd answer questions about that also which we talked about a lot last meeting about that so the bond is not to replace the existing bridge the bond is the pay for the existing bridge the one that we were we've already replaced this done we put the we put the bridge before the horse because we were in a bind with the funding so we would have lost 775,000 in funding if we didn't I don't have it I hope there's page numbers on the article 14 to read that out article 14 just so people know what we're talking about shall this is great we're starting with the last one so that shall general obligation notes or bonds of the town of Rochester in an amount not to exceed 359,243 dollars and zero cents payable from the town's general fund derived from the taxation of real property for a period not to exceed 30 years and subject to reduction by available grants and aid or other funding sources he issued to finance the cost of removing and replacing the existing West Hill TH 37 bridge which a bridge on a modified alignment and associated roadway and channel work together being called the project so that's what I meant is the articles saying should the bond be raised to remove the existing bridge removal and replacing the existing bridge right the existing bridge I see what you're saying yeah are we raising the money to remove the existing bridge no it was existing last year yeah you mean the previously yes that's what asking it's a valid question you don't you don't want to remove the existing no there is a timeline here too if anybody's interested in this this bridge has been in work since April of 2019 and it's been delayed delayed and we finally got to do the project or accepted doing a project in 23 and we really didn't have an exact number that's why we waited to bond because we weren't sure of what funding the state had also promised us some more funding but it didn't materialize due to the flooding this year this summer so we weren't able to secure any more funding that's why we held off on bonding this before we did the project basically so we could basically edit article 14 by removing the word existing but can you we can't do it till town meeting right well as well as if no one else is confused well if they bring it up I'm pretty weak minded so keep us honest yeah well the bond council wrote right he wrote it and wrote it knowing that we've already replaced it I don't know why he chose those words but I could I could certainly reach out you know I would just say they'd cost of removal and replacement of the West Hill Bridge yeah my only concern would be that it would affect the the legality of the warning and the time period of the warning so I mean if nobody else cares I just was asking this is recorded sorry some of this the amount of money came about didn't you think that the Forest Service was going to pay for the bulk of it we did even though they didn't pay a lot of it paid a lot of it we can't we at one point we thought we were maybe gonna get off initially we thought we were 100% covered yeah we would only have to put in a little bit for extra tar right but during that period of time COVID hit and the prices of steel and everything went through the roof so the bids were coming in at 30% more than what was originally anticipated just two years before the original cost estimate was done in the I forget what the timeline is on it but it was like 2020 maybe I think the original design and they were looking at like 650,000 and we'd secured 775 for the project but all the bids came in they were anywhere from one point almost nine million to the 1.2 million that we accepted and we've got that was awarded to Pal St. Ange contractors Inc. and they we went through their bid and they dropped their bid of 100,000 for we took on some of that testing of the compaction at the site and saved probably about $70,000 from that I don't have any questions about the funding yeah the bond the money if this article were to pass is to pay back your temporary yeah yeah bond anticipation so we could run it by you could you you could check with the council whether you should play with the word yeah yeah yeah or not we're not tearing down this new one though yeah probably good for a couple of you alright any other questions on the bond vote wording what it's for how about what just work our way backwards since we started at the end the we're asking if the voters will approve the transfer of $8,000 from the revolving loan fund to the general fund and this is a fund that dates back we think to the 60s maybe that was who knows where it came from but is over the years money has been pulled in and out of that fund to benefit townspeople and also to finance some things for the town even like a truck so I think it's thank you to Larry and Nancy for doing some research yeah historical research on that so that's what the scoop is there so this is to cover a short fall this is just to put the balance trying to keep the budget to as minimal of an increase as possible so shortfall or just just the whole whole collage of putting the budget together how much is in that funding that's it $8,000 oh that's it it was the very last thing that we worked on yeah right yeah we grabbed it yeah yeah right article 12 is asking that the voters will approve to transfer $10,000 from the cemetery reserve account to the general fund to offset cemetery budget expenses that's pretty clear-cut I think and do you want to know why we did that sure that $10,000 represented it it took away $10,000 from what we were asking the town right for the for maintaining the cemeteries and fiscal 25 and we had that account there and when we were looking for money like with the revolving loan fund we thought we could use that money but we do have to ask the voters if we can move it out of the fund into budget so $10,000 is is how much the tax rate and penny it's about a penny the cemetery fund was not getting any allotment from the trustees that's correct does it liquidate the it's not liquidated so there's still a reserve fund of some amount well we have we have money with the trustees no but the reserve but they were not going to give us any but then we do have this other fund and there still is some money in it there will be money left in it it's in the report in the reserve you should know that so article 11 is asking the voters to approve another $8,000 amount to transfer from the reappraisal reserve fund to the general fund for reducing the taxes for the coming fiscal year and we are in line to get a townwide reappraisal in the next couple years and we've got a bid on that price on that and the money that we have some money is given by the state every year to the town to help work towards the cost of reappraisal and then the town has also been matching that and this $8,000 would be some of the money that the town has put into the fund when we have more than we need to to pay for that reappraisal so we figured we could take some of that back and the contract for that reappraisal is happening right yes yeah so you're confident that we are contracting 94,000 we signed it already yeah we're locked in article 10 is asking the voters to appropriate and here is there is one mistake in here that says twenty thousand four hundred dollars but that got transferred over from a previous the actual amount is twenty one thousand four hundred and twenty dollars so that's something we'll have to make a note of at the meeting because it's already in print here and that is funding the North Star Rubbish Removal Recycling Program from July 1st 2024 to June 30 2025 and article 9 we have a whole list of appropriations for other community agencies including Central Vermont Council on Aging the Clara Mar do you want the amounts I mean everyone's got their books they probably know these amounts I'm just giving a summary of what we're talking about here we've got Greenup Vermont Orange County parent child center Quintown senior center safe line incorporated tri-valley transport which is formerly stage coach Vermont rural fire-hydrant program Vermont visiting nurse association white river partnership and atria which is Mr. the woman's safe and that totals up to twenty two thousand eight hundred and forty dollars that these organizations petition the town to support the park house is tax exempt but that's that's what the town the town doesn't oh I see that they don't have to pay tax it's only on every five years yeah that's a five-year these are agencies that have requested monies of the town okay so is there ever just as long as yep I mentioned it has there ever been discussion of any further support of the park house further support other than their taxes and they know it seems like the other towns by these other towns getfield stockbridge ranville and Hancock have an arrangement with park house and you'll see in their town reports that there's amount of and an amount of money that has been negotiated with them it's not very much it's like three thousand four hundred from some towns six hundred from other towns article 8 is asking if the town will give the select board general authority to enter into tax stabilization contracts with owners lacy's Bailey's or operators of commercial or industrial property pursuant to 24 vsa 2741 v1 that's the I guess the code that the statute that gives permission to do that what is that what is that what is the just that requested the just requesting that this is giving the town the the the vehicle to it doesn't initially do anything but it gives the town the authority to offer someone tax stabilization for development or investment and in developing and in housing is a big issue here so there's so this is an authority that you did not previously have we did not know you have to enact this this permission the voters have to give the town this permission to do is this what we did when AI we were talking about it and AI was applying for a program I don't know if it's exactly the same thing there were that that was more of a loan program that they were applying for through the town and money would come from the state through the town to help them out in a hard time and then they would pay it back to the town and then it would stay in the town as a revolving fund and that was that whole thing with how we got that property yeah something it was complicated they ended up not being eligible for that program because they paid their workers too much go figure so this is basically just giving the town a tool not not to use it in any way that would come up on a case-by-case basis is this something that stays in effect year after year or do we have to put it in here every year I think it's something that stays in effect it's like adopting an ordinance or policy article 7 is asking the voters to approve to transfer any remaining fiscal year 24 recreation department budgeted funds into the recreation reserve fund this is basically in support of the recreation department trying to build up a pot of money to do some needed repairs on the skate space I believe primarily primarily but instead of them if they don't use all their money in a year it would go back into the general fund this way it builds up a protocol to use also include the tennis courts as well right that's right yeah we have a question on zoom I believe Robert you have your hand raised it's actually it's just asking for it in and they continue to be continued in the future yes it says only the physical year 24 but are they asking for it in perpetuity I think this has to be asked every year I think that's something that needs to be made clear at the town meeting okay and that is very similar to the article 6 asking the voters to approve the transfer of any remaining fiscal year 24 fire department budgeted funds to the fire department equipment reserve fund basically the same same deal any money this leftover in the fire department to roll over into their equipment reserve fund and so so yeah might we may want to explain why that happens a lot of times in the fire department's issues they have supply chain issues where it affects their budget if they budget for a certain item sometimes they can't get it before the years up and the budget is gone so those funds if they're transferred to the reserve fund at least gives them the ability to pick up the the product that they need is am I right about that Terry am I explaining it later and stuff sometimes it takes fire holes I mean yeah it's backordered or you can't get it or uniforms and it just doesn't come on time and it's between budget cycles so it just makes more sense to have it transferred to the reserve we ordered to pants up a year and a half you all right article 5 is asking if the voters will appropriate fifty thousand seven hundred eighty nine dollars and forty-eight cents towards operating expenses of the Rochester Public Library and that is was that level funded no questions on that okay now we get to the bigger numbers article 4 is shall the voters authorized total highway and general fund expenditures of one million three hundred eighty six thousand two hundred and eighty six dollars of which one million thirteen thousand three hundred and eighty four dollars shall be raised by taxes so the difference between those two numbers obviously is the monies that we get from the state and grants Nancy that figure from north star which wasn't correct on the warning is included in the budget correctly no just not on the warning just incorrect on the warning okay article article 3 is asking the voters to authorize payment of real and personal property taxes in four installments with due dates being Thursday of August 15th 2024 Friday November 15th 2024 Monday February 17th 2025 and Thursday May 15th 2025 by physical delivery to tax collector before 4 p.m. on those dates with postmarks not accepted as proof of delivery now some how long has it been that we've had those particular requirements that postmarks are not long time right 25 years probably 25 years what's the purpose of make it easier on people well I'd say it's been here ever since I can remember the purpose is a cutoff so they have a definitive line and so if somebody's late with their payments there's no gray area I can't say they mailed it that day and arrives five days later so it's not late because I mailed it before the due date they have to have it received by four has to be here or there and so they have to have it that way or else it's just you know personality yeah and it was originally set up so that it was easier for people to to make four payments rather than two yeah we've been at four payments for a number of years all right so article two is to elect all town officers required by law the first beam a select board member for a three-year term and Pat it's her turn to be up you're gonna do it again or would you be willing to do it again if it's nominated nominated I would accept yeah all right and we also have to elect a lister for a three-year term we know who is likely to be Jessica's up for reelection Jessica's up for okay we're going to elect a collector of delinquent taxes that's a one-year term and that's been Becky Becky how is she compensated percentage of the delinquent taxes that she collects are they higher right now that they've been in the past was a hundred thousand is that a normal rate for us to carry or is it it has been for last couple of years at least so when we budget we have to budget for a percentage that's not the taxes and then we're then we see what happens we're not allowed to even budget include in our calculations past delinquent taxes that we're hoping to get you just can't count on that so when they do show up it actually helps to other fluctuations monetary or chronological deadline for where you finally go hey neighbor hate to say this but oh yeah yeah what is that there's a there's a structure in place well first of all the delinquent tax collector it would be upon her advice on if her efforts are fruitless then she would recommend but I believe that you have to be in the second year of delinquency before you can start the process of tax sale only two years I believe so and the legislature is involved with it and then if someone does redeem your taxes for you at that tax sale there's another year that you still have to redeem your own taxes to keep your property back interest we all know it's hard to work your way out my whole list yeah so there's an extra year for them to you know the property historically how long does the town waited before there's there's people in the books there that are four years or more yes I think we're more than lenient one is 20 years no I'm not saying that in just it's just you know you try to work with people as much as you can absolutely because that's just the way it is I think we offer payment schedules and all that I mean it's like anything you you know if you make an effort nobody goes at you but you don't make an effort then it's another issue we currently have three properties that are going towards a tax sale situation in this little town 3 yeah let's see is that high for us some people are repeat offenders okay but then they redeem themselves at the last minute so sometimes it's just a cycle all right we also are going to elect a library trustee for a five year term and also elect a trustee of public funds for a three year term barb to heart is up for and to elect a cemetery commissioner for five year term that's you you're gonna up yourself you want to do it again article 15 okay shall adopt the following declaration of inclusion in the town of Rochester is been asked to condemn racism and welcome all persons regardless of race color religion national origin sex sexual orientation gender identity and expression age disability or social economic status and wants everyone to feel safe and welcome in our community as a town we formally condemn all discrimination in all its forms commit to fair and equal treatment of everyone in our community and will strive to ensure all our actions policies and operating procedures reflect this commitment town of Rochester has and will continue to be a place where individuals can live freely and express their opinions so this was the town was approached with this this declaration of inclusion by a group of people that have been moving through the state I know how many towns they say it's 130 or something it's basically it's we have one edit we wanted to put on there is that to would we'll strive to ensure all our actions policies and operating procedures from this day forward to reflect this commitment we wanted to want to be careful not to get in a position where we have to start digging in the past and trying to rework historical reality and just embrace the so that basically said we a lot of towns just adopted the select board adopts that we decided this would be something to bring to the town as a whole and the state of Vermont has has also adopted this governor Scott has adopted this on behalf of state so it could be considered a little redundant to have it done town by town but we're being approached pretty consistently by this group so I just have a small comment I won't say I totally support the spirit of this but this America I thought that's the way it was we just want the town's people to be aware make the decision on their own I'm glad we're highlighting this I guess I was not on the same page doing that the insertion from this time forward is going to be after the words and will strive from this time forward yes I believe and the lawyers have said there's no liability to the select board could that come back and bite us and do well we've asked that question several different ways and it seems some not this is the one recommendation that we we had that it be good to at least have this be moving forward and not not not have it you know retroactive right not have to go digging through the files to change worrying on stuff so so if somebody has a perceived perceived some kind of bias then there's a lot yeah and while there's talk about it but I mean this is really in my pretty redundant I mean we all have you know really you know this is town you know representatives who really strive to be ethical and avoid conflict of interest and and do the right thing and not not discriminate against anyone so that's we agree with you yeah so that's Nancy yes that goes right along well what goes along with that is this new bill in the legislature on municipal ethics which could preempt local authority this has just come out in the last week right and this could have all kinds of impact on particularly small towns when they could require anyone who's either elected or appointed to attend ethics training require municipalities to appoint an ethics officer anyhow we we we do have a conflict of interest policy which VLCT put it out and the select board did approve it and VLCT is working very closely with the towns and feels that this bill should not be passed in the legislature so anybody would like to write to one of our legislators it's interesting that the people that are on the committee there's nobody from Windsor County on the committee and our representative our our senator is in Addison County and but we don't have any representation over here could I just go back to the article 15 so I don't have my glasses I can't mine no so are you some are you set suggesting that you're going to propose an amendment from the floor that's what I did to the article yes the work that we're since we just modified so it's not written here she has yours right so you somebody is gonna propose an amendment yeah okay because if it is adopted we don't want to have to go back but that may or may not be that that's correct but if it is adopted we want to make sure those words are in there so it's not a financial burden you're gonna you're going to propose that it's adopted and you're going to advocate for adoption of the amendment right exactly yeah we're gonna you're gonna be there to make sure you better be there you got to sit down from yeah I'm right don't we're supposed to thank you and then we're going to transact any other legal and proper business to be brought before town any any any other issues that people would like to bring up talk about right then I'd move to close this pre-town in bond informational meeting and open up the regular select board meeting my second on paper okay thank you all for coming so that we're gonna start with the prior meeting of February 12th minutes which looks like they've caught everything to me so I've moved to prune my second favor but um any guests here that on zoom we're in the room that got something they want to bring to the conversation yeah I live up on Corey Hill and I have a woman who has a dog that is not a leash and the dog is nipping at my children there's other issues also up there but I've been told that this is not a town issue well it's um it is and it isn't I mean the extent to which we can enforce it either we I'm we're aware of that situation and we're next step we were going to send her a copy of the town or you sent it already we sent it already and we sent it certified in regular yeah so we've had our town animal officer up there to talk with her in the past and that has escalated into threats of lawsuits and what have you and it's it's it's a mess yeah it's a mess but it's it's definitely the whole this dollar was bit yeah in this town before we were on the board was told them that this time can do nothing then too so I hope we can get this matter have you involved the property owner I have and so do you have a site lease when you moved there yes I do okay because I believe in the site lease it does state that animals are supposed to be under control so if everybody has that it's it's funny you I say that because after I spoke to you guys that day I went back home that dog ran him out of my car the whole time okay and I asked her to get control over dog it did nothing but come around and nip the sides of my car I have pictures because I stopped that so I have a camera right here with those pictures yeah I have a cell phone full of pictures of what this woman is doing with these animals and it's not right so you're also trying to remedy the situation with there's horses up there they got no water with Brian McFarland as well no no nothing to do with Brian this is my safety for my children and my wife and my myself but he owns the land that you're living on the lease that you have and that has nothing to do with it now because so far from what I understand he can't do nothing with this woman he can't talk to her he can't do nothing oh that's where the problem lies I guess so it is in Rochester the town of Rochester these dogs are not on a leash on the property they're not on a leash off the property which is on a town road there is a leash lock that dog is no being in other people's properties that's also illegal for that dog it's going into houses and taking trash out of people's houses okay that dog took my kids hat and went and chewed it up took a stuffed animal went and chewed it up you're telling me you cannot make sure this won't push that dog on a leash it's the town of Rochester she's off don't tell me it's private property it's the town of Rochester it's not on her property why can't you go up there exactly she has a section says on me else once she pulls off her properties she's got to be on a leash or under control it's obviously not under control it's chasing our kids down a flooding path nipping at my children oh I recognize the issue it's Rochester it's still the town it's no different than being in Harvey's development and a dog nipping at somebody it's still Rochester correct yeah same thing up on Hawk Mountain correct yeah still Rochester doesn't matter if it's right here in the town it's still Rochester right there's like three there's three levels of fines so I've sent her the warning stating this is your first warning the second warning will be your first fine and you've sent her a copy of the ordinance right and I sent her a copy and we've been in touch with the state and did you report anything to the police barracks I wanted to come make sure that you guys all knew where I'm out with this because that is my next step yeah it's my lawyer I've always spoken my lawyer he told me to do exactly what you said so I'm doing exactly what you said but I wanted to make sure that you guys were all aware of where I'm at with this situation the because it's every day with these dogs the person you probably need to notify us the Windsor County Sheriff's because that's who we use and that's who we were which we did that's why I was given the guidance to suggest that he go to the state police yeah okay so I did I'm not kind of confused because the way I'm understanding it is you guys are given a lawyer's notice that you were harassed and the point being with that being said with the point being with that being said if that's all it takes then why is it that you have a law for a dogs beyond a leash because if that's harassment to fulfill what you are a law here in this town is well we're everybody in here can get their lawyer to send you a letter saying they don't want to pay their taxes because you're harassing them is that or is that not correct well we're started the process more formally this Friday from here yeah I want to be in contact from everything you hear or do because I'm going to be continually taking pictures of this animal doing all of its notes my children shovel up there they go and get my mail up there and every day this dog is nipping at their heels or at their arms and I'm really sick of it I have a five-year-old that if it gets bit in the face like my other one did the dog probably won't be still there yeah because I'm not gonna do it anymore I'm sick of it my oldest one doesn't even want to walk up there to the playground to hang out with a five-year-old sister it's pretty sad yeah well I'm glad that he came in and here because it's good to hear this because all we've been hearing is complaints of harassment from her but it's no longer harassment yeah yeah I am a yeah citizen that is pissed off beyond it so we have his contact information to form him of any we do can I also just say and I you get your free to call and stop by any time to like it does get bananas in here and if we you know I just want I just want to say that like it's crazy you know I will as you know I will because I've been you know that day I came down because I wanted to know what we were doing yeah and that's when you told me that you've been in contact and I need to contact state police next so okay I've been contacted with the landowner up there too they know that's my next step I'm going to the state police so he's he's in touch with everything I've told him everything up there I have to know every single thing that's going on and we've been in contact with Brian as well as you guys have all been given copies of everything that I've been taking them try to get and this is this has been since 2022 okay there's a dead horse that was taken off that property yeah because she doesn't take care of those animals one of them and then she now brings back a third one after a third one died this has been since February 20th of this year that my wife and I had called to try to get something taken care of and that's what we've been given the runaround so that's why I'm I'm a little pissed off about this whole situation sounds like an animal cruelty yeah it's in the bill the horses I've seen the the horses up there in this tiny tiny little situation it's very tiny it's 3d yes and what they call shelter for those horses ain't shelter yeah well don't hesitate to keep us updated what's going on and vice versa I mean if you want I can thank you the pictures right now is the ones that we just had after I left from here I got the camera right here just like show you the dog running around my car and I'm not sure if she's even given writing lessons up there where she shouldn't really be doing but that's not my problem so if you start right there and you go this way you will see the dog running around you can actually go back the other way from here so pictures on that camera of it being on the main road and dirt road up there biting the ass into the dog the horse yeah that was that was a long time ago but yes I do have that but that was about 13 years ago for my daughter's face right down the ball field Gracie Lambert Nicole Lambert was the one here you were on the board and there was three or two others on board yeah my man Harvey and somebody else so I want to take care of this this time thank you yeah thank you all right John right John Lambert Nicole Lambert was the one who contacted Jeff Brown okay and I have his contact information yep yeah I think I do too from the notes that you said yeah okay thank you very much good luck any other guests on zoom that have something to talk about doesn't look like it everybody's okay we've got the January Treasurer's report showing us the budget status and balance sheet and revenues report and expense report and to do and onward into February so we're more than halfway through the year now all in favor and we have a rental contract from Pierce Hall offering the town of Rochester free use of Pierce Hall for town sponsored events and authorized events and they just want us to sign their their rental contract and name them as an insured party for for events that we do but I think that's very generous and I'm happy to move that we execute that and we can provide them with that insurance document yeah don't have Tony on zoom from the library so don't think about that and they all went Florida did they have a they got their trucks back together anyway I'm sure you're looking at posting the roads shortly and everything's good quiet good I have been in touch with Teresa and Buffle and they have to do another road project over there so they want to do it sometime this summer so they're gonna check with Jay McDonald who is their contractor that they hired to do the project and see whether when they can do it and John will probably want to work with them and and put that Rogers Brook Colbert in at the same time while the road shut down they can't do anything but shut that road down to fix that one below the sergeant trailer park just as you head down the hill there they could only do one at a time over there so they have to do the other one you know this summer it won't be closed as long no it won't be anywhere near like it was but I thought we could possibly work with them and save some money on signage so we don't have to post this side they would be able to post the other side at least and our project wouldn't take all that long I don't think so I'll keep you posted on that very anything on the utilities front no I think after the tell me we're gonna have to revisit the prices we aren't as good a shape as you might think we've been I just had a class on it and they on the class I can't believe we aren't reasonable year but our rates are nothing compared to most rates I mean I can use they showed one and it was for Jericho and they're paying $940 for water fluffy for 72 people for 72 hookups and that figures out 61,000 which is 20,000 more than we do in our water for 470 but meanwhile we're paying our bills and but we aren't fixing anything so what are you gonna do wait until we gotta go get a bond for a hundred thousand just to get started to me that's not making any sense at all I mean we put this on hold for too many years gonna be like Middlebury yeah you're gonna be in trouble yeah a lot of people were out of water over there for a while and they still got boiled water so Terry it sounds like you're recommending that we raise the rates and put the extra into a reserve fund for future repairs well we need to start doing some repairs so we need to start doing some repairs yeah I mean before prices aren't going down yeah well we said when we raised the rates what three years ago three years ago that we should review it every so often and see where we're at and we thought we'd give it a couple three years anyway to see this whole class saying we should visit every year and probably raise it a little bit and then doesn't hurt but they're saying most of them are all raise it every year and you know you say you raise it three years ago but you know I was 15 years before that yeah yeah I know that's what I'm saying so realistically we've raised it once in 20 years right is there a capital project plan that outlines the needs I did one probably 15 years ago we had everybody threw it down toilet we've been in touch with two rivers on the what is that I met and yeah and they're going to work with us on doing another capital plan something that's a little more reasonable than the last one we did because there's just no way you could ever live up to it yeah so we've been in contact with them and they're in the process of we're getting the ball rolling on it so because you're gonna have to have a capital plan going forward to even get any grants down the road and that's really what the big issue is going to be and that's right off you're gonna get the grants you don't have capital play right exactly why this class had that yeah you have to do that so sorry but you know it's not fair to bond the repairs on our water system that everybody's got to pay for not just the users when the users are getting really a good deal on it anyway I mean I showed it last time how many every town I looked up is probably double what we pay well there is a theory to support the idea of the entire town paying for the water and sources right I understand that but we shouldn't have to just because the everybody's getting I didn't the theory for what it costs say you for your septic he watered on 25 year program that you would last 25 years and is double plus the tax bill you get on it it's double what the town users pay because I don't think fundamentally realistic that the whatever the number of users is you know can realistically support the entire cost of the expensive infrastructure you know that if it's not spread they should be able to do the maintenance on it the maintenance yeah and that's not happening yeah the maintenance yeah I mean you got a lot of ideas of 40 years cost so what is happening with the money that the users pay into we are breaking even until huh we weren't even breaking even for many years we're getting kind of like one what it was are not really known we will see what the increase was gonna do where when we raise the rates and I'm not sure what that came up to it's helps home I mean we went from like eighty nine thousand to twenty in right we're still in deficit but we're coming out of it all right sounds like we've got a project going up I thought that this that we could do to fire hydrants a year through grant process was that am I wrong on that money after maintenance for replacing hydrants I talked to read about that about a year ago and she's in all many look into it these are all state guys that yeah sounds like the grants are gonna when the requirements is gonna be a capital plan that's correct right and if we don't have capital plan they're gonna be anybody I'm right so they can check and see if you're following the capital plan you can have a capital plan next thing that's the question yeah I mean you're gonna show on a capital plane you're gonna show where you got a reason so yeah you can look at up can't raise your rates at all we aren't gonna get any money right exactly okay Jeff is probably not there I spoke with him today yeah he went through and checked all these lights in here and he's wants to move forward looking at replacing these with LEDs and figures that he didn't have all the numbers he was kind of laid up so but he said the payback will be a short payback period so we'll have to look into it a little more with him and I've got some stuff I gotta do with him to get him caught up so that's on me so I'll take care of that Christian got me update on grants no it's been a little bit quiet I don't still wait for FEMA I do the properties that were inspected by the USDA NRCS which is Natural Resources Conservation Service for watershed and river river bed protection to two properties were investigated one property qualified for a program and the program typically has the homeowner provide 25 percent of the cost and the homeowner that was selected for a project to restore a bank a sand bank that's eroding down into a river stream would have been obligated to pay $45,000 the program went back due to the lot of the flooding that happened all around the whole state they went back to the government and they now have a hundred percent no right funding for it so homeowner does not have to match that $45,000 so that program for that one homeowner is moving forward with engineering and then it'll go out to bids for actual work to be done hopefully in the next 12 months and that will have to be run through the town right yes that's correct like we did with Dean Mendel yes similar same program right yeah so we'll just be handling the paperwork on that yep and that's all there's a lot of money for that yeah flood this is $200,000 project yeah I think I saw somewhere there's a hundred million dollars in a fund and then somebody said yeah you'd be surprised how fast that will go yeah right and this program is is protecting the rivers they basically the way they put it is they really don't care about your house they just don't want your house in their river they're protecting the river speaking of things sitting around that could fall into the river Larry you mentioned that you might have some interest in looking into this little hot spot solar array that got plopped in our our yard I would I would love to see that functioning yes interesting to see there's a big old lock on it YouTube says take two spoons and open it I spoke with a guy that manages those oh you did yes and like I think I might still have his number but he was supposed to come and take it down take the whole thing away yeah because it's obsolete he said there's four or five of them working in the state and he said this one here it's not working and he said the panels are about used up one thing and that he would use the parts on the other ones that are around the state but he hasn't come back since so he knows it's not working so the panels were installed in 2011 they're officially rated for 20 years well these might not be the same he's and also Tom Schnabel look at it too oh yeah so he and he said that there's not much life left of those panels but I don't know anything about it other than what Tommy told me so well I have some panels that are same same age yeah but this they're still producing like the dickens yeah I just have to say but I think I think we're what they guarantee what they guarantee and say it should be I think in general we tend to do better maybe we because we have less sun than other places and I'm not sure but I think when we put that generator in there were some issues with that connecting to the building at the same time but I'm not sure but is the issue just the the panels working or the whole interconnect I don't know I mean I was very upset I mean first of all I was thrilled when we were chosen to get it installed right at zero cost right because it created a link you know it during a total failure a communications link during a total failure like we had in Irene right and then to have the whole system just collapse pretty quickly you know it was very disappointing yeah it's it's not a very big circuit anyway I mean I you know it's very yeah so I don't know you know if the issue is completely just the life of the panels that are you know creating the power source but there's all the whole interconnect to you know to the cell system I mean yeah maybe on my yeah it really is a shame all the money that got spent yeah you know to get these things up and running and then it just died yeah I know I agree with you I brought a friend down from London who's a retired electrical engineer specializing in communications equipment right there you go and he said he'd be happy if I can he says if you can break me in if you can break into it I'll be happy to take a look at it do some testing and evaluate it see see see what I'll have to look at that guy's number and I'll call him he's he's in New York he's out he's out of state it's a has something to the state it's I don't know it's a weird it's it was done through yeah the company the company went under yeah after they got paid I happen to look over once just in time to see the guy mowing the lawn put his head right into the corner one of those solar panels and if it's not gonna work we should get rid of it I would like is it did you have anybody have the key to that thing because we don't own it somebody else okay so if I take some like liquid nitrogen and somehow two spoons and I don't know at one point there was a weak Verizon signal came from a cell signal was that coming from that you're the local those were our telephone holes right those yeah there was a time where they put put small you know services on on the pole so they had a system of it but they found it was just too complicated to in too costly to do what they had to have too many through the you know because they wouldn't range far enough with that particular system yeah I see a lot of visitor suffering because they come up here with Verizon phones people that have Verizon phones at the charging station they can't they can't get the car charge on their Verizon service so they put a post it note on it or something that they can go up to the library and download on the internet charge in their car well it's the new cell tower gonna make a difference there if it's not going to be Verizon no the one in maybe there's a piece of equipment they can convert it to a Wi-Fi signal company yeah well anything else anybody wants to speak about tonight thank everyone for coming and all your input and move forward and on to next Monday yep thank you thank you thank you and move to adjourn I say I don't favor