 Welcome to the, I know the clock says, that clock's a little early. My phone says 646, so we're gonna get started. Welcome to the February 3rd, town of Essex Select Board meeting and public hearing and joint meeting with the Village Trustees. Please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. And for those legislators who are arriving, we have seating in the front for you. It's a very special night. We're gonna have some good special guests. Our legislative delegation from Montpelier will be here this evening. They'll be arriving in dribs and drabs for later on in the agenda. Of course, Gary. So, first order of business agenda, additions or changes? None first part? Okay, we're gonna juggle things a little bit because of our, we have a huge agenda tonight. We have two public hearings. After the first public hearing, we're going to adjourn, not adjourn, convene the joint meeting with the trustees and have them join us after the second public hearing. We're going to have the trustees join us up here. We will proceed with the joint meeting and then we will go back to the select board meeting after that because the select board has additional business. So, the first item on the agenda. Oh, is there anybody in the audience tonight that has anything to discuss with the select board on items that are not on the agenda? Ken, yes, please come to the mic. The not law and it's a wisdom. It gives us the charter change by efficient process to protect the majority from an unresponsive select board. Excuse me, Ken, is this on the agenda? This is something we'll be discussing. Thank you for clarifying. It includes a provision that restricts the board to only making technical changes to the wording. Now, this to me indicates that the select board should carry out a statutory responsibility while remaining scrupulously neutral throughout the process. After all, the intent of the statute is to make it possible to bypass the select board. Now, last week, her credit, Chairperson Henn, opened a public hearing for one such process. And immediately said the select board would not be taking their position at that time. And stitched to five positions. For six minutes, she said five concerns. I'm sorry, Ken, but this is on the agenda and you can speak about this when that time comes. Thank you. Is there anyone else who has anything to say that is not on the agenda? That is what this portion of the meeting is for. Sir. My name is Dennis Berger, I live on Aldenburg Road. And my question is, was the budget allocated the $50,000 that the select board approved towards the additional merger for legal fees? So is that approved in our budget which we voted on this past year? The select board and the trustees voted to hire that marketing firm. And the money was in the budget under the trustees, or excuse me, the select board, was it the select board line item? I believe some of it came from fund balance and I believe some of it was in the select boards, other professional services. I'd have to double check with our finance director to figure out exactly how it was allocated. Thanks, Greg. The other question I have is, why did the town residents that pay taxes pay 78% towards that fee of the $65,000 for legal fees? If it wasn't for marketing, it was for legal fees. So in marketing, I believe marketing is separate from this? Okay, so when you said the $50,000, I thought you were referring to our expense towards hiring a marketing research firm to help us with surveys and focus groups. So you're talking about something different? In January, the select board approved the $65,000 extra for legal fees with a merger. Right. 78% of that came from the town people's taxpayers money of $50,700, you know what I mean? Yeah. Why does the town residents tax money have to be spent in exaggeration of that amount of money for a total of the $65,000? That's my concern. Okay, so we allocated that funding because in the course of exploring whether or not to merge, we have been using professional services, primarily attorneys. And in the course of last year, we ran up to the total amount we allocated. And so we allocated additional funds this year because we know we're going to need more attorney consultation over the course of the next year. And where it comes from is where all town residents, it comes from all taxpayer dollars. It's not isolating anybody's particular funding. Excuse me, Greg, did you want to add to that? Yeah, to speak to the 78, 22% ratio, that's something that our finance department figured out. And it's based on some metric at the grand list where essentially it takes all the residents of Essex inside and outside the village and it applies the cost of these shared services or shared, in this case, shared project of exploring the merger and it spreads it out equally. So everybody pays the same amount. So you're saying that it's 48% in the village and there's 52% outside the village and we end up paying 78%? You know what I mean? Why wasn't it split kind of like down the middle where everything else is going? It's because the village residents paid towards the town budget and they also paid towards the village budget. And this is a way of saying everybody pays the same amount. So as opposed to a village resident paying towards the village budget and the town budget for the same cost, it's a way to spread it out so everybody pays the same amount. I just agree with that. Anybody, Margaret? I just want to ask Greg to speak into the mic. We'll do, thanks. Any other questions for the board? Excuse me. Oh, sir. I don't have any questions for the select board and I don't have anything on my regular text because I just want to clear the air. Could you share your name please? Oh, yeah, my name is Vincent Franco. You can call me Vince. I am announcing my candidacy for the select board. I'm running on the March ballot. I just wanted to introduce my sex all you folks and say hi. So I'm going to announce it and I don't. Thank you very much. Glad to have a face with the name. Nice to meet you, Vince. Thank you for running. Anybody else, items that are not on the agenda? Okay, we're going to move on. I'm going to open the public hearing on the 2021-2025 capital budget and five-year plan. Greg, do you have any materials to share about that or up on the board? No, you had a chance to review the capital plan and budget last week. I understand there were comments made about that. Sarah has updated the capital budget based on some of those comments and it'll appear with the comments you made in the annual report that goes out. But apart from that, nothing new to share. Okay, thank you. So this was warned as a public hearing. So if there's anybody here who would like to talk with us about the capital budget, now would be the time. Come on up to the mic. We'll be sitting down. Ian? My name is Ann Gray, and I'm from the Essex Community Historic Society. And we would like to thank you for your continued support of the restoration of the Water Tower 40th now with putting some initial money into this year's budget. And then at FYI, we have applied for a grant to the National Preservation Trust for the Water Tower. It's kind of a long shot. It's for African-American sites. So we're tying in the bubble so it will separate the four. We will know by the end of March if we're, what we submitted was an letter of intent. And we'll know by the end of March if we're invited to go further. So everybody keep their fingers crossed. Stay going through prayers and stay tuned. Ann, thank you very much for your work and the historic society. Good luck with the grant. Any other comments on the capital budget? Roads, sidewalks, buildings? Okay, hearing none. I'm going to close the public hearing on the capital budget and bring it back to the board. Board members, do you have any questions or comments? I don't. No? Okay. No. Hold on. Yeah. If you'd like to do a motion. What? Oh, go ahead. Okay, I move we close the capital budget hearing. Second. All those in favor? And board members, do you have any discussion prior to our next business item? Wait, hold on. Do you, you have a, oh no, you have a motion. No, that's, that's not it. All right, so we're voting to approve the capital budget. We'll just close the budget. Apologies for the technical difficulties. So we'll move on now to the next public hearing. So the second public hearing we're having this evening is to review and hear about the proposed article five, which is on the ballot for town meeting on March 3rd. And this is an opportunity for everyone to talk about this charter change that's proposed. You are welcome to talk about it in support of this charter change. And you are welcome to talk about it in opposition to the charter change. And also on town meeting day, you are have every right to vote either yes or no on this charter change. This is a public hearing. So the purpose of it is to hear your comments. The public hearing last week and tonight are the only two times the select board is going to have the opportunity to hear from the public on this subject other than when individuals choose to email us or stop us at Hanifords or whatever. So we really value this time to hear from as many of you as possible. And it's very important that we hear what everyone has to say and we also are taking the opportunity to express our thoughts on the petition, excuse me, the charter change that's proposed because it is now an official ballot item. We are, our responsibility on the board is to thoroughly investigate every proposal that comes to us. And we do that whenever anything is proposed to us. Often we ask staff to do the investigations for us. Often we work with staff. Sometimes we will engage with expert advice as well. So this last week I made a lengthy statement about concerns about the ballot article. And those were the results of investigations, research, concerns submitted by people, conversations. It was a long list and it's because we are investigating this proposal in order to see what we have to do if it passes. If this article passes on town meeting day, we have to implement it. So we have to do a lot of homework to figure out how to do it. And as we were doing that homework, we came across all sorts of things that we became concerned about. And so that was the source of what you heard me say last week. I have no other additional things to share but other board members do. And so we'll talk about those too as well as hearing from the public tonight. And we will discuss, the board will discuss this topic again next two weeks from now at our next board meeting on February 18th. We will discuss it amongst ourselves and we will have a conversation. We will decide whether or not to take a position on the petition. We will decide whether or not to not say a word about it. But that is what this board is trying to do with last week, with this week. We're trying to hear from all of you. We're trying to share with you what we've learned about how we might implement it if it passes. And this is our opportunity to hear from you and to share with you. Then we'll deliberate next meeting and then we may not make any decisions. We may take position. But I wanted you all to know that this is an open forum for everybody. Everybody will have the same amount of time to speak and we will move on from there. So I also wanted to remind you this is not a opportunity to decide whether or not to put this item on the ballot. It is on the ballot. The petition was gathered. We followed all the legal procedures. It is on the ballot. This is also not a discussion of the proposed merger plan that both boards have been working on for the last two years. That's in November. So last week we heard some commentary from folks about that. Let's try to keep the discussion tonight about article five because that's what we're here to have a hearing on. We're gonna read aloud the proposed charter change so that everybody is familiar with it. Our select board will make a few comments and then I'm gonna ask for a show of hands of who wants to speak and we will figure out how much time each person will have and then the floor will be open. So with that I'm gonna ask Pat Murray to read aloud the charter, proposed charter language. Have it in front of me. The charter change will be as follows. The legal voters of the town of Essex, oh wait, sorry that's the warning. Can you speak a little louder? Sure, I'm gonna get the microphone on, yeah. What page of the page are you on? I thought I had it for you. Okay. If you haven't already, could you please sign in especially if you're planning to speak tonight. There's a sign in sheet in the back. Okay, take two. The legal voters of the town of Essex, Vermont are hereby notified and warned to meet at 7 p.m. on January 27th, 2020 and February 3rd, 2020 at Essex High School to Educational Drive Essex Junction to attend public hearings regarding the proposed amendments to the charter for the town of Essex as follows. Shall the town of Essex amend the town charter to expand the select board from five at large members to six members, three of whom would be elected from inside the village and three of whom would be elected from outside the village. If approved, the charter language would change as follows. Chapter two, officers, section 202, select men, number, terms of office, election. A, there shall be a board of select men consisting of note change here, six from five members. And under section D, all select men shall be elected, change from at large to as follows, three from inside the village of Essex Junction and three from outside the village. Thank you. I would like to open it up for, I believe select board member Andy Watts and Pat Murray have some comments they'd like to make. So yeah, after the comments that were made last week, I just wanted, there was a couple of things I wanted to bring up as well. It was said that there were no municipalities with even numbered boards. And I think there are in fact, Burlington has 12, for example, Montpelier I think has six, but in all cases they have a mayor that breaks ties. So although it was said that there are no municipalities with even numbered boards, there are but they also have a mayor. Given that there were a number of people that brought up the proposal or suggested three, three and one so that there would be three from each proposed district and one at large, which is very, which would be similar to a mayor concept. And I wanted to point out that the survey was very, that was run by KSV, the response to the proposal to have a mayor for the municipality was very negative. There was not a lot of support for that. So just wanted to bring that up and remind folks of that. And then a couple other things that I wanted to bring up as considerations is the question of how the chair would be selected in a three and three situation. Again, having a tie would be very difficult to resolve. And it's a similar situation to what we have now with five, the chair could be from either inside or outside the village. And there could be a perception of some advantage there. But in a three and three, I think the voting there may be more challenging. The other thing I wanted to bring up is the fact that with a six member board quorum is four. So three members could meet in private behind closed doors and not violate open meeting law. It's true as we are today, two of us can get together and we do do that. We talk outside of meetings to each other, but in the case of a six member of boards, three people could get together. So each of the two districts could have their own private meetings outside of the public view. Just wanted to bring those up, those concerns. Thank you, Andy. Pat? Yeah, during last week's meeting, there was some concern that I had because I felt like in the audience that there was this impression that the proposal itself could be adjusted or changed at some sort, because some people when they got up to speed were thinking, well, maybe we can adjust it because they like the sound of something slightly better. The charter change must go on the ballot exactly as it stands now in the wording as was submitted to us. There is no change. So if you don't like it exactly as is, that is what is being voted on on town meeting day. It has to be the exact language as submitted. There is no option to make adjustments to it either at this meeting or any subsequent meeting. It will be voted on precisely as I read it off. That brought up a larger concern that I have because the charter change petition as submitted while I myself am a proponent of a sort of a district based voting. As it is, there is no mechanism in this charter change to adjust for an increase in population in either of the two districts that are created. I think that is not just a serious problem in the proposal itself, but is potentially a fatally legal flaw. And I anticipate that there would be legal challenges that would be brought up against it because in five years or 10 years there could very well be 13 or 14,000 people living in the town outside the village while the village itself may still have 10,000 or 11,000 people, but their representative number would be the same. They may be able to adjust it later on with further charter changes, but charter changes are difficult. They require full votes of the entire town to happen. So just something to bear in mind as we're going forward with this and as people come up to speak that, it's important you recognize that the language as submitted is the language that we are voting on with no further changes. Thank you, Pat. Okay. So can I get a show of hands who wishes to speak this evening? Keep them up, please. Okay, you can put your hands down. Thank you. Let's go with two minutes apiece. We have about 20 people at least. So when you come up to the microphone, please state your name and good and clear so that our recording secretary can hear it. And just a couple of reminders. I know we've all been through this process many times. Please keep your comments brief and respectful. Please don't have side conversations while others are speaking. Please direct all comments and questions to me as the select board chair. I may defer to other members of the board or the staff to answer questions if appropriate, but we are here to listen. Speakers will be given two minutes for your comments. If your time runs out, we will cut you off. Please be respectful of others' time. And if someone ahead of you makes the point that you wanted to make, then please just say, I agree, as opposed to making the same exact statement more than once. Remember to state your name clearly and everyone will get a chance to speak once. Thank you very much. And whoever would like to speak first, please feel free to come up to the mic. And the desks. Last week at the open hearing for the charge change, the chair of the select board who's more than six minutes of public time to voice her concerns and concerns she obtained from the staff, fellow board members, and trustees. She claims that the public was not well informed. That is what these hearings are supposed to do, informed to the public. She knows well a petition is not a vote, but petition allows the question to be presented to the voters for their consideration. It is the statutorily defined job of the select board to facilitate the voters being informed via notices and to public hearings regarding the charter change which the statute requires them to hold. The opportunity to inform has in fact been curtailed by the select chair. Indeed, on January 18th, the chair sent a message to a staff member and Janda stating that people will be coming to the public hearings and will be asking us questions. Further, she wrote, how are we to answer them? It is clear that the select board's perspective is different from the originators of the charter change. In order for the voters of Essex to understand the rationale and motivations for the change, the board should have done two things. Allow the originators of the proposed charter change to be at the table to answer questions that the voters have and or to be allowed time to present their motivations and findings regarding the proposed charter change. I respectfully ask them to do this now. Thank you, Betsy. And just so that we're not in any doubt of the information Betsy shared, I was in receipt of a public records request last week, which requested the names of every single person I've spoken to or communicated with about the petition and the concerns I aired last week and the contents of all of the conversations that I had with these people. So I produced a small number of emails to the town attorney. The town attorney reviewed them to make sure that none of them were violating public records exemptions. And then those emails were all handed over to the petitioners who were the same people who made the public records request. So I expect that you'll hear a lot of contents of emails tonight. So in case you're wondering what that means, that's what happens. Next. My name is Sarah Michelle Stoltz and I disagree with Ms. Dunn. First I wanna say a huge thank you to all the elected officials for their time and effort making our community a better place and thank you. In reflecting on my comments from last week, I wanna make three, speak about three things. One, I realize the additional problems now and divides this chart proposal causes as would any proposal of a three board would. Therefore I will not vote in favor of that structure. Two, for those in favor of that structure, I encourage them to think about what underlying problem they're trying to solve because I don't hear any evidence supported with examples of endless elect board member ever who has not represented the entire town regardless of where you all live or regardless of where we live. You are there to listen to all of our concerns and you've done that. This board and passports. Third, the proposed charter changes the waste of time and is insulting to me as a diligent town resident. Have you worked in 2006 or before? Think about all the savings we could have realized by now. This is an unfortunate loss in many, many ways, particularly economically, to the entire community. Instead, a minority of people, excuse me, have created continued and unnecessary drama for selfish reasons. This undermines the benevolent actions of the current select board and trustee members. I propose we be one community, one charter, one vote and one board hearing all the needs within our community. I am in favor of an at-large board, whether it be five or seven members. Thank you very much. Thank you. My name is Jan Abbott, two B's, two T's. And I have lived in the town of Essex. Just a little trouble. Oh, OK. My name is Jan Abbott. And I have lived in the town of Essex as well as in the village for several decades. A small group in our community is promoting the same sort of divisiveness and discord that we are seeing on a national level with equally unpleasant results. The proposed charter change is the latest example of this. In contrast, like our trustees and select board members, we should be working toward unity as we are one town. The village is nothing more than a taxing district created in another era when the farmers farther out did not need off-site water and sewers or sidewalks and street lights. This era is past. Residents are not exactly falling over themselves to run for the select board. I'm glad we have an exception. When there is a contest, the most qualified person should be elected, not the best locators. I have never, ever voted in 56 years for a select board member based on where she or he lived. And even a number of board members makes no sense as it could lead to tie votes. The timing of the proposed charter change is totally inappropriate as we shall presumably be voting on merger this fall. And as the previous speaker said, not quite in the same words, the proposed charter change is a solution looking for a problem that does not exist. Next please, Patty. Hi, Patty Davis. In Essex, half the population is underrepresented in local government at any one time due to the uneven number of seats on the select board, whether you live in the town, in the village or outside the village. I'm talking about the concern number two and even number of board from the previous hearing, which we had. I feel it was wrong for the chair of the select board to introduce concerns about the charter change at the last public hearing. One concern she voiced was for an even number of board. Yes, she did hear from one staff person and apparently the four corners of Essex extend to Montpelier because she heard from Anne Brown of Vermont League of Cities and Towns and Will Snowing from the Secretary of State's office. But she solicited these comments about an even number of board. She also gave incomplete information about our school board. One of the nine votes is split between two people, meaning that there can be 4.5 to 4.5 ties. So how would you deal with ties? Ms. Handy should already have an answer. We can have ties now. What happens when one select board member is absent or recuses themselves as one of ours does occasionally? The same thing you do now. You either negotiate or table the issue until you can reach a majority consensus. That is the whole point. If you can't, maybe more collaboration listening to each other, including townhouses side of the village people is needed or a different solution. This is exactly what we need, a charter change. When something isn't working for us, it's time we try something new to make it work. Final thought, our charter is not and this change would not be set in stone. You can ask for a charter change. It doesn't take years. Thank you. I have to say, I had all these things I was gonna say, but I am astounded, astounded that people are coming up here and I know they're doing what they believe to say that we should be ashamed that we're practicing democracy. You know, if people wanna see something different than what's being offered, we have that right through the constitution of the United States, although we seem to be going, in my opinion, the root of the way the country is going, where it's one person's way to the highway, no matter what, and the Senate goes along with it. And I would hope that we would be better than that. So I respect people's views. I respect people's views if they don't agree with this charter petition, but come on, let's remember what this country is about for crying out loud. Now, for the charter change itself, I was not here at the last meeting, but I was disappointed to hear, again, about how you took time at the beginning, because I feel like this whole process from the very beginning has not been transparent. I feel like we're on a train, boom, boom, boom, be pushed along. I think that there are a lot of us, and I was on that focus group, that want to have district representation. I don't really totally agree with this petition, but it's better than what we had. And I think that for those of us that want representation that's guaranteed, not just by at large, I think that that's a valid thing to ask for. And I just feel badly the way things are going. I feel like there really is not respect for the people. And my two minutes are up. We get two minutes, while you get newspaper articles, you get to spend all of our taxpayer money for all the marketing, and that's not right either. And some of us do not feel like we are being represented now. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mary. Next. Sir? My name is Dennis Bergeron, I live at 20 Old Cook Road. Before I start my two minutes talk, I want to make everybody aware that the posting on the board is incorrect. Based on the warning that was posted, section 2.202, select men, number of terms of office election. A, there shall be a board of select men consisting of six members. That's correct. Now, B, the terms of the office of select men shall be for three years. C, a less necessary to fill a vacancy, no more than two select men shall be selected by any annual meeting notwithstanding, terms of the presently elected select men shall not be modified by this section. So, you know, we're going down the same road we did with the, and I'm going to bring it up, the Education and Recreation Department. William dealing behind closed doors. And then we talk to our select board, say, can you bring this to the meeting? Nothing goes there. Same thing's happening here. We have a select board. We have eight out of 10, including the trustees looking to merge so that we can pay their bills. I live in the town. My street's the last street to be plowed on any given snow day. And I'll tell you what, we have to walk in the middle of the road with our animals because it's ice all over the place. Dealing with this proposal, you should leave it alone. Let the voters decide on town meeting day when we vote for it. Stop the wheeling and dealing behind closed doors, talking to the trustees, getting your opinion. Guys, I read some of the emails. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not happy. I'm not a happy camper with the select board we have. It's all the way towards the village, you know, and you're taking our democracy away. Just let the voters vote for it. And then we go from there. As for the merger, that's going to be death in the water when it comes to November. Thank you. Thank you. Next, when you do come up to the microphone, please don't put your mouth right up close to the mic because it's pretty loud for those of us in the front. But maybe like this far from the mic. How's this? Thank you, Brad. That's perfect. Is that good? Paula, is that good? That's fine. Okay. Thank you. Brad Kinsen from Essex Hamford. The petition to change the composition of the select board from five members at large to three from the village and three from the town outside the village will be on about March 3rd. The effect that this vote if passed necessitates a change to the town charter that must be approved by the legislature. 24 VSA 117-305 of the statutes define the process whereby voters have a say in their local government. To quote Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg address, government of the people, by the people, for the people. This phrase is based on the premise that the people shall govern themselves through their democratically elected representatives. It is the people's government made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people. Elected officials serve at the pleasure of the people. One author wrote, if politicians believe that voters cannot be trusted with the truth, democracy is seriously at risk. For a democracy to function, it is essential that a government respects the people and takes them seriously. This vote, if passed, is the people's voice that should not be infringed. I call on our state representatives to expeditiously move this charter change through the government operations committee and onto the floor of the legislature for an affirmative vote. We do not validate the people's vote is to invalidate the very statute the legislature previously approved in the town charter and would be a serious attack on the democratic process. Thank you, Brad. Next. Can everyone hear me? My name is Gabrielle Smith. My property is at the border between the village and the town outside the village. I live in countryside neighborhood. I like many residents wanting to have a future together as a strong and united community. For many years, since I've lived here, divisions around taxation and how we fund municipal services has been and remains the issue that is festering in our community. We have to deal with it in a way we can all live with and a way that makes sense for us as a whole community. The changes to the charter proposed by the petition are based on what divides us. The petition has perhaps two divisions, two decisions into one vote. One decision is to create representative districts by the select board. The other is to determine what those districts are. I'm very open to the idea of representative districts, having learned about it with also the Essex Governance Group. If we determine there is a need for our municipality to create a representative governance structure, then let's choose districts that will serve the entire community in making decisions in the best interest of all of us. Defining the way we represent ourselves by what divides us is a path that will take us away from becoming a more vibrant and strong community. This petition does not resolve our issues. This petition focuses on what divides us and that is not a way to move forward as a strong community. Thank you. Thank you. Next please. I'll work for myself, but I'll be quick. My name is Carl Warmer. I live on Village 24 Ligisteria and in the town of course. When I moved here, when my family and I moved here in 1993, I didn't know town, village. I wasn't sure I'd go to the first town meeting. I ended. That all got resolved. Since then I voted for merger, I voted for separation, I voted for select board members from the village, I voted for select board members from the town. The one thing I can say is this three in three proposal is designed to exacerbate the very differences we're trying to bring to an end. And if the perspective is what we're seeing, we have three in three and we can have a good debate between the two sides. Just listen to the comments about the select board. I don't know how many of them are true, but they are mostly pretty negative. It's not an argument for three or three. It's a dispute about the select board did or did not do. So overall, I think we're just looking for more problems if we support this one or even less. Thanks. Thank you, Carl. Next, please. This is good here, you guys are little closer. I'm shorter. My name is Lorraine Zaloum. I live on Sender Road in the town and I grew up in the village. So different perspectives. Like the previous speaker, I too would like to see merger at some point, but I lived outside of Vermont for 25 years in a districted town and I find it worked very well. And I find that this is not working very well from having lived here for a number of years. I don't remember it being like this. So we have to do something about it. One of the reasons I come to this is because someone very close to me had a very bad experience and whenever I talk about it now, I have a number of years ago, but when I explain the situation of people in the village because I know a lot of people in the village as opposed to people in the town, because that's where I grew up, they are shocked. And that says to me, even though to the best of our abilities, we do wish to represent everyone, it doesn't happen because we don't live those experiences. So I understand that your intentions are there and you all feel like you're representing everyone, but it's impossible to do that without living experiences, walking cows down the road. I've never walked a cow down the road. That's just, that's not our experience. So we don't know what the problems are. And I work in a plumbing industry and from an engineer and family and I've learned that you solve the problem as it comes up. And this really, hopefully, will keep it away from the vitriol and seeing that we're finger pointing at each other. We're to all neighbors, we are neighbors. We do understand you all want to stay neighbors and friends. We do want to work this out. So we'd like to move away from that vitriol and stick to the problem at hand in terms of what I see going on on both sides. In terms of petition, I do believe that given the number of voters that signed up for the petition, it is self-evident that we need to stripping just by that petition alone. So I appreciate your time, do appreciate work and thank you for listening. Thank you, Lorraine. Who would like to speak next? I just said everything I've been saying, so I want to give you my time to can signal up. Thank you. Please come on, thank you. My name is Mary Lou Hurley. I live outside the village. Mary Lou, could you speak up a little bit? Okay, thank you. My name is Mary Lou Hurley and I live in the town outside the village. I want to thank the legislators that are here tonight, especially after a late night with the Super Bowl last night. I don't know who you are. My husband and I have lived in the town outside the village for 44 years. Given more time, I would relate some rather unfortunate circumstances we have had due to decisions coming from the town inside the village. I would assume that folks inside the village could come up with their own difficulties through the years. There are things that happen over all these years and we want to move on, but let's just say that there are many people in the town inside the village and in the town outside the village who have different perspectives. They did before, they do now, they will continue to have different perspectives. This is not cause for excitement or concern for the future if the two places have equal representation on board. The recent proposal by the select board in the village trustee seems very confusing and complicated to me. I don't see it as an improvement. Two from each, three at large, then five to seven years for them to develop a permanent model or go back to the at large system we have. Are you kidding me? It's crazy. I signed a petition and a lot of people did. I don't see how you can disagree with what is fair. We're just talking about fairness here. How can you argue with fairness? I don't think having an equal number of people is a problem. You come to a decision. That's what it's all about. I don't think that's a big issue. Thank you. Thank you, Mary Lou. Who would like to speak next? Bob? Bob Bates, excuse me. Bob Bates, town outside the village. Proud to be sitting this evening with two very dear friends from the village. That's the way it should be, right? Okay, so that said, I want to just talk for a little bit about the process. My understanding is that whether this proposed article passes or is defeated, let's say it passes. The select board is continuing to discuss the entire merger plan, which might include either their current proposal or some other variation thereof, and we've heard suggestions for 3-3-1 and so on and so forth. So I believe that it's very possible that even if this were to pass, and then next fall, the board's ultimate proposal goes to the voters and has proved that that version of the charter change would supersede anything that we vote on on March 3rd, so everybody used to know that. It may not make any difference anyway. I hate to say it, but that's the case because they could come up with something totally different. So that said, I will close by saying that I have had the privilege of working sharing a board that was an even number. We operated by consensus. It's a challenge, you better believe it, but it makes people really listen to each other, and people always have the option of standing aside for the good of the entire group, whatever it is, community in this case, rather than voting against something. So it can work, it does work. Thank you. Thank you, Bob. Diane? I speak to the capital plan because your meeting was born for seven when I left on Thursday, and I just got back in an hour ago. So can I have half 30 seconds? I'd like you to please include the lighting on the capital plan for the documents to be preserved in Lincoln Hall. I saw the capital plan when I was at the planning commission meeting a couple weeks ago, and as let's mention that, and I would like that money there, I don't think we should be losing documents to mold and other things. But as to the charter change, have we approved the charter change 12 years ago? This would be a moot point on this vote in March because it would have already laid things out. As this proposed amendment is flawed, it has no allocation for population change. I will be voting no. I do know that when you have an even number, it can work. U46 had six members. EWSD has nine members, but yes, in fact, the other day we had a 4.5 to 4.5 vote. Guess what? You know on because it just failed, you must try again. You're right, consensus does work, but it takes longer and you may be talking to each other. And right now I wish we were talking to each other in a much more polite manner and cut out the visual and all the other stuff because quite frankly, I think we can really talk to each other in a very calm manner. And I hope that we all consider ourselves residents of this town and treat each other as the neighbors we expect. Thank you. Thank you, Diane. I am Spanx, I live in the town outside the village. I strongly support the charter change for all the reasons given and I will seek my time to get some senior allow. Thank you, Iris. Next. Mike Sullivan, I don't feel it's important that I tell you I'm in town or village because I've opened the village and paid taxes just as given. I've opened the town and paid taxes to the town just as everybody here does. I want to thank the select board and the trustees for doing this work. They're doing a very good job at this. It's very difficult for what you got. When I started listening to the meetings on districting and what's the town plan for the merger type stuff, I never considered what the representation meant as far as who is from where. But I've been impressed, it's right. There needs to be some sort of districting. But it should not be along the lines of the town and the village. It should be along at least one of the things I was most impressed by saying, somebody made at the last meeting a point where that there's a very rural part of the town which is different than the suburban part of the town which is different from the village part of the town. And I can see a districting based on much more, well, less geographic but more to the point where it is representative, well, I'll take your record, it is back to the graphics. Okay. But I think that, I think that, I'm working on a bit. I think that the town, this petition is uneven and as much as it vulcanizes, it puts into place a permanent border which you will not be able to easily redistrict properly out of. Thank you, Mike. Next please. Good evening. I'm sorry, I wasn't at the last meeting. I'm Tim German, I've lived here for 38 years. Just, I've always lived in the village and the town. As many of you know, I'm a member of the Historical Society. So I both know and review the histories of both the village and the town outside the village. Some of you know that I'm a veteran of domestic awards from years past and all these discussions. As somebody who strongly has always felt that we should be one unified community, we made mistakes the last time and I'm willing to say that. And as I listen tonight, I do oppose this particular proposal but I do want to validate the fact that a thousand people have said and have always felt a little queasy about equal representation. So even though I personally believe that if we just had at large representation like every other town around here and frankly a lot of other organizations that those distinguishing characteristics wouldn't exist, there wouldn't be a problem with that. But I recognize that there is and I want to validate what Mary was saying. If you feel like you're not represented, I'm not going to change that view. What I would say and I'll say more when we do have the merger thing because you guys have done a great job on that. I would go even further. I think the last proposal did have three, three and one. I think we need to start out that way. I don't know that we'll end up that way but I do think that we can bring this community together by doing that, by guaranteeing equal representation for both communities. I would much prefer to do it that way as part of a very comprehensive solution that also addresses the tax issues that are concerning both people in the village and the town outside the village. And I think you've done a really good job with that. So a lot more to be said later but I do want to validate the feelings that people have here and I think there's a good way. Let's get it right this time. We didn't get everything right last time. I think we can be one community. Thank you, Tim. Who would like to speak next? Ken. So two of your fellow neighbors have ceded their time to you so that gives you a total of six minutes. I only have to add it a little bit here. And then as you've said it to six. So, you know folks, we're fortunate that we're at a point in time which is rare. It just so happens that two districts that we all recognize and know happen to have almost the same population. This does not have to remain the districts that we might use. It can change. We might need, we will need some kind of redistricting mechanism down the road. These people get something set that we all know voting places stay the same, registration lists stay the same. It would be a very easy transition to move from that mechanism to one which might need to be different. And what kind of a board would you like to make that redistricting choice? Like, that's if it wasn't even important so that that can be a good compromise and nobody will be left thinking up and have to show an end to this majority situation. For those who are thinking that it's a minority that are involved, I only got involved in understanding what was going on in our town six months ago now. Hard to believe. I lived here for 15 years. Never went to town meeting. I'm embarrassed to say. Not clubbed in. Partly knew what I was voting for when I went and voted. Imagine my surprise when I went to a first meeting and saw what I saw. I saw a majority ruling. And the majority not necessarily representing me and the people around me. I thought I lived their rural existence on a green hill road. I can tell you now, no, there's much more rural. I've been to the far corners of the town now and yeah, it's an awakening. Our town is so diverse. It's incredible from city to really nearly off the grid, probably isn't off the grid, houses that are very rural. Their needs for services, they're purposely living like that for low demand non-services and so they can pay low taxes. That's why they're living that way. Because our town is so diverse, we need a mechanism where one can't dominate the other. That's the concept. That's why I came up with this idea. If we can have three in three, yes, they'll be forced to negotiation. That's something that I think we really need to have. This is not, for me, believe me, barely clubbed into politics. There were a number of issues that were raised, technical issues that were raised about the charter change. I wanna try to address those in a little bit of time that I have left. There was a concern about statutory districts that are not defined. That the area that would be one of the districts is not statutorily defined. I would suggest that the town is statutorily defined. Its boundaries are clearly statutorily defined. The village's boundaries are clearly statutorily defined. If you subtract the two, you get an area that has boundaries that are statutorily defined. It just doesn't have a name. We know what it's called. It's called the town outside the village, but it's not a legitimately rat official name. So it is statutorily defined, boundary-wise. The other issue, oh, I will plant one other thing. Those same boundaries are included in the merger plan. The very same boundaries. The same districts. So to call it not legit, when it's included in the same plan that all of these folks voted for, it seems a bit critical to me. Secondly, transition. Apparently there's no transition plan. Well, guess what? In the statutes, in our charter, the plan is there. It says very clearly that no board member can be unseeded. So if this passes, and the legislature approves it, at that moment we have a vacancy. Next thing that happens, annual meeting, they can see is filled by whoever's missing a representative, whatever the district is missing a representative. The next thing that happens is at large members' terms, they can't be unseeded. They're terms that begin to expire, and you have annual elections just like we do now, except now they have to become from representative districts. The plan for transition is in the charter. That's why we didn't include one. They didn't. Done, automatic. Sorry to get a little bit crazy. Legislative approval. So there was concerns that legislature would not approve this for various, these technical reasons, the boundaries, I would put forth that there are such thoroughly defined boundaries. The transition plan, there is. Six is a number, like five. And if one is missing, you have four. That happens a lot. You have one select board member that has to accuse himself from time to time. I hope they have a plan for dealing with ties. If we have six, there might be more ties. We need more ties. People need to talk to each other, come up with an arrangement that everybody can live with. Instead of one side trying to force it down the other. 30 seconds, Karen. Thank you. So we'll shoot the legislature to the side, and this, for as long as it passes, I pray it will. The legislature, some committee will have it in their hands. I pray that they have it here, at least one, where we can come and talk to them and explain to them why our special situation means a special solution. We will be the one town to go where no town has gone before. Sorry about rolling the shadow. We'll be here to meet. I hope you can get it. Thank you, Ken. Thank you. Would anyone else like to speak? I mean. What are the towns outside the village? Look closer. Raise the mic up a little bit. There you go. Thank you. Essex select board members are currently elected at large. At large representation, such as this works past in small and nor homogeneous communities. At large representation has not worked well in Essex over time, given the town's size, as well as its two-pronged history, geography, culture, and settlement patterns. It's simply not feasible for each select board member to understand and represent all at once the interest of 22,000 people living different lifestyles in a variety of settings, downtown, suburban, and rural. Because it's humanly impossible to represent all those people at once, select board members naturally take on and vote for the issues that they're most familiar with. Therefore, whichever half of town controls the majority on this odd-numbered board, they also control the direction of policy-making and budgeting. Whichever half of the town controls the majority of seats also controls the year's agenda for the entire town at the other half's expense. How much of expense, you might ask? Well, the current merger plan designed by the village majority is looking to ship several million dollars from the village general budget onto town outside the village residents who have never voted for those services. What's a town to do? Well, diverse communities such as Montpelier and Burlington use board-based or district representation instead to ensure that different populations have appropriate input at the board table. It's time for Essex to honor the different voices in its village and town outside the village by equalizing the representation in each of these districts. Just as our Essex Westford School District did two and a half years ago. I find it interesting that everyone keeps forgetting that that's an even-numbered board. It's a board that uses the village and town outside the village districts. And I didn't hear anyone of you complaining two and a half years ago when that was proposed by the school district just saying. Irene, you're totally understanding intuitively that equal teams on a level playing field will make for a more harmonious and fair future for everyone. Thank you. Thank you, Irene. Okay, we have time for maybe two more comments. And I think we've gotten almost everybody who's raised their hands. Paula? Oh, sorry, Brian and then Paula. Oh, okay. Ah, okay. We'll keep going. I see several hands here. So please go ahead. Hi there, I won't take too many. I was just wondering. I believe that this charter submission happened pretty recently. It hasn't been in the making a long time. I was wondering what the data submission was. Oh, I believe it was December 19th. December 19th, yeah. So pretty quick then. Yeah, there's statute that requires when a petition is submitted, you have to file, you know, prepare everything in a certain amount of days and hold the hearings in a certain amount of time so that it can get on the town meeting ballot. Pretty quickly then. Yeah. Yeah, okay. Thanks. You're welcome. I think Brian was next. And then Paula, Brian, Paula, the gentleman in the red shirt, Harlan, gentleman in the blue shirt, Margaret. And then we're gonna end this. Okay, go ahead, Brian. My name's Brian Sheldon. I live at 115 Jericho Road in the TOV. I think it's important in a democracy that voters choose their representatives and not that representatives choose their voters. Because of this belief that I have concerns about the charter amendment proposal at issue tonight. Charter amendments should be for things that are permanent. This charter amendment is no different in that it seeks to create two districts and entrench them forever. Right now, those districts are the correct size, but that won't always be true. The TOV has more room to grow. As it does, eventually the TOV will be a larger population in the village. At that point, we will have a one person, one vote problem. The law requires redrawing boundaries when voting populations change, but this charter would prohibit us from doing that. We're already at risk for such a lawsuit with the school board districts. So far we've been lucky that no one's decided to challenge their legality, but I worry that someone could. Let's not exacerbate the problem. The proponents of this charter change have expressed concerns about representations. I share those concerns, but not for the same reasons. If the goal of the proposal is to equalize the voting power of the TOV, it's actually likely to have the opposite effect. As the TOV grows, our voting power will become increasingly diluted. Instead, I propose something that can in fact be permanent, an independent redistricting commission. Such a commission, especially one where politicians are excluded, could draw lines that are fair for all, could make slut persons responsive to all corners of Essex, protect us from the expense of the lawsuit, and prevent our words from manipulation by politicians, including myself. I recommend that everyone vote against the A3 proposal on Town Meeting Day, and then let's work together to create a word system that's legal, that can be redistricted, and brings Essex together. Thank you. Thank you, Brian. Paula. If someone runs for office, that almost everybody, or at least everybody in that district, might think was probably not appropriate to run. And so, that's why I really support having one, not a whole bunch of that large members, but one at large member. And then it could be from either district. But I think people need to have the option of voting for someone who isn't running in that district. Thank you, Paula. The gentleman in the red shirt, my apologies for not remembering your name. I'm Paula Austin, I live in the town. Excuse me. I began to get lost, as to all the proposals, the variations of the theme, and what most likely is gonna happen. So I will keep my comments kind of general. I've listened to people saying they've lived here a long time. I've been here 55 years. You've named it, I've seen it. In terms of whether or not we remain as a village and town, the board in the village, of course, is selected totally by the village, as it should be. But when it comes to the town, it ought to be 50-50. I do think, from my experience, that three and three really works well because you have to negotiate. Some items that are so contentious that probably shouldn't go forward anyways. So I'm not worried about the three, three, and one, and then you get to fight them. You have to work together. I think the key problem, I hear about boundaries. The often quoted line from Robert Frost was good fences and good neighbors. The issue isn't there's a dotted line that we kind of separate and there's contention. The fundamental issue is, are we paying the fair tax for what we receive from the town? Now, I know I'm repeating myself, but years ago, there was a very reason the village got its charge. It has special tax privileges. It brings in money that it does not share with the town. And with that money, they can build larger water slides. I don't mean to sound, I'm not trying to be sarcastic, but the point is there are unique needs they have that this poor guy on the, if other extension of the town doesn't have, and he doesn't have the salary to match the taxes. And I do challenge those that really want to merge to take a look at the charter and see what you've now got. And not to the convenience of the moment, if I lived in the village, which I do not, I'm not so sure I want to merge with the options I've got. It's just that if you want to spend more money, you do own the bill. Thank you, Paul. Your time is up. I've lost track of who is next. Was it, sir? A little bit more here. In a rather unique position here, being on the EWSD school board, I don't know if there's any investment in the way they live outside of the village. I just wanted to share a couple of things with you. Number one, when we were going to join the high schools, I went out to the community where they handed out the information about why the town should purchase the high school, split the community. I went to 800 homes over a three-month period. We're out of three pairs of shoes. They did that twice. I talked to a lot of people one-on-one. And there is a real perception that in the resident's field that they're not being represented fairly. And it's deep rooted. The other thing I wanted to say was, and for years and years, we've been here over 50 years, there is a political aspect of this. And when decisions are made, they're not explained in a way that simplifies fairness and equality, equity. And people can conclude that it's unfair and it's unfair representation is a political problem. I don't know, but I can tell you this, as for representation on the school board, it's been enlightening that the even number of votes really does force people to make choices and to compromise. And for a long time, I'm looking at the transportation and the rest of the situation. Like Patrick knows, I have a lot of concerns. It's a $700,000 bill, but when all was said and done after months of talking about it, working on the committees, I supported that. It was the right thing to do for kids, it was the right thing to do for them. And so I'll be outlining this $700,000. That was a joint discussion. In conclusion, I really think that these three screen is a way of worthy consideration and it has a lot of valuable outcomes from it. Thank you. Thank you, Al. Thank you. Harlan. My name's Harlan Smith. I work with EnVillage. Had the petitioner show up at my house, I would have signed it, just so everybody knows. A gentleman here at the last meeting said, make sense, sounds good. Fair, that's right. Fair. Fair. Stand correct. So I would have signed it because my first reaction when I first saw it was absolutely a deficit. It makes sense, sounds fair. And I am not opposed to an even more. My problem with this is I still feel like it's not incomplete. It doesn't answer enough questions. And I've been told by several people that what we can figure that out after we pass it. One of the models I live by is, why is there never enough time to do the job right, but always enough time to do it over? So I would be more than willing to do a six-member board, but I want a complete charter proposal. I don't want to have to do this over again. So I'm gonna vote no. Thank you. So we've had 25 people. I think, oh, and Margaret, you were, I think you were the next one, but we have, is there like? There was Vince. Vince. Okay, so Vince, the gentleman with your hand up. Thank you. And Margaret, and then we're gonna need to wrap it up. So I just, I'm fairly new to Essex, I've been here for like a year and a half so far. And I kind of grew up here though, like my grandparents did too, my grandmother and grandfather on my mother's side did a dober on tap street. And my grandmother on my father's side, I don't know if I was born, she lived on Brigham Hill Lane. So I kind of feel like I know a little bit about the village and the town, kind of like the different lifestyles. And in my campaigning, going around collecting signatures to get on the ballot for the select board, I sort of realized that this isn't about like a silver bullet or any charter change that's gonna make this town better. There's an identity problem that we have. We have groups of people that don't believe they're part of the same community. We have groups of people that live a mile from each other and don't believe that their neighbor is, is someone worthy of listening to or worthy of listening to their opinions. Just because there's some arbitrary line drawn in their head that they live in some other community. Kind of that goes to be a book that I read about nationalism, it's called Imagine Communities, talks about how nations rise up when people believe that they're part of the same community. And I don't see that right here. I don't see that here now in this community. I want to see it, it's why I'm running for the select board, it's why I want to be part of something better, bigger than myself. And I want to make that a reality, for instance. But at this moment, I don't see it. I don't think this is a silver bullet, but it addresses some of the problems that I think a lot of residents have concerns about. Thank you. Where'd Margaret go? Margaret, or sir? Where'd Margaret go? You want to wait over there? Yeah, I'm going to be north, I live in the town. That's everyone of us. In one of my former jobs, I was a planner. And I used to try to predict the future. And I said that I had a whole drawer full of crystal balls, marked void, but I had another one on the desk and I was still trying to do it today. And that's what we hear, I've heard many people talk about trying to predict the future. Well, what's going to happen with this and what's going to happen with that? Well, as someone said, we live in a democracy. And there's an opportunity to change. Go to the Secretary of State's office sometime and look up charter changes. Charter changes happen all the time. Minor changes. City of Brooklyn and God, it seems like they go through one about every other year or so. So we shouldn't be concerned about what's going to happen if there are always unintended consequences. When that occurs, then you take a logical approach, work things out, and propose a charter change if that's necessary. I do echo bad council's comments that it's important that once there's the decision made, that there needs to be appropriate application for that. And our representatives need to do that for us. Also, I echo what Mary Lee Hurley said, that the current merger as is presented, and we're not going to get into that. But that already, that is determining districts, drawing lines, okay, which are supposed to fade after what, 12 years? Why 12? Anyway, you know, there are boundaries being drawn. Bob Bays' comment, also appropriate. Look, the select board is coming up with a merger proposal we're going to vote on after this one. They have an opportunity to include potentially any of these kinds of problems that might be presented here. So there are lots of opportunities for change. We should not be held back thinking that, my God, what's going to happen if no one can predict the future? Everybody's got a whole drawer full of crystal balls in our point. Let's move forward, thank you. Thank you. Margaret? Senator Smith on 10 outside the village, two points. What is that, oh, sorry, what is that the current board has three members from the junction, and two from the town when they meet with the village credential committee, there are eight people at the table from the junction and two from the town, which is highly unbalanced in my opinion. They're putting together a merger proposal that sets up a board with two people from the town and two people from the village and three at large. Now, that could wind up with five people from the village or the other way around. And those people have the option of modifying the proposal any way they want. So that doesn't feel quite fair to me somehow. The other thing that I don't know if everybody's been following this, but the merger proposal that's coming up increases taxes in the town outside the village by $49, is that right? Or $41, something. Every year, compound, every year. So the first year, so many dollars in the next year, that puts another 49. So that by the time they get done with the merger process in 13 years, you will be paying a minimum of $300 average for taxes. Thank you. Did I have any extra time? Yeah. You have about 30 seconds. Can I get that Irene if she wants it? Big toys. 15 seconds. When one party loses their voice in a relationship, they lose their power. It's an unhealthy dynamic and it can lead to abuse. Over the years, our select court has seen one part of town or the other leverage its majority to enact, perhaps unintentionally, policies that benefit itself, residents whose concerns are not being brought to the table or in the community, do consideration, become rightfully upset. Thank you, Irene. Okay. Is there anyone else who has not already spoken? Jerry? I live in Essex. I live in Essex. I was all the way from the mic. Yeah. Are you still living in the village? I live in Utah. I agree with human, disagree with human. You can predict the future. If you live out in the woods somewhere, and if you have a field nearby, if you don't own it, it's going to have a house in it in 20 years. We are going to become a suburban community. And we need to think, you know what? I hear a lot about the present. We need to hear about, think about 20 years from now, and how we want to manage then, in addition to the problems of today. Thank you. Could you just put your name through a question? Thank you, Jerry. Oh, yeah. Give us your phone. Jerry Fox. That boy. Jerry Fox, and I move the message. Thank you. Okay. I want to make sure everyone who's had a chance to speak once gets to do that, or everyone wants to speak once. Is there anybody else who has not already spoken, who has something to say? Okay. Bob, I'm going to give you a minute. Yeah, I don't want to speak again. I just ask you, I want to make sure that you would be kind enough to remind the Assembly here tonight of the upcoming, I guess it's an informational meeting on the 15th at Essex Middle School from one to three, maybe you could say a word about that. Absolutely. Thank you for reminding me. There will be the first of many to come outreach meetings where select board and trustee members will be talking about the proposed merger plan. February 15th, one to three Essex Middle School. So that's coming, you'll see from porch forum about it, you'll see it on Facebook. But it's getting time to wrap up the hearing unless anybody else, Dan, do you want to come talk? Anyone else who has not already spoken? Dan, Karen, Essex Middle School. I just ask that everybody here, please stick around and attend, we're going to be having a discussion about the merger plan, further discussion. So I hope you don't believe me. I think people really benefit from sticking around. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Dan. Okay, going once. Anyone who hasn't spoken yet? I want to take a second to thank every single person who is here. This is our community and I really appreciate that all of you feel so strongly about it that you're here on an evening when you could be home with your families. Thank you for making your voices heard. Thank you for being respectful to each other and expressing your opposing and agreeing opinions. Stay tuned, stay engaged. As Dan said, we're going to now transition to a presentation to our legislative delegation that's going to talk about the merger plan. So we're going to set aside the article five for now. We're going to switch to the merger plan. You're going to see some stuff up on the screen. There's a handout at the sign in table. So we're going to take like a five minute recess while our guests join us. And then we're going to come back together and do another presentation. We'll call the select board meeting back to order. Thank you for those of you who have stuck around. We will pick the meeting back up where we left off, which was business item 6A, approval of fiscal year 2021 capital budget and five year plan. Can I get a motion from someone to approve the capital budget? I move the select board adopt the FY 2021 capital budget and five year plan. Second? Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor of approving the capital budget and five year plan, please say aye. Aye. Aye. All those opposed? Thank you. Greg, would you like to discuss preparation for town meeting? Yes, give me a second to get here. We have chosen some dates to go do some outreach as you've done in the past few years. And typically what we do for that is produce some materials for you. This year we've got the town meeting morning, information about the community dinner. FAQ is about the budget. FAQ is about the potential merger that you just looked at with the trustees. And I had hoped to get you a FAQ about the petition. I have not had time to do that, so don't have that yet. We'll plan to have it for the 18th, which actually gives you some time. Thank you. So I take any comments about the information that we have available now. And I think Andy starts going out tomorrow as the first wave of the outreach. And beyond that, good luck. Max, you had, yeah. Yeah. On the chart of outreach events, there's five groupings. And if we just look at the who signed up for the girls basketball, for example, there's four home games within the month of February. And each one is signed up to have somebody out there for outreach. My concern is that going all four may be a waste of time because by the third game and the fourth game, you're gonna be hitting the same number, the same folks, actually, the same, the majority of the people going out are the children of the players. And I think they're gonna go to, they may go to many of the games. So your benefit of going there dwindles, I think, drastically. So people are welcome to go to those extra games, but I don't think it's necessary. But if you do, just know that a lot of people may say, I already got it, already got it. So if it's really worth your time to do that, that's gonna be up to you. But I would suggest we don't need to man all four girls basketball games or all four boys' hockey's or all four girls' hockey games. I think one or two at most would be fine. And I think Patrick had an idea to go to ADL. And if there are any other ideas like that, that would be, I think, more beneficial rather than hitting up basically the same, a lot of the same parents over and over. I think the two boys' hockey games I'm signed up for are on the same day. They're both Saturday, the eighth, oh no, this Saturday, the eighth and the 15th. Oh, okay, I see. Oh, that's what I have. Boys' hockey, girls' hockey, and okay. Still, same crowd. What's that? What's that? You'll probably get different parents at the... Between the boys and the girls. Oh yeah, for sure. The ADL, may I speak? Yes. Sorry, the ADL, that was a great idea, at the 50th year, I think you should have more than, Patrick, I can't, the timing is not good for me. When is that? I should know, I've topped my head, but I don't. I think it is the 15th right around there, and actually it lasts for... It's two days. Multiple days, so, when I get home either tonight or tomorrow, that spreadsheet's available in our board, so I'll go in and I'll add those days and just plug them in there. Thank you. I'm sure I can make one of those dates. Anything from you guys, or we're good to go? Andy has one thing, I'll just quickly say, if you're getting ready to go the next day, give me a heads up a day or two ahead of time, and I could print out information for you to pick up at the town offices, or we can get it to you somehow. So ideally at least two days, about two days. Andy. So I can't give you two days, because it's tomorrow, we just finalized the one thing tonight, so I can be there one or two o'clock, is that gonna work? Yep. Good. I'll pick it up. And in the past, if the person doing the outreach can't get to the town office in time, it's worked for me to pick things up at dispatch. They're open 24-7. Good idea. So that could be a possibility. Annie. If you email it to, we can print it, so it would be great for me, I'm normally on the fly, if I also, if I couldn't get to you, but you had emailed it to me, I could always make my own copies. 250 of them. If I have to, look, if I didn't get there when I was supposed to get there, but Staples was open, I'm down for paying for it. I'll set folks on this. Any other comments or questions about the rest of the materials for town meeting day? Max. I just wanna make another comment on the menu. I think it's great having a new menu for town meeting night, so thank you for arranging that. Andy. I have not yet organized the flag folks, but I'm trying to close that, I'll try to close that this week. Thank you. I know Tammy has reached out as well, and it's occurred to me that maybe I shouldn't be in charge of it, I should, because I may not always be here, kind of thing, but I'll work it out with Tammy. Great, thank you. Thank you. My computer just died. Okay, did you need us to approve anything on there? It was just a review of what we're doing. Okay. Thank you. Thank you everyone for stepping up to help. Thank you all of you for doing all the backup work to get us ready to go for town meeting. Thank you. Okay, we have a consent agenda with one item on it. Would anyone like to move that? I move approval of the consent agenda with select board comments. Is there a second? Beg it. Any discussion? It's very informative, but also very in depth, and I clearly need to bone up on the various sewer units or whatever, because I think that may be the first time that it's come up. Oh, we're on the consent agenda. That's in the reading file. Oh, the reading file. Gosh, everyone's trying to get it's late. I'm all over the place. Are there any questions about the consent agenda item on New Street names? No, that's fine. Okay, we have a motion and a second on the table. All those in favor of approving the consent agenda, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay, now you can talk about the sewer line. Yeah, so Evan, who do I talk to if I only get a crash course in sewers and various like unit allotments for neighborhoods or what have you, because this is all new to me. So I want to like, in the future. Seriously, seriously, what do you want? I mean, if I could get away with not knowing it, but I have a feeling that I probably can't. We could set you up with Dennis or Erin. Okay. Would it be something that the whole board wants to hear as a refresher, or do you want to schedule this during business hours when? I mean, if other people want to tag along, great. I mean, for me, it's just, you know, having been on the board for a year, I don't recall other instances where we needed to like, go into like specifics of sewer allotments for individual subdivisions or what have you. You haven't lived yet. Yeah. So I just, you know, I don't have the background knowledge to make really an informed decision. And I would rather before it come up again. If you could send me a list of days and times you're available, I'll set some up. Okay, great. Anybody else, comments, questions in general? All right. Fortunately, we won't have to invoke our 11 o'clock policy. So I'll take a motion to adjourn. Oh, I got too excited. Oh, Andy, do you have comments? I never have a motion to adjourn. I never do. I move that we adjourn. Okay. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye.