 over 11th and this meeting has been posted and publicly in three places on the website and emailed to interested parties so we can go ahead and legally convene and I would see if we have any public comments and farther down the agenda we'll forward five minutes per speech on that we had the minutes from the prior meeting of September 27th and I looked through them they looked appropriate to me I'd move to approve them all in favor right all right got those minutes we don't have any guests in line tonight but under new business we have the topic of the radar trailers which have been I guess they're not really trailers their signs the radar signs which even when they were new we got them from a grant that Mark Belial got from the highway safety program and they were not very functional from the start they were on and off I don't know if they helped to slow down any traffic or not just by being there even if they're not functional what do you guys thought some of us I don't know I don't really have any thoughts about them it'd be nice if they work but I've I've checked with the sheriff's office and they don't know where we even need can go to get anything repaired there when I cleaned out the basement down there I couldn't find any material on them and when Tom Schnubble was on the board who sees you know worked for a lighting LED lighting company for a long time and he he just shook his head on their pretty funky what do you think should we just take them down and declutter the road that's what I think would be the best thing Nancy have a comment so it's we do have good audio for most people but not from Nancy it seems and she just commented that we're paying insurance on them then we have since ceased that so we're not leaking that money anymore yeah I'm doing that the question are the ones I remember are the one on the north end of the village and the one before you went up Bethel Mountain Road next to the park no we're talking about the ones on the north and south end of the village on route 100 okay wasn't there one and they were working on Bethel Mountain Road yes but that was temporary that's gone I know that's not there anymore I just wondered if that was another one of the ones we owned or not that was part of the project yeah okay so you're just talking about two signs one on each end of the village yeah sorry can you hear me now now that's better yeah so I think we should take them down I move we do that in the future we may come with a more robust option of something that will actually work right so are we removing them from our inventory I would I would think so remove them from the road on the inventory yep yep yep okay second that I second that favor all right I presume now I didn't see any hands on the computer or in the room here so I move forward on that so we have someone interested in the the open position on the planning board and that's some Lewis coachy you'd say his last name he's the one that is slowly but surely rebuilding the burned Tupper Farm Lodge down there he's he's actually been in the area quite a bit I think he used to work over at the blueberry hill in over and Goshen and he's the assistant town clerk in Pittsfield and he's actually had some some schooling in planning so it he is met with Sandy and Dan and then then we're acting on their recommendation to point him to that position I'd move to do so when does that position run out what's the term for this would be he's taking someone's place filling yeah we have had he's taking someone's place and then at the town meeting then it might be but I'm not sure when that lancy is jumping for the book to see when that Eric to fill the remainder of the term okay Eric Bowman step down this year and that's when does Eric's expire Nancy yep thank you then Becky took his place for a while and she stepped down okay oh should I say town meeting in March or just till next March well you should know 2022 March of 2022 and then we have the got multiple letters to all of us about the national opioid settlement agreement and this is I guess the more towns or municipal organizations that sign on to this agreement it gives more weight to the state to get a bigger settlement this doesn't necessarily mean I don't think that the town of Rochester will see directly funds from that but theoretically more money coming to the state would trickle down in some aspect to us I don't see any reason not to not to sign on to that right you guys do all three of us sign that letter we have to receive more paperwork and emails but there will be some signatures required yeah so doing am I correct that all the towns in the state of Vermont received the same letter or yes okay not only all the towns but all the members of the select board and the town clerk they were very the blanket approach with their their request for support in this endeavor so I moved to to sign on on behalf of the town of Rochester to the National Opioid Settlement Agreement second that okay one favor I guess once you sign on we'll get more paperwork in the mail okay so we have next on the agenda the an update to the town employee vacation policy for in the employee policy but Frank you had been working on that some do you want to I can I can relate sure Nancy and I kind of put it together we we didn't change a whole lot we're just changing it to a calendar year going back to a calendar year instead of instead of the time of employment the date of employment hired so it'll make it easier for the keeping track of it for the girls in the office and I have talked to two of the road crew and they're fine with that change there is some issues that we need to discuss in an executive session about how we implement this and come up with some sort of way to do it but we need to do that in private so that's about the only thing the only change and the other thing is we're doing it on an hourly time instead of a day week thing so we're just changing if a guy's got two weeks he's got 80 hours of vacation time so he can take it you know three hours and still have you know keep track of it so a little bit clearer than a day or half a day or right yeah and the and the gals will have a lot easier time keeping track of it for two so it's just a better all way around so and they're all good so yeah Nancy it also applies to any employees in the town office that are eligible for vacation coverage right yes just the road crew it's employees you're right thank you Nancy hello Joan I think I successfully welcomed you to the meeting you want to take the helm yes sure just two quick items our generator grant with Department of Public Service has been finalized and we have until September I'm sorry August 31st of 2022 to complete the project so my question is whether you want to hold off going off to bed and getting this thing installed until maybe next year in case maybe supply chain issues are a little better maybe progressive stabilize some and contractors will be more available or we could move ahead whenever whenever you want just wanting to know what your time what you want the timing to be I would be inclined to go ahead and go out to bed immediately I think that prices are only gonna go up if we wait longer and if they if they can't source it immediately at least we're in the queue and yeah everybody appears to be backed up a lot so yeah I think it's probably a good idea that makes sense all right I'll get started on that and Frank I'll work with you to the extent I need anything from you I'm not sure what this point yeah yeah I'll be willing to do that Joe and your second item once you've thought out there now well I'm Joan is frozen this some didn't you learn something in their workshops about in a zoom authorized meeting if the person speaking freezes that you really have to put the meeting on hold or something like that what did you learn about that that it's important that all of our systems are running properly everybody can be seen and heard okay again she's bad I don't know maybe okay okay so we didn't make any important decisions while you were let me try that again then so anyway now that we finally have this agreement they're extremely anxious to have it signed and to them I think it has something to do with their something to do with what's going on in DC and perhaps with that ceiling and securing budgets before they vaporize so anyway doing I'll I'll be sending that document to Julie tomorrow I think well actually no I'm sorry I should get used to this it's electronic signature the docusign you and hopefully that will work but let me this might have been lost when you went into limbo but what's the agreement we're talking about oh sorry this is the West Hill Bridge Memorand okay grant agreement essentially all right you're the part about out there they're anxious to get it signed okay so I'm sorry I didn't hear what you said about the West Hill Group branch agreement what what was about what was there about it because when you froze the grant agreement is ready to be signed okay thank you and and so the board is saying they're going to sign it yes yeah I think we've already I don't think we need to move this is something that we've decided on in the past just so you know this is just an update I don't have any final information yet from VTrans but Chris Bump has been great about trying to locate some money for us I think I told you last time we can use the funds that we re-returned or actually never received for the Mount Cushman Pulver he believes he says it looks good for approvals we've gone through some preliminary approvals on the fact-finding stuff that VTrans has to do on all federally funded projects that's been done and now he just has to take it through the internal process and make sure the state the higher-ups at the state have anything to say about this so maybe by the next meeting I'll have the word for you on that right so the money that he's been helping you locate is to work is for this West Hill project if you can get it if yes if we need more than the $600,000 thank you in advance so all right that's moving forward that's you tomorrow do okay you're able to get back to me tomorrow that'd be great Brian yeah yeah Brian I think has to sign it as well yep all right well thank you John that's it yep yes that's it all right Tony welcome it's nice to see you again let's see we have a trustee's meeting tomorrow at six o'clock I'm not completely sure where that is last time we met outside but that may still be happening and you might want to come up to the microphone and try it out give it a shot know that the one up there to see if that works hello a better much better thank you okay so we have a trustee's meeting tomorrow at six o'clock and it's really kind of neat that our librarian Jeanette has been chosen and appointed as one of only three public librarians in the state to serve on the working group on the status of libraries in Vermont that's quite a title for a committee but it's was formed by the legislature and she'll be working for a year on that before they do a report to result to the legislature so that's kind of neat for for Jeanette and for our library really and this is Tony excuse me I'm sorry to interrupt you I couldn't write as fast as you were talking about the committee she the committee she's working on is there what it what is their aim and then I'll get out of your hair I'm sorry they are doing a study of the libraries in the state and they're going to see how they work I guess and that sort of thing I'm not exactly sure about the details okay thank you I'm sorry no and she's also working to increase the children's programs and we have some adult programs that are coming up soon also I guess my report thank you thank you appreciate you coming we don't have anyone from the highway here but they've been just about done with the mowing they're they have the one tractor for another week and I know today he was headed up to grade New Boston or Jerusalem style yeah that's what he did yeah I thought they were doing a much much better job this year than we've seen in the past quite often yeah last year was kind of harsh with the mowing because it was playing a lot of catch-up from less than perfect job so in this year was obviously going to be I'm not as dramatic as last year because most of the hard pruning was dead been done so yeah yeah Terry I got a price for mom champion on upgrading our space with the mission controls that tell me what's going on with Sewers of course they're out baited about 2,500 bucks to change change what it needs is it functioning for you now it calls me sometimes at 3 in the morning yeah which isn't great I really couldn't hear what Terry was saying about what the mission controls not handling that that tells me what's going on with sewer okay so she controls program for the sewer isn't working properly right thank you it needs to be upgraded just like any computer stuff you know it's it's original the one down in site for 17 years old so that's got to be changed out and upgraded to the new modules you know it's no different like our radios went through the fire apartment when they switch you know frequencies so this is basically the same thing we just haven't ever upgraded it that's about time yeah so I'm gonna tell them go ahead yeah just because you know it's gonna break where we can't doesn't work at all absolutely well other than I'm just I'm making a list of stuff that we should think about applying for some grant money heavily there for a water and sewer there's good money coming down the pike what is your involvement for the upgrade what a what are you going to need are they just going to send you a program and you're gonna do it is there hardware involved no they'll come down and they'll redo it all and then that just be on my phone okay so we're still working the bugs out for the last one they did they're gonna take care of everything right perfect and that when we get it all caught up I'm gonna have them start sending the information to Julie too yeah because right now I'm the only one who gets it no every time this is a good idea so we can have it at the town office right all right does Cody have access to that he will have women's when we once we bring it up there's no sense in setting it up right now until it's already okay from what they tell me okay so I'm gonna give him Cody's number and the town office okay perfect other than that I'm yeah you know I just like so I've been working on what we need to go after for some funds yeah we should definitely make a list yeah I've been making it and then I'm gonna prioritize it because there's definitely some we've got some issues with coming up on the sewer we're gonna have to deal with it that's a good prioritize that list would be great so then we can figure out what's needed the most go from there but there's money out there yeah yeah yeah we know that and right now you know if we aren't if we play for it and if I have to get it engineered I get get a hold of and wait for Jeremy call me back and if we gotta get it engineered then we gonna have to think about hiring them to engineer it all so it's ready most these jobs you're not gonna get the funding unless it's shovel ready so we might have to spend a little bit to get it shovel ready but there's a couple items I'm hoping that we don't have to have an engineer for we also have Larry Strauss on some of this as well so we had seminars last week that was pointing towards utility for the money we owe you money on that anyway and I think it's just up to us to put that money to you and it's an easy fix I mean you ordered hoes you couldn't get so that money transferred to the general fund at the close of the year right and so that came out of your budget in that eight the ARPA money should be able to replace that I would think and also for your fund-raiser's too yeah that you missed out on that's an easy fix for the COVID funds too so when you need that money I guess our our job would be to just approve that document it yeah well that's where we have to make it look right so yeah so when you when you need that y'all's that's what you need to do and then we can approve the funds to go there little nothing an air tank though you're saying well the the not the compressor but the other part which is still like 16 17 grand yeah but I might get one second hand for cheap working on yeah well good luck yeah other than I don't have anything I do not see Jeff here our energy coordinator tonight we did have that return from the EEI people that Jeff and I toured the town buildings and that report is in your thing there I think I even sent that to you and I would ask Julie if she would print up a couple copies that yep well you can have one and make it available in the town office for anybody that would like to read it it's eye-opening and kind of let you see yeah it's a real scary I'm not sure quite how we should address it as a board but I I think we need to maybe get a group together that has more knowledge about construction than we as a board and figure out what we should do and how we should go about doing it and it's it's all tied in with the high school and with all our town buildings so it's just something that we need to address or at least start looking at it to address and make a plan moving forward excuse me Frank if I said that you and the energy coordinator Jeff Gephardt had recently made a tour of town buildings and copies of a report on what you found will be available yes it's it's by the EEI people yeah it was a free service that they do that they come around and go through your buildings and give you recommendations on how to improve and make them more energy efficient and also more workable yeah basically a town building audit and dealing in and looked at the town hall the high school the fire department the public works department the water treatment facility and the library okay and so if I said copies of what they of the report which includes their recommendations will be available to town office there's there's no real recommendations they're just it was just a fact mission or Julie can email anyone that's interested in one a copy of that we met with these people on our meeting of June 28th and then the actual the site visit to the buildings was done on July 13th the refresh my memories to what EEI stood for I forgot energy efficient if investments incorporated incorporated energy efficient investments incorporated that's the name of their company okay thank you very much I appreciate it here's their logo oh there it is thank you very much I appreciate you let me ask questions all right no end of projects to look at so in terms of all business we don't have anything on the agenda one item that I had been thinking about a little bit was very Chad wicks suggestion of a plaque for Eric Wells to join the one for Damien Sleith on the stone by the tennis courts and I'm not sure that that's I like the idea of a plaque for Eric Wells but I don't know if that's the spot to put it because that is when you I walk by that rock at least once a day walking my dog and it's the placement of that it's it's kind of perfect on that stone and I think that adding something next to it under it up it is it would start to not clutter it up but it I think that perhaps the different a different spot different you know but I like the idea of something to you know commemorate Eric but I don't I don't think that's the spot to do it necessarily we'll see if he comes back with a proposal okay that was just my oh should I know he missed it all or not well it's sure if you want it some that you mentioned that that Barry had made a suggestion of a memorial plaque like the idea but not sure that that's the spot to do it there is there is something else there that we need to act on I think it's the health officer I think is there's a form in there that says I think John White is maybe up yeah this it's coming up quick though it's going to expire in the end of November yeah so we have to register that with the state I think there's a all that the information is in there so so we'll get with John I'm just well I don't want to assume anything but I would expect that he would be willing to continue but we'll get that you know add it to the next meetings agenda yeah anything else in the old business that you guys talk about no we don't have anyone for signed up for public comments anyone on zoom world or in the physically you want it that's well I guess we could just say happy indigenous people's day thanks for joining a meeting on it's a holiday for some bank holiday I guess you could call it at least the store was open and I guess we've just got some bills to sign in that in that set now did I hear you're going to go into executive session I would like to so is that anything that I that you could let me know if you make a decision do anticipate making some sort of decision that I should it's just regarding the decision that we already made about changing the vacation to a calendar year rather than your anniversary of higher okay all right all right then I won't worry about it right as far as okay thank you very much for for letting me ask questions I appreciate it no problem no problem so we'll close this meeting now and enter executive session in 10 to 7 so thank you thank you