 It's five o'clock and it is Tuesday, March 19th for the Middlesex Select Board meeting At Middlesex Town Hall and the first thing is a call to order. Are there any amendments, Sarah? Re-appearance town position is deputy health officer that has a time constraint. So that's it. I Last year you guys reviewed and adopted the rules of procedure, but when I checked with VLCT something that should be done every year since you have new board members. So included that you've received the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grant of ninety thousand nine thousand eight hundred sixty two dollars that needs a signature so we can get money for hazard mitigation Plan consultant And then there is the bond bank resolution. We had it on the internet on the on the agenda But we got all the paperwork today so that you guys can since you're all here the lawyer rushed it So you can sign it. It's not due till March 28th, but it might as good done You have an access permit for Diana Luther Putnam on South Bear Swamp Road and Liz asked me to add a survey from the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, so that's it Great Great any other amendments? Alrighty, and we have guests as well. We have some on Zoom and Zara is joining us from Zoom. She is our board member our newest board member. Welcome Zara We have you I will be back the next one great. We have Zach Smith And we have Cindy Griffith and is there someone behind the participants Someone named John Okay Evelyn and Zach, okay. Welcome Steve Dennis Hi Hi there and Steve and Steve Dennis, okay, and then in the audience here. We have some guests as well You must be Richard. Is that Richard Cowells? Yep. Thank you. Welcome and You are Jody Jody Dwyer and Matt Dwyer and Thank You Shelly. Alrighty. Thank you all for coming So we are going to continue we started at our last meeting Where we designated a chair and a vice chair and a few other things So we're continuing the organizational meeting, which is what we do after the start after the Town meeting day. We always do every year a reorganization meeting of the positions that Get reappointed like chair and vice chair and all that and So one of the things we do is we designate a newspaper of record. Is there a nomination for a newspaper of record I think we've used the Times-Arkis in the past. I will eliminate Times-Arkis Okay, as there's a second for the Times-Arkis any other nominations for a newspaper of record Randy moved it and Vic seconded it the Times-Arkis Right all those in favor of the Times-Arkis say aye. Aye. Aye. Okay Congratulations Times-Arkis We have the appointment of the road commissioner so this past weekend I received an email from mr. Cowells here who expressed an interest in Serving as the road commissioner currently we have Vic Dwyer as our road commissioner and This is a position that We as a board Towns can either choose to have a road commissioner voted upon or assigned by the select board So our town does the select board and And and so we sent to mr. Cowells a Job description of What a road commission? Yeah, what a road commissioner is responsible for And so I invited him to share his experience and his interest in being a road commissioner and then find out also if Vic you are still interested in Being the road commissioner as well, and then we would decide who would be the road commissioner So mr. Cowells if you would like to introduce yourself give us as your experience Coles sorry I've been a resident here for 25 plus 30 years My family's been here probably a hundred years and anyways You know kind of I've read your the French watch forum and I've seen in the past where you know it seemed like there was a Some concern need some help, you know and we read that and of course we've had some pretty tough pretty tough storms come through and as as in my world I've been doing excavation and construction for as 25 years and Plus most my whole life my whole family has done it and So I Thought that you know, maybe I could help You know, I realized this is not really a paid position, you know, there's You know, it's it's more or less helping the town or in whatever way possible But yeah, I mean, I I don't know what you really want me to say as far as my job experiences or What I've done in my life. I mean, I've been a manager for 50 60 people at different companies I managed my set my other company that had for You know 15 employees, you know, I've dealt with the workers cop all those safety regulations and all that aspect of it the finances Purchases and sale of equipment and And I think I have a lot some knowledge a lot to offer I'm sure there's a lot of people in this room that have a lot to offer in that department, too And it takes money You can't do anything without money so I Thought I throw my hat in the You know in the in the pool and see, you know, if I could help now whether it's a road commissioner job or or at all I I've seen the roads from one One realm to the other I to be honest I think I've seen East Hill worse and that's where I live out on East Hill I think there's a I think there's a point where Where we have to start somewheres and Start maybe we don't necessarily need to Pave the road, but we need to bring into a grade where they you know to that level and I think that there was some questions I read in the French porn forum that That there was a questions of we weren't sure if we were getting built twice and You Or if they were on our accounts and stuff like that and I had some work with I'd worked with FEMA as well during the storms other towns and work close with the Richmond and You know, it all it always was documentation, you know, they were hiring me to do certain works to repair repair the roads and stuff, you know, it It's it's paperwork. It's it is documentation and it is making sure that people working for you Do a certain what's expected, you know, as far as because you don't know But there's a lot of things. I mean, I don't know As far as As far as my life goes, I mean, I'm a commercial Class A driver's license. I can I've had a fleet of 10 15 trucks I've hauled fuel out of Montreal for 10 15 years attractive trailer I would subbed out for like suburban and all and pyrofax and ultramar So as far as the mechanics and the ability to do a Job like Eric here, you know, you know, I'm familiar with what he's doing, you know And but I just I just thought I'd offer my help, you know, I go home I build roads and and and they they can last a lifetime, but you know, you got to pay for it And I don't want my taxes to go up either, you know, like anybody else, but it costs money, right? And And I think we're starting in some places, you know, well, it's always really nice when people from the community Step up to offer their services because you're right. It is an unpaid job I mean, I think there's a tiny stipend But it's, you know, really more of a service to the town the way the select board is sort of a service to the town as well Does is there anyone here who has questions specifically for Richard about his experience? Yes, Randy So you you said, you know that you've been in the excavation world I'd like to know and you mentioned briefly, you know building roads, but you know, I guess I'm looking for you to elaborate on your experience with roadways and and So I can so the board can get a sense as to whether or not you've been digging foundation holes for the 25 years that you've been in excavation or working in roadways specifically For the 25 years. I just want to understand like a little bit more of the background I've worked for several companies as far as like with James Donald we started with down there at the hospital and build the Parking garage and and those infrastructure things As far as I've been on. Yeah, I've probably done hundreds of cellar holes. It's kind of boring. I've done so many of them And it doesn't change much And as far as roads, yes, I've done development in in Richmond Greystone estates was built to town specifications with 24 foot wide roads With two feet of shoulder each side, you know guardrails the whole deal town had to take it over You know, it's It does take money and and it takes the material that has to be states back You know in order to last the lifetime Let's see You know, I was working on it I mean, I was a trucker. I had done a lot of work with the up at on the on route to and Project the jammed Donald it up there. I can't remember exactly just be on Northfield there So I've had a lot exposure to To how those are put together and also as well Hundreds of driveways as far as I'm building a road right now through the finishing greystone right now in Richmond and you know a lot of blasting involves I've worked with blasting companies And as far as and I I do my own rock crushing I have my own rock crushing business I ran several gravel pits And in the Jericho department Jericho area and also Bolton I still do rock crushing, but I it takes people. I don't have I don't have any employees anymore I just stick to myself myself and so as far as the knowledge of Just about all aspects of gravel material I mean if you want to find me to ask you how to build the road, you know I can explain to you how I would build the road, you know, but I think everyone here probably knows how to build the road and and you know You know, I've worked on You know a lot of things in Essex The days in extended suites in Essex on Kellogg Road Okay, thank you. Sorry here has a question for you. Yes, Sarah Question for both Richard and then Vinic. Oh, just what what what is your suggestion for the best way to deal with our roads right now? What would you suggest? I guess first Richard and then Well, right now middle sex gets like a month of winter longer than anybody else There's two weeks earlier. There's two weeks later. So we're still falling out There's not much we can do with mud and and so yes You we can and then what we've been doing is what we can do is we can throw rock down We can get our pass. We can get through here and get until it gets drier and it's but right now I Was looking at the the How much material we buy and it wasn't really it didn't seem like a lot and We're not I think we're not even touching the Even getting close to what what we would need It's if I was gonna do something I would start off stretch I would just start out there and we dig it down to the three feet find hard hard pan and we throw the dense grade in the bottom we build it up to where it had to be and Then we would top it off with some inch and a half or three-quarter inch plant mix, you know and then With the fabric and all the material we do the ditches. We put the culverts and where they need to be You know, I mean that's that's road. You know, you know, we're patching right now Okay in the interest of getting through our agenda because we have a huge thing to cover I'll let you finish there and then Vic if you want to answer Zara's question where she said if you were poor What would what would be your? What was your question like what is your plan to fix the road? Yeah, what word where do you stand on what's your plan? Well, there's no quick and easy way to fix middle-sex roads because we've been doing We've been dealing with this for years and years and years and particular years About all anybody can do now. I realized that sometimes some couple weeks ago was very very muddy and That free star free star is not much you can do to repair that. Yes if we had the money and The crew like I said at Tom meeting we could go back and you know excavate and material like was done previously but as we said with this particular Crew that we have in the we suffered when we did their construction. We suffered in Maintenance and it put us along put us way back in maintenance. So people are getting together the Planning Commission Sandy has been to a few Planning Commission meetings been talking with with Sandy and I think it's going to be a group effort to see How much money we can get How many grants we can get to to do a better mitigation on Pulled on quote mitigation on mud The idea is not to have to mitigate mud every year It's to you know to get to a point where you can put the gravel on during this in the summer and it doesn't Sink out a site I'll also remind us that at six o'clock we have on the agenda considering creating a mud road subcommittee correct That would research the cost of road repairs potential grant funding paving costs, etc And that sort of come out of some of these front porch forum conversations and Sandy I think in the interest of time, I'll just make one comment and that is First of all Vic. I need to ask you. Are you interested in continuing your role as road commissioner? Okay, so we have to oh and Steven. Yes, did you have were you interested in also being road commissioner Steven? I Was not Just to kind of piggyback on they said about this being kind of a group effort I did just want to point out that the select board has the option to actually nominate two road commissioners not just one. Yeah, I saw I saw that and and so I Think one one comment that I would like to make is that we're We are in sort of a two-year FEMA phase we have just finished sort of our first half of FEMA repairs and all the work that's been required of the paperwork that's been required of the work that has already been done and Vic has been helpful in that sort of process of Knowing what's going on with those those FEMA impacted roads and also knowing what's going on with the Future FEMA roads that we're that are going to need FEMA repairs so we have sort of phase two of of this FEMA work and Personally, I think it might make sense that if Vic still wants to be road commissioner that that he Continues that work because he's very sort of tied to that work that's already being done And he's very much aware of the future projects That doesn't mean that Richard you couldn't be come up to speed on that But that would be a reason why I would say that You know it it might make more sense to have Vic continue, but this does go to a vote and like Stephen said we could potentially nominate up to two road commissioners I'm not sure that that necessarily has and please you know Time in here, but this is just my opinion having two people overseeing Eric might be too much right like Eric Eric, you know, it just seems to me that I'm not sure that it's almost like a third wheel Right and there could be budding of heads and I just I'm not certain why two road commissioners would be of benefit to the town However, I would say anyone who's interested in the town roads It would be super helpful and knowing that this is a position that you are interested in and again We have this has to go to vote. I'm not sure that Vic should vote if he's running so Sarah right he can't vote if he's running right or Kenny. He can vote for himself Okay, yeah, all right, so yeah, I I don't know. I just thought maybe there would be a conflict of interest because okay So is there any other further conversation about this? The only comment I'll make is I agree with you, you know, Vic's been In this position providing, you know the support I think that that knowledge is is important I also think that having additional Folks interested in being active whether or not it's an official road commissioner role, but maybe just somebody to help Continue to you know, push those efforts along and whatever capacity is needed is always welcome in my mind. So And if there is a subcommittee I think that Having that group Gives sort of credence to you know conversations with the school with the select board. So like we now have a I mean We've always had a budget committee, but like there's We sort of work in tandem, right? And so if there is a if there is a road subcommittee That's something that isn't just necessarily, you know calling up Vic or Eric and saying hey, there's a problem with this. It's really it it's Documenting right it's keeping a good record of what's going on and what may need to get done and where we as townspeople Recognize that there are Needs for our roads because we all know that there are a lot of needs for the roads But I also think that you know Eric you are the person who works with the road commissioner So I just want to get your feedback on And on any of this if you if you wish to He's certainly been very helpful with the FEMA work and I think that's probably valuable going on forward as well Alrighty, are there any other questions or comments for Vic or? Richard, okay. Is there a motion? To appoint someone I would nominate Vic for Road Commissioner Randy has nominated Vic for Road Commissioner. Is there a second? Okay, Zara is seconding there. Are there any other nominations? Okay, hearing none All those in favor of Vic Dwyer for Road Commissioner for the next year say aye Aye, okay Thank you. Mr. Kells. I appreciate you're reaching out and I would welcome you to stay for the rest of the Conversation because we will be talking more about roads and subcommittees and it would be really valuable to have someone with your experience Yep, okay, I would absolutely encourage you You know if we're putting together a committee to discuss roads with your interest here and and whatnot I would encourage you to think about your participation there as well Great, thank you. Okay, so congratulations Vic Reappointments to the following town positions emergency management coordinator that would be Steve Dennis Steve Are you still with us? I Am okay, and you're still interested correct Okay, great, so Do we have to we have to do these all separately right sir Okay Well, let's just yeah, let's just let's do them all together Fire warden is that Jason Merrill? Okay. Oh, do we have to nominate? Do you have to say I nominate Sarah? I don't know Okay, let's just do that. All right, so who nominates Steve is emergency management coordinator Okay, Zara and Vic seconds all those in favor of Steve say aye. Aye. Thank you Steve. Congratulations Okay, fire warden is there a nomination Nominate Jason Merrill. Okay second. Okay. Vic is seconding Jason Merrill all those in favor of fire warden Jason Merrill say aye. Aye. Aye Tree warden, who is that Gary Lamel? Oh Gary Lamel. Okay Who is nominating Gary? Can we hold can we hold off for one second? Yeah Have have you been reached out to by any of these candidates that said that do not want to be Okay, gotcha Okay, who is nominating Gary Lamel for tree warden. All right, Vic is nominated. Are there any seconds? Okay, Randy has seconded the tree warden all those in favor of Gary Lamel as tree warden say aye. Aye. Aye Okay, congratulations Gary. Okay, right still beach management representative My family and I live on Wood Road, and we frequently Recreated the reservoir, but there's more to the reservoir since we moved here from Berlin in 2018 We found to be a special place for swimming hiking blah blah blah awesome. Okay, so please we know it is beautiful town You would love to be on the board Wonderful Eric Brown Okay, so Vic has nominated him any seconds for Eric Brown Okay, Zara is seconding all those in favor of Eric Brown as a rights field beach management representative Congratulations Eric Okay, the recreation director is that Mitch Ozeki. Okay, so we have a nomination of Mitch Ozeki from Randy is there a second Vic is seconding it all those in favor of Mitch for Recreation director say aye. Aye. Aye. Okay. The ayes have it E9-1-1 coordinator Oh Okay, Zara, would you like to nominate Mitch for that I know a bitch for that. Alrighty. Is there a second? Okay Vic has seconded it all those in favor of Mitch is the E9-1 coordinator 9-1-1. Aye Okay, ooh, here's a here's a good one the animal control officer Okay, we got a change. All right Christina Hayward has agreed. Yay. And she has a lot of experience and she is Erica Erica recommends her highly Yes, me too. She works at guys from her yard, and I'm I'm assuming she's the only one that's breached out You say her name again Christina Hayward H-A-Y-W-A-R-D Is there a not Zara's nominating right? I nominate Christina Hayward. Whoo. All right. Is there a second? All right, and Vick has seconded all those in favor of Christina As our animal control air ACO say aye. Aye. Yay Christina Congratulations, and now our deputy health officer. Is that doctor? Oh Liz Fortman, yeah Okay Yeah, I signed here We haven't gotten there, I don't think you hold your horses. Yeah, okay, so All right, so we've gone through that. That's awesome. Great. I will nominate Liz Fortman. Oh, right Liz Fortman, right? Okay, although some paper of Liz Fortman Hi Thank you Liz for your service. I did. Yep. There it is right Randy. Yep. Okay. He sees it Reappointing David Lawrence as middle-sex representative to the CV fiber board with Bruce Stevenson as an alternate And I just want to say I have CV fiber. I am an early doctor Love it. It's a little glitchy, but they said that's to be expected in the beginning So thank you glitchy Well because they're getting all middle-sex wired up and so they have shut things down once in a while So is David Lawrence here or has he said? Okay, great. Is there a nomination? David and Bruce is an alternate Okay, is there a second? Okay, Randy is seconding that all those in favor of David and Bruce say aye. Aye. Aye Okay Reappointing Dell McDonough as middle-sex is rep. I thought she lived in Worcester Dell McDonough as middle-sex is represented to Central Vermont solid-waste management district must be thinking of somebody else Is there in nomination? Okay, and is there a second for Dell All seconder Okay, or Zara all those in favor of Dell Say aye Okay, yep Reappointing Ronald Krauth as middle-sex is representative to the Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission with Mitch Oseki serving as alternate Is there a nomination? Okay Zara first and Vic will be second All those in favor of Ronald serving and Mitch as the alternate for the Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission Representative for middle-sex. Aye. Thank you for your service Reviewing and adopting the rules of procedure as an alternate to Robert's Rules of Borders for 2024 Did everyone get a chance to read through these as a board member? Zara did you? Basically, this is just sort of our rules of behaviors and so there's a There there are pieces around organization the agenda Around meetings and when those are going to happen Emergency meetings we try to limit those obviously because we want to make sure that we can do a public announcement occasionally those happen and And so all I would say is since this is my first year Charing it's been a long time since we've had a different chair We've had Peter Hood as our chair and I would like to publicly acknowledge and thank Peter He's not here. He was supposed to be here, but I'd like to thank him for his many years of service as our chair He has led us through a lot including COVID and the flood And so I just would like to give him a round of applause. How about Yeah, Peter and so just to remember that Obviously we want to make our select board meetings a welcome place for the public and that folks feel that they can speak And that Everyone Just treats everybody with respect because the reality is that we are all here. We are not here for the money, right? We are definitely not here for the money And we're not here because we don't want to spend time with our families and we don't want to be outside playing, right? we're doing this because we care about our town and And we want what's best for our town and ourselves who live in this town. So I Would say I invite members of the public to come. I think it makes for a much more interesting Meeting and it allows us to hear from from you folks. So continue to come in person or you know via zoom If you do want to speak Certainly just raise your hand and I'll recognize you as the chair And if you're talking you're speaking to the chair as opposed to like, you know Matt talking to Eric, right about something So that's how you try to keep the meeting civil is sort of just through is through me I mean, you know, you know It happens that we start chatting and that's okay I'm not going to constantly stop people but just you know in order to keep the peace and to keep movies meetings moving It's best to to address the chair And again feel free if I'm not wrecking seeing someone nudge me say Liz so-and-so has their hand up because I sometimes Don't see especially on the zoom and So anyway, so this is what we are Adopting it. Are there any questions about this board members about the rules of procedure for the middle-sex select board Okay, hearing none. Is there a motion to approve the rules of procedure? Alrighty, is there a second? Vic made the motion second, okay Zara seconds all those in favor of the rules procedure say aye. Aye. Okay. The eyes have it So Zara, um, you're not here to sign it, but we do have a quorum to sign. So There you go 530 four minutes behind Regular select board meeting. Oh, what was this? That was the organizational meeting. Wow Okay, so we are approving the minutes Welcome to the regular select board meeting We are now approving the minutes of the march 13th 2024 emergency meeting the february 29 2024 vicious dog hearing And the february 20th 2024 regular meeting action likely Was everybody do we have a quorum for all these? I think we do for approving the minutes Okay, is there a motion to approve all those minutes all at once? Yeah, I'll make that motion. Okay. Randy makes that motion. Is there a second Vic? All right, so I'm not sure if you zara zara was not on the board. So zara doesn't vote So all those in favor of approving the minutes of march 13th february 29th and february 20th say aye Aye the ayes have it Okay, reviewing and possibly amending the agenda for the march 19th regular meeting action Likely. Oh, I'm so confused right now. I did. Okay. Good. So There's nothing we've seen what's amended. This is our agenda, right? Yeah. Okay. I'll keep going then Um, we do have to approve it. Oh, okay. So yeah, I'll make that motion to approve as amended Okay, and you're seconding Vic seconding all those in favor of the approved and amended agenda of march 19th say aye Aye Okay, great approving signing a federal building resilient infrastructure and communities grant of $9,862.50 to pay for a consultant to update the town hazard mitigation plan Action likely and sarah sent us an email with all those attachments one was 200 and something pages long sarah And I did not read that that was the grand application. I think Is there anything sarah that you would like to tell us about this? Just to retaple just do this very quickly It used to be back in the old days the federal government or through the state would fund the central mont regional planning commission to do these to update to get a consultant to update our hazard mitigation plan every five years and that was automatic Sometime in the past four or five years that changed and now the federal government Releases the money through the state of vermont two individual municipalities individual municipalities have to then go out put out R&Ps and consultants apply So this is the money to do that and we're getting we can't do anything until we get the money We can't sit sit on an rfp. So once we get this money approved we can go put out an rfp And certainly central mont regional planning commission will likely be one of the applicants I thought they gave us a notice that we could go ahead without I thought that was on the attachment like that. We were given permission before We weren't wait. We haven't been for the past two years. Oh, I see Now we can and we have a 25 percent Fee on that we still pay 25 percent. Okay. That's ready two questions Is this the same Thing that we got caught up in where they it was approved and they never sent money from last year this is the this is where This money and this approval have been sitting in the coffers for 18 months And we're just the federal government has just released it to the state of vermont and that's why it's dated november 22nd 2023 And I think the second part of my question is If the rfps come back and and they're significantly different than this money Can we go back and ask for more if we've got a 25 percent? I honestly don't know so it's it's 13 000 is what they quoted as the like cost of this We would pay 25 of that and 9 000 is 75 percent right, but that's not through an rfp That's just what they estimate the cost is going to be It's they consultants understand. Yeah, how much we are we're budgeted for so that that's well known It's a public record. They know how much money we have But yeah, you'll be able to review If we get more than one applicant to be able to review as to select for it and pick a consultant. Yes That's not going to be my decision. That's your decision. Okay, so Is there a motion or any more further conversation about this? I just want to say that this is important because this is why We have to we have to fulfill five check five boxes in order to not have a 25 percent match during a disaster And if we don't have an updated hazard mitigation plan, we will have to chill out We'll have to shell out 25 percent if we have another natural disaster Speaking of which I did read the grant agreement and part of it says that that We have to have a subcommittee like we have to have a committee of people Yeah, okay that that I probably have yeah That that are that that weigh in on this plan Okay Great. So if anyone's interested in being on the subcommittee for the hazardous mitigation plan That's also an opportunity to serve the town. I think we've got some people that probably do that. Yeah Okay, so Any other questions or discussions about this are are you okay with this? No, yeah, okay. So is there a motion? Yeah, I'll make the motion to sign to approve this Okay, so okay and vicks seconds it so All those in favor of approving and signing the federal building resilient infrastructure communities grant Say aye. Aye. Aye. Okay. The ayes have it And I think that is that grant here, sir Okay, yep, I'll I'll look at that late. I'll look at that after the meeting Um, okay, so we are right on schedule for the monthly meeting of the middle sex volunteer fire department Welcome Okay, thanks So total we're up to is 19. We had uh, three calls this period One of those was canceled by vsp up on the interstate. Thank goodness for vsp So we had max four and min three For a 3.7. It's a drop from last month. Let's consider we only had three calls. It's kind of Engine one went out want six zero tanker one zero and rescue out twice So that rescue was the winner this time. So we had the accident on 89. It was canceled. Nothing was found We had a vehicle fire on route two at in the roots parking lot And then we had a tractor trailer unit with a load of salt roll over onto the railroad tracks Missed the delivery to do boys by a little bit But I went by there today and all that salt is gone. They came and cleaned it up So obviously two was shut down until they got the truck right it and out of there As far as training we went to capital dispatch to get a tour and to work with them on how best we can Make their lives easier and what they can do to make our lives easier on the radio So good working relationship seeing faces Instead of just a voice on radio Repairs we're still working on a mission sensor it's been a A real as far as purchases after the last structure fire we had We decided we need to get a what's called a low-level strainer Which is a strainer you put into the the duck pond That rides on the tanker, but it goes either on the side or behind The engine so engine six has a rear draft capability and we It has a five inch hose off the back and that's that's our primary our preferred Engine to use in the pump roll because it does have that capability to draft from the pond in the back So you're not tying up two lanes of traffic With the pond and so this low-level strainer allows us to get way down on the The level of water instead of just sticking sticking a a five inch Pipe in there and then now you you can get down to about two and a half inches of water versus about six So that's going to cost about six hundred seventy two bucks and Should be in here. Hopefully soon As far as fast quad we had a total of eight calls Three of those were medical only And now for the solar eclipse info I went to a tabletop exercise last week As of last Tuesday There were somewhere between 40 and 60 thousand reservations in the chitin and franklin county area hotels motels airbnb's State campgrounds. They're going to open some of those up It is going to be despite our Um Best efforts to have a clear day the the reality is it could very well be cloudy The odds are not to be sunny on that day But whatever they still get dark. How do we know that? Back the last 10 years only in two days has been sunny on that day. This is a special day Well, it'll still get dark no matter what But with those 40 to 60,000 that's just the name on the reservation So anywhere from 100 to 150,000 people and that doesn't include the day trippers from boston and new york city With that being said People from out of state are not used to driving on mud season roads Mud season may be over by then or not so I-89 is going to be Very crowded the state has already said they're not going to do oversize Permits for the weekend. They're expecting people going to start showing up on friday So I highly recommend anybody go do their food shopping and gas purchases on thursday Or wait until tuesday Because it's going to be a nightmare restaurants bars Anything is going to be packed The sell system is probably going to if it doesn't crump it'll be extremely slow Verizon is bringing in portable towers Really? Because everybody's going to be with their cell phone. Oh, look at me and and then When they leave on on monday afternoon, everybody's going to be hitting Google maps and trying to find out how to get from where they are to get back home So expect the sell system to be very challenged over the weekend Um, the loop highway up in colchester is actually going to be a parking lot They'll be doing bus transportation into burlington from there. There's a big party In burlington down at the waterfront. There's a party here at camp mead Um, the sugar bush has a big party I'm not sure about stow, but I wouldn't surprise me if they have one So there's going to be lots of parties around And lots of people who've never been here before and and don't know where they're going So be patient be keep your eyes out keep your head on a swivel Because it's going to be it's going to be the other thing to watch out for is most likely the emergency department up at cvmc and the urgent care centers are going to be Task saturated Just based on the numbers of people coming in And the whatever ales I'm going to The hospital my guess is probably somewhere around from Monday at noon till around Monday at four Somebody's got to be really bad off if they're going to go to the ed because they don't want to miss miss it So just be aware be patient pre-plan if you're going someplace go early The we've already talked about ambulances. They're looking at at prepositioning ambulances on the exits Like five six seven eight nine 10 Realistically, we've got about 10 ambulances that they can regionally have up and running Most of the ambulance services are bringing everybody in to to fully man all their their buses So gosh, it's this is going to be Once in a lifetime event and a lot of people are coming to event it Is there a public service announcement like that's been going around that we could put on a front porch forum? Like maybe you could do that. I can put something in front for a little safety thing The state hasn't put out much of anything in the hospital hasn't really put out anything The only thing that that's happened that i'm aware of is the one that district sick tad Last tuesday I was gonna close the office at noon, but i'm thinking after what you said maybe i'll just close the office all day I don't want to be trapped in traffic Yeah, I mean our roads People could come up on any of our roads and say oh, there's a nice field I think you should close for the day if you don't have anything do close for the day People aren't going to be coming to town hall. I don't know is What's does anybody know what ronnie's oh what schools aren't letting out early? Uh, so 11 30 for you 32 and then ronnie is 12 30 Yeah It just be any open field there's probably going to be people parking there Yeah And don't forget if you haven't gotten sunglasses get them or don't look Yeah, don't look don't point your phone your camera Or anything that doesn't have a shield on it or it doesn't have a filter on it Up at the sun because there's a good chance and if it's cloudy you can you can really go blind So don't thank you, jeff They are all gone. Oh my god. Did people just all right um Okay, is there any anything else that the fire department would like to share with us Well, thank you for your service as usual tomorrow. We're doing the inspection. Yes Oh, is that when it is yet for the heating system you put in the email? Are you still It's the 21st 21st 21st This is messing me up that it's a leap year. So I think that yeah, and I think that lauri is going or someone from the um I think ours is the 20th. Yours is the 20th. That's tomorrow Okay. Yeah It's tomorrow. At what time is yours tomorrow? 230 230. Okay. Do you guys are both going to be there? Okay, good They're doing a whole audit of the building. I think yeah Yeah Okay, um already so, uh There was no action, right for the middle sex fire department sir said action possible, but okay highway report 550 right on target Can you tell us what's happening with the highways? I can tell you all right. I'll start off with the equipment Everything's going good except for the freight liner. We have an electrical issue Surprise surprise And I have not had a chance to look at it yet That's with the equipment the rest of the roads obviously Portal road is still shut off to the buses for now Hopefully by the end of the week we should be able to get it should be better And actually it's going to be good anyway this week because it's going to start freezing up How's wood road? I went up it with a dump truck today. It's fine. Okay. I mean it's rough, but It's passable. Are people able to get to now? Okay, you're not you're not sinking out of sight. Okay Do the fact that You didn't get over to Zidane road, did you? I did not there's a sinkhole over on Zidane road And on south bear swamp The sinkhole I filled the one on south bear swamp, but I've not got over to the one on zedane And steve sent out His was second addendum third addendum one of them one of them To all the contractors About FEMA And we had a pre-vid meeting here on friday at 10 o'clock we had about 20 some odd people 20 people show up bidders contractors Separate vendors or I'm guessing there were multiple Some I do but for the most part I think we had at least what 15 Wow, that's a lot And so then what's the next step after you do that so they either decide they want to put a bid and sometimes they don't Right? Yep, how many do you expect to get? And I think I think you're going to find that some of them are going to submit for all of it Oh interesting. Is that something where We would consider If they can do it Yes, this is like What didn't get finished from the fall and the spring that and some get mitigation work as well fall in the summer Yeah And when when are those do those bids next week? Okay, and then you you review them 26 Okay, and then you make a decision when 26 we don't we don't know And we have to then we have to go through and score them they might have to score them right okay And then make our recommendations and then you guys vote on it and we're hoping that'll be done by when all of that The work no like the decision We said march 26. Yeah, so this is like april sometime Okay, all right Yes, randy I'd like to know whether or not Steve was able to connect with the theme of representative to ask about the approval for The work that they pushed out I did And I'm waiting for his response. I send him all the information for the fema wrap to get back to you Yeah, we had talked we had a fema meeting and we talked about it and I said we need to have it in writing sway He said we'll send it and then when I finally got to sending it It was like a week later and then I'm just waiting for Randy just to clarify you talked about the all seasons extension or what? Yes. Yes It's just the the addendum for the change order for the c work. Yeah A person Sir reiterate that part about being in the select board with this bids so the way fema likes to The preferred way of doing this is that The meeting begins with the expert whoever that is saying how much this project cost should cost Then the bids are open at that time at the select board the beds should be delivered to town to the select board The bid the select board opens them breeds through the bids Uh, and then they are ranked As part of that select board meeting as part of that select board meeting And if you Don't think that's right. I please encourage you to talk to your fema reps To find out what it is, but I've been schooled on this right We have a question. Yes, ma'am So these bids that are coming in You're going to have a multitude of bids Some for the whole project some for parts of this project How do you guys plan on dealing with? The difference, you know, if you got somebody comes in for wants to do two or three roads You got somebody's going to come and do it all. Yeah, I know So how do you make a decision based with all all of them? Well part of the part of the scoring is based off from A multitude of factors not all of its price A lot of it has to do with past experience with contractors the proximity of the contractors for us Their capability of doing the job as far as their size There's several other questions things on there that we have to Consider when we So it's going to take a while for the board to process for you guys to sort through this Yes, I don't think it can be one meeting even tenet Yes, Richard. Yeah, I would with the bids and when we go out there and you Now with a pre bid The day expect the roads the day they come out and look at the road and say, okay Well, we need this at a certain grade at a certain height to be able to be at least More or better than Prestorm because we got to be some of the work that was done wasn't actually brought us back to even prestorm conditions. Right, you know, so you kind of Did we come out with a number of like, okay, you need, you know, 3000 yards of material That's exactly what you do your estimates. That's all that's what Steve did. He went through and he figured Material on the road for this long by this wide by this thick Yeah, this is the cubic yards that you're going to need to bid on. How many culverts their size their depth all of it We actually all this day. Yes, we all all three of us And then Steve came come to take compiled the computations and uh, in a base estimate Yeah, I was uh, just in in response to matt's question And I think Eric answered it, but I was just going to say that they were put out as as Even though they may come back and bid on multiple projects. They were issued as separate projects Um, so we will we'll know like as a grouping how it was put up That's how they're going to be bid on it and and I think Eric Answered the question about size of company their capacity with staffing and equipment and all that kind of stuff as to whether or not They get more than one project or all of them or whatever they bid for that'll yeah, because there's separate contracts for It's like nine jobs Can you just update us what roads those are on? Yeah, east hill east hill, uh center road Zedon not road shady rail wood road macy road south bear swamp upper sunny brook davie sunny brook sunny brook portal portal road Pretty much all There's one culvert on mccullough, right? Yeah Yeah, and some more gravel how much you know, I messed a couple There's a lot but some said some teens so some of those roads some of those roads are combined to one job because they're not overly big Okay. Yeah, I didn't get them all. Yeah, I know it would be helpful But if we have a list Instead of just trying to catch you was as we speak we do if we get circulate that list that would be helpful I got that Maybe the road so Okay, so Miss I will say that oh sorry good I have a quick question. I mean I know I'm not treasurer anymore But when I got done there was still I think three or four invoices from a vendor that was C classified originally classified as C work was going to be B work. We were waiting for re-invoicing. Has anything has that been captured? Yep, it has been and it's gotten submitted then to FEMA because it wasn't on the original. Well I had to coordinate with Steve and then he lost the number Yeah, but that's coming in but with the with the with the work from All seasons that they did on center road in east hill that will be B work Okay, so somebody is submitting that then because it wasn't on the original sheet that sarah did we fixed we fixed the the invoicing the Miss the gravel invoicing that was off a little bit. Yeah, that's been fixed So now we could submit that. Okay Is this that was that question revolving around that hundred thousand? It was a hundred that over a hundred thousand dollars worth. That was kind of like in the air. Yep. It didn't go We've got it. We've we've resolved the situation now. We can submit it And sarah, did you say that we actually have money in hand from FEMA or that it was approved? It's approved. We got we got through the central office and now we're being stuck at the Environmental and historic preservation level they take back with five other six questions. Yeah, I think how old Government Hill Road is I've tried to answer those As much as I can and I think are they are going to have to answer the rest because it has to do like I'll get it. I just didn't have time today. Yeah, okay And then that was how much two hundred and two hundred and fifty two thousand And as a reminder half that would go to if we've gotten the bond money We have not gotten the bond. No, we haven't signed the paperwork, but that's something else when we get to that thing I have a discussion about that so Before we go to the from the road, I have one other question There was some discussion at one point about the approval of Essentially dredging out The bridge at the bottom of mcgulla. Yes. Can we talk about where we sit with that today? We finally get the permit but but What the permit states and what we had talked about are two different things. So I need him to come back out and Show him that it wasn't enough. How different is what they gave us the permit for? Just The downside of the bridge and just underneath the bridge Okay, so nothing to do with okay Nothing upstream. Yeah, we go 200 feet either way and then he said any limited it to about 50 Yeah, yeah, just basically to where the pool it pulls around the corner when the trees knocked over It will help some yeah, but it doesn't really You could really see the difference this past weekend when we got all the rain how quickly that water came up Yep Yeah, it was big You see how quickly it's headed right for the Where we just paved. Yes. Yeah Sarah has a question I just want to clarify did that permit was from a and r. Yes And it went from 200 feet as you requested to 50 feet. Is that the issue? Uh, yeah Roughly 50 feet 200 feet each way Uphill and downhill from the bridge and now i'm here in 50 feet on the downhill side But nothing on the uphill side nothing at all Just underneath the bridge. That's what I heard. Yep So you wanted 200 feet on either side, but she's got 50 feet on the downhill Yeah, he's saying roughly no more than 100 100 cubic yards. He'll come back. Okay, great. Yes. I need to get him back I will say that uh since so culver hill road had a massive, um Rebuild after the flood because we lost most of our road like we lost at least half of it lengthwise um And they rebuilt it from you know, almost down by the shooting range up past to the bretts There's no mud And it's great and it really makes I mean there's a few little potholes, right? You know because it's been raining a lot But there's no mud because it's you know the road was gone and they had to rebuild it and it just I can't tell you usually Like last it was two years ago I think it was we were homebound like we could not leave our house for about three days because of the mud And there's just nothing like that now So I just I'm hopeful that like what you're saying richard that you know with some of these repairs Although, you know fema's not here to rebuild our roads, right? That's the other issue is that you know, it would and and I will say you know that stretch that was Maybe a quarter of a mile $250,000 so we're talking like a million dollars a mile to rebuild roads and that's just you know with with Maybe it's less maybe you can do it for less, but it's like I mean that's Maybe it's more Yeah, I mean and so you know if we have 56 miles of dirt roads and we had to rebuild all the roads That's 56 million dollars and that you know, this is not palatable, right? So, you know, maybe this subcommittee that we'll be bringing up right now. I believe it is I have one other thing just at that point That's the uphill side of makala where the rock wall on the opposite side on the center road side of the bridge It's basically just degraded to the point where we've got eddie circulating around the headstone And grabbing that bank and pulling it into the that wasn't part of the emergency watershed or anything like that Um, I was only homeowners I thought that there was some stuff with some towed roadways, but I don't think this was this was part of that Maybe it maybe it was but I just I want to make sure you guys are well aware You know, I I drive through there every time it rains and and it constantly is just being eroded to the point where Eventually that pavement is just going to start being undermined as well Yeah, I mean at the end of my driveway Over the bank, you know, the the brook overruns that whole section and starts washing out through There as well through a lot a lot of these rain events Never used to be that way I'm not sure when to ask it or how to ask it. Um, I'm not a resident, but as you know, I drive bus for from the Yep My first question is that turn on to shady rail coming from wister. Yep As you get at the top people will just Be all right through there try to get ahead of me. There's no yield. No stop sign I mean, it'd be nice to have a stop sign. So you're coming from wister and taking a right on shady rail that Is a stop sign not for the 12th side, but not to turn on shady rail I prefer stop sign because I just went through there one day and someone had to Jesus and the other thing was What is that road and Puttinville Oh, no, no, just after that House on the right that sits right on the corner right where you guys put in your Yeah, the speeding signs Does not work at all Um, I've had a few red light run runners because they come around that corner so fast I don't know if the previous bus driver complained. I don't know if the Eric Oh, so you're on Norton trying to take a left or something. No, no, I'm on the main road Okay, and I stopped I pulled to the edge of the driveway But people come around there and they don't see me at time And I don't know if there's some way we could trim the trees back So they make it a little bit better be me because a couple of people have run my red lights, uh less Oh my gosh, okay. Yeah, I was like, what red light are you talking about? You're talking about the bus red light Yeah, it's right on the corner right where you had the u.s Boundary sign and they come around the corner and friday I had uh, I think it was friday or thursday Oh my god, that's so scary a car Stop, but it saw me. It was coming along more than 35 and I was talking to the father for a second And he wanted to let me know something I had turned my head back and the vehicles in this lane at me Pulled by the side of him. He must have been going too fast. It was rainy. He couldn't stop So I don't know if we get just some way to trim those trees back. I we've had another place for a stop No, not not for not for him. He's like he's a he's a pre-k. He's a pre-k Oh gosh, this is scary Yeah, so it's right where yeah, so I Had to let my way that shoots right off on the corner To the right hand side if you're heading towards Worcester right on the corner Yeah, that's last house. It's right where your right where your sauce, but I'll put her son you put it We the last semester I ever complained and they got nowhere to with the stay Okay, Zara has her hand up Okay, Zara. Yep Just saying maybe a mirror placed on a tree so that people can see what was going on is cheaper than Cheap trees down. I don't know Yeah, it's not really taking trees. It's just that you know cutting like the some branches back Yeah And then just those are just my two two wondering about and I wonder too about but the this is a state thing Like putting up a sign that says school bus stop, right? That's a well any any work done on that is Through the state. Yeah, and then I don't because we've had no luck in the past I even with the last bus or so I maybe if Eric says the board I say can we get it cut back And then just maybe just a stop sign. I'm sure you're if that's possible Is that are we allowed to to cut those trees or no, that's a state state too. Okay Do you know who we contact in the state? I can call Yeah I can send him an email. I would um I'm I'm slightly confused about the location, but maybe afterwards Yeah, yeah, and so if you're coming from if you're coming from uh, wister So you got that, uh, I know where albie borne's house is. Um, it's uh, I'm trying to think of his name You have that little business there So right it's that last corner just before you come into puttinville. There's a little business there. I'm trying to think oh the fish luring Yeah, so, um, it's actually right where Is this what you're talking about? This is this is north road here. Yeah, it's actually redmond. Is this heading out toward there? She works for the state In what department this is this is wister. Okay. This is transportation. So if you're heading out So it's right here. This is albie borne's house. Yeah, I do have an email so they can give it to you sign us right here Where you're spending your spend money. I'll send you an email. I'm stopping you at the end of here I can send you. Yeah, we're stopping at albie's house. Yes, I guess. Okay, so he's stopping at albie's house Okay, yeah, so my my concern is just for the safety of this group of trees They're all right around that corner. You know, you're coming even though you get that nice. He's stopped over here. They're not stopping I see. Okay. Yep. I got you. That is a sharp corner. I know what you're talking about Yeah, and they see it flashes what your speed and it says 35 miles an hour. You put the signs in but they Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got you. Okay. With what happened friday, you know, they you know Okay, I'll say that a child nearly was hit by a car. No, I won't go that far, but that's could be I mean, that's bad. You know, it's just that and just maybe just the stop sign I would be scared and that that was just my two requests, you know, if that's something the board would Interpretated. Okay. Thank you for bringing that up and thank you for driving the bus That's a big job. It's gonna be fun. They're getting out early, but I wonder how much travel I'll hit on the 8 Okay, right. Yeah. Okay. Great. All right. So now we're a little behind schedule folks But we're considering creating a mud road subcommittee that would research the cost of road repairs and potential grant funding, paving costs, etc Action possible. So this Sarah do have want to give a little history about this mud committee or you want me to Yeah, I mean, so yeah, I mean, so basically there've been um, and I don't think it's hilton on the phone I can't see exactly who's here. I don't know that hilton is here. No, but um, hilton, uh, deer Dire, I always want to call him deer, but dire Just like I want to call you cows, but it's coals, right? Um, so, uh, hilton, um offered To do a and he was in touch with susan clark our town moderator and sandy living from our planning commission about, um, a Doing a survey like a survey monkey kind of thing so that we could start to get You know a excel spreadsheet or something that lists the Challenging spaces that that people have on the road straight blood season and and you know, I think that It's an interesting concept, right? Um, and I know that That you know could be one piece of it, but really There are there are some you know potential Funding out there that you know, we could pursue That isn't A funding that we normally Use right because we know about the fundings that we normally use right like there are there are grants everywhere for highways That you're aware of and that we utilize maybe there's some that we're we're missing um, and You know, I think that as a part of our Select board goals, which are not on this. Are they not yet? Um, that we do want to think about you know Figuring out how and I I'll recognize you in a minute there peter figuring out how to Get back to some of that work that was done in paul's tenure, um, you know really Um, does that mean that we hire a contractor to do that and how much is that going to cost? um, so this you know subcommittee could potentially be involved in um, you know determining You know, what would be the cost to the town to really Do serious mitigation on some of these these tough areas that we've been putting off Um, and you know, or do we as a town do it and we hire for the? maintenance You know as richard said this isn't gonna be cheap and you know, I think that it would be helpful for You know if there is people if there are people who are interested in being more involved in the roads because This isn't getting better every year. This is getting worse every year And so you know, I personally think it's not a bad idea peter you had your hand raised and I just want to welcome you to the meeting He's muted you're muted You're muted peter As you all know, um I apologize for being late to the meeting Um, I've been thinking a lot about this road business as I know we all have I mean my only comment is I think we know pretty darn well Where the bad spots are road crew knows most of us have been involved in Town roads for years who've been dealing with the town roads to know where the bad spots are I don't think we need help doing that But where I think we potentially could really use help is figuring out how to fix this And if there are other brands out there or whatever it is um And nor haven't forbid but maybe building community consensus that we're just kind of You know increase our property tax bills and we're going to go after some of these bad spots whatever it is but Any any group of people who are interested And getting involved in these roads. I think it's a good thing. I think we can use all help we can get so I was I was initially uh Kind of reluctant about this but the more I thought about it the more I thought it was a good idea Thank you, peter Yes Jodi, I think a survey is always great People want to put their input in but I think we need people on the ground to actually go Like I would like to see like matt and richard some people who have the experience to work with eric to go and investigate this stuff and Make things happen, you know, because I think we talk a lot But we don't act a lot and I just think that it would be great to get some people who really Have experience to figure out what needs to be done and how to get it done okay I'd like to say something. Yes, ma'am So I would Be more than willing to get involved with this road committee and help the town with the mud problem I first want to say this year has probably been the worst year since I've ever been here and I've been in your 50 years um The freeze thought fact that we've had like six mud seasons started in december These guys don't have a chance They just don't have a chance we when the road thaws and freezes Every other week there's not a lot you can do And when the work and where the work needs to be done and when the work needs to be done It needs to be done in the summertime And I also want to say I was on the board for three years When paul Who everyone talks highly about for lots of good reasons? I think he'll go down in history It's the guy who fifth molly suple hill because I hear it all the time and he did at a cost But there was we did suffer that year in maintenance But that's what happens when you take three or four of your road crew guys and you put all your efforts in one area You're going to sacrifice someone else So I could talk in in deeper content about what I think, you know How to handle this down the road if people would want me to get involved But I also think there's other ways that we can make these roads better And there's little secrets here and there with certain roads Required different treatments that we can address For a lot less money than everybody is thinking oh, we're going to just dig it all out replace it and On some places. Yes, but there's a lot of places right now. Oh, yeah, and I don't even think that's a real No, and it's not real. Yeah, it's not for sure. So I would just like to have more willing to help out if Thank you matt Zara you had a question I just was going to say I'd be more than happy to work with matt and richard and I assume vick would also want to be part of the committee I'm better at finding money. So I'm interested in finding grand money to help us pay the bill Or creating events With planetary matters or whoever. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of Um out of state home order, but fortunately or unfortunately out of state home orders are about 9% of our Community so we don't have a lot of Pockets to dig in there, but yeah, I'd love to be on the committee with guys who know what to do I'll help find the money Thank you. Zara. Yes, richard I I would say the same. I I don't know if we need to pay somebody I don't know how much money would cost to pay someone to do a study Um, I like you say, I think we know some bad areas. I I've got to believe that There's a there's a lot of bad areas. We can only address so much at a certain time But um, yeah, I don't think we need to just take money to have someone say tell us what we already know And you know start at And in summertime you've got to do it the summer you can't do anything now You know the mud is just piling high now And um, and we keep cutting it cutting it down cutting it down and throwing throwing into the ditches We can't do much about that Um, and then if we bring it back We're really bringing back the muck, right, you know, it's not and it's going to come back next year You know, so if we cut it down and maybe if we find the places that we can add You know decent material It go along with like you're like you were talking about Yes, I'm sorry. I Okay, all right, so but we're not doing that tonight because we have to put out a notice Well, that's just saying. Okay. Just move it to the next level. So yeah, okay I think that I so I would agree that we could move this to the next level And we need to make a motion. No, okay. Yeah To invite people to join a sub committee point a subcommittee and then everybody understands that's what you get Okay, so do you agree with that board members that we should have a subcommittee? who Helps us determine some of this and I would say too just and peter does yeah I would say too that I know you're like, oh, we don't need to hire anyone But this this type of like engineering study Could be a grant through the central environmental regional planning commission through a municipal planning grant They like those kinds of projects that you know, we could spend some money doing that unless you really didn't think that was necessary Yeah, okay Thank you to eric for all he does Because he does the best he can when he has to work with and just acknowledge that and just to ask him That having this committee would this be helpful to you? Absolutely. Okay Might even show up Even better Um, okay, so that's great. Sarah will put out a notice and then our next meeting will actually Yep, okay, so I think that yeah, you would you'd submit a letter saying you want to be part of submit subcommittee Yeah, and emails like yes I'm sure eric wants to get out of here before the bca here and can we just discuss the uh portal road not portal road They've put them a curb cut eric. Oh, yeah It's pretty straightforward Just they need to follow the specs on The attachment a on the on the state's spec form like we normally do I don't see any issues. But is this the diana and luther putnam. Yeah, okay On stop. Yes, correct. Okay Um an access permit for diana and luther putnam. Okay And there's nothing special about it. No, are they here? No, they're here. Okay. Alrighty. Um, so It's clearly marked Do we want to approve that right now jump down and approve that? Well, I don't think it's up to you Okay, so To is there a motion for approving and signing an access permit for diana and luther putnam on south Okay Randy's just Randy seconds it all those in favor of approving the access permit for diana and luther putnam on south Say aye. Okay. Thank you for the next one. Okay. So now we are at Time doesn't meeting start 6 15 Okay, do you have the agenda in minutes for that and that the instructions and everything? Okay. Um, okay. So, uh, let's see Okay, approving mark steinberg and linda Sue yeah Application for a bio of their camp at 366 vermont route 12 action likely I'll just tell you this so this has been something that's going back and forth for the state This is a camp that exists in the middle of state lamb Basically in the putt in the runoff from rightsville reservoir Right by shady real when you turn on the shady real. Yeah And the first mark was going to go through the state but the state still wants the town to approve this buyout The question is whether or not the town will have to quote quote maintain the property After the buyout if it goes through and that means you come by and you take photos and say yeah No one's building there which is and it may the state is still looking at taking this over But we can't they can't get to the buyout level without the select. We're approving that because you're taking them off the tax rules Okay, it's a small camp I don't know where it is of the overflow. Where is it related to tamis? farm Tammy white. Yeah, if you before when you cross over the bridge Yeah before you get to Merritt road if you took a really sharp left right there it went down It's down in there So before tamis house on the left. Yeah, it's just interesting. I didn't know there was anything there Okay And this is a fema for something is like the three mile bridge Uh all those other buyouts that you've done for camp It is well not a primary home. No It's so that's really weird Well, that's for you to consider if you wanted to fur on it. I mean you can differ on it I just didn't realize that pima did buyouts for camps But maybe they do I mean, I guess I don't have a problem with it Well, it just becomes our property. I don't know. We that's that's the issue Why don't we put this can we put this or not? I don't know, but I don't know what I'm going to learn between now and then Sure, put it off. Yeah, let's just put it off for now. Um, and I'd like to learn a little bit more about that But I don't know if you can provide any more information Um, is everyone okay with that? I yeah, I'd like to know Uh, so we have do you think um, we can get through the next agenda item? Um, which is the bond I think there's some discussion there But a discussion. I mean not a lot, but okay um Sounded like more than three minutes. Well this is I don't know how closely everybody read the um The agreement that you're signing the note Um, but it appears from reading this that we don't actually pay the money It sounds like we report the fit the money that we receive But we don't have to physically pay it until March 1st of 2026. We make interest payments prior to that but I just wanted to make sure somebody else was reading this the same way that I was reading this because He told me he told me he told me Prince the first year was interest I think and then principal Well, so they have provided a schedule of payments with this in this and that's why I'm saying that And but then if you read exhibit c it talks about doing a report that we will have the money to pay back Um based on making the interest payments and the principal payment not until March 1st of 2026 So it's not like if we get this $250,000 that we send them 125 the way I'm reading this paper So we need clarity Well, I I think we definitely want to do the loan and sign it But I think there's more to how the repayment the repayment portion of this I just think everybody needs to really look at that. Okay. Um, I would agree with that. So I would um Just look here. I'm just going to remind you that the closing for this loan is on May 1st on March 28 Okay, so we should approve this today. Yeah, we can still approve it. It's just how we how we interpret the payment That's what it sounds like. Okay, we need a motion to approve the resolution if you just read it off the agenda list Okay, so that's what needs to be approved. That's what's dated. So I don't think there's any question from anybody That we need to move forward with this I'm looking for those Okay, so approving a Vermont bond bank resolution to refund outstanding debt incurred from the july 2023 flood by taking out a loan for 938,000 from the Vermont bond bank at 1.30 percent interest and that motion has been made by zara. Is there a second? Okay, peter will second it. All right, all those in favor of approving the Vermont bond bank resolution say I I the eyes have it. Okay. So we are just around 6 30 which is um our BCA meeting and then we're going to have to Hold off on the other business until we have gotten through the BCA meeting And then we will return. So we are temporarily adjourning the meeting And re-adjourning after we're recessing. We're taking a little recess folks taking a little recess Please sign those bond documents Okay, I know but I gotta get into the order this week. So we're going to move back to we're going to re convene our select board meeting For tuesday march 29th to cover other business. So we did approve already while While eric was here the signing of the access permit So larry sharp are you still here? You are. Yep. So we're responding to a survey of the agents This is just kind of quick. It's a very short survey So what's happening is the state of vermont is applying for a 200 million dollar grant from the EPA That is called the climate produce pollution reduction act and it is Apparently they're you know, going to have some money for municipality, you know to hand out to municipalities I had a print out of it of the question um, but um, so so they're they want us to prioritize and basically You know one sentence like What is your top priority for how you would use this money? And it's not like Oh, we want to fix our roads because that's not that kind of money. I don't believe it's not like they're gonna hand us 50 million dollars of this 200 million dollar grant, right? I think this is like small things like Oh, I'd like to have a solar panels that kind of thing larry do happen to have that survey and what the question is I'm afraid I don't okay. Let me see if I can bring it up On my phone. I thought I printed it out, but I don't seem to have it So basically what we're thinking about is and they give you some suggestions I mean, I guess what we could say is if we don't want to make a decision tonight Maybe we could allow the energy committee to set a priority of what they think might be good for for the town Let's see Sam lash, right I think that's a that's a wise way to go Since we haven't discussed it as a committee Yeah, I'll just quickly read the I have it right up here municipalities the municipalities highest priority project relating to greenhouse gas emissions Could be weatherizing municipal buildings Could be the Town garage the town garage a community solar project a new park and ride evi charger installation equipment upgrades, etc And then a rough budget estimate will be used for general grant calculations And does not have to be specific and then it says like these are potential co-benefits Resiliency adaptation so making infrastructure community more prepared for and resilient to climate change Public health protecting residents from health dangers of climate change or pollution Economic improving financial standing of the municipality or its residents Equity creating more equitable disbursement of resources or opportunities and other. So it's a very short survey So I guess what we could say is can we Would we as a board be okay with the energy committee completing this survey? After they meet and talk about it Unless we have some burning desire to say no, we want to prioritize I mean This doesn't mean that we have to use the money for this, but I think they're they're curious as to what we would use the money for Thoughts don't have any issues with them filling out survey. I think that we have Plenty of need here, you know stuff like the town garage stuff that we always know that we have investment to To make and we always struggle to find money to make it happen As long as those things are put on those lists, you know, that's that's my interest Okay, yes Do you hear that larry as long as the town garage is on it Okay, so do we even need a motion for this survey? I don't think so. All right So larry, why don't you and I think it's due on the 21st. It's due in a few days So, you know, maybe just send a quick email to the people on the energy committee and get some feedback from them That would be great All right, and then and then complete the survey Okay, perfect Thank you. We've done the order. So then we have two Correspondents letters from Jeremy goff and Evelyn prim action possible So everyone has a copy of I believe both Letters, let's go over the first one first from Jeremy from Jeremy goff Um, did everyone get a chance to read this? This was sent just randomly to Susan Clark um, and she sent it to Peter and me. Did you have you read this? Oh, okay, so it was stuffed in the door and so, um, it's essentially, um, someone is purporting to have had a um Interaction with Mr. Dwyer vick here um, this was looks like way back in july with the flood And I guess, you know, I just uh, would like to maybe hear Your side of the story vick if that makes sense. Does that make sense to everybody? Just to hear like what happened. I guess, you know Peter has his hand. Oh, yes, peter Uh, you're you're muted peter First of all, I'd like to say this gentleman called me sometime within a few days of this incident And all I said to him was, you know, you need you need to submit if you want to pursue this You need to submit a letter of of complaint to the town He never recontacted me that never submitted anything Until uh, until we received this Um, I also believe and uh, I need your help on this sarah that this is a uh complaint against A town official So does that constitute something that we can do with an executive session or do we need to deal with it and open In an open meeting Yeah Okay, well what I would suggest guys, I'm sorry What I would suggest is that we respond to mr. Goff and say, uh We are going to investigate your allegations And we will get back to you And then at some time in the future, maybe the next select board meeting I believe I mean from what I know about the open meeting while we can do it in executive session I hope we can because this is not something that I would like to appear in the town That's I don't think it's appropriate So my recommendation would be Um, we respond to this letter to say we're investigating it and we will get back to him in the future Okay, I would I would venture to guess it couldn't be because he's an elected official But maybe I'm wrong that this could not be an executive session But I'd have to look back on executive session I can't see He's not an employee It's a it's an elected like he said he's elected official. I can ask Halper if I can ask the town attorney if you want me to do that I mean if we have to if we have to do it in open session We have to do it in open session, but I would prefer to do it in executive session if we can legally do it I guess Okay, all right, so I'll send an email to him saying that we will Do an investigation Yes, randy Can I I mean I guess I have some questions about whether or not This is an accusation against a town official or not Just because Vic is a town official Does not mean a personal interaction with the resident or contractor or whoever unless he's on official business or identifies himself As acting on the behalf of the town And two totally different things What I was told what I was told randy Was that he they picked identify himself as the road commission Hi, this this written communication This written communication does not indicate that The town not an allegation against victor But the bottom line is he's asking us to take action against victor, which probably we can't take anyone Yeah, I guess Yeah, I mean reading through this I I fail to see where he's identified that victor was either acting in Or identified himself as conducting business as the town road commissioner. So I guess that would be my question as we look into this That's pretty Okay, well, all righty, I guess this is also just a reminder that we are the face of the public And we should be polite and courteous Even when we don't want to be Because we're going to see people in the grocery store. We're going to see them on the roads We're going to see them everywhere Yes, matthew or mat I came here tonight was I knew that this was potentially coming up and I'm also shared landowner with mr. Dwyer on this particular piece of property for which this gentleman showed up at our property I can assure you that my father was acting on behalf of the owner our property and was caught by surprise That this was happening was never notified By the town or anyone that this was going on which was inappropriate What's this? dumping of the dumping the material on our property So that being said, I i'm just here to verify the fact that he's he was acting whatever happened was acting on His own personal behalf had nothing To do with the town mill sex It's it's cutting rock that whatever did happen. That's that's the way that went down It would be no different than if you brought a load of gravel and dumped it in front of your garage door Okay, so I think so just so you guys know when people submit Information to the select board it just gets put on the agenda as correspondents. Yeah. Yeah um And so I think you know, there were a lot of stuff going on everybody was Didn't have a lot of sleep back then in july and I'm sure there was a lot of confusion at that time from even truckers and things like that so I'll respond to his his email And you're just going to say that we're going to look into that that we'll we will You know if sarah finds out that we can just have a conversation we'll just have a quick conversation at our next meeting in public and And have an opportunity for you to describe what happened and If he says we can go into executive session, we'll do that. If not, we'll just do it in public Okay Um, does that does that sound right to everybody? Yeah, I mean, yeah, I guess I've stated my question. Yeah, you know, the in here it says that you know, uh, Vic did not introduce himself. So, um you know At that point you're sitting on your own property and I just I mean maybe we don't maybe we don't even have to Keep doing this. Maybe we just do it right now. I don't know why we need to even go like think about this as an executive session I would just as soon get this over with have Vic be able to explain and then I can respond to this man This is that does that work for folks? Okay, yes Peter, are you okay with that? Yeah, okay. Vic, why don't you go ahead and explain if you remember what happened back in july Well, we have this little piece of land. Well, it's part of 90 acres, but we have a little piece of land that's flat down there and Matt dumps material there from from some of the projects he does and piles it up and then he he does screen it and Take part of the soil out for like topsoil and then stone and I think the guy even mentions this in here, but it wasn't It wasn't it was from the materials Mostly except for a couple of those that they had to dump there the town But anyways, so I come home I'm coming up the road and There is a pile of stuff dumped on on Matt's pile What? And and so I stopped and then this truck comes along We're blowing Cody And so he's going to back up there. So I go over there and I said, what are you doing? He said I'm dumping it here. They told me to do it. I said, who told you to dump it here? And they told me that I said, no, no, I don't want it here. They don't I haven't talked to anybody I don't know anybody like that. I don't want the material here And he got real nasty with me and said, well, he was going to do it Anyways, he just started backing up and I said no That you can't do that and so-and-so told me and I said well call so-and-so and tell them they don't they got the wrong spot I haven't given anybody permission so Nor do I want to and so He kept after he kept backing up and he was going to dump it and he got real nasty and he got in I said look, I'm just calling the state police so I went and Started to call the state police, but then I decided Because he said I said, well, who are you working for and he said Hutchins. So I called Hutchins The contractor that was working up there, Jeff Hutchins in Richmond And I said, hey look, what are you guys doing? You know, you get a truck you're dumping yourself here. I don't want that stuff here And so the next thing I know There's a guy shows up and there's a guy on the phone A guy calls me his Mike guy. He said Steve Martin told us we could dump it there. Well, Steve didn't tell him that and I said no he didn't and So he says Well, we'll pay you anything. We'll get we'll gravel you whatever you want. I said, I don't want anything I don't want anything. I just don't want to dump this stuff here Because he said, well, I got 25 loads coming. I said, I certainly don't want 25 loads coming for road repair 25 loads of stone to put on McCullough Hill to fill the holes that were During the flood time Okay, Sarah, do you have a question? They wanted to take valuable stone and jump you using that as a stockpile They just dumped it on him. They got up on his pile But they were gonna Where were they supposed to put it? Someone must have told them to come and put something down Mike from Hutchins told them to but He was the superintendent for Hutchins. He was the guy who was over on your road Okay, right. Yep. And probably John Christian too Okay, interesting. All right. Zara has a question Go ahead, Zara. I'm just curious at what point you I'm just curious at what point you said I'm the road commissioner and this is not What you're supposed to be doing. I don't think I ever said that He might know you The written correspondence in in paragraph three says At the very end Vic did not introduce himself nor did he ask what I was doing Okay, so all righty, and then he says in your letter, which is absolutely wrong because He it says in here that he That the contractor coordinated it with the town crew And uh in the town foreman and and they had nothing to do with it So they they just the contractor this mike. I don't know what his last name was He was a foreman or superintendent for Hutchins And uh told him just to dump it there Okay, so he was doing what he was told The real issue the real issue is not so much Mr. Goff The real issue which we should respond to and we should We should uh address it was to Hutchins Because they had no right to do that And uh and then that turned into it turned into a real brouhaha after that, but uh Because they did did use it So did blowing it was blowing kodi working for Hutchins is that blowing kodi was working for Hutchins. Yes And probably why you Susan Clark This is just an assumption on my part. Why would you send it to Susan Clark? Susan was on the radio on WDV. He lives in waterbury, I believe did live in waterbury And she was talking about the the the town meeting and stuff and how and and then she gave the s Clark uh Mountain that's how we that's oh now I have a place to vent All right, so yes, he sent it to Susan who then sent it to us and um And okay, so I will just email him back I I guess you know, I would just reiterate for all of us again that um Keep our swear words to a minimum right when we're talking to the public because sometimes sometimes it just you know people Understand that you know, yes, we're all just regular people, but we also have a professional I don't agree with that at all. I think that no, I think I think the select board should contact our lawyer Okay, and address it legally With hutchins with hutchins and him. I mean, this is slander. I didn't say this thing. Have you ever heard me talk? Using the f word. I don't know Maybe I don't know So if it's so if Well, that's my kid I don't know. Zara. Yes That's the thing I have What I'm saying though is if you can go to non lawyer bank for a lawyer root first That would be great. Well, when are we going to rep? When are we going to stand up for the people on our select board? When are we going to stand up? I mean if this happened to sara? Or our listeners Something like that. When are we going to stand up? What are we going to let people do this kind of stuff and just come out with the Total false allegation So Vic, this is what I would like then is You know, I mean we could reach out to hutchins and say that we received a complaint from one of his employees And that we have a different version of what happened um And I have to be honest that um, I didn't take thorough notes on what happened because it sounds like there's some Other stuff that happened after that. I don't I know nothing about That this was not just a one and done that this continued on in some conversations with hutchins and all that. Is that what you said? Yeah, so I Not so much about this not so much about this guy because I think this guy was laid off immediately He was a hired trucker. He did not get paid by Hutchins, okay He was a hired trucker Hutchins is the person who seemed to be the one to tell All these truckers to dump stuff there or Mike Mike Mike, yeah from Hutchins. Yeah, because it's Jeff Who's what who's Jeff Hutchins is the guy who owns that okay, but Mike works for Mike works I can't think of the guy that's the project manager Yeah, anyways, so I don't feel like I have enough information to go to The Hutchins company and say that That because I don't know this I don't know this whole story beyond what you just said and I mean I could just say a very short sentence that we did not get permission for The stuff to be dumped here and we don't appreciate employees Complaining about Something that it was not that was not authorized and complaining about you and your alleged Cursing. Yes you Shelly, sorry Right permission, you know, even if he swore And then argue with you when you told him not to do it Yeah Say you investigate it you heard the complaint you stand by a big or something and yeah, just even like that I have I just I think you can skirt the whole thing is just say at the point when Vic had the Confrontation he was acting as a landowner not a representative from down Done deal. Good. Oh, yeah, because he wasn't acting as a road commissioner and it clearly says I He's good with that. He's good with that. I could write the email and send it to you and you can sign it and approve Just say I can send him a copy of the minutes So that they know that it was taken up at the meeting, which is what he asked And then the board and the board reached a certain that that this was done on vicks only and in his own time And was not acting as a road commissioner or just and then no one could get that sounds done. That's done All right done and we won't bother with Hutchins. Right. Okay. Sounds good. Does that sound good Vic? It'll be reflected in the minutes. It's his own lawyer. What's that? Exactly Okay All right, so our next order of business is the letter from Evelyn french prim Regarding conflict of interest recusal then we're going to chance to read this letter And I think you're here aren't you Evelyn yet? So we have Evelyn and Zach here Um Liz I just want you to know that I did give copies of this to the budget committee And I did give copies of that letter to the blisters and just remind you that those are equally and separately elected entities in the budget Yes, then this is not On the budget committee, is that correct? Samantha is Samantha is on the budget committee, but it mentions in the letter Stephen and yeah, that's on the select board He's not Yeah, so there's no issue. Well, no, but Samantha is Samantha is on the budget committee And she's a lister but it's not like she's on the select board and gonna gonna uh Affect anything Well, I think she's I think what Evelyn is saying is that you know, perhaps if the listers were going around town and Going into people's homes to do well, we don't do the reassessment But well, yeah, go ahead listers around town if you have an open permit or something Or you know working with Kevin Thompson, but like a townwide reappraisal that's coming up in a couple years That's being done by a third party. Yeah, that's being done by that. The listers are totally out of that. Well Well, is there an issue? I don't know if Evelyn's here. Is there an issue with with It's with Samantha right on the letter. Yeah Okay, it's not with Shelly But no, I just and and in theory we we don't even do the townwide Yeah, we don't do appraisals. Yeah, I get that. Yeah Yes, Randy I just want to say I mean it's we can beat this up just like we've beat every other communication up around this issue Um, I think the ask is pretty simple of Evelyn in this letter to just say, you know Because of his history and the other issues. Let's just avoid any kind of potential conflict of interest That's all they're asking for. So if there was if there was a lister interaction, you know On that, you know, she's she's a third party. That's truly You know outside of everything. She should be the one to handle it. I think it's common sense Um, same thing with you know, any any other interaction and and nobody's on the board So I think we just take it at that and recognize the letter was sent and yep, I agree Are you okay with that? Evelyn and Jack, are you guys okay with that? That sounds great to me Okay, all righty Any other matters that come before the board? I know I'm sorry I'll just quickly say that we did a meeting with bia and all the next steps on that for the town hall and um So there's a couple of um Sort of to do things that sandy and I are are um working on and um That's going along Since that 65,000 was passed How much do you have left? Five Okay, oh and the other good news is I think darinda that all of the um that that I have finally Done all the correct submission of the municipal planning grant And um, they had some error on there and because I loaded everything up. She's like you haven't still done this I'm like I sent it all. She's like, oh whoops here. I found it So that's all set and I think that I press the button for final like this is the final thing So we'll be getting the check for 15,000. I can't help us. Awesome. Yes, Peter Everybody signed things that there was no I haven't signed anything. So yep. Yes, Peter Justin let's say yep. I want to be sure we don't forget everybody's favorite subject for our next meeting Which is goals and objectives unless you did it tonight or I was there No, we didn't forget it and Peter you were not here for us to give you a round of applause as your term as Chairman for all these years. So let's give him another round of applause. I got one more thing Peter before you leave is there any update on those three invoices for welch park? You're seeing interesting just to shut over some subjects never change I've been chasing Carl Valem and electronically around Florida. He has not heard anything from the welch park attorney yet So I don't know if we can I don't know if we can hold off any further. I think probably We're gonna have to pay them an invoice and then get the cancellation credit back which drives me Crazy Well, it's so hard to make that not happen, but that's only the insurance portion There's the permit and there's uh, I don't remember now what the third one was Well, I think the mark we aren't we non responsible for the permit anymore. I think that should go to uh Let me ask let me ask carline question. He's familiar with that. I think that bill should go to uh, Consolidate Okay. Well, let Cheryl know because we I mean, I think we've deferred this for about six weeks There's three of them, I don't remember what the third one was now, but it was um, it was the renewal of something I believe This is the Okay Are we done is it a wrap it's a wrap the meeting is adjourned at far too late