Bismillah alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salam ala Rasulillah. So we talk about now in chapter eight, rediscovering rewards. Basically the idea is that when we change our lives, our new life has to be worth it. And it goes into discussing this from the perspective of neuroscience with the neuroscience framework. Our addictive behaviors are rewarding. And so the new life has to be equally as rewarding in order to engage our behavior, in order to change our behavior. But before we go into the book, I wanted to talk about it from a different perspective. I want to talk about it from the perspective of purpose. So in a lot of ways, the life filled with engaging in our addictive behaviors is a really busy lifestyle. And when we stop that, there's almost like a void. And if we don't fill that void up with other activities, then it can become problematic. But also what's involved in that old lifestyle is a lot of purpose. And if we don't fill our lives up with a new purpose or strengthen our purpose or find purpose, that can also be problematic. Maybe if I talk about it from a different perspective, if we just look at a really great example, which is Malcolm X. Malcolm X initially known as Malcolm Little and then Detroit Red and then continue to transform to Malcolm X and then Al-Hajj Malik as Shabazz when he came to Islam. His story is so important because in it is a recipe for transformation. He's known for civil rights. He's known for a recipe for spiritual transformation. But what's less known is his contributions to addiction treatment. And he's less known from that perspective. For example, there was a New York Times article published in 1964 where Malcolm X was basically invited in order to talk about the success of the recovery movement of the black Muslims at the time. And he discussed a little bit about that success. But the point I wanna make is that this was somebody who prior to transforming his life who had a really filled life. It was a fast life. And he described himself as somebody that hustled. And if you can read this chapter in the autobiography of Malcolm X, he has a chapter called Hustler. He has a chapter called Trapped where he really discusses his life. It's a fast paced life. It's a life filled with purpose. There's a lot filling that life and drugs were a large part of it. And his drug problem was a large part of it as he describes. And then he goes to prison and he gets this break from this lifestyle. And he goes through this process of self-development and education. And just by virtue of having a break from that lifestyle and drugs and alcohol and allowing his brain to sort of settle down. He goes through this process of changing his lifestyle around. But then what's less known is he finds this incredible purpose in his new life. And I wanted to talk about two aspects of that. One was finding purpose and helping other people. Other people with addiction. And number two was finding purpose and just the general service of other people. So in this New York Times article, it talks about how Malcolm was invited to talk about the incredible success of the recovery movement of black Muslims. And he was invited to talk to psychiatric social workers and other people in the mental health field about what it was about black Muslims that were able to so successfully help people stop. And he describes exactly about this legacy of service of how to help other people in the autobiography of Malcolm Max on page 262. He talks about a six step process that they would take people through in order to help them break their addictive habit. So number one he describes was the addict was first bought to admit to himself that he was an addict. Number two, they were taught why they use narcotics. And this is really important because it goes through and it does discuss as not simply stopping drug addiction and addictive behaviors, but it goes through and talks about, well, why did this happen in the first place? Because why it happened in the first place is not only a huge part of why, of how to stop it, but then also how we can be of maximal service and how to find maximal purpose in our lives after our addictive behavior. Third was he was shown that there was a way to stop addiction. And then the fourth, which was interesting was the addict's shattered image and ego were built up until they realized that they had within themselves the power to end the addiction. And then finally fifth, they went through a process of breaking with the addictive behavior.  What's interesting here in the autobiography of Malcolm X as he describes the way that he would serve others and the way that they would serve others is that after Malcolm had this life of just constantly living a different way and then there was a break from that lifestyle and this void, then there was this feeling of that void. Because remember, he was somebody that successfully broke his drug problem, successfully broke his self-described addiction.  And that was something that was important for his long-term success. And certainly when we talk about living a life of addiction we talk a lot about triggers, cravings and sort of making it out of addiction. But then there's this whole other aspect of how do we create a life worth living?  There's a researcher on the history of addiction treatment in America named William White. He wrote a paper published in counselor in 2006 and he talks about the recovery legacies of Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X. And he talks about how Malcolm X created a deeper purpose out of addiction. He sort of strings this all together through Malcolm X's writings and his speeches. And basically, in my Malcolm saw addiction as the product of generational and historical trauma of an oppressed people. You know, if you remember his story his father was killed because he was vocal about justice, racial equality and fighting oppression. His father was killed. So he grew up in poverty as one of 11 children. And he would talk about being so hungry at times he would get dizzy. And then his mother was institutionalized for mental health reasons in the context of all this pressure in these conditions. And then he turned to a life of crime without adequate support. And then the story goes on and then he reforms himself and so on and so forth. But in this story, many Muslims can identify with that generational and historical trauma or that being products of oppression. The sort of reframing of the story can be incredibly helpful or meaningful. So others may identify with this from being from countries that were previously colonized or oppressed. But the interesting part is that people may not catch this if they don't know the history of their people or the history of their parents or the history of their grandparents to really understand why addiction came about. And so that was important for Malcolm. When he went to prison, he had this explosion of education and learning and studying and really reframing, processing and making sense out of his past. He was trying to go deeper and understand about the underlying causes that created the circumstances for his addiction and the people around him, their addiction. And not only understand that, but then educate people. So this writer, William White talks about how in this paper, how Malcolm would view addiction as an outgrowth of historical oppression. But at the same time, he would denounce those who embraced this victimhood as an excuse for self-destruction. So in other words, understanding the mind that's vulnerable to addiction and what cultivated that mind and then weaving that into the recovery process, not in order to play the victim, but in order to really understand the solution for yourself and then for others. So for Malcolm, sobriety was more than an act of personal reformation. It was a political act of resistance. It was an act of personal, cultural survival and healing. And sometimes recovery from an addictive behavior can be best framed within a larger framework of liberation and personal or cultural survival or a larger narrative. Sometimes people think about addiction in such a superficial way. Like I had an addictive habit because I gave into some sort of peer pressure. You know, a lot of times that story comes up and when you dig deeper is almost like the addiction started prior to that and people then seek out certain social groups or people in order to facilitate that addiction and not the other way around. Okay, and then I'm gonna wrap up with this. Here are some questions that we can use to help elicit how to make meaning and purpose out of our addiction. So here we have this great example in Malcolm, in my Malcolm in terms of his trauma and his adverse childhood experiences and then the larger societal context and that being a product of historical events. And then we see how he leads into a life of addiction and crime. And then he has this break from it and reforms himself but he doesn't just stay there. One of the most important components of his success and the success that we see often is then people go on to not just stop addiction but then really understand their addiction and why it happened and then create meaning out of it and then go on to find a higher purpose and that could be immediately through serving other people with addiction, immediately by helping other people in addiction, whether you're one month out of your addictive habit or five years out of your addictive habit, you can always be helping other people, whether that be immediately helping other people with addiction or then peeling away at the onion and helping other people who have the same risk factors of that addiction. So for example, helping other people with addiction or maybe then going on to helping other people with who are living in poverty. If that was one of the reasons that led us to addiction or helping other people in other circumstances like for example, with Malcolm fighting racial oppression. All right, so here's some questions that we can ask to help elicit how we can make meaning and purpose out of our lives because one of the biggest complaints about addiction is, oh, I've wasted two years or at least four years of my life. This is a way to not look at the lives we spent in addiction as a waste of time but rather as an experience, a challenge that was a learning ground, a teaching ground for something greater. So question number one, how were you able to survive to reach this day when so many did not? So even if we're still in the process of recovering, there are many people that haven't even made it to that yet. There are many people who haven't even connected the dots or made it to that stage where they're even thinking about recovery. So this doesn't just apply to somebody who's got a year away from their addictive habit and they're at a safe distance. This is gonna be for people who are just entertaining a recovery or in the process of fighting this thing. So question one, how were you able to survive to reach this day when so many did not? What were your protective factors? What elements did you have that pulled you out of your situation? Because you may have overdosed like somebody else might have overdosed, but you're here or you may have committed a crime like somebody else committed a crime, but you didn't get the same prison sentence or you may have an addictive habit that led to everybody finding out about it and being publicly shamed or had catching a felony or having something on your record where society now says you can't do X, Y and Z. So that person, it might've happened to that person but it didn't happen to us. So how were we able to survive to reach this day when so many did not? Number two, what is the purpose for which you were spared? What is the purpose for which we are here and not there? Number three, what has your life course prepared you to do? All of it together, every individual component. So the studying that we are leaning towards the trauma that led us to this point, the challenges that we've had, the resources that we have available to us in our community, the people that we've come across, what is your life course prepared you to do? The next question, what personal cultural debts need repayment? What personal cultural debts need repayment? How have we benefited from certain legacies, certain traditions, certain people and how do we pay that back? Whether that be the tradition of recovery, whether that be therapy and science, whether that be spirituality and the Dean, whether that be our family systems, what debts need repayment? The fifth question, what special lessons and gifts would you like to share with others? Because each individual in recovery has so many things that they can use to give back. They have certain unique qualities that they can use to help others or in their journey to try to find meaning and purpose. And then finally, the last question, what does your family and community need from you right now? What does your family and community need from you right now? Not theoretically in the future or not what made sense in the past, in this context, in this moment, when we look around us, what's going on? What is the chaos? What is the difficulty that we can personally use our suffering and our lessons and our skills to give back with? So with addiction, sure, we talk about triggers, cravings, lifestyle balance, but for many of us finding purpose or meaning in our suffering and purpose in our future can be this ironclad grounding, very rooting goal for us to make it through the many difficult times ahead. So on chapter eight, page 151, it says, now that you are not going to be engaging in your addictive habit, what will you do to fill the void that the absence of your addictive habit will leave in your life? So even if it was something that you weren't engaging in on a daily basis, oftentimes it's preoccupying a lot of our time. You might find that when you are early in the process of recovery, your mood is up and down and you don't enjoy many things that you used to do. Not everybody feels that way, but a large majority of people who are in recovery feel that way at first. So if you're wondering what you're going to get those pleasurable feelings from, if not from the addictive habit, you're not alone. In this chapter, you'll discover and rediscover rewarding activities for your recovering brain and body and learn how to overcome some of the barriers that stand in the way of experiencing joy. So chapter eight, which is step six on rediscovering rewards starts talking about how we can make our new life worth it. And it talks about on the next page, the role of rewards and addiction and recovery and how rewards are essential part of our lives. Like for example, working can bring about all kinds of rewards. There's financial rewards, there's emotional rewards. If you've done a good job at work and you have a sense of pride over what you're doing, if there's some sort of progress moving forward, you can get this sense of career advancement. That's a reward. And then it talks about in the next paragraph, well, what does this have to do with addiction recovery, finding rewards or finding a new purpose with our life? And then it says, think back to before you started to engage in your addictive behavior. What were the rewarding things in your life? Did they have to do with the pleasure you experienced from your important relationships with family, children, friends? Were they connected to your hobbies, your work? To relate to your personal experiences with addiction, think about the things you started to do less of as you started to use and engage in your addictive behavior. Studies show not only that rewards relate to the development of the addiction, but also that they're very important in determining how successful people are at making changes to their addictive behavior once they enter recovery. When people in addiction recovery have access to a range of sources of joy, meaning, satisfaction, purpose, they're more likely to quit their addictive behavior successfully. In one study that compared two different types of behavioral treatments for addictive behaviors, the people with the most success in staying absent from their addictive behavior were those who got involved in a range of pleasurable activities and did them frequently, which allowed them to enable the experience of joy and happiness without having to face the devastating consequences of alcohol or drug use. So with that, the point I wanted to get across is number one, the new life can't just be a void. It can't just be a life without the addictive behavior. It's got to be something that is worth living, something that taps into things that are meaningful for us, meaningful for us, and it has to be filled with a sense of joy, purpose, and meaning.


Good evening, everyone. Today is Wednesday, October 26th, 2022. We do have a quorum present, so I'd like to call to order this regularly scheduled hybrid meeting of the Chittenden Solid Waste District Board of Commissioners. Before we begin with the agenda, I just want to point out that our Executive Director, Sarah Reeves, is on vacation tonight and will not be present for the meeting. But staff is here and I'm confident they'll be able to capable answer any questions and address any issues that come up at tonight's meeting.  Are there any requests to change or add anything to the agenda? I'm hearing none in this room and I'm seeing none on Zoom, so the agenda will be accepted as presented. Second item on the agenda is the public comment period. There are no members of the public present here in the Williston Town Office. Are there any members of the public on Zoom or on the phone who would like to address the Board? I am hearing none, so we will close the public comment period and move on to the Consent Agenda, which is item three on the agenda. The Consent Agenda consists of the minutes of the September 28, 2022 Board meeting program updates, the Executive Director update, where she pointed out specifically some issues that we will be addressing as we develop our budget for next year. I just wanted to make sure all the commissioners were aware of that. The standard finance report, also the fourth quarter financials wrapping up our last fiscal year, I believe, will be going into our fiscal year 22 financials in greater detail next month. Our financial director, Noelle, is not with us tonight as well, but that's part of the packet of the Consent Agenda. And then finally, a motion to authorize the Executive Director to enter into a contract for resurfacing the ODF. Are there any requests to remove any of the items from the Consent Agenda? I'm hearing none. I'm seeing none. The Consent Agenda then will be accepted as presented. Next item on the agenda, item four, the diversion report, which begins on page 31 of your Board packet. This is kind of our annual report card, both of the district and our communities, and how well they're doing. I believe John Dorwar is going to walk us through the highlights of this year's report. Thank you, Paul. Let me show my screen here. Can everyone see that? Yes, we can see it here. Okay, great. Thanks again, Paul. Tonight I'd just like to give you a, provide you with an overview of the metrics that we use to aid in the evaluation of our programs. And then take a look at the 2020-21 diversion and disposal data as a comparison 2020. I want to make a shout out to Nancy Plunkett, who retired this summer as she mentored me through the process of developing this report. And with great help and a hard act to follow. I'd also like to thank Yves and Housen and Jeanine for having had a hand in the data collection throughout the year. This is a project that takes a little bit of everyone's time. And Nancy and Michelle and Sarah all gave me some equalized copy editing as well, so I appreciate that. John, before you continue, I know in this room, the audio is a little difficult to hear. I don't know if others on Zoom are able to hear it clearly. If anyone out there is unable to hear it clearly, if you could just let us know. Yeah, I'm unable to hear fully. I'm going to bring up the meeting controls. There they are. Let's see if I can get my microphone to be a little bit more sensitive. And perhaps a little closer. It's just the tab and echo I got. Okay, so the purpose of the diversion report is to help us evaluate how well our members in the district are utilizing TSWD and private sector facilities programs in order to reduce their waste by way of diversion. It also helps. It also fulfills our state reporting requirements and allows us to provide more information to the general public media and other communities and organizations who interface with the district. This report only includes material that has been generated within Chittenden County. Y'all hear me still or is there any problems? I think we're okay here in this room. Okay, yeah. Okay, great. Yeah, I just have to speak up. I'm often quite quietly spoken. The metrics that are covered in our solid waste diversion report are the diversion rates, disposal rate, recovery rate, and the environmental impacts of diversion itself. The diversion rate actually was first calculated by Nancy in 1993, and that is essentially all material diverted over what had been generated in the county. The disposal rate was added later. That is a per capita per day calculation of disposed material. That is the same metric used by the agency of natural resources for their statewide progress reports. Our recovery rate is the percentage of targeted, diverted material that we recover in certain programs like the blue bin recycling program, or blue bin recyclable and organic. It gives you different insights into how well we are recovering material based on waste composition studies that we also conduct every couple of years. And that just gives us a sense of what is being disposed that could have been diverted given our current programs and policies. The environmental impacts of greenhouse gas emissions is simply a calculation of CO2 equivalent tons that are saved from our diversion activities, and that is calculated using the EPA warms model. Alright, so some of the highlights of our report, I would call this the rebound year post pandemic. I wouldn't call it exactly recovery, but maybe a climatization. Total solid waste generation was up 12.5% from the prior year. Tons disposed increased slightly. However, tons diverted increased significantly more details on that. C&D tons disposed increased to the highest level since 2013, and tons diverted remains lower than usual, but about 25% higher than 2020. The MSW diversion rate remained high at 53%. We actually crossed the 50% marker for the first time last year, and this is a point of comparison in 1990. Three, I believe it was around 31%. So definitely we've made strides over the years. And as well, our recovery rate for mandatory recyclable decreased very slightly in that one year period. So the details regarding MSW, we increased about 1.6%, 86,800 tons this current year, and that bumped up our per capita rates ever so slightly. We diverted over 14% more than last year. And so this is kind of interesting. Clearly we had a rebound in economic activity as we acclimatize to sort of a post COVID world. And I think in part to account for that, not only the increase in business activity and tourism and reduced public health restrictions, but also there was continued arrangements of hybrid work. So we had gone to sort of a goods-based economy for a period. Now we are still relying on some of those businesses we work from home and also utilized services more as well. And so that might explain some of the bump up in both generation and potentially in diversion. There's been significant increases in paper, clean wood, and food residuals diverted. There was a significant rebound in the amount of electronics diverted and a large increase in diverted textiles. Why that was? Well, as Nancy had mentioned a year ago, we had a large inventory about clean wood as the bunker near the McNeil generating station. So that was taken in, accounted for about 63% of our clean wood recovered and utilized there. We actually take now all of the clean wood from our CSWD facilities. That's about 27% from this year and utilize that at the organic diversion facility in the processing of composts. Increases in paper and food residuals are likely due to, as I mentioned, return to normalcy or near normalcy. And of course, last year was the first full year of food ban instituted by Act 148. So we saw an uptake in organics being diverted as well. Increased textiles through communication I had with folks at Goodwill and resources likely due to increased donations. People cleaning up their attics and closets I spoke as well as some backed up inventory. The diversion rate is calculated as total material diverted from our MSOE stream over what is generated. This is increased by 3% over the last year. I'm not sure if we'll continue to see such increases, but certainly a nice rebound to see and also to be able to maintain that proportion over 50%. How does this compare to the nation as a whole? Well, the latest data, the most recent data we have from the US EPA is that the diversion rate 2018 was about 32%. In Vermont, we know the state recorded about 36% in 2019. And if we're to look at other high performing communities across the country, such as Seattle or San Francisco, we're in league with their programs. So that's also great news and similar to what we've seen in the past. Hit the wrong buttons. There we go. Okay, the maximum diversion rate is a slightly different calculation. That is the tons diverted from the waste stream, municipal solid waste stream, plus tons, I suppose, that are currently divertible over all generations. So this is what we think, given our current programs and policies is the maximum amount of material we can divert from the waste stream. And as you can see from the prior slides of that, 53% is not quite to 80%, but we're gaining on it, which is, again, some welcome news. Greenhouse gas emissions are pegged at about 190 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. And that is the same as taking off 40,000 cars from the road every year. So that's a generally good contribution to our environment. Taking a look at our D&D numbers. Those increased last year, the disposed D&D increased by about 9%. So again, we're in that rebound here. The amount diverted, it was actually sounding 25%. Now, to explain that, we also had a large amount of asphalt concrete that had sidelined with projects postponed during the pandemic. So that certainly was a big, a big, a large reason why we were seeing an increase in diversion for D&D. The meeting we had last month, of course, showed us that even though our diversion is increasing, we're still a little bit below normal. And part of that is due to a lack of end market that we saw that with Myers and the problem with asphalt shingles. And also, it's likely that a labor shortage could be impacting that to some degree, but at any rate, there's a substantial amount of D&D recycling still happening in the county. And that continues through Myers and Rangers and Pikes and Wixom's operation. And so we are actually doing pretty well in that regard as it is our maximum diversion rate calculated for C&D. That would be the ideal in 2021 would be about 80%. And we're at 71.9%. And that is up from 69% in 2020. So also a reasonably good piece of news. For those of you who aren't familiar with alternative daily cover. This is a material that is used in normal operations in a landfill. It's used to cover the operating space at the end of a day to avoid problems with factors or fires, or it was flowing later in that sort of thing. In Vermont, alternative daily cover consists primarily of contaminated soil, but not hazard soil. And it has to be approved by the state. That was up 58.6% of 2020. Of course, it's entirely dependent on a number of types of projects for any given year. So this can vary tremendously. It's kind of one of our wild card materials that can really change what our diversion report figures turn out to be in any event. We also, as you know, charge 25% of our solid waste management fee on that material because it's utilized under event official use. For a historical perspective of MSW and C&D tons that are eroded, since 2011, we are disposing about 7400 tons less MSW. And you can see that with the red line in this graph. And that is despite the impacts of COVID, a population increase over that 10-year period of about 12,000 people. In addition to 2,500 business establishments over that 10-year period and about 2,000 employees. The sharper increase you can ascertain from 2016 on to about 2019. That is, for some extent, an artifact of our data. We started with our business recording requirements at that point. We were actually gathering more information from companies who were sending material to other facilities. This is, I'm sorry, this is in regards to MSW diverted. I'll be back up there. So we started to collect more information on how material might be leaked from the county that it's also diverted and that helps increase our diversion rate to some extent. Again, the diversion rate also increased ever so slightly over the last two years because of the full implementation of Act 148. So more and more organics have been diverted from the waste stream. In regards to C and D diverted, the green line shows a dramatic jump in 2015 and 16. And that is when we had too many recycling facilities come online that leveled out from 2016 and 2017. We had one of the facilities flowed on Redmond Road at that point. And then you can, of course, see the drop in C and D diversion during the pandemic. It's rebound to 2021 and C and D disposal in and of itself has been, although declining for a 10 year period, it has suddenly increased from 2015 to 2021. Our disposal rates, that is the per capita per pound disposal rates that MSW and T and D have decreased as well over the last 10 years. We're currently at about 14% less or lower MSW disposal rate per cap as we were in 2011 and for C and D. We are also down a bit, but again showing that drift in the last five or so years. It's like upward trend there. This chart shows our diversion rates over the last 10 years. Both of those rates have been increasing. Of course, you can see with C and D the bump when those recycling facilities came on. So shift as facilities availability came online. MSW diversion has increased of about 8.4 points of 2011. So it's about a 15% or 18% increase. And C and D has increased almost 10 points over that same 10 year period. Our recovery rates for specific targeted materials. First, we look at blue bin recyclable. That has remained steady over the last year. It's up from about 79% in 2019. So what that is is of course the amount of blue bin recyclable that we do recover over what we think could be recovered. So certain increments that is ultimately exposed when it otherwise could be recovered. MSW recyclables and organics combined increased almost 3 to 4%. That's I think showing you the impact of the full implementation of Act 148. And again, we don't have a lot of good points of comparison for these data points. The best that we have currently is to study some of the recycling partnerships regarding blue bin recyclables. And they peg those communities in the United States to have curbside pickup. Their recovery rates somewhere in the neighborhood of 61.5%. So in light of that, we're doing fairly exceptional performance. Nonetheless, this chart shows you the total amount of material that was landfill in 2021. And our best estimate as to the portion of that material that could have been recovered. That is as much as 60,000 tons when you include TND, blue bin, special recyclables and organics. Overall, our diversion with social data I think provides some good and encouraging news, especially related to how the amount of materials our residents and businesses are diverting from disposal. That's over 170,000 tons diverted as compared to 120,000 tons disposed. But still we know that there's a large portion of material going to the landfill. And without any major interventions to our solid waste system, we can expect that in short of a major recession, at least, solid waste generation and disposal will continue to increase. But I'm optimistic we have a lot of tools to let our disposal investments in our own facilities, making it more convenient for our folks in our community to gain access to those facilities and allow special recycling and the disposal, proper diversion, disposal of organics are all things that are under our control and we can encourage as well as education and business and community outreach. So on that note, does anyone have any questions? Thank you, John, for your presentation. Yes, if we can go back to a full screen on Zoom so commissioners have comments and questions. I actually have a few comments, but I don't want to steal the show here to take the floor, but I'll take a first crack at it. My first question is are there similar statistics or are there statistics like this that are published by other solid waste districts in Vermont? If so, have you looked at them and how do we compare to those in detail? I know we're leading and we're coming across as one of the national leaders, but I wonder how we're doing with other districts in the state? Well, compared to the state as a whole, our per capita rates are quite, actually a little bit lower, but our diversion rates are considerably higher. I'm not aware of other solid waste districts reports at this time. I've really entered in this world, but that's something I'll definitely dig into more and present in the future presentation. Maybe Jennifer Holliday would have some information, she's well as confident. I believe they have to report on per capita, but not on diversion. So I am not sure and I think it's very difficult to compare because of what's included would potentially be different in different areas. In other words, for example, the textiles that you reported, John, they may not get those reports from donation centers. So I think it would be very difficult to compare if they even do collect that data. Great. Very true, I think. I can move on with another observation that go back to I think it's slides five and six. Just the per capita pounds, this jumped out at me and I thought it was a good story that the MSW pounds per capita per day was 2.74 and the diverted material pounds per capita per day was 3.18. So I think solidly we're diverting more on a pound for pound basis per person who is included in this calculation. I thought that was a significant improvement. I believe last year they were almost the same, but the rates or the pounds per capita per person were 2.74, 2.76. Very, very close. I don't know if this is a trend that will continue, but I thought that was good news, something we could all be proud of, as we as residents and waste generators that were clearly on a pound for pound basis diverting more. I thought that was a good something. Absolutely, organics I think had a big part of that. On the other hand, I'm personally disappointed to still see that 50% of material that goes to the landfill could theoretically be diverted and that's just an existential disappointment. I know it's never going to be achievable, but I wish it could be better and I know we're doing a good job, all of us in the county are doing a good job, but I wish that were better. Absolutely. And then my last question is, are there any red flags from staff, you know, you people live and are in on this business all day long, five days a week at least. Are there any red flags or concerns that you would bring to the attention of the board, things that we ought to be aware of that might need attention that we could help focus improvement on? And I throw it up to anybody on staff. Well, I think the one thing that we've learned over the last two years is that there are a lot of economic factors that are beyond our control. So the pandemic was less than that. We also thought that the disposal and diversion seems to be fairly resilient in the county, and trying to seem to be fairly constant. So I think we're headed in the right direction. I'd give a shout out to the educational services that the district provides. I think that that probably plays a big role in the good numbers. And have a question. Oh, I was thinking about the diversion statistics around organic about around food scraps and compliance with what was it 148 that you said. I still bump into a lot of people who don't seem to know that it's the law. Are you guys feeling about, you know, people getting on board with that or things that we could be doing in our communities? Or are we happy with the amount of food scraps are being diverted? Or are we disappointed in what's next about that? Jennifer, I would be cautiously optimistic. Yeah, I would say that we're doing very well. We understand that Chittenden County is the revolving door of new residents. And that that education never will stop or, you know, never will have to stop. And I would also mention that the state of Vermont has just kicked off a statewide education campaign about food scrap diversion. So that will hopefully help us as well. Thank you. Other questions or comments from commissioners on the on this report. I think we're ready then to move on. Thank you very much, John for for stepping up. Maybe we'll be seeing you again for for for many years to present this report to us. I hope so. To move on to item number five, the update on the materials recovery facility bond vote. There is a memo in the packet, but the general turn it over to you if you want to call out anything to bring to our attention. Sure. We are 13 days away from Election Day and I'm very excited about that. And I'm sure you all are as well. We've been busy with the mark bond vote campaign as outlined in the memo. We have continued this month with paid digital ads. We also sent out a second postcard aimed at voters that showed up at the polls in 2020. We've done several in person presentations. We have some letters to the editor editor and op ads that have gone out and been published. And then we've had some media mentions front porch forum that we've posted. Last week, I believe informing voters about the opportunity to vote and how to get their ballots. And then also we will be posting next week again in front porch forum. We've increased our tours last month and this month with school groups and businesses in the general public at the Murph. I also have this week I've been interviewed and gave a tour to a seven days reporter that will be coming out next Wednesday. I think that will be quite extensive given his questions that he keeps having, which is great. You know, more people will be informed at that point as well. I also was interviewed by a reporter for the Shelburne News citizen and the other paper. So there should be something coming up on that soon. I've seen a couple of postings from commissioners on front porch forum. We do appreciate that very much. And I've contacted the town clerks last week to check in and just see how it was going with the request for ballots. And last week they I had 11 of the town's report back. Burlington was missing from that 11. That number on the memo 4,752 ballots had been requested by the town clerks. The updated figure that includes all but three towns and it does include Burlington were up to 6,343 requests. That was Monday. So I think, you know, the number when you look at the population or the I should say registered voters when you're comparing that. It's it's it's only about 5%. At this point, obviously in person is going to really increase that percentage. Given that the difficulty this year with the combination of the general election ballot being mailed to all voters in Vermont. Getting the word out and getting people to act on requesting our ballot is obviously challenging. We but I think that 5% and obviously it being increased when when there's in person. I think that's pretty decent considering that situation. Thanks Jen questions and comments from commissioners. Paul's people. Yeah, I don't know if you heard there was a report that came out like Monday, which organization it was, but it was about plastics recycling and it was dismal. And my concern about that was that it might lead some people to say why does is that you need a new recycling facility when you really plastics aren't recycled. So I don't know if we need to go out and respond to that, but I'm sure I'm not the only person that heard that. So I just wanted to make sure you were aware of it. And, you know, maybe get you to consider that. Thank you, Paul. I just want to say for the record for the public that is is watching or does watch this that numbers that are put out there about plastics recycling. Reflect all plastic generally reflect EPA uses all plastics available. So when they're talking about plastics, they're talking about durable goods, as well as single use plastics as well as, you know, blue bin recyclables. So it's a very large, large, you know, amount of material, a very small fraction of that is eligible for blue bin recycling. So I just want to shed some light on that information. Whoever is putting out is for a variety of reasons. You know, I'm not saying that it's not a problem. But in terms of blue bin recycling, as John Doerwer pointed out, we in Chittenden County are doing exceptional in terms of diverging plastic out of the way stream Chittenden County is doing great participating in that program in the blue bin program. And I assure that the plastics that we ship out are being recycled. Yeah, isn't it true, Jen, that staff has verified that where they're shipped to is is recycling. I was just thinking that's a great message to get out to the public. Yeah, if they haven't heard it. So that was my thought. Thank you. Jen, I have a question. I don't know if you have going to have the answer that how much more time is available to voters who request an absentee ballot either through this their my voter page, but essentially through the my voter page to make that request to get the ballot mailed back to them in their hands in time for them to vote and either mail the ballot back to their town office or drop it off at their office. Yeah, sense of how much more time we have. It's dependent on the mail system. So if you know I've heard in some towns that the mail is somewhat slow and so we don't have any deadline or control over that. I have advised my family members who have had to request it to do it now and get it mailed back quickly. The process is if you go through the my voter page, it goes to the state. The state transmits that information down back down to the town. The town sends out I believe the ballot. I'm almost positive. That's what happened in my case. Yeah, I got a mailing from the town office with with this ballot. Yeah, there's there are a lot of steps along the way. I will say that a phone call to the town clerk is much quicker than probably doing that. But you know, so I'm asking the question really for the benefit of other commissioners who might be motivated still to put the word out. But if there is time to request an absentee ballot, that it's better now to call directly to the to your town clerk. And most towns have a drop box. Yeah, you're driving bound by the town offices. You can just drop it off on the way home from work or wherever. So you don't necessarily have to wait for the mail to pick it up from your mailbox and get it back to the town clerk. One other comment I heard that the perk also came out, I think, in support of the of the bond issues of folks who pay attention to the perk. Hopefully they got the word to that. This has their seal of approval. Yes, that was sent to all their members. Other comments and questions on the. The merc bond vote. This is our last time to meet before the election. Go out and vote, please. Yeah, I'm not hearing any other comments from commissioners on this. Thanks for the update, Jen. And I think we're all wishing for a good vote here. Next time on the agenda is an executive session for the purpose of discussing contract negotiations. We have language. Amy that could be read into the record. I move that the board of commissioners of the Chittenden solid waste district go into executive session to discuss contract negotiations in regards to a lease agreement. With the city of South Burlington, where premature general public knowledge would clearly place the district is member municipalities and other public bodies or persons involved. The board of commissioners has a substantial disadvantage and to permit authorized staff. Other invited interested parties and the solid waste district attorney to be present for this session. So moved Essex. Thank you. And I just wanted to note that the zoom invite came from my email address on Friday. So you have that if you were looking for for Sarah's who normally sends it. It did come from me. So we have a motion to enter executive session. Do we have a second? Thank you very much. Thank you, Charlotte. All those in favor of entering the executive session, please say I or and raise your hand. Hi. Hi. Hi. Any opposed. Any abstentions. We will move into executive session using the link as Amy just pointed out that came from her several days ago. So we'll see you over an executive session in a few moments. Motion to exit executive session. So moved Essex. Second, Charlotte. Thank you for moving seconded to exit executive session. All those in favor, please say I. Hi. Hi. If you're opposed, say nay. If you abstain, please let me know. We have now re entered public session. The next item on the agenda is item number seven administrative office lease. With an action requested to approve the lease. If the secretary would read into the record the resolution. Be it resolved that the board of commissioners approves the terms and provisions of the lease for 19 Gregory Drive with the city of south Burlington in the form presented at this meeting with such changes as the executive director may approve as being in the interest of the district. So moved Wilson. Second. Second. Charlotte. It's been moved and seconded to authorize the executive director to enter into a lease agreement with the city of south Burlington. Any discussion on the motion hearing none then all those in favor of the motion please say I and raise your hand. Hi. Hi. Opposed say nay and raise your hand. Abstentions. So noted. The motion carries a resolution is approved and the executive director is authorized to enter into a lease agreement with the city of south Burlington and solve our office building problems or at least the next five years and perhaps seven or 10. Thank you very much everybody. The last item on the agenda is other business. Is there any other business that the commissioners would like to bring before the board. Kelton. Yep. I just want to give everyone a heads up wills for warmth. Which is a great diversion opportunity for tires. Is tomorrow from two to six. As well as Friday from two to six. It's open to the public. There's a drop off location down in Rutland. There's one at in Wilson at 220 Avenue B. And then there's a tire sale on Saturday. Down in Barry at the granite. I wish I knew exactly where it was at move this year. But great opportunity if you're looking for a set of winter tires or looking to get rid of a set of winter tires and all the money goes to help heat Vermont homes in the winter. So it's a great way to keep, you know, older tires that still life left in them out of the landfill and give give other monitors some good use and keep for monitors homes warm during the winter. So if you want more information, I know there's a lot online or you can reach out to me. Thank you for bringing that up can we can't we can't hear you. Okay, yeah, can we get those. The Willis the addresses again. Kelton. Yep, it's a let maybe can I just send over a link with some information Paul and have you send it out or. If you'd send it to Amy, she can take care about. I will send it to Amy right after the call and then I'll ever send it out. But it's 220 Avenue B up this way. So it's right off industrial have right next to the murder. Thank you, Kelton. Yeah, thank you. The only other comment I want to share is that November that we're because of Thanksgiving all our schedules are moved earlier one week. Exactly board is would be the second Monday of the month, whatever date that is and the full board meeting would be the third Wednesday of the month. So if you just remember, the exact word would be November 7th and the full board would be November 16. So if you just make note of that folks, so you can all have a nice Thanksgiving out two items. I know there is an open house. I think it's the 8th of November at gravel, which is the glass expansion firm. And I plan on attending just to figure out why we don't participate with them from their point of view. The other item that I have a question on is today is the first day that I've ever take any textiles to a drop off center because I didn't think we could do that until I saw a big pile of them. And where do we what do we do with those textiles? Let's go through a program called help see. They are actually paying us by the pound to bring them down. They process them in Rutland and then redistributed them as they see fit. We kind of rolled out a soft roll out this month to get the acceptance bins in place and work through some of the kinks because we feel because we haven't accepted textiles for quite some time because our old vendor wasn't able to service us with the frequency we needed. We feel that there might be a backbone and we didn't want to open the floodgates until we kind of worked out the operational kinks for a month. But there will be something coming sooner than later as far as an announcement to the public. And do we pay for the transport to Rutland or do they pick up? They come pick it up for us. Pretty good deal so far. Yeah, thank you. I didn't realize it and then I saw it. And I'll just mention that Josh and I toured Glaval last winter, this past winter. And it was really a great tour. It's really an interesting facility. And at the time they, you know, they're importing the glass that they need. It's very different than what we produce. It would have to be, you know, processed further from how we make it for them to use it. But they indicated that they were interested in purchasing the equipment to do so at that time. So that's November 8th. How would, if the other commissioners are interested, how do we... I think it's just an open house. So you could probably go online to Google Glaval and... I got the request to the Professional Engineers Association or something. Good to know. Yeah. Tom, your hand is up. We've got a lot of help. Yes, I was already... I just found out about Glaval a week ago. And my question is, if our new recycling facility goes into operation, would we be able to use, produce a product that they could use at their plant and essence? Under their existing setup, no, they need a significant amount of screening technology to meet our, you know, to meet the material that we generate. Because they do an extremely fine, very pure glass powder. And that's how they... It's an aggregate expansion process that they have. It's a really interesting product. But our material, because of the fiber content, they wouldn't have to go through some significant screenings before it could be usable for them. That's even with a new MRF? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Any other business to discuss tonight? I think then we're ready for a motion to adjourn. We'll adjourn Essex. Thank you. I believe it doesn't take a second. Those in favor of adjournment, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Anybody opposed? We are adjourned. Thank you all very much. We'll see you in three weeks, if not sooner. Thank you. The exec board meetings are always open to all commissioners and the public. Feel free to join in.


And they get the job done in Orlando again defeating the Milwaukee Bugs by three Michael Grady Jim Spinarkel Jim same reaction at halftime Yeah, what? How'd they get it done? It was interesting that last play though when you think about it You know first thing that goes through my mind. You're you're up 3d of foul, right? Yes, did you hope use the three foul strategy? So they they opt not to do that and if you'd notice that the most difficult passes were the ones that were going to the Three-point line the easier pass came to about 17 feet away And that took three seconds off the clock and then they had to go back out and make a difficult pass So then that's really surrounded the three-point line if you want to score two points in that situation go right ahead They played it very very well and very tightly around the three-point arc. Ladies and gentlemen, this is why you play the game Yeah, I know a lot of folks had an opinion in their mind when they we learned that Karen Slivert Joe and Jared Weren't gonna play but these guys are also NBA players They're going out there to compete and to play to win which is what they were able to do this afternoon Not only that just to add to that too is also to make sure that the Nets organization is watching each and every player Right because I want to prove to you that I can play that I deserve minutes from the coaching staff And I thought that one of the keys was that that six-minute mark in that fourth quarter the Bucks won on a 12 to 2 run And all of a sudden that Momentum just totally shifted in their favor and you're saying oh this could go the other way against the Nets They really rebounded well they grouped together made individual plays team plays at both ends of the floor Nice win real good solid win for them even though everybody was decimated with guys sitting on the bed


Good evening. Welcome to Montpelier Civic Forum and we are discussing the issues that will be up before vote in November and we have the candidates for Washington County for for the House. We have the State Senate candidates from Washington County and we also have the sewer bond and we have the municipal growth of proposed municipal garage. So we've got a lot of topics we have a lot of shows all of them are really interesting and you really ought to watch all of them and today we have a candidate for Washington County for the House District and we have Glennie Sewell who is sitting right next to me. Well I appreciate you having me here this evening thank you. Well I appreciate you being here. With all what the schedule the way it is that was amazing I could come. Glennie the schedule as it is what do you do? I teach I'm an adjunct professor of English at Norwich University. I've been teaching there for the last two plus years and happily as far as I'm concerned I truly enjoy the process. I also occasionally teach for the community college of Vermont. Same topic. I essentially yes you know reading and writing for college composition those sorts of things but yes essentially and I also have some I have some outside editing jobs that I do as well as well as other hobbies. Is this your first run for office? No this is my fourth. What did you run for before? Both the same thing for the same thing 2012, 14, 16 and 18 now. Now you're the standard bearer for the Progressive Party. Well I wouldn't afford it that way but I try to do my best to to push forward the progressive the progressive ideas as much as possible perhaps not every single last word there's always a little bit of difference here and there that you know that you know we try to debate on but for the most part yeah. What is difference between the Progressive Party and the Democratic Party in in Vermont? Well this is really going to be coming from my point of view. Your own perspective. My own perspective but for me the difference is first of all complete clarity and complete transparency with the process that we're running in the government the idea of not making sure you know where our funding is coming from making sure that you're aware of who's in our in our pocket or not in our pocket of how we vote why we vote what we've done who's paying us who's not paying us these kind of ideas and that we're upholding the ideas that our Constitution makes high claim for and that would some of those be? I mean when we talk about pursuit of happiness for instance when we talk about the US Constitution I'm talking about the greater Constitution that covers all 50 states and to me that since most constitutions I believe state constitutions have to come off of that one have to build themselves off of the of the federal Constitution that we do we need to actually follow the prescriptions that come from the US Constitution and that people can be happy have a pursuit of happiness healthcare be able to support their families and not be running to the ground to have education most especially have education available to them higher education not just and and I don't mean and I don't mean to ignore secondary education for children primary and secondary absolutely that these things are made available and made available affordably these are the kind of ideas that I push for and to me that there can't be an if or a but in those statements nor can it involve corporations that that want to push their own standards without without having the public know about what's going on so what's number one problem in Vermont right now number one problem yes sir accessibility or affordable accessibility and affordability along with the second issue of higher education in Vermont how would we pay for health care expansion we seem to be if we're talking about we are we are we seem to be well okay we seem to be putting more money into shipping nonviolent offenders out to other state prisons Tennessee Pennsylvania Mississippi then we are putting it into our health care system or placing it into our higher education system we say that we don't have money but yet we do actually have money I truly do we believe we do where those areas are I'd like to study that others have studied it there has been an entire study done on higher education funding in Vermont I saw the file for that but I think that there needs to be more done but there is a way I think of expanding health care without pushing out people who can't afford to pay 200 something dollars a month on on on health care expansion I most certainly myself couldn't afford that there's got to be a better way and a cheaper way I certainly can't afford a little bit of monthly absolutely but there are people who are single and only have one job and a high rent apartment or home or mortgage what have you who simply cannot afford hundreds of dollars a month on on it to pay into health care and they still have to eat they still have to rent pay rent they still have to pay utilities and that money extra money is not coming in from anywhere else now other states are experimenting with skinny health care and skinny health care allows for insurers just to give basic minimum mental health is not covered women's health is not covered existing conditions can be exempted but the premiums are low every month and it offers a bare bones health care would you allow that in the state of we don't currently allow that in the state of Vermont no flat out no because first of all mental health is not covered much of the human race needs needs work with mental health absolutely and I don't mean that as an insult at all of everyone needs help with mental health from time to time and that needs to be included that needs to be an actual function of affordable health care women's health I think it's time that we quit ignoring women's health it seems to be absurd that there were even talking about it it's like we're still talking about skin color still talking about gender still talking about all of these ridiculous things that are all portioned a part of the human race why are we still separating them out women's health needs to be absolutely included it not even as a separate thing it is part of the health you know the health care that's offered anything under women's health anything under men's health whatever there is needs to completely apply otherwise you're not offering health care you're offering an aspirin and that's all you're offering this this nonsense of skinny health care if you cough here's an aspirin go out the door that's all that is that's all that sounds like to me now that sounds ridiculous and perhaps it is but it honestly sounds like it's an easy way to skirt the ACA and all the attempts to destroy the ACA to remove its funding affordable care to remove its funding by the latest administration latest latest national administration which I don't want to name but the the the the attempts to destroy that and allow insurance companies to once again count pre-existing conditions I think that's atrocious truly whoever people voted for whether left right it doesn't really matter all of them deserve health care truly comprehensive health care now if that means we pay for that if that means someone like myself or anyone that has to pay an extra dollar or two dollars or three dollars or five out of my check monthly to put into a pot that allows that money to be used to pay for health care then fine I'll do it if it helps more people no granted we have this these discussions where someone says why should I pay for that person's for that person's care fixing their teeth or why should I pay for that that why shouldn't you are we not our brother's keeper what goes around comes around I know these are things people have always heard before or I just want to be treated like I would treat anyone else well then that's it be that the case I'm going to give for that I'll give that extra five dollars to make sure the roads are fixed to make sure the health care is out there to make sure everyone has some sort of food on the table even if even if their income doesn't meet minimum standards did they get some sort of help something it's not going to sink me by any means to pay an extra five dollars out of my check to help out on these situations it will not sink me of course I'll pay for it we want this quote free society and we want you know all the things that we carp in catawall about in regards to our nation but yet we're unwilling to pay for it I am not saying is there an affordability question in Vermont is not too expensive Vermont Vermont can certainly be too expensive it is it's getting that way with franting this is what got me running in the first place in 2012 is when it comes to housing just basic levels of housing now I had called someone and Vermont about a year ago about the cost of brand new housing that was going up here in downtown and the person said well you know it's eight hundred and something dollars a room for a four room apartment per room and I said why so expensive that's Chittenden County rates but this isn't Chittenden County and that would price out people living right nearby and push them out of their homes this is the same thing going on in larger cities like in California where I've been over and over San Francisco and other places is a way of pricing people out and pushing them out and I got into running originally because of housing issues fair housing issues so what would a fair housing issue be a fair housing issue would be people living when I first when we first lived here we lived in a location in South Burlington where not only was there mold growing in the bathroom but there was lead paint peeling off the building itself the building was not completely insulated there was insulation work that had been done back in the 70s it was never completed and that part of the building 70s or 80s and that part of the building was not completed it actually was not sealed all the way up to the top and work had simply stopped and also the electrics in the building were 1960s to 1940s to 60s and yet it was always getting a pass by the fire department and yet also I found myself reaching through a window in the building to pop its its to pop its electrical box so that it would turn back turn the electric back on because from time to time it would pop out across the entire building and a tiny building but it would pop out and I would have to reach through a window into a utility closet and pop the and pop the electrics they were old in that building and again the building was always getting a pass and I always believed look at the local issue another state issue that it needs if it were handled correctly in a low on the at the local level I wouldn't have had to deal with it but if the state honestly needs to get into a situation where the electrics are not up to date there's mold growing there needs to be state standards leveled at these sort of issues because I honestly don't believe that enough there are enough people thinking about it on a local level to handle it so the state needs to actually put out some sort of standards for that when the state puts out standards everyone thinks act 250 what's your feeling on act 250 is land use act in terms of approving land use do you have feelings on that I don't have enough feelings on it but there needs to I I'm in regards to land use act I'm completely a part of building affordable structures so that affordable homes affordable apartments affordable places so that we can get as many homeless cleaned up off the streets so that they can have a place to start over so that they can get help finding jobs finding work and not be out here in the freezing cold begging for money they should be able to I mean and I'd be willing to give money into a system that goes directly to helping them out instead of just handouts on the street do we spend enough on social services on the state level I'm not really certain about how much we do spend on social services on the state or the impact of the state level spending not the aggregate amount do you feel that the state has enough of an impact in the social service realm our social service is sufficient in this state I'm not sure and see I'd have to compare that to to other locations in order to answer it clearly but to be very honest when we roll back to mental health in that in that location in that I mean in that subject I'm not sure we are as sufficient because I see so many people again who are homeless who have serious mental mental issues who are out in the cold and to be very honest I know we can't help 100% but I think that we can get 99% there's always going to be someone who wants to be out in the cold or who wants to live out who wants to live off the grid that's not those aren't the folks I'm talking about I'm talking about the other 99% of the people who don't want to be outside and who don't who have problems who are roaming around screaming to themselves and clearly they need serious help and I've and and like in the larger cities I see people just walk by them or walk over them and that's heartbreak that that's a crushing heartbreak I really think that we can do better Vermont likes to stand out as the state as the state that's above so many but we have so much further for so much so much further to go in regards to how we act towards the least the least of us those that have the least those that have the biggest problems those that are out in the cold those who are ignored on on several different levels several different levels to include income inequality and social inequality how should the state be addressing income inequality I think the state has been has been addressing this with with trying to push the minimum wage which hasn't gotten through the legislature and had a promised veto if it did get through the legislature so we need to we really need to keep pushing because I think the legislature has been working hard to try and fix that I realize that the the cost of living is actually going to push up over time as a result and it would be mine as it would be the same as if we were being paid 725 10 years ago I get that but for right now we still need to grow the minimum wage above what it is until we until we can get to a slightly higher standard it will help out some people it will help what will be the impact on small business on small family business I'm hoping that the impact will would be would not be so hard at if it grows over if the minimum wage goes up a piece at a time over a few years and not 15 dollars right something yeah to something that isn't going to thrust them suddenly bring it up 50 cents then a dollar then over time slowly so that small businesses can adjust to that over time and see how it's going to affect them we can't do it all at once all of a sudden we jump up the $15 that's untenable and it would certainly damage small businesses so my idea is the same as what the legislature has been doing by by making it incremental over the years up to what 2020 2022 somewhere in there so I mean I agree I agree with that step I don't agree with a promised veto because to me that completely works against the working-class families of the state completely goes against the lower middle classes of the state that are trying desperately to meet bills and how can anyone justify being able to veto that so that's that's that's that's my question to the governor you know how did you justify that how do you really justify in vetoing an incremental uptick in income in basic income over the next several years how do you justify vetoing that now in the simple three minutes we have three minutes to answer a three-hour question how would you deal with school finance school finance I'm gonna go back to what I had said about about how much money we seem because I don't have all the figures and I'm not gonna pretend like I do that we seem to be putting into nonviolent offenders and outplay being placed into out of state prisons and we don't have the capacity to place I realize I realized that but I but here's my here here's what I've just said nonviolent offenders people who don't really need to be in a prison so we can find other ways to handle the situation with nonviolent offenders but we put a lot of money into that that needs to they can go into higher education why are we 40 when we're talking about primary and secondary education that okay so you're talking about primary and second I'm talking about primary and secondary I'll get to higher education in a moment okay and well I don't see why that can't still apply primary and secondary education should not be it's a guarantee of the state of any state so it should there should be a set amount of funding and it should truly be a higher amount that a higher amount of funding and again we can take take from places like prison and do prison reform in order in order to make sure education actually gets into view can educate kids on the lower on the lowest levels of education primary and secondary you might not have issue with a lot of going to prison at a later date so we need to pump more into education and give them a voice because not giving them a voice leads to a lot of trouble in our society do you feel the number of school districts that we have there might be greater efficiencies what was your feeling on consolidation consolidation I think because I realized buildings have to be maintained I realized it takes a great deal of money for school systems to maintain structures and and so in some cases I think consolidation works bringing kids together and local areas closer counties where they can go to school at a central point in a few areas that might be too far away and it might not work I don't think it works on a percent of the time but I think that that's something that has to be taken on a case by case basis some places can consolidate because their buildings might be falling apart and they do it's going to take way more money to to support the actual infrastructure where the schools are so put them in a central but you wouldn't you wouldn't get it class size at extremely small schools class when it comes to class size I I would say for me class size is really important because when I was teaching when I was teaching secondary education in middle school as well the class size was about 20 where I where I lived and that was about it was 15 to 20 so that was about the maximum size that I thought this particular case people are talking about a class of four or five we're talking about the state subsidizing micro schools okay so and and to me that that's a whole another different issue because class size is a four or five that's I wouldn't classify that a classroom that would classify that more of a more of a core conferencing than a than a classroom and that that's done in college where you have small conference courses which is what those are I don't know what the official name of them are but it that's more of an there is a word that's on the tip of my tongue about what those are called but it's not actually a classroom per se but it's more of a close conferencing again I don't know the official name of that but but the question is micro schools one through eight where you have 50 kids is the state responsibility to maintain micro schools if they are far enough out like in the Northeast Kingdom and other places where there's a great deal of distance between themselves in the next major system then yeah I can see supporting those if they're too far away to be consolidated I just I can I can see supporting them but not the whole state if there are places where that are close enough for consolidation one two the buildings that they are actually in stars are not maintained very well and the standards that those kids need to be able to be given you know textbook standards computer standards good building and it's not hot in the in the early parts of summer when they're in school it's not freezing when they're in winter if those standards can be upheld and they're far enough away from another from another centralized system I say leave them alone would you finance some education on income or property say that again would you finance primary and secondary education on the income tax or the property tax I would do it mostly I would honestly try a minimal amount on income tax I would actually do it that way instead of on property taxes I think that enough funding is does enough property taxes as it is for people to pay into education I think a little bit more I mean like I say a dollar or two a month out of a person's check going into a central system to to fund education there's there's enough already on property taxes I've seen people that have to pay so much on property taxes as it is at some point there needs to be a cutoff on that there needs to be a cutoff on how much you are charging people on the property that they already own so there needs to be a percentage cutoff add a dollar or two to the to the income tax to income instead for years the progressives have talked about the tax system of Vermont and whether the tax system of Vermont is advantageous to the poor middle class upper class do you feel that our tax structure our tax code is what it should be I'm not going to pretend to even be familiar with our tax code I'm not an economist so I don't quite I'm not quite familiar with our tax code that's why I became a writer instead of a mathematician but but from what I can tell from how other states operate to include our own I almost never see what would be considered an advantageous tax system just for them being tax systems alone isn't advantageous the very idea of taxing the population without reason without reason on so many different things instead of just core things taxing a culture on the roads on their schools on their health care minimum each because when it gets into the pot that's a lot of money those are fine but when you have to create a massive code it seems to be it seems to be shy stirring the population out of out of money that that's been well made well deserved and is outside the core issues of again utilities education roads higher education those kind of issues those fine you don't really need a massive tax code for those but for a massive tax code for all these other issues I'm suspicious of that sort of thing when we speak of the state budget it's required by our constitution to be balanced and at the last legislature at the very end when we had surplus funds and it was discussed we were talking about the pension funds and the pension obligations of the future how would you square the teacher's pension fund that that is just lingering underneath the surface of the state budget and and when you talked about roads and bridges and like our infrastructure do you feel that we've we're spending enough on our infrastructure we are only I from what I'm witnessing it seems that we are only just barely spending enough on on some infrastructure roads are that are slowly being worked on in the area and that's just in the area that I can view where I am I cannot speak to other areas of Vermont but I don't I can't say whether or not enough is being spent on infrastructure I just realize and notice that it takes a while to get things done with infrastructure in regard again in regards to teacher pension well what if pension was actually is actually an agreement signed in the contract for teachers then the state is obligated to meet absolutely and the question is how do we meet that pension within our existing budget with it lingering under the surface as more and more teachers retire and the needs grow you know again with the kinds of like I say when I said any worse than two to five dollars would have you per month just a piece of just a piece of of that being cut up and placed in in the teacher's pension I'm fine with that just like if it were a part of health care pensions I'm fine I'm fine with someone wants to put 50 cents per person into the teacher's pension for all the stuff for all the taxes that come through for education that's fine that that education that little bit of tax for education a piece of that needs to automatically be put into teacher's pension that needs to be part of the rule for where that tax money goes sure it goes to books it goes to computers it goes to making sure the buildings are up to code and teachers pensions and pensions for the people who clean up who are who are mopping the floors who are who are who are secretary new secretary old duties behind desks and who work in the library all of that should be the things where these are broken up into where everyone who works to maintain that educational system to its highest standard is actually made we make sure we watch after them and pay that I know that sounds all and that sounds all like tree huggy but no it sounds like something that we we should require constitutionally even state constitutionally what about parental leave should that be mandated that the people should give parental leave in the state paid parental leave as in for for people who are about to have children yes or people who have family medical emergencies oh my goodness if there is a family emergency then I tell you what I'm going to if I ever had children and I'm going I'm going to be there for my child everything else will get will get dropped temporarily while I'm trying to handle family issues whether it's my mother or some future children or what have you or my partner or what have you those are the things that need to get looked at that's family family I even teach this one I'm teaching community college family comes first if you're sick there's medical issues then that needs to come first class class will come later and I'll deal with that but but blood is blood or even non-blood families doesn't matter it comes first how do we pay for that we have to or is that a private responsibility for people to take out insurance private insurance towards that and we're going back to insurance again and when it comes to medical that when it comes to medical especially medical issues that needs to be addressed under healthcare that needs to be addressed under the types of healthcare that are offered so that people can take leave and that needs to be respected a system says no you can't take medical leave of course you can why wouldn't you be able to take medical leave you need to take care of someone if a child is born but should it be paid up to a point yes I would say that up to up to a certain length of time yes what that length of time should be I cannot judge but yes it absolutely how would you fund that I can't be certain okay not certain of that I won't even pretend to be certain of that but we have to find a way to make that work now I don't think it's going to sink the ship trying to figure that out I want to walk you through a couple of hot button issues from the last legislative session what where do we go on marijuana from here as we decriminalized and partially legalized what's the next step in your mind we legalize it period how do we control it and you again control it the same way you control tobacco you know yeah do the exact same way we do tobacco the thing is is that tobacco or liquor those are two different systems we have we have tobacco and liquor that can really cause serious issues with with health far faster than anything any damage marijuana can do so the thing is is if we figure oh we're gonna have so so much problems I'm thinking yeah well we've had greater problems with alcohol and tobacco and and yet we've left those legal and you can see what making those illegal did to our system it created a massive criminal enterprise and back in the 20s and 30s you know when that was all in the 20s when that was made illegal do you feel the state has a role in regulating this well the state's going to make it legal I'm not sure they have a role in regulating it but they have the option to regulate it if they want to but to me um go the way of California and legalize it for um recreational use within the state I'm not saying to do anything outside the state people really shouldn't travel with it between state lines because that's still a federal issue but in so far in so far it's just getting not only getting rid of it as an issue in the state but releasing people out of prison who you know grandfather who who've been in because of marijuana so we can get get that monkey offer back and stop having to pay for people who are you know put money into people who've been in jail for nonviolent offenses like weight weight offenses I'm not talking harsh drugs that's that's a whole another thing that needs to be handled and also handle in a system that is not always penal people who have hard drug issues need help they need help getting off they need the mental help they don't need to be thrown into a prison for some sort of get back at that person for being a horrible person for taking drugs we're talking people who need help who need treatment weed and these other issues can be used in treatment you know and we know this medically prescription drug abuse or opioids what's your thought on that and the state's response to opioid again this this goes back to treatment this goes back to the need for people to have treatment also this this needs to be addressed in the health system and the health care system where doctors are just prescribing pain medicine from the corporations from the drug corporations that create them because they're getting paid for it that needs to be dealt with and if the feds aren't going to deal with that then the states need to deal with it and that includes Vermont needs to deal with I don't I can't say that you need to penalize doctors who are pushing drugs but something needs to occur to stop them from just writing out paying prescription medicines because a lot of these folks I would say the great majority of them innocently got hooked on opioids when when when one was a high school student who had a high school he had an injury and three or four years later he was 17 years old when he had the injury and I would say closer to four to five years later he overdosed because he had been on the pain medicine for a long time got hooked on it didn't get help and he accidentally overdosed one day and the thing is is that he had a legitimate reason for being on it when it started but then it but then no one especially the doctors no one seems to care or notice because they're getting kickbacks and money from the drug corporations to push on these kind of to push these kind of issues and I know that this has been addressed in Vermont but we need to look back at that again because we need to go to the source of why of um of where the medicine's coming from we also need to go back to the source of mental health of why this actually happens because putting a band-aid on the subject isn't going to help it at all I assume in this that you favored importation of drugs of prescription drugs from Canada sure if you need in order to make them cheaper for those who need them sure now that assumes the federal government will grant the waiver that the state is requesting of course in terms I'm going to take walk you through one more social issue unless let's just say your guns okay what was your feeling on that I had someone who asked me about this during the time I was signing up to to run and um lives here in Montpelier in the area and uh votes you know doesn't doesn't you know doesn't vote progressive but I said to him and I'm going to be honest I said that is still an open discussion no one and here's my view no one's going to bust into your home and take your guns that has never been a case on top of it you understand as anyone understand the level of resources human and otherwise it would take to actually perform something so impossible and against and against against the Vermont and the federal constitution to do such a thing that's just how it's a ridiculous fear that I won't approve of it by any means but will approve of people being able to buy tanks and and massive amounts of semi-automatic weapons and clips now why do you need that to hunt why do you need that to protect your family but that wasn't the issue in the state house right so um I actually do agree on on on what the governor did sign I actually do agree on um on you know the amount of the clips the type of clips that were banned so I do understand that but I'm not willing to someone says oh someone's gonna bust in and take our guns I'm thinking no not at all what should should gun shows um have to run have to run a check on people yes absolutely it doesn't mean they can't sell sure they can but yes they need to run a check because we need to have mental health checks on on people who own them but I'm not against the Second Amendment I'm against people having weapons it's just that a tank is not necessary or bump stock or bump stocks would you advance more gun legislation if you were sitting in the in the state center that that really depends on whether or not the the gun legislation that's taken effect already is um is um working I'm not going to try and push in advance of more legislation um without a study to see whether or not the most recent legislation um is actually working so not automatically just out of nowhere let's just push more gun legislation without reason not in a country that where where guns are so much a part of the culture but the thing is there's a different cultural response from different groups of people with when it comes to guns um certain ones of us are not going to hear a gunshot and think ooh hunting and rights some of us are going to hear a gunshot and think oh god I'm about ready to be shot and I'm unarmed that's the difference it's not it's it's it's not about whether you have the right but what how do you respond when you see them I have a different cultural response than other folks have but again I don't go overboard in regards to it but I have a highly I have an entirely different cultural response to to to guns and and what they mean because of how they've been used against different groups of people death with dignity took several years to go through the legislature uh same-sex marriage took several years to go through the legislature right act 250 forever has been going through the legislature in terms of changes education funding every year did you feel that the process on guns was rushed I think that it was time I think that we always make the claim that oh the process is rushed the process is rushed but yet we seem to respond we only ever seem to respond when there's a massive tragedy like those happening in Florida and other states constantly we only ever seem to respond and sometimes we don't respond at all you know we didn't respond to the to the to the you know massacre at the gay club in Florida no one responded that to that how would you how would you have responded to that up here the same way in which we respond we don't have a whole lot of any of that here simply because we're just Vermont's a small place don't have a whole lot people people just go to any kind of clubs they're not they're not they're not specified gay street what have you but um but what was done finally is I think how the response needed to be um high capacity rounds bump stocks those kind of things background checks background checks I mean yeah say again the final one was youth yes yes so um in age right so yes um but we needed to respond but people don't excuse me people don't tend to respond unless it's children involved and even then the response is always from other states especially too slow people don't seem to think it's a big deal is there something that's a pressing need right now that you feel should be addressed by the legislature that's not healthcare needs to keep being being addressed in higher education that's a continuing those are continued things I'm putting most of my focus on those continuing issues were you in the state senate what would your policy focus be what would what would glennie want to see done from sitting in in the washington county seat what would what would your pile what would what one area would you like to focus on I continue to focus on those top two things instead of just one the top two things that for me are kind of part of one another is um healthcare and higher education those are always the two things that are sitting on my because people there are too many people who are aging out and getting sick there are those who aren't edgy out but who um but who are sick and desperately need help and a lot of the time we tend to talk about so many other things we don't ever really seem to focus enough on the people who desperately need help the most most especially with healthcare when we're in secondary education and a person gets out of norwich or they get out of uvm or middlebury how do we hold them in the state how do we keep them in the state as citizens if we're going to keep them in the state we need to get a hold of them shortly before not shortly I say a couple of years before they're due to come out or in secondary education get them during their junior or senior year of secondary education which is high school so get them and and try to see what we can do to lure them into job offer I mean actually say we can offer you this if you if you sign on the dotted line this will be your job your position something that can be guaranteed legally to happen to keep them in the state otherwise if you cannot offer them something that allows them to stay in they want allows them to stay in the state to be able to be paid a living wage that's one huge thing that needs to be worked on is being paid a living wage and um if you don't offer these kind of issues advanced training a guaranteed job or at least a guaranteed stipend that the job doesn't come through a stipend that lasts for six months that helps you find another position and find another place if we don't make some sort of guarantees towards our students who are who are already from the state and who live here if we don't make offers to them and try to create some sort of um guaranteed job system for them then they're going to run from the state they're going to run at high speed if we don't if we don't figure a way through this process and the state will get older and older and the state will get older and older so we've got to try and keep young folks who are from here try and see if we can get them at least for a few years to stay here for a few years to pump into the economy for a few years because they're going to want to explore and go outside the state of Vermont and it should be able to but also a number of people would might come back so the the idea should also be let's put our feelers out and get people to come into the state as well. I've recently talked to someone about what to do to bring in other groups of people other groups of people who don't exist in high numbers in the state and I'm thinking reach out to higher education facilities in those other states and locations and to to get people interested in Vermont. So, Glenny, thank you so very much for one for stepping forward and running and two for appearing on the show and let me say to you people that watching these shows shouldn't only be informative it should be something that will walk you through the process of who these people are they're outstanding candidates that are running and I ask that you get out and vote on election day or encourage your family and your friends to vote and thank you so very much for being with us tonight. Thank you for having me.