Minute or so early, but we'll begin tonight's meeting August 5th Call the meeting to order for the select board As always the first thing we have to do is approve the agenda. I don't know if there's any additions or comments or changes necessary Doesn't appear to be so somebody would love to make a motion to approve the agenda make a motion to approve the agenda second, okay No further discussion all those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye Consent agenda items Just consist of the minutes of the July 22nd meeting somebody would love to approve that Motion to approve the minutes of the July second 22nd meeting. I'll second Those in favor say aye. Aye And this is a public comment period is anybody here from the public general public that wishes to speak Before we begin Move forward First thing on the item agenda is to interview a development review board member possible member Who might that be Eric? Alex you want to come up? Is it Alec or Alex welcome So you're interested in jumping in on the development review board Get to know neighbors and the community and Do my small part. Yeah, I might be an interesting way to get to know neighbors at times from what I understand Were you on any other boards in Burlington? No, I was not this would be my first board Any other interests other than I mean, what what's driving you to sure? I'm a builder and I also do Store preservation consulting work So I kind of would come into the design review from that viewpoint Not, you know adverse to all development but kind of Keeping an eye on it and see how it goes and making sure that it's part of a wider vision for You're just happy to see Contractor here and I'm an ex GC Do basically say work now So I think you know that background we can come in handy at times. Yeah, I think so process considering the makeup of the board now Well rounded and be a good addition Well, thank you, so the term is for just Three-year term ending April 30th Alex, what's your last name Tolstoy TOL STO I Tolstoy Tolstoy Tolstoy. Yeah, all mine is VNs and everybody pronounces it being so Okay Well, we won't Drag you through the pain any longer if somebody who wishes to Prove Alex's three-year term ending in 20 22 we can let him off the hook for the night I'd make a motion to Point Alex to a three-year term ending April 30th 2022 a second Questions or discussion? None all those in favor say aye. Hi. Hi Welcome to Waterbury. Thanks. Thanks for stopping up. Good luck. Thank you Library directors quarterly report on me. Yeah, we don't keep you waiting long So how goes the library business very well I brought you some more swag These are We have information in the library about text you might have read recently that reminds the highest per capita rate of Lyme disease so we have And some other information at at the In the cafe for our patrons. It's good to know first at something. Those are handy wallet cards So So I'll introduce myself as I was told to last time I'll me land our library director Good evening. Thank you for giving me some of the time some time on your agenda. I appreciate it Is this close enough? So I'm going to start with some highlights from the second quarter, which is April May, June I wasn't able to work out coming to a meeting in July. So it's a little bit in arrears, but And then I have a handout for you with some basic statistics to give you a look at the use of the library body taxpayers and community members So as you know with the support of the select board and bill and the voters We added a much needed 25 hour a week position at the library this year So thank you for supporting the library budget to enable us to do that It's been wonderful for both the staff and the patrons To have two consistent people at the help desk. We had we had a 20 hour We still have a 20 hour a week person and now we have a 25. So that is really helpful We received about 20 resumes for the position which I narrowed down to a pool of six and then With the staff we reviewed them together and we ended up interviewing four candidates We hired Maggie Cleary and she's been a great addition to the staff everyone is benefiting from Being able to focus on their specialized areas while she covers the desk and answers the phone With help of course, but and I think community members are benefiting by having Consistent people at the help desk when they walk in the door to greet them and help them So Thank you again for that everybody During the second quarter with the help of the Friends of the Waterbury public library and some new volunteers that I recruited We launched an ongoing book sale in the library And also a paperback exchange, which means there's no checkouts. There's no you don't need to return them They're great for taking on an airplane or going to the beach or whatever It's been very popular both of those things All of the funds from the ongoing book sale go to the Friends of the library in the youth area We've added some new educational and fun items for Families to to interact with when they come in We we have now have a craft table that always has something out for young children to do We purchased some new toys new puzzles new imaginative play items to liven up the youth area and those have been very well received by our families with young children and We also got a donation of a Train set with a table big big table and Thomas the Tank Engine train parts Which if you have kids or grandkids, you know what those are And that will be Right now that's in storage. It will be alternated with the craft table every few months. Let's see Most of the staff attended the one-day Vermont library association conference on May 21st, which is an annual conference And each of us attended workshops that provided continuing education and Inspiration for our particular area of librarianship And it's always great to network with the other librarians in the state as well the day before that was the Vermont library trustee conference May 20th and Four of our commissioners attended which is quite remarkable. We have really dedicated people on the board right now We all I went as well We all heard from some nationally recognized leaders in Library development and community engagement and had the opportunity to network with other experts and trustees and commissioners from around the state Also in the area of training our technology librarian Delia Spent a day receiving some specialized training to work on the back end of our open source Catalog and patron management system software So that's going to be helpful to us as well as to the rest of the consortium that we belong to Most of you probably know about the word garden that's out back It's a very popular spot in the warmer months. We see a lot of people out there Using it bringing kids to it And this spring we solicited suggestions for new words to add to the word garden from patrons And then with support from the friends we added ten new words etched on rocks And it's always fun to go out there and see the ever-changing Phrases and poems that people write out there The other thing that I've been working on is increasing the visibility of the library and Increasing the integration of the library into the community some of the projects I've worked on Include helping with the seasonal preparation of the rusty Parker Park I volunteered at the arts Fest and I've scooped free ice cream a couple of times at the concerts in the park with the Rotary Club We've also partnered with orca, which is our local access television cable station and They have taped and broadcast and archived some of our adult programs so far. They've done three and they seem to really like what we do and They've created Waterbury public library slot on their series channel where they Archive those so that anybody can watch if you can't come to the library or if you missed a program some of them will be Will be taped there and you can watch them at your leisure There's more to come. They've done three so far We had trooper Keith Luya Come to our staff meeting to meet all the staff so that we would know each other introduce ourselves and had a interesting discussion on How the police can help us if the need arrives and need arises and how we contact them And Jill Chase our assistant librarian and I participated in the tabletop emergency exercise with the rest of the town and the Vermont emergency management people I Worked with Washington County mental health and the Vermont network on sexual and domestic violence To get pocket cards brochures and other information About their services and the assistance that they provide to people Into the library. So we have some in the bathrooms and some on in various locations around the library for people to take And my last highlight in this department is that every new patron now receives a welcome letter Mostly an email after they register for a library card Which highlights the products and services and information that they can access through us Which they also hear about when they sign up, but this is a nice digital reminder So Programming is one of the most important ways that we fulfill our mission in a 21st century library Promoting lifelong learning and building building community and I wanted to just highlight some of the Some of the programs that we held during the second quarter We we had a race conversations of the which is an ongoing Monthly meeting that grew out of a program that we presented from the Vermont Humanities Council And the people who attended wanted to continue the conversations We regularly get 15 to 16 people coming to those Excuse me We also have a writer's workshop that again started with one program and the people who attended wanted to Continue to work together. So that meets monthly and there's about six to eight regular people that come to that and we also offer Cardio Tai Chi or some other similar movement class once a week and that has a regular following as well And then for single events We did things like an introduction to trout fishing a program on invasive plants in Vermont a program on composting some needle felting classes and a program called black bears Do's and don'ts with which if you're on from porch forum, you know, that's an issue in town these days So those were all very well attended with anywhere from 25 to 40 people In the children's area, we offered a nature walk with the Vermont State Zoologist a couple of dungeons and Dragons programs after school crafts maker programs. We have two story times a week And in June Michelle held mostly drop-in type programs because she was prepping for summer reading program So we would have Legos and different things out in the cell room for families to to come in and do or after school Children to cut to do We also offer technology workshops our technology Librarian is Delia and she offers a monthly class on a variety of tech topics and this in that quarter She did one on using Instagram another one on how to organize your computer files and Another one on cutting the cable cord, which means Streaming services for television content And she had anywhere from 10 to 17 people attend those She also offers one-on-one technology help to buy appointment And during that second quarter she had 40 appointments for those one-on-one sessions. So those are pretty popular So I collect a lot of statistics monthly and and quarterly which I send to the commissioners each month And I have a handout as I mentioned before with just a few of the basics For you to look at and I'm happy to answer any questions So that's a little summary of second quarter at the library Now I realized that looking at statistics for one quarter is a little bit out of context So you have no basis for comparison, but as time moves on I'll be able to provide Other months other years as I collect the same statistics each month and I Think that will that will be more helpful to see the ups and downs I find it most helpful to compare the same quarter with the same quarter or full year to full year so That will I'll start providing that in future I am yes the end of this month will be a year you talk a little bit more about your book sale Program and how that actually works sir. So we take donations with some strict guidelines so that we're not overwhelmed with people cleaning out their attics and We have we put them in a storage place in the library and our volunteers come in and they mark them with the date and Clean them and so on if needed and then they go on a cart which is in the hallway outside the stairwell door for now and There's a sign they're showing they're telling people how much the different items cost hardbacks paperbacks DVDs audio books and then they pay for them at the front desk and When there's a friends meeting I bring them the funds that came in for that month and the friends also have have Decided to pay for the installation of a extra little bookcase Upstairs that will be the book sale. So it doesn't have to be on a temporary cart But that's it's currently being built probably be here in a month or so Well, we it's it's been pretty nice it's been People have been respecting our our guidelines and so we've gotten some nice donations, but we have not been for the most part overwhelmed there was One time where we got to we got to the library in the morning and there were I don't know five boxes outside our door Which we knew that would happen now and then I volunteer since I live near goodwill to take those kinds of things Away, so I did that so this this book sale is Sales of material that people are donating for for the book sale. It's not you're not selling Books that have been purchased by the library we occasionally will put in a discarded item in there In my experience in book sale library book sales those don't sell very well So if they sit on the for sale card for a certain amount of time, then we'll put them out on the free bench in the foyer Mostly it's donations So did you did you take your? Sign down that said we're not accepting donations. We changed the sign. Yes, and it has all the guidelines At the front door and also at the book sale You've never had any Writers of any books donate a certain number of their books to sell To help the library or anything like that Not not here so far Well, let's see we we did have Andrea Soberman, I think her last name is who does musical munchkins in town. She donated one of her CDs But we put that in the collection So it's not unheard of for an author to donate a book to a library. Sometimes we get them in the mail so Some of those might go in the book sale if they're not Appropriate to be put into our collection. Yeah, is that does that answer your question? Okay? I didn't know if you could get an author of a Top-rated book Probably not their publisher probably would frown on that Gotta get them out and advertise them out. I'll set board. Yep. All right. Thank you again for your time Okay, a request for a 5k fun run on August 15 Sure So I'm Donna spires I'm a member of central Vermont runners and Vermont Suffrage Centennial Alliance and A next year is a hundred years since the passage of the 19th or the ratification of the 19th amendment allowing women to vote and The League of Women Voters are kind of spearheading the effort But we've got a group that's meeting to plan events and educational outreach throughout the state for all of 2020 it's actually even sort of started now Middlebury hasn't college has an exhibit about it and So as a runner I propose that we have a 5k to you know get people together and Probably have some period costume and period type, you know placards not 20 20 19 20 placards and And and have it as sort of a fun run walk And I was trying to think of a good place and the leaf papers 5k course is the one that starts at the state office Complex it hasn't been held on this course for a few years since Irene, but it's coming back this year I think the permit's been approved through you guys. So it leaves the state office complex goes north on Main Street Circles around through Ducksbury comes back across the Manuski Street Bridge and on the cross Vermont Trail back to the state office complex it the big Question that I would see is we don't know how many people will come because this is a one-time event just as a you know a celebration I It could be 50 people. It could be 500 I would consider it a success if it was 100 to 200 people in the event It'd be great if there were more But I don't know how far our outreach will go And so if it is a few hundred people will probably need to hire a sheriff or somebody for traffic control as we leave Main Street But it should only impact Waterbury traffic for You know five or ten minutes and they wouldn't necessarily even have to completely stop although if that one lane Going north on Main Street were available. I don't know exactly what the state of construction is going to be next summer, but If it's doable this fall it should be doable August 15 2020 I hope and So so we're just trying to get the permits in line with Ducksbury and Waterbury and and we have a tentative permit with the state so I Just was wondering what the procedure is for getting a permit here Just asking a question As you indicated Leave people's health Marathon is coming back to that traditional course Here a couple months ago the board approved that so it's really just to ask them So this must be an RSVP type run is that what you're kind of people will register Yeah, and they have to register in advance because we're not allowed to sell anything on state property. So That would include registration Give you a good indication.  I mean registration It's just now it's a year in advance. We haven't announced it But we should know in advance to be able to plan for any additional traffic controller parking That we need to plan for But how do we typically make the decision whether or not we request sheriff support Do we ever do it on based on number or For most of the races runs or bicycle rides We we do typically ask for At least a sheriff to help escort them out of town this course really Doesn't have any crossing of Main Street. You're you're heading south on Main Street crossing the bridge Oh, I said north I myself Crossing the bridge at the south end and then going over right back side of the river and then turning around coming back The Winooski Street bridge, right? Right. So yeah, yeah, we don't do any turnaround. It's just one loop. So we Get the 5k course. Oh it will it is exactly 5k going from the state house south on Main Street Into Duxbury back on River Road in Duxbury and right on Winooski Street bridge and back through I just helped certify that course and it's amazingly 5k Okay, so that really doesn't I mean that's why we're hopeful for Duxbury because it is difficult in their town when we haven't a Turnaround within one road because then you've got runners going both ways But with this there will be some slower traffic because they will be walkers and runners But because it'll be less competitive. I believe but more participatory But it's only one direction and so it's easier to keep people hurting to the correct side of the road when they're only making Right-hand turns. So how far in advance will you expect to close registration? Probably about a week in advance Okay, so the 15th is a Saturday, right? Right Okay, I mean, maybe you could approve it and then just direct What was your name? Or somebody from the race to you know, just touch base with municipal staff A week or two before the race we can find out maybe two weeks before you'll have a good idea How many there are and then you know If we can just talk and say, you know, you need to have one share of two shares Whatever, I think that's easy and and based on having an entry fee You know, if we get double the people it's easy to pay for double the share It's if it's only 50 people it's like it gets expensive But I think we should have a lot of people we're trying to invite historic societies And and people across the state to just participate a sort of a celebration that the major Celebration is actually going to be the next Saturday in Montpelier There's going to be a big parade and speakers on the State House lawn It's that's because that's it was ratified August 26th. This is sort of a lead-up to help get people interested What time of day? So I was looking at Either 9 a.m. Or 10 a.m. I think 9 a.m. Is probably best for traffic on a Saturday morning and probably a little better for heat in mid-August But if there was any Things going on in town where that wasn't a problem Or it would be a problem to start at 9 a.m. We'd probably go to 10 a.m. There's not going to be Yeah, is there the farmers market in Waterbury is Thursday? Yeah, so that's not a problem And I noticed there's some parade happening in the next couple weeks on Main Street when I came in I don't know I guess It's hard to tell I Just want to make sure it's not Not the same weekend that the Car show is Car show would be Yeah, I know this week, but I'm thinking about next year So is it if it's the same weekend? Is it usually the second Saturday the car show? Yeah, so that would be a So it won't conflict Yeah, I'll just note to look up car show Because they have that on Saturday It's Friday Saturday and Sunday. Okay. Is that what the where it said something about the road being closed? Yes, August 10th. That's for the car show. Okay. I saw that and I thought that's close But it hopefully it's not it doesn't overlap if they do it the second So the second Saturday of the month of year then it won't be a problem Do you do you know the name of the organization that does that? Okay That way I can probably go to their site and make sure that it's not going to be a conflict So Donna, what's the title of the organization that's putting us on? Well central Vermont runners is producing it because we produce races and have insurance to put on races But Vermont suffrage centennial Alliance the SCA I sent I have the The proposal of here with our information on it. I emailed it to car okay, and Well, I mean if it is period specific you might be able to find cars of that era I Guess we're allowed to drive then right I'll make a motion to approve the 5k fun run for the morning of August 15th 2020 with the request that you touch base a couple weeks out to coordinate any police Directional requirements I Did add one final question second it and then a second it What we just what is your plan for sweeping the course? We usually just go through Because we will have some markers and a water station out there. So we'll clean up any Any mess there and definitely we have to clean up anything near the state house. That's part of the plan When are you meeting with Ducks barrier as that already happened? I'm on their schedule for August 26th We need to say pending them their approvals. Well, okay No, they don't get approval from Ducks pre If we can't get approval from Ducks, we go back to the drawing figure out a course in water, right? That's what we did before but people didn't like Perry Hill. I know We lost half our entrance Okay, well motion has been made To authorize a request for the 5k fun run and seconded Any no further questions or comments all those that wish to approve say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Thank you Thank you. Do you want the? hard copy of the map or the Or the proposal or email Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you Hey, Bill the rest of the night is yours Be done early. I said, well, you never know so the last meeting we we had a budget report of the operating funds and And Anybody else want one I gave one to I Gave it a report of the operating funds and mark asked about the CIP funds so the the budget budget for the funds 70 through 75 is the traditional CIP funds and then I've also included Fund 76 and 82 Which are not capital improvement funds, but they're special purpose funds for the municipal building operating fund and the money that we spend for The economic development director There's really not a lot to update you on right now spending is fairly slow at the moment so on the paving fund If you look at the first page where the heading is I did tell you last week that we've paved East Street and and that's what the $40,000 year-to-date is there. We're preparing to pave Loomis Hill anytime now the two Big culverts just above Hubbard farm road were changed out last week and there's some You know final work that needs to be done on that I don't have with me What ST paving schedule is but ST paving will be doing the work. I had hoped to ask Bill Woodruff this afternoon and We had Five water leaks on the Main Street project today, so he was pretty busy out out there And I did see him briefly this afternoon. I thought he was going down the hall to talk to Karen or Pam and that he'd be back But he must have gone home because I didn't see him again Anyway, so Loomis Hill and and then Ginny Davis Road are on On the schedule to be paved The infrastructure CIP which is fun 71 which is on the second page That's the CIP fund that will be paying the Main Street project from The $61,000 that you can see there is from the beginning of the year to now Some of that $61,000 will be reimbursed to us by the water and sewer departments of the utility district So that number right now at $61,000 is actually inflated over what it will turn out to be at the end We just have not made that transfer of funds yet Up at the top under the revenues. I'm not sure with that miscellaneous $3,858 of miscellaneous income is I'm Checking into that that may be it may be in the wrong fund, but right now it's there We have not transferred any money from the operating funds to the CIP's yet But it's all in the same checking account anyway, so it really doesn't matter Sidewalk repair and replacement we budgeted 40, but even at the time we put the budget together So you told me that she thought 40 was more than we were going to be able to do given what we had to do with regard to the paving and the culvert improvements So I've projected 30. We've got to finish some sidewalks on Butler Street. I believe the bridge improvement and and I hinted you with a memo that I wrote in in January And all of the detail of what we're planning to do is included in that memo. I'm not going to Read it or go through it At this point, but The one hundred and thirty eight six hundred dollars is for improvements of the bridge on Guptal Road That's closest to Dr. Murray's house. This is one of the items that I wanted to talk to Bill Woodruff about today We haven't done anything there yet and I know Because I did look at the memo this afternoon. We had applied for for state grant for that bridge I Suggested in the memo that I didn't think we would get the grant We have not received the grant so it may be that we're not going to do that project at all without the grant money The culvert improvements the hundred and twenty thousand dollars That's basically three major culverts the two on Loomis Hill that I just talked about that were replaced last week and then the one on Perry Hill That we've been waiting for Three years to get done. That's a FEMA funded project and That 76,500 dollars up at the top 52,000 of that 76 is You're marked for that That culvert project I did check with Alec and Bill Woodruff last week That has been advertised for bid and I believe bids are due The third week of August so we should be getting some information on that Perry Hill culvert Within a couple weeks and then you know, hopefully we've got a We've been having a little issue with FEMA on that We've got an estimate and FEMA's estimate for the for the job is is lower than ours and You know, we've been kind of going back and forth so FEMA estimated $70,000 for that and our estimate is higher if it's and what I finally Asked FEMA to do was let us put it out the bid if we got competitive bids and got a price Then they would accept it if they're right and it's 70,000 great. If not, I think they've agreed Tentatively to give us a grant which will pay us the same percentage as it would at the $70,000 cost The let's see six in that upgrade to structures and the expenses on Fund 71 We budgeted 30,000. We've spent 16,667 dollars That payment was to King's reconstruction and that was for doing a riprap job on Little River Road going down Toward the state Toward the state campground That project was budgeted at 30, so I'm not sure it's I think it's complete But I again I got a check with Bill to find out if it is complete The grant that we'll get for that project will be Lower than what we anticipated so that's why up at the top where the 76 five is for State grants, and you can see I projected 65 833 and if it's the 65 833 is 80% of that 16,667 which is about $13,000 and then the balance would be the 52,000 for that project on Perry Hill so I'll find out about the bridge improvement on bridge four on Guple Road. That's the That's the big outstanding question mark whether or not we're going to get to that project this year must have been a anticipated a fairly Extensive repair for We had reconstruct the deck at a membrane paint and repave And I said we'll apply for a structures grant not counting on getting the grant and we talked about that Earlier because of you know the Main Street project and a number of the grants. We've received recently from the state It's kind of not our turn right now Turning the page the highway vehicle fund that's pretty straightforward We're planning to buy three things this year. We've made two purchases so far. They're right Just above and below the budgeted price The pickup truck with the snow fighting equipment is yet to come. We'll have that before the before the winter so there's nothing Nothing magical about that fun Why our vehicle CIP this year the next one there's no expenditures in that except paying debt on the Rescue truck and the power truck in that debt. We're paying to ourselves. So nothing there The recreation CIP. I do want to spend a minute on this one And if you turn to page three of the memo I I Don't think that I remembered to color So to the right there and then you can you can see there's a handwritten note there. That's what I'm talking about So we had budgeted to spend seventy six thousand five hundred dollars but that budget Was going to work only if we received that vorac grant we applied for a fifty thousand dollar vorac grant Chris's daughter took it away from us and it went to Newport instead So we didn't get the money So The we had intended to spend twenty seven thousand dollars in the rec building and that was to Upgrade the bathhouse Changing rooms and do some plumbing in there. We were going to put a roof on the building a new roof and then we were going to build a Shelter a sun shelter out in the you know at the shallow end of the pool for a couple thousand dollars We were going to do field improvements Which was going to include? Lights at the softball field at the tennis court and then Some signage we were going to put a lift in the pool for persons with disabilities Playground improvements at Rusty Parker Park Which we did and then some basketball hoops and then some work at Whizzle Mountain on some trail work so we did not get the grant and The thirty five thousand dollars Was supposed to take care of lights at both the softball field and the tennis courts I mean the the field improvements. I'm sorry Yeah, the lights at the softball field the parking lot For five thousand at that grow the signage for fifteen hundred and then the lights Twenty-eight thousand five hundred and that was to be at that grow and the the tennis courts We didn't get the grant You can see we we've spent thirty three thousand one fourteen The thirty three thousand one fourteen and field improvements that we've spent is almost all in fact I think it is all the lights at that grow alone and we've still got $6,000 to spend there and then we'll get a rebate from Efficiency Vermont for about forty four hundred dollars on the lights So we're going to spend just about thirty five thousand dollars on the lights at that grow and That's significantly higher than we anticipated. We thought we could do the lights at both places the problem that we had was When we started the project with the lights here We knew that we had some issues with the electrical service itself but we had more issues with The electrical lines under the ground they weren't they weren't in proper conduits They were not up to code So we had to spend money to just make the thing safe We changed the There's a new panel out Right here. We came off of the Electrical service right where that banner pole is out here in the front. So there's a new service there We went underground out to that pole that you can see there There's a scaffolding around around that pole. That's in left center field and The electrical box is now You got a climb ladder to get to it So it's above the flood which was another issue that the electrical inspector had the one that was over Near the parking lot surrounded by the cedar hedges was underwater during Irene so When we started the projects to do the lights obviously we had to have the electrical inspector come and He found some issues with the with the Fields and with the lights that were above and beyond what we knew that we had to do the the money in the project was to buy new lights and have a Electrician install them and we knew we needed to do a little work in the panel We ended up having to do a lot of work in the panel and It's a much safer system than it was before You just you've got to bring it up to code. So anyway, you can see in that CIP If in the left hand column we predicted a Ending fund balance of sixty two hundred dollars. We started the year with about twenty two hundred dollars in the in the bank We thought we were going to have about four thousand dollars more of revenue than we did expenses And we would have a fund balance of sixty two thirty two If you look at the far right hand column, we did not get the fifty thousand dollars worth of grants and You know we spent twenty five thousand dollars or so less than we budgeted, but we received fifty thousand less than we budgeted So our fund balance is negative here I told you last week when we were looking at the operating funds that it's looking like the Recreation budget was the revenues were significantly higher than they were I don't Until we get to the end of the year I Wouldn't be able to make a recommendation for this I don't believe that I'm going to recommend transferring money from the operating funds this year into the rec CIP This year in order to get this to zero. We have a number of these CIP funds that are Negative fund balances already so we'll have to deal with that as we go forward You can see at the very bottom of that page that funds seventy seventy one seventy two and seventy five All of these CIPs We expected to have a year in combined fund balance of about thirty thousand five hundred dollars Right now. It's projecting out to about twenty thousand eight hundred dollars. So It's not a significant Move off of what our projections were before we went in the year isn't done yet There may be some things where I've projected that will be a little bit lower We're going to end the year with a very very modest balance in the CIPs, which is Not any different than we Thought we're going to have going into this year. So next year if we're going to do Significant paving or infrastructure projects next year we're going to have to transfer a lot more money from Well not a lot more I mean we basically We're spending all the money every year that we put in but next year if we're going to do another big paving project We've talked about Maple Street It's probably going to be necessary to consider borrowing if we're going to be able to do To do that and we talked about that back in the spring We already know, you know, we've got two Pump trucks in the fire department that are coming. I'm working with Gary on that what kind of you know Does it make sense to buy two at once and have a? Five or six thousand dollar savings in the construction of it but understanding that in order to do that We're going to have to borrow I'm thinking that it's going to be October. I talked to Bill and Alec about Putting together Paving and infrastructure plan for next year. We talked about maybe having Conversation with the public about whether we should change salt and sand use So maybe it would be a good time if if I can get a firm date from Bill and Alec about when they would have Some Potential things that we can discuss about Infrastructure projects and paving projects to have that maybe at the same time and and invite the public in then to kind of hear about it all at once on Maple Street I'm A little concerned with how that road has reacted over the years the many humps bumps in it and you recognize just like you're on a railroad track Curious to know what's causing those Humps in that road at such frequency if there's underground water or There's no I don't know what's existing underneath that Other than native soils.  It's pretty flat on both sides Yeah, I really can't answer that question Chris. I guess my concern is if we move ahead and spend all kinds of money to Reconstruct that or repave that road, you know, what guarantees do we have that? Obviously probably the same thing is going to happen again. It's just how soon You know, that's why I'm curious to know what's causing that and how soon that would rear its head again Five years down the road 15 years down the road. It'd be nice to get a maybe some samples or Look into what's caused. Yeah, it's consistent all the way down that road I haven't haven't I'm not saying I haven't noticed it now that you're mentioning it I'm thinking about it, but I hadn't thought about it at all really, right? Yeah, something to mention to Woody and I know when they Were doing the work up and down Stowe Street. They did a whole bunch of course. Yeah I know there's an incredible high season or Seasonal water season a water table there That could be the contributing factor and the fact that it's all gravel That water is passing through that soil and during the winter those I'm thinking that those are veins of water that are passing through the road that are freezing Creating those homes every so many feet It's causing that but it'd be It'd be beneficial if maybe we could do a little bit of investigating as to what's causing that whether or not we can Speaking about the policy change maybe on how we treat our roads I was speaking with Nat the other day we bumped into each other out at the sticks and stuff store. I Mentioned that Celia had approached me about the John Deere mower tractor. You're just recently Fairfield is liquidating out their stuff For this year until they can buy new stuff and the mower that we currently have rented is for sale for 90,000 and I Asked to kind of bring that Question to the board as to whether or not we might have interest in picking that up For that price as opposed to considering a new one under the Considerations that we've been pressed by the public to perhaps more roadsides more frequently To try to keep these invasives away and during that conversation of the tractor with Nat he made up a good point that if Depending on what that how we could amortize that vehicle out that tractor out What if some policy changes if there were policy changes made? Addressing the salt and sand use What type of savings might be there to help offset the purchase of this? Tractor and I said well, that's that's certainly worth considering and Not not to intentionally change the salt and sand use to benefit the purchase of the tractor but if we're planning on changing how we Take care of our roads there in the winter what possible savings might go towards that So that additional taxes wouldn't be needed, so I'm throwing it at the board to see what What's our yearly spend on? Well, if you want to answer you can I can I can go find that I Don't know off top my head. I can go look if you want. It's not a problem Let me do that so Yeah, Chris Chris Chris mentioned this in passing to me the other day and you know so I think what you're asking is Because Fairfield is selling something for $90,000 that if we wait until Next year after we go to town meeting to buy we're probably going to spend 125 or 140 years Yeah So there's a $50,000 savings now, so they're selling machines that are used, right? Okay And the issue of course is we don't have the money in the budget. We didn't budget to buy this vehicle this year So I've been thinking about a little bit and I think the question that The board needs to kind of answer is Is it worthwhile owning a tractor versus renting a tractor and while I while I go and look you can kind of knock this around yourselves, but You know if the answer is you know what we're getting somewhere between four to six weeks of mowing time now Renting and we really ought to mow more Because of the issues that are facing us And we can buy something for 90. That's going to last 10 years Should we do that versus waiting and then having to spend 40 or $50,000 more And if the answer is yes to that then we have to figure out how do we do that without busting the budget and You know talking to the voters about it, so let me go Is this the unit we're currently renting? Yeah What's the feedback on its condition? It's I looked at it the other day it's in spectacular condition of course those roadside mowers They basically that's all they do right creep down the road mowing the roadside. So there's not a lot of harsh use to it That one's fully fitted with the mower and everything So we were talking about buying I have to remind myself that we were talking about buying one next year well, we had been considering I've been Interested in possibility of purchasing one now for more than a couple of years Yeah, depending on the light the life expectancy up. Let's just say a brand new one or used one versus what we're paying a year Could we do we have labor capacity to be able to mow more? Yeah, okay So if we had one more we could do more Which would mean it would be more rental fee if you were comparing owning verse Right. I mean if you were if we were to mow like we probably should be mowing and we had to rent to do that Yeah, our cost of rent would be substantially more What goes wrong with these things? Tractor of mine that I've had then I've used it for everything in 65 horse New Holland It's not as big as that John Deere that John Deere. I think is What looks to be a hundred horse? I mean, I've used mine from brush hogging. I've used it for paying. I've used it for Grading roads. I've used it for loading trucks I've used it, you know the one that the town's rented right now doesn't have a loader on it So that doesn't get you know, it wouldn't be used for anything like that, but I've I don't even know how many years I've owned mine and I've never had to put up any into it They're pretty durable machines You know, especially like I said all these guys are doing is they're creeping down the road mowing the roadside So there's not a lot of it's not working. Yeah, they're not getting beat to death by any stretch and if we I mean, let's say we you know bought this thing some kind of finance plan Well, I well first thing I would want to ask Fairfield is if they would if we Talk to them about purchasing this thing if they would consider putting the rent money that we've already given them Parts of purchase that would be a help to us, you know knock it off the top So whatever They want summers this on 90,000 for it. Yeah And I do that with my own equipment sometime if I'm buying a new piece I'll rent it for a couple of months and with the agreement that it comes off the top if I decide to purchase it, so That may lower the cost down a little bit more I Don't suspect probably that machine or any of the other ones they've got Probably stick around too long because of the condition they're in and basically all they're used for so I don't think they didn't have any problems Getting rid of them. It's not like they're gonna Be pulling their hair out wondering how they're gonna sell it We do have a local resident here tonight, so I'd like to ask his opinion. What do you think about it? What do you about buying a roadside mower there that John dear that we've got up the town chat? How do you feel about that? It's a whole ground What's his name Chris Dave down? I Mean I value your opinion Do you think we do you think we need to buy something like that or do you think we're better off to continue to rent it or what? Well to me written something crazy You know I mean to me you buy it And then it's yours And you might just take care of it. I think it makes sense to rent High-cost equipment that we're using very little But I think it makes sense for something like this if we're using it that many weeks in a summer and it's relatively low maintenance I'm sure there's a savings over time That's why I want to talk to Bill too about The question on the fire equipment and are we still talking about the potential of use too because we talked about a little bit But you know there's definitely Municipalities that are turning their equipment over sooner and I know we've bought used in the past Or some of our current equipment and we've held on to it for a number of years maintained it well and Yeah, but like if we're talking about spending 90 here Maybe we don't need you know like sure there might be a $6,000 savings or whatever it is over two But that that spend is half a million or or a million or whatever it is You know I'd rather start talking about used equipment to So We pay Fairfield thirty two hundred dollars a week to rent that machine a week So three weeks this year ninety six hundred dollars is About yeah That's a lot more than that but well into March point if we have it will be using it a lot more So that savings will certainly increase Yeah, we're getting three weeks worth of it now and like I told you before you know, we're waiting now until In June and we're trying to cut things before it goes to seed and we got a an email from What's his name Mike yeah hedges From the you know, he's on the conservation fund and he thanked us for yeah getting this most of it cut before it went to see but It's always close, you know and Depends on the year if it isn't quite so wet It's a little warmer. Maybe it goes to seed faster and we couldn't get out and more in Is that close because the main first second of May is when you should be hit Is that close because we have a schedule date that we get to pick it up and return it so they can build their schedule for the rental of that equipment. Yeah, I think I think that you know I'm sure she can move it around but When we've gotten it of late.  What do you mean if it Take care of properly That she that machine would last us 15 years in our beat easily So it sounds like If you could figure out a way to make the money flow work you'd be getting an extra five years of rental You know over time over time it would be fiscally responsible to do this. Yeah, I mean you'd get You would save five years of rental plus you'd be able to use it You know, right be able to use it for 30 weeks a year if you need to we and we have the ability to store something like this Right now or what it said is it set up? I think we could find a place to put it The armory up behind the school Okay So Bill could you I know we've been in this situation before where and maybe it was the Sidewalk standard, but you know out of out of budget season spend considerations and what our options might be While you were out of the room. We were also just talking about as We'd look to consider this You know conversations surrounding other large equipment and are we talking about used equipment as well Which I know we've done in the past But just as we're trying to figure out if if if we're really adding or if there are offsets Yeah So I Think it was just a year or so ago where we We had to buy the sidewalk plow It just it wasn't worth putting any more money in we were hoping to get one more year of it wasn't in the budget So in that case we already owned a piece of equipment and it was just not worth repairing it In this case, we don't own it so if we go and if we go and buy it in this there's a You could subject yourself to a little criticism that the public says hey We didn't even get a chance to decide whether we wanted to own it never mind Did we want to spend $90,000 on it? But I think the reality is is that we need to do roadside mowing and You know you can The old saying is you know, it's easier to ask forgiveness that it is to get permission You know you go to the voters next year and you say hey we had an opportunity We're gonna buy this anyway, we're gonna ask you to buy it anyway and You know somewhere between $30,000 and $50,000 is is what we've saved on this and and we can do it You know we can if we had to we could finance it At least initially could borrow the money We could borrow the money from ourselves or from the village and and then And then you know next year you could decide whether it's reasonable to just continue to finance it Or if you wanted to just outright purchase it I Know and I'm I'm on a little shaking ground here Leasing is not considered a purchase So you don't you don't need voter approval to lease something the board can just say we there's a piece of equipment out there Let's we need it. We're gonna lease it. You haven't purchased it I think to go to Fairfield and go through their system to lease You're gonna eat, you know, you're not gonna eat up $40,000 worth of savings, but I Think you just either decide to buy it And tell me to figure out a way and in terms of cash flow to make it work And then go to the voters next year and say we did this because and You know if they if they decide that they're not happy about it, they can Take something else out of the budget, you know But I think the the real issue is you need to decide Whether it's You know good for the community to own it and if it is and the savings really is and and I don't know I'm just going from our conversation, but If we can buy this for 90 and we we're gonna buy a brand-new one next year. This is Probably a couple years old Yeah, if I look at it the way I look at my own business, you know If I needed a piece of equipment like that and I knew for the next 10 to 15 years I'd be spending $150,000 to rent it and I could Cut my losses and pony up And get an extra five six years of use out of it, you know at the end when I'm all done That's a no-brainer Right, and this isn't a business that has an end, you know We're gonna continue to need seems like a no-brainer Yeah, no, we don't want to buy another piece of equipment, but this this kind of We're already spending money to rent one And we unfortunately we don't have the opportunity to Last thing I want to do is go over the voters heads to do something like this, but in this particular case Fairfield's not gonna wait around for us to have a ball How difficult is it is unequivocally piece of equipment like this to find used on the use market in good condition or is it do you feel like it's Worthy that this specific piece is worth doing this because They're difficult it's difficult to find or the quality meets the right price like what's well you are away to bill Chris mentioned that I Don't know if you wanted to be part of the negotiation But the ask of our rental fee potentially being pulled off that 90,000 he's done it before So that was another part of the conversation that happened while you were out of the room Yeah, but what we've already given him this year towards the purchase and the other thing I was just thinking you know while we were having this conversation is Can we squeeze any kind of a warranty out of them for a year? You know give us a year's warranty on it something like that? That's something else we could certainly Talk to them about as well The fact that Fairfield's been in the business of renting this type of equipment for a number of years now In the quality business that they operate I suspect they'd probably keep up on this equipment Fairly well when it comes to you know making sure it's all you know grease and And oil changed and whatnot And I suspect they probably made a fair amount of money on renting these machines So to think that they're You know probably asking more than what it's worth is I wouldn't suspect It's not like you're getting it from a private sale where you don't know what it's been through Do we tonight can we just how good what? Feel like I'm right in there Um Do you have any idea on how quickly could we just put put? Bill on task to Negotiate and come back and we vote on this at the next meeting or do you think we need to consider Approving an up to spend this evening. Well, I think if Bill could contact or to you know, whatever Fairfield right off and ask them that question you know first Negotiate with them first whatever and then right but I still if they're not willing to wait for the next meeting We can do we authorize well, I mean I I'm really you know, I'm reluctant to have you authorize me Anything because no offense to anybody and it's their job, but it could be in the newspaper what you authorize and that might That might end yeah, yeah on negotiating ability. So What I can do is say to them, you know negotiate the best deal that I can and ask them Can you wait? Two weeks and if they can't then, you know, you can hold a special meeting with what 48 hours notice And it wouldn't be an emergency meeting, but if we have to we can Call a another select board meeting and have you come back in both Let's feel it out so we don't have to actually you don't have to do anything tonight except What we've done and I'll just report back either at the next regular meeting or we'll call a special meeting They're actively trying to sell these things who knows it may be already too late, we know Okay Right, and if it is too late, there may be an opportunity Somewhere else to get one, but I think you're right the fact that if we're buying a machine that we've been using That would be yeah, I mean I on the topic of this conversation and moving forward I'd be interested in understanding what other items within our budget were the various any similar scenarios just to understand You know some of that for me even being on the board for a while Now I understand that there is a potential savings over a 10-year period and starts to make sense to review some yeah Most of the stuff That we need we already own and they're already on a cycle for purchasing You know and we used to own one we had a roadside more in the past two different models You know, I think I told you when I first came here Howard Ripley used his Firewall tractor or whatever it was and you know had a cutter bar on the side and then we bought a We bought a big remember that big blue huge tractor they had with Rotary motor on a on an arm. We had that for a few years and Howard used to love to put it vertical and mow the trees I See Dustin actually trimming back some of the brush here the other day and I Yeah, there you go, buddy, and then and then we used we bought an attachment for the trackless Sidewalk plow that we have and we use that and had an over-the-rail you know a good mower but Just the way the machine is built and that weight on that arm It just was it did a whole lot of damage in it weaved havoc with the With the sidewalk plow and you never never worked out so we have had them in the past. Yeah, just so anyway, okay, I Don't have anything else to present Okay, we finished on the recreation I think and then the last page Funds 76 and 82 76 is just the municipal building operating fund looks like we're going to maybe have a little Money left over at the end of this year in that fund, but that can change Revenues are right on line to what we projected which is The two main revenues are just property tracks tax transfers And then we must be a little along a couple of the the building maintenance line right now I'm not sure if there's something that Almost looks like there's something Obviously big that is coming at the end of the year So I'm not sure that 26 819 that it's projecting out to his right Since we budgeted 35 for building maintenance, and I didn't happen to see that until just now but If we do spend the full 35 there then would be about five thousand dollars in the hole But I think this fund will come out Pretty close to where we expected it. It's it's Getting more and more Predictable as time goes on Because some of the projects that were a little bit unknowable in terms of exact Exact costs like the new equipment line that was mainly the generator and then some computer server work, so Anyway, and then the LDC is just an in and out we transfer money. I think next year I won't even bother having the reason why this was This fund was set up was because there were two funding sources the village and and the town were funding the economic development director, but Even before the village dissolved the town ended up taking over all of the Economic development director, so we can make accounting simpler just have the one line item in the general fund and pay Revitalizing what'll be directly out of that. That's what that fund is So unless you have any questions, I'm all set for now So that building maintenance fund that's for all the buildings in general this bill. Oh just for this one Yeah, municipal building operating fund So that's The building maintenance would be the lawn work the janitorial services in this building H back maintenance like all that kind of stuff is in that Building maintenance line. It's all set Get out of here. I'll make a motion Second All that wish to approve say hi. Hi. Hi. Thanks, Ann


If you like true revenge stories, you found the best place for your vengeful needs. In this episode, we start off with an engineer who likes to solve problems, but in this case, the only tool left is revenge.  Lastly, a harassed employee gets mistreated by her boss, but when she lawyers up-consumed with the need for revenge, he ends up paying dearly. Be sure to send the like button a disguising link to click on, and let it be rickrolled. Let's dive in. Naturally, viewer discretion is advised. These revenge acts might be disturbing to snowflakes. My personal story goes way back and still leaves me fuming. I was a qualified mechanical engineer in the mid-1980s working in textiles, in a little African country. I was part of a management team employed on behalf of a non-government organization. This was funded by the Commonwealth and International Monetary Fund. The goal was to help set up a viable labor-intensive industry for this country in the mid-1990s. To start with, this was a dream job. Free luxury accommodation in a secured village that had a tennis court, swimming pool and a great guest lodge. My contract included, free electric, water and telephone landline, no mobiles at this time. Free private schooling for my three children, a monthly allowance, excluded from salary, a great pension and full gold private medical insurance. The catch was that my husband was not allowed to work here permanently. He could consult for companies, but not be employed. This was part of the legal requirement for me to get work and the residential permit. I was the total breadwinner. I was respected by the management team and my employees. I loved the people of this nation, the culture, the warmth and the willingness to learn, the majority of the employees were literate when they started employment. I helped set up schools to improve their verbal and written skills, not only in English but also in the local official language. I woke each day ready to tackle the challenge, see the staff develop and seeing the women learning and gaining independence. I also saw company flourish and become profitable. The rewards were amazing. As the company became very profitable, it needed to be sold as a going venture to investors in the country. This was part of agreement with the CDC, Commonwealth Development Corporation, and IMF, International Monetary Fund, who up to that point were our bosses. The sale included a clause that assured the continued employment of the local employees for 18 months after the company was taken over. The order books were full and the bank balance was very healthy on the day the new owners came in. The new owners have their headquarters in Southeast Asia. They assign a new CEO, named Gargamel and a new CFO, Asriel. As they come in, trouble begins. Their first order of the day was to remove the majority of previous management and bring their own team in. I was told in no uncertain terms that as a female, I should be home breeding and not working, my time was up. The company starts losing money within 9 months. This new team started blaming the local employees as the reason for the losses. This is where the consultant comes in. Eddie was an independent observer, focused on giving feedback proposals, solutions and finding out what was the root cause. Eddie was empowered to act on behalf of the groups CEO in Southeast Asia, this is important for later. I had to have medical leave for 8 weeks. Whilst on medical leave, the CEO makes the decision to cut off free private education, free utilities, food allowance without adjusting my allowance. So I went from being well rewarded for the job, to having to manage with a salary that was only $100, pay for private school and all other household costs that were previously incorporated into contract. Yes the company can do this, basically a new contract was underwritten as part of the new ownership. As a true expat employee, the company owns you totally. They own the permits that allow you to work and live in the country. I made a formal complaint, but was told if I didn't like it, the company would inform the country government that I had been fired due to not being qualified. This would have meant 48 hours to leave the country with no support, no possibility of getting any of our personal belongings shipped. It could have ended potentially worse due to a frozen bank account, as the local government would see this as fraud and could even result in a possible police record. My family would lose everything and become destitute. On my return to work I was demoted and they placed their own man to run my previous department, engineering and maintenance. I go to introduce myself to my new manager, let's name him Joffrey. Joffrey refuses to shake hands and states that he is there to make my life hell and remove me from the company. I was shocked, I could only see red. This once amazing company I helped build was being destroyed by these incompetent managers, and now they are trying to destroy me and threaten my family's well-being. No one threatens my family's well-being and gets away with it. This experience was the last drop. It made me shift my entire focus on ensuring the downfall of management. I started to investigate what was going on. In the first 12 months that this new management team has taken over, the company is losing money and is in serious debt. New equipment that had been installed by the non-government organization, NGO, has to be sold to help pay salaries. The pension fund was found to be underfunded. Management blamed the NGO for having taken money out when they sold the company. This new management team has, somehow, brought over extended families. Younger children were all being educated in top universities either in South Africa or even the UK, younger children in top private schools. There was also extended house staff including drivers, all of this coming out as losses in the company books. To top it up, I discovered that Joffrey's university doctorate degree, was fake.  Time to sort these snowflakes out. I wanted to prove the current boss is not qualified and what he says he is, so I talked to Eddie about my suspicions. I showed him the transcript from telephone conversation with the university that he had claimed as having a PhD from. He's seriously dumbfounded and is intrigued. We set a trap. There was a set of machines that were seriously underperforming, Eddie and I work out a plan. I walk into a meeting late, I was to be quiet until Eddie asked me to contribute, we wanted to give Joffrey enough rope. In the meeting I sit quietly whilst Joffrey blames the local operators, the local maintenance fitters and everyone else for all the woes that are happening, including why we can't meet the order book demands. Eddie sweetly asks if there is a possibility of a mechanical issue, Joffrey denies it. Eddie then asks me for my opinion. I explained that Bob has been changing suppliers of critical components to cheaper versions, but though still cost the same on the official books. I had evidence that demonstrated that Joffrey was receiving a significant percentage of the difference on the side, whilst company charged the inflated prices. I also stated that I could fix the problem using the correct components. If I was wrong then by all means, fire me. Eddie sets a challenge for me and Joffrey, each of us has a team of fitters and our chosen components. Joffrey storms to shop floor and does his usual screaming at everyone. I go down and explain what I was trying to achieve and how it would benefit the operators and get the project going. At the end of the week, we both had to report back to management team. Eddie had asked a few operators, mechanics and production supervisors how Joffrey worked and if there was any attempt to sabotage my project. Needless to say, Joffrey tried everything to ensure my team was not successful, but he never had the support of the locals and his team. They already hated him. Eddie gives Joffrey a chance to come clean, but Joffrey still stated I was a liar and knew nothing. Eddie stands up and goes to the door, opens it and outside is Joffrey's family. Eddie's investigation had confirmed what I had stated, and had organized the drivers and contacts to fly to South Africa, and come to the office. Joffrey's children were drafted from schools and universities, to come to the office. And for his kid studying in the UK, the university was informed no company funds would be sent. Eddie proceeded to give each of Joffrey's family members plane tickets for the following morning. Company security guards and police were sent with Joffrey to his bank where his funds were frozen due to fraudulent transactions. Joffrey accepted a plea bargain, he will not be welcome to stay in Africa again and his home country police were informed. When he landed in his home country, the head office had organized a police escort. Joffrey was unemployable and his family greatly shamed. I hope he got his just desserts, couldn't care less about him. Stage 1 complete, stage 2 initiated for the final event, prove Gargamel and Asriel have been defrauding the company and the country. Gargamel and Asriel were still in charge of the company, now 18 months from takeover. Remember the clause in the contract that the workforce could not be touched for 18 months, this was lifted and the workers were not protected anymore. Gargamel and Asriel called an all-site meeting. They stood in front of the workers with crocodile tears running down their faces. Telling how the NGO had lied about the company orders and profitability, how they are trying their best, but the company is really struggling and people will lose their jobs. They announced a reduction of 66% of the workforce. I had been working closely with Gargamel and Asriel's secretary, the accountant and the purchasing officer, so had been able to access the info needed. Survival kicked in. As I was part of the original management team, I had the original accounts that were audited as part of the CDC and IMF funding for the NGO. In the 18 months, I accumulated information on the losses being shown and the missing money going offshore into private accounts and not the head office accounts. You see, these two did not respect women or the locals, they assumed that what was being done would not be picked up. If they had bothered to understand who they employed in the office, they would have found that the purchase officer and the accounting supervisor were qualified accountants with close links to government, the banks and they were. You're right, women. I had explained to the secretary, the accountant and purchasing officer that there would be a time when we needed evidence to safeguard money and people's livelihood. So the files had been building up from months and months to over a year. I talked to Eddie and given the evidence we had been accumulating, it was what he needed. Gargamel calls me to the office to tell me that I am redundant with immediate effect. He also stated that for me to be able to stay in the country to sort out my family affairs, I would owe the company rent that was twice my given allowance. I lost my cool. I literally turned around and explained that in less than 24 hours, Gargamel would have no future. His family would have no future, no matter where they run. They would be found. I already knew this to be true, as Eddie already had the wheels in motion. This time, the group chairman walks in on my heated conversation together with the IMF representative and Azriel. Gargamel was fired on the spot, loaded onto a plane with an international warrant for fraud. The IMF pursued this fully and Gargamel was screwed. A stain on your trustworthiness in this Southeast Asian country would mean you are untouchable. In a bad way. Azriel didn't dare much better. He was locally arrested, denied access, fined and the IMF did the same to him as what had happened to Gargamel. Only difference was that Azriel willingly ratted Gargamel for all he was worth. As for me. The company limped along but I no longer trusted anyone from that group. Myself and my husband found employment in another regional country. This time both of us had work permits and airtight contracts. No one will ever screw us over or make us feel like slaves. I'm willing to share my story anonymously, due to my job activities were technically not so legal. So here we go. Once upon a time, two years ago now, I was on disability leave from work and it wasn't enough to cover the bills. So I tried selling my artwork, granted it wasn't very good at the time, I was trying to appeal to niche fandoms that had no artwork, didn't go well. So one day while playing a game to cool off, the game we're talking about features mass online multiplayer vehicular shenanigans and gun slinging fun, very popular at the time compared to today. During one gaming session in the chat, someone entered and was advertising cheap in game currency. He was able to do so because he hacked in with a mod menu. I asked if they wanted someone to help advertise. I was accepted. Now as part of the details of the job, the first thing you did was bring people into the discord server after having them contact you directly. It helped to have a short username. You bring them into the server and they choose from several packages listed on the website. If you made a sale you got a cut of the profit? I was making about $200 a month, enough to help with bills. I was a selling machine and climbed the ranks fast enough to be granted access to higher ranking abilities, like using the menu to hack money into people's accounts, change their levels, whatever they wanted. I used my powers for good and kicked out malicious hackers every time I encountered one. I was third in command and loved helping people less fortunate to keep up with the insane inflation problem the game company created, with their tens of millions of dollars required to access the full game experience. I was getting people into airplanes and bunkers. I was proud of myself. Now for the rich white boy. He was the one who created the business and he thought of himself as a big deal, a hot shot, because he had a very high view count on his YouTube channel dedicated to fidget spinners. It was kind of funny and we would tease him about it. So the power and glory was all going to his head. His second in command, Red, became fast friends with me and together we dominated the game, with spinner sitting back and taking a 50% cut on all sales while doing no work. He kept bragging about his new computer parts, his huge house. He waved his parents' wealth in our faces. Red was having trouble keeping up with his bills too. Both of us needed the sales so we worked our butts off. Spinner's empire grew with the two of us bringing in 400 people each. The discord server was massive and we were proud of our accomplishment. Out of the blue, the money stopped coming in from spinner. His PayPal was hooked up to the business. Now this guy was 17 at the time, a fake hacker type and took all the credit for himself on creating the menu. He didn't create it, he bought it. The safety measures we took to protect ourselves from getting caught was a safeguard, which was made by Red. Red and I hounded him for two weeks to pay us. I sent in a payment ticket for my daily commission to PayPal. Red came back and stopped me from pursuing further, as he was formulating a plan. I waited. He told me in detail what we were to do, as the pair who built this company to what it was, we had the tools and knowledge. It was time to topple the giant we created. In the middle of the night while spinner was asleep we took control of the server. One by one we kicked each person out, a thousand users gone in about 10 minutes. The final icing on the cake, we deleted the entire server. Spinner was furious and blamed me for it all. He didn't do a single bit of work, the whole archive or users was created by Red and I, spinner only had 12. A week later, spinner tried to intimidate me, though I'm far more tech savvy than I let on.  I laughed in his face when he read the incorrect address and told him to buzz off.  I would just report the comment and go on merry way. The aftermath, spinner could never rebuild what we created and was left alone with his destroyed online empire. He tried to rebuild and decided to take the 100% pay cut for the next line of cronies, never letting them know the previous sellers and hackers got a decent commission rate. Proves he was scum until the very end of the day. He never reached 100 users and gave up a couple months later.  I paid the piper eventually and lost everything on my account. I don't regret what I did. I still think the official company is scum and horribly greedy to lock away parts of the game, unless you're willing to pay a few hundred dollars for their legitimate currency. I still look at it as helping people out. Six months prior to the start of the story, we had a change up at the company I worked for. The old owner was a great guy that was retiring and handing the company off to his son, a real piece of do-do just out of business school type. Let's name him Marcelo. Marcelo, with the mentality that the company is now his, went about restructuring, namely reassigning teams to different projects, and leaving those that remained in their old positions to pick up double, if not triple the workload. He did this all in the name of saving a little money. Unfortunately my department, safety and engineering, of which I was the team lead, was not spared from this effort. In the end, I headed out with the boss and department head, ultimately costing the company three months of my entire department working 80 plus hour weeks, and forcing a huge year-end bonus to be paid out to us. Unfortunately after my initial meeting with Marcelo, he took a liking to me, in a really bad way. Essentially he really liked me, and wanted to go out with me, or share sleepy time tea with me, or however you want to put it. He even enlisted his friends and secretaries to help him. It went on for months, just blatant harassment on the work floor. They even made comments about me losing my late husband, that I should just get back on the horse, so to speak. I kept everything, every email, every voicemail and went to my best friend who happens to be a really good lawyer, a contract lawyer to be exact, so not exactly their area of expertise, but they knew enough to help. This friend drafted a letter to the boss, essentially a stop or we're going to start a big case over this kind of thing. And everything seemed to have stopped. However, I was then moved from working in office to a work from home arrangement. I knew what was coming. They were going to do their best to get rid of me, so I started documenting everything. But as luck would happen, I received an email chain from the bosses, a good friend of mine in the office who was in the email chain added me to the CC list. And wouldn't you know, it was back and forth communication of them discussing how they would get rid of me and pin the blame on me. The email chain was just disgusting. They hated me so badly and wanted me gone, but because of my contract they would have to buy me out. But being the cheapskates they are, they wanted me gone for free, so the company bosses started a campaign to try and torment me. They first tried to say that, because now I work from home they were required to install cameras in my home office to make sure I was being productive, luckily that did not work, you have to love contracts. They also tried assigning an impossible workload to me.   This was complete due to given that we had several dozen projects we were working on. On a side note, in Ontario there is no such thing as a layoff, as, in the court's eyes, being laid off is considered an active dismissal, which is essentially the same as being fired. After this conversation with HR I call my lawyer friend, almost in tears just shouting. Look what they are doing to me, help. She calms me down and tells me, this is such a good thing, considering we have so much evidence against them. I had already forwarded and printed everything off that was sent to me, and it was lucky I did, because a scant few hours after I was laid off, my computer was remotely wiped clean. Everything was gone, leaving just a blank desktop. When I called the HR department to get copies of all my filed complaints, what do you know, everything was gone.  Despite the fact that they were dated before he ever took control of the company. It was clear they were total made up excrements, but I got copies of everything to add to my stack of records. I texted all my old colleagues to let them know what was happening, and that I am basically gone. Like I said earlier, we were like family, and with me on the way out they started looking for better employment. Not only that, but they contacted all their friends who worked for the company to do the same. I was laid off on a Monday, and on Thursday I walked into the office with my employment lawyer. I swear, the main secretary was on the phone to security the second she saw me walk in, and they were at the door in a matter of a minute. My lawyer simply handed her a legal document, a summons to meet for mediation at his office on the next Friday. During the following week I received so many calls and text messages from the bosses, friends, secretaries, and people I knew in the office to just be friendly with the owner. To just drop it, and that they wanted to bring me back and forget about everything.  Friday finally comes in into my lawyer's office. My former boss walks in with a squad of four of his lawyers to settle the matter. And off the bat he offers me three months' severance to end all of this, because I didn't have any evidence to rebut the fake paperwork they had on file. At this point my lawyer starts to bring out all the paperwork we had, namely copies of every complaint I had ever filed which were all signed by the bosses, HR, and myself. Luckily for our case, I had made sure to take a copy of each complaint when it was written up. They didn't think I had anything? Oh boy were they wrong. My lawyer made the case that in court it'd be obvious that all the paperwork they had on their end were forgeries. Since nothing was signed by me. He also pointed out that there were dates with the boss's signature where he wasn't in the country, let alone working for the company yet. At that point the boss and his lawyers went to speak privately. After about half an hour they came back with a much better offer, a full year's salary. But my lawyer was like nah, we'll just go with what the contract says plus go for damages in court. Given the recent change over at the company. The lawyers seemed to know they couldn't afford this going to court, not to mention it would be so bad for the company's reputation. So they basically rolled over and asked, what do you want? We demanded five years salary plus the average bonus I would have made for each year, plus all the legal fees paid. It was a big juicy win. But it didn't end there. I got a taste of blood and wanted more. I made phone calls to several companies where I had contacts and found jobs for every member of my team, and several members of other teams. By the end of a week the company lost 10 of its most talented people. Not to mention most of those people had friends and colleagues that ended up following them to their new employers. The fallout was really bad. Before all of this they had the pick of the litter when new university students graduated. But now, because they lost almost all of their senior people, they had no one to mentor new employees. Plus word got out fast how they treat workers like doodoo. So no one with any talent would even think of getting near the company. As of today the company is just a shell of its former self. It's still big, but it bleeds money. They also have a problem with permanent staffing and are paying out the nose to hire subcontractors. Let's just say they don't make money like they use to. In fact, they have not started any new projects in like nine months. If something isn't done on the side of management to improve things fast, they will likely be going bankrupt in the very near future. Thank you for enjoying this episode, which was made with artificial love. Subscribe or give royal ASMR sugar by avenging the like button. Could you imagine doing one of these acts yourself? Share your experience below. I'll join the conversation.