Hi friends, welcome back to my channel and a very special welcome if you're new here. My name is Jen. I'm a certified weight loss and nutrition coach. I follow weight watchers and I track calories and macros. Happy Monday. It is Monday, so it is meal prep day. I am so excited, like so excited about this week's recipes. So if you're excited too, give this video a big thumbs up. Subscribe if you're not because I upload a new meal prep every Monday in five videos per week. Check out the description box down below for nutrition coaching, where I offer personalized macros and calories. Highly recommend. This is how I lost 90 pounds in 2022 and 138 pounds total. I also offer one-on-one coaching for accountability as well. Links, discounts to my favorite things, my recipe website where you'll find all three of today's recipes and come down to our Facebook group. We'd love to have you are all down in that description box. So let's head on into the kitchen for this week's meal prep. For my breakfast this week, I am making a hash brown bake. I'm pretty excited for this. It's packed with protein. So such a great choice for breakfast. I'll probably pair it with my favorite fruit. So let me show you what's in the recipe. First, you're going to need some milk. I'm gonna use Fairlife just for the extra bit of protein. Dijon mustard, a pound of 99% ground turkey, or if you can find a really lean turkey sausage, I couldn't find one. So I'm just going to kind of create my own using 99% lean ground turkey. Salt and pepper. These are my gravity-fed salt and pepper grinders. I'll make sure I leave them down below for you. And since I am creating my own sausage, I'm going to add some sage to give it the taste of sausage. Some light shredded cheese, eggs, a red bell pepper, and some hash browns. I chopped up my red bell pepper. Now I'm going to go ahead and brown my ground turkey. So I'm going to add salt, pepper, and sage, and we're going to let this brown and cook through completely. I went ahead and greased my nine by 13 baking dish. We're adding in 20 ounces of hash browns into the bottom. Then we're going to sprinkle the sausage right on top of the hash browns. Then the chopped up red bell pepper. Go ahead and set that aside, grab out a bowl. We're going to crack 12 eggs into the bowl. Then we're adding one cup of milk, about two tablespoons of Dijon mustard, salt and pepper, and then you can do red pepper chili flakes if you want. You guys know I don't really like my food spicy, so I'm actually going to skip those, but that is something that you can add as well. Whisk that all together just like you're making some scrambled eggs. Then we're going to pour the egg mixture right on top of the sausage. It's going into a 375 degree oven for about 45 minutes. Look at how amazing this looks. This smells so cheesy and delicious. I can't wait to have this for breakfast this week. Like I said, my plan is to pair with some fruits for some healthy carbs, some extra fiber. I will go ahead and put all of the nutritional information and points here on the screen for you, but I can't recommend this enough for an easy breakfast that is ready to go. Set yourself up for success right out of the gate in the morning. For my lunch this week, I'm making a high protein rollup that's going to have some healthy fat, some veggies. I'm actually really excited about this. I'm going to make up two servings worth. So two lunches and then I'll just repeat this midway through the week and make up a couple more servings so that I have enough for the week. So let me show you what's in the recipe. You're going to need some cucumbers. Lunch made of your choice.   So we're ready to assemble our rollup. So I weighed out four ounces of my turkey and we're going to lay this out flat. We want to make sure that the slices of turkey are connected and make it into kind of a circle shape or like a odd shaped circle, kind of a rectangle circle, but you want to lay it all out nice and flat. And then I also weighed out two ounces of my one third less fat cream cheese. You want it to be softened a little bit. Mine is still, it could be a little more softened. I think it would spread a little bit easier, but you basically just want to spread that out over the lunch meat. The softer your cream cheese is the better, but I was able to get it mainly spread out. Then we are going to go ahead and layer about half of a cup, which was half of that red bell pepper right on top, about half of a cup of sliced cucumbers, half of an avocado. And then I have a third cup of light shredded cheese, kind of spread that in the middle there. And then as carefully as you can, this is going to be full. We want to roll this up, kind of like you're making sushi. Do your best to keep all the veggies and stuff inside.  So that's what we have. We have kind of a burrito style of roll up. I have a glass storage container and it says to cut it in half inch rounds, but since this is two servings, what I'm going to do is slice it in half first, and then slice the half in half. And then the tricky part is getting it into the little storage container. Here is what your rounds look like. Go ahead and add those to your storage container. And here's what the meat roll ups look like. Once they sit in the fridge for a while, it will make it so they stay together a little bit better. You could pair this with some ranch dressing, you can eat it just as it is, but you'll actually get two roll ups or half of the large roll for one serving. So this is very high in protein, great in healthy fat, great in vegetables. So I will go ahead and put all of the nutritional information and points here on the screen for you. I plan on pairing this with some type of healthy carb, maybe a cracker, and then some fruit as well. For a sweet treat this week, I'm making turtle energy balls. I'm actually really, really excited for these. Troy's also excited for these, even though there's cocoa powder in there, it's not enough to make them taste like chocolate, so we can't wait to have these this week. So let me show you what's in the recipe. First, you're going to need some unsweetened cocoa powder, chia seeds, almond butter of your choice. I'm going to use the turtle cheesecake almond butter from American Dream Nut Butter because these are turtle energy balls. So how perfect is this going to be? You know how much I love my American Dream Nut Butter. It's less calories, less fat, less points, more protein than traditional peanut butter. So I love it. It's all I eat as far as nut butter goes. I will link American Dream Nut Butter down below with 10% off for you, but we are going to add some of this delicious turtle cheesecake almond butter. Some salt, vanilla extract. I have some vanilla bean paste I'm using up. Some pecan halves and some medjool dates. So the first thing we're going to do is pit our dates. We want to add 12 pitted dates to a bowl of hot water for about 10 minutes. We're basically rehydrating the dates into a food processor, a blender, or in my case, a magic bullet. We're going to add our dates once they've been sitting in that hot water. Make sure that you drain any excess water. I have half of a cup of the American Dream Nut Butter turtle cheesecake. Let me just tell you that the mixin's in here. Oh my goodness. This one is such a good flavor. I have half of a cup of pecan halves. We're going to add about a teaspoon of vanilla extract, a pinch of salt, one tablespoon of chia seeds, and then two tablespoons of cocoa powder.  Here is the mixture. So it is a little bit on the thicker side, but it needs to go in the refrigerator for about an hour so that we're actually able to roll it into balls. One hour later. So for the energy balls, I'm actually going to use a cookie scoop. I think this is going to be a little bit easier to scoop them out, and I'm going to put them here on a baking sheet, and then I will pop them back in the refrigerator, and that's how we'll store them. It is a softer consistency. So if you store them in the refrigerator, they'll hold their ball shape, but I'm actually really excited for these. They smell absolutely amazing. Our goal is to get about 20 of our energy balls. So here are the turtle energy balls. These look absolutely amazing. I'm going to add some plastic wrap to the top, throw these in the refrigerator until they're a little more hardened. Then I'll throw them in a storage container for the week, but I'll go ahead and put all of the nutritional information and points here on the screen for you. Thank you for joining me for another weekly meal prep. I hope you enjoyed seeing all three recipes. Don't forget they are on my recipe website, which is linked down in the description box, along with nutrition coaching, links and discounts to my favorite things, and of course, come and join our Facebook group. We'd love to have you. Happy Monday, friends. I hope you have an amazing day, and I'll see you in the next video. Bye.


Okay, let's call the Monday, March 21st 2022 select board meeting to order Here in an echo but any Agenda additions or changes from staff. We do have one from staff We'd like to give you an update on tree farm management We'd like to discuss that in executive session under contracts It's based on some discussions we had today after the packet went out last week. Okay Any changes from board members? What do you want to make a motion? Men the agenda make the motion we amend the agenda. I Make the motion we accept the agenda as amended how's that? All right second second Second okay, thanks, sir Any further discussion I think speakers around over in that corner Any further discussion All those in favor, please say aye aye opposed A motion passes 5-0 Greg. I assume we will get we have the motions we need somewhere Okay, okay, okay, so we're just okay great great great Okay, so then Moving on to public to be heard. This is the point of the agenda where members of the public can address the board on Topics which are not on the agenda if you'd like to speak during public to be heard You can raise your hand if you're in the room or online put us your use the raise hand function in there You'd like to address the board. Please be brief Please be civil Please be framed from using an inappropriate language Address your remarks to me Andy Watts as the select board chair Do not attack other members of the public do not attack town staff Please and also if you are attending remotely, please Mute your microphone and leave your camera off to avoid distraction Okay, so I am going to start in the room here Anybody in the room wishing to speak during public to be heard Yeah, come on forward does it state your name? My name is Michael Peterson. I live at 77 Saxon Hill Road In the last two weeks the glass recycling plant has gone online to manufacture to do whatever they're doing and it Has really disrupted our quality of living we about right up to the facility They are operating equipment at all hours of the night a loud very loud bucket operation at 2 3 4 o'clock in the morning It is also emitting a very toxic plastic smell. We will not be able to have our windows open this summer That's what we will our quality of living in two weeks is gone out the window. It is and destroyed What are our property taxes gonna be? I mean what what why?  This is beautiful. We have equipment operating it I have it on video 2 30 in the morning Bang in these buckets contain contain contain contain Neil lives a half a mile away.  How are we gonna be able to sell our house? You know, we've already started looking to move like panicking. It's it's not it's not fair I'm not looking to make them stop doing what? What they do they just can't be operating equipment at four o'clock in the morning three o'clock in the morning two o'clock in the morning and My well is in my front yard the plastic And they guarantee me I've been eight-year-old son can they guarantee me That what is coming out of that factory isn't hot smoke smell If you smelt it you would think something was terribly wrong There were two men there for the town last week working on the road going. What's that smell? I said, that's my neighbor Isn't that pleasant? We were more than a hundred yards away It's it's you know, we're it You know, like I said, I just want to be a good neighbor That's all I want people to be to me is a good neighbor. Respect me You know, they say high fences make good neighbors. There's not a fence high enough right now the situation You know, we knew the building was going in we knew something commercial was going in when we purchased our home We took that chance, you know, we figured to be like Reinhardt or the other ones what we hear the rare condition That's it. We know they operate 24-7. We hear very little from them. This is not that way this is if it were in put it if you would You it would it's it's quite appalling that anybody would even do it to be honest with you when you go into something And you look at the front of somebody's beautiful home and you're there in a Excavator at four in the morning we go in the thing back and forth to the bucket clanks and empties You know, there's that's like no respect for anything. It's like I I don't get it to be honest with You know, I I I've spoken to representatives So I'm here to figure out what we can do.  I don't I go home to dinner Now I got to think about being inside You know, we moved here to be outside we moved from New Jersey to be outside All I want to do is just be all I want to do is be another tree in the woods All I wanted You know, I don't know where we go from here Yeah I know you've you've called a number of us during the week or during the past week and I don't know We had a there's a bad chance to Come together with a response early. We have so I spoke to the CEO of Glavol last week You're missing out to me this morning I have not replied because I would like to have a meeting with some select board members and Perhaps Greg there so it doesn't become a he said he said I didn't say that.   I said, oh, they want to put up a tower They wonder this we didn't fight them.  You know, it'll it'll be good Oh, no that's so um, and we can we can talk about how to have that meeting with the CEO of gravel It's also they're operating under the state permit as well the act 250 permit Which is part of the the players will have to get the state involved and take a look at the act 250 permit as well as our Local, yeah, whatever whatever we need to do. I just want to I want to be civil You know, I want it to be easy.  I Don't think that's unreasonable. Thank you for hearing me. Yep. Okay. Thank you Anybody else in the room for public to be here I'm Neil Billen who I'm at 27 Saxon Hill Road and as Mike said I actually drove it where I came here It's four tenths of a mile away from the Facility down there. Yeah, Sunday morning. I was woke up at about two in the morning with that bucket flying I mean, they're really shaking it down there Get the material out. Oh, yeah, the noise and that's what the windows closed. So I'll just wonder no, how's that gonna be the summer with the windows open it waking me now Loud Yep. All right. Thank you That's a question and When the planning permit was issued what hours of operation have been posted part of that permit process The state is what approved the 24 seven operations I'd have to take a look at our permit to see if we had any other conditions around it based on hours There's not no, there's not an audience for the town We we did have a public nuisance ordinance that is waiting for The police department to review and address some concerns and bring back to us And I believe that that does touch on after hours noise So that may be Yeah, unfortunately, there's this there's a there's a there may be a problem with chronology, right if something was already in existence and then you put an ordinance in place is it is it Allowed because it was prior to we'll have to work out through all those questions. But yeah, yeah, there's a lot of That could All right any other comments or questions You're gonna arrange a meeting then Yeah, let's be in touch mr. Peterson and figure out a time Um, come on. Yeah, come on identify your son Aaron. Say your name. My name is Bill Norris. I'm at 59 Saxon Hill Road I'm on about a third of a mile back From this plant the global plants. I have noticed noise outside. I have been fortunate I have not noticed the noise inside the house But as we get closer to the summer months, I'm a bit concerned about that I'm also very concerned about the plastic smell Ever since told me about and I have not experienced that myself, but I'm also Inside a lot more right now once we get outside I'm already we're gonna be I'm smelling that I have three kids Young kids and I'm a bit concerned about it. So I missed out on the process to communicate my concern Our notification for this project got hung up in the mail And unfortunately by the time I got it, it was too late So I would have liked to have commented Um, if I could have I did talk directly with the owner the CEO of gravel. Um, he's seemingly I'm interested in being a good neighbor. I hope he continues doing that and I hope we can find a way to work together Um, I agree. I think it's nice that they can do what they can do But I would like to have a little consideration given to the people that live around them. So thank you. Okay, all right. Thank you Um, Irene Hi, Irene runner Um Looking at this in the bigger picture. I've heard complaints from people who live on the other side of the sacks in hill industrial park about how The resource preservation district Iphone industrial has not over the years Been in harmony with nature and that was I believe one of the major requirements when it was set up And over time it's just been eroded And this tells me that the other side of the sacks in hill industrial park is now also kind of just Not going to be natural anymore. Um, I as a reporter stopped by on saturday To witness the smells and the sounds of what's going on there Something must be done. Thank you. Yep. Thanks, Irene Anybody else in the room? Hey, there's a number of hands up online, uh, Raj Chala Hey, Raj Chala Sorry to do this because I've already started out kind of a little negative for the meeting but um It's getting warmer. Pearl street park is getting busier with disc golfers Which means it's getting busier with people drinking in the playground And around the park as they play golf through the entire park Been there every day for the past couple weeks With the new puppy and literally every day that there have been golfers in there There's kids in the play structure and there's grown men with beer in the park so I enjoy a good craft brew myself, but um This is a town park and I would hope that maybe I'll communicate to Get some signage up get some coverage there and get some communication out to the organization that that um Helps run that facility and that that program with the park to uh To get the word out that that's just not acceptable middle of the neighborhood and middle of the playground Second thing is and you all who know me will know this is literally the only time I will agree with Irene So actually I'm a little dismayed having met up there to ride my bike this year, but Really hoping the first time I don't go I go up there to ride for a few hours. I'm not chased out by that smell. That's That's one of the crown jewels in shittin and county for for mountain biking It would be a shame if if that's the new norm I wanted to be near earlier in my season mountain biking location Thanks for everything you're doing All right. Thanks roge, uh margaret smith Yes, I can Before I knew about this issue. I remember walking my dog out in my own yard. I'm not too far from the I'm not too far from the elementary school And I was smelling some really strange stuff in my yard going I have no idea where that smell is or where it's coming from But if I can smell it then it it's drifting over to the elementary school Um And it's a serious air pollution issue. Thank you Thanks margaret Uh chaya Hi, um also sex on hill road 51 sex on hill road and I just we uh My husband and myself are both here just to agree and thank our neighbors for saying something We also have two small children and we also so we yeah, we can both hear it year around 24 hours a day and We can smell the bad smell and Um, so just adding our voice of concern Okay, thank you Uh, Sharon Zuckowski could you mute yourself, please? Thank you Sharon Zuckowski Unmute you. Hmm. I don't know that I have that power Uh, let's move on to lorraine to see if we can get Sharon unmuted lorraine. Go ahead Thank you, andy and glorraine's alum. Um, I also have concerns about rpdi and uh, the amount of waivers that are being passed along from adverb planning commission for the buffers, which really to me buffers should be Also noise sound buffers light buffers not just tree buffers as the pines grow up and get high um And the deciduous fall Uh, the deciduous loser their leaves in the fall you can see straight through Um, also we're seeing more waivers of the trees being cut down And um just being replaced with two trees along corporate drive Also concerns about the smells not being keeping in harmony with the environment And that that is not even included in our planning commission In terms of pollution and hopefully there's some way to be able to scrub the air And certainly sound in terms of quality of life that has to be added in somehow So some of my concerns are because i'm seeing a new Al Seneca as a developer has proposed some major changes To our rpdi to start developing that area And we are out, uh, we lost a we so So we are severely understaffed while we're working on ordinances for Different zoning and rpdi is the crown jewel as roge said and i definitely agree with Irene and roge and certainly hearing the our neighbors And uh from the gentleman who's from newark or from new jersey I lived in new jersey for a long time too sir And that sounds almost like what it reminds me of when i flew into newark and you could always smell that plastic smell And if newark can have cleaned up that smell Certainly sx can do something about it. So I hope that we're all paying attention I hope people start going to planning commission meetings because this is where it starts and if we want to Want to stop stop this in his tracks Um, we got to show up in unison and I would love to get together with some of these people that are struggling over there Thank you for your time Thank you Sharon zukowski, are you able to uh, yeah, there's something going on where who knows Um, I can hear you. Yeah, I had to sign in again. I was saying the host wasn't gonna let me in. I thought I was I thought I was being uh I'm just just a brief chime in. I mean, uh about the What is the name of the uh the company that's doing the mining or whatever over there? Um It's global Yeah, the uh pollution and noise might also be a civil or um criminal issue for the state statute too. So that might be something Probably the town can't look into but maybe the people that are right next to it could look into that also you know It might be illegal, uh, you know criminally state statute or a you know a civil issue for pollution Thanks Yeah, I'm not seeing any other Adam Randolph Yeah, I am I My wife kaya tanazer spoke for me, but I just wanted to also raise my hand and say that I'm here from 51 Saxon Hill Road um in in support of the the cause that the other Saxon Hill Road folks are are Our voicing and are concerned over the smell and the noise pollution Just to add another voice to the mix. Thanks for having me. Thanks, Adam Sue I'm just reading their website level And they are Creating this for passive houses, right? It's it's it has an environmental. Yes focus. So I've been right if they're having some nasty and noxious emissions that doesn't seems counter to their mission It does seem counter to their I also think that we probably need to keep in mind that you know They are creating the product here for the first time they started up, you know There may be some smells associated with the beginning of construction for the plant and also Yeah, we are going to Sounds like Meet with the owner of global and the town manager To be frank it I Hesitate to have select board members there because we don't have power outside of our meetings And it requires a vote of the five of us to have any impact It's definitely something that the town manager should assume I'm not sure that we should try to be Digesting lawsuits at this point in time. I think that we need to investigate. Obviously I have a town manager Work with the CEO of global Currently hearing your concerns that will take them, but I don't know it's terribly productive for us to say here and Let's you know make assumptions about what their regular business is You know the Concerns that have been brought to them. I have not heard whether or not they've responded to them or if they've You know if they've had a chance to respond. So I'm I I would caution us to maybe avoid growing out lawsuits or criminal complaints because simply it hasn't been looked at yet give us Some time to investigate and then we'll come back with a proper response Greg Yeah, and when I spoke to the CEO of global they they fully recognize that they're an environmental company and The words essentially were this would be brand destroying if they're Found out to be polluting the environment. So they're they're absolutely open to find a solution to work with The neighbors part of what they said too is that Through the act 250 permit as they start up operations They're going to adjust if they need to as they need to to comply with that act 250 permit So I I think that they're open to having conversations and Trying to adjust what they can do And we can have that meeting and figure out how to make it work for everybody. Hopefully That's all I want and and I thought we just want to select board member there just for somebody to hear the conversation Not even necessarily to put their two words and just to be like so when something is said later on down the road Somebody give me like well that really wasn't said or that was Maybe you don't remember that That's all I was looking for with having people other there there than myself and the person President of the corporation because he's going to clearly look out for the corporation Right Am I wrong in assuming that? So that's my only reason for having other people there is because I know he's looking out for his message What he's paid to do that's why we have our time manager as well. Okay Okay, uh, Mary post Hi, Andy. Um, I just want to say that um, I can't get a picture on my computer And I don't know if you have a tech person there that can fix it But it looks like uh, you know when you look at jeopardy the screen It's exactly what it looks like and you've got little pictures Most of them are just blank spots with names But I can see you and I can see the select board, but you're tiny So I'm wondering if there's something um that can be fixed so we can really see the meeting That's all. Thank you All right. Thanks, Mary uh Ena Hi I just wanted to add my um support to the rpdi neighbors. Um, we are on the other side We're on the sand hill side And the bigger picture really is that I hope the community as the planning commission works on their zoning that we add in consideration for the neighborhoods It's been an ongoing battle for years for us. Um, we're behind They're great neighbors though, but we're behind blodgett And they didn't have anything to do with the development of that actual property But there needs to be more consideration for noise berms for the environment and mitigation for the impact that these huge um industrial type Companies moving and have on the surrounding Area and long term the environment. I you know just for my kids I'd like my kids to have kids and see trees in the future. So thank you. I'm just adding my support Thanks. Yeah All right. I don't see any other hands online any board member comments or questions so, all right um So I will move on to the first business item Which is discussion on potential action on tentative agreements about shared services between town of Essex independent city desks junction Um, there were some responses from the trustees on the The three agreements that are still being discussed Didn't bring them up, but I can do So I think we had reviewed these and provided some uh feedback and then they Come back yet again. Um, so Um You're starting with the clerk treasurer agreement the um I think there was agreement that that we we wanted to pull the date in or make it a fixed date of june 30th 2023 I think the I believe the trustees were okay with that um I think that was the only change and that one there was another one They they still have the the week we had added the clause about when applicable the united states district court They're still having discussions with their council on that so So in the email that came with or I don't know where there was a first email or a second email that Greg forwarded on from brad It said that the trustees think it makes sense That this agreement the clerk treasurer agreement should come out of the mo you They are saying just like the finance agreement It is relevant now and has no bearing On the formation of the city or not um I guess I would I would suggest that it does given that Because we still have a an entanglement there with the shared Clerk the only thing I was actually asking for originally when bringing this up back early on was I wanted a timeline as to when we needed to have our own clerk And this clearly states that And it and it gives us a definitive end date Um, and that's really what it all all I was looking for Um So I don't know what other members think about the relevance of this agreement. I guess I would prefer it stay Thanks to anybody else For any other comments anything else? I think the only the only thing that's still in question then is the uh, that final clause about Which court can be re can be reviewed in I'm So they put the changes in blue Because we're the ones added when applicable last time Now they're changes in blue so that means do they accept that or not? There's a comment next to it. This says trustees are seeking further advice from legal counsel on this suggested Edition edit and we'll discuss further on 322 is their meetings tomorrow night John it's the blue highlighted text not the blue text. Oh, thank you. Okay Right, and it actually just overlaps with what we had crossed out to say the june 2023 date Oh, I mean we worked on this I'd like to see it say that way and I'd like to see the wording stay in it Well, I don't think they're saying that this agreement doesn't Need to exist. It's that it shouldn't be referenced in the mo you is my understanding What they're requesting Again, I think it it just makes it clear where the separation the final, you know, the final date of disentanglement is It makes it very clear on both sides and you know, we had we had taken out the The ifs in there because it's going to end whether separation occurs or not. That's true um I guess given saying having said that Maybe that's a way to look at it, but I you know I think it's it's kind of a semantic question at that point whether you take you whether you include it or not. I don't know Yeah, I mean I Didn't as well we've gotten this far with the agreement the language is all pretty much spot on like it just If we've gotten this close to it Why not you're pretty close to agreement on this. Yeah, exactly, right? It's you know boils down to like a sentence that's probably you know legal specific rather than anything else. So Yeah, okay Any other comments? Okay on the the financial services agreement the word will has changed to may I think the intent there from the trustees or so this is with regard to the location of the Where the finance department will work The way it was originally worded is said that the town would continue to provide workspace for the village finance employees Until the the agreement ended I think the request here is to allow the village the option to Move their folks out earlier I also read this to say that we can Decide to relocate their finance employees too if it works to our benefit. So it's it's not a A one-way may it's a two-way may Any concerns with that or thoughts about that? I just if they're ready to go sooner they'll they'll go sooner basically right Yeah, I believe the village might be open to putting an end date on that Speaking to our finance department. It's not The end of the world it might even be helpful in some cases to be able to operate out of the same spot I I don't want to hold two office spaces open Indeterminately because we can certainly use that space It would be my concern, but I think that there's enough flexibility within there especially if there's a date assigned to it to Have some some ability to plan around what other space can be used in the in the next year year and a half That's that's a good point that I you'd mentioned that the other day And I kind of forgot about it right because this this also carries with it And a potential implication that even after they have space available in a two Lincoln street they could also choose to work here for an in for And then we would have we could potentially have right empty office space or unused office space that we'd have to keep In reserve for when they want to work in our building Yeah, let's do go ahead. So two things when when we've discussed this agreement previously It was always with the frame That it was beneficial for the two departments to be collocated and that's why I understood we were going down that path and ensuring that there was space At 81 main so that the teams could work together What's changed that that is no longer viewed as something that is The village has hired their own finance director And their new finance director doesn't believe they need to be co-located for as long as sarah had requested Yeah, I think it's now that they're actually in the process of separating the financial services between remote work you know working from on on Microsoft teams and electronically anyways, they're finding out that they can do some of this work without being side-by-side there's still going to be times we're just going to be useful to sit next to each other and Work through some of those things face-to-face but it It's not proving as challenging shouldn't say that It's still a challenging topic and in a big project But they don't necessarily the two finance directors don't necessarily have to be sitting next to each other at all times to make it happen And the teams don't need to be correct But there is still some overlap and that's why I said still that was so like kind of you know assertively identified previously and now it's It's fine. We pivot, right? Um, the second thing was uh on the point of the end date Which was in also one of the emails, right? Um It was referenced 7123 As a potential target for that move to happen Honor before right um So I thought we should add something in the item number six termination clause to identify where where they were We had previously struck the Sentence that starts with the finance directors and municipal managers so set out a timeline for the transition And then it says of the village finance department out of 81 main street I think we should instead of just striking that language identify That there is that the the target that's being worked towards for that transition out of 81 main is July 1st of 2023 Then what do you do with the date above here where? June 30th Oh, I can't hear you. Well, I think she's asking about the 2025 date. That's for completing all of the Oh, the whole saturation But so this is okay. This is just talking about the changing buildings. Yeah, exactly. Thank you So, okay, so you're just you're just you're right. You're just talking about the transition of the office space. Yes as the July 1 2023 date. Yeah, we can We'll be talking then our joint meeting is a week from tonight, right? So that's The point where we would have that discussion and the question I guess then to the trustees, are they okay with having a specific date in their Given potential unknowns in their timeline. I don't know how I don't know how fleshed out their timeline is for construction or innovation I don't know. Yeah, to Greg's concern that they can't be In both places open ended because then you're you have office space that is being Identified for that purpose and maybe not be used right, okay, so you're you're you're and and I guess that's coincident your Consistent, I guess that's the word I was looking for with what was in the email we got from from Brad as well, okay So I guess that would be the thing to propose is that we put in like an explicit date in there for transition physical transition out of the building. Yeah, and I think he had some caveats about you know Provided that is not disruptive to finance function or you know, something like that, right, right? Looks like you have some pounds. Yeah, knowing I guess it's not obvious Knowing how timelines typically operate for Construction and renovations I would hesitate to put a hard date in this agreement Um, I'm not seeing anywhere in here where it specifically states that the town manager would have to allocate specific work stations to the future city finance department Um, it just says that they may both operate from 81 main. I think that can be handled from an administrative perspective And I think it's fine just to leave that open and handle it from the manager's office Thanks, uh, I agree with Tracy. Um, I mean, I believe it's In there the finance directors and municipal managers shall set out a timeline for the transition and the date for the termination of this agreement part of that setting of Timeline for the transition is just between the municipal managers and honestly, I don't think that the changes from may Are anything about needing work stations or reserve space or anything like that? They just want the option to if they can leave early and they're comfortable with it Then they want to have that option and I think Since it does go both ways, you know, I I think that's fair and I would prefer to just leave it as it is It seems like it's in here without specifically calling out already I was just I mean, so I I just want to make sure I'm hearing it correctly because what you were referencing again was the actual disentangling the completing of all the activities And what we were assigning a date to was when we there is a target for Not needing to have office space available for the village I mean, I hear I just don't know that it's necessary to put specifically in here. I just I don't think that going to become an issue and I I do believe that it is The phrase set out a timeline for the transition can cover both the whole Pull apart, but also within that timeline it can include specifics of office space You know, again, that's just I I feel like it's a conversation between the managers and not put In this agreement so in in that case should The air the line that has been struck here be unstruck Which is set out a timeline for the transition of the village finance department out of 81 main street Because at this point, that's not in here. That's been struck. Right, right. Yeah, it seems like it's making it's softening that language there I think that would make sense to unstrike that language just to make sure that that's included Agreed Don did you have Well, I'm just saying if if that next section under the amendment doesn't cover this anyway Does the parties may enter into a new written agreement which expressly supersedes this agreement Or this agreement may be amended or modified by mutual written agreement of the parties So if construction is held up And you do need to change the date you could go ahead and do it, right? Is that what that means? Or if the un disentangling takes longer than they think And that date could be modified or it's quicker than they think And that amendment allows them Come back and ask for a new date without us entering any new dates in this current contract Yeah, and the term section number one says that it will expire on june 30th of 2025 unless terminated earlier for section six Okay, so that would or wouldn't cover this change if necessary, I think you can You know keeping the language in that was struck gives it a little bit more specificity. I think otherwise that the transition is part of all that I don't honestly don't feel strongly one way or the other. I think we can work it out Um at the manager level But the finance directors So that that phrase is blue highlighted and struck through did we strike that out or did they strike it out? That was a village strike through Okay, so I it sounds like the consensus is we want to ask to add that back in um, and I I I'm not in favor of putting a date in that we think we might have to change later Even though we can um, if it's left this way It can be done without select board action. Um, yeah I think it Trust the two management teams to do the right thing We might want to I think we might want to try to We might want to understand why they struck that. Um, I wonder if it's because do we need to Add language that You know that that they're transitioning out of 81 main if they actually are Inhabiting the space in 81 main, right? Maybe there's some I don't know I'm playing chest in my head, but maybe they're Thinking that they're not going to be in that space. So then therefore if it says something about transitioning out then it's To me it just doesn't apply. So But if it does apply, there should be language there. Okay. Yep. Good enough I assume at least someone from the trustees is watching tonight hearing that question. So I'll talk about it tomorrow night. Anything else on the The finance it's got that same, uh, legal clause All right, uh, let's move on then to recreation indium senior center and um So we had we had proposed accepting all of their different, um The things that they were objecting to that we had asked about before but then we pulled the date back into december 31 of 2023 The the only I think remaining question The the there's a couple of remaining questions in here, but I guess I'll start with the first remain question is, uh Now I understand that during the meeting when this was discussed that and I wasn't that there was it was The discussion about keeping the senior center at two Lincoln street was Was made and that's why that language was added to to this document And now I think the question is relative to when they've as they've learned more about what renovations they're going to need and they're in the building The uh, it's my understanding that they're expecting to have to At least temporarily relocate the senior center uh activities because of the stuff being worked on overhead overhead in that Because of the the condition of the floor upstairs And so what Andrew and I talked about this, uh Last week uh late in the week. Um, and We were talking about and I we we posed the question Of whether we should Change this to be specific from from being specific at two Lincoln the saint and you know, I think it says the same space They've crushed up the existing space, right? And and put some language in here that says adequate and appropriate space or something like that that um allows, you know Continuity, you know without being exactly the same space and I understand that there are many people Several people have expressed to me that you know that from that are members of of that organization that are are very, um Protective of their space and want to to maintain it. I think with the need to do construction above it Um, but no, what a Need to go ahead. Yeah, I thought it was exactly where I was I made a note that If it can't be the existing space because of you know logically or logistically, right? There's going to be reasons why They may temporarily not be able to be in the existing space But it sounds like the intent is a good intent to at least provide space and I think your Desire to add words like adequate or appropriate space makes it, you know Mm-hmm It is if we're going to remove existing because existing may not be feasible Throughout the construction that at least ensuring that there is adequate and appropriate space And and will that still be at to Lincoln? I don't know. Is that in the agreement? Okay I suppose that could be a modification if Modification to the agreement if something else is proposed But as it's read right now, that's what it says Unfortunately in the the letter that came with this it says, um, I don't think anyone could commit to space minimums and expectations We're expecting them to have the same amount of space they have now I think that's part of the conversation with the trustees. Yeah and I Using the word is adequate and and appropriate that that could be interpreted many ways doesn't necessarily mean equal It's somewhat subjective. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, it's it's uh, it's a it's a hard Yeah, it's gonna have to be some either some trust or some other More explicit language if that's what we want to ask for but the the risk is you know And as as we saw in the last time we negotiated this they're talked about this document The trustees were just walking away from the whole thing you know some of which is We're okay with but I think the in my in my View is the senior center continuity of the senior center is really what I'm looking to get out of this agreement and I don't know what I don't know if there's thief that's important or you know where we're a bunch of nothing has I just don't want to see him get tucked away in some dark full place. It doesn't even meet I mean the space they have now isn't as large as it is. I just don't want to be having to downsize their space But we're talking temporarily is what i'm interpreting, but maybe we have to And maybe that maybe needs to stay temporarily there. We need to put those words in there too, maybe Yeah A temporary adequate appropriate space Because because one of our employees will be working there as well. And that's that's the other thing we need to look out for um, and I I uh, I know that the There was a comment made about moving them into a closet and when I talked to andrew last week I mentioned potentially moving their finance people into a closet too because Putting the word man there. It would allow us to do that, but it was it was said ingest But it's you know and it's as I said was one of our employees that will that's that's you know working in that senior space as well um, make sure that there's appropriate space and I shouldn't have just said what I just said So I can I would be able to accept that if you change that What's your recommendation wording with whatever you said adequate and appropriate My intention isn't to wordsmith here, but adequate and appropriate is Much more up for interpretation um potentially Provide comparable space as to what currently exists would be More get more at what we're intending is that it needs to be comparable to The space that's currently provided That's true The others that any comments yeah, I mean I I don't think that The trustees, you know the senior center. It's a joint project the seniors are from the junction just as much as they are from the town I'm going to visit the trustees aren't going to stick them in some old written damn basement with you know Rats like you know trying to fight our senior citizens for cookies. You know, it's just I think that they'll probably accept the change of adequate and appropriate or how we want to say it because I think that They're sitting here the same thoughts that we are that we want to senior citizens to have a good space and They need to move them temporarily Make sense for construction. I I'm confident that they'll find peace in space all right, um So we can have discussions with the right with the trustees as to what language they're willing to support there Comparable Gracie thanks for that comment Suji had your hand There's the comment uh that we The trustees would like to better understand Our oh, yeah, yeah, I was going to move down to the next one right I I did talk to it it it um Mentioned Andrew that it's largely the fact that we don't want to have to have a half year pass next year for village residents since they Will still be paying town taxes through filled till June 30th of 2023 they will have the ability to purchase Um passes to indian brook this time next year And unless we have a half year pass for them You know, we have to come over the whole new new fee structure for them and then somehow and then police it Um rather than do that and we just we we were I think this is what I had suggested in our last discussion Was that we'd do it to the end of The calendar year since the passes are by calendar year it does give you know, it does give six months of access without contributing to any of the the capital Or beyond anything beyond the fees that they pay for their passes that their annual passes um So I did I did explain that to Andrew And they they were he said that they were guessing that way that was the reason so yep We're still okay with that concept all right, all right And then the next one is that same legal clause about which just we're going to the us district court in some cases if needed any any other balance questions concerns about That agreement today And then the mo you is in here because of discussions that we had about the um committees I think I think they're the trustees and we are in agreement with regard to having separate committees We still need to hear back from the housing commission the joint housing commission how they want to Work going forward. Um sx best is not a select board appointed committee. So um, that that's a management directed There is no time finance committee It's best money went Was in the budget for sx. That's was it not. Yeah. Yeah, that's a town. That's a town manager town manager that's town finance committee Fancy the committee. I thought you said that okay. I thought you're asking about a town finance committee. No finance. Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you committee So eventually that would have to be addressed The yeah, that how you know the the way right the If it becomes a joint venture, then yeah, you have to figure out how it right is financed. Yeah But through through f y 23 um Things are financed through town taxes. Anyway, they're still paying time the village is still the new city would be paying Tons continue to pay town taxes for that year um, and so the the question I guess with the sorry with the mou is whether to remove the reference to um a Agree an agreement about um shared boards and commissions the the so-called exhibit I If we have any objections with with dropping that I think we were all in We're previously on agreement with taking that out Tracy leave it in until we hear from the housing Yeah, I guess we could I guess we could yeah part of the yeah part of the uh there is a uh a desire from the um trustees to have all these documents Done And so if we leave one open because of the waiting, we're not going to hear from the housing commission before next monday when we have our joint meeting to talk about Hopefully possibly finalizing all these documents I think that's The only rub there which is okay if we want to hold it open. Um, you just say we're going to hold it open Is anything changed from when we've said that prior meetings That we weren't intending on signing anything until the legislature makes a final decision I am not planning. I it's my We haven't taken we haven't formally taken a position on that uh, but I would I don't I would uh My recommendation is that we not sign anything until actually the legislature approves it And I think the trustees are in agreement with that But what we've done in the past for all the other agreements is we've approved them As tentative agreements We haven't we haven't agreed to sign anything That actually physically put our signature on it. We've approved things with motions All of the prior agreements except these three And we've also approved the mo u in the past as well So this is would be an amendment to the mo u if we want to take the committee so Maybe a disconnect then in expect expectations of next monday's meeting because In brad's email. It does say on 328 We would hope to sign the mo u with all of the exhibits attached as well as the finance agreement And clerk treasurer's agreement, you know, they can hope what they want But I don't know we can have a discussion about whether we want to sign either we can have it an hour We're gonna have it next week. I don't know what we're You know if you know, I I said a long time ago when we first started this that I don't think we should sign agreements because If separation doesn't pass then we're starting from signed agreements to have negotiations about how to deal with not separating I don't want to I don't I don't want to be in that position, but others may have a different opinion. I'm only one vote Technically until they become a city I mean they legally can't sign it though. They can't There's there's a thought that the because of their charter says that any agreement that the village enters into carries over to the city That potentially they could sign now on behalf of this future city Until that charter is actually approved and they're given that authority, right? That's true. That's a good point Perhaps it would That's a good point make make sense to uh, we we've we've approved the tentative Any other thoughts Sounds like we'll discuss it next monday. Yeah, okay. Okay rather than discussing it twice. Yeah Yeah there any opportunity to Reach out to the housing committee to understand when We Can't expect to hear from them Maybe at least then we can Yeah, I guess we could ask We've gone through all this should do we want to ask for any public comment on this Yes, I see a lot of nods there. So let me go back to the meeting so I can see if anybody's hands are up start online anybody have uh anybody online have a comment or question about this topic or the agreements Mary post Yeah, I just want to say that I hope we don't sign anything until after we know That they are to become a city And then we can go from there. I don't see that it's necessary to do anything ahead of time. Thank you Hey, thanks very everybody else online anybody in the room Ethan Hi, my name is Ethan Lawrence. Um, I'd like to make a comment about the agreement with the senior center And I think an easy way to look at it is We've taken on the responsibility to fund the space for the shared, um municipal employees of the village Up until 2025 Um, I know it's changed Weekly back and forth between indian brook and the senior center agreement I think it's to be taken noted that the town after separation in 2023 will be You know town funded town hall and in in return we would expect To continue our senior center services with the town employee in a space Up until at least 2025 if the agreement is written that we're going to share our building to that timeline because of the the implementation of The town taxpayer paying for the space that the employees will be housed in So you're talking about the finance employees And and the other employees currently there's five employees in the building You know, there's no direct timeline of removing those employees So if we do set it as 2025 I think that we should have a mutual agreement with the senior center that There's an agreement up until 2025 that we're going to have a town employee in the senior center participating with our senior bus and Continuing our senior services You know, if we're going to give one we should give the other I think it's two things to look at that are totally separate, but also an agreement That will benefit both parties in the long run. It's really not much task for So that's all I had Seriously that you said town funded building Yeah, after after you mean Lincoln. No, I'm talking about 81 Main Street after July of 2023 You're going to have a employees in this building for another at least two years That are going to be it's going to be a town funded building only after after that point when this city is created if it's created and the agreement was with with Indian Brook was if we couldn't come and this was this was last week I'm not up to date with what the new wording is this week But if we couldn't come to an agreement with Indian Brook Then we were kicked out of Lincoln Hall with our director for the senior center because they didn't want to share that service So I think it's important that if we're going to share our building When it's our building that they continue to share their building As as our community is working together in two totally different aspects But of two very important aspects to both of our communities It's just something to look Towards as we move forward with this. I know it keeps changing because last week we were kicked out and we weren't sharing Indian Brook and now it's You know, it's different. So that's all I had. Thank you What else in the room? Okay, so we will uh, should the trustees will be talking about This again tomorrow and then we'll be talking about it together with them a week from tonight So let's uh move on So Right consent agenda I make the motion that we approve the consent agenda to include approval of liquor licenses revision of the select board computer use policy to approve the minutes of march 7th and the warrant check warrants Okay. Thank you. Don. Thank you. Tracy. Any further discussion? Fellows in favor, please say aye. Oh sorry discussion. Yeah, I just I so I didn't get an answer to my question about the um computer uh select board computer use policy. So I know we're we're uh getting rid of item number one orientation because of that training on the use of devices no longer being given under Ah Right, there's a comment in there about uh getting trained how to use the help desk. Exactly. Yeah And my question is is that training still going on or is that also Yeah, I didn't even know there was a help desk. I just sent Greg an email and say hey Uh, sorry. See I missed that question coming sooner. Um, what number is it?  Okay. Yeah the old five new number four select board members will be trained in the use of the it help desk um yeah, I think uh We could simply say something um if requested or needed and if the select board is comfortable with Taking that change now or that addition and comfortable bringing it back to the it department as needed Yeah, I just I figured if we're if we're cleaning it up to make it so that the select board's signing something That is appropriate if that is no longer appropriate, so Yeah, this is this is a this is a weird one because at our first april meeting is when we usually review all of our policies and all that but um um Yeah, I don't know. We okay with uh updating the It's pretty consent. I think we can do it right if there's an amendment to the uh, if you add that to the motion Change that somebody so moved are we concerned with that? All right. Okay. Okay. Uh, thank you sue. So we've got the amended Motion um, okay, uh all those in favor, please say I I opposed a consent agenda is approved with amendments um, and then um reading file any, uh Remember comments I have a question on the calendar. Yep. There was a joint meeting scheduled. Now, of course, it's at the end of all this At the end of april, but I thought we had asked to wait on that one until we met and did reorganization that not my I think it was put on the calendar just as a placeholder and then yeah, we'll formalize it at our first meeting okay That's what I was curious because yeah Okay, because I think it was the night you had to leave or you were here and said that you're not here Yeah, when that was done. I didn't want to set the I just want to make sure what was going on there. That was all and It did we have a location for next week's joint meeting? That's right. My other question will be here here And then the other question I have is the first meeting in april and we resolve hendel's scheduling question I believe he Will be joining remotely for 6 30 and then it will be up to the Board to bring it up. Um, whether or not to continue with 6 30 or a different start time Okay Hendel has a has a conflict that uh, He has something that ends at 6 30 and then to jump immediately to select board meeting we keep our meetings at that time So we have in the past, uh, you know Back in the way past we used to start at 7 30 um And part of that was because of people's work schedules And then it was moved back to seven o'clock again because people was people's work schedules Got a little freer maybe And then we went to 6 30 because people like to get to bed earlier So, um, I guess the question is right. He didn't have executive sessions that went till 12 31 o'clock in the morning either so Hopefully with with a lot of this stuff behind us will be a little more streamlined So he will be able to be here to start for the meeting is that what you said? I believe so I have meeting with him tomorrow and I can try to confirm that But the question may be whether we're willing to to delay the start time on a regular basis to 7 o'clock there's also further discussion that after Uh, uh, after separation occurs and it's complete whether we would move to a different night um to allow You know could we we could potentially meet the same nights that the trustees meet We don't want to do that now because the you don't want to have town Village residents who are also town residents on it, you know unable to go to both meetings But there's uh because of the getting the packet ready for friday Select board reviews it over the weekend puts it in the the town staff sees the questions first thing monday morning and expects to We expect them to have an answer by The time the meeting starts If there's another day that you can have in there by having the meetings on tuesday night And without taking a critter trace the school board It will be we would have to offset from school board meetings as well So that's why I said it would be the potentially be the same night as trustees meetings So that's that's that's a a proposal that's out there in the future is not certainly not a decision made It's something we can talk about was something to think about Can I ask a person in the audience a question? Hello, I know we're going to discuss this later, but after No, because I want I'm not going to sneak around tour wise These are your three to be here at seven then my chores are done and I'm going home to bed really Okay, I'm just checking. I just I am very flexible and I Start at 430 in the morning and 430 in the afternoon Yeah, yeah, so we're third there's right. There'll be the that puts pressure on the other end of the In a timely fashion Yeah Because we the the the time at which we used to have to vote and we used to vote to whether to extend a meeting used to be midnight Then when we moved it earlier, I said, well, let's move that in too. So we did all right any other Board members discussion, so the next two meetings will both be at 630 in this room the next two Mondays Two weeks in a row all right, so then the Last thing we need to do is the executive session discussion about tree farm We have them All right, uh I make the motion that the select board make the specific finding that general public knowledge of Contracts would place the town at a substantial disadvantage Second. Thank you. Sue. Thank you. Tracy any further discussion Those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed Okay, motion passes five zero The next one Could you include the recreation director? Yes, thank you Make the motion that the select board enter into executive session to discuss contracts pursuant to one vsa 313 a1a To include the town manager deputy manager and the recreation director Okay. Thank you. Sue. Thank you. Don any further discussion Um, I will just say that we aren't we will not be taking any action from this And so we will not be coming back to this meeting We can just adjourn from open the door from our executive session with so that we're opening it Doing it and open with an open door, but we will adjourn from there We'll not Sorry reconvene back down here Make the motion we enter into executive session. Like for that's just done the motion's already out there Is it? We don't do that now. I'm sorry. So all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed Okay, motion passes five zero We'll uh, are we staying here and just waiting


So, I'm going to talk to you about the history and discovery of this unique molecule, which by the way is a gaseous molecule, like oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, N-O is a gas. Now, it doesn't work as a gas in the body. Oxygen doesn't work as a gas in the body. These gases are soluble in liquids, in water, in the blood, and so on. So they work in solution. They don't float around as bubbles producing effects in the body. So this molecule is nitric oxide, also abbreviated N-O. And this is, I don't think you have to be a chemist to understand this. This is a very simple molecule. It consists of one atom of nitrogen and one atom of oxygen, very simply. But it's more complex than meets the eye, especially if you're not a scientist. This is what we call a radical, a free radical, and the reason is that it has this electron. Atoms and molecules have electrons that rotate around them. And in most cases, when the molecules are stable, they need to have two electrons paired together like this. However, when you have one single electron by itself, these molecules are very unstable. They don't like to exist in that form. They're always running around looking for other molecules that also have a single electron so they can react in order to form an electron pair, and that makes them stable. And so for that reason, nitric oxide is fairly reactive, which accounts for all the different things that it does in the body, as I will explain to you. And I think that nitric oxide is the most widespread signaling molecule in the body. And I hope to convince you of that. It's also, I think, the most widespread anti-aging molecule in the body. Having said those two, what I come to realize is that it's really nice when you're a Nobel laureate because you can say whatever you want and very few people question you. So how does nitric oxide elicit its effects in the body? Well, there are probably two major mechanisms. One is because of the chemistry of nitric oxide, as I explained earlier. It's reactive. It can undergo direct chemical interactions with a variety of other molecules and bind to those other molecules and alter the function of those other molecules. But another mechanism, the first one described, and one that I was involved with very early on, is that it can stimulate the production in cells of another signaling molecule, which has the name of cyclic GMP. And this is a signaling molecule inside cells. And so nitric oxide can activate an enzyme. The name of the enzyme is guanylate cyclase. You don't have to ever remember that. It's kind of a tongue twister. But this enzyme catalyzes the formation of cyclic GMP in cells. And it kind of looks like this, if I may show this cartoon or schematic. But this enzyme actually can catalyze the conversion of something called GTP to the important molecule here, cyclic GMP. Enzymes are like catalysts. They speed up a reaction. Nitric oxide can activate this enzyme guanylate cyclase so that the enzyme actually makes three or four hundred fold more cyclic GMP than in the absence of the nitric oxide. So that's really one of the main mechanisms of nitric oxide in the body. So whatever effects that nitric oxide produces, many of those effects are actually produced by cyclic GMP. In other words, NO activates the enzyme, it elevates cyclic GMP, and it's the cyclic GMP that produces some of the effects. This is very popular in biochemistry and physiology. A cascade of reactions and then the final step actually is the response, so to speak. So we were doing that work in about 1979, 1980, and that's when we also started to look at nitroglycerin. So let me explain nitroglycerin. You all know this. Nitroglycerin is both a drug, right, and an explosive. Nitroglycerin is the active explosive in dynamite that Alfred Nobel invented back in the 1800s. But nitroglycerin is also a drug, right? It comes as tablets, and if you place those tablets under your tongue, if you're suffering from angina pectoris or chest pains due to an impending heart attack, nitroglycerin dilates certain blood vessels and just kind of relieves the stress on the heart and that pain disappears. So when you widen the arteries or cause the drop in blood pressure, this is what we call a vasodilator effect, and this vasodilator effect of nitroglycerin was actually discovered in Alfred Nobel's dynamite factories. So when the workers came into the factories, they noted that on Mondays when they began their job, they would develop tremendous migraine-like headaches, which lasted all week until they went home on the weekend. In addition, people with chest pains noticed that the pains would disappear while they were working in the dynamite factories, but on the weekends those pains would come back. And that's due to the fact that nitroglycerin is a volatile liquid. In other words, fumes can come off the nitroglycerin, get into the air, people can breathe those fumes. And so because of the vasodilator effect on the cerebral arteries, you can get a headache. And because the nitroglycerin is a vasodilator and the peripheral vessels near the heart, that can relieve the anginal pain, if you will. But the mechanism of action of nitroglycerin as a vasodilator remained unknown for well over a hundred years until we worked it out in our lab. And we often asked the question, could nitroglycerin work by a nitric oxide cyclic GMP mechanism? And the reason we brought that up, I'll show you. In other words, we asked the question, could nitroglycerin work by being converted or metabolized to nitric oxide, let's say, in blood vessels? And the reason I thought that is just by looking at the chemical structure. So here's where there's a little bit of science, and I'm going to focus a little bit on the scientists in the audience. So this is nitroglycerin. We have a three-carbon backbone, and we have three nitrate ester groups. And of course, as you can see, these are ester groups, nitrate esters. It's not a nitrate. The oxygen actually acts as a bridge between the carbon and the nitrogen. The nitrogen is not bound directly to the carbon. So it's an estrogen. But before I describe the experiment we did, let me just show you how nitroglycerin has been synthesized as an explosive ever since the days of an Italian. His name was Ascanio Sobrero, who actually first synthesized nitroglycerin, but he had so many accidents and explosions, he couldn't contain it. It was Alfred Nobel, who then worked with nitroglycerin and figured out how to make it safe by developing or inventing dynamite. But anyway, the way you make nitroglycerin simply is you take the starting material glycerol. This is a very safe substance. This isn't like an alcohol or a sugar. It's actually very sweet. It's a thick liquid. You could put it on your tongue. It's very sweet. It's used in many pharmaceutical preparations to sweeten the flavor of bad-tasting cough syrups and so on and so forth. So it's very safe. The nitroglycerin is made by adding glycerol to a mixture of two substances that are not so safe, and these are concentrated nitric acid and concentrated sulfuric acid. When these three are mixed together, the result is this trinitroglycerol or nitroglycerin. It's a very simple reaction. The only requirement for this reaction is that it be conducted carefully. So if we get back to nitroglycerin, we suspected that maybe NO could be formed from nitroglycerin. If you look at one of these groups here, you could see that the NO is sort of built in to the molecule. And so we had an idea that one of these or all of these might actually somehow be converted to NO. And without explaining any details, that's what we found. We found that when nitroglycerin comes in contact, for example, with vascular arterial tissues, smooth muscle, the result is a formation of NO, and this is the second product of the reaction. It's the dinitro alcohol, if you will. And this product here is not active as a vasodilator. It's nitragoxide that's quite active as a vasodilator. And about the same time, this was 1980, we made another discovery that nitragoxide can inhibit the clotting of human blood. And it can do that by inhibiting the function of platelets. It prevents platelet aggregation. When your blood clots, usually at a site of injury somewhere, the platelets stick to the inside of the blood vessel and they begin to clump together and form a plug which gets larger and larger and then actually plugs the injury so that you don't have a massive loss of blood. Well, nitric oxide can inhibit that entire process. And its mechanism is through the cycle GMP that I was talking about. So by 1980, this was the pharmacology of NO, which I thought was very interesting. It's a vascular smooth muscle relaxant. That means vasodilator. But it's also non-vascular smooth muscle relaxant. It could relax the tracheal smooth muscle or the bronchi smooth muscle. In other words, it can relax airway smooth muscle, even gastrointestinal smooth muscle. Any smooth muscle can be relaxed by nitric oxide. And when you test it in the animal, it's a vasodilator. It lowers the blood pressure, especially when the blood pressure is elevated like in hypertension. And because it's a vasodilator, it improves local blood flow to different organs in the body.  And all of these effects are mediated by cycle GMP. So this was beginning to become a really fascinating story that we have when you add nitric oxide to human tissues, you can elevate cycle GMP and produce all of these effects. But the one thing that bothered me was the physiological relevance of nitric oxide. So let me explain to those of you who don't work in the laboratory or clinically. Pharmacology means the effect of the chemical or drug on the cells, on the tissues. That's an outside chemical. You add it to tissues, you get an effect. That's a pharmacological effect. Pharmacological effect means something exists in the body and then interacts with other cells in the body and produces an effect, a response. That's physiological because it's inside the body. So what about nitric oxide? At this point in time, NO is not known to exist in the mammalian species. It was well known to be a gas in the Earth's atmosphere. It occupies quite a high percentage of gas in the atmosphere and in the atmosphere it reacts, nitric oxide reacts with oxygen to form NO2 or nitrogen dioxide also known as acid rain. Not a very safe gas to be around. And because of that well known reaction, no one even suspected that NO would be present endogenously, that is inside mammals. No one was thinking about nitric oxide as a naturally occurring signaling molecule. And so nobody was thinking about the physiological relevance of nitric oxide. But in our laboratory discussions, we always said, wait, not so fast. Why would a pure outside exogenous molecule be such a potent vasodilator? And it works at very, very, very low concentrations to produce this effect. Also, why would well-defined receptors exist for nitric oxide inside cells? And those receptors are on guanylate cyclase. Remember I said NO activates, it binds to and activates guanylate cyclase to elevate cycle GMP. Why would we have receptors on guanylate cyclase to react to a chemical that's only present in the atmosphere? That didn't make sense. And so we thought, well, maybe NO does exist in cells, but we just did not know that at the time. Certainly if NO existed in cells, that would explain the physiological relevance of the NO cycle GMP system. But our conclusions nevertheless were that the chemistry of NO revealed that it was highly unlikely that NO could exist much less function in mammalian cells. Because it's too unstable and highly reactive with other molecules. But then something happened also in 1980. Someone else made another discovery. His name was Robert Furchkott, or Bob Furchkott. So what the discovery he made appeared to have nothing to do with nitric oxide at the time. And what he did is he showed the mechanism of vasodilation by another molecule called acetyl choline. Acetyl choline is a chemical in the body that's released from many different nerves that causes vasodilation inside the animal. But whenever people would try to see if acetyl choline could cause relaxation of the artery in vitro outside the animal, it would never work. And Bob Furchkott figured out how he can get it to work. That took about 100 years. Not of his own time, of course, but since acetyl choline was first tested. And so what I want to do is I want to take you through a series of cartoons or schematics that will eventually illustrate our progression of thinking or thoughts that culminated in our discovery that nitric oxide is indeed an endogenous signaling molecule. So allow me, please, to take you through this chronologically. This is the first setup, the first experiment that Bob Furchkott did. This is a, he would take a small segment of artery and then using a very sharp razor make rings, cross-section rings, and then put each in a tissue bath and hook it up so that you could record contraction or relaxation. Then he would add various drugs and chemicals to that to see whether the rings would relax or contract. And it's a pretty good way to study vascular function. So this schematic shows a cross-section of that. This would be where the blood flows. This is the lumen of the blood vessel where the blood flows. This would be one of many layers of smooth muscle cells. When those cells are relaxed, the artery dilates or widens, vasodilation. When those muscle cells contract, you get vasoconstriction or tightening of the blood vessel. And there are many layers of smooth muscle cells, but the endothelial cells or endothelium consists only of a single layer of cells that separate the blood from the underlying smooth muscle. So what Bob Furchkott found was that when he added acetylcholine, that's abbreviated ACH, he got a relaxation as long as the endothelial cells were present. And he showed by experimentation that acetylcholine elevated something in the endothelial cells. He didn't know what it was, so he called it endothelium-derived relaxing factor because it was a relaxing factor that came from the endothelial cells. And somehow this EDRF moved into the smooth muscle to cause relaxation. Now he did some really interesting experiments. If he took, for example, a cotton swab and he gently removed the endothelial cells without hurting the smooth muscle cells, if he did that and then added acetylcholine, there was no relaxation. So the relaxation was endothelium-dependent and some relaxing factor was being made in the endothelial cells. That's why he called it EDRF or endothelium-derived relaxing factor. He had no idea what it was. And he tried to determine what it was and he couldn't because when the EDRF is made, it lasts for one or two seconds and then vanishes. It's destroyed. And so you need more than a couple of seconds to be able to isolate something and identify it. That's why he couldn't do it. A lot of other laboratories tried to repeat his experiments, which we all did, and then we went after EDRF to see what it might be. So one of the first experiments we did, we knew that cyclic GMP was involved in vasodilation in relaxation. We had just shown that for nitric oxide, elevate cyclic GMP causes relaxation. So we measured cyclic GMP levels and we found that they went up. Great. But that does not tell you that cyclic GMP was responsible for the relaxation. It just tells you that acetylcholine in the presence of the endothelium can elevate cyclic GMP. But we had to determine whether the cyclic GMP was actually causing the relaxation or was going up for some other reason. And so we figured if cyclic GMP was going up, that enzyme guanylate cyclase that I talked to you about must be there in order to raise cyclic GMP. So we tested an inhibitor of this enzyme guanylate cyclase, which happens to be called methylene blue. So when we added methylene blue to this system, what happens is we were able to block, these hash marks means blockade. We blocked the ability of acetylcholine to elevate cyclic GMP. And by blocking cyclic GMP, we also blocked relaxation. So that told you that cyclic GMP is required for the relaxation. And that guanylate cyclase, which I abbreviate GC, must be here. So when you look at this, you're thinking, well, okay, whatever this EDRF is, it must be activating this guanylate cyclase to increase cyclic GMP and cause relaxation. And this whole process, once again, was endothelium dependent. Well, at the time, the only other substance I knew of that could activate guanylate cyclase, elevate cyclic GMP, and cause relaxation was what? Nitric oxide. I told you about that. So in this experiment, if we add nitric oxide, nitric oxide is a very small, lipid-soluble molecule. That means it can diffuse through all the membranes. It just goes sailing through membranes. So nitric oxide can get into the smooth muscle to elevate cyclic GMP and cause relaxation. Nitric oxide does not need the endothelium to do this. It's endothelium independent. It just gets right in and produces cyclic GMP and relaxation. So take a look at these data. I took a good look at this data, trying to conclude what EDRF might be. So having this all in front of you, if you would look at this data, what do you think the chemical nature of EDRF is? What does it resemble? Clearly, it resembles nitric oxide. Clearly, it resembles nitric oxide. So we were lucky that we did these experiments. But before we could publish such a provocative conclusion, you can't publish provocative conclusions unless you have the experimental evidence to back it up. So we had to quickly design some chemical experiments and other biochemical pharmacological experiments to prove, to show the identity of the EDRF. And when we did that, we could see that EDRF was clearly nitric oxide, which I have to admit came as somewhat of a surprise. But then once we looked at all the data, it was not that surprising. Of course, you're always surprised when you see something for the first time. But now, what we can do is you see this EDRF? We don't have to use that anymore. We can now change it to NO, because EDRF is NO. And this was the first demonstration that mammalian cells could actually produce nitric oxide. And remember earlier I said, because of the chemistry of NO, NO could never exist inside cells, much less work as a signaling molecule. And the one thing I learned from this experiment, as well as many others in my lifetime, is never say never. Just do the experiments. And we got into looking at, so as I said, this was the first demonstration that NO does exist in cells. We looked at antioxidants, and the reason we did that was because in order for us to identify EDRF, we had to stabilize it somehow, make it stick around for maybe 20, 30 seconds instead of 2 or 3 seconds. That would give us enough time to do our reactions to try to identify the EDRF. And so we had to add antioxidants or reducing agents, if you will, to enable this identification. We tested a whole bunch of different ones. And I'm not going to rattle them off here because we have a lot of people who won't understand that. But suffice it to say that the most effective antioxidant that we used in our hands was good old as ascorbic acid or vitamin C. And for those of you who are interested, we had 5 millimolar ascorbic acid present. We tried a variety of other ones. They didn't work. Oh, they worked a little bit. But vitamin C was great. And today, back then, we didn't have all these polyphenolic antioxidants like elagic acid and pomegranates or all the polyphenols or the other antioxidants that we heard about from blueberries and so on. I'm sure they would all work and probably better, perhaps, than vitamin C. I'm not sure. Nobody's ever done these experiments. And so once we made this discovery, of course, many, many people jumped into the field. I mean, we had a new player on the block, nitric oxide produced in mammalian cells. My goodness, what else can it do? And on and on. How is it made? We didn't show how it was made. We just showed that it was made. Then many incredible laboratories, not mine, jumped into the field and described the enzymes that exist to make nitric oxide. And this is called anosynthase is the name of the enzyme. And I'm showing this reaction. I don't want anybody who's not a scientist to leave the room. But some of you others may be interested. But nitric oxide comes from a very simple amino acid that we consume every time we have protein. Arginine is one of 20 or so amino acids present in proteins that we have in the body, proteins that we consume. And one of these amino groups here actually is converted to nitric oxide, leaving you with the second product of the reaction, which is another amino acid called citrulline. And so the sequence of steps, which I will not explain. I'll explain it to you later, if you'd like. But the first step is a conversion of the NH to the NOH. And then the next step is putting the oxygen on this molecule to form citrulline. And then the N is cleaved, removed from here, to produce nitric oxide. And really, that's the major reaction. And I'm not going to say more about that. Now here's a slide. Maybe I should have shown you at the beginning. So I apologize. But this is another cartoon of a cross-section of the artery. So we have the blood that's in the lumen that circulates. Hemoglobin, that's what makes it red. And then we have the smooth muscle cells here. When they relax, the vessel widens or dilates, vasodilation. When these muscles contract, you get vasoconstriction. It tightens. Vasoconstriction increases blood pressure. Vasodilation lowers blood pressure. The endothelial cells I was talking about form a single layer right here as a barrier between the blood and the smooth muscle cells. Every single endothelial cell makes NO. The average adult has 60 trillion endothelial cells. Now don't ask me how they counted them. I have no idea. But you can estimate that. And what the nitric oxide does in this diagram is a little bit incorrect. I plagiarize this from another book. But the endothelial cells make NO. And that NO diffuses backwards into the muscle cells to relax them. The NO also diffuses in the front of the endothelial cells right at the barrier between blood and endothelial cell. And very importantly, that nitric oxide prevents platelets from sticking to the surface. You don't want your blood to clot for no apparent reason. I mean, that would cause a heart attack, a stroke, and other things. Nitric oxide protects against that. Also, the nitric oxide released by the endothelial cells prevents other cell types from getting through into the smooth muscle that could cause cholesterol plaque deposition, atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease. NO is very protective against that. Sometimes I think the most important effective NO is as an anti-inflammatory to prevent inflammation of the arterial wall, even more importantly, than as a regulator of blood pressure. Again, that's my opinion. And I can say whatever I want, as I told you earlier. But this arrow shows NO going into the blood. It really doesn't do that. When NO goes into the blood, it's immediately destroyed within nanoseconds because NO reacts with hemoglobin, oxihemoglobin. Hemoglobin binds oxygen. If NO hits that hemoglobin, it's immediately destroyed. So NO can't travel down the bloodstream to produce an effect anywhere. The hemoglobin is what keeps the action of nitric oxide local right at the spot that it is produced. It's sort of like a locally acting hormone or substance.


I'm Marcella Suarez, one of the professors in the MGIS and special data science programs. I teach courses in cartography, special analysis, and special data science. There are many reasons why I really enjoy teaching these courses, and one of them is definitely that I enjoy working with the talented students we have in these programs. And a second reason is that the topics taught in these courses are very related to my research interest. In my research, I use special analysis, geo-visualization, machine learning, and data mining techniques to understand how information contributed by the general public, say, tweets, can be used along with official geographic data. But I like the most about working with these different types of geographic data is that they challenge us to think and learn about new methods in the GIS science. Okay, something interesting about me is that I was born and raised in Colombia. So before coming to the US to complete my PhD, I worked with different organizations there as a GIS analyst and consultant. So when I'm not working, you can probably find me biking, hiking, or spending time with my family and my dog, Fiona. Okay, that was a bit about me. Hope to see you in one of my classes this year.