Pearl Luzi on colorism, I wasn't black enough. Pearl Luzi has reflected on some of the challenges she's faced in the industry, which includes losing roles because of colorism. Speaking at the next 100 summit hosted by Global Citizen last Thursday, Pearl opened up about not being black enough for certain roles. Pearl got tongues wagging after video clips from the summit was shared on Twitter. I lost a role because I wasn't black enough on long walk to freedom, a very small role. I had it, and then two weeks before shooting I wasn't dark enough. The actress added that it hurt her because she identifies as a black woman. She said that black women needed to stand united to bring about change. If we work together as black women regardless of your shade, we can move forward much faster and a lot more powerfully, she said.


All right, Coach Pendleton Atlanta, Georgia. We're just talking about let's talk heat index It's not that bad.  Okay, because there's there's there's tempi heat better than the snow Okay, I'll give you that. I'll give you that.  You're out there showing technique, right? You as I just having a lift to mm-hmm, okay?  That's awesome. I was like, yeah, this guy's done rustling.  You gotta stand your game.  No, all right Let's keep it up with the young bucks. Yeah, what was it like out there working out with the humidity June, Georgia humidity and heat What was it like? It's awesome. You know every time you get to come out here. It's a different feel I like getting a little hot and sweaty helps with knees and ankles get a little loosened up and the kids are just great They're actually out there just listening paying attention and soaking it all in As you're recruiting and you're looking for athletes student athletes Uh, you know, what would you say the main things are that you guys at Arizona State are looking for? You know, you come from the Oklahoma State system But you know, it's usually based off in those one in those two systems. It's usually really talented guys You know, I mean better athletes. Yeah, is that something where you guys are looking for these ultra athletes? What's the mold of a guy you're looking for? Is there a mold? Um, there's not really a mold it's um, Arizona State and Our number one thing is we're looking for kids that are looking to win World Olympic medals Even though we're an olympic sport that drains and competes in a non olympic sport style We still want those kids with those goals and aspirations I think when you look at our past our last couple years recruiting classes Everybody's heavily involved in freestyle and our year-round athletes on the student side, you know We're recruiting the student athletes. We're recruiting the kids that are going to have the right GPAs have the right lifestyle goals and You know, that's pretty much what we're looking for Looking at the camps the camp system when you guys do camps, you know And you go pride to do camps all over the country But this is very unique the c3 the compound college combine It's a different feel all together and you get to watch the student athletes You get to teach them technique You don't really interact with them too much as far as personal because there's rules or whatever But looking at how they run this is this something where this gives you an even better view of what the kids are like I guess, you know, one of the things that I love about this is it gives the kids a chance to be proactive in their recruiting Um, I think especially for there's different tiers of level, you know stars But however you want to do let's just use football an example There's four star three star two star athletes that when you're a two star athlete It's a little bit harder for coaches to find them, you know We're always looking for those diamond and a rough kind of kids where when they come to a camp like this and they actually are interactive Um, using my experience. I wasn't recruited very heavily at all But I went to the Oklahoma State camps and I remember, you know, as in john Hey, can I work with you after a session on the low single and then like, ah How about I get one of the counselors to help you out the counselor is mark mooneos But then I spent time with mark mooneos and then I got to know uh mark branch and pat smith And my senior year I was at the reno tournament of champions and I walked by john and he kind of like was like, hey Kid from camp How's your year going and we started talking and then I won the tournament and you know, boom Right away. I got a letter and a phone call from Oklahoma State So it's a good way to interact with a sort of recruits to interact with coaches. I think that um, it's definitely where wrestling's going to be shifting towards I think um You know the other sports like basketball and football these are these are the norm They do this a manning academy, you know Gatorade the nike elite for basketball I mean all the other sports are doing it. We're just getting caught up to them You know looking at coming from the central valley, which is a strong wrestling, you know, it's a good wrestling tradition There's no five nine or the 209 Nate Diaz. It's an actually Stockton california funny story. I want to hear it more used to be 209 my hometown Um, you know all these guys to get the 209 tattooed on the chest and when I was in high school They switched it to the five five nine really. Yeah, so yeah, so what they what they do they get infected I didn't ask because some of them were scary dudes I don't think I'd ask for some of those guys either in you and isaias from your high school I see attempt Martinez. Yep. No. Yeah, but you were the first one. I'm I'm from isaia martinez This hometown. No, you're both but you're both because I went to a champs, right? Sergeant mill kelly put it really. Yeah. He goes congratulations.  What's that mean to you as a college coach? It means the world. I mean, you know, we're not You know, we're not trying to chase down NFL, you know professional careers Very few kids Are going to make that transition to the next level for international make the olympic team all that To give these kids an opportunity to get their degree and to compete at that next level and just to be a part of a good program tons Speaking of diamonds in the rough the sky the sky this 133 nadir right He's your 133. Is your 133 right now? I can't discuss perspective of student athletes. No, okay So it's a you guys got a team coming in next year Yes, we got 174 174 184. Let's talk about that Million dollar question. Where would see the valencia's drop? Where were they going to be? Can you discuss that? Um, I'm not going to discuss that right now because there's still a lot of things up in the air. Um Honestly the heat's number one thing is he's chasing down an iranian right now that Made him look a little silly and he's very determined to chase that guy down. How do you do that? Hmm, how do you do that? How do you chase a guy down? Yeah, how do you go? He's got to go right to him. Oh, no, he's gonna we're gonna find that guy in france Yeah, old championships.  He's already at the world cup with those guys right now Um, we're plugging with the senior level in the junior team for training camps Bring a bunch of our guys up there try to help those kids, you know get where they want to be and then France try to win them one title Sun kiss kids club one of the best clubs in the country The best the the best. Yes. Okay. Ohio rtc Many line would they would have something to say about that hawk eye? Well, they're all different those a lot of those guys are The rtcs are different than the clubs. Okay, you know, so you guys are the best club In my opinion they've been around for that long The world olympic medals are coming through them Um, I'm just really fortunate to be a part of that organization the class the people involved, I mean They've been around for 40 years for a reason I mean, I've I've seen wrestling clubs come and go and a lot of great people being involved in the sport Art's still here after 40 years And he will continue to be here because he does things the right way Can the shine be an olympic and world champion? The Sean can do whatever he wants to do. He's a great human being great story. Um, really excited about Being able to be a part of his journey Um, we got to teach him how to drive a little bit better right now But we're really excited to have him out here. He just moved in last week So he's getting settled into his apartment He went to la. He's gonna meet up with those guys at the world cup Um, I don't think he's gonna wrestle in the world cup. I believe he's not um, because you know graduating from an ivy league school like Cornell and Moving across country It's a lot for a young guy to take on and be able to compete at a high level So we're excited. We're excited, you know We had a great group of guys in the last quad that did some amazing things We're still waiting to see how that all shakes out I know ed's made the transition to mma and he's going to be a world champion someday in that Um, now we're getting the next group of guys in Anthony valencia This guy's a world beater. He's a world beater. He took an olympic red shirt this year Not any other time. It was an olympic red shirt. He was third on the team He was actually a team member in 2015. Yes This year it seemed like, you know, I don't know what happened in his olympic year. I don't know his story um, you know, I can tell you what happened his olympic year He wrestled some grown men that are really good. Um, I like Tyler Caldwell. He's a university world champion world champion He beat him one match then lost him the next match, you know Was it tough? Yeah, I mean he wants to beat everybody that he wrestles Is he losing the people that he shouldn't lose to? I don't know. I mean he's wrestling the best You know the 74 weight class in the united states when you really look at the junior university and olympic level I've never seen anything like it. It's amazing. And he's right there, you know, he's uh, competing with I can't really talk about other juniors But then I mean he's competing with the best some of the best kids in the world kids that I think are Going to bring home medals and I'm excited about his future. Um, he's a little dinged up right now So he's shut down kind of in at home in Bosco Just recovering relaxing and I'm excited for him next year There's one thing you want people to know about what you guys are doing at Arizona state What is it building a program and trying to win a national title? One thing to know about, um You know, we're trying to do something unique. Um, I was fortunate enough to be at a program that had 34 national titles. Um, I've Seen all the top programs in the country. Um I want to do be a part of something that is hasn't been done in Since 1988 uh, the last time Somebody's won a nca title west of oklahoma. You know, there's a lot of great wrestling out west It's time to start building the power out there and getting somebody Else outside the traditional people to win a nca title


All right good afternoon everybody. Thanks for being here. I'd like to thank everybody for joining us here in Barrie today. My name is Peter Wach. I'm the managing director of Efficiency Vermont. We're here today in Barrie joined by state and local leaders, impacted residents and businesses, some long-time Barrie partners and folks coordinating volunteer response. Less than two months ago Barrie and many of the surrounding communities were devastated and cut off from each other by rising floodwaters. I want to thank Mayor Jake Hamrick and City Manager Nicholas Storily Castro, Representative Peter Anthony, members of the Barrie City Council for joining us today, and some members and partners from the City Capstone Community Action, Barrie Partnership, Downstreet Housing and Community Development, and Central Vermont Economic Development Corporation. Thank you very much for being here with us today as we talk about new flood relief programming helping Vermonters get back on their feet after the flood. We all know that the community response has been inspiring, but for those left picking up the pieces, the feelings of fatigue, financial overwhelm, and simply not knowing where to start are devastating and make it hard to start this process. Today we're here to launch a package of new flood recovery programs that will invest $36 million in Vermonters and their communities to help them replace heating and hot water equipment and important home and business appliances and equipment. I want to honor the point at which many Vermonters are in this recovery process. Some of you have already made purchases and are back in your homes. Some of you are just beginning this process. These programs are designed to meet you where you are along the way and help you through the process. This this work would not have been possible without legislative leadership and the leadership of the governor who saw fit to reallocate existing funds to support this work. We're I'm pleased to be joined today by Representative Diane Lanford, a member of the Vermont Emergency Board, who helped make this immediate reallocation of resources possible so that we could get funds on the ground in support of Vermonters and Vermont businesses. I'm grateful to the executive branch partners who made today possible. We've been able to move grant dollars forward in in record time. I'm grateful for the partnership with Commissioner June Tierney to make that possible and to expand the reach of that work over time. We've been working on a side agreement with the Agency of Natural Resources. I'm grateful to Deputy Secretary Maggie Gendron for joining us today, and we've been deep in partnership with the Agency of Commerce and Community Development on how to mirror and match the BGAP programming that they're running and these funds for businesses so that we can help the most people possible. I'd also like to thank Deputy Secretary of State Lauren Hibbert for being here today. We've been working very closely with the Secretary of State's office to make sure that we can help maximize the available workforce and resources around to be able to help people make the necessary installations and other things within their homes. I also, none of this would be possible today without FEMA and we're grateful for their partnership. I'd like to thank Katie Bracia, FEMA's voluntary Agency Liaison Deputy Group Supervisor for coming here to support us today and helping us walk us through this process so that we can understand how these programs can fit within FEMA and make sure that they are additive to the work that is happening and people can get the most resources possible. And finally, I'd like to take a moment to thank the Efficiency Vermont team that put this together. Very few of them are here today because they're all at work making sure these programs can be out on the ground today, helping those programs as they launch on the on the website today and people begin filing their claims. We want to make sure that we can help as many people as possible and so grateful for that team for dropping everything and getting to work so we could get this money out the door in five weeks. I'm going to dive deeper into the specific programmatic materials in a little bit because there are a lot of details and I won't there'll be a test at the end of this so you better be ready. But I must say FEMA first. These programs are designed to be additive. They're designed to add more to the resources going into Vermonters and Vermont businesses pockets. The insurance and FEMA processes must be done first so that we can make sure that we are not taking away from resources that you might otherwise be able to get under the FEMA program. We're going to be operating rebates and incentives to eligible customers to replace home heating and cooling systems, helping them switch or add a ducted or ductless heat pump system or high efficiency wood or pellet stove. And we'll also be helping them qualify energy star rated boilers and furnaces. We'll also be helping them do replace hot water systems and other key appliances in their homes. And as part of these dollars and part of the grant agreement, we've swiftly moved forward with the public service department will be able to include an additional 25 million dollars. That's part of the overall 36 million dollar package in dollars that have been ready to to go towards heat pump hot water heaters and electric panel upgrades that silver monitors can participate in the in the clean energy transition as we move forward. And for our and we're all I'm also very excited that we were able to find with again great partnership with the state to find a million dollars to be able to also help impacted businesses. We know who are not eligible for FEMA funds to be able to provide support for appliances and other key equipment that they're looking to replace as they get back on their feet and reopen for business. We know that the huge cost burden associated with responding recovering from a flood is overwhelming. I can't imagine what that has been like the emotional toll that it has taken on people and we're happy to be here to be part of the solution and to be part of the solution with all of you and making this possible. We are making wise and practical investments in people's homes to help them heat and provide hot water and to have other basic appliances more efficiently to help them reduce their carbon footprint. And as we think about climate justice and the impacts of future floods making sure that we can help people get into systems that will be there through the long haul and help them heat and cool into the future. Without further ado I would like to invite Jake Hemrick to come to the table. Jake knows that housing is one of various big biggest concerns going forward and making sure that we have functional housing moving forward. More than 300 structures in the city were damaged by the floods containing more than 500 housing units. In the month ahead we know we'll have lots of long term difficult decisions as communities and really appreciate the fact that Mayor Hemrick is here today to to give us a few words. Thank you Peter. Thank you Peter. And thanks to everybody who had a part in making this this program come together and who showed up today. The Secretary of State's Office Commissioner Tierney representative Lanfeer all the way from Addison County. So make sure that Secretary Curley Deputy Secretary Gendron I'm joined here with the city manager Nicholas Sterly Castro as well as two of Barry's former mayors Mayor Tom Lozano and State Representative Peter Anthony and and we're here in the most impacted community in the state. And we had a high energy cost burden before this flood. We know that because of the amazing work done by the efficiency of our team with the energy cost burden report where where the documents have a monitor spend about 11 percent of their income on energy costs and that's on average about seven thousand dollars per year. Clean energy we know is effective at lowering costs and families on a tight budget especially feel that's those savings add up and replacing appliances getting in those heat pump hot water heaters putting in the heat pumps stacking it up with weatherization that can really make a huge difference in households here in Barry and across the state of Vermont. And if you're like me you definitely value savings and saving money and supporting green jobs here in the state of Vermont. So I think this is such a critical investment for the people who have lost their homes and are pulling it together trying to find ways to get get their get their units back online get their home livable so we can make it through a winter and have a warm place to sleep at night. So thank you so much. Our next speaker is city manager Nicholas Dora LeCastro who has been everywhere throughout this process. When we asked him whether or not we could host something here in Barry knowing how impacted the community was to make the difference here. He not only said yes but he said thank you. He said thank you for remembering the people of Barry. We're happy to be here today. Thank you city manager LeCastro. Good afternoon everyone and thanks to efficiency Vermont and all those present here today for for announcing this program in Barry. You know it's a beautiful day here on the heels of a fantastic weekend the best weekend of the summer finally arrived. But you know downtown's bustling traffic's moving our stores are open our restaurants are open just a mile down the street though. There's a lot of people who are still struggling to recover and that's why I think it's very important that efficiency Vermont is not only announcing this program but announcing it here in the city of Barry. As the heating season approaches we know we're racing against the clock to make sure that that those who are still on the front lines of this recovery because there is still a front line in this recovery that they can get back into their homes. We had a housing crisis before this happened this flood made it worse and that's why programs like this are just crucial to make sure it's another important part of our recovery. I also want to say that listening to Peter talk about all the agencies groups partners that have to come together to do this I think is just an example of government and cross sector response at its very best when everybody puts down what they're doing we break down silos which is the hardest thing to do in this kind of work that we're involved in and do it for the people who need it the most so I think I'm very thankful that all those involved made that happen because we know how difficult it is to to work across sectors and to break down silos. So I also I want to finish by urging the Berry residents to apply and as Peter said before you do make sure you go to FEMA. I want to thank the Scott administration which worked very hard to extend the application to apply for individual assistance. It's now October 12th. That's not an invitation to delay. Do it. Do it today. FEMA is here in Berry as well. We fought very hard for them to be here and they have been here and that and we'll stay here through the end of that next deadline. So get to the FEMA by October 12th and then come talk to efficiency Vermont and let's get some of these homes back online. Thank you. Thank you for being here. I have known our next speaker for very long time. We've had the pleasure of working together and now now she regulates me. It's a slightly different relationship. I try to be on my best behavior but it's not my best trait. But I you know it was heartwarming to see what we could do and what we could turn around quickly in a very short period of time. Anybody who's been through a government granting process knows that it's not it's not a quick quick endeavor. And this was exactly the opposite. It was how do we get these things resolved. How do we figure these things out in the midst of building a program at the same time. It started with how do we get heat and hot water back in people's homes because we know winter is coming. And so without further ado I'd like to invite Public Service Department Commissioner June Tierney up to the stage to say a few words. Good afternoon. A piece of personal history June Tierney Commissioner of the Department of Public Service. It when tropical storm Irene hit over a decade ago it was a very personal experience for me. In the end I lost my home to the storm. And I remember those weeks and months of grueling uncertainty fear anger frustration and above all solitude. And if you had told me at that time that a decade later I would be standing here in the position to help I would have thought you were nuts. I couldn't see my future. It was a slog day after day to fight to get through. What I took with away with me from that experience is that FEMA rocks and FEMA has been rocking it again this time. With all the frustration and criticism you might feel I might hear from other quarters about how FEMA works. I get that I've been there but they rock. I'm telling you what we were able to do this time around is learn from tropical storm Irene and to recognize that we needed to hit the ground running in getting this recovery going. Yay. We had a little more time this year than we did with tropical storm Irene because the storm hit in July not the end of August. But as everybody here knows today, winter's coming quickly and people are hurting and people are in need. And so we had FEMA who's been through this a few times. We had me for better or for worse has been through at least once. What I didn't know is how many other partners they would be in quick order who would come to the fray and say let's get this done without Peters leadership. This doesn't happen without the mayor of Barry and the mayor of Montpelier and the mayors and town officials of all those other little pockets that aren't here today but that are hurting every bit as badly. None of this gets done without the capable town manager whom about whom I read all the time. It doesn't get help get done in Barry either. But what most of all I think is a moving force and where Vermont is so fortunate is that we have a legislature that also gets it a legislature that is not in session but the nonetheless functions at times as if it's still work. And so representative Lanfers here today representing the people who helped get this done. He has a colleague and as a executive branch official I am just beyond stunned and grateful for the partnership that we've been able to have with them and figuring out how to take dollars that were already directed toward these ends in furtherance of climate policy and make them count in real time while we have our friends FEMA on the ground working with us. There's no doubt in my mind that mistakes will be made. But what I've learned over the past seven years of working in the Scott administration is you can't focus on the mistakes. You got to focus on the momentum going forward and you have to trust that good things are going to get done. This program today is a perfect example of that. It's real time help for people who need to understand that the choices they're making today won't just help them recover from this flood. It will also help them their communities and their states deal with climate change which is priority number one for my own part. I am more a member of team resiliency than I am team emissions reductions. I'm going to tell you that frankly because I think as we work on policy to reduce emissions we've got to be able to deal with what is confronting us here today and having dealt with this a decade ago and seeing it 10 years later and knowing that it's coming in greater frequency. I'm beyond grateful that we've been able to direct our state government, our town officials, our county officials, everybody who has the ability to help in one direction with this program. What you need to take away from today is this. If you are a flood impacted person, this program can help you. If you know somebody who is flood impacted, tell them about this program. If you are in a leadership position and you don't quite understand it, ask the questions because you need to get out there with your full reach and get a hold of the people who can be helped by this program. Last but not least, in addition to the many things that Peter mentioned that we've been able to do by way of funding whether it's the $10 million that Representative Lanford and her colleagues helped us direct toward this relief program or the $20 million that was already budgeted for it and the other $5 million that was budgeted not for it, but for the ends that this program serves or even the $1 million that Peter was able to find with the VisionCity of Vermont and we were able to get the PUC to direct for businesses. Another key player here has been Capstone. Without Capstone, we don't find the people who need this kind of help and they were so very impressive in coming to me and saying, Hey, among other things, can you help us with getting a moratorium on disconnections so that people aren't going to lose their power as they try to come back from the flood? Capstone has been an amazing partner and an amazing advocate and I'm just deeply grateful to them for their engagement. I look forward to working with them on making this program reach as far as it possibly can. Thank you so much. Thank you, Commissioner Junee. Our next speaker represents a part of the state that has the new unique privilege of not being a female eligible county. I'm not sure that's a privilege, but what I will say is that we as we were going through the process, we heard the need loud and clear and understood that it needed to it be for any flood impacted resident or business, not simply those who had reached the threshold to become female eligible. So we're very excited that all of these programs will be able to cover anybody impacted by flooding in the state. And so without further ado, Representative Diane Lanford, chair of the House Appropriations Committee. Thank you for joining us. Good afternoon. Thank you very much for the invitation for me to participate in this announcement today. I'm only one voice of well, I guess of the few of us that are on the emergency board or the joint fiscal committee and as chair of the Appropriations Committee. I have the privilege of working with pretty much all of all of state government as as we work to bring the needs of Vermonters forward within within the budget, which is a document or plan that's just for a moment of time. And then real life happens and things change. And I am so grateful for the example of this program that we've been able to put together as an example of where Vermonters really work together. The administration FEMA are efficiency Vermont partners. But I have to say that we matched opportunity was with a very good idea. And people went to work on that. And I can honestly say that the first phone call that I got because we were having an upcoming emergency board meeting that we could see that there was an opportunity for if there was other work that needed to get done. What would it look like? And the first phone call I got or contact was from our Secretary of State, Sarah Copeland Hansis, who said, Representative Lanford, have you talked to Peter walk? Have you talked to Peter? There's an idea about there's a foot that that could help Vermonters to transition when they replace equipment to something that is much more efficient and will will will act more efficiently for them and economically for them. So this was an example of how that started. And I have to thank that that although they can't be here and I live in Addison County, but Barry is the hometown of my husband. And in Vermont is small, and we all have families somewhere in the state. And anything that happens anywhere in the state, we know that we feel it deeply no matter where we are. So I'm grateful that this particular program is available to anyone beyond those that were designated as disaster counties. And I'm also want to make sure that I mentioned the fact of the hard work of Representative Emily Kornheiser and Senator Jane Kitchell on that weekend before putting this together to get the language, get the administrations by and getting all of our input. And we put it together really, really fast, which is not typically the way we operate. But it is so good. And it feels so good when we can. So I just want to stand here with the rest of my colleagues that can't be here and the administration to say thank you for the great ideas and the ability to work together an example that I believe is going to help Vermonters to get to the next step. So I will add my voice to the fact that I think people need to please take advantage of this opportunity. It's here. It's for you. And if you have questions, as with as the commissioner had said, reach out, talk to efficiency Vermont as as they go forward with what's possible. So I thank you for letting me be here today with this and and there'll be more. I'm sure. Thank you. Give one chance for the dump truck to go by. So we all know that Vermont faces workforce shortages in key areas. Some of those key areas are electricians, plumbers and HVAC installers, weatherization technique technicians, the like the exact people we need to do this work. We wouldn't be here today. We wouldn't be able to launch this program. We wouldn't feel comfortable moving forward without the partnership of Secretary of State Sarah Copeland, Hansis and the entire office. I'm grateful to have Deputy Secretary of State Lauren Hibbert here today to talk a little bit about the efforts to try to expand the workforce in the short term and in the long term so we can recover as quickly as possible and get people back into warm, comfortable homes before winter. Good afternoon. Thank you so much for the invitation to be here, Peter. I am here representing Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hansis. She's out of the country. Otherwise, she would be here behind this podium because the program that's launching today is something that's so near and dear to her heart. She has deep excitement about the energy efficiency and about all of the work that went into creating this program. So thank you so much. I'm here to really talk about workforce. We did pass registration for home contractors in 2022. We are fortuitously have already launched the registration. It went live in April. And if you check out our website for the Office of Professional Regulation, you can find an inter... Why am I blanking on the word? It's a map that's interactive. That's the word that I was looking for. An interactive map of contractors in your area. You can also look up contractors and find information about home contractors. We are in the process of creating voluntary certifications for home contractors, particularly around energy efficiency and green building. Those will become functional in the next couple of months. We did play a big part in flood response working with the Scott administration, creating emergency licenses for people who are licensed in other states so that they could come into our state to help with our flood response. We have information about that on our website. And then just another note of thanks to the Scott administration and the Department of Public Safety. We worked doing outreach to plumbers and electricians, people who would be available to do work on people's homes. That information is on the Office of Professional Regulations website, but also on the Department of Public Safety's website. You can search by county for plumbers and electricians who have volunteered to be on the list, who are volunteering to do work through contracts, through money, but they have availability and are open to being contracted to do the work. So we are really here doing our best to provide all the tools we have available, trying to think outside of the box and provide new solutions. The Secretary of State's office really wants to extend its support to bury to all of our monitors in rebuilding better and more efficiently with more efficiency and in keeping our changing climate in mind. Thank you so much. All right, now we're going to get into some of the details. This is where your quiz will come in. So be ready for the materials. There's a lot here. All right, we're going to go back to the FEMA first. What that's going to be the actually the only question on the test? What do you need to do first? FEMA process first, because if you apply through Efficiency Permand for one of these programs before you apply for FEMA, you might not be eligible for that FEMA aid as it comes out of the bite. We want to make sure that everybody can access as many resources as possible, because we know no matter how much we do, it's not going to be enough. So as as we launch these programs today, I'm really glad that the city manager mentioned that the deadline to apply to FEMA has been extended. Thank you to the Scott administration for pushing for that. Great to see the October 12th. We have a little bit more time. But as you said, don't wait. Get started now. Make sure you've completed your insurance process and the FEMA process to get that money out that get money rolling as quickly as possible. I'm going to break down. So just quick math, 36 million dollars, 10 million dollars in direct flood program for low and moderate income residential programs, which I'll detail now. One million dollars in business flood impact recovery programs. 20 million dollars in electric panel upgrade money that is available across Vermont to low and moderate income from Rogers as well as five million dollars for heat pump hot water heater transitions again available to all low and moderate income from Otters. So we're going to break that down a little bit, but I just there's a lot of detail. One of the things that I would ask you to is as we've been navigating the FEMA process and understanding how best to support from Otters along the way. We're considering this a launch and learn opportunity. We are getting money out the door. We're getting started and we're going to learn and evolve as we go. So please, you know, give us feedback, help us understand where we can improve programs where we can improve the customer experience along the way. Alright, some of the details for the 10 million dollars. Damaged appliances like fridges, washers and dryers, freezers can get up to a thousand dollars in rebates. New small appliances for health and safety such as dehumidifiers, air purifiers, window air conditioning units can get up to four hundred dollars per appliance, limited to appliances per type. Home heating and cooling systems uses a great piece, including energy efficient boilers and furnaces are eligible for up to ten thousand dollars. Central pellet boilers or furnaces are also available for up to ten thousand or up to ten thousand dollars. Wood and pellet stoves replacing a broken system or adding a new supplemental heating system to your home eligible for up to ten thousand dollars. And ductless inducted heat pumps whether replacing or adding a supplemental heating source again up to ten thousand dollars. Water heaters including on demand are eligible for up to three thousand dollars. We will be rolling out within the next week the additional five million dollars for heat pump hot water heaters for eligible customers, which can provide another amazing resource for folks along the way. These rebates are eligible for items purchased on or after July 10th. So if you have already made equipment purchases, you will still be eligible for these rebates. That is critical. People have needed to make decisions quickly. We know people are in different stages along the way. And so we want to make sure that everybody gets to benefit if you buy an eligible appliance. So these these the but working with the administration and the legislature with these dollars were prioritized to be for low and moderate income Vermonters. Those that eligibility is defined based on where you live in Vermont, your income and the size of your household. We have a very simple table on our website that can help answer that question as well as flyers here today for those who would like to check it out. These again these we will work. We are taking in FEMA data thanks to a sharing agreement with FEMA and the public service department to be able to make sure that we are tailoring the incentive to the need in in people's homes and to make sure that you can get as much as as you can along the way. Some of these other products are also available for our existing incentives. Now it's a it's a complicated landscape. I would suggest both going to our website and calling our customer service line to help access as much as you can along the way. I did want to note that the for those $10 million which is really about the appliance dollars. There is and not not the heat pump hot water heaters but just the sort of direct appliance incentives. There is a $10,000 per per unit cap on those dollars. So you wouldn't be eligible for 10,000 for each one of those things would be up to a total combined cap of $10,000. We also have programs for renters and rental property owners. We can work with you and understand who owns which piece of equipment and work through those pieces and we will do it how we do similar programs based on the rent amount to help define those low and moderate income categories with up to $10,000 per unit for hot water appliances and Douglas heat pumps and then a $10,000 allotment for building central heating systems. We're also there will be rental rate protection requirements as there are in many of these programs to ensure that these units remain affordable over the long run. And we know that as folks are rebuilding you've walked by stores and houses torn down to the studs. All of it starts with good weatherization, insulation, air sealing. So we are working to make improvements to our existing weatherization incentives to be able to roll those out as well and then working with the community action agencies and other weatherization partners to help folks access as many resources as possible and offering incentives for the low and moderate income community of up to 75% of the project costs up to $9,500. So really expanding the access to those programs overall and to make sure that they're more accessible because it's difficult to do a blower door test in when you don't have a door anymore or it doesn't close because it's swollen from floodwaters. So we're working to improve that process to be able to get those dollars out the door as quickly as possible. We also know that the upfront costs are going to be more than what some folks can bear. So we've been working with our financing partners, the both the weatherization repayment assistance program that is the partnership between VGS and the Vermont Housing Finance Agency to get those dollars out the door as quickly as possible as well as the home energy loan program, which we work with local lending institutions to be able to offer low to 0% interest financing on home energy projects to make sure that folks can access these funds now and then pay them off with the incentives that come later because we understand that some folks may not be able to handle the upfront cost of these appliances. I want to pivot quickly to the to the business programs. We were able to identify a million dollars in unspent energy efficiency charge dollars that had the fastest PUC action I've ever seen taken. Within 18 hours, we filed the petition. The Public Service Department within an hour endorsed that petition and within 18 hours the PUC had approved repurposing a million dollars towards business incentives. We found that with the funding that came through the emergency board, there were only so many opportunities that could come out and we had to focus those dollars on residential customers as we want to make sure that we helped businesses as well. And so businesses will be eligible for up to $1,000 for new qualified kitchen, HVAC and refrigeration and other heating equipment can be applied to up to four appliances in businesses. So that's up to a $4,000 incentive. We do ask that you give us a call so that we can work through that process, understand what you're doing, where you're going so we can figure out how best to help you. This also works in conjunction with the Agency of Commerce and Community Development and their BGAP program. And we're working with the Regional Development Corporation statewide to help get the word out and get people to help that they need. So our downtowns can be the thriving places we know and love again. As you're seeing, Barry, and my hometown of my pillar re-emerge from the devastations of the flood. We're also working with the Agency of Natural Resources to support contractors who join on to this work to help support it so that they can make themselves available for these customers. We know that these can be complicated projects. And so we want to make sure that the workforce is there and incentivized to be there to help along the way. All right, I'm going to pivot quickly now to quickly talk about the remaining $25 million. These were funds that were appropriated last year from the American Rescue Plan Act monies in state received that the governor and the legislature prioritized towards climate work, recognizing two key needs. First was that if we're going to be able to electrify our heating systems, our transportation systems going forward, we need to have the electric infrastructure inside people's homes to be able to handle it. So there's now going to be $20 million that we will work with partners on from the distribution utilities and other folks to get out the door to make sure that folks can upgrade their panels and their electric systems to be able to handle the increased load from a heat pump, hot water heater, or a heat pump heating system or an electric vehicle along the way. Also, and that will, for eligible households, that will cover up to the full installation cost of that system, which is an incredible benefit and really opens up the possibilities for those remotors who have been least able to participate in the transition so far. And as I mentioned, beginning next week, we will begin phase one of the heat pump, hot water heater program, where again, you will be able to access up to full installation costs of a new heat pump, hot water heater system, which are incredibly efficient and can help people save significant dollars over the long term. And well, again, that's going to be a launch and learn process so we can get the money to folks who need it along the way. And again, these programs are separate from the $10,000 cap. So you can, in theory, get $10,000 to replace key appliances and equipment, get another, get a heat pump, hot water heater installed without any upfront costs and also have your panel upgraded all the way and get dollars for weatherization. So it can be a pretty significant benefit when all stacked together. All right. Is everybody ready for your quiz? All right. What do you have to do first? Thank you. All right. I'll now open the floor for questions. And I'm going to liberally call upon our invited speakers and others in the room to be able to answer questions that folks may have. Mary, alone, on Pealeard, Ludlow, others, do you have any sense of how many households or how many homes this might be able to help? Sure. I'll use one stat that we've heard several times roughly in the 500-plus range of FEMA claims where there was a repair or replace of a heating system is a number that we've seen. And so that gives you sort of an order of magnitude of those folks who have that level of equipment need. But there's significant other need across the board. And there's another 300, I believe, Katie of folks who had a service call to go out and check on the equipment to find out. So that number could be higher. And we know that there are other appliances and other needs across the board. But that gives us a sense of scale. And we know that for many folks, they're going to need everything. So, yeah. If you already applied for FEMA, let's say you got your individual assistance, you're now turning to this program. You apply today. When will the money be able to get out the door? Sure. So we are going to work to get the money out the door as quickly as possible. One of the things we're working with FEMA on is to make sure that we understand the allocation that FEMA has given and whether or not it was a specific allocation for a heating system, for instance, so that we can make sure the incentive matches the need that's out there so we can be good stewards of the state's dollars. But so we're working to get that going as quickly as possible. Again, building the plan as we fly it. So we would ask for a little bit of patience for folks, but we will work with them and help them understand what those timelines are when they give us a call. Our best to work through all those details. We have been working with our finance partners to get the zero percent loan piece increased as quickly as much as we possibly can. We know that upfront costs are a problem. And so we're going to do our best to help folks access dollars as quickly as possible. But it is going to be traditionally in the form of a rebate. Any concessions made for people who may not have good credit in order to get approved for the loan? Can you get Liz? We asked to have a question. Folks in the back were wondering if you could repeat the question or I guess I could repeat the question better since I have the microphone. So forgive me. It's hot up here. The question that Liz asked was whether or not folks were going to be required to to front the capital in order to be able to make the purchase. One of the things that we've discovered along the way with the FEMA process is that where we might want to do a voucher program or something similar as we've done in the past, it doesn't work. We have to do verification on what they've gotten from FEMA. And so we can't just issue that on the same way basis. So we're trying to figure out how to get either financing or how would have you to get. And that's again where the weatherization repayment assistance program could also come into play and other things along the way. So there are lots of tools we're going to need to make things happen. The door for people to come in potentially from out of state and from out of state and elsewhere. Do we have any sense of how many people have taken up Vermont on that offer and where that could go over the next few months? Sure. So we have a couple of months under the executive order from the Scott administration. I think that we don't quote me on the numbers because I didn't check them before I came. I should have done that. But I think we're at about 30 to 40 across all of the professions that are affected by the executive order. And that does include plumbers, electricians, home contractors, architects, engineers, land surveyors. Checking my list. Pollution abatement, wastewater, property inspectors, and security guards, pharmacies and well drillers. Follow up on that and wondering if the list of those contractors is available for folks to review? Yes, it would be available on our licensee lookup page at the Office of Professional Regulations. So I could I could find a link and send it to you if you're interested. Go ahead, Cal. Land for, you know, we've we've we're about a month and a half maybe coming up on two months since the flooding. How have you and your committee? How have you wrapped your arms around the totality of the cost of this? You know, this is 36 million. This is the biggest pot of money we've had so far. How will you be approaching that conversation come January? Well, thank you for the question. I think we start approaching it immediately thinking about not only, you know, we think immediately, what is the relief for Vermonters that needs that needs to happen? What is the scale of the situation? And I've had the well, I don't know if it's the privilege, but the opportunity and the unfortunateness to have been through Irene in the past. And when we switch to COVID, our our state employees and the administration are familiar and have quickly turned and a lot of a lot of things that they have learned over dealing with things of this nature in the past. So that's number one that I do believe that there is a ability to quick quicker response, thinking about getting the data, working with FEMA, but you were right. There is an unknown number of what it's going to be as far as the expense goes. I hope you can hear me on this. What? So we have outstanding a few things as we start to think about getting ready for the next session. We have housing, housing and housing that that needs addressing across the state. There's housing as a needs as a result of the flooding, but we needed a lot more prior to this as well. We also have state buildings that are heavily impacted and the process for gathering what needs to be done, how much is that going to cost, how long is it going to take to get? I think you're very familiar with the fact that the pavilion in Montpelier is highly impacted and the elevator system, from what I'm told will take five months just to get the parts here, let alone fix it and the tax department. So we have in the berry area here, it was heavily impacted on the housing side of it. And in Montpelier heavily impacted on the business side of it, but other communities have been hit very hard as well. LeMoyle, Johnson, there's across the state. So to truly answer your question is we won't know what the exact number is going to be. We just know that we're going to be needing to have to respond and adjusting that budget and the next budget accordingly. Does that help? Okay. As we wrap this up, thank you for coming out and joining us today and what is probably the hottest day, at least for a while. I've definitely lost a couple of pounds up here, so thank you for joining us. This work is incredibly personal to me. As I mentioned, I live in Montpelier. As soon as the floodwater started to receive, received many of us figure, tried to figure out the ways in which we could help. I spent a week in downtown Montpelier trying to do whatever we could to organize volunteers to help people get into homes and businesses and help people shovel out muck and remove debris. I can't, I can't tell you that, I never knew what the, like, you know, I was in the Navy, I should probably know this, but I've never seen anybody actually shell shocked. That's the look was on people's faces as they were trying to figure out what their lives were going to look like as they moved forward. I remember sitting with one business owner trying to help them navigate what was going to be the FEMA process. For them, they're a small business owner. They own an Indian restaurant in Montpelier. They have a house in Barry. Both their business and their home were flooded. They had no idea where to start. And they speak incredibly good English and yet a FEMA form was, is daunting for somebody who's a native speaker, let alone somebody who's learned the language and come to our country. It was heartbreaking and it was really hard to watch, but I saw people rally and I saw leadership emerge in different spaces that showed us what this state is possible of. This action today is another milestone in another example of that leadership. Folks coming together in ways that other states cannot and said, we have a problem, people need help. How do we do this and how do we do this quickly and how do we get the money out the door as quickly as possible? So thank you for coming today. I want to thank you, all the partners and guests being here today. We have responded to commissioner charities called the Action. Folks have been out around the state. I want to give a huge shout out to the distribution utilities and the other energy efficiency utilities. Vermont Gas is here with us today and GMP and the Vermont Public Supply Authority and many others who are out on the ground trying to figure out what people needed in their homes. It's been an all hands on deck effort to try to help figure this out. So thank you all for being here today and joining us on this wonderful, lovely day in a rejuvenated Barry, but don't forget that the front lines are just hundreds of feet away. So thank you very much for being here today.


's it's not the way it's where it's not really Oh, I see. Okay. I got it. Okay My concern if I could express it a little bit differently is Folks who have chickens Are probably The tendency is going to be and I assume the vast tendency is going to be to manage that waste on their own property They're not going to be transporting it somewhere else for it to be disposed of And as we consider how we want to regulate chickens We need to take that into consideration too It just it it's just not going to leave the property And so if we write an ordinance that says you have to manage it in a way that it leaves the property We I can basically I would Expect the vast majority of chicken owners are going to be in violation of the ordinance very quickly This section needs Yeah, so with six with six chickens How long would it take to get 20 gallons of chicken droppings that You would still call 20 gallons of chicken droppings because they you know as you compost them with shavings and all this You're creating I assume at some point something else, right? You're Or right before the snow is going to fly like certain times of year and so you clean out the entire hoop With all the shavings in the bottom and then there's always daily cleaning under the roost That kind of just get at it. So It it depends. So it depends how big your coop is so a coop for six But we're talking a coop for six chickens A five gallon pail a week of shavings and manure of a six chickens Okay, but that's I think that's but that's shavings plus manure. Yes It's actually like 90% shavings But Can I add something I live under one acre I buy manure to mix him with my compost And when I'm taking care of someone else's chickens, I bring the shaping the shavings and manure and put it in my compost I compost in the open. There's no odor. I have four four by four Bays they go in one bay and then that gets turned in the next that gets turned the next I use it after two years And I add the manure on purpose and there's no odor as long as you're turning it mixing it with other things You know the weeds go in there with the dirt on them And so I would feel that what you already have in there about noise odor There should be no odor at the boundary of the property if you're composting properly there won't be odor And that's the important thing because if someone told me I had to have it all enclosed I'd have to get a whole new composting system So I just wanted to add that Thank you. We've got two enforcement So, uh, may visit the enforcement section is um really making sure public health is is, um, okay out there So see authority of zoning minister health officer or other duly authorized employee town To check this out if there's if there's an issue that's uh, that's raised administrative enforcement lists provisions that A written notice could be served if if there's a violation here Some of the The pen not meeting the regulations Setback requirements aren't being met or a noise threat to public health Mention manure in here mound nourishment of the birds on sanjay living conditions They're not they don't have a permit It would also state Requirements to complete the adjustments for the work to abate it. Um, a fine would be in there And then it appeals process Because you can have something be a significant nuisance Is not the health threat unless you start playing with well it's loud enough to threaten my health Then this language in here following it if a violation is not expeditiously corrected That threats overall public health safety and welfare to the community Giving authorizations for town agents to enter the property to take necessary steps to abate the violation at that point again And is there a legal definition of um expeditious is there Yeah, I definitely want to see something if you're going to do this that you have very tight timeframes for Correcting these issues and not extending the amount additional 30 days in additional 30 days Okay, good Then the appeal section I I think I modeled this off of our storm water ordinance But it has a very graduated steps of appeal here Let's see first we have Goes to the health officer first Be appealed to the town manager appeal to the select board Hearing held on it by the select board Then the select board is showing its decision at that point So if I read in this there's at least two and a half to three months before anything can be done I that to me is way too long, but it may not be feasible to do anything shorter Is this the way the other towns have done it too? It's this kind of a long process I Have to I haven't looked at it cross-reference it in the last few weeks. So I can I can check that I know uh, we want all the model list to be consistent with the summer Yeah, just per you know given that it's a less than an acre um You have close neighbors and You don't want to have a situation that's going on to the point where somebody's coming in with a shotgun to your chicken coop or You know, I just seems like we should have some kind of a shortcut process and people should understand this up front that you know We're doing this because people wanted to you know Have this ability but also we have to be conscious of the fact that small lots mean close neighbors and you know The tolerance level is going to be low and the the remedy is going to have to be quick And I want to consider making these steps one and two to be down to 10 or possibly 15 days Maybe also, I would have no problems if you took the telemanager You like sorry with that Yeah, if you don't have to have the less steps that you have for this the better You still want to go um health officer route. Would you want it to go quicker the select board? Kind of Person I think it would be good to have one step before the select board. Yeah So the town health officer if it's a public health problem the health officer can write An emergency health order and stop it immediately One step one stop shopping. That's one if it's but if it's a nuisance, you know not for a nuisance, but a public health problem Yes, what would be the path for a nuisance? People will be coming you know from salmon or something like that I would think would be a public health problem It would be difficult, but it could be done Are you are you talking about like a civil nuisance play? Yeah of smell or you know Well, no, but if we could put a nuisance in this I you know step one they Agree to chicken on her. I love that phrase by the way. Agree to chicken owner We'll written this notice of appeal within x number of days 10 or 15 I don't have a problem with it going to the health officer Even if it is a nuisance issue more than it is a health issue because the you know I don't know how Taylor made we can make it to say you know Provided, however, it is a health issue and not a nuisance issue I mean no if the health officer is going to look at it and say, you know, this is more of a nuisance issue Uh, I'm going to keep it in place and let it go to the select board or I don't think that's a problem. Well health health issue was spelled out in the statute Also, I don't have to worry about that Okay, so we're going to try and tighten that Next section is the judicial enforcement. Um, yeah, that's the just the process and that that we use to And you get into the penalties either paying paying the waiver fee, um, which are lower or taking I believe I took these penalty numbers from our store Certainly a perfect changing just for uh reference South Burlington, they don't graduate on offenses, but they charge 160 dollars per day of violation sx 200 a day for violations Anybody else feel So it does so each and every day that the violation exists after the time allowed shall constitute a separate offense Okay Especially with the sentence each and every day Yeah That has some teeth it has to have some teeth Yeah, it's going to get used thinking how it relates to other what I would consider more serious crimes I mean, I realize that's a separate discussion, but Uh puts I think maybe it's that's the right tone It says if you want to have chickens in a small area with neighbors close neighbors, you know It's going to be highly regulated because we don't want complaining neighbors. We want happy neighbors I don't know if you have thought about, you know, if we do all this some information Backage, you know for when people come and get a permit To make sure they know the level and how quickly remedies can be dispensed Literature and public health information too Yeah You want to maybe dissuade the people who aren't that serious, right? No, I think your permit case should be a little bit higher so that people realize it's a serious thing That's just me. I don't know the rest of the board agrees so There's enough changes here. I think we need to Go back and More edits Sure And as I read through this it occurred to me that this is really mostly about nuisance and really not quite as much about Public health so if you really want to have an impact on public health We do need to have education around hand washing so every year there's salmonella outbreaks associated with live poultry from hatcheries such as The hatcheries that send a guy's farm and yard was just probably where most people would get their chicks and These cases of salmonella are associated with people handling the poultry It's typically it's often first time poultry owners and children People who've not been around chickens before and likely have no immunity to the bacteria that the chickens have um, and so that The public health education is out there about wash your hands Don't kiss the chicks.  Um That their bedding can also be contaminated so wash your hands after You know touching their bedding This information is out there, but it's something that people don't necessarily Think about especially because the chicks are often in their house When they come in as day olds they need to be 95 degrees And so they're often in a basement in a in a cellar. You can't just put them out in a coop And so if we are really concerned about public health, that's where we need to focus our efforts If we're concerned about nuisance, then I think we call it like it is like this seems to me more like a new Like regulations to address nuisance issues. They're both important, but I totally agree with you because I that was my public health concern was the whole thing I started with People are starting this as a cute little project without the understanding of just how serious It can be I listened to the health person when she came and you're absolutely correct The biggest concern was children kissing, you know, the things not washing their hands not having the right shoes I don't know how you get an ordinance That gets that clearly enough across to people that you could be setting yourselves up to get very very sick And not even realizing it because you thought this would be a great experiment That's why I said I think your permit should be higher It's not for the faint of heart to do it's somebody who's seriously wants to do this And it's going to study up everything to make sure they do it safely Maybe they would have a Part of the getting the permit would be uh signing off that you've read a pamphlet that they would have to Yeah Well the department of health the public health vet that was here had some information that was good about hand washing As well that we could could be a handout that goes with the perm Permit application You know when you when people come to pick up chicks maybe The town of wilson or sustainable wilson People who want to work on this we could work with people at the health department want to have a fact sheet to say Here you go. Like you're you know what you should be washing your hands so much over the next You know several weeks that like they should be fairly rock, you know Not exactly saying that but that is where the real prevention Is and and that maybe isn't something that's Legislated or regulated in some way. I mean maybe that's a community. That's something that we can do As a community most people probably are going to put guys from a yard sounds like education Sounds like both we can do it both at that point if you could talk to guys from a yard and get them to prepare You know information educational package that goes along, you know warning or however You would do that plus when somebody comes in and asks for the permit You could provide the same package and like dad says you can have them sign off that they've read it and If you think a video might be more Useful educating people and watch this video or something Yeah, I mean the risks apply to everyone regardless of Your acreage, which is why I keep thinking about like well, what's the point of sale? I mean guys from here in all of the chickens that are coming into wilson people can buy bullets from other farms But in one place where people are buying chicks. So that was probably my my largest overall comment and I've Had email communications with eric and I'm coming at this from both A health and environment and a chicken owner perspective. So I'm really trying to Pull apart all of this really touches on a lot of parts of my life and things that I think about and I'm happy to Be a resource for eric as well as the select board and In the town generally I will I do need to point out that female chickens are hands yes, so Chickens are both male and female And hands are female and roosters are male I I do feel like there are Some of the parts around enclosure that could be really hard to meet since such as rodent proofing the pen so I I think people need to try to road and proof and Predator proof the pens but rodents can get through really really tiny spaces And so I in some ways I sort of feel like I mean you can't want to prove anything really I mean like our cars. I don't want to prove this building's now It's just really hard. And so I sort of I feel like that is It's unrealistic and I'm happy to talk specifics with eric The other Thing to think about is that it is state law when you buy chicken buy chicks that you have to buy six And so if we're saying you can't have more than six Then a person and a person has six chickens and then Mortality is fairly high in chickens. Just they get eaten by other animals or they just die or It's pretty high even among the And especially among the little chicks. So if someone has six chickens and then they're blacklist onto three They're not able to buy More chickens to get back up to six because the state law said you have to use the minimum that you can buy is six So then a person would need to their flock would have to get down to zero Before they could buy another six chickens So How many chickens do you have can I ask? Right now I have seven but That's and that's getting low for me. So I'll get new ones this year I usually have more like 12 I like to have that and and there are animal welfare Reasons for that if you have two chickens in a coop, they really can't keep themselves warm in the winter So you don't want to get too low. You don't want to get too high because of crowding. So there is this There's always this flop list Back and forth in a flock of how many numbers there are and so you just kind of have to decide every year Am I at a low enough number that I can add six more? So I try to stay around a dozen And that's seven right now, but I expect probably the next year that a few will die. So I'll probably get Seven or eight bring myself a little bit over the dozen and then You know, and then I'll lose a few for whatever reason so I'm not sure what the answer is to that Um, you know, maybe it's slightly hot. Maybe it's nine chickens People get down to three and then they go up to nine. I mean the state law is nine Maybe could be a lot for a small size small lot, but The state law is what it is and um So I I think that might need some reconciling Um I mean a lot of my concerns have been addressed based on That this is now only we're applying applying to less than one One acre it was very concerned about, you know, the homesteader that lives Which I include myself in this, you know, I'm seven and a half acres of north wilson surrounded by woods it's great for I mean it's a great situation and Um, and so to have an ordinance like this apply To someone like me would sort of would Be overly regulatory in my opinion like no one's complaining about my rooster so Do I have to get rid of you know, I'd have to get rid of them it with the with if these ordinances apply to me And that address might concern the most and I wanted to add to that that if you are In this situation where you can have a rooster and you raise your own chicks There's much less salmonella and disease issues plus the pad is taking care of the chicks You're not taking them inside. It's a much healthier environment to raise your own chicks And so I was a little bit concerned about the rig out But by keeping it to the under one acre all those concerns went away Another technicality is that chicken Parasite chicken parasites don't typically affect humans and I I actually looked this up today. I couldn't find any parasite that affects humans and chickens It's sort of normal for them to have a certain amount of parasite load in the winter They have a certain amount of mites and so this language is kind of strong for that I mean, I nobody wants the chickens to have mites and there's things that can be done Um to reduce that but it's not a public health threat It can harm the health of the chicken, but it's not a public health threat So it's mainly salmonella and half a pamphlet factor that we're worried about. It's mainly bacterial threats That that chickens. I mean that it's the same thing as cooking chicken in your own kitchen. It's It's salmonella and pamphlet factor mainly Um, there's a couple of viruses, but like it You could get avian influenza from a virus from a chicken, but that's not how we get influenza We get it from each other. I mean there's cases of people in china who have gotten very sick from influenza from their chickens But it's not really happening here. It could potentially because influenza can be passed between humans and chickens, but On a day-to-day basis it's not happening here. So the public health threats are fairly limited In in my opinion, and it's really mainly from handling the chickens and their manure and their bedding Because so we look forward to having you work with Eric and We need to move on to the rest of our agenda tonight. Go ahead and just brief comment Um, I just thought it should come back to the basics It was really good to say the cuckoo in front of the house and that it can't be part of the house That you keep check those things are really important But getting into the rogueproofing and so forth because I know people who have movable Cages they move around the yards and the chickens are always on fresh grass And that would be prevented by the way it was worded So I would just say strip out everything with the basics and the point is you are regulating Under one acre and that's valuable Thank you Make sure your comments Thanks So, um, hopefully we can take care of the next one. Uh, quickly green mountain masonic center agreement we talked about this at our last meeting and Ted asked for some more information, which I think we have Saw the information and I am Good I would do indeed I'd moved to authorize the town manager to sign a grant agreement between the town and the green mountain masonic center for a term starting july 1 2018 in ending august 1 second Sorry discussion on the motion If not, all those in here the motion say aye. Aye. We oppose and the whole extension is good managers report Two things first, uh select board retreat I asked that time of year Last year we are retreat focused Maybe didn't even feel like our treat, but we it was a work session and it focused on the town plan update and actually Plan is been approved so we don't have that as an issue And it's been several years since the board had kind of a general session We're just talked about goals and objectives. So my thinking was that That would be the focus if the board Once I can do a survey like I've done other years to see what the general consensus is, but My I since it just seemed so obvious. I just threw that out as A story like a neat And if that's if there's a consensus around that then I'll And and the other pieces of this which is to have have it start like an early evening and Run through dinner time and we'd have dinner as part of it and arrange for a facilitator to pop the board work through setting goals and objectives That Makes sense for everyone. Yeah, I'd like that. The only thing I'd like to add is at some point, um I'd like I don't know how others feel Some sort of a tour of town facilities Oh, yes, like we've really lost the I shouldn't say lost. It's You know that connection hasn't happened in a while And I didn't know if that could be integrated into the building at all, but I kind of I I'm feeling like I may want to do that separately, but that's totally fine I just this could be an opportune time just to raise it and The spring time is probably a good time to do that. Uh, longer daylight hours. Yeah Okay, we will arrange that as well good Okay, great. And then I'm sorry. No, I said that's great. Okay, good So and the only other item on my report that I just briefly want to touch on is the noise arts update. Um I I'd received some information from the club concerning the number of special events and um I had problems with the numbers because they didn't all line up with my numbers So I asked the club if they can provide some documentation And they said they were working on that so, um I'll take that at face value and uh, hope that we get some additional information from them soon And then once I do I'll bring that back to the board Okay, good So that's all I had from the other business. I know we have some permits and Yes We have two special event permits. The first is scheduled for april 6th And it is scheduled for 329 harvest lane, which is a natural nature natural provisions It's a tasting event Um And uh, let's see Well, I guess that's about all the information I have here The staff has no objections to this Oh, the hours are 330 to 6 The next one is for an event scheduled april 20th This is going to be held at the Vermont technical college a 201 laurence place And again, it's a similar type of event all indoor. There's plenty of parking And the I should have mentioned the licensee name under the previous one was uh, farnham ale and lager Um, the other one you just approved the one that's being proposed here is Grunfeld meterie llc objections No, and the the timing is roughly that it's 6 to 9 30 p.m The staff has no objections Last one is liquor license, this is from burlington beer. They already have a first class license This would be a second-class license which allows them to sell take out or you know, someone wants to buy a six pack or something They can buy it and take it out similar to what they may be able to buy at a convenience store, for example Is this a renewal or a first time? This is the first time Um, just by comparison good water brewery already has a first and second class I'm pretty sure I don't want to go into that First I have experience of bought of course. It wasn't this year but I I bought If it was a growl and they call it but it wasn't this year, so I think questions for Pick on this uh, motion to be ordered There's no motion Most in favor say aye aye any opposed any other business anybody has tonight The only thing I wanted to bring up something so I I'm I'm Obviously bothered by this whole catamount thing and I'm really struggling because I was a big proponent of catamount And uh, although I know one dissenting vote will not crush the this license deal either but I go back to when this was sold to us and in the public discussions Nowhere was it mentioned that this was a condition. It seems like we should have a process rick where You come to the select board for some discussion or some guidance When something so material changes for something so big I don't know um We actually presented before priests pretty much about the same time we learned about it So it's it's not like we had this information at staff level and Oh, I guess mom just referring to I heard melinda say this was like from day one That that's what we're told that we didn't staff didn't know about this until Um fairly recently, but you had um, okay, so maybe I don't know the first time I heard about it Is when I saw the license agreed Materially what we what we thought We had all got on board for and it feels like we've gotten to the point where we're so far down the pipe People feel like well, it's a done deal and I guess I I never feel that way. I feel like you know There's a lot of time to do things and do them right and I don't feel like I'm in any rush on the other hand, I mean um, I certainly don't want to kill the catamount deal, but Um, I feel like this should have been brought to us um To be discussed and and shared about what to do about it rather than Going down the line It was like you're held over a barrel, right? You're basically told that's what I felt too. Yeah, I think the town the the Either melinda or yourself. I guess it would be you because you must have heard from melinda when it was shared That maybe that's one of the things we can talk about in our retreat as well as how that Happens because I feel like at this point people are of the opinion. Well Gosh, we got to get this done though. Well, I want to see catamount happen. Don't get me wrong I'm I'm a huge proponent, but I also want to see the town maintain We're spending, you know, $600,000 of taxpayer money. I'd like to make sure the town Runs it and it represents the town people's interests and not just a mountain bike center, but that's My sense is is from the time You started negotiating over this agreement and when we first saw it was a relatively short amount of time I heard it was months. Okay I don't know it may have been months Just seems to be should have known and had a discussion about it This is not this I understand what you're saying and I just really appreciate it This this whole thing is not following the normal process. Yeah either and it's yeah It just feels bad right now and it, you know, let me let me just add some more on the whole catamount thing so other people have brought this to me and shared the with this carving out this nice area to create a You know the continue the mountain bike center, but we're leaving A strip of land in front for the macalas to develop over time And we have I think we have to be a little careful on how that looks as well. I love Jim mccullough He's a fantastic guy public servant just I think we as Public representatives we have to look at how that looks the only thing I can add to that I'll try to be very quick is Despite being an avid mountain biker I'd like to consider myself an avid mountain biker would be very disappointed if catamount is viewed as only a mountain bike center I think that would be Its potential is so much more. I hopefully we realize that I'm hoping so too. That's why I was excited Yeah, because I said I didn't want it to be just a mountain bike center So if we need to continue this discussion, we'll be talking about the license again Right, but my point wasn't necessarily I didn't want to limit it to that My point was when something so materially changes on something we had discussed and approved to go forward on It seems like before negotiating the agreement. We should have had a discussion It may end up the same way you guys may say well, we don't want to push back, but The one thing I'll add again. I'll try to be quick is I don't view it as a material change It was it was something it was an initial thing that I was surprised at but I don't think it changed It's just that um I assumed the catamounts, uh, the maybe the colors family and and maybe the page family also Their view of how this was going to should proceed forward and my expectation for how something like this would proceed forward We're just two different things And didn't find out about it to the one document that would really spell it out was in front of me and that was like Oh, I didn't realize And that's that's how I view this Great. All right, and then we will adjourn the meeting first night


Slowly, don't go too fast. Don't go too fast every time, just last two. Let's go, last two, last one.  Last two. Thank you. Last one. Last one.  Thank you.


When talking about salt history in England, it's hard not to start with the witches.  No, not those witches. The witch or wick towns. The problem is it's not what many people think. In many places the English towns with the witch suffix are reported as being called this because they were known for producing salt there. Like Middle Witch, which is currently the biggest salt producing area of England. But it's not the case for every English city ending with this suffix. For example, Sandwich, named after the Earl of Sandwich, is not much of a salt producing town. Ooh, I like sandwiches. The truth is that whether witch comes from the Latin Vicus or the Old Norse or Anglo-Saxon, in most definitions it basically just means village, dwelling, or town. Though I will say that the witch towns that are associated with salt are the epicenters of the most provocative salt history in England. The biggest problem with salt history in England is, well, to be brutally honest, the UK has always struggled to be a major salt producer. Historically, most of England's salt production came from the wealth of its coastal areas. In Yorkshire, there's evidence of salt production going back to the early Neolithic era, and in Somerset from the Bronze Age. In the Iron Age, it's believed that the English used mostly coarse pottery vessels known as bricotage for their salt making. But this was a limited production for most of the early salt history in England. Things didn't really pick up until the Romans came to town. The Romans established military bases in Chester and Middlewich in the course of their conquests. And gosh, by golly, Ollie, wouldn't you just know it? Salt was mighty important to the Roman army. I mean, there's a reason that people said that the Roman army was paid in salt. Even if that wasn't entirely true. See this video to find out more. The Romans did have a major hand in improving the saltworks in England. In fact, they introduced advanced methods of salt production that would remain unchanged in England for over a thousand years. However, the nature of some of these improvements was, what's the word, odd, kooky, bizarre? They're all together, kooky, the Adam's family. It was definitely not what you'd expect. Many people know that boiling down saltwater is a traditional means of creating salt. However, did you know that some of the main coagulants used to form salt used to be from ale, the white of an egg, or blood? And one of the primary froth flotation agents of salt was urine. Was it animal or human urine? Do you really want to know? Ooh, must have been some tasty salt. It's okay because all this stuff was actually pulled off the top and doesn't affect the taste of the salt. But you're okay. You're okay. Liverpool salt. Now, I've already mentioned that Cheshire is a key location in British salt history. But what many people don't realize is that it was the salt production all around Cheshire that led to the development of the major port city, Liverpool. In fact, Liverpool was the last place to fall to William the Conqueror in 1070 AD. And it's believed that William destroyed various saltworks around Liverpool in order to break the final will of the resistance against him. While salt did become a major export of Liverpool by the 17th century, there were several big reasons the British didn't excel as salt producers. Now, until the Industrial Revolution, one of the primary reasons for producing salt was food preservation. And the British ended up salting their foods a bit more than most people. In particular, bacon was salted so heavily that it had to be soaked in water before it could be used. Another very tricky item to preserve was butter. Without salt, it would spoil very quickly. So the British made extra sure their butter wasn't going bad. They layered so much salt on their butter that you would have to scrape the salt off before you could use the butter. So this is the biggest problem for British salt history. While true, the British did end up with a thriving salt industry, particularly in Cheshire. They just couldn't seem to make it terribly profitable. Why? The cost to transport salt across the English land was just too expensive. The Cheshire saltworks could have provided a major salt income to Britain. Unfortunately, the fuel required to operate was, again, too expensive and dirty. But that didn't stop them from mining the heck out of the area. The forests of Cheshire were chopped down to fuel salt furnaces, and the sky was blackened all day long from these furnaces of the saltpans. It is estimated by the end of the 17th century, England was burning over 300,000 tons of coal each year just to produce salt. This overmining eventually led to large portions of land sinking into the earth. And by 1880 and Northwich alone, over 400 buildings had been destroyed due to overmining from salt. There was even a lake over 100 acres wide that was created from one sinkhole that disrupted both railroads and bridges. Religious sermons would even be held over these large gaping holes, which preachers use as an illustration of what hell might look like. The sinking of houses and businesses also led to very messy legal battles over who was responsible for the sinking. Because of the way saltmining works though, a saltworks that was responsible for the sinking might look completely stable. But it actually could be causing sinkholes that are as much as three or four miles away. And because of this, it made it really difficult for people to lay the blame on any particular saltmining company. Salt taxation As you might expect despite all this turmoil, the British government would still try and tax salt throughout their history. But surprisingly, the British were rather easy going in their taxation of salt. That was until William III came along. He started a manufacturing salt tax, which of course raised salt prices, especially for basic white salt. The one thing he did right was be especially nice to the Irish. Ireland was free from salt tax on its exports. This made it so Ireland became a major league producer of salt, and concurrently, salted butter. This freedom from taxation was partly because they exported to America, and the British earned a tax off of that. This caused a few problems because those pesky yanks just didn't like being taxed very much. Anybody see where this is going? In retrospect, we now see just how silly the British were in their taxation methods. Not only did salt help start the American Revolutionary War, but the common Brits weren't taking their salt tax lightly either. According to accounts, in 1785 alone, 10,000 people were arrested for smuggling salt. SIDEBAR The Winsford Rock Salt Mine is the largest salt mine in the UK. It's the size of over 700 football pitches. That's British football pitches, not American football. And it keeps growing as more salt is removed. So what do you do with all that space? Well someone got the bright idea to create deep store. It is more than 1.8 million square meters of storage space, and includes more than 2.2 million boxes. Imagine the room at the end of the Raiders of Lost Ark, only bigger. Yeah, that's big. In the midst of the elimination of the salt tax, and the establishment of the salt union, came a very important improvement in salt mining called vacuum evaporation. This allowed for the production of the much more uniform type of table salt we see today. With its much more refined and cost-effective methods, the old style of using open iron pans was becoming extinct by the 1930s. If you're loving all this salty history, I'd say go to this salty video next. Until next time, be kind, take care of each other, and watch out for those salt mine sink holes.