I've called the meeting to order and any additions or changes to the agenda and administrative items Okay, we have the minutes of September 11th in our folder for today Has everybody had a chance to review Lost in translation That just clarifying that Yeah, I was wondering about that I saw that You know one of you have that text that and send if you just read it and if they approve it all and put it into the approved minutes Okay I didn't hear anything about the generator Okay, and everybody is clear on what that replaces. All right, do I have a motion to approve the minutes with those changes? So There a second All in favor Okay and Now We do not have board orders Okay, all right and we are Let's see. There are some grand list changes So, let's see we're gonna have what do we do with this Barb is there a place for us to sign these are changes page two if you will each sign it and When I talked to the listeners this morning, they asked if they needed to be here and I hope it's okay I told them that I felt like this was just a pro-format task that you guys needed to sign off on it And they didn't really need to be here to defend it So, I think that's okay. That's not okay. I'll take responsibility for it Yeah, I mean, I guess I would like to know sort of what you know, one of them is like Less than half. So I mean I am curious, but I don't want to hold it up or anything. So okay, so We can either try to get John on the phone right now if you would like for us to or Or if you guys want to hold off Or you can sign it and I can ask John to follow up with an email. Do you guys explaining the changes? Does anybody have an opinion should we just These are air here, let's pass it off. It's errors and omissions and so some of the property values are changing from the From what was on their tax bills and one of them is Just a really big difference. So it kind of feels like it should have a an explanation There was one that they brought to us a couple weeks ago Yeah, and that one was pretty crystal clear Yeah, sorry and what do you want to say That's the one that is Elliot or Jake of Elliot that's changing from two fifth two hundred and fifty five thousand fifty six No, it's a different story three hundred and eleven thousand two fifty five. Is that the one you're concerned about? No There's another one that is It's a difference Yeah Yeah, so the only information we have is it's corrected data book we don't know what that is Well, I mean like what would you would you have just signed them or or should we just get a little explanation? And then hold it off for two weeks like what is there a harm and holding it off for two weeks? I don't I don't know All right, I'll just I think we'll just sign them and then I bet I would like Yeah, sure I Can try again In half an hour or something, right? Yeah, okay. Why don't we take a look later? Yeah, okay. All right, so Let's see now we've got public comment are there folks here for yes I just need two minutes Okay, good. I gotta say Calis is looking really good and we're really fortunate in the professionals that we have a few more but We've had We're fortunate to have Tegan and Barbara in the office The guys running the trucks and saving us from the flood We've done an amazing job recovering from that flood. It's it's incredible. I've been walking around today looking at the Looking at the some of the worst spots And you can't tell Yeah, Moscow Woods Road is quite quite astonishing But the big the big thing is that Volunteerism is alive and well in Calis and you five are First among equals And are sending the rest of us a very good example I really just feel better somehow in Calis And look at the look at the fall foliage flyer. Thank you, Jamie We you know we have Memorial hall is just amazing those that volunteer group has just done It's incredible. There's our last thing here. It's we really believe it Is it going to be a dance upstairs with the town hall group all volunteers up here. Yeah Yeah, the East Calis store, which has been a tremendous volunteer effort over years and years It's going to be open and just for us to get a look at it The trails committee is going to have a walk together with the conservation commission and on and on and on I'm Glad and proud to be a service on the Calis. It's a great place to be. Thank you for the good things you're doing Thank you All right, John If there any way we can have an idea about residents along with working having a tax reduction Due to the traffic that we face and especially the trash trucks starting in three o'clock It's not the same as the rest of Calis like it's fast And it's very noisy and I thought something like the maybe hardbook has a reduction in rates for Reduction to their municipal tax rates That yes So it's mostly because of the trash trucks Yeah, it's really a truck traffic to join in mornings, but the trash trucks are not blaming the haulers, but everyone's a while So I always pick up It's just a noise and it starts at three 3 a.m All the landfills So all the trash has to go to Coventry So that's the way they go Um, do you I do know of other towns besides hard work that have it? I would like to ask the state if they've ever been asked by a coalition of root 14 dwellers to I'm not sure I'm going to ask the state, but I don't know. Um, yeah, just Sounds a little daunting, but um, I guess we should take a look at and I'm sorry. I should know this But do you do you live on root 14? Okay It seems like the first step would be to find out if hardwick actually does and get a copy of the Their policy on it Just to see what Is possible Finding the tax assessments they had ratings like traffic high So There's some up and down and I don't know if that's how our assessments are Because I only heard of the opposite like you get that the view fee Yeah, right. No, I've seen I've seen like point nine I mean at least in East Montpellier there used to be less than ones Um, like Haggett road was a less than one. I don't know why But um, so is that is that how we would do such a thing? I don't know. I guess Yeah, well, thanks for bringing it up and um Maybe we should reach out to aot as well and see if they would consider an increase in their compensation through the grants The day because it is a major route that has a very specific kind of That has very specific impacts And so even if it is a paid state route it's paid state route being used for very specific Form of traffic and maybe that should come with its own increased level of compensation Is that something they do based on the quality of a road? It's an impact and it could probably be measured. So it's a question that could be asked I don't know if they do it There could be other there could be other communities that would be interested in In that being a thing I would imagine Yeah, well, let's see It might be who knew to have a consultation with the listers because they do property value Yeah How many homes is that I can see it being a stick your conversation. I think for there being an adjustment to the tax rate relative to traffic because Theoretically all roads are going to continue to have more traffic and they would want to step into that But if you could if you could quantify an impact relative to a very specific type of traffic You might be able to justify an increased degree of compensation for maintaining The quality of life and maintaining or offsetting those those impacts so if it's generating an increased level of trash if it is Generating an increased level of noise like you could invest money into medication efforts I think that they would be more willing to pay for mitigation efforts than they would be to reducing tax burden that's a completely anecdotal assumption, but that might be us and you're and you're saying a mitigation Mitigation thing would be some sort of subsidy or something like that Well the tree fences, you know things that would buffer the noise Either buffer the noise or establish a quiet zone or funding clean special cleanup activity if there are impacts relative to like Trash coming out of the trucks or something like that Yeah, I'm not sure where to go next other than to just start exploring for example with hard wick so I think that's an action item, but yeah, okay Okay, um, any other public comment? Yep Thank you for bringing that up. That's great. Um, okay, so, uh, let's see. We're on to purchase of road equipment Toby is not here, but uh, John and Dana are here Sorry about that We're going to get the new And we have this document to review well, um, yeah, okay Got it, okay Pretty Start off our target or more of course, we know that's not The witcher bird both graders the cat poater of all the excavator and the hydroceder they're all In service functioning properly The trailer that the hydroceder is on needs to get inspected That's a good one The new truck, um, the 10-wheel western star that we just got Has to go back to the dealer. This one's we can get in there. It's using oil It doesn't appear to be leaking. It's motor oil is disappearing two quarts a day So it's a Thing for them to look at Um, the tuna 2019 western star That appears to be okay in in service The 2017 western sire 10 wheeler that we're talking about Going off warranty this month Um, that's that charlie voice. It's got some oil leaking from the engine and a clutch It's been there for three months waiting for parts um When I was up there two weeks ago, they said they thought the parts were in and they did move it back Inside so we're hoping we'll have that back shortly Can I just interact so we don't have this document? It was an attachment on email from tovi to ann So at some point if somebody could put that document in the folder that would be great I'm assuming it's the document that he is referring to I see the email. There's not the attachment though. Was this the attachment? Barbara you made copies didn't you that's the Yeah, I passed out the attachment. Oh, okay. I was I guess I was wondering if his Okay, all right Star Told us it appears to be a problem with the pump pressure And it also has a I don't know what you call it, but it's an argument goes from the frame to the axle That keeps it in line when it goes up and down and the pushing on the end of that is Um, come apart so it needs to be repaired or replaced That thumb truck is that the one that is the spare that is Yep, um the 2019 international cv That's in New Hampshire at Fairfields Fairfields is the people who outfit the plows in the body They're working on a cost estimate to make that ready for winter The 2016 Ford pickup is at least I have a cost estimate From them for Okay, most of it Yeah, most of it is safety. Some of it is an air cleaner, but It's like brakes and the front axle work and Um, it does not include the new windshield. It's a windshield Because it's got a crack in it and tires doesn't include tires Like you mean snow tires or yeah, because we usually put like summer tires on and winter tires And you need new winter tires for them Yeah, so I called The keyboard today To kind of inquire about like getting a new pickup That doesn't include the bodywork. It's getting real rusty And I asked them for a trade-in value Towards a new pickup either a cast or a diesel And they said the trade-in value was $7,000 for the new pickup I did get a cost estimate for while they have a A similar pickup and it's upgraded to power one nose in that XLT package And that is like $58,000 for a gasoline powered pickup And $65,000 for a diesel pickup One thing we're going to have to do is Get guidance on what you want to do as far as do we want to repair it because he's still down there They'd like to know by the end of the week. Is that for the is that for the Gas or this gas And we had a conversation at the beginning of this year trying to phase that one out right to get every We're talking about a diesel, right? Yes, but it isn't the one that they had because I got back into the international So that's not the one that they had intended on treating in the truck that was Being brought last fall Was intended to replace the international But this is your last the last of the gas trucks or would you yeah, okay It appears to me that Value of the repairs is more than what the trading value is worth Maybe like to fix it in there or get it off the What size is that? If we repaired it would we not replace it in 2025 That I don't know how it passes inspection now with the rest on the body it's prior management, you know, if there was they bumped into something or There's damage to the body that was never fixed and should have been Prior to this current group Maintenance was up was not always as you know, these guys are pretty religious about it, but that was in the culture prior, so Yeah And I don't know if that's something that they would use for that like the five year lease to own For something relatively small like a truck, but I mean at this point They don't have either pickup truck Yeah, so it's it's not a great place to be But They now also check into a leverage pickup truck Yeah Rowan and this is very useful. I apologize. I don't feel like it jumped out of nowhere but last week T and N send out an email that there's funding for certain technologies in Um equipment up to 30% they'll pay. I saw Cuban at the Emergency Management Conference and he was saying that municipalities haven't been taking advantage of it at all He who he from the central? Oh, okay So he said he'd be willing to come and meet with you all To kind of suss out if there's trucks You know better The type that you want to get that also qualify for this 40% which is a lot on the 20,000 dollar or 200,000 dollar vehicles. So What's the name of that program? He gives another email. It's some long complicated federal something but it's to Use improved technology. So it's not just about like electric vehicles, which the electricity not always working They're probably not a great plan, but just improved functioning Different I think somebody put when we have now actually meets the qualifications and probably could, you know If we have a similar What certified it's like clean diesel Oh Okay, uh, so let's see this Can I just interrupt one second? Yeah, um my computer somehow just Shut down and we seem to Be off zoom, but I will try and get it back up as soon as I can Okay, I think we're gonna continue because we're just yeah So, um, it says toby will present options for ordering a truck now for delivery And that's okay delivery and f y 25 We will discuss options for replacing some of the other equipment. So, um Do you have options for ordering a truck now or are we gonna wait until we're gonna do this keith coven thing first? I mean, I think that We should get keithing I know that I don't know about you, but I think most of the guys are with the western star aren't John's brand new truck came and has had issues. That's the one that's burning oil at two courts today and it's grand spain conditions When you got it after the flood And there's been issues with the air brakes. So I know they had wanted to look at some other models and perhaps people have like a A ready list of things these are what other people are getting which would make it easier for us because it's So much stuff to sit through did you have a chance? Did you were checking out their models of dump trucks and excavators because they were the things Recording in progress. Um, I did not I talked to it was a lot at the last minute right to talk to toby and he mostly was hoping That we could get approval to replace What at the time was the 2017 Um 10 whaler Peters yes, okay, and we talked about perhaps Doing the 2014 and keeping the 17 as the spare because it's getting some Expensive work And that so the 2017 is having comprehensive work on the collection engine so it We're putting this before that's going to get last Longer so it feels maybe not I think it's out where you guys were at and then maybe All right That's the 14 which is the oldest one and it's getting pretty rusty in the back So to me it would make more sense to keep the 17 as the spare Take the spare 14 and trade that in Toby's out of the value of that was probably What's the trade so he was hoping that we could get approval to replace the 17 or the 14 truck Tonight and that's that he was asking for two is that right an excavator? No, no No, that was the picture 2019 CB yeah, and it appeared that the last like board may have approved Yeah, international last one that's they were going to try to get a For f604 yeah I talked to Toby about that and we had quite the conversation back and forth about Maybe going with a either a freight line or international six wheel dump truck Because it's a heavier duty truck And we could put our chloride tank in it and use that as The way to put our chloride on because at the present time we don't we'd have to put it into 10 wheeler Because our six wheeler just got traded so we don't have a six wheeler And He has made it talking to the dealers that if you went With an international it probably would cost 50,000 more than the Ford And if we went with a freight liner, you know, it might be 80,000 more, but we'd have to get all the specifics So i'm not sure if we still have the approval to replace that truck or What we have to do to do that as well Because it was kind of like they ordered the chassis through somebody and it disappeared in the transition So we can't find where it is coming in And the fords are hard to get The Ford 600 chassis that we looked at different places and somebody said well, I've been ordered and cancelled and then Somebody else said well Ford's not sending them out right now They were going to downsize it to a 550 And I'm going to say with some I don't know but then people I would have to I don't know but I know it's but I know there was some new pipeline But the one new pilot I cancelled it in October And we got the bigger truck, you know, being the profile to it again Now, um I think the bigger truck is going to have to be a six wheeler in order to hold the weight of the tank Which gives you more capacity to stand the road I thought it was low profile We were talking low profile, but I believe the gross vehicle weight is lower In these chassis after we were talking And the forward black part means the king goes in the top The reason now Right the reason it needs to be all wheel drive like the F600 is we saw the roads with it. So if you have to go From our shop down to Leighton Ridge and then up to County Road, you don't really want to have chains on And this vehicle was all wheel drive But the one on the right now seems to fit that we've only put chains on my brain and it got real icy so But that's another option to look at Would it be possible data to Within like the next two weeks if we can get keyed over To help educate us about that pot of money and maybe actually come with like this is the Truck we wanted to place this truck with I figured one and like I pretty much like a figure because it's I can't speak for everyone else I've been trying to learn this for months and it's really hard for me to wrap my head around so Um, but that might not because it's Yeah, like Talk with Toby. Well, no talk with Toby, but that's very key then Okay, so keepers for central Vermont regional planning council. So whatever gets all the information on the different pots of money. There's this Funding stream that we have to 30% of some of these vehicles So like john's For it And the disabilities haven't been tapping into it So and he might actually know which truck to qualify in the area. So it's less Overwhelming for you all too and kind of identifying Which truck you want to put for it that's let's trade out for more leads So so are you did you say you're without a pickup truck? Pick up truck is that formula for And they'd like to know if we want to spend The seven thousand to repair it and it's worth a trade-in value of seven thousand and it'll cost approximately 61,000 to Replace it and it's slated to be replaced in 2025 So, um And that that is the one that you think is a good good candidate for this funding stream I know any of them would be a good candidate. I think the smaller Ford That i've been complaining with the other vehicle is one that we're really going to have to Probably get now. I mean it's or in the near future It is they have no they don't have the medium-sized pickup This is the smaller pickup that they used to run around and use the co-owners and do the site visits of all the things And when you say the smaller you are talking about this 2016 Ford Yeah, okay the f-250 because the To put seven thousand in it, but more it's going to be with the tires why eight thousand I'm not sure But it's going to go right back. I mean there's there's nothing we could do to it to make it Be well peters truck the 2017 that's what we had put forth every place They're putting in good quality Work on major systems that should keep us Do we know Roughly if we were to order the new truck is a replacement for this one Do we know roughly how long it would take to come would that mean we're Without a truck for a year and so we want to fix this one anyway to get us through Or as far as the pickup. Yeah If we went with a gas Pickup they had one there They could get us a diesel pickup I don't know what the time frame is, but I'm sure they just go to a different dealer Yeah, so it wouldn't be a I don't think it'd be very long And you all did you you wanted to do diesel because you have diesel on site That's what we had talked about from the reactor flood gathering gas cans and sending people Oh Okay, and I'm sorry. I thought this was dense But you said something about that it'd be good to have a six wheeled truck to have the chloride Right, and so would that be instead of replacing the Ford in short order? the Ford Okay, let me back up Right now we have an international CV, which we use to solve is that on here? Is that on the capital plan? Because I don't see anything that says international CV That's all we'll drive that we Salt with and cloud the camera. Which one is it on the capital plan though? It's not listed at all That's the confusion. Uh-huh.  What year is that Wow, that's only four years old. It's a 2019 and it's only worth $9,000 not $7,000 That's the f-250 so I think the reason is probably not on you I think what makes sense that they put the 2025 for F600 that would be replaced as a replacement I think he was anticipating that it was probably digital to be replaced from the Ford Yeah a year or more But it's not all documented, but it seems it seems to me that like that one has the most uh Well one I'm guessing that Keith probably has the most input on stuff like that And then also there's still some configuration if the one that was approved originally was Now let go and we're back into configuration mode of picking a model in a chassis There's still and then there's delivery time and that sort of thing that one is probably Tabled for the moment until we can kind of get a better idea of where things stand so It would seem to me that it would make the most sense to Short-term table the approval of that one until we can figure out the configuration Etc. Etc. Etc. I gotta put a number on it. See if we can't get decent money for it, but then provide authorization to go out and purchase A $61,000 pickup to replace the one that is probably not worth putting seven grand into So there's a little bit of a temporary give and take there knowing that There's a lot to still be sorted out on six wheeler. I think it makes a lot of sense to be pursuing one That you know smaller smaller price point than the ten wheelers, which we seem to have in abundance, but I need to kind of If we're going to go that route and approve that tonight, maybe we can just condition it with Somebody have a brief conversation with Keith. Yeah, and if it does qualify for this 30 Payment or if there's a slightly different truck that would qualify for the 30 percent You know change gears a little bit that way So I don't suppose the Ford dealer would be knowledgeable about this funding stream Um, maybe because it sounds like private companies have been tapping into it So they might have knowledge about it We also heard that a lot of the dealers did not want you to be able to get up this account It's easier from the self-applied contractors. We've got an advertor that talks about all of it I would think we go right to Keith and ask him exactly what we can get for what particular models Where the incentives are and see if we can't align ourselves So I'm just wondering if we should have warned something more specific than what is on here Because it says toby will present options for ordering a truck now for delivery and f y 25 That's actually not what we're talking about. We're talking about something in shorter order Yeah, so Yeah So And then and then the other question I have about the the 2019 international harvester is that um, that's still under warranty, right? I don't believe so It shouldn't have a seven year warranty. Isn't that what we do? Seven year warranties Okay, a lot of the extended warranty covers like the motor and transmission and maybe some electronics and emissions, but Like the rear body and the plow equipment believe that's under the extended warranty I'm not told you would have to answer that Correct Because I asked him if this 17 would be under warranty for the clutch So Is there a motion tonight that is within the con like it's a it's still a big purchase and we didn't really warn it or anything And like I wonder if rather than pass a motion with a bunch of contingencies if we should just Do something in two weeks and Winchester. Do you have do you have thoughts? Are you able to hear? Oh No, she's there I'm not able to hear all the conversation. I'm afraid so I Don't feel that I've got enough information. Yeah more thoughts. Okay When I talked to Toby, he was hoping we would authorize the pickup Although Dana, help me out I thought you actually wanted a heavier truck than that pickup so that it would be more flexible We're confusing the two Okay The heavier truck was for the international cv The pickup is a different issue that kind of came up after most of the conversation with Toby Okay, so Toby was hoping we would get the 110 we authorized the 110 wheeler Because he feels it would take so long to get it and we can figure out how we're going to pay for it um When we do the capital budget in early November and that we would authorize the pickup now In fact, we can figure out how to pay for both When we do the capital budget in early November um He because we need to get back on schedule as Ann pointed out We kind of lost the momentum It for a couple of years We're probably going to have to put more money into equipment In order to get back on schedule So more the replacement schedule more specifically How Out of line, do you think it would be to approve the acquisition of the pickup truck that has come up in short term? even though it wasn't explicitly warmed as part of this decision making And then put off the decision on the 10 wheeler That Toby is saying we should say which truck Order now and then figure out how to pay for later. I'm kind of wondering if we say we We we didn't approve the purchase or acquisition of the 10 wheeler until we can figure out some more funding and configuration Which we've been going over with Dana and in the short term Approve the The acquisition of a pickup truck even though it wasn't explicitly warm What is it? What is it that you would learn? I mean don't we know we'd have to order a 10 wheeler and Toby sent us all those specs There's there's just that there's been some input from Keith Cuban About Some potential like lines of subsidy that are available to municipalities for equipment acquisitions And that the 10 wheeler depends on how it's configured or what what what model etc. Etc. It could be It could be applicable, you know, okay, that's the piece I was missing. I see and you're saying we could talk about that at the next Meeting. Yes. Yeah. Well, that makes sense then sure And we can if we're concerned about voting tonight on something that wasn't properly warned we can always ratify it In two weeks Yeah, okay Yeah, so it does It does talk about the 2016 truck is in need of 7 000 worth of repair. So So let's see. So how would the motion go if we wanted to Approve the pickup truck And ask the road crew to meet with Keith Cuban and Explore what of the trucks and heavy equipment could be Subject to this incentive program or whatever it is subsidy So I would make a motion Proving the acquisition of a new Pickup truck one time We were looking at a three quarter time record But if it's going to be a diesel it's a little more than the 61 It's under 65 Up to no more than 65 then So the action Pick up Fitted with a diesel motor Not to exceed 65 000 dollars And to table all other acquisitions until the Truck acquisition. Yeah truck acquisitions Until the road crew has an opportunity to meet with Keith Cuban about Equipment subsidies that are available to municipalities Relative to Dana's report on the current state of To meet with To discuss additional money to potentially inform the Upfitting of a 10-wheeler dump truck. How's that everybody chewing on that? Do you know how to try anything else? No, so there's a motion Rose would you mind reading that back? Just one thought about the 10-wheeler is he thought it wouldn't be delivered for over a year to 18 months. So You wouldn't come out of the first year's budget Just No How big is the difference in capacity and like all the capacity and chassis is between like a 455 50 and The 600 I would have to Research that because Toby did most of that And just gave me the figures of Okay Okay, so we have a motion is there a second all right all in favor I okay Motion carries Truck I want to talk about the greater people on Come meeting ballot for a woman to replace the John Deere greater He said But $350,000 for replacing the greater that we should maybe put on the march ballot works, but he asked me to present that as well Um Dana, I think we were going to talk we're going to devote and most of a meeting in early November our first meeting in November To the highway budget, so I think we'll talk about that at that time Yeah, sure I presented it so and the exclusive lease on program that we're going to run with woodbury right for all of our used equipment Sorry, that's a cheeky Okay, so I think that's it for that one for now Unless there's other stuff you want to report Dana or john All right. Thank you. Um curb cut applications andy seaman and sofia Amy Okay And this one I think was accompanied by ann tulah and you wrote a note saying it was this the one that had That there was a visit and everybody thought it was wonky dory so this is um This one is was backed out. I don't know if we received info from chase and chase, but we had another chase and chase a while ago Yeah, this was chase Ufideration of it and The crew was going to be putting a call word above like heading up towards palace above the driveway because there is ledge below To intervene we got water off the road and then we had a little bit of a snafu Would Sorry, is there one of the contractors for cb was running fire up the roadway. So they're fixing that Because otherwise we'd be cutting Fire all the time so It's good Okay, so Is there a motion to approve this for I guess what would the motion be for us to approve this curb cut seaman and Amy and I'll pass it around To sign it. So do we need a motion for that? Hmm Yeah, yeah, okay Second All right, all in favor. Hi. Okay. I'm signing and passing around no conditions. Well, or as As proposed There is a chase and chase supplied plan That one is in the the the chase and chase document is in the folder We want a friendly amendment to the motion Being that it Be constructed as proposed And the plan detailed by chase and chase Yes I just need to put it in the minutes and I don't know anything except Two people That's all I know When people might have a question about a curb cut the first place they go to focus in the minutes They don't Go to the town office. So it's just nice to have a little bit more detail in the next one. Thank you All right, okay Can I ask a question is that when we all have to sign or do we need to authorize get real the sign There's five spaces. There's five signature spots We could change that in the future Yeah Technically before the friendly amendment, but that's okay. All right. So next up is the um Stern collar hill road curb cut and um So this one Um, and do you know about this one? um the Crew went out again. They had talked to him previously and put in a temporary Smaller culvert that would not be It's not but you need to be on good equipment and then out today is as you can do that for now And then Toby went out and said it was fine and then The guys went back out again Mr. Stern said that yeah, but he said it was fine We look at it there's Okay, yeah, it's it's Yeah, the description said the proposed curb curb cut to add a culvert to the existing and historical uses Of the land and improve access to the rear of the buildings the culvert is to minimize erosion And assist drainage. Okay. Is there a motion to Approve this curb cut application? Second, okay all in favor All right, okay We are No ready to Transition to the budget With Sandra Sandra, okay Sandra You are muted Hello And now I need to start the video Yeah, you need to yeah Start your video and then screen share after you start your video If you're in the screen share Let's see my video is supposed to be started. Can you you can't see me though. Can you Oh, I think maybe your computer has one of those toggle switches on the top. You know about that. Nope If you look at the the top of your monitor on your laptop Right above the camera. There's a toggle switch And it slides it basically covers your camera with a little it doesn't have one it just has a uh, it just has a Thank you Hang on It's an integrated camera video settings Let's see what the deal is Uh Thank you Huh, this has always worked before of course, right The image that we're getting on our screen shows the picture of that toggle switch And it's sometimes really hard to even see unless you run your finger along that part of the Top center of the monitor I I see the camera But it doesn't sit there doesn't seem to be a switch on that So gosh I have used this before so many times. That's kind of crazy. Oh wait, what's that? No, that's not Hang on Well, we all have copies of the document. So I think you can You know, if you've already run your thumbs on the top of the monitor, that's all you can really do and um, let's just Let's just begin the walkthrough So that yeah, do you all have hard copies? I believe we do do we yeah Oh great. So what you have here is the basic scaffolding of your budget worksheet and you it's uh broken into Five columns. So you see What was budgeted in fiscal year 23 and what was actually spent in the first two columns or I should say In In the second and third column and then you see what was budgeted for this year f y 24 and the column after that is what This select board will propose at town meeting as the budget for f y 25 The last column is for notes we started uh And Winchester and Gabrielle have both Worked on this a particular document with me. It started out as a flat line document, which simply means We copied over f y 24 into f y 25 You will see that there are several line items that are highlighted in yellow. Those line items have either been changed revised or there may be Some additional research or questions that need to be asked The salary ranges or suggestions were brought in by and And are a simply a starting point for your discussions Um There is one line item. Let's see. I'll tell you what page on page 12 the emfd truck loan that was on the warning and uh I believe it was in march 2023. No loan had been taken. So the loan has been taken the money is sitting in In a town account it's pooled in our operating account and that line item will get moved up into long-term debt and it is 13 1337 Dollars would be the principal payment and I think it's 38 hundred dollars and some Will be the interest payment that will be moved. I didn't have that information when I constructed this document Otherwise, uh, you will have be inviting your various committees Commissions and department heads to come and see you what I'll do with this document is break out spreadsheets and forward them to those chair persons And they will have a chance. They'll see it just this same way the budget FY 23 the actual budget the FY 24 budget and what they Would like to see an FY 25. They'll have a spreadsheet to work with and to present to the board The town office is already working up their sections of this budget to present to the board that would be general office expenses elections the town report and Salaries associated with that office the town clerk and the assistant town clerk This is a living document what you have in your hands and what was emailed Or what it was uploaded into the google file is a pdf and um What we'll do after every meeting is we will have the next version this being your initial version. This is Subject to change every line can change however you want it There should be someone at your meeting to mark up your changes that you would like to see Um that came out of any particular meeting uh together or with a commission or committee person And get them uh have barber bring that to the office and I will make the changes on the spreadsheet Create that new version and get it out to the board Within a day or two of that meeting so you could see what the changes are Uh right now what I what I'd like you to do is go to the very last page and kindly notice that um With the changes that are here the highlighted lines The budget is 2 over the fy 24 budget and that there are formulas now in this spreadsheet and that percentage will go up and down as you um make changes Throughout the document There are a few cells such as phyca Vemurs That will Need formulas based on the amount of wages that you decide upon and will pop that in pretty much at the last You know toward the very end of the budgeting process that they don't change it won't change that very much And um You you will work through this line by line with with yourselves and with your uh commissions committees and department heads So that is the intended purpose of this document Does anyone have any questions or has anything popped out at anyone that they would like me to research? There are a couple of points here that we I need to research it And I'll have that for you at your next meeting or with this next version Any questions So I have a question the two percent that is just the straight two percent increase in municipal taxes That is a two percent increase in the budget only the taxes are a formula that is also based on the grand list So if your grand list goes up and your budget goes up Your tax rate theoretically could remain the same right because what you're raising Is then divided by the grand list if your grand list goes down and your budget didn't change at all your tax rate theoretically again would go up because you would Have a smaller number being divided into the expenses same thing with projected income although in a municipal setting Projected income really doesn't change very much from year to year It did during covid years the state aid to highways was sweetened by the state to help Talents get through that but at this point we're we're seeing fairly consistent and stable projected income so your tax rate Is a function of grand list And expenses minus proposed In revenue and this is just telling you What your budget Increase or decrease over the prior year will be Uh, I have a little bit more I guess an existential question Uh And or just like a presentation question I wonder if there's been any dialogue in previous years during your tenure about including Maybe not comprehensively Increases in the budget like a percentage column, you know for the town when when The budget is going out for being prepared for the morning You know, I think the in my Brief experience it seems like people kind of get a little bit of sticker shock But what they're missing I think is some broader context And in the last two years There have been some pretty significant inflationary forces that Affect the budget in a way that I don't think everybody really thinks about so, you know I think if you were to present a proposed budget that you know by In some way if we get to the end of this process If we're still passing along the two percent increase in the budget relative to the increase in costs That we've been seeing over the last two years I would think that that would be a pretty significant win for the town and the people At least for them to kind of realize that There hasn't been that direct impact Realized in in the budget that's being proposed so I'm just wondering that might be a formatting thing that we can revisit like as we refine the budget and start to see where things are Are landing, but I just I was curious about that Well, we can take a look at formatting this particular document this document actually comprises about 10 pages of your town report What you are suggesting I think is a great idea and might be better presented rather than visually it might be a better narrative for the select board report In terms of helping, you know a graphic and this is more this is a graphic of a kind Graphics are are sometimes hard to read or really to get a feel for what they're trying to tell you I think a narrative and maybe plus a graphic Would drive home your point the tricky thing with that again is Um There is a direct relationship with the grand list and proposed revenue sources So, you know, you can sharpen your pencils hard on a budget and still see An increase in the tax rate this format by the way follows how your town warning is Has been set up in the past and you would decide that for yourselves The very end beginning at page 11. We see warned special articles and warned special articles Uh, the social service appropriation Kellogg Hubbard library fire and ambulance in particular the cemetery appropriation can Uh teeter totter the best laid budget that you can put together They can be voted up because they're bio article, right? They could be voted up. They could be voted down Uh, some of these things are put together Kellogg Hubbard library for instance and the fire departments. They have their own Way of figuring out how much money they're going to ask for from each town And you don't really have any control over that and again, that's the kind of thing that At town meeting you kind of Bite your nails a little bit to see where where really is all this going to go so, um, you know, the this is, uh Right we can and I have put a percentage formula at On page 11 That blue, uh highlighted area doesn't have a formula in the notes column yet, but that's the column that tells you What select boards have done? In f y 24 and what you're proposing to be done in f y 25 the rest of this spreadsheet just real you know We really don't know what what's going to come at the town But I can add a formula right there and that will give you some guidance. I think about, um What you what has been done and what compared with what you're working on right now We can do that in the next version Rose I had a comment in the town report And it confirmed for my years on the select board to Seeing her gave a wonderful explanation about what happens and in this last Select board report it talked about if all the budget items were approved at town meeting day It would be 5.7 percent increase So usually past select boards have come up with their proposed budget Compared it to um with cost of living increase or consumer price index So our town if everything was approved it was 5.7 and the consumer price index in our region Was of over six percent in 2022. So we tried to link it to that So that's the first step is that you kind of like plug in all these Want numbers and then usually the select board goes back and realizes We can't increase the town's budget, you know that much it would be too hard But that's the hard part is to where you're going to cut some numbers to kind of rain it in a little bit Yeah, that's usually what the process has always been And Jordan that's that narrative that I was talking about prior select boards have used pie charts narrative to Elucidate what what has happened and what is happening one thing you may want to consider In your conversations is selecting a cost of living adjustment Indicator there are many there's you know the national or federal cost of living adjustment There are regional cost of living adjustments And uh, they do change and shift over time And it might uh, it I suggest that perhaps you do decide At some point what cost of living adjustment factor you think is most pertinent To um the town of callus and that's the one that you're going to key off of and uh Work with to determine, you know how How to construct this budget and make it meaningful I have a question about a cola and the the new union contract is um our Does the contract specify a cola You know, I haven't I haven't read that contract fully and it strikes me that it may not specify a cola Jordan and and and jamey just confirmed, but it does not And what you know, that's a well that doesn't have to be That's going to have to be discussed. I suppose at some point in time Unless it's in an addendum somewhere And in here it said 5.9 percent Nope If I did july 1st of 2022 Mm-hmm Yeah, although that is That okay, so that would have been reflected in the fy 24 budget, but it was actually instituted in fy 23 I'm sorry. Sandra. Can you clarify whether or not uh, what you're you Saying is that we should Settle on one of the colas, uh, that's most pertinent to callus for comparison's sake or for working into our calculus on On budget Individual budget items Well, I think that's the conversation you will have between yourselves I I um If you want to bring home to Your constituents how the budget increases, I mean, there's going to be increases it There just are your medical insurance is going to increase. You're going to have a larger salary base Uh, just to name two Two things so your fight is going up your vimas are going up by some amount um, so if When you're Trying to say look, we're still under the Cola here in our region or Whatever cola you select That I think is that I think is the meaningful conversation in your narrative But you know that that's your Conversation and decision one thing you May be aware of um And I don't feel that I'm speaking out of turn because I have Permission uh tegan did say she would be Interested only in a cost of living adjustment for fy 25 But of course, we don't have a cost of living adjustment identified as to what exactly that would be so um things like that um are going to be important to be I think to To the integrity of the budget to be able to Talk about what that cola is to the folks whose salaries Or hourly wages may Be affected by that That That's not a tonight discussion necessarily, but it could be in in something that you keep in the back of your heads and think about and take a look at It I can tell you it was a conversation and sometimes very heated in uh prior Boards when they were looking at colas And in fact if you go back in I think two or three town meetings the select board Hicked a cola and said, you know wages would not go up beyond that Beyond that cola even if the cola itself changed by july 1 At the beginning of that next fiscal year. So that that was another tactic that that was taken Well, yeah, because it's a budget that the town has to approve. So it is so you couldn't you couldn't change it In like you couldn't if we after town meeting you couldn't change the cola For fy 25 No, but i'm saying after the town votes for the budget That we can change it what barbara is pointing to is that While the number is what sets the tax rate In the formula with a grand list and projected revenues The budget in and of itself Is a guide You have x amount of money to work with and you can then Use your guidance and best judgment to Work your budget lines So if you you know wanted to hike up or reduce salaries that are in a budget line That is definitely within your bailiwick under with the understanding that you have x amount of dollars That have been approved for expenses It is that that's what you were saying right barbara Thank you. You said it much better Okay, um and winchester Yeah Sure Oh If you don't give An adequate cola It doesn't take many years before you are underpaying your staff and then they get Um unhappy as has happened in the past so If you don't keep up You're not making your staff I think we all learned that Hmm Yep, so uh I lost my train of thought um And did you want us to specifically talk about some of the salaries that you plugged in? You're muted. No still muted That's just been salary Did um, did you guys work with uh, sandra to do any calculations on Um, uh benefits and cost per hour I think that sandra is going to Meet with toby to discuss the highway portions of that and um, I think uh sandra has a heads up that the health insurance is going up 13 percent But I but sandra. I I think I remember that you have not done a deep dive on the existing positions as far as um extrapolating out the Benefits yet, right? That is correct. Uh, right net. We haven't heard from toby. So that that piece I I will I need to take a step behind and let Uh Toby present his budget. He does have the spreadsheet And I he's been working on it. We and and I Worked on the premise that there would be four full time in f y 25 I think the highway Crew sees the need of that and also we uh added a foreman position And f y 25 now how that shakes loose when toby Uh takes a look at this You'll you'll find out he will present his ideas to you. I I I'm not sure I don't recall when he is Invited to meet with the board, but that is He uh needs overtime hours from me That we can do an average of overtime hours is as you can see in those cells We just took straight time at 40 hours A week and uh the plus overtime Is yet to be determined that we're we need to run some payroll reports to pull That information so toby can make a meaningful stab at that number I have another uh general kind of question as a little bit for the select board as well as you sandra, which is um, is there A snowball's chance that there's any single line in this that can be reduced It is it all just destined to be increased? Uh I say this with the deepest respect. I mean you can reduce Contributions to reserve funds You can reduce contributions to various commissions You can uh Basic I mean there are places where you can reduce your budget But you want to reduce your budget based on you know meaningful historical data and uh One thing, uh, I believe that tegan is going to present that uh, we're going to see an increase in Uh communications that would be internet and phone with the advent of cd fiber Because it appears at this time and that's my best understanding at this time That we will need to maintain certain hard lines through consolidated communications in order to Maintain the security systems And then there's the additional cost of cd fiber. So I I believe that that is going to Go up you can uh You can reduce Or increase any budget line with Thoughtfulness and mindfulness that is your bailiwick And again the any research that needs to be done if you if you folks Individually or as a group have a list of questions For me to research for your next meeting Please by all means You know at the end of this evening Have uh, you know ship me out an email and I will work on that We have access to information that goes back to uh fy 19 So there is Quite a bit of information to take a look at Mostly where I see increases at this point are in uh In the addition of Positions and that that's and that is a goal of the Select board and seems to be supported by the town And that is going to make a difference in your budget You're also probably you know going to have your commissions and committees Not appreciate a reduction in their appropriations Your reserve funds are pretty good that town hall reserve is probably not enough. There is no reserve fund for the Town garage which Seems to be a glaring oversight. Maybe this is not the year to start that Reserve for that building right that Maybe something Sorry about that center So again, you know You you have started this process so early So early That you're you will have time to reflect and be very mindful As to what your budget is going to be But your budget is going to go up by some percentage It can not given The additional Positions that are being added Right Yep, and even a couple of items we heard about earlier this meeting Yeah, so Would you like me to talk about personnel now? Sorry, I How to get back to you Yeah, sure And Winchester Yeah, okay So I'm sorry. I didn't um Give you these written out, but I think I can explain what I've done I've made a list of all the paid employees in town including those who get stipends And Sandra and I tried to break break the ones that are salaried and earning more than just stipends Into an hourly rate so we could compare the levels that they're at And what we found was that the town clerk the town administrator and the grants administrator All make approximately $30 an hour When you yeah, and The our Assistant Sandra you had $20 an hour. I think or no that was the recording secretary never mind Our assistant makes about approximately 24 A little bit more $24 an hour In all her three assistant capabilities Um the road crews making $25 an hour And probably the road foreman will make something on the order of another two dollars an hour So that's how we put it in the budget. We just put a holding place of 27 for the road foreman Then I made a flow chart which I can share with you tomorrow, but I can't do it tonight in which um I tried to figure out how all the responsibilities flow And it kind of looks like this We have three groups who are directly responsible to this is again, assuming we hire a town administrator We have three groups directly responsible to the voters. That would be the listers the town clerk and the select board One of those had the town clerk has an assistant If the select board were to hire a town administrator The town administrator would be overseeing the way we're envisioning it right now All the paid employees So that's the road foreman and the five staff The treasurer and the tre- well the treasurer's assistant And their own assistant plus the gospel hollow warden The animal control officer the town constable the zoning administrator the health officer and the grants administrator The that would leave the select board Overseeing all the unpaid staffs and individuals like the planning commission and the swim committee and so so on So when you look at that when you look at this chart it immediately becomes obvious that the town administrator is overseeing Has a huge amount of responsibility So as we thought about that we decided that we would tentatively put the town administrator in at About between 38 and 40 dollars an hour Um, so we just tentatively put in a salary of 80 000 that would be 38 46 an hour So that's how we started with the numbers for those positions As you look at them in the budget And then no by the way the hourly rates I just gave you you know the 30 dollars an hour and so on That's what they're making now. That's without whatever cola. We're going to be giving them This year where I was not thinking of course of a cola for the town administrator so So in the fy 24 budget there was Definitely a director of public works and there was There were other positions too that were never filled at how Did you um, did you consider like a pot of money?  What was that number? That that number was 80 thousand dollars. It was tucked into the highway budget We pulled it out of the highway budget And tucked it into the general government budget Um, so that left some Uh, spaciousness in the highway budget Uh, and the thought process behind that is that that town administrator overseas Both the general government and highway and is uh, we The first at first blush it didn't seem that that budget line should be sitting in highway But should be moved to general government and you'll see that on, um, page, uh seven that the director of public works line or FY 25 is not funded and the note says it's moved to general government as town administrator Okay Uh Hey and In your flip charting while you were reviewing and analyzing the kind of hourly rates for all of those it It sounds like you you must have gotten kind of an estimate on Like that time spent for each one of those like an estimate from each of the individuals in those positions about like how many hours a year they're They're putting into the work. Is that right? Well hours a week. Yeah the town clerk is 30 Town clerk is 32 town administrators 40 Treasurer, I I'm not quite sure how that's going to come out once we have a town administrator That's still to be determined, but currently at 62,000 the town treasurer would be making about 30 dollars an hour If it if if if it was 62,000 and the town treasurer were working 40 dollars an hour That's what I used Yeah, figure it out Sorry, was that including the delinquent tax collector? So that um, and I'm just going to hop in there on the town treasurer line The town treasurer wages um We had in there 30 dollars an hour 32 hours a week and then the Current job description has that position also Picking up delinquent tax collection and that budget line is 11,000 dollars. So um That that is a 451 no pardon me 61 thousand dollar a year Position at 32 hours a week that that may be too much that You know, you're going to have to see What the market bears and it seems that a town administrator at this point is going to be Hired prior to the treasurer. I'm not sure about That that is a changing Scenario It's an iterative process as they say Yeah, it is in process an interim interesting Uh, organic process Okay, so Do folks want to peruse this for a minute and Have time for more questions or is that are we feeling like that's a good introduction? Okay Are we going to talk about what should actually be on it line by line ten of life? That was my vision You mean like go through the entire go through the entire budget and talk about each line item Oh go through the portions for select board That that is under the select board piece Um And a couple of the others But okay Uh, yeah, I think we have Do we have to let you do that? Yeah, sure 15 minutes Okay, so, uh, let's see Select board that's page one Select board assistant. Um, I think that Are we gonna have a select board assistant? if we have a town administrator with a Administrator assistant I moved that over to town administrator assistant. That's how I was thinking of it. Okay That makes sense All right, and then the second one is grant coordinator, which is that is something that donovitch had been doing And right now nobody's doing it. Is that correct? Well, toby's doing a huge chunk of it and we're paying him 16,000 Um, right, but that's but that's in the highway budget, isn't it right? Is the 16,000 in the highway budget? Yes, it is he is managing only highway grants So there are only about five or six non highway grants at this point in time donna kind of harnessed That information Early on in your tenure the maybe in april and Just collected that information especially could from The year when there was no treasurer or oversight and at this point one Of on my to-do list is to bring The grant information up to date So that The the town administrator I think is is managing the non highway grants and really what is the management piece the Writers of the grants Are administering the grants they are making all of the decisions. They know what their budget is they know the town match Um, they send over invoices Uh, the I think the management piece here is Just making sure that they're hitting their deadline so that reimbursement is coming to the town And that you know, honestly, that's kind of like a phone call To say hey, how you doing? Are we making our are we going to make our deadlines? There the town administrator is not taking over The grant administration of these individual grants The administrators will remain in place as I understand it So it's just merely oversight and then of course tracking Expenses versus a grant reimbursement and seeing how we land I mean some grants we make money and some grants we have to cover The difference between the grant revenues and the expenditures mostly we break even I make a little bit of money so That is actually the oversight on the uh non highway grants fema is a bit different And uh as we all know and that is uh toby is Working that fema grant Very carefully as are Scott and charlotte So that that is big and requires Attention And those folks would be answering and uh giving updates to the town administrator So I don't see the town administrator doing the actual administration or the writing of the grants Merely over Merely over there's an oversight component So the grant administrator is not uh funded per se One thing Antulan had a question which is who writes the who is writing on the grant I thought that the town administrator in theory was absorbing toby's position Yeah, we're talking this is specifically non highway grants Which are exactly which is sort of in town halls applying for a grant the town hall folks More or less right in it That the idea might be I don't know that toby will stay on that's a question for him But certainly toby has incredible institutional knowledge and skills to transfer to the town administrator town administrative assistant and uh possibly That will slide over into that town administrator position. I don't know Uh, it you know, we're drilling down into details that are not uh finalized at this point in time I wonder if it'd be somewhat responsible of us to try to Accommodate some costs associated with that knowing that we've got a likely Pursuit of a town administrator who's going to take a the majority of the grant writing Burned off of toby, but that there may still be Cancelary grant oversight that we would want to fund for somebody in a limited capacity whether that be For new grants or for consultation, you know during a period of transition. So Does it make sense to carry over $6,000 or something like that in funding for other higher Grant oversight Again that that's Your call It it may very well be that between the town administrator and the administrative assistant to the town administrator In that 60 hours a week that Probably would comprise a very small number of hours We don't have a lot of non-highway Grants for That require oversight So Again, that's your call and that that's your discussion, which doesn't those decisions Maybe are premature tonight at at this point, but the questions are raised I will say that as I was thinking this through I assumed we would be keeping toby on and I think he is willing to stay on for a little while For another year to help with the grants and in fact do the highway grants, but that the Town administrator would pick up responsibility for the other grants And then we would see I mean it this is going to evolve as we get a town administrator on board and we learn to work with Whoever it is and they begin to understand the position And maybe after a while that he'll he or she will say We do need somebody to help with the non highway grants Right so in this I just don't see us needing that this year Are you gonna ask a question? Oh I was just noticing that as she said they left the 16,000 in under the highway grants. Okay. All right Um, I'm conscious of the time and um, I'm wondering if there are Highlights we should talk about rather than like the select board stipend and every every line item So let's see, uh Or should we just keep plugging away line by line? Maybe just It would probably go pretty quickly. Yeah If we just go line by line Okay, once they talk about that Yeah, okay, so stipends that's 1500 of select board members. Is that what is that? Yeah, okay. Yes, and the previous select board voted for that No, that was uh A friendly amendment to the budget at town meeting. Okay All right, and um, let's see We're good with that one Uh treasurer Went to End of the year end of the calendar year December after we get done collected all our taxes, right? Okay, um, so now we've got the um recording secretary wages, uh rose is conveniently here recording And so my question Rose is it's about 200 hours a year. Does that sound right to you? It's about four hours a week It's Usually two hours for a meeting and then I put in for three hours for so five per meeting Five so and we we met a bunch extra but typically I don't know whether there are 20 select board meetings a year. Is that is that about right? 24 probably closer to 24 24 so 24 times five. Okay. All right, so we'll we'll uh Noodle that a bit, but now we know it's five hours a meeting. Okay. Um Credit card fees Uh, let's see a Sandra. I seem to remember you know, is that just very straightforward? Credit card fees Okay, got it professional fees you're going to research that one as I recall right Sandra I have an FY 23. Okay. Um and legal fees so This is our best guess as to a reasonable moving forward Legal fee for a town of our size when we don't want to have various crises to deal with I did ask Sandra if moving forward we can we could delegate All of the or appropriate allocate the Curtis pond attorney fees to the Curtis pond ARPA Pool and um, I think we should just confirm that with well confirm it with ourselves really and but also the CPA because the issue is that Sandra needs Um Needs us to be clear with her about when when we do that and I thought I thought it kind of was Already that way, but we just need to um, I guess formalize it So Um, I think that there's only that there's been one invoice for attorney fees associated with ARPA that was that age Uh, I can't remember page and something and that was actually posted to The ARPA fund. Oh, this is all stiff. So we we pulled that Um information So you know You're you're the day as the before I ran the order order For tonight if you're at $18,000 so far this year now remember We're still in the thick of many things. You've got your bond. You've got There you've got some litigation hanging out there worked on and now we're talking about FY 25 And so, you know, how would you have union negotiations also? So Yep But would those be FY 24 because there's another six months of FY 24 conversation that we want to have whether or not we want to make those ordinance changes And work on those types of changes and FY 24 or put some of them off until FY 25 and they can be budgeted for accordingly. Okay Got it And then yeah, and then make sure the letter requests that work, I guess Okay So that one Is appropriately a question mark. Uh, so professional audit per contract Um, that is just our annual audit, right? Right Perhaps ignore the contract or that fee from what 24 was $18,000 And selling of power did to $17,000 To reflect what the prior board reached out to them and just about it And said okay fine It sounds like a successful negotiation Yeah Great, okay, and the single audit that's the result Although likely we have to budget for it because it's almost for sure going to be necessary because of our Loan our FEMA related loan Yes, we have pending a bill from hundreds For over $400,000 that would be on your next order on the stake in that in and of itself Pools us over the single audit threshold of $750,000 for this year So your single audit is going to hit FY 25 You have to close your year. You have to make a sub recipient report to the state And within x many days has to take place. So it's not point in time Uh Before the end of the year in February or so that needs to be pursued and now down and scheduled It is possible that it can be done at the same time as our regular audit Sullivan and power suggested that and that They could fall possibly under the single source exemption So you don't have to go through the expense of an RFP, but again that Per FEMA for federal regulations. So that needs to be explored and we we need to make sure that's the case That that maybe we really might want to fold that into that July audit because we can I mean learn well The town has always been audited in july ready Okay, thank you. Uh, yep in the past The town has entered into a three-year contract with sold in powers for the audits And I was just wondering if Sandra had asked them about that if they would be interested in locking in a price for three years Sandra, did you hear that question? Yes, and the uh numbers Here do reflect that three-year contract as I said that at 17,000 an FY 20 through the 18 Next piece of that contract and then in the contract itself. I don't recall what that number is But yeah, we do have a three-year contract that they they just gave us a break on that first year Okay, thank you So the town website this line I have a note that I have to ask Tegan why it went up in FY 24 Because There's not an obvious reason Although Jamie is thinking I'm thinking she has her thinking I just did we pay the assistant webmaster right that That might be when we started paying a webmaster paying a webmaster Um, but it's not Is that web town website hearing on muni that that catalyst has come has Increased their fee by up to $6,000 do other websites do other Municipalities we haven't seen that yet, but it's been a lot of chatter on Yeah That that all of a sudden towns are getting $6,000 bills from catalysts. I was their website Well, is there is there a line item for webmaster somewhere else in the budget? That would be a wage a salary thing No, no not at this time. So you might want to add Yeah, let's add that Yeah, we should we should do that webmaster line, okay, and then that's what it is because Webmaster no And it is 200 a month which would be 2400 So that must be what that is Okay, that makes sense All right, so we should we'll just reorder that and then if there's I'll ask I'll follow up with teagan about if there's Some some expense for the website. We should be booking in in this way. Okay moving on education and training um This is for select board and Anybody else who wants it pretty much Well, there's education and training is kind of peppered through the various commissions. I want to take a look at the town or Hang on the town so the town clerk section does not include Education and training which is very important for the town clerk and I would say that that 800 dollars we post Town clerk training to that line And we have in the past It's also for the it's also for the select so it's so uh It's sorry Barbara. Do you want to say something so so what about like the constable and animal patrol officers? I know poll just has been taking a class for 500 dollars a month And I think the listers are looking to get more training since jans left Listers have education built into their budget Okay And I don't you know, I don't know there are some things in play here that predate me So that line item you may need to pump that up for Add and educate. I'm just looking for the animal control officer Um Yeah The animal control expenses could pick up the education piece or you can add a line for Education for the animal control officer Okay, all right. I'll uh, so we've got town Town clerk animal control listers have their own so okay, that's I'll I'll do a little asking what? Constable does constable have a line? Constable do we have a constable? Okay, he's the constable in is that what the animal control officer is called He's just doing both Okay Okay, um constable is that the 500 dollar training he's taking or Okay, got it. All right. I'll uh, I'll round that up um or round it all up the copier maintenance agreement. I think that's Uh, yeah, I'll come and ask you about that because sandra. You thought maybe that that was um Already accounted for elsewhere No, I I'm not sure why they pumped it up to 900 dollars. It's never been that high um But I I just can't say why FY 24 shows that as 900 dollars the actual and FY 23 was 225 so It seems like perhaps that should be adjusted But I think that maybe they were anticipating something Why is that under? Why is that under? select board in general office It's just a historic spot for that particular line item I mean that that's that's where It has been what can I tell you when we were regularly printing out 14 by 11 copies of the agenda or something I I It's just been there Uh, you can I'll tell you the way it can go you can move it for town report purposes if you want um We can we can visually move it but in the chart of accounts It it would stay there because you would lose all the history you you'd have to be pulling two line items to figure out What happened with that particular? budget line Okay, the mileage reimbursement I think i'm supposed to ask the question if it should be higher and this is mileage reimbursement just for office all office personnel and select board if they should need it and I believe Does it totally make come out of there as well? Oh, I think that should definitely be in the highway that one, but I guess maybe if it's not that yet I would think he has a lot of miles Yeah Okay Be an account that's rolled up underneath the individual categories As opposed to just being one lump sum that's underneath the select board disassociated with anything else So that mileage reimbursement is including slide board members if they are On paper I don't know is it Sandra have select board members ask for mileage reimbursement No But but what if they're the road commissioner and they're driving a whole bunch because they're the road commissioner I I do not recall in during the years of my tenure that select board has a for mileage reimbursement It it appears to be other paid employees Who have asked for mileage reimbursement under that line? Okay, so I need to uh Yep, all right, uh volunteer slash committee appreciation there is no Um no amount for that in the current f y 25 and I don't actually know what it is So in the six years I've been here There was only one year one summer that we held a volunteer appreciation barbecue And that was the budget for that. It was held at the garage when we had I don't know 50 or 75 people there But it's only happened one time in the six years. I've been here Okay Tegan offered that there is a group who is going and I can't recall who that group is. Gabrielle, maybe you Recall her. I it's friends of callus Friends of callus the the former pta, which is now the friends of callus They are going their plan is to do volunteer appreciation uh for each commission and committee they're going to bring muffins and Little goodies to the meetings and that At no charge to the town that is is just to do good work for their particular organization An appreciation of um The volunteer work on behalf of the town is is that that's your understanding and yes Then he relayed that information to us Okay, thanks the rural fire protection program seems to be a tradition $100 a year barbara. Do you know what that is? I don't okay The rural fire protection program is it's for supplies They install dry hydrants at various locations. Those are like ponds that you see sometimes that have that big pipe coming out and they would use that as a water source and some Sometimes they need matching ponds. Yeah, you know to get something so And 100 is enough for yeah. Yeah, okay. They're pretty Yeah, and 100 for miscellaneous And that's that one that the select board budget Um Gosh, let's see where we have Do you want to eat toner Okay Let's see it's eight 20 And we do have some other things to do. So I'm wondering Um, should we keep charging on and just try to get through it Let's see town treasurer. We kind of talked about that one and delinquent tax collector um, and we talked about the audit town hall We're we're even is that Town hall is on page Six at the top And I I believe am was going to ask Donna fish to weigh in on that budget And she would come and present Uh, I think I forgot. I'm sorry. I'll put it back on my list No, I did. I'm sorry. I did I talked to her and she's working on it Okay, and fund appropriations. Where's that? Which page is that fund appropriations or peppered all through your, uh, Budget it's you know for the conservation commission. It's for the swim committee It's for your reserve funds and you know, they're going to come in with the various committees and commissions as far to their budgets Yeah, okay So and I don't think we need to go through that line by line because because the delegates are going to do their work Um, yeah, and uh, I did the uh taxes dues and assessments piece Um, which is pretty straightforward that um, Sandra, where is that? At page four Okay So central Vermont solid waste charges a dollar per head They use the latest health census. So we figure that's about the same. I think Sandra um county tax They won't be figuring that out until december But they had uh their building got flooded.  So sander built in a three percent. I think for now My guess is it was going to be more percent But we built in a thousand dollars three percent would have been six hundred dollars, but um Whoops, sorry. Oh every computer I own is talking to me right now There um, oh my god, um Thank you apple They will bill us in december. I threw in a thousand dollars for a placeholder I mean, there's nothing you could do that is just a A guesstimate. That's right. That's right. Cvrcp is going to be exactly the same vlct Vlcp Vlct is going up by three percent Um, and this a cvspab is a lab thing that was a one-time thing and we're not That's not the lab thing. That's the state police advisory board community advisory board and it's defunct. It's gone away Okay Can we then can we remove it from our budget when it's defunct? Can be removed Yeah, it sounds like So the line above that that vlct dues I I jumped a line that should be up by three percent and I'll do that calculation Is some is one of you Writing you're going to have to decide what you want to see here There you you have some discussion about how you want the sheet to change Then then you need to let me know how you want the sheet to change If you're adding education lines, you know, whatever right Yep, okay So what do you suggest like a one person per meeting or one person period? Uh, well however you want to do it It it it might be burdensome to have the same person every meeting to have to take those Notes, but you should just give me a list at the end of your meeting as to how you want the sheet to change So for instance, if you really want that copy or maintenance agreement In general office, you write it down move it to general office. It doesn't change the amount of money What what it really changes is This that when people look at what was in FY 24 in the total select board Those items that you move elsewhere won't be there So that those line items like you're not comparing apples to oranges and I don't know that that's really important But you just need to be prepared to field those questions at town meeting The the amount of money is just going to be moved and the budget as a whole Will remain the same. There's there's there's no change Just the number appears in a different place and It's pretty easy to do Or I guess they're reneging we could we could also just Defund it and and then it becomes deleted and then absorb it into a different fund Well, you can't take it It has to just be reported because it was a line item that was hit in the last two years and that's That's gaspy But what you do is you just you would put Zero in that cell In that section and then add that line in another section It would have 000 0 and then up by 25 Well, we'll use the cop your maintenance. They would be 400 dollars so You're not changing the amount of money in your budget you're just Where that money appears as a line item So is there some Sandra is there's some reason why you couldn't just move it to a different place and then put a line where it used to be saying This item is now over under this other section Well, that would be in your notes, but that's not Possible to do in the town report. There's not enough room. Why can't you have notes in the town report? There's not enough room But if you just although we're minus the actual f y 23 column, so they'll be f y 23 goes in No, I mean remember there was that extraneous column last year the actual f y 23 I'm saying it's one less column right this year. We're not doing the actual 24 The year today If you're looking at a landscape Your budget is on landscape and in the town report at the moment It is on portrait and so there's much less room going across You could put it on landscape. I think it will take up more pages And if you add notes, it will take up more pages to your town report and add to the cost of your town report That's up to you. Why can't you just put it in the cell? So it would say uh, whatever one we're moving And then you would just say in the cell one Go to this other section that that's where this has been moved Because you it won't make a formula then you can add it Oh, I see I mean I don't mean to be glib, but it's a $400 item just add a line in general office And put zero in that line Then you've met your gas be requirements because the town report is part of your audit and you've just Moved that money elsewhere. It's I I don't really think it's a big deal. I don't even know that anybody would catch it Right somebody might know it might be a random question, but Yes, okay. All right. Sorry. I lost my cover Can I just ask one more question? So we can't change just change the name of it either, right? So that we can't just call it something else dinner Okay, that was my last attempt to call it dinner. I promise Well I mean you put your wallet here appreciate the money back in put $500 back in there and take yourselves out Or you do some budget uh, charrette's right on saturday and have a very nice lunch brought in and catered when if you Uh work over a weekend during You know a saturday from nine to 12 or nine to one You can do that. Well, that's not community appreciation is it but that's not what you're talking about anyway, jordan No, I'm just it's really not about the $400. I'm just trying to get a better sense of how we can move things around if we can or if we can't But so that all that's all very informative we can it's all Better for a later conversation anyway But thank you for entertaining all of it But you know, you could just write a note like make a list add mileage reimbursement to general office expenses Remove the Amount budget sell in select board. That's that's the instruction. That's very simple to do. It's a spreadsheet. Remember we're working on excel Of the things on the list for today insurance long-term debt taxes dues tax abatement Are we do we Want to go through those Oh And I personally feel like we've done enough for one night. Yeah, this is early days and um And we have people reading for next section. Yeah, there's people there's people here. So I agree All right Just so, you know, you don't have an insurance bill yet. So you couldn't have worked on that anyway and long-term debt Uh, the only thing we're going to add in that long-term debt Is that isma pillar fire truck payment that was down in your warned articles last year? And so your long-term debt is what it is. It is It is what it is Okay Thank you so much sander. I really appreciate it Um, and I think we're ready to talk about the town officer meet and greet All right. Well, thank you so very much. Let me know What changes you want when you meet next? Well, beryl all right Thank you. Thank you very much so Good tool for the first day of callous fall foliage festival friday, october 6th 4 to 5 30. I've seen a warning for this. Um saw that maple corner store And, um It'll be here and we're supposed to discuss the format and setup and what documents if any do have available as handouts Um, wait, I'm sorry. Are you? Okay Okay, so I'll go first which is Barbara you had some Questions about setup and I don't want to be sitting at a table as a meet and greet So I think we should mix and mingle that would be my vote for the format And um, I guess that's format and setup Yeah, so Based on that Then what we could do is have these tables just scattered around the road We could even have chairs around them in case people want to break out into conversations And sit to talk versus everybody relegated having to stand all the time Does that make sense? Yeah Okay, are we going to have snacks? Pardon me snacks But that is up to you guys. We did not put it in the fall foliage festival It could be added to our morning that Fall foliage flyer on being and it could be added to the online version of the flyer Okay, okay. So that that's gonna be up to you. You want to say like refreshments. That's your call I like snacks. Well, yeah, that would be okay. Would you call it a missile? That would be a miscellaneous probably I'm sorry. What did you say? I'm just looking at the budget and wondering where it would go Deciding it's miscellaneous So Okay, anything more on that I want dot would you like any documents any handouts available for people to take with them? Oh, what do we think? Well, what did you have in mind Barbara? Well, the only thing that I can come up with would be we we could have our most recent calendar report For people to take if they did if they can't find your current one or renew residents in town We could have a list of open positions right now We have four of the musicians on both the historic conservation commission And historic preservation commission and the conservation commission We could have those Good ideas. Yeah, okay, so town county court And open positions What about positions that need to be appointed next year? Soon to be open positions soon to be I've done in the last six years or so which is leading up to town meeting Is I am in charge of all the committees and commissions and how thing Are you going to have any vacancies and so forth? That hasn't happened yet that that happens in november according to my work schedule That's fair. Okay So did you guys look at the the draft warning that I had on your folder any suggestions on that? Oh, it's already it's already out of that maple Store Isn't it? I thought I saw that or that might be for the video for the video So I actually have two suggestions to it Which is to add the word with twice Um, do you have any front of you or can you Yes Town officials meet and greet Warning and invitation Okay, so I'd like to suggest The very first sentence say come meet with your new because if you can say come come meet It makes it feel like people who already know you are invited. So from say come meet with It can be for Everybody including the people who already know of you and then the very last sentence add the word with the gift They want to meet with you But any other suggestions that you guys have any changes I look at Am I am I getting the sense that you guys have written this okay? Yep, that's good But anything else you want to talk about for that night? We know the room setup the format the invitation Handouts any other handouts you can think of That only has a great slideshow of the room damage Oh, so it'd be cool to have a Yeah, that's a great idea Is there a given a curse of the riprap then Make sure that's in the slideshow Does it include the foreign after pictures or is it just as the foreign pictures? It looked you before it was for a few months. Yeah The after pictures are very boring right The road in good shape What about pictures of construction of this building from John? Yeah, that's there's a little bit on the website. Yeah, that's kind of all that's my It's not depressing Maybe a thing is pretty remarkable and inspirational Okay Thank you Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you All right, select board reports hiring a personnel and Winchester So, um, you notice we didn't interview anybody today That's because as you know, the hiring committee put forward one person for treasurer who is out of state And requested that we do the interview at our first meeting in um, September So Yeah, I did mean October. So, um, we'll if that's all right with everybody I noticed that our next meeting is on columbus day Is um, is that going to be a problem for anybody? It's nice people Yeah, okay, sorry. Yeah Um For me Actually, you know what I'm missing that meeting. So that works fine Consider But I won't be here that meeting. Are you still going to be in montana? No, I have a work commitment. Oh Oh, I see. Okay Okay, so I would warn that for uh, five o'clock then or or maybe five thirty I want to think about that but we would do that first if that's all right with everybody Based on some concerns raised at the last meeting. Should we do that? Like at five at the town office Oh, good Then we have the meeting here at six and building that whole hour in Gives us a little time to migrate on over here Good point. Thank you, jamey. So if that's all right with everybody, I'll do that um Then as you know, um Applications for the next two jobs close at the end of this month So far, um, I don't know a few more may have come in in the last few days But as as of a couple of days ago, we had three applicants for town administrator And I'm not aware of well, I'm aware of one that Said who intends to apply for foreman. I don't know if he has yet So it looks like we'll have candidates Now We do need to appoint hiring committees for those two we had appointed for treasurer but the the Um Make-up has to change Louis doesn't want to do it anymore Judy Donna and Mary Ann will continue on town administrator, but they would like to add Cornelia Carrie To the committee So I would like to move that we create a hiring committee for town administrator to consist of those people Is it possible for members of this life board to participate in these committees as well? Um, I don't see why not as long as there's no more than two of us there Rose were you saying you think we already made this appointment? Oh, and I forgot toby toby will be on that one too I don't have it in front of me but yeah, no, it was just discussed. They were appointed So the two new additions would be toby and um cornelia To both to both town administrator amaranth foreman. No road foreman would be different Okay, you want me to do that one at the same time? Um, so neither judy nor donna wants to serve on the road foreman crew toby will serve Mary Ann will serve and Dana has said that he will serve And the three of them think that that's a perfectly fine committee to to pick the road foreman So I would like to move them as that committee You said Dana toby and Mary Ann Is there a second? Second We'll need the motion and Winchester Okay, um, all in favor very high All right, so then do we have uh, so anthulian are you interested in being? This were tasked with hiring people I Definitely what I have more of an idea getting on the ground floor so I can have more of the upper works and They proceed can you say your name? My name is Mary Ann Miller Nice to meet you. I'm sorry Um We thought the hiring committee was doing labor for the slack work Right so that you would not have to be engaged. So the recommendation comes to you um So you would be a party to making your own recommendation When the board gets it you can accept recommendation you can deny them Whatever, but what I really want to assure you is that we have used a very uniform specific profit the screen Just so that there would be no question about fair enough um Both to prevent the town from incurring a liability And just having the confidence of the town Oh, no, I appreciate that it's it's all new. I'm new to this slack work and I would just you know, not even so much that I am participating in making an opinion. I would just like to have more knowledge about Um Do you want me to write right out the process of where you are? No, it's not the process just It feels strange to be giving a single person and not have any idea the other people that apply What things were looked at and choosing who to report and you know, it's It just feels weird to be it feels weird.  So it's not like I want to vote or or you know, do I just want to See how it works Under select word appointments, it's it's like we're to decide well and you're a Appointed committee. So your official meetings are warned Are warned meetings. So One could attend. Yeah as a audience member We could give this likewise and share the recipients. Um And we're detailed dispensation. So for example with the treasured position which we had four applicants We sent out a screening questionnaire only two applicants required Both applicants were interviewed Okay, using a standard interview process where you don't deviate you give everybody the same opportunity And then on the second round the interviews were more individualized True here has quite a few different committee had about that specific I think what we didn't do was to give you a breakdown of This is what happened We got four and then there were two and then after the second interview, we only agreed to forward one As a recommendation I think that if you want to participate you should Be allowed to participate So So for town administrators specifically or for both for both if that's okay Okay, so we should Sorry Road formant right down the open positions are And because we don't have guidance through you get on treasure great, um Before Yep Okay, uh And you want to be on the committee for both the BM the hiring committee for both I would they feel that participate. I don't have to be I would just like to be able to See to get a work is of how it works how we come to those decisions. How you know just it Sure, it feels real just to So here you go because that's it's like a lot of hot I think no terminology, but I think it's yeah, I mean I I don't I really don't have a hesitation about it at all. So in my yeah, does anybody have a hesitation about it I think it's fine I I do but I'm not sure what um It just it does seem odd to me that we would Delegate this to another committee And ask that to in order to save us some work and then we would participate And I'm trying to think how to satisfy Ann's concerns You know, I have a conversation with Donna after As we go through it Maybe we could ask a member of the hiring committee to come to us an executive session To explain what went on if that I'm just thinking out loud here and would that satisfy you and Mary Ann? Does that make sense? It makes sense if it's in keeping with the Vermont statute In terms of executive status and the development reason for an executive session no problem Um, I mean personnel hiring Yeah, well, it's not you're just you know, right I don't think I want to look at it too closely, but I remember I spent, you know 30 years working on several programs. I'm happy to um, it's all every Yeah, conceivable regulation never been So Ann if we had a 10 minute executive session with a member of the highway committee In order to just talk about they could tell us more details of what went on in the interviews Which really should not be open to the public Well, no, and I appreciate you shouldn't be open to the public, but I don't I'm sorry. What shouldn't be I would like to be able to participate in the process at least as a Non-interpretering participant like I'm not asking to have weight on decisions. I'm just Well, it is our decision I know but if it's our decision and we have just We're making a decision on a person We're making two decisions We're making a decision on the individuals that we're pointing to the hiring committees because we're trusting them with their expertise and perspective So there's a degree of presumed trust in those appointments and then with that I think a tacit acceptance of their recommendation relative to those appointments to then to consider their their recommendation, but you know, I think the next To I think to Ann Winchester's point You know, we we chose this route pretty explicitly to To offer some efficiency. I think if we wanted to have some more transparency in the In the process or the vetting Um since that and at the end it is our decision whether or not we I accept the recommendation or do not accept the recommendation Um for any of these outputs That we could we could ask the individual committees to meet with us an executive session to Provide a debriefing of sorts relative to their recommendation and the interviews that they Conducted I think that's probably the most appropriate Way way to do it I I I don't know that I can fully articulate it because I don't know what it's founded on But I guess I would I would also want to make sure that we're not Since we have a committee that's appointed I There's a certain law degree of fairness that I would think that we would want to Be be wary of since we're talking about on any personnel and that sort of thing. So There's lots of precedent for having this like board member. I mean the point that you need to pass very often Ann would be the logical one to do this fire Um, but she can't do it all by herself or she needs some help. It would be logical for Ann to be there My I I I don't know you very well And I know there I am a little bit more and I feel like you have such a wealth of knowledge And I feel like you want to learn and I feel Like I wish I knew what happened, you know, like, how do you do this? What's the process maybe going forward because you're in the infancy of your service to the town That you want to garnish knowledge About this maybe sometime down the road You might have to be appointing another hiring committee and they they won't have Marianne's expertise about This fairness is equity What the process was so when I hear that you offered to do this to me I'm like and really wants to learn And I would kind of like to learn I'm old though You know, but that's my interpretation of your offer Because I I know that you have a wealth of knowledge wealth of knowledge as to the other people on their committee too So I just want to throw that away I know that you're a group of the town power fighters and I'm nobody from the east side. So You know, and I don't I'm not It's fine. I mean in a perfect world, I think the committee would have preferred to have multiple candidates to recommend This hiring season, it's not so easy Okay, so um I don't quite know where that leaves us if ann tool and feel she can participate um ad hoc do we appoint her um Are we okay to appoint her? Her being in Yeah, I think I think we should just Unless there's you know, unless you're content to just Attend it as part of a public meeting process Which I mean, but you're doing interviews an executive session, right? We do interviews. Yeah, just with the committee and the candidate We meet during day we've met during the day here and we've done our work in this building But we're gonna have different we're gonna have different committees working. So come in depend on what people's schedules are And and what portion of you're getting together is Sort of closed interviews versus just you open meeting strategizing Yeah, we've we've done some meetings that are strategizing about what are we doing what are our questions going to be because the initial screening questions are specific to the job So for a road foreman it might be and I you told me tell them is Do you have occurrence, you know commercial driver's license? um, okay just things that hit what the most basic requirements of the job are And in some ways it tells us whether the applicant is a serious applicant or not. They're gonna spend, you know, 30 to 40 30 to 60 minutes, you know, after you know the And then scheduling them to come in, you know, I mean with scheduling both the committee and scheduling the candidates to come in for So we do have some meetings through work later. These are the questions, right? This is what we're going to do with the sent home This is the first round and then We've talked about the second round after we've done our first interviews okay, so um I you know I to me it doesn't seem strange to a point A member of the slack ward who is also a resident of callus. So I mean that's the other piece of it. I don't know Is that for you? Yeah What's the difference between an appointment and somebody just attending the meetings? So So Well just attending wouldn't be in the interviews. Do you It sounds like there's sort of two types of meetings and one is Open to the public warn No, no, they're not they're not I mean it is warm. Yeah for me, but But it's not open to the public well No public is attended, you know And it wasn't called an executive session. So anybody could attend it. It wasn't Second just Yeah And publishing them before before the hate right It might have been we should appoint so that has the option of going into executive sessions You may not always state that On a practical level, do you meet frequently during work hours We've met entirely during work hours. Okay And knowing that and do you still feel like you want to Um Take the time I've used all my vacation first the left-board stuff so far this year. So Okay For the for the road foreman, Dana is going to meet mine. It's going to have to be but then his work schedule Yeah Right, uh, okay um Yeah, I don't know we also But I don't know that we had to Warn this because we're just trying to appoint actually do we need to warn this? If it was it was warranted. Okay. It's a total action appoint. Yeah A point I already made. It's right down in the middle of the room. Um All right So Where are we at the point of deciding whether to I I don't understand how Anne could be an An ad hoc member what we need to decide is is she a voting member? Is that right? right And Anne do you want to be a voting member? I don't want to be that interfering because I know we all agree to this process um So what you want is to be able to Yes, I want to be able to like Watch it unfold Okay, so So you want to just be there as an observer. Is that what I'm hearing? I didn't want to Interfere with the decision making. I know you've been using the federal standards and I've seen the paperwork and But yeah, I want to see that kind of Start to finish it feels I just feel like I should I should have And I don't know if everybody else is equally Unaware of anything and then it's like, oh, there we go. It just it feels very strange To me and you all everyone on that committee has been involved in the town for years, you know, and I am learning so All I'm asking is how it is you want to interact What you want to be is kind of a fly on the wall in their meetings. Is that correct? Well, I don't want to be more invasive. I can tell everyone's very uncomfortable. So I don't want to be any more invasive than I don't think anybody's uncomfortable. I think that we're trying to determine, you know, how how One what your interest like what your interest of engagement is and then I mean I To be clear I share An interest in wanting to kind of better understand some of the context of the decision making So, you know, there's only really a couple of routes to do that one. We are Fully participating in those decisions, which is going to inherently add inefficiency to the whole delegation portion of it Or, you know, make a specific request for them to Bring that context to To the full board Prior to or along with the recommendation, which is also going to come with the downside or trade off of You know, some of that process haven't already played out. So from my perspective, I Those are kind of the two two pads that I'm To that I'm seeing. I mean, I wouldn't I certainly wouldn't be opposed to to having that that additional context Be be brought to the board so that it's not just a recommendation of This is how many and here and here's our recommendation. Um, you know, it's unique in that we're dealing with small pools of of the applicants, but either way, I think that preliminary discussion along with the recommendation for any of these positions would be would be Would kind of behoove us as as a as a governing body since we're the ones You know making the final approval and hiring And then we would be the first ones questioned about the Advocacy of that, I guess That is that about right? I mean Yes Yeah Well, Jordan, I was suggesting a third thing which is that Ann could be authorized to go to the meetings and listen in Like for the liaison No, she wouldn't be necessarily be reporting to the select board Because that's what the hiring committee does Yeah, I just I All things being really equal it seems like anybody in the community whether it's a select board member or a community member would have had the The privilege of attending any of those meetings that are warned and if they go into executive session The committee has the authority to invite any of said members into executive session to participate In the conversation if they find it in their discretion as assumes that those committee members Would make I mean they would have autonomy In their appointment to make that decision I was thinking more that I think I'm hearing that Ann just wants to hear what's going on And so they would just invite her in as an observer Is that I thought she wanted to be on the committee. I don't want to influence or anything. I just want to understand when you start with this I know you send out that immediate thing the second thing. How do you decide on the questions? How do you decide on? No, just How we go there to there Okay, so that's right here your sandwich is done like correlates to an Winchester suggestion that we Authorize Ann Tuland to attend the meetings Is that correct Ann Winchester? Yeah, I guess so which as Jordan points out. She's entitled to do anyway Unless it's an executive session a hiring You know a situation where they're interviewing people in which case it can't She would have to specifically be invited Yeah And would you want to be in on the interviews? I think just knowing the Better understanding of the diversity of applications and like What kind of people are applying to these jobs and Well, that's the confidential information that um, the public is not invited to share. They're not supposed to know who's applied Oh, no, I understand that So that you would have to be either a member of the committee or invited to participate in those conversations But But we could but we could ask that the committee is uh come to a select board meeting And have those conversations in executive session with with the select board. Yeah, yes That seems like Cleanest. Yeah It's like this person because we get on for this person because we right Yeah Personally I like the the charging of the hiring committees to um To not just put forth a recommendation, but like a a debriefing of who the applicants were Uh When or you know, what the questions were relative to the role and how how we got there to add that to add that context and um And I think that would help add a lot of transparency And I think that would probably look good to the community give us the opportunity to have those conversations Yeah Still a relatively efficient manner Okay, so where we're at is we have approved a motion for the road foreman Committee and we still need to appoint the town administrator hiring committee And we do we need a motion that the hiring committees will report to the select board in executive session I feel like we can just charge them with that Okay, um and to Lynn are you comfortable with that arrangement? I think everyone else is gonna be more comfortable with it. So it'll work for me. Yeah Okay, and also that you can attend the public meetings If you But yes, I can do that. Thank you Oh Rose the motion that Ann made and made the motion earlier. Did you write it down as a pointing? I think she put both committees that was that was my understanding. I just want to Make a motion to appoint that hiring committee. Um, and that was under the town administrator Donna Bench, Judy Robert, Marianne Miller, and Cornelia Kerry And Toby Bell. Yeah, the town administrator. Um, yeah Yeah, and then Yeah Another motion for the committee will be Marianne Miller Toby Talbot and Dana Watney Dana Toby and Marianne just the three. Yeah, and is that a motion from Ann Winchester? Yes, it was it was the same motion both committees in the same motion Actually, I don't know I know what I did You know, like when you Put the possible action or whatever so I can't part of the motion More words down here Okay We need none Toby and Marianne To the road for So is the timing for that for the Debriefing would that be october 9 for those other two because they're closing Only if they're ready They will have had to have had a meeting to evaluate everything So probably the one after that We don't have all the resumes in the period of September Okay Yeah Yeah, so probably end of october. Yeah, okay Uh, I'm sorry. Have we voted? Yeah, I'm sorry for the second you didn't vote it. No Seconded Hey all in favor All right All right, that was painful Okay, um, so Let's see, uh, I think that's it for the hiring of personnel update. Um, FEMA That is Scott, would you mind doing that one? I just I'm quite afraid quite honestly It is after nine o'clock. It is. Definitely drop off into a picture. Thank you, Marianne. Thanks very much. Thank you You're welcome. Thank you You guys are doing a good job This is hard to do uh females will be long fine Toby, Charlotte and I Michelle by playing this week ago The we're working on one band of inventory. It is so basis for our playing And we have to have that finished by October 26th, I think By finish and we have to have to include all the Incidents for which we're going to make a claim On and Toby is just being amazing. He's taking little little bits of data and melding them together and At the end of it, we're going to have a We're going to have a great Document to claim money from FEMA Uh, it's moving along Nobody knows when we're going to see our first deck Yeah, what was the day after over 26? Yes That's the due date for everything That's what we energy inventory, which is the list of incidents that we're asking the inversion for We after that we can go on for years Providing the documentation But that's when the list has to be moved So the pond is on or not on as of This Thank you Um all right and roads And then Jamie Our wheels are ordered What's a little guard rail from Lasca with us and Wister Road Up at the top They're supposed to start on singleton putting in the color this week Especially as we've done today We're still working to do the second grant And this year although we can't get away for until next year We did have someone Ellen made some of the better roads to program out and To go over the segments we were looking at fixing and that's the $30,000 match from this week So we're still doing that sent out the Toby's Contracts had them sent out in envelopes with uh stamped envelopes to return them All the different contractors And having to put chicken on How many have come back but I had spoken to other people I had set out with that. Yep. That's what we're doing Hopefully they'll be coming back in What was the material storage thing that we had received in except from Oh, yeah for the So the aot has to our b-trans is cleaning out a contaminated site and they are using a parcel of their man to safely contain it Until they're sticking somewhere else so it's A part it's their parcel. We need powers. Is that what we got that or is that it's a long route 14 It was basically a courtesy. You are doing this thing. Yeah. Yeah, so I have to consider That's definitely what it seems like. We'll treat it well. I was like, thank you. Thanks for letting us know Okay, and I did just quickly ask the trans about they don't know how route 14 works with signs But the store opening people are asking about getting More aggressive angelic on these signs not to run people over that are crossing the street All right the jam Um actually came up contracts. Is that that was part of that? Okay. Thank you. Um The bids are due tomorrow As of today, we have not received any bids They have to be hard copy Yeah, I think they can submit them electronically or hard copy Um We were expecting if they came in for them to come in the mail Um It is not super uncommon for people to submit their bids at the very last minute Um, and I believe Just I can't remember if the bids officially closed tomorrow at noon or at three But I think it's at three and I think it's not uncommon for contractors to Arrive at the bid opening with their bid So I'm trying very hard To remain optimistic But I do know there was a little bit of a a snafu on d&k's part In which one of the documents that listed bitter qualifications Um was different where it was posted on their website and What went out to bidders? And so we had at least one bidder Think who was planning to bid think they might not be qualified based on this old document that got left on the website accidentally Um, that's been fixed all bidders everybody who requested bid documents have gotten the same amendments to the bid all along Um, there's one Contractor I've been in touch with who still says they're bidding um, and I expect to see them tomorrow at the opening and Um, there's multiple other companies who have told me informally they plan to bid So I'm I and I said I'm remaining optimistic that this will come in But tomorrow at three will be a true Moment of truth What is the process for like you can just reopen the bid so yeah, so if nobody bids or if no bids come in that are satisfactory then we Us and cpa and d&k and dam safety I'll sort of sit down and say, you know, what do we think happened? Why do we think we didn't is it something to do with the design? Do we need to tweak the process? Do we need to tweak the project? um, and then we can open a new RFP process um Assuming bids come in then what'll happen is we'll open them in the public meeting Um, I forget exactly which details but some of the details from each one get sort of read into the record and then The lead engineer at d&k will bring them back to their office Evaluate them very thoroughly And come back to us with a recommendation And that recommendation might be You know one of these two here's the pros and cons of each or it might be this is the clear Best or it might be let's try again Jamie Yeah, Jamie sounds like someone has to take minutes tomorrow then Yeah, I mean it is an official select board meeting And we do need to have a quorum and we do Need minutes So are we going to have a quorum for sure? You'll be there I plan to leave here tomorrow morning and make it in time Can you be there? Will you? You can have in can Uh, like I Um, I can be I have another board meeting in number 430 which I'm trying to determine I don't know and I yeah, I I'll be there How's that? All right. Am I having to to run this meeting? Um, I guess so Our meeting I mean, yes, but I think it's pretty informal and michael will actually run most of it I think that you'll open it and turn the reins over to michael Okay, um in that case I can probably take minutes Yeah between us I can help with that too. Okay I do we have an idea how long it's gonna be Uh, I think it totally depends how many bids we get All right Um And we can have barbara notify us if bids come in throughout the day Do you do you want a one by one? I mean, yeah, well once the mail comes will never happen I'm picturing UPS and FedEx could come at any point throughout the day. Would it help if we zoom? No, I'll probably just kind of just probably want to tell the other word. It's going to be cheaper about us anyway, so Okay No, I'll just be it because I suspect it won't be more than an hour I think that's why okay Well, Jamie aren't some people just likely to show up And because they want to be there for the meeting anyway and hand their bids in at the last second Yes, I think so And I think community members and CPA members may Turn up It is at the town. I think it's at the town office. Yeah, we probably should have done it here If it gets to be too good, I think you can move over. Yeah, if anybody else shows up you can send them over Yeah We have to put a note on the door to send them over. Yeah, you can do that. Okay You can have 16 So just do it in the middle of the road We'll do it on the dam All right. Yeah, I think that's Oh, you know, we'll know a lot more tomorrow Okay, uh, the new town administrator will need office space and office equipment possible action Uh order a computer. I think there's like this But yeah, um Approved beginning the process of obtaining a laptop for the town administrator and and is it um If for some reason that person isn't hired, is there the need for another computer anyway like a a modern laptop because What what's at the town office? Are they all desktop? There is I think three desktop That sandro uses when she's there and when you hire a new treasurer, it will be the treasurer's Desktop, they will also inherit sandro's laptop But we've been a town administrator was a brand new position that we have nothing for and so I asked and Does this head person needed a desktop and a laptop and her response where she felt like you younger whippersnappers who know all The techniques of today's people just need a laptop I believe is what she was saying that would be I mean, I think if it begs the whole question that we began very briefly at the last meeting of Where's this person primarily going to be working out of? Do they have a specific? desk in office and if they do What building is that in and where in that building is it? So it seems I mean, yes, I feel like we could start this process that person's going to need a laptop Jamie just to be clear what I told Barbara actually what Gabriel told me to tell Barbara Is that you'll a laptop and then if the person wants A more permanent station will get them a docking station and a screen Yeah, absolutely. I mean Personally if I were interested in this position It would be a laptop and then you could do some of the work from home as needed And some of the work from the town office when you need to be there and some That's by way of saying we'll figure out, you know We're once we figure out where to put them we'll figure out what the actual equipment is but we know for sure they're going to need a laptop right Okay, so this is who are we authorizing then to begin the process of obtaining a laptop would that be Jordan? We're hoping to have Pricey tonight so that we feel like we would know what you're authorizing. I mean it seems like we should Imagine it's probably in the neighborhood of 15 to $1,700 Not to exceed $2,000 once you add software For yeah, and I would probably authorize T and to coordinate that or T get a wall and or Barbara to coordinate that with with RV I would actually say that we should Frankly in working with RV. I know that they they don't really care They're fairly equipment agnostic And if we decide to buy a piece of equipment and Hand it to them then and they do the up-putting Um that sometimes streamlines things a little bit so If it seems to me that there's not likely a long wait time to get our hands on A computer and it makes me wonder if we're A meeting or two or three away from potentially hiring this position The last few laptops we've gotten they took us two months or longer to get it. Don't we're working with RV tech It's a good two months at least Yeah I just wonder a little bit if the the person who ends up in the position would want to have some say and What computer they get as possible Actually, okay, I don't know But but maybe it would make sense to to ask And we wouldn't need a motion for this, but we could ask Barbara and Tegan to begin the process of researching What's available and the pricing and making a recommendation so that we Could theoretically make a motion and approve it at the next meeting No That's fun. And also we should have Sandra if there's any particular I don't know like Spacks, I don't know if she would really be the I don't really be worried about it. I guess if it were If it were one of like the listers or somebody who's going to be using like More data heavy map based software or you know modeling software, but like For a treasure, it's going to be excel and work documents and pdf viewing Never x-worded and never but never x-word based, right? Or is there software on the computer? It's pretty latest And I don't know what's any software though, but there's a web based so but I'm going to be uh Rondi moving with Tegan later this week. Anyway, so I guess the real question is whether or not We want to start the process between now and November night And I guess probably not but we can come back with a more specific proposal not a proposal for October night. Well, especially if you say that rv10 is fine because Ordering off of amazon or whatever we choose to do that simplifies it So why don't you talk to Tegan on your shirt? That's a good idea Great. Okay, collective bargaining team. I think we can remove that right or do we still like but let's see There was a possible action of signing an addendum tonight. Okay. Yeah Larry Larry Mokin was supposed to draft up something or have it drafted and send it to me and he didn't But I think he told me enough about it. It sounds very simple. I think I can probably draft this addendum So I'll try to have it for the next meeting Actually, we can't sign it until we've negotiated the fee because it has to actually put the number in it, right? The addendum for the road foreman the the number has to go into the addendum the hourly Yeah, so, um, I'll I don't think I was trying to save the lawyer fees because we've already blown that budget out of the water And um, I think I can just draft it and I'll have it ready when we when it's appropriate Okay, um shed v. Callas No executive session needed tonight Uh, yeah Okay, all right, um So two follow-up items who wants to I guess maybe I should do this first round of sandra budget, um Round up for the week because um It was mostly thus the stuff that um Although we still have the pressing question of the dinner copier Yeah, so I'll take a crack at that and then who wants to follow up with hard wick about the um special tax Zone We'll do that. Okay All right And with that I would take a motion to adjourn. Sorry. Go ahead. Go ahead. Wait. May I say one more thing? Um at the next meeting we are going to start work on Town clerk listers budget sorry on the budget pieces regarding town clerk listers zoning administrator d rb swim committee cemetery commission um So who's the liaisons for those? So when you say The liaisons for like every for a lot of things and yeah, you need to connect That Yeah, so that's for next week and um, you've got the list anyway Uh, we just need to get that going. I'll be sure to send out follow-up letters to all these folks In fact, I've already talked to john Oh, and I would add town town hall to that because john's going to come in and talk about the town hall On the ninth so he'll do listers zoning administrator in town hall Um, yeah, so just check in with your folks and Let's make sure those are ready for October 9th All right Okay, and with that Pleasure to adjourn Second All in favor say aye. Okay. Thank you