Okay, we're going to complete some unfinished business really quickly. Would one of the board members like to move to close the public hearing on the article 5? So moved. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor of closing discussion on article 5? Aye. Aye. Okay. Now as I mentioned at the beginning of the meeting where things are a little topsy-turvy, we're going to suspend the select board meeting agenda and jump into the joint meeting with our guests, the village trustees. And we'll do that portion. And then the select board will come back together to do the rest of their agenda after this, after the joint meeting with the trustees. So do you want to call your board to order? And I will call the meeting of the village trustees to order. I just have a couple of intro things and then I will hand it over to everybody. So this part of the agenda is a visit with our legislative delegation. And I would like to thank each and every one of you for taking time out of your extremely busy schedules to be here and to talk with us about what we're proposing. We want to update you on our work over the last few years on consolidation and saving taxpayer dollars, eliminating duplication and increasing efficiency. And we also want to share with you some details of our proposed merger plan, which we will vote on this November 3rd. We invite you to share your thoughts about our work so far, ask questions and any suggestions you might want us to address as we continue with our work. And I will let Andrew introduce George Tyler to get started. George Tyler, our village vice president. I thought you might have more to say than that, but that's okay. Is this working? I don't want to scream at everybody. There's no appropriate introduction. Thanks. I'm going to reiterate, I really appreciate all our reps being here, state senators and reps. And we understand this is the busy, maximally busy time of year for you. So I'm going to try to rush through this. It's huge detail. I'm going to try to streamline it as much as possible. So if I ramble a bit, let me know and try to get through it as best I can. So again, thanks for coming and we're going to go to the cover slide. And I am on the Essex Junction, Essex Select Board Governance Subcommittee. My three other partners on the subcommittee are Max Levy, Andy Watts and Raj Chara. And just to address those who are keeping track of this, we are the working group that is putting the transition and the charter together. And I will make a note that I live in the village. Raj lives in the village. Max lives in the town outside the village. Andy Watts lives in the town outside the village. So we have kind of a town village balance. That's the core nucleus of the group that's putting the transition charter together. Hey, Andy. Sure. Okay. Down outside the village. Next slide here. So how we got here very quickly. Again, I want to kind of address something that I sort of is reverberating through these public hearings. That there's this sort of existential struggle going on between the village and the town on the select board or between the select board and the trustees. And I for one am kind of baffled by it, but I'm fascinated to hear about it. But I think from our perspective, we've been working pretty closely together for the last seven years. This started back in 2013 when the boards met and we started talking about having sharing administrative services. At that point in time, the village manager had resigned. And rather than hiring another village manager, we had the idea of potentially having the town manager also become the village manager. And then slowly taking advantages of people retiring or leaving and growing. We thought we might be able to consolidate the administrations of the town in the village into one and see where that took us. See if that might be a different approach to consolidating the village in the town or at least bringing us closer together and having better communication. So we, at that point, the two boards met and we all unanimously, and I want to make a point that at that point in time on the select board, there were four members from the town outside the village and one person on the select board who was from the village. So again, this was not the village forcing something on the town. It was all done unanimously, willingly. I think if anyone had raised red flags, I don't think we would have gone forward with it. So we had a shared services report. Shortly after that, the town manager did become the village manager. Shortly after that, the village finance director became the finance director for the entire community, town and village. The village clerk became the clerk for the town and the village. And then we crossed really big hurdle where we integrated the two public works budgets. The reasoning was we all drive on the same roads. They all require the same amount of maintenance. The roads don't know whether they're in the village or the town. So we decided we should just consolidate their budgets and just have one bill that goes out to everybody. And that was great and has been working great ever since 2016. In 2018, we hired Evan Teach, our new unified manager. That was significant because he was the first manager hired as a unified village town manager. Evan commenced an alignment process to look at village in town, various departments, policies and procedures, and started to bring them together. And that's been going on and that's a great story. But again, I don't want to get too far into the detail. And Evan, under Evan, we also started meeting regularly, the Board of Trustees and the Essex Select Board, having regular monthly meetings. And I think last year, probably half of our meetings were joint meetings like the one we're having tonight. So again, the idea that we're struggling and we're forcing decisions on each other, I don't know where that's coming from, which I hope we can get by that. One of the things that we knew eventually that we would probably need to restructure the government. We knew that this probably wasn't a sustainable thing, just having a shared administration. We knew that sooner or later we were probably going to have to change the board structure. So in 2018, the two boards appointed a governance subcommittee, that's what I introduced earlier, to begin looking at different governance models, looking at doing research and looking at different possibilities for changing the village and town government. None of this was going to be something that we were going to do on our own. We always knew that it was going to have to be something that went out to the voters, but we wanted to do a lot of solid research. So I'll go to the next slide here. So the governance subcommittee, very briefly, we reviewed over 12 local governance models. One of them included separating the village and the town. One of them included creating a city with a mayor. We looked at everything. We ranked all the different models. We had 17 criteria that included things like impacts on public safety, equal representation, economic sustainability, ease of public participation and tax equity. So we ranked them all, and after ranking them all and debating all these different models, we decided that a unified charter model would be the best approach. This would be basically, almost the idea would be dissolving the village charter and just really revising the town charter, but it would have required such an extensive revision. It also, it seemed perhaps a little bit more politically acceptable, the idea that we would just be creating a new town charter, so that no one gets the impression that one party is eating up or taking over the other. So that was our proposal. And then shortly after that, the joint boards, the trustees and the select board, authorized us. They can't approve a charter, they can't approve anything like that, but they authorized the subcommittee to continue working on a unified charter. So we'll go to the next slide here. The key challenges, I think this has come up before and probably from the previous public hearings, we know that we have representation as a hot issue. The other issue, of course, is the integrating the town and village operating budgets with an unacceptable increase in the town outside the village. I'm just going to quick aside here. I do agree the village does tax itself to buy water slides, and we did buy ourself a water slide. We also tax ourselves to buy the pool that the water slide is in. We tax ourselves to pay for the park and the park buildings. One of those buildings now houses the Essex town recreation department. We tax ourselves to pay for the sidewalks in the streets and all the other sidewalks and streets in the village, along with the fire department, the library. In short, we tax ourselves to pay for all the same municipal services that other communities around Chittenden County have. But the difference, of course, is that we're also town citizens and we pay taxes to the town to help pay for those services in the town. Now, you'd say, well, why doesn't the village just become independent? What's going on here? If we look at the total operating budget for this entire community, the town is about roughly around $15 million. The village is about $3.3 million. So slightly over $18 million. If we look at our total expenditures and you base the idea of should we separate or merge on that, are we more joined by what we share or what separates us? And we are clearly, clearly much more joined at the hip by what we share. For example, the biggest bill is the police department. After that, it's the public works departments. Those are great big bills. We share those costs. And so when people wonder why don't we just separate, that's part of the logic. So anyway, the other issue was designing a representative elected council model that balances different expectations and political views and specifically voting districts versus at-large elections. And again, we've seen how contentious this is. We understood it was going to be contentious going into it. And so we decided that we just needed to do a lot of research. As an aside, one of the things that we did was we hired Dan Richardson, who is an attorney in Montpelier, who is an expert on municipal law. He advised the government subcommittee. The other thing we did is that we hired Keller-Hur Samets Invoke, a marketing company in Burlington that has done some work for government and nonprofits. We asked them to help us design a survey. The survey to just get a generous sense of people's feelings about merger, people's feelings about what kind of government structure they wanted to see, people's feelings about how we might want to integrate taxes. I'm going to just go a little bit more about the survey because it's been controversial here. When we put the survey together, we knew we had to balance brevity with thoroughness. We couldn't ask every single permutation of every question we could think of. If we couldn't ask people to sit down and take a 45-minute or one-hour survey, our response rate would have gone right down. On the other hand, we wanted to get some answers to questions. We knew all along that a lot of people were going to want to send us a message through the survey. If we didn't ask the right question, they were going to be frustrated. But unfortunately, we had to just leave some questions out. We took the survey and we had a great response. We had over 800 people of just about split 50-50 between the village and the town. That was a pretty big piece of information that came back to us and informed us about representation and what was on people's minds. Really, we understood and we've been criticized that while we didn't understand the details of the survey, what we saw and we wanted to look at were trends. One of the trends we looked at is a lot of people liked at-large voting. A lot of people wanted to see district voting. There was not one specific model that clearly was head and shoulders above everything else. Next slide. To go back to generally what we're looking at right now in the charter is besides the permanent component of the charter is to have a transitional phase of the charter that will help transition from our two government, two board structure into a permanent structure. For the first five years, there will be a seven-member board. This is something we're proposing and this could be revised. A seven-member board with two town seats, two village seats and three at-large seats and it would be up to this board to develop a permanent model that could be any combination of the above. Also during the first five years, we would organize town and village departments, building codes, municipal plans, ordinances and so forth. The slightly controversial piece of this is what happens in the first 12 years. Now if you think of talking about going back to incorporating the village's general fund budget into the town, if we did that all at once, folks at the average home in the town outside the village would see something on the order of a 24-25% tax increase, which I think in any reasonable person's mind is unacceptable. We had the idea of what if we start to phase this in and this is not a new idea. When IBM decided it was no longer going to pay the town in the village a machinery and equipment tax, rather than take it out all at once, it phased it down over 14 years. It was rough. I was on the board for a lot of those years and each year we had to have a $120,000 bite come out of our budget, but it was far better than losing, I can remember that we were getting, the village was getting something like two and a half and the town was getting about $2.8 million that year, so it would have been huge. So phasing in, that was the idea that occurred to us, that we might be able to phase in the reconciliation of the town and the village cost over 12 years. One of the things that this does is by phasing it in, it takes advantage of grand list growth. So in other words, the town and the village are both growing. The more you grow, the wealthier, the larger your tax base gets, the more the cost can get spread around. So you're not hitting individual homeowners as much and we can talk about this a little bit more, so we'll just go to the next slide here. So to get to the representation piece, why a seven-member board with two town, two village and three at large? First of all, it's an odd number of members of Lloyd's deadlock. Second, it balances the wishes of those favoring voting districts versus those favoring at large voting. It addresses the concerns that we heard in the survey that some parts of the community could be marginalized, particularly we've heard of the more rural areas of Essex. It'd be hard for them to get a representative, so it's better, we want to have a couple of fixed seats on the new merge board so we can kind of make sure that at least we get here some of their voice. So the two plus two district, it also gives you, make sure that you have some diversity. It is possible if you had all at large, you could only get all town or all village voters, so we wanted to build in some diversity in this transitional phase. The three at large component, however, embodies the idea that board members represent the entire community. It is, we all like to say when they're elected, we represent the entire community, but when only half of the community is voting for you, it's kind of hard to say that, so it kind of balances that. Lastly, we had asked the senior analyst for KSV to give us his assessment of what the survey was saying about representation, and he came up with the interesting, he came up with the same idea, he came up with the same result that some kind of a hybrid mix of at large and district might be the best way to go. So go to the next slide. So why not a, and we've heard this tonight, why not a seven member board with three from the town, three village, and one at large, and I think Andy touched on a little bit of this at the beginning of the meeting, and so Andy, I'm going to probably repeat a lot of the things you said. We actually explored this concept back in November of 2018 as part of the legal research we were doing on board structures, and we were looking at even numbered boards at that time. And our attorney said there were no state statutes against even number boards, and you could have them, but an odd number is implied by the select board statutes and that an odd number is a practical requirement. Now, what he's saying, and I haven't had time to verify this with Dan, but I'm going to do a little bit of interpretation here. What he's saying is that there's nothing in the charter right now, if you had an even number board that says, here's how you break a tie. And I want to get a little bit of a practical issue, just for consideration about why a tie, it might be a little problematic on the select board or the trustees right now. The select board and the trustees right now are putting together budgets for the coming annual meetings. We have about a month and a half to take a multimillion dollar budget that staff prepares for us, discuss it, change it, listen, talk to department heads, warn it publicly, and then put it on a ballot. And it has to be voted to put on a ballot. The select board has to pass it. They have to have a, you know, a majority has to say yes, put it on a ballot. That's a very tight window. If they became deadlocked in the middle of that process in a tie, with no way of breaking the tie, I'm baffled, I don't even know what would happen. You would miss your window for warning the budget. So you'd have some serious problems there. So I think this is the issue. It's not that we're trying to thwart democracy or stop something from happening, but there are a lot of ramifications from having an even number of board that you have to think about. And I think that was one of the issues. So one of the other things that the council advised us is that in communities, as Andy pointed out, where there are even number boards, typically they have a mayor to break the tie. And so if you think about it, and this was some of the discussion we had, if we had a 3-3-1 model, you'd have three people who would have to run an election in the town or whatever district, three who would run in another district, but one person has to run at large. Well, if you're that one person on a seven-member board, that's kind of an unfair position from my perspective anyway. What does this one person get for having to run a community-wide race? And so we, at the time, debated and discussed, well, maybe that person would automatically become chair of the board. Maybe that person would become the spokesperson for the community. Maybe that person would become the liaison between the board and the manager. Well, if you look around Vermont at most communities that have mayors, that's what mayors do. Now, that was the reason we put the question about mayors on the KSV survey. And I think, as Andy alluded to, the response we got was overwhelmingly negative, and we looked at a lot of the comments associated with the questions, and I think there was a lot of misunderstanding about what a mayor is. Some mayors have a lot of power, have a lot of administrative and managerial authority. Most mayors, at least in Vermont, are what are called weak mayors. They're the more qualified board members that usually maybe don't even vote on normal board business, but they do vote to break a tie. But we could understand people getting upset about and concerned about a mayor considering that the former mayor of Burlington is leading the Iowa caucus right now. So why we made the 223 model temporary instead of saying let's make this a permanent model? Well, right now we have estimates of what the populations of the village in the town are. We won't know until the 2020 census is out. And so we don't have a permanent, to have a permanent representation model we would need to want to start with really accurate counts. And also, as we've said, a number of people have said, you'd need some mechanism for adjusting the boundaries to a lot for population growth. State statute says you can't have a difference of 10% between one voting district or another. The other issue we had was that we were concerned about at this stage of institutionalizing a permanent town and village dynamic on the board. Some people may think it's necessary, but a lot of people think if we're trying to create a new community with a new outlook, a new perspective, a new understanding of who we are, do we really want to anchor ourselves to the past and say, yeah, we're a new community, but we're still going to stick with this village town thing and have it incorporated right onto the board. Many community members said they very much favored districts but not village town voting districts. They voted districts, for example, that incorporated the rural area of Essex and maybe incorporated just the more developed part of the village and the suburban area of the town. Maybe you could have districts that would have a little slice of all three. District thing is very complex. There's a lot of different possibilities. And so our idea was, and really most communities that do district thing, they usually hire a third party or appoint some kind of a committee to study district thing and really do a good job with it. And so our thought was if we have a five-member board, I mean a seven-member board and they have a window to work in, they can take on that task and really have a good solid, long, open, transparent community conversation about what kind of districts we want to see here in Essex. And I added the last little bit here, and I'm sorry I ad-lipped a little bit, but I thought that maybe before we had that discussion about what kind of districts we want in Essex, maybe we want to put a little bit of the tension of the village town stuff behind us because it can be a politically sensitive issue. So maybe if we had a merger and you have a board that now can sort of draw its breath and take it easy, now they can do a really good, thorough job about districting. So go to the next slide. To go to the tax reconciliation piece, so over a 12-year phase in period, the village would be, and these are just technical designations and I think it's unfortunate. This is sort of the legal stuff that we have to do in order to phase in the tax differential between the village and the town. So one of the things we would do is the village for a 12-year period would be designated as a debt assessment district and would pay off the residual debt that's just unique to the village. So that debt wouldn't be transferred over to the town or to the town general fund. The second piece is the village would be designated as a tax reconciliation district for the same reason, of gradually phasing in the village's grand list at the amount that, at the beginning of the charter, I mean at the point of merger and gradually phasing that amount in over 12 years. And the estimate right now is somewhere in the vicinity of $23 to $24 if we just did that per year. So the next piece we looked at we tried to think of some further ways of further lowering down that effect of transferring the village's costs into the town. And we looked at what other communities have done and we tried to get some ideas about what we might do here and what might be possible and viable here with the legislature. And one of the things we thought of was that the village could be designated as a sidewalk district. Right now the village spends a lot of money on sidewalks. It spends about 120,000 a year clearing the sidewalks in the wintertime. Town has sidewalks, absolutely, but the town sidewalks are not a coherent network. They tend to be in developments and they're not plowed and maintained in the wintertime as aggressively. So we thought we might be able to make a case for calling the village a sidewalk district for a period of 12 years where maintenance of the sidewalk would just stay with the village. That cost would not be transferred over to the town. Same thing for the village's capital improvement list. Right now, town and village both have lists of streets and other infrastructure repairs that they want to get to. Right now, we all share the cost of paying for the town's capital repairs but only the village pays for the cost of the village's capital repairs. So we would keep it that way for a little bit longer and the village would just, for a period of 12 years, just pay its own capital infrastructure costs and not transfer those costs over to the town. Lastly, one of the other things we had in mind was there are several communities that have charters that have designated downtowns. Bennington was one of the examples we looked at. These are older communities that have little old downtowns that they're trying to revitalize as we are doing in S6 Junction. And right now, we have a special tax and economic development tax in the village and that money is used just to improve the village's center. And the idea is that we would keep, maybe not that entire tax, but we would keep part of that tax in place. It would not be transferred over to the town. It would further reduce the impact of transferring the village's cost into the town and would also ensure that our revitalization efforts in the village continue. So we'll go to the next slide. Some of the other things that we are recommending, first of all, is that we would move from having a voice vote to having an Australian ballot for the budget. The budget would be approved by an Australian ballot. The annual meeting in March, therefore, that typically happens for the town and for the village it's in April, that would be an informational meeting. And at the end of the informational meeting, the town meeting would be suspended for a month and then you would take it back up in April and we would vote on the same day as the Essex-Westford school district vote. So it would be one vote, one Australian ballot vote for a school district, elected officials, municipal budget. The name of the new community would be Essex. The incorporated, the presently incorporated village of Essex Junction would become the unincorporated village of Essex Junction. Just as White River Junction is the incorporated village in the town of Hartford. And then I also wanted to address something that wasn't really part of the local governance committee's concern, but I did want to mention it because it keeps coming up. We heard in the survey a lot of concern about water and infrastructure and, you know, I don't want to be paying for someone's water bills and their water lines are old and so forth. Water and sewer bills in the village and the town are paid by, those costs are paid by water bills. They're not paid by municipal taxes. And that wouldn't change. So sewer line, if you live in the town and I've heard a number of people say, well I'm on septic and why would I have to start paying? Well you wouldn't, nothing would change in terms of what we're currently paying for water and sewer costs on either side of the border. And one last point I wanted to make is that the new community would acquire all the assets of the existing communities and one of those assets would be Essex Junction's water treatment plant which I think the trustees are very proud of it is a state of the art, extremely well run, very, very safe facility. Right now it's owned by the village, it's funded by the tri-town of Williston, Essex Town and Essex Junction as part of our sewer rates and that water treatment plant would become part of the new community.  I hope that was quick enough and thanks. George, thank you so much. In addition to thanking you and for the presentation as well I also appreciate the full members of the government subcommittee because clearly without the work of the subcommittee this would not have happened. So Andy, Max, George, Raj, sincerely thank you for getting this together in all the work you've done. Thank you. At this point what we would love to do is we have some special guests. We really appreciate you as already been said taking the time to be out here tonight so thank you and hoping that you would be willing to introduce yourselves for those who may not know who you are and to let us know what your thoughts are and what you've just heard. Good evening, okay. It's Ash, senator from Chittenden County amongst some of my peers here so thank you, that's a very helpful and comprehensive presentation. One of the things that would be most helpful for me and I understand a lot of things are yet to be the vote has to happen, all these other things but I get the sense that there's some concern about areas where the legislature may not be willing to approve a charter change if we are presented with one and I'm hoping that maybe you could flag some of the areas of concern because we face charter changes all the time they're usually very non-controversial once a community is voted for it. What are some of the caution flags that make you particularly anxious about how we might dispose of this? Yeah, if I can. The taxing districts, the taxing... I'm pretty sure our debt assessment district of keeping the villages debt separate from the rest of the town I think that's fine but declaring the village a special district for the purpose of reconciling the tax rates sidewalk district, capital district these are a little unusual but I think that without some way of gradually putting these budgets together I think would face a major hurdle I don't think what we're asking for is outrageous as I understand it, our attorney has already met with the tax department but it really would be with the government ops committee to look at this and how can I say it cut us some slack here I don't think it's outrageous, I think it's pretty good I think it's pretty solid and I think our numbers are going to be pretty good but I think it's a little unusual what we're asking for. If I could just follow up quick is there anything about this merging, relating to the taxes that has any effect on the state's revenues? Not that I'm aware of but one thing it will do which I would also mention to the legislature is that right now global foundries is an S extension right now global foundries gets two property tax bills global foundries would only get one property tax bill, you might want to mention that to some people it gets a village tax bill and it gets a town tax bill and all of a sudden it would only get one tax bill and that tax bill would probably go down okay I just want to introduce myself I'm Senator Ginny Lyons I live in Williston and I'm very much connected to S extension and Essex Town itself but it seems to me that your concerns are probably valid ones but the way you've explained the transition particularly for the tax district I think is very logical so if you continue to work with the tax department and as you said bring information into the GOV ops committees I think that I certainly will be supporting the work the good work that you're doing the issue is what the vote will be once the charter is put together and each vote that you have going forward will be very important when votes are close then legislators tend to have legal concerns but I'm sure you've heard that but I think for those of us who are familiar with Essex Junction and have represented you I think I look forward to seeing all of this fall together thank you for your good work thank you Senator Senator Sorotkin you did it on my microphone so I'm Michael Sorotkin and I what's so funny use the microphone there's the microphone there's the microphone over here too I raised my family TOV we didn't have that term back then for 25 years in the town of Essex and I really want to thank you for taking this on I remember 25 years ago or more my late wife Sally Fox was a representative for 16 years of the town and I always used to say to her how does this work between the town and the village and even though she was a representative she had a really hard time explaining it to me but I think we both realized that there was an issue in consolidation and that it should be explored with some level of energy and I realize in some ways it could be a thankless task but I think it's worth looking at and I would hope that even though George raises some legitimate concerns that the legislature may have I think it's generally the way of the legislature if the town and the village vote to govern themselves in such a way the presumption and the fault is going to be they're going to try and find a way to accept that so it's still up to you obviously to get it through all the contentiousness that's going on here but it must be countless hours I can only imagine thank you Mike I remember Sally very well Debbie Ingram another one of the senators for the county and I'm very sorry I was late because I was at another meeting that got to be extremely contentious and I was so happy to walk down the hall and not hear any shouting or anything going on here it's lovely so Emily I have a lot of praise for the hard work that you've been doing to work this out and I would agree that if you can come to agreement and if you can educate the voters and especially given the long history of going back and forth and the challenges that you've faced over the years I think that I'd be very happy to support you I'm sure we could persuade our colleagues at the state level to support you for doing such a good job thank you hi I'm Chris Pearson another one of your senators I feel like an old timer here 13 years ago I was in the house and I served on a committee with Debbie Evans and Tim German and they were I think on opposite sides of this issue so they gave me a little briefing back then and I've been kind of curiously watching from afar so I'll just echo the colleagues thank you for the laborious task I'm sure it's often thankless and we look forward to seeing what the community comes up with I would tend to agree that it will not be a big issue if the community speaks clearly there's not an impact for the ed fund in particular for the state that's what we're always watching I wouldn't let that keep you up at night you'll have many more details to sweat through I wouldn't say the legislature is one of them thank you hi Lori Houghton so I serve as a house of representatives in District 8-2 which is a conjunction I wanted to say two things one is I was a trustee when we started these conversations back in 2013 and quite frankly had to leave the board into last year because of the countless hours that you all are putting into this so I know the hard work whether or not people in the audience agree or disagree I think a level of respect and thank you has to come forward because I know this is a volunteer job and you're putting your heart and soul in this so thank you and I also want to apologize to my colleagues because I met to send an email today and didn't have time but George and I have been in contact I have this some documents that outline everything I've talked to the chair and the vice chair of the government ops committee in the house council I'll let you know when the meeting is so you can all attend if you'd like to get their feedback on what's been presented to me as well so thank you so I'm Linda Myers from the town outside the village and having served on the select board for 13 years I understand what you all are going through if I remember correctly I was on the select board was it 2007 when was the last time we had the last major vote and so I remember what happened then I commend you for what you're doing I think you've come up with a good plan I agree with the senators that as long as and I say this because I remember the appropriations committee as long as it doesn't in some way affect the taxes of the state there should not be a major issue to go through the house government operations committee and then the floor of the house and the senate I'm Bob Bancroft and I'm sort of a hybrid here I am not a resident of the junction nor of the town at all I live in Westford and I represent what I call the rural part of Essex with one little section so I actually can park a car and walk my comments are really kind of directed because I was here for the first part of the meeting and what I heard today is very similar to what I hear at the state level the rural versus the urban suburban area and Reed Burlington Chittenden County I guess you should say and it's a real concern for anybody in the northeast kingdom how they feel about this kind of union and their concerns are much different than the concerns of the people in Chittenden County I go back to the school merger and that was a very contentious item in Westford there was this concern about having any control that our interests would be cared for and it was it divided the town pretty well and I still have my crystal ball and it still works a little bit and looking back I think if it wasn't for the tax advantages I don't think the merger would have been improved in Westford so I guess what I'm saying it comes down to really I want to reinforce it's a money issue that's all I'd say thank you Bob did I get that? Dan Gianmatista here in the village appreciate the thorough presentation where I know so much work has gone into this and appreciate the community voice that has been brought here tonight in the legislature the matter of disposing a municipal charter short of a constitutional implication typically is quite quick and so certainly there's been several conversations I know to get information on that front and certainly we will have open lines of communication as everyone has expressed and I hope that that offers reciprocated and just know that we're happy to be a resource I do I just can't help but reflect on the comments of Jerry Fox earlier about Essex and the community that we're in in the next 20 years or so your proposal I think deals a great deal with the short and midterm and the long term so I hope and I trust that the viewpoint of that long term consideration of where we're going will be baked into the community discussion it sounds like it already is but if we think about what's going on with increased regionalization with increased demands both volunteer boards and staff positions both at the municipal level and state level and government we are going to face challenges where we have some tough demographic headwinds and I think that there's a growing sense and understanding of the urgency at this moment that we have the best structures available to work on these shared challenges and turn them into the next opportunities so I would encourage you to continue your work we have a lot of work to do and you're all doing it so I appreciate that and I just hope that as we proceed here we're cognizant of that process recalls and remembers where we've been and where we're going because we've got a lot of work to do so thank you for that Hi Mary Beth Redmond representative Chittenden 8-1 town outside the village it's been said the amount of work done here is profound and I'm really grateful for it I guess the and my job and my colleagues is to shepherd the voters voice through the halls of the state house I mean that's ultimately and I'm prepared to do that my biggest concern is communication and I am so biased because I am a communications person and I really and you all have made amazing efforts to communicate yet I feel like there is confusion and that's my biggest that's what keeps me up at night is just the fact that you know even sitting here tonight I'm someone who's plugged into this process and there were so many nuances to what you all have come up with that in my mind are really amazing and brilliant brilliant thinking through of things taxes and sidewalk districts and I haven't, I wasn't aware of all of that so really my kind of where I'm coming at it from is I think figuring out how to really distill this information to folks so that they know the thoughtfulness that has gone into this that's my biggest concern I am concerned with the confusion that reigns and the lack of understanding in the community and I would really underscore what Dylan said I think it's a really important point you know Vermont is you know we have real demographic challenges we all know that and I think that communities need to look at how to be creative together how to really leverage their strengths in order to draw economic opportunities to their communities I think that's a very very important thing to be thinking about for all of Vermont all of Vermont communities as we go forward and so this feels like an opportunity it really does and you know I will I am at your service however I can be helpful I appreciate everyone coming out tonight and I really appreciate the invitation for the whole delegation to be here I think it just you know we all work together really well and so when we're all on a par with the information it really adds to our effectiveness so thank you alright do board members have any questions for our delegation that they might not have spoken about trustees or select board members okay well thank you we thank you for your time we really want to impress upon you I think we did hearing from your comments and we're very grateful for your support of the effort we've made we just want to impress upon you the amount of due diligence we have done and will continue to do and we want and by saying that to you I want to say that to the entire community we have really been tireless in pursuing this and we're trying to get it right so we're really asking everybody's support and understanding as we try to get it right so thank you so much for being here this evening thank you I wanted to follow up on some of what Elaine said and I really really do appreciate you all being here because it your positive responses your support kind of recharged me with regard to being willing to continue to deal with this so thank you that's called electrification okay yes Andy just literally tears to my eyes like literally Andy just made me cry because it's true it's hard to as you must know you must know it at a deeper level on a higher level on a bigger level but a lot of negativity can make you very very very tired especially when you're just trying to do your best and be morally sound and so I'm just taking a long time to echo Andy's gratitude okay good job and I know that we said that this is your day off and I understand that you actually don't get days off it's just the legislature's not in session on Monday so excuse me congratulations five days a week I swear to empty I'm sorry I can't so even more so we really thank you for taking time out of your already extremely busy schedule to come and hear this and and provide your input back to us so thank you for that and we are always here for you if constituents come to you please come to us and let us know what you're hearing and we will do the same we'll keep in touch and thank you again we can't tell you how much we appreciate your being here thank you was it alright? okay let's take like two minutes and then we'll reconvene alright we're going to continue with the agenda for the joint meeting is there, the public to be heard is there anybody who has comments to be on the agenda? Hearing none, we'll move on to business item 5B review and consider approval of draft Essex merger vote 2020 FAQ for use at upcoming public meetings and events Greg, do you want to kick that off or is there any staff prelude to this thank you this is something that the project manager, the government made you put together as we often do around this time of year put together some FAQs a couple of issues that the board sent out about at annual meetings and with merger vote scheduled for November 3rd 2020 and some discussions expected at town village meeting we figured we should put something together so it's just a short document a couple pages and some supporting information that try to answer some of the questions about merger that we've heard thank you Greg I guess what we can do is I'm going to do it board by board so select board members do you have any comments or questions about this FAQ it's updated with the changes that I had requested so I'm good okay Andy I thought you might have had some questions yeah I do and I apologize for not getting my comments in earlier to the government subcommittee in an early and family situation that didn't allow that but at the bottom of the first column the last few words it says and focus groups and I just I remember that KSV often corrected us to say that they weren't really that the formal definition of a focus group wasn't really what they did it was more of a listening session so I thought it may be a small thing but I thought maybe we should change that word to listening session to be more consistent with what the definition of a focus group is that was one change that I would propose and the other is related to comments that others have made in public meetings here is that the it's at the bottom of the second page where it talks about the cost to the average town property owner being between $20 to $30 a year the way it's written it sounds like it's only $20 or $30 a year but it's $20 and $30 increase every year and I think we just need to make that language clearer unless I'm completely misunderstanding it no it's the idea it's incrementally increased at $20 to $30 it's not clear though I could read this to say it's a $25 increase over 12 years which is going to cost me $300 no big deal but if you math it out to a $25 increase every year it's $1950 over that 12 year period I just I don't want to give fodder to people to criticize that piece of it for one it's clear and we're not intentionally trying to obfuscate it I know the language that I would like to propose is that the tax impact of merger would be spread over 12 years period the annual impact for residents of the town outside the village would be an increase between $20 and $30 each year over that time period so that it's clear that it's an increase every year it's an additional $25 every year I think that sounds good my problem is with the amount if everything we put in place it could be lower it could be more like $17 or $18 right but I think the language is fine and I did send this language to Greg you have that right Greg? yes and Ann any other select board members with comments on the FAQ I know I had sent a handful of comments in Greg you have those I do I don't have them with me right now okay so we're going to see another version of this I think the boards are comfortable with proving it tonight with the changes we've discussed that's probably the best way to start getting it out there the first session for handing stuff out is tomorrow night tomorrow that's right we could omit this one if we're not ready but I'm good with all the changes I think Greg's practice has been that we would go with the best version we have to date knowing that as more information comes in to make it more clear that we can then update it so that by the last outreach we'll maybe have the final version but I wouldn't hold off approving it tonight because it's not perfect you're right Max it is some of the things we have done with the previous FAQs as to why we're doing this the website for instance that does a lot with our practice I think Annie I know this whole long thing sorry I overdid that my thought is that it would be very confusing to me if I received one version and then my friend had a similar looking but differently worded one so I would say with all the things that we are doing to try to be really clear changing language on a handout that looks the same is probably not a good idea with all that we are working on what if we have the version at the bottom and the date at which this was done I think we would really be missing an opportunity if we wait until it's perfect because it will never be perfect none of them will ever be perfect can't we just not change it can't we just commit to whatever we're going to do whatever we're going to hand out the first day let's just stick it I think you want continuous improvement all things we do it's not clear that those are fixed just yet that's the range but we'd like to narrow that down maybe then can we make it very very clear am I driving the nuts that it's a different like what Max said yes the version but maybe be clear on the headline of it and maybe put some language in it at the top where the headline is going to say version 2, version 3 this is an ongoing please look forward to more versions Greg I think we could probably version it at the top of the page as opposed to the bottom yeah we could probably accommodate that and then let it say please look so that you know when you get this that you might want to go find out what the next chapter is so version 1 please look forward to be like crazily emphatic because I'm really nervous about it thanks thanks Annie trustees I'm good I would clarify that and just say instead of version number use a date and reference them to the website we've already got created for the most accurate and up-to-date information that's an excellent point brush but state it I just had a quick question about the educational tax rate numbers that are in there where did you guys grab those from I'm sorry say that again the tax rate educational tax rate I just wanted to make sure it's the most up-to-date without Sarah here I don't know I believe we can double check that okay yeah we had a presentation with the most up-to-date estimates that we have just last Tuesday so I mean very very recent so if it was at any point before that then it may not be completely accurate I think that's going to be pretty important because there's a because of the health insurance increase there's a pretty substantial jump this year I think compared the previous years so we're going to want to make sure that's just you know it's accurate as we can make it it's for fiscal year 2020 so we're trying to go with the tax rate okay all right all right my bad yeah I was like you have 2021 I think the trustees are good okay I really appreciate having the two sample tax bills in there I think it clarifies very makes it very clear what the differences are in the taxes because thank you for putting that in that was a good touch okay anybody on the select board have any further comments or questions on the FAQ then would one of you be willing to make a motion I move that the select board approve the draft FAQs with board edits for use at the upcoming annual meetings other public outreach meetings and to update the www.greateressix2020.org website is there a second second any further discussion I know all those in favor of the FAQs please say aye thank you I'll make the same motion on behalf of the trustees second any further discussion on the motion all those in favor please signify by saying aye anybody opposed thank you Irene you had something to say I do and it's related to the page 13 of the packet where the board is talking about FAQs about the charter change and for them to talk about that that is not on the joint meeting yes wait hold on we don't have anything on the select board agenda after this to talk about the charter change petition Irene so it's not good we're going to talk about it again as a board on February 18th but that's something I said it's not on the agenda those are out those are not at a chance to finish the meeting thank you okay back to the other agenda so the next item on the agenda is a valuation of excuse me yes you had a question do you know how the wording is going to be on the wording for the vote in November the village can we say that generally the village will have to vote to dissolve their charter and they will also have a separate vote to agree to the merger and I'm sorry I might be able to and Andy we think that's true we're not positive if we could wrap again it would be great to just have one community wide vote and not have it where the village votes to dissolve its own charter and then to accept a new charter and then we get the thing well the village gets to vote twice and they're really not voting twice but we don't know if right now I don't know if I could tell you that we can get around that because you do have two municipal charters and I think as far as I know right now the village would have to separately vote to dissolve their charter and then also vote to accept to approve the new charter and potentially you could have a vote you could have a majority to dissolve a charter and have not a majority to merge yeah so I guess I just I just want to recognition that there could be some unintended consequences we'll continue to work with our authority to figure that out in the town clerk I didn't realize well yeah but we're telling you we'll have a 148 to join the merger yes or no right you would have one vote for that to resign to the village right if the village voted to dissolve its charter but the overall town village vote was not to approve the new town charter what's going to happen again yeah we'll sweat that bridge when we get to it yeah we're still many months away and we still have a great deal of work to continue doing there's a good question though so the next item on the agenda is the evaluation of a public employee which requires an executive session we are going to move that to the end of this agenda so that we can continue with item 6 consent items the select board and the trustees each need to approve the minutes so may I have a motion to put it on the table from the select board I move approval of the consent agenda with select board comments second are there any comments or changes to the minutes I have one okay let's see line 178 in the motion maximum motion seconded by any Cooper that the select board the minutes of the last joint meeting I think we need to say that the select board approved the minutes the word approved is just left out there so is that clear any other changes to the amendments to the minutes all those in favor of approving the minutes as amended please say aye opposed thank you and would the trustees like to make a similar motion or one yeah unless my evil twin was president that meeting I either have I think I need my name removed from others present I think I was there mostly as a trustee I think that's a friend so it sounds like the motion that consent agenda what the change yep second motion or any concerns from recording secretary all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye anybody opposed thank you so we have board member comments so I'm just wondering how we're going to do the sequence that we're going to go back to the select board agenda before we do executive session or are we going to come back to that later what I'd like to recommend is that we move into executive session with the trustees to handle that joint piece of business and exit executive session and reconvene the select board meeting does that mean that our recording secretary needs to stay I'm afraid it does I'm sorry I'm sorry Kathy is that okay with you thank you and it also means that our friends at channel 17 will have to stick around as well okay are we ready? select board would you like to make a motion for the select board to enter executive session I move that the select board enter into an executive session to discuss the evaluation of a public official in accordance with one B.S.A. section 313 a3 and include the trustees second all those in favor please say aye aye okay and I'll make a motion for the trustees that the trustees enter into executive session to discuss the evaluation of a public official in accordance with one B.S.A. section 313 a3 and to include the trustees that the board enter into an executive session to discuss the evaluation of a public official in accordance with one B.S.A. section 313 all those in favor signify by saying aye thank you so we need to find a private place to meet I'm going to recommend normally we go to the corner of the cafeteria but I'm going to recommend that we convene out in the hallway there entering executive session not sure at what point we'll come back won't be too terribly long but we do need to come back


Okay. So afternoon, everyone. I'm Ziran Sun from OpenSource Group, and I'm from Research UK. Today, I'd like to talk to you about IoT.js. It's a JavaScript platform for Internet of Things. So, before the talk, I, to start talk, I'd like to show you the light demo.  Unfortunately, my, this laptop has a little bit of issues connected to my access point. So, I'll show you the video first, and then later, if we have time, we'll get connected and show you more, hopefully, in real. Then, we'll go, after the demo, we'll go behind the scenes and off the demo, and we're going to introduce you the platform, IoT.js, and in the demo, we actually introduced the BlinkT-Module for the light here. So, we're going to show you how the JS code was written for this module, and also work you through to integrate this module into IoT.js platform. So, for the demo part, sorry for, it might be a little bit disappointing, but I'll just show you the video first, and then hopefully, we have a chance to do some more later. Short demo, I will explain later. So, it's quite simple to demo. What I have here, actually inside this case, I have this Raspberry Pi, I'll show you the architecture first. I have this Raspberry Pi Zero W-Bot, and we have actually, this is the array of GPIO pod, and we have this one row of eight LED lights, which is actually like a hat mounted on the GPIO pod. So, the Pi itself is about 512K RAM, and I think the flash I have actually here is a 16 gig, we did have eight gig runs, but this doesn't matter because there's plenty, plenty for running IoT.js and JS GPIO 8. To be honest, the JS GPIO is so much small. It's, we're actually targeting like under 128K for RAM, and for flash is actually under one mic. So, it's quite impressive, JS GPIO script engine. And in this pod, we run, this pod runs Raspberry Pi Linux distribution, then we install the IoT.js. IoT.js is repository, you put the source actually has, not only has the platform itself, it also has a jerry script, the ultra light weight JavaScript engine, and also we also have this event IO, controlling an event IO handling library, Lib QV, so, and then on the top of the platform, we have our demo, and the demo code actually based on the blink team module, we introduced into IoT.js platform. So, the scenario for this demo, very, very simple. So, what you do is the demo app, pulling the current weather data through cloud, cloud API, where, so the data actually provided by openweathermap.org. So, we're actually calling the API, the API actually provided by them, and then we actually using user authentication code to get the data, you need to register your app to the third party organization. And then upon the data received, and the app will decide whether to turn the light off or change the flashing patterns. The use case for this really I'm known because my colleague did a street light demo before last year, so we're thinking like, this is really good idea, you know, you upon to the visibility, you have the data, current visibility you have, and then you turn the light on off.  And just actually what you need, obviously not this light, but just with a small chip like this, five, six pounds, you know. So, the app itself, because the app itself actually using the PEPICO, actually the generic APIs provided by IoTJS platform. So, pulling data from a third party cloud, we use HTTP request, HTTPS request, and then controlling the blinked light, we're actually using the GPIO APIs, which provided by the platform itself already. So, the whole demo actually we, I think it's worth mentioning, but including the module we introduce, blinked light module, and also demo apps, they are fully in JavaScript. So, why JavaScript? Can I ask how many of you are JavaScript developers? See, this is the reason why, because we have a big pool of developers here. And the other reason is safe, because I think in JavaScript you can't, you know, they have control on memory access. So, manufacturers, if they don't want you to access the memories, JavaScript probably is one of the good options. So, all this demo basically is based on IoT.js. What is IoT.js? As we mentioned earlier, it is a platform. It's an IoT platform. It's for, you enable you to use the JavaScript to write your IoT applications. And the platform obviously based on web technology, but this platform actually heavily rely on the engine running under it, that's JavaScript engine. So, when we design this platform, we actually have a very manned success story of Node.js. So, the architecture itself is trying to be as close, as friendly, as much to Node.js. And on the other hand, we try to make the memory, performance memory consumption as less as possible to fit more constrained devices. The, obviously the way we run here is JavaScript application. And as you see that it's actually be able to access HTTP, it's be able to access GPL. Obviously, there are a lot more modules that should already be provided by the platform itself, including file system, night, and a lot more. I will show you later. So, this is the architecture of IoT.js. Two things actually, as I mentioned before, when you download the platform's source itself, you actually already have JavaScript and LibTV included. JavaScript is a rock for IoT.js platform. It is ultra-light engine. So, the banding from the platform to ECME script really depends on JavaScript. And LibTV is actually refactoring of LibTV library that used by Node.js. So, we refactoring make it a new slice memory consumption, better performance for in banding system. And we are trying at this moment, we're discussing on IoT bandings to different platforms. One of the options is OCF Open Connected Foundations LTVT, because we have been involved in LTVT before. I'm still involved in, I guess, yeah. And that's one option, but obviously, we actually consider other popular used IoT platforms. So, the core of the IoT.js actually basically native C code. And on the top, when we wrapped up into a set of JavaScript APIs. And apart from these APIs, we created the architecture itself is very modular. So, a set of modules like file system network, this is quite similar to Node.js. So, as a JavaScript developer, to be honest, you probably don't need to worry too much about under layer. What you need to do is just go up, go call the JavaScript APIs. So, mention the rock for the JavaScript, for LTVT.js is JavaScript. We actually from the group, we have presented the JavaScript in the last couple years. It's really very good compact lightweight engine. So, this JavaScript was designed from scratch by Samsung. Initially, from the beginning, the design aim was to make it for in constraint devices. So, this idea is always, always through. Even the name Jerry actually come from the Tom Jerry. So, it's a small and a smart and fast, hopefully. So, the optimization work for this engine has been really continuously. Even last year, we actually have about another 100% improvement of performance. This is always the JavaScript top priority. Lower, reduce memory footprint increase performance. And the engine itself is really self-contained, very portable. So, you might see other places. IoT platform also use the JavaScript. So, the latest status for JavaScript is it's been transferred to JavaScript foundation in 2016. And so, 2016 under Big Umbrella. And some new features introduced I think last year, yeah. So, we have a debugger for JavaScript. So, just with the debugger, you can use the command line. If you have similar with GDB, you probably don't need to go through any menu. Just whatever GDB has, you know, you can use straight away the command. And also, there is web IDE debugger.  Yes, just good actually being fully in line is yes, yes, 5.1. So, we passed all the confirmation test. So, now some new features have been introduced in ES6, including promise type array. But we're carefully introducing new features because there is a balance on rich features and, you know, lower memory. So, but this is, yes, the feature for the work is going to be carry on, you know, carry on more features will be introduced. And last year, especially last year, Jerry Scrut actually got a lot more, last couple years got a lot more interest, especially last year we got a lot more contributions from other, you know, committee members. And we actually result a lot more hardware, both support, like ARM and Band. So, the latest status for LTGS is that the big milestone is released, stable release actually 1.0 in July last year. And as we've seen early, basically has a live TV in it and the modular system. The modular system basically has two layers. One is on the native level. So, you see code. So, the code actually structure is very tidy and clean. So, you go inside, you actually see the native code actually each module very tidy listed. And then you go to JS directory, another list of module in JS format. And Node.js friendly architecture, which live TV is good, very good example. And we also introduced, sorry, we also introduced a big set of Node.js like a file system HTTP, actually HTTPS actually. I just used it early. It's not fully support HTTPS. Not every feature is fully support, but this HTTPS request is definitely working. I can confirm that. And actually support this subset of Node.js module actually is really make the developers life very easy. If you are very familiar with Node.js development and some of the code, if we support the same module, you can just seamlessly using the same code from LTGS, probably most of them without any modification. And obviously that's what most of the sample code in LT.js you can use in Node.js. And obviously a list of all control like I use the GPL and we also have a I squared C spy, quite a few other support. So, from developer point of view, I look at this blink light module. So the blink light module basically what this actually is quite popularly used in a lot of demos, this light. So we look at what are available. Actually they are passing code obviously available. And good thing is Node.js also have this MPM module. So for us actually the natural point obviously starting with Node.js module and see also one way to check the capability for us. So the module itself, we check the Node.js code. It's actually quite a straight forward. The only difference we need to change is how to access GPIO part. And Node.js blink light module using this another library is wearing pie, if you're familiar with wearing pie library. Wearing pie library basically provide the native access for GPIO for blink T. But in our case actually so straight forward because the LTT.js platform already provided the API for GPIO access. So the example really is like for us to control the light really we need to configure, we just need to configure two GPIO ports. One is for data, the other is for clock. So just call the APIs straight away like this, you know configure the APIs. The next part is to write your data into the, write your data with a large line on offer. I think this is really pretty much it, you know quite straight forward. And after you have your own module library created and then integrate to LTT.js really just add your module into the file, the JSON file and then get a build enabled when you build them. So, I mean it's really straight forward really. So to wrap up, so what I have here is the LTT.js platform is a JS platform for Internet of Things based on Jerascript, the actual light with JavaScript engine and create a module on, create your own module library to the platform really just a few steps away.  I'll just try if I can do questions actually. Yeah, you do good help in order to wifi. Yes, yeah. This question is fine, let's do questions. Let's do a few questions and then maybe try to connect to the wifi and give the demo anyhow. So who has any questions? Do any of you have any questions? That doesn't connect anything. Much. May I explain? Yes, yeah, question. Do you have any idea of the smallest microcontroller that could run Jerascript? Yes. Repeat the question. Yes, the question is really how small the memory footprint for microcontroller may run Jerascript, right? Yeah. Yeah, then how does it compare like if you were to write the similar code in C? Like, do you have any ideas of benchmark? The benchmark to compare this, the code you write in JavaScript with C, native code of C, right? Okay, first thing is the footprint for Jerascript. We had a build actually under about 200K. So it built for ARM sum two. So it's about 143K. So really, you know, you don't need much memory for that. Comparison C, we haven't actually, I haven't come across any comparison with C, native code. But there is a reason because it's Jerascript. Because we actually, because if you think about we're actually using C code under and then we wrap on the top with Jerascript, with JavaScript. So there must be, you know, just say even if it's the same platform, using C code access the hardware and then you're using the same C code but on the top you wrap up with JavaScript. So I would assume that it should be take more, it will take more memory. Did you know how much or do you have an idea? I actually haven't got the idea but considering how much Jerascript already, it's half small it is. Yeah, okay. Is it connected? Yeah. Okay, let's see how it goes, yeah. Okay, yeah. I can do more. More questions? So the reason you don't want to rush the pie is because you can know this one but in this way we have a lot of time. It's a very good question actually. Why we use a Raspberry Pi? Because we already have the sound we can support such a small microcontroller because the popularity of Raspberry Pi. That's the main thing, but of course we welcome to you, you know, if you try on small controller and we welcome to, you know, if you have any experience share with us we really, really appreciate it, you know. Is there support as we are in the Raspberry Pi? So on the usual support of the microcontroller? Say it again, in the microcontroller? On the other interfaces? Yes, yeah. It's actually, it's part of quite a few different parts, yeah, microcontroller, yeah. Obviously, as we said that, you know, Jerascript is modular, modular, it's a modular engine. So when you build it actually you link to whatever module you need. So don't build it with everything in. Yeah, okay. So probably mistyping, yeah. Let me just, since this is connected let me just run you through the demo. Watch the light, hopefully. Here we go, yeah. It's quite lovely actually, because, yeah, thank you very much. Thank you. We can do one or more two questions if you want to. Yeah, sure. So there's still some time for one or two questions. So for people who really care about the footprint of the performance, is it possible and or advice to write the module in C and then just create a Jerascript wrapper if I want to? That is possible, yeah, yeah. You can actually, you can't fiddle the C code anyway. Right, yeah. Yeah. One more? You know if there's still one question? Yeah. I saw Tizen, how does IoTJS relate to Tizen? IoTJS, it's post-Tizen RT. That's my colleague, he, you know, Phil got the IoTJS, runs on Tizen RT, yeah. All right, great. Thank you. Thank you very much.


You see me and you, we got a lot in common.  And lay in it if we want to hell.   It be like that sometime hell.   It been going on. Ain't nothing to be ashamed of.  Is that your dog? What dog? The dog you're talking to. You a dog! What? Huh? What? Roof! What you doing? You want to sit on and talk to a dog? You don't look like no dog. Rufus, this dog, right here. Hey, I can't own nothing that was born for that slavery. So can I have it? Hey, you want to buy a dog, a talking dog? I'm not a dog, that's the dog.  Okay, but he eat a special dog with very important rules. First of all, he don't like no bright light.   And you can't get him wet. Sure can't. Why? What's going to happen? I don't know.  Look at him.  Uh oh, you got the problem? Oh why you asking? Get down there. Sold to the man with the book bag on. Get sugar. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. You're supposed to eat it, not. Forget it. Woo. Wow, wow, wow, you be yo, you be yo. They're throwing the motherfucker. Got you like my plaque. Let these fools know they're working for a soul town legend. Ain't that right, James? I make honeymoon. Yeah, I love Cardi B. Of course. Look what I got. Baby, you got me a- I did good. You did great. I love him. Good. Hey, what's up guys? Look what I found. Damn, that's good, cause we almost out of food anyway.  The rest of the day. Good. Because I didn't want you guys going food hunting today anyway. It's our anniversary. It's been a year already? Cool. Hey, what are we doing today? Uh, we are going to spend some very rare alone time together. Very rare. Uh-huh. I get it. So you don't want anybody to bother us. Yeah. There's always too many people here anyway. So Lala, where's your girl Lauren at? Maybe we could double date. Rico, we want to be alone. She about to give you my gift. Oh.  What? What? You know her doggy door. You know when you let... Roscoe. What's wrong? Man, Big Rocky and Little Reggie just tried to rob me and shot her. But I beat them up and got away. You know I'm a jeep.   It's my anniversary gift. As in today is our anniversary. And I don't want to spend it here in another one of your made up stories, Roscoe. And I ain't lying. Look, this is what happened. Hey, hey, hey. Uh-huh. Look who we have here.  The most in life. Who, me? Ain't nobody else standing here over a glass, boy. What's up, you roach-ass roach? What you got? I ain't got nothing, man. What's that white stuff on your lip?  You know what some doughnuts are? I told y'all, I don't have nothing. Y'all always messing with me, man. Uh-uh. He lying. He got some pocket check for him. Yo, take this. What's up? Shit. Wouldn't a little need to get some skills? Told you he ain't got no problem with this.  Don't do it. I get this little nigga out of me, man. Give me some to please. Ah! Stop hitting me. Look me in my face. You won. You won. I lost. Stop hitting me. I ain't no punk. You know I had to hold it down. Roscoe, are you okay? I heard you just got robbed. What'd I tell you about hanging out with them low-lives? I almost got robbed, but I handle my business. Ain't nobody robbing Roscoe.  So this door ain't got no lock. I just got done telling them how I handle my beads with the midget and the giant shop. Handle your beads. Boy, stop.    If anything, they got their asses whooped by me. I told y'all I ain't have nothing. Y'all always messing with me, man. I got some pocket shake pump. Hey, let me go, man. I thought you said you ain't have nothing. Put me down, man. What's that popcorn? Dorito corner. Skittles. You had some? That ain't mine. It's time to take that ride on the pain train.  13. Watch the move. Oh, ankle lock. Ankle lock. He's not working. He out of the ankle lock. He out of the ankle lock.   Hit him in the body. Hit him in the body. All right, I'm tapping out. I'm good. I'm good. I ain't know you can run that fast. You know what? I don't need to take this from y'all. I'm out. My Cheeto. My goddamn doggy door. Next time on The Roach Motel. Ray, what's on the other side of that wall? Stan's room. Hey, shortcake. Have business. My name is Pound Cake, baby. I bet it is.


I've been trying to keep things peachy just happy dope content on the channel We've been doing well man 500k like a week ago what we had now like 515 But every once in a while I watch a video or I just experienced something and I'm like this still happens But I date back to like 2k 16 15 14 13 where buying VC was like it just continuously gets more tedious now this Okay, guys, I'm not gonna rant too much on the channel I know some y'all like to sit there and enjoy me yelling at some but I don't want to have to do this Some of this stuff should just be obvious and I'm sure the devs know this so it's not like I'm bringing some new info This is stuff that everybody knows that everybody acknowledges and yet still exists Those who don't know micro transactions is basically when you use real money to buy virtual money in the game Now there's a place for micro transactions in video games It makes life easier because I know some y'all like to sit there and pretend like you want to grind for Everything and there's games where I appreciate that but people have work people work at full-time and then you come home You're not trying to work full-time again Just to get VC to enjoy a basketball game and you know what for specific games like they rely on micro transactions like Rainbow six They run DLC every few months and it's dope content It keeps the game moving and for those games you sit there and you go, okay, you know what that's palatable We can deal with that I'm willing to pay for this content because rainbow six is a game that lasted what a drop in 2015 and each year It's becoming more and more relevant more and more people are wanting to play the game But there's a point you reach where it becomes out of control where everything becomes pay to play I've been slowly keeping tabs on the my team community Which is like just being gutted and destroyed from bad pack odds and Two incredibly expensive packs I stopped playing my team last year because of that reason and from what I'm hearing has gotten even worse this year on top of The fact that especially early on in the year it takes up until February Where they start really adding the best diamond cars, etc. Right because right now They're just giving 86 overall players and people are spending hundreds of dollars on packs to get him now If that's what you want to do with your money go at it But even when you look on the my park side, let's do the math real quick So it takes approximately $50 so you could upgrade one player fully But one player it like it's a pretty big niche like I have a pure sharpshooter But I also want to get posters and slam on folks. I'm gonna wait want to make a slasher right two players But you know what I feel like I want to have like a playmaking player But can also shoot like a sharpshooter playmaker. That's three players But yo, I have too many guards now like I want to switch it up. I'm trying to experience everything That's why I bought the video game. So I also want a big man. I want to go pure rebounder Just dominating the paint that's four players right there. So that's approximately for me $200 I don't know what the rates are in America, but I'm pretty sure they're similar now Let's say you want to play on the park to get said how much is how much is that 200k VC for each player, right? Multiplied by four. That's 800,000 VC. All right, so let's say you get 250 VC for every park game. Let me pull out the calculator. It'll take you playing 3200 park games to get enough VC and keep in mind to 250 on the park is pretty good You have to get a pretty high teammate grade for that to work So that's assuming every single game you're on point That's also assuming you win most of these games if not all because that win bonus is also gonna translate Of those 3200 part games is gonna take approximately anywhere from six to ten minutes to complete a game So the amount of grind require you're better off just going to Walmart Landing a job working for a cool 15 hours Instead of playing the game for what feels like 200 plus hours just to get enough to get four players So you can fully experience the park let alone the boxes you have to buy on my team The numbers are absurd this year's managed to get even more absurd Who would have thought that's possible if you told me in 2k 18 the micro transaction wait You said 2k 17 was 2k 18 is gonna be a whole new level of crazy I would have been like how do they do that? How would they even get worse than that?  Bitch. This isn't real life Stop using real life arguments when we're talking about 2k in real life You also can't zigzag like this and bang with a sharpshooter where you could do it in 2k, right? So stop with that argument. I don't want to hear real life But for the first time in my memory in 2k history They reduced the VC price of a product in the game because people were really angry about it People are like first of all if you go to the barber shop in the beginning of the game That's where one of the places where your game would crash and you would lose your player So one I didn't enter the barber shop But for the people that did you couldn't preview the haircuts on top of that They cost it a lot of money for example the Tim's in 2k 18 costs 9,000 VC 9,000 can we do the math on how long it take to get Tim's it'd take me playing 36 full games on the park Do well on all of them just to buy a pair of Tim's and probably the most frustrating part for me was at launch The game was one way and then the first thing they did before they fixed the East Coast West Coast issue on Pro M Before they fixed the fact that you need to send two squad invites to get into a game or every time you hop on the stage You get lagged out before they fixed real game breaking issues They decided to make it more difficult to get points on playing on these different game modes I know pro I'm saw a huge nerf. I know park also did and so you really just sit back like that was the number one Priority now there's two ways to look at this one way is they're trying to make the game last long Like I want the game to die in a month. I'm trying to play this game for a while I want to enjoy it for a while at no point should any game mode feel like you have to spend money just to compete now Thank God give credit where it's due I did the attribute boost seen a huge nerf from last year right last year I was angry that nobody was talking about the fact that you could have plus five to all your attributes And I would never know that guy over there have plus five right and I thought that was such a Monumental buff that nobody was talking about that we couldn't even see for opponents had used this year Like it's pretty difficult one. It's not as easy to get skill boost. You can't just buy it. Thank God So there we go like that's thank God. All right, thank God. They didn't go in the direction of park cards Park cards could have literally been the end of park and playground Whatever you want to call it by attribute boosts and park cards. They were so close to making playground park Literally what happened to my team and turn it into a pay-to-play But when we take it to the scale 2k's taking it where every year you're making less VC doing the same things in that crazy Like there was one reviewer who gave 2k a 3 out of 10 and then apparently 2k reached out to him and say yo You want to change that they literally asked him Yo, what's up with the rating because and the reason he gave him a 3 out of 10 was because he said the micro Transaction ruined his experience so 2k dumbed down the gameplay to appeal to casuals Casuals are being turned off because it's paid to play and you would think that with the crazy micro Transactions and the amount of money that's being made you would think for sure We're not gonna have server issues and for me it only ever clicks when I hear someone from a different community talk about it I was up to karma. I watch him right plays professional Call of Duty man shout out to karma And once you're in the 2k community for so long We just get used to the fact that we try and join a game But it kicks our friend and we're like we'll get it next game this happens But in other communities, they're looking at us like yo, what's happening both this never happens in my game like in Rainbow 6 I got 8 characters for $20 yo $20 and it was over a year's worth of DLC for $20 I got countless hours of enjoyment playing with those new players. I found some new people I love to play with I yo buck. I love buck. First of all, he's a Canadian something needs to happen There's no possible way every year it could continue to get more extreme. I get it. All right I don't sometimes I feel like we're going too easy on 2k then I feel like we're going too hard on 2k But on this issue of micro transactions, there is no reason it should be this much have it have it Okay, you know what sometimes you feel like 2k 15 you were pushing it, but it was alright 2k 16 I'm like, are you out of your mind 2k 17? I knew for a fact you're out of your mind So I don't even know how I could begin to categorize 2k 18 $9,000 for a pair of Tim's 9,000 VC. I wouldn't be surprised if next year it was 9,000 real American dollars 2k for the first time ever Saw people angry about something that was so blatantly ridiculous and they reduced the haircut cost They say it's good cause significantly less to get haircuts now 2k saw all the deleted players and I a bunch of people who submitted tickets Was getting like 200k a million to I saw someone get 4 million VC back for one deleted player I don't know if that was a bug a glitch But people were getting compensated for for one day wasted money on their player if they spent VC to the time that they spent But three like the the inconvenience that the entire thing caused so I saw that and I was like, okay 2k might be onto something so let me just say this I'm all right paying micro transactions to upgrade my player I want to be the first player to hit 85 so I can grind to 90 95 100 99 you get what I mean. It's 2017 we all recognize that micro transactions exists in every video game video games that have no business with loot boxes and pack openings Are making them now just so they could benefit off micro transactions I think it was GTA 4 the first one to really do DLC big and like a whole wave of companies start to do DLC And it might have been EA with FIFA and Madden that really popularized Microtransactions and buying virtual currency and then now everybody's doing that but there's limits I too can't got a brilliant idea to help you take micro transactions to the next level because me as a consumer I only ever want to see you make as much money as possible at no point am I ever worried that you make it money To ruin my experience if you take it too far. I want you to take it as far as possible So stop tip-toeing lines you're slowly decreasing the amount we make off the same stuff We've been doing for the last five years next year We need to take things to a brand new level. I'm gonna help you do it We need to have little kids applying for a line of credit You don't pay them back in a month and keep on they could get as much money as they want to buy VC There is no limit if they default then you could take everything they own You can destroy their credit and ruin their futures. Isn't that a brilliant idea? Not only could you ruin the experience that they have playing the video game But then you can ruin their lives at the same time I'm telling you wrongful of good ideas because we're tiptoeing too much here every year It's slowly getting worse and worse is never a huge jump until you look back three or four years So I'm gonna come out. This is a ground-breaking idea. I know y'all have never heard anything like this before So let me say it 2k reduce the cost of virtual currency Make the game palatable when it comes to microtransactions and make a good game That everyone's going to buy and then people will just end up buying microtransactions if they want to how does that sound? How about instead of focusing on Siphoning everybody literally everybody for their money We just make a really good game that people are gonna enjoy what polish game with no bugs and glitches They probably never thought about that it never occurred to them that that was an alternative There's so many dev teams like Naughty Dog. They do it right Ubisoft has messed up for multiple years But even there's if you be soft can turn it around 2k you can too That's what I've learned as a consumer that if you be soft can do it 2k you can do it to Ubisoft dug themselves out of a monumental hole They weren't they rated like the worst company in the United States or something like that or was that EA I was a lot of like fishy video game. If you enjoyed the video make sure to drop a like subscribe if you guys are new I'm not doing too many rants. So I'll catch you guys on the next one. I'm out peace


Hey, welcome back to Snesdrink Plays, Secret of Mana, and we're gonna head over to the blacksmith here, Watts, because we have orbs to use. Uh-oh. Heh. Okay. So I actually have to hold them?  And only I can do it. Okay, cool. So, uh, where are you going? What's going on? Oh, he made those disappear with an axe. That's cool. So in the meantime, uh, we pay him to upgrade weapons, and as we see on the wheel of weepens here, we select which one has an orb, and I think the only one right now is the spear. So we upgrade that to the heavy spear, and in the meantime, let us, um, go over here and buy stuff. So I think there's some, uh, now that I have the sprite, I want to make sure that I have everything for him. I honestly don't know if I do or not. Can't hurt to have a chain vest, or a rabite cap. Oops. I always do that. I hate that B is the action button for this game, and it's canceled for everything else. Let's get the, uh, axe on him for now, I guess. Wait, what happened? Let's do the spear. There we go. And we have to remember to, uh, equip everything to make sure, uh, yeah, he can, yeah, he can do the chain vest. That's a, it's better. Elbow pad, he cannot do. So whatever. That's fine. I don't have any money, I think, for anything else. So let's sell our excess stuff. We want to keep the hair ribbon, because Penny's going to be coming back. Anyway, yeah, I named, uh, I think, doesn't everyone, when they play this game, or really when they play any RPG, they always name at least one of the characters after a pet. So it's easy. Yeah. We got to adjust this too. We actually is useful as a computer AI thing. Um, not only is it fun to, uh, name an RPG character after a pet, but it's fun to, in this case with a dog, it's fun to imagine all the dialogue he says in a ridiculous dog voice.  Hey, it's Nico.  Anything useful. Yeah, I'm almost, I'm too embarrassed to do it on a, uh, on a video that could be watched by dozens of people. There's dozens of us, dozens! So let us move on to, I guess, the haunted forest. We have to politely ask the witch to let us into the underground palace, or whatever. We need to, somehow we need to defeat her to get to the palace, and in the meantime we get to level up against these bee skeletons. So yeah, my dog voice, I'm probably too embarrassed. I'm not drunk enough yet to, to do it.  Hey, Klai. Whoa, there's a Klai dog, there's the boy. What are you doing? He's sleeping. Yeah, he's sleeping dog.   There we go. See, we're leveling up already. That, that dog is leveling up. Um, what are you going to do with those levels, dog? Um, anyway, see, I've been listening to the new Faith No More, and it's really good, and that's really surprising to me. Faith No More, obviously, if you're not familiar with them, they're a band that started all the way back in 1982 with the singer Chuck Mosley. Chuck Mosley was a druggy and had to leave, they were placed by the great Mike Patton. Even though I like Chuck a lot, Mike Patton is kind of one of those otherworldly talents that's just a freak, basically. Roddy Bottom, the keyboardists in Faith No More, describes him as lungs on legs, just a pair of lungs on legs, and that's essentially what he is. The guy's a freak, but their album is really good, and that got me thinking like, oh, I should mention that, yeah, they, they went away, they, they haven't recorded new music in like 15 years, or more than that, like 18 years since like 1997, and just got me thinking like, following music in real time, like it's sports, hey, Niko's here, good for her, following music in real time like it's sports, like waiting for new albums, like I had no idea this album was happening until like a month ago, or at least like six weeks ago, and it made me realize, oh, what do we got here? She is doing kung fu moves by herself with these two tiger things.   There's all sorts of bands that are made available now through the magic of the internet, through, whether it be file sharing, whether it be YouTube or what. So it seems utterly pointless to be like, to follow music in real time and like, what's the best album of 2015? It's like, who cares?  Like, it just seems like, I don't understand why people do that and what's, what the appeal is. It's like, and it, faith don't worry me to be think of that because it's like, if this were back when they were in their prime back in the nineties or late eighties, it would be, she still has everything equipped, which is kind of strange, but whatever. It would be like that, that would be all I'd have, all I'd have to work with was just like, yeah, I just have to hope they come out with something new and hope the radio plays it often or hope MTV plays it often. Let's switch to the girl. You always want to have a projectile weapon or at least a distance weapon like the whip equipped to one of these people.  Anyway, those are rambling about. Oh yeah, following music in real time is done. I also can't stand when people like Billy Corgan, who is evidently obsessed with their own place in music history. Like I read something the other day, but like, yeah, me and Kurt Cobain were good competitors. No, music is not a freaking game. It's not a contest. Get over yourself. Some people just they're wired that way, like everything. Like there's a lot of music writers out there that see like Chuck Klosterman's one example, where I cannot stand that guy where he's tries to shoehorn everything into like this context of competition. Does the axe work on these? Can I get past here? No. Or everything like some music writers have to justify their their job title by like creating is it the best album of this year? Or is it the greatest post-punk thing? It's like, wait a second. Didn't I just come from here? Oh, it unlocked the thing. I got so locked up in my own or so wound up in my own rambling. I forgot what I was doing. That'll happen. Let's continue this next time. Thanks for watching. Have a great rest of your day.


I have to say, when I delivered a speech in La Sorbonne, September 17, a lot of comments were about, OK, European sovereignty is a French idea. This is just a speech. It will never happen. But I have decided to make these words central to my political projects. And I've never forgotten that the very concept of sovereignty has as well its roots in the Netherlands. And this is a very European concept. 350 years ago, right here in the city of The Hague, one of the founders of political modernity, Baruch Spinoza, wrote in an article 17, chapter 2 of his tractatus politicus, I quote him, the right is defined by the power of the multitude. We call it sovereignty. I will not lecture you on Spinoza. I want to reassure you. I just want to highlight that in Spinoza's philosophy, sovereignty is a means to guarantee the essence of being, to persevere in oneself, to put it plainly, whoever wants to be themselves must be sovereign. In other words, and I want to insist on that, identity and sovereignty are intertwined. And I think this is very important to understand this link and the fact that Spinoza makes it as one of the founding concepts of precisely political philosophy. Because if you accept to lose your sovereignty, it means if you accept to depend on other powers, you put yourself in a situation not to decide for yourself and not to be in charge of precisely continuing, preserving, developing your own identity. But I think the wake-up call was made during the pandemic. We discovered that we were dependent on a lot of devices, on a lot of drugs, on a lot of products suddenly. And even those who were supposed to cooperate with us, some allies, decided to ban the exporter in months as long as they were not served and protected. And during the war, those who decided to cooperate, to make trade with neighbors, even if they were not allies, Russia for energy. Because we decided, de facto, that trade could be the best way to cooperate, could create irreversible links and precisely avoid the authors to be aggressive. They decided to weaponize the energy, putting us in a completely crazy and unbelievable situation. The pandemic and war just pushed us in a situation to discover that we have to reduce our dependencies if you want to preserve the European identity. Otherwise, we will progressively be dependent on everything. And it's probably due to the fact, this is a sort of convergence with what I heard, Europe was, and especially the European Union, was too much driven by a customer approach and not sufficiently by the citizen and the producer approach. And we didn't build sufficiently how to ensure our, I would say, economic security. And my intention and what I want to advocate is not to, in a certain way, reverse to protectionism and so on. It doesn't make sense. But to try to design with you and to define in a few minutes what could be this comprehensive economic security doctrine for the European Union to guide our European action globally. And I mean to protect ourselves, our identity, and to put ourselves in a situation to define our current and our future model for ourselves.


mountains and caves, including one really exciting cave that was discovered in Mexico in 2000, the Cave of Crystals, home of the largest crystals in the world. And you can imagine going into these underground caverns and experiencing these crystals that are larger than you are. So it's just a world of wonder to explore here in this exhibit.


Have you ever imagined not having access to clean water? For some, it is as simple as turning a tap on. But for populations affected by conflict, things are not as easy. We help communities restore water systems by Installing water tanks to get clean water from far away water sources Restoring water supply systems and rehabilitating water canals for irrigation Promoting best hygiene practices to communities Setting up water collection points at schools Baiting gravity water flow systems and repairing water tanks and wares In conflict zones, water can be impossible to find Wherever we can, we continue making access to this basic need possible We are the International Committee of the Red Cross