this point and the first thing that we have are we have two sets of minutes to look at tonight and first one is for December 8th 2020 is there a motion to approve? I'll move to approve it with amendments and changes as noted. Is there a second? A little second. I'll go to page one okay and page two page three I said tear myself up in a minute okay we're just doing the minutes of December 8th at this moment I had one question under the finance and treasures report that mentioned the budget includes money for community partnerships and it mentioned the town bank and I'm not familiar with was that the sonic couple yes like here at the town bank I don't know I believe it should be the town band yes we won't get in the banking business what a way to sneak that in yeah and page four during no other corrections then I'll always in favor of approving the minutes of December 8th 2020 raise your hand one two three and up and Ted just joined go ahead and four so now we're on the minutes of December 15th 2020 and looking for a motion to approve those minutes we approve subject to modification is there a second I'll second page one page two and page three hearing no corrections then all those in favor of approving the minutes of December 15th 2020 raise your hand one two three four we've done it so unanimous on both we're out public comment now and I believe we have at least one person who wishes to make public comment yep there I have a Timothy fair that I'll get connected in just a moment here and anyone else listening at home if you'd like to make a public comment during this portion of the meeting please let me know in the chat or by raising your hand and if you are on for the public hearing on the FY 22 budget that's scheduled for AP so Tim Fair I'll get you Tim Fair I'll get you connected here in just a moment hi Tim can you hear us yes I can hear you can you hear me thank you thanks for appearing tonight and we have received your um your letter and if you'd like to speak on that right ahead of course that's what I'd like to select board for give me the chance to speak I was half expecting video I'm so used to the video zoom conferences so I'm a little bit thrown but I do want to thank you all very much for the time I am a resident of Williston my name is Timothy fair as you gather from my letter I'm sure and I've watched a few select board meetings this is an issue that has been discussed and now at this point formally bringing the request to the select board as act 164 requires for cannabis retail does need to be affirmatively opted in by the registered voters of every community here in the state of Vermont the town meeting is a excellent opportunity in my opinion where we will most likely get the largest amount of community members and we get a most accurate vote about how the community feels about potentially having retail cannabis establishments within Williston so I would formally request that the select board place this article as written in the letter provided on the warning for the town meeting and I'd further ask that the signature requirement be waived to the general voter petition given the COVID emergency I'm happy to go door to door to collect signatures for this but I don't think that's a real smart idea right now especially given the viable option of the select board being able to place this item on the agenda for town meeting on their own without the requirement of the signatures good thank you only discussing this the the operations of how this going to work next on the or two two two sections down on the agenda and not sure we'll have an answer tonight but we will have should have an answer by next week as far as the signatures are required I had just two questions for you I presume even though this is coming on your letterhead that it's only on behalf of yourself not for a client no this is definitely not on behalf of any client had it been I would have certainly disclosed that um the letterhead I was at work I've had that this is on behalf of both myself and my partner now I'm not going to you know hide the ball I do have a vested interest I own a cannabis law firm and consulting firm but this is not on behalf of any particular client nor am I aware of any plan or I just believe this is the best for Williston I believe it is the best for Vermont I have a lot of reasons why I believe that I know there's been some skepticism on part of the select board member and I would like to throw out I am more than willing to appear to talk about this you know about why I feel that this is a benefit to both Williston and the state there is no zero subs in life nothing is all good or all bad and I am willing to be perfectly honest about you know the three years I've spent in this industry about what I've seen being the good and the bad but when I've weighed them I do believe this is what is right for Williston which is why I'm bringing this you know both as an attorney on as a resident of the town member of the community thank you the second question I had was the the statute allows to have a vote to allow licensed retailers and integrated licensees and I didn't I noticed that the integrated licensees are not in your request I felt it was just doubling up by licensed cannabis retailers whether they're retailing under a license granted for the retail license or whether they're you know selling under the integrated license really comes down to the same thing it's licensed cannabis retail so that would include both integrated licenses and private standalone retail licenses good thank you any other questions from the board at this time uh no just um two things I just would kind of like to uh emphasize one you know um I'm aware everyone might not agree with this but I do believe that the spirit of acts 164 is that this is a decision meant to be made by the members of the community um if the members of the community wish to have this I believe we should and if the members of the community say no we shouldn't then I would respect that as well but I would ask that the select board grant the opportunity for the people uh and the community to make this decision um I would also like to say I think a lot of the fears that surround this I think a lot of the concerns that surround this um I think there's a lot of answers to those and again I would just like to reiterate my offer if the select board is ever interested in taking some time I would be happy to appear whether Zoom or however um and kind of maybe answer some questions but maybe some of the select board might have I will say you know I have now been working in this industry for three full years this is my full-time job this is my business that I know I'm infamately familiar I've been asked and invited to speak across the country on the topic of cannabis law and cannabis policy um and I would be very happy to share any of my knowledge with the select board or answer any questions at any time that you might have thank you very much we'll be taking this up next week appreciate that thank you so much for your time thank you um moving on then to the dispatch operations and planning report Eric is Gary Taylor on the line yep I'm going to um connect him and and achieve some of a brief introduction before we we get started Terry yes please actually I think I'm gonna Gary was connected by I think he may be calling in we had some tech issues with a meeting before so I'm hoping I'm connecting someone on the phone here and that's Gary but out here if it's not um I'll disconnect this this individual no I don't see that person let's see hi chiefs I'm just looking for a Gary to get reconnected here that phone number disappeared after I tried to connect it so I think we just uh okay I think this may be him again hey is this Gary I'm sorry I can see all of you on zoom but I can't seem to talk to you we can hear you now Gary I'm glad we did the phone backup option here all right thank you you're loud and clear thank you um Eric excuse me give a short introduction uh subject should he vote us a memo and then we'll go directly to Gary and welcome the player chief thank you so just to kind of kick things off here um last fall the select board received a request from the Chittin County Public Safety Authority Board of Directors for funds for building up thick costs for a regional dispatch in South Burlington on Gregory Drive above the police station and this is the next stage in developing an operational dispatch center for municipalities to contract with for dispatch services that's been discussed for a few years now based on the funding formula among CCPSA member communities used to date the request of wilson is $34,000 or 10 of the estimating building up thick cost for for this stage in development um last fall the select board was in consensus to look at this funding request in conjunction with the FY 22 budget process and in order to aid staff in the board and evaluating and considering the town's long-term options for emergency dispatch among the regional I tasked a consultant retired chief Gary Taylor with evaluating the town's current dispatch system and the options for the town to consider moving forward um you'll see from Chief Taylor's bio he's served a number of public safety roles in his career among them police and fire chief dispatch center supervisor and a member of the state's E911 board I provided the board with a written copy of the report it's a little bit of length to it with the work that Gary put in for us and this evening I've asked the chief to join us along with our chiefs uh fully and collect to discuss our emergency dispatch options moving ahead so I'll I'll turn things over to Chief Taylor to walk through a number of topics and leave a good portion for discussion at the end and I know we intend for this to be kind of discussion as we go as well for the board so Chief Taylor I'll turn this over to you and I I believe the first section you were going to speak to was looking at the current dispatch structure and some challenges that that wills faces can you hear me all right now yes we can okay the greatest vulnerability vulnerabilities that you have working against you are the fact that you have kind of a fragmented dispatching system and that's because shell dispatch provides dispatching services for the fire department which includes the MS and and the police department runs their own dispatch during the day for 12 hours a day as I understand it and after talking to people I think I'm correct and then 12 hours a day the Vermont state police provide dispatching services so the fly in that wait is that you really are you do you have two different PSAC centers so state police willson barracks is the 9-1-1 chipman county PSAP center along with shelter and dispatch they are also the 9-1-1 PSAC so when a call comes in a 9-1-1 call that's fire related fire or a rescue call that gets rolled down to the shelter and dispatch and shelter and dispatch is the fire department and is their communications link for that call if the call is for something other than fire and rescue them to call during the day or during the times that dispatch is staffed by Williston is rolled down to the police department and they dispatch it themselves if it happens at night then the state police automatically dispatch that call you probably are aware that the state police for a long time have been looking at charging for providing services they the preferred that operations are that they would provide dispatching for state entities themselves and state entities and not for everybody as a default dispatch center so they are still working with a fee schedule which is a little bit unclear and there are some issues because of COVID-19 that that it was supposed to take effect on June July 1st 2021 I'm not sure if that's going to get pushed back at this time it's likely to but at the same time I think that means that Williston will be expected to start paying for the dispatching they received from the state police the other thing is because the state police operate on a cat RMS system called Spillman which they have provided their control of here in Vermont for emergency services um they really dictate they're the tail that wags the dog for Williston you don't have a choice of selecting Velkor which is an alternative cat RMS system that's used by emergency responders at least not during the time that they are dispatching you because they operate on Spillman so that's the real crisis it's really a vulnerability if you think back about the the big train crash the Amtrak crash and all the 911 calls that were coming in if there's going to be any potential for calls to get mixed up messed up communications to go sideways that's probably when and how it would come it's tough enough when you have one primary PSAP because even in those cases some of those calls get rolled to another dispatch or PSAP center and I tried to provide you in the report with the difference between 911 call taking and dispatching suffice to say that 911 call taking is all about the caller and the crisis and dispatching is all about the first responders and being their link when they go out on calls and making sure that you can send the right services to the right location for the right reasons and sometimes you know that includes multi-disciplines they could include the fire rescue and police at the same call probably does on a frequent basis but anyways that's the vulnerability that you face you're also kind of held hostage by the fact that you get what you get so whatever Shelburne is using for cat RMS you're going to have that as your cat RMS system I know in talking with Chief Collette he has some desires for a broader cat RMS system that is much more efficient and effective and does automatic nippers reporting or has the ability to prepare reports that are nippers ready is that correct Chief? That's mostly correct Chief right now Shelburne dispatch has to use the cat RMS that Vermont State Police does they don't have a choice in that so and we cannot we cannot make any alterations to that without approval of DPS and right now they're in the middle of a request for proposal on that so we cannot alter anything so we want to improve our capability here and we really are a tertiary or later party and we don't have a vote right yeah and I think the Chief is absolutely correct and you know Wilson I'm from the area I grew up in the area Wilson's one of the fastest growing communities and I'm aware of in the state you certainly come a long ways from the days of pasture lands along the interstate um and and every time I'm over there I am amazed at how much activity is occurring and how many visitors you have um not to say that you don't have a lot of residential development going on too but but certainly you have a large population of both residents and uh and employees working in the area and shoppers and the full gamut so I think it's important for you to have some control over your destiny and the only way that you're going to do that is to make some decisions early on and I don't want to belabor anything but I would tell you that this single dispatch tends to provide a more streamlined dispatch services because everybody knows what everybody else is doing that's not to say that you you shouldn't or couldn't have separate cat or ms systems running in the same dispatch center but it it does streamline what's being said what's going on who's where and and what they're doing it you know I think that this is the appropriate time for you to make those decisions I've tried to provide you with some options including just staying the way you are which I'm not sure is really a very um healthy or progressive way to go um but I also included some numbers in that those numbers can be refined better um but I didn't start calling people to place out equipment because I think that that's for another time but I did give you some approximations that are in the ballpark I'm sure I'm sure of that oh yeah and I forgot to mention that coming up is p25 which is a federal congressional federal regulation that says all emergency services have to be on digital narrow banned frequencies by 2025 almost everybody has either tried to avoid the extra expenses associated with doing that um it will send uniquely position that there are computer radios the radios that have been purchased are all compatible mostly all compatible there are some in the fire service that are not they're older radios but that's a costly venture in and of itself is an example I would tell you that you can buy an analog radio for somewhere between 400 and a thousand dollars and a digital radio is somewhere between two and four thousand dollars depending on its capabilities I think you're in good shape there terry one thing um if you'd like gary could walk the board and those listening through kind of these five options he's identified in some kind of pros and cons to to look at at each would you like him to walk through that yeah like so I was just going to ask him to do it so yes okay I'm I'm moving there now I'm flipping through my paperwork so option one would be to remain the way you are um and let me see you can see from the documents that I provided you should have been a little better prepared to have this laid out I apologize for that page 28 got it thank you so option one you will see the the negative part of that is chief college concerns regarding um mbt's and cat rms and trunk communications um are really not being addressed at all um with the existing system at least not satisfactorily you know uh it it leaves the the community a little fragmented because his dispatching is coming from shulburn um and the police department is coming from the police department and or um new state police um and and you don't receive he does not the fire service does not receive full service dispatching they receive what is uh what shulburn is prepared to offer I guess so really what they're getting is alerting and dispatching services but much of their communications is really between them uh and again chief clad if I'm in there please feel free to correct me um I think I might as well write about that um the police department's in a little more uniquely situated and then at least for 12 hours a day they have some control over their dispatching services and and they get full services and I want to explain the difference to you between full service and a partial service so for example what state police provide for dispatching is they will alert or roll down a call and then you're kind of on your own um so if they were dispatching your fire department your fire department would be toned and dispatched and then they would kind of go away um full service is what they call uh title to the grave basically the dispatch service that you that you have for your responding uh emergency personnel um those dispatch services stay with those officers those firefighters those rescue people until they put that vehicle back in service and they say we're back in service so they go so in a single stage dispatch center the 911 call comes into the same center that's going to dispatch the emergency services and in almost all cases um you the caller is going to have the same person on the phone with them until help arrives on the scene so while that call is being communicated to the dispatcher he or she can be toning the fire department um for to alert the rescue squad the rescue squad or the fire personnel like you know I don't know the exact protocol in the fire department but they're all fire department personnel so they're trying to make sure that those people get alerted as early in the process as possible and then they're staying with those those responders until they say um we're back in the station and and back in service that's really a big deal for in the fire service where they stretch hoses and nozzles maybe a deck gun or something they really have to go back to the station and work to put their equipment back in service so that they're ready to go for the next call but that happens with full service that doesn't happen with partial service um the other thing is is when the police or the fire department respond to a call and there's a car blocking something they can with full service you can just call in and and ask the dispatcher to make arrangements to get the vehicle moved get it out of the way if you need roads closed you can ask the dispatcher to do that um that's not necessarily true when you're receiving partial dispatch services from state police or another entity um so that's option one and option one really doesn't very adequately address chief college concerns about um his the cat rms the the the mbt's the mobile data terminals the gps and the ability to prioritize and identify and account for apparatus and equipment and categorize um the nifers calls they won't beat that up much uh number two really is creating one single dispatch center just want to make sure i'm on the right one here reorganize and consolidate with emergency services to a single town dispatch center um which is not a bad idea um the reality is that most communities are trying to go with single dispatch provider i would tell you that i've been on two legislative study committees uh and the governor study committee and those committees all found that the most efficient and effective way to manage emergency calls is through a regional regional or single dispatch center because it's almost like watching the weather the dispatch center knows exactly what's going on for your community they can see where the fire personnel are they can see if if they're a rescue personnel out they can see mutual aid they can see all of those things and they have good input from the responders and up-to-date real-time communications um to do that however you would have to spend some money and part of spending that money is you know a new fire cat rms system which you could certainly set that up at one of the consoles that could be dedicated to fire calls um the run cards the multiple alarm program capability that would be part of the rms uh the CAD system the pre-fire planning software all of these things are really important the multi-agency interoperability including vhf and UHF trunk systems shared primary dispatch frequencies with availability of multiple fire ground frequencies right now you kind of rely on uh they were actually put aside by the federal government what we call VTAC and UTAC channels um and VTAC is just VHS and UTAC is UHF um for to make this simple VTAC is traditionally used by fire and rescue people or VHS and UHF is used by law enforcement UHF stands for ultra-high frequency VHS stands for very high frequency um those are all moving to digital frequencies though um you know the you need to have person down so most of the equipment now that's being sold out there has the ability to detect if somebody if a firefighter or a police officer goes down and there's no movement you'll alarm back to the dispatch center um um proximity dispatching you know uh that's kind of pre-sorted um stuff that's provided to the CAD system CAD stands for computer aided dispatch rms stands for your records maintenance management systems um so it's the ability to require to call that back you'd have to do that I know that the the town is working a bit on the possibility of adding a tower um which is a good thing regardless of what option you choose that is a good thing there are many dead spots in the community you are not unique there are dead spots in every community um and you really have to it's almost like the term community policing you have to community develop your RF frequency capabilities for your region it depends on this photography it depends on uh low wires and outliers but you need to pursue that it looks like you are and I encourage you to continue to do that um you know it would probably include having to hire more dispatch personnel which is listed on the uh on the cost sheet if you look at the end of the options I tried to prepare a chart for you um it's easy to look at and reference um and my best guess is that the first year it would probably cost between seven and nine hundred thousand dollars to stand up at that dispatch center um and part of what you have to remember and I tried to again I won't spend a long time delivering this point but it's explained in the report what the real costs of dispatching are um to make it short and sweet there are 168 hours in a week you divide that by 40 and you're going to come up with 4.2 there's no such thing as 0.2 and nobody gets away any longer with not providing benefits to dispatchers so for a long time in the dispatch business we figured that took at least four full timers and a cat array of uh part timers the part timers are much harder to come by now because the training is so much more intensive and long I wouldn't I wouldn't expect that you're going to do exceptionally well hiring part-time dispatchers if if you're fortunate you will find a couple of good part-time dispatchers and I would try to hang on to them if you can um but realistically the national number right now is six so if you're looking at a dispatch center and you want to put somebody in a chair 24 hours a day seven days a week 365 days a year it's going to take six people to do that with time off for people who either have sick leave or vacation or periodment in the state of Vermont the average dispatcher with benefits makes between 72,000 and 78,000 dollars a year math member has been my strong suit so I try to round things up or down to make it easy for to understand but if you just make it 70,000 dollars you're talking $420,000 in salaries and benefits a year just to stop that and you haven't bought anybody any pencils pens computers desk chairs um so obviously some of that you would have and you would be able to use in that center but those things all cost real money um the radio so some of the things that you have to take a look at are your repeaters and your trunk lines the other thing that's really important is security more and more um we're finding that if you have a tower you have to protect it you know with anti-client barriers so nobody can climb that that power and knock out your communications you have to have generated power or backup power for that and you want to make sure because of all the divers fibers there's a whole bunch of acronyms that I could go on for a long time and I wouldn't mean much to anybody but to meet the criteria established by those organizations the FBI the state of Vermont DPS you have to really limit and restrict access to the computer the radios and the radios are all linked into computers so when people talk about a dispatch center and they talk only about radios they're missing half the bulk because all of those radios are being operated to the computers that the dispatchers are sitting behind um so that's my best estimate after year one I think you could probably operate that dispatch center for about a half a million dollars a year again it would depend on salaries and benefits which is the most expensive part um the radio equipment a lot of that you're going to have to maintain anyway and you know certainly uh I would tell you that eight years it looks to me if you do the research and after being in the business for a long time we always use eight years of the life of a piece of electronic equipment and then you're looking at either replacing it or upgrading it um and again more and more you know RF it means radio frequency and mostly in the state of Vermont we dispatch from antenna to antenna it's called dispatching more and more dispatch centers are moving to microwaves and you're dispatching by microwave or by VoIP which again includes and involves computers option three would be going out to contract so there are dispatch centers are sprinkled around the area that do in fact provide dispatching services um one of them you know I remember when the former chief started doing that um what he was trying to do is create some offset revenue to offset the cost to the town of to the town of Shelburne um for dispatching services you know where I worked for the last 15 years in St. Albans we did that um and it started off kind of being by hook by truck thing you know people would come to the PD and say you know we're starting the fire department out in Franklin and we don't have anybody answer the phone 24 hours a day would you guys do that and tell us and you know depending on who is in a good mood or not on a given day you would pick up additional people to be responsible for those days are gone it costs money to dispatch um so I would tell you that St. Albans I just retired on the 31st but we were generating about a million dollars a year in dispatch revenue but the reason that people do that is to offset their own cost so if you had your own dispatch center you could always dispatch for another company to generate some offset revenue but you shouldn't create a dispatch center thinking that you're going to make money dispatching because for the most part most municipalities don't want to pay a penny more than they have to and every time that you explain that you just had union negotiations or some other thing that's why you have to raise your it suddenly turns into a dispute about actual cost but anytime the 10 people are paying for somebody to sit in the chair it's cheaper for all 10 of them than if one person pays the next there again there are many disadvantages to that one of the things is that you'd have to put out an RFP and you'd have to tell people what it is that you expect or want for CAD or MS you're pretty much limited or restricted to whatever it is that they're using whatever their system happens to be I don't think there are a lot of people there's no growing desire to be in the dispatch business in Chittenden County those who are thinking about dispatch for Chittenden County are thinking of a regional dispatch center which is your fifth option and quite honestly one of the most logical and quite possibly one of the most practical efficient and effective the issue will be making sure that all emergency responders get treated properly and that you have the great capabilities for those emergency responders and that the steering committee or the control mechanism for that understands that it takes real dollars and real people to manage and staff a facility like that um again you know when you look at costs for that it looks like your initial costs are I don't know again it takes into consideration the fact you still have demands on positions back in Lawson but probably you're talking at least a half a million dollars to go to get your foot in the door and after that maybe 350, 364,000 I think Eric might be able to speak more as it went to the Chittenden County Regional Dispatch Concept um then I can I can tell you that I've supported it I worked in law enforcement and the fire service and EMS in Chittenden County for 28 years and never made sense to me there are 14 separate police departments and more than that for fire departments and they all have redundant equipment they all go out and buy the same equipment and spend a lot of money doing that when if you put your money together you'd have more horsepower and you could build one system that would support everybody did I cover the options okay looks good to me I think looking at the sheets your provider you did a good job on giving us the updates on on that so I guess I'll turn it over to the board to ask any questions we have about 15 minutes if I'm probably going to not do the time and it just sticks until after we get through discussing this but any questions from the board for chief dealer not not really just one observation I'm on page 37 looking at the dispatch option considerations and one thing that one thing that struck me was you know if I look at the one that talks about full dispatch services which all the options essentially do and then I go a little bit further down and I look at the the row that says increases town overall dispatching costs and all of them are checked again so two to the matter is if you do anything other than what you're doing right now you're probably going to spend more money but that's just one of those things that I think we have to accept the two things the one thing I didn't say that I think is really important is you have two in-house experts you have a fire chief and a police chief who are fully aware of their needs their wants and their capabilities and and unlike some communities I would be remiss in not pointing to them as your resident experts on dispatching certainly chief Collette and chief fully both know what it is they need and what they want and you know I realize that if you suddenly want a subatomic car and you try to get one and they aren't available you're going to have to settle for something less but the reality is you are not spending a lot of money right now on dispatching um and you are not unique you know I can tell you that for 46 years I've worked in emergency services and we always plan for dispatch after we get done building everything else somebody would say oh by the way where are we going to put dispatch and somebody would say you know that big closet we're going to make downstairs for and turn it into a walk around it looks like it's going to become the dispatch center nobody ever planned for the dispatch center you know up front nowadays I think we're a little better at doing those sorts of things certainly chief Collette with his experience from Burlington chief fully who I've known for all 46 years of my emergency service career they're well versed in in what they need and what's available and I'm pretty sure that they would completely agree with me that um you're kind of doing it on a shoestring budget right now which is good for you but you have to understand that anything that you do to try to become more progressive and modern is probably going to cost more money if you were out of the five options I think I know the question but I still want to hear it from somebody who knows more about it than I do a lot more about it than I do if we were to look at it from the perspective of what option provides the greatest increases to the greatest amount you know the safety of our police department and fire and EMS departments which would that option be well ideally it would be your own consolidated dispatch center okay interesting if you weren't going to do that and the likelihood probably is great that you might not I would certainly consider the Chittenden County Regional Dispatch Center the next most viable option how important would you out of all the considerations we're looking at and you've detailed how important is that one I just asked about it's probably the most important okay if I had to prioritize what you have to be taking into consideration right now I tell you that again I look around your community and I see this expansive growth and and everything from industry and manufacturing to residential to being a shopping mecca if you will most communities would would commit crimes to have the sort of growing grand less that you're probably experiencing but the time to get a handle on this is now while you're still growing at that pace and and you'll be in a better position you'll be on a much more solid foundation moving forward but the white line for those responders is that dispatcher you know we sometimes don't think about being unsung heroes in the emergency services business but it is that dispatcher who makes the difference and I suspect that your chiefs can tell you that story after story anecdotally about you know successes or not successes because of the person on the other end of that radio okay thank you I only had one question if I could I'm not sure who to direct this to could be could be any of you um um with the regional dispatch I'm looking at page 35 of the report and I notice that it says that um one of the negatives listed as a possibility are things like um proximity dispatching regardless of agency the closest unit is deployed um now we we have mutual aid agreements where we respond to Richmond or South Burlington or whoever needs us and they do the same for us um is this saying that under the regional dispatch that if we have a uh you know there's a house in Richmond at the bottom of French Hill that's closer to our fire department than than the fire department in Richmond that this regional dispatch will roll our fire truck or ambulance because it happens to be closer regardless of town line you think that's a question for Eric or uh Chief Collette I don't know that it's um Ted I think what we're talking about here is closest proximity dispatch would more often deal with EMS so if you had an ambulance that was driving by an incident and that would um mark it in a GIS system that CAD is going to look at all of the ambulances that are showing as in in service or available and that's going to say ambulance X is the closest ambulance to respond to that scene as they're driving by so that's going to recommend that ambulance so regardless of agency that's going to put responders on scene quicker in a fire response you're going to have a multi-agency response regardless because we don't have the staffing or the people so you're going to get two or three fire departments they're going to automatically be dispatched most likely for a fire of significance for certainly a commercial building fire something like that so it's not necessarily going to apply there it's going to come down to EMS okay um well the the fire dispatch that that that happens now right I mean if we need help from another department they we can call um so how that happens is only the agencies that are dispatched out of Shelburne have the ability to be automatically if you will toned out of the Shelburne dispatch so Heinzberg fire Shelburne fire Richmond fire all dispatched out of Shelburne if it's a fire significance they can they need to hang up call the other agency on the telephone and request assistance in our case for a tanker task force and what we would classify as a second alarm building fire that often will include up to seven additional phone calls at about 60 seconds apiece so you do that math that's seven minutes before you've even contacted that last agency to try to get to your incident scene and now you have to dispatch that agency alert their responders they have turnout time to get to their respective stations if it's not a staffed station and then travel time to your event so you could be looking at 20 minutes or greater before you get another fire department in that model where where the ccpsa if it was all coming out of one central dispatch that's just another tone another button it's all simulcast at the same time the request for assistance goes up the same time yep well i don't want to be too parochial about it and that is but the the concern i had was the ambulance dispatch for as you've described it that you know we and again i i'm not going to begrudge anybody who needs an ambulance since well you're in Essex i wish i could help but we're the williston ambulance and we would never cross that town line it's it's a it's it's a huge wall almost like the one between texas and mexico um but the um the issue is that you know so i mean i don't have a problem with that but but ultimately there is a secondary concern about you know resources that you know we we spend money for these things and other other towns are getting them just because we have the same dispatch as opposed to what they they genuinely need them um you know that would cause a concern i don't it sounds like that's not going to be an issue um i don't think it would be an issue at all i mean we actually ran into this uh in the city of burlington pet and we divided the city into two zones essentially in north and south we divided it down pearl and what would happen is based upon where the the incident mapped one ambulance would get dispatched well if that other ambulance was happened to travel through there that jurisdiction that would pick up that ambulance we were able to program the cad and then operationally just members would would know it and say wait a minute that other truck is is right here and they wouldn't do it so it's i don't think it's a big of a deal as you're envisioning it yeah no it sounds like it's not um yeah it's something that happens routinely every day in these systems yeah i have a very distinct recollection of looking out the castello courthouse windows at the ambulances burlington ambulances it would go by usually to cathedral square and think wow that's uh that's a busy service um but uh okay thank you chief you're welcome no problem and don't you always have the ability to override that the dispatch chief absolutely correct any further questions we we've got about uh four minutes before we need to go to the public hearing there's no further questions and eric uh i think there was a staff recommendation on which option uh was your recommendation sir and this is going from uh both chiefs and myself and um i'll go through this so i get chief folia a chance to comment as well uh this evening has anything to add but you know in working with gary the chiefs there appear to be three viable options for us moving forward um the town dispatch center um a regional dispatch center for service we're looking at a hybrid approach of in-house for say police and regional for fire um in these preliminary cost estimates for regional appear to be the least cost prohibitive and our recommendation from the board to consider is for the town to at least maintain a fiscal stake in the future and success of a regional center with a contribution of fy 22 towards the facility at fit costs um the staff believes this opportunity brought on um by possible implementation of regional dispatch is one that's worth continuing to pursue at this point and the and the success for standing up a regional dispatch center is going to be driven by the municipal partners who are who are behind this and the staff will continue to evaluate and explore in-house and hybrid models in the coming year and over that time it's anticipated uh for the progress we made for regional dispatch and potentially we're getting to offer services for municipalities in fy 23 and then no chief bull if you had anything to add um i don't have a chance to speak yet just that you know we've been looking at the regional concept here in chine county for the past since i've been here i know we're back in uh when i first got here uh we we put money on to the regional dispatch uh there's been numerous discussions on regional dispatch here in chine county for well over 40 years um they work when they've done correctly um it seems like we've been taking very small steps on the chine county regional we have an existing dispatch here in the in the wilson police it's been here for quite a few years um i hate to see that throwing out taking the money that we use in that dispatch to another entity so you know our recommendation was is to keep our seat within the regional the 34 000 they've asked us to donate and to give but we still need to to model out a do our own stand alone dispatch for police and fire uh we still don't know what the course would be for state police to charges uh that still has to go through the legislative process um this past year they want to have a say in the course so again we're not sure you know they're looking at possibly uh 2022 is maybe the start up now as the course so we're not even sure what that's going to happen but i don't think we should rush into this uh we have you know qualified dispatchers here in the pd i think we can make it work uh but you know i think we need to plan it out and come up with the actual course to make it work you know um i have good it people here within the building that know operationally you know the radio system the cad system the rsm system and you know coming coming from uh wednesday where i started up a regional dispatch for 13 agencies in two states fine they're basically firing ems but we had a working wonderful you know in down in massachusetts you know um you know every every agency down in mass as a peace app 911 peace app and we had a great system how we were dispatching down there so i know i know my way around dispatch i like to give it a run and again if the course is astronomical then we go to plan b but i think we should still maintain a seat within the regional uh because if we don't we lose that seat then we got to listen to uh the other people on that uh board to dictate what we'll be able to do and we don't have to say so i think we need to keep the door open there but also look at our opportunity with police fire ems within the confines of uh well as the thank you chief i'm not sure if you're ready to give a a yes or no at this point but we would need to consider this in the um the context of the uh the fiscal year appropriation so if you're ready now we could uh do a straw vote uh to approve the recommendation and then discuss the the budget parts later on or if you're not ready we can discuss it once we get to the budget and and terry and this is adding 34 000 to the um and it's not in the budget right now this would be an addition to the budget um uh for the payment to cc what is it cc psa yeah that's correct okay if if you're uh in favor of this we can go ahead and do a straw vote at this point and then discuss the uh the budget uh as we get further down so let me take a hand vote if you're in favor of the recommendation of staff please raise your hand so we have four so that's great thank you very much and we'll tackle the 34 000 later on in the evening so thank you all for uh attending and we'll close out this phase of the of the meeting yeah and very comprehensive report that we received from chief taylor absolutely thank you thank you very much thank you good night good night thanks gary so hopefully uh sarah has been warned that she'll be on after we do the uh the public hearing yep uh she's logged in terry and listening so i okay okay so we're at then the the public hearing on fiscal year 2022 budget notices hereby given that the willis and select word will hold a public hearing on tuesday 8 january 5th 2021 at 8 p.m using the virtual median platform zoom zoom to receive comments on the proposed operating budget for fiscal year 2022 in a capital budget and program for fiscal years 2022 to 2027 uh and median access is listed on this so i'll ask eric just to give a brief overview of uh what the budget contains and then we'll go on to opening the public hearing sure scram my uh my budget binder here here uh so so the proposed operating budget by staffer f y 22 is um 11,589,065 dollars representing a decrease of just over $82,000 in the budget approved and fiscal year 21 the operating portion of the budget is proposed to increase by about 0.79 percent and the overall budget proposed to decrease by about 0.7 percent the proposed budget as prepared and submitted early december would require a hasty increase in property taxes projected using the funding model outlined um i will add throughout this budget process the uh the piece that staff's taking a close look at is the revenue portion of the budget with the covid 19 has added a number of complexities on the revenue side um we we go from our grand list um looking at a flat grand list projection next year at the advice of the assessor um to kind of some unknown territory with local option tax receipts and then other sources of revenue from town departments have been unknown so um this budget reflects that and that's uh the board will hear from the finance director um after the public hearing on additional information on the fund balance projected for potentially use in this budget year as well good thank you so i'm asked the the people who wish to speak tonight to please be brief we've received over 20 emails that we've all read and if we haven't they're in our packets uh tonight um no harm in saying that i agree with the previous caller and uh if you wish to but uh this is a public hearing so it's your turn and uh i'll open it now to comments from the public and uh everyone i see an active chat here so i i've tried to um i'll try to get everyone's name down and i do see a couple requests for folks that uh need to log off earlier so i'll try to get those folks on earlier as well but um what's going to happen is i'm going to um essentially i'll allow you to talk so you're unmuted and you can address the board with your comment and i'll let you know uh before i unmute you and and you'll see something happen and you'll you'll be connected so bear with me it will just take me a moment as i kind of go through this and then find your name on the list but the first person i have is uh marcie uh cos and marcie i'm going to connect you right now welcome marcie and you'll see the unmute marcie okay yeah got it thank you hi uh thank you for giving me a chance to speak i believe the town should find the money make it a priority to hire an energy coordinator if we don't our best intentions will sit on the back burner and fall through the cracks of daily life i think most people in williston will thank you for taking this necessary step which i do believe weighs heavily on our minds i got this impression three years ago when i went door to door with the renewable energy resolution petition and also talking with my neighbors today in a packet of 22 letters the one letter against hiring an energy coordinator cited the heartland foundation as its source you can do an internet search and learn about this well funded foundations tacit mission to sow doubt on the science of climate change funded in large part by the fossil fuel industry this bears mentioning because if it's a difference of opinion versus an undeniable scientific fact then there's the loophole to climb into when you want to delay taking action and since time is of the essence delay is denial i wish there was a national campaign to help us break our fossil fuel habit but unfortunately it's up to us thank you thank you thank you marcie and next i have a daniel duquette and anna i'm just going to find you on the list and you'll be connecting just a moment welcome daniel hello hi we can hear you so go right ahead hey this is my daughter anna thoroughly do that going first have you ever heard of the united nations global rules for sustainable development there are 17 goals that need to be achieved by 2030 and only going to be 19 years old adults are making the world so that the younger generations will have a struggled living to help the skinny to hire an energy coordinator and we are learning about the global goals in class one of them is affordable and clean energy goal seven as the page on their website says renewable energy solutions are becoming cheaper more reliable and more efficient every day our current reliance on fossil fuels is unsustainable and harmful to the planet which is why we have to change the way we produce and consume energy and planting these new energy solutions as fast as possible is essential to counter climate change one of the biggest threats to our own survival there are many things you can do as the select for example put up more counselor panels and basically anything that we can make over and over and again using the three things we always have wind water and sun you have now you have now heard from the experts at the un they think the energy plan will work and i use you i we need to use a higher and energy coordinator this concludes my letter sincerely anna thoroughly you set h9 global goal ambassador thank you anna and i just want to say thank you so much for all the that you've done for adopting the plan this year i saw the energy plan memorandum later in the agenda packet and i'm super excited by all the steps and plans that have been undertaken i can't wait to read it more fully i just want to thank you for the work done so far thank you very much and we're going to be discussing that memo from that later on tonight thank you daniel anna so next i have kimberley uh just a moment kimberley will get you connected welcome kimberley or you're muted uh good evening and thank you all for your service and i too want to speak to a win win solution where we reduce our greenhouse emissions and create good jobs and just solutions i do want to thank you for passing the plan which over 95 people signed the petition for that i want to thank eric wells for putting together these significant ways to apply the plan so far through town staff and especially the planning department um i i do want to speak to some stuff that is not addressed in the memo um my experience in a previous job was reaching out to low income residents in adison county and our experience was many did not realize they qualified for help and they did not know how to apply but once they access the state programs that allowed them to winterize their homes get heat pumps water hot water heat pumps and uh star energy appliances the um there was an amazing increase in quality of life and health for these families many of which included children so i want to encourage you to be bold and um take initiative and lead by hiring an energy coordinator who can expand the very significant things you already are working on but coordinate those and reach out to some of our poorest citizens and to all citizens because many of us do qualify for help in changing over to more efficient systems um i have kids living in australia and the bay area of california which are two of our worst hot spots so as a mother i am constantly challenged by are they safe and i do know they certainly endure very bad um air quality when the fires in their areas um basically pollute the air to a point where sometimes they cannot even leave their homes so words are cheap action always costs something but we have to clean up the part of the mess we make we have to start local so please um help us save money heartache and disaster down the road by spending money now it only gets more expensive later and i think that's the win win of doing something now so please fully fund the energy coordinator position so you really reach out to those who um may have the least uh resources in our community and then everyone who may want to take action on their own thank you thank you thank you kimberley next i'm going to go to uh kevin thorley and and his son jacked and found you on the list here kevin and you should be connecting just a moment hi eric thank you um i'll keep my comments brief i wanted to thank you and the select board and the other folks who work with including matt on the planning committee for the work um on that memo i think it addresses um quite a few obviously not all but quite a few of the things that are important to us you know from the energy plan and i think it does so in a way that um makes progress in a difficult financial time i on top of that i i would like to just throw my my voice behind um the desire to find some way to fund fully or partially if that's the best we can do an energy coordinator there's a lot of money on the table in terms of um various incentives various grants i expect it's going to be even more in the coming year um it would be good to see willison take advantage of that and and anyone in a um energy co energy coordinator position would be well equipped to help the town you know get access to that money and you know you know increase the rate at which we can make these changes i'm going to turn this over to my son jack dear wilson select board as the current state our town is going we won't be able to achieve our 90 by 2050 renewable energy goal a way that we will be be able to achieve that is by hiring an energy coordinator the energy coordinator will find energy problems and find solutions this would increase our getting to 90 by 2050 renewable energy so jack's already set thank you thank you and our thank you both thank you next we have uh kailyn mccamp kailyn i'll i believe scott's with you as well um just a moment hi there this is kailyn um i jumped the gun a little bit by speaking at a previous meeting but i wanted to share my comments here in the official space as well so um echoing people's thanks for the comprehensive memo really detailing what's going on and just wanted to reiterate uh working in the sustainability field uh i know that intentions don't always fall through with unless there's really somebody specific that is responsible for them so i would just continue to advocate that you think it's important to have a dedicated position for the energy coordinator and all of the tasks outlined in the energy plan and agree with kevin that even partial funding for for getting started can make a big difference i also think the return on investment as highest at the beginning with some of the easiest things to get started and so um there'll be a fear from the upfront cost because that will start to repay itself early in the in the beginning now pass it over to scott yeah hi uh yeah just want to thank you for um you know the actions you've taken certainly uh you know a step in the right direction having some experience in the environmental sector um i i can relate to the complexities um of legislation and ensuring that we have someone uh solely responsible for understanding that and being an expert in the field uh i think is pretty imperative um and i'd just like to see as a long time willastonian i'd just like to see us uh you know be on the right side of history so i appreciate everything you've done and i hope we can get this position funded thank you thanks both of you thank you going to my next next next i have a elizabeth um just a moment elizabeth will get you connected i guess um i um i concur i would like to add my voice to the others um i concur with all that they have said and so that means i don't have to say as much um i think as a single town we can't do a huge amount but we're citizens of the town of the state of the world we have to think of our children and grandchildren and future generations and so i feel that we have to do what we can um that's what the energy plan is about and the energy coordinator is a means that the town has to implement a lot of the plan a lot is going on already but this dedicated person will enable the town to move forward in a timely efficient and most likely cost-effective way um could immediately as people have said apply for grants kickstart the formation of the town energy committee which is also part of the plan and also as kim mentioned educate the public um to what climate change is all about if they aren't aware and what they can do about it and the resources they can find um there's really no time to be lost vermont is already behind the other new england states and um the timeline is shrinking i just got a communication from seara club um things are happening faster than scientists had um and anticipated so i understand the fiscal realities i understand having to prioritize expenditures but i really think we need to step up um and support this by including funds in the budget um for the energy coordinator position thank you very much for your thank you thank you thanks a little bit and let's see um brian forrest you're up next just a moment well brian okay um good evening and thanks for the opportunity to speak i have sent you several letters uh regarding my position so i don't think it's any mystery about how i feel my concern is a great concern for my children my grandchildren and uh i i do all i can i'm sure you do to protect your children buy them helmets and floaties and seat belts and child seats and everything we do we have resource officers in our schools to protect our children and yet this budget does not acknowledge and we passed an energy plan last year and this budget does not acknowledge any of that uh the threat to our children in this budget and it's not surprising because budgets are traditionally built on the past department heads have histories of submitted budgets they have rejected expenditures and it's all part of a it's a timeline process we're in an immediate process but the climate crisis has no department to advocate for it it has no one to protect the future generations and so we need this board to act as the advocates for our children we need them to to not to sacrifice our children so that we can pay low taxes which is what's what we're doing because tax rates are set by our needs not by our our we don't have a a fixed set of money that we can only try and pack as much into it our tax rates are set by what we determine as a town are our needs we did that when we went from a volunteer to a paid fire department police department this is a new safety issue public safety issue that's come down upon us and we need to recognize that we cannot do this on this on the cheap we are not responsible for the total climate crisis but we are responsible for all the pollution that this town puts into the air every single time that thermostat clicks in your house and your boiler your furnace goes on and puts more more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere we are responsible for what we have done and to look at our children say that we have done all that we can do to protect them and not have an item in this budget for to implement the town energy plan I think the whole thing should be implemented we have no time to waste the IPCC in 2018 gave us 12 years from 20 to 30 to have our carbon emissions in half if we don't do that and and and fully eliminate them by 2050 we don't do that things will be set into motion that we cannot stop no matter how much money we put into it this is not this is not new we've noticed been we know this can be kicked down the road we're at the end of the road here we've seen half of the Australian continent I mean a third of the Australian continent go up in flames last year killing over a billion animals we've seen five towns in Oregon go up in flames we've seen the whole west coast totally polluted people can't go out of their homes looks like looks like Beijing so if you have concern of your kids in grandchildren the way I do you must understand this is a crisis and we need to get behind it we cannot do something cheap we need to incorporate this going forward as as a major component of our budget which is in terms of our police department and fire department that determines the millions of dollars a year our children's education we we fund to the term 23 million dollars twice our our town budget because we we're so concerned about their future but yet we have nothing in here to protect the planet we're still gonna live on so I asked you to fully fund the energy plan get this role we have no time to lose thank you very much thank you brand thank you brand next I have Ken Grossman just a moment Ken I'll get you connected okay am I on you are okay great I'm sitting here with my wife Holly she may say a few words as well um full disclosure Holly and I kind of carpet beggars we bought a house on south road in Williston about a year ago and unfortunately and it's our intent to become full-time citizens of Williston in the next couple of years to actually to be closer to our children who own homes in Bolton and in south Burlington kind of the reverse of what you often hear more disclosure I had a cup of coffee in the New Hampshire state legislature a few years back and I serve on a town board in Burrington, New Hampshire when I was in the legislature I was the prime sponsor of a bill on energy efficiency and one of its components was to set a date by which all state buildings in New Hampshire would be made properly efficient well it hasn't happened yet and I think part of the problem was although there's all sorts of state staff who are supposed to manage it there was no one who was assigned specifically to that task and so eight years later it's just sitting there and that's kind of a metaphor for you know for my suggesting that you do something towards you know putting something in charge of this very wonderful project that you've put together and I'm really proud to be moving to a place where that happens as a matter of fact one more thing I want to add to that is that I was invited yesterday to attend a meeting of some people we'll call climate activists in New Hampshire who want to persuade the legislature this year to get something done which has been a problem in the past couple of years and I told her I was going to instead of doing that to meet with some folks in Williston Vermont where I was moving who were working on a project towards getting something done in Williston Vermont and she said must be wonderful to be moving to a place where your voice might be heard and something might be accomplished so I think you ought to do something towards getting an energy coordinator one tiny suggestion a little internet search told me that the town of Hartford decided to join with some surrounding towns and share the cost of an energy coordinator and a regional approach might be an interesting thing to explore at some point but I think you ought to get started right now so thank you for all you've done and that's all I have to say Holly do you want to add something? Yes I will I won't say much because it's been said and I want to thank you for implementing an energy plan and I want to encourage you to hire an energy coordinator I think it's really important and I think it's the next step to actually making some substantial change in Williston thank you for all you've done. Thank you in response to the Ken the Vermont legislature did set goals for fossil fuels and there is a person in charge in the buildings and general services department that is trying to make that happen in all state buildings so thank you for your comments. Okay you're welcome thank you. Thank you and next I have Lynn Blevins just a moment Lynn. Hi Lynn you're on mute. Hi there. Hi I applaud the efforts and energy that many people have put into writing the town energy plan and I support the activities outlined in today's memo of the town energy plan implementation that Eric sent earlier today. I've already expressed the health consequences of climate change but today as a public health physician I'd like to mention the health co-benefits of many of the activities that are included in the plan in particular switching to electric vehicles reduces air pollution which is a significant contributor to heart and lung disease among other health conditions increasing walking and biking options increases opportunities for physical activities. Both of these were featured in today's memo by Eric these are immediate health benefits that can be realized by Willastonians as the town energy plan is implemented. Thank you. Thanks Lynn. Thanks Lynn and Melinda I have you up next. Welcome Melinda. You're muted. Hi. Hi thank you for giving me a few moments here. First I just want to say thank you all for your service and I also want to I took a look at the memo that Eric put out today addressing the town energy plan implementation and want to just let you know in general that I am very happy with all the recommendations that are in there. Two points about why now is the time to act. First one is Willaston continues to grow even through this pandemic and the new buildings that we're putting up today are residential and commercial will be here for hopefully 100 years or more and the changes that we make and the decisions we make as far as their efficiency and how they run and the equipment that are in them will have far-ranging impacts into the future but the important thing is to have it happen as soon as possible in order to have the biggest impact and the least the most cost effective solution and the longest ranging impact. So that's one of the reasons why we need to act now and then the other reason is that everybody in our town uses energy and every dollar that we spend on fossil fuels and the majority of every dollar we spend on electricity exits Vermont so if we can find a way to save energy that's great if we can find a way to generate energy locally that means that we keep that money that is currently exiting the state we keep it here and that right now that sounds like a really good idea to keep money here so I'm really encouraged you to move forward with anything that you can on the energy plan and I really would like to encourage you to move forward on funding the town energy position so as you work through the difficult decision of imbalancing the importance of our town's financial burdens I respectfully ask that you assign an appropriate weight to our responsibility to address our energy usage and its resultant climate impact now is a good time to find our town energy coordinator thank you thank you thanks Wanda so I just put in the chat but I don't have anyone else on my list is anyone else like the comment I have a last call here Terry I don't see anyone else wishing to speak thank you now thanks to everybody for your comments and being brief and to the point so thank you at this point I'd be looking for a motion to close the public hearing so moved do I have a second second is there any discussion on motion very none I was in favor of closing the public hearing raise your hand one two three four we're officially closed and we'll move then back to the town meeting 2021 logistics with town clerk Sarah Mason hi sir I'll get you connected just a moment can you hear me yes we can hi sir so we have your memo and you probably heard that we do have now a petition for the ballot regarding cannabis I heard that earlier when I was leaving work and Eric was just getting that email from the gentleman so I did hear that earlier today hi good we had him on earlier under public comment to explain what he was looking for and that's the first thing on your memo talks about the submission of petitions right the deadline for that is probably the first major deadline we have that's the 14th so I don't know what 10 days from now so that one is if you know certainly our first deadlines were coming up were there more questions about that we'll be meeting next to Tuesday and the question that will need to determine either night or then is whether or not we require the petition the positions be signed okay five percent of the registered voters is 422 so that he knows what they're shooting for as far as a target number yes okay shall I move on to town meeting logistics so I don't have anything much to report unfortunately from you know three weeks ago when we sort of got this ball rolling most of that is because there is no decision yet out of Montpelier or the governor or legislature anybody that has said one way or the other whether some of the directors in place during November August you know 2020 in general will be in play for 2021 so until someone makes that decision you know we're sort of waiting in a holding pattern Terry today I did watch a little bit of the joint fiscal committee I can't remember if I'm saying that correctly and they certainly quickly realized they were in over their head and it was not a decision that they would be making so Jim Condos was on that call with Chris Winters and I'm sure that they are working to try to come up with an answer the LCT had in their newsletter though that it will most likely be the third week of January before there is an actual maybe cut and dry decision of whether anyone is allowed to mail ballots to all voters that's kind of the big sticking point right now if we stick with what we know as sort of normal you know you request a ballot early if you'd like one or you can go to the polls or the mass mailing to everybody so I sort of have two routes planned out right now like I said kind of in a holding pattern of just waiting for someone to to make a decision and I think all towns are in the same boat I've talked to my other clerks a little bit and I know one really has said no one select board has said from the towns that I've heard of so far in our other five towns here you know yes we're definitely wanting to go this route or we're definitely going to go this route so like I said the pros and cons to both sides still certainly you know waiting for a little direction and then things will move quickly so that's sort of my update if anybody has any questions I'm happy to field any of those and hopefully you're just sort of thinking about where your decision might go so when we do have a direction we can sort of make it and then pivot in one of those two directions so the meeting of joint fiscal you were talking about the Secretary of State had requested one and a half million dollars to assist municipalities in a mailing ballots so that's on hold at this point it sounds what I'm sorry that's on hold at this point yeah I missed the beginning of the meeting unfortunately it was almost quarter of 10 before I remembered that I was able to watch via that link which was really really great I mean the accessibility of having those online like that was really I've never watched anything before I've never gone to Montpelier so people I know it's hard and zoom is difficult but boy was it really interesting to be able to watch and listen you know live to what they were all debating so it was really interesting but unfortunately didn't go very far I think that they had said this really has to go to some some other committee or some other higher ups so there was no there was no and we didn't think we're going to get an answer today either it's only January 5th and it wasn't going to be a definitive answer today appropriations committee will have to approve that and probably ways and means as well but so it'll take a little bit of time but the longer it takes the right less opportunity that we'll have to do that right the good news the good news is is that the urgency is out there you know they every every memo that I have seen everyone has said this is urgent you know this is the timeline you know which is sort of in that memo so you know some of the dates so it certainly is at the top of everyone's list because you know we're looking at what six maybe seven weeks not not even at this point so you know it will happen yes one way or the other right I do have a quote for if we have to use a mailing house and have someone help get that process moved along so like I said I have some of these players in the wings just waiting to pull it together one direction or the other good in the the time for our submissions to you for select board report and talent managers report and other things is coming up soon so yeah next week would be great you know I technically the end of the month is when that has to be over to repro but certainly you know next week I don't have my calendar in front of me maybe the 15th or something of next Friday but Terry we can shoot offline I can just remind you whether you write this elect board one and I don't know who writes the legislative one it's usually you Jim Ginny and Debbie but I don't know who actually writes that the wooden for the house I usually write and I started on that you yesterday and got some feedback from Jim and looking for some input from Aaron as well so okay that to you either by Friday or Monday okay great plenty of time appreciate it any other further questions for Sarah the timelines are pretty well set okay thank you Sarah you're welcome have a good night everybody thank you bye bye so we'll move on to the budget review fiscal year 2022 we do have some updates from Shirley regarding the fund balance and Eric why don't you lead off the discussion sure do you want to do the energy update while I've got Matt here as well yeah absolutely okay we can leave with that then then surely I'll get you connected after but I'm going to connect you right now Matt just a moment and Terry Matt and I we discussed earlier we just kind of walk through this this memo briefly for the board on energy planning update as as the board thinks about that component here I just want to repeat and thanks to everyone who commented both tonight and wrote in earlier to be engaged in the budget process it's it's not always the town receives so many comments regarding the budget so it's it's much appreciated to read those comments and to hear those comments for myself and I'm sure them and the board as well so I just want to share with the public and the board that implementing elements of the energy planner are underway at a staff level and I'm in I agree it's important work and I believe a variety of strategies can be utilized in the implementation of different elements of the plan and just to remind everyone the the plans to guidance document possible implementation measures for the goals it contains that can be revised over time as a as a chapter of the town plan. So today I've tasked our planning director Matt Balanché with examining the implementation steps for the planning related components of the plan and he'll provide a review tonight and address some of these tasks underway and in the review and considering next steps Matt and I discuss a detailed draft charge for a future energy committee is one component that staff's going to be taking a look at and this work's going to involve an analysis of the pathways of the energy plan for feasibility of next steps in the epic current time and looking at this plan my belief is coordination with community partner organizations outside agencies and leveraging existing staff resources for either project grant writing work and other elements will be critical elements for success in implementing these many components. I look at I plan to look at these models for partnerships in the coming year and explore these as well some somewhere mentioned in comments this evening and I also want to take this opportunity to update the community on our net metering credits. May recall the town purchase the 20 solar trackers behind Town Hall in the fall of 2018 exercise the purchase option and I obtained some information from the planning office and did some math last week and to date the towns received nearly $160,000 in net metering credits and that's applied to reduce electricity costs from these solar trackers and in addition we have solar panels on the roof of the public work facility we've received about $5,000 in net metering credits with that arrangement and the town has an option to purchase those solar panels coming up in the next year or so which we'll be looking at closer. So that works underway and I just want to turn over to Matt to kind of briefly touch on some of the planning component elements that you've been working on. Thank you. Welcome Matt. Thanks for having me. So if you do have the memo Eric put together on this the planning part really starts on page three after the discussion of the energy credits and I think I want to start with a really broad picture which is to say that there are a lot of things about Williston's overall land use planning scheme that among other things are energy efficient so the general idea of concentrating the bulk of new growth and development in a growth center which is easier to serve with transit and easier to move around in without an individual vehicle by walking, biking or again using transit and where you have a lot of multi-tenant residential or multi-tenant commercial or even mixed-use buildings encouraged and supplied with the services they need to exist means that you have uses of land that can happen in a way that are quote unquote naturally more energy efficient fewer exterior walls per dwelling unit at the building scale and lower transportation energy expenditure because things can be traveled to in a way other than driving a car and I was in the growth center this morning buying gas at Simon's Plaza gas station adjacent to Finney Crossing and just in the time I was there filling my gas car with a tank of gas but I was watching people come walking out of the residential portion of Finney Crossing and head toward the commercial portions of Finney Crossing and Maple Tree Place across the street you know in a corridor that is served by transit and you know the towns continued efforts to build support and to some degree contain that kind of growth in a limited geographic area do play into the broad brush goals of the energy plan and the overall comprehensive plan that said what I really tried to do in the memo is respond to those elements of the pathways in the recently adopted energy plan where I do think there's some measurable progress that's been made or something that's underway and give you my best prediction of when I think some of that work product might make its way to the select board I don't want to read these all in great detail because I feel like that would take a lot of time but I'd like to just go through them briefly and then please stop me as you are looking for additional detail or clarification. So you know 2.3 through 2.5 on this first page of the memo that talks about planning are a lot about the energy that is expended in the carbon that's created through people needing to move themselves or move goods around via transportation. So you know continue to work with local motion we certainly do that in a number of ways I think every time we take on a planning effort that involves bicycle or pedestrian infrastructure or programming or education you know local motion is our go-to they're a regional partner with the CCRPC the Regional Planning Commission as well and we've we've recently had a couple of small grant opportunities that we're pursuing one is called a better places grant that would need to be operationalized in the village center that you know immediately the thought is can can we demonstrate some of these sustainable transportation strategies for people and make them more visible and our one of our first go-tos on that is how does that integrate with what all that local motion does. The idea of creating local park and ride spaces this is embedded in the mobility projects group and official map projects which are underway in which we expect to be getting a draft of that official map document to the select board toward the end of this fiscal year. So this is this is both about path and trail infrastructure that would connect places but also trying to find those nodes where there's opportunities to do sort of distributed small park and ride facilities. This can be as simple as taking an existing town parking lot and saying you know here's a sign that says it's it's okay to leave your car here for a few hours and carpool into town with somebody if we think that's supportable there or taking an existing parking area and adding some wayfinding and saying you know here's a more secure bike rack or bike locker so that you could ride here to you know meet a ride share vehicle and leave your bicycle in a place that's secure and you don't need to take all the accessories off of it before you leave because you're just going to be able to place it in a locker. We sometimes call these mode shift facilities or mini bike mini or micro park and ride and the idea is you know we haven't had a lot of luck getting v-trans to build us one big giant park and ride off of exit 12 although we're eternally hopeful maybe we should build 12 little park and rides and and try to find out where in town those should go and how we should connect them. In terms of continuing to work with Green Mountain Transit you know the town pays to be a member of GMT and maintains representation there and of course of course we coordinate with them and we are watching with eager anticipation as they pilot a demand ride program for the next two years in Montilier so this is a you know a public service but it's not a bus that comes on a schedule it's a ride that you arrange either through call center or smartphone app and you know we'll see how that goes in Montilier and I think the other piece of that is whether it's through GMT or our neighboring towns that we'd be looking for you know what the viability of that might be as a regional service that could go out beyond the areas that make sense to serve with scheduled transit. I'm into page four of the memo at this point and we have some pathways here that are talking about the placement of electric vehicle charge stations and making sure that the town's bylaws are supportive of those. I'm happy to say that I believe the town's bylaws are supportive of electric vehicle charging stations allowing them to be integrated in as an accessory to any place where the parking of vehicles is allowed in other words we don't treat them like a gas station and only allow them where gas stations are allowed. We don't have things in our sign ordinance that would make it difficult for the type of directory or awareness signage that usually comes with things like that. We don't make it especially difficult for that to happen. We have a planned Tesla super you know it's not not a supercharger but a regular Tesla station for the healthy living site and we've spoken to some other folks and there are also approved and integrated EV charge heads at the Hannaford supermarket that went through our permitting process and were able to be handled smoothly. The other part is about anticipating future and or maybe requiring EV charge facilities in new development and I would say that that's something we don't do in the bylaw right now. We probably could. We do incentivize it and we're seeing that in the incentives that this body adopted in the town's residential growth management system about a year and a half ago. We are seeing some responsiveness to those incentives in the kinds of developments that people are talking about and I'll have more that I can tell you about that in a couple of months once we go through the March growth management round but I know from our preliminary conversations with our applicants who want to be competitive they're saying you know what what would that incentivize sustainable transportation facility look like? How many bike racks do I need? How many charge heads do I need? How many carpool parking spaces do I need to have be part of my subdivision in order to be competitive in Williston? We do get into some items in 2.10 related to the town's consideration of electric vehicles and I think you saw some feedback from the planning commission integrated into its capital budget review process this year. The planning commission trying to sort of raise the issue that in future capital budgets they would like to see pressure from the town and the select board to the departments that deal with vehicle replacement to put some more analysis into the vehicle replacements that are going on even if for the next couple of years what we're saying is well we look at the electric police cruiser and it costs X and the gas one has a lifespan cost of half that or you know we looked at it but we found that for these reasons it wouldn't work. I think as the technology matures some of those reasons that you might go with the conventional vehicle will begin to fall away and it's important to start tracking that. So the planning commission's active in implementing the energy plan by giving that feedback into the town as part of its capital budget review. Again a couple in 2.12 and 2.13 goals related to the establishment and then the maintenance of paths so again on the establishment side and planning side that's what the official map project is all about and I will just say that that's not the first time the town's ever thought about this stuff. There have long been plans reflecting the town's desires for primitive paths, multi-use paths and on-road facilities. This is just a further refinement and bringing some more regulatory authority to that and again much like talking about EVs when the planning commission looked at the capital budget this year it looked at some suggestions they wanted to make about elevating the prioritization of the town's capacity to plow snow on its pedestrian and bicycle facilities to be able to treat those more in the same way that roads are treated. The next part is energy auditing in 3.1 and you know I just note that the town does do some energy auditing has done it in the past does continue to update it. I think can do more and probably you know down to the level of detail that the plan is talking about which is you know use BTUs, consider energy star ratings, look at it across the year. I don't know that it's ever been done quite in that format that's something that I think we can work on. The next item 5.1 says adopt the stretch code so into the zoning. Today we incentivize the stretch code or what we call the high performance standard in that growth management system. What we are hearing back from the development community is they're not accessing that incentive because the insulation requirement in walls is r40 and that results in the need to build a thicker wall than most of the conventional door and window materials that are available come in adding significant expense. So you know I can I can write you the draft I can write the draft for the planning commission that would adopt that as a standard but I think the detail and the conversation for the policy makers is how does that balance against goals like housing creation or just you know property rights. What we're hearing as we're holding it out for an incentive is that it's not one people are going for because it's considered cost prohibitive at this time. Again talking a little bit about making sure we're not burdening EV charge stations I don't believe we are but we are also adding some more flexibility in our parking standards and that's a that's a bylaw draft transmission that should be coming to you just to make sure there's something to do once you make it through budget and town meeting season. So that's that's on its way and the next one talks about adding incentives for overhead parking lot solar. Certainly going to be an element of the form-based code conversation that that will be kicking off with big public input in March and April. This is something in a in a form that's incentivized in the performance standards in the growth center already under the what we call the pick five of nine criteria rooftop or otherwise solar production of a significant amount of energy demand on a site is one way that a new development can meet the pick five criteria when they're when they're building a new site in the growth center. But we've talked a little bit about ways that when you have an area that you're trying to have developed like a downtown you generally want things to have a presence on the street things like buildings and parks and structures and you don't tend to want parking lots to have a presence on the street but when you have a grid of streets which you also want you end up with lots that have lots of street frontage and sometimes it's not feasible to put a solid building on all three or four street frontages. So could the addition of a parking canopy perhaps along with a landscape seating wall as a design element count towards some of that required street frontage and bring life to the street without necessarily asking somebody to build a more extensive building than they want or need. So that's one of the ways we're looking at expanding that incentive. The next one 5.5 talks about revising the unified development bylaw to require energy generation on site a significant portion and again this is something we're incentivizing and growth management through the energy incentives. It's also something that you pretty much have to do if you would ever imagine a project so great that you didn't have to go through growth management what we call the high flyer standard that's there. And all I will say about it is as an incentive it's similar to the R40 wall it's a high bar and what we're hearing from our development community is you know I've got solar on top of a lot of the buildings at Finney Crossing and that's offsetting the energy consumption for the lighting of the common areas of the building but that's that's about it. So you may need to dedicate more space to that generation elsewhere in order to really meet something like that if you're if you're trying to balance you know the site development against the energy production. So I think there's some more analysis that needs to go into the feasibility of making it an outright requirement but we are likely to see some refinements to that as we move forward with our bylaw amendments. Re-evaluating allowable residential density in the mixed use and village districts mixed use means the districts in the growth center so that's definitely part of the conversation with form-based code. So again the idea of a form-based code you're you're emphasizing the regulation of what the buildings look like and how they're placed on their sites and you're de-emphasizing what happens inside of the buildings to some degree and you know the the traditional way of thinking of that is that you're you're not so worried about what use is happening in the building but you also might not be as worried about exactly how many dwelling units are inside of that building. Density can be part of that conversation and in terms of thinking about it in the village again we have sort of our own in-house version of form-based code that we've been working through with the Planning Commission and Historic and Architectural Advisory Committee that would again result in a code amendment that would emphasize the form of buildings and sites that are added into the village without worrying as much about the number of dwelling units per acre and encouraging multifamily patterns and flexibility and you know that if any of you took the density quiz about the village back when we had that published on the website you have a variety of residential densities in the village anywhere from you know one unit per more than an acre to 11 units per acre that's a pretty big spread and yet you can walk down the street and and it all kind of it all kind of works that's because the form makes sense and so that is a piece of another pending bylaw amendment that you'll be seeing sooner rather than later and lastly Pathway 5.13 or 513 which talks about creating a transferable development rights bank to transfer residential unit development from the rural and residential districts into the growth center so today we allow for the transfer of development rights it happens very very very rarely because you have to have a willing seller of development rights in a place that you want to conserve and a willing buyer of those rights who are aligned in space and time and it just doesn't usually work out that way so one of the regulatory tools that can be added to that would be to say well if the town conserves a piece of land or if somebody helps the town conserve a piece of land and we're taking a certain number of dwelling units off the table by doing that do we make those units available to somebody in the growth center for for a price with those funds going back into something like the environmental reserve fund to be used to to conserve more land the mechanics of it are not the hard part you you know you figure out how many how many units per acre come out of the sending zone and what they're worth in the receiving zone that part's just numbers the hard part is making sure that supply and demand are aligned in a way that somebody's actually motivated to use the program and this is a challenge that's come up in south burlington it's come up in other communities in in service of that one of the things that we were very interested in having be part of our form-based code consultant team was a team that was ready to do a market study and actually try to give us some more refined feedback about what the demand for future growth and development in the growth center is and is likely to be so as we understand more about that we can start to make sure not just that we can write the numbers down of how a bank's tdr would work but also that that we might get the incentives at the right level that somebody would be interested in using them so that's the memo at a really high level you'll you'll note that i'm skipping numbers in the memo there there are things that i don't think we've we've made progress on beyond where we were when the plan was adopted or that i don't think are coming as soon and most of what i'm talking about here are the items in the plan that have to do with adjusting the town's requirements for land use and and what it asks of development when it comes in those are those are regulatory changes that that come with a cost but but not a monetary cost to the town just the cost of the time of establishing them and the opportunity cost of what they might do in terms of how they affect what kind of development is able to move forward in town so i'll stop there i'm happy to clarify or answer any other questions you have thank you matt any questions for matt that quick ones for tonight oh that that seemed pretty comprehensive thank you anything other for any members of the board thank you very much matt we appreciate the time to do this for us thank you keeping on top of this before i go eric are you looking for me to stick around potentially for the executive session uh no i can handle that matt terrific thank you all right have a great night happy new year everybody thanks tonight matt so let's continue our discussion then about the budget review and we have some sort of things to talk about tonight and hopefully give directions to staff about additions or subtractions and funding level but i think eric is surely going to be on right now for the fund balance report i'm getting her connected terry and i'll mention for the board to include in your packet is the possible um budget changes sheet that's been updated and i did find out um earlier in the week that the green mountain transit assessment was going to be about eight thousand dollars less than what we projected um but that's a that's a nice variance to to incorporate you know as we look at this tonight if the board has any questions on these possible budget changes and um if you provide feedback on on one that i didn't fill out on the sheet regarding regional dispatch um earlier in the meeting um these kind of you'll see where we end up it's it's a net about 30 000 dollars addition with regional dispatch um based on these possible changes good hi shirley hello how are you good so um did you want me to walk through the possible budget changes or are they pretty self-explanatory well i guess maybe i'll cover one of them um the other you know the wages the alambook trail those were just um changes we found as we you know we're fine tuning the numbers and as the deputy chief position was filled um but the sidewalk bond principle and interest that came about as going through the audit process we're just essentially grossing that expense back up and then you'll see we have a transfer in from the rec impact fees for 45 000 so those things it's just grossing up the expense and grossing up the revenue to properly disclose things and the financial statements and therefore in our budget um so other than that and that there's no questions on those few changes i was going to move on to the fund balance update anybody with questions for that no no okay um i'll put your memo on the screen surely since it has some numbers on that came out late today yes so um so as i am working on the um putting the audited financial statements together sort of piece by piece and working with our new auditors there were lots of things that have come about through that process and in the end um they'll be some work but it'll make the accounting function um more efficient and it'll get rid of some of the many funds that we have that we don't really need so i'm going to talk about the host town fund and in the cemetery really is the same thing so looking at the agreements the host town fund agreements those revenues are really unrestricted revenues and should be reflected as part of the town's general fund um same with the cemetery operations part that's really those the cemetery operations are really funded by taxes by fees whichever funding source you want to choose but they're really part of the general fund budget they really shouldn't be off in another budget by themselves and then um then you know through the budget process we say okay we're gonna you know allocate this much of those host town fees um to the equipment savings account as we do now but so that's why the the very first number in this analysis says here's what i think um based on working on the financial statements are fund balance um the general fund balance is going to be as three million six six seven and again i'm going to emphasize that you know my second time working through this process and um and lots of changes are happening this year to to change the financial statements and reflect a more accurate picture let's say that um so so i am reflecting here the fund balance that exists currently in the host town fund bringing it back into the general fund because that's where we're going with the financial statements so that's what the three hundred and thirty two thousand represents so so the estimated fund balance general fund balance at June 30th includes both of those things so let's just say right under four million dollars so now we're going to go through the process of rolling forward the fund balance to get to FY June 30th FY 22 so in FY 21 in the budget we've already said that we're going to use 500 000 of the fund balance to reduce the property tax and we're going to use I'll say 81 000 for capital expenses so when and through the revenue projections or the expense projections that we have done earlier we are fully anticipating to use those amounts in their entirety and the FY 21 budget just because of revenue shortfalls other places this example assumes that other so i'll just say our other operating revenues and costs are net zero based on again our projection so then to to create an accurate fund balance i've got to roll in the host town revenue and then the host town transferred to the equipment fund for FY 21 generating an estimated fund balance at June 30th 21 of 3.2 million can you scroll that down a little farther Eric I don't know if I can okay so then we're going to roll it forward one more year because because what we're getting at is what do we think the fund balance is going to be and and there are some options about using more of that fund balance on the FY 22 budget and that's the the bottom of this memo but first we're just going to roll it forward and say okay where are we and then where are we in regards to our fund balance policy so our current budget projected budget says we're going to use 560 000 to reduce property tax the property tax increase and we're going to use 66 000 to fund capital expenses we anticipate 330 000 in host town revenue um and when I say host town revenue I'm just assuming you know what I'm talking about but that's our agreements with Kasella for the transfer station and that's with the um waste district for the MRF and for composting we get fees from them based on tonnage um and then the the last thing I threw in there is makes it really confusing but I'm just trying to get to the unassigned fund balance and that FY 22 year and non-spendable fund balance that's just some that part of the fund balance goes to assets that are not spendable so what do I think the estimated unassigned fund balance is at June 30th of 22 is 2.4 million and change so the next right under that I'm just talking about here's our fund balance policy it says the fund balance the fund the unassigned fund balance and when I say unassigned it that's what it is it's not for any specific purpose so you know the select board could designate that for something specific you know through through your own motion or you know through the budget process but essentially that is our rainy day fund so our reserve for the unexpected like COVID for example um so what our fund balance policy says that we want to maintain a fund balance an unassigned fund balance between 10 percent of the operating budget or and I said not less than 10 percent and not more than 20 percent so if you go scroll down a little bit more Eric please so our FY 22 operating budget right now and that's the number without any of these budget changes we talked about the 11,598 10 percent of that is a million 160 and 20 percent is 2,320,000 rounded so you can see my estimated fund balance roll forward is just slightly over the 20 percent and and we have been over the 20 percent for for a few years now but not not a bad place to be in light of what's happened last year and what's happening this year so then I just wanted to give just give you a little tax rate history just to show you where we've been and what those increases look like so right now the projected FY 22 tax rate is 0.28 percent um and our goal is always to minimize that rate increase to the taxpayers so that represents you know 0.051 cents of uh increase which is a basically about a hundred thousand dollars over the FY 21 budget um so then with all that information in mind some options for you to consider are that you could you could leave the um the fund balance right now is 560,000 or I should say the fund balance to go towards property tax reduction is 560,000 the last couple of years so FY 20 and 21 that number has been 500,000 and I didn't go back many years but I'll just say in the few years that I have gone back because I'm looking at something else um that that fund balance allocation to property taxes really hasn't been used because we're generating a net positive bottom line so um and this is very preliminary because the auditors haven't looked at the schedule yet but when I when I calculated that number for FY 20 for FY 20 it's about 250,000 but I'm sure that number is going to change a little bit but but that's in the ballpark so um even with COVID this year um we saw a we saw a lot of belt tightening by the departments and when we get to actually looking through the financial statements there is this schedule F that that I will share with you because it's really quite impressive when you look at the budget versus the actuals and almost every department has um a favorable variance to budget meaning people did what we asked them to do and dug in and found savings um so we didn't um to save dollars essentially um with a revenue reduction because of COVID so so we are increasing what in the FY 22 budget what um we're going to rely on for fund balance for property taxes by 60,000 so the first option is you know just leave what we have in the current FY 22 budget projection um the next the next bullet is about funding regional dispatch and the in the ways that um and I think the vote was yes to fund the 34,000 so the options to fund that is are from fund balance um for for property taxes which would mean you know increasing property taxes a hair for that or you know we can muddle through and reassess the budgeted expenses um to see if we can find some reductions there or a combination of all of these things so um I'm not sure what we'd find in the budgeted expenses because we did a pretty thorough job when we were Eric and I were sitting with all the department heads trying to slim expenses wherever we could um trying to keep the total expense budget under last year um so my last bullet is um and again I don't these aren't recommendations they aren't suggestions they're just information for you to consider that you could increase the the 560 what we're saying we're going to use out of fund balance to help minimize the increase in property taxes um but I guess my warning there is that that unassigned fund balance is our protection is our reserve um for the unexpected and you know and I keep coming back to COVID because none of us expected it and here we were and um even though we didn't end up dipping into our fund balance we didn't dip into our fund balance and FY 20 because of the department's efforts to save funds to to not spend um at all if possible so um I think that really was what spared us for the FY 20 um but it's also you know being looking at that with a conservative eye and ensuring the financial health of the town when you're looking at you know whether you decide to um increase that 560 to a bigger number um to reduce that property um tax rate increase but the other thing I'm just going to mention is that when we think about using the fund balance to help reduce property tax increases we also don't want to increase it too much so instead of having a nice mellow increase in property taxes we kind of are going along and then all of a sudden oops we don't have any fund balance so oops it's going to take a big jump up so trying to keep that sort of on a very um flat or mild wild incline um and that's really all I had to offer you in regards to fund balance unless you have questions thank you Shirley are there questions for Shirley regarding your memo Shirley hey Jeff here the question I have is I'm looking at at your memo um and I'm looking at the estimated general fund balance at June 30th 2020 June 30th 2021 and then estimated June 30th 2022 and I'm seeing a a decline significant decline in um both those uh one-year periods I'm not sure how I should interpret that we're still slightly above 20 percent but on the other hand seeing a significant decline like that doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy me neither Jeff um but you know part of I mean the whole reason for that is that you know in in this roll forward I am saying that we aren't we aren't expecting to see an increase from our normal operations we're expecting um basically I'll just say operating revenues so fees property taxes to offset all of our expenses our wages our insurance etc etc you know because I don't have another I don't have a projection other than that so being very conservative I'm saying those things are going to break even but what we are doing is in FY 21 we're taking 781,000 of our fund balance to to pay for capital expenses and property tax reduction and FY 22 we're taking 626,000 for the same purpose so we are eating into that fund balance by using those dollars to help reduce the property tax increase and the Jeff another point I'm surely touched on it earlier but the town is budgeted to use that $500,000 to reduce property taxes the last number of years and as a result of the town's revenue projections coming in higher than budgeted in reality that was never needed to be dipped into so as we as we look at our current horizon and try to figure out what may happen we're being conservative and think about we're actually going to need those funds but you know the world can change hopefully for the better here in the next year year and a half and we could be back in that position but to kind of paint the conservative financial picture for the bore that's why we're we're building that in the projection here okay other questions yeah no it's an eye opener isn't it Jeff yes it is I guess I guess the way to put it is that I don't know what the right words is but that nice free ride we were getting because of our local option tax performance if you will it is over now comes all cold hard reality of um you know we got to live in our within this budget right right well and you know the other the other factor and like Eric said we hope that things don't turn around and we'll get back to the point of even though we may say we're going to use fund balance to help reduce taxes that we're going to get back to where we were and we don't really need that those funds but for FY 20 it'll be too late by the time I get to do the projection but at the end of January I will look I will do another projection as I did um in October through December and see where we are um but you know where that current projection um we are absolutely expecting to use all of those dollars you know the only thing we might you know with all the capital expenses don't get spent within the year maybe that will be a smaller number but for for this purpose being very conservative I'm going to say that we'll spend those dollars yep okay any further questions for Shirley at this point no no okay so if there's at least three of us on the board that remembers 2008 the great recession and we had to uh essentially not fund a whole bunch of stuff and underfunded a whole bunch of stuff in that year including uh reducing the number of street lights that we had in town and there was actually a motion to not do the fireworks on the 4th of July but and uh we we actually did the fireworks but um so we're in that kind of a situation again now and then in the current year fiscal year we've uh uh looked at the projections and decreased spending for the current fiscal year and now we're looking at the next fiscal year and looking at what the recommendations are from uh the Barbara Heads and the town manager and finance director um and at this point um we're unsure really unsure of the income that we're going to be getting in the next fiscal year and so we're reducing spending in some of our areas or at least recommending decrease in spending um my own personal thought is that I would like not to see a tax increase of even a half a cent but uh level funded um we in one thing I learned in the legislature is not using one-time money for ongoing expenses so um I don't I couldn't I would not support at this at this point um hiring a new staff person for the uh an environmental position or the the conservation position um and I don't have any other recommendations for staff to take a look at we we do I think we have agreed to uh put 34 000 in for the dispatch services um and I think that's and the rest of the things that's surely and uh erica recommended as far as changes on the budget um terry the position you were just talking about is that the energy coordinator position sorry the energy coordinator yes yeah okay um one option I want to put out there is um and we've used this in the past is funding the energy energy coordinator on um and I'm going to use the word a part-time basis that could mean one of two things one is we don't fund it for a full year we fund it for half a year we've used that in the past uh where I guess the position couldn't be hired until the second half of fiscal year 2022 that would at least get somebody into that position in 2022 not in the beginning well it probably wouldn't happen in the beginning no matter what but later in 2022 versus earlier in 2022 the other option is to think of it as maybe a part-time position which may come with its own liabilities i difficult to find somebody who could be willing to qualified but willing to do that on a part-time basis so I'd like to throw those out there as options to um have the coordinator position become part of the town but at a cost that has some but not as much impact if they were funding it full-time so um if Hurley can you tell us what if we were to hire a full-time position uh there what's the estimated cost of salary and benefits I of course don't have a clue what a full-time coordinator would um but let me let me just give me a second here I'm going to pull up and I'm going to give you my best guess of what I think that professional position would look like um no just take Matt's position and double it I'll apply for it on the benefits side of a full-time position our allocation per FTE is about $18,000 as we as we spread that cost across our organization so that would be a factor yeah so my rough guess um with those two things combined is $100,000 so if we funded it let's say at halftime we would cut that by 50 percent yep so that is my recommendation so any support for that recommendation for staff to look at it unfortunately Jeff I'm I don't support it um I this is probably one of the worst uh well I think 2008 was the budget situation was truly desperate and the difficulty that we're having now is we don't know if it's going to be truly desperate or not yet um I that being said I I don't you know there is no question but that climate change is a horrible thing and that we need to do everything including having a full-time position on this um I'm the concern that I have is that I don't think that we've seen the full results of the pandemic yet economically um is what I'm talking about here um we haven't and and unfortunately that economics is driven by the the numbers I I think there there is going to be over a half a million Americans dead by March and that number is going to go up before we can get everything done that that is going to affect the economy um and we're already looking at a hole in our budget um a budget that is supported by you know a sales tax that is not terribly great and at the same time we have a grand list that isn't growing as much as it did um and people are going to have trouble paying their taxes already um I I'm and let me just say that I've been thinking about this a lot so let me just get this out is that you know at the same time we have to balance the the low income children who are in who are going to want to go to the day camps and um are we going to charge them full freight when they're already in economic difficulty um the time to make that decision is pretty much now with the budget um I don't think we should or I think we should have some wiggle room in it um there's just so much so much bad stuff going on and so much uncertainty I'm still not exactly sure what's going to happen with the the ratio that the state formula uses for state aid to education relative to how much the uh um assessments are in town and um you know if that if that isn't fixed then you know we've got a problem it's not it's not a municipal governance problem but it's still going to be a problem that we that our taxpayers are going to face so I mean there's there's just so much going on that I desperately want to I think I fully acknowledge we are boiling the planet and we are responsible for that as much as everybody else um I I really want to do this but I'm also afraid that if we you know that this we just can't afford it this year I really want this to be done next year I want it to be a full-time position um but uh this is a casualty of the pandemic uh and I'm I'm just I wouldn't be in support of it okay Gordon tough when I'm caught in the middle um I certainly see Jeff's point of view I see yours as well Ted um you know I'm a I'm a science teacher uh I definitely see the effects of the climate change we can't deny what's happening uh but I also see the ramifications of all the other points that Ted just made within the pandemic um and I I certainly you know my heart doesn't want to say pause on this position right now because I I do fully support it I just don't know if this is the right time and place to ask more of this when we're sacrificing other other things that we've already I don't want to say cut but already diminished or have leveled um so I'm gonna I'm I'm gonna side on the side of holding on it as well this is this is any other year uh I'd be supportive of this as well but um I just can't do it this year so I'd be looking is there a support for keeping the tax rate level I support them I guess I need to ask what does that mean uh the current tax rate is what 27.49 and to keep it level I mean I certainly support that but before I mean I like the idea of that before I can support it I want to make sure I understand what are the what is the liability of that and I think that's what we would be asking staff to come back with with recommendations I I see how you're okay I get how you're asking the question okay Jeff I surely and I can can speak to that um tonight you know we're looking at that for projected half cent increase to raise a hundred thousand dollars so if we if we remove the the tax levy inquiry we need to essentially use a hundred thousand dollars of fund balance to offset that plus another thirty thousand dollars of fund balance for the net cost for the regional dispatch expense um so it essentially a hundred that a hundred thirty thousand dollars approximately additional fund balance utilization than what was in the original draft in December okay I guess we're going back to the departments and saying okay what can what what can we strip down what can and basically that would be a hundred and thirty thousand dollars out of the operating budget probably not out of the capital budget right correct yep okay I I certainly support trying to achieve that goal and and when I see what you come back with I may or may not agree with everything but we all may yeah anything else that we did talk about as far as budget tonight I would anticipate next week that we will try to finalize the the budget yeah just so um so staff is clear is the board looking for any possible expensive reductions on the operating budget side to address that hundred thirty thousand dollar piece of the budget or is the board wanting staff to look further at utilizing fund balance for that to to have no projected tax rate increase or or somewhere or a split split yeah my thought was uh trying to harvest as much as we can without using it but uh if we can't we can't but I guess I'm looking at that question of am I amy able to uh reductions in the capital budget and the answer is yes so we will um I'll I'll have staff take a look and see if there's any other operating expenses that we can we can trim back further and we can report that back to the board and then kind of show what the full picture is with the with the fund balance component to make up the difference okay good all right well thank you that's that's not a pleasant task you have in front of you all right we're here Eric thank god you're so you're you're new and and fresh it was born to do this well I've been I've been telling everyone we will get through this and we will I just I applaud the the town over the years to be in this financial position right now um our colleagues around the state I'm sure many are facing much much this is a challenging task but but much steeper yeah and we do need to recognize that our woes are probably not nearly as bad as other communities so can can I ask a question maybe in a different way and of course this isn't you probably don't want to hear this so if we came back with a much smaller increase in the tax rate if if we really are having a hard time finding the hundred thousand is any level acceptable to you come back with whatever whatever you have to come back okay simple answer is yes okay thank you well we'll make a menu of options um excuse me I don't think it'll be a big menu Eric it'll have to your takeout or I think we can then move on to manager's report sure thank you thank you surely there we go I know it's getting late so a couple couple things I'll I'll mention for the board this evening um you have a copy of a letter the conservation commission received regarding the the boom hour parcel and uh some exciting development uh potential news here for the town um Dan boom hour discussed with the commission um the town acquiring 110 acres of development rights uh butting sucka brook hollow country park the initial reaction from the commission was very supportive and we'll mention this projects in the early stages with vermont land trust as a partner um request um that may be coming forward to the town is to fund the legal and administrative component uh for this project and as if things progress here the board may see a formal request to use uh environmental reserve funds uh for that purpose uh in the future um perhaps later this year you know also mentioned the fire departments transitioned to an online burn permit system that went live online uh New Year's Day um so far good uh good feedback the chiefs relayed to me um and for residents um there's if they don't have online access or would prefer to call the fire station that's very much an option as well call the station and someone will enter in the request for um for the resident and this shift uh alleviates what we've we'd use staff to go onsite to uh investigate and taking staff out of the station so the the chief set up a good system here to uh to add some technology for for that uh for that service okay and Eric do you know just briefly what does the online permit extend to uh you know small ceremonial fires are they included in this um I would have to check what our ordinance looks like Jeff but I can check with the chief tomorrow and get back to it or I can go online and look myself and then I will um any other question on on that item no one policy issue to bring the board's attention I just looked at Terry about this earlier but the oak view trail in town adjacent to the isham farm there's there's been an ongoing issue with dogs being off leash um this is a private easements for just trail use over um over the property and it's affecting the land stewardship on this private property outside the trail easement so the policy on for the board to to look at here and likely the short term is to consider changing allowed uses to no longer allow dogs on the property it's it's been a lot of signs and efforts um by the by the landowner to prevent the senate's becoming a real concern and ongoing issue and another concern is um future public access um and the town's ability to use the easement over the private property may be may be in jeopardy long term so it's uh it's an issue we felt the board should uh should discuss here in the short term no are you going to schedule that for a future meeting yeah I'll I'll speak with Terry and Courtney and Linda but yeah I guess for the board rather quickly and that's all I have for my mayor to support this evening Terry thank you Eric so under other business um here uh Eric and I were chatting about the town report dedication that we usually do each year and he has an idea but he'll be sending out to all of us the current list that we have had over the years of people who may be considered for uh this as well as a another idea that he has in mind and if you would get back to him do not copy out all on your response and that only to Eric as far as what your request would be and we can take this up at the next meeting I hope okay any other business before we consider the um the legal uh suit just something quick uh earlier tonight when um Tim Fair was talking to us um and we're going to discuss that I guess at the next meeting yeah is it possible to ask if he can participate in that discussion I had questions for him and I didn't have a chance to ask him I think his his input might be might be helpful and helping me determine whether I think it's a good idea or not yep all right great thank you orange shots in tomorrow great thank you any other business tonight if not then we go on to the Williston University estate of Donald Bevin's is there anybody here that needs to uh think about this in executive session or we are are we pretty much set with what the what the dismissals talk about I don't mean to be a pain I'm not sure I totally understand what is being proposed so it might be worth going in the executive executive session so either Ted or Eric can quickly j