Everyone else ready? Recording in progress All right, it is 6 30 p.m. On April 3rd, and I will call the select board meeting to order As the first order of business, I will take any nominations for chair being at your reorganizational meeting Make the motion Select Andy Watts to be chair You can nominate Andy seconded by Kendall. Are there any other nominations for chair? Hearing none all in favor of Andy Watts as chair, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes 5-0 Andy. I'll turn it back over to you. Congratulations. That was quick Hey, I'll open the floor to for nominations for vice chair Nominate Tracy Delfia as vice chair of the Essex Town select board. Thank you Don. Thank you, Ethan Any further discussion? Oh Sorry any other nominations That's what I'm supposed to ask sorry Oh, I forgot discussion. Sorry. It's okay hearing hearing none all those in favor of Electing is electing. Yeah, I guess it's electing Tracy to be vice chairs. Please say aye. I I opposed say nay A motion passes 5-0. Congratulations Now open the floor for nominations for clerk Nominate Ethan Lawrence to be clerk for the Essex Town select board Second Hey, thank you Don. Thank you, Tracy Are there any other nominations? I'll just speak up and say I am interested in serving as clerk. I heard that too So I'm gonna nominate Kendall Chamberlain to be clerk for the Essex select board. I second that one too So now we have you legally can yeah, we have we have two nominations I Guess we vote the first one first leave you're supposed to vote the first one first. Yeah, okay, so Why wouldn't you do it it's all one someone well if you're okay with it, I'm just gonna withdraw my second for Ethan I'm good. Well, are you sure? Yeah And I was all right. I withdraw my nomination comment before we vote. All right. I'll withdraw my name. Yeah, I Am very limited on on time and respectfully. So I spend a lot of time Being on on board and understanding everything about the meeting but Kendall does a really good job Reading through the minutes and understanding Check warrants and he really does a more thorough job. And I think that A good service to our town to have candles Jim on us for Okay, so Presurgently, I have no idea what we should be doing. I think I have a good nomination for Anything then when with Ron, that's what I heard go ahead and we will then vote for Kendall to be for the select board for the community All those in favor of Kendall, please say hi Oh say nay Okay, Kendall. Thank you. You're our new select board clerk for the community. All right. So moving on to Agenda additions or changes other any from None from staff any from board members clarifying question Yep the minutes if we need to it was dawn who voted against changing the Do we need to pull it? I Think if it's something minor you can just handle it turn consent, but other people might feel more comfortable pulling it out So I think either way is fine Do you already have any? I guess Bernie desired to pull it out to change that because I noticed that too that it was done that voted against the Agenda change on the last right. Yeah, so if it was okay with just hanging that in as a clerical change That's the agenda there. There is one adjustment. I would like to propose though is that the CSWD Expects to be here at eight o'clock and I don't know whether in the order of the agenda here whether They will be their timing will intersect with our timing so like to propose that we Modify the agenda to move 6e to the point in time when The appropriate representatives are here to speak to it. Is there a reason they can't get here earlier They have other meetings. They're attending. I think two or three different board meetings tonight They tend to all Select board meetings So should we move them to Rearrange and we can we can either make it so what what I'm proposing is that we make it so it floats to the point Where when we finish one agenda item if they're here we can go to them before Before the yeah, if we get to the end of the meeting and they're not here then we may need to Reschedule if they don't if they're not here. I'm okay with that. I just don't want to make it through everything It's Right So I make the motion that we move business item 6e to Float to the appropriate time or to an at the time when the appropriate representatives are here to Speak to that item and if they aren't here before we finish the agenda, then they'll be deferred to another other meeting Tracy, thank you for the second any further discussion on that All in favor, please say I I Motion passes 5-0 Chairman can I just grade you and I take the square thing out of the okay on there. Oh, yep And I know it's on both screens that I know people see watching Okay, so we've updated the agenda Next thing on the agenda is public to be heard It's a time for attendees of the meeting to speak to items that are not on the agenda Speak to town business items that are not on the agenda You like to speak during public to be heard you either raise your hand in the zoom meeting tool by Moving your cursor down to the bottom of your screen and clicking on the reactions button that comes up There'd be an opportunity in there to raise your hand or you can raise your hand in the room So is there anyone who like to speak during public to be heard I see one on online hand I don't see any in the Room so Margaret go ahead Hi, can you hear me? Okay? Yes, we can. All right. I will be very brief but I just wanted to say thank you for being accessible and Allowing people to speak on your meeting. I had a really Unfortunate unpleasant experience at the school board meeting last week and I won't take your time Detailing it, but I'll send an email. So I just wanted to say thank you All right. Thank you Margaret for your comments any other Anyone else like to speak during public to be heard Okay, it looks like not so let's move on to our first business item Which is interviews and possible appointments to Volunteers to serve on the planning Commission. We have three candidates. I believe they're all here in the room. We have Georgia Levine Daniel Parkins and Michael Peterson We'll ask you to come up one at a time and ask you questions and what we are Interviewing for is there was a resignation on the planning Commission. So there's that one seat that is is currently open We will after interviewing you We typically don't have a discussion when there's multiple candidates in front of the candidates will have executive session discussion later and then If there's a decision is made you'll be notified by town staff Likely tomorrow. So You will go in the order that you're in the on the agenda. So Georgia come on up Whichever one and don't move the microphone I've watched this a lot, but I've never been here. It's very very nervous. Yeah, so Georgia. Thank you for stepping forward This is we'll give you first give you an opportunity to introduce yourself Share why you'd like to be on the planning Commission any other information you think the select board might be helpful for the select board to understand your Situation sounds good. So my name is Georgia. I've lived in Essex for About nine years and I worked in Essex before that. Can everybody hear me? Okay. Am I speaking into this? Well, I Have been thinking for a while about being on a commission or a committee and Wanting to serve the town I work Elections with Andy and Don and I love doing that but that's only a couple times a year So I thought it'd be fun to do something else The reason I chose planning. I thought planning would be great was I went to one of the public Meetings about the 2026 town plan and I was a little surprised that I was the youngest person in the room and I thought I had a perspective maybe that would be useful to the The planning Commission just being Younger I got young kids. I Probably would not have been able to afford my house in Essex had I been buying it in 2023. I you know And I just thought that perspective could be really useful. I also I read the 2016 town plan and I thought it was Really fascinating and I also like that there are a lot of maps Very much like the maps and there were like blood playing maps and geological maps and zoning maps And I wish I could see them a little better the PDFs were a little bit fuzzy But if I had my way my house would be plastered with maps. I just really liked them. So felt like this would be a good fit All right, thank you Any questions from board members don't go ahead. I have to What do you picture a future Essex looking like? So that is the reason I was excited to about the prospect of applying to be on the planning commission I know they're not going to be doing development review in 18 months or so. It's going to be all planning and I think it's really exciting to think about the future. I I love to walk. I love to hike I love my my family loves to fish and I know Andy has talked about a canoe access and I was so excited when I heard about that I would picture Vibrant town center and then a lot of open space and and natural preserved land Out throughout the rest of the town in the north of the town much like it is now I still have to read the all of the ETC next plan, but I know there's plans in the works for building out the town center And I think that's really exciting the stuff that's going on in the Essex experience. I think is cool Definitely more paths bike paths walking paths. I think walkability is really really really important Also, I would love to see more housing more affordable housing, especially in the town center in the sewer core It's really tough for businesses. You cannot find people to work and a big part of that is housing Yeah, I mean, that's a state issue. That's a countrywide issue, but and deal with it here in town, too Thank you. And you're my second question is if you're in the minority and making a decision, how would you handle? Um Well, I think you need to speak your mind and you need to be clear about what you believe But also part of being on a committee or a Commission or a board is you need to go with what the majority feels. I mean, I didn't support separation, but I Were, you know a new town now and I'm feel like I'm excited to be part of a new town Like you kind of accept the way things go and you then you try to get behind it and do the best you can and You know, that's how life goes. Thank you, Jordan In your perusal of the current town plan Did anything strike you as maybe obsolete or that you could upgrade in a short period of time with the new town plan? So sure. Well, there was a lot about Perspective merger in the old town plan, which obviously that is all obsolete like where there's a lot has changed in the past 10 years There was a lot of talk about Well, there was there was definitely talk about planning for Renewable energy like if you're citing and I actually need to look into this more because maybe the town has done more work Since then but sort of planning for a future. What if there's what somebody wants to put in a big like Like solar array somewhere like the planning for what what would happen? Then what if people wanted to put windmills up on, you know, ridgelines or I don't know. Maybe there's been more work done on that in the past 10 years But that was definitely something where you can see that coming down the road and sort of the debates around that And it seems like having a plan in place would be very important So those two things were probably what jumped out at me the most Thank you Ethan Excuse me. Um, I was curious about your planning vision for as far as how you'd like to see the town built specifically towards housing and in comparison to Now our our neighbors and How would you see that being developed? Well some No, that's that's a good question something I learned while reading the plan was that there's actually a number and I wish I could think of the acronym There's in the town has sort of planned for how many people can be sort of allowed to move in in the year What's I can't think of the it used to be how many new houses or how many new dwellings But now there's there's a number attached to how many bedrooms in each house and so that's also that's actually kind of in place It's two hundred and something two hundred and thirteen and I think the number they came across that number They they worked out that number with the school district because you can only this the school can only Get so many new students in every year. They if there was a huge influx of new students I think it would overwhelm the school district. So that was something I didn't know but so I would You know, I think that number seemed like a reasonable number or for growth for the town and and obviously the Goal is to get the that growth in the town center where the sewer core is so you you know that Yeah, so I don't know if that answers your question, but yeah, I would like to see Housing built there, you know, but obviously in a in a smart way and not, you know No slum lords no things like that, but yeah So Hey, Georgia So understanding that we do have a charter change at the legislature to move to a DRB model Yep, until that happens the Planning Commission does fulfill that role.  However, well, how would you handle a situation where you're personally opposed to an application that's in front of the Commission? That's a tough question. So I've watched a couple meetings and I've only watched I think one Meeting where they were dealing with an application and it seemed like that the Planning Commission it seems like to me I understood there to be a lot of Institutional knowledge on in that Commission a lot of people who really knew what they're talking about and I've read through Subdivision regulations and the zoning regulations in there. There's a lot of information in there There is very dry reading and it was hard for me to get through so I'm trying to imagine an instance where I didn't agree with something and I don't know that's a tough question. I feel like I Would try to work with other people on the Commission listen to their points of view and Obviously give my opinion, but if I was in the minority, you know Be it I From what I understand there there is a lot of knowledge on that There's a lot of people who know really what they're talking about. I do respect their opinions. Oh That helps always I Do have one other question if I may How would you? How would you handle a situation where and I know that all of these are hypothetical, right? where you have a Request from the development community and you have a competing interest brought forward from residents What would your personal approach to that situation be? well My personal approach would be definitely to listen to the residents and that was one of the things and that drew me to this Particular position because I felt like at least with the plan side of it There was a lot of consideration for input from residents like working with the other many other You know the people in town there seemed like there was a lot of a Strong desire to really figure out what the vision of the community was and put that into place So I feel like that's really really important But you know, I think when you make decisions you would consider what the residents say you would consider what the developer says I don't really think I don't know how to put this with the developer things I think you need to take with a grain of salt obviously. I mean But yeah, and then just use your best your best judgment, you know consider the other people on the board and You know, I wouldn't blind. I don't think anyone would blindly say I I want more housing So I'm just going to side with the developer every time like that's not You know, you definitely have to take every single Every single Instance and look at it on its own Tracy the statute allows the Planning Commission to have their own Conflict conflict of interest policy Sounds like you've read a bunch of documents. Have you read the planning commissions? You have not okay So I guess in a in a case where you might have a personal interest in in a development project that's coming forward I guess how would you handle that or Oh, well, I don't know. I would have to see what the policy said. What what kind of personal interest? Well, generally a conflict of interest is something that if you if you have a financial or personal gain from it I I can't see a situation where that would occur like I don't know any developers like I mean I But I mean if that happened I would assume the policy would say you can Use yourself with that. Is that what the policy says and that would be what would make sense to me? You know if you have that the select board's policy is for you accuse yourself and actually remove yourself from the rooms You know even participate in the conversation. So yeah, but I had personally I haven't read the planning commissions one Yeah, no, I haven't either. I would assume that they would have a policy and that that would make sense to me That would be what you would do All right, um other question is do you have any questions for us? I don't think I do. Um, I I watched the meeting where you guys decided that it would be at the The plan would be 18 months to to switch to the drb model. Is that still the plan? I mean that was Well, uh That's the way that was yeah, that's the wording of the what was voted. Um, we're still we're still waiting for the legislature to act um And the governor signed so, you know, I assumed they won't change that date on us Um, so yeah, that's that's what we're working toward To clarify so 18 months we did go with january 1 of 2025 So, so yeah, it's a little more than 18 months, right? But in the the the way I'm reading the statute We may need to get a legal opinion on this is that even though we changed the mission of the planning commission all seated Planning commissioners remain on the planning commission Changing the mission doesn't doesn't invalidate anybody's seats. So, right. It would just be just Right, which is what I would be more interested in to be perfectly honest Okay, all right. Thank you. Thank you. Okay next on the uh, agenda here daniel parkens. Come on Hey, daniel. Thank you for stepping forward Again, uh, it's an opportunity for you to introduce yourself and share any information that you think might be helpful To the select board to make a decision Wonderful. Thank you. Um, I am honored to be able to come before the select board again Uh, last time we met I was interviewing for uh, a position on the sx energy committee board committee um, that experience has been uh, uh, a great honor for me and uh, very valuable in terms of my participation in the community I hope to continue that participation by joining the planning commission as well. Uh, so that I can um better coordinate between opportunities within those uh committees and and uh Departments within this town government. Um, I think that on the whole I have a lot of experience and education that I can bring to the planning commission I've been working in rural economic development for over five years I have a master's degree in sustainable development and peace building and I am actively engaged in, um, both political, uh, social and business opportunities throughout the state. Um, in with uh, with folks in in burlington as well as Montpelier, uh, Bradford, uh, down in Brattleboro All of which are coalescing in a variety of different ways to try and facilitate better growth in the state of vermont Which I am very keen to support Thank you. Any questions? Same to What do you picture future Essex looking like? Um, the future Essex that I see or have a vision of and it's something that I uh, have uh, learned to understand better and share with uh, colleagues and other folks that I work with, uh, is a uh, a clean uh clean workable, uh working a clean walkable economy, uh, that, uh, can serve as Uh, a rural leader, uh for the communities in the surrounding area I see Essex as something of a beach head. It's kind of at the frontier or the cusp of what is uh, urban development and and the, uh, the, uh, other Other rural communities further outside from the Chittenden County area And I think that that makes Essex very well positioned to Stand up and demonstrate what rural communities can really do And I see that happening through a variety of different, uh approaches one of which would be to really Prioritize renewable energy and the type of development that communities are looking for to build a brighter future for, uh, our children And my second question is if you're in the minority and making a decision, how do you handle that? Um, it's I'll answer it in the same way I did last time and I I approached this through a process of dialogue I I was trained as a peace builder Dialogue is an approach to seek understanding and uh, that is My modus operandi in most situations, even when I'm in the majority, um My my objective is always to try and seek understanding and find paths forward that create neutral benefit for everyone involved That's that's the way I handle that. Thank you Kendall go ahead I am curious, uh, if you've had a chance to look at the current town plan if you have any ideas How you might improve the new town plan as it goes forward Yeah, I have had some opportunity to review the town plan as I've looked at certain grant opportunities for different Parties in the in the town and tried to help facilitate that development. Um, I think that the New development opportunities around the town center are really exciting and I would like to be involved in in progressing those and Making them more in line with what a lot of community members, I believe would like to see one thing in the town plan that I or at least in the town that I would like to see happen sooner than later is to um facilitate an official town designation within the state of vermont So that we can have access to greater opportunities not just grant opportunities, but other Other opportunities that would allow our town to really move forward At a speed that I think is necessary for us to uh transition Away from the city of s6 junction Thank you I have um, I guess it's one question that has three questions inside of it But my my first question is um About the old town plan and How I was I was interested in in a lot of your writing and your application And I wanted to know how you felt that the land was being Used or slated to be used Um for the for the current town plan as they're writing it And and within that I wanted to have you touch on um renewable energy Which sources you think would be best and where you believe that they would fit Yeah, if I'm hearing the question correctly You're wanting me to kind of give a bit of a Comparative analysis between the old town plan and the new town plan direction. Yeah, and just where you know I I heard just say a lot about the the renewable energy You know what sources and where do you think that we could improve? Sure, sure, but then I can try and answer both. Yeah. Sorry. It's a I don't have as much Uh, I haven't looked at the old town plan as much. Uh, I moved into this space a post Separation and so I didn't see much point or reason to read through those documents Unless there was a reason for Um, some kind of reunification, but based on what I've heard throughout the town I don't think that's happening anytime soon uh, so Um, you know, I I can't really speak to that old plan What I can speak to is that, um, you know, if the town of Essex is going to stand on its own There needs to be a significant amount of work in terms of planning development To make sure that we can facilitate the type of growth we need to raise the budget And and have greater capacity to meet the needs of citizens so that we don't have such a strenuous tax burden On residents in the community That's one thing that I think is a critical pivotal point That that needs to be addressed sooner than later And I know that the select board is working towards that and I want to be a part of those efforts To segue into renewable energy. I think renewable energy is one of the ways that we can do that Um, uh, like I said, I have a lot of experience in rural economic development. I think that renewable energy and The new technologies and workforce opportunities that come with renewable energy is, um Going to be a booming economy for many decades to come I I see the transition away from fossil fuels is something that is accelerating not slowing down and I think that it would be Prudent for the town of Essex to participate in those types of activities as much as possible I've seen other communities in different states do just this and have been Uh seeing great benefits both financially and through community um community well-being as a result of that, uh, so Specifically in terms of the types of energy that I think would be most valuable I know that solar is uh in many ways kind of the preferred energy Simply because it doesn't have the noise pollution that wind does and Uh, I think that the general consensus on nuclear right now is very much in the negative For a lot of people in vermont. Um, I have my own ideas about how that could Could be changing in the future, but that's uh, you know dependent on a lot of technological advancements But I think that between uh, some combination of solar wind and geothermal We could create a much more resilient energy independent and um Vibrant community that uh, that would actually see dividends in terms of wealth creation An opportunity to advance Uh wind is something we would have to be You know Careful with in terms of where that is developed connected to residential areas, right? But um Geothermal I think is a really critical aspect that that could really advance The capacity of the community and our opportunity to move away from gas As a primary source of heating for fuel I know So let's have one last question. I wanted to know because I tried to google it and there was a million different interpretations But I wanted to know what it meant to you rural economic ecosystem building. Ah, yeah, um, so Uh, this is actually what uh, brought me to vermont. I worked with the center on rural innovation Uh, matt dunn is the executive director of that, uh, nonprofit And that's their whole schtick their their whole thing is to build rural economic ecosystem building ecosystems and now Uh, a really simple way to describe an ecosystem In this context would be to look at like, you know, when you put a bag of popcorn into the microwave And you can just push that popcorn button There's a relationship between the microwave industry And the popcorn industry that allows that to happen, right? And they both benefit from that Uh, they there there's a mutual benefit Involved with making that convenient for consumers Consumers buy the microwave bags that do that and they like the microwaves that allow them to just push the one button That's a type of business ecosystem that's vertically integrated There are many different ways that you can build ecosystems and it's primarily based on creating Interdependent relationships between business organizations across sectors with nonprofits and local government To facilitate collaboration and cooperative engagements through collective impact I just used a string of jargony words that probably add to the confusion a little bit and I apologize, but um In short it it allows People to come together and work together To create more opportunity and to grow our economy That makes sense Good. No. Thank you Daniel uh, so again understanding that the planning commission will take on Development review for at least the next 18 months depending on a decision by the legislature If an application were in front of you as a planning commissioner that you personally disagreed with What would what would you rely on to guide your decision-making? um I In the service of the town I would always be operating under the assumption that i'm trying to do what's best for the whole community So my personal vested interest is not a part of that equation I recognize that bias is a part of who we are as human beings So I can't I can't say that I would never be personally invested in something, but um, I think my investment Overall the the the calling that I have in community is to serve the community uh, and so my my efforts would be to weigh Uh, the benefits for the whole community and to identify If there are any impacts that the community should be aware of before we pass such emotion That makes sense. Yep. And the second one was If something were in front of you where There was a situation where a developer made a request And the public had given input that are in opposition to one another. What would your approach be? um, I think that this is a really critical Point to address so I appreciate that question. I see a whole lot of parties in conflict in in vermont right now for a variety of reasons some of the Larger builds and circulation that are Hot topics are like act 250 and s100 And the kind of divisive grounds that people stand on there. Um, and again, uh, my first Reaction is to look at what is really beneficial for the whole community Understand what's happening at a systemic level Uh, and understand that first and then, you know, I would want to be proposing Opportunities for mediation opportunities for these conflict parties to find ways to understand each other better because I think that Quite a lot of the divisiveness comes from misunderstanding And from an inability to feel like one has been hurt Right and so, um, I would also be trying to look at proposing like impact assessments or doing a cost benefit analysis Uh, in order to identify exactly where This particular issue falls in regards to the community's well-being Thank you Thanks, Tracy Um, so Dan well my wife and I last time we were looking for a shopping for a microwave One of her specific requirements was that it not have a chicken nugget button That is oddly specific It is very very hard to find one that does to find one that nothing happens. Yeah Yeah, so, um, my question to you is you you have a lot of connections Around the state based on what you've said about what you the work that you do And I guess I'm asking whether you think that May cause a problem with regard to conflict of interest for you I think that they're Uh, the the the The idea of conflict of interest is definitely something I've spent a lot of time thinking about I do run my own business. Uh, it is centered on community building and Economic development and business development. Um, I believe the way that I see, uh, my participation here in Essex is is, uh, a matter of service Uh, I am I am offering my skills as a volunteer in the town to see, uh, Essex Uh, Essex improve and move forward. Uh, I do not Um, I do not see myself Taking on financial opportunities that are directly connected to my work on either the Essex energy committee or on the planning commission and, uh, you know, if there is a point where there is Uh, business opportunities that I'm engaged in that are connected to the things at hand I would of course recuse myself from From that, uh, specific line item that is being discussed Um, my objective is to is to never mix those two Bags and I hope to be providing service Here in Essex while operating more of my business opportunities outside of Essex And then last question. Do you have any questions for us? Um Yeah, I just uh I'm still very new to the way that the government operates here in in the town of Essex And I'm learning every day. Uh, I've learned a little bit about how the Essex energy committee, uh, is Connected with the select board and I'm curious How you guys see the planning commission Uh, cooperating with not just the select board, but other committees as well Um, you know, do you could could you kind of elaborate a little bit on on What that looks like for you guys and how you see that process playing out? So I know that the As the the the planning commission is working toward a new town plan You know for our, you know requirements from statute there would shout out to many of the other committees, uh conservation trails energy committee, I think is involved as well To to collaborate and putting that that whole piece of of of work together Um with regard to how the the planning commission interacts with the select board where we kind of Stay at an arm's length a lot of the time. Um We are having a joint meeting with them later this month to um Have a some uh, it's kind of an educational session from the regional planning commission for all of us to understand how planning is supposed to work and and and um I don't I don't know, uh, I know there's there's been a lot of uh we've we've been getting a lot of comments from the public about um Our development is proceeding and I think we all need to understand how our our to the two Groups should be interacting and and to what degree I don't know. Is there any more that? You talked um last year when we did the strategic planning and work session for the select board You talked about revamping the board and committee process and those relationships. Um last year in the past year We kind of took more of an approach of um How to appoint people how to reappoint people to those boards and committees, uh rolling out the stipend program, um Wouldn't surprise me in next month when we meet if that's still a topic of conversation How to go about that, but I can't totally predict the future what you're gonna say um as far as the planning commission and other committees Andy mentioned it well with the town plan process and excuse me Collaboration that they're doing with all the other boards and committees there When it comes to development review the conservation and trails committee sees all development before it goes to the planning commission So they have an opportunity to weigh in on paths sidewalks environmental impacts stuff like that And then yeah, a lot of it depends on the project or the issue with town plan as far as the energy committee or Some of the other committees that we have out there Thank you. I appreciate the clarification. I fully understand that there's kind of a growing work in progress as the town treasury center itself. So Thank you. All right. Thank you Hey, we'll move on to our final candidate for the evening Michael Peterson. Come on up um again, it's an opportunity to introduce yourself and share anything that you think the Hello, my name is Michael Peterson. I am 55 years old. I reside at 77 Saxon Hill Road and um I've become interested in serving the town of Essex Out of a situation that has arisen that um You are aware of in my neighborhood and I would like to try and Not have that happen to somebody else. Uh, you know, try and keep a balance between industrial development and residential development and um You know strike a balance of of that in the town of Essex You know to compromise to figure things out make it make it work for everybody you know see that You know make the town work Make it work for everybody the businesses The residents everybody Not just not just one group. Okay. Thank you Don you want to start again? Yep. What do you picture a future Essex looking like? I picture the future of Essex Being a wonderful place to live in harmony with nature. It's beautiful area mountains in the background um, you know, uh keeping our developments In harmony with with nature and and and the aesthetics of Vermont.  I hear oh, we need this we need that but You know, we also need to think about our roads. How are people getting around all these businesses businesses coming in? How does all that traffic affect everybody?  How anything ever gets done is through compromise if you can't compromise nothing positive is ever going to happen So that that's the way I look at things. I try to I try to always see both sides not just my side That because you know, does that really matter at the end of the day know what matters is everybody's And coming up with what's best for the community It's not not really what's best for me That's not really why i'm doing this Thank you And look ahead. I am curious um with our current town plan is being revised. There is a lot to do with The previous town of the village together. Do you see any opportunity in a noob town plan for significant improvements? There's you know, and there's so much land so much possibility everywhere Um from you know, I look at these buildings That aren't being used. Why don't we offer incentives for people to move into these buildings tax breaks? You know if there's something not being used in it and it's derelict You know, let's somebody wants to do something with let's give them a tax break get them in get it cleaned up There's a lot that can be cleaned up and used and not woods being torn down, you know being clear cut for buildings. I think there's a I think there's an avenue where I think it can make a lot of people happy With conversation about the way That's You know, I think and I think the plan is something that's going to involve going to evolve, you know, this is all new to everybody Essex just split You know, we haven't I've never been down the road of a town splitting before so I don't know what to expect I guess it's really up to what do the residents see what the what? What do the residents of Essex now the town see the future? Not so much what I see the future. I would you know, I would like to paint everything and you know daisies and You know all of that but that's not reality you know, that's Kind of how it is in my eyes even um I don't know how much you Walked through the old town plan compared I did not because I was kind of under the assumption that the new town plan Is it I mean it's all No kind of water under the bridge to me at this point. Are you familiar with The the zoning sections throughout town as far as What they're designated and where they are? I am not fully aware of that. Okay. I'll ask you a different question um What what is your vision for development in the town of Essex and Uh, where why is your boundaries between rural and and development? You know again that that's a compromise. That's like what what is land use what is You know is land can they build on if it's if it is deemed, you know For that use then it should be used for that, you know, there's there's land use.  Well, it's beautiful. But is it developable? You know, is there is there wetlands going through is there this is there that there's a lot that goes into What goes into building a a community? And again, it's a balance between you know industry The residents the businesses every everybody has to get along And that's you know, it's still the way I feel it, you know, every I feel that everything is a compromise If everybody can put their Their minds together in their two cents and then compromise can happen and things can happen nice And not, you know, not have people feel like they're not heard not have resentment That's that's kind of how I've always worked. So Thank you So understanding that the planning commission will be handling development reviews for at least 18 months Um, how would you handle a situation where you are personally opposed? To an application and what would you rely on to guide your decision-making? Again a compromise, you know, I'm not I I try not to be dead set where I can't see positives In other things. I'm always open to suggestions and things can be made better Maybe maybe somebody comes to me with an idea and I'm like, wow, that is a better one I'm never opposed the same I've been a boat mechanic my whole life. I've had other people come along and show me something. I'm like, wow I didn't know about that. That's awesome. So now I use that Yeah, I'm not I'm not closed-minded I'm open-minded. I I I'd like to see things evolve and get better Do you have that I do? I think I already know the answer, but I'll ask anyway If there's a situation where a developer's request and public input are in opposition to one another How would you handle the situation?   You know, everybody's got a give and take again. If you don't nothing is gonna All right. Thanks Tracy You heard me ask the question about conflict from conflict of interest. Do you feel that? I would just recuse it. So I don't have a problem with that. Yeah, I know it's it's a way it works. Yep, right. Did you have any questions for us? No, just thank you for the opportunity to come and speak. Okay. All right. Thank you, Michael. Thank you. Thank you, Georgia Thank you, Daniel again We will go into executive session later and have a discussion of and if we come into a decision We'll let you know I also want to let you know that there are three additional seats that will be interviewed for start later in the year Or beginning June or July 1st. And so if you're not selected this round You may be still in consideration for those if you're if you're interested in doing so. So Just wanted to make sure you're aware of that. So thank you very much Free to stay for the rest of the meeting if you like or Find your way out. Okay. Let's move on to the next agenda item 6b consider approval of new rules and a procedure for vicious or potentially vicious dog hearings We have gary here to speak to that Good evening. Thank you for your time. I apologize for not being present this evening See you Good to see you all I you should have in your packet a proposal for Some guidelines rules and procedure for vicious dog hearings As you all know, you recently approved the update of the animal ordinance, which included potentially vicious dogs as part of hearings We anticipate that we will have more complaints and as you all know is the select board You are the hearing authorities and the decision makers on those hearings As part of that process, we learned that vlct a little over a year ago When there were more and more of these hearings happening around the state provided some guidelines to towns that we had not taken advantage of yet And that's where the basis of these rules come from Um, so this is a draft with most of the stuff that comes from vlct The purpose of this is kind of multi fold One of them is to provide some guidelines for the folks that are involved in the hearings Whether it's the dog owner or whether it's a victim of a bite So that they know what they're uh, what they're allowed to do and what the hearing is all about a lot Sometimes we get questions and people are unsure about what is what is going to happen This is to provide some guidance and some understanding The other thing that we've seen from some folks that maybe if they've been there for a little while is Unfortunately, these hearings are often contentious Because of the subject matter and and uh, we're dealing with people's pets, which are part of their families and so Sometimes there it's a little tough We've had some hearings both in the town and recently in the city that have Extended for quite a period of time part of this procedure Would actually restrict testimony to direct evidence And just a few character witness Folks that would want to testify on behalf of that and the information would be provided to the select board ahead of time And then they could call witnesses at the hearing again The purpose of this is not to restrict the evidence that can be provided But it is to just limit Multiple folks coming in and wanting to testify that doesn't have direct evidence related to the case This procedure would provide the scope for the board to restrict testimony if it wasn't germane The other thing it does is this would also allow which we have not done in the past The opportunity for the select board to deliberate in private if it feels that it needs the ability to do that Whether it's reviewing the testimony or the evidence Reviewing case law if we need to you know speak to some subject matter experts, you know, or the animal control officer We could provide more information for the select board to deliberate And this procedure also allows for decision not having to be made immediately that night of the hearing This makes a recommendation for the board to be able to Deliberate and then provide a finding back to the dog owner and the victim within 30 days We believe that this this will provide a procedure that will work best for the community Will help us deal more efficiently with what I suspect are going to be more hearings You're going to have to deal with and I think it gives us a select board the flexibility and what they need to be in order to be able to Determine fact and come to some Conclusions that are reasonable and also again provides the people that are involved in the hearing some guidelines for what to understand Thank you All right. Thanks rick any questions from board members Tracy um just one question under the procedure first Major paragraph last sentence the chair or vice chair rules on all questions of order and procedure Um, should that be the presiding member? Rule yeah all questions Yes Andy and I Disagreed And it's the chair or vice chair Who who gets to win? Whoever that person is at that time It it does clarify if both the chair and vice chair absent a member will be selected to chair the meeting So I don't know if that would qualify under the chair the hearing or I don't know that that's still gray Yeah, I think it's the or the use of the word or there. That's the question because Although there's only one person presiding it's just explicit who that is it's known who that is I think it makes it Takes the order question I know having sat through dog hearings before I like what this says and I like the procedure much better than the way we Had to do it. Yeah so I had a question and maybe I missed Part of the information that made up touched on it, but I mean, this is just a theoretical question, but if somebody Or say hired a a lawyer or an attorney Is there anything in here that says that they could or could not speak at the At the town meeting like if there was a legal case beyond the measures of the public hearing at the town Like how how would we handle that? Let's say that they were you know, they were going after Going after information or from the from the incident through the court system not through us, right? But how would how would we handle that if their if their representation came to the hearing? I believe this allows the flexibility for someone who's represented by an attorney That the attorney could provide because they're providing the direct evidence They they could be they would be allowed to testify the board would allow that Again, as Andy indicated the hearing is not in relation to This is just a hearing for determination on what happens to the dog There is an appeal process that is part of the vermont statutes on on if they didn't agree with the decision that the board made They then would appeal to the county court who then it would be heard in front of a judge And again, their attorney could represent them at that hearing Oh, because that is your question Yeah, I just wasn't sure and I guess that I might have Not read it and understood You know the wording in here, but I just didn't know if they would be allowed to speak at this hearing As my To my understanding anybody that has the dog owner the victim of a bite anyone that has direct evidence And or a limited number of character witnesses and I guess And we've seen this at a couple of hearings The problem that happens is people will come in and everybody that's ever known the dog wants to give a character witness to the dog That we go on for two hours about how how good the dog is or how bad the dog is And the fact of the matter is is once we get two or three of those character witnesses We're not adding any new evidence. So it's to try to keep the hearing Germane to the evidence that's being provided if there's new evidence The board has the ability to allow it, but it also has the ability to restrict it This does not change anything in the state statute in reference to hearings requesting hearings or the appeal process This is simply a procedure about how the hearings will run and a little bit of change in the procedure about Allowing discretion for private deliberation for the board and allowing the board also to delay in not having to come up with the decision immediately that evening of the hearing Thank you Any other questions or comments? The in that same paragraph that Tracy was referring to the first sentence and says the town of Essex select board or the chair's absence the vice chair I think you should say the town the town of Essex select board chair Or in the chair's absence. I think there's a word missing there. Okay The the the other things that I I totally appreciate this process and I'm pretty happy with it myself I was interviewed by some cub scouts a couple weeks ago They asked me what the hardest thing about being on the select board was and I told them it was dog bite hearings They're by far the hardest thing to get through and especially when The ones that I participated in we deliberated in front of the dog owner and the victims We didn't go into executive session. We just did right there an open meeting and it was it was hard to go through The whole thing so thank you for for for this Absolutely more board comments I'll open up the questions to I'm just curious because they are so contentious. It says if needed an Essex police staff member might be good to always have Police staff member involved because of all the potentials the dog hearing like that um History has been that we've always had somebody's always been Involved to answer questions and I see that they're there to present Present evidence to resent or you know, they're they're yeah, it's a So if I If I may I believe what this does do is it does what has happened in the past is We have come and I've been the lucky person to be able to do it for the last five years We have come and kind of run that portion of the hearing because it is officially a quasi judicial process However, this procedure does allow The board or or the presiding person to run the process if they so choose And and I feel confident in if the board still felt That they wanted or needed the presence of an officer I'm confident that the chief would totally support whatever the chair or whatever the board felt that they needed there And we were always there and yes, these quite often are contentious and if you need someone there, we will be there Any other board answer questions? No, so at this time do you need a motion to accept this? No, I'm gonna go to public comment. Okay first Um, I see a hand in the room Somebody's scratching their head. Maybe not. Okay stretching. They're stretching. All right. Any uh, any comments, uh from the public or questions, uh So Those procedure Don't see any hands up online. So So is this this this is not a Policy can we adopt this in this mirror? What's what's the procedure here? What do we what do you recommend? I think you can adopt it tonight. You're typically it's your policies for your rules and regs That you introduce them at a first meeting you accept them and then you adopt them theoretically at the next meeting. This is more of a Rules of procedure You could adopt tonight if you want to take the cautious approach and Accept it tonight and adopt it on consent agenda at your next meeting. I think that's fine, too but I'll look to To rick to see if there's any pressing need to have it done tonight No, sir So I make the motion that the s60 select board adopt the rules of procedure for vicious and potentially vicious dog hearings Thank you, don't I have a second For clarification. Does that include the modifications we mentioned with the corrections made I will second that motion Thank you. Don. Thank you. Tracy any further discussion To be clear. This is a motion to adopt so we won't bring it back in this is this is a final approval of it So all of those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed In any any motion passes 5-0. Thanks so much rick and Thank you so much. I won't say I'm looking forward to using it Okay, let's move on to the next agenda item Consider approval of fire department requests for use of capital funds to purchase electrocardiograph unit Got the whole crew tonight So I do want to introduce to you Uh, three more of your teammates tonight on my far right miss rachel yando. She's a second generation firefighter Tom yando the mac that you all know Captain john willett. Um, who is also a career firefighter in williston and one of our daytime firefighters Rachel also is firefighter dan rosen who is a career Vermont international guard fire So the three of them are the driving force of the packet of information and the wealth of knowledge that you have before you tonight Um, I helped put some of this together, but it's really Their hard work that has brought this before you tonight We have tried unsuccessfully for a few years to apply for grant funding for one of these machines And that obviously didn't come through We were not selected to receive the grant and a combination of Recent ems calls Where one could have been used as well as recent changes in the ems protocols of what they're allowed to do and what they Should be doing when they're on scene and providing patient care The time is right now for us to expend the funds out of our capital equipment budget to get one of these machines in our service Happy to take questions. I know there's a lot of information in the packet of information that I sent to you um, and thank you greg for Running through the edits for it as well Sure, and I just want to point out and making those edits Somehow the price could swap with the the unit. So the recommendation is for the zole unit for about 45,000. I think the memo says 46,000 So if you look at the attachments, there's one for zole and one for the The pricing on those two attachments is accurate And we are seeking permission to purchase the zole So the striker is the there are two major brands that are used in this area. One is striker um Formally known as life pack. So some people know it as a life pack The other one is dole like the aed that's in the lobby out here is a zole brand and most of the ones in the town are zole um, most of our neighboring ambulance crews See richmond wiliston you use them air guard has one Uh, colchester rescue st. Mike's rescue They use the zole brand Again, our team has evaluated both of them sx rescue uses the life pack. So we've seen both of them They've touched them bold. They prefer the zole Not only is it a little bit less money, but it's a smaller compact unit for I think Questions my second question. I had the Difference of coming. What's the life expectancy on something like this? Great question Life expectancy is at least 10 years The unit will come with a five-year warranty through the two local distributors That we have this old this old one has a five-year warranty At the end of the five years, they will negotiate a price with us to extend that warranty for Based on how we've used the machine. What kind of condition that's in As referenced in there, we could buy a refurbished one But the gamble there is it doesn't come with a long warranty And we don't know what the underlying cause was of why it was returned to become refurbished However, if ours has not had a terrible life And hasn't been dropped a bunch of times and misused We too could at 10 or 15 years down the road potentially send ours in to be refurbished as well as adding by that time I'm sure we're going to add more of these units to our inventory Thank you I got a question and i'm just curious If we need to buy more than one set of pads and cuffs and we we do And we will some of that will come out of our operating Inventory money, not the capital fund Okay Because I just was looking through and i'm like we should have at least half a dozen Correct, so to be fair the final invoice will probably be larger than this because we will add some of that in there So that we do have sufficient inventory to get off and running at the beginning And that'll be paid for out of out of your operating funds. Okay Sometimes the incoming ambulance if they have the same set of pads We can take a set from them And keep the current set on them So like if coal chester rescue came in and wanted to give us a set of pads That's not a guarantee that that often happens. So we would be even at that point But yes, we still will need to carry our own inventory Figured you had planned ahead for that one, but I want to be sure And Do you have qualified staff available 24 seven we do Yes, um, we Have the per diem program that runs monday through friday eight to four Our other emt's that are volunteers run around the clock when they're available As long as we have an emt available, they'll be there We have a few that live really close to the station and this monitor will be on one of the vehicles And they can take that vehicle and go to the scene and use it there This monitor would be used every day every day that it is in the vehicle We would be able to use it and there's been at least 12 occasions Where we've been waiting for an ambulance longer than 15 minutes where we could have had a 12 lead It's saved on time or on scene time Uh for the transporting ambulance. So this would be a huge huge asset for the town Yeah, I was actually surprised that you guys didn't already have one But I assume you've been trying to get one for a few years through your capital Will this capital purchase effect the name of your other capital? It will not Thank you Any other questions crazy? So just because i'm curious um The second paragraph in the memo, um It talks about Analyzes signals can be read by paramedics and physicians. Is there any limitation within the department who would be able to read? correct So there's there's two um The doctors what's the doctor who will make the diagnosis of what care that patient gets beyond that but some of our emt's can read The 12 lead as it's coming across and be able to broadcast that information forward These units also have the capability of electronically sending this data Um a variety of ways so they we can upload it to a secure cloud Which is what's happening now with the transport ambulances so that the hospital is seeing it real time as it's going on So a doctor can get right back on and tell you your patient is having an event You need to do this need that or the hospital is preparing what they're going to do as soon as that patient arrives So what that a little more into that statement there was We can't interpret it. But would it prints off the sheet? it says what the what the um It's the interpreting so we would just Programmed in give that out to the incoming ambulance And if we thought we needed a medic we could call for a medic earlier and get that help coming Okay, I just immediately I thought you know if you've ever been in for an x-ray like the person who actually Takes the x-ray. I can't tell you anything We can tell you what's going on with it Oh boy Poker face And I did just want to make sure I was reading this right that not only is the zool Less expensive, but it also includes a 20 percent 27 percent discount on future on future accessories and yes Okay. Yes. Yes. Okay. Thank you All right anything else I just have one more question out of curiosity because I used to know this and I Haven't been in touches as much as I used to be. So how many amt used to be type on the fire department currently Currently we have at least I said it was four, but oh no. No, we're like 10. Yeah, at least at least I guess it's been Well, so the per diem staff that added more more available EMPs plus As a per diem member and as he is a per diem member and she as well We can come back in to assist on calls. So that's giving us another expertise To help out with those serious level calls and then having the monitor gives us the capabilities to do our job That much further. So this would take us to a whole new level of service But the other Side pieces if we get a call for a patient who's unresponsive And that brings the whole fire department because everyone is trained in the use of AED and CPR. So we will always bring extra hands So that will also further help ensure that the equipment gets to the scene Any comments from the public I don't see any hands in the room any anybody online wanting to speak ask a question Comment on the senior hand. So now I can I make the motion at the select board waive the purchasing policies bid requirement for major purchases due to the lack of qualified bidders and authorized the purchase of one new Zool X series east cg unit With required attachments as detailed and attachments see for the total price of And it's now 40 i'm going to make it 45,900 because I hate that penny To be paid from the existing capital equipment funds Thank you don thank you candle any further discussion I'll move in favor. Please say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Okay motion passes by five zero Thank you so much for the work effort on this. We really appreciate it. Good luck everyone. Thank you for all you do Let us know when it comes in. Yes, we will Bring it by all right All right, all right, so let's see I see that sarah reads is here, but then it's this next one probably I don't know it should take very long at all. Let's do presentation proposed revisions of the fiscal 2024 capital budget five-year plan potential action to warrant public hearing sure So this is just a preview tonight with the approval at town meeting to increase the capital attacks from two cents to three cents Dan Roy Catherine sonic Aaron martin myself went through we took a look at where to reassign Or to assign the additional revenue that's coming in That money is expected to generate an additional 161 000 in capital funds We basically went back to what the requests were when we first started with the two cents We plug that money back in You can see the list in the memo that's in the packet of where we recommend assigning that money I think the only real Change is that we added in the salt shed for public works wanted to get that on the capital list There might be some grant money and grant opportunities to pursue that But we definitely wanted to set some money aside whether it's for matching with just to start building up for for when we need to Go after that if we can't get any grant money Happy to take any questions comments tonight Um regardless looking to warrant a public hearing probably at your next meeting if that works April 17th And then you can have the public hearing and consider adopting the revised capital budget five-year plan at that I have what may sound like a stupid question who manages this natural resources part of this Zero to 11 000 I didn't know yep, so that's primarily towards the goes towards um Cutting down replacing or treating the ash trees depending on the health of each tree it's kind of a combination between the conservation and trails committee the planner and public works and that's part of Last I think was last meeting We got notified that we're a part of tree city usa And so that's part of their requirements is to have some money set aside for Urban tree canopy That would be different than from the general paths walks and trails Yes, yep walks packs and walk walks paths and trails is for the most part your sidewalks Oh, okay. Okay. Thank you Ethan so that was my that was not my whole question but part of my question was Is the natural resources management Um line item new all together and if not when it was the last time it was funded Um, it's not new it was it's been funded a I can't remember exactly how old it was it's it's always been there for I've want to say quite some time It's typically been towards tree maintenance of some sort or another. It's been a bit more focused probably the past two or three years Um when the town adopted its street tree management plan To deal with emerald ash borer and some of the others it's it was not funded When we had the two cents we took the funding out this year there was a request there for $12,000 We took it out this year thinking we're going to be short From what we were expected and thinking we could use undesignated capital for that year Or go after grants or both. So according to this chart it was funded in 2020 in fy 23 But it was not funded in the original fy 24 that we approved and this is putting back almost all of it was requested so It was funded at $12,000 in the current the current fiscal year that we're in It was 12,000 requested for fy 24, but it was taken out because of the We thought to be a shortage the change in that so that was Kind of part of my other question and I was I was wondering and I'm just asking where to where does this To be compared and seen but we did move $200,000 to capital to cover underfunded capital projects. I'm just curious If there's a way and maybe there maybe it's already there to see But I just wanted a little clarification and I knew it was going to be brought to the next meeting but a way to show That $200,000 where we're doing with it and then also show This one set increase So we put in that way. They're not crossing Or if they are across I don't know if they are I just have a really hard time with the with the capital map Yeah, in general because there's Same numbers sometimes in different areas So I didn't I wasn't sure if that was incorporated I'm going to have to double check with dan unless somebody else here remembers my my recollection was that we assigned that 200,000 to Undesignated capital Which would then be allowed to be drawn drawn from as needed So that'll show up on the very last line And I forget to print out these um hard copies so I can do that for you So you can read it a little bit better than what's on the table to answer Yeah, it may not be assigned at all then yet It's a sign to put it in there. It's assigned to undesignated. So we just put it in there to cover If we didn't get the increase but now we have the increase so we're 200 Essentially Kind of I mean each year we when there's fund balance, we recommend assignments I'd have to dig up the history But it's often a recommendation to put that money into undesignated capital Which can then be used for Whether we have an emergency that comes up or a real good opportunity or a grant opportunity where we need to match funding That's when we often drop them from undesignated Yes, before we had this three cents. We're banking on the two We were planning on using more of that undesignated in the coming year to fill that gap Now we have a bit more flexibility. You've got more in the bank for those opportunities or emergencies As a reserve We're up 2,000 because of the the fund balance that we transferred in but we're also short 50 because 161 is 50 short of what we used to get right so there's there's right. It's not There's gives and takes yeah Yeah, I just wanted to be prepared to answer the question of what did you do with that 200 thousand dollars that you guys Moved over and I was like It's there and and I also hear you on the um the presentation of capital That's something I want to work on in the coming year of Figure out a better present and present Appreciate it By me. I mean the whole team And that is the perfect segue into my comment and that I am yet again impressed by staff That they can move this money But it still feels to me like it's all of her just saying please sir. Can I have a little bit more? I would really like to know what is needed for your capital versus what is funded So I just I look through all of the plans and stuff and I just can't really see where The numbers are coming from What you need and my question would be like I'm sure you probably have a road reconstruction like a Aving plan with an eight-year going through the pavement or so It would be very helpful to to have that information available So that you could tell with a gravel plan a road plan and building plan because some of your capitals Are pretty well funded like your parks and recs. They've got a pretty good balance But other ones, um, they're really really low Just um, I would like to know what is actually needed Versus what is funded It's yeah, we'll we'll look to flesh that out um in the coming months not probably won't happen in the next two weeks But do want to build that up, uh, you know the fire department has its plan Whether it's equipment vehicle replacements public works has the same thing We have a paving conditions index that gets updated every year or two which takes look at what roads are out there where they're at Get into the weeds here a little bit when when public works is presenting their planning schedule each year It's not necessarily This is the worst street We're going to go there and then this is the next worst street. We're going to go there They get better funding. They can be more efficient if they say, all right Here are the this neighborhood has three of the four worst streets and that fourth one's In decent shape, but it's going to make more sense to do it right now Well, they're already they are doing that paving as opposed to doing one here one here one there um So that's where some of that stuff gets a little complicated part of it too is A lot of the capital repairs come from grant money and come from grant funding So a lot of this is match it's kind of constantly shifting a little bit depending on what Money comes in so it's tough to say exactly This is the most important need Or that need or this is a higher need than that. They're they're all kind of there is needs and at a certain point it's What do you it's a balance of What are you trying to do that prevents further deterioration? What really really does absolutely need to get done before it fails? And what is where's the grant money that's going to come in to support that? And sometimes they don't you don't get the grant money and after two or three years You have to come and just say it's time to purchase that ecg with the money that we have available Yeah, but what I what I envision is You know having this plan in place having a lot of that supporting documentation streamlining standardizing. All right Here's how the fire department Budgets for its capital needs and schedules them here's how public works does that and it kind of streamlining some of that stuff too Same with parks and rec A lot of their maintenance is around facilities parks to make sure that the equipment doesn't deteriorate past a certain point Yeah, I mean, that's perfect It's just that right now I would have a really hard time if somebody came and said where Where's your plan? How much money? Where are you putting it? I haven't been able to find the road plans and things if those were accessible Then you could look and you could say okay, so they're going to do 100 000 road reconstruction out of capital On these roads based on the plan Maybe it's just the matter of having that available Something to base it on would it be all right if I shared Dennis's book that he left us Does that's a lot of the information in the candle? Oh, yep That might help you might I do you have the do you have uh Now Kendall came on after so it's starting gift to us that they Okay, oh, okay. Well, now I have one in my car, so Thank you. Any other board questions? Um The the question before us is whether to Warn a public hearing for this should we ask for public comment? Looks a bit pretty quiet tonight. Anybody have any comments? Hey then Hey, look at me I make a motion to select board warns of public hearing for the fiscal year 2024 capital budget five-year plan for april 17 Okay, thank you Don. Thank you, Ethan um, any further discussion All those in favor of warning the public hearing, please say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay Okay, motion passes five zero. Thank you so much. Thank you. Let's move on I see sarah Reeves is here moving on to the presentation of and possible action to approve Chittin Chittin in solid waste district fiscal year 2024 budget Good evening. Thank you very much for the slot on your agenda tonight. We've got a full agenda, so I appreciate the time um And greg is it okay if I can share my screen? I just have a You can let me know if it's not possible and I can try to give you that access Yeah, it's still saying Participants most disabled Yeah So I am sarah Reeves. I am the executive director for Chittin in solid waste and Every year I come to my my 18 member communities and ask for You to consider and then hopefully approve and adopt our budget and and Do that And I always like to kind of start with who we are because I know we've had a lot of folks Come new to Vermont new to Chittin who may not know who cswd is and we are Municipality formed back in the late 1980s by our member towns and cities To manage the solid waste generated By our residents businesses and schools and institutions on their behalf and I also like to remind folks of Where where we receive our revenue and then also where we do not receive our revenue So our revenue are Basically three main buckets. We have user fees or tip fees and those are the fees that Are paid directly to us by our customers say at our drop-off centers or at Our compost facility Then we have another bucket of material or product sales. So the sale the compost that we make or local color paint and recycling that's Sorted at the mark and then a solid waste management fee Which is a fee that we charge haulers when they get to the landfill and Coventry For the disposal of every ton of chitin and chitin and county waste But they're bringing there for our disposal I also like to let folks know how we're doing and in chitin and county We actually do a really good job of diverting material from landfilling and We could always do more so the state you know, the state's goal is You know around 50 percent or so They think we can ultimately get to 75 percent because there's going to be that little bit that Has to landfill the we in chitin county are already diverting 61 percent of waste from landfill But out of the material that is being landfill a little more than half of that Could still be diverted. So whether it's into blue bin recycling or into Organics and composting you might have some electronics or or a scrap metal that could be diverted to special waste or something that Is more better diverted as construction demolition degree So this is my pitch to everyone to before you put something in that trash bag to just take one more moment I consider is this the actual place that this needs to go or can I actually put in my recycling or For composting or some other disposal So starting with our bottom line, we are budgeting revenue in the amount of 15,401,000 dollars We are budgeting expenses and of the amount of 14,402,000 dollars so that a delta of just under 900,000 will then be redirected into our reserve funds and priority orders. So our board established a a priority of Of our reserves about a year and a half ago maybe two years ago So that when one reserve hits the max as Determined by the board The the money the any remaining money will then go into the next reserve and then flow to the next reserve into the next reserve ultimately ending up in the the capital reserve A short quick Comparison this fiscal year to next this fiscal year. We're anticipating revenue Just an increase of just under 10 and an increase in our expenses at just under 9 And I am pointing out the one increase that I'm actually excited about Which is our administrative cost increase and the reason for that increase Is that we have just moved our office space. So we have been in our offices Redmond Road and Williston for Almost 30 years, I believe close to 30 years and we are this week moving into office space that we're sharing with the South Burlington Police Department in South Burlington on Gregory Drive. So We are the new administrative cost is going to be at least but we're really excited to be in a new location This is a new slide that I don't think that the select board has seen before and I wanted to kind of highlight for folks Where those buckets of funding go and kind of how they where those monies are applied and what pays for what So we tend to focus on The operations programs and we call those the drop-off centers the environmental depot the rover The organics version facility those those operations those programs those facilities For our charter need to be generating their revenue covering their expenses from user fees or sale of product doesn't specify sale of products in the charter, but it does specify tip fees and these always management fees are used for providing education and outreach and program programs And man and and funding the managing administrative functions of the district So that's always management fee again is that it's 27 dollars per ton. It has this fee has actually not changed in 10 years And the philosophy of the board was if we didn't need the revenue There was no reason to just raise it just to raise it I do want our board to think about that this year and just think about the philosophy and how we're utilizing this fee Um It not only has been used for the administrative purposes and for education and outreach and communications purposes for the district But it also has been used as the source of subsidy for the programs that are not covering their costs So that's really what I want our board to to think about Our materials recycling facility We are looking at an increase in the tip fee there from $80 a ton to $85 a ton and this is directly related to a the increase in the Contract that we have with Kasella to operate the MRP. So we hire them to do the day-to-day operations Um that contract expired last June The new contract is a short-term contract really just for the duration of this existing building As we go into building the new new facility, that will be a different contract. But this one That contract cost increased by 55 percent. So we have been paying them $45 a ton And as of March 1st, we're now paying them $70 a ton. So we are increasing the tip fee Just by $5 a ton to try to recover some of that expense We are not raising it until July 1. So we'll be covering that increase for this last quarter Um, and then we'll we'll wait to increase that on July 1st We're also budgeting a again conservatively for The average commodity revenue. So for the sale of the materials that are sorted by the MRP and If you take a look in that column for fiscal 22 the material sales That is a an anomaly That was not expected by anyone in the industry. Everyone Um saw some pretty banner sales and robust sales That year that is not the norm. So we are Sliding back into a more normalized Normalized revenue commodity sales Projection the markets are Stable but still suppressed. So we think there's some room to move up There's still some growth that can happen, but Um, it's certainly not at the level that we saw just two years ago Our organics diversion facility Um, hopefully you can see on that fiscal 22 We were looking at essentially breaking even And that changed and so part of the reason that that changed is We're resulting in having to raise the fee from 65 to 70 dollars per ton And it was directly again related to the loss of inbound times when Kasella opened their new facility in Williston They opened a a deep packaging facility where Packaged foods that were not suitable for human consumption for Donation or for animal feed that was still containerized That food had to be removed from the container because it could no longer go into the landfill due to The aqua 48's final Final component being taking effect in 2020. So when that Facility opened not only where the package goes there brought there by Kasella and other haulers But also Kasella diverted some of their source separated Material there. So we've grabbed some of those tons back But not nearly to the level that we were at in fiscal 22 So that's why it's showing a pretty significant subsidy in The current 23 budget and then also similarly in 24 and that subsidy that It's in the red that is offset by solid waste management fee revenue And similarly our drop-off centers have also been budgeted in the red for many years The fiscal 22 showed just under $400,000 subsidy this year for 22 And if we did not increase bad prices, we would again be meeting a subsidy of $421,000.  So You know, we round it up or down From the pre-covid and we were at 275 for the small bag. So It's a big it's a big increase from the current two dollars a moderate increase from pre-covid pricing But again without that Increase we would need a subsidy significant subsidy again And our drop-off center system does represent about you know, nearly 48 percent of our Our full-time employees staffing and so all of the associated costs with Cola with health care benefits all of those increases is affecting this budget as is what we we label materials management, which is the fees that we pay to haulers to move Trash and certainly encompassing onto other processes or onto dispositions. So the fees that we pay to concealer admirers or Those have all gone up. So not only fees at the transfer station A few other logistics transportation insurance all of that has gone up One change that we also are intending to make starting in july is shifting our drop-off center schedule So that all the drop-off centers except for hindsburg, but everyone else is open the same schedule to stay through something And this is designed to provide additional service to a few of our drop-off centers. So milton will get Much more service They'll have five days a week instead of three Burlington will also have some increased service as well And it will reduce confusion for customers. They will no longer have to worry about checking the checker board Schedule on the website to see who's open when and much easier to communicate The only reason that we can't be open as many days in time At least says we can only be open one day We choose that This is probably not surprising uh to the select board the um the staffing challenges continue for everybody We do have budgeted in this budget a seven percent cost of living adjustment We use the bureau of labor statistics consumer price index to Monitor what the the cpi is and then we take that average over the course of the 12 months. So as of december The 12 month average was seven point four percent. So we rounded that down to seven In order to try to offset some of the increases that everyone saw for healthcare We moved our employees were opting into the healthcare package to a higher deductible plan And we are increasing their contribution Of salary to 3.5 of salary on July 1 So those those savings did help offset The total compensation cost per employee to where it only went up 1.4 Compared to this fiscal year Let's talk too much about the capital plan But just to point you to those major investments that we are planning for fiscal 24 To milton drop-off center and to the barlington drop-off center And at the end of the the year we're anticipating having just under 3.4 million in that capital reserve. So The excess revenue that was was excess in budget that we received from the murph The majority of that flowed into the capital reserve The one reserve that I'm not entirely certain is Is going to have enough and this is another topic that I'll ask my board to consider and discuss this year How we increase this reserve is for the post closure for our landfills. We are responsible for maintaining Three closed landfills in williston And we have to do that for 30 years and we are at about year 28 so and of course, I shouldn't be surprising but In the last couple to five years of any post closure plan That's when you start to see some things that need additional attention Added to that is the unknown of what we will need to do if we need to treat Our landfill leachate for the forever chemicals for PFOS for PFOA Um, that is an unknown cost at this point And I know you all are familiar with that as well with the the uh, whisper treatment plan So we don't we're not confident. I am not confident that we have enough money in that reserve To to not have to augment what those costs may be So we need to talk about um, how we want to supplement that reserve And we'll be we'll be discussing that at the board level this year And I do remind my cities and towns that um, per our charter that the legislative bodies of each of our member municipalities Must vote to approve the district's budget. That is kind of your responsibility um, and I will stop the share and Ask if there any questions Any questions I have a question I was curious, um To know more about uh, the organic waste um And I was wondering if with the with the creation of the new mirf that You guys first see that going down. I mean To me it seems and I know this is just me seeming but That would be one of our easiest materials to recover And 45 of it's going into the landfill. I was just curious on What thoughts were on that it's thank you for asking the question That is still the area of our greatest opportunity for landfill diversion is food scraps and other organics so because the um The last phase of act 148 Just took effect two and a half years ago We're still we're still believe it or not in the educating phase of letting people know You need to keep food scraps out of the landfill You don't have to compost if you can't back out compost But you do have to somehow find a way to keep them out of your trash So We're we're still working on that and we did see a huge huge uptick in participation in In composting programs and People wanting workshops from us to learn how to compost and hiring haulers to collect Their their food scraps for them a huge boom Right after you know in that summer of 2020 But to your point that there's a huge opportunity still yet to be had so If we could get you know as many food scraps out of Currently they're going to land from out of the landfill That will make a very very big difference. You know food scraps are heavy And you know waste in my opinion is always best managed as close to the source of generation as possible And if you can turn that those food scraps into compost or compost products and put it back into the soil, that's That's what you want to be doing On the other side of that is we really don't want to be generating as many food scraps in the first place So how to to not create the waste is just as important as how do you manage that waste? So more effort to more work on Making sure that you're not you're not creating that the need for having to manage food scraps We'll also be a focus in the next few years Awesome, I appreciate that and then I was just curious Is the state involved in any way with with the whole Composting food scrap and and do they give you guys? Sort of support or guidance or do they have a long-term plan on how they intend to Satisfy the the goal of composting and Great question. So one of the roles much of the enforcement and the management is is seated two districts So we are able to pass a local ordinance and so we have local enforcement authority The state does have overall state enforcement authority, but where they provide support is They have Offer grants every year to Solid waste management entities to be able to do programs to purchase equipment to Do pilots to really help Support these programs it's There's never enough money frankly for all the work that does still need to be done, but You know, that's that's really where their support is they offer Feedback and input and they obviously develop the rules and regulations, but they're They're not the boots on the ground. We're We're the boots on the ground Thank you The question is kind of Looks like your capital plan has some investments in the Essex drop-off center Yes Questions about are you going to bring back the reuse? Part of it. There are quite a few folks that really like that I believe the experiment in Richmond has turned out to be positive. So I wondered where you folks were on that Yeah, I think you're asking about the reuse part and One of the the long-standing philosophies of our board has been, you know, we want to make sure that One of our purposes is to ensure that residents businesses Anyone in Chittenden County has the ability and the to to manage their waste kind of a base Base level, you know, we want to make sure that we are always providing a certain base level But if the private sector or the general sector can provide a similar service or the same service at The same cost or lower cost Then we don't need to be in that business and so we Are kind of routinely looking for where our services being duplicated and that was one of them One of the other issues that we had with those the reuse centers was They tended to to kind of Collect a lot of stuff that was ultimately trash So we were throwing a lot of the material out because it really might have been something broken It might have been something dangerous. We would routinely see fertilizers and pesticides and You know, things that just should not be there. So we would have to be disposing of that And we would get folks in who would kind of linger We had some folks coming up for example from St. Albans Who would make the rounds of the reuse centers and they would take up the spots and they would just Kind of wait for people to bring stuff in And it wasn't really it wasn't suiting the mission and when we have places like restore and you know that goodwill and salvation army that are providing those services It was time And one of the things to it caused some safety issues As far as you know, lots of backups And we thought well It's no longer working the way it had originally worked 25 years ago Having said that What we will have When we build the new mirf Is another builder. So the current facility the current recycling facility Our board is going to need to talk about well, what's the future for For this building do we want to maintain that one of the topics one of the items has been can we bring back A more centralized reuse area It wouldn't you know, it wouldn't be at each of the drop off centers because again You know those the same conditions exist And I think if we had able to been able to Maybe purchase our own property and and you know really design the space properly for reuse zone That might be different, but we are constrained By the the sites that we are provided by our host towns so But that could be one one possible option As a use for that building so So that's kind of exciting to say well, what are the possibilities? What might we be able to do with the current building and That I'm guaranteed will be up for a conversation Thank you Any other questions All right, Sarah, so I'm going to ask mine. It's a different question than I've asked you in the past So part part of your your your materials talked about projecting increases, you know future increases for how much waste gets generated and so forth One of the things that the residents in Essex have been commenting about is the number of trucks that pass through our town and There's almost a continuous flow of trucks on their way to and from Coventry, you know down route 15 here They're full on their way east and they're they're empty on the way back My wife and I actually were going up to Morgan Vermont one time when we were on route 100 There were five of those trucks in a row in front of us and two of the five were shedding material as they went along um So that's that's a that may not be something you can deal with but it was it it was certainly uh Disturbing for us, but uh, I guess the question is you know Do do do you work with the regional planning commission or the state or or whomever is responsible or You know, I don't know who the appropriate people folks would be to To address the question now with with with, you know, climate change action That's going to be happening transportation is going to get much more expensive We've got one landfill at the far end of the state. Um, What's right on there? Yeah, no, thank you for asking this. This is a very very important topic and As I mentioned earlier, I I am a firm believer in managing The ways it's generated as close to the source of generation as possible and not Tracking it all over the place. It's not always possible, but as much as you can do that Um, I think you should try to do that and the Coventry landfill owned by there's a castella facility It currently has is permitted the area for for filling the cell has about 20 years um, there's not a guarantee That another area another cell will be permitted by the state So 20 years sounds like a long time It is not We need to be having these conversations now about What is the alternative? What are the alternatives? What is out there? What's working? In the northeast there is not a lot of options for out-of-state landfills To bring Vermont's material and That would be the first the first answer would be All of it gets sent out of state That doesn't sit right with me. Um Again, I don't I don't want to put our our issues on someone else So what does that then say is okay? Well Do we want to look in Vermont to where we could build additional landfills? um, are there roles for other types of managing material that is not a landfill because You know to our benefit we have preserved a lot of our our land in this state and conserved it and Landfills take up a lot of space. You need A couple hundred acres to do something for a significant amount of time That's a lot of property Again to you know put it in in the home of them So the time really is now to start having the conversations about alternatives. So We have been having conversations um with folks at a and r at agency of natural resources To say please we we need the conversation to start now because these types of facilities can take 10 to 15 years to properly site And to build and it needs to be really strongly vetted so I would love for us to even you know within shunnan county have more focused conversations about Well, what do we want as shunnan county? Is there is there a role for us as as this entity To Direct our own material Because there's there's not a lot of space in vermont that would be suitable For another large landfill and I don't I don't think that's the answer I don't think that's the answer so In the next two years, I think you'll start to hear more And it's a great idea to reach out to charlie and um And I will certainly make sure that I know I have talked to him about this in the past But I'll make sure that I reach out to him it again And just say hey, just putting this back on your radar and let's let's talk about it because you're right the truck traffic is Is excessive it's heavy and you know one of the the ways that Burlington and South Burlington were we're trying to get a handle on it But it didn't really work was offering consolidated collection in their cities They didn't progress You know all the way but that could help reduce at least on the residential side Some of those the trucks But that also is a process so Not not super rosy news I think but It is something that we are in the very near term. We've already started the conversations We can't wait Because if we wait we are out of options and then really the only option is putting all of our trash on on rail and All right, thank you any more programs or questions I wouldn't have to public comment anybody in the public have any uh comments or questions They're quiet crowd tonight. So I don't look like it. So somebody want to make a motion I make a motion to select for Approve make approve of the CSWD proposed FY 24 budget Thank you Don. Do I have a second second? Thank you Ethan. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please say aye Aye opposed they may Okay, motion passes 5-0. Thank you so much Sarah Thank you very much Take care. You can stay if you want or See you later Yeah, next time Okay, move on to the next agenda item next three agenda items our discussion is about Uh, how we as a select board operate The first is rules and regulations of orderly conduct of business. Ethan had asked if I would Go through a do you want me to do that go through a little highlight of them or? Oh, I want to just move on we can move on you can send me I'll take that My own reading later on Does anybody have I'm good my eyes hurt any any Questions or comments about the three policies that are there there's rules and regulations of orderly conduct of business Which tells how we run meetings because definitions and about around meetings conflict of interest policy and the communications policy I don't think any questions at any of them. I have my first one is why does this planning committee have a separate conflict of interest policy statute says that they Have the right to establish their own what's that state statute state statute. Yeah And the other one is that under orderly my other question under orderly conduct of business And maybe within the proposed new um Oh my charter or maybe I read in the old one Whereas at any petition coming before the board you had 60 days to act in a timely fashion And it doesn't give you a timeline in this one Did I did that come out as a proposal for the new winner? Did I read that in the old one? That was my other question So if a petition come I think statute Um I'm your charter. It's either your charter your statute or both. That's not part of the rules and regulations here Okay. Well, all right, but should that be? This minute whereas I may find Other communications, what was it? Generally try to avoid having the same information multiple places twice that way to make sure you keep to keep it. Okay. Well, that was okay All right If we leave it leave it unsaid then statute prevails. Okay. Okay. That was my question. All right. That makes sense, so All right. Thanks and I've been watching Morristown. I believe it is and they've had some issues with some conflicts of interest And I did notice in our policy there isn't any specification as to The town manager could not be a select board member Or the town clerk could not be the select board member. Um, there are some town positions that Yeah, I don't know if statute, uh, I mean Is incompatible positions. Yeah incompatible positions I mean even just if it's noted somewhere that there are incompatible positions and a board member Couldn't be the town clerk or something like that I think that there's reference to that in the charter I mean not specific to select board manager, but other Um positions if I'm not Yeah, I don't think so because I looked into it just recently when the city did theirs and they just changed theirs to one year, I believe um as far as Select board member Or city council member being hired not becoming an employee becoming an employee. We don't have anything about that We don't have anything about that. So you could be both as far as I understand it unless it's written somewhere that you can't but I could I could essentially resign as select board member and be the highway manager tomorrow, you know what I mean not saying that Right, you can't be an employee of the town. I still have the boards that you're saying No, it doesn't say that right see that's my but I'm just saying that Like they just did they just made theirs one year Just to have that that separation And I and I like I said I did the best research that I know how to do I didn't find anything that said Anywhere that you couldn't be for one on a board commissioner committee and be employed by the town Or for two that I could design today and become a member Become I'm an employee of the town tomorrow So I don't know if that's I don't know if that ball is in here or if that's it's we we don't we don't have a policy about Who the town manager can choose to hire I don't know if that I don't know if that's a bind under conflict of interest or if that would be Something different. Um, I don't know. I was just thinking of it when You know Kendall just sparked it back in my head, but I was thinking of it when I was reading You know what the city had done and then we're reading through this. I'm like, oh Like I said, it could be something out there, but I did pretty extensive research. I didn't find anything Yeah, no, I'm pretty sure there's nothing that says you can't be hired immediately upon or or and I guess I I'd have to do more research about incompatible Um Positions whether there's uh, you know anything there. Um, I think without immediate input on what what changes you would want to make and I don't know do we want to uh, we could defer Yeah, we can we can put this on our list of things to Look at for the futures and anything I necessarily had In my mind of how it should or shouldn't be it was things that I had thought of you know So there's nothing that says we have to approve these And I right the only thing we really need to do is elect officers and schedule our meetings, right? The two things we have to do. This is more of a historical thing that we've done So that everybody's aware of what our policies are going into uh, we've had times recently where they're not approved This meeting because we have questions or changes. Um, yeah, I did have one other question about, um the communications policy because and like I said, I may not understand things the best way that I read them, but um in response to um public comments and not necessarily comments, but If a statement is made and this goes to formal positions of the select board and I'm thinking more formal positions of the town If a statement is made at a meeting it is false Like it's false information saying that somebody You know attended a meeting or didn't attend a meeting or did this or whatever And it's known to be inaccurate What formal position and Have a select board member or what formal position would the town take to relay? Thank you for your comments, but you know that is untrue And how would you do that? so, uh the uh First amendment free speech Allows anybody to sit because you're an elected official. You don't have the same rights as as they know and you know People can say things that aren't true about you And there's not much you can do about We don't have enough official policy about Trying to correct things that have been said incorrectly. I don't know. I don't know. I guess that's well I ran into that situation in my first year. We can't control what we can't control what other people say right and I responded and then recently or after that had asked about my response and that was Said that it wasn't true and told them I wasn't true. So That was the question of is that okay or oh, is it okay for you to say that that's not true? Yes, or should that be more of the of the town's stance of saying, you know This didn't happen. I don't know I don't know because in here it says that you know, basically um in the next section responses to public comment It says, you know that It all goes to the chairman right And it says you don't have any legal protections for defamation or blah blah blah blah so I didn't know And like I said, this is just conversation. But should there be a procedure? On how to do that and not just a guideline? Not sure i'm understanding, but I guess we can have more discussion on that What's the difference if that happened? Well if that happened, what's your difference between guideline and procedure? Well, this is just an outline. It's like the pirate ode. This is an outline This doesn't tell you how to deal with it. It just tells you what it's okay. I want to say, okay I I mean, I would say it's a it could be more into training but this this happened this year and I asked the question after Everybody said I don't know I remember it happening. So that's why everything should go through andy and then andy Does the response so That way it's not he said she said and he made the response here it is Right, I mean that's what I and what happens when the comments about the chairman Oh, so when I was elected chair for the first time two years ago At least three people asked me to resign 10 minutes later And I said thank you for your comments and we went out. We moved on. Yep. That's that's how it goes. Yeah However, I think the the difference is is that I think if I'm remembering correctly that happened during a meeting right So that wouldn't fall under the public communication. That's only if the select board is speaking The chair is representing a select board stance in an official communication I mean if Someone says something that's true untrue about you I wouldn't have a problem saying, you know, no, I'm sorry, but um, you know and in engaging during the meeting but whether the how long that would be allowed to go on would be under the orderly conduct of business and Would fall to the chair to make sure that we're adhering to the guidelines of the agenda and so on and so forth If it's like a public statement, that's where this would come in. Oh, right. Okay. Yep Right, true. This policy doesn't cover how we react to what other people say But yeah, and and yeah, I guess it it was kind of ambiguous because I remember when that that happened I don't know you you did say that it was well, I asked you if I give me a comment I said can I respond and you said yeah, go ahead? Yeah. Yeah Then after we're like So I didn't I just figured I'd bring it up because I was like, I don't you know, this is the time to Have that conversation, but If you want to have more discussion about the communication policy at some Okay, I mean not right now, but in the future in the future in the future time It's it sounds like the ones we want to have some more discussion about incompatible offices and or um hiring or um, you know, I'd like to drive one of those those uh Senior van the senior van, but if I can't do it here after I quit I'm gonna quit and I can do it You know, I don't know I'd really would like to drive one of the senior buses I like those kind of people but uh Um Anyway, sorry And you're like that, but yeah, I think I think maybe we want to have discussion about that Do we want to prove the other two or do we want to have more? I think we should I have no problem the other two and we should revisit this one. Yeah Okay, so I want to revisit the conflict of interest policy That was I would You're just referring to no communication. I thought it was communications. He wanted to revisit I don't have a problem any of them will raise the question about incompatible offices and also and then there was also a discussion about Um, employment after being on the select board Which are which would both fall in I think under the conflict of interest policy Oh, I think I think you know the the question that that Ethan was raising about the communications policy was a question of whether it was appropriate for him to respond to an incorrect statement that was made about him in the meeting And And I guess the The policy is not clear on that, but I think it was fine that he did it and now that you know, I It's clear in my mind now to certainly allow people to respond to those kind of things. Um in the moment rather than Yeah, and I'm totally okay with ways But you're good with communications and you're good with orderly conduct of business But revisit conflict of interest that we want. Okay, that's fine. Yep. That's fine. Yeah, that's fine So do we need to approve those? I mean, they're they're already signed unless we change them. We have to be updated Re-signed them, right? I want to say each year you approve them to say this is what you're operating on this year Even if there's no change I still approve them. I think so too. All right Then I make the motion to select board approve the rules and regulations for orderly conduct of business And to approve the communications policy as presented this evening Thank you don't have a second I heard Ethan first. Thank you, Ethan Any further discussion? I didn't allow public comment. They've been pretty quiet than anybody have any public comment any comment from the public comments Okay, they're still quiet so Oh, we're voting to approve the the two policies Rules in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, saying aye Okay, motion passes 5-0. We've approved the rules and regulations order of conduct business and communications policy We'll revisit the conflict of interest policy and my understanding is the question is To clarify whether there's anything in statute but incompatible offices and then we want to have a discussion about Post service employment I didn't see that one year after I could go back like that one. I must have missed that part I'm not sure it needs to be a year, but it is bad form if a position was filled that the select board had direct control over From a select board member. Well, then you're right because parks and recs has the senior bus andy So you can go through parks and so we can but we can you know, we could have some of that discussion now If you want the the the the truth is the manager runs the town and the select board doesn't you know In a in a town that doesn't have a charter that specifies manager council form of government The select board absolutely runs the town. We don't actually run the town The manager does by statute, you know, as soon as we've signed that that charter that says we're a manager council form of government You know all that authority get turned over to the to the to the manager. So we're not Managing specific positions and so that that's that's maybe an argument against putting in those restrictions But we can go back and we can go have this discussion Unless what you're asking is if The manager is not here There's a vacancy in the manager position and a select board member gets appointed as manager. Is that what you're yeah Or I mean the board and the manager worked very closely and if there was a position and I was lobbying I was a select board member and in a term. I mean, that's just bad form even if I was the most qualified Yeah, that's something in the policy that says look, you know, I can't get this job because Yeah, that's abuse of your position to do that. Yeah, I mean And I I listened to their to their conversation that they had and that you know the idea behind it is A select board member or somebody who just left the select board has a relationship with with the town manager Has a relationship with public works with the fire department with regs Somebody who applies for a job who just moved to town doesn't know anybody You know, and there's that, you know, there's just that Section of it you see Considering that the select board Really only hires the manager I'd be interested in Travis's thoughts around whether this really belongs in A conflict of interest policy or a hiring policy that's more broadly applicable Maybe it's already hidden Okay, thanks so much All right The purpose of moving on Mr. Chairman. I'd like to make the motion that we accept as the Letter about the local options tax Go ahead So there's some changes that have been recommended since it was put out in the in the package. Oh, all right. Good try I tried to move it along. Sorry. I liked the letter. I thought it was pretty good Um, Tracy drafted up the letter and you can speak to it Uh, I won't cut you up I just want to point out the last paragraph in there are talks about reaching out to ways and means to ask legislative council about Mandating online vendors to do the nine digit zip code I've spoken to Gino Sullivan who's her economic development coordinator. She's also a former State legislator very familiar with the process and the people and the committees and all that she said that can come out Um, it's really all running through the tax department. They're the ones who would reach out to businesses They're the ones who would enforce that nine digit zip code. So that's just a change that I would point out If you approve the letter Uh, that's fine. Do we also want to make add in the sentence about the amount of effort that we put into this in spite of it not being really our problem? Do we want to include that Say that again. I'm sorry. I didn't hear you. So there was a uh, I have to think of the find the words that uh, there was a uh a suggestion that we add in a comment or a sentence about the Um amount of effort that we have had to put into sorting this out If I find the words that were proposed here, I think Greg you put them in your email to me. Yeah, I'm looking to find that too I don't think it's necessary. I like Can I ask a quick question? We're we're looking for that About town the Essex like word and did I not pay enough attention in English? Oh, that's the other Correction too. Okay. Because I was reading it. I'm like a I'm I know I'm not the smartest fellow on the street when it comes to books Or is this town the Essex? Uh, the the proposed sentences staff from the town of Essex No Okay, no he's not here, but we also Maybe it is It could be typos and that Oh, right. Here is. Yeah staff from the town of Essex and Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission have done and continued to do a lot of outreach and education to Essex businesses About local option tax collection Even so we continue to hear from residents and businesses about local option tax being collected in error Just want to acknowledge the work that we've been doing and let them know that we've had to do a lot of effort to get this to work, right? Um, I would recommend putting that between the any person or business can call and the select board is asking Um to say the businesses can call The staff of the town have also put in this level of effort. So now here is the ask And I would also ask that just somebody go through and Correct possible grammatical errors and I note that sometimes local option tax is capitalized other times. It's not Just consistency. I Was not consistent when I wrote it So there's two suggestions one is to take out the paragraph by ways and means the other is to add in this other pair of sentences that that talk about the effort that the town and the regional planning commission have put in And the fact that we're still finding businesses that are collecting the tax incorrectly So kennel, did you have another answer? I was just going to add it's a great letter But uh, I've had some folks say that the more fire and brimstone should be put into it It's a great letter the way it is Just note that Just to point out clarification. We're only removing. We are also asking that the ways and means ask us or slave council We're keeping the paragraph in there that talks about the nine digit Yes, yes, correct. The reason is that the tax department already has to make sure yep, and so the other one's enforcing that nine Perfect. I like it. I like uh Grace's suggestion where to input that paragraph Your addition that's perfect spot for it reads well Is Greg's edition not mine? The two of you asked for it I'm glad I'm not crazy about And that's it Any other board member comments questions anybody from the public want to comment on this Betty pool and I see your hand Hi there Thanks for Drafting this letter. I think it's it's it's an important move. I I have a Suggestion that's not necessarily directly related to this and then I do have a question specific to a lot and One of the things that seems to be happening with some of the businesses that charging a lot is that they don't necessarily know if they're in the City of s extension or the town of Essex And I think that's a and while it doesn't necessarily for me impact Lot one of the things I've been happy to be able to do is to be able to Update my address for anything that's mailed to me to be s6 instead of s extension And again, I know that doesn't affect tax at all, but I've updated it everywhere I can and I'm almost a little annoyed now when I get something from mail to me s extension, but I Apparently what I'm doing is working because I got three pieces of junk mail today and it was addressed to me at s extension, so apparently it's working Just one suggestion for the town I did get two pieces of mail from the town Recently, when was my water bill water sewer bill and when was my School ballot and both of those were addressed to me in s extension so I wondered if As we try to educate people as to where they live if the town would consider Changing the label on the address of what when we mail things to residents and businesses to put s6 instead of s extension So just a general Suggestion again, I know that doesn't impact lot directly, but it might help us in helping people identify where where they live um And then my question is I was just curious. I know you said you put a lot of time in and and and I know that you have and I'm just curious what kind of communication the town has had with the businesses You know, it seems that nowadays we're we're counting on like these random discoveries of of The top the tax being charged and some of these businesses have been doing it for six months um Nowadays if you ask for a receipt, you're almost feel guilty because you feel like you're not being environmentally conscious because you're asking for a piece of paper And even if you have the receipt, how many people really study it, right? I Said you all a note in I don't know mid mid october I had been away when I discovered my hand up for bill at the extra one percent So, um, I was just curious if there's communications from the town directly to businesses um I served on the economic development commission for I think over 10 years I know that they have a database of businesses and I was just curious What kind of communication the town has with businesses to help You know advocate for them because I feel badly for these businesses that are charging the tax incorrectly um, I think it puts a stigma on them and and um, again, I think it's it's it's unfortunate that The town is having to deal with this when we didn't choose to have this tax That so much of the burden is is on us to make sure that we we aren't charging it But I'm just curious what what kind of communication for anything that the the town is having with with businesses So, thanks. Great. Uh, sure. Very good question. Um Going back to when the local option tax was first instituted in s-exjunction and we found out it was happening or being charged in town um staff did a number of things Reached out directly In some cases numerous times to businesses that we knew were being charging the local options tax. We heard a lot of that from residents from um, personal experience of staff and so uh, tammy getchill and gino sullivan in particular did a lot of direct outreach A lot of communication and sometimes it was um, working their way up the chain from uh, you know a store manager to owner type of thing to try to get get that process uh out and educated um Worked with the regional planning commission and in s-exjunction to their credit Did did a lot of that work as well in trying to educate People and confirm what was or was not in s-exjunction. Uh, the regional planning commission got involved. They built a geo locating Device that we've posted on our website. You can type in your address It'll tell you if you're in s-ex or s-exjunction. Um, shared that with a lot of the businesses and residents to try to um Help people understand, uh, whether it's you know going out and shopping or whether it's ordering something online and figuring out If if you're being charged the local options tax or not um, I think there was a lot of uh outreach done on on our website Our infrared guest information on our website outreach on front porch forum facebook to try to educate residents and business owners um Tammy and gene in particular still do that outreach to business when we hear about issues or if it's still being charged Um working with some residents who took a more active interest in it with the online sellers online retailers Um, you've seen this work that that gene has been gene has been doing uh with the state and outreach to state departments state officials Um, so that's a lot of it. I I'd have to double check with gene and tammy to see if i'm missing anything about business outreach and what we've done with them And if there was more of a blanket mailing or a direct outreach just a kind of a blanket Um email blanket phone calls and anything like that. I can't recall off hand, but I can check in on that and get back to you Yeah, thanks. Um, yeah as you know, I just um there was a time early on when I was making an effort as a consumer but also sort of a you know an interest for our our town business community that I was going to businesses to try to kind of test the waters if you will but I kind of stopped doing that and I almost feel like I want to do it again because again, I just feel badly for for these businesses that I mean um It's nothing Anyway, it's just it's wrong that if they charge it, but I don't hold that I don't personally hold the business accountable because I just think the process is is has been kind of um confusing and um You know, thank god, we didn't go into a mode where both town both municipalities were charging the tax because we'd be sending all kinds of money to the city, so um, no, I um You know, I had told you before I mean if if if it feels if it feels warranted that you know visits to individual businesses or communication with the businesses in the town is warranted um, you know, I'm happy to help with that, but No, it's fine with what you've you've told me so far And again, thanks for the work and the letter the proposed letter to the state and hopefully we can Knit this in the bud if it if this is I mean if it really is it's possible, you know It really seems to rely on the individual businesses to I guess fill out a piece of paper um, I'm not 100 clear on the on the process but um What you've provided for information is fine. You don't need to follow up. So thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you very Hey, um Any other public comment? I don't see any other hands. So Do we want to Motion with amendments or do you want to To come back I will rescind my original one and I will Change it to approving the letter with corrections To be sent. Thank you. Don. Do I have a second? Thanks, Ethan Any further discussions? So the the motion is to improve approve the Memo with the addition of the two sentences proposed by greg the removal of the Paragraph about ways and means and a general edited Grammar and formatting to ensure it's from the town of Essex All right, all those in favor, please say I I pose say nay Game motion passes five zero. Thank you, Tracy for The draft for that. Welcome. Thanks to staff as well and for coming up Thank you Okay, next question is facilities use policy we Have discussed this previously The question came up about political parties wanting to use meeting space to for organizational meetings Practice in the past has been that that was not allowed because of their affiliate and their the political affiliations and so but the proposal was to Allow organizational type meetings You know no political active for both political and religious organizations, but no political activity or Religious activity Right, so because it's been a while since we've looked at this we wanted to Accept it tonight and then approve it in the future Any uh Any more you want to add to that No tried to capture the changes. It was uh good six or seven months ago So finally get back to dusting this off. So hopefully I've captured some of the concerns and changes But we're gonna back to you tonight for review and can certainly Consider any other edits before bringing it back for acceptance or adoption Please um, I would recommend replacing marijuana with cannabis Easy. I'm sorry. Yeah, um I have a couple questions what if we want to Um, talk about bringing this back to another meeting. I'm more than happy about that too but I would like to see um Person limits on the police department and the town offices I would like to see Uh, $10 a table for the police department $20 for non-resident What are you talking about? I'm sorry. I'm talking about the fee structure. Oh, wait The next day if you sorry I lost you here There's no limitation to the amount of people and I know that this room has a limitation Well, there there is but it's per fire code and the reason it's written that way is because it depends on whether you have tables in here Right And so the configuration of the room determines the number of people you can have so it's a little it's and I think you Where the tables go? Yeah, they get slid up against the wall and then that allows more people to be in here How many more people? Almost double almost double Maybe maybe not quite that much. I'm just concerned that we're not charging the fee especially for non-residents It's not for non-residents for residents So there's there's a non-resident The police department and the the um There's a couple things I guess to say about that one is that You generally never have anybody who's not a resident use either the buildings are gonna ask you It's rare. I mean, I could have an organizational meeting for Chittin County Republicans or the Chittin County Democrats or No Yeah, it could have a religious church. That's doing enough fun I want to get everybody together and have a meeting. You know, I'm just growing out scenarios, but I just think that we know we have You know, we got a we got a sandhill shelter for $45 for three hours, and it's $10 a table. Yeah, and so so The the the difference there is parks and rec has a way to collect money from people The police department does not Have a way to collect that money. We would have to develop a procedure for them to get the money handle it Oh in in in all that so that's that's that's I think part of part of the reason And then the other yeah, it's it's the administration of it So I guess my my Yeah, it happened so infrequently that we really haven't Factored it in I think we could figure out a way to do it. It's just it's a great in the application Go out the application just select which building you want mail check to 81 Main Street for the for the, you know cost of the building and if you Cancel your reservation within 15 days or 10 days or five days or two days or 24 hours You can come to the town office and get your money back I think that should be universal across the board I mean we're paying to turn the lights on we're paying to put the the building I know that the buildings heated year-round anyway, but you know the lights and So you're saying for non residents, right? I'm saying for everybody So residents are already paying for the lights with their I guess that they're already paying with the lights for their So to charge them more for to use a building use a building that belongs to them I don't think you're charging them for sandhill. They already paid them all the wands They already paid for the picnic tables. They paid for the clubs at hut and you're charging them to use it What's the difference? That's a recreation policy not ours But we're we're setting the fees No, we just got the fees in Mali and put them in there I don't think that's a discussion so I don't know. I think there's too much to this and we didn't We talked about it once it sat for eight months and We're bringing it back up. I'd like to table it