All right. So let's call the meeting to order at 703. Good evening.  Oh, Barbara and Judy, I'm so sorry for you. All right, in person. Oh, okay. There's Oh, I thought Sandra was already on She was and then I think she got bumped out and back in Okay, so public comment for items not on the agenda In additions or changes to the agenda I have an update about Cloth masks for callous town residents Yeah, okay You've been selling toby Nope, I've been filling out paperwork Yeah, I did the same thing So what's your update toby? Um, I applied for the town of callous to get the state of 25 percent of the population of masks to deliver to the town And I put myself in as the contact and I'm waiting for a response All right, that's great. Thank you, toby Your emergency coordinator at work um All right, so let's get started with Sandra um Sandra received notification that we needed to apply for any um COVID related expenses with FEMA through the end of June Um, we have been putting it off if you remember to see if we had any additional expenses And I don't know that we Had any real additional expenses. I think Sandra, what did you say we have about 3,300 dollars worth of expenses? Sandra Hello Cliff we can't hear you or Sandra Well Cliff, can you hear us now? Sandra are you there? Is Sandra there Cliff? Yeah, she's online. She turned her mute off, but it looks like um her audio isn't connected Huh, could you try uh sending me a text perhaps? Or you might have to log out and log back in see if you can establish the audio connection You might be locked up not hearing us at all Huh Um, let me see if I can find your phone number real quick Okay, as we wait, uh, I'll prompt everybody remember when uh computers were cool and they were going to make our lives so much easier Oh, yeah The biggest problem we'd have in the future is what we would do with all our free time that we'd have because we were using computers I know it costs our town a lot more to run our office And then the expectations get greater by the state and yeah Because we have technology And I don't think it's save us money. I think it's costing us in the end I think we get a lot of benefit out of them though that we don't want to give up Yeah, it's definitely a mixed bag. Um On the flip side the digitizing of the the town records has been a life So Sandra said she can't get in should she try calling maybe cliff Yeah, I would tell her to disconnect from the computer and just use one of the numbers to call in Yeah, just disconnect and try calling. He's in you can see her Yeah, but she's locked up Okay, she has bad cell service or whatever. Okay. All right. Thanks That's a bad service john there's just misunderstandings so clip and john did you just Resolve all the computer issues Yeah, we voted to eliminate all IT services Okay, there you go. Sounds good to me I made the motion cliff seconded it Okay, it's passed unanimously. Okay, very good So anyway, so the FEMA thing Really just needs us to agree that Sandra should send in the invoices And have it documented in the minutes Yeah, I would move that we have Sandra send in the invoices second Okay, um all those Oh Voice vote cliff. Hi, john. Yes rose I Sharon I And I'm an eye Okay, Sandra should be on any anytime Um The numeric Letter that we got sent that the price went up 80 dollars. Um A month we don't I asked Sandra about it and she can Alfred Larraby Oh, okay. Hey Alfred She can explain it further, but we never even joined the meeting We never spend close to 500 It's usually around 300 or so But I thought that that's a mandatory payment I Don't think so I'm misunderstood. Oh, there's there's Sandra 45 a month We were just talking about the numeric Sandra the 500 or the 580 is not What we usually end up paying is that correct? Correct. Um, I'm sorry for the technical issues. I figured it out Yes, she oftentimes only spends an hour an hour and a half Reconciling the accounts. I think most recently her highest bill in uh preparation for the audit was 300 dollars so, um I don't I that is a very similar contract to what we had last year and you know, they can promise up to four hours But she's not had to use four hours And so it's not automatically a 500 dollar bill. It's whatever she times she spends Yes, it's by the hour Okay, thanks for the clarification. I was really concerned. We were going to shell out 545 hours a month. Yeah um Before we talk about payments standard, I have a question on the orders There's an invoice in here for contact engineered services for $66,000 It's a grant George road grant Do we call her we pay for that up front and get reimbursed or how does that work? Well, I'm going to if if toby or alfred are on they Could better speak to this my understanding is Um, this is a grant and all then we will be reimbursed our direct expenses But we have to outlay them first Is that correct or is there tone toby or alfred out there somewhere? Yeah, yeah Yes, alfred's here also. That's the way it's always been is that we pay it out front and then we get reimbursed Wow, this is a lot of money right at the beginning of the new fiscal year so we have so sandram do we have We haven't even started to collect taxes yet So where will this money come from? Well, the fund balance will have to cover us, but we roughly have about 300 maybe 360 thousand dollars in a fund balance This is our second order Wait, pardon me This is our third order of the new fiscal year And it is is it 140 thousand dollars? Is that the total denise? I believe so. Yeah. Yeah, so that cuts deep into our fund balance and um I think some Bills this large alfred and toby maybe we could as next time around try and get these folks to maybe take it in chunks like Part of it in august and part of it in september when we actually have money coming in Well contact don't know if they would agree to that but it it would really help our cash flow Well contact is the supplier of the culvert itself. So they're they're probably not going to give us multiple payments And we have not been billed by the contractor yet. So and Um, this project should be done in two weeks and I will do the reimbursement as soon as it's complete And so we should see a reimbursement for all of those funds within a month Oh, awesome. Thank you for that information. I was wondering how that was going to go Okay, thanks toby John Just a point of clarification. Maybe someone can bring me up to speed on history. I remember Years back when I joined the select board that there were times when we would take out a loan in anticipation of taxes I think it was particularly related to school taxes But because there was such a sizable amount but um, have we not done that as a town in a long time and Because we've maintained a balance Is that something we could do if we do get in a pinch? You haven't had to do that for the last three years. We've had a Um, comfortable general fund balance to cover our cash flow And again this beginning this fiscal year. We have a comfortable fund balance Larger than we had in the last couple of years Um Will we need to take out a tan? We'll have to see it depends on how our tax monies come in Um, I am not uh, I can't predict that I can tell you that almost all of our delinquent taxes Have come in. I mean, I I think there's a good Chance that we're going to see our taxes come in Fairly well but again I just don't so in other words since we've had this um fund balance reserve, I guess I consider like a savings account That we can borrow from and then Things like this grant we get paid back for Correct, right So what what it looks like right now is the highway is in the negative In terms of expenditures versus revenue So the fund balance then covers that Once revenues come in as reimbursement that the highway then goes back to a positive number And our fund balance is released essentially from that obligation It just was that was a very large order $140,000 right now Very large. So uh, we're lucky. We've we've got the money and toby It is sounds like we're going to get reimbursement within a month and and we should be fine Okay, great any further, you know, we'll we'll do whatever it takes to make it work Yeah, but it was that that was a lot for for august Yeah, I was shocked. I was pretty I was like, whoa All right So let's talk about um I'm sorry did somebody oh cliff Cliff you're on mute.  Yeah It wasn't wasn't letting me unmute We need to circle back around to approving the renewal of the nimret contract before we move on Oh, you're right. Yep So, um We have the nimret contract which I forwarded to everybody Now that we've talked about it and understand it better is everybody okay with re uh Reupping the contract for the next year Yep Okay, would somebody like to make a motion I moved to renew the nimret contract for the audit The monthly audit right monthly audit. Yep, and it needs one and it needs one signature So I'll add to that that uh, I'd authorize the select board chair You sign on behalf of the select board Okay All right, any further discussion All right, let's vote cliff Hi John Hi Rose Hi Sharon Hi And I'm an eye. All right. Very good I'll stand or I'll put this signed Contract in the folder Will that work? Yes, okay I'll let Cynthia know that it has been signed And so by the time the folder gets back to the office she will And and we get it back to her as she will already have been advised Very good. Thank you Okay And be I think we did it before you came back on sander We approved the payment of the FEMA expenses. Okay, good. It's in the minutes All right Would you like I'll tell you very quickly we are will be applying for 30 $3,478 And I think all of them are expenses that are going to fly we had the garage cleaning we had Cleaning expenses and the third pardon me cleaning supplies And a thermometer and I believe they all fall within And those defined Reimbursable expenses And they were all expended before June 30th. So I think we're good. We're just over that We're just over the threshold of $3,300.  We will at this point yet That's the state at Between FEMA and the state we will be reimbursed. Uh-oh, Sandra's froze. No, I'm here. Okay You were froze for a second, but now we can't hear you Uh, can you hear we'll be reimbursed 100 percent? Perfect. That's great Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Okay Okay, um Options for payment of taxes Um right now The town office would like to Have the authority or the ability to Refuse to accept large amounts of cash for payment of taxes because It is a challenge when somebody comes in with thousands of dollars worth of Paper money they have to count it sometimes they have to recount it the person there. Um It has to be there for the whole time that they're counting it um Then once it goes from The town office staff and then Sandra gets it. She has to recount it again So there's a lot of opportunity for the transmission of germs Not that that's why that's why I'm advocating for payment, uh, but Through the use of hay bales because outside If they're round bales, you can get a lot of value in a single bale. They're easier to account Yes, highly marketable And worth a lot of money too. Yes I want to pay in chickens Well, I could pay in eggs So anyways, um, I'd like us to be able to support the office staff In directing them to per jim's advice He gave a he gave us a brief Email of his opinion on this and he said that we can Opt to not accept cash Um miss Barbara There's also the security measure that we're working alone At the town office. There's not a second person there And we're in a remote location So it's a little scary to the thought of sitting there counting three and four thousand dollars out at a time And then having that in the office And Sandra also getting it transferred from us to Sandra It's it's it's quite it's quite cumbersome even under the best of Circumstances, right? Yes, I would like to follow up with that. Um We we are not in a secure space and oftentimes, uh Folks come in they don't have exact change It's a lengthy transaction Uh to be sure And in addition to what I feel is a security risk to your employees and elected officials there is also the Segment of time that I am required to carry that cash in a bulging bag And drive a half an hour down the road with very little cell service get out of my car walk to a bank Stand in line with other people at the bank until I am attended to So I dread those days when I have to Take that money from the town vault to the bank So I I and for the relatively few people who want to pay in cash I don't think it's worth the risk to your Elected staff or your employees To continue to accept it and I would have asked for this had I known that you would have the legal authority to set policy that cash for That tax payments could only be made by credit card money order or Charging on the website. I I think it's I think we we deserve Some protection here not only from germs but From the Nairna Wells out there. It's a lot to handle thousands of dollars And be alone with it So in Jim's advice to us and I'm not Looking at zoom right now because I'm looking at the email that That Jim sent so I apologize if I interrupted anybody um Requiring payment by checker credit card could reduce the risk significantly in other words for having to cash on hand Having a large amount of cash on hand at a remote town office arguably creates a safety risk for town office employees additionally We are presently operating in a declared state of emergency under 20 vsa 16 Towns are authorized to make rules as maybe necessary um And carrying out the provisions of this chapter but not inconsistent with any orders rules or regulations Under the acting under this additional authority this let board could adopt a policy A rule requiring payment of taxes by checker credit card um As such payments potentially reduce the amount of in-person time necessary to make transactions That's reducing the health risk to employees So in his review of the statutes and the current Um authority that we have because of the COVID-19 stuff It is in his opinion the town can say no cash and require payment Of taxes by checker credit card So that was I was reading right from Jim's email Denise I know we had a um A note from a taxpayer about this issue. Yeah And I don't recall and I'm so I'm raising the question Did it come from a place of insisting that we Take cash because I'm putting words in somebody's mouth here But because this is Vermont and that's what we do and people have a right to cash or was it more from a Do you have the authority to not accept cash? Was it was it a query which we will have resolved with this? Uh opinion from Jim or do are we going to have a messaging issue? Um if this direction I think the email we received was a little bit of both I think that um, it was a query that you know, we've always accepted cash how Do we do you have the authority? To not accept cash, which is legal tender Right and that's prompted and that's why I asked Jim about that because I think that's probably true that it's legal tender, but we have the authority to Take payments in the way that we feel are the best for us under the circumstances And so how many people how frequently does it happen Sandra and Barbara like what just kind of anticipate? I'd say I'd say maybe 20 or 30 people would be impacted And that's it. I'm so what I'm surprised it's that many It well They you know, they'll pay in cash. Uh, they might bring a hundred dollars a hundred dollars a hundred dollars And then they pay it twice, but I'd say no more than 30 maybe 20 It's not that many, but it's a lot of cash It's a lot of cash because You're talking if it were a couple of hundred dollars, maybe I wouldn't Have my eye back my eyebrows and my hairline so much, but there are thousands People bring thousands of dollars in 20 dollar bills And last year the three of us were in the office when the nicest woman a very sweet wonderful taxpayer came in And she said here I don't know how much is there. Well, that's a problem for me because my first question always is what are you giving me? So not only did she not know what was there, but she assured me her husband said it was enough Well We began to count it and it wasn't enough There wasn't enough money there and she very brightly says oh, that's all right. I'm going to go to the car and I'll get I'll get some more and turned around And walked out the door with piles of cash sitting in front of me and three people lined up in the office I mean it's actually it's if it weren't At security risk it would be charming. Do you know what I mean? Well, that's I think that's the um You know that the trust they trusted you folks in the office They don't think about you know, they don't think about the other pieces of it Is it you know, it's their innocence really? It is It is but as for us in the office When there were three of us, of course, there's always some feeling of more safety in numbers, but at this point it's either Barbara alone or Judy alone And I think that really heightens A this the security issues here and also it's uncomfortable for them. It would be uncomfortable for me To be in the office alone with cash and last year I was in on a Saturday counting cash tax cash for a deposit And and a and a very irate man knocked on the door looking for directions and wanting to come in and use the phone While I had cash laid out on the counter It was Very uncomfortable thinking that he He was upset with something not with me But it it was not a position that I would want to ever be in again And I really don't think I really think Barbara and Judy should not be placed in this position either And as I said the transportation of this Of these thousands of dollars is stressful And I've read it. Yeah So Board members would you Wanted we could just Have a statement in the minutes Saying that we would um be supportive of Not however we want to say it but supportive of the office staff not collecting or having to collect taxes in cash or There could be a very short policy, but don't forget tax bills have gone out So people are going to start paying John um Sandra That anecdote that case in point you provided us. Thank you. Um, is that an elderly woman? No it No Okay, and in fact she is a business owner in Montpelier, I don't want to give too much identifying information I was going to offer that if there's if we have elderly residents who have difficulty getting to town and they got cash That if you put them in touch with me, I could drive them To my credit union. I could get them a cashiers check made out to the town with a note saying this is from you know Ella Fitzgerald and um, did she still live in town and Then I could drive her back to the the office and we could Finish it up. So I I think I'm just concerned some people may not have The capacity for whatever reason To do what is very simple for us to do. So I'm willing to be available to do that This is John. Yeah, I would be The vote that it's no cash will be accepted Right. I mean, I think the office staff Maybe on a case-by-case basis If they know the situation, you know, maybe they would be willing to accept the cash But for overall purposes, I think it would be acceptable to say no cash I think And Barbara Yeah, Barbara wants to have her hand up They can get a money order at the post office. They can go To the maple corner or the east callus post office and get a money order That's true I had I had to get a money order not that long ago And they would only do up to $500. So you'd have to make several trips For a money order, but that's that could be the way it is cliff I checked it today the post office's policy is now you can get them up to $1,000 and the price is $1.75 for any amount between $500 and $1,000 Also, many banks are offering to Waving their policy of charging for a cashier's check and Some accounts are already set up where you get that service for free Other banks are waving it as a courtesy under the current circumstances. So there are options out there Yeah, yeah, I think everybody's becoming a little more flexible and During this time Sharon I like where I like the question and appreciate the question and the offer John I I would be really excited if we could frame our No caught no cash as We are not accepting cash payment at the town office if you But we understand that cash is the way that people some people like to pay So please contact contact us to work out an accommodation So that we're not saying no we are Creating an offer, you know, we're just oh We're saying yes under our Terms but without laying all that and say we will accommodate you if cash is your preference Please contact, you know, I don't know somebody Um to make an arrangement and so and so the arrangement is join the meeting You know something that works Where cash isn't showing up? For sander and barbara and judia deal with I want I would want to make it clear that we are not going to expect The office staff to drive people to a bank or Some place to get the cashiers check right, but I heard john offering to right. No I'm just I'm just want to make it clear so that they don't get put in the position of having to do that additional agree I'm I'm uncomfortable having to negotiate this over the phone individually on a case-by-case Um, I'm not saying you it doesn't have to be you barbara. It can be it can be somebody else I mean, it's a to me. It's a front porch forum communication with you could say contact, you know, denise the chair and If that's okay with denise and yeah, we'll we'll deal with it barbara. Why um, I think the front porch forum posting We're going to have to be very careful how we word it because that's what started this whole discussion Right, but that's going to go better than if we don't and we just leave it to these guys to communicate Sandra so My feeling on this is that the french port front porch forum posting goes out with Tax payments will be accepted by check money order credit card through the website um, and then and We don't have to say no cash accepted Um, but I mean really we are saying no cash is going to be accepted. That's your policy So Do you want to say that the policy of the of the select board is to not have cash taken by the town office? However you can contact denise as it were to make an arrangement To get I don't know. How would you say that? Um, I'm just trying to figure out how you would say that Because if we start to make exceptions here and exceptions there and somebody wants to just bring in $100 and somebody else wants to well It's just $950 and somebody else's but you know, it's only $2,500 We begin to I think uh treating everyone The same is really important so that everyone has the same expectation of what services they can expect from the office John and John and then Sharon Sharon first then John I think that The number 30 surprised me. That's that's like a lot of people that I would rather communicate With in a way that supports them Um, I think I don't know them at all. You guys know them I imagine a good chunk of them won't bother to take us up on it And we'll be able to whittle it down gently over Maybe even just one year where this is how it's going to work. John's going to come to your house John's going to you know John's going to do this it's an accommodation that I I think for for Because we're so out we're laid out of the gates We've already had a communication that Denise really had to manage If we're able to do something that If we're able to offer an accommodation and maybe Denise the communication just says If you if you need an accommodation because you were planning on cash, please call the select board. Yeah Yeah, that is a great sentence. Yeah Did you did you capture that sentence Katie? Oh, we're oh, okay. Yeah, she got it And that that's what I was more or less thinking. Thank you Sharon um I can be it on this soapbox every six months I really worry for the people the people who struggle in our town And I don't see any of them on the screen Um, including myself. I worry for them And I think it's easy to be All for all of us to be somewhat dismissive I don't know what any persons particular circumstances are there are people who are legally blind can't drive And have other family issues and I don't know what might crop up and you know, we do this We have meals on wheels For people who can't get out of their homes We have all sorts of accommodations and if people are willing to offer up for the literally the handful the five I think that's something we should do and I think given the the cost of taxes in this town They're huge And um, I think it's the least we can do as as towns people to help help them out So I I have no problem and I thank you Sharon um and helping out those issue All right before we go on who could whoever's on the phone at<PHONE_NUMBER>, please identify yourself so we have you for the minutes Oh, I don't know if you can hear me. Steve Whitaker Okay, that's so that's you Steve the 505 8274 number It is yep. Okay. Thank you very much Okay, any other comments or thoughts on this? So Sharon did you want to make that a motion? uh I will how are we I think we should get really crisp on how and from whom a note is going on to front porch forum Right. I'm trying to figure out who um I can post something on front porch forum. I guess if this if the calls are going to come to me, I would like to run it by The rest of the board if I can get you to Look at it before I post it. I would appreciate that Yep, I think some some wordsmithing so we've all brought into the message so Because we might all have to defend it right Yes, I make the motion that we adopt an approach That is no cash accepted. No, no, no tax payments accepted in cash at the town offices However, we acknowledge that people some people like to pay in cash and we will Communicate figure out a way to communicate if that is your preference in what you were expecting, please we will We will make an accommodation. We will work with you to accommodate you. Please contact Denise wheeler select board chair So I guess I'm a little I'm thinking we maybe don't want to be as generous with that wording I think we might want to if we could say it somehow that we understand or Something we don't want to just like offer To go to the bank all the time for people. Is there a way to word it such that? If there's a hardship And you need help you need an accommodation And have to pay in cash something So it doesn't just leave the whole door open Because we don't want to be taking 20 or 30 people to the bank, right? If you have difficulty of paying in other than cash Denise wheeler and we will see what you can work out to accommodate you and that's what I would do I would say hop in the car Get your maximally and we'll go down by credit units free for cashier's check and we'll set it up I really don't think people very many people will take us up on it, but I I think that the value of Offering it is huge So could we say first off though that you know as you're paying your we would we Denise we're getting into messaging. Let me dial back my motion Okay, so I make the motion that that our 2020 approach be that we won't accept cash payments for taxes in the town offices and But we understand and acknowledge that some people might be relying on cash or actually need to do cash So we're going to figure something out for those people Okay, I'll second that All right, so it takes the it takes it off of the office staff. That was my main goal Yes All right, Sandra I did want to post tomorrow and advise the town's people That the bills are in the mail. They went to the post office this morning So they are expecting them and if they don't receive one, of course They would want to circle back to the office and get a duplicate or whatever they need to get their bill um So um, I I would like to do that posting. I don't have to talk about this issue You well work Smith it between yourselves But I think it's important that folks know their tax bills are in root Yeah, and um, and I just want to make sure that you as a group were okay with that communication Yeah, if we're just saying the tax bills are in the mail If there's a problem or a question they should contact They should contact you Well, it would be a much along the lines of earlier of earlier communications, but we're gonna But you need and we'll leave out how we will accept payment You will follow up with another post that will Indicate that as a select board policy payments are to be made by cash By credit card check or money order Unless an accommodation needs to be made right a special a special kind of accommodation So I'll I'll leave that it up to you folks and then uh, they also should be aware Of the due dates so I would include that in my communication as well Which this year is september 16th and november 16th Yeah, so I think we need to go back to the motion and I seconded it Sharon's raising our hands. I don't that means you want to change it, but we should probably vote on it I did not say policy. I said an approach And I and that's what I meant. I I would want to revisit this Next year if If we're in different times Well, we can say for this tax year on this tax season or something I would I would be more comfortable with approach Right, but do we want to define how long the approach is for That's what I said. I said for 2020 katie, right? Oh, okay. All right. I didn't hear that. I'm sorry. Yep approach for 2020 Okay, rose has got her thumb up Did you want to say something rose? Yeah, I had a question. Um, Does this only pertain to tax payments or are there other things that people would come into The town office and pay with cash like licensing a dog or Getting some other kind of license or something Sandra barber, can you answer that? at at this point I The town clerk is not accepting cash As far as I know and I'll let barbers speak to that but the policy is no cash in the office People sometimes Drop because the town will right now the town office is closed So the public can't really Come in but They drop cash in the drop box and if they drop it in there and then we get it the next day We have to take it. We're not going to chase them down to return their nine dollars in cash for a dog license Um, and I've even gotten cash in the mail So Cash does come in even with the town office closed Wow, people are still mailing cash. That's unbelievable That is unbelievable. Holy moly I thought that went out the window decades ago But but I really appreciate rose asking that question and bringing it up because perhaps this same posting denise could refer to tax payments and other Business transactions or licenses. Yeah These are fees or licenses Okay, we'll work on it. So I'll I'll work on something tomorrow and get it around to the board to look at Isn't right. These are licenses judy's purview Fees and licenses are in judy's purview. Yes And I believe she's not to Barbara. It's my understanding that she's not taking cash I think let's just stay focused on the on the on the property tax Payments, I mean I hear that you're getting cash occasionally and We might be We don't want to open up pandora's box. Thank you the words. Yes. Thank you All right. Are you ready to vote? Um, where did cliff go? Cliff i'm here. Okay. I I you moved I was going to do voting and you used to be in the left or left hand corner. Now you're not All right rose I Sharon I John I cliff Hi Okay, and I'm an eye. All right. Thank you very much. Is there anything else you would like to ask sandra while she's on If not, you can stay sandra or maybe you'd like to eat the rest of the evening off It's up to you. I think I can leave the meeting and your uh, good hands. Thank you. All right. Let's talk So thank you. Thank you. Have a good night. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Alrighty so, um operations manager status you sent you just sent us some stuff about the radar signs, um And I did contact the school and I think I forwarded everybody brian Olkowski, I think I said how you say his name His email and he had a list of questions for us Um Did we put the list of questions in the folder? Oh, yeah, here it is Yeah, he had um five different questions And he's not able to join us tonight because he's taken a couple of days off So he wants a short proposal Of how the cost would be allocated And we had talked about half So, um, I think we would we would say to question number one Half the cost Is that what i'm remembering from everybody when we talked last time? Okay, um The description of the item along with the picture And toby had sent us the um The specs of it with the vendor um Statement of how much it how much it would cost so we can send him that Rationale for the item and why it is needed So I think, you know, if you go back and look at the minutes the rationale and he's brand new But we've had over the years Complaints and significant amount of complaints about the speed on lightning ridge So I don't know if we need to go back and Pull out all the minutes Um, I would think we don't have we shouldn't or we don't need to I think he needs to just Know that it's been a significant amount of complaints over the years period And this is for the safety of the Um folks at the school and most importantly the children So I'm sure there's probably reasons why he's got to have all this but Um, it also include the invoice Um, what we have that because toby gave it to us Yeah, he tells us to the school board and he needs to have a packet To write that, you know, it's like any invoice, you know So I think we have everything that I can put together and just email to him and the um, our representatives and the principal And see and see if we can get them to pay for half of this He wants to know where it will be stored I don't know what I'm not exactly sure what he means toby. Do you have an idea? Where would it be stored? at the garage Beside the road Going to be on the road all the time Even in the winter Sure Yeah, he's feeding the winter. Okay. Well, this is them. Don't forget. This is the one that it's movable right It still stands on a signpost right Okay, is this something that we can delegate this response packaging the response Can we delegate that to toby as operations manager? That would be fine with me I love that idea. Toby is not saying anything so He's getting his prose Toby are you still there Toby Well, I can get with Toby after the meeting. I'm still here. Oh, okay We'd like to delegate this response to brian Old kowski to you Okay Yeah, thank you. Toby. Thank you This I'm looking for ways to take stuff off Denise's plate and near the Near the brain on this one Okay, so other than that, I didn't have anything else under Operations because I didn't know what else you might have. Toby This operations is normal Okay, very good Does the board have any questions? Oh cliff I had a question for Toby Toby, did were you able to talk to sea coast about temporarily disabling the alarm system for the Voting tomorrow at the town hall I talked to them remember I talked to them Did we get a response because I didn't see anything I think I sent an email after I talked to the the vermont rep the day it was going off and making barbara and Judy crazy and they said for Security safety reasons and insurance reasons. They cannot disable it And that's when he gave me the directions about the button to push That will disable it for 24 hours Okay, yeah, so if it goes off you just have to hit the silence alarm, but right it was off for 24 hours That's right Sharon Thank you I have a different topic, but I want to bring it up before It just to report out just information for everybody. I want to do it before Toby and Where's Alfred there he is before the two of them leave so just let me know Okay, you want to do it now? Yeah, so yeah, so rose and I Followed up and reached out to the handful of folks that we identified it Must have been two meetings ago to talk about tree health and um I I heard of interest from several people, but Only was able to actually rose and I were only able to talk the only person who could come at at The time that we that we had all most of us could do was was Stephanie. So We met with Stephanie um and raised the Brought forward the concern that I heard And brought to the board and So one thing that that came out of that is Stephanie wasn't aware that we had shifted or that we had switched our road standards to the state standards So that was a disconnect certainly probably the the On the part of the board and also but on Toby and Alfred, you know We made a we made a switch that was really a big deal for people who would work on the roads committee a few years ago So that was something that we that we had to process in our conversation with Stephanie But that led us to something that actually when I was reading the minutes from the last meeting that I didn't attend you guys talked about looking at the road standards and I think it was from that meeting and actually We had the the difference between the callus standards and The state standards and coincidentally that is exactly where Stephanie went and she volunteered to do that analysis And bring it back to us Um, so I thought that's great Yay, um Well, I think if you look at the minutes when you adopted the state, um standard John also allowed that the callus standards that were in place were an addendum to the state standards So there's in place as far as we understand Right, but what is the difference is the question and I don't know I don't know the answer and I didn't see the answer to that in the minutes from February that also coincidentally was a meeting I wasn't at So and I so I don't know how much discussion there was it isn't in the minutes Um But That being that being said I didn't see it on the record anymore. Okay, here's you know What I what I would look look for and expect seven Stephanie with her commitment and the energy to bring back is okay Here's what we've lost um And and have that discussion and awareness as a board because Anyway, so that was I'm just I'm bringing this information back to the board and then I want to pull it go ahead John I'm gonna pull up my notes and Okay, and I wanted to mention something too, but go ahead John. Just as a point of clarification. Toby is correct That we adopted the state standards um, but in that uh motion, uh, we also Maintained the town standards We're not in conflict with the state standard where they all Where they might augment the state standards and not uh be operating conflict the state standards that those those Parts of the town standards would would be maintained Yeah, that was clear in the minutes and we did rose pull them up and we shared that with stepping that was really Yeah, because I want to make sure Stephanie knows that that's what we did Right. What we don't know is is where are they in conflict and we've lost something that was kind of the question And that's what she's gonna do Yeah, okay I don't believe that there's any conflict it just and again just understand that we're now under the municipal road permit That has set standards that we need to meet every year And for the most part they were already things that the town of callous is um Road standards had already met And if I remember right the callous road standards were applauded Because they were more stringent And more thoughtful than what the state had originally done in their standards And they were they were used quite I know that the v-trans folks pass those around to quite a few different towns When we adopted them, but I'm glad that Stephanie's taking a look and in that same regard I had a note about contacting The cvrpc and the state with regard to some kind of um An inventory about tree health and trees and The point john brought up about how that chloride in the summer can affect the trees So anyways, I reached out to cvrpc. They don't have any Buddy there currently and they don't have any grants For something like this. I reached out to joanne garden if you remember She's the one that did the ash tree inventory. She's really very good. She's on vacation So when I get an answer from joanne, I'll provide a further update I think one of the things Actually, let I I'll rose you talk can I I I just had a quick question. Um, I looked and couldn't find in my records or on the website the report about the resilient, um Rural roads. Yeah, rural roads. Do it's I think it's there somewhere. If not, we can re we can repost it Okay, yeah, do you know was it in 2019? or 2018 I think rose Yeah, okay because I was looking around for it and I couldn't seem to find it Yeah, that was a really helpful report that joanne did yeah I think it would be really it would be helpful for us If it's true that we haven't lost anything and I'm I'm I think it will be will be great And it will be really good for stephanie if she confirms we haven't lost anything Yeah, and that's why she's the perfect person to do it. Yeah, no, she cares deeply deeply. Yeah If it's true, we haven't lost anything then we should hang on To our narrative that we have our own standards because we we've lost that as we talk about it We say state standards and that's what you know what I said and stephanie was like, uh So it's really important that for all the reasons you just said to me so that that we've been applauded for our standards Yeah, if we haven't lost anything Then that's the narrative is we have our own standards and that's what sets our bar But maybe I'm asking this as a question The municipal roads general permit The standards that go with that is that by statute? Is that a v-trans procedure and policy? What what is that? It's I assume it's something from the state trans policy. Yeah, it's a what? V-trans policies they adopt together with a and r okay, so it's not by it's not like it's a law Well, it's born out of law that they they have they're delegated the authority from statute Because I know, you know, we get charged a fee every year for this municipal roads general permit stuff so my my bet Uh, they do not go through rulemaking. Oh, I know they don't they just adopt a memo the standards by memo um So it's not an mo you then it's just a memo. Well, they might have an mo you're separate and aside, but there was The first time there was a memo signed by david mires then commissioner mires de c and whoever sue minter or somebody from Aot and then they said attached r and these are and that's when we pushed back on that Says who says you um And they held us There's an added 10 benefit if you adopt these standards That's how it used to be. I don't know if that's still the the case, but Rather than 80 reimbursement for our road projects or certain projects bridges and stuff Uh, we get 90 percent by adopting these these augmented uh Standards road standards that are designed to to mitigate and minimize runoff of storm water sediment laden storm water into our streams and trips. So um we we by Way of background we we built our own standards and went through a process that we initiated with the attorney at aot and And they did agree that our standards met or exceeded Their their standards Yeah So we were able to adopt them Now I don't know what these new state standards say. Well, I remember I'm sorry John I remember the the trans had to approve our standards remember Right, so so so that I guess I'm actually going to take that down as another question of Do they do they recognize that we still have our standards? I I'm going to ask that we that we all keep in mind that we still have we have our standards We can't Narrative or we will forget that fact Well, we never we never said we're going to throw away those standards. I'm assuming we still have them Right, but but we have I heard I have heard that Said I've heard it from you know, it doesn't need to be pounded home But I heard it said from people in this room. We don't have our own standards anymore We can't say that we have to say we do have our standards. Oh my goodness. We got great standards And we got the state standards. So whoo Anyway, I wanted to just let everybody know we had that conversation And I want to say again out loud that I think that I'm going to that when we are doing things like those road standards Um, we need to involve the folks who have worked so hard on the roads and make sure that we keep always that tie to our rural environment our environmental stewardship Um As part of our road conversations. Yeah, I think that Yeah All right. Are we ready to move on? Um, Alfred, can you give us a status of roadside mowing please? Uh roadside mowing is all done Uh, we've done we did the four roads that were in question or was halt was in hold What not they're all done I have switched the the mower head to the flail mower So we are ready to go around again and hit some of the spots where brush is hanging out in the road um Turns out we don't need to buy a set of teeth for the flail mower Um, because the other mower the other unit that was there had decent teeth in it Uh, did have to change two or three very large hydraulic hoses Um, but that is done and all set So we sort of escaped the bullet on the teeth, but we're we're ready to go now So that's where we are with the roadside mowing that I lose you or Nobody's saying nothing. Hello We're all saying nothing I tried to get Peter's audio back for him Like it's still pretty broken up Am I coming through now? Sorry, I couldn't I couldn't get my thing unmuted Thank you. I'll say is there any comments or questions from the board about the mowing? Peter sounds like he's broadcasting from the inside of a washing machine. Yeah, Peter. Could you type out your question? A comment It's impossible to hear you All right Okay, so while Peter's typing out his question I already updated you about the inventory piece That hopefully Joanne will get back to me when she gets back from vacation Because I think that ties in with the road standards Um, okay Alfred did we get the wood chipper? I haven't heard a thing about the wood chipper. I don't know where that stands Um, last I knew that money was available because the right the loan went through Yep, but that's that's all I know. I haven't heard of anything if it's ordered if it's on its way I don't know who's who's heading that up. I don't even know that As far as I know it was ordered because standard got the bank loan Okay, but who's communicating with the dealer John or is that is that happening? So, so maybe there's a gap here. Sorry, Alfred. Um, my understanding was Sandra was gonna Send them a $500 deposit Then pursue the loan Then send them the check for the loan Uh, once she gets the loan for the balance and shipping was included and then The Andrew was gonna tell them to reach out to you to arrange For a shipping date and a drop-off date and all that So so that's between you and Andrew. You should probably reach out to her if she hasn't gotten back to you Okay, okay, I mean I just that's the first I'd heard of it But maybe the email is on its way or a phone call or I don't know Maybe they're waiting till they get the check to cut to reach out to me. I don't know I just haven't hadn't heard anything I don't know. Sandra sent the check so you should probably reach out to Sandra and find out what read the status of that Yeah, I can't find the email right now, but I recall Sandra sending an email saying That the deposit had been sent. She got the loan from the bank So Alfred, I think some initiative on your part to reach out to Sandra and the vendor And find out what's going on I'll get right on it. Okay. Very good All right, anything else Alfred or Toby? Just an update on the George Road. The culvert is all put together and set into place And I believe today they're starting to backfill And who's doing that work? That is Blue Mountain trucking and excavating Okay Yeah, that's the George Road culvert that you asked about money Going out tonight Okay, so Peter's got his question. Thank you for watching the You are going to vertical mow the roadside brush on the four roads Around bliss pond. Can you do these roads first so as to not bring in any wild chervil seeds? So that's Peter's question Alfred I can do it in any order you want me to Absolutely He asked he talked to me on the roadside there about that and I yeah, I don't have a problem where we start Okay All right, anything else anything else from the board? John? Did you have anything you wanted to ask? Yeah to Alfred There was some ditching work done on was that number 10 pond road? Nope wasn't ditching there was a Wash out where the road was washing out and kind of caving in so I We went over and put some riprap on the edge of the bank To support the road right Um, and so that's what that was about Did you get a complaint or I got a complaint? That The crew had dug it was digging ditch and then threw the spoils over the bank Along the lake. I had a feeling it might be something other than that Yeah, absolutely not true at all. It was I know you guys are very careful about sediment in the lake So the representation was that Whatever crew members worked on digging a ditch On the other on the far side of the road that not the lakeside but the side opposite The lakeside that there was a ditch being installed And the diversion to keep the water from going in the lake Which was but I'm good, but then the spoils from the ditch digging was then Put over the other side of the bank and that was not There was also not even close not even close. There was no ditch made On the opposite side. It was there was we dumped a load of stone Riprap in the road and then placed it down over the bank to support the road So there was a representation that sediment was going in the in the lake as a result of your placing material But it sounds like you placed material because the road was washing out to stabilize it, correct? That's right. Absolutely. Okay Good. I'm glad we asked Sharon Can we Denise would you mind going back to Peter's note? I just don't understand it. Thank you for washing I think he's talking about washing the mower Because remember we said to pressure wash the The mower and the attachments before doing any mowing on Old west church and those other roads that we talked about. I can't remember all the names now Was it fowler? Maybe or Okay, we had we had asked that the that the road crew pressure wash it before They mowed so as not to take any seeds from other invasive species over there And I think that that's what peter is saying. Thank you for that Is that a best peter? Maybe you can just quickly type in is that a best practice known to work or is that just something we're trying? That was what what the select board. I actually requested be done right and that is the best practice You're supposed to watch here like you wash your boat To prevent mill foil from being transferred from one lake to another Right. Um, you're you should be washing your equipment your mowing equipment between infected or In infested infested areas that have have invasive in them and before you go to another one Okay All right, anything else for alford or toby? Are you ready to move on? I I have something for you guys. Oh, wait a minute rose has a question I found the email from sandra about the proceeds for the wood chipper And I sent it to everybody including alfred Okay, thanks rose Okay, alfred you had one more thing Yeah, I'm just wondering it's august of another year And I've not been appointed yet. I'm just wondering when that might happen or if it's going to We are currently reviewing Positions So okay, should I be worried because I am Well, I'm sorry. I mean this this whole And bridge brings me to another question is that the whole negotiations with the union I am been completely in the dark about And I'm just wondering if I could be somewhat up the dated with that Well, those are I think both discussions would be something we would want to do an executive session And okay, and not in a public meeting um You know negotiations are ongoing.  I think you kind of fell out of the Fell off the saddle there. So, um That doesn't mean that I can't be back on the saddle. I don't think but maybe I'm wrong No, I didn't say that I am very much back here very much involved in in Managing the road crew. Yep Well, I don't like I said, I think anything about negotiations is considered confidential So we can't do that here and now Okay, so can we can you put me on an agenda for an executive session soon? Yes Okay Very good. Okay Yep, that should do. All right. Thank you so much. What is that? What are those bell things that I keep hearing? That's my cell phone going off. I just silented it Okay, it's a pretty sound it's real it's relaxing beneath Yes, it is. It sounds like wind chimes. It's very nice. Yes. Yes. Yeah You had your hand up. Did you have a question who did cliff had his hand up? Oh, I'm sorry cliff Yeah, um, I don't feel just wanted to give you a heads up. I don't know if it will be an issue or not um the other day I was making a Checkdown past the town hall and uh The dust was pretty high on the road and the crew came along shortly thereafter and treated it because on my return trip It wasn't dusty anymore but Makes me wonder if this could be an issue when it gets around to actually when our contractor gets around to actually painting The town hall You want to make efforts to make sure that there is no dust getting kicked up and mixed into the wet paint Is it before it dries? Yeah, good point. So all kind of monitor His progress and give you a heads up When he's painting those sides that are closest to the road where it could be an issue Okay, sounds good. Oh, and I have one more thing. I'm sorry Good point cliff. We don't want paint to get dirt in it Um, there the barrels The barrels at Curtis pond that keep getting stolen. Why somebody wants to steal one of those barrels. I don't know um, there was a couple of suggestions one was boulders And you know, absolutely not cannot use boulders. Sorry to interrupt, but I we can't put boulders. It's a it's a safety issue That was my question because I was concerned about the boulders like In my limited knowledge when it came time for plowing or whatever But what about barrels filled with sand? Nope again illegal can't do it. Why is that? Because if a car leaves our travel portion of the road and hits a barrel of sand and that barrel of sand comes through the windshield It is it is our liability. Those barrels are are Are made for safety If they if somebody runs into the barrel, it's just going to fly away. It's not going to come into the windshield So we can't we can't put a solid structure in the right away purposely Okay, I wasn't aware of that. I wasn't aware of that information down Yep, yep, I can put more barrels I can put more barrels there to get us through, you know the next two or three weeks of of seasonable weather Uh, I meant to get there today, but I just had a lot going on monday's busy for me. Yeah monday's are busy for everybody Um, so I will put cones up tomorrow more or more barrels up tomorrow and maybe that'll alleviate the problem How much do those barrels cost? Uh, they were some barrels that we got on a grant project years ago. Um, they're probably like 50 or 60 bucks a piece Sounds like a recall sounds like they're disappearing quickly We've I put three there. We're down to one. We've only lost two. Oh, okay. I'll all summer long Okay, so yeah, it's not it's not as drastic as it sounds Okay, um, so I'll put a couple more up and like I said, it's we've only got a short couple more weeks probably of this weather Swimming weather and it's going to change. So I think you know, that's probably our best solution Do those barrels say property of the town of callus or anything on them because that might deter people from stealing them All right, usually we we write on it with a magic marker. Yeah, uh, just said, you know, just says town of callous So I can make sure that they are written on and that might help. Yeah Okay, Sharon's you wanted to say something Sharon? Um, yeah, but finish this and come back to me. Oh, okay Um, okay I just wanted to double check because I didn't have a chance to put it on the agenda, but I wanted to just ask All right, thank you. Yeah, I don't think it I don't I'm sorry. Go ahead, Alfred Yeah, I just don't think it needs a You know an action by the select board. I'll just put some more barrels up And that'll take care of it. Yeah, I was just curious if we could put Sand filled barrels or boulders and it sounds like for The reasons you stated we can't do that. So so Sharon had a Sharon had her hand up and cliff cliff is yours related to barrels No, I just wanted to point out that Peter has sent another text to everyone. So we want to get that on the record So Peter says he can't type fast enough Joanne Gartens was callous resilient right of way action plan was approved last summer And was approved last summer recommends washing the machinery Right, and that's what I wanted to make sure we get on the record So I think the implication of Peter's no is it's a and John said this too. It's the best practice that You know, we should keep in mind it goes back to what the conversation earlier How do we integrate our road maintenance with environmental stewardship? This would be a best practice if there were a way to do it town-wide right Okay, so Sharon, did you want to say something else or was that it that was it? Oh, okay All right. Are we ready to move on? We have David Healy waiting to give us an update Okay, if you're done with me, I'll I'll sign out Yeah, you're welcome to stay if you want to hear about H966 but other than that have a good night All right. Okay. Very good Is that David or David Healy? Looks like he hasn't had a haircut in a while Get your mandolin I'm gonna wait till November I was gonna say some more but I won't all right, so Denise wanted me to talk tonight about Some material that I sent her and I do not believe whether she sent it to everybody or not Yes, I did. So under under H966 the state's I'm gonna spend between 11 and 17 million dollars on short term broadband initiatives under their connectivity now program and one of the features in h966 was that the communication union districts could review any proposals that came in And they're doing these in three Theories this is the first series that we got a week ago monday a week ago today And in it was a one of the proposals came from a company called RTO, which I am Sorry to tell you I can't remember what they stand for but it's not that important They are proposing to put a Durageable balloon someplace near kent's corner Um 2000 feet on a tether That's rewindable in a storm How that happens? I'm not sure So this balloon would be able to serve or provide potential broadband service to 489 people in callus Um the They didn't so you know the communication union district has an authority to review Any proposals that came in We do not have any veto power over them But I thought I'd reach out to denise and the board to see whether You know the board had an opinion on this or not um I do know that You know the speed Oh, they said the speed could be up to 50 megabits per second, which is quite high The problem with the balloon from a technology standpoint is it floats The wind does blow it so it gets off course. I can't get off course So you might lose intermittent And then any wind storm and I don't know what the maximum wind is where they have to wind it down So in a storm where you want your internet, this thing is not available so for that reason and The other reason is that I know that um cloud alliance has also put in a proposal that we haven't seen yet to upgrade its um fixed wireless Propagation to stronger technology That we'll probably see today or tomorrow um So haven't Learned that the town of callous had no idea this proposal was coming I find that a you know second reason to be not very supportive of this project But I thought I'd let the select board You know discuss it or have an opinion on it. I'll try to answer any questions you have um The limited knowledge I have is the department of public service sent me a list of the 489 addresses that this Balloon would would serve I made a map of that and that's what I sent to tenice Yeah, and I sent that around and it should be in the folder if you think we need to call it up But um the one the project that you told me about was some kind of this giant balloon flying over Or something Yeah, I sent the the length to the company itself which has a photo of the balloon Oh, I didn't look I don't know the exact dimensions of this balloon. It's actually looks like a durageable It's not really a round balloon. It sort of looks like a durageable um And it sits at 2,000 feet above the ground on a tether and um tethered to what? To the ground to this winch that brings it back in when it when it's um When it's windy And the reason I mean if you look at the photo, I mean of the image Of the service area you can tell that the center was in kent's corner And I think the other reason it's in kent's corner is because there is fiber You know consolidated and Comcast has fiber lines right to kent's corner So they'll be tying into The fiber line that's there I never got any of that information So it sounds like this is kind of In the back door a little bit How they're doing this I mean How are our town folks like you are representative? Supposed to React to these things. What do they want to know? It's it's a good question that now the the CV fiber created a committee to review all the proposals and we got like five proposals from the first round of applications And one of the criteria I put in there was you know, it was a consistent with community needs and wants Um, we have a lot of others Including doesn't interfere with our plan to develop fiber in the next, you know year Does it you know the need for fiber is pretty large, but is this the solution when there's possibly better solutions?  Why not just put it into What do you mean? Good question Denise this any solution using this money has to be up and running by December 31st of this year So there are very few solutions that can be done that quickly So fixed wireless Like cloud alliance or VTEL offer can be done in six months Um extensions of fiber if we had fiber it could be done in six months, but not very far um So it's sort of like this they're asking for a million dollars to put this one dirgeable up And my sense is that michael bernbaum's proposal, which I haven't seen yet are going to be less than a million dollars Um, and he he his coverage area in callus will increase Maybe not as much as this dirgeable says it can do 489 properties 95 of the time Well, it makes you wonder if it's going to be taken down because it's windy What's going to happen in the winter when we have these snow storms and things like that? Great question. I I am very skeptic of this whole like this whole project But I wanted to make sure I I wanted to make sure the town heard about it Do others have questions or thoughts that we want to send david as our representative? Away with John I mean this is coming out as fast and furious and if it were fiber optic cable, I'd say let's go But these uh folks coming from framingham mass With their million dollar dirgeable plan to serve a town I gotta wonder what the fee is going to be um and and you know the There is an issue with wireless technology Right out there that I have And I know that a number of residents are concerned about the exposure to the wireless signal I don't know what this broadcasts There's a lot of questions and this I just don't like anything rushed through without a lot about the public having input Aside from standard kind of technology like fiber optic cable, which we all know We'd love to have everywhere I did not know it made it all the way to can corner there by the way david I knew it. I thought it came to maple corner. I didn't know when or what it can't Fiber optic that is Yeah, and then now delco running a fiber line to the substation in the next year Is there any kind of public hearing process or do they just I mean what now these these grant decisions are going to be made by the commissioner of public service And she can ignore whatever the communication junior district says But if the town would like to go on the record one way or the other, I'll be happy to put that in Our recommendation to the board to the department I mean right now, I'm you know There's a four person committee doing these things and so far we're saying no If the board wants to say yes, then we can you know modify our decision But if you guys want to weigh in saying we think this is not such a great idea I'll put that in our notes Yeah, I think I guess I would be supportive of that. What do other people think? Rose I had a question about whether or not This would be consistent with the historic district of kent's corner or if it would matter or interfere um and in general it doesn't It doesn't sound like it's the best solution for callous residents But I was wondering also if there was any implications of being in the historic district If maybe if they wrote uh hindenburg on the side, it would be considered 1932 anyone So i'm cliff sharon any thoughts? Um, I heard a thought a second ago that I really agreed with and I and I know it's getting close to pumpkin time I appreciate that david's here and that he understands this so much better than I do Yeah, and thank you for bringing it to our attention david. We had no clue at least I do Yeah, we had we had seven days to reply seven business days to reply to the proposal So tomorrow's the day they have to have a our answer Unbelievable so they really don't want so they really don't want our input Um, they I mean it was only because the house of representatives demanded that The communication union districts have any say at all It was done the administration Not not paying attention to the kind of stuff we're dealing with yeah So cliff had his hand up I don't know why sometimes the spacebar works and other times it doesn't In your eight. Um, yeah, I definitely Echo uh john's comments earlier Agree with that I I would suggest that the board seriously consider Formerly going on record as being opposed to this And asked david to carry that message forward for us Would you like that in the form of a motion david? Oh, I love it I can tell you the town of the town of peachum select board did the same thing they they passed a motion No, I'm opposed to the balloon and peachum Would we be opposed to that or any short term no, we're gonna just I think we should just deal with the callous one myself john Well, we should have bases For our rejection of the proposal One is historic district despite it re resembling the hindenburg um The second is it's it's too short a time frame for us to as a Community beyond the select board to have a to consider this proposal great implications cost Long-term maintenance that you know effectiveness and three we have concerns that it could operate to effectively displace to build out further build out of And financing of our uh communications districts build out a fiber optic cable Which is what our community is on record as supporting So I'd like that to be in our message. Okay. So is that your motion? That this the the callous select board opposes This project for the following reasons and katie can katie's got it in the minutes um, I would second john's motion And that's katie's really fast at typing up the minutes so she should have it um To us tomorrow cliff cliff Eaters added some additional comments. I believe he sent them out to everyone When the state of canada could put an inflated building up because it was the cheapest solution It was a different budget that had to pay for the maintenance of the inflated building Which far exceeded the cost of a more permanent solution Who is going to pay for the workers to put up and take down and maintain it? So perhaps there's an amendment a friendly amendment to john's motion as an additional concern Of hidden costs and who would assume those? I'm sorry. Cliff. Could you say that again? I didn't hear you Perhaps there's a friendly amendment to john's motion Uh additional concern of hidden costs and who would foot the bill Yeah, is that are you making that friendly amendment? Yes Okay, I'll second the friendly amendment John's accepted it Yeah, he put a thumb up Okay, so are you ready to vote? rose I Sharon I Cliff Hi John Hi And I'm an eye And katie if you can just even type up that motion um, you should have David's email address Because I had forwarded stuff to you to put in the folder Thank you a quick question. Yes, I call all of the um The the implications to the proposal The original motion john bribet made a motion for the town of callus Or should it be the select board to formally go on record? Should I say as opposing the balloon project or dirigible thing? Probably dirigible is the right terminology, correct david. It's the rto Uh, dirigible, uh, proposal RTO Okay, are you all set katie at corner area? Yeah And do you have anything else to update us on david while you're here? Well, we should hear this week on our grant application from the northern borderlands regional commission.  I mean We if we get the grant will apply for uh vita loan to start the first um phase one project in january We're high. We got some we got a hundred thousand dollars from the h966 for operational costs Um related to co vid, which is really had to I mean, it's one of those interesting things How do you justify co vid related work when we don't do co vid related work? But so it's supposed to help with telehealth and schools school kids stuff um And we're going to be hiring a temporary project manager to help us move along. Um, I'm starting to get burned out Yeah, I bet you are They I get called on to do a lot because I'm retired. Um And it's getting to be almost too much Some of the stuff is I mean we're we're in negotiations with washington electric co op which is all good But it is a lot of work They're finishing they're finishing their feasibility study right now And I'm hoping it shows that it's feasible because they can get money in 1% eight over 30 years And that certainly makes it a lot more feasible to get it all done at one time They're struggling with whether they want to Provide the service or just run the fiber on their poles and as far as cv fibers concerned, we'll take it either way Because we can't possibly do it anything cheaper than that Unless there's a federal grant which at the moment there's no federal money coming quickly So there's a lot of things happening. It's just not happening, you know, like I want it done yesterday Especially when you think about spending a million dollars on a balloon Right when we could put fiber to everywhere in callus for two and a half million dollars And it may take two years You can't do it by december 31st. So it drives me crazy. Yeah. Anyway, that's that's sort of my update Okay Well, now that you're crazy Is there any other questions for david while he's here cliff? David, do you know if callus is in the uh zone for the uh starlink beta testing So what? We're in the phase one routes Whether we're the first fruit or not It and it depends What is that?  Um, but we have identified 120 miles of of priority routes um You know right now we really need Velco to run the fiber to the maple corner substation Um, and that's probably not going to happen for one year. Anyway Um And so it's probably at least this phase I would say it's a second run not the first run because of that right now We know that we have fiber in more town That we can connect to middle sex and Worcester and then go from Worcester to callus Is what we'd like to do What is this you're talking about? I don't even know what you're talking about The planning for where fiber goes in first that was cliff's question. Oh, okay. Callus first Actually, I was I was asking also about Uh, elan musk's starlink program. Oh the starlink thing That's an interesting. I mean it's a potential, you know game changer, but It's still not a fixed asset. I mean you're you're running around with a wi-fi Connection to a satellite, right, which is probably going to be pretty reliable But you have to buy it Yeah, and he's testing it out right now in in washington state Um the pilot program And you know, it's another one of those options. Who knows It ain't going to be cheap. No, there's nothing. So just for everyone's edification and understanding uh amongst uh Many of the other programs that elan musk is spending lots of money on to hopefully make lots of money with he's flooding the The clarkian belts that surrounds earth where all the satellites live with a bunch of mini satellites with the hopes of being able to provide broadband internet to everybody in the world Oh Yeah, okay He's launched. I don't know a couple thousand already. Yep And who what I keep missing. What is it called eon? What elan musk the guy who owns tesla who started tesla Okay has another program in beta that's called star link Okay, gotcha Yep Okay, is there anything else for david? Are we ready to let him off the hook I just want to say thank you guys. I don't you guys are great. I'm happy that you guys do it Thank you david for your work. We really appreciate it. Have a have a good evening. Thank you. You too. Take care. Bye. Bye. Thanks David Yep, see you. Bye. Bye Thank you all All right Does got want to say something? No, okay Okay, so let's talk about training opportunities Jim came up with a plan um whereby instead of us paying for a session that's just our folks That he said that there's plenty of other towns that have drb's That could use the same type of training that we're talking about Um, and it would only be 20 a person As opposed to however much it would cost for him to do training just for us So I just wanted to run that By and see if we are all in agreement that that makes sense. We can still make it um a required training Would it be did I see in there that it would be recorded? Yes, so that's Awesome. Yep. Yep Okay, I just wanted to get your input. Thank you So I'm going to tell him that yes, we will Take him up on his offer and let us know when those trainings are Okay, sounds like it'll be just one, right? It'll be one that you can go to and Or participate on zoom and it'll be recorded If you miss it Right. It's it's a webinar. So I assume a webinar you just go in and Somehow we want to know that somebody's actually done it. So I don't know if webinars have a thing like where you sign in and Because we want to make we want to make sure that There's actual attendance You want to make sure that they check in Throughout the thing or at least at the end of the thing to make sure they were there, right? Yeah, Denise, I I don't know how many of these Jim does I do a lot remotely for For my legal education credits and there's a practice that I've noticed in the past year or so of At various random points during the session they will read out a code Oh, okay. I'll ask him about that. Yep. So here and there So it's a Intermittent webinar code or something. Yep, like, you know, we'll take we're taking a break And oh just before you go. Here's your here's your one hour in A code job that you're going to need it as evidence that you did the webinar And so spending, you know, one of those every 45 minutes to an hour And then we can audit at least that much to see that they did it. Yeah Okay, great. Thank you I had a question. Yes rose Are we going to make it mandatory for each member of the drb before they continue? Now starting to resume any further drb hearings Like are we going to do it now? That's what we talked about Um, I don't know how soon now is as far as jim being able to pull this together. So we'll have to find that out Okay, but that was the that was the intent Good. Thank you. Yep Um, okay town hall Before we move on to that, can we just keep carrying an agenda item? Um around Once the training is done How do we sustain a focus to ensure that we've actually instill the culture change because I think we have a new drb member that will be very helpful with that Yes Yep Still I would want I would want to um Systematize that somehow so that we're not just assuming That it's that it's happening. Yeah No, we can leave this on as a continuing Item that we want to follow up on Yeah, I mean, I'm going to keep I'm going to mention again. Maybe Katie Katie can capture for the minutes the idea of actually having somebody audit Do the training and then audit against the training and give them feedback just like we do in the town offices Yeah Okay So cliff you're up Okay town hall And then I see Yep, um Grady's moving along in a nice pace Getting the the prep work and let abatement done. He's taking a break tomorrow Because of the primaries it'll be taking place And he'll take half a day off Wednesday As they wrap up the set and then Commence full operation again starting Wednesday afternoon And I sent some pictures to everyone I don't know if everybody got a chance to see those if you didn't get them. I'll send them to you again They were great. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's really nice and you can definitely see it Very meticulous efforts being made you drive by the building take a look at it It's definitely coming along nicely. He's really feathering it out So we won't see a bunch of splotchiness once he puts the primer and main code on um Any questions on any of that the um friends of town hall have They haven't met recently So I probably won't be able to present the revised proposed management agreement until our first meeting next month Mainly just scheduling differences and plus barbara having to step out work on the primary election Kind of through our schedule off. So it'll be a little delay before I get the that finalized in front of everybody again Um, any questions on that? No, sounds good okay Uh, we have all of the equipment or I should say rb tech has Uh, delivered all the equipment for the slingshot, uh, bridge backup system um I've been in touch with andy felice. I'm going to meet with him later this week to talk about uh getting things installed the limiting factor at this point is we need to wait until Grady has painted the section of the building where the six deteriorator antenna will be installed Because we don't want to put it on where it's not been properly prepped and painted Um, once that happens, then we'll use the lift to install the antenna and he'll run the lines inside Drop him through the wall where john showed him. He could do it And we'll get that hooked up As well as figure out how we're going to route the line from upstairs To the alarm system for our redundancy secondary connection to the alarm Okay, and that will and then that will eliminate that. Um, secos security thing from Not testing properly, correct? Exactly. Yep. Okay. Very good Any questions on that? Nope Okay, that's what I got. All right. Thank you, Cliff. You're welcome Um, okay, I sent and I sent everybody this letter from the vermont state police department of public safety Um, I'm not exactly sure What it is they wanted us to do as community members Um to this end state police commanders are connecting with municipal Leaders and community organizations And some um throughout vermont to begin and in some cases to continue A discussion about how police services can Can and should evolve to meet the demands of the 21st century Well, we basically never see the state police here Um You know, we don't have a contract with them east mount pilier does But it's really expensive because we checked it out one time um, so basically we Only have interaction mostly With the sheriff if there's a terrible incident, you know, then the state police respond So I don't know really what we I mean, it would be great if they could provide us more coverage Just on a regular basis, but I don't believe that's what they're getting at So how would you like to us to respond To their request? I mean, I suppose We could ask them to be on the agenda or for them to hold Maybe a zoom Meeting with some us and some of the other surrounding towns Greg someone's coming up the driveway Wonder who it is rose. Sorry must be my son. I'm sorry. I thought it was muted I think I think it's it's really wonderful that they're reaching out and engaging and asking absolutely um And I just I'm processing in my mind What kind of a conversation? I mean there are people I mean our community all communities are eager to To contribute and to shape um policing policy Right now it's very what's the word it's um I don't know words not there in my head, but um Um But it's a huge it's a huge topic. Yes, and Yeah, I like the idea of a I think it would be we we We'd be wrong to not respond and and somehow invite them into the community because people do have so much to say Yep at the same time I think it's bigger than the select board and I like the idea of asking them to convene a forum in In our in our central vermont community That people can participate in and just open it up that way All right, I'm happy to draft a letter short letter back to them and let them know how much we appreciate what they're doing And here's our suggestion All right If you will agree with that Yes Yeah, I think that that's what they were talking about is um, you know Just wanting to know how they could better serve us as far as policing um talking about systemic racism and how law enforcement can and should evolve To meet these modern challenges. So I mean, I think just you know A courtesy courtesy letter back to them, you know saying like what you just said We appreciate all their efforts And like what Sharon said is maybe in the future have a time where people in callus can meet face to face with them In some kind of public forum or something so that everybody could have a voice Yeah, I think my idea was To have um some kind of a public Forum thing maybe they could do it by zoom depending on how soon they wanted to do it It could involve, you know several Of the local towns would bury Eastmont Piliar All those and because they say at the last of their letter if necessary we can schedule a meeting at a later date So it seems like it would be a good idea to include the public Um, and they could post it on front porch forum that this is when we're going to have this Zoom meeting to get your input. So I'll draft something up to that effect Yeah, I think it's for the public not for us Right, I would want them to come to the community in zoom is fine. Right Um with a message and ready to hear what's on people's minds. It's so relevant I don't feel that this is really for the select board. It's it's a bigger issue It's for us to facilitate their being here, but Yeah I think they just want to know if the way I took it they want to know if we would be supportive and And that kind of stuff so we can Doctor up a letter to that effect Yeah, I like the way Sharon phrased it earlier Referencing our central Vermont community at large. Yeah Yeah, I think that's what I said when I was trying to say every all the other towns around here Yep Okay, um We don't have any appointments or reappointments tonight Um But I did want us to remember that that UVM road study is hanging out there And we need to I've sort of looked at it. They did come up with some changes to the plow routes It's going to be winter before we know it um So we need to do something with that study john Lens that remember him professor lens he offered to come to a board meeting and Help us digest um The report some of the report I don't I think that it's going to be met with depending on Where you stand they talk about the narrowness of the roads and the trees and Um, so I don't think we want to necessarily focus on That but we might want to really look at their recommendations for the plow routes Because I don't know that we would agree with The fact that they think our roads are too narrow and we should cut some trees and I don't imagine that we're going to agree with that piece of it You like them narrow, right? That's right. That's a chitney county point right and that's where they're from I I did review that report pretty quickly a while ago and I did also note A point they brought up regarding the size of our trucks being oversized for our roads And I saw that I know if folks on the select board it probably denies was around Kathy Koshanski Brought up a concern Why are we buying these trucks that are increasingly larger? Larger Um, and we were assured that they're not really any wider that they're not really any bigger And yet again, we're hearing that in fact they are Larger and bigger and then it makes it difficult for them to navigate down the roads and it Takes us in a direction that from the very beginning the select board You know with all its different members over the years has said time and again. We do not want our roads being The size of our roads being dictated by the size of our trucks Well, and wasn't part of the argument john that they could have they could I'm not I'm not saying I agree with this, but I think part of the road crew what we heard Was it this way they can make less trips back to the sand pile because the trucks pulled more product And we were assured that they were no wider Right and that may be the case But based on that report and the conclusion what that conclusion and the report I'm guessing they must be wider They take up more space on the road or maybe the plows that they carry are that much larger. I don't know And I was looking for the in that report to see if they had recommended Any other locations where we might have a sand pile In the winter and I don't recall seeing any Kind of recommendation. Remember we've thrown around that idea a little bit Asked if we could coordinate with these um Worcester And that was a no I really like what john said about Not letting the sides of the truck drive the sides of the road. So that's exactly what i'm talking about when I talk about about Not letting the Big machines and and road maintenance be first but but integrated. Yeah and fyi I I've been spending a lot of time in peachum and I don't know if you guys have ever had an opportunity to be on a road in peachum called more. I think it's morrison hill road It's like center road In east montpellier where the the trees are right up on the road and And you feel like there it's like you're in the wizard of odds and they're going to reach out and hug you but those roads are really tight and And i'm curious how other towns who have a An ethos like we do and and think obviously they do i'm curious how how they Work with their road crew and how their road crew It's a done because they have a big footprint too.  I mean that's interesting to know because maybe that's Something we could look at to see We could poke around put on the to-do list katie that We should poke around on peachum's website And see if they have any maybe they have some standards I wonder I wonder if jim knows anything about that being that now he's in danville But maybe peachum is one of the towns that he does legal work for so maybe he knows Or has a little bit of insight. He's actually in peachum. Yeah Yeah, that's he's in peachum. Yeah offices in danville. Oh, okay Yeah, I don't know that we want to pay jim to poke around on their website. We can do that Well, and I was just saying like just have a conversation with them But I don't know if you have to pay him for that You may not have been here there long enough. I share office space with a former chair with peachum select board So I will oh Can you so will you ask? Yeah, yeah, we we've had some road conversations before no doubt um But yeah, it'd be interesting to get his or her input Yeah, I'm gonna send you guys a photo that I took over there recently because I was thinking about our roads when I was driving on this road Okay, sounds good Okay, don't forget thursday night Denise this is a bad I know cabot in marchfield And the citizens I guess have have had to deal with with select boards Cutting these, you know, 200 year old maples down to make it easier for their big old trucks to get through without any notice This of course, we remember it was to know that just happened in woodbury Where they wrote John we're having trouble hearing you I'm speaking of that This very massacre Yeah, there was the woodbury massacre both on uh Golly that I can't remember the name of the hill the one coming up from nelson pond But also by the cemetery off cabot road. Yeah, you know just destroyed It's a totally different look and it's happened in oh It's like three years ago Ruth Lowry's road over by the unidilus theater It was a beautiful narrow road like you see in east montpelio by bruce chapels farm and One day they just came through and cut them and by the time you hear the saws when you're busy They're gone. Yeah, you're your old trees. So That created quite an uproar in woodbury And it's caused it in other towns and it's almost seems like in these other towns They've done it knowing that there would be an uproar. So it's just get it done so you can't undo it It's very permanent. So it's it's really important to stay on top of this as a board Yeah, I'm glad we are Yeah, I think I think we're I think we recognize the importance of How our roads are maintained the tree and the canopy I think People know that we're on top of this and we care Okay, so don't forget about the Um joint meeting with east montpelio on thursday Who who all is going to attend? I will attempt to if I'm I I may be rapping. Hey if I'm doing it late. I may it may not make it, but I will try if I'm free Rose Sharon cliff Is it going to be in person or is it going to be on zoom? Well, that's part of my question I would prefer that we I would prefer to do it on zoom. I agree that I like in person better um, but we've kind of made a statement of not holding meetings in person For the reasons that we've all talked about So what's what are what are folks want to do? You're on mute Sharon Sorry, uh, what time? seven Cliff can we do zoom with us? And everybody else is in person Yeah, it's a little problematic when you do that because um, they would need to either have a conference setup style computer system and camera microphone Or else they'd have to kind of pass that around to each of the people speaking so that we could see who's speaking and hear what they're saying if you It's it can be done, but it is difficult to do a hybrid zoom in person meeting without the proper equipment So they're talking were they I can't remember now. I think they said they were talking about doing it in the bays, but maybe I missed read that Yeah, they had said that they could arrange it so that there would be distancing and They could even arrange for people's temperatures to be taken. They also offered to set it up as a zoom meeting um And yeah, even though we I think we all agree that it is preferable for in-person meetings and getting a read on things Realistically, I think we need to stick with our policy Assessing the risk factor and um, I would propose a zoom meeting So I can let them know that we would do it by zoom That's fine. Okay, and then that way also katie can take the minutes If you're are you available thursday night katie or at least listen to a recording All right, um, I think we before we leave that it's um We were going to have to copy and come back and meet with us. I couldn't I can't hear you shira Rose can you move? Thank you We were going to have j copy and come back and meet with us again in august so we can keep yeah I'm going to see if he can come on the 24th Okay, that's great. I will be here on the 24th fyi. It's our anniversary. Okay All right, can we approve some minutes and then I'd like us to go into executive session if everybody can stand it Only nine o'clock Yeah, all right minutes Um, we have june 15th. I think it was There's somehow we missed And then we have the two meetings in july I think I went through them all earlier. Yeah, I did. I only had a few comments Yeah, somehow the numbering was off in this and I don't know if when katie Does whatever her magic is if that gets fixed I think that was my only comment And katie shaking her head. Yes. Does that mean yes katie? Okay So these were the minutes of june 15th that was was that I can't see the top. So was that a that was a special meeting. Okay um, so I would make a motion to approve the june 15 2020 special meeting minutes Second Okay, um, let's take a vote rose You got to unmute rose Rose you got to unmute. Okay. I'm crying. Hi. Hi Okay, and I'm an eye Sharon. Hi cliff hi John hi And rubies and I too Okay What do we have next july? Third was it 13th? Yeah 13th I'm bringing it up. Okay You guys all ready for a heat wave tomorrow Supposed to be supposed to be brutal Yeah, I'm supposed to go over to the town hall Tomorrow morning see if I can get the windows open for them Yes, do we have a fan? Uh, I was gonna check with them because I do have a spare one I can loan them. I yeah I believe they do have one at the the town office that they're going to take over them Yeah, I had I had lent them a box fan last year or the year before so I don't know if they still have it. I can't remember These minutes were the ones we had looked at in our last meeting but we decided to hold off on approving them specifically John because we had the this was the meeting where we discussed Um consideration of public meetings and events at town hall Um, actually that's not it. It was the compliance with open meeting law discussion Was yeah, why did we so I still don't remember now why we held off but I think it's time you had uh, you had to step out of the meeting when we had the discussion But at the last meeting when we were reviewing these John wanted to take another look specifically. Oh, okay section of the minutes before We decided to move forward with them. Yeah Are you good now John? They're fine I went through them today. Am I am I open? Um, and I made minor just Like just readability edits. Um, I'm looking through there's nothing I changed that was substantive Yeah, I did this I did the same thing. I didn't make any substantive changes. Oh wait, I did add to the list of people that I was going to reach out to I added Stephanie to that list Dan singleton by the way is not our county forester anymore Now do we know who our new forester is? In fact, they're not appointing one for a while. There's a hiring freeze Ah, nice Because I was thinking because I was thinking about reaching out to the county forester For this tree health stuff, but I guess we can't do that. I did He was on my list for well for the as they were pertain to a roads committee I wonder if he would just as a catalyst resident Help with that Actually a really good point. If anybody has a personal email for him. I would be happy to Try again to talk to him. Yeah, I think I have a personal email. I'll see if I can find it Oh, it's brook dingle dine I just saw that again Yeah, it's pronounced dingle dean, but it's spelled dingle dine. Yeah So yeah, I gotta check out my it's my son's birthday party. Um that I've kind of been blowing off here So You can I you can vote me in support of these minutes, but I got to check out for the rest of the meeting Okay, because we were gonna well I you'll have to report back to me on executive pressure. I'm okay. I can do that Sorry, thank you All right. Happy birthday john son. It's christopher. Yeah, happy birthday christopher My baby's 24. Oh my gosh. Are you old or what?  Yeah, okay John I that means I've known you for half his life. I remember when he was in elementary school Like he was in elementary school in sixth grade and jack was in like first grade. Yeah Yep, we've all been around a long time. We're a bunch of old geezers We are all right and make a motion that we approve these minutes, uh with edits I'll second that John already voted in favor cliff. Thank you. Good night. Good night, john Cliff Hi Sharon. Hi rose. Hi. All right july 27th. I think it was yes And by please Hey, did I just glance through through these? um But I wasn't at this meeting so Yes, that's right. You weren't I did review them line by line I think I just made a couple of corrections that were like typos um And now I can't remember why did I say oh right here The that sent there was a sentence that it didn't make any sense the roadside The mower and all oh the mower and all attachments um the road commissioner said all the main um Um It had to do with the cleaning That we wanted to make sure that it was yeah pressure watch the mower and all attachments before leaving the garage That was just one thing I wanted to add Was was it said at that meeting? Do you guys remember that pressure washing the yes, absolutely No, no, no Denise said it was a best best practice I Was not said it. John mentioned it then He recommended it, but he didn't say that it was necessarily a best practice. Okay. That's that's fine We we got that we'll we will get that clearly on the record for tonight, right exactly And oh, I didn't just didn't make any sense this sentence. I couldn't figure out what we were trying to say You know john made a point last meeting in this sentence about how Act 46 is attempting to close down To consolidate schools and close small schools, right? And he was connecting that I think to the the increase in out-of-staters buying here and seeking Small schools. Yeah, I know what he means. Okay. It doesn't it doesn't read um Because x 46 now that there's co vid small schools make a ton of sense because they're easier to monitor and know people What the yeah, it's like he's In john john I have talked about this at length. It's in cross purpose now from With co vid and the closure of small schools um Yes, because the people moving to vermont, I think a lot of people From what we've learned is they are moving to these small towns because of the small schools So that there isn't an over population of kids in the schools So however we can Get that in there Are we actually seeing that in I mean, I know that the I can I can personally attest that the real estate market is crazy But are we seeing people moving to town with small kids or is our elementary school going to have a little boom again? Um, we just had a new family move in on bane cumulie road. They have one kid at u 32 Going to be going to 130 u 32 and one going to callous elementary from where though, um I don't remember from where but he was originally from callous And I know that there's been I think it's six new homes that have been built probably some of those are the perennial fields homes There's no little kids in that one. Nope. Yeah So, you know, I think it's I don't know how to answer your question But we will find out Yep enough Okay, I don't think I had anything else I'm not sure Scrolls through to see No, I didn't see anything else when I looked at it Okay, I would make a motion to approve these minutes with the edits. Is there a second? Second Okay, um rose I Cliff hi Sharon uh, I'm I'm Uh abstaining as to the regular meeting and voting I as to the report out from executive session All right, and I'm an eye So do you folks want to go into executive session? Yeah, we got to so moved Yes, so I'll second that right and this is for personnel matters as per the um statute notation on the agenda At 9 20 p.m. Okay The recording has stopped. Good night everybody Thank you. Okay. Good night