[0:06] Recording in progress. You're all set,
Jeff. Okay. 6:45. Call a meeting to
[0:11] order. First order of business is to
adopt the agenda.
[0:15] » I'll make that motion.
>> Motion and a second to adopt the agenda.
[0:18] All in favor say I. I. I.
>> Uh item two, executive session. So, we
[0:25] will need a motion to go into executive
session. So, moved.
[0:30] Second.
>> So seconded motion and a second to go
[0:33] into executive session for 1 VSA 313
appointment of a public officer to
[0:39] include applicant and um or for the
budget committee and the slick board. So
[0:45] time to go into executive session. All
in favor say I.
[0:48] » I.
>> Thank you.
[1:02] Maybe.
>> Okay. We It is 6:58
[1:07] and we are coming out of executive
session. No action was taken within
[1:12] executive session.
>> Mr. Chairman, we get a motion to end the
[1:16] executive session. It's a change. I'll
make that motion to exe end executive
[1:20] session. Okay.
>> Motion in a second to end executive
[1:24] session. I'm out of I'm not as versed as
I was before when I was bored all the
[1:29] time. Right. Um all in favor of coming
out of executive session say I.
[1:33] » I.
>> I. Okay. Item three is select board
[1:38] remarks. That's where I always say we're
small group in the room. We want to play
[1:41] nice and be respectful to each other's
uh wishes. Even though we may not always
[1:46] agree with everything that is said, but
we still are a nice small community that
[1:51] likes to be friendly and peaceful. So
that is my select board remark. Item
[1:57] four.
>> I wanted to say something cool about at
[2:02] our last meeting I spoke about the cops
being on duty all the time the same
[2:07] time. I've noticed over the weekend they
worked over the weekend and I've had
[2:11] people tell me they've seen them on
different hours. So I just wanted to say
[2:15] much appreciated.
[2:20] Good.
Um,
[2:23] item four, possible consent for the
minutes and the warrant.
[2:29] Pleasure.
>> Uh, I'll move that we add item well the
[2:33] minutes and the warrant to a consent
agenda, please.
[2:38] » We have a second for
the consent for
[2:42] » second.
>> Second. Okay. All in favor of doing it
[2:46] as a consent say I. I. I. Opposed. No
one. So,
[2:52] questions on any of the
warrants or we're all good.
[2:57] » One question.
>> Second page.
[3:00] Uh,
like halfway down.
[3:07] » I thought that might be worth a
question. I circled it. So,
[3:10] [clears throat]
right. So, the town has a 60-in uh
[3:14] gasoline powered zeroturn mower, which
apparently is about 12 years old, and
[3:19] it's having some starter problems. It's
been in the shop a few times, and it's
[3:23] being repaired. Um, a front porch forum
post came up to uh someone in Brandon
[3:30] had bought an EGO 42in zeroturn mower.
and Ego is the brand that uh we use in
[3:38] the tool ships that the energy committee
runs and the town has had a couple of
[3:42] hand tools with that. So, we checked out
the price new um and the one that was
[3:48] posted had only 28 hours of use on it.
And the highway division chief and the
[3:54] highway crew member who does all of the
mowing went up and checked it out with
[3:59] the Brandon person who was selling it
and they decided they would like to try
[4:03] it. Um, the mowing person believes it
will be more suitable for the small
[4:09] parks downtown and the cemetery
especially, and he was looking forward.
[4:13] He says the 60-in mower is actually a
little bit too big to negotiate those
[4:18] areas. The concept is not that this will
be able to replace the 60-in mower, um,
[4:25] but that we will, following the green
fleet policy, we'll try to get the best,
[4:30] um, tool for the job, so to speak. and
if it's an electric one, we'll try an
[4:35] electric one. So, they've they've taken
it. Um, the lady who was selling it
[4:39] allowed them to take delivery of it and
try it out, and they've used it
[4:43] successfully, so we want to go ahead
with the purchase. Um, but at some
[4:47] point, we're either going to need to
replace the 60-in gasoline mower to do
[4:53] like big jobs like Estherbrook and the
Nes playing fields and stuff like that
[4:58] that this will not be suitable for. or
um we might need to put some more money
[5:03] into the 60-in mower that we have, which
again is 12 years old. So, that's the
[5:08] story with that.
[5:12] » Any other questions on the
warrant?
[5:16] » The uh retail price on it brand new was
like $5,300. So, it's considerable
[5:20] savings to the town to buy it slightly
used.
[5:26] Oh,
>> yes.
[5:34] Uh Claire a stone Brandon resident uh
batteries for this
[5:41] » came with batteries. Yeah.
>> How many does it have?
[5:44] » Has four and have two more.
>> And um do we know how many hours they
[5:49] get?
>> Enough to do a shift of mowing.
[5:53] » Okay. A shift. Eight hour shift. Okay.
Sometimes that's all you do is charge.
[6:00] » Yeah. I mean, he he did a little
studying about the the rated range on it
[6:06] is 2 acres of mowing on one charge and
the Central Park, Kennedy Park, Green
[6:12] Park, Crescent Park, and the cemetery
together would not be two acres and he
[6:18] would not generally be mowing them all
in the same day anyway.
[6:21] » Okay.
>> But it see it seems to be suitable. I
[6:23] would not have encouraged them to
consider it if there was concern that it
[6:26] was not going to be suitable for what
they want to use it for.
[6:29] » And let me applaud you for for this path
of um getting a deal. It's a wonderful
[6:36] thing.
>> Yes, I guess it's good savings. Thank
[6:38] you.
>> Okay. Motion in a second. And we've had
[6:42] discussion. All in favor of the minutes
and the warrant say I
[6:48] » I opposed. No one.
Item five, consider appointment to the
[6:55] advisory budget committee.
>> Board member like to make a motion.
[7:00] » I will move that we appoint Clara Stone
to the FY28 budget advisory committee.
[7:05] Second motion and a second. Any
discussion?
[7:09] None. We just had it in the closet.
All in favor of uh voting for clear uh
[7:16] to be on the budget advisory committee,
please say I. I post. No one.
[7:22] Welcome.
Um,
[7:28] item six, set the schedule for budget
workshops. Seth, you want to
[7:33] » Sure. So, there's a memo in the packet
with a suggestion. You can go with it.
[7:38] You can do something different entirely.
This is sort of what happened last year.
[7:43] This is approximately the schedule we
kept last year. So, uh, my suggestion
[7:47] would be to kick it off on Tuesday,
September 22nd with the review of the
[7:52] closed budget, the status of the open
budget, the big goals for the budget
[7:56] that we're about to write, and then move
into a series of meetings with the
[8:01] department heads, and then consider the
capital plans, and then a first draft,
[8:06] second draft, and finalize in early
December. All of those dates are on the
[8:11] off weeks of select board meetings and
you could decide whether you want the
[8:16] Mondays or the Tuesdays. Except the
first week I I could not make the
[8:19] Monday.
>> Was there any other thought towards
[8:24] potential Tuesdays? Just kind of shaking
it up or
[8:26] » if you want it's Yeah, it's up to the
board and the budget committee's
[8:29] availability and what you think. Yeah,
maybe the public might like to have a
[8:33] chance here and there for it to be not
to Monday. I don't know.
[8:38] I always like the Mondays because it was
in my head that Monday is select day or
[8:42] select person day and so I was always
looking for whatever I had to do on
[8:48] Mondays. So I enjoyed Mondays but I
don't care. I'm available any of those
[8:54] dates with the exception of meeting
number three. I'm going to be out of
[8:57] state
but
[9:01] you can go on without me.
>> I might say Tuesday, November 3rd's
[9:04] election day. That might be tricky. But
other than that,
[9:08] » oh that's a very good point.
A bunch of you will be busy counting
[9:14] votes and stuff. Probably don't want to
do number four on Tuesday. Probably want
[9:18] that on the Monday.
[9:22] » I like the Mondays.
>> Huh?
[9:24] » I kind of like the Mondays if everybody
else does. I'm open to do a couple of
[9:27] them on Tuesday. Just
[9:32] not too pressed one way or the other.
Well, again, we're at the mercy of
[9:38] somebody making a motion to what you
would like to do.
[9:46] I will move uh to formalize the schedule
for the budget workshop series starting
[9:52] with Tuesday, September 22nd, Monday,
October 5th, Monday, October 19th,
[9:58] Monday, November 2nd, Monday, November
16th, Monday, November 30th, and Monday,
[10:02] December 7th.
And we can always add more if we need to
[10:07] get down to finalizing something at a
later date.
[10:09] » And I might just say if if any members
of the public feel strongly that we
[10:12] should do a couple more on Tuesday, let
us know. We can check them. Okay.
[10:17] » Could you repeat those dates again?
>> Yes. Tuesday the 22nd of September.
[10:22] Monday October 5th. Monday the 19th of
October. Monday November 2nd, Monday
[10:26] November 16th. Monday November 30th. And
Monday December 7th.
[10:33] Yes. As of this motion has not been
second.
[10:36] » We have a motion. We have a second. We
have a motion and a second. Any further
[10:39] discussion?
>> We're loving that one. All in favor say
[10:43] I.
>> I.
[10:44] » I.
Put it on the website.
[10:50] Ah, town managers report.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the
[10:54] public who are here and by Zoom. Um,
from my publish report, just a couple of
[10:58] highlights and two updates. One
highlight is that yes, um, the paving
[11:04] started and I think if you've driven
McConnell Road, you'll see they did a
[11:08] good job on the south end of McConnell
Road. They had some equipment trouble
[11:11] and they do anticipate starting up again
tomorrow.
[11:16] The second update is also in public
works. Um, I gave you some info about
[11:22] road salt. I have been able to firm up
the road salt, so that's good. So, we're
[11:27] on board for 1,000 tons with Cargill.
The price per ton this year is $106.50,
[11:33] which is very close to what we we
budgeted. We budgeted essentially for
[11:37] $105. So, we're going to be about $1,500
short if we get the full loads.
[11:44] Um Ralph indicated that yes, uh some
weekend patrol hours were able to be uh
[11:49] done in the schedule with the existing
police officers this weekend and we
[11:54] appreciate that. And then I always do
highlight the local option tax receipt.
[11:58] And I think that for consistency I need
to highlight that uh we've received our
[12:03] local option tax for the April, May,
June quarter, $86,845.
[12:09] And in fairness or transparency, um this
is a quarter that did not exceed the
[12:15] same quarter of the previous year. So
last year we got $1,158
[12:20] more than we got this year. That's
happened on occasion since we started
[12:25] the tax 10 years ago, but it's not the
general trend. The general trend is that
[12:29] every year the same quarter is a little
bit better than the quarter of the
[12:32] previous year. That might be overall
economic pressures going on in the
[12:38] world. And the last thing uh to update
is that the 1% fund figure that's given
[12:43] there at $571,63
should be augmented by that uh receipt
[12:49] of 86,845.
So the 1% fund really is 658448.
[12:57] That's my updated
report. And then you have the two pages
[13:01] with last year's budget still subject to
change for another few days, another
[13:06] week, I guess. This year's budget to
date. And then there's a project tracker
[13:12] with um the completed projects dropped
off. And so you see it's a much shorter
[13:16] list than it has been recently.
That's all I have.
[13:22] Thank you very much, Miss Hopkins.
Questions for Mr. Hopkins from the
[13:25] board.
Just make a quick comment. I I very
[13:30] pleased going over the um FY26 budget
that we just finished, seeing as though
[13:35] we're talking about budgeting going
forward. Um that we were pretty darn
[13:40] close to spot on with things. We uh
um took in 104% of what our we expected
[13:48] our revenue. So, we beat our revenue by
um a few hundred,000, which is nice. And
[13:55] our expenses, we came in about as close
to perfect as you could be at 99.8%
[14:03] of what was expected to be spent. So,
means that the budget process worked
[14:07] pretty good. At this moment, there still
could be some additional um things
[14:13] coming in until the end of August, but
at this point, we're looking at we had a
[14:18] small surplus of around 150,000. So,
that's pretty darn good budgeting um
[14:25] that was that was done and pretty good
managing to stay within that.
[14:29] » Practically perfect in every way, but
really
[14:34] [laughter]
sorry. questions for the town manager on
[14:38] his report.
>> I've got a I've got a question. Go for
[14:43] it. Uh the 159,000 that will probably
transfer to the reserve fund, right?
[14:48] » That's where it goes unless the select
board directs it somewhere else.
[14:51] » Now, the reserve,
>> but that's not a guarantee for another
[14:53] seven days,
>> but it'll be in the ball.
[14:56] » Yes, we we would think. Yep.
>> And the reserve fund's in pretty good
[14:59] shape, right?
>> Reserve fund was at seven and a quarter.
[15:02] Yep. 725.
Brian has talked about playing paying
[15:06] off the police station several times.
Would that be enough to pay off the
[15:10] police station?
>> Police station like 135 something. I
[15:15] » think we owe like 135 on it.
>> Oh, you know where you know the better
[15:19] figure. No, it's the better figures in
here.
[15:25] The police station
[15:29] was 177500, but then we had two more
payments. So, it should be like 130,000.
[15:34] Yeah.
>> I just I just think we ought to start
[15:38] thinking about that.
>> What What's the
[15:40] » It's a good idea. The interest rate is
super low on the police station.
[15:46] That's what I need the book for is the
interest rate. It was taken when it was
[15:50] like a very favorable
time to borrow.
[15:54] » What are your highest loan?
>> The highest one is going to be the one
[15:58] that we take for the highway bond. If
the voters approve that, that's going to
[16:02] be a lot higher than
[16:11] » I struggling to find it. Hold on.
>> Like Ralph, I I had the same
[16:16] conversation with Seth because if we're
going to be doing the highway barn, it'
[16:19] be good to be rid of another payment,
but
[16:22] » and the payment
>> if we have time, we can make this
[16:24] decision. So, the police station is
3.14%.
[16:31] The one that we're paying off for
segment 6 is 4.67%.
[16:38] The overflow cover is 3.3%.
So, they're all very low. The number
[16:44] that was quoted us to borrow today, if
we borrowed for the highway barn, would
[16:48] be 4.28, I believe.
I think we got to think about that
[16:55] because that would that would take that
bill right away.
[16:59] » Yeah, it would save you know 20 to
$24,000 a year in the general fund.
[17:03] » Three quarters of a percent.
>> Yeah.
[17:06] » Yeah.
>> It's definitely feasible.
[17:09] » Yes.
Uh Brent Buler, how does the like
[17:16] $300,000 that was used to buy the truck
from the police budget get posted at the
[17:21] end of the year? So we did
>> rather than against the police.
[17:24] » I asked Sue to transfer it and she
agreed it should be transferred and she
[17:28] transferred it. So if you look in the
packet on the FY26 budget, there's a top
[17:33] line on the expense side that just says
transfer out and it's not assigned to
[17:37] any department.
>> Okay? So that's where the highway truck
[17:41] is going out of the general fund now,
>> which means it didn't come out of the
[17:46] police, which it's more transparent and
accurate to show that police spending is
[17:50] actually 649, which was only 68% of its
total budget.
[17:55] » Thank you.
>> Yeah, appreciate that.
[17:56] » Yeah, I'm glad Sue agreed that that
could happen.
[18:03] » Any last questions for Mr. Hopkins on
his report.
[18:08] » Yep.
[18:17] Lar Brandon, I just want to say thank
you on the record for um you all paying
[18:25] attention, hearing people's needs in the
town and doing such a great job with the
[18:32] budget and um trying new angles and
being open to hearing people talk about
[18:39] ideas because this is a wonderful thing
as a [clears throat] person in talented
[18:45] Heaper that you're able to do your
budget, be on target, have some savings,
[18:50] have a pot of money that you can pay off
bills with. That's just delightful. And
[18:57] not everybody's in that place. So, thank
you all for that. I know it takes a lot
[19:02] of work and a lot of stress. And thank
you. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate
[19:08] it.
[19:14] Um, is there anything you want to touch
on on the project tracker or not? We're
[19:18] just information to us all. And
>> so, yeah, it's information. Um, if
[19:22] there's any questions about specific
projects, the Union Street sidewalk, um,
[19:26] the state has authorized engaging the
engineers to assist with moving that
[19:31] further along. Um, the McConnell Road
culvert, I'll go quickly through all of
[19:35] it, I guess. um we we either need to
start from scratch or we need to get um
[19:41] design uh engineering done on it and
that's difficult based on the
[19:48] the initial engineering firm is I guess
not interested in doing the design
[19:52] engineering. Um Bill has someone coming
in to quote the actual resurfacing of
[19:59] the multi-use court like with you know
kind of traditional tennis court
[20:02] surfacing. Um, and that can be taken
care of with the ARPA that was set aside
[20:08] and with some penny Esther Brookbrook
estate money that was designated for
[20:11] Estherbrook Ark, the North Street
Bridge. Um, you did the scoping study.
[20:16] It's ready and all we have to do now is
get in the right spot, in the right line
[20:20] for some construction money to build the
replacement bridge. There's no active uh
[20:25] FEMA buyouts right at this moment. Um
and there may that may be slowing down
[20:30] or it or it may come back. Energy
navigators are still working. The nifty
[20:37] thrifty uh gift uh the police department
solar is is working and uh making
[20:42] electricity all the time. The Conan
Square solar is not yet hooked up, but
[20:47] it's it's basically getting ready to be
hooked up. The new highway department um
[20:52] is an agenda item later.
the hazard mitigation plan. I would just
[20:57] ask for a little bit of patience. Jackie
uh believes that she has found a route
[21:02] to a solution here. Uh and then there's
a a recommendation that I have in here
[21:07] for a project you don't know about,
which is sidewalk repair on West
[21:10] Seminary Street. As many of you know,
there are a number of folks who live up
[21:15] um on West Seminary Street who use
mobility devices and power scooters and
[21:19] things like that. And um a lot of them
live at the Nesabe House which is on the
[21:24] west side of West Seminary. They then
can get on the sidewalk but the sidewalk
[21:28] on the west side ends right kind of
abruptly before it connects even to this
[21:32] building. So the um concept would be to
get some crosswalks laid out from west
[21:39] side of West Seminary to the east side.
But we will need to do some repair on
[21:43] the sidewalk in front of the old Brandon
High School. If you've walked that
[21:46] stretch, that is a it's a poor sidewalk.
It's um it it's really just kind of like
[21:51] a hump of asphalt. So that's a
suggestion. It would be something you
[21:55] could look to use 1% money for or fund
balance money for that kind of thing.
[22:00] Won't be a large project. Certainly
would not be a project I would say would
[22:04] be warranting a grant application from
the state because that will make it, you
[22:09] know, very complex. And the last line
is, you know, going to be a
[22:13] disappointment, but um we owe a few
parking spots. The town owes a few
[22:19] parking spots over by the Baptist church
which were pledged in writing uh during
[22:26] segment six. And it's a very challenging
site. There's a fire hydrant, there's a
[22:32] telephone pole with an anchor wire,
there's sidewalks and storm drains and
[22:38] all kinds of stuff that it's it's got to
be done and we don't yet have a feasible
[22:44] workable design. And I just threw in the
engineers estimate which is a little bit
[22:49] old and which is a little bit more
involved than I think the solutions that
[22:54] we're trying to get toward
[23:01] » questions on this report.
[23:10] Oh, go ahead. Please. Yeah.
Brett Buer again. I I walk Union Street
[23:18] almost every day and when I talk to the
folks some of the folks there, they have
[23:22] no idea about the sidewalk project. So
maybe something needs to go out to
[23:27] inform everybody on the on the street.
Well, I don't know. Maybe they don't
[23:32] need easements or something, but
>> Well, they definitely need easements.
[23:35] And so the engineer is going to help
facilitate a group meeting as well to
[23:39] inform them about where we're at.
>> Okay. because I I was kind of surprised
[23:42] how often we talk about it and yet
nobody on the street really knew about
[23:46] what was going on.
[23:50] » Bill, did you have a community
development report?
[23:53] » I do have a verbal one. Uh yeah, I
didn't submit a printed report. U so
[23:57] just two items on there. One, uh around
recreation, we have a new functional
[24:02] fitness class that's going to be taught
downstairs here uh on Tuesdays,
[24:06] Thursdays. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and
Fridays. This is for folks that might be
[24:11] wanting to work on mobility, uh,
balance. Um, it's a class that tends to
[24:15] be popular with the average brain
resident. Um, you know, working on
[24:22] balance. Um, then they do these classes
up at East View and they're insanely
[24:26] popular. So, we decided to operate here
downstairs offices town hall. Um, and we
[24:32] also have uh an update.
[gasps and sighs]
[24:35] I went with folks from the chambered
economic development of the Rutland
[24:38] region as well as uh the community
health centers of the Rutland region and
[24:42] they are the folks that operate uh
Brandon Medical Center on Steinberg Road
[24:47] and they're in the process of securing
funding to do a large expansion um in in
[24:53] Brandon to offer more services.
[24:58] I guess it's G. Yes, I mean yeah sorry.
Yes, Gro Street. Yes, it will still be
[25:04] access from Gro Street, but they plan on
doing expansion offering more services.
[25:08] As a part of that, they've uh applied
for a Northern Border Regional
[25:12] Commission's catalyst program uh
pre-application grant, and they asked
[25:16] the town to step in to make their uh
application look a little more um
[25:24] community oriented. Um, as a part of
that, uh, if they were awarded the
[25:28] grant, we would get some funding with no
match to provide some more amenities at
[25:34] Esesterbrook and trying to connect
Estherbrook to the Park Village
[25:37] residents. There's 4 to 500 people up
there that would have easier access to
[25:41] Estherbrook as well as some possible
equipment improvements at Esesterbrook
[25:46] if they get this uh, grant.
That's my report.
[25:51] » Questions for Mr. Moore from the board?
questions for Mr. Moore from the public.
[25:59] Mr. Moore is off the hook.
Um, thank you. Um, item eight,
[26:08] uh, consider redesign phase proposal for
replacement of the highway facility.
[26:15] Uh, may include appropriation of $10,000
from local options tax or another fund.
[26:21] Mr. Hopkins.
Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. So, uh, in
[26:26] the packet you have the letter from Co
and Co. and an outline of what they
[26:31] could do. Um, this constitutes a
pre-esign phase, right? They came down,
[26:37] um, without any cost to the town. They
came down and did look at the site. Uh I
[26:43] was there, Bill was there, Ralph was
there, uh Jeremy Dorta, our highway
[26:48] chief was there, and we kind of explored
different aspects of the site as it
[26:53] exists now and challenges and just kind
of a little bit of a general idea of
[26:57] what the town was looking for in terms
of putting in some safe and um energy
[27:04] efficient and weathertight um working
conditions for our highway department.
[27:10] So um there the recommendation is laid
out here with first some meetings um
[27:17] with folks in Brandon again like a more
formal set of meetings with the highway
[27:21] department. A more formal meeting with
the whole select board and the public
[27:26] about what priorities are and what
funding might be available. Some
[27:30] alternatives and then some code and
permitting um considerations. And then
[27:37] um the construction cost estimate that
we could use to go to the voters and ask
[27:42] the voters if they would consider
issuing a bond. Um we would go at town
[27:47] meeting and ask if they would consider
issuing a bond um to build a new highway
[27:52] department. So this is one proposal.
It's not the only way to do things, but
[27:57] these folks had been successful in
building, I would say, um, similarly
[28:03] scaled highway department buildings in
Vermont in Glover, Vers, Sheffield, and
[28:09] Sharon. And we kind of were
basically you get a little bit of cost
[28:16] efficiency with them not reinventing the
wheel, so to speak, in terms of like a
[28:20] basic design. I wouldn't say any of them
were fancy fancy. Um, the plans that
[28:26] they brought down that were more
detailed were from Sheffield, which was
[28:30] last year. And, you know, they did have
some stuff that we might or might not
[28:35] think was necessary in Brandon. They had
a a radiant floor heating system, which
[28:40] our highway department really would like
to have, but they also had a second
[28:44] boiler with blowing, you know, heat
exchanger kind of heat. So there was two
[28:49] heating systems in the same garage to de
ice trucks, you know, and things like
[28:54] that. I also asked them as part of their
scope of work. I gave them the site plan
[28:59] that we have for what we've got up there
now, which has the wetlands delineation
[29:03] that Bill got from the state. Um,
basically shows what's wetland we have
[29:08] to stay out of, what's buffer zone we
have to stay out of, and what's
[29:12] available to work with. Um and then I
also asked them to consider the salt
[29:17] shed because our salt shed is not
sufficient um in size or really in
[29:24] condition at this point to think about
working around it. So that's going to be
[29:28] something that they're going to also
take into consideration.
[29:33] So if um this is one way to get the
project off the ground and if you want
[29:38] to get the project off the ground with
them um I think you'll find them
[29:41] responsive to you know what we had for
concerns and the the estimate or the
[29:47] quote is for $10,000 which you could do
from the local option tax or the fund
[29:53] balance. My recommendation is always to
spend it from the most restrictive fund
[29:57] that is eligible, which would be the
local option tax, because this would
[30:01] clearly be a capital project. This would
be the down payment on a capital
[30:04] project, and that would leave you more
flexibility in the fund balance of the
[30:08] general fund.
[30:13] » Questions from board? Yeah.
[30:19] Is this is is this like a normal cost to
do something like this? Is this a Does
[30:26] anybody have any experience? I have no
clue on if this is a
[30:30] » I mean we um you know we scoped out the
forestale path at like what did that
[30:35] cost?
>> $45,000. I mean prelimin and that also
[30:40] was not like buildable construction
design, right? So, this is kind of I
[30:45] think a a pretty [gasps]
pretty standard um or I think this is
[30:51] actually a good value again because
they've got this little mini This is not
[30:56] all they do is build highway barns. They
build lots of things and they just
[30:59] happen to have built four highway
departments in Vermont in the last seven
[31:03] or eight years. Um I think we're getting
a little bit of cost efficiency from
[31:07] that. I understand it's, you know,
$10,000. It's a big number. It is a big
[31:11] number, but we're not going to be able
to
[31:15] build this the way that Well, I mean,
you can you can consider it, right? I
[31:20] mean, we can consider building this kind
of like really on on a shoestring just
[31:24] on our own, but we're going to run into
some pretty serious
[31:29] um environmental concerns up there
because of what we have there now and
[31:34] the wet ones that adjoin so closely. So,
I think we've got to do this in a very
[31:39] professional way. And to me, spending
this money, investing this money to make
[31:45] sure that we're kind of like making the
first decisions in the right direction,
[31:49] um, would be money well spent. Cuz if we
start making the first decisions and
[31:53] we're going a little bit offkilter, by
the time we get to the other end, we'll
[31:56] be far off of, you know, what would be
acceptable in in modern construction
[32:01] kind of terms.
[32:07] Um, can you just touch on when we're
when we're planning to be ready and go
[32:12] to bond vote? So, so their their time
frame is um on the
[32:18] third page and their schedule is about a
an 8week process, right? So, it would be
[32:25] taking all of September and October
really. So, which is why we can't vote
[32:30] this in November at the election. We
won't be ready. So then after September
[32:34] and October when they're done, they'll
deliver. They have that list of
[32:38] deliverables. They'll deliver to you.
Here's a recommendation and an alternate
[32:43] uh kind of situation. And then we can
spend time with them in December, even
[32:50] September, Octo November and December.
You can spend some time like, well,
[32:55] let's let's not have that secondary
heating system or let's make the salt
[32:59] shed this big and not that big or
whatever we decide to do to kind of get
[33:03] the construction number to where we want
it to be. And that would be November,
[33:07] December. Get ready for publication in
January, have some public have a public
[33:12] hearing before town meeting and vote it
at town meeting in March.
[33:17] That's the
>> not not at town meeting that that
[33:20] election day
>> papers on paper Australian ballot all
[33:23] the voters
>> let's say yes
[33:25] » but in conjunction with that election in
March
[33:30] you can see the last page of the little
uh section in the packet is not from
[33:34] them it's from the bond bank and that's
the anticipated payment if it were to
[33:39] cost $3 million which I think is
possible
[33:44] uh depending on what they come up with
as an order. They tell me as an order of
[33:48] magnitude, this is not um is not far off
what what their ballpark guess would be.
[33:54] So $3 million if you look in that
furthest right table that says annual
[33:58] debt service schedule. Um the first year
is high and then it goes down from
[34:03] there. But essentially you're paying
$150,000 of principal every year and
[34:08] then you're paying interest in in
descending amounts from $125,000 down to
[34:13] $3,000 per year. What essentially it
would mean to do this without raising
[34:19] taxes is you'd need to take all the
money that is in the town's budget now
[34:25] to pay the segment six bond and use all
of that and then you'd need an equal
[34:31] amount and for the first few years a
slightly greater amount than that to
[34:34] come out of the 1% money to pay the
total bond payment without raising
[34:38] taxes.
So basically 50/50.
[34:48] It's a big um commitment of the 1% money
on a long basis, a 20-year loan. Um but
[34:57] it's it's a way to do it without raising
taxes.
[35:01] And that's if it's $3 million. Maybe it
will be less. I I would love it to be
[35:06] less. I don't know that it less.
[35:14] You're not committing to any of that.
You know, we're just that's just for
[35:17] your information and pondering
[35:23] » discussion from the board.
[35:30] » I can tell you I met with Seth today. I
looked at I was a proponent for the hoop
[35:35] building that we put up there a few
years ago. Um, I used to get a a farm
[35:42] tech magazine pretty regularly about
farm type buildings and the hoop
[35:45] building and I see that they're used in
highway departments all over the place.
[35:50] Um, and that building has worked out
really well for us at a not a big amount
[35:57] of money. Um, and so I went back into my
repertoire of farm type stuff and
[36:06] there's a company called Clear Span and
they make either hoop or metal buildings
[36:12] that can be insulated in whatever. So I
passed that information on to Seth just
[36:17] saying, you know, we should look at
every option if we have from now until
[36:21] December to make a final decision. And I
don't know if Clear Span would be better
[36:28] or worse or cheaper or more expensive,
but I I I did go through their web page
[36:34] and they had buildings in there that are
being used for fire departments and um
[36:41] town highway garages, etc. So, it's just
a matter of now maybe reaching out to
[36:46] them or or whatever. So, I mean, I like
to
[36:51] » um you gave me the information enough to
get, you know, get a quote from them or
[36:55] get an estimate from them or get their
interest. Yeah.
[36:58] » Yeah.
>> I will do that.
[37:00] » Um Yeah. Yeah, cuz I I have to say when
when we started discussing this a year
[37:06] and a half ago, it was hoped that, you
know, oh, we're just going to pack cash
[37:10] in segment six bond and have another
bond to be of the equal amount. And when
[37:15] we're looking at three million bucks,
it's likely. So, um, you know, it's just
[37:20] a matter of trying to see what numbers
come in and they may come in lower than
[37:24] that. So, but clearly our building is in
pretty bad shape. I mean, I guess as a
[37:31] very first step, like the select board
kind of like being at consensus that
[37:35] yes, you want to build a new building up
there is probably a great kind of
[37:40] resolutionish kind of finding. Like I
don't if you're all on board with that,
[37:44] that's that's enough to start from. If
if there's contrary opinions about that,
[37:50] we probably should air those out before
we start spending money.
[37:55] » I'm certainly in favor of a new
building. I mean, the building there is
[37:59] It was old 20 years ago. You know, it's
uh uh actively leaking. It's not big
[38:04] enough for the trucks.
It's just not doing a job. And as we've
[38:08] talked about, there's not really
anywhere else on that site that makes
[38:12] any sense for it until you start hitting
wetlands.
[38:18] I think we're just pouring heat right
out right right out through the walls
[38:23] and roof indoors and it's an
unacceptable works workspace. You know,
[38:29] the questions just becomes how big do we
have to have take care of our trucks?
[38:34] You know, what's the what's the now need
and what's the need for the next 10 or
[38:39] 15 years look like? So,
[38:45] anyone else?
I like the thought of exploring that
[38:48] other option.
[38:53] » So if we're going to explore another
option, do you want to move forward with
[38:57] code to be doing this engineering thing?
Would we need this either way?
[39:03] » You'll need a you'll need some kind of
site design phase. Yes. Because they're
[39:07] going to have to consider all of the
components. It's like if we get in touch
[39:11] with Clear Span, they're going to assume
like we've got the dimensions that they
[39:16] need and it's flat and it's clean. And
in our case,
[39:20] » that's not the case. Like in our case,
if it's the dimensions that we need,
[39:23] we've got a building sitting there that
we've got to remove. And then we've got
[39:27] to think about the floor drains in the
building and the systems that support
[39:31] that and so on and so forth. I did
already kind of lob um co and co a
[39:37] thought that we had been talking about
trying to connect the highway department
[39:41] to the town sanitary sewer so that the
bathroom could be you know taken care of
[39:47] by getting it across the road into the
Champlain pump station. I would perceive
[39:51] that to be probably an expensive
component. And what's up there now is
[39:55] apparently a holding tank that just gets
pumped on a fairly infrequent basis, but
[40:01] sufficiently pumped. And I I suggested
to Co and Co, maybe we just don't even
[40:06] go down the road of, you know, forcing
the wastewater into the pump station. We
[40:11] just plan on building a new modern
holding tank system there. It should be
[40:16] less money. We won't be able to build a
traditional on-site um leechfield kind
[40:22] of situation because of the constraints
of the site
[40:32] » that we go forward with the ending code
and code for a initial engineering
[40:36] phase.
>> I'll second that.
[40:41] I think it's a step we need to go
through no matter what.
[40:45] Any
discussion? No discussion. All in favor
[40:50] of this say I. I. No.
>> Thank.
[40:56] » Do you want to talk about how you want
to fund that?
[41:00] » How we want to fund the 10,000?
>> Right.
[41:05] um
[41:08] this moment I just I guess I go in your
wisdom where I would say from last
[41:14] year's reserve first thing that can come
out of the reserve or something
[41:20] » and I still like this idea of playing
off police station but
[41:23] » no that's that's valid
>> you know I I
[41:26] » I guess my maybe if you think about it
this way the reserve money can always be
[41:31] added to 1% money for capital stuff, but
the 1% money cannot ever be thrown into
[41:36] the general fund reserve. Do you know
what I mean? So, I I I would prefer if
[41:42] you don't think it's difficult, I would
prefer to spend it from the capital
[41:45] fund, which is the 1% money.
>> It's fine with me. Y
[41:51] » Okay.
>> Could you make a motion in that
[41:55] direction?
>> I move that that $10,000 comes out of
[41:57] the 1% option tax.
>> Thank
[42:01] you.
>> All in favor? I
[42:02] » I
>> thank you.
[42:04] » No one. Okay.
Um
[42:10] knew that was going to be a long one.
Number eight was going to drag us right
[42:13] down. [laughter] Um number nine,
uh consider intram designation ratifying
[42:20] no parking zone between the gazebo and
the monument.
[42:26] And that has been flagged off this week.
I looked at it today and I agree with it
[42:31] 100% because it's just traffic accidents
waiting to happen. Every time somebody
[42:35] tries to back up, it's too narrow.
>> So if we you want to say anything about
[42:43] that because I'm ready to make
>> Well, if the community, you know,
[42:45] doesn't have an awareness of what I
wrote, maybe I'll just give a quick
[42:48] summary. So, we're talking about Central
Park, the west end, there's parking on
[42:53] both the north and the south. And then
there's a crosswalk from the fountain
[42:58] and between the fountain and the
dispensary. The middle section, there's
[43:02] parking only on the north side toward
the Brandon Inn. And then there's
[43:06] supposed to be no parking by the gazebo,
but in practice, that's been a bus stop.
[43:10] And that's actually, you know, one of
the designs that was allowed for. And
[43:13] then there's a crosswalk from 22 Park
over toward the gazebo. And then the
[43:18] eastern end that goes toward Park
Street, that's essentially just a
[43:21] two-way driveway, and there should be no
parking in that at all. That's what uh
[43:26] we've had the police put up the
temporary signage for. Um it really is
[43:30] starting to become something that is a
perennial kind of every weekend when
[43:35] things are busy down there. Um there's a
lot of cars and it does make it unsafe
[43:41] for motorists, pedestrians. um the bus
that does come through. Um I I would
[43:46] recommend at least that eastern third uh
be found to be no parking. And again,
[43:51] this is all what the board accepted from
the design engineers of segment 6, but
[43:57] it never made it into the traffic
ordinance. So, what I'm asking for
[44:01] tonight is for this to be done until
like as a stop gap measure while the
[44:07] traffic ordinance kind of gets a full A
to Z rewrite. It's a very complex
[44:14] ordinance. My preference would be that
both the middle and the eastern side be
[44:19] signed for no parking along the park
because that would allow you to back out
[44:23] of the Brandon in spots if you were
parked in the Brand and I say the
[44:27] Brandon in spots. Those are not spots
spots just for Brandon in guests. Those
[44:32] are public parking spots. The Brandon in
has its own parking behind the inn. Um,
[44:37] anybody can use that for doing their
their Brandon Commerce errands or
[44:40] whatever. Um, and I think it would be
safer for all if there were no parking
[44:44] there on the side opposite.
[44:49] » Okay. Now, I make a motion that we uh
>> What's
[44:54] Go ahead.
>> What's enforcement going to be? How are
[44:57] we going to enforce that?
>> Well, if you find so like if I just have
[45:00] the police put out posters, they can,
you know, write tickets that will not
[45:06] stand up. If you find that this is a,
you know, this is your directive, then
[45:12] it's like an ordinance in a temporary
way and they can write tickets that will
[45:16] stand up.
>> Okay. Good. Good. Cuz
[45:19] this isn't the only spot that we need to
look at for fire. So that's so the the
[45:24] reason that I'm bringing this and I
hadn't brought other stuff before is the
[45:28] select board has always wanted not to do
peace meal tinkering with the traffic
[45:32] ordinance which is smart is a good idea.
Um but the traffic ordinance is not even
[45:38] two meetings three meetings away from
coming back to the select board. This
[45:42] the traffic ordinance is still in in
quite a state of under review.
[45:49] Can they put some of those no parking
signs right out here?
[45:53] » Well, that's what I'm saying. Like,
really? No. Like, we we can't just like
[45:57] start willy-nilly placing no parking
because those are not enforceable. They
[46:03] can do it for the parade for a brief
period of time, but what I'm talking
[46:06] about is a more more permanent
designation. Yeah.
[46:09] » So, we need to wrap up the parking in
the street. we need to deal something
[46:13] with the traffic ordinance and um we can
we can make an effort whether I think
[46:18] that the board had kind of determined
that the traffic ordinance was going to
[46:22] be looked at separate from the other the
main ordinance review right of all of
[46:26] the the book of ordinances and policies.
So maybe we just need to prioritize
[46:31] doing that before you get into the the
sticky wickets of the the main review of
[46:35] the book.
[46:39] » Okay. Okay. So, I'll make a motion that
we uh designate no parking zone between
[46:44] the gazebo and the monument. Um,
actually, I think it should start at the
[46:50] crosswalk.
>> Yeah.
[46:52] » Down at uh where where the parking on
that side of the road ends all the way
[46:57] down.
>> So, the middle section between the two
[47:00] crosswalks and eastern section that's
toward Park Street. None of that is
[47:04] painted as parking spots and people are
parking there and
[47:08] » it's a problem.
>> That's my motion.
[47:12] » I will second that
>> discussion.
[47:16] And just to be clear, we are not
touching the parking spots in front of
[47:18] the brand, but everywhere else is
>> correct. All in favor?
[47:24] I
>> I
[47:25] » I
post
[47:28] no one you if the should be current once
what that looks like I can give you that
[47:34] okay half
[47:39] » okay well there you get to get up
>> pictures of circles and arrows and
[47:44] everything there um [clears throat]
[47:49] » yes
[47:52] Make your way.
>> Barbrier,
[47:55] » Barb Scribner, I had a question. So
those parking spots
[48:00] there, the bus that comes or buses, can
we put some lined items painted that say
[48:07] loading zone for bus or
>> Yes.
[48:09] » something to designate so people realize
that they are allowed to do that for the
[48:15] community.
>> Yep. They've been they've been done in
[48:17] the past. The town crew is happy to put
them down. They get ignored. they get um
[48:22] you know messed up in the winter like
they have to be done every spring
[48:25] » just like the crosswalks. Yeah, [gasps]
we can definitely do it.
[48:33] Okay, moving on. Item 10.
Uh item 10 says followup request on road
[48:40] closure Pearl Street for the harvest
dance October 2nd.
[48:46] » I was looking to provide some more
information to you guys. uh the last
[48:49] meeting when I brought this upation some
questions asked about uh safety and the
[48:56] like um since the last meeting reached
out to chief
[49:03] chief
and both were had no issues with this
[49:09] being a closure spoke with uh Andy
Jackson of the
[49:16] rescue squad. He had some concerns um
saying the response time they
[49:21] experienced when they had during the
flooding uh had about five minutes
[49:25] response time on both long swap short
swap.
[49:32] some concerns about that and the
possibility another road were closed
[49:36] that night that that might need to be
bypassure
[49:57] things happen
[50:01] the barn out having somebody monitoring
scanner make sure there was no issue the
[50:07] barn sorry the covered bridge is our
guess the covered bridge um cover um
[50:13] it'll be able to clear that up fairly
quickly in a safe man
[50:18] and that was that road that had be
closed say champ street
[50:24] that we could end the dance early open
up streets
[50:31] So many streets. Um so the uh so that
was around the safety concerns. Um there
[50:36] was uh there's a question about whether
or not Barn Opera was on board to
[50:40] collaborate. I provided you um all four
of you uh
[50:46] here into the record if anybody wants to
hear it. Um dear select board, my name
[50:50] is Josh Kier. I'm the artistic director
of Opera Vermont in Barn Opera. I'm
[50:54] writing on behalf of the board of
directors of our organization support
[50:58] Brandon and Connie Wright events and I'm
delighted to be a part of why I have
[51:01] will no doubt be an annual event. It's
vitally important for our community to
[51:05] continue to find ways to innovate,
create and provide cultural
[51:07] opportunities for all of us with the
proximity of the Sanderson Bridge to the
[51:11] Barn Opera House. It benefits all of us
to open our beloved space to our
[51:15] community to remind all of us that Barn
Opera House is not just for opera but
[51:18] rather for community events providing
another beautiful event space in Brandon
[51:22] area for million different purposes.
We're grateful for the offer to
[51:25] collaborate on this event and hopefully
others like it in the future. I know
[51:28] that we all look forward to the
remarkable sess success that is
[51:33] to be sending all my best on behalf of
the board of directors of Barn Opera
[51:36] Inc. Josh Kier. There's a PS. Uh, my
daughters Lily and Chloe are already
[51:40] picking out their best fall dancing
outfits for the event. So, how can I
[51:43] possibly again be against this very fun
event
[51:48] and that is
[51:52] I mean I mean I do have some covered
bridge people here I think if they'd
[51:55] like to speak to their excitement about
it as well.
[52:02] » Scott, 69 Park Street. Um, I'd like to
say that I'm here on behalf of the board
[52:08] of the Mont Crumb Ridge Society, but I
haven't received all of the votes back
[52:12] uh for full support, but I can tell you
that you have my full support. I'll be
[52:16] there. I will um donate my time. I'll
come and help clean up afterwards uh
[52:21] because I think it's a great, you know,
great way to uh promote our bridge, our
[52:28] covered bridge here in town. So I thank
all you guys for, you know, coming up
[52:32] with this opportunity to to do that. We
need to keep our uh focus on our bridges
[52:38] and um so yeah, thank you very much and
I will let you know as soon as I hear
[52:44] back from my board. I' I've I need to
have the full boards, you know, approval
[52:48] before I can come up here and say we're
going to support you 100%. But I can
[52:52] tell you that um I have submitted a uh
article in our newsletter which is
[52:57] getting ready to come out um just
promoting the uh event. So um I know all
[53:03] of the Coverbridge Society members are
going to see that it's going on, but I'd
[53:07] like to also do uh once I get approval,
I'd like to do a shout out to all our
[53:11] members and just say come to Brandon,
check it out, come see our bridge
[53:15] because we're proud of it. So thank you
very much.
[53:20] Yeah.
[53:25] Dan Culage. So when you talk about
closing a road,
[53:30] to me it needs to be something major.
It's not a small thing to close. You're
[53:38] using Barn Opera. They couldn't hold the
dance in the in the building. And you
[53:45] could just maybe close the road for an
hour so people could check out the
[53:48] bridge and walk around. do a shorter
part that's on the bridge for road
[53:54] closure and then have everything else in
the barn opera or a different location.
[54:01] To me, you know, you're setting a
precedent. You keep closing roads for
[54:05] this and that the other thing. And to
me, that should be your last resort to
[54:11] close a road
that, you know, can't you accomplish the
[54:15] same thing having tours of the bridge,
you know, have it closed for a short
[54:19] period of time, not for four or five
hours?
[54:23] I'm just wondering
>> if they thought that answer.
[54:29] » Um, sure. I mean, I think what
the genesis of this idea is that we're
[54:34] not the first people to think about
doing this.
[54:37] There's a a place New Hampshire, was it
Jackson, New Hampshire? Jackson, New
[54:41] Hampshire that does this. This is would
be a kind of fun, cool event. And road
[54:45] closure is a big deal, which is why the
select board needs to needs to approve
[54:49] it. Um, but this is not the only time we
ever vote to close roads. And since
[54:54] 1976, we voted to close the road, Route
7,
[54:59] major north south thort
[55:05] opportunity for a fun event. I'm I'm
just saying it's I'm just I'm just
[55:09] trying to say like like we do close
roads.
[55:14] » You know, my my proposal was to clo to
close the road from 5 to 10. It would be
[55:18] five hours. The event itself would be 3
hours in the middle of that time. And
[55:23] then, you know, in either side of that,
you know, like as quickly as we can
[55:26] clean out the bridge, you know, the
bridge could be open at 9:15
[55:29] potentially. I mean, people have gone at
8:30. I mean, it's But I wanted to make
[55:33] sure that the
that we had a solid be uh beginning as
[55:40] the end would allow the opportunity to
open the road more easily. And again,
[55:44] that the folks on either side of the
bridge um would have access to their
[55:49] homes. The sign closing the road will be
at Corona Street, but anybody beyond
[55:53] Croner Street down to the last driveway
before the bridge on this side of the
[55:58] bridge would have access to their homes.
And conversely, everybody on the other
[56:02] side of the bridge would have access to
their homes from the other side.
[56:07] » I spoke out against this at the last
meeting.
[56:11] I think it's a great event. I don't
think it's a good place to have it. Not
[56:14] in a bridge. And uh
[56:19] I'm not going to be in favor of it. I
don't think it's great for the residents
[56:22] of Pearl Street or the people on Short
or Long Schlom. [clears throat]
[56:30] » Opinion. Um, I could kind of go either
way on it. Um, in the interest of
[56:36] fairness, we did get I think Alma
Lakeboard got an email from a Pearl
[56:39] Street resident who was pretty strongly
opposed
[56:43] uh to the event. We also have this one
that is very strongly in favor from a
[56:45] Pearl Street resident.
organization director. Um so clearly it
[56:52] is not firmly in one direction or the
other. Um I hear the argument that
[56:58] closing a bridge is and closing a road
is
[57:01] a major significant thing. I also hear
the argument that this could be another
[57:06] way to put Brandon on the map in the
fall. Um
[57:12] I'm on the fence.
We have a
[57:16] » Yeah.
>> Yeah. Uh Cecil had asked at the last
[57:20] meeting about what the residents down
there think of it. We've got two. Have
[57:24] we asked any others?
[57:29] » I spoke with
on Long Swamp Road.
[57:34] » Oh, it was on Long Swap Road and she had
no concerns, but she works in the town
[57:38] offices. Full disclosure.
[57:42] And we have we have other parks in town.
We got Eststerbrook. There's plenty of
[57:48] other facilities that could have the
event. I know it's not a covered bridge,
[57:52] but
you are correct. We could do a dinner
[57:57] brook or any of our downtown parks. I
think the idea of the the bridge has its
[58:04] own
interesting
[58:08] flavor to it, which is is good. Um, I
understand your your concerns and I
[58:16] talked with Seth and Bill today on on
mine and said I'm in the same particular
[58:20] boat that in one hand I'd love to see it
happen and another hand
[58:25] I'm on the fence. I wonder if this would
be an item to table for another two
[58:30] weeks till we have our full board here,
but that's up to the board. I
[58:35] » And I think in fairness, I'll make a
motion we table this for two weeks.
[58:41] » I'll second that.
>> Okay. And we have a motion to table it
[58:44] for two weeks.
Uh any discussion on that official
[58:49] motion?
>> We could put out a bulletin to street
[58:53] folks. I think that would be
>> go door to door to the folks on the
[58:57] street that you want to give me give me
addresses
[59:02] besides Pearl Street in addition what
other street sorry I don't go out that
[59:07] much that way what other street would
you be the um
[59:14] » I person
would be Pearl Street the other side of
[59:18] Pearl Street a couple houses there then
you get the long swap and it's kind of a
[59:22] long stretch
[59:26] No other street.
>> You can take long swim. You go up over
[59:29] Marshall Phillips, end up on High Pond
Road. Yeah.
[59:33] » Yeah.
>> And and come in on
[59:35] » as they say, you can get there from
here. There's there's a lot of different
[59:38] ways to skin that cat as far as, you
know, but immediate impacts I would be
[59:43] the folks on. I would say there's only
one house on that side of the bridge you
[59:48] should talk to and on this side there's
everybody out the corona. That make
[59:53] sense?
>> Absolutely.
[59:55] » Yeah.
>> But on this side everybody that's there
[59:57] can get access in and out during the
entire time of the event.
[1:00:02] » Yeah.
>> And they can get access into town and
[1:00:06] back to their house any time during the
event.
[1:00:08] » Right. I I don't think Cecil's concern
was access. I think she her was
[1:00:13] » knowledge of it and that they were on
board and that kind of stuff is what her
[1:00:17] concern
>> you give me that not the absence of the
[1:00:20] houses but the streets that are the
concerns.
[1:00:23] » I will go from house to house and and
bring back that information or get a
[1:00:27] bill for two weeks from now so we can
get an idea of the folks that it really
[1:00:31] is going to impact if it really impacts
them. I'm not sure how many would impact
[1:00:38] that are that close to the bridge is
what I I'm trying to visualize.
[1:00:44] Is there any way you can cut the time
frame to
[1:00:48] » that's a consideration? I certainly um
>> group seven for the July parade is like
[1:00:54] two hours and it's easy to get around
that isn't. So if you cut it down
[1:01:03] instead of five hours, you know, that
would make it a lot more doable and less
[1:01:10] chance of, you know, rescue had to, you
know, time is a lot when you're the one
[1:01:15] needing rescue. So if you can cut that
down, it might have a chance of having
[1:01:22] appreciate the suggestion.
>> As the free DJ, I don't mind making it a
[1:01:26] shorter event.
>> Yeah. And in defense of closing the
[1:01:28] road, I mean, we closed Park Street for
numerous parades,
[1:01:35] um, you know, Memorial Day, Veterans
Day.
[1:01:41] » So,
>> well, if I could interject, I now live
[1:01:44] on the part of Park Street that nobody
asks if you want it closed or not, and
[1:01:48] it's closed, and you can't get out of
your driveway in a car on parade day.
[1:01:52] And it's always been that way. We get
alerted by a slip of paper dropped into
[1:01:58] our mailboxes the night before by the
volunteers who work hard to put on a
[1:02:02] great parade and it just says don't
leave your driveway from like 8:00 in
[1:02:07] the morning until noon. [laughter]
>> Feel like someone should talk to the
[1:02:10] town about that.
>> Well, I don't think the select board
[1:02:12] votes to close Park Street Extension. I
don't think that that's ever been part
[1:02:17] of the, you know, parade stuff. It's
just street and the people on Pearl
[1:02:22] Street are not going to be
inconvenienced at that level because
[1:02:25] they're always going to be able to get
in and out of their driveways in a car.
[1:02:29] So, I feel like I don't mind that they
close my road on Independence Day
[1:02:34] weekend and I can't get out in a car.
Like, I feel like it's a very small
[1:02:39] inconvenience to pay for a really
excellent community event. And, you
[1:02:43] know, we all live in community with each
other. We don't have the privilege of
[1:02:47] living in island on islands and then
just kind of going somewhere else for
[1:02:51] entertainment. Like to get entertained
sometimes we all have to have a little
[1:02:55] skin in the game. And again, I really
don't think the Pearl Street folks are
[1:02:59] going to have the same level of
inconvenience as when they close Park
[1:03:03] Street from Marble Street out to Country
Club Road for the Fourth of July parade.
[1:03:09] » Yeah. and worth saying that the house
that is would probably be the most
[1:03:12] inconvenienced is strongly in favor of
the event. So
[1:03:16] there is that.
>> Okay. So we do have a motion in a second
[1:03:19] to table for until the next meeting. All
in favor?
[1:03:22] » I I
>> I Okay, we'll give you a final decision
[1:03:26] in two weeks.
Um
[1:03:31] item 11,
followup item um considering townwide
[1:03:36] reappraisal. You found out some more
information. do have a little more
[1:03:40] information. Um, so I provided some to
the board, but so the community knows,
[1:03:45] um, we have had some contacts with some
of the towns, like getting some
[1:03:49] referrals and so forth, and that's been
good. Jill Brooks at the town office is
[1:03:53] keeping a file of all of the information
that we've got from the other towns.
[1:03:58] Essentially,
um, it's widely the towns are satisfied
[1:04:03] with the assessing firms that they chose
to assess their towns, right? So like in
[1:04:07] general um any of those four you'll find
a prepoundonderance of the experience to
[1:04:14] have been positive uh by the towns that
they've recently reappraised. The
[1:04:19] information that I shared with the board
um that I think is worth the board
[1:04:23] thinking about is um is that our current
professional assessor is through a
[1:04:30] contract with NEMRI which is the third
firm listed on the chart that was in the
[1:04:35] summary.
So she work she's an employee of
[1:04:39] Nerrich. The town pays Nerk to have her
professional appraiser service, a
[1:04:44] professional assessor services in
Brandon kind of on an ongoing basis.
[1:04:50] Nermeric has a policy that came to us um
I think since the last meeting, right?
[1:04:56] We didn't know this at the last meeting.
So, this is what I want you to think
[1:04:59] about. Nermeric will reappraise a town
where somebody else is the assessor.
[1:05:05] But if Nememerch is the assessor and the
town chooses someone else to reappraise,
[1:05:10] Nermch will not be the assessor anymore.
Does that make sense?
[1:05:17] So if the board um were to select Nerk,
we would likely maintain our current
[1:05:26] relationship with Nerk as our
professional assessor. We don't have an
[1:05:30] in-house on staff assessor's clerk
anymore,
[1:05:35] but we would be looking at a two at a at
a summer of 2032
[1:05:40] townwide reappraisal completion date.
Right? This is a long way off.
[1:05:45] If the town if the board were to choose
one of the other three firms, we would
[1:05:49] then at the same time need to make a
transition away from using Nerrich as
[1:05:55] our kind of on our our in-house
assessor. we would need to find somebody
[1:05:59] else to do that. It's not impossible.
It's just a significant uh consideration
[1:06:04] that I think bears thought
[1:06:10] » kind of boils down to is the extra
weight time for NRIC worth not going
[1:06:15] through the hassle of it may boil down
to that. Y
[1:06:21] » So you're not officially making a
recommendation for us to make a decision
[1:06:25] on tonight
>> here. I was I was uh looking for some
[1:06:29] maybe board sense or direction about
what you
[1:06:34] preferred we we do. Yeah,
>> I can say that I still was not excited
[1:06:41] about their completion date. Long way
off.
[1:06:45] So
you're saying that the New England
[1:06:48] Municipal and the Real Capital
Consulting both had good references.
[1:06:53] » Yes.
>> Yeah.
[1:06:54] » And so did Nerk in fairness?
>> Yes. Oh yeah.
[1:06:56] » Yeah.
[1:07:04] » Clear as stone. One more time.
>> Yes, please. Otherwise, Zoom can't hear
[1:07:11] you.
>> You're going to have to learn to sit in
[1:07:12] the front row.
>> Only the smart kids in the front.
[1:07:18] Claire, now I forgot what I wanted to
know. So I I guess I don't like the idea
[1:07:24] of somebody um saying you stick with us
and do it this way or we're done. So
[1:07:30] what is that about and why are they able
to hold us on such a tight leash? Like
[1:07:38] what do they have so much of that we
need?
[1:07:41] » We operate I don't want to speak for
them but you know we operate in a market
[1:07:46] of very few providers of a specialty
service.
[1:07:50] It is for nothing,
>> right? Yeah. And and and it's to do with
[1:07:54] the fact that every town needs this kind
of service and there's maybe well
[1:08:00] there's there's 14 total licensed firms
in Vermont who can do this. A bunch of
[1:08:07] them won't even consider it because
we're too far away from where they
[1:08:11] operate and they're a small firm,
whatever, blah blah blah. So, we heard
[1:08:14] back from only six. Two of them declined
to propose. We got the four. I mean the
[1:08:20] I don't want to speak for anybody for
any of them. They all presented
[1:08:23] proposals. They all have um references
that are solid. They all have track
[1:08:29] records in Vermont in towns our size or
bigger or smaller. All of those things.
[1:08:36] The key drivers are dates and pricing
and this other component of the
[1:08:43] relationship that you have. I mean, I
did look around quickly after I got that
[1:08:48] news and I was like, well, what do the
other towns do, right? And so, like,
[1:08:51] some of the other towns have an on staff
assessor,
[1:08:56] part-time, full-time, whatever. It
depends on the side of the town. I don't
[1:09:00] think that's a good option for Brandon.
I really like that we pay an assessing
[1:09:05] firm that has professional licensed
assessors and we pay them for the work
[1:09:10] that they do in Brandon at at a good
rate. You know, like it's a it's a
[1:09:15] professional person's rate. It's not a a
clerk's rate. Um that we used to have a
[1:09:21] clerk that worked in Brandon to support
the assessor and we don't have that
[1:09:25] relationship anymore. I I think what we
have is nice.
[1:09:29] Could we explore it with another firm? I
I believe we could explore it with
[1:09:34] another firm. There's also the question
of the software. Um many of them use
[1:09:39] different forms of assessing software.
And that's one of the considerations is
[1:09:44] what's compatible with what we do now.
Is it time for us to kind of refresh
[1:09:48] that or is it time for us to recommmit
to it? Those kinds of things. It's it's
[1:09:52] a big decision.
>> It is. Yeah. And it's a big process.
[1:09:55] » Yeah. So, I was just curious about why
the leash with that company.
[1:10:02] » I mean, I I guess if you're going to
kind of continue to do the support role,
[1:10:09] maybe this is like you do the support
role expecting that when the big job
[1:10:14] comes, like we don't pay the assessor
even $20,000 a year, right? We get our
[1:10:20] assessing done for in the teens of
thousands of dollars a year. And when it
[1:10:26] comes time for the $250, $300,000 job, I
maybe they believe they're owed some
[1:10:32] difference. I don't know.
[1:10:37] » Just a curios.
>> Yep.
[1:10:38] » Thank you.
>> I'd be curious to get a idea of the uh
[1:10:44] town office staff's opinion on whether
the NMR software is worth sticking with
[1:10:49] or not.
>> We could stick with the NRA software.
[1:10:53] Gotcha.
that that's that's not in conversation.
[1:10:58] » We're to switch away from them or we
might not necessarily that might not
[1:11:02] necessarily dovetail with whatever.
>> It's a very technical question. I don't
[1:11:05] want to answer because I don't know the
answer. Yeah, I understand what you're
[1:11:08] asking though and that's that's exactly
what we need to consider.
[1:11:13] » Just trying to get an idea of the I
don't need to know everything but like
[1:11:16] the
>> leg work involved. The NEMIC grand list
[1:11:18] will still work, right,
>> if we put values in it from some other
[1:11:22] software that's done a townwide
reappraisal. I believe we've had that
[1:11:25] experience in the past actually.
[1:11:32] » So then I think we take this as an FYI
and you're going to come back to us more
[1:11:36] information later.
>> Yep.
[1:11:39] » Okay. Bingo.
>> This I did I did talk with the state
[1:11:42] property valuation and review department
like specifically about it and um our
[1:11:48] person who's in charge of making sure
Brandon is like you know assessing
[1:11:52] fairly and so forth. She indicated that
the completion date was less of a
[1:11:59] concern to them because they're aware
that there's a limited number of firms
[1:12:02] that can do this. And what they want to
um be sure is that we're in a process
[1:12:09] that's going to lead to a a full
reappraisal in a and that that's that's
[1:12:14] their main concern less the time.
>> Yeah,
[1:12:19] » we may have other we may have our own
reasons to want the time to
[1:12:22] » say Mr. Buer. Yeah, scrap Ber. What was
the software that gives us so much
[1:12:28] trouble? Is that the billing one for
utilities or there?
[1:12:33] » Well, there was one that that you said
[gasps]
[1:12:37] » budget
>> is problematic
[1:12:39] » and budget workshops. So, NEMRI is like
a big umbrella and there are little
[1:12:46] modules within NEMR and the town uses a
lot of them and um I believe all of what
[1:12:52] we use for like assessing and water and
sewer bills and um the grand list and
[1:13:01] property taxes and the general ledger. I
believe these are all NEMR modules and I
[1:13:07] don't think we have another software
that's driving anything except maybe
[1:13:12] your wreck stuff is like living off on
its own like my wreck platform or
[1:13:17] something, right? Yeah.
>> So, it is NERC that we spoke of in the
[1:13:21] past that that is kind of touchy.
>> It it can be it can be hard to navigate.
[1:13:27] It's it's been uh used by Vermont towns
for many many many many years and it's
[1:13:33] tailored for Vermont towns and it works
for Vermont towns and um it's not really
[1:13:41] it's not really kind of been changed
that I can understand. It's not really
[1:13:45] been modernized or updated or things of
that nature.
[1:13:48] » So you're not unhappy with it.
[laughter]
[1:13:51] » That's my question. So that mean
>> it's come up before
[1:13:55] » as town manager I don't use much other
than the general ledger right I go in
[1:13:59] and I make sure like this department
that department I can see these things I
[1:14:02] can make some reports for the select
board to consider the people who use
[1:14:06] NRIC all the day long are like Jackie
who is human resources and Jill who is
[1:14:12] accounts payable and the town clerk and
the deputy town clerk like those four
[1:14:15] people are in Nerrich all the day long
in various parts of it and I I know that
[1:14:22] it does the job that they need it to do.
>> Okay. Thank you.
[1:14:26] » And from my limited experience finding a
robust data management software,
[1:14:32] none of them work that well. Find one
that is robust and that is something.
[1:14:41] Okay, we'll wait for you to tell us
about it another time.
[1:14:44] » Okay, now we're at the favorite part of
the meeting. Item 12, public comment
[1:14:48] participation. And if you haven't
commented and participated enough, you
[1:14:53] can come do it now.
This is for items not on the budget or
[1:14:57] not on the agenda that you would like to
have us put on a future agenda or
[1:15:02] something. Mr. Bill Bulock.
>> Hello, Billy Bullock. Small Road.
[1:15:08] Apologize for not being here two weeks
ago. Um I was up in Quebec City um
[1:15:13] enjoying some time away. Um on the way
home um actually what I did was the
[1:15:18] other day I read in the minutes in the
report from the last meeting about how
[1:15:24] we going to protect our covered bridge.
Well coming back through Quebec um we
[1:15:29] decided turn off GPS and just point
ourselves towards the sun and well
[1:15:33] that's kind of hard because you're going
east and west a lot. So, but anyway,
[1:15:36] we're out in the country and we come
across this
[1:15:42] probably 4in steel pipes in the ground
with this big steam uh uh steel girder
[1:15:47] across the top of it. Of course, it's in
French, but it did have height wise on
[1:15:52] it. And I said, "All right, well,
there's got to be a bridge around here."
[1:15:54] You go around the corner and there's
covered bridge. So, I saw that sign. I
[1:15:57] was like, "Yeah, that's pretty good
idea." You know, you hit that steel
[1:16:01] light beam and you're going to stop in a
hurry.
[1:16:05] So, we got to the other side and I
looked up and I, oh, there's another
[1:16:10] steel girder in the air. Except that one
had a big dent in it. And I looked in
[1:16:15] the rearview mirror and the bridge was
pristine.
[1:16:18] So,
you know, put the onus on the driver who
[1:16:24] wants to be the fool. Don't tear our
bridges down. Put a big steel burn uh
[1:16:28] girder up there and let them hit that.
That would be kind of fun and it's a lot
[1:16:33] cheaper to fix. So, a welder.
So, something to think about.
[1:16:38] » Thank you very much.
[1:16:43] » Anyone else with a public comment?
>> Yep. Come on, Scott.
[1:16:50] » That balance class myself.
Um, thank you for bringing that up.
[1:16:55] Actually, Barbara and I saw the sign
that there was a bridge and we went and
[1:16:58] took I've got a picture of that bridge
and and the metal bar, which is very
[1:17:02] nice. Uh we've um approached the uh
governor about helping fund the towns
[1:17:10] and putting the metal bars like that in
front of all the bridges, but we've got
[1:17:13] a lot of uh push back on it.
>> Um so we we actually uh approached a
[1:17:18] welding school and they made one for us
in one of the towns. So, and it just
[1:17:24] recently got hit this last weekend.
Saved the bridge, but it it killed the
[1:17:28] RV.
Um, I just wanted to say again on the on
[1:17:32] the covered bridge. Um, that is
something that the Vermont Covered
[1:17:37] Bridge Society is trying to do is is
bring more um,
[1:17:43] you know, more attention to the bridges.
And if we held something like that here
[1:17:47] in town, that would be great. I mean
that's something that we are really
[1:17:51] focusing on and we just had a dinner at
one of the covered bridges um up north.
[1:17:57] So uh the towns will be approached more
about having more social events because
[1:18:02] it is a great way to bring the community
together and then also you know support
[1:18:06] the bridges and we should you know
really focus on trying to um
[1:18:14] have more events around the bridges. I
mean, that's what the societyy's doing.
[1:18:18] But if we can build it up, then we could
basically um, you know, bring in a lot
[1:18:24] of money for the town just just by
having people come to tour and look at
[1:18:28] the bridges because it is something that
there's only a handful of states that
[1:18:32] have them. So, we're Vermont, we're very
lucky to have them. So, I just say, uh,
[1:18:37] when you guys do decide to vote on it,
please vote yes because I think it'd be
[1:18:42] a great a great thing. And I'm really
trying to get the Vermont Cover Bridge
[1:18:45] Society, you know, behind us also. So,
um, if I can do that, we can promote it,
[1:18:50] you know, help promote it for, you know,
more for you guys and then I can get
[1:18:54] more people down here to help out, uh,
during the event. So, thank you again.
[1:18:59] » Thank you.
>> Perhaps there's an opportunity there for
[1:19:02] fundraising for a steel contraption.
[1:19:09] » Anyone else?
>> I had one thing. I I wanted I wanted to
[1:19:13] uh thank it's public record. I wanted to
thank uh uh the scribers where they made
[1:19:19] a donation to help us replace uh a sign
on uh on we had a missing pedestrian
[1:19:26] crossing crosswalk sign on Park Street.
Um and they uh they reached out and made
[1:19:31] a donation and we now have our sign back
there and we hope it stays there till
[1:19:35] the winter when we move them. But thank
you guys for your donation.
[1:19:44] One last thank you from Claire.
There have been hardly any um kids
[1:19:51] riding crazily on Park Street or I saw
one kid today and I couldn't catch him.
[1:19:57] Went through on his scooter. I mean, I'm
out there with my track shoes on now.
[1:20:02] Was going to chase him on my lawn mower,
but I thought better. Anyway, thank you
[1:20:07] because the word is out. I I have heard
from several people. My name was in the
[1:20:12] Rutland paper. I did not know the
gentleman was on, which is fine, but I
[1:20:17] do think that it's made a difference. I
know school starting soon, but I think
[1:20:22] there's a a a twinge of fear and
awareness and um something is happening.
[1:20:29] The rain's not keeping the kids in or
the idiot adults that were doing
[1:20:33] wheelies on 73. So, I'm glad that we
talked about it and that people need to
[1:20:38] be safe. We sure don't need stupidity to
ruin lives and not following the rules,
[1:20:45] but you're all about safety, not about
freedom, but safe. So, thank you.
[1:20:50] » Thank you.
>> I have a you
[1:20:54] have
[1:20:57] I was trying to get to Brian here. Go
ahead. [laughter]
[1:21:00] So, when I was heading home from a
meeting on Wednesday night last week,
[1:21:05] here's somebody coming down 73 towards
town all in black on one of them scooter
[1:21:10] thingies. And I'm just like once he gets
to the curves that the car came, he
[1:21:16] wouldn't even have seen him. So then
another day I'm heading home and I'm
[1:21:20] going by the Forestdale post office. You
know how you round in the corner? Two
[1:21:24] kids were on their little scooters and
the one ended up on the in he he
[1:21:31] put it down. He ended up on the
pavement, but if I'd been 5 seconds,
[1:21:37] he wouldn't have been able to stop and I
would have hit him. And the look on his
[1:21:40] face when he was in the the ground, you
know, it was like that was close. His
[1:21:46] buddy was a hair behind him, so he was
able to stop. you know, he scooted it
[1:21:51] this way, but that kid wasn't able to or
I would have hit him because I wouldn't
[1:21:55] have had time to react. That's how they
don't realize. And maybe they will now,
[1:22:00] but
>> they might.
[1:22:02] » Yeah.
>> This where Doug Bailey makes his stupid
[1:22:05] remarks. He says five more seconds.
Right.
[1:22:08] » I have two two tiny quick things on
that.
[1:22:10] » Okay, go for it.
Um, first off, I've said it before,
[1:22:14] eventually
someone's going to die, and I don't want
[1:22:18] that to happen, and we should all be
very vigilant to make sure that doesn't
[1:22:22] happen. Um, I did have a really good
conversation with a a parent of young,
[1:22:26] you know, bike riding kids, um, who
isn't keyed into selectboard stuff and,
[1:22:31] you know, um, and really just didn't
realize the extent of the problem and
[1:22:35] that their children were probably
participating in it. Um, and they made a
[1:22:40] very clear point to me that once they
were aware of it, they are going to put
[1:22:43] a kibaash on their kids behavior. So, if
you know folks who might not be in the
[1:22:48] know of this discussion or if we can get
that word out more, um, I think some of
[1:22:51] it is just people not being quite aware
of the the severity of it.
[1:22:55] » I did I did think the Rutland Herald
articles probably got the word out there
[1:23:00] a little bit too, so that helped.
>> Motion to adjurnn.
[1:23:04] » Second.
All in favor of joining say