[0:08] All right, everyone. I'm going to call
[0:10] the regular select board meeting,
[0:13] Brattleboroough Select Board meeting of
[0:14] September 15th to order. Um, John, was
[0:18] this meeting properly warned?
[0:19] >> Yes, Oscar, it was.
[0:21] >> Thank you. The board entered into
[0:22] executive session at 5:15 p.m.
[0:27] Um, moving ahead to adjustments to
[0:29] agenda. I actually do have one to
[0:31] propose with apologies.
[0:34] A staff member has a family commitment
[0:36] and I'd like to recommend that we move
[0:39] the finance department reports at
[0:42] regular business C up to the top of
[0:44] regular business.
[0:47] We can, if there are no objections, we
[0:49] can do it by unanimous consent.
[0:52] I'm seeing nods. Okay. My apologies to
[0:55] anyone else further down the agenda.
[0:57] We'll try to move efficiently, but um I
[1:00] apologize for that. And for members of
[1:02] the public who were scheduling around
[1:03] this, I'm sorry about the inconvenience.
[1:06] Any other adjustments to the agenda?
[1:09] Seeing none, chair's remarks. I have a
[1:12] few.
[1:16] Uh, last night at the library, the
[1:18] select board held a community meeting on
[1:20] the topics of ICE and the BPD's relevant
[1:23] policies. I'd like to thank everyone
[1:25] involved for an outstanding
[1:26] conversation.
[1:28] I mean, that's a topic that's going to
[1:30] be challenging for any town, and our
[1:32] discussion was substantive and
[1:34] constructive while still being
[1:36] neighborly. I also want to thank Chief
[1:38] Evans and Assistant Chief Pllock for
[1:40] their wholehearted participation and to
[1:42] BCTV, the library, and town staff for
[1:46] putting on such a substantial event on
[1:49] relatively short notice.
[1:52] Unfortunately, I do have to note one
[1:54] incident um in an otherwise excellent
[1:58] evening of conversation. At one point,
[2:00] when a speaker was leaving the mic, he
[2:02] was shoved by another person who also
[2:04] made a few unpleasant remarks. Um, it
[2:07] wasn't clear to me at the time what was
[2:08] happening or I would have intervened.
[2:09] But physical hostility like that has no
[2:12] place in a community discussion.
[2:15] I'll even go one step further and say
[2:17] that this happened to the more or less
[2:20] the one person in that room who is
[2:22] disagreeing with everyone else in the
[2:23] room. Protecting even the voices we
[2:26] disagree with or dislike is
[2:30] a fundamental part of community
[2:31] democracy. So, I hope we can all work
[2:34] together to make sure that this doesn't
[2:36] happen again. That's not really how we
[2:38] do things in Brattleboro.
[2:41] I'd also like to briefly comment on the
[2:44] um good news about the BMH birthing
[2:46] center. Many, many people work to make
[2:48] that happen. I'd like to specifically
[2:51] highlight from that group Karina Tenant
[2:53] and Jordan Schwarz. But tonight, I'd
[2:55] like to make particular mention of our
[2:58] town manager, John Potter. He truly made
[3:01] this project a mission of his. He was a
[3:05] rallying force to the entire very large
[3:07] group. He was in every single meeting
[3:10] whether it was two people or 30. Uh I'm
[3:14] really truly thankful for his leadership
[3:16] on this critical project.
[3:18] So thank you John.
[3:19] >> Thanks Oscar.
[3:21] >> And one final sort of unofficial note,
[3:23] people are starting to ask questions
[3:25] about and apply for the human services
[3:28] committee. The select board hasn't taken
[3:30] any action yet on what that process will
[3:33] look like. Um,
[3:36] but I know that the current chair and
[3:38] vice chair of the outgoing committee are
[3:40] recommending a process that starts in
[3:43] spring after town meeting approves the
[3:45] final number so that the committee can
[3:47] work off of an actual number instead of
[3:49] a hypothetical. Um, I expect that the
[3:53] board will take up this question of
[3:54] process sometime in the near future, but
[3:57] I wanted to give a little the the little
[3:59] info I have to people who are asking.
[4:02] And that is all I have. We have no
[4:05] minutes to approve. Um, so now John,
[4:08] I'll turn it over to you for your
[4:09] comments.
[4:09] >> Okay. Thank you, Oscar. Uh, so ballots
[4:12] for the November 3rd election will be
[4:14] mailed by the state to all active
[4:16] registered voters between September 21st
[4:18] and October 1st. Voters may track their
[4:22] ballot status by logging onto their
[4:25] voter portal at vote.vermont.gov.
[4:29] Um, if you have any trouble logging into
[4:31] that portal, please contact the town
[4:33] clerk's office. And if you do not
[4:36] receive your ballot by October 13th,
[4:38] also please contact the town clerk's
[4:41] office. want to uh let the board know
[4:44] that I've written a letter of support
[4:46] for the retreat farm in their efforts to
[4:49] strengthen the outdoor recreation sector
[4:52] in the Brattleboroough region by
[4:54] encouraging collaboration among
[4:56] organizations, expanding programming and
[4:58] events and more effectively promoting
[5:01] our area as an important outdoor
[5:04] recreation destination.
[5:06] And also, I want to let the board know
[5:08] that the ADA committee met for the first
[5:11] time in many years last week at the
[5:13] Brooks Memorial Library, and the
[5:14] committee has yet to establish a regular
[5:17] meeting day, but they're excited to
[5:18] begin work.
[5:20] >> Thank you, John. Yep.
[5:22] >> Select board comments or committee
[5:24] reports. We'll start on the left. Nell,
[5:26] do you have any comments?
[5:27] >> Not today.
[5:28] >> Peter?
[5:28] >> Yeah. Um, just wanted to highlight a had
[5:31] the opportunity to uh interview Kate
[5:34] Trasus a few weeks ago about what the uh
[5:36] DBA is doing. It's a program called
[5:40] vacant to vibrant and it's uh about
[5:42] turning the empty storefronts uh into
[5:44] opportunities in our downtown, bringing
[5:46] businesses into our downtown, some
[5:49] creativity back to our downtown and uh
[5:51] strengthening Main Street and just
[5:53] building a stronger community. So, I
[5:54] wanted to give them a shout out if
[5:56] that's something that would uh interest
[5:58] you to reach out to Kate or Aaron for
[6:00] more details. It's uh it's a pretty
[6:03] exciting um and innovative idea and I'm looking forward to assisting
[6:07] wherever I can.
[6:08] >> Thank you, Peter. Amanda,
[6:11] >> um yeah, I have two things. Uh one
[6:12] thing, I want to acknowledge and thank
[6:14] the Vermont State Police for a traffic
[6:16] stop that they did on Monday. Um and
[6:18] they successfully apprehended a lot of
[6:20] drugs that were going to come into our
[6:23] community. So, thank you, Vermont State
[6:25] Police. Um, the other thing is I want to
[6:29] acknowledge it's been 25 years since
[6:31] September 11th, and for us to have all
[6:34] been I know we've all been thinking
[6:35] about first responders, people who lost
[6:38] family members. Um, and a time of
[6:40] remembrance is always really important.
[6:42] So, thank you.
[6:44] >> Thank you, Amanda Isaac.
[6:47] >> Yeah, I want to follow up. Um in the
[6:49] last meeting I believe I mentioned that
[6:53] uh that we had had a conversation about
[6:55] parking. A group of people had shown up
[6:56] at the library for that community
[6:58] discussion and uh went to follow up that
[7:00] I did do what I said I would do which is
[7:02] to share those recommendations with the
[7:05] town manager what we had received and if
[7:08] people are interested in in learning
[7:10] more about that or having more
[7:11] discussion I'm I'm glad to have have
[7:13] that conversation.
[7:14] >> Thanks Isaac.
[7:17] I'm going to move to open public
[7:18] comment. So, this is an opportunity for
[7:20] anyone in the public, in the room or
[7:22] online, to make a comment or ask a
[7:24] question about something that isn't
[7:26] later on the agenda. The one exception
[7:28] is if you have a a comment about the
[7:30] consent agenda, this is an excellent
[7:32] time to do that as well. Um, for the for
[7:36] speaking for this section and the entire
[7:38] rest of the meeting, please just raise
[7:40] your hand. I'll call on you if you'll
[7:42] come up to the microphone and state your
[7:44] name and um make a comment. We do ask
[7:47] people to stay under three minutes so
[7:48] that we can get through our meeting in
[7:50] time. Um so members of the public with a
[7:53] comment about something not on the
[7:54] agenda. Yes, sir.
[7:57] >> Thank you.
[7:59] >> I'm Mark Baxter, live in downtown
[8:01] Brattleboro on the river. I just have
[8:05] brief comments about the permit this
[8:07] evening requested by the new restaurant
[8:10] Railen River.
[8:12] I sent each of you an email about it,
[8:14] but let's let me briefly recap this
[8:16] evening for you in case you missed that.
[8:19] Uh I'm excited to see a business of this
[8:22] caliber opening in Brattleboro. I
[8:24] support the restaurant. I I go there.
[8:29] I'm simply asking and pointing out that
[8:32] sound carries extremely well across
[8:34] water. Uh much further, much louder than
[8:38] it normally would.
[8:41] And this permit is requesting amplified
[8:44] entertainment
[8:46] three nights
[8:48] each and every week until midnight.
[8:51] And I just want to point out that many
[8:53] of us live within a block of that
[8:55] restaurant on the water. Uh so I have a
[8:59] very simple request of the board and of
[9:02] the restaurant
[9:04] that the amplified speakers remain
[9:06] inside the building
[9:09] away from the doors and not on the decks
[9:12] of the restaurant overlooking the water.
[9:15] Uh just to be respectful of the
[9:17] neighborhood and those living around
[9:18] them.
[9:20] So the potential impact could be
[9:23] significant and it's entirely avoidable.
[9:27] and I just ask that the board consider
[9:29] that and make it a condition of
[9:30] approval. Thank you.
[9:31] >> Thank you.
[9:34] >> So the way this will work, if any
[9:37] members of the board want to pull an
[9:39] item off the consent agenda for
[9:40] discussion, they can do that at the
[9:43] start of the next part of the meeting.
[9:45] And if that happens, it'll then go at
[9:46] the end of the regular agenda and we'll
[9:48] discuss it in more detail. Uh other
[9:50] comments? Yes, stick.
[9:57] Thank you, Dick Gray, Bradboro.
[10:00] Uh, I see that Vrans is in the room. I
[10:04] won't direct my question at them. I'll
[10:06] direct it at you, Mr. Chairman.
[10:07] >> Thank you.
[10:08] >> And at John. Uh, talking about the
[10:11] synchronization of the street lights
[10:14] from the junction, especially uh heading
[10:18] north uh off the Hensdale uh bridge. uh
[10:24] they seem to not have changed much with
[10:27] the minor tweaking that was done and
[10:31] also I have noticed and it's been going
[10:35] on for a long time even before the
[10:36] bridge but on Saturday and Sunday if you
[10:40] are heading south and trying to get on
[10:43] to 142
[10:45] that light that allows you to make that
[10:48] lefthand turn changes after about two
[10:51] vehicles.
[10:53] Normally about seven or eight vehicles,
[10:55] if not more, get through that light. But
[10:58] on the weekend, the sequencing is
[11:00] different for some reason. I've never
[11:03] asked anyone why, but that that's a huge
[11:05] issue. Uh especially on the weekends
[11:08] because it backs traffic up all the way
[11:11] up Main Street that's heading south. Uh
[11:15] my second question would be I wasn't
[11:18] here for the first meeting I believe in
[11:20] August where I think it was mentioned
[11:23] that a fire truck or of an apparatus in
[11:27] the fire department blew an engine. Uh I
[11:31] think I had heard that if I could get an
[11:34] update on the status of of what that is.
[11:37] And uh the last thing I will say that uh
[11:42] the shelter is going to be open up in a
[11:44] couple of weeks. Uh again, I would I
[11:47] would hope that uh we could make some
[11:50] sort of movement before the winter
[11:52] weather comes in with a sidewalk down
[11:55] 142 to uh the entrance up into the
[11:58] shelter area. Thank you.
[12:00] >> Thank you, Dick. Um
[12:04] okay, so couple different questions. Are
[12:06] there any that we can answer now?
[12:08] Otherwise, we can write them down and
[12:12] get back to you.
[12:12] >> Well, uh Dan could update us on the
[12:15] traffic lights if you would like.
[12:17] >> That would be great. Thank you, Dan.
[12:21] » Yes. Uh VR approved some funds through a
[12:25] change order to the paving project to
[12:27] work on the synchronization of those
[12:29] traffic lights. um AKRF and a a
[12:34] consultant for Vrans
[12:37] has begun the work. They collected all
[12:39] the data and they gave it back to Vrans
[12:42] to produce the timing. Um we're waiting
[12:46] on that stuff. Once they get it the
[12:49] timing back to AKRF, they'll implement
[12:51] it. Um we've been saying anytime now,
[12:55] but that's that's the message we keep
[12:56] getting. Um, and as far as the sidewalk,
[13:00] the railroads consultant has reviewed
[13:02] the plans at this point. Um, we need to
[13:04] make a few amendments to those, send
[13:07] them back for review, and then hopefully
[13:08] they'll issue the easement and then we
[13:11] can keep moving forward on that project.
[13:14] >> Thanks, Dan. So, it sounds like both in
[13:16] progress with forward motion.
[13:18] >> And then firetruck engines.
[13:20] >> Um, I have no update on whether that's
[13:22] been repaired yet, but I I think it has.
[13:25] Um it's uh if if not it was a high
[13:27] priority and they're trying to get
[13:29] everything back online. So
[13:30] >> okay and um for our guests from Vrans
[13:33] don't worry you are only here for your
[13:35] own agenda item and not on the hook for
[13:37] that question.
[13:39] >> Other questions or comments from the
[13:40] public.
[13:41] >> Oh yes and I got sorry um I got an
[13:44] update that that engine has been
[13:45] repaired and is back in service. So
[13:47] >> that was quick. Thank you. You're
[13:48] welcome.
[13:49] >> Yes sir.
[13:52] >> Thank you. Um, my name is Akmal Esahani.
[13:55] Uh, I'm here to ask the Bra Select Board
[13:58] to consider adopting a resolution
[14:00] condemning the ongoing war against Iran
[14:02] and calling for an immediate end to the
[14:04] violence, the protection of civilians,
[14:06] and a diplomatic path toward peace.
[14:09] Communities throughout the region have
[14:10] recognized that local governments have a
[14:12] moral voice when civilians are being
[14:14] killed and communities are being
[14:16] destroyed by war. Nearby towns, mostly
[14:18] to do with Gaza or Palestine, have
[14:21] passed resolutions calling for
[14:22] ceasefires, humanitarian assistance,
[14:25] protection of civilians, and an end to
[14:27] policies that perpetuate violence. And
[14:29] although Oakland, California is across
[14:31] the country, to my understanding in June
[14:34] it passed a resolution actually titled
[14:36] condemning the war in on Iran. I believe
[14:39] Bow Roll should consider doing the same.
[14:41] Condemning this war, to be clear, does
[14:44] not mean supporting or condemning any
[14:45] particular government or group. It is
[14:47] entirely possible to disagree with the
[14:49] government of Iran and also oppose the
[14:52] bombing of Iranian cities and the
[14:54] killing of Iranian civilians. We should
[14:56] all take seriously the allegations that
[14:58] some attacks in this conflict may be
[15:00] violating international law. I therefore
[15:03] ask Battleboro Select Board to consider
[15:05] a resolution calling for an immediate
[15:08] sessation of hostilities and and a
[15:10] sustained ceasefire in Iran, the
[15:13] protection of civilians and unrestricted
[15:14] humanitarian assistance, independent
[15:17] investigation of credible allegations of
[15:19] violations of international law and
[15:21] possible war crimes, a commitment to the
[15:23] diplomacy and negotiations rather than
[15:26] further military escalation, and support
[15:28] for members of the Browboroough
[15:29] community who are affected by this
[15:31] conflict. Thank you.
[15:32] >> Thank you, sir. And for anyone who's new
[15:35] to the meeting for we can't have sub
[15:38] substantive discussions about anything
[15:40] that isn't warned later on the agenda.
[15:42] So, thank you for your comment. And if
[15:43] you have any materials or anything to
[15:45] follow up with, please reach out.
[15:48] >> May I offer one?
[15:49] >> Sure.
[15:50] >> Um, my name is Isaac. My name is right
[15:53] here and I'd be interested in connecting
[15:54] with you separate from this meeting. Um
[15:57] there's plenty that we could do together
[15:59] and apart from the select board as well.
[16:03] >> Thank you Isaac. Any other comments from
[16:06] the public?
[16:08] >> Okay, seeing none, we'll move on to the
[16:10] consent agenda.
[16:12] >> Yes, sir.
[16:13] >> I ask Steve is that is that after this?
[16:16] >> What's what topic?
[16:19] >> Remind me.
[16:19] >> Can I talk for three minutes?
[16:21] >> Sure. Yes.
[16:22] >> I'm Dr. William Foster. Um, I am the CEO
[16:26] of Holographic Technologies, Inc. We are
[16:29] headquartered on Chestnut Street and
[16:31] John Serest Building. Um, I have 50
[16:34] years of experience building AI data
[16:36] centers. I built all the a data centers
[16:38] for the military. I helped Algore invent
[16:40] the internet. Um, I I I invented this. I
[16:44] did all the Congress. I worked for G. I
[16:46] built most of the AI data centers for
[16:48] most of the the corporations. Um I am
[16:51] the direct descendant and Phineas White,
[16:54] the first congressman from southern
[16:56] Vermont is my great-grandfather. Um
[16:58] Phineas White at back in in the early
[17:01] 1800s worked with Daniel Webster, but it
[17:04] was clear he thought that technology and
[17:07] democracy could create a rural utopia in
[17:10] southern Vermont. And he was damn sure
[17:12] that Boston and New York were not going
[17:13] to control Vermont. I can tell you a
[17:15] hell of a lot more when when Vermont
[17:17] when Brad was seceded from the union in
[17:19] 18 in 1780. Um
[17:22] what I want to make clear is it is I
[17:25] mean I all the people in the IT industry
[17:29] are moving to Bradboro. The I mean you
[17:31] go left and right you people in 40 50
[17:33] years sol the most difficult problems
[17:34] are all coming to either western mass
[17:37] keen or southern Vermont. It's amazing.
[17:41] But and many of them don't have jobs,
[17:42] but they want to get the hell out of
[17:44] California. It's horrible place.
[17:46] Everyone knows Silicon Valley is going
[17:47] to see that and basically the
[17:50] semiconductor and the whole Silicon
[17:52] Valley industry is gone. We're moving
[17:54] away from electrons to photons from
[17:57] semiconductors to holographs.
[18:00] this electron we're just we have
[18:03] destroyed the planet by relying on these
[18:05] stupid AI data centers that use these
[18:08] demon these that are taking massive
[18:09] amounts of energy creating an electrom
[18:11] and have caused climate change and if we
[18:13] don't wake up in one year there will be
[18:15] no humans ever on earth I'm sorry to be
[18:18] here but basically within basically
[18:20] every building in Windham County the old
[18:23] buildings where we bought the factories
[18:24] we retrofitted IBM GE
[18:28] and Huawei technologies are going move
[18:30] here. There's going to be trillions of
[18:32] dollars coming into Windham County. It's
[18:34] right. There's incredible jobs within
[18:36] this radio if you to go from Boston to
[18:39] or from Harvard and MIT to Darwin to
[18:41] Yale to Williams. Incredible
[18:43] opportunities. We've been the we have we
[18:45] have led technology. It doesn't belong.
[18:47] It belongs at Brad. Thanks.
[18:49] >> Thank you.
[18:52] Other comments by the public.
[18:56] » Okay. So, let's move ahead to the
[18:57] consent agenda. Um,
[19:02] I do have a couple questions about the
[19:04] rail and river application, but do you
[19:07] why don't you give us the rundown first?
[19:10] >> Okay. Um, so there are 10 items on the
[19:14] consent agenda. One of them is if if you
[19:16] approve the agenda, you'll be approving
[19:19] an annual entertainment license for Rail
[19:21] and River Tavern, which is located at 36
[19:24] Bridge Street. You'll be approving a
[19:26] secondass liquor license, tobacco
[19:28] license, and tobacco substitute
[19:30] endorsement permit renewal for J&K
[19:34] grocery located at 69 Elliot Street.
[19:37] You'll be approving a first and
[19:39] secondass liquor license renewal for
[19:41] Hool's Wines located at 972 Putney Road.
[19:45] You'll be approving a secondass liquor
[19:47] license, tobacco license, and to tobacco
[19:50] substitute endorsement permit renewal
[19:52] for change food mart at 228 Canal.
[19:56] You'll be approving a first and third
[19:58] class liquor license renewal for Snow
[20:00] Republic located at 100 Maine. You'll be
[20:03] reappointing Steven Nelson as deputy
[20:05] town health officer. You'll be
[20:07] appointing the town manager as the VLCT
[20:09] annual meeting delegate. You'll be
[20:11] approving error and emission changes to
[20:14] the 2026 grand list. You'll be approving
[20:17] an agreement to purchase road salt from
[20:19] Morton Salt, Inc. under the state's
[20:21] contract for 10469
[20:25] a ton delivered and you'll be approving
[20:28] a wastewater agreement with Alier's fire
[20:30] district number one.
[20:32] >> Thank you, John.
[20:37] So I have a couple questions about the comments about rail and river. John,
[20:43] maybe you can help me. So the desri the
[20:45] only description of the use here in the
[20:48] application is where it says live music
[20:50] and trivia bingo and then the hours 8 to
[20:53] 12. That's
[20:55] all we get in the application, right?
[20:57] >> Yep. That's what the application asks
[20:58] for.
[20:59] >> Yeah. And if we grant the permit and
[21:02] then let's say noise turns out to be a
[21:04] big problem, what tools do we have?
[21:07] >> We can revoke the permit or apply
[21:09] conditions because there's issues that
[21:12] um develop and um and and reissue it.
[21:16] >> Okay. Um my only other comment is that I
[21:20] remember the old wetstone used to do
[21:23] live music and similar things at some
[21:26] context. So
[21:28] my feeling is my personal inclination is
[21:31] not to pull it and revisit if there's an
[21:34] actual if we actually start to hear
[21:36] complaints, but um any one board member
[21:39] can pull any item from consents and
[21:41] we'll move it to the end of the agenda.
[21:42] >> And we can also pass along the concern
[21:45] uh when we issue the license if you
[21:46] would like.
[21:48] >> Yes, that sounds good.
[21:50] >> It said in the agenda that a
[21:51] representative from River and Rail was
[21:53] here would or would be here. So
[21:57] hopefully that person is hearing the
[21:58] concern about yeah the volume notably on
[22:01] the the outdoor decks it sounds like.
[22:03] >> Okay. They may be.
[22:04] >> Yeah. I'm seeing nods.
[22:09] » Okay.
[22:09] >> So are you saying that we should pull
[22:12] this from the agenda and talk about it?
[22:13] >> That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying
[22:15] that uh passing along the concern is
[22:17] good and it also seems like we have the
[22:18] opportunity that someone's directly here
[22:20] in the room to hear the concern right
[22:21] now as we're discussing it as it's been
[22:23] voiced. Yep.
[22:24] >> Okay. So, um either a request to pull or
[22:27] if someone otherwise would like to make
[22:28] a motion to
[22:29] >> a
[22:29] >> motion
[22:31] a motion to accept the uh consent agenda
[22:34] as presented.
[22:35] >> Okay, Peter has moved to accept the
[22:37] consent agenda as presented. All board
[22:39] members in favor, please say I.
[22:41] >> I.
[22:42] >> And that carries 5-0.
[22:52] » All right, moving along to regular
[22:53] business. This is where the adjustment
[22:56] to the agenda will take place. So, we're
[22:58] going to start with C, finance
[23:01] department reports, and then take
[23:02] everything else in order. So, we're
[23:05] starting with a presentation by town
[23:07] staff. I think we have Bonnie on Zoom.
[23:10] And
[23:12] >> is it you or Sarah Rose?
[23:13] >> I'm not sure. I did see Sarah Rose, but
[23:16] I don't Oh, there she is. Come on up.
[23:19] >> Yes, you're invited to the table.
[23:22] And I think it sounds like the three of
[23:24] you would may divide this up in
[23:26] different ways.
[23:27] >> Yeah. And so I guess uh I guess I'll start uh by um introducing the
[23:34] board and the public to Sarah Rose
[23:36] Bissell, our new finance director who
[23:38] has um started this last month. And um
[23:43] of course Bonnie Batch Elder is uh who
[23:46] you've uh been working with for the past
[23:49] uh year and a half. And um tonight we
[23:52] were going to cover three things in the
[23:55] finance reports. The first uh Bonnie
[23:58] will talk about the finance report
[24:01] through June 2026. So the kind of the
[24:04] quarterly review for the last quarter of
[24:06] fiscal year 26. Uh then um Sarah Rose,
[24:12] we will do the July report uh for this
[24:17] fiscal year or I will if you're not
[24:19] prepared to do that.
[24:21] >> And uh then finally um Bonnie will uh uh
[24:26] address the FY25 audit which has been
[24:29] completed and we had spoken about
[24:31] several meetings ago and um that this
[24:34] would be the time to delve into that. if
[24:36] you wish.
[24:37] >> Would it be possible to do audit before
[24:40] myself since Bonnie's on a timeline?
[24:42] >> Oh, yes. Good idea. Thank you. That
[24:44] sounds good.
[24:44] >> Y Okay.
[24:45] >> Okay. Yes. Let's start with the audit
[24:48] and turn it over to Bonnie.
[24:50] >> Hello. Uh, also thank you very much for
[24:54] accommodating the schedule switchound. I
[24:57] appreciate it. Um so the FY25 audit is
[25:02] complete um signed and the um federal
[25:06] reporting is done and complete. At the
[25:10] close of the 26 report uh we did
[25:15] do an analysis of where 25 ended up with
[25:19] the fund balance as it relates to the
[25:21] general fund. So um I will comment that
[25:24] there were no issues, no findings in the
[25:28] FY25 audit. Uh and we have also begun um
[25:34] preparation and internal control testing
[25:36] for the FY26 audit. Um so the auditors
[25:41] will begin or have already been here to
[25:43] do the co control testing for FY26
[25:47] and the field work will begin in
[25:49] October.
[25:51] Um so overall I think towards the end of
[25:55] this there's a uh chart that I did for
[25:59] the FY25 audit and projecting into FY26
[26:03] and I think that probably will explain
[26:06] uh maybe some open questions with fund
[26:08] balances
[26:10] unless there are any specific questions
[26:12] that someone has.
[26:15] No, I think go ahead and I
[26:19] >> Okay, so um we the June report is for
[26:24] the full year. The 12 months ended June
[26:27] 30th 26 and the year ended uh in a a
[26:32] very positive place. We ended up with
[26:35] our revenues uh at 108% of our budget
[26:40] with our expenses at 105% of our budget.
[26:44] Our total revenues ended at 27 million
[26:47] with expenses at 26 million currently
[26:51] leaving a surplus um in the general fund
[26:54] of $889,000.
[26:58] That will be subject to change by minor
[27:01] adjustments hopefully uh for acrruals
[27:04] that are coming in between now and the
[27:06] time of the audit. Um, so that's not a
[27:09] steadfast number that you'll see in the
[27:11] FY26 audit, but it should be a very good
[27:14] indication of where um, we will end up
[27:17] in increasing the fund balance for FY26.
[27:22] We ended the year with cash balances of
[27:25] $17.8 million
[27:28] um, and receivables of 1.9 million. And
[27:31] you can see the breakdown again
[27:33] including the EMS receivable that we've
[27:36] talked about several times and a another
[27:39] large number with the local option tax.
[27:42] So receivables and and the local option
[27:45] tax has been collected. And since we're
[27:47] already in September, we've gone through
[27:49] the July and August receivables for EMS.
[27:57] The EMS revenue um of 1.2 2 million uh
[28:02] was exceeded our approved budget by
[28:06] 362,000
[28:08] which is pretty close to an average of
[28:10] what it's been trailing at all year and
[28:13] what we expected. And again, the
[28:15] receivable calculation that we check
[28:17] every month is averaging still at 38%
[28:21] which is what we're picking up for
[28:23] receivables.
[28:25] Not much change in the benefits, still
[28:27] 79% of the budget.
[28:30] um health insurance coming in less than
[28:32] what we expected being the biggest piece
[28:35] of that. And again with the risk
[28:37] management those um did exceed in budget
[28:41] what what we had budgeted um a lot of
[28:44] that is uh just increases in what was
[28:48] added to the insurance. There were a lot
[28:51] of items that we found um were not on
[28:54] the insurance and we um the finance
[28:57] staff went through those very carefully
[28:59] to make sure that all of the items that
[29:02] needed to be insured were included. Uh
[29:04] and that is a continual um project that
[29:07] the finance office continues to go so
[29:10] that if there is a loss within the town,
[29:13] uh there's no surprises and everything's
[29:15] covered such as fences and other items
[29:18] that people may not have thought or were
[29:21] assumed were part of building insurance.
[29:25] Um again, we highlighted the fire and
[29:28] the police overtime. uh those all came
[29:31] in in comparison to what was budgeted
[29:34] when you take the actual salaries uh and
[29:38] overtime. So those those were um what
[29:41] we've discussed pretty much all year
[29:43] long in the utilities fund. The
[29:46] cumulative re revenues came in at 108%
[29:50] of budget and expenditures at 99% of
[29:53] budget leaving a surplus in the utility
[29:56] fund of 495,000.
[29:58] And that's even after we've recorded uh
[30:02] depreciation of 2.7 million.
[30:06] The parking fund revenues came in at 71%
[30:09] of the annual budget expenditures at
[30:13] 120% of the uh annual budget with a
[30:16] deficit of 497,000
[30:20] of which um 289,000
[30:23] of that is depreciation.
[30:25] And we also had loss on disposal of
[30:28] assets of 212,000.
[30:31] These weren't these were just um
[30:34] obsolete assets that we removed from the
[30:38] system.
[30:41] The transfer uh report has not changed
[30:44] and is the same that has been for the
[30:47] last few months that we've talked about.
[30:50] The reserve balances for the fire and
[30:52] truck and fire truck and ambulance.
[30:54] those are normally increasing currently
[30:56] by just the interest earnings that we're
[30:58] allocating to those reserve balances.
[31:02] So I don't know if you've had a chance
[31:04] to look at the schedule that I prepared
[31:08] that I believe is on yeah it follows the
[31:12] last um written page here of the fund
[31:16] balance that says FY25 final and
[31:18] projected FY26.
[31:21] But you will see that I gave you a
[31:23] detail of where we started in the
[31:26] unassigned fund balance at the 63024
[31:30] audit, what the FY25 changes were and
[31:34] where we ended up at the end of FY25.
[31:37] This is very close to the figure that we
[31:40] estimated back in February of 26, but
[31:43] this has a more granular breakdown of
[31:47] what created that loss. And just to
[31:50] summarize,
[31:51] we had uh funds that were voted on
[31:56] uh of $851,836
[32:00] that were voted on by RTM
[32:04] um for public safety and waste
[32:06] management.
[32:08] Again, because we were on the modified
[32:10] or we are on the modified acrruel basis,
[32:12] the difference in deferred taxes at the
[32:15] end of the 60 days that we have to
[32:17] record in our books is another um
[32:20] negative to our fund balance of 118,000.
[32:24] And the remaining 536,000
[32:27] is made up of operational deficit with
[32:30] the largest piece being uh the
[32:35] deficiency in staff benefits and payroll
[32:38] taxes that was calculated in the budget.
[32:41] But I also did want to point out that
[32:43] the EMS revenue exceeded budget by
[32:47] 464,000
[32:48] which helped minimize those operational
[32:51] deficits.
[32:54] So, that was where 25 ended up. And with
[32:58] the 26 projections that we have, uh,
[33:01] we're looking at a $889,000
[33:05] surplus, which can change by minor
[33:08] amounts because of acred expenses that
[33:10] may come in between now and the 1st of
[33:12] October. We're anticipating that the
[33:15] fund balance undeid fund balance in the
[33:18] general fund will increase to 1,36,000.
[33:26] » Great. Thank you.
[33:29] >> So that takes us through the audit and
[33:31] the the the endofear monthly report for
[33:35] FY 26.
[33:38] Um, let's stop there because that was a
[33:40] lot of material and um, questions from
[33:44] the board.
[33:47] » Yep. Um, hi Bonnie. Thank you.
[33:49] >> Hi.
[33:50] Uh
[33:52] this is probably my own confusion here,
[33:55] but in the in the memo that you just
[33:57] outlined, the FY25 final and projected
[34:00] FY26,
[34:02] um the listed net reductions of 536
[34:06] for the operational deficit, um I was
[34:09] just confused because in the actual uh
[34:11] chart below that we have 761
[34:17] listed as the deficiency for budget and
[34:19] staff. benefits and payroll taxes. Um,
[34:23] so I just I hadn't seen how that nets
[34:26] out to 536.
[34:29] >> Um, so what I called out were the first
[34:32] two items were the two items voted on
[34:35] for RTM. The third item is the deferred
[34:39] taxes and the remaining four items in
[34:42] the bottom which is the audit fee and
[34:44] workers comp, the deficiency for staff
[34:47] benefits and taxes, the uh increase in
[34:51] EMS revenue and then the uh excess of
[34:55] overtime and other smaller items. The
[34:58] combination of those last four items
[35:01] total the 500 for operational deficit.
[35:05] Okay. Sorry, I had not included the
[35:07] >> That's okay.
[35:09] >> I appreciate that. And then
[35:12] um
[35:13] I had been getting was relative to the EMS revenue that's listed in here.
[35:19] Um is that
[35:23] how much of that is is cash that's been
[35:26] collected relative to the receivable
[35:28] rate that we are working with?
[35:32] » I can't answer that question.
[35:36] I I can't I mean it's that is 100% of
[35:40] the revenue for FY25
[35:44] and it has been collected through 26 but
[35:49] that is revenue that is directly
[35:51] associated with
[35:53] 25.
[35:55] So I can't convert it to cash because
[35:58] it's on an acrruel basis. So I I'm sorry
[36:02] >> receivable number
[36:04] Okay.
[36:05] >> Yep.
[36:12] Other questions
[36:16] here. We'll we'll go through and come
[36:17] back. Peter, do you or do you have more
[36:20] questions now?
[36:21] Okay. Peter, any questions?
[36:23] >> No, I'm good. Thank you.
[36:24] >> Okay. I have a couple quick ones, I
[36:27] hope. Thank you. That was a great
[36:28] presentation. Um,
[36:31] on the parking funds,
[36:34] 200,000 on the loss of disposal of
[36:35] assets. Is that purely like a write off
[36:40] on the books or did we actually spend
[36:43] $212,000
[36:44] doing that?
[36:46] >> No, it's a write off on the books. So um
[36:50] each each department, the general fund,
[36:52] utilities and parking has a set of
[36:55] assets uh that have accumulated since
[36:58] the beginning of time. And there were
[37:00] some items on there that were obsolete
[37:02] that either a building was uh destroyed
[37:05] or determined obsolete and should no
[37:07] longer be in service. And once an asset
[37:09] is should no longer be in service, we
[37:12] need to write it off. So again this year
[37:15] the finance department has taken great
[37:17] care to reach out to all the departments
[37:19] and go over the fixed asset schedules to
[37:22] make sure that anything that is obsolete
[37:26] uh or useless is taken off the schedule.
[37:29] So it is a write off.
[37:31] >> Great. And then
[37:34] the only other question I had in the
[37:36] audit when we see that unassigned fund
[37:38] balance number the 470 something for
[37:41] FY25
[37:43] that number to my understanding includes
[37:47] receivables, right?
[37:49] >> Correct.
[37:52] >> Okay, that's all I had. Amanda?
[37:54] >> Yeah. Thank you, Bonnie. Um, nice to see
[37:57] you. Thank you for being here tonight.
[37:59] Um, I had a question about the deferred
[38:01] property the ne the net change in
[38:03] deferred property taxes. So, does this
[38:05] mean the net change from 2024?
[38:10] » I'm sorry, you kind of cut out.
[38:12] >> Oh, does that mean the net change from
[38:14] 2024 to 2025?
[38:16] >> Yep.
[38:18] >> Okay. Um,
[38:21] and uh do we know do we know or remember
[38:24] what it was in 2024?
[38:27] um from 2023 to 2024 is it an increase
[38:31] in deferral or approximately the same?
[38:34] >> It's an it's an increase in deferral.
[38:36] So, so basically what happens um is that
[38:41] we calculate uh receivables like you can
[38:45] go back up to our receivable schedule on
[38:47] the first page of the report of property
[38:50] taxes that are due as of June 30th.
[38:54] Because we're on a modified acrruel
[38:56] basis, we can only include in revenue
[38:59] what was collected in the first 60 days
[39:02] of the new fiscal year. So on August
[39:06] 31st, we run another report of
[39:09] outstanding receivables for property
[39:11] taxes on August 31st for all periods
[39:15] June 30th and before. And whatever that
[39:18] number is, we defer it, which means we
[39:22] reduce revenue
[39:25] >> because it's we can't include it in
[39:27] income. And so we do this every year and
[39:30] the net change from one year to the next
[39:33] that's what that 118,000 is. So our
[39:36] deferred taxes
[39:38] for FY25
[39:40] are $118,000
[39:43] more than it was in 24. So we have that
[39:46] much more of a reduction in revenue.
[39:49] >> Okay. And then also just going back to
[39:52] another property tax question. So, in
[39:55] property, this is from the June. Are we
[39:58] Can we leap into the June report or
[40:00] should we?
[40:01] >> Yes, I think Bonnie talked about both of
[40:03] those.
[40:03] >> Flip between both.
[40:04] >> Yeah, I think we'll have to. um for
[40:06] property tax receivable, net of school
[40:09] taxes. Um
[40:12] I guess my question is um the interest
[40:15] receivable and the penalty receivables
[40:18] are those just the current year or are
[40:21] some of those carryover from previous
[40:23] years?
[40:24] >> It it's cumulative.
[40:26] >> Okay.
[40:27] >> So it's it is it's all years that are
[40:29] outstanding. Um that regards to interest
[40:33] and penalties.
[40:35] >> Correct. It it's in regards to property
[40:38] tax interest and penalties. It's
[40:41] cumulatively all years that are
[40:43] outstanding as of June 30th.
[40:46] >> But those those line items are separate
[40:49] from the deferral. Totally different.
[40:53] >> Correct.
[40:55] These are receivables. the A85,
[40:58] the 65,000, the 62,000, those are all
[41:01] due to the town. And the deferral is
[41:05] just a the amount of receivables that
[41:08] are still outstanding in August that we
[41:10] need to take out of income.
[41:13] >> Got it. Thank you.
[41:16] >> Questions?
[41:16] >> No questions, just comments about town
[41:19] finances.
[41:20] >> Go for it. Well, first of all, just
[41:23] thank you, Bonnie, for all of the work
[41:25] that you've been doing both as our
[41:28] auditor and now for the last year. Is it
[41:31] as our um in this role that you've had,
[41:34] this contract role with our finance
[41:36] department. um just really appreciate
[41:39] the financial management. You're helping
[41:42] us modernize, helping us um improve our
[41:46] systems and I I am just really grateful
[41:51] for the fact that we've had monthly
[41:53] finance reports, the quarterly reports
[41:55] that you've prepared. It's just been
[41:57] great to have this expertise and your
[41:59] expertise in particular. I'm also really
[42:02] excited that we have Sarah Rose here.
[42:04] Um, it's awesome that we have somebody
[42:06] who's going to be in house as our
[42:07] finance director. This is something that
[42:10] folks across the political spectrum and
[42:12] Brattleboroough have been calling for a while. And I'm excited about that
[42:16] investment that we're making in our
[42:18] town. I'm really grateful for the
[42:19] overlap between um as you start Sarah
[42:22] Rose and as you complete your service,
[42:25] Bonnie, to be able to have that handoff.
[42:28] Um,
[42:30] so backing up, I am, you know, there's a
[42:35] lot of concerns that we hear in our town
[42:37] about homelessness, about crime, about
[42:40] drugs, um, even parking, which I've been
[42:43] working on.
[42:45] But I continue to see that our town
[42:46] finances are the key thing that's going
[42:49] that it's our the success of our town
[42:52] really depends on us being in good
[42:54] financial shape. And it I'm deeply
[42:58] concerned about that unassigned fund
[42:59] balance that has gotten so low. And it
[43:03] concerns me because there is a
[43:07] discrepancy between what we say what we
[43:10] say is our policy and what we've been
[43:12] doing. Because in November of 2012, the
[43:16] select board prede
[43:18] uh preceding select board said that our
[43:20] policy was that 10% of our operating
[43:24] annual operating budget would be in an
[43:26] emergency reserve fund and in two years
[43:30] ago that fund was depleted
[43:33] significantly. Decisions that were made
[43:34] by a preceding select board resulted in
[43:37] the depletion significant depletion
[43:39] along you know decisions that were
[43:40] ratified by town meeting. But we've seen
[43:43] that depleted and then a year and a half
[43:47] ago our select board recommitted to that
[43:49] 10% and we're we're far from being
[43:52] there. And so what I would like to see
[43:55] is our narrow the gap between our uh
[44:01] convictions and our commitments and to
[44:04] actually walk the talk and get those
[44:06] reserves back to where they need to be.
[44:09] There's been there was an excellent
[44:11] suggestion from our past finance
[44:13] committee chair or our budget advisory
[44:15] committee to have a separate fund for an
[44:18] emergency reserve fund and not just be
[44:21] our unassigned fund balance. Um I think
[44:23] that's a great idea. There are other
[44:25] ideas too about looking you know looking
[44:27] five years ahead doing financial
[44:29] planning that's real realistic robust
[44:32] process looking five years ahead. So, I
[44:34] think there's plenty of plenty of work
[44:35] that's going to be on um ahead for our
[44:39] finance department and our community,
[44:41] but I really see that the the select
[44:43] board has a leadership opportunity here.
[44:46] And I would like to encourage our select
[44:48] board to have a discussion. And I I've
[44:52] been talking I know I brought this up
[44:54] informally to you, Oscar, but I would
[44:56] really like to see our select board have
[44:58] a discussion that's focused on on
[45:01] finances in a way that's taking a step
[45:03] back a little bit and not just get it
[45:05] not just line by line in each of these
[45:08] reports. They're really good questions
[45:09] that we're asking, but I think we need
[45:11] to take a a broader look at our
[45:13] finances. think about what are the
[45:15] things that we want to put in place
[45:17] before we get into the budgeting season.
[45:19] What are the things in terms of our
[45:21] those that reserve fund that was a great
[45:23] suggestion that Millisent raised, but
[45:25] she's raised it multiple times and we
[45:27] haven't gotten back to her on that. What
[45:29] are we actually doing to put ourselves
[45:31] in really good shape so we have a strong
[45:34] financial foundation that gives us the
[45:37] capacity to do all the cool things that
[45:39] we want to do as this community. Because
[45:41] if we don't have that, if we don't have
[45:42] those reserves, if we don't have that
[45:44] strong financial health, and I'm not
[45:47] talking just about cutting taxes, I'm
[45:49] also talking about really like the the financial planning and the financial
[45:54] um well-being of this town, then I think
[45:58] we're at risk for for for problems down
[46:00] the road. And so I'm looking at how how
[46:03] can we as a board like we did that
[46:04] really great work this this spring
[46:06] coming together and coming up with what
[46:08] are our priorities for this year? How
[46:10] can we continue to um how can how can we
[46:14] make good on the the policies that we've
[46:16] set and and our folks up here up for
[46:20] having having a retreat next month or
[46:22] having a meeting that's focused
[46:25] specifically on our town's financial
[46:27] health?
[46:30] >> Thank you, Isaac. Those are that's a
[46:33] good question. Um
[46:38] it's well I think do we want to consider
[46:43] uh a longer more detailed finance
[46:45] specific meeting or discussion
[46:48] before budget season? Um
[46:52] that's certainly up to the board. I'm
[46:54] always game to talk about stuff. Um,
[46:59] I don't know if this is a decision for
[47:01] us to make in this exact moment and this
[47:04] exact agenda item, but
[47:07] if Yeah, I I'm I'm not sure. I'm happy
[47:10] to
[47:12] bring that to agenda setting and go
[47:14] through that process. But if
[47:16] >> since we're talking about um in point D
[47:19] for the FY28 budget process,
[47:23] >> um some of the proposed dates and
[47:26] timelines there do include a retreat
[47:28] that would be budget specific in
[47:31] November. So maybe it would more
[47:34] naturally come up then. I mean like in
[47:36] terms of discussing if we wanted an
[47:38] additional one.
[47:38] >> I think that makes sense.
[47:40] >> Okay. Is that all right? All right.
[47:42] >> Thanks.
[47:42] >> Um thank you. I do have one more
[47:45] follow-up question. Bonnie, you just
[47:46] tell me if this is wrong, but the way I
[47:49] read the deferred property taxes line in
[47:53] a very high level way is that it is
[47:55] essentially good a good thing for
[47:59] looking at the deficit. It is money that
[48:01] we expect to get and are very likely to
[48:03] get because we almost always in the end
[48:05] collect all our property taxes. We
[48:07] didn't get it in time to book it as
[48:09] revenue, but at some point it will
[48:12] arrive. So in that sense, the deficit is
[48:16] $118,000
[48:18] smaller than it looks in terms of where
[48:20] we'll eventually end up and that's why
[48:22] it's not included in the operational
[48:24] deficit. Like this is money that we
[48:26] don't think will actually fail to
[48:28] collect. Is that broadly right?
[48:31] >> It it you one way or the other you will
[48:34] be able to collect it in the future.
[48:36] Yes.
[48:38] >> Okay. Thank you.
[48:40] Let's hear from the public now because
[48:42] it's a good breakpoint and then we'll
[48:44] briefly do the same again after the FY27
[48:49] budget update. But does anyone in the
[48:50] public have a question about the FY25
[48:54] audit or the FY26
[48:56] monthly finance report?
[48:59] Yes, Heidi.
[49:05] Fishcher Brown just in the 26
[49:08] report that she just went over it said
[49:11] for the parking fund it says revenues
[49:12] are 71% of the annual budget
[49:14] expenditures are 100 to 20% of the
[49:16] annual budget and gives the figures that represents.
[49:21] That sounds like a big problem to me and
[49:22] I haven't heard any discussion of it. So
[49:25] I'm wondering what you're planning to
[49:28] do.
[49:29] >> That's a great question. Um, I think the
[49:32] first line answer to that is that
[49:36] none of that deficit is a cash deficit.
[49:40] 200,000 of it is a write-off on assets
[49:42] we're taking off the books. 300,000 is
[49:45] depreciation, which does matter. Those
[49:47] are assets degrading that we're not
[49:49] putting money aside for, but it's not a
[49:51] cash loss. So, that's a partial answer.
[49:53] And the other answer is that I think
[49:54] everyone up here is has been concerned
[49:56] about parking. I certainly don't have
[49:59] any easy answers, but we're all thinking
[50:02] about it. Um, yeah, Isaac.
[50:05] >> Well, I've been thinking about and
[50:07] talking about a lot. I would be
[50:09] interested while we have Bonnie and
[50:12] while we have our planning planning
[50:14] director, if there are and department of
[50:16] public work public works, if if you have
[50:20] thoughts um and I understand that I'm
[50:23] also this is you don't have to take the
[50:25] invitation to be put on the spot here.
[50:27] Um but thoughts about how we could move
[50:32] towards a balanced budget for our
[50:34] parking fund with and also remind us I
[50:38] actually am very concerned about the
[50:39] depreciation of assets and the fact that
[50:41] we're basically putting off it's another
[50:43] way that we're putting off um expenses
[50:46] that are going to be down the road. Um
[50:48] and I just don't think that's right to
[50:50] be putting off to taxpayers in the
[50:52] future um a much bigger bill. So, one of
[50:57] the one of the the questions that I have
[51:01] is um you know, what are are there
[51:06] thoughts on ways to um increase? Oh, I'm
[51:10] sorry. The train of thought is I know
[51:12] part of the reason why we have this this
[51:14] uh
[51:16] deficit is because we're still in
[51:19] startup mode with this new system.
[51:21] That's what's been the explanation that
[51:22] I've heard is that right that we're
[51:25] adapting I'm gonna say that a full
[51:27] discussion of the parking system is not
[51:29] germanine to this month's financial
[51:32] report. It's I see the relationship, but
[51:35] that conversation would take us far and
[51:37] wide from the actual agenda.
[51:38] >> Good point.
[51:40] >> Um
[51:42] but in terms of the finance part, do you
[51:45] >> I agree with you.
[51:45] >> The point is partly it's like we're
[51:48] we've implemented a new system. The town
[51:50] of Broadway has implemented a new
[51:51] system. there are growing pains and
[51:53] hope, you know, hopefully we'll see
[51:55] something better, but hope isn't
[51:57] something that I want to bank on and I'd
[51:59] like to us to have a more robust
[52:01] conversation at some point down the road
[52:03] about um how we can have a sustainable
[52:06] parking system. It's financially
[52:08] sustainable. So maybe it's a an agenda
[52:10] item for
[52:11] >> I think that makes sense.
[52:12] >> Exactly.
[52:13] >> And John, were you that was your
[52:15] >> Yeah, basically
[52:16] >> another a Yeah, something that's more
[52:18] policy related. This is number
[52:20] >> reporting. Sure.
[52:22] >> I'm making a note.
[52:23] >> I I I want you to know that that that concern is heard and I think
[52:28] something that we need to address.
[52:30] >> Thank you. Um other questions on the
[52:33] June FY26
[52:36] finance report and or the 25 audit?
[52:41] Dick. Yes.
[52:48] My recommendation about the parking fund
[52:50] is for us
[52:51] >> you say your name. We all know Dick Deg
[52:52] Grrey. Actually, my recommendation for
[52:55] that parking fund actually is to uh
[52:59] lease it or sell it and have us get out
[53:03] of the parking system altogether and
[53:06] certainly not have the town take this
[53:08] over. uh because in the last 10 years my
[53:12] uh feeling is that this fund has been
[53:15] this enterprise fund has been
[53:17] drastically mismanaged but I'll take
[53:20] that up when we discuss this
[53:23] a question for the acrruel basis Bonnie
[53:25] and and I want to thank you for your
[53:27] service to the town uh and filling in
[53:30] for us and I I do appreciate that the
[53:32] acral basis with the EMS money is that
[53:37] money that has been set to collections
[53:41] and I know I believe you get to count it
[53:44] but there is a cost for what the
[53:49] collection people if they do collect
[53:52] money they get a certain percentage of
[53:54] it. So how would we get to count all the bills that have been uncollected
[54:02] even though we get to count them? That's
[54:03] question one. And just clarify for me
[54:08] with these uh under the unassigned uh
[54:12] fund balance all the notes are they part
[54:15] of the unassigned fund balance that
[54:18] money was spent uh when you talk about
[54:22] uh overtime in excess of uh budget with
[54:27] other offsets. That's just the example.
[54:30] if money was money taken from the
[54:32] unassigned fund balance and I would have
[54:35] a follow-up question after you give that
[54:38] answer. Thank you.
[54:40] >> All right. So, Bonnie, we have two two
[54:42] questions from Dick. One is whether the
[54:45] receivables for EMS does that refer to
[54:47] money that's in collections?
[54:50] >> No, it does not.
[54:53] So the receivable for EMS is outstanding
[54:55] bills to which we apply a 38%
[54:58] expected rate of return.
[55:00] >> Right? So we we get a report every
[55:03] single month of 100% of the EMS
[55:06] receivables that are outstanding. Um and
[55:09] based again on when EMS started with all
[55:13] of the studies they anticipated that 38%
[55:17] 38 cents of every dollar would be
[55:19] collected or collectible by the town. So
[55:23] we have followed that and I have tracked
[55:25] that mathematically to make sure that is what we are collecting. Our
[55:31] average is 38% or higher. So we take 38%
[55:35] of 100% of the receivables and that's
[55:39] what we book. So it is absolutely not in
[55:42] collections because it's only at 38% of
[55:45] the total.
[55:47] >> Thanks Bonnie. And the second question
[55:49] spend from unassigned fund balance. You
[55:51] tell me if this is right Bonnie but
[55:53] whenever we spend money it is coming out
[55:55] of fund balance. It is not a fund that
[55:58] we deplete. Um extra revenue that we get
[56:01] goes into it. extra money we spend comes
[56:03] out of it. So essentially we spent in
[56:05] deficit whatever this total amount is
[56:08] and when I say we I mean the town in
[56:10] FY25. Um some of those expenses were
[56:14] planned and decided by the select board
[56:16] at that time and ratified by RTM. Some
[56:18] were operational things going over
[56:20] budget. So that's what the breakdown is.
[56:21] So EMS
[56:22] >> correct
[56:23] >> over brings the deficit back closer to
[56:26] zero. Overtime being high brings it down
[56:28] again. Yes. a followup. Is is that
[56:31] right, Bonnie?
[56:32] >> That's correct. Yep.
[56:35] >> So, my understanding of the unassigned
[56:37] fund balance is after we do the audit,
[56:40] it's any revenues that were uh remaining
[56:46] would go into the unassigned fund
[56:47] balance just like we can't spend
[56:50] restricted money. And until there's an
[56:53] audit, then any revenues, which you're
[56:58] talking about EMS, that revenue would go
[57:00] in. I don't know how you get to spend
[57:04] money out of the unassigned fund balance
[57:07] that's not approved by the select board
[57:09] and then approved by which was RTM,
[57:13] which would now be OTM. That's what I'm
[57:15] looking for clarification on. You don't
[57:18] just the board or the administration
[57:22] doesn't get to spend money out of the
[57:24] unassigned fund balance without board
[57:27] approval.
[57:28] Uh and then it has to go if like they
[57:31] did a few years ago with with the police
[57:34] uh the addition of the uh emergency
[57:38] hires for the police department. Then it
[57:41] had to be ratified by uh RTM now which
[57:44] would be OTM. That's what I'm looking
[57:46] for clarification on.
[57:48] >> All right. Well, I'll start and somebody
[57:50] else can, John or Bonnie, when I start
[57:53] messing it up. But the town is
[57:56] constantly spending money. The town is
[57:58] paying payroll. The town is paying
[58:00] health insurance. We get reports every
[58:03] month that say health um overtime is way
[58:06] high. That means we've been spending
[58:08] that money on overtime more than we
[58:10] budgeted the whole year. everything, all
[58:13] those expenditures are just as coming
[58:16] out of fund balance as anything else.
[58:17] This these aren't capital expenses that
[58:19] would go to a town meeting. These are
[58:21] budgets running over and running a
[58:23] deficit. That is my summary. Um but I'm
[58:27] open to corrections.
[58:30] >> No, you're correct. And just um you
[58:33] know, just be careful on the wording of
[58:36] you you know spending fund balance. Fund
[58:39] balance is a is a number that stays the
[58:42] same throughout the year. And when you
[58:45] close a year, the net result of that
[58:48] year, the revenue less expenses
[58:51] either increases or decreases the fund
[58:54] balance for the next fiscal year. So
[58:57] FY24 fund balance stayed that number
[59:00] until we closed FY25.
[59:02] for a deficit and that
[59:05] reduced the fund balance that we started
[59:08] FY26 with and that fund balance stayed
[59:11] consistent throughout FY26
[59:15] >> even as the money in the bank account
[59:17] fluctuates wildly all the time as taxes
[59:20] come in and spending goes out.
[59:22] >> Correct.
[59:24] >> Um okay, I'm going to go to Randy and
[59:27] then come back to the board because we
[59:28] do have other guests waiting for other
[59:30] agenda items.
[59:34] Randy, can you hear us?
[59:44] Randy, are you there?
[59:48] » All right. Well, we Oh, hey, great. We
[59:51] hear you.
[59:52] >> The one thing I think and and and if
[59:54] Bonnie disagrees, um, please let me
[59:56] know. But I mean, people have to
[59:58] understand that the monies we're talking
[1:00:00] about on a daily, monthly, yearly basis.
[1:00:05] You still can't hear me?
[1:00:07] >> Not you. Keep going.
[1:00:09] >> Okay. You know, it's the same as
[1:00:11] anybody's checkbook. It, like you said,
[1:00:14] it varies minute to minute, day to day,
[1:00:16] year to, you know, month to month. And
[1:00:19] that's why we've talked in in other
[1:00:21] meetings and in private about creating a
[1:00:24] emergency fund with some amount of money
[1:00:28] and then also leaving this unassigned
[1:00:31] fund at the end of the year as Bonnie
[1:00:33] said where until it's audited and we
[1:00:36] know what we have left we can't call it
[1:00:38] really the unassigned fund because the
[1:00:40] number fluctuates so much and I think
[1:00:43] everybody gets
[1:00:45] mistaken or confused when we keep
[1:00:47] calling it that versus it's it's
[1:00:49] essentially the town's cash balance.
[1:00:52] And um maybe we can educate and talk
[1:00:55] about it like that so that it's easier
[1:00:58] for people to understand.
[1:01:03] Thanks, Randy.
[1:01:07] » Okay, I'd like to move ahead. The clock
[1:01:08] on the wall is running slow, so we're
[1:01:11] actually at more like 7:15.
[1:01:13] >> Yeah, it's 7:18.
[1:01:14] >> Yeah. So,
[1:01:15] >> I did have one
[1:01:17] >> one question from Nell and then we're
[1:01:18] going to move on to the FY27 update.
[1:01:21] Just the way that I understood Dick's
[1:01:23] question about EMS
[1:01:25] um relative to the explanation Bonnie
[1:01:29] gave was that if the the booked
[1:01:30] receivables are 38% of the 100% of
[1:01:35] receivables that have been reported on
[1:01:37] that doesn't necessarily
[1:01:40] mean that some of those 100% bills that
[1:01:44] are you know accounted counted at only
[1:01:46] 38%
[1:01:48] have not gone unpaid
[1:01:50] and not been unpaid so long such that
[1:01:52] they've been sent to collections.
[1:01:55] >> I think the only reason that is unlikely
[1:01:57] to happen is because
[1:01:59] >> I don't remember what the timeline limit
[1:02:01] is for collections. Is it 300 and 300
[1:02:04] days?
[1:02:05] >> Uh I don't recall.
[1:02:06] >> So only bills from the very beginning of
[1:02:09] the year would even have the time to
[1:02:10] have been sent to collections. So it's
[1:02:12] probably relatively uncommon.
[1:02:14] >> I had 270 in my head, but yeah.
[1:02:16] >> Okay.
[1:02:17] >> Oh, that could be. Yeah.
[1:02:19] >> Okay. Well, I'd like to move on if
[1:02:23] there's no objection. Are we saying
[1:02:25] goodbye to Bonnie for the final item?
[1:02:28] >> I think so. Thank you, Bonnie. Thank you
[1:02:30] very much.
[1:02:32] >> Good luck.
[1:02:32] >> You're welcome.
[1:02:33] >> Good luck with our
[1:02:34] >> Thank you, Bonnie.
[1:02:34] Appreciate it.
[1:02:35] >> Thank you.
[1:02:36] >> Byebye.
[1:02:37] >> Okay, Sarah Rose, welcome. Um, is this
[1:02:40] your first time at the table in a select
[1:02:43] board meeting?
[1:02:43] >> Yes, it is.
[1:02:45] >> Welcome.
[1:02:46] >> Thank you.
[1:02:47] >> It's pretty scary. Um,
[1:02:51] but I'll be in there with you swinging.
[1:02:53] So, um, okay. So, we have a
[1:02:59] memo for the one month ended July 2026
[1:03:03] of FY27
[1:03:05] and then the the booklet of actuals and
[1:03:08] etc. So,
[1:03:09] >> I'm going to turn it over to you to take
[1:03:11] us through the high level of the memo.
[1:03:14] >> Yep.
[1:03:15] >> And, um, go from there.
[1:03:16] >> Great. Thank you very much. Um, so this
[1:03:20] is just for the first year of fiscal
[1:03:23] year 27. Um, so just through July. Um,
[1:03:28] and it is unaudited as FY26 is still
[1:03:31] unawited. Um, so uh just keep that in
[1:03:35] mind as numbers wiggle a little bit over
[1:03:38] time. Um, cumulative revenues for the
[1:03:41] first month represent 79% of the annual
[1:03:44] budget. If we annualize that um it goes
[1:03:48] down to two million which is 8% of the
[1:03:51] annual budget. So um total expenses for
[1:03:55] the first month of the year are 2
[1:03:57] million8.
[1:03:59] Um
[1:04:00] also on target at about 10%.
[1:04:04] Um so
[1:04:06] the actual numbers are total revenues at
[1:04:09] 21 million and total expenses at 2.8
[1:04:12] million. The cash balances as of July
[1:04:15] 31st in the general fund total 16
[1:04:17] million.
[1:04:19] So revenue does include receivables. Um
[1:04:23] you can see the chart
[1:04:26] down there. There's general receivables.
[1:04:28] EMS we just went over at 38%. It is
[1:04:30] still holding strong at 38%. Um property
[1:04:34] tax receivables net of school taxes. Um
[1:04:37] and that all totals at 20 million.
[1:04:40] Should I keep going?
[1:04:42] >> Yeah, just take us through the second
[1:04:44] page and then we'll questions. Okay.
[1:04:48] >> All right. Utilities fund. Utilities
[1:04:50] fund cumulative revenue raise represent
[1:04:52] 1% of the annual budget. We do acrew
[1:04:55] monthly revenue and reconcile with
[1:04:57] actual billing when completed on a
[1:04:59] quarterly basis. So we haven't done that
[1:05:00] quarterly reconciliation yet.
[1:05:02] Expenditures represent 5% of the annual
[1:05:05] budget. Total revenues are 92,000 and
[1:05:08] total expenses are 370,000.
[1:05:11] The parking fund revenues are at 8% of
[1:05:13] the annual budget and expenditures are
[1:05:15] at 6% of the annual budget. That's
[1:05:18] 84,000 of revenue and 66,000 of
[1:05:22] expenses. So, we have a surplus of
[1:05:24] 18,000 in the parking re uh parking
[1:05:26] fund.
[1:05:29] » I said that really fast.
[1:05:30] >> No, that's great. And then I think the
[1:05:32] last couple bits are just referring to
[1:05:33] pages
[1:05:35] >> to different reports.
[1:05:36] >> So there's the loan report and the grant
[1:05:38] report and the transfer report which we
[1:05:40] haven't really done transfers yet this
[1:05:42] year. Um but I will give you a little
[1:05:43] bit of accounting context which is that
[1:05:45] because we haven't finished the FY26
[1:05:48] audit.
[1:05:50] There are still numbers that are moving
[1:05:52] around a little bit. So we should just
[1:05:54] remember that when you're looking at
[1:05:55] these beginning numbers for the year.
[1:05:58] >> Great. Thank you. All right. Members of
[1:06:00] the board, any questions for the July
[1:06:03] monthly report?
[1:06:07] Not seeing any members of the public.
[1:06:09] Dick the Gray.
[1:06:17] Uh I know this is only one month but a
[1:06:22] real flashing light uh on page 106
[1:06:27] in terms of revenue uh refuge bags
[1:06:32] uh
[1:06:35] we are looking to collect $44265
[1:06:43] and we collected $157. $7. That's a
[1:06:48] scary number to think that uh uh we're
[1:06:53] going to reach that uh that number.
[1:06:58] >> Uh I would have thought that that number
[1:06:59] would have been significantly higher at
[1:07:02] least for one month of sales. Although
[1:07:04] one one might have said that people
[1:07:07] pre-bought bags uh from the end of the
[1:07:10] year last year, but that's a real
[1:07:13] concerning number that I have early on.
[1:07:15] >> Yeah. I mean, that's good to call out.
[1:07:17] That number is so low that I'm I'm happy
[1:07:20] to ask Dan or John, but it can't be
[1:07:22] real. It has to be that we haven't
[1:07:25] received payment from the vendor or
[1:07:28] something like that.
[1:07:29] >> I'm making that up, but heads are
[1:07:30] nodding. So my gosh. Yeah.
[1:07:32] >> I'm I don't remember it being in the
[1:07:34] $400,000. Is it Could it be a just a a
[1:07:38] technical error or a clerical error
[1:07:40] >> that it No, that I think that was about
[1:07:42] $400 or $500,000 of revenue for the
[1:07:45] whole year.
[1:07:47] >> Okay.
[1:07:47] >> Right. I I'm not sure.
[1:07:48] >> I'm remembering in the 40 I'm
[1:07:50] remembering in the 40s, but
[1:07:51] >> we can look in the previous year's
[1:07:56] finance report actually.
[1:08:00] for
[1:08:01] somewhere. But um I'm I'm sure it's
[1:08:04] something like that, Dick. If it's not,
[1:08:06] next month we'll know for sure.
[1:08:09] And we've been on the new prices in the
[1:08:11] new system for a little while. So it's
[1:08:14] if people had been hoarding bags, they
[1:08:16] would have been using those for months.
[1:08:19] Other questions from the public?
[1:08:24] Seeing none. Unless Are you still
[1:08:26] looking for
[1:08:27] >> John's looking?
[1:08:33] I'll help.
[1:08:36] >> Yeah, there is something odd in there.
[1:08:38] Um
[1:08:38] >> I think it's an added there's an
[1:08:40] >> No, it's not in the open gov from the
[1:08:43] budget page of the website. The FY27
[1:08:46] select board budget has refuse bag
[1:08:49] revenue at $442,000.
[1:08:53] Okay.
[1:08:54] And in FY26 it was 309. FY25 305 FY24
[1:09:00] 370.
[1:09:02] >> And that jumps
[1:09:03] >> I'm sorry 270. My bad.
[1:09:04] >> Mostly because of the increase in
[1:09:05] prices.
[1:09:08] Okay. Any other questions for on the
[1:09:12] July finance report? Not seeing any. Uh
[1:09:16] we already thanked Bonnie and I think
[1:09:18] she left. So Sarah Rose, thank you very
[1:09:19] much. We will be seeing you again in the
[1:09:22] future and we're looking forward to it.
[1:09:24] >> Okay.
[1:09:24] >> So, thank you.
[1:09:25] >> Well done. Thank you.
[1:09:26] >> Thank you.
[1:09:27] >> Okay. Found it. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
[1:09:31] Okay. Moving right along. Putney Road
[1:09:35] Reconstruction Project. We have our
[1:09:37] guests from VR.
[1:09:41] Uh yes, you're all welcome to the table.
[1:09:42] Do we have another chair?
[1:09:44] >> I'm actually going to stay here.
[1:09:45] >> You're going to stay there. Okay.
[1:09:47] >> So, Bruce and Dennis, right?
[1:09:49] >> Yes.
[1:09:49] >> You good? Okay,
[1:09:50] >> welcome and Joe.
[1:09:52] All right. Well, welcome. We have your
[1:09:54] presentation.
[1:09:56] It was included with the backup
[1:09:58] materials online as a supplement, but
[1:09:59] it's this packet. Seth has the
[1:10:02] presentation in the room. And uh we'll
[1:10:04] turn it over to you guys.
[1:10:05] >> All right. Well, thank you all. Um so
[1:10:07] I'm Bruce Martin with the Vermont Agency
[1:10:08] of Transportation here with Dennis
[1:10:10] Verdivv who is a Lochner and Egress
[1:10:13] Group. Is that it? Their name name has
[1:10:15] changed recently so I a little confused
[1:10:17] with it myself. um formerly Green
[1:10:19] International. Um Dennis has been
[1:10:22] working on this project for sorry to say
[1:10:24] 10 years. So I'm going to let him do a
[1:10:26] lot of the talking. But um really what this came down to is I believe
[1:10:30] around July of last year, June or July
[1:10:33] of last year, our chief engineers office
[1:10:35] came down, met with the town about this
[1:10:37] project because this project was was
[1:10:39] significant. I mean, we were proposing
[1:10:40] the original Putney Road project was
[1:10:43] adding four additional roundabouts,
[1:10:46] which I'm sure many of aware of, and the
[1:10:49] center median, and it was a significant
[1:10:52] undertaking and a significant cost. So,
[1:10:54] the chief engineers office came down to
[1:10:56] speak with others to see what we could
[1:10:58] do and entertain a scope change that
[1:11:01] could meet the town's needs and goals as
[1:11:04] well as achieving our goals. um with you
[1:11:08] know signalized intersections,
[1:11:10] pedestrian um infrastructure which
[1:11:12] currently does not exist which we are do
[1:11:13] want to move forward with. So around the
[1:11:16] same time my predecessor Ken Mallal was
[1:11:18] the one who had been working on this
[1:11:19] project for years and years and years.
[1:11:21] He was retiring. So when they came in to
[1:11:23] say let's do a scope change he was
[1:11:25] retiring and it came to me. So I'm kind
[1:11:27] of the new face that has to show you
[1:11:29] this massive boulevard is now going away
[1:11:31] and this is kind of what we are looking
[1:11:33] forward to moving forward in the future.
[1:11:35] just to kind of a scale it down but
[1:11:37] still meet all the goals for us and the
[1:11:39] town itself. Um, so we began with a
[1:11:42] conceptual design and in January we met
[1:11:45] with me members of the town and had a
[1:11:47] follow-up meeting with Representative
[1:11:48] Burke and Senator Harrison to get their
[1:11:51] kind of input on on what we were doing
[1:11:53] at that time, what we're showing for
[1:11:55] that conceptual level and then went back
[1:11:57] and did make some revisions to that to
[1:11:59] try to meet what they were looking for,
[1:12:02] you know, for the town itself and um any
[1:12:04] improvements that we could could do to
[1:12:07] better meet your goals, our goals and
[1:12:09] move project forward, but just not at
[1:12:11] the huge magnitude that it was. Um, so
[1:12:14] that's that's what we're here to present
[1:12:16] is just this conceptual level design. I
[1:12:18] do want to say this is conceptual level,
[1:12:19] but we have actually put quite a bit of
[1:12:21] effort into getting it to the point that
[1:12:22] it is now, but there's still more design
[1:12:25] work that does need to go on in the
[1:12:26] future to tighten things up. So, there
[1:12:28] are changes that there can can be made u
[1:12:30] moving forward. Um, but there may be
[1:12:33] some changes that some people do want
[1:12:34] that we may not be able to move forward
[1:12:36] with just to try to meet the intent of our scope and our our project as
[1:12:40] we're moving forward. Um, so again,
[1:12:43] focus now is to revise the intersections
[1:12:45] to help mobility and also get the
[1:12:48] pedestrian facilities that really
[1:12:50] currently do not exist out there uh at
[1:12:52] this time. With that, I'm going to turn
[1:12:55] it over to Dennis because he does know this project extremely well and he
[1:12:59] can uh let you know what we're looking
[1:13:00] at for moving forward.
[1:13:01] >> Yeah, thank you, Bruce. Um I appreciate
[1:13:05] everyone's time um you know, to talk
[1:13:06] about this project. Uh you know, I I'm
[1:13:10] young enough where I can say I've spent
[1:13:11] most of my career working on this
[1:13:13] project. Um and I I've actually really
[1:13:16] I've enjoyed it. I've spent a lot of
[1:13:18] time up here in um in in Brattleboro to
[1:13:21] you know look at the details of what
[1:13:23] needs to be done and how we can maximize
[1:13:25] the ability to improve the situation um
[1:13:29] within the limits that we have. Um it's
[1:13:31] an important corridor. I don't you know
[1:13:33] need to tell any of you. I know you are
[1:13:35] all familiar with this area. So um if we
[1:13:38] can jump to slide three um I what I'll
[1:13:40] do is I'll just quickly talk about the
[1:13:42] fact that it's a little hard to see.
[1:13:43] It's a little small, but essentially the
[1:13:45] project starts on the southern limit,
[1:13:46] which is right at the West River, and it
[1:13:49] continues north uh all the way up to
[1:13:51] where the there's a Crosby Brook or uh
[1:13:54] the existing roundabout that's there
[1:13:56] today. So, that's the that's the
[1:13:57] corridor of the project. And um as far
[1:14:00] as existing conditions, on the next
[1:14:02] slide, I'll quickly talk about some of
[1:14:04] the things um that we've identified as
[1:14:07] some of the you know, critical things.
[1:14:09] um you know there there is some bad
[1:14:11] underlying pavement conditions. So I
[1:14:13] know there's been a recent
[1:14:14] rehabilitation of the pavement um but as
[1:14:18] um Bruce knows and we've discussed there
[1:14:20] is a concrete base under the road that
[1:14:22] often leads to premature deterioration
[1:14:25] of the pavement and so with these
[1:14:26] resurfacing type projects you're not
[1:14:28] able to fully remove all that concrete
[1:14:30] that's causing a lot of that issue. Um
[1:14:32] this project you know that we're looking
[1:14:34] at will will be able to do that. So,
[1:14:35] it's one of the things. Um, there is
[1:14:38] poor access control and what that means
[1:14:40] is it's hard for people to know where to
[1:14:42] expect vehicles to come from, right? And
[1:14:44] so, the driveways, some of them are
[1:14:46] really narrow, some are very, very wide.
[1:14:48] Um, and there's not a consistent pattern
[1:14:51] to the way that the road operates. And
[1:14:53] so, it's often difficult for other
[1:14:55] drivers, but also for pedestrians and
[1:14:56] bicyclists to know where to expect
[1:14:59] oncoming traffic or cross traffic to
[1:15:01] occur. And so, that's one of the
[1:15:03] existing issues as well. um substandard
[1:15:05] drainage. Uh there are some drainage
[1:15:07] concerns along this corridor as well. Um
[1:15:10] where we're not able to fully drain the
[1:15:11] roadway, you know, during a storm or
[1:15:13] after a storm, especially in the winter
[1:15:15] time when, you know, you start to get
[1:15:16] that icing um situation right after, you
[1:15:19] know, the sun comes out and thaws the snow a bit. Um as Bruce mentioned,
[1:15:24] lack of pedestrian bicycle
[1:15:25] accommodations is a is a major issue
[1:15:27] here. Um and it affects safety for both
[1:15:30] pedestrians, bicyclists, and vehicles.
[1:15:32] Um there are, you know, significant
[1:15:34] crash history along this corridor as
[1:15:36] well, um that we're looking to address.
[1:15:39] Um there are some signals out there
[1:15:40] today, but those signals were installed
[1:15:42] many, many years ago. Um some of the
[1:15:44] equipment is outdated. Um they haven't
[1:15:46] been haven't been upgraded recently. And
[1:15:48] so one of the things that we're looking
[1:15:50] to do is also do that as well. Um and
[1:15:52] vehicle speeds are a major concern out
[1:15:55] here. Um especially in certain areas
[1:15:58] where you know for example coming down
[1:16:00] the hill towards the west river um there
[1:16:03] are a lot of high speeds there as folks
[1:16:05] get onto the bridge um or coming up the
[1:16:08] hill um from from the west river. Um
[1:16:11] there's also stretches um in in the
[1:16:13] middle of the corridor where you know it
[1:16:15] has essentially a little bit of a runway
[1:16:18] effect. You know you have so much
[1:16:19] pavement and so much space that vehicles
[1:16:22] just naturally accelerate as they drive
[1:16:24] through that area. And so looking at
[1:16:26] that as well. Um so that's some of the
[1:16:28] existing issues. Um if you will look at
[1:16:30] the next slide. So project goals. Um you
[1:16:34] know despite the fact that there's a
[1:16:36] large scope change these goals really
[1:16:38] haven't changed. The goals of the
[1:16:39] project the things that we are looking
[1:16:41] to accomplish have essentially stayed
[1:16:42] the same. Um we want to improve the
[1:16:45] safety uh for both pedestrians and
[1:16:47] vehicles and you know bicyclists as
[1:16:49] well. um improve traffic operations and
[1:16:52] not just today but into the future when
[1:16:54] we do these projections and we look at
[1:16:56] 20 30 years out making sure that these
[1:16:59] areas and intersections can you know
[1:17:01] safely accommodate larger volumes you
[1:17:03] know if volumes grow into the future um
[1:17:06] complete streets improvements as I
[1:17:08] mentioned you know making sure that
[1:17:09] we're fully accommodating all users of
[1:17:13] the roadway not just vehicles um which
[1:17:15] you know a lot of these older roads you
[1:17:17] know they primarily focus on the cars
[1:17:20] Um, I mentioned storm water drainage.
[1:17:23] Um, and and general aesthetics of the
[1:17:25] roadway as well, make it a more
[1:17:27] welcoming place for folks to go and be
[1:17:30] able to navigate through safely um, as
[1:17:32] they drive through this area or walk or
[1:17:35] ride their bike. Now,
[1:17:38] looking at the conceptual design, there
[1:17:40] are a number of things that I want to
[1:17:42] highlight. So, one of the things I
[1:17:44] already started mentioning is full depth
[1:17:46] reconstruction. So, one of the things
[1:17:48] we're going to do with the road is do a
[1:17:49] full depth reconstruction. What that
[1:17:51] means is not just removing that top
[1:17:53] surface of the asphalt, going all the
[1:17:55] way down, removing all of that concrete
[1:17:57] base, any substandard subbase material,
[1:18:00] taking all of that out, so that that way
[1:18:02] the asphalt is sitting on a good solid
[1:18:04] foundation. It will last much longer. It
[1:18:06] won't deteriorate as quickly um after a
[1:18:09] rehab. Um, we are proposing 11oot travel
[1:18:13] lanes throughout this corridor, 5-ft
[1:18:16] shoulders. Um, throughout the corridor
[1:18:19] as well, uh, we're looking to do a 8-ft
[1:18:22] shared use path. Um, essentially the
[1:18:25] majority of the corridor will have a
[1:18:26] shared use path. That 8ft shared use
[1:18:29] path, um, the majority of it will be on
[1:18:31] both sides of the corridor. Um, but
[1:18:33] there are some segments that I'll
[1:18:35] mention in particular where we
[1:18:37] physically don't have the space to do
[1:18:39] that. And so there are some restrictions
[1:18:40] to that. Um in those areas, we're still
[1:18:43] we will still be proposing a 5-ft
[1:18:45] sidewalk, a standard width sidewalk um
[1:18:48] in in some of those tighter locations.
[1:18:50] And also a two-way left turn lane uh
[1:18:53] beginning at Noah's Lane um along the busier, wider section of the
[1:18:58] corridor. um that would allow vehicles
[1:19:00] to be able to make those left turns in
[1:19:03] and out of the businesses, you know,
[1:19:05] without having to um you know, block the
[1:19:08] through lane. Um that you know um and additionally, one of the things
[1:19:13] we're looking at carefully is the turn
[1:19:16] lanes at all of the signalized
[1:19:18] intersections. Making sure that we have
[1:19:19] sufficient lanes to, you know, for the
[1:19:22] left turns, the right turns, and the
[1:19:23] through movements at all of the existing
[1:19:26] intersections.
[1:19:29] Um so what we're doing is we're
[1:19:33] improving essentially three existing
[1:19:35] signalized intersections. Those are
[1:19:37] Fairfield um Plaza where Staples or Aldi
[1:19:41] is. Um the Hannerford Plaza and the
[1:19:44] Black Mountain Road intersection. And
[1:19:46] we'll be adding a signal at Chering
[1:19:48] Drive. So that'll be a new additional
[1:19:50] signal beyond what's out there today. Um
[1:19:53] all of the equipment will be new and uh
[1:19:56] and upgraded. Um we will have dedicated
[1:19:59] pedestrian phases at all of these
[1:20:02] intersections now so that way
[1:20:03] pedestrians can safely cross those
[1:20:05] intersections at at um when they
[1:20:08] activate the signal and um also
[1:20:12] coordination between the signals. So,
[1:20:13] one of the things that newer, more
[1:20:15] modern systems can do is the signals can
[1:20:17] actually communicate with one another
[1:20:19] and they can be coordinated and they can
[1:20:21] be adjusted so that as volumes change,
[1:20:24] the signals adapt to those volumes and
[1:20:27] that, you know, improves the ability for
[1:20:30] vehicles to get through there. Um, you
[1:20:32] know, you may not spend as much time
[1:20:34] when you're driving through at 11
[1:20:36] o'clock at night when there's no other
[1:20:38] cars on the road, but you're sitting at
[1:20:39] a red light. Those types of situations.
[1:20:42] um versus the peak afternoon hour where
[1:20:45] there's lots of cars coming from all
[1:20:47] directions. Um we're also looking at um
[1:20:50] improving access control, consolidating
[1:20:52] some driveways. There's also uh a few um
[1:20:56] essentially frontage access roads along
[1:20:59] this roadway right now that create a
[1:21:01] little bit of an unsafe situation uh
[1:21:03] where cars use those roads to avoid the
[1:21:06] signals that are out there today and try
[1:21:08] to bypass them at high speeds. And so,
[1:21:11] uh, we'll be closing some of those
[1:21:13] accesses down and creating more uniform
[1:21:16] driveways down the corridor so that
[1:21:18] there's clear access to the road, uh,
[1:21:20] from the private properties um, and, uh,
[1:21:23] bus pulloffs as well. We are currently
[1:21:26] proposing three bus pulloffs along the
[1:21:28] corridor to help create a more defined
[1:21:30] um, dedicated location for buses to stop
[1:21:33] and pick up folks.
[1:21:35] Um, so the cross-section, we'll we'll
[1:21:38] look at this very quickly. you know,
[1:21:39] this is an engineering drawing. Um, but
[1:21:42] I know it's not as uh as beautiful in
[1:21:44] some of the some of the other images,
[1:21:45] but uh essentially it's the
[1:21:47] cross-section of the road. And you could
[1:21:49] see there, if you you know, maybe look
[1:21:52] carefully, there's the the concrete
[1:21:54] subbase. And essentially, we're
[1:21:56] proposing the the different
[1:21:58] crosssections along the roadway. The
[1:22:00] important thing here that I want to
[1:22:01] highlight is the fact that we are
[1:22:03] accommodating vehicles with 11t travel
[1:22:05] lanes. We are accommodating, you know,
[1:22:08] uh, bicyclists, uh, within the roadway
[1:22:10] with a wide five- foot shoulder, but
[1:22:12] also accommodating them outside of the
[1:22:14] roadway with a shared use path. And so
[1:22:16] for those folks that are commuting and
[1:22:18] like to stay within the flow of traffic
[1:22:20] and, you know, they're comfortable being
[1:22:22] out in the road, there's a way for them
[1:22:24] to do that safely. But for those folks
[1:22:26] that are maybe with younger families or
[1:22:28] kids and they want to be able to ride
[1:22:30] along the road, they have a dedicated
[1:22:32] shared use path that's offset from the
[1:22:34] road with a grass strip wherever we have
[1:22:36] the space to do that.
[1:22:39] Um, let's skip ahead here to
[1:22:41] >> Oh, go back to the last slide because
[1:22:42] you didn't show grass strip and
[1:22:44] everything.
[1:22:45] >> This one. Um,
[1:22:47] uh, yeah, let me see.
[1:22:54] I think yeah I think I'll what I'll do
[1:22:57] is I'll point it out here in the visual.
[1:22:59] Uh could we go to slide 11 please? Okay
[1:23:02] so uh one I'll point out an extra thing.
[1:23:04] So besides the bus pulloff yeah thank
[1:23:06] you for zooming in. Um so in addition to
[1:23:09] the bus pulloff what I want to highlight
[1:23:11] is the fact that everywhere along the
[1:23:13] corridor where we have the space within
[1:23:14] the rightway and there's there's a
[1:23:16] significant amount of this wide rightway
[1:23:18] available to us. We are not only
[1:23:20] providing that shared use path, but
[1:23:22] we're also offsetting it from the
[1:23:23] roadway with a grass strip. Um, what we
[1:23:26] don't like to do is install a grass
[1:23:28] strip that's only a foot or two wide
[1:23:29] because it's really hard to maintain.
[1:23:31] The grass doesn't typically survive. But
[1:23:33] if we can get up to like a three or four
[1:23:35] or five foot grass strip, that's ideal.
[1:23:38] It usually grows a lot better and, you
[1:23:40] know, it creates that separation from
[1:23:42] the roadway for people that are within
[1:23:43] that shared use path. Um, so that's one
[1:23:46] of the things that you'll see along the
[1:23:47] entire corridor. um during the in within
[1:23:50] those wider segments really the the
[1:23:52] narrow part of the corridor is from the
[1:23:54] west river to town crier that's the
[1:23:57] narrowest part of the cross-section you
[1:23:59] know and we have very limited room to do
[1:24:01] anything there because we essentially
[1:24:03] have a hillside with a ledge on one side
[1:24:06] and then a drop down to the river on the
[1:24:08] other side and so we're you know the
[1:24:11] road essentially kind of threads the
[1:24:12] needle through that location we are
[1:24:15] maximizing it we're putting in that
[1:24:17] sidewalk and we're putting in the wider
[1:24:19] shoulders, but what we can't do is
[1:24:21] provide that full width cross-section
[1:24:22] that we're doing within the rest of the
[1:24:24] corridor. Um, now what's on the screen
[1:24:28] here is the bus pulloffs pulloff areas.
[1:24:31] So, these are great because what they do
[1:24:33] is they actually get the bus out of the
[1:24:34] travel lane. So, rather than just
[1:24:36] stopping within the roadway itself, um,
[1:24:38] the bus has a space to pull off into the
[1:24:41] shoulder out of the travel lane. um you
[1:24:44] know usually prevents some of the
[1:24:45] aggressive driving that you will see
[1:24:47] behind buses where folks are getting
[1:24:49] frustrated and trying to pass um and so
[1:24:51] this gets them out of the way. Um VR uh
[1:24:54] this is like a typical bus shelter image
[1:24:57] that you see on the screen there. That's
[1:24:59] you know typically what they'll look
[1:25:00] like. Um these are used throughout the
[1:25:03] state and uh it's relatively simple but
[1:25:06] it it does its job and it you know is
[1:25:09] relatively easy to maintain u while
[1:25:11] still providing a safe place for folks
[1:25:13] you know with good visibility from the
[1:25:15] different sides. Um they we typically
[1:25:18] will also install uh you know other
[1:25:20] things like um ramps and things like
[1:25:23] that to facilitate people being able to
[1:25:25] you know you know with uh any kind of
[1:25:28] disability or things like that to be
[1:25:29] able to get it in and off the bus um as
[1:25:32] well.
[1:25:32] >> And and one thing I want to point out
[1:25:34] with this this slide itself is in those
[1:25:36] images you can see the orange line it's
[1:25:39] kind of dashed in areas but that is the state rightway. So that that is one
[1:25:44] of the areas that we are trying to
[1:25:45] maintain as much as we possibly can in
[1:25:47] that area because every time we do have
[1:25:49] to go out that does mean rights we have
[1:25:50] to obtain from from property owners. So
[1:25:52] that is a line that I just want to point
[1:25:53] out. You're going to see that vary with
[1:25:55] our impacts throughout this entire
[1:25:57] project that that Dennis is talking
[1:25:58] about. But just so you know that that's
[1:25:59] the line that we're trying to get most
[1:26:01] of our infrastructure in.
[1:26:03] >> Right. Yeah. Exactly. And what you'll
[1:26:04] see is often times the the back of
[1:26:07] sidewalk is right up against that orange
[1:26:08] line. So, we've essentially maximized,
[1:26:10] we've pushed out as far as we can to fit
[1:26:13] as much as we can into the road. Um, so
[1:26:15] the three locations we're currently
[1:26:16] proposing are Town Crier, um, another
[1:26:20] pulloff in front of Hannerford, and also
[1:26:23] O'Reilly Auto Parts as well. Those are
[1:26:26] general three locations that we're we're
[1:26:28] looking at. When we when we were doing
[1:26:30] the uh earlier design with the
[1:26:32] roundabouts, we had coordinated with the
[1:26:34] bus companies. So, we generally
[1:26:36] understand their routes through the
[1:26:37] area, you know, and there was a lot of
[1:26:39] discussion about, you know, the
[1:26:42] direction of travel and what some of the
[1:26:44] ideal locations would be. That's how
[1:26:46] these were chosen. Um,
[1:26:49] uh, now moving on to the next slide. So,
[1:26:52] another thing, another, you know,
[1:26:53] essentially feature that you'll see
[1:26:54] along the corridor is these mountable
[1:26:57] bumpouts. Um, as I mentioned earlier,
[1:27:00] speed is a big concern. Um, and so one
[1:27:03] of the things that, you know, I some of
[1:27:06] you folks may be familiar with is that
[1:27:08] putting up a sign with a speed limit
[1:27:09] doesn't really slow people down. Um, you
[1:27:12] know, and often times people say, well,
[1:27:14] enforcement, you know, you have to pull
[1:27:16] people over. And and unfortunately, the
[1:27:19] reality is in our experience with the
[1:27:20] work we do, that often also doesn't
[1:27:22] work. It works in within that moment,
[1:27:24] but you can't have someone doing that
[1:27:26] 24/7. Um, and so the most effective way
[1:27:30] to slow folks down is to create a
[1:27:32] narrower cross-section, is to make it
[1:27:34] uncomfortable to drive fast. If it's
[1:27:36] uncomfortable to drive fast, people will
[1:27:38] drive slower. And so, uh, one of the
[1:27:40] things that we wanted to do is identify
[1:27:42] locations along the corridor that would
[1:27:44] be most me where that would be most
[1:27:46] meaningful, right? Places where you
[1:27:48] start to get that long runway stretch.
[1:27:50] And so, what we want to do is we want to
[1:27:52] narrow those things down. We don't want
[1:27:54] to necessarily fully close the road down
[1:27:56] because we still need to be able to get
[1:27:58] some of these larger trucks through here
[1:27:59] that make deliveries to these
[1:28:00] businesses, get in and out. Um, but the
[1:28:04] trucks can mount these aprons. Um, for a
[1:28:07] regular passenger vehicle, it becomes
[1:28:09] uncomfortable. Can they still ride over
[1:28:11] it? Sure, yes, they can. Um, but it's less comfortable to do so. And most
[1:28:15] folks will essentially stay within the
[1:28:17] lane. And that that narrowing of fe uh
[1:28:21] effect does help slow down speeds,
[1:28:24] provide some of that traffic calming
[1:28:26] effect that does help um with you know
[1:28:28] these locations.
[1:28:30] So that's that's what you see here. Um
[1:28:33] we also understand this is Vermont,
[1:28:34] right? We we need to plow snow. We need
[1:28:37] to be able to clear the roads. We need
[1:28:38] to be able to do all that. So this is a way to compromise between those
[1:28:43] things. you know, still be be able to
[1:28:45] maintain these roads and plow them and
[1:28:47] allow drainage to effectively get off
[1:28:49] the road while still uh creating that
[1:28:51] slower effect.
[1:28:54] Okay. Uh next slide. Uh we also are
[1:28:57] proposing a couple midblock crossings.
[1:28:59] So, one of the the differences is that
[1:29:01] these are crossings that are not
[1:29:03] attached to a signalized intersection.
[1:29:05] Um there are places where it would be a
[1:29:08] pretty long stretch uh to go to the next
[1:29:10] signal to cross the road. And so within
[1:29:13] those locations, we do propose uh an
[1:29:16] RRFB crossing. Uh it's a rectangular
[1:29:18] rapid flashing beacon. There is one out
[1:29:20] there today at uh Town Crier. So you may
[1:29:23] be familiar with that. It's a push
[1:29:25] activated signal. So essentially it
[1:29:27] doesn't, you know, just sits there until
[1:29:29] someone walks up, pushes the button, and
[1:29:31] then it flashes to let people know that,
[1:29:33] you know, someone's crossing the road.
[1:29:36] Um, we we use these sparingly generally
[1:29:39] because if you install too many of them,
[1:29:41] people start to ignore them. And so you
[1:29:44] want to use them at the most important
[1:29:46] locations along the corridor where it's
[1:29:49] a long distance for the next crossing.
[1:29:51] And that's where you really want to
[1:29:52] place them for places like that.
[1:29:56] Um, now moving on, uh, we have upgraded
[1:30:01] signals at some of these intersections.
[1:30:03] don't need to get into a lot of detail
[1:30:05] with this, but I'll just simply mention
[1:30:07] that um you know they will be standard
[1:30:10] signals that you know you see around the
[1:30:12] state. They will be um new uh you know
[1:30:16] foundations with new signal uh poles,
[1:30:18] new signal arms meeting all the latest
[1:30:21] visibility standards and things like
[1:30:22] that. Um we will have all ADA you know
[1:30:26] crossings so all of the ramps will be
[1:30:27] compliant. they'll be able to uh work
[1:30:30] with, you know, help assist with
[1:30:32] visually impaired folks and things like
[1:30:34] that as well. Um, and I I think I
[1:30:37] mentioned earlier, but uh one of the
[1:30:39] important things when you have a signal
[1:30:42] like this is to have a pedestrian phase
[1:30:44] where pedestrians know it's safe to
[1:30:46] cross. You know, it's a dedicated phase
[1:30:48] for them at the signal. um where
[1:30:50] everyone's stopped and you know it's a really safe and primarily for you
[1:30:54] know for those folks that may needs need
[1:30:56] a little extra time to get to the other
[1:30:58] side of the road.
[1:31:00] Um if we could skip to slide 18 please.
[1:31:05] Um so one of the other things is storm
[1:31:07] water. Uh with the work that we're doing
[1:31:10] we are proposing all new closed drainage
[1:31:12] along the roadway and so uh that's a
[1:31:15] significant improvement to what's out
[1:31:16] there today. There will be a new trunk
[1:31:18] line which is a main line that runs down
[1:31:20] the road and we'll be collecting all new
[1:31:21] drainage with catch basins along the
[1:31:23] corridor. Um now in addition to that we
[1:31:26] will also be installing uh infiltration
[1:31:28] basins that will treat that storm water
[1:31:31] before it's discharged into the
[1:31:33] Connecticut the west or uh Crosby Brook.
[1:31:36] is actually it's a sediment
[1:31:38] impaired brook. Um, and so we want to
[1:31:40] keep as much of that salt, sand, and
[1:31:42] everything else out of that. And these
[1:31:44] basins go a long way to doing that and
[1:31:46] help improve that quality of of storm
[1:31:48] water that ends up in the rivers and
[1:31:50] streams.
[1:31:52] >> And uh, that's the end of the
[1:31:54] presentation. So, open it up to
[1:31:57] questions.
[1:31:58] >> Great. I know that that was, you know,
[1:31:59] very quick rundown for everything that's
[1:32:00] been going into this, but I think Dennis
[1:32:02] did hit on it. And we do have, you know,
[1:32:04] slides of the the other signalized
[1:32:06] intersections if anybody does want to
[1:32:07] take a look at that, but it's they're
[1:32:08] all pretty much kind of the same. You
[1:32:10] know, we're adding turn lanes that may
[1:32:12] not exist now and uh those pedestrian
[1:32:15] facilities throughout.
[1:32:17] >> Great. Thank you. Um and these this
[1:32:20] presentation, which I think people will
[1:32:21] be really interested in, is available
[1:32:23] online on the town website, I believe.
[1:32:27] >> Yep, it is. It's up there.
[1:32:28] >> Part of the backups, etc. So, thank you
[1:32:31] all for coming and for waiting and u for
[1:32:34] such a thorough presentation. Questions
[1:32:36] from the board.
[1:32:39] >> Yeah. Yes. Yeah, I do.
[1:32:41] >> Neil and then Amanda.
[1:32:42] >> Mine might be longer if Amanda wants
[1:32:44] >> Amanda and then Neil.
[1:32:45] >> Okay. I I'll have few specific Thanks
[1:32:48] for the great presentation. Um so I did
[1:32:52] a quick like search and how high the
[1:32:54] mountable bumpouts are.
[1:32:56] >> Mhm.
[1:32:58] between four and seven inches. Minimum
[1:33:00] of four. There's a big variation. Uh
[1:33:02] >> so what's the plan for this one? And
[1:33:04] does our Department of Public Works have
[1:33:08] to have a specialized plow or is there
[1:33:11] higher risk of injury to our equipment?
[1:33:14] >> This is still a state route. So we are
[1:33:16] doing the plowing I believe here through
[1:33:17] here.
[1:33:18] >> Yeah.
[1:33:19] >> 100% of it. Even where we have a side
[1:33:21] road coming in and we're moving it.
[1:33:24] Okay. Okay. So that's all you guys
[1:33:26] >> think town plows the sidewalks if I
[1:33:28] remember correctly. Yep.
[1:33:30] >> Um and so one of the things that we are
[1:33:31] actually looked at is making sure that
[1:33:33] they are wide enough in all the
[1:33:35] locations for the town plow uh that does
[1:33:38] the sidewalk plows um to be able to
[1:33:40] navigate through there if needed. Um but
[1:33:43] yes, the the bumpouts can be anything
[1:33:46] from completely flush and just a
[1:33:48] different texture from the pavement
[1:33:50] around it. stamped uh textured with a
[1:33:53] you know granite outline or they can be
[1:33:55] you know up to three, four, five inches
[1:33:59] depending on the you know location and
[1:34:01] what you're trying to achieve. Um they
[1:34:03] have a mountable curb so that way if a
[1:34:05] truck does drive right through them
[1:34:07] which they are meant to do that. It
[1:34:09] won't cut their tire or you know damage
[1:34:11] their vehicle in any way and it also
[1:34:13] won't damage a pedestrian a regular
[1:34:15] passenger vehicle unless it hits it at a
[1:34:18] significant speed. Um, but it's meant to
[1:34:20] be uncomfortable. It's just meant to
[1:34:22] kind of give you that like, oh, I'm I'm
[1:34:24] not on the main road here.
[1:34:25] >> And Amanda, John just had a followup on
[1:34:27] that specific question.
[1:34:28] >> I just had a question on the whether you
[1:34:30] looked at um instead of the bumpouts uh
[1:34:35] have refuge islands for the pedestrian
[1:34:37] crossings in those areas instead of the
[1:34:39] use that width from the bumpouts and
[1:34:42] give it to sa uh save the pedestrians uh
[1:34:45] and give them a little refuge in the
[1:34:46] middle of the road.
[1:34:48] We Yeah. So, it's a good question. We
[1:34:51] did look at that. I think the difficulty
[1:34:53] is that we need that space on the
[1:34:55] outside for the truck turning movements.
[1:34:57] And so, um, in order for a the larger
[1:35:01] trucks that come through here, like such
[1:35:02] as like the Cisco delivery trucks or the
[1:35:05] Hannerford trucks, those types of trucks
[1:35:07] or, uh, you know, the deliveries for the
[1:35:09] dealership, for example, those trucks,
[1:35:12] they need the full width to be able to
[1:35:13] maneuver and make those turns that they
[1:35:16] need to do. And so we run those
[1:35:17] movements. And so the issue is that we
[1:35:20] can't create a pedestrian refuge if it's
[1:35:24] mountable because we can't give them
[1:35:26] that false sense of safety, right? Where
[1:35:28] like, well, they can stop here and wait
[1:35:30] for the next crossing, but they actually
[1:35:31] can't because a truck can drive through
[1:35:34] right through this area and might need
[1:35:36] to.
[1:35:37] >> And so that's the difficulty. Thank you.
[1:35:38] Yeah.
[1:35:39] >> And and just add on that, you know, the
[1:35:41] um the refuge like in the middle that's
[1:35:43] also going to be getting like the median
[1:35:45] built in a little bit more. you're going
[1:35:46] to have a lot more um not main activity
[1:35:49] but kind of taking away from the lane
[1:35:50] mobility that we're we're trying to get
[1:35:52] as well. Um
[1:35:53] >> so just one of the things that has been
[1:35:55] discussed but just pros and cons to a
[1:35:57] lot of different things. So
[1:35:59] >> um speaking back to the maintenance
[1:36:00] aspect that we I'm trying to speak for
[1:36:03] our maintenance section for now is like
[1:36:04] they probably want a lower manual curve
[1:36:06] here and really what I think we we're
[1:36:08] going for something that is
[1:36:09] uncomfortable and also like the visual
[1:36:10] aspect of it um is is helping with the
[1:36:14] traffic coming as well. Yeah, it's a
[1:36:16] different color and you know it's a
[1:36:18] different pattern.
[1:36:19] >> Yeah.
[1:36:19] >> Um other question is um going into
[1:36:25] um so maintaining budget for maintaining
[1:36:27] grass on grass strips.
[1:36:29] >> How's how's the agency doing in terms of
[1:36:31] that kind of maintenance for various
[1:36:34] municipal areas where there's more
[1:36:36] density like this?
[1:36:37] >> Um so I I believe that that would become
[1:36:39] the maintenance of the town itself. So
[1:36:40] we will have to have a finance and
[1:36:42] maintenance agreement with the town
[1:36:43] moving forward for items like the the
[1:36:46] shared use path as we will not be the
[1:36:48] agency will not be plowing that. That
[1:36:49] will be the responsibility of of um the
[1:36:52] town and any landscaping features uh
[1:36:55] would be the responsibility of the town
[1:36:56] as well.
[1:36:58] >> Okay. Um and then one more question. Oh,
[1:37:01] one thing I love the bus shelters. I
[1:37:04] think they're very handsome
[1:37:06] >> and I think they'd be a great asset to
[1:37:08] the town. Um, and then the Black
[1:37:10] Mountain Road spot. So, is that your
[1:37:13] right ofway on that corner of of You're
[1:37:16] talking about the storm water drainage.
[1:37:18] >> The the state did purchase that that
[1:37:20] corner.
[1:37:21] >> Got it. Okay. All right. That's all.
[1:37:24] >> Great. Thank you, Amanda. Neil,
[1:37:26] >> um, thank you.
[1:37:29] So, I'm going to start, I think, off
[1:37:33] what you just noted about the grass. Um
[1:37:37] because one of my questions was about
[1:37:39] trees and so I'm guessing that if
[1:37:41] landscaping features are the
[1:37:43] responsibility of the town, if there
[1:37:45] wanted to be any kind of like shrubbery
[1:37:47] or shade integrated into the grass
[1:37:51] that's the grass paths getting added,
[1:37:53] that would be something the town would
[1:37:55] be responsible for adding.
[1:37:57] >> Yes. Well, we could add it as part of
[1:37:59] the project, but future maintenance
[1:38:00] would be on the
[1:38:01] >> Okay, that's good to know. Um, and has
[1:38:06] there been any exploration of having a
[1:38:09] cover crop that's more durable than
[1:38:10] grass?
[1:38:13] >> I don't have a good answer for that. Um,
[1:38:15] we do have a landscape architect with
[1:38:17] the agency now that has been working on
[1:38:18] many different seed mixtures. Um, she's
[1:38:20] been with us for a few years and she's
[1:38:21] great. So, I could have that
[1:38:23] conversation with her. Um, just to see
[1:38:24] what what is more durable and longer
[1:38:26] lasting. Yeah, there there's a couple
[1:38:28] mixes like low grow uh mixes that are
[1:38:32] more salt tolerant and um you know
[1:38:35] particularly work better in the New
[1:38:37] England you know climate environment. Um
[1:38:41] a lot of times the issue is that with
[1:38:44] the amount of salt we put on the roads
[1:38:46] it almost doesn't matter what you grow.
[1:38:49] It is so negatively impacted by the
[1:38:52] amount of salt we put down that it's hard for things to survive. But
[1:38:56] there are, you know, essentially low
[1:38:58] growth mixes that we primarily use for
[1:39:01] state agency projects that do have
[1:39:04] higher survivability rates than just
[1:39:06] your typical lawn mix that you would get
[1:39:08] at the
[1:39:09] >> I appreciate that because I wasn't even
[1:39:10] thinking about salt. I was thinking
[1:39:12] about uh the water demands of grass in a
[1:39:15] really sunheavy area.
[1:39:17] >> Um if we're trying to
[1:39:20] >> think about the aesthetics of it as
[1:39:22] well. Um but those are kind of side
[1:39:23] points and thank you. So, I was curious,
[1:39:26] uh, the bus pull-offs, right now the
[1:39:27] mover has like short buses. Are those
[1:39:30] going to be long enough for the
[1:39:31] potential of expansion into kind of like
[1:39:33] full width like city buses in the
[1:39:35] future?
[1:39:36] >> Yeah. So, I one thing is that this is,
[1:39:40] as Bruce said, this is a conceptual
[1:39:42] design. So, this is very early. We have
[1:39:44] not gone back to the bus companies since
[1:39:46] the initial preliminary design to talk
[1:39:49] about, you know, the current equipment
[1:39:50] and their plans into the future. We did
[1:39:53] discuss uh the possibility of using
[1:39:55] larger buses with them in when we did
[1:39:58] the previous design. They had indicated
[1:40:00] that it was unlikely that they would be
[1:40:03] switching to larger buses just based on
[1:40:05] the amount of rideability that ride
[1:40:07] ridership they currently have. But um
[1:40:09] that does not mean that we can't make
[1:40:12] adjustments. you know, being so early in
[1:40:14] the process and, you know, this is a
[1:40:16] multi-year process. Um, there's
[1:40:18] certainly opportunity to make those, you
[1:40:21] know, bus pulloffs longer, shorter, you
[1:40:23] know, slightly adjusted a location. Um,
[1:40:26] in the end, you know, what you're
[1:40:28] looking for in an ideal situation is the
[1:40:31] majority of the bus being able to pull
[1:40:33] in, especially that front portion where
[1:40:35] the loading and unloading happens. Um,
[1:40:38] with our wide 5-ft shoulder, we're able
[1:40:40] to still leave, you know, a portion of
[1:40:43] the bus out into that shoulder area and
[1:40:46] still allow vehicles to pass behind it.
[1:40:49] >> But that just feels irresponsible when
[1:40:50] they're going to be in a bike lane,
[1:40:52] right? Like if you just have the the
[1:40:54] nose pulled in, then you're essentially
[1:40:56] forcing the bikes into the traffic.
[1:40:58] >> Well, so at some point there is a
[1:41:01] conflict uh similar to what you would
[1:41:02] see at like a intersection, right? So,
[1:41:05] typically if you were to um I know we
[1:41:08] don't have the slides on the screen
[1:41:09] anymore, but if you if you have the
[1:41:11] presentation in front of you or you
[1:41:13] wanted to take a look, what you'll see
[1:41:14] is often times we have a right turn lane
[1:41:17] >> that uh that we have to provide in order
[1:41:20] for cars to get into that right turn
[1:41:22] lane. You've got a conflict point there.
[1:41:24] Y
[1:41:24] >> and you know without creating full grade
[1:41:28] separation, it's really difficult to
[1:41:30] fully eliminate that. Um, in our
[1:41:32] experience doing these types of corridor
[1:41:34] projects, um, the bicycle users that
[1:41:37] typically drive ride within the roadway
[1:41:40] and use the roadway itself are more
[1:41:43] confident. They they have more
[1:41:44] experience riding within the roadway.
[1:41:46] And so there's a there's a sense of um,
[1:41:49] speed in which if we can slow the
[1:41:51] vehicles down and give the bikes a
[1:41:53] dedicated lane, they they they tend to
[1:41:56] line up and match up on speeds as they
[1:41:58] approach the signalized intersections.
[1:42:00] and that helps a lot with safety and
[1:42:02] they essentially move as as the vehicles
[1:42:05] do. Um, but yes, there is a conflict
[1:42:08] point at every pulloff with a bus and
[1:42:10] every intersection where cars do have to
[1:42:13] cross the bike lane.
[1:42:14] >> Yeah. And I do understand like the
[1:42:15] crossing element, but as opposed to a
[1:42:17] bus that might be pulled over and parked
[1:42:19] for kind of an unsure amount of time,
[1:42:22] especially if there's like any kind of
[1:42:24] >> like wheelchair
[1:42:26] >> off and on happening. If they're only
[1:42:29] provided for the nose to be pulled in,
[1:42:31] that entire bike lane is going to be
[1:42:33] like it's not just somebody crossing
[1:42:35] over, right? It's not just a merge. It's
[1:42:37] a it's a block of a transport lane such
[1:42:41] that they either wait for an indefinite
[1:42:43] amount of time, which we know they
[1:42:44] won't, or they cut or they're biking
[1:42:47] around into oncoming traffic.
[1:42:48] >> Yeah, and that's a valid point. I mean,
[1:42:50] you're talking about the death, so
[1:42:51] understandable what you're talking
[1:42:54] about, and that's something we can look
[1:42:55] into. too. I mean, just looking at this
[1:42:56] the slide and presentation now. Um, the
[1:42:58] one thing we need to just make make sure
[1:43:00] we're we're reaching is like we have one
[1:43:03] bus turn at O'Reilly that if we make it
[1:43:05] deeper, we also have to make it longer
[1:43:07] obviously just to make everything fit in
[1:43:08] and just where that lines up with our
[1:43:10] intersections as well. Just make sure
[1:43:12] that it's all kind of functioning as
[1:43:14] one. Um, but that is still one of those
[1:43:17] definite things that we can look into as
[1:43:18] we advance the design moving forward.
[1:43:20] And I guess I'll I'll caveat it by
[1:43:22] saying a lot a lot of what's like
[1:43:24] popping into my head as somebody who
[1:43:25] grew up in a bigger city where I biked
[1:43:28] everywhere. Um, and a lot of the
[1:43:30] infrastructure improvements were being
[1:43:33] made as I grew up. And so I just like I I have a visual memory of this,
[1:43:39] especially the amount of times myself I
[1:43:42] got hit by cars. Um,
[1:43:46] and like how that that's that's where
[1:43:49] I'm coming from here is but thank you.
[1:43:53] And I had more questions.
[1:43:55] >> So I let's go around the board first and
[1:43:57] then come back.
[1:43:59] >> Um, anyone else? Isaac, Peter?
[1:44:02] >> No, thank you for the presentation. I
[1:44:04] mean, it's really informative.
[1:44:05] Appreciate you coming,
[1:44:06] >> Isaac.
[1:44:08] >> Yeah. Um, thank you as well. Um I
[1:44:10] believe that the there the Brattleboro
[1:44:13] coalition for active transportation
[1:44:16] could you okay let me back up the public
[1:44:19] input just be interested to hear about
[1:44:22] the process for getting that I know this
[1:44:23] has been a long time coming and I'm
[1:44:26] really excited to see this come to
[1:44:28] fruition because I've been hearing about
[1:44:29] it for a while so exciting to see the
[1:44:31] plans what what has been the public
[1:44:33] input process and particularly has there
[1:44:35] been engagement with organizations that
[1:44:38] work with people who are pedestrian
[1:44:40] cyclists. Um,
[1:44:42] >> so at this point, not on our end. I do
[1:44:45] believe that this was presented to BCAT
[1:44:48] at one point. Um, but we can have f
[1:44:51] future conversations that we just
[1:44:52] haven't met with them now. They do
[1:44:54] understand the changes that, you know,
[1:44:55] are being made. Um, and we're open to
[1:44:58] having those conversations.
[1:44:59] >> Great. And along with that, I'm I'm
[1:45:02] interested if there's any outreach to to
[1:45:06] groups that work with low-income
[1:45:07] residents. I'm just aware that my sense
[1:45:10] is that that that
[1:45:12] um probably low-income folks are over
[1:45:15] represented in the the pedestrians along
[1:45:17] that stretch. I think a lot of people
[1:45:19] who don't have cars or don't have access
[1:45:20] to cars are using um walking along
[1:45:23] Putney Road and just wanted to see if
[1:45:24] there was any an outreach to to get
[1:45:27] perspectives of people who'd actually be
[1:45:29] using this investments.
[1:45:31] >> Um well, we're here to get perspectives
[1:45:33] from individuals, you know, now. So
[1:45:35] that's we we don't live here. So you
[1:45:37] know, individuals here do. So that is a
[1:45:40] good point that um I didn't take into
[1:45:41] consideration. Uh but we are open for
[1:45:44] many conversations uh moving forward.
[1:45:46] Like I said, we're still at the
[1:45:47] conceptual level. And if you have
[1:45:49] organizations or people that you think
[1:45:51] we should talk to, um please send them
[1:45:52] my way so we can have that conversation.
[1:45:54] >> Yeah. What would be the best way to get
[1:45:56] in touch with you?
[1:45:56] >> I'll give you my card before I leave.
[1:45:58] >> Sounds good. Thanks. Um and then the
[1:46:00] final if if I may. Sure. Um it's just
[1:46:03] it's like Amanda, it's great to see
[1:46:06] these bus shelters. I know there have
[1:46:07] been some concerns in Brattleboro with
[1:46:10] um bus shelters, benches being misused
[1:46:14] and um drug use happening um out in
[1:46:18] public and that's something that there
[1:46:20] have been numerous concerns expressed
[1:46:22] about that and just wanted to see if
[1:46:24] there were in terms of um safety and
[1:46:26] cleanliness if there were going to
[1:46:28] thoughts about lighting um or I I saw
[1:46:32] there was like open sides so that's
[1:46:34] great so people can see in
[1:46:35] >> um but also You know, I want to It would
[1:46:38] be great to have shelters that don't
[1:46:39] just get taken down because of concerns.
[1:46:43] You you follow me? And I'm I'm
[1:46:45] interested to know what you know, if
[1:46:46] there's materials, durability of
[1:46:48] materials that can be easily cleaned or
[1:46:50] what your thinking is in terms of just
[1:46:52] an awareness of some of the issues that
[1:46:54] have been facing our community.
[1:46:55] >> Yeah. Um I'll let Dennis answer that,
[1:46:58] but I I can't say that there's not a
[1:47:00] risk of that regardless of what we put
[1:47:02] up there. Um,
[1:47:04] >> yeah,
[1:47:05] >> I don't think we have a lot of control
[1:47:07] with that either. So that that that
[1:47:08] might be like an enforcement issue
[1:47:10] moving forward. Um,
[1:47:12] >> it's I mean like you know vandalism or
[1:47:14] something like that like I I don't think
[1:47:16] we'd be immune to that.
[1:47:18] >> Yeah, of course. But I I think there's
[1:47:20] design um features that can help mit
[1:47:22] like what you were talking with about
[1:47:24] with traffic
[1:47:25] >> enforcement actually is not necessarily
[1:47:27] going to like the police can't always be
[1:47:29] all the time staffing every bus shelter.
[1:47:31] Um, so I'm curious about like some of
[1:47:33] the lighting and design.
[1:47:34] >> So we've done um a significant number of
[1:47:37] park and rides within Vermont. Um, so we
[1:47:40] work with the agency to do park and ride
[1:47:42] projects. And so one of the things we do
[1:47:44] is we install bus shelters at park and
[1:47:46] rides. Um what what we've found is that
[1:47:50] um typically
[1:47:52] um bus shelters that are of this style
[1:47:56] uh where they use uh very durable uh
[1:48:00] materials and but also look um you know
[1:48:05] somewhat somewhat nice. Uh I know it can
[1:48:08] you know be obviously you know
[1:48:10] difference of opinion here but um
[1:48:13] providing something that you know has a
[1:48:15] little bit of a visual appeal to it um
[1:48:18] we what we found is that the amount of
[1:48:21] vandalism has actually decreased because
[1:48:23] of the you know the the conditions of
[1:48:26] this new facility. Um we do have
[1:48:29] lighting that you know at these park and
[1:48:31] ride facilities which certainly helps.
[1:48:34] Um, we are very selective in the amount
[1:48:36] of landscaping we install so that
[1:48:39] there's not shaded places that, you
[1:48:42] know, aren't seen from the roadway, for
[1:48:44] example. Um, things like installing bus
[1:48:46] shelters in a particular way within
[1:48:48] these facilities where there's a lot of
[1:48:51] headlights coming through at night,
[1:48:53] people are visually seeing it, there's
[1:48:55] street lamps nearby. Doing things like
[1:48:57] that intentionally helps reduce that.
[1:49:00] Doesn't fully eliminate it. Like Bruce
[1:49:02] said, it's always, you know, a
[1:49:04] possibility, but we've we've seen that
[1:49:06] they they typically last pretty well.
[1:49:08] And every now and again, you'll see some
[1:49:10] graffiti on the glass. Um, but the glass
[1:49:12] is designed to be, you know, cle, you
[1:49:15] know, they can clean it, they can wash
[1:49:16] it, they can, you know, do that. Um, and
[1:49:18] the facilities that are, um, nicer, um,
[1:49:22] and as they're installed, they typically
[1:49:24] are just better taken care of. Um, and
[1:49:26] so that's there there's, you know, a
[1:49:28] desire to do it that way as well. And I
[1:49:30] do want to just add something because
[1:49:32] you did bring up lighting. Um so
[1:49:35] lighting for for us right now is really
[1:49:37] just on utility poles on the roadway
[1:49:39] itself. Um additional features can be
[1:49:42] added like along the sh's path in other
[1:49:44] areas. Um but that is something that
[1:49:47] would be a town um funded aspect. So it'
[1:49:50] be a nonparticipating aspect for for us.
[1:49:52] So we can install it as part of the
[1:49:54] project but that would be a town um paid
[1:49:56] for for item.
[1:49:57] Just want to mention it now because we
[1:49:59] are like I said conceptual level and and
[1:50:00] something for consideration.
[1:50:02] >> Yeah. And to Bruce's point about
[1:50:03] lighting I think you know all of the
[1:50:05] signalized intersections will have ped
[1:50:07] you know we'll have lighting
[1:50:08] specifically for the pedestrian
[1:50:10] crossings. Also those midblock locations
[1:50:13] those crossings will also have
[1:50:14] additional lighting installed just for
[1:50:16] them to meet the state and national
[1:50:18] codes for like safe crossings across
[1:50:21] roadways at night. um you know and then
[1:50:23] we can look at the nearby lights to
[1:50:26] places like bus shelters to make sure
[1:50:28] there's sufficient lighting within that.
[1:50:30] >> Thanks. That addresses the concern.
[1:50:32] >> Yeah, thanks Isaac. Um I just had one
[1:50:38] minor question. We've looked at some of
[1:50:40] this before and I'm excited about it. Um
[1:50:43] the treating the runoff in the storm
[1:50:45] water basins does that mean an actual
[1:50:48] >> is that just treated by passing through
[1:50:52] u like plants etc. It's not actual
[1:50:56] >> treatment station.
[1:50:57] >> Good question. Uh it's essentially a a a
[1:51:00] holding place for water. uh you know, by
[1:51:03] slowing water down, we're allowing
[1:51:05] sediment and and things like that to
[1:51:07] deposit out of the out of the water and
[1:51:10] into a pre-treatment basin like a forbay
[1:51:13] and then collect there before it over
[1:51:15] tops and goes down through a weir and downstream. And so we're capturing a
[1:51:21] lot of that sediment laden water early
[1:51:23] in the basin. Um and then uh there is a
[1:51:27] you know essentially annual or you know
[1:51:30] bianual process where a vac truck comes
[1:51:32] out and just cleans out that sediment
[1:51:34] that's been deposited.
[1:51:35] >> Okay. And so that cleaning out sort of
[1:51:38] emptying out the base and that's the
[1:51:40] only maintenance that we're not talking
[1:51:41] moving parts and corrects and stuff like
[1:51:43] that.
[1:51:44] >> Great.
[1:51:44] >> Okay. Uh Nell, another question or
[1:51:47] another question.
[1:51:47] >> Oh yes, Amanda and then Nell and then
[1:51:49] we'll go to the public.
[1:51:50] >> Um back to the infiltration basins
[1:51:52] because we're on that topic. Um so who
[1:51:56] mows those
[1:51:58] >> that so the basins and all the
[1:52:01] maintenance is responsibility of the
[1:52:02] agency?
[1:52:03] >> Okay. And um
[1:52:07] how deep is the how many feet do you go
[1:52:10] down for the basement?
[1:52:12] >> Typically like two or three feet.
[1:52:13] They're not very deep. Okay.
[1:52:15] >> Um but they're they're large and so
[1:52:17] they're able to essentially the idea is
[1:52:19] that they hold water for up to about 24
[1:52:21] hours.
[1:52:22] >> Okay. And so you have a large massive
[1:52:24] storm come through, you'll see them fill
[1:52:26] up and then usually within 24 hours it
[1:52:28] will drain down to nothing and back to
[1:52:31] just ground level. And if if they're
[1:52:33] working properly, that's that's how
[1:52:34] they're supposed to function.
[1:52:35] >> And the gray things in the design are
[1:52:38] those
[1:52:39] >> Oh, yes.
[1:52:40] >> benches or
[1:52:41] >> That's the uh the gray are essentially
[1:52:45] like a stone wear. It's that's where the
[1:52:47] water overflows from the first pool into
[1:52:50] the second and then from the second as
[1:52:52] like an emergency spillway. So, it's
[1:52:55] just stone. Think of it as like a a
[1:52:57] stone apron.
[1:52:58] >> Okay. And do any communities have um
[1:53:03] other uses for spaces like this, like a
[1:53:06] farmers market or um or
[1:53:10] >> it's not level enough. That's really the
[1:53:12] issue with it. um you know it it looks
[1:53:15] like a large relatively you know flat
[1:53:17] area on a plan but um it grades down
[1:53:20] pretty quickly right off the road and so
[1:53:22] it's not very level. It's only level
[1:53:24] enough so we can get a back truck in
[1:53:26] there and it won't tip over but
[1:53:28] otherwise it's not a place where you'd
[1:53:30] want to like set up a stand or something
[1:53:32] like that because it is on an incline.
[1:53:35] >> And is it fenced in?
[1:53:38] >> They can be fenced in. Uh we have had
[1:53:40] this conversation uh already with
[1:53:42] others. Um we can put fences around
[1:53:44] them. We do know that putting fences up
[1:53:46] is not aesthetically pleasing. And in
[1:53:48] some areas um really the only place
[1:53:51] would be in the corner of Black Mountain
[1:53:52] where there's actually room to put put
[1:53:54] fencing correct wrong on that one. Um
[1:53:57] >> but if there were to be fencing around
[1:53:58] it, which you know we can do, uh we
[1:54:01] could put like um some trees around it
[1:54:03] just so it looked a little bit better.
[1:54:04] >> Got it.
[1:54:06] One more infiltration basin question on
[1:54:08] the way over to Nell. Can you just
[1:54:10] reassure me that these giant flat pools
[1:54:14] of 24-hour storm water aren't mosquito
[1:54:16] factories?
[1:54:17] >> Yeah, that's a great it's a great it's a common issue, a common concern
[1:54:20] for sure. Um, what we do is we actually
[1:54:23] go out, we we do borings and we test all
[1:54:26] the sub material under these basins to
[1:54:28] make sure it can handle the infiltration
[1:54:30] that needs to occur. And until we can
[1:54:32] meet those perk rates, those, you know,
[1:54:34] infiltration rates, we won't install a
[1:54:37] basin. So, for example, if this area was
[1:54:38] all clay and couldn't take the water, we
[1:54:42] wouldn't be allowed to put a basin here.
[1:54:43] And so, we have to demonstrate that the
[1:54:45] soil is good, well- draining soil
[1:54:46] underneath and that water can
[1:54:48] infiltrate.
[1:54:49] >> Early testing does show that the soils
[1:54:51] down through here are very sandy and
[1:54:53] very well draining.
[1:54:54] >> Great. Thank you. All right, now
[1:54:57] >> thanks. Um I was curious the the shared
[1:55:01] pathway leading up to Town Cryer Drive.
[1:55:04] So that's that's like a paved sidewalk,
[1:55:07] >> correct?
[1:55:07] >> Okay. Um so the the idea is that
[1:55:11] bicyclists would be going down the paved
[1:55:13] sidewalk up until the point that the
[1:55:14] road widens enough to accommodate a
[1:55:16] dedicated bike lane.
[1:55:17] >> Correct. We don't have the width. That's
[1:55:19] the issue there. And so yes, it's a it's a sidewalk as you have anywhere
[1:55:23] else in town, right? Used the same way
[1:55:25] as anywhere else in town. Um, there is
[1:55:27] still a 5- foot wide shoulder on both
[1:55:29] sides of the road. So, if folks didn't
[1:55:32] want to and wanted to stay in the road,
[1:55:34] they they still have that ability to do
[1:55:36] that.
[1:55:37] >> Thank you. Um, and I was curious back to
[1:55:41] the bike lanes and kind of intersections
[1:55:43] with other road features. Um,
[1:55:48] I what why do they have to travel
[1:55:51] straight through as opposed to following
[1:55:52] the outside edge? Um, is that cuz
[1:55:56] they're kind of like they have to
[1:55:58] intersect with the right turn lanes
[1:56:00] either way. Um,
[1:56:03] >> but what what's the benefit of having
[1:56:04] them?
[1:56:05] >> Can you tell us what page you're on? And
[1:56:07] >> I'm looking I'm looking at this one.
[1:56:09] Yep.
[1:56:09] >> Yep. But you see how there basically
[1:56:11] anytime there is a widening of the road
[1:56:14] to allow for a bus pulloff or to allow
[1:56:16] for a right turn a right-hand turn lane
[1:56:18] um the bicycle lane continues through it
[1:56:21] as opposed to
[1:56:23] following the edge of the road.
[1:56:26] >> Yeah. So I think maybe a better um image
[1:56:30] would be if you would go to uh I will
[1:56:34] I'll find a
[1:56:36] >> this one. Yeah, this is good. Could you
[1:56:38] go to slide uh 14, please?
[1:56:40] >> Mhm.
[1:56:43] >> Okay. So, if if you see from the right
[1:56:46] hand side, right, you've got a a right
[1:56:48] turn lane and then you've got a bike
[1:56:50] lane and then you've got your through
[1:56:52] lane and then your left turn lane,
[1:56:53] right? So, the idea there is the reason
[1:56:56] we put keep the bikes in the middle is
[1:56:58] for two two reasons. One, um giving them
[1:57:01] a nice straight path, it makes their
[1:57:03] location more predictable to vehicles,
[1:57:07] right? So, a bicyclist that's not
[1:57:08] meandering back and forth, it visually
[1:57:11] you've got more cues as a driver like,
[1:57:13] "Okay, this is where the bike lane is.
[1:57:15] It stays right here straight through um
[1:57:18] rather than meandering away from me and
[1:57:19] then coming back to me." And so, that helps from that standpoint um
[1:57:23] visually for the drivers. Um it also
[1:57:26] makes uh for a bicyclist more
[1:57:29] predictable path of travel. So, you
[1:57:31] know, when there's an unexpected
[1:57:33] situation that occurs, they're they can
[1:57:36] react to it rather than focusing on
[1:57:38] trying to stay along a path that's
[1:57:40] changing direction. Um, so there's those
[1:57:43] are the two general benefits of that.
[1:57:44] The other thing is the vehicles that are
[1:57:46] in the right turn lane, they're most likely going to be coming
[1:57:50] to a stop or slowing down significantly
[1:57:52] before turning right. And so we want to
[1:57:55] we want the bicyclists that are
[1:57:57] continuing straight down the road to
[1:57:58] maintain their speed with vehicles. A
[1:58:01] lot of times the difference in speed
[1:58:03] between the car and the bicyclist is one
[1:58:05] of the things that makes it so
[1:58:06] dangerous. If we can maintain speeds of
[1:58:09] similar rates that gives them, you know,
[1:58:12] a safer ride through that area. So those
[1:58:15] are the reasons why we do that.
[1:58:17] >> Thank you. Um
[1:58:20] >> yeah, my my concern there was basically
[1:58:22] people that don't know where they're
[1:58:23] going and kind of yink into the right
[1:58:25] turn lane.
[1:58:26] >> Yeah.
[1:58:26] >> Um is it possible that when there is the
[1:58:32] advanced screen for pedestrians that
[1:58:35] there could be an integrated advance
[1:58:37] green for bicyclists as well? So there
[1:58:41] are options uh where bicyclists
[1:58:44] depending on the intersection and the
[1:58:46] operations of the signal uh have a what
[1:58:48] we call like a bike box. Yeah.
[1:58:50] >> Right. Where they are able to trigger
[1:58:52] the signal as a bicyclist um rather than
[1:58:55] um but um and we can look at this. This
[1:58:58] is something that you know we don't
[1:58:59] typically designate at a conceptual
[1:59:01] level design. We typically do this
[1:59:03] further on as we're refining the design
[1:59:05] and and things like that. But um Brends
[1:59:09] does do that in some locations depending
[1:59:12] on the amount of bicyclists and things
[1:59:14] like that. Um the the thing to you know
[1:59:17] kind of look at carefully there is that
[1:59:21] um having a dedicated bike box doesn't
[1:59:24] necessarily make you safer as a
[1:59:26] bicyclist because ultimately you're
[1:59:28] still if the right if the light is red
[1:59:30] you have for the vehicles you also as a
[1:59:32] bicyclist have to stop there. And so
[1:59:35] there's, you know, the concern that if
[1:59:38] they have uh, you know, a a phase that's
[1:59:41] out of alignment with the vehicles that
[1:59:43] there could be confusion right from
[1:59:45] that. If there's not a lot of bicyclists
[1:59:47] in that area that constantly navigate
[1:59:49] that intersection. So, we'd have to look
[1:59:52] at that more carefully and see if it's
[1:59:53] appropriate. Um, there are guidelines
[1:59:55] for it that we would typically follow
[1:59:57] and we'd make a decision, you know,
[1:59:59] based on those volumes. And by bite box,
[2:00:01] do you mean um like where there is what
[2:00:04] I've seen at least like embedded ground
[2:00:06] channels that signal a light change?
[2:00:09] >> Okay.
[2:00:09] >> Correct. Uh yeah, that's that's one
[2:00:11] option. Another option is just with a
[2:00:13] camera, which is probably what we would
[2:00:14] do here. We would probably not use loops
[2:00:17] within this intersection. We would just
[2:00:19] use a camera detection for that. And
[2:00:21] what I was um referring to is just
[2:00:24] something I saw
[2:00:27] have a lot of success in other places
[2:00:30] I've lived where there is literally a
[2:00:32] tiny bike traffic light
[2:00:35] >> and they get an advanced green the same
[2:00:36] way that a pedestrian gets an advanced
[2:00:38] walk symbol before the red light turns
[2:00:41] green such that they're not competing in
[2:00:44] high travel intersections with left
[2:00:45] turns like the Hanniffords or like that
[2:00:48] kind of thing. um because generally they
[2:00:51] get they get stuck or they just get
[2:00:53] driven into.
[2:00:54] >> Sure. Yeah. No, it's something we can
[2:00:56] look at.
[2:00:56] >> Thank you guys. Thanks for that's those
[2:00:58] are all my questions and thank you for
[2:00:59] entertaining them.
[2:01:00] >> Great. So, um thank you everyone. I'm
[2:01:03] actually going to suggest that we take a
[2:01:04] five minute recess. Everyone stretches.
[2:01:07] We come back and take questions from the
[2:01:09] public.
[2:01:10] >> Yeah,
[2:01:10] >> that's not the correct time. It's
[2:01:11] actually
[2:01:13] >> 8:20.
[2:01:14] >> The battery and the clock is running
[2:01:16] down.
[2:01:16] >> So, we're going to recess for 5 minutes.
[2:01:19] box.
[2:01:20] >> Thank you everyone. We're going to come
[2:01:21] back to order. We're going to go to the
[2:01:23] public. So Dick and then Prudence and
[2:01:26] then Gemma,
[2:01:28] please.
[2:01:32] » Okay, I have a question for everybody in
[2:01:34] the room. How many was here for the
[2:01:36] first presentation of this project?
[2:01:41] >> I don't think you were here. It was in
[2:01:42] 2000. Were you here in 2007?
[2:01:45] >> No, you were not. I was sitting up there
[2:01:49] actually I was on the board and it's
[2:01:51] interesting about the scope of this
[2:01:53] project has changed because it was
[2:01:56] presented to us as safety because one of
[2:02:00] the reasons was the high accident rate
[2:02:03] on Putney Road
[2:02:05] >> and the reason for the roundabouts was
[2:02:08] to if anybody wanted to make a left-hand
[2:02:11] turn you were going to have to go up to
[2:02:13] the roundabout make a turn and then head
[2:02:15] either north or south whatever ever
[2:02:17] direction you were going. So it would be
[2:02:20] interesting to find out why that scope
[2:02:23] of safety, real safety changed. And when
[2:02:29] you said something, I don't know if it's
[2:02:31] a cost uh where you said the right of
[2:02:35] way
[2:02:37] uh with the roundabout project, I think
[2:02:40] there would have to have been a lot of
[2:02:42] negotiating. Was that a big reason for
[2:02:44] the change that's happening? Uh because
[2:02:48] I think that that's definitely got to be
[2:02:50] a concern.
[2:02:52] Uh
[2:02:54] because those are the things that I I
[2:02:56] thought about of why this was and when
[2:02:59] the presentation was I don't think
[2:03:02] Representative Burke was elected yet. I
[2:03:05] believe it might have been 2007 or 2008.
[2:03:10] And it was told that this project would
[2:03:14] start in 2018
[2:03:17] and here we are 2026. What is the
[2:03:20] projected start date of this project?
[2:03:24] Is this we looking at uh 2036
[2:03:28] maybe or later? So I might not be around
[2:03:31] when this project happens which I was
[2:03:33] hoping I was going to be around for the
[2:03:35] first project.
[2:03:37] >> Um
[2:03:38] >> thank you Dick. Yeah. So the first
[2:03:39] question was about the safety and
[2:03:41] roundabout aspect and the second one
[2:03:43] about potential project date.
[2:03:46] >> Yeah. Um so I can't speak for a lot of
[2:03:48] things were said before me. I wasn't
[2:03:50] even working with the agency in 2007. Um
[2:03:53] so safety is still always a factor with
[2:03:55] whatever we do. So that's why we are
[2:03:57] trying to enhance these these signals
[2:04:00] which are not really functioning right
[2:04:01] now. making them all work together as
[2:04:04] that will improve the safety that's out
[2:04:05] there because there are a lot of people
[2:04:07] that are I think rushing probably to get
[2:04:10] through them and and um it's not working
[2:04:13] extremely well. Um another thing I
[2:04:15] believe is some of the turn lanes that
[2:04:16] we are adding in as well. Um you're not
[2:04:19] going to have people queuing in and
[2:04:20] having u you know bender benders because
[2:04:22] they will be able to get get off that
[2:04:24] travel uh travel route itself. Um, and
[2:04:28] also the pedestrian facilities, like I
[2:04:31] said, I think are currently
[2:04:32] non-existing. So, that will be
[2:04:33] definitely enhanced, which I think will
[2:04:35] improve the safety in the area itself.
[2:04:37] >> Sure.
[2:04:40] >> So, if you're traveling north, there's
[2:04:44] actually more right-hand turns of
[2:04:47] businesses on the northern quarter
[2:04:50] heading out. Heading south, there's
[2:04:52] minimal places where you would turn off.
[2:04:55] And so
[2:04:57] when they talked about the project, it
[2:04:59] was trying to minimize people cutting
[2:05:01] across and getting into those accidents.
[2:05:04] What even though you're you're enhancing
[2:05:07] the the lights, that's not doing
[2:05:10] anything about entering businesses along
[2:05:13] the corridor whether you're traveling
[2:05:15] north or south.
[2:05:18] >> I think we are adding some additional
[2:05:19] turn lanes which which would enhance it
[2:05:22] though. Um, like I said, so that would
[2:05:24] get the vehicles off off the roadway and
[2:05:26] having that through line as well.
[2:05:27] >> Yeah. We're also defining the locations
[2:05:30] where those conflicts occur. And so by
[2:05:33] reducing the number of driveways and
[2:05:35] openings um along the corridor, we're
[2:05:37] helping to consolidate those vehicle
[2:05:39] movements. So at the very least, they're
[2:05:41] more predictable for drivers that are
[2:05:43] driving along the corridor. You are
[2:05:45] you're more likely to be able to expect
[2:05:47] where you're going to see that oncoming
[2:05:49] traffic. And with with signals that are
[2:05:51] working well together, what you're also
[2:05:53] doing is you're creating a lot more
[2:05:54] opportunity for people to pull out into
[2:05:57] the road because as the signals are
[2:05:59] communicating with each other, they're
[2:06:00] creating stops within and breaks within
[2:06:03] traffic that's more regular and so it
[2:06:06] creates more opportunity for folks to
[2:06:08] pull out into the main road. Um where a
[2:06:11] continuous flow of traffic makes that
[2:06:13] much harder.
[2:06:14] >> Thank you. And
[2:06:16] >> yes,
[2:06:16] >> follow was was the next question the
[2:06:18] schedule question
[2:06:19] >> indeed.
[2:06:20] >> Okay. Um so right now we're looking at
[2:06:24] 2032
[2:06:25] um to get out here. Um because this is a high cost project still um and
[2:06:31] we do have some funding issues that
[2:06:34] we're working with, but also we have to
[2:06:35] get through our process, our rightway
[2:06:36] process, get all of our permitting. And
[2:06:38] even though our our footprint is greatly
[2:06:40] reduced which should help all of that
[2:06:42] there is still a process that we're
[2:06:43] going through with all commercial
[2:06:44] properties that does take some
[2:06:46] considerable time
[2:06:49] >> and act 250.
[2:06:50] >> So um there are two people waiting to
[2:06:51] speak and then it'll be your turn. So
[2:06:53] prudence. Yes. Prudence Gemma and then
[2:06:56] Molly.
[2:06:57] >> Thank you. I'm Prudence McKini and um
[2:06:59] I'm a member of uh Bradboro Coalition
[2:07:01] for Active Transportation. Um and we do
[2:07:04] look forward to sitting down with you um
[2:07:06] you know to review this in detail. Um
[2:07:08] the town met with BCAT I think that was
[2:07:10] in July and we got a chance to look at
[2:07:13] this and um the improvements for
[2:07:15] pedestrians are are uh huge really
[2:07:19] important. Um and as well as uh you know
[2:07:22] an improved situation for bicyclists
[2:07:25] although there probably are some added
[2:07:28] uh u improvements that could be made.
[2:07:31] Um, like Dick, we're all concerned about
[2:07:34] the timing. Um, it it feels like a lot
[2:07:37] of time was probably lost in a plan
[2:07:39] that, you know, um, perhaps was
[2:07:42] overdesigned or whatever. Um, and so I
[2:07:45] guess it's just a plea that, you know,
[2:07:46] if it's 2032, let's make it 2032
[2:07:50] because, uh, it's it's extremely
[2:07:51] dangerous, uh, especially for people
[2:07:53] that are walking on Putney Road. Um, one
[2:07:57] of the big concerns, um, as you're
[2:08:01] aware, I think, is this pinch down area,
[2:08:03] which, you know, is going down to
[2:08:05] Veterans Bridge down to West River. And
[2:08:08] so, is it possible to pull that up again
[2:08:10] and show us like we we were hoping that
[2:08:13] the road would be able to be widened,
[2:08:16] perhaps a retaining wall on the river
[2:08:18] side or something like that.
[2:08:20] >> Yeah, we we we are widening the roadway.
[2:08:23] you are.
[2:08:24] >> So, we are taking the existing narrow
[2:08:27] crosssection and we're actually able to
[2:08:29] provide those wider shoulders. Um, so
[2:08:32] each shoulder is going to be a 5ft
[2:08:33] shoulder on both sides of the road going
[2:08:35] up that hill. Um, where the current
[2:08:37] shoulder is significantly narrower, you
[2:08:39] know, 1 to two feet in some of the
[2:08:41] locations. Um, the other thing that
[2:08:43] we're doing is we're adding a dedicated
[2:08:45] pedestrian path. There's a little bit of
[2:08:47] a path that kind of goes up, a little
[2:08:49] bit of a dirt type path. Yeah. Um, so
[2:08:52] what we're going to do is we're going to
[2:08:54] provide a a separated sidewalk there,
[2:08:58] um, along, you know, with curbing and
[2:08:59] things like that to help get that, you
[2:09:01] know, pedestrian pathway going up the
[2:09:03] hill. Um, but what even with just the
[2:09:06] things I just described, um, we're
[2:09:08] already widening the road pretty
[2:09:10] significantly and having to cut into
[2:09:12] both the the part that drops off down to
[2:09:15] the West River and that hillside that
[2:09:17] we're having to cut into that as well.
[2:09:20] um just to get what I described now.
[2:09:22] >> Okay. So, there'll be um there'll be the
[2:09:26] shoulders the wide shoulders for
[2:09:27] cyclists and then there'll be a sidewalk
[2:09:29] on the west river side.
[2:09:31] >> Correct. Yes.
[2:09:32] >> Okay.
[2:09:32] >> Yeah.
[2:09:33] >> Thank you. Um and then additionally in
[2:09:36] that area, the um traffic going into the
[2:09:39] marina and the office buildings there
[2:09:41] and so on. Um we had talked um with the
[2:09:44] town about the possibility of um having
[2:09:47] a demo project there next summer to see
[2:09:50] how it will work with the proposed plan.
[2:09:53] Um there's a lot of traffic going in and
[2:09:55] out of there and um and there's also
[2:09:58] folks, you know, walking across to the
[2:10:00] uh to the boat rental and so on. So, um,
[2:10:04] we're hopeful that, you know, the town
[2:10:05] and Vrans can, uh, you know, we could
[2:10:08] work with local motion to do a
[2:10:09] demonstration project to see how that,
[2:10:12] uh, turning design actually works.
[2:10:15] >> Yeah, it sounds great actually.
[2:10:17] >> Yeah, thanks, Prudence.
[2:10:18] >> Thank you.
[2:10:20] >> Gemma's next, but I keep forgetting Sue
[2:10:22] wants me to tell everyone that the
[2:10:24] planning department has a giant physical
[2:10:27] map of what you've seen up here. So, if
[2:10:29] you're interested, please just visit the
[2:10:31] planning department in the town offices
[2:10:33] and you can take a look at that um
[2:10:35] anytime.
[2:10:38] » All right, Gemma.
[2:10:41] >> Hi. Uh Gemma Seymour. I'm a member of
[2:10:43] the Brattleboroough Planning Commission
[2:10:45] and this plan has not been pre presented
[2:10:48] to the planning commission. So, I'm
[2:10:50] hoping that you will indulge me with a
[2:10:52] few questions. Um first of all, I may
[2:10:55] have missed this at the beginning, but
[2:10:57] what about the south end of town? The
[2:10:58] original project scope stretched from
[2:11:00] all the way from the exit one
[2:11:02] interchange all the way north to the
[2:11:04] exit 3 interchange. I thought
[2:11:06] >> no, it was the the bridge to the exit 3
[2:11:10] as still we're in the same footprint as
[2:11:12] it was before.
[2:11:14] >> Okay. Um what is the physical and visual
[2:11:17] distinction of the shared use path from
[2:11:20] a regular sidewalk considering that
[2:11:21] Brattleboroough ordinances disallow
[2:11:24] bicycle use on sidewalks in the town?
[2:11:27] And so, Gemma, I'm just going to ask you
[2:11:28] to ask all your questions to me at once
[2:11:30] and then we'll go through them in order
[2:11:33] over here.
[2:11:34] >> Okay. I just don't want people to forget
[2:11:35] the questions. Um, second, what, if
[2:11:38] anything, is Vrans doing to coordinate
[2:11:40] with private property owners along the
[2:11:42] Putney Road service carter to
[2:11:44] potentially redesign access to and from
[2:11:46] parking lots in order to maximize the
[2:11:48] benefits of this reconstruction?
[2:11:50] Um, and fortunately a couple other of my
[2:11:54] questions have already been answered by
[2:11:55] other people's questions, but the last
[2:11:57] one is how is this reconstruction going
[2:12:00] to impact the properties to the north of
[2:12:02] the I91 exit 3 interchange which is
[2:12:05] being re reszoned to allow for more
[2:12:08] housing legally. I'm concerned about the
[2:12:10] ability of residents and workers to
[2:12:11] cross the interchange and safety.
[2:12:13] Roundabouts are excellent for motor
[2:12:15] vehicle throughput, but they are
[2:12:16] extremely unsafe for anyone not in a
[2:12:18] motor vehicle.
[2:12:20] And uh th those are my questions.
[2:12:22] >> Okay. Thanks, Gemma. Um quick quickly on
[2:12:25] number three, we're this plan adds no
[2:12:27] new roundabouts and makes no changes to
[2:12:29] the exit 3 roundabout. Is that correct?
[2:12:31] >> Correct. We're tying in just south of
[2:12:32] the exit 3 roundabouts. We are not going
[2:12:34] to be making any change to that.
[2:12:36] >> Okay. So, the two questions I heard were
[2:12:39] the um mixeduse paths related to bicycle
[2:12:42] use on sidewalks. I don't firsthand know
[2:12:46] the that there is an ordinance
[2:12:49] preventing bicycle use on sidewalks.
[2:12:51] It's entirely possible. I'm seeing heads
[2:12:54] shaking. Um is there a member of town
[2:12:57] staff with
[2:12:59] >> an opinion? It's okay if not. It's
[2:13:00] something we can look up for another
[2:13:03] time.
[2:13:04] >> Yeah.
[2:13:04] we can look into it.
[2:13:05] >> Okay.
[2:13:06] >> Yeah, we should look look into it. I
[2:13:08] think that there that bicycle use can be
[2:13:12] allowed on certain sidewalks. So, I
[2:13:14] don't know if that has to be designated
[2:13:15] in the ordinance.
[2:13:17] >> Okay. And just that I think everybody
[2:13:19] knows, but these are going to be wider
[2:13:20] than typical sidewalks. So, there's
[2:13:22] going to be more room if needed.
[2:13:24] >> Okay. And then I think the last question
[2:13:26] was about how you're coordinating with
[2:13:27] privity private property owners for the
[2:13:30] project. So, we are going to meet with
[2:13:31] all the property owners that are
[2:13:32] impacted by this and discuss where I
[2:13:35] mean we have some proposed access
[2:13:37] management that we are are going to move
[2:13:39] forward with, but we do want to meet
[2:13:41] with them as well just to see if they're
[2:13:43] instances that could impact their
[2:13:45] businesses or if we could close them up
[2:13:47] a little bit more just so we don't have
[2:13:49] areas that are wide open. But we do meet
[2:13:51] with all property owners along our
[2:13:52] projects.
[2:13:53] >> Great. Thank you. Okay. So, we're going
[2:13:55] to go to Molly and then the gentleman in
[2:13:57] the back and then Kathleen and then come
[2:13:59] back to the board because we do have
[2:14:01] another presenter still waiting for
[2:14:02] another item.
[2:14:04] >> Hi, Molly.
[2:14:05] >> Molly Burke. Uh, still representing
[2:14:08] Battleboro for a while. Um, first of
[2:14:10] all, I want to thank Bruce and Dennis
[2:14:12] for coming here for their flexibility
[2:14:15] and really sort of being listening to
[2:14:18] what we're asking. And to Jeremy Reid,
[2:14:21] the chief engineer, he and I started
[2:14:23] talking about this, I don't know, few
[2:14:25] years ago, sort of thinking about how
[2:14:27] much the project was going to cost as
[2:14:29] designed and what did people actually
[2:14:31] want, wanted better, um, especially with
[2:14:34] bicyclists, things like that. So, uh,
[2:14:37] and speaking of history, when I was
[2:14:40] elected, probably it must have been like
[2:14:42] late 2008, right after I was elected,
[2:14:45] Gary Good, who was the owner of, um,
[2:14:48] Friends of the Sun, came to my house
[2:14:50] with a binder full of the plan for
[2:14:52] Putney Road, and he said, "I hope you
[2:14:54] can make this happen." So, that was, uh,
[2:14:57] going in and here we are. But it's it's
[2:15:00] sort of interesting to see. But I I
[2:15:02] guess I'd like to say that during this
[2:15:04] time, um things have really changed in
[2:15:06] the transportation world. I really
[2:15:09] appreciate the fact of incorporating
[2:15:11] complete streets principles into this
[2:15:13] whole project. And complete streets
[2:15:15] meaning that the streets are for
[2:15:16] everybody, not just cars. And so during
[2:15:19] that time, during the 18 years that I've
[2:15:21] been in the legislature, there's been a
[2:15:23] big change, I think, in BRANS in terms
[2:15:25] of thinking about these things. And um
[2:15:28] so I really appreciate that and the work
[2:15:31] that you've done for this and we'll see
[2:15:33] uh how this transpires. I think there've
[2:15:35] been great input from select board
[2:15:37] members and members of the public and we're on this process. Okay.
[2:15:41] >> Thank you. Thank you, Molly. So quickly,
[2:15:45] we have
[2:15:47] um operation on pedestrian pathways. the
[2:15:49] ordinance. It shall be lawful for any
[2:15:51] person to operate any bicycle on any of
[2:15:53] the sidewalks of the town except a
[2:15:56] relatively short list of streets that
[2:15:58] doesn't seem to include Putney Road. So,
[2:16:00] I think we're okay there. Um, but that's
[2:16:02] a good question.
[2:16:03] >> Skateboarding is also prohibitly
[2:16:05] prohibitive. Sorry, it's allowed on
[2:16:07] Putney Road. I would assume it applies.
[2:16:10] >> Excellent. Um, yes,
[2:16:12] >> Dr. Will Foster.
[2:16:14] >> Yes,
[2:16:16] I am Dr. Will Foster. I'm CEO of
[2:16:19] Holographic Technologies, Inc. I live on
[2:16:21] Chestnut Street. Um, I'm very concerned
[2:16:25] about decisions this
[2:16:27] select board has made in terms of
[2:16:29] selecting vendors and people and giving
[2:16:32] and the IT that you choose. I have a PhD
[2:16:35] in MIS from Eller School of Management
[2:16:37] at the University of Arizona. We're the
[2:16:39] world leaders in understanding how
[2:16:41] technology should be applied to
[2:16:42] organizations and communities. We
[2:16:44] invented AI. Um, we are ranked the best
[2:16:47] MIS department in the world.
[2:16:49] >> I'm sorry to interrupt, but you really
[2:16:51] need to keep your comments.
[2:16:52] >> Very specific. I am I have lived in my
[2:16:55] family has lived in Putney for a 100,000
[2:16:57] years. We have woripped here on this
[2:16:59] land for 100,000 years. We believe and I
[2:17:03] can go in many stories, but basically
[2:17:05] these guys are using AI and it does not
[2:17:09] understand our land. Thank you.
[2:17:12] >> Thank you.
[2:17:15] Okay, one more comment from Kathleen and
[2:17:18] then we're going to have to bring it
[2:17:18] back to the board because we're really
[2:17:21] running late, but it sounds like the
[2:17:23] door is wide open for public engagement
[2:17:26] with the team at Vrans and anyone
[2:17:29] listening should feel free to reach out
[2:17:30] to them or anyone on the select board
[2:17:33] for feedback or if you have questions.
[2:17:35] So, Kathleen, hello. Hi, I'm Kathleen
[2:17:39] White and I'm on the Rattleboro
[2:17:41] Coalition for Active Transportation and
[2:17:43] I partly raised my hand to give an
[2:17:45] answer about the bicycle on the
[2:17:47] sidewalks, but it seems like you've
[2:17:49] covered it. It's really the downtown
[2:17:51] district area. I think that you can't
[2:17:53] ride the bicycles. But I had another
[2:17:55] question and it I don't know if it's VR
[2:17:58] or whether it would be our town, but
[2:18:00] Wendy Harrison raised this at one of our
[2:18:02] meetings. There's some beautiful big old
[2:18:04] locust trees along that uh right of way
[2:18:08] in the narrow section on the west river
[2:18:12] side and her fear was that those trees
[2:18:15] would have to come down in order to
[2:18:17] create the widened road and is there any
[2:18:20] way to avoid taking down those big
[2:18:23] beautiful trees? Um so whether if
[2:18:28] someone can answer that that would be
[2:18:31] >> yeah I right now they are are being
[2:18:34] proposed to come down um just because
[2:18:36] that is it as we've talked about several
[2:18:38] times today like that is a very tight
[2:18:40] section through there and any widening
[2:18:42] is really going to be encroaching on
[2:18:43] that. So it's it's really a a hard
[2:18:45] situation because if we are to shift the
[2:18:48] road there we're adding more jogs into
[2:18:50] the road that we don't really want to
[2:18:51] add and more curvature. Um, and also
[2:18:54] there's a very steep bank that we'd be
[2:18:56] chasing a very long ways as well. Um, so
[2:19:00] a lot of these times we have these
[2:19:01] projects, there's trying to find the
[2:19:02] balance of what we can and can't do. Um,
[2:19:05] so we definitely want to make sure we
[2:19:06] get that width in there for the the
[2:19:08] shoulders and that sidewalk. And
[2:19:10] unfortunately, that's just the location
[2:19:12] that
[2:19:13] >> Yeah,
[2:19:14] >> that is impactful for for those those
[2:19:16] areas. So
[2:19:18] >> I think I think the original plan had
[2:19:20] them coming down. Yeah, that it was
[2:19:22] always within the the plan of the
[2:19:24] project from the beginning.
[2:19:25] Unfortunately, uh those trees are so
[2:19:28] close to the road that any kind of
[2:19:30] widening of the road in that area
[2:19:32] immediately impacts their trunk and root
[2:19:34] system.
[2:19:35] >> Yeah,
[2:19:35] >> maybe we can plant some trees.
[2:19:37] >> Yeah. Thanks. Thanks, Kathy.
[2:19:38] >> Plant some more trees. Yeah.
[2:19:39] >> Thank you.
[2:19:40] There was an earlier
[2:19:42] conversation we did have. it' be po if
[2:19:44] it was possible to do a little
[2:19:46] landscaping or tree planting in that
[2:19:48] area and it sounded like it might be.
[2:19:51] >> Yeah, I mean right now there is a stone
[2:19:53] slope that we can al always put
[2:19:54] grubbings on top of and some tubing some
[2:19:57] smaller trees. Obviously they're not
[2:19:59] they're going to be this big but someday
[2:20:00] they will grow. Um but definitely
[2:20:01] something that we can can add. And you
[2:20:04] know we are still conceptual right now.
[2:20:07] There are a lot of power lines in that
[2:20:09] area as well that we haven't figured out
[2:20:11] where we're putting them yet. Um, so
[2:20:12] that's always another impact that we're
[2:20:14] going to be dealing with as we advance
[2:20:15] our designs. So,
[2:20:16] >> great. Thank you. Okay, so I'd like to
[2:20:18] bring it back to the board now. I see
[2:20:20] the hand, but um, everyone's had a
[2:20:22] chance to speak, and I think we need to,
[2:20:25] um, move forward. So, there is a a
[2:20:28] certainly a request to, um, sort of
[2:20:32] officially endorse the current project
[2:20:34] plan. My personal preference would be to
[2:20:37] give the public a little time with this
[2:20:38] and come back in a meeting or two and
[2:20:41] make a final recommendation. I think
[2:20:43] there's a lot to dig into here and
[2:20:45] people are going to want to talk to us
[2:20:46] and talk to you. U but other board
[2:20:48] members with thoughts.
[2:20:51] >> I support that recommendation.
[2:20:55] » I appreciate the amount of time you took
[2:20:58] to listen to concerns and the amount of
[2:21:01] stuff that the reply was essentially. we
[2:21:03] can look into how that might fit in. Um,
[2:21:06] so I think for my own opinion, I would
[2:21:08] be really interested to hear how it
[2:21:10] might fit in. Um, because I'm not sure
[2:21:13] if this is conceptual, how far an
[2:21:14] endorsement goes when there's so much
[2:21:17] more to still be decided.
[2:21:21] » Yes. I'm not sure the answer to that
[2:21:24] question. I think there's going to be a
[2:21:26] couple different phases to this after
[2:21:29] that point.
[2:21:30] >> Yes. Uh just to my thoughts on this is
[2:21:33] that
[2:21:34] we still have you know to try to hit
[2:21:36] that 2032 date that I've already
[2:21:38] mentioned today like we want to start
[2:21:41] advancing things now like looking into
[2:21:44] some of these things can be just a
[2:21:46] change in our next design of of
[2:21:48] preliminary design itself. Um so that's
[2:21:50] not something that we would just stop
[2:21:53] everything you know look at this it' be
[2:21:55] something we'd incorporate with our our
[2:21:56] design moving forward. Um,
[2:21:58] >> but to hit that 2032 date sometime soon,
[2:22:02] you're looking for some kind of formal
[2:22:04] buy in so you can start taking next
[2:22:06] steps. Is that
[2:22:06] >> I do want buyin? Yes, for sure. Um,
[2:22:10] >> this is going to sound really bad the
[2:22:11] way I say this. This is a state road so
[2:22:13] I but I want to be partners with the
[2:22:15] town of Bradboro throughout
[2:22:17] >> as we all do. Um, so I want
[2:22:19] >> I want to make sure that we're meeting
[2:22:21] your goals as well. I just want to be
[2:22:23] able to make sure that we can still
[2:22:25] advance this moving forward. try to hit
[2:22:27] that that date.
[2:22:29] >> Great. Okay. Well, unless there's a
[2:22:30] motion from the board, I think which I'm
[2:22:33] not seeing, I think we'll just thank you
[2:22:34] very much for that presentation and
[2:22:36] taking all that time with us.
[2:22:38] >> Um, and hope to plan to discuss this
[2:22:41] again in a meeting or two.
[2:22:43] >> Yeah. Okay.
[2:22:44] >> Great.
[2:22:45] >> Thank you. That was great.
[2:22:49] And at last, if Ryan is still here,
[2:22:54] >> which he is, I'll invite you to the
[2:22:56] table and we're going to have um an
[2:22:58] update on the townwide reappraisal. And
[2:23:00] Jennifer, hello.
[2:23:05] » Hello. And if you wouldn't mind just
[2:23:07] both introducing yourself for people
[2:23:09] watching um and then uh
[2:23:13] >> Absolutely. Yeah, I'm Ryan Sylvestri. on
[2:23:14] the your project manager for your uh
[2:23:17] 2027 townwide reappraisal.
[2:23:19] >> Jennifer Bernell, town assessor.
[2:23:22] >> Awesome. So, in your packet, you should
[2:23:24] have a uh progress report letter dated
[2:23:27] July 6th.
[2:23:29] >> I believe the board in the packet, you
[2:23:31] have it. So, I'm going to read that, but
[2:23:34] I'm going to be amending the numbers.
[2:23:37] So, as we go through the numbers as of
[2:23:39] today
[2:23:40] >> as opposed to July 6th. So data
[2:23:43] collection inspection out of the 3578
[2:23:47] residential parcels we have um collected
[2:23:50] data on 2378.
[2:23:52] We've inspected the interiors of 890
[2:23:56] parcels
[2:23:58] um which is real which is really good
[2:24:00] and the data collectors they have a lot
[2:24:02] of uh cleanup in the tank. So that that
[2:24:04] number is likely over a thousand as it
[2:24:06] stands today. That's just data is
[2:24:07] getting put into the system. Um,
[2:24:10] residential listing is now 70% complete
[2:24:13] as opposed to 50. Uh, we have 1,200
[2:24:16] residential properties left to list. 346
[2:24:20] of which are single wide mobile homes.
[2:24:23] So, those will go really quickly. Those will go really quickly. Um, so
[2:24:27] we're about 50 days um estimated time
[2:24:30] for residential data collection and then
[2:24:32] we'll be getting into commercial data
[2:24:34] collection starting really Jan Jan 1,
[2:24:37] beginning of the new year. Um, we'll
[2:24:39] also be sending out income and expense
[2:24:41] request forms um in January for all the
[2:24:44] commercial properties so that we can uh
[2:24:46] use the income and expense meth uh
[2:24:48] income and expense methodology um to
[2:24:51] valuation for your commercial properties
[2:24:53] throughout Bradleboro. We try to time
[2:24:55] that right around the time that
[2:24:56] everybody's getting their tax documents
[2:24:57] together for for their 26 uh tax
[2:25:01] returns. um taxpayer relations, we we
[2:25:04] are having really good uh response from
[2:25:06] taxpayers in the field, having really
[2:25:08] meaningful conversations, educating um
[2:25:11] as we go. Um so there have been really
[2:25:13] good um back and forth between our field uh uh support and um taxpayers
[2:25:20] of Brattleboro. We've kind of become
[2:25:22] fixtures. You probably have seen the
[2:25:23] guys in the orange vests cruising around
[2:25:26] and we've kind of become fixtures in
[2:25:27] your community. So, um you know, we'll
[2:25:30] be wrapping up the outskirts here of the
[2:25:32] community um within the next couple
[2:25:34] weeks and the last residential mailer
[2:25:37] will really be right coming back into
[2:25:39] downtown um on Western A. We'll be
[2:25:42] really kind of all those tight-knit
[2:25:44] neighborhoods around that. Um so, yeah,
[2:25:48] no, definitely 100% on schedule. So,
[2:25:51] yeah, 100% on schedule.
[2:25:53] >> Any fantastic. Yeah, thank you. Any
[2:25:55] questions the board or
[2:25:57] >> Well, I hope so after
[2:26:00] having you.
[2:26:01] >> Sure.
[2:26:01] >> Great. I uh which again I apologize for.
[2:26:04] >> No, it's all right.
[2:26:04] >> Um but it's great to hear that
[2:26:06] everything's on schedule and seems to be
[2:26:08] going smoothly.
[2:26:09] >> It it is. Yes. And you know, we'll do a
[2:26:12] lot more uh public outreach as we get
[2:26:14] closer um to sending out preliminary
[2:26:17] value notices. And just a little, you
[2:26:20] know, I'll take the time now, a little
[2:26:21] precursor. when we send out those
[2:26:23] preliminary value notices, that's when
[2:26:25] we get that the largest emotional
[2:26:28] response, right? There's going to be a
[2:26:30] bit of a shock factor. Um, you know,
[2:26:32] good deal of time uh 20 20 almost 20
[2:26:36] plus years since the last reappraisal.
[2:26:39] So, right 20 or 2010 2010, I'm sorry, I
[2:26:42] was confusing Rutland City. Um, so even
[2:26:45] still 2010, 17 years in between
[2:26:47] reappraisals, that's a that's a large
[2:26:49] interval. So, um, you know, there's
[2:26:52] going to be consistent increases of
[2:26:53] value that we're seeing throughout the
[2:26:55] state, uh, doing reappraisals. Um, and
[2:26:57] again, just educating folks that there
[2:27:00] will be an average percent of increase,
[2:27:02] that will really dictate that'll be your
[2:27:04] hinge as to whether your taxes will go
[2:27:06] up or down. Um, and that if your
[2:27:09] assessment increases by 100%. That does
[2:27:12] not mean your taxes are doubling. Right?
[2:27:15] So there's a the really um educating the
[2:27:18] difference between assessed value and
[2:27:20] taxes, you know, rendered on that value
[2:27:23] and how tax rates then are adjusted as a
[2:27:25] result of the new gr of your new grand
[2:27:26] list value and correcting the CLA. So we
[2:27:30] have a lot of I have a lot of good
[2:27:31] documentation that we'll be pushing onto
[2:27:33] the website um and getting that out
[2:27:35] prior to notices. Once notices come out,
[2:27:38] we can um all get together and um
[2:27:41] strategize on a response. My go-to would
[2:27:45] to be just to have a public uh Q&A
[2:27:47] forum,
[2:27:48] >> you know, right after. Well, that's been
[2:27:50] very successful because those notices
[2:27:52] will get everybody's attention. Um and
[2:27:55] then we'll have really good um there'll
[2:27:59] be really good attendance at that Q&A.
[2:28:01] Trust me. Yeah. So, you may want to if
[2:28:03] your Zoom cuts off at 100, um definitely
[2:28:06] you're going to want to extend that
[2:28:07] potentially for that meeting. um because
[2:28:10] the last two Dover in Lello we got cut
[2:28:12] off. Um also suggest recording it and
[2:28:15] then we can put it back up on the
[2:28:16] website so that you know folks that
[2:28:19] haven't um maybe didn't get the
[2:28:20] opportunity or if the Zoom does cut off
[2:28:22] get cut off um the recording will be
[2:28:24] there um for folks to be able to digest
[2:28:27] and then we'll go into scheduling for
[2:28:29] our informal hearings where we'll sit
[2:28:31] down individually with everybody that
[2:28:33] wants to come in and speak with us.
[2:28:35] >> Great. Thank you.
[2:28:36] >> Yeah. And um apologies if you addressed
[2:28:40] this already, but if the reappraisal
[2:28:43] crosses tax years, nobody gets
[2:28:47] the entire reappraisal happens at the
[2:28:49] end when it's all complete. Right. So if
[2:28:51] you do my house first, I'm not going to
[2:28:53] have an extra year being
[2:28:54] >> correct. Yeah. Every every value will be
[2:28:57] uh reissued all at the same time. All
[2:28:59] will then be filed for the 2027
[2:29:02] um grand list. We'll be filing your
[2:29:04] abstract grand list.
[2:29:05] >> Fantastic. um members of the board with
[2:29:08] questions and there is no obligation to
[2:29:11] ask just because I said so.
[2:29:13] Amanda.
[2:29:14] >> Um, so this is for residential homes and businesses, correct?
[2:29:20] >> Every part every parcel in your
[2:29:22] community,
[2:29:23] >> vacant land,
[2:29:24] >> farmland,
[2:29:25] >> exempt properties, farmland, residential
[2:29:27] property, condos, mobile homes, and
[2:29:30] industrial, commercial. Yep.
[2:29:31] >> Yep.
[2:29:33] >> Okay.
[2:29:33] >> But not utilities.
[2:29:35] Um we we will facilitate the utilities
[2:29:38] the values getting to where they need to
[2:29:39] go but those do come from the state uh
[2:29:41] tax department at this point. Yeah.
[2:29:44] >> And in terms of calculations with the
[2:29:46] Vermont current use program um
[2:29:49] >> that all happens through our listers
[2:29:51] office once the calculation happens at a
[2:29:53] state level right you regardless of what
[2:29:56] the appraisal is.
[2:29:58] >> Correct. So all land will be valued the
[2:30:00] same. All land will be valued the same
[2:30:02] regardless of its enrollment in current
[2:30:04] use or not. current use comes downstream
[2:30:06] and whatever that their enrolled um land
[2:30:10] value is will then be you know adjusted
[2:30:13] by that state per acre uh taxable value
[2:30:16] that they set every year. So whether
[2:30:18] you're in forestry or a so all that will
[2:30:20] happen the same as it has been happening
[2:30:22] there'll just be um new values new base
[2:30:26] values of which that subsidy will then
[2:30:27] be um you know being factored off of.
[2:30:32] >> Great. Thank you Amanda. Other
[2:30:33] questions?
[2:30:35] >> Yes. No.
[2:30:36] >> Um I have one that's
[2:30:40] more for personal curiosity. Um I I just
[2:30:43] I live in an apartment downtown. Um
[2:30:46] >> and it's this is like a residential
[2:30:47] building. It's not a high-rise, but did
[2:30:50] like do the cards get sent out to the
[2:30:52] property owners? Because I don't think
[2:30:53] we've ever we had anybody like knock on
[2:30:55] our doors, ask to come in or anything.
[2:30:58] >> Yep. So, we do send everything to the
[2:31:00] property owners because those are the
[2:31:01] addresses we have on file. In the
[2:31:03] letters that we send to them, we do make
[2:31:06] them aware that they need to make their
[2:31:07] tenants aware of the process um and
[2:31:10] schedule appointments with us. But when
[2:31:12] multi-tenant buildings, so if you are we
[2:31:15] those will be done last with commercial
[2:31:18] if you are in a uh you know in a
[2:31:20] building greater than four units, but we
[2:31:22] will be reclassifying some as we go. Um,
[2:31:25] so but yeah, we typically when we do
[2:31:28] multi multi-tenant homes, we'll try to
[2:31:30] knock on a door that looks like it's
[2:31:33] going to get an answer and just
[2:31:35] basically make our presence known. um
[2:31:38] leave a tag at that door, you know. And
[2:31:41] basically we really though on
[2:31:43] multi-tenant buildings count on the um
[2:31:47] homeowner, the property owner relaying
[2:31:51] this process to their tenants because
[2:31:53] again the municipality in no way has any
[2:31:57] record of like tenants in buildings for
[2:31:59] us to send you notification. Um but we
[2:32:02] can definitely do things like this, you
[2:32:04] know, blast it out on the on the
[2:32:06] website. um you know, you see the guys
[2:32:08] walking around town. Um so, you know,
[2:32:10] again, we kind of become, you know, oh
[2:32:12] yeah, we've been watching you work down
[2:32:14] the street. You know, we saw you coming
[2:32:16] type of thing. And we won't go in any
[2:32:19] multi-tenant any of the units without
[2:32:20] the owner's permission. Um and then
[2:32:23] obviously giving tenants 48 hours notice
[2:32:25] prior to any interior inspection
[2:32:28] >> as well. Yeah.
[2:32:29] >> I I was at the meeting that you came to
[2:32:31] on November 20th, which was really
[2:32:32] thorough and helpful. It was it was
[2:32:34] largely curiosity because I was like I
[2:32:36] don't think we got any knocks.
[2:32:37] >> Um but
[2:32:38] >> you may you might not have you might not
[2:32:40] have. Yeah. Sometimes the guys will
[2:32:41] again they'll kind of we get we kind of
[2:32:43] train them to pick the door that looks
[2:32:45] like we're going to get an answer from
[2:32:47] or has the most activity. We're not
[2:32:49] likely going to walk up on second or
[2:32:51] third story you know exterior egresses.
[2:32:54] Um you know unless it's unless it's
[2:32:55] absolutely necessary. So, as well as
[2:32:57] going out and collecting data and being
[2:32:59] thorough, we always try to mitigate risk
[2:33:01] as well of our of our staff in the
[2:33:04] field.
[2:33:04] >> Thank you. Um, and then I was just
[2:33:06] looking at the notes I took from the
[2:33:09] last time you guys came around and so
[2:33:11] the informal sitdowns that you just
[2:33:13] referenced or that said you had said
[2:33:16] that informational hearings would be
[2:33:18] offered ahead of the appeals process.
[2:33:21] Um, and I have written down so there
[2:33:22] will be three levels instead of four
[2:33:24] levels of appeal. But the informational
[2:33:26] hearing is what we're talking about like
[2:33:27] a Zoom Q&A.
[2:33:29] >> Well, so the I would even say like the
[2:33:31] Zoom Q&A would be ahead of those
[2:33:33] informational hearings where we do the
[2:33:35] direct sitdowns. So that's really to
[2:33:38] kind of um absorb again like and I say
[2:33:41] it this way very specifically the
[2:33:43] emotional response from those initial
[2:33:45] letters. My assessment went from 110,000
[2:33:49] to 350,000.
[2:33:51] Right? What does this mean? Now this
[2:33:52] information's been out there. we'll get
[2:33:54] it out there more but be able to answer
[2:33:56] those questions with the actual
[2:33:58] statistics the result of the
[2:34:00] reappraisal. So with knowing what the
[2:34:02] average percent change is. So and again
[2:34:04] because that is really the benchmark as
[2:34:06] to whether or not your taxes will go up
[2:34:09] down or stay the same is if the average
[2:34:11] percent of change or the grand list
[2:34:13] change is plus 70% plus 90% and you go
[2:34:17] up at that rate you're going up with the
[2:34:21] average. So, your slice of the pie has
[2:34:23] stayed the same, right? If you go up
[2:34:26] 20%, the reappraisal was for you. Your
[2:34:29] value was already either overstated or
[2:34:32] you had far lesser of a gap between your
[2:34:34] assessment and market value. If your
[2:34:36] value goes up, if the average was 70 90%
[2:34:39] and you go up 200%, your taxes will go
[2:34:42] up. And that's why we do reappraisal is
[2:34:45] for that equalization, right? So again,
[2:34:48] there's there's no it's it's math when
[2:34:50] it comes to that, but correcting the CLA
[2:34:53] will be is always to me the biggest
[2:34:56] benefit to a community because the CLA
[2:34:59] when it the CLA affects your assessment
[2:35:01] and creates that equalized educational
[2:35:04] um tax value.
[2:35:06] >> What you say with CLA again?
[2:35:08] >> Common level of appraisal. So that's the
[2:35:10] statistic of accuracy that the state
[2:35:12] uses um in between reappraisal to adjust
[2:35:15] your town's grand list to the
[2:35:17] educational grand list to maintain
[2:35:18] equity town to town throughout the
[2:35:20] state. So they'll look at how far off
[2:35:23] are your sale prices from your current
[2:35:24] assessments and they'll take an average
[2:35:26] of all those ratios and then they'll
[2:35:29] adjust everybody's assessment by that
[2:35:32] percentage in Brattleboro and then the t
[2:35:34] the educational tax rates apply to that
[2:35:36] value. So that's so when you have those
[2:35:40] umbrella style adjustments that's very
[2:35:42] regressive. It's not it it really it
[2:35:46] typically is going to overvalue the
[2:35:49] lesser valued properties and it's not
[2:35:51] going to increase the value enough of
[2:35:53] the higher valued properties to get that
[2:35:55] two that true equalization that we are
[2:35:58] going to be getting through the
[2:35:59] reappraisal process.
[2:36:02] >> Great. Thank you. And I just want to
[2:36:04] confirm because people ask me about this
[2:36:06] or they like you said they have
[2:36:08] emotional fears ahead of time. Um but
[2:36:10] what I had taken down back in November
[2:36:13] was the three kind of main actual like
[2:36:17] uh
[2:36:18] relevant appeal points are my assessment
[2:36:21] does not equal fair market value based
[2:36:23] on these comparable sales in the area.
[2:36:25] My current assessment is not equitable
[2:36:27] based on similar properties or there are
[2:36:29] mistakes that are incorrect facts on
[2:36:31] like the town record card. Yep.
[2:36:33] >> Yeah. Those are kind of the three
[2:36:34] basises and then opinions outside of
[2:36:36] that are much less likely to hold water.
[2:36:38] >> Well, so I mean it's something if if
[2:36:40] we're having in an informal hearing or
[2:36:42] even a formal grievance about your
[2:36:43] assessed value and the conversation is
[2:36:46] more of like a philosophical
[2:36:48] conversation about taxation. I can't
[2:36:51] help you. Help me help you. Right? Give
[2:36:53] me something about your house. Is your
[2:36:55] foundation cracked? Is do you think your
[2:36:57] values way out of water? Do you have
[2:36:59] covenant restrictions? you know, things
[2:37:01] that would actually affect your
[2:37:02] assessment. And that's what we try to
[2:37:04] educate to guide people to because we
[2:37:06] set up these 15inute appointments and we
[2:37:09] typically take the time that it needs um
[2:37:11] because we we run we'll be running
[2:37:13] probably five six stations. Um we want
[2:37:16] those 15 minutes to be as productive
[2:37:18] with the taxpayer as possible. So we may
[2:37:21] let them vent for three, five minutes,
[2:37:23] right? You know, like get it out. That's
[2:37:25] fine. But then we definitely want to try
[2:37:27] to redirect the conversation to having a
[2:37:29] meaning meaningful one so that I can get
[2:37:32] extract information from the taxpayer as
[2:37:34] to reasons why their assessment should
[2:37:36] be changed or why we might be wrong or
[2:37:38] you know so on so forth. But um you know
[2:37:41] it is it is real tough you know and this
[2:37:43] is typically gets down the line like
[2:37:45] board of civil authority appeals and
[2:37:46] stuff when you kind of have you know
[2:37:48] grandstanding you know you hear to talk
[2:37:50] about an assessment but really we're
[2:37:52] grandstanding about you know overall
[2:37:54] taxation educational act 60 this that
[2:37:57] the other beginning middle and end of my
[2:37:59] job is fair market value for every
[2:38:01] parcel in your community beginning
[2:38:03] middle and end of my job is that so
[2:38:05] that's what we want to just direct
[2:38:06] people to speak to us about I'll have
[2:38:09] those philosophical conversations with
[2:38:11] you and we could probably get really
[2:38:13] deep in the weeds, but it's just when we have that time, we want to make
[2:38:17] it as productive as possible for for the
[2:38:19] taxpayer.
[2:38:20] >> Thank you.
[2:38:21] >> Yeah. Great. Thank you. Other questions
[2:38:23] from the board?
[2:38:25] >> So, I'm seeing on the town website,
[2:38:27] rattlero.gov reappraisal, there's really
[2:38:30] helpful information um with a list of a
[2:38:33] whole bunch of questions and answers.
[2:38:36] One question that I have is if somebody
[2:38:38] missed, you know, they got a letter or
[2:38:41] they talked to someone and then they
[2:38:42] lost the card, how do they take how are
[2:38:46] they how can they be proactive in terms
[2:38:48] of making an appointment? Do they have
[2:38:49] to call the assessor's office?
[2:38:51] >> Yeah, they can reach out to the
[2:38:52] assessor's office and we can schedule an
[2:38:54] appointment. Um the other thing that
[2:38:56] will be happening this winter um is when
[2:38:58] we finish all the residential initial
[2:39:00] listing, we're going to send out
[2:39:02] reinspection letters to everybody whose
[2:39:04] homes we haven't been able to um get
[2:39:06] entry to or we've or we haven't been
[2:39:08] able to gain access to to kind of give
[2:39:10] them that one last chance to schedule an
[2:39:12] appointment. And those typically that
[2:39:14] typically reads like we're sorry if
[2:39:16] we've been trying to schedule
[2:39:17] appointment up to this date and it
[2:39:18] hasn't worked, you know. So, we'll have,
[2:39:20] you know, full weeks of appointment
[2:39:22] schedules available to folks at the end
[2:39:24] to kind of wrap up that interior
[2:39:26] inspection process for the residential
[2:39:28] property. So, they'll get multiple
[2:39:30] letter. They'll So, you get the initial
[2:39:32] uh impact letter, you'll get the door
[2:39:34] tag, and then you'll get a third um
[2:39:37] follow-up letter if the um if we haven't
[2:39:40] done an inspection on the home.
[2:39:42] >> Which month was that again?
[2:39:45] >> For the uh reinspection, the final
[2:39:47] letter. So, that is kind of always a
[2:39:48] moving target, but it'll likely be, I
[2:39:50] would say, by the end of January would
[2:39:52] be my goal to get those out so we can do
[2:39:54] inspections through February.
[2:39:56] >> Okay. Thanks.
[2:39:57] >> Yep.
[2:39:59] >> I have one question. Um,
[2:40:01] >> are you assessing vacant um buildings or
[2:40:05] buildings that are like in probate or
[2:40:07] something that are in kind of a no man's
[2:40:09] land?
[2:40:09] >> Everything.
[2:40:10] >> Every single parcel.
[2:40:11] If you have four,
[2:40:12] you have 45,568
[2:40:15] parcels.
[2:40:16] every single one.
[2:40:18] >> A lot of work.
[2:40:19] >> Yep.
[2:40:21] >> Any other questions or comments from the
[2:40:22] board, from the public?
[2:40:27] >> Okay, seeing none, thank you so much for
[2:40:29] waiting and for the presentation.
[2:40:30] >> Yeah, you're welcome.
[2:40:31] >> And we look forward to talking again.
[2:40:33] Thanks, Jennifer.
[2:40:37] » All right, we are down to the final page
[2:40:38] in the packet. John, tell us about the
[2:40:41] budget process. All right. Um,
[2:40:45] so yeah, we uh put together the we've
[2:40:48] actually been working on the budget for
[2:40:50] fiscal year 28 already quite a bit. Um,
[2:40:54] >> I I see Sarah Rose would you looking to
[2:40:58] join us?
[2:40:58] >> No, if you were still here,
[2:41:00] >> please join us.
[2:41:01] >> Okay,
[2:41:02] >> this will probably be brief, but
[2:41:05] >> um
[2:41:06] >> we're already working on the budget is
[2:41:09] what John was just saying.
[2:41:10] >> Take it away.
[2:41:11] >> Okay. Um, we're piggybacking on what
[2:41:14] worked last year, what I hear worked
[2:41:16] last year, which is that we're using
[2:41:18] open gov for the budget process so we
[2:41:20] can do some granular work into employee
[2:41:22] costs um, and other granular work as
[2:41:25] well. Um, and we're also making sure
[2:41:28] that the department heads and the
[2:41:29] departments are in on the ground floor
[2:41:30] and so they're doing a lot of digging
[2:41:33] right now and a lot of really rigorous
[2:41:34] thought about what um, what goes into
[2:41:37] the budget. Um, so if you look down at
[2:41:41] the schedule, we're already in the prep
[2:41:43] phase. Um, we're proposing that John
[2:41:46] does his first presentation to you on
[2:41:48] November 5. And then on November 10, uh,
[2:41:52] we'd like to do an all day retreat and
[2:41:55] give the department heads the
[2:41:56] opportunity to present to you all at one
[2:41:59] backtoback. So you have the day and uh
[2:42:03] the ability to really look at the
[2:42:05] departments all at the same time and ask
[2:42:06] your questions. Um and then public
[2:42:10] comment, the first day for that would be
[2:42:11] December 1st.
[2:42:16] » Great.
[2:42:16] >> That's what I got.
[2:42:17] >> Yep.
[2:42:18] >> Thank you. And today is the 15th, but it
[2:42:23] sounds like department heads are
[2:42:25] probably already in it at this point.
[2:42:27] >> They are. Yeah.
[2:42:28] >> Okay,
[2:42:29] great. Well, there's a sample motion and
[2:42:32] if anyone would care to make it, it
[2:42:34] would be good to start with it and then
[2:42:35] we can have any other discussion we
[2:42:37] like.
[2:42:40] » I can make the motion.
[2:42:43] Um, sure.
[2:42:44] >> I move to adopt the fiscal year 28
[2:42:47] budget development schedule and process
[2:42:49] as presented.
[2:42:50] >> Great. Amanda has moved to adopt the
[2:42:52] FY28 budget development schedule and
[2:42:55] process as presented.
[2:42:58] So discussion by the board. Um my only
[2:43:01] comment is that I I think it makes sense
[2:43:03] as a structure, but of course if we get
[2:43:06] down to it and we need more meetings or
[2:43:08] we need to adjust on the fly, we'll
[2:43:11] certainly have the flexibility to do
[2:43:13] that. Um but other than that, I think
[2:43:16] it's a sensible structure. Other
[2:43:19] comments by the board?
[2:43:22] Um
[2:43:24] I don't know if I'm just being confused,
[2:43:26] but are we switching to a Thursday like
[2:43:30] oh
[2:43:30] >> November election?
[2:43:31] >> Yeah. Um that hasn't been determined
[2:43:33] yet, but uh the your first meeting in
[2:43:36] November is uh on election day and
[2:43:40] normally the agenda committee will shift
[2:43:41] that out to the Thursday, but it hasn't
[2:43:43] been decided.
[2:43:44] >> Yeah.
[2:43:49] other comments.
[2:43:53] » Oh,
[2:43:53] >> Amanda and then Isaac.
[2:43:54] >> Oh, I just want to say thank you for the
[2:43:56] thoughtful layout um and learning about
[2:43:59] this this early and thank you. I think
[2:44:02] it's um it's just great sometimes just
[2:44:04] setting the road map and let's go is the
[2:44:07] way to go. So, appreciate that,
[2:44:10] >> Isaac. Yeah, it incorporates feedback
[2:44:13] from past years and I appreciate seeing
[2:44:16] that reflected. Um, yeah, I could bring up the point from earlier
[2:44:22] that I expressed very passionately about
[2:44:24] having an opportunity to talk about
[2:44:26] finances overall and this unassigned
[2:44:29] fund balance and all that.
[2:44:30] >> Um, do we want to finish this
[2:44:33] conversation and then talk
[2:44:36] >> I think if we want to add something to
[2:44:38] the schedule, now is the time. Um,
[2:44:40] >> I I' I'd love to see a conversation
[2:44:42] about that before this.
[2:44:46] >> Well,
[2:44:46] >> so before we see a draft budget,
[2:44:49] >> right?
[2:44:50] Right.
[2:44:52] >> And do you
[2:44:54] are you picturing something like a
[2:44:58] I'm I'm struggling a little to imagine
[2:45:00] an entire meeting dedicated to these
[2:45:02] topics? Maybe I'm oversimplifying, but I
[2:45:05] feel like on a lot of these issues,
[2:45:08] my thoughts will come down to I agree we
[2:45:11] need to get the fund balance up.
[2:45:13] There is a solution to do it, which is
[2:45:15] to put a million dollars into the fund
[2:45:16] balance, but I'm not sure the taxpayers
[2:45:20] can bear that right now. So, I'm just
[2:45:22] wondering,
[2:45:24] does this make more sense as a dedicated
[2:45:26] agenda item somewhere in October that
[2:45:29] gets 45 minutes at a meeting or
[2:45:35] » and John? Yes,
[2:45:36] >> I mean, um, we we got quite a bit of
[2:45:38] direction from you at your retreat
[2:45:40] earlier this year. Uh, and you know, so
[2:45:44] we're focused on that 4%. Um, we're also
[2:45:48] focused on your long-term goal of
[2:45:50] increasing the fund balance, which I
[2:45:54] mean, if it's looking like we're at
[2:45:56] about 5% here, which was a a lot bigger
[2:46:00] jump than I thought we were going to
[2:46:01] make in fiscal year 26. So, I mean,
[2:46:04] that's very encouraging. We've gone from
[2:46:05] 2% to 5%. I think we could notch it up a
[2:46:09] little bit more and probably get close
[2:46:10] to 10% by fiscal 29. Um, you also could
[2:46:15] of course solve it anytime you want
[2:46:18] using revolving loan fund or something
[2:46:19] like that if you wanted to do that. Um,
[2:46:22] but you know that's a that's an issue.
[2:46:25] You could have a conversation about
[2:46:26] that, but you you may not want to do
[2:46:28] that either. So,
[2:46:30] >> right. Um, and you were also, it sounded
[2:46:33] like talking about just the opportunity
[2:46:35] to talk more generally about some of
[2:46:37] these topics, right?
[2:46:39] >> Yeah. like like one of the like the idea
[2:46:41] of having a designated
[2:46:44] emergency reserve fund that's not
[2:46:46] >> the unassigned but you know having a
[2:46:49] separate account or just like to be able
[2:46:50] to discuss that publicly
[2:46:52] >> as a as a group and I'm happy to do it
[2:46:55] at here at this table or we can sit in a
[2:46:57] circle at another time. I'm really what
[2:47:00] I think the the point is that like I
[2:47:02] like this format where we're just kind
[2:47:04] of talking back and forth. I think it's
[2:47:06] conducive to having um conversations
[2:47:10] about this this topic.
[2:47:13] >> I'm open to that. I think if we were to
[2:47:15] do that, I would want us to come really
[2:47:19] each of us to come really prepared with
[2:47:21] the things we wanted to get into and not
[2:47:24] just sort of
[2:47:26] um I don't know if if we're going to
[2:47:28] talk about these things, I'd want us to
[2:47:33] Yeah. get fairly serious about them. Um
[2:47:38] I to me this feels like something that
[2:47:40] makes more sense at a regular meeting
[2:47:41] rather than a standalone thing. Um I
[2:47:45] think even 30 or 45 minutes of
[2:47:48] unstructured discussion like this on
[2:47:50] these types of topics and people getting
[2:47:52] to air ideas and concerns would be
[2:47:56] pretty substantial. I think would feel
[2:47:58] pretty substantial at the time. Um,
[2:48:02] if the board wants to go ahead with
[2:48:03] something like that, we can tentatively.
[2:48:07] >> That works for me. I'm I'm curious to
[2:48:09] hear when you said you're it sounded
[2:48:11] like there was some concern about people
[2:48:13] coming prepared with proposals and I
[2:48:15] just was curious about that cuz I think
[2:48:18] part of actually the like what happened
[2:48:20] at the select board retreat is we
[2:48:22] actually have had we didn't necessarily
[2:48:24] come with a fully formed proposal but it
[2:48:26] was more of a chance to hear each other
[2:48:28] and
[2:48:30] >> together arrive at some things. So I
[2:48:31] just wanted to hear more about what
[2:48:32] you're trying to get out. No, I I
[2:48:36] might not be a fully
[2:48:38] formed thought yet, so never mind that.
[2:48:40] Um,
[2:48:41] >> and what I'm hearing and also just from
[2:48:43] this meeting and public comment was a a
[2:48:46] desire to have a discussion at least
[2:48:48] about this concept of a reserve fund
[2:48:50] that's separate that's separate that
[2:48:53] keeps coming up and up again. Um and
[2:48:56] then also um the parking enterprise fund
[2:49:00] to actually open that up as a agenda
[2:49:02] item. That's not necessarily just a
[2:49:04] budget, but that's
[2:49:07] um
[2:49:08] you know, you know, to welcome us as the
[2:49:12] board, the public, you know, what are
[2:49:13] the light bulbs that go off? How are we
[2:49:14] going to solve this issue?
[2:49:16] >> So I and I think there will be things to
[2:49:18] be said for and against lots of these
[2:49:21] ideas which we can talk about at the
[2:49:23] time. It sound okay. So it sounds to me
[2:49:25] like what we're talking about is I would
[2:49:27] say two separate agenda items that we
[2:49:29] try to fit in in October. One is a
[2:49:31] general discussion of sort of the
[2:49:34] financial suggestions that we've I think
[2:49:38] sort of been accumulating over the last
[2:49:39] 6 months from members of the public and
[2:49:41] things we've talked about. That's one.
[2:49:43] And then the other is maybe a more
[2:49:45] general discussion of the parking fund.
[2:49:47] Does that sound like it hits
[2:49:51] what we're talking about here?
[2:49:54] you you have quite full uh agendas with
[2:49:58] the town plan and everything else coming
[2:50:00] up at your next two meetings in October.
[2:50:03] So I think you may be talking about a
[2:50:05] separate meeting here. I'm not sure, but
[2:50:08] um there's a lot on your plate in
[2:50:10] October.
[2:50:11] >> And also I would say that if we're going
[2:50:14] to talk about things like restructuring
[2:50:15] the budget or creating new funds or
[2:50:17] things like that, we may want to slide
[2:50:19] out um these dates a bit. Um, so like
[2:50:23] maybe because if you know say we
[2:50:25] couldn't get uh you know a meeting on
[2:50:29] this until uh like October
[2:50:33] uh and just assuming we can get the
[2:50:35] everything. But if we did like October
[2:50:37] 13th the um Tuesday between your two
[2:50:42] October meetings then if we were to make
[2:50:45] you know I'm we're really trying to get
[2:50:47] this budget put together by the 23rd. So
[2:50:51] to make any significant changes there, I
[2:50:53] think like I mean I'm really pushing
[2:50:56] people here, but um you know we could
[2:51:00] look at sliding all these out at least
[2:51:02] one one um select board meeting date and
[2:51:07] be try try to get our work done by
[2:51:10] January. But that cuts off a lot of your
[2:51:12] um ability to uh make adjustments uh
[2:51:15] when we know what the numbers are.
[2:51:18] I'm not trying to I'm not trying to
[2:51:19] delay the the budgeting process. So, I'd
[2:51:23] say, you know,
[2:51:24] >> that's but that's what I would recommend
[2:51:25] if if we're going to get into major, you
[2:51:28] know, structural changes or anything
[2:51:30] like that.
[2:51:30] >> I don't Yes. And I think
[2:51:34] yeah, I I think certainly if we started
[2:51:36] if we had that conversation, started
[2:51:38] moving in directions like that, this
[2:51:40] schedule would have to change. Um, I
[2:51:42] think it's entirely possible that we
[2:51:45] spend 45 minutes on each topic and come
[2:51:48] away feeling like there are some ideas
[2:51:50] here, maybe not for this year's budget,
[2:51:53] maybe for next year's or something. But,
[2:51:56] um, so I don't think having this
[2:51:58] conversation means big changes. Um but
[2:52:03] well
[2:52:06] I based on what I'm hearing I think we
[2:52:09] can my feeling is we can approve this
[2:52:12] schedule for the actual budget
[2:52:14] development and then Amanda and I can
[2:52:17] work to fit these into October and see
[2:52:21] what we can do and at least we can come
[2:52:24] back to the board at the next meeting
[2:52:25] and say we didn't we couldn't find a way
[2:52:27] to easily do it. What do you guys want
[2:52:28] to do worst case? um and that we
[2:52:32] prioritize
[2:52:34] the sort of general financial discussion
[2:52:37] because it's a little more timely. Does
[2:52:39] that sounds palatable? No.
[2:52:42] >> Um I was going to note that we do while
[2:52:45] there's a lot to talk about in the
[2:52:47] parking fund, we do have a longer
[2:52:49] timeline on that,
[2:52:50] >> right?
[2:52:50] >> Like it doesn't have to happen before
[2:52:52] January. It doesn't have to be ready to
[2:52:54] go with the general fund budget.
[2:52:56] >> I agree. Um, and I also do think that a
[2:53:01] I guess retreat style or just like
[2:53:04] working group style meeting of the
[2:53:06] select board that I think that would be
[2:53:09] more productive for this kind of topic.
[2:53:11] And I my interpretation is that some of
[2:53:14] the value of these meetings would be
[2:53:17] such that this regular select board
[2:53:19] meetings can be more productive because
[2:53:21] the board is on the same page
[2:53:24] um with each other and with staff
[2:53:26] because there's a lot of there's a lot
[2:53:28] of parsing through and making sure the
[2:53:31] understandings are the same that I think
[2:53:32] delay some of the conversations at
[2:53:34] regular meetings too. John. Um I I mean
[2:53:38] yeah on the parking fund point I I mean
[2:53:40] if you're talking about bringing any any
[2:53:43] uh part of the parking fund into the
[2:53:45] general fund, we need to know like soon.
[2:53:48] Um
[2:53:49] >> yes,
[2:53:49] >> because we're working really hard on on
[2:53:52] uh that budget, not general fund.
[2:53:54] >> Would that be if if a lease was
[2:53:56] entertained, would that be included in
[2:53:59] that? I'm not pretty.
[2:54:00] >> So I I'm sorry. I think we may be
[2:54:02] starting to stray again understandably.
[2:54:05] But um as far as the process and
[2:54:10] possibly scheduling some of these other
[2:54:11] topics,
[2:54:13] how does the board feel about moving
[2:54:15] forward with the process, the motion
[2:54:16] that's on the table, and then we try to
[2:54:19] schedule the finance topic in October
[2:54:23] and report back and then parking maybe
[2:54:25] can be on a little longer leash. Does
[2:54:28] that sound all right? Yeah.
[2:54:30] >> Okay. Let me make some notes. But in the
[2:54:32] meantime,
[2:54:34] Amanda, is your motion?
[2:54:35] >> Yes.
[2:54:36] >> Okay. Amanda has moved to adopt the Oh,
[2:54:39] sorry. Members of the public with a
[2:54:41] comment or question.
[2:54:44] >> Okay. Amanda has moved to adopt the FY28
[2:54:47] budget development schedule and process
[2:54:48] as presented. All in favor, please say
[2:54:51] I.
[2:54:52] >> Aries is 5.
[2:54:55] >> Thank you, Sarah Rose, for staying till
[2:54:56] the end. Um, final motion. Somebody
[2:54:59] >> I move to adjourn.
[2:55:00] >> All in favor?
[2:55:02] >> I
[2:55:03] >> 50. All right. Thank you everyone. Seth,
[2:55:06] John, BCTV,
[2:55:08] >> Heidi, Ivan, and Select.
[2:55:11] >> What am I writing? I'm writing.
[2:55:15] >> Oh, I have my microphone off the whole
[2:55:16] time.
[2:55:17] >> Really?
[2:55:18] >> Oh, you have a toggle
[2:55:19] >> at the Yeah. At the end.