[0:00] Educating, informing, serving. FACT TV, keeping government honest.

[0:06] You are watching a FACT TV presentation of the Town of Grafton Selectboard meeting.

[0:15] I'd like to call the meeting to order for Monday, September 23rd, 2026, at 6:00

[0:21] PM here at our town hall.

[0:26] In a motion to adopt the agenda and changes.

[0:31] Morgan, do you have something?

[0:33] I thought, are we having this? The proposed executive session is happening, or-

[0:37] If we could, that would be great.

[0:39] Oh, okay.

[0:41] Sorry, I just got off the phone with Steve and Brenda 20 minutes ago.

[0:46] So I have a little bit of an update that we can talk about in executive session.

[0:52] Okay. Is it the draft?

[0:56] Okay.

[1:00] Do I have to change proposal? Propose to just leave it?

[1:05] No.

[1:08] Just leave it then?

[1:08] Yes.

[1:09] Okay.

[1:11] I need to have a motion to adopt the agenda as

[1:16] written. All in favor?

[1:19] Mm-hmm.

[1:19] Of the motion.

[1:20] Second.

[1:22] All in favor of the agenda?

[1:27] Aye.

[1:27] Need a motion to approve minutes of our regular meeting, September 8th,

[1:34] 2026. Any corrections or additions to those minutes?

[1:46] You don't set a time with them?

[1:51] All in favor of approving the minutes for September 8th?

[1:57] Do we make motion?

[1:58] Yes, we do.

[1:59] Oh, I'll make motion.

[2:01] And I'll second that.

[2:04] Okay, we have a motion and a second.

[2:08] All in favor?

[2:09] Aye.

[2:11] Any opposed?

[2:14] We had a highway report, and I'm going to start with

[2:19] opening the paving bids for Middletown

[2:25] Road and Route 121 paving bids.

[2:32] Ready?

[2:34] Middletown Road.

[2:40] I sure know.

[2:47] This is under Basian Brother.

[2:55] What would you like from me to read here?

[2:58] Use the mic.

[2:58] What's the project title? Is that on Middletown Road or-

[3:02] Middletown Road Paving Project 2027 Bid.

[3:06] Great. And then there should be a grand total

[3:11] for the bid?

[3:12] Yes, it does.

[3:17] Sorry, this is my

[3:20] rookie report.

[3:22] Total, $48,224.

[3:29] Do that again. Sorry. 2,001.

[3:33] You might turn on the mic.

[3:35] Yeah, you got to use the mic.

[3:36] You got to use the mic.

[3:37] Oh, okay.

[3:41] The grand total for the gym, top coat, and mill is

[3:46] $48,224.

[3:49] No, the total bid. I'm sorry. $68,224.

[4:02] Hmm.

[4:07] We have one on Basian, so those are the-

[4:10] Separate project, though. Two different projects.

[4:13] So let's do all of the Middletown then.

[4:15] Yeah, that sounds good.

[4:16] Okay.

[4:31] This is from Pike Industries. Pike Industries.

[4:39] And the total bid is $43,513.80.

[4:46] Where is Pike Industries from? Are they a local?

[4:49] West Long Branch.

[4:50] Okay.

[4:53] Curious.

[5:13] Northeast Paving.

[5:21] The total is $52,148. And those are the three bids.

[5:28] Middletown Road.

[5:31] Can you go back to the one on the Pikes Industries?

[5:35] It's 43,513.80.

[5:39] Correct. Go ahead.

[5:41] That seems quite low from all these, the other two.

[5:44] I'm wondering if it's-

[5:45] 43,513?

[5:48] Yeah.

[5:50] That compares to

[5:51] $52,148,

[6:04] so it's not too far.

[6:08] And there-

[6:08] For Basian's it's 39.

[6:13] For the same stuff?

[6:15] 68,224.

[6:16] The reason probably is they're busy.

[6:22] I don't know this, but Basian called and wanted to know if we are awarding the bid

[6:28] separately on Middletown and 121, or we awarded it together.

[6:34] Because it doesn't say in the bid thing. So nobody else asked that question.

[6:40] So it might be

[6:42] low because they couldn't do the whole thing.

[6:46] But I don't know until I see the other bids.

[6:49] Okay. All right, we'll check the other ones then. Thank you.

[6:53] Should we go on to the other project?

[6:55] Yeah.

[6:58] This is Route 121 Paving 2027.

[7:20] This is Basian Brothers.

[7:30] And the total is $231,009.11.

[7:41] Here's... Hmm.

[8:09] And this is from Pike Industries.

[8:16] And it's

[8:16] $186,028.20.

[8:32] Hmm.

[8:34] Right.

[8:36] There's a-

[8:37] This is from Northeastern Paving.

[8:39] Mm-hmm.

[8:41] And they told you this.

[8:46] And the bid is for

[8:47] $165,379.20.

[8:53] Hmm.

[9:03] Where's Northeast from?

[9:05] Yeah, she was in somewhere.

[9:07] Northfield, Massachusetts.

[9:09] Northfield? Mm-hmm.

[9:15] Hmm.

[9:16] Hmm.

[9:19] Is that it?

[9:20] Yeah, that's it.

[9:23] Interesting.

[9:28] Hmm.

[9:40] So we can discuss some of these bids further before we commit to a bid

[9:46] at our next meeting, so everybody has a chance to look at the bids.

[9:54] And Travis, you can look at them also.

[9:58] Okay. Thank you, Peter.

[10:00] Welcome.

[10:01] Any comments? You have any comments, John, on the bids? Okay.

[10:10] Approve the Grant 2102 Grant Agreement, guardrails,

[10:16] repairs,

[10:18] stop line painting, and ledge removal.

[10:22] And if you had a chance to look at the grant, I think it was 38 pages.

[10:30] This would start end of September and go to...

[10:35] Is it two-year grants?

[10:37] It's manually twice a year.

[10:40] Yeah.

[10:41] So the project is to repair five guardrails, paint six

[10:48] stop lines, and ledge removal in one location.

[10:52] Where is that?

[10:55] The ledge removal?

[10:56] Yeah.

[10:56] Platnam Forest Road.

[10:57] Platnum Forest Road. That's for

[11:02] $48,000?

[11:04] $45,000.

[11:05] 45.

[11:05] And it is fully reimbursable, so there's no town out for this project.

[11:18] So typically I would just need authority to approve the grant agreement.

[11:25] Did anybody have a chance to read the grant and look it over?

[11:29] Anybody have any questions?

[11:34] Go ahead and motion to approve this grant,

[11:37] 2102 Grant Agreement.

[11:42] It's a two-year agreement. All in favor? We need a motion, sorry.

[11:47] Motion.

[11:48] Thank you, Barb.

[11:50] I'll second it.

[11:52] Okay, Mike. Time to ask the question. All in favor of approving the grant?

[12:00] I.

[12:01] Any opposed?

[12:05] So Travis, do you have the report for us today?

[12:10] Yeah. We've been studying 121

[12:15] this week. We'll get there Wednesday and Thursday, and Wednesday will be the last

[12:20] culvert replacement. We should be planning the fill and break for that.

[12:24] Then Thursday will just be some follow-up with grassy and some still lying.

[12:32] From there, we are headed to a culvert on 35 at the top of Chester Hill.

[12:38] To replace that with asphalt.

[12:42] And then we have some various others.

[12:45] There's two on State Road and another on Kidder Road.

[12:49] So we're trying to wrap up the dirt side of things before frost. Hopefully.

[13:00] And how about your equipment needs? I mean, you had some repairs on the mower.

[13:05] The grader-

[13:06] Yeah

[13:07] ... is going to go over. That was a sink and pit loss.

[13:11] The backhoe,

[13:13] knock on wood, if that stays together, it'll be all five of it.

[13:19] The tractor did have some dashboards fall last week.

[13:23] Mm-hmm.

[13:24] And I won't have answers until it back flows into the tractor.

[13:29] That's just what's going on.

[13:31] And that's all computer-based?

[13:35] Mm-hmm.

[13:35] Is he going to go to Salem, Mass?

[13:38] Salem, New York.

[13:39] Oh, New York.

[13:39] Yeah, it's not too bad, just phase ones.

[13:44] And

[13:46] there's no warranty on truck four left?

[13:49] There is warranty.

[13:51] Okay.

[13:52] We are getting towards the end of it.

[13:55] Off of that, our HEG

[13:59] with warranty work, if they find rust in a component, they will not cover it under

[14:04] warranty. So with the times that, being almost five years old,

[14:10] a lot of it is out of pocket. I'm turning over the warranty at this point.

[14:14] Okay.

[14:15] But we need to look into that because those trucks are going to have rust within a

[14:20] year because they're in salt floor.

[14:23] Mm-hmm.

[14:23] And the only thing we pay $7,000 for extended warranty, and

[14:30] all it will cover is the engine and our transmission.

[14:34] But as far as anything else, it doesn't cover it because they find rust, and I

[14:38] don't know if you make another trip down to visit with whoever you did before, it

[14:43] would do any good or not. But I think that we should get more for our warranty.

[14:51] This is the truck that has the salt that's underneath?

[14:56] They all do.

[14:58] But I know the last one, it was due to rust and we did get covered.

[15:03] Yeah, it was our oldest truck-

[15:04] Right

[15:05] ... and I got a problem with that.

[15:12] Yeah, I can go down, but I just wondered if anything can be submitted to our

[15:17] insurance on any of those costs. Do you know that, Lauren?

[15:22] Are we just wearing gear?

[15:23] Unfortunately, the wear and tear-

[15:25] Mm-hmm

[15:26] ... significant is just a couple thousand at a time adds up the end of the year.

[15:32] Does it actually state to us as an exception of warranty with a lease or are they

[15:37] saying they're claiming them?

[15:39] That they're claiming it. I assume it's at the text discretion of work on the

[15:44] truck.

[15:45] Yeah.

[15:46] And with this becoming a larger issue than already being one this year,

[15:51] I've had a hard time connecting with Craig.

[15:55] I didn't know if maybe the board would be willing to either visit or send a letter

[16:00] to Craig and just go, "Hey, this truck is costing us a lot of money on some

[16:05] warranty."

[16:08] When's the middle point? We need more updates, more information.

[16:14] That's on the truck.

[16:15] That's on the truck.

[16:16] Okay.

[16:17] I guess, Morgan, draft a letter. Is that okay?

[16:21] I drafted a letter today, and I can share it.

[16:29] Because the cabin chassis doesn't even get in yet, so there's no body to pull out,

[16:34] standard. There's not even a cabin chassis at this point.

[16:42] It's not very long. Do you want me to read it out loud?

[16:45] Sure.

[16:47] So it's just addressed to Craig.

[16:48] Just use the mic. Yeah.

[16:52] Did you share yours?

[16:58] So this is a letter raising regarding our truck currently at your facility for

[17:02] repairs, which is truck number four, as well as the replacement

[17:08] truck account for over the past several weeks, Travis and I have tried on it and

[17:12] made multiple attempts to obtain information regarding the status of the repair and

[17:17] the anticipated delivery date of the replacement vehicle.

[17:21] In addition, one of your account administrators has also reached out seeking an

[17:25] update. Unfortunately, these inquiries have gone unanswered.

[17:29] The timing of these vehicles and the lack of communication has made it increasingly

[17:33] difficult to plan daily operations.

[17:36] We respectfully request a detailed update regarding, number one, the current status

[17:41] of the repair being performed on our truck.

[17:45] Number two, the basis for ATD's determination that the repair is not covered under

[17:50] warranty, including any supporting documentation or explanation.

[17:54] And number three, the expected delivery date of the replacement truck that the town

[17:58] has ordered. We ask that you provide a written response as soon as possible.

[18:03] If there are delays affecting either repair or replacement vehicle delivery, we

[18:07] would appreciate your explanation of the circumstances and an updated timeline.

[18:12] We value our relationship with ATD and hope to resolve these issues promptly.

[18:17] Thank you. I look forward to your response.

[18:24] Solid letter.

[18:26] Yeah, very good.

[18:27] I think it's great. Yeah.

[18:31] We're going to follow up with a call.

[18:33] Yeah.

[18:35] So-

[18:36] Will that be emailed?

[18:38] We can email it. We can also mail a hard copy.

[18:41] Yep.

[18:41] Yeah, do both.

[18:42] Do both, and then

[18:45] get on the horn, follow up with them quick.

[18:47] Yeah. If you could

[18:49] just email me his number and stuff.

[18:52] Sure.

[18:52] Information.

[18:53] Could I just have him-

[18:54] Yeah.

[18:56] And then we'll put something up in the morning.

[19:26] Anything else you want to add to the letter or

[19:31] concerns

[19:35] that I can convey?

[19:38] Okay.

[19:40] Thank you for doing the letter.

[19:42] No.

[19:46] Anything else, Travis, that you have while we're...

[19:50] I wanted to mention last week how much 1.1 petitions in the summer, but I agree

[19:57] with you last week.

[19:58] Thank you.

[19:59] Hmm.

[20:02] Well, committee reports. Anything from zoning?

[20:04] No, the clerk's good.

[20:05] Oh, sorry. All right, Kim.

[20:09] I think we're way behind here.

[20:11] Go ahead.

[20:15] Everybody got their quarterly reports.

[20:17] I really didn't hear from anyone, so I'm assuming everything's okay.

[20:21] It looks to be pretty much on track.

[20:25] I gave two different reports, one with percentages and one without.

[20:29] I feel the percentage one is very helpful because they're only a quarter of the

[20:32] way. They're obviously going to be 25% or under is great.

[20:37] If it's slightly over the 25%, it's fine.

[20:42] This is just the beginning of the year.

[20:44] Some of them you'll see might be 75% to 90%.

[20:47] That's because it might be one thing every year, so of course, it's going to hit

[20:51] its almost full value within the first quarter.

[20:56] But nothing really stood out to me,

[21:02] and I'm assuming nothing to any of you since I didn't hear anybody.

[21:08] I've not heard from Sullivan Powers yet.

[21:11] I'm still waiting for Jenna to get back to me on audit.

[21:15] Probably next Monday, I'll email her and see how she's coming along on it, seeing

[21:20] as how we're coming into our budget season.

[21:23] Maybe give us an idea of where we're standing with it.

[21:29] Next thing, the start of setting budget dates, getting

[21:35] together. Typically, I think we've done the highway as one meeting, and

[21:41] then we next meeting, we move into doing general, and then we do an

[21:47] overall,

[21:49] put the two together, I put the numbers together, and then we have that final

[21:52] meeting and doing the briefing if we need to be.

[21:56] We also invite rescue, the library, the fire department,

[22:01] probably during the select board meeting, so we can hear their pitch, and

[22:08] I can insert those numbers. So that can be at any time.

[22:13] Morgan and I did have a few dates. We were looking at possibly Tuesdays or

[22:18] Thursdays.

[22:21] Depends. I think we're thinking maybe anytime before or after.

[22:25] I think Leslie and Anna have a difficult time making it anytime during the day,

[22:29] unless you can.

[22:32] Mine really depends, but-

[22:35] Yeah, sometimes I have to. You give me a date and time.

[22:38] Yeah. Let me-

[22:40] I'm fine with before or whatever you guys decide.

[22:44] Morgan and I were looking at possible dates of October the 6th, a Tuesday,

[22:51] October the 8th, a Thursday,

[22:54] Tuesday the 13th, Thursday the 29th,

[22:58] Monday the 26th, because it's an odd one.

[23:02] We try not to make any Mondays since there are four of those.

[23:06] That went by fast. So Tuesday, October 6th.

[23:10] Could be one on the Thursday, October 8th.

[23:12] No.

[23:13] And then I lost you.

[23:14] The 13th.

[23:15] Okay.

[23:17] The 26th on Monday.

[23:19] Oh.

[23:19] Or the 29th on Thursday. It's whenever works for us.

[23:25] Do you have any input

[23:29] into-

[23:30] You're saying you're free at 4:00 PM?

[23:33] If we're... We kind of picked maybe if you guys can make 4:00.

[23:37] Maybe just one, yeah.

[23:38] And get her packed in, the rest can make 4:00, and-

[23:41] I can't do the 6th.

[23:42] Can't do the 8th?

[23:44] Every other day. The 8th and the 26th are the only dates that I know.

[23:47] Other than that, it's just-

[23:49] Does it work for Dave after the 8th?

[23:51] Yeah, I have school board meeting.

[23:53] Yeah.

[23:53] I have school board meeting.

[23:56] And the 13th.

[23:56] Okay, so the 8th is out of the question.

[23:58] 13th is planning commission, but-

[24:00] But it would be earlier

[24:01] ... I could do it at

[24:04] 5:00.

[24:06] On the 13th?

[24:07] Yeah. Is that what you said? For the planning commission, yeah.

[24:10] Can you do 4:00?

[24:13] Yeah, I can probably change the meeting or 4:00.

[24:20] Planning commission's what at 7:00?

[24:24] 7:00.

[24:24] 7:00, right?

[24:27] Little after 7:00.

[24:27] Do you guys do it more like 5:00? Would that help you?

[24:32] 5:00 would work for me.

[24:34] Around 5:00.

[24:35] Turn that on, Peter.

[24:36] Because you're running that again.

[24:38] Well, we're down to the 6th of October.

[24:42] Yep.

[24:42] The 13th of October.

[24:44] These are 4:00?

[24:46] No, we're looking at the 13th and possibly 5:00.

[24:49] Okay. But the other two first. Okay, got it.

[24:52] On the 26th is a Monday.

[24:55] That I can't do that.

[24:56] No, you can't do the 26th. Okay, so we'll cross that off.

[24:59] So now we're down to the 29th of October.

[25:03] So that would put our final one then

[25:07] into the 1st of November.

[25:11] Are we comfortable with that? Yeah.

[25:16] November is usually when I'm trying to get the town report together.

[25:19] Okay.

[25:21] The first week of November, I've got the general election-

[25:23] General election

[25:24] ... so I just assume skip the whole first week of November.

[25:27] Mm-hmm.

[25:30] I think November 10th

[25:33] is the following Tuesday.

[25:35] Okay.

[25:37] I don't know.

[25:37] So we can make that our third then.

[25:39] I might be here, but we'll have to...

[25:42] Otherwise, I'd say the first one's October 2nd.

[25:45] I think that we're good with the 13th and the 29th, I think we settled on or

[25:50] whatever.

[25:53] Okay.

[25:53] And then we can work around inviting the rest of the organizations.

[26:00] Hello?

[26:00] And we can add a date to have a select board meeting on the 19th, which is a

[26:05] regular select board meeting.

[26:08] Okay.

[26:09] What are we talking about, October?

[26:11] October at 5:00, and I can do the 29th at 4:00 or 5:00.

[26:15] Okay. So 4:00 on the 29th?

[26:17] That'll work for me.

[26:18] Okay. Is everybody okay with 4:00 the 29th?

[26:22] 5:00 on the 13th. Okay.

[26:25] So we can make

[26:30] Travis, which makes it be the 13th at-

[26:32] The other one.

[26:34] 4:00. We're at October 6th. Was that all right, October 6th?

[26:38] Works for me.

[26:39] Was that an okay date? That way we can do all three.

[26:42] Get it all within October.

[26:44] Yeah.

[26:45] Well, October 6th.

[26:46] That's what we're trying to do.

[26:48] Well, that works for you guys?

[26:51] Yeah. What's your second one?

[26:54] 4:00, October 6th.

[26:57] Works for me.

[26:58] Okay. Can you get the invites? So 4:00 on the 6th.

[27:02] Get them all in October.

[27:03] Yeah. Okay. So then we'll make Travis on the 6th, if you're okay with that.

[27:10] Mm-hmm.

[27:10] And the 13th will be the town in general at 5:00.

[27:16] Yeah.

[27:17] And then 4:00 on the 29th will be our final, hopefully

[27:23] somewhere into

[27:26] our other capital budget too.

[27:28] Mm-hmm.

[27:28] Yeah, for their public hearing. Yeah.

[27:32] Yeah. I'll make a note.

[27:35] I'll reach out.

[27:37] So what date would be the one for

[27:43] fire, rescue, and library?

[27:44] October 19th, which is a regular select board meeting.

[27:49] Oh,

[27:52] okay. Yeah, that would give them the warning on that-

[27:54] Yep

[27:54] ... so they're ready.

[27:55] Yep.

[27:57] Sorry, that's four o'clock still? On the 19th?

[28:01] No, that's a regular select board meeting. No, during the meeting.

[28:04] That's difficult.

[28:05] Right.

[28:11] Just from the register there, I'm probably going to have a BCA

[28:17] meeting.

[28:19] That's just-

[28:20] I'm looking at a BCA meeting, possibly October the 5th, and it'll be held just

[28:26] before the select board meeting, so it's all probably going to be another 15-minute

[28:30] meeting. Just designate time and place of village elections and ballot votes.

[28:34] Gotcha.

[28:35] He said the 5th. I think the 5th. That's what I'm going to try.

[28:38] Well, as long as Chris can make it on the 5th.

[28:42] We'll be up at 5:45 that morning.

[28:45] Yeah, I think it's going to be 5:45, which won't take us long.

[28:53] I will be sending out,

[28:57] probably beginning of next week, I'll send out a blank version again of the budget

[29:02] with little lines on the side.

[29:04] Mm-hmm.

[29:04] And everybody can put in what they propose, and we'll come to the round table and

[29:10] fill in the blanks with what our proposals are.

[29:13] Say that again, Kim. I'm sorry, it's not-

[29:15] I usually do a budget sheet just like this-

[29:17] Oh, budget sheet

[29:18] ... but I have blank lines on the side.

[29:20] Yep.

[29:20] And you guys put down your best estimate

[29:25] and reason

[29:27] why you're going up or down. That always helps us to...

[29:37] Okay.

[29:41] How much else? I'll be done. I've not heard.

[29:43] I know that the

[29:45] ballots for the general election, they pulled the names last week, and they

[29:50] anticipate by the 1st of October, everybody should be getting their general

[29:54] election ballots.

[29:57] I have a small supply of them in my office.

[30:00] I did ask if I could write up a nice little write-up about the importance of trying

[30:05] not to mail them, but actually hand deliver them to my office or put them in the

[30:10] drop box in the front door or bring them with you on election day.

[30:15] If you can't make it here on the other than normal hours for election.

[30:21] Just, it's important people try to remember to bring that ballot.

[30:25] Don't use it to start your fire and just figure you're going to get one.

[30:30] Yeah.

[30:30] There's more paperwork involved.

[30:32] You can get one, but you're going to have to fill out more paperwork to get another

[30:35] one.

[30:38] So she's going to try and do something in the bulletins for that.

[30:43] Thursday is the

[30:46] STR election ballots are here. Seven, what is it?

[30:51] The 9th to 7.

[30:54] Michelle and I will set up on Thursday morning.

[30:59] And remember, I know Peter cannot make it for counting on Thursday,

[31:06] and Wendy's not going to be able to. But it's a yes/no ballot.

[31:12] Should be relatively quick.

[31:15] I'm hoping to be out of here by 8:00, probably 4 to 7.

[31:22] You can trust. That's all I've got.

[31:30] Thank you.

[31:32] Thank you, Kim.

[31:35] Any questions for Kim?

[31:42] Committee reports? Cemetery, any updates?

[31:48] Well, I had mentioned a while ago

[31:54] that

[31:55] we were contacting the Vermont Gold Cemetery Association.

[32:01] And when I say we, I mentioned it to the select board, but my sister Cheryl drafted

[32:06] a letter because she's interested as part of GIA.

[32:10] And they responded back. They are able to have the next year,

[32:16] or next year,

[32:17] where they would do a day of volunteer work with them leading the effort.

[32:25] We were thinking Middle Town Cemetery

[32:28] would be probably a good candidate for

[32:33] stabilization stones.

[32:36] They can clean the foundations, or they'll do epoxy on

[32:41] headstones that need it. They do have a list of materials that they recommend

[32:48] for supporting that, including chip hat,

[32:54] wheelbarrows, shovels, five-bars.

[32:56] There's a list, and most of it is fairly reasonable. Straight almost.

[33:02] A chemical called DT, I believe, that is free for you some stones.

[33:08] So, I just want to make sure that

[33:12] the select board is aware and would be okay with approving this.

[33:17] And I can get all the information with the entire list, and it might be something

[33:22] that we include in our budget review.

[33:25] And also, Kim, I know there is a separate fund, but part of

[33:30] that may be reasonably used. But we can talk about that and come up with an

[33:36] estimate for what the materials would be.

[33:39] Again, it's a volunteer organization, so for materials and know the cost.

[33:44] They do ask that the town try to have at least 15 volunteers show up, which I think

[33:50] if we publish correctly, that should be doable.

[33:54] And then we'll lock down the dates as we get closer to the top.

[34:01] Any questions?

[34:04] When did you think the date, like the month? What month?

[34:09] If you didn't mind saying month, or I'm going to write back to them

[34:14] if I got kind of general consensus tonight, because the last time it was written

[34:19] permission from the designee of the board.

[34:22] So I want to make sure everyone was on board.

[34:24] So I'll say that the support is in principle on board, and

[34:30] ask you to isolate the dates

[34:34] for us, and then I'll share that with Chris.

[34:38] That's it.

[34:40] I would think it would probably be

[34:43] summertime or-

[34:44] Oh, I see

[34:44] ... spring, because if you're using materials-

[34:47] Yeah

[34:48] ... it can't be cold.

[34:49] Yeah, but even in the summer, they're very sensitive to the rain.

[34:54] So I'm just not sure which date we would have no rain.

[34:57] And the other thing I do is probably just train people on how to do it, which I

[35:01] think is useful for online maintenance-

[35:05] Mm-hmm

[35:05] ...

[35:07] and the assumption of how to do it correctly.

[35:09] Right.

[35:13] Sounds great to me.

[35:14] Great. I'll write up something asking for options on dates, and then I'll share

[35:20] that with you, and then I'll share this

[35:24] letter.

[35:28] I'll share this letter and list that they provided so that you all have it, and can

[35:34] have that as well.

[35:37] He doesn't like it.

[35:39] He doesn't like being right in front of the speaker.

[35:42] Mm-hmm.

[35:43] So it's not you, it's the speaker.

[35:45] I'm sure he'll be missing.

[35:49] Yeah, vote on the topsoil?

[35:51] Yeah. So at the last meeting, the board wanted to get a quote for the topsoil at

[35:56] the Middle Town Cemetery, and Russell did provide that.

[36:01] So it came in at $1,000

[36:05] for six yards of bank run gravel and five yards of screened topsoil.

[36:13] That was the donation amount, right?

[36:15] It was the donation amount. So what I did is I pretty much just asked him, "What

[36:20] can we get for the $1,000 donation?"

[36:23] Yep.

[36:24] And so he came up with the amount

[36:27] for what he feels we could get for the $1,000.

[36:31] Right.

[36:33] Did he have a feel for how far that would go, Lynn?

[36:36] He said he talked with you, John, too, and it's not going to go

[36:42] too far, but it's going to do a tier, he thinks.

[36:45] Sure.

[36:46] He's not going to put any type of seeding on it because the rest of the cemetery he

[36:51] said is pretty much all moss.

[36:53] Sure.

[36:53] So it'd be nice to

[36:56] have it blend with the moss, because otherwise if you put seed on it, he's going to

[36:59] have a patch of high grass growing and it's just not going to

[37:04] blend. But there are quite a few that are sunken in that he thinks he could run to

[37:10] a little bit more of a level. And right now, I'm just trying to manage mowing it.

[37:15] The mower hits down so hard that it just grinds off the blades because you're going

[37:20] in and not...

[37:23] And I do have a thing that I'd like to send to Barbara Streeter, but I also want to

[37:28] give an explanation as to what the funds are going to be used for.

[37:35] It is designated the Middletown Cemetery,

[37:39] leveling some of the ground. So, yeah.

[37:42] Then we'd have an idea of how much money we need.

[37:47] Yeah. We'll see how far that goes, and then in the future, it'll give us a better

[37:51] idea.

[37:54] And also the Trustee of Public Funds can probably help out with-- I don't think

[37:58] it's going to be very expensive for, like you said, a lot of the supplies you need

[38:01] for the volunteers next summer.

[38:03] Oh, and actually the GI may fund some of that as well.

[38:08] Okay.

[38:08] So we can figure out where that levels up.

[38:10] Okay. And when you get that idea from the organization, we'll pull

[38:16] together with the Trustee of Public Funds, we'll have a meeting and

[38:21] see what we can do, too.

[38:23] Right.

[38:23] We can fund the funds.

[38:24] Sounds good.

[38:27] I wonder if something like five times that amount

[38:32] would have a much more serious impact and how that might be judged, so that

[38:38] this is the first installment of a $5,000 endeavor

[38:46] on our farm. If 1,000 bucks is going to do something like six loads, how

[38:52] much of an impact would that-

[38:55] Sure

[38:55] ... have on the cemetery? Right. I think that's what we're saying is if we do the

[38:59] 1,000 and then say, "Okay, it did

[39:03] a quarter."

[39:04] Yeah.

[39:04] Then we'd know. So we don't know, there's no way to predict that.

[39:08] This is what I think if I started with what the six loads doesn't-

[39:12] Yeah

[39:12] ... work in there. I think so.

[39:18] So we just need to be okay whether or not Russell can move forward and do this

[39:22] before the winter time.

[39:25] Yeah.

[39:26] Okay.

[39:27] Have a motion or any discussion before we can make a motion to accept-

[39:35] Sure

[39:35] ... the recommendations here.

[39:39] I'll make a motion that we have Russell Record move forward with the topsoil for

[39:44] $1,000 and the amounts that are stated. I can't remember the exact amount.

[39:51] Second.

[39:53] Okay. Any other discussion?

[39:56] All in favor?

[39:57] Aye.

[39:58] Aye.

[39:59] Any opposed? Okay.

[40:03] One other item on cemetery, very briefly.

[40:05] Yeah.

[40:06] This has to do with the parcel on Chester Road that was

[40:12] looked at by the forester

[40:16] several weeks ago, and I thought that he had said that he expected to have some

[40:22] kind of reportable information, whether it's written or just show up and have

[40:28] a verbal conversation with the select board sometime this month, which is almost

[40:33] over. I asked him

[40:37] this past week

[40:39] when he thought that might actually occur, and he said, basically,

[40:44] things have gotten very busy. It probably isn't going to be until into the winter.

[40:51] But that should be okay because you're not going to do anything

[40:55] in the meantime. And by the way, I'm retiring next

[41:01] spring.

[41:02] Oh, okay.

[41:04] Joke.

[41:06] Yes, that report. But he has the two sites, the site and

[41:12] the one near the town garage-

[41:14] Mm-hmm

[41:16] ... are both in play.

[41:20] He did send something to us.

[41:24] I think you got it too, Morgan, from the forester recently.

[41:28] I saw something that was sent.

[41:34] It was a kind of a brief outline of where they walked and what he

[41:39] saw.

[41:40] That might have been-

[41:41] Potential-- Oh, okay.

[41:43] Yeah, I got this from Ian. That's why it was brief and not that interesting.

[41:49] Beautiful. But-

[41:51] Raptor parks.

[41:52] Maybe I thought it was from-- Oh, sorry.

[41:58] I have a question or two on the cemetery as well.

[42:00] Has there been any more talk about any increase in the fee for the cemetery lots or

[42:05] not when going through?

[42:08] We haven't actually followed up on that. We've kind of done some research on it.

[42:13] Okay.

[42:14] Yeah. And now we need to, I think, actually put on paper as a recommendation.

[42:19] Have there been any inquiries? Has anybody-

[42:23] For purchasing?

[42:24] Yeah.

[42:24] I've had several people, yes. Recently, yeah.

[42:27] Okay. So there's activity.

[42:29] Yeah. I had two or three inquiries.

[42:34] They're not finalized yet.

[42:36] Sure.

[42:37] But I'm just kind of curious. I know we've talked about it for a little while.

[42:43] Do we fall right in the middle, or are we on the low end?

[42:46] It's hard to get lower than 150 bucks. We're way on the low end.

[42:51] Well, that's an increase. We used to be 75.

[42:53] Yeah.

[42:56] Like I said, my experience has been that the elasticity of demand for plots

[43:03] doesn't indicate that there's going to be a ceiling that people won't want to go

[43:07] beyond.

[43:08] Okay.

[43:08] In other words, if you raise them suddenly to $800, multiplied by four or five of

[43:14] what they are today, that's probably not going to have any effect, is my guess.

[43:19] Okay.

[43:20] But that's untested.

[43:23] And I've got to go back and look, but it was like Burlington would be around

[43:29] 900, $1,000 in other towns, smaller towns that are like 4 to 500,

[43:36] or in-town residents. Some of them anyone else would be a premium.

[43:42] Some of them have very complex fee structures based on what

[43:48] you're doing it with, what is on there,

[43:51] so it can get complicated. Burrillville's postcremation, I think how many-

[43:57] Yeah. It's one set that you buy it for 150, and you can put three remains

[44:03] in one-

[44:04] Right.

[44:04] Yeah, so that's even cheaper.

[44:10] So I think we definitely think it should be increased, and then the funds go to

[44:15] maintaining the cemetery.

[44:18] So maybe, Peter, I can before the next meeting, try to get something on paper.

[44:24] Okay.

[44:26] Maybe check with area towns.

[44:28] We did some of that, yeah.

[44:31] I think Weston is

[44:34] 3 or 350 for one plot. You can put two in, like a cremation and a

[44:39] body or something.

[44:40] That seems to be the-- I think 400 was kind of median for smaller towns

[44:46] as I recall. Yeah.

[44:51] Okay.

[44:54] Well, thank you both.

[44:56] Anything on parks, any updates?

[44:59] I don't have anything.

[45:02] Highway committee meeting went through. Personnel, I don't have anything.

[45:07] Waiting on

[45:10] the auditors.

[45:11] Mm-hmm.

[45:13] And select updates, we're all set. Nothing there.

[45:18] Outstanding capital project document reminder.

[45:25] Morgan, when I was with John,

[45:31] had several projects

[45:34] that we put together,

[45:36] and

[45:38] let me kind of review where we're at.

[45:40] So we can go through each one or-

[45:44] How do you want to start that, Morgan?

[45:47] I distributed this to this whiteboard over a year ago, and that was a list of 13

[45:53] items that we should be discussing to see how we were going to finance it.

[45:59] So this date today,

[46:03] there's not a lot been done.

[46:07] And

[46:09] some of them, if we have a major storm or rain, it's going to take out roads,

[46:15] whatever.

[46:17] Money should be somehow come up with to take care of it.

[46:24] The other ones are kind of small. After the bids of the paving,

[46:30] it looks to me like we might be able to pay more than what the bid's

[46:36] at, because I think it got close to $500,000.

[46:41] So it's all broken out, additional paving,

[46:47] so we could pick up some of that. But the other items, we'd have to do something on

[46:52] and not leave it.

[46:55] Well, certainly some of them are in process.

[46:59] Well, the fire escape-

[47:01] The fire escape is a process

[47:02] ... all that stuff. The state forest are several .

[47:06] And we've had lots of dialogue on the Fisher Hill overtimes.

[47:11] They are big money items-

[47:13] Yeah

[47:13] ... but the smaller ones in there, like a street light.

[47:16] Mm-hmm.

[47:18] 13s. Yeah, but-

[47:20] The fire pond dredging. Yep. Fire pond dredging.

[47:23] Yeah.

[47:24] We talked about that.

[47:25] Hopefully budget searching.

[47:27] Yeah, that...

[47:29] And chair.

[47:31] Suzanne?

[47:34] I did not see a copy of a list of projects for the materials.

[47:39] Could I please have copies of it with this maybe for the 22nd?

[47:53] That's the update. Is that the update or original?

[47:57] That's the update.

[47:58] The original?

[47:58] That's the update.

[47:59] The update's in red, right?

[48:00] That's my copy. So it's right in front of all the updates.

[48:03] Yes.

[48:03] In red.

[48:05] It's in red.

[48:06] What is it not?

[48:18] Well, this is a great document for budget time.

[48:21] Well, I know it's nice to level fund, but if you level funding every year, you

[48:25] don't get two ways in projects, and

[48:29] we going to decide which ones do we want to start with.

[48:32] Even if you just move one,

[48:34] $40,000, it's a help.

[48:39] But I know we've talked about this in the capital budget, and a lot of these items,

[48:44] not all of them, but

[48:47] how do you go about, because I'm not on the capital budget committee.

[48:52] Is it the committee?

[48:54] The committee should recommend to the majority that we want to do something.

[49:00] Yeah.

[49:02] Does the whole capital budget have one of those

[49:05] schedules? Does the whole capital budget have a schedule like this?

[49:10] I think so. I'm not sure.

[49:13] I don't know.

[49:13] Yeah. We created it last year around this time.

[49:16] I think they do, but they don't have the updated one.

[49:18] Yeah.

[49:19] Right.

[49:19] So I can say like that.

[49:21] Yeah.

[49:22] Hmm.

[49:26] Hmm. So it's not that we haven't done anything.

[49:31] We have been doing stuff, but not-

[49:33] There's a

[49:43] but it's not so much for engineering.

[49:45] Mm-hmm.

[49:47] Right?

[49:49] Mm-hmm.

[49:50] If you have a storm, you're going to lose some roads.

[49:54] Hopefully people have sat in, but they

[49:56] don't...

[50:27] That's going to help free up some funds from the general,

[50:34] and that's a $55,000 payment that we make every year, and then the

[50:40] interest...

[50:47] Oof.

[50:54] That's the update. This is it.

[50:57] It's an independent. It's an update.

[51:02] There's a lot of work on this, so I'd find from Massachusetts, it'll be a help of

[51:08] other people who could do.

[51:10] Yeah.

[51:12] Some ideas.

[51:15] Well, I know Harry has done a lot of work when they do the highway equipment,

[51:22] for the town and for the fire truck.

[51:26] Has it scheduled

[51:29] down the road four to five years?

[51:33] So something like that, we could plug this into.

[51:37] Well, what happens to capital budget is, we save a level of fund that every year at

[51:43] 200,000, and we don't put any extra in.

[51:45] And sometimes you're going to have to do it. The price of everything goes up.

[51:50] You just can't keep it at that price.

[51:53] Mm-hmm.

[52:02] Dual custody. I don't know you call it a fire chief.

[52:08] Okay.

[52:10] Hmm?

[52:14] Oh, yes, Suzanne, thank you.

[52:16] This is just an excellent report.

[52:20] I have two questions. First of all,

[52:23] to what extent is the planning commission aware of this report?

[52:27] It seems like some of these projects could be incorporated in the town plan.

[52:33] Hmm.

[52:34] It'd be okay to share with them?

[52:37] Yeah. We can share. I don't think we've looked at it specifically.

[52:42] Okay. I wanted to go chapter by chapter.

[52:44] Mm-hmm.

[52:44] Some of these would apply. And also, I have a specific question about the

[52:50] culverts on Fisher Hill Road. I remember vaguely she had

[52:56] me say that they have to replace some culverts.

[52:59] Who?

[53:00] Me.

[53:00] Samantha. Okay.

[53:04] The smaller culvert-

[53:05] Smaller culverts

[53:07] ... put in the underground, like if they destroy a set of culverts, they replace

[53:12] that, but they're not going to replace those big ones.

[53:16] Only other thing, once they go up and onto the capital areas.

[53:20] Okay. They don't want to do that. Okay. Got it.

[53:23] So it's how it is.

[53:25] Okay. I'm just reaching with him.

[53:28] Yeah, and unfortunately, the culverts that have to be replaced-

[53:33] I know

[53:33] ... they, every year, they go up and up and up.

[53:37] And the state standards

[53:42] go up and up, so it increases costs.

[53:46] Thank you.

[53:51] All right. Let's not put this on the back burner.

[53:53] Let's be vigilant of it,

[53:55] and hopefully we can move

[54:01] ahead and

[54:03] make some progress with it.

[54:05] Any other comments from the board?

[54:12] And if there's any more updates, Morgan, you put them in. Yes.

[54:21] Town hall, each field, and fire escape staircase update.

[54:27] I don't have any update. Do you? Well, you had asked me to get price, like

[54:33] a ballpark number for if we were to replace the H field.

[54:37] And I called a couple of local contractors.

[54:41] They said it's hard to give an idea without a design done. Mm-hmm.

[54:45] But they said we could be looking at anywhere between 20 and $60,000, and

[54:52] the price is going to vary a lot based on the designs.

[54:55] That's still in the ballpark, so I think that's still somewhat helpful, for sure.

[55:01] When we go through permitting with the engineer- Mm-hmm ...

[55:05] they'll also be able to give us a better update when the time comes.

[55:13] Another example of follow-up projects.

[55:15] There you go.

[55:16] Yeah.

[55:17] Another page.

[55:19] Question I have on that, in the meantime, why can't the tank just keep getting

[55:24] pumped while we're looking at it?

[55:26] It's not that it's-

[55:27] It's not different

[55:28] I understand, but there's not a lot of use that goes-

[55:31] Right

[55:32] ... right here out into the leach field.

[55:35] You could pump it. It'd be like essentially a holding tank versus-

[55:38] That's right

[55:39] ... an active field. So yeah.

[55:42] That would sort of help buy you time.

[55:44] Yeah. And I've had personal experience on that where the leach field never failed,

[55:48] not like this apparently, but it was imperfectly operating.

[55:53] And so once a year,

[55:57] in other words, for a house that had things like dishwasher, washing machine,

[56:02] probably like three, four months a year we definitely had that value sometime.

[56:07] Although you'd have to do budget and

[56:11] significantly fail.

[56:12] It's 10,000 gallon?

[56:15] Okay.

[56:17] 500.

[56:20] I think the clarification is it's, I had not heard the language

[56:25] significantly failing before. I had heard the language more

[56:32] the way Peter just described his experience sort of imperfectly operating.

[56:37] While I don't, I mean, we're not seeing

[56:41] overflow, there's no odor. There are things like that.

[56:45] Am I-

[56:46] There's some leeway. Your timeline is solely-

[56:50] We do understand that, but I do not want-

[56:53] Your strategy. I would go three, four.

[56:55] This is what's actually-

[56:57] Okay

[56:57] ... in each.

[56:58] Okay.

[56:59] Three, four. You can go away from that budget.

[57:03] Not that long.

[57:04] Right. I didn't want anyone to get the impression that we have a failed leach field

[57:09] out here. That would be a bad thing. I think we need to be continually be clear.

[57:15] I connected to that. What is the risk to the groundwater while the

[57:21] leach field is in this situation?

[57:24] Where are the closest wells?

[57:27] If it

[57:29] fails and backs up at this point, it's going to surface in the building, not

[57:34] outside.

[57:37] That's pretty

[57:44] soon.

[57:45] There you go.

[57:47] I think we did have our water tested.

[57:50] Oh, yes, we did. Everything's fine.

[57:52] Where are the wells, really? Just out of curiosity.

[57:55] You got a map I know.

[57:56] There's a map in the office downstairs.

[57:58] I know the Alexander's is-

[58:00] Yeah. Right next to their bulkhead, but in, like right on the other cellar

[58:05] And then I don't know where the well is for the Wilson building.

[58:10] It's on a map we could look at. Thank you. I'm glad everyone's looking into this.

[58:16] Yeah. No, this is active pursuit.

[58:20] Thank you for getting those numbers.

[58:21] Yeah.

[58:22] I think the numbers are somewhat helpful and certainly will be helpful for budget

[58:26] meetings. I think we

[58:28] had been talking, generally talking, it would...

[58:33] I mean, if we could do it next year, make it through next year, we could probably

[58:39] benefit from getting estimates on more frequent pumping if it, I don't know

[58:45] exactly when the last pump was, and

[58:48] well, I mean, you say do it once a year. Or is it once every six months?

[58:53] We'd rather err on the side of caution.

[58:56] You think-

[58:57] There's such few users in this building

[59:01] ... I think it was last year, maybe year before.

[59:05] It wasn't that long ago we were pumping.

[59:07] Okay.

[59:07] It got a while without-

[59:10] Okay

[59:10] ... well, off the schedule.

[59:12] I see.

[59:12] I think it's employing that right now.

[59:16] 350 a pop.

[59:17] It's-

[59:17] To get you through a long-

[59:19] I know

[59:20] ... one year.

[59:21] It last done in 2023.

[59:26] Well, I think we should do that.

[59:30] Technically it's due according to our new ordinance anyways.

[59:35] Yeah, I was going to say, that's-

[59:39] We can probably go ahead then.

[59:40] Always pre-orders over.

[59:41] Get it pumped. We need a motion for that? To have it pumped this year?

[59:47] I think the motion's old now.

[59:50] I'd like to make a motion that with all due haste we get the septic tank

[59:56] pumped in light of our concerns and in light of the fact that it's due.

[1:00:02] I second it.

[1:00:06] All those in favor of that motion?

[1:00:08] Aye.

[1:00:09] Any opposed?

[1:00:12] Okay.

[1:00:14] Okay.

[1:00:15] Other business? Any other business?

[1:00:20] Public comment?

[1:00:24] Okay.

[1:00:26] Looks like-

[1:00:29] I'm going to ask a question of you, so you go right ahead.

[1:00:32] Oh, okay.

[1:00:34] Sure. Hi, everyone. I wanted to touch on three things tonight.

[1:00:39] The first of which is a week ago we had 20 youth graduates from UVM's Historical

[1:00:44] Press program, who to the function together a year ago.

[1:00:48] They come down and they look at crafting, they learn about some historic press

[1:00:51] things. They also learn a lot about small towns in Vermont.

[1:00:54] What I wanted to mention was a particular thanking to Morgan McKim for talking with

[1:00:58] the group. They went to Burke Meeting House, then they came here, Eagle Brook, the

[1:01:03] old fire station. They got them some lunch, and then, the Turner Interpret Center,

[1:01:08] then the Burrillville Camp. But they really enjoyed being here.

[1:01:11] Thank you both very much for taking time out of your table to talk to them.

[1:01:14] Of course.

[1:01:14] Just by way, very quick way of background, we've done this for two years now, and

[1:01:19] because it happens a lot of times, the students are brand new.

[1:01:22] They've been students for two and a half weeks.

[1:01:25] Almost none of them are from Vermont. They really know absolutely nothing.

[1:01:28] They're beginning, they think, the career of historic press, they've just learned

[1:01:32] it, you know, and they know nothing about Vermont, or about small towns, Vermont

[1:01:36] certainly not their home. So to bring them here, it's fun to do, but it's also

[1:01:41] really eye-opening, and it kind of puts Grafton, Vermont before a group of people

[1:01:46] who might not otherwise even know it was here, much less all the wonderful history

[1:01:49] that it has. And, given that we were just talking about septic and municipal and

[1:01:53] things, part of that day is focused on water and septic.

[1:01:57] Mm-hmm.

[1:01:58] And all the challenges that we have in this town, which I know are replicated in

[1:02:01] other towns, too.

[1:02:03] So again, thank you both for doing that.

[1:02:05] Yeah.

[1:02:06] The second thing is Act 250, which I believe the town was notified on.

[1:02:10] So here again, this is another statement of gratitude. Thank you. I was grateful.

[1:02:14] Thank you so much for supporting our application for that.

[1:02:17] The Women Foundation did get its permit.

[1:02:20] It took 14 months and a lot of money to make that happen, and it's

[1:02:26] been a journey that has not always been enjoyable.

[1:02:30] But I appreciate the support of the town in lettering our application and in

[1:02:35] speaking. Cathy, thank you for speaking at the hearing, and in favor of this as

[1:02:38] well. I believe you have a copy of the actual permit.

[1:02:43] I've got it in the computer.

[1:02:44] It goes on and on in great detail. There are 27 points.

[1:02:47] Yeah.

[1:02:48] There are just a couple I thought might be worth surfacing here today.

[1:02:51] Mm-hmm.

[1:02:52] We asked the Act 250 Commission to approve up to 24 events a year, and to do

[1:02:58] that with categories rather than individual named events.

[1:03:02] We gave examples of some events, like a brunch, for example.

[1:03:05] But the request was, could you approve by category?

[1:03:08] Their advice to us was, "Group the categories by size." Which we did.

[1:03:14] And so they've approved four small, 18 medium, and two large events in any given

[1:03:20] year. And of course, we'll be in contact with the town community about any of those

[1:03:26] things as they come along. There's a couple of boundaries on that.

[1:03:31] No events on Sundays, unless the VSO, which is already permitted, happens to land

[1:03:36] July 3 on Sunday, in which case that's fine.

[1:03:40] Anytime there's an event though that has any kind of sound amplification of any

[1:03:44] kind-

[1:03:44] Mm-hmm

[1:03:45] ... we need to have an employee of ours on site, and recording sound, and they want

[1:03:50] reports on that for two years.

[1:03:54] So we'll be doing that. Any event that has amplification.

[1:03:58] There's no amplification on-

[1:03:59] Not necessarily.

[1:04:01] For anything that's done at nighttime, other than the PSO, which is already

[1:04:06] permitted, they want us to monitor noise levels and report on those as well, and

[1:04:11] they have specific ways they want us to report.

[1:04:14] I'm not an audio engineer, but I'm learning slowly how complex some of that is.

[1:04:20] And then anything that we might do at night, they want us to provide at least a

[1:04:24] one-month notice, any neighbors can request that with us.

[1:04:27] There's more in there, there's some listings, statements about weapons, recurring

[1:04:31] zones, and all of that, and respecting all that, which of course, we do.

[1:04:36] And again, the permit, of course, is closely down with the park, and we have to

[1:04:41] credit that with something up here or anywhere else in the city.

[1:04:44] We'll make sure to get there with us. But it was a long road to get that done.

[1:04:48] We're really optimistic, and we're going to try some new events there that the

[1:04:52] community will enjoy, and we're looking forward to doing that in the coming year.

[1:04:57] Dan, could you illustrate for us a little bit about the definition of small,

[1:05:01] medium, and large?

[1:05:02] Yeah. They have a basic numerical headcount.

[1:05:05] So a small event is anything that's up to 50 people,

[1:05:09] and medium is up to 250, and large is 650.

[1:05:14] How does that compare to some things that have been going on for the past month in

[1:05:19] terms of point activity?

[1:05:21] There was a cross-country race on Saturday that came together on very, very, very

[1:05:25] short notice. Some of you may know about this.

[1:05:27] Bill Saltin, high school,

[1:05:30] called our facilities folks on Wednesday and said, "We have a problem.

[1:05:34] Can you help us out?" They were planning to host a cross-country meet on Saturday,

[1:05:38] but there was a rabid coyote sighted on the property, and so they couldn't do the

[1:05:42] event. And they asked on very little notice, "Can we do it there?" And so

[1:05:48] Russ, obviously, pulled out the permit and ran down that, and they assured us note

[1:05:53] that they did not have any device on it and all that, and we marked off the records

[1:05:57] and all that to guide the park and did all of those things.

[1:06:00] And that was,

[1:06:02] I just got the notice just a moment. I'm sorry to interrupt.

[1:06:04] It qualifies as medium. It was more than 50, but less than 250. Yeah.

[1:06:09] Is there any process by which you would notify the town when things are planned

[1:06:15] and underway?

[1:06:17] Yeah. Yes, absolutely. Can you clarify?

[1:06:20] If you say notify the town, do you mean literally the select board, or do you mean

[1:06:25] notify the community, not hold the town at large?

[1:06:28] I think others should maybe pitch in on that issue,

[1:06:32] certainly for our purpose on board here.

[1:06:39] Yeah, especially if we get phone calls.

[1:06:42] Okay.

[1:06:43] The complaints, and we don't know if an event is happening.

[1:06:46] I don't think that would be a problem.

[1:06:47] I mean, when you have a wedding out there, we don't get notified.

[1:06:51] That's the difference. Or do we?

[1:06:53] These events are that the permit is for above and beyond, so it's regular normal

[1:06:57] use.

[1:06:57] Oh, okay.

[1:06:58] So.

[1:07:00] Go ahead.

[1:07:02] Kim gets notified by liquor licensing.

[1:07:04] Yes, because they usually hold outside catering.

[1:07:07] Right.

[1:07:07] I usually okay those and by notification on a regular basis for those who are with

[1:07:12] you.

[1:07:15] Yeah. So the third thing, of course, is the Grafton Inn,

[1:07:21] and I sent the letter to the select board last week and also to a half a dozen

[1:07:26] organizations in town saying what. You all got the similar letter.

[1:07:29] Letting you know what you know, which is we learned earlier this month, right

[1:07:33] around Labor Day, that Angela Thompsock, who's going to leave the Grafton Inn, is

[1:07:38] taking a new opportunity at Farnum Estate over in West Dover.

[1:07:42] And she lets know that her intended departure date is actually this Monday, which

[1:07:46] is Friday. There's a little celebration for her. I was there for a thing over here.

[1:07:51] And her husband, Kirk, who's also been with me for many, many years will be with us

[1:07:55] through the end of November, and then he, too, will be moving on.

[1:08:01] This was news that was a surprise to all of us, and it's been a lot to digest.

[1:08:06] I've spent most of my time in the last two to three weeks,

[1:08:11] I think, on exactly this, on how we do a few different things.

[1:08:14] How we say goodbye to someone, eventually two someones, but really put

[1:08:20] their mark on the Grafton Inn in very profound ways.

[1:08:24] Angela has been a model of really outstanding leadership, a person who has

[1:08:30] very, very strong skills when it comes to operations and financial management, as

[1:08:35] well as remarkable vision for things that haven't happened yet but could happen.

[1:08:39] And the Tufts Farm transformation from years ago, as I mentioned that in my letter,

[1:08:43] is a very good example of that, but there are many, many other examples of the

[1:08:48] brave chiefs brought. Kirk, his official title is bar and beverage manager.

[1:08:53] He does do that job. He does a lot more than that.

[1:08:56] He's also a very talented carpenter and has done quite a bit of work.

[1:09:00] He built the wine dark some years ago and many other projects, so we're going to

[1:09:03] miss them terribly. So that does bring us to what comes next.

[1:09:09] Since I feel my tendency to say, "Well, it's my first reaction, so we should go

[1:09:14] ahead with what we said."

[1:09:17] And we did have a lot of lead time to adjust to that change, so about

[1:09:23] three weeks. It's gone by very quickly.

[1:09:26] So I worked with input from Angela to put together an interim plan to take us

[1:09:31] through the full day of season, which is the busiest time at the inn.

[1:09:36] There are four of us who are taking on expanded duties. I'm one of those people.

[1:09:41] I'll be working directly with the sales and events team, which I'll go over some of

[1:09:44] these.

[1:09:47] I'll be working directly with the maintenance team, which is something that Angela

[1:09:50] had done. She had her second half, so not just as general manager, but associate

[1:09:54] director of foundation, and most of that work was maintenance team.

[1:09:57] I'll take that on in a variety of tasks for me.

[1:10:02] Bill Kunert, who you may or may not know, if you know Bill, Bill is our part-time

[1:10:06] director of finance. Bill is going to take on expanded duties around the world of

[1:10:11] cash and finance that Angela had personal managed for many, many years, and he'll

[1:10:14] be working on all of those many pieces.

[1:10:17] And then inside the inn, I've asked Kirk, who again, we have until November, to

[1:10:23] take on some expanded duties and pull together the different departments that form

[1:10:27] up everything related to food and beverage and dining and kitchen and all of that,

[1:10:32] and Kirk's agreed to do that. Similarly, Shawn Goldsmith has agreed to do

[1:10:36] essentially the same thing on the logic side of the house.

[1:10:39] So everything that relates to housekeeping, the front desk, and guest services, and

[1:10:43] all that, he's taking on some expanded duties there.

[1:10:47] So that's intended to sort of help us get through the busiest time of the year.

[1:10:52] I'll be here in town more than I normally am. My normal schedule is on site.

[1:10:57] It's Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.

[1:10:59] I'll be here four days, sometimes more, depending on what's going on.

[1:11:03] As we get through the next couple of months, I'll be present more and trying to

[1:11:07] help provide some supports to the inn and the maintenance teams and other things as

[1:11:11] well. Unfortunately, we realized that it's a tough moment to

[1:11:17] throw a gala, which we really had wanted to do to celebrate turning 25 years again.

[1:11:22] And we've been working on that for quite some time.

[1:11:25] But given all of the change and all of the things that we're doing right now, we

[1:11:28] just decided we needed to postpone that.

[1:11:30] So we're pushing that off into next year, but then future date.

[1:11:33] So everything I've described to you in the last two minutes is how we plan to get

[1:11:38] through the next couple of months.

[1:11:40] At the same time that we're doing that, we need to search for a new general manager

[1:11:45] of the Grafton Inn, and that person will have very big shoes to fill.

[1:11:50] As Angela's done such a wonderful job.

[1:11:52] So working with the board to put together a search that will, in

[1:11:58] the end, bring us a new general manager.

[1:12:00] I've had many conversations with the managers at the inn now.

[1:12:04] They know everything that you're getting today, they know all of this.

[1:12:08] I've encouraged all of them to express an interest in that role.

[1:12:11] If they want to express an interest in that role, we would love to consider them.

[1:12:15] We'll also consider some candidates as well.

[1:12:19] So we have busy time ahead of us in the next couple of months, and with the

[1:12:24] exception, again, being postponed, everything that was already scheduled is on.

[1:12:29] All of the weddings, dinners, dining for the public, house guests, all of that.

[1:12:35] Next week, we will welcome our first bus load. It is a bus load.

[1:12:39] We call them road scholars. They're folks who go around from time to time to town,

[1:12:44] traveling and visiting and learning about the places they go.

[1:12:47] So we'll send that first 86 buses of the week, and we have that for five weeks in a

[1:12:51] row. We have weddings scheduled for all of one weekend in October.

[1:12:57] The board will be here at the end of October for a meeting.

[1:13:01] Olivia just booked the Vermont House and Conservation Board for an overnight

[1:13:05] retreat also at the end of October.

[1:13:07] So all of those things continue, and- I'm really blessed to have

[1:13:13] a really talented group of people working over there that's going to help us get

[1:13:17] through a challenging time. So you mentioned you had a question, and others might

[1:13:21] as well, and we're happy to try to answer them.

[1:13:24] I yield to the board first.

[1:13:28] Well,

[1:13:29] I just wanted to comment.

[1:13:33] So you have your hands full right now.

[1:13:35] I do.

[1:13:37] And I wish you well.

[1:13:40] I know there

[1:13:43] was a couple meetings I hadn't attended that you've had for the community.

[1:13:47] Yeah.

[1:13:48] One of which you discussed the five-year plan.

[1:13:51] Can you go into any detail about that?

[1:13:53] Yeah.

[1:13:54] And we don't have any information on it.

[1:13:55] No, that's fine. Yeah, I think you're referring to the strategic plan-

[1:13:58] Right

[1:13:59] ... we completed in February and shared in May, in order to suddenly give you

[1:14:03] actually two board apologies. Looking for that, I'll send you a copy of it.

[1:14:06] But I can provide a description briefly.

[1:14:08] Yeah.

[1:14:09] One for Madam Chair, if I may.

[1:14:14] And

[1:14:15] I really want to respectfully say what I'm about to say.

[1:14:21] In the minutes last time, the board discussed the possibility of inviting

[1:14:26] Dan to a select board meeting, and also it was mentioned that he might be

[1:14:32] invited to a planning commission meeting.

[1:14:36] And if that had been the case, his presence would've been warned, and then members

[1:14:41] of the public who are interested in hearing about these activities with Dan, and

[1:14:47] specifically the five-year strategy, which is pointed out in the minutes,

[1:14:51] this would have been discussed in a public

[1:14:57] warned meeting. This is all extremely valuable and interesting

[1:15:03] information. But because it's being made in the public comment section, it's not

[1:15:09] part of a warned agenda. And I think before we go into the deeply, the topic of the

[1:15:14] five-year strategy, it would be really helpful to say we're going

[1:15:20] to conduct this session publicly.

[1:15:27] For what it's worth, I'm willing to conduct

[1:15:31] any meeting-

[1:15:31] Yeah

[1:15:32] ... we did originally

[1:15:34] book. Maybe we're not even going to schedule the meeting.

[1:15:37] Right.

[1:15:37] I'm happy to do that.

[1:15:39] And if you don't wish to get into it now, that's fine.

[1:15:42] But let me just say it is actually a three-year plan, not a five-year.

[1:15:45] Oh.

[1:15:45] We can start that.

[1:15:46] Okay.

[1:15:47] But whatever your preference is, I'm happy to do it.

[1:15:52] I'll speak to that. I was one that did speak up and said it would be great to have

[1:15:57] Dan come to a meeting. I did not mean it as a

[1:16:03] just welcoming people to a meeting. Happy to see them here.

[1:16:07] Your point is taken. If this should be an agenda item, I would certainly think

[1:16:13] that's fine.

[1:16:16] I don't think there was any

[1:16:18] intention behind our-

[1:16:20] Right

[1:16:20] ... welcome last week. And we're glad to see you.

[1:16:26] So maybe-

[1:16:28] In a formal written item

[1:16:29] ... we'll put it in an agenda item next week. That would be fine too.

[1:16:35] Maybe that's the best move.

[1:16:37] Whatever you'd like.

[1:16:38] Yeah.

[1:16:39] Again, I did speak up, and my intention was-

[1:16:42] And I did send you an email

[1:16:43] ... simply to be cordial.

[1:16:45] When it was mentioned at our last meeting, sent a personal email to you that

[1:16:52] it's in our best interest that our communication is open and transparent.

[1:16:58] I have no disagreement with that.

[1:17:00] Yeah. But I just wanted to make sure you know where we were coming from.

[1:17:04] Sure.

[1:17:05] Personally, where I was coming from.

[1:17:08] Okay.

[1:17:08] But we can put it on the agenda for next time, Morgan.

[1:17:11] Yeah.

[1:17:12] And if you're available to come in for a meeting, then great.

[1:17:15] Okay. Great.

[1:17:16] And let's plan it all.

[1:17:17] Great.

[1:17:18] And a little bit on that score, it would be useful probably for us to actually see

[1:17:24] the documents.

[1:17:25] Yes. Next time, let me bring something that's more up.

[1:17:28] You had asked me about a few months ago, and we didn't have any graphic design, it

[1:17:33] was just PowerPoint. And I still got it, so I'll give you the PowerPoint version,

[1:17:37] but I wanted to give you a nice polished one for you to have.

[1:17:40] So I'll give you what we have.

[1:17:44] Thank you. Happy to.

[1:17:45] Yeah. Any other public comment?

[1:17:50] So our next, let's see, informational hearing,

[1:17:56] meeting is Tuesday, September 22nd,

[1:18:00] 6:00 PM at the Grafton Elementary School, and that's a hearing to,

[1:18:07] on the STR that the vote would be the next two days on the 24th.

[1:18:15] Any questions on that?

[1:18:19] And our next regular meeting is Monday, October 5th, 2026 at 6:00 PM.

[1:18:26] And I need a motion to go into executive session

[1:18:32] 1BSA

[1:18:34] 31314 to discuss stormwater drain

[1:18:40] matters.

[1:18:43] So moved.

[1:18:44] Sure.

[1:18:45] All in favor of that?

[1:18:47] Aye.

[1:18:47] Second.

[1:18:49] So we will move to adjourn to executive session.

[1:18:56] And then a motion

[1:18:59] after the executive session?

[1:19:02] The action item?

[1:19:03] Yes.

[1:19:05] Is to,

[1:19:07] Morgan, to reconvene my thing, I think?

[1:19:11] Yeah.

[1:19:11] Yeah, the motion.

[1:19:12] Oh, making a motion that we continue dialogue with the attorney regarding

[1:19:18] the stormwater drain,

[1:19:22] and we'll respond and

[1:19:26] to fine-tune the draft, et cetera.

[1:19:31] Mm-hmm.

[1:19:33] Okay.

[1:19:33] Do I have a second?

[1:19:34] Second.

[1:19:36] Okay. All in favor of that motion?

[1:19:39] Aye.

[1:19:39] Sure.

[1:19:40] Any opposed? Okay.

[1:19:43] Now we need a motion to adjourn.

[1:19:46] Motion moved.

[1:19:48] Second.

[1:19:49] All in favor?

[1:19:50] Yeah.

[1:19:50] Aye.

[1:19:51] Aye.

[1:19:51] Second.

[1:19:53] Thanks, everyone.

[1:19:53] Thank you for watching this Fact TV presentation.

[1:19:56] If you would like a digital or DVD copy of the meeting, please contact us by phone

[1:20:01] or email. Our phone number is 802-463-1613,

[1:20:07] or email us at fact810@gmail.com.

[1:20:10] Falls Area Community Television, keeping government honest.

Grafton Select Board Meeting: September 21, 2026

Transcript