[0:09] Let it be warned, the legal voters of
[0:11] the town of Jamaica in the county of
[0:13] Windham in the state of Vermont are
[0:15] hereby notified and warned to meet at
[0:16] 10:00 a.m. at the town hall in said town
[0:19] of Jamaica on the first Tuesday of
[0:21] March, March 3rd, 2026 to transact the
[0:24] following business and act upon the
[0:27] following articles. Before we get
[0:29] started, we have Laura Sabilar, our
[0:31] state rep here. So, she's going to talk
[0:32] a little bit about and update us on on
[0:34] the executive. Laura,
[0:39] » good morning everyone.
[0:41] It's great to see you all. I love town
[0:44] meeting. Um, even when we don't agree,
[0:47] it's great to have us all gathered
[0:48] together practicing democracy and
[0:51] governing our communities and state. I
[0:54] have this morning a resolution that I'd
[0:57] like to read.
[1:01] Uh, House Concurrent Resolution honoring
[1:04] the decades of extraordinary civic
[1:07] participation and leadership of Lexa and
[1:10] Steve in the town of Jamaica.
[1:21] Whereas the breadth of Lexa Clark's
[1:24] public service is diverse, but it has
[1:27] strongly focused on the provision of
[1:29] emergency services as she initially
[1:32] enrolled in EMT courses during the
[1:34] 1970s, was instrumental in organizing
[1:37] the Jamaica Rescue Squad, and still
[1:40] dutifully responds to every rescue call.
[1:44] And whereas from 1979 to 1980, she
[1:48] closely monitored Jamaica's finances as
[1:51] the town's auditor and bookkeeper. And
[1:54] whereas for a dozen years, Lexa Clark
[1:57] served on the Jamaica Select Board 2006
[2:00] to 2018 and admirably met the unique
[2:04] challenge of chairing the panel when
[2:07] tropical storm Irene devastated the town
[2:10] to an unprecedented extent. and recently
[2:14] she has assumed a governance role at the
[2:16] Jamaica Memorial Library. And whereas
[2:20] Steve Clark's roles at the Jamaica
[2:22] Village Cemetery began as a youth and
[2:25] have included serving as both secretary
[2:28] and treasurer. And whereas among his
[2:31] municipal panel memberships were the
[2:34] village school board from 1982 to 1985
[2:37] and the planning commission from 1979 to
[2:40] 1988.
[2:42] And whereas for over half a century,
[2:45] Steve Clark was associated with the
[2:47] town's fire and rescue services,
[2:50] including as treasurer and auditor, and
[2:53] was proud of his designation as an
[2:55] honorary member of the fire department.
[2:58] And whereas for 52 years, Steve Clark
[3:02] served as Jamaica's trustee of public
[3:05] funds, for three decades as the town's
[3:08] grand juror, and since 2005 as the
[3:11] Jamaica Historical Foundation President,
[3:14] and professionally for nearly a quarter
[3:17] century, Steve Clark was a Vermont
[3:19] National Bank Vice President. And
[3:23] whereas Alexa and Steve Clark exemplify
[3:26] outstanding municipal citizenship.
[3:30] Now therefore, be it resolved by the
[3:32] Senate and House of Representatives that
[3:35] the General Assembly honors the decades
[3:38] of extraordinary civic participation and
[3:41] leadership of Lexa and Steve Clark in
[3:43] the town of Jamaica. And be it further
[3:46] resolved that the STE Secretary of State
[3:48] be directed to send a copy of this
[3:50] resolution to Lexa and Steve Clark.
[4:17] Steve, would you come up? Would you come
[4:19] up, please?
[4:34] » Thank you so much.
[4:42] I think we have another.
[4:56] » Good morning everyone. My name is Chuck
[4:58] Bosworth. Uh I own Forin Street Care
[5:00] here in town and I'm a captain on the
[5:02] fire department. I'm here to read a
[5:04] speech on our uh fire chief's uh behalf,
[5:08] Mr. Scott Gordon. Um so I'll get into
[5:11] that.
[5:14] As Chief of Jamaica Volunteer Fire and
[5:16] Rescue, I would like to take a moment to
[5:18] rest recognize Steven Lexa Clark for
[5:20] their lifetime of service to this
[5:22] community. Their dedication to serving
[5:24] the residents of Jamaica and surrounding
[5:26] towns as well has been unmatched in my
[5:28] opinion. When my family and I moved back
[5:31] to Jamaica 7 years ago, I was asked if I
[5:33] would like to join the department. Lexa
[5:35] Clark was one of the first members I
[5:37] met. She welcomed me right away. Steve
[5:39] and Lexa became fast friends of my
[5:41] family and have become surrogate
[5:43] grandparents to our daughters. They're
[5:45] like family to us. It didn't take long
[5:48] to realize that almost all of the
[5:50] Jamaica community is like family to
[5:52] Steve and Alexa. There has not been an
[5:53] emergency call I've been on where Alexa
[5:55] didn't know the patient or their family.
[5:58] I have seen the look of relief and
[5:59] comfort on patients faces when they see
[6:01] Lexa walking in with a lime jacket and
[6:04] orange medical bag. They know it's not
[6:06] just a stranger, it's a friend.
[6:10] Steve Clark served for many years on the
[6:11] department and though I haven't had the
[6:12] pleasure to serve alongside him, having
[6:15] heard some of the tales of those times,
[6:16] I wish I had. The stories of building a
[6:18] skating pond for the kids in the winter,
[6:20] patrolling the streets at Halloween to
[6:22] make sure everyone was safe, and of
[6:23] course, tales of fire and rescue at a
[6:25] time when the department was a small
[6:27] percentage of the size of his family.
[6:30] Steve achieve and wit brightens every
[6:31] room I've ever been in with him, and I'm
[6:33] proud to call him my friend. Lexa Clark
[6:36] was instrumental in forming the Jamaica
[6:38] Rescue Squad and has been his backbone
[6:40] since it was formed. She continues to
[6:43] serve as rescue captain and most likely
[6:46] goes to more calls than the rescue
[6:47] department. She is our longest serving
[6:50] member and has cared for our department
[6:51] like no one has before. On behalf of my
[6:54] family, Jamaica Volunteer Fire and
[6:56] Rescue and the entire Jamaica community,
[6:58] I would like to thank Steve and Lester
[7:00] Clark for their lifetime of service to
[7:01] their community for being outstanding
[7:03] neighbors and cherished friends from the
[7:05] bottom of our hearts. Scott
[7:25] Go ahead. Laura's going to speak have
[7:26] some other things to talk about.
[7:28] >> Okay. And so, uh, I'm happy I'll I'll
[7:31] give you a few brief updates about what
[7:33] I've been up to and then answer
[7:35] questions, um, to the extent that you
[7:37] would like to hear them. I need to try
[7:40] and leave by 10:30 to meet with Strat
[7:42] next. Uh, so
[7:45] briefly, I have provided an update,
[7:48] printed update. It's over um with the
[7:50] town clerk, and I do have a weekly
[7:54] update that goes out. you can sign up on
[7:57] my website. Uh so,
[8:02] thank you all for electing me. I'm now
[8:05] in my sixth term in the legislature. Uh
[8:10] this is my second term representing
[8:12] Jamaica.
[8:14] uh serve on the environment and digital
[8:17] infrastructure committee in the house
[8:20] and I also am a co-chair of the rural
[8:23] caucus and also of the Vermont National
[8:27] Guard and Veterans Affairs Caucus.
[8:31] This year uh the big issue for me has
[8:35] been around Act 250 reform. In 2022, the
[8:41] legislature passed act 181, which is a
[8:44] major reform of act 250. It calls for
[8:49] uh act 250 to be applicable based on
[8:53] where you are as opposed to what your
[8:55] project is, which is a big change. So
[8:58] there is mapping happening throughout
[9:00] the state and rule making happening by
[9:04] the land use review board, that's the
[9:06] natural resources board.
[9:09] This is historic work and the rural
[9:13] caucus has led an effort which has a lot
[9:17] of agreement uh to delay that work to
[9:21] make sure that Vermonters can keep a
[9:24] pace with the changes can participate in
[9:27] the rule making and can understand the
[9:30] impacts potentially to their land before
[9:34] this goes in place. uh we have agreement
[9:36] and support from the Vermont legal
[9:38] cities and towns, the Vermont Chamber,
[9:41] the regional planning commissions and
[9:43] others. That work is happening right now
[9:46] in the Senate. Uh that has been really a
[9:50] big issue for me this year. Uh in
[9:52] addition, I have our committee has
[9:56] focused on notice when copper landlines
[10:01] are changed for fiber.
[10:04] This is uh happening throughout our
[10:08] state and there's a difference between
[10:11] copper and fiber in terms of your
[10:14] ability to call for help if the power is
[10:17] out. And so that's a pretty serious um
[10:20] issue that we want to stay on top of. Uh
[10:23] Consolidated has been switching and
[10:26] retiring their copper. In order to do
[10:29] that, they need the federal government's
[10:31] permission. And uh when they go to get
[10:34] the federal government's permission,
[10:36] there are very few people that are
[10:38] noticed. The governor is noticed, the
[10:42] public utility commission is noticed,
[10:44] and the secretary of defense is noticed.
[10:48] Uh customers get a small marketing piece
[10:52] in their bills. And so we have found
[10:54] that people's understanding of what's
[10:56] happening has not matched um has not
[11:00] matched the timeline. So our committee
[11:02] has worked on increasing uh notice uh
[11:06] both to the 911 board to the department
[11:08] of public service and really providing
[11:10] more information to customers about your
[11:13] rights um and consumer protection law in
[11:16] the state of Vermont.
[11:18] Uh in addition, I think this is a town
[11:20] that uh that has the local option tax on
[11:23] something. Is that true?
[11:24] >> We do. We have a sales tax.
[11:25] >> Yes.
[11:26] >> So, uh the local option tax, many of you
[11:30] will know uh that is Hey, I love looking
[11:33] around and see if people really know.
[11:35] >> Oh, there's Kate. Um so, local option
[11:38] tax. uh before uh
[11:42] it was 70% the town was able to retain
[11:45] and 30% the state would use for payment
[11:49] move taxes. That's payments to towns
[11:51] that host state buildings. More and more
[11:55] towns have been raising local option tax
[11:59] electing to do that. uh although it is
[12:01] still a minority of Vermont towns and
[12:06] as they have been doing that a surplus
[12:08] has been gathering. I think I talked
[12:10] with you all maybe about this last year
[12:12] at town meeting. Uh surpluses are not
[12:15] good things to gather in state
[12:16] government. People are always looking
[12:18] for money. So last year the governor
[12:21] proposed using some of that surplus for
[12:24] flood recovery. uh and the in response
[12:29] uh there was a change. Towns now able to
[12:32] keep 75% 25% to uh the state. However,
[12:38] more towns have elected to tax
[12:40] themselves with the local option tax.
[12:42] And so that surplus is growing and once
[12:44] again this year there is uh reaching in
[12:48] and saying oh let's take $8 million of
[12:51] that out for the statewide reappraisal.
[12:53] So this is a problem for me. You all had
[12:56] to discuss amongst yourselves whether or
[12:58] not you wanted to raise that tax here in
[13:00] your town. You understood the parameters
[13:03] by which you were doing that. And so I'm
[13:06] hoping that this year we're actually
[13:07] going to talk about and change the law
[13:11] uh about what those dollars can be used
[13:13] for. I don't think it's appropriate for
[13:16] you to vote for it to be used for one
[13:17] thing and then the state would decide
[13:19] they'll be using it for something else.
[13:21] Um in addition uh in terms of energy,
[13:24] there's a lot to be said about energy.
[13:25] I'll tell you one thing that I'm working
[13:27] on which are uh which is the sighting of
[13:32] data centers. I don't know if folks have
[13:34] heard about data centers. Um it there is
[13:37] it's a huge huge thing that is happening
[13:40] in the country. Um some states saw this
[13:43] as a boom uh property tax revenue etc.
[13:47] They are enormous consumers of
[13:51] electricity and water. They make a lot
[13:54] of noise. They are not they don't bring
[13:56] a lot of jobs. Um they do pay property
[13:59] tax. They also may invest significantly
[14:03] in public infrastructure so they don't
[14:05] use it. We don't think that it's really
[14:07] that likely that we will see a data
[14:10] center in Vermont, but if we did or even
[14:13] in New England, it could be very
[14:14] impactful to our electric rates. And so
[14:17] our committee is working on if a data
[14:19] center were to come to Vermont, how
[14:21] would we want that to locate people and
[14:23] to make sure that we understand if we
[14:26] have uh environmental laws and water
[14:28] laws and energy laws in place that would
[14:32] um protect others. Finally, I would say
[14:36] um in terms of uh the education reform
[14:39] debate, and I know Jamaica continues to
[14:42] have heartache around education. Um
[14:45] these are difficult discussions in the
[14:49] legislature as well. Uh it is always
[14:53] that way and uh it is always where can
[14:56] we get enough votes to move forward. Um
[15:00] it is that divisive in the legislature.
[15:03] In the house you need 76 people to agree
[15:06] which is very hard on education. In the
[15:09] senate you need 16 to agree also very
[15:12] hard. And then the governor needs to
[15:14] agree. This year, the governor has said
[15:17] that he will not sign a budget or
[15:20] education law if we do not continue to
[15:24] proceed with education reform in act 73.
[15:27] I believe the language that he used
[15:29] provides flexibility for what that might
[15:32] be. Uh but that is still unfolding.
[15:35] Right now there are two maps um which
[15:41] one should think about as governance
[15:42] maps. These are consolidation of boards
[15:46] that are being contemplated.
[15:49] Uh and
[15:51] a lot to say about that. Um also really
[15:55] nothing to say about it at the same
[15:56] time. It is a very unclear. Uh so I will
[16:00] leave it at that. Um happy to take
[16:03] questions. I also will say I have
[16:05] decided that I would like to run again
[16:08] to represent you. I have petitions
[16:10] circulating here. Um I hope to be able
[16:13] to grab them and take them to Stratton.
[16:15] So, if you would send them towards the
[16:16] back if you have them. And Mr. I'll take
[16:20] questions as long as you
[16:21] >> question.
[16:24] DB Fiber.
[16:25] >> Yes.
[16:26] >> Do you know what the status is of their
[16:28] um progress towards other towns like
[16:32] >> So,
[16:33] >> I don't want to Is there anybody from DB
[16:35] Fiber here?
[16:37] >> Yeah. Okay.
[16:38] >> And our our representative on the JPC is
[16:40] not here. Yeah,
[16:41] >> he actually Well, because you know we're now looking for an affiliate to be
[16:45] affiliated status.
[16:46] >> I don't know.
[16:47] >> Because we can't. In other words, we
[16:48] can't we're not part of the cut anymore.
[16:50] Not part
[16:50] >> Oh,
[16:51] >> yeah. But we will be represented by an
[16:53] affiliated town.
[16:54] >> Okay.
[16:56] I did not know that.
[16:58] >> Yeah. Just Yeah.
[17:00] >> Last few weeks. Yeah.
[17:05] » Um is there anybody on JP? you know, I
[17:08] unfortunately I'm not I'm not um I'm a
[17:11] recipient of the information instead of
[17:13] a participant, not a member of the JPC.
[17:16] Um essentially um you know, consolidated
[17:20] was awarded um the um the RFP for uh the
[17:26] area that includes Jamaica.
[17:28] >> Uh DV Fiber did not. However, and and of
[17:32] course our concern is that that means
[17:34] the last mile, which is the folks that
[17:36] are the most rural and the farthest from
[17:39] uh an urb, you know, a more densely
[17:41] populated area, will not be served
[17:44] adequately served by broadband, which is
[17:46] one of the reasons why our communication
[17:48] unions district was really working very
[17:51] closely with DV Fiber. So DV Fiber is
[17:54] not gone. It's just unfortunately was
[17:56] not awarded Jamaica.
[17:57] >> Okay. So that I understood. Okay. Okay.
[17:59] When I heard you say you were
[18:00] unaffiliated, did you guys leave the
[18:01] CUD?
[18:02] >> Well, so be so because of that, right,
[18:05] our role in the CUD is is minimized and
[18:09] our representative
[18:11] >> is is he's retiring. He's retire, you
[18:13] know, he's welld deserved retirement
[18:15] from those roles.
[18:17] >> Um, but Jamaica does have an option to
[18:20] be represented. So we don't actually
[18:22] have a formal vote on the CUD, but we
[18:25] would have a another town would serve as
[18:27] our kind of representative. We'd have an
[18:29] indirect vote and of course we can
[18:31] always attend,
[18:32] >> but that's kind of that's our legal
[18:34] status right now.
[18:35] >> Yes. Okay, great. So there were bead is
[18:40] the money u broadband equity. Oh, I'm
[18:43] going to forget it. Um but it was
[18:44] hundreds of millions of dollars that
[18:47] were awarded to states and billions
[18:49] actually to states and uh this is uh
[18:55] areas had to bid on or companies had to
[18:58] bid on different areas and I understand
[19:02] um this this area uh consolidated
[19:06] provided the lowest bid for getting to
[19:10] um your addresses and so that was that
[19:14] had to be taken into account by the
[19:18] community broadband report. So,
[19:22] um I would just encourage you all though
[19:24] if you have challenges, please continue
[19:27] to reach out to me, reach out to the
[19:29] Department of Public Service. Um I'm I'm
[19:32] worried um about consolidating.
[19:37] Laura,
[19:38] >> could you say anything about the Vermont
[19:40] National Guard deployment to Saudi
[19:43] Arabia or Iran?
[19:47] >> Uh,
[19:51] what my opinion of it?
[19:53] >> Well,
[19:57] you know what's going on? I think
[19:59] there's also fighter jets from
[20:01] Burlington involved.
[20:03] >> Yeah. I just wondered if you could
[20:05] explain what's going on.
[20:06] >> So, I believe that the F-35s, I believe
[20:10] others have independently confirmed
[20:12] their the uh Air Wing, which has F-35s,
[20:15] the Vermont Air Guard, has been deployed
[20:19] um they were deployed to the Caribbean
[20:22] um and then were deployed to the Middle
[20:24] East. So, um, those of you who receive
[20:27] emails from me, there is a pretty
[20:29] active, uh, effort for defend this
[20:33] legislation called Defend the Guard. Um,
[20:36] and, uh, there I've had a tremendous
[20:39] amount of outreach about that. Um, it
[20:43] would require the governor to assess
[20:47] whether or not uh the orders that are
[20:51] coming to the National Guard, the
[20:52] federal orders that are coming to the
[20:54] National Guard are legal. And if they
[20:58] are not, it would require the governor
[21:00] to prevent the guard from being
[21:03] deployed. So, I've just sent something
[21:05] out with my assessment about kind of the
[21:07] legal the technicality of that and
[21:10] whether or not I think it's legal.
[21:12] um or doable or effective. Um I I do
[21:17] think that Congress should be doing a
[21:21] much better job in terms of deal in in
[21:25] this and uh this is this administration
[21:28] is not the first time the last time that
[21:30] Congress declared war was in World War
[21:31] II. So um this is a problem where we are
[21:36] getting disconnected from the people in
[21:38] terms of deployments. So I understand
[21:41] the angst around this. Um I don't think
[21:45] that there is enough support to see
[21:47] defend the guard pass in Vermont.
[21:50] There may be enough to see it get it
[21:52] done get a hearing. So
[21:57] » is there any uh push for any sort of
[22:00] housing in the rural areas because I
[22:03] know a lot of younger people that still
[22:05] like to live in the rural areas but
[22:07] there is no everything's about the big
[22:10] cities. housing coming there blah blah. Is there any push to have some
[22:14] sort of affordable housing in in the
[22:18] rural parts of this area?
[22:20] >> So the question is is there any push to
[22:23] have um rural to have affordable housing
[22:26] in the rural parts of the state? There
[22:27] are young people that would like to be
[22:29] here that are having a hard time finding
[22:31] homes. So there are two things that I
[22:33] would note. Uh, one is the CHIP program
[22:36] that passed last year, which is for uh,
[22:41] it's a community program which would
[22:43] allow a developer to work with a
[22:45] community on financing the
[22:48] infrastructure that's necessary to build
[22:52] um, housing developments. So that could
[22:54] be sidewalks,
[22:56] water,
[22:58] connections to wastewater, um, electric
[23:01] infrastructure, parking lots, etc. Uh,
[23:05] so that passed last year. I feel hopeful
[23:08] about that as a tool for housing
[23:10] developers. in terms of rural housing.
[23:15] So I want to be very very clear about
[23:17] the language that is used in the
[23:20] legislature regularly.
[23:23] I hear in the legislature this phrase,
[23:27] we have decided that we want housing in
[23:32] downtowns and villages.
[23:35] Okay, Vermont. And so that is I I often
[23:40] question who is we um but that is uh how
[23:44] our land use policy is designed. So
[23:48] remember I started with act 181.
[23:51] looks to remove regulation act 250
[23:56] regulation from development in downtowns
[24:01] and villages that have infrastructure
[24:04] like water and wastewater. So to try and
[24:07] make it easier to build in those places.
[24:11] And the flip side is
[24:15] outside of that we have right now a road
[24:19] rule that is about to come into effect
[24:22] uh which will be applicable throughout
[24:24] the entire state and tier three which
[24:28] are sensitive natural areas those places
[24:32] will automatically
[24:33] be required to go through act 250. So
[24:36] there are small places where there's
[24:40] public infrastructure in downtowns and
[24:42] villages where we are removing
[24:45] regulation.
[24:46] Outside of that we are increasing
[24:49] regulation. So you'll have to decide if
[24:52] you think that's helpful or not.
[24:59] Um, I'm curious what you think of uh the
[25:02] tax reform bill that is being I'm not
[25:05] sure if it's been introduced or will be
[25:07] introduced into the House and Senate.
[25:12] >> It's only right here. Okay.
[25:14] >> Um, it is a wealth kind of a wealth.
[25:17] >> So, and the reason it's only right here
[25:20] is I don't think the governor would ever
[25:23] sign such a thing. I don't think the
[25:25] votes are there to override the
[25:27] governor. And so I have to think about
[25:30] do I want to spend time on a statement?
[25:33] Sometimes I say yes I do.
[25:36] Um or do I want to try and make sure
[25:39] other things are happening? So it's not
[25:41] it hasn't really reached here. Happy to
[25:44] follow back up and again you know maybe
[25:47] provide some information.
[25:50] >> Any other questions? Oh
[25:52] >> just back to the act 250. I just want to
[25:55] make sure you understand the
[25:57] implications for Jamaica. We do not have
[26:00] that municipal infrastructure. Correct.
[26:03] >> That's right. We do not.
[26:04] >> So, we're outside of that. We're in the
[26:06] like more regulation, not less. So, this
[26:09] really affects us.
[26:10] >> That's right.
[26:10] >> In a very specific way. Okay. Thanks for
[26:12] the question.
[26:13] >> That's right. And I think folks would
[26:14] say Jamaica is a town that floods a lot.
[26:18] that is that the town is very
[26:19] environmentally sensitive and we want to
[26:22] make sure that anything that's built
[26:24] there is built to last and that you have
[26:27] water and waste water. That would be the
[26:29] defense of that. But yes, I think you're
[26:32] absolutely correct.
[26:33] >> Thank you.
[26:34] >> Other questions for Laura
[26:38] >> have a question. I live directly on two
[26:40] rivers and I was just curious whether
[26:43] anybody is gonna keep dredging that uh
[26:47] ball mountain brook past a bridge on
[26:49] Depot Street because it directly affects
[26:51] all the people that live below it. So,
[26:53] it's been dipped into beautifully by
[26:55] Hunter right up to that bridge and then
[26:57] after that it's it's just a flat full of
[27:01] rubble thing that's going to just flood
[27:04] as soon as that rush of water comes
[27:06] down. There's no place except for on
[27:07] everybody's land for it to do.
[27:10] >> Have you seen any judging here?
[27:11] >> Yeah, we did. That's more of a question
[27:13] for the select board though because
[27:14] they're the ones who would handle that.
[27:15] >> That's not a state thing. That's that's
[27:17] a that's a local thing that we work with
[27:18] we've worked with FEMA on.
[27:20] >> Okay. Sorry.
[27:21] >> So,
[27:22] >> okay.
[27:23] >> Yeah. Good question though.
[27:25] >> Thank you everybody. Thank you for the
[27:26] time.
[27:36] All right.
[27:37] >> Oh, and just really quickly, there's
[27:38] still some seats in the front.
[27:40] >> Yeah, guys, you want to move up? There's
[27:41] some seats up here. Particularly
[27:42] >> comfy cushion seats in front.
[27:44] >> Want to hide in the back? That's fine,
[27:45] too.
[27:46] >> Seats up there.
[27:49] >> Yes, there's like
[27:52] Erica Bowman's going to our Larrett of
[27:54] Jamaica is going to be reading a poem,
[27:56] Knitting in the Round.
[28:00] Hello.
[28:01] >> Thank you.
[28:03] >> Hi everybody.
[28:06] I started as I do every so often
[28:10] knitting again.
[28:12] And um it's like I can't believe I
[28:15] didn't bring it with me, but I I would
[28:16] have loved to have shown you that the
[28:18] current thing I'm knitting is a a hat
[28:20] which is on a circular needle which
[28:22] inspired the thinking about knitting and
[28:26] all of the many ways that
[28:29] um you can look at it in any way. It
[28:31] inspired this poem. It's called Knitting
[28:34] in the Round.
[28:37] I was delighted to see my friend in his
[28:40] handk knit sweater vest with the
[28:43] slightly crooked neck at candidates
[28:46] night. It had an intricate design and
[28:49] vaguely puffy sleeves which made him
[28:51] look gallant like a prince or a knight
[28:54] from another time. And he wore it with
[28:57] an easy assurance without contention or
[29:00] self-consciousness.
[29:02] After all, it was made by his daughter,
[29:05] which was all the more sweet. It takes
[29:08] an awfully long time to knit a sweater
[29:10] vest.
[29:12] Earlier at the stitching ditch at River
[29:16] and Ry,
[29:17] I met a new friend who gave us pointers
[29:20] while we cast on the wool for our new
[29:22] red hats. She told us that it was men
[29:26] who had originally invented knitting
[29:28] back in Egypt or maybe Mesopotamia.
[29:32] Admittedly, I thought to myself, well,
[29:34] they got the credit at least.
[29:38] But sure enough, beside me, there was a
[29:40] tall, handsome man knitting still, as if
[29:44] the ark of the centuries had had no
[29:46] impact. or perhaps that we had already
[29:50] come full orbit once again where men
[29:52] could be men just sitting and knitting
[29:54] in circles of friends. Either way, he
[29:57] would soon be dawning a new sweater vest
[29:59] himself, or so I hoped.
[30:03] Over at the spinnery in Putney, where I
[30:05] had procured the red yarn, the air is
[30:08] perpetually thick and stinky of lenoline
[30:10] and pasture. Spinners work in small
[30:13] batches with wool acquired from local
[30:16] farmers on large spiky formidable
[30:20] machines. And despite the finished skes
[30:23] arranged by color and gauge and the
[30:26] sweaters that demonstrate the patterns
[30:28] they've made, this place feels more
[30:31] factory than a showroom. a modern-day
[30:33] wool and mill, a vestage of the once
[30:36] booming textile industry that
[30:39] encompassed this state and even our own
[30:41] little town.
[30:43] And it seems amazing that it wasn't even
[30:45] that long ago that these treefilled
[30:48] hills were cleared for pasture to feed
[30:51] the marino sheep.
[30:53] My neighbor, 100 years old and
[30:56] possessing a longer range view than
[30:58] most, once showed me a photograph of my
[31:00] own wooded cops, that of course had once
[31:03] been his.
[31:05] From the old stage coach in to my house
[31:07] on the hill was near a tree. They say
[31:11] that in the 1830s there were more sheep
[31:13] than people, and the hills were clipped
[31:15] as close as scalps. But the stone walls
[31:19] that stitch across the landscape became
[31:21] boundaries and monuments of great
[31:23] importance, regarded by haywards and
[31:26] fence viewers and surveyors.
[31:29] And the forests we now praise as ancient
[31:33] are actually adolescent
[31:35] fortuitous regrowth. A quiet apology to
[31:38] the woodlands of Yore. I think about
[31:41] this while I count my stitches, circling
[31:44] around and around and around.
[31:48] Is this cycle like a cyclone? I wonder.
[31:51] Or is it a patient curvaceious
[31:54] architecture built from a single stitch?
[31:57] Loop pulled through loop pulled through
[32:00] loop.
[32:02] I guess it depends on your perspective,
[32:04] on your own position in the fabric of
[32:06] time.
[32:08] Soon enough, I look up from my knitting
[32:12] and gaze around this very room and
[32:15] think, "Here we are again."
[32:18] I lament at the passing of yet another
[32:20] year,
[32:22] but then I pick up my yarn and continue
[32:24] my round.
[32:37] Thank you, Erica. Uh, we're going to go
[32:39] on to article one to elect a moderator
[32:42] for a term of one year. Do I hear any
[32:44] nominations?
[32:45] >> I nominate Tom Tolbert.
[32:47] >> Tom Tolbert has been nominated for
[32:49] moderator. Do I hear any other
[32:51] nominations?
[32:54] » Other nominations? Hearing none, I'm
[32:57] closing nominations. Uh, can I have the
[32:59] clerk give one vote? I can't do that.
[33:01] Sarah, would you would someone give one
[33:03] vote for the for the for the POS for Tom
[33:04] Tolbert? Sarah Whiswall gave one vote
[33:06] for Tom Tolbert and Tom Tolbert's
[33:09] elected moderator. Thank you folks for
[33:10] having your trust in me for another
[33:12] year.
[33:13] >> Who was the second?
[33:15] >> Um Patrick
[33:15] >> Patrick was second. Yes. Sorry.
[33:18] Uh moving on then to art. Oh, first
[33:20] thing I want couple of thanks for all
[33:22] coming on on this cold morning. Um
[33:24] again, my role here is to facilitate the
[33:27] will of the body, the voters of Jamaica.
[33:30] Um,
[33:31] this is your meeting and I'm here to
[33:34] facilitate your wants and needs. Um,
[33:37] once an article has been moved and
[33:39] seconded, we can then have a discussion
[33:40] about it. I'm asking that please keep
[33:42] those discussions to the article at
[33:44] hand. We we'll have time to talk about
[33:46] other things at the end of the meeting
[33:47] for open uh just for other things. Um,
[33:50] when speaking before speaking, stand up
[33:52] and please state your name very clearly
[33:54] so we know who's speaking. Um each
[33:57] person in the room per article will get
[33:59] one chance to speak and then every once
[34:02] everyone else has had their opportunity,
[34:04] you can have a second chance to speak.
[34:06] Um please
[34:09] try to be civil to each other. We're all
[34:11] neighbors here. We want to make sure we
[34:12] want to be kind to each other. When
[34:14] speaking, you're addressing me. You're
[34:16] addressing the moderator. Uh there are
[34:17] not to be any side conversations and
[34:19] members of the body are not to directly
[34:21] respond to each other. Um,
[34:24] we're only allowed to vote on articles.
[34:26] You're I'm sorry. You're only allowed to
[34:28] vote on articles if you're a registered
[34:29] voter in the town of Jamaica. If you
[34:31] haven't picked up your paper ballots,
[34:32] please go see Sarah and Heather and do
[34:34] that. Um,
[34:37] all votes will be will be will start off
[34:39] as being voice votes from the floor. If
[34:42] it's unclear if an article passes, then
[34:43] we'll go to a uh hand vote. If that vote
[34:47] isn't definitive, then we'll go to a
[34:48] paper ballot vote. At any time, seven
[34:51] members of the body can request a paper
[34:53] ballot vote. Uh when we're doing the
[34:55] paper ballots, I want everyone to come
[34:57] through the center, come up to the
[34:59] ballot box, which is at the front here,
[35:00] and then exit towards the sides. Please,
[35:03] of course, only vote once. Um if someone
[35:05] needs help depositing their ballot,
[35:07] please let me know and I can have a
[35:08] Justice of the Peace or Rob Willis uh
[35:11] constable come and bring the ballot up
[35:12] for them. You please don't bring someone
[35:14] else's ballot up. Um, and lastly, um,
[35:17] please let's everyone silence their cell
[35:19] phones. Uh, we don't want any phones
[35:21] going off during our discussions and
[35:22] such. And lastly, the bathrooms are in
[35:24] the back for people who don't know that.
[35:26] So, thank you for all coming today. It
[35:28] was a cold morning. So, moving along to
[35:30] article two to review the town report.
[35:34] Do I have a motion?
[35:39] » Olivia.
[35:41] Second.
[35:44] » Second. Second, Andy Coin.
[35:47] >> Thank you. Uh, any discussion on the the
[35:49] town report?
[35:55] » You want to call the motion?
[35:56] >> Call the vote.
[35:56] >> Okay, I'm going to call the vote.
[35:57] Hearing none, we're going to call the
[35:58] vote. All in favor of uh accepting the
[36:01] town report, say I.
[36:04] >> I.
[36:05] >> Against.
[36:06] Motion passes. Article passes.
[36:10] On to article three to elect the
[36:12] following officers as required by law.
[36:15] Uh
[36:16] first position is selectman for the term
[36:18] of three years.
[36:21] That position is currently held um
[36:25] >> by I think it was who was that held by?
[36:27] That was held by Andy Coin. So do I have
[36:29] any nominations for selectman of for one
[36:32] year for three years? I'm sorry.
[36:34] >> I nominate Robert Brooks.
[36:36] >> Robert Brooks has been nominated by
[36:37] Karen Amaden. Do a second.
[36:40] >> Terry second.
[36:41] >> Terry Utel second.
[36:45] Any other nominations?
[36:47] >> Hearing none. I'm going to close
[36:48] nominations. All in favor?
[36:51] >> Oh, sorry.
[36:52] >> Can the people stand up when they're
[36:54] nominated?
[36:55] >> Yeah, if you want to. That's Robert
[36:57] Brooks.
[36:57] >> I'm Robert.
[36:58] >> Hi, everybody.
[36:59] >> Robert was appointed select board uh
[37:01] what about a month and a half ago?
[37:03] >> Yeah. So, therefore, so all in favor of
[37:05] Robert Brooks. I
[37:09] >> Robert passes. Robert Robert gets the three-year position of
[37:12] selectment. Thank you, Robert.
[37:13] >> Thank you.
[37:13] >> U next position is select select person
[37:16] for term of one year. This position is
[37:19] currently held by um I think it's by
[37:22] Kate Olman.
[37:25] Do I hear any nominations for uh select
[37:28] person for the term of one year?
[37:29] >> I nominate Kate.
[37:32] >> Who seconded? I'm sorry.
[37:34] >> CJ seconded. Any other nominations?
[37:38] Hearing none. I'm closing nominations.
[37:40] Um, all in favor?
[37:42] >> I.
[37:44] >> Kate Omen. Thank you. Co Kate for the
[37:46] select person of one year. Third
[37:48] position is a select person for the term
[37:49] of one year.
[37:52] This position was held by Christina
[37:54] Robinson who is resigned. Um, do I hear
[37:57] any nominations for this position
[37:58] >> and and was filled
[37:59] >> and was filled by um
[38:00] >> Jason C last week. So, do I have any
[38:05] nominations for uh position of select
[38:07] person for one year?
[38:08] >> Chrissy made it.
[38:11] >> Chissy,
[38:12] >> you you nominate Jason. Okay.
[38:15] >> Thank you. Any other nominations?
[38:18] Hearing none. Uh all in favor of Jason C
[38:21] getting the select person for a term of
[38:23] one year.
[38:24] >> I
[38:26] >> Congratulations, Jason.
[38:28] Uh next position is for the listister of
[38:30] a term of three years. This position is
[38:32] currently held by Pat Melman's.
[38:35] Any nominations?
[38:37] >> Pat Melman's.
[38:39] >> Nominate Pat Melman.
[38:40] >> Karen AMD nominates Pat Melman's.
[38:45] » Any other nominations?
[38:49] Hearing none. Uh all in favor of Pat
[38:51] Melman's for the listister for the term
[38:53] of three years. I
[38:54] >> I
[38:57] >> next is for the constable for the term
[38:59] first constable for the term of one year
[39:01] currently held by Rob Willis.
[39:05] >> Do I hear any nominations for constible
[39:06] of one year or first constable for the
[39:08] term of one year?
[39:12] >> I'll second.
[39:12] >> Rob Willis has been nominated. Any other
[39:15] nominations?
[39:17] Hearing none. All in favor of Rob Willis
[39:19] for the con for the term for the first
[39:21] constable for the term of one year. I
[39:24] >> thank you. Uh for the term for the
[39:27] second constable for the term of one
[39:28] year currently held by Ben Williams.
[39:31] You don't hear no nominations
[39:34] >> for second constable for the term of one
[39:36] year.
[39:36] >> Ben Williams.
[39:37] declines.
[39:40] >> Yep. Okay.
[39:42] >> Yep.
[39:43] >> Any other nominations?
[39:47] » Anybody interested?
[39:53] Anybody?
[39:54] >> I'll nominate Erica Bowman.
[40:00] » Erica respectfully declines.
[40:03] >> Um,
[40:07] » anybody?
[40:08] >> It's not a big job.
[40:09] >> Yeah.
[40:10] >> Clara, did you have
[40:13] >> Could the person explain the job?
[40:15] >> Basically, yeah. I mean, Rob, you want
[40:17] to explain that because you're the first
[40:18] constable. Um pretty much it's we become
[40:22] uh glorified dog catchers. So
[40:26] when I leave town then the second
[40:28] constable fills in. So if you get if
[40:29] there's the state police call or someone
[40:31] calls about an animal that's been
[40:33] missing or found on the road then
[40:35] sometimes you need to go there and pick
[40:37] the animal up and go to the humane
[40:39] society with the animal or try to use
[40:41] the list and um bring the dog back to
[40:43] its owner.
[40:44] >> So it's it's pretty pretty easy.
[40:48] Yes, sir.
[40:48] >> Andrew Schmidt.
[40:50] has been nominated for
[40:52] second constable.
[40:53] >> I second.
[40:56] >> Any other nominations?
[40:58] >> All in favor of Andrew Schmidt being
[41:00] elected second constable for one year.
[41:02] >> I
[41:03] >> Thank you, Andy.
[41:05] >> Thank you. Um,
[41:08] next position is trustee of public funds
[41:10] for the term of one year
[41:12] currently held by Rob Willis.
[41:16] Do I hear any nominations
[41:19] for public trustee of public funds for
[41:22] the term of one year?
[41:23] >> I'll nominate Rob Willis.
[41:24] >> Rob Willis has been nominated.
[41:27] >> Any other Any other nominations?
[41:30] >> You need a second.
[41:31] >> You had a second.
[41:32] >> I had a second back there.
[41:33] >> Okay.
[41:33] >> Y
[41:34] >> hearing none. All in favor of Rob Willis
[41:37] being elected trustee of public funds
[41:39] for the term of one year. I
[41:43] >> agent to deed land for the term of one
[41:46] year
[41:48] currently held by um Andy Coin.
[41:52] >> You want to hear any nominations for the
[41:54] agent to deed land for the term of one
[41:56] year.
[41:58] >> I'll nominate Andy Coin. Andy, are you
[42:00] going to be around because you'd
[42:01] actually have to sign some deeds this
[42:02] year.
[42:04] >> Andy Coin has been nominated.
[42:07] >> Hi.
[42:08] >> Do I hear any of the sec nominations?
[42:10] Second. Chris, do I hear any other
[42:12] nominations for the for the agent of to
[42:14] deed land for the term of one year?
[42:19] All in favor of Andy being elected?
[42:21] >> I.
[42:22] >> Thank you, Andy.
[42:25] >> We're cruising through these. Library
[42:26] trustee for the two for two years of a
[42:29] five-year term. Um,
[42:32] currently held by Marylu Lamar Dawi.
[42:36] Um, do I hear any nominations for uh,
[42:40] library trustee term of two out of two
[42:42] years out of a three-year term?
[42:44] >> I nominate Siobhan Mcder.
[42:46] >> Siobhan McDerman has been nominated.
[42:49] >> Okay. Any other nominations?
[42:54] Hearing none. All in favor of Siobhan
[42:56] being elected uh, library trustee for
[42:58] the term of two years of a of a 5-year
[43:00] term.
[43:01] >> I
[43:02] >> Okay, she's been elected. I also um and
[43:05] it's my I will take responsibility for
[43:07] this. There is another library position
[43:09] open but it was not warned properly. So
[43:11] if you are interested being a library
[43:13] trustee talk to either Meline or the
[43:16] board and you can be appointed to that
[43:17] position. So unfortunately it's not
[43:19] being worn so we can't vote on it today.
[43:22] I apologize for that. Um
[43:26] article four to see what sum of money
[43:28] the voters will vote to pay the town's
[43:30] running expenses and how it will be
[43:32] collected. Do we hear a motion?
[43:36] Bonnie
[43:41] motion that we spend a total of
[43:45] 2,221,138.13
[43:52] of which 1,64,873.17
[44:02] will be raised by taxation
[44:06] for running expenses of the town. And
[44:09] this along with the anticipated revenue
[44:12] of $616,264.96
[44:20] equaling total budget of the
[44:22] $2,221,138.13
[44:29] and payment will be due on or before
[44:33] October 1st, 2026
[44:36] and all unpaid taxes will become
[44:38] delinquent on October 2nd, 2026 with an
[44:44] 8 added 8% penalty plus starting
[44:48] December 1st, 2026, interest at the rate
[44:52] of 1% will be added until paid in full.
[44:58] >> Do I hear a second?
[45:00] >> Greg Jolly second.
[45:03] >> Does anyone want to discuss this?
[45:06] >> Yeah. What was that?
[45:10] numbers
[45:11] >> those numbers were the numbers that were
[45:12] uh proposed in the town report and the
[45:15] budget
[45:15] >> Patty the budget's actually in the
[45:17] report right
[45:18] >> if you have yeah if you have any
[45:20] questions
[45:21] >> okay
[45:21] >> y%
[45:24] fee
[45:26] >> the state
[45:27] >> that's a state fee we don't have any
[45:28] control
[45:29] >> that's by statute
[45:30] >> my name is I have a question is there
[45:32] accountants hired to do the the validity
[45:36] of these numbers
[45:38] Yeah, there's
[45:38] >> sir Whiz the treasur.
[45:40] >> What's the question? Is there a town
[45:42] that the town hires that would validate
[45:44] the numbers?
[45:45] >> Uh, no. Myself and the select do the
[45:47] budget.
[45:48] >> Well, there's a
[45:51] check after
[45:53] >> absolutely
[45:54] >> yes.
[45:56] >> We have an outside auditor.
[45:59] » They haven't checked it yet.
[46:03] >> Yes.
[46:05] Last fiscal year.
[46:09] Other other discussions, other comments,
[46:11] anybody
[46:14] vote?
[46:15] >> Move the question.
[46:16] Thank you. All in
[46:18] favor?
[46:19] >> I against
[46:23] the budget passes.
[46:26] Article five to see if the voters will
[46:28] authorize the select to borrow money in
[46:30] anticipation of taxes.
[46:32] Do I hear a motion?
[46:36] I'll make them up.
[46:37] >> Greg Jolly moves. Seconded.
[46:40] >> Second.
[46:42] Rob Willis. Any other comments on any
[46:44] other discussion on that point?
[46:47] >> All in favor?
[46:48] >> I.
[46:51] >> Article six. Shall the voters authorize
[46:53] the select board to spend unanticipated
[46:56] funds such as grants, gifts, or other
[46:58] interests?
[46:59] Can I get a motion?
[47:02] >> So move.
[47:04] Dana West. Second,
[47:06] >> I have a question. How are those things
[47:09] defined? Like, can you give any grant or
[47:13] is there some parameters? This just
[47:16] feels a little open-ended to me. I know
[47:19] I'm new here, but that's why I want to
[47:21] understand what it really means.
[47:23] >> You want to talk? You want to address
[47:24] it, Jessica?
[47:25] >> Yeah, Patty, you've asked this. The
[47:28] question has come up before. Um so you
[47:31] see that the language like is in
[47:33] quotation marks because it's actually
[47:35] comes from the statutes. Um if we don't
[47:38] we just if we don't follow the statute
[47:41] then we arguably don't we can't utilize
[47:43] the definitions that are there but it's
[47:47] you know it's what you would expect if
[47:49] we can um we often do throughout the
[47:52] course of the year. There's some folks
[47:53] in the audience that also participate in
[47:56] obtaining grants for us. If we don't do
[47:58] this at town meeting, we can't apply for
[48:00] those grants and spend the funds.
[48:02] Actually, we could probably apply for
[48:03] them, but but we wouldn't necessarily
[48:05] have clear statutory authority to spend
[48:07] them. Um, I think we were talking about
[48:10] the water study, for example. Um, there
[48:12] is a one remaining grant, you know,
[48:14] piece of money that we applied for last year or the year before, I can't
[48:19] remember now. And we we can spend that
[48:21] because we passed this as a town, this ordinance. Um,
[48:26] uh,
[48:28] it I mean I can afterwards I can I I I I
[48:31] can send to you the statute.
[48:34] >> I like to approve my
[48:39] >> No, I mean
[48:40] >> I just didn't care. I'm just trying to
[48:43] >> Yeah. And and by the way, the select
[48:45] board takes these actions. So come to
[48:48] meetings, zoom in or come to meetings or
[48:51] you know, you would see it as a as an
[48:53] issue. Typically, it would be on the
[48:56] agenda. So, if you see, you know, um
[48:58] approval of a grant application, if you
[49:02] want to know what that's about, just
[49:04] come to the meeting or zoom in.
[49:06] >> Fantastic. Thank you,
[49:07] >> Jean. And then CJ,
[49:09] >> I agree with the statement that was just
[49:10] made. This is an open-ended
[49:13] article number.
[49:16] And so I would like to suggest that the
[49:19] select board change this article from
[49:22] the open-ended statutory language and
[49:24] put in a list of priorities so that the
[49:27] public knows what it is the select board
[49:30] is thinking needs to be done.
[49:33] >> Okay. What you can do, you can ask to
[49:35] amend this, but this is this has to be
[49:38] voted on as warned. We can make
[49:40] amendments to the to the article that
[49:42] was warned, but we can't change the
[49:43] article in this meeting.
[49:47] Can I suggest?
[49:48] >> You could suggest You would have to
[49:50] You'd have to suggest the list though
[49:51] that I mean you'd have to say
[49:52] >> I want to suggest priorities like that.
[49:55] >> So we're going to be voting. So we're
[49:57] going to So I need you to make the
[49:58] motion on the amendment. So you'll make
[50:00] a motion that you want to amend this
[50:02] article and then the body can vote on
[50:06] that amendment if it's voted up or down.
[50:07] And if it's voted up then then it falls
[50:09] then we go back to voting on the actual
[50:11] article with the the amended article.
[50:14] I amend this article so that in a way
[50:18] that the selective will list the
[50:20] priorities
[50:21] clarifying the unanticipated funds such
[50:25] as grants and or to be more specific.
[50:29] >> Okay. Priorities. Okay. Did you get
[50:32] that, April?
[50:35] >> Thank you. Uh do I hear a second on that
[50:37] amendment?
[50:41] » I'll second it.
[50:43] >> Can you read that? Reread that back.
[50:47] » Um I she motioned to amend the article
[50:51] with a list
[50:53] >> of uses to clarify
[50:59] » I don't remember the rest clarify the
[51:02] priorities of the select board
[51:04] um
[51:06] using the unanticipated funds such as
[51:08] grants, gifts, and interest.
[51:11] So basically she's asking for a list the
[51:14] select board to come up with a list to
[51:15] clarify what those things are.
[51:18] >> Seconded. What's your name?
[51:19] >> Michael.
[51:20] >> Mike Luen.
[51:22] >> Okay.
[51:24] Discussion.
[51:25] >> Uh yeah on that. Um I'm the grant writer
[51:27] for Grace Cottage. Um there are all
[51:30] kinds of uh there's money available from
[51:33] state and federal agencies to take care
[51:36] of a lot of infrastructure projects.
[51:38] There are things that only towns can
[51:40] apply for um including right now
[51:43] congressional appropriations.
[51:45] Um and um
[51:46] >> CJ,
[51:47] >> I don't want to cut off, but we're
[51:47] talking about the amendment here. You're
[51:49] >> getting
[51:50] >> And what concerns me about uh the
[51:53] amendment is that um there may be
[51:56] opportunities that you have to pass up
[51:58] because they're not listed in the
[51:59] priorities.
[52:00] >> Okay, makes sense. Okay, thank you.
[52:02] Eric, did you have your hand up?
[52:03] >> Um that was the same thing. I was going
[52:05] to say it's unanticipated so you don't
[52:07] really know you're going to need it to.
[52:09] >> Thank you.
[52:10] >> I was just maybe I can make the
[52:11] suggestion that if it is a significant
[52:14] amount of money that we have a warning
[52:16] or a notice posted and that's all. And
[52:18] if someone wants to say something then
[52:20] they're warned or noted and then you
[52:22] don't have to amend anything. You just
[52:24] kind of got to put it somewhere so
[52:25] everyone knows about it before you do
[52:28] it.
[52:28] >> Thank you.
[52:29] >> So right now we put we put it on the
[52:31] agenda for the select board meetings. So
[52:34] just there it's posted around post
[52:37] office and yeah
[52:38] >> so right now so we're going to be voting
[52:40] on the amendment
[52:42] >> to add a list of priorities from the
[52:45] select board that will discuss the there
[52:49] will be a list of priorities to what the
[52:50] unsupported funds grants and gifts and
[52:52] interest are for. That's the motion
[52:55] that's on the table is the amendment.
[52:57] >> So obligation
[52:59] >> would this obligate the selection board?
[53:02] Yes, that would obligate the select
[53:03] board to come up with that list. Yes.
[53:07] >> Would that list be would that list be
[53:10] strict like they can't go past that?
[53:11] >> That's correct. Yes, that's what I'm
[53:13] understanding from the from the from the amended article. Yes,
[53:16] >> Greg.
[53:16] >> Yeah, Greg.
[53:18] >> Jason.
[53:19] >> Oh, yeah. Jason.
[53:20] >> Jason, I'm sorry. just as a as a
[53:22] possible alternative. It could be an
[53:25] amendment to say that any of these funds
[53:29] collected are spent in a manner that's
[53:31] consistent with how they were given to
[53:33] the town.
[53:34] >> You could propose another amendment when
[53:35] this is done if you'd like to do that.
[53:37] >> I'd like I'd like to add too. I mean, I
[53:39] me being the road commissioner, I I kind
[53:41] of um coordinate a lot of the grants
[53:44] that come to the state and and FEMA, and
[53:47] the key word in there is unanticipated.
[53:50] Um we we have obviously our role is to
[53:54] maintain the roads as an example but we
[53:56] can't specifically say we are going to
[53:58] apply it to this. I mean we we we see
[54:01] needs we see grants and we connect the
[54:03] two. It's it's just very very hard to
[54:06] sit there and anticipate an unant
[54:09] anticipated
[54:10] funding.
[54:12] Any other discussion on the amendment?
[54:15] I'm going to call the question on the
[54:17] amendment.
[54:18] All in favor of the amendment say I.
[54:23] >> Opposed.
[54:26] >> The amendment fails.
[54:29] So back now to the original article six.
[54:32] Shall the voters authorize select board
[54:33] to spend unanticipated funds such as
[54:35] grants, gift, and or interest? Do we
[54:39] have any more discussion on this? This
[54:41] has already been it's already been okay.
[54:43] Call in the question. All in favor? I.
[54:46] All against.
[54:49] Article passes.
[54:51] Article 7 to set the time for the
[54:54] opening of the next annual town meeting
[54:55] to be held the first Tuesday in March
[54:57] 2027.
[54:59] Do you have a motion?
[55:01] >> So move.
[55:02] >> So moved by Meline.
[55:03] >> Second.
[55:05] >> Drew Hazelson.
[55:07] >> Um, what's the date on this? It's the
[55:09] 4th next year, right? Do we know?
[55:13] >> The one thing I didn't write in the
[55:14] book.
[55:19] the second next year. Sorry, it moves
[55:20] the other direction. Okay. Um,
[55:24] >> yes, March.
[55:25] >> So, March 2nd next year. Does I mean,
[55:27] we've talked about moving it to
[55:29] Saturdays. I know we moved it to
[55:30] Saturdays. It hasn't been I don't think
[55:31] the turnout was any different. I think a
[55:33] lot of the same people here. Um, the
[55:36] motion's on the table to have it on the
[55:37] second. Does anyone have any discussion
[55:39] about that? Want to talk about that?
[55:41] >> Yes.
[55:43] Time for the opening. Time in there.
[55:45] Does 10:00 work for people?
[55:47] >> Okay.
[55:48] >> Yep.
[55:50] >> I'm just saying you might want to
[55:52] include that instead
[55:54] of the time.
[55:56] >> Sue,
[55:56] >> um Suski, what is the process in order
[56:00] to possibly have it changed to a
[56:03] different time? There are a lot of young
[56:04] families. I'm looking around and there's
[56:06] younger people here now, but there are a
[56:09] lot of the younger generation that live
[56:10] in town that are working today and they
[56:12] would love to be involved in the the
[56:16] politics of Jamaica, but they can't. Um,
[56:19] and the pro I mean, it's not just this,
[56:21] it's that the town clerk closing at 4 is
[56:24] also difficult than the post office
[56:26] closing when it's at their time. So
[56:28] there's like there's a lot of that
[56:29] stuff, but what is the process we need
[56:31] to do to possibly get it on next year to
[56:35] change?
[56:35] >> We select it right now. You're here
[56:37] right now. We can do it right now to say
[56:39] what time we want to do it for next
[56:40] year.
[56:40] >> Yes.
[56:41] >> Um like I said, we've we tried the pass
[56:44] through on Saturdays and the turnout
[56:46] wasn't any different. And it was the
[56:48] same complaints. I have kids in school.
[56:49] I have to work. Saturdays came around
[56:51] and and people didn't come. I I'm just
[56:54] saying from history. It was we did it a
[56:56] couple years at the town garage during
[56:57] CO and people didn't show up. So, but
[57:00] I'm not saying either way, you know,
[57:02] that's it's your decision as the body.
[57:08] » Some people have it in the evening. I
[57:10] know that some towns have had select
[57:12] last night. Brooklyn and Vernon had
[57:13] theirs last night. They do an evening
[57:15] meeting. Um Vernon's went till what
[57:17] 12:15 last night. So, if you're
[57:20] interested in that, that's that's up to
[57:22] you guys.
[57:25] So, the motion is on the table to do the
[57:27] meeting um
[57:30] the first Tuesday, March 2027 at 10 a.m.
[57:33] >> Anyone? I mean,
[57:35] >> question has been moved. All in favor of
[57:37] that time and date.
[57:38] >> I
[57:39] >> opposed.
[57:42] Motion passes.
[57:44] >> Article passes. Uh article 8 to transact
[57:47] any other business that may legally come
[57:49] before this meeting. Can I get a motion?
[57:53] >> John Began second
[57:57] >> CJ to talk about anything else in the
[58:00] meeting?
[58:00] >> Open discussion.
[58:02] >> Open. So right now we're here to
[58:03] transact any of the business that may
[58:04] legally come before the board before the
[58:07] meeting. Does anyone have anything to
[58:08] talk about?
[58:10] >> Nelson.
[58:11] Coleman. I just have a couple
[58:12] questions. One is about the deficit you
[58:15] had back a couple years ago that we sat
[58:17] on for a long time and then we were
[58:18] supposed to came up as an odd and was
[58:20] supposed to move. It was like a million
[58:22] dollars or something like that. Did FEMA
[58:24] money take care of that? So that has
[58:26] been erased or is that still sitting on
[58:27] the boards?
[58:28] >> So do you mean the the flood fund
[58:31] deficit?
[58:32] >> So yeah, remember last year we voted um
[58:35] approximately a half a million dollars
[58:36] to be placed in that fund. You'll you'll
[58:39] see the change when when the audited
[58:42] financials come out because that's where
[58:44] you see the ex, you know, the status of
[58:46] the current funds. Okay.
[58:47] >> Yes.
[58:49] >> But yeah. Oh, Sarah's
[58:50] >> Sarah's got an answer here. Sarah,
[58:52] >> we areing $25,000 a year is my item 200
[58:56] for the FEMA repayment from Irene. So
[58:59] that's where you're going to see in the
[59:00] budget.
[59:01] >> So do you know where the status is?
[59:02] What's left on that million dollars or
[59:04] whatever it was?
[59:05] >> I can get it for you.
[59:07] But we are working on it.
[59:08] >> Yes, we
[59:11] >> have been very You need to do this.
[59:14] We're trying.
[59:15] >> It's just It won't show up until we see
[59:16] the auditors report.
[59:18] >> Correct.
[59:18] >> Okay. And then the other question, I'm
[59:19] sure it's it's just a maintenance thing,
[59:21] but a fee on the transfer station for
[59:24] 95,000. Is there going to be a bunch of
[59:26] repairs taking place up there this year?
[59:28] >> Yes. Yes, I can answer that as as town
[59:30] administrator. Um we are we have an RFP
[59:33] out. Hunter has accepted it. Uh we will
[59:35] be doing we'll be pulling what pulling
[59:37] down the awnings and rebuilding
[59:39] basically regrading everything
[59:40] rebuilding everything and and building
[59:42] it back up. It's really in disrepair
[59:43] right now. So that is going to start in
[59:45] the spring.
[59:47] >> Tie.
[59:48] >> Is this a good time to ask about that
[59:50] dredging of the rest of the river?
[59:52] >> Yeah, you can talk. Yeah, you can ask
[59:53] that now.
[59:55] >> Yes, it is. Thank you.
[59:58] >> Anyone have any thoughts? I spoke
[1:00:02] personally with Hunter and he told me
[1:00:04] there was no access to that part of the
[1:00:06] river which I own it. So I will
[1:00:09] >> where you saying downream
[1:00:11] >> on the other side of the bridge where
[1:00:12] the rocks are where the swimming hole is
[1:00:14] that there is a huge amount just like
[1:00:17] happened is the whole mountain came down
[1:00:19] that river and deposited itself right
[1:00:21] where Jamaica started all the way
[1:00:23] through the town all the way down to
[1:00:25] where the west river meets it. Right.
[1:00:27] That's right. And we were very great
[1:00:29] about dredging a large portion of it up
[1:00:33] to the river on Depot Street. And it's a
[1:00:35] nice well-made thing after the river on
[1:00:39] Depot Street. It's flat and full of
[1:00:42] rubble that up to the up to the edge of
[1:00:45] everybody's lawns. So you have a ton of
[1:00:48] water that's going to come down in the
[1:00:49] spring.
[1:00:50] It's going to hit all that stuff that
[1:00:52] didn't get dredged. And it's going to
[1:00:54] spread out on a lot of our properties,
[1:00:57] mine in particular, and uh, of course,
[1:01:01] my neighbors and just anybody that's
[1:01:03] down and experienced that flood and we
[1:01:05] all had to remove our animals that time
[1:01:08] when the dam was having so much. I do
[1:01:11] not want to relive that. And I want to
[1:01:13] know if anybody had mentioned that.
[1:01:17] >> Well, the dredging happened. It was a
[1:01:19] part of FEMA funding. Yeah, Greg can
[1:01:21] speak on that. I'm sorry. I have
[1:01:22] multiple roles
[1:01:24] >> that the debris removal FEMA dredging is
[1:01:28] a four-letter word in in FEMA terms. So,
[1:01:30] but anyway,
[1:01:31] >> so we we removed debris.
[1:01:34] >> So, we we actually were able to define
[1:01:37] and luckily uh we were able to define a
[1:01:39] project to remove that debris within the
[1:01:41] village um because of infrastructure and
[1:01:44] whatnot, bridges and homes. Obviously,
[1:01:47] your homes are down there, too. Um, we
[1:01:50] were not able to define a project to
[1:01:52] remove the debris down lower. I'm not
[1:01:55] denying that it doesn't need to be done.
[1:01:57] Um, but it could be worked on. I mean,
[1:02:00] it would be very, very, very challenging
[1:02:02] to get the funding for it. Um, this
[1:02:05] particular just that small section in
[1:02:07] the village was over a half a million
[1:02:09] dollars. Um, and which was wonderful
[1:02:12] that we were able to get that. Um, and
[1:02:16] not to say that we can't look again look
[1:02:18] for grants or things like that. I mean,
[1:02:20] it would it's it's well beyond anything
[1:02:22] that we could do ourselves. Um, but we
[1:02:25] >> we should be looking at things like that
[1:02:26] for sure.
[1:02:27] >> Yeah.
[1:02:28] >> Okay.
[1:02:30] >> And I can look into it too as as town
[1:02:32] administrator. I can look at grants and
[1:02:33] things to see if I can find anything.
[1:02:35] But again, it's going to be getting the
[1:02:36] money to do it. We all we all
[1:02:38] acknowledge that there's a need to do
[1:02:39] it. It's just trying to find the funds.
[1:02:42] The other thing I would just say one
[1:02:43] other thing which is that Scott Jensen
[1:02:45] who's the person from the state who is
[1:02:48] you've met him he he issues the um
[1:02:51] permits to access the river and make
[1:02:53] those changes. He he was I mean
[1:02:56] obviously I'm concerned it was fight we
[1:02:58] all you know the Meadows Road crew we
[1:03:00] all we you know we were yeah um he felt
[1:03:05] by the at the conclusion of the $600,000
[1:03:10] project that we were able to complete
[1:03:12] with with federal funds that that work
[1:03:15] is going to improve our you know our
[1:03:17] situation. um channels have already sort
[1:03:20] of naturally been created there and he
[1:03:24] felt that there would be continued
[1:03:26] improvement behind your and and the hunt
[1:03:29] house and around you know basically
[1:03:31] impacting all of us. No guarantees but
[1:03:34] he definitely felt that that that
[1:03:36] project ameliated our situation. It
[1:03:39] doesn't mean it wouldn't be great to
[1:03:41] have another $200,000 to to do the rest
[1:03:44] of the work or a quarter of a million
[1:03:46] roughly to do the rest of the work.
[1:03:48] >> I I can't imagine that that level
[1:03:50] doesn't bring money like that that that
[1:03:53] they I can't believe that that Phil
[1:03:56] doesn't bring money.
[1:03:57] >> So, we can't sell it. But Greg,
[1:03:59] >> but we I mean it did bring value. Um we
[1:04:02] were able to use it on our
[1:04:03] >> We used it on our roads build up our
[1:04:04] roads.
[1:04:05] >> We can't sell it. We we can only
[1:04:06] >> We can't offset the cost. cost him and
[1:04:08] it still would be a cost, but if we
[1:04:09] could apply it and improve other areas,
[1:04:13] >> tiny, what I'll do is I'll follow up
[1:04:14] with Scott Jensen about this and I'll
[1:04:16] talk to him because obviously
[1:04:17] >> if they want access through my land all
[1:04:19] day long,
[1:04:20] >> okay, so as as Jessica said, Scott
[1:04:23] Jensen said he believes that that what
[1:04:25] we've done will mitigate to some degree
[1:04:27] the flooding lower down on the river. I
[1:04:29] will I will follow up with him on that
[1:04:31] and get back to you. Okay.
[1:04:33] Hi, I'm Barbara Dalia on West Jamaica
[1:04:35] Road and I just want to address you say
[1:04:37] we used it on the roads and I wanted to
[1:04:39] thank you many times for
[1:04:44] so much.
[1:04:45] >> Thank you to a lot of people our road
[1:04:47] crew. I mean hard to get through all
[1:04:49] those things over the past few years.
[1:04:51] >> Mary Mary
[1:04:52] >> Yes. Um I have a question about the dump
[1:04:55] and the changing of how the dump was
[1:04:57] going to be done. I was told by two
[1:05:00] different people that changing the way
[1:05:02] it's done. So, is there something we can
[1:05:05] talk about that the difference of price,
[1:05:07] difference in the bags, different?
[1:05:09] >> You talk about the bags, you talk about
[1:05:10] the actual construction.
[1:05:11] >> No, the bags and the cost of the bag.
[1:05:14] >> Can you repeat the question?
[1:05:17] >> Yes.
[1:05:18] >> The question was regarding what changes
[1:05:20] are happening at the dunk regarding bags
[1:05:22] and tokens and I'm going to defer to the
[1:05:25] select board on that. Kate Alman.
[1:05:27] >> So, uh we have ordered tokens which will
[1:05:29] be instead of bags. So, you don't have
[1:05:32] to use bags. You can use a cardboard
[1:05:34] box. You can use paper bags from the
[1:05:36] grocery store. You can uh you don't So,
[1:05:40] we're not going to be selling bags
[1:05:41] anymore. We still have some left and we
[1:05:43] would hope that people would continue to
[1:05:45] use them till till they're gone because
[1:05:47] they were expensive, but we have
[1:05:49] purchased tokens. We'll have green
[1:05:51] tokens which will correspond to the same
[1:05:54] size as the green bags and yellow
[1:05:57] tokens. Uh all of the tokens are from
[1:05:59] recycled materials uh which will
[1:06:02] correspond to the size of the yellow
[1:06:04] bags like 13 gallon and 30 gallon
[1:06:07] roughly. And uh so uh we haven't set a
[1:06:12] price yet.
[1:06:13] We have to do that probably next month.
[1:06:16] >> Yeah. Watch watch the agenda for select
[1:06:18] board meetings if you want to
[1:06:19] participate in that.
[1:06:20] >> Eric, I'm sorry. What's your name?
[1:06:23] >> Betsy Thompson.
[1:06:24] >> Betsy Thomasson. She's she's next. And
[1:06:25] Erica, you're next.
[1:06:29] Oh, regarding the transfer station, uh I
[1:06:32] was there in a very cold day a couple of
[1:06:34] weeks ago and uh I was concerned about
[1:06:36] Ernie's health up there in a cold, you
[1:06:41] know, frigid environment is in in this
[1:06:44] um reconfiguration or whatever of the
[1:06:47] transfer station, will there be any warm
[1:06:50] place or safe place for the attendant to
[1:06:53] um to to stay for for 8 hours.
[1:06:58] >> He had a heated shed.
[1:06:59] >> He has he has to heat in the shed
[1:07:02] >> in his his office.
[1:07:04] >> You know, the um uh uh the the the used
[1:07:09] exchange house is larger than Ernie's
[1:07:12] shed,
[1:07:14] you know. I mean, he you can turn around
[1:07:16] in it and
[1:07:18] >> I don't know. I just concerned about the
[1:07:20] health and welfare of the people who
[1:07:24] >> whatever happened with that. We we had
[1:07:25] talked about increasing the size. Did
[1:07:27] you guys Yeah.
[1:07:28] >> I think the the cost of other
[1:07:30] improvements, but um yeah, that's
[1:07:33] something to consider for sure.
[1:07:36] >> Erica,
[1:07:37] >> I just wanted to go back to the bags for
[1:07:38] a second. Could you bring a trash can
[1:07:42] without bags and dump it into the thing?
[1:07:45] >> Yes.
[1:07:45] >> Oh, so it's it's actually potentially
[1:07:47] could reduce the pl Is that the
[1:07:51] idea? Yeah. and and at least one citizen
[1:07:54] already does that.
[1:07:58] » Um I have a couple of of things mostly
[1:08:01] about all the activity that's been going
[1:08:04] on in Jamaica. Uh Jamaica Community Arts
[1:08:07] Council has been working really hard at
[1:08:09] providing yoga in here and exercise and
[1:08:13] we'll be working on more
[1:08:16] activities in here. Uh there's the
[1:08:19] library does movies and all kinds of
[1:08:23] exciting things. Jamba is putting trails
[1:08:25] into the uh Ball Mountain Dam area and
[1:08:29] we're working on other trails.
[1:08:31] Uh we have a calendar. Tom has a
[1:08:34] community calendar
[1:08:35] >> on the calendar on the town website.
[1:08:36] Yes.
[1:08:37] >> And and we're posting a lot of things on
[1:08:39] the Jamaica Community Arts Council
[1:08:42] website, Facebook pages. It's on the
[1:08:44] Jamaica Facebook page. the Rossonville
[1:08:47] Schoolhouse. We have a committee that's
[1:08:50] working on that um to try to gain access
[1:08:56] to have programs and things like that up
[1:08:58] there. We're going to have an open house
[1:09:00] probably in May. You'll see things about
[1:09:02] that. The Jamaica Historical Foundation
[1:09:06] uh will be open from miday till mid
[1:09:09] October. So, pop in and see us. People
[1:09:12] are donating photos. They're donating
[1:09:15] memorabilia, articles, and things at a
[1:09:18] couple times a week. We're getting
[1:09:19] things. It's really quite wonderful. Uh,
[1:09:23] Jamaica Day is Saturday, August 15th.
[1:09:27] Uh, think about what you can put in the
[1:09:29] parade or how you can help or just come
[1:09:31] and enjoy the day. Um, I know there's a
[1:09:35] lot of other things that I'm forgetting,
[1:09:37] but um, we've got a lot of exciting
[1:09:40] things happening. We have a lot of new
[1:09:42] young folks that are moving into Jamaica
[1:09:45] and this is sort of getting into the
[1:09:47] whole education bit of it and I'm hoping
[1:09:49] that Drew will talk in just a second and
[1:09:51] maybe Dana
[1:09:53] um
[1:09:56] >> we need to talk about the school and and
[1:09:59] what's happening which Drew will mention
[1:10:03] but what do we need for our community
[1:10:05] for the next 20 25 years and how do we
[1:10:09] keep these young folks who have moved
[1:10:11] into town
[1:10:13] staying here and and what do they need?
[1:10:19] » Andy Coin,
[1:10:20] >> may I go back to a couple of things? I
[1:10:23] >> You can go back. Yeah, go back to the
[1:10:24] dump.
[1:10:25] >> Am I going to be able to still use bags
[1:10:27] if it be my uh
[1:10:29] >> my choice?
[1:10:30] >> There's no bait and switch here. Yes,
[1:10:31] you'll be able to use the bags until
[1:10:32] your bags are gone. That's
[1:10:34] >> like uh for demo, you can use contractor
[1:10:37] bags. It's a whole different thing that
[1:10:39] >> that's different. That's what tok that's
[1:10:40] that the other tokens which we already
[1:10:43] currently
[1:10:44] >> I understand that. Um so back to the
[1:10:48] question about u the uh what was that
[1:10:52] called Greg the $600,000
[1:10:57] » debris removal.
[1:10:59] I mean maybe Tom can uh comment on this
[1:11:02] but I've seen some pretty high water hit
[1:11:04] that. I mean, not the highest, but it
[1:11:08] certainly seemed to handle it a lot
[1:11:10] better,
[1:11:11] >> especially on his part. I
[1:11:12] >> I rest much easier. I will say that the the the dredging or the taking of
[1:11:17] the debris out of of the brook near my
[1:11:19] home is it's it's transformative. I
[1:11:23] mean, the river would always raise up
[1:11:25] close to the road when it when it was
[1:11:28] flood stages and when the rain and such.
[1:11:30] And since then, it hasn't it hasn't got
[1:11:32] it hasn't ever gotten higher. and it
[1:11:34] does seem to fan out better. I know it's
[1:11:36] very concerning, but it's much better
[1:11:39] than it did. And I just want to thank
[1:11:42] Greg, our previous uh assistant town
[1:11:44] administrator and the board for really
[1:11:48] doing every single thing that the powers
[1:11:52] that be were asking asking them to do
[1:11:55] and getting that last funding back was
[1:11:59] sort of not really rolling the dice, but
[1:12:01] it was a little nerve-wracking.
[1:12:03] But it it what we found is all better
[1:12:05] for
[1:12:06] >> Thank you.
[1:12:07] >> A huge improvement.
[1:12:09] >> I just have a really quick question.
[1:12:11] >> Yes, CJ. That's fine.
[1:12:12] >> So, back to the to the tokens. Do you
[1:12:14] have a timing for us? Can you tell us
[1:12:16] the timing?
[1:12:18] >> They've been ordered and they said it
[1:12:20] only takes one to two weeks to get here.
[1:12:22] So, they should be here soon. Uh again,
[1:12:25] we are hoping that people will continue
[1:12:26] to use the bags because we don't want
[1:12:28] them just to sit there. um they do
[1:12:30] degrade over time and and we spent money
[1:12:33] on them, but yeah, it will be very soon
[1:12:35] that you um I I'm thinking we'll have a
[1:12:37] grace period where you could use either.
[1:12:39] We haven't really decided for sure.
[1:12:41] >> And you buy them at the same place.
[1:12:43] >> Yes.
[1:12:44] >> Okay.
[1:12:45] >> So, this is very soon.
[1:12:46] >> Yes.
[1:12:47] >> Okay.
[1:12:47] >> Very soon. And and again, we probably
[1:12:49] have four four or five boxes of the
[1:12:51] yellow bags left. It's not a ton. And I
[1:12:53] know Forest will come in for for West
[1:12:55] River provisions and buy 20 or 30 boxes.
[1:12:58] And I think in a box is 40. So I mean in
[1:13:00] a couple of weeks we're going to be
[1:13:01] pretty much out of the yellow bags at
[1:13:03] the town office
[1:13:04] >> and then at that point
[1:13:06] >> hopefully we'll start the transition
[1:13:07] then. That's my that's my goal as town
[1:13:09] clerk.
[1:13:10] >> Yes.
[1:13:11] >> And I just wanted to carry on. You said
[1:13:13] you're not sure of the cost, meaning
[1:13:16] you're considering raising the price of
[1:13:18] each level.
[1:13:19] >> We have decided on the price.
[1:13:22] >> Um I did also want to mention that
[1:13:24] construction bags will not be allowed.
[1:13:26] They don't work well in the in the
[1:13:28] compactor. So, you're not allowed to use
[1:13:31] construction bags in the reg for the
[1:13:33] regular household trash. They have to go
[1:13:35] into CN.
[1:13:36] >> Can Here's a question for you, though.
[1:13:38] Do you take if you bring it in a
[1:13:40] construction bag, can you just dump it
[1:13:42] out and take the bag back?
[1:13:45] >> Patty in the back.
[1:13:48] >> Okay. Can we Can we stick to the dumping
[1:13:50] for now? As people winding this down,
[1:13:52] are we are the questions answered? Jean
[1:13:57] What date is the select? Did you have
[1:13:59] any discussion?
[1:13:59] >> Oh, you did. I'm sorry. I didn't know.
[1:14:00] I'm sorry. Too much going.
[1:14:05] » What date is the select board going to
[1:14:07] list the topic of the bags and
[1:14:11] >> Watch out for the agenda. It's published
[1:14:12] every Thursday.
[1:14:16] The agenda is published on the website
[1:14:18] and at the at various locations around
[1:14:20] town every Thursday prior to the Monday
[1:14:23] select board meeting. So the agendas are
[1:14:25] online and they're also at the post
[1:14:27] office at West River Provisions and at
[1:14:29] the town office.
[1:14:30] >> So it's not being
[1:14:33] >> the the the agendas for the meetings are
[1:14:35] generally uh I receive those as town
[1:14:37] clerk on the Thursday before the
[1:14:38] meeting. So those Jessica creates those
[1:14:43] usually that week before the meeting.
[1:14:45] Yeah, that's generally how it works. Oh,
[1:14:47] sorry, Patty. Let Patty, I'm sorry I cut
[1:14:49] you off, Patty. Go ahead.
[1:14:50] >> I have lived uh before in a place that
[1:14:54] has pay as you go dumping and recycling.
[1:15:00] And um I think it's factual that as you
[1:15:04] increase the price, you price out
[1:15:06] people's ability to use that service.
[1:15:10] And I'm concerned about that, that
[1:15:12] people will not be able to afford to
[1:15:14] bring their garbage to the dump and dump
[1:15:17] the way we want them to. And so I I
[1:15:21] would love for us to look into some kind
[1:15:24] of discount support grant program for
[1:15:28] people who meet some criteria um to help
[1:15:32] support them in using this facility
[1:15:35] because um what happens when people
[1:15:37] can't afford to dump is they dump
[1:15:39] wherever they think they're not going to
[1:15:40] get caught dumping and it increases some
[1:15:43] of the cost for the community in the
[1:15:46] form of garbage pickup and just
[1:15:49] unsightliness and unwanted rodents and
[1:15:52] so forth. So, I I would love to see us
[1:15:55] um find a way to support people who may
[1:15:58] be priced out of the new um structure.
[1:16:03] >> I second that.
[1:16:05] >> Thank you guys. Thanks for the comments.
[1:16:06] Um Chris, did you have something?
[1:16:08] >> Yes. I'd like to go back to uh what
[1:16:11] Karen was talking about just in
[1:16:14] relationship to Jamaica date. I'd like
[1:16:17] to ask anybody in this hall if they
[1:16:21] would be part of our Jamaica Day
[1:16:24] preparations. Seems like there's like
[1:16:27] just four of us. Four women are the only
[1:16:30] ones right now with the exception of
[1:16:32] Craig, Craig, Jolly, and that that seem
[1:16:36] to be doing any of the work.
[1:16:40] So, I would love anybody who would like
[1:16:42] to get involved to get in touch with
[1:16:44] Karen, please. And thank you, Kristen.
[1:16:47] >> I have a question about the uh compost
[1:16:50] bins, please. Um you you ask us to
[1:16:54] compost and I do because I can't do it
[1:16:57] at home because of the bears and um but
[1:17:01] we don't get to when it's I I I know
[1:17:04] that they take it and that that they
[1:17:07] actually do compost. It's you get nice
[1:17:09] dirt and why can't we go someplace to to
[1:17:14] get some of that?
[1:17:16] >> Yeah. Uh Winters All the Waste uh down
[1:17:19] in Brattleboro sells it and they have a
[1:17:21] huge operation. They've done a whole lot
[1:17:23] of work on the composting and they do
[1:17:26] sell it down there.
[1:17:27] >> Oh, they do?
[1:17:27] >> Yes.
[1:17:28] >> Okay. Is it very expensive?
[1:17:30] >> I I don't actually know.
[1:17:31] >> Okay. Um,
[1:17:35] >> Claire,
[1:17:36] >> this is I I understand it's not it's not
[1:17:39] a compost question, so I don't know if
[1:17:41] anybody wants to hear because it looks
[1:17:43] like that's very popular. Um, I have a
[1:17:46] question for the board. Um, when the
[1:17:49] people, I don't know their names, but
[1:17:51] anyhow, um, come down street with the
[1:17:53] new poles all the way to the state park,
[1:17:56] what's your plan for traffic when it's
[1:17:58] summertime? because I I was I was
[1:18:01] speaking to one of the gentlemen that's
[1:18:02] in charge of it and he said he had
[1:18:05] nothing from the board that said that
[1:18:07] there was going to be campers and
[1:18:10] whatever. I said, you know, there's
[1:18:11] going to be a traffic problem. He said
[1:18:13] that won't work.
[1:18:14] >> Have you discussed this with them?
[1:18:18] >> I'm not sure because we do GMP comes to
[1:18:21] meetings
[1:18:23] though all the way down to the state,
[1:18:25] >> right?
[1:18:26] >> And they're going to do it this summer,
[1:18:27] >> right? So, at the same time, every
[1:18:31] camper that comes through, the big
[1:18:32] campers that come through are going to
[1:18:34] use the same road. And when I spoke to
[1:18:36] him about it and asked him how that's
[1:18:38] going to work, he said
[1:18:41] he had no idea.
[1:18:43] >> And this is this is
[1:18:45] from Pennsylvania, right? Normally they
[1:18:47] come to the board, they tell us what
[1:18:49] their plan is, they say the dates and
[1:18:51] times. We work with them to publish
[1:18:54] those, particularly in the area that
[1:18:57] you're talking about, which is adjacent
[1:18:58] to the park because some folks on the
[1:19:01] other side of the existing bridge could
[1:19:04] get can get stranded. So they all have
[1:19:06] to be notified, that group gets notified
[1:19:08] separately. And then in terms of any
[1:19:12] time that the road is going to be
[1:19:13] obstructed or partly obstructed, it's
[1:19:16] not that the town itself does not
[1:19:18] actually manage that traffic. GMP does,
[1:19:21] but they do tell us that they're going
[1:19:22] to be going down to one lane, et
[1:19:27] isue in the past.
[1:19:28] >> We had the general meeting where they
[1:19:29] said what the project was. They told us
[1:19:31] about the projects at the at the
[1:19:32] meeting,
[1:19:33] >> right? But then they also
[1:19:34] >> but we didn't get the specifics of it
[1:19:36] >> exactly when they're when they're
[1:19:38] coming, what the hours are, the days,
[1:19:40] and then they put up the flaggers, etc.
[1:19:43] So, I'm not sure. It might be helpful
[1:19:45] just to know who you spoke to cuz that's
[1:19:47] not consistent with what
[1:19:48] >> several several people
[1:19:53] that
[1:19:55] Yeah, that's the person that's in charge
[1:19:58] from I think he's in Pennsylvania or
[1:19:59] something. Anyhow, and when I mentioned
[1:20:02] that state park is very very busy in the
[1:20:05] summer and there would be big campers
[1:20:06] going through, he said this is not going
[1:20:08] to work because we can't take things
[1:20:10] down. So he asked me asked me if there
[1:20:12] was another way around and I said yes
[1:20:14] but you need to speak to the select
[1:20:16] board. So maybe there needs to be you
[1:20:18] have the need to person that came to
[1:20:20] you.
[1:20:20] >> I have his name. I can I can contact him
[1:20:23] and find out. I'll get more information
[1:20:24] from him. Thank you, Clara. Because
[1:20:26] yeah, because we we can figure that out
[1:20:27] then
[1:20:27] >> because it's going to go around
[1:20:31] It's it's a tough turn though.
[1:20:33] >> People need to know where the traffic
[1:20:34] from the state park is going to come
[1:20:36] from.
[1:20:38] >> I'm just saying it's something that
[1:20:42] >> Okay, I would look into that.
[1:20:45] >> It's concl
[1:20:49] » I'm sorry. Who? Oh, I'm sorry. John.
[1:20:53] >> My name is John Began and I would like
[1:20:56] the town to consider supporting these
[1:20:58] two resolutions.
[1:21:01] Um, voters of Jamaica, Vermont condemn
[1:21:04] the current activities of ICE operatives
[1:21:08] and call on the US Congress to defund
[1:21:11] and abolish the agency as it now exists.
[1:21:16] And the second one is the voters of
[1:21:18] Jamaica, Vermont
[1:21:20] condemn the war against Iran and call on
[1:21:24] Congress to invoke the War Powers Act
[1:21:27] and that the president bring our troops
[1:21:30] home now.
[1:21:32] >> Unfortunately, it's not being warned
[1:21:35] >> as articles. We can't vote on those that
[1:21:37] are any any binding
[1:21:39] >> resolution. You have to warn articles
[1:21:42] such as those beforehand. Isn't there a
[1:21:44] way to do that? We can official
[1:21:47] >> We can unofficially do it, but it's not
[1:21:48] I mean
[1:21:49] >> opinions.
[1:21:50] >> We can do an opinion that we we feel
[1:21:51] that but it's not anything binding,
[1:21:53] >> right?
[1:21:54] >> Because you need to read them out
[1:21:57] separately like we'd have because it's
[1:21:58] two separate articles.
[1:22:01] >> I mean I I the
[1:22:03] >> again it's just a consensus of the town
[1:22:04] that we agree with this. It's not
[1:22:06] something that's going to be binding or
[1:22:07] anything like that.
[1:22:08] >> Right. Let's do it.
[1:22:09] >> Did you want to do it again and do the
[1:22:12] first one
[1:22:13] >> and then see if there's a second?
[1:22:15] >> Read.
[1:22:15] >> Yeah. Read the first one. Read the first
[1:22:17] one by itself. Yeah.
[1:22:18] >> The voters of Jamaica, Vermont
[1:22:21] current activities
[1:22:23] of ICE operatives and call on the US
[1:22:25] Congress to defund and abolish the
[1:22:28] agency as it now exists.
[1:22:31] >> Second.
[1:22:32] >> Okay.
[1:22:33] Second.
[1:22:34] >> Yep. Second. Sec. It's been seconded.
[1:22:37] >> Does the town
[1:22:38] Want to all in favor of that?
[1:22:42] >> I
[1:22:44] against
[1:22:45] >> no.
[1:22:46] >> Couple of nays.
[1:22:48] >> Second.
[1:22:49] >> Then read the second one.
[1:22:52] >> Voters of Jamaica
[1:22:54] condemn the war against Iran and call on
[1:22:58] Congress to invoke the War of Powers Act
[1:23:01] and that the president bring our troops
[1:23:04] home.
[1:23:06] I second.
[1:23:08] >> Second.
[1:23:09] >> Any discussion?
[1:23:12] >> Close the question. All in favor?
[1:23:15] >> All against?
[1:23:16] >> No.
[1:23:18] >> Eyes have it.
[1:23:20] >> Okay. Thank you, John.
[1:23:21] >> Thank you.
[1:23:22] >> Heather.
[1:23:23] >> Um, any pictures to the state park that
[1:23:26] you brought up? There is a meeting
[1:23:27] tomorrow
[1:23:29] >> to discuss what's happening uh
[1:23:31] development plans for Pikes Falls,
[1:23:34] >> Hamilton Falls.
[1:23:35] >> Hamilton's fall, excuse me. Thank you.
[1:23:37] It's at 6 p.m. For some reason, it's in
[1:23:41] town.
[1:23:42] >> It's really important. And Amos should
[1:23:44] speak on that. Yeah,
[1:23:47] >> we've been in contact with the state and
[1:23:49] they have told us that they do not have
[1:23:51] a plan for
[1:23:53] >> this meeting tomorrow night in town is
[1:23:55] about the long-term plan for the state
[1:23:57] park not including Hamilton Falls. They
[1:24:00] say
[1:24:02] >> they didn't first announce it as being
[1:24:06] about Hamilton Falls and then later said
[1:24:09] what you're saying?
[1:24:12] I can't keep track but I know um my wife
[1:24:15] Alana and also my sister-in-law Yan have
[1:24:18] been in touch with them and they have
[1:24:21] said more than once this is not about
[1:24:24] policy or say anything about that they
[1:24:26] don't have a plan about policy this is
[1:24:28] about
[1:24:32] » thank you there there is a notice in the
[1:24:35] front window the little box outside that
[1:24:38] describes the meeting time and location
[1:24:41] and a lot of us are car pooling. If
[1:24:43] anyone needs a ride, I'd be happy to
[1:24:46] pick you up.
[1:24:46] >> Okay, thank you.
[1:24:49] >> Any other items to bring up? Meline?
[1:24:52] >> Um, I just wanted to say a few things
[1:24:54] for the library. I'm Maline. I'm the um
[1:24:57] librarian. Um, as part of the budget
[1:24:59] that we all passed today, the library
[1:25:01] will be expanding hours and we hope to
[1:25:04] be open a little bit earlier in the
[1:25:06] mornings and more consistently hopefully
[1:25:09] every day for at least a couple hours.
[1:25:12] So, keep a lookout for that. And also,
[1:25:15] this summer we will have three bicycles
[1:25:18] able to be rented um with your library
[1:25:21] card for free.
[1:25:28] So, uh, just make sure to keep an eye on
[1:25:30] um the website jamaabbt library.org or
[1:25:34] pop by the library anytime. I'll be
[1:25:37] there.
[1:25:38] >> Thank you.
[1:25:45] » Oh, sure. Um, I'm I'm in the midst of
[1:25:49] applying for a very large grant for the
[1:25:52] library through the Vermont Department
[1:25:54] of Libraries, um, all the way up to
[1:25:56] $400,000. But it it's to insulate the
[1:26:00] library um, to hopefully make it so we
[1:26:03] can use the downstairs of the library
[1:26:06] um, and do a new HVAC and improve the
[1:26:09] accessibility of the building. So, like
[1:26:11] making sure that the ramps are safe and
[1:26:13] the doors have automatic openers. um and
[1:26:16] things like that. So, it can be
[1:26:18] available and used for years and years
[1:26:20] to come and it won't just kind of go to
[1:26:23] this repair.
[1:26:23] >> Great. Thank you so much.
[1:26:28] » I've got a question for road
[1:26:30] commissioner/
[1:26:32] highway department. Um on the fire
[1:26:34] department, we've got a uh returning
[1:26:38] call on Pikes Falls Road. been six times
[1:26:41] somebody's gone over the bridge at the
[1:26:43] first bridge on Plex Falls. Coming down
[1:26:46] from Stratton, their GPS reroutes and it
[1:26:48] saves them three minutes going home to
[1:26:51] 91. They don't see the turn that it's a
[1:26:54] 90° turn and instead of going down the
[1:26:56] driveway, they try to make the turn,
[1:26:58] jump over the guardrail that's been hit
[1:27:00] six times and spraying flat and land in
[1:27:02] the river. Um, we get called out. It's a
[1:27:05] waste of our time's resources to go deal
[1:27:07] with that. What is is there any plan to
[1:27:10] fix that guard rail and increase
[1:27:12] visibility on signage
[1:27:13] >> for that corner coming down that strap?
[1:27:17] >> That is an excellent point. Um
[1:27:20] >> there's not specific I mean a very very
[1:27:22] good point. I mean there's not specific
[1:27:24] plans for that. We could easily enough
[1:27:26] go put up a new sign. I can probably
[1:27:28] without being surprised to anybody. It's
[1:27:31] probably won't make a difference,
[1:27:32] >> right? Um, but we can easily put up a
[1:27:34] new sign and and um take a look at the
[1:27:37] guardrail again, you know, once the snow
[1:27:39] bank's nothing but I know it's been beat
[1:27:40] up.
[1:27:41] >> There used to be some kind of light
[1:27:43] flashing or strobing and
[1:27:45] >> like I said, the guard rail just
[1:27:46] destroyed at this point. People are
[1:27:47] going to keep ramping off of this.
[1:27:49] >> Okay,
[1:27:50] >> thank you for those
[1:27:54] » um just a reminder that um dog licenses
[1:27:58] are due April 1st and that's not a town
[1:28:01] thing. It's actually a state law. Um, so
[1:28:03] if you see dog owners, remind them that
[1:28:05] they need to get their dogs licensed.
[1:28:07] Um, and they can do that at the town
[1:28:09] hall.
[1:28:10] >> Town office.
[1:28:10] >> Oh, town office. Excuse me.
[1:28:12] >> Karen, good.
[1:28:12] >> I would like a discussion on education.
[1:28:15] >> Yeah. Can I just remind everybody first
[1:28:17] of all that um the meeting has been
[1:28:20] warned for April 8th. We were asked by
[1:28:24] um the school board, the uh West River
[1:28:26] Unified Education District to um vote as
[1:28:30] a town whether to close the school. And
[1:28:34] we warned a second article which is that
[1:28:37] if in fact the town does vote to close
[1:28:41] the school, do we as citizens um agree
[1:28:45] that we should buy that property back
[1:28:47] from the school district for a dollar?
[1:28:50] Um, we also warned an information
[1:28:52] session for March 31st. It's the Tuesday
[1:28:55] before the April 8th um, election. The
[1:28:59] April 8th election is Australian ballot.
[1:29:01] It's not here on the floor like we do
[1:29:03] town meeting. Um, it's uh, voting is
[1:29:06] open. We What did we change it? 9:00
[1:29:08] a.m. till
[1:29:09] >> it's that's 9 to 7.
[1:29:10] >> 9 till 7. Yep.
[1:29:12] >> Um, and we can do we can do absentee
[1:29:15] ballots too, right? You can do absentee
[1:29:16] ballots on that as well.
[1:29:18] >> That's a regular election. That's a
[1:29:19] regular
[1:29:21] >> um and the information session is also
[1:29:24] at the town office. I do encourage
[1:29:26] people to come. There's a subcommittee
[1:29:28] of the select board um right now that's
[1:29:31] in the process of preparing um concepts.
[1:29:35] I mean maybe can I can I leave that to
[1:29:36] you Robert? Do you want to just talk
[1:29:38] about the committee?
[1:29:39] >> Yeah. So, we have a subcommittee
[1:29:40] starting this Thursday evening run by
[1:29:42] Jason, myself and a number of people
[1:29:44] from the community who are looking at um
[1:29:47] potential uses for the Jamaica Village
[1:29:49] School property if the town votes to
[1:29:52] close the school. Um it's more of a
[1:29:54] preparation. We're not talking about
[1:29:57] during this committee if we should or if
[1:29:58] we should not close the school. It's an
[1:30:00] if and type of scenario. So, we are just
[1:30:04] reaching out to community members. If
[1:30:06] anybody would like to join us, you can
[1:30:07] definitely reach out to myself or Jason.
[1:30:09] Um, we're having our first meeting this
[1:30:11] Thursday, 7:00 at the Jamaica Village
[1:30:14] School. And anybody with an idea is
[1:30:16] welcome. More the marrier. I think the
[1:30:18] more ideas we get, the better off we're
[1:30:20] going to be.
[1:30:21] >> What we heard from a lot of people was
[1:30:23] how do we possibly as a as as a group of
[1:30:26] citizens vote whether to take back the
[1:30:28] school if there's not if there hasn't
[1:30:30] even been a discussion yet of what that
[1:30:33] what the property might be used for. So
[1:30:36] yeah, so that's that's what the
[1:30:38] committee is going to be doing and
[1:30:40] that's what the information session is
[1:30:42] about for us as a town to to contemplate
[1:30:44] that.
[1:30:45] >> Jessica,
[1:30:46] >> oh, hold on. No, no, sorry. Kia, you're
[1:30:49] next.
[1:30:49] >> Um, sorry. Could you just repeat when
[1:30:52] that March 31st info session will be?
[1:30:55] What time?
[1:30:55] >> It's 7 o'clock at the town offices.
[1:30:58] >> Okay. Yes,
[1:31:00] >> Jean again.
[1:31:02] At the select board meeting that I did
[1:31:04] attend, it was asked what the value of
[1:31:07] the school was to the listister and it
[1:31:09] hasn't been done. Is there any new
[1:31:11] action on the value of the school before
[1:31:13] we have this discussion about what to do
[1:31:16] if the town votes to close the school?
[1:31:18] >> It has been done.
[1:31:23] >> So, is there a value now? Thank you.
[1:31:26] >> There is a value. I don't remember
[1:31:28] exactly what it is. We you'd have to
[1:31:30] come into the lister's office and ask
[1:31:32] for the value. We don't memorize them.
[1:31:36] >> So she they're saying you could come
[1:31:37] into the lister's office. They're tomorrow 10 to 3 and they they
[1:31:41] can give you that number.
[1:31:45] » Other topics? Anything else? Olivia, did
[1:31:47] you have something you wanted to say?
[1:31:48] I'm sorry.
[1:31:49] >> No, I was asking what time you can see
[1:31:50] what time the meeting was, but
[1:31:52] >> Oh,
[1:31:53] >> seven. Seven. Okay. Sorry.
[1:31:58] » Anybody else? something. Yeah.
[1:32:00] >> What is the status of a town wastewater
[1:32:02] project?
[1:32:04] >> Great question.
[1:32:05] >> What's what ask us what what is the
[1:32:08] status of the wastewater uh project in
[1:32:10] town?
[1:32:14] » Well, pretty much Chrissy, can you talk
[1:32:17] a little bit? Thank you.
[1:32:19] >> Um I'm the engineer for the project and
[1:32:24] for London.
[1:32:26] Um the legendary got a bunch of money
[1:32:29] uh like three or four years ago. Um that
[1:32:33] was our money and unfortunately it was
[1:32:36] all given out in one round. It was
[1:32:38] supposed to be given out two rounds and we weren't ready for the first round
[1:32:41] so we were little the second round but
[1:32:44] then they gave it all out the first
[1:32:45] round. Um I explained to the state they
[1:32:49] um so we have the um we have the study
[1:32:55] done and we we have we have to do a
[1:32:58] final presentation still um and so
[1:33:01] actually Jessica and I just talked about
[1:33:03] that the other day um about trying to
[1:33:05] schedule um the final presentation. We
[1:33:08] do have some extra money left over from
[1:33:11] the funding we already got, which is
[1:33:13] 100% grant. Um, and so I'm going to be
[1:33:17] talking to the state about um the
[1:33:20] possibility of taking that money and
[1:33:22] turning it around to use it um on
[1:33:25] getting like the first part of the
[1:33:27] design done just to get as much done as
[1:33:29] we can with the money we have. Um, and
[1:33:33] then moving forward there there are some
[1:33:35] funding opportunities to continue
[1:33:37] design. It's not 100% grant though. Um,
[1:33:40] so that's something that um I'm going to
[1:33:42] talk to Jessica about and I'm sure the
[1:33:43] select board will will be talking about
[1:33:45] it then. Um, so keep an eye out. There
[1:33:48] will be a meeting coming up to just
[1:33:50] finish out the study part of it. Um, and
[1:33:54] uh, and then that'll be the final
[1:33:56] meeting for the study and then hopefully
[1:33:57] we can move to some design. enough. So,
[1:34:00] correct me if I'm saying anything wrong.
[1:34:02] So, at that point, right, because there
[1:34:04] aren't federally funded monies that are
[1:34:07] available for us to to attempt to
[1:34:09] capture, and it doesn't seem likely, at
[1:34:12] least with the current federal
[1:34:13] administration, that more funds are
[1:34:15] going to be coming into states like
[1:34:16] Vermont for these kinds of projects. we
[1:34:19] have the option to either sit and wait
[1:34:22] until maybe a further a future
[1:34:24] administration
[1:34:26] um pushing out some funds or we can
[1:34:29] always as a town opt for potentially you
[1:34:32] know there are different options.
[1:34:34] There's like the lowest cost option and
[1:34:36] the highest cost option. So we can as a
[1:34:39] town potentially agree that we want to
[1:34:42] go with one of those options and to seek
[1:34:44] a bond. So we could finance it the same
[1:34:47] way the town financed the current town
[1:34:49] garage which is nearly actually that
[1:34:52] bond is nearly paid off and that go so
[1:34:55] there are other ways that we could
[1:34:57] undertake that project other than
[1:34:59] federal funds but it would mean the town
[1:35:02] is borrowing the money.
[1:35:04] >> That that is correct. Um it the ARPA
[1:35:07] money is is
[1:35:10] that kind of money comes around once
[1:35:12] every
[1:35:14] 10 to 15 years. The last time was the
[1:35:16] era money which was back to 2008. So we
[1:35:19] had era money in 2008. We had ARC money
[1:35:21] in 22.
[1:35:24] >> So that's the time frame we're looking.
[1:35:26] It's usually triggered by some sort of
[1:35:28] major thing. the pandemic. Um I think we
[1:35:31] had a
[1:35:34] um we had this economic downturn,
[1:35:35] >> right?
[1:35:36] >> Um so we can't we we can wait for that
[1:35:40] money. It could be another 15 plus
[1:35:42] years.
[1:35:43] >> Um but the thing is that when that big
[1:35:46] pot of money comes out because of some
[1:35:48] event that happens, the projects that
[1:35:51] get it are the projects that are ready
[1:35:52] for it. And so it's important for us to
[1:35:55] keep moving forward as much as possible
[1:35:58] and to put some sort of design on the
[1:36:01] shelf so that we're ready when that
[1:36:02] money does come. So it it's it's a
[1:36:05] long-term schedule.
[1:36:12] >> Yes.
[1:36:13] >> Yeah. That's why we're finishing it
[1:36:16] >> or as much as we have money for
[1:36:20] this. to get the town on on water and
[1:36:25] septic, not what they're doing now, so
[1:36:27] they can expand. Is that
[1:36:29] >> I believe the plan was to get a septic,
[1:36:32] >> not water. So people would still have
[1:36:34] wells in town, but the septic would be a
[1:36:36] shared septic and that takes away all
[1:36:38] the regulations of the 100 ft distance
[1:36:40] between your well and your other. So
[1:36:41] that that's that's what we're trying to
[1:36:43] do is you take out that one piece and
[1:36:45] that frees up people to expand capacity
[1:36:47] in restaurants or the store, whatever
[1:36:49] they want to do. That's correct.
[1:36:50] >> That's my understanding.
[1:36:51] >> Thank you.
[1:36:53] >> Yes.
[1:36:53] Peter. Um, so as I understand it,
[1:36:57] this project is the whole town is going
[1:36:59] to pay or contribute for this whole
[1:37:01] project that's going to benefit a dozen
[1:37:04] locations in the downtown area.
[1:37:06] >> And so we're going to be you're asking
[1:37:08] the town everybody in town to pay for
[1:37:10] the 12 people or so or dozen properties
[1:37:13] in downtown.
[1:37:14] Well, we're not asking anybody anything
[1:37:16] because there are no funds that we're
[1:37:18] going for. The the design includes
[1:37:21] funding sources and uh it would Yeah,
[1:37:25] it's it's uh like all municipalities in
[1:37:28] the state of Vermont where there's uh
[1:37:33] » he still he still has the floor.
[1:37:35] >> So, is there any other restriction? And
[1:37:37] I know in a nearby town, a neighboring
[1:37:39] town, there's a a water water department
[1:37:43] company that was a private consortium
[1:37:46] between the land owners and that solved
[1:37:50] their problem. Is there anything
[1:37:51] preventing this town from doing that
[1:37:54] same thing, the land owners here from
[1:37:55] joining together and creating that kind
[1:37:57] of an opportunity that that way the cost
[1:38:00] isn't shared by the entire town for the
[1:38:02] benefit of just the people in the
[1:38:04] downtown area?
[1:38:06] I don't do you know what that is,
[1:38:08] Chrissy? I'm not familiar with
[1:38:10] >> So, I'm not familiar with with anything
[1:38:12] private, but there there's some options
[1:38:15] the town has. So, the town can there
[1:38:17] there's funding available. There's there
[1:38:19] are loans available. Um the town could
[1:38:22] choose to take out a loan to finish
[1:38:25] design and and do construction. Um that
[1:38:29] loan then has to be paid back. So the
[1:38:33] town can choose that everybody in town,
[1:38:36] every taxpayer in town has to pay that
[1:38:38] loan back through your through your town
[1:38:40] taxes or they can apply that loan to the
[1:38:44] users of the system only and the users
[1:38:47] pay it back. Um so most towns, you know,
[1:38:52] you go to let's say Manchester and they
[1:38:55] take out a loan to fix a sewer main the
[1:38:59] users of the sewer system pay for that.
[1:39:01] The whole town does not pay for that.
[1:39:02] just users pay for that. London with
[1:39:06] their new wastewater system that's going
[1:39:08] to be constructed. Um they have uh
[1:39:12] elected to have the entire town pay for
[1:39:16] the loan cost and the users pay the
[1:39:19] operation maintenance of the system. Um
[1:39:22] so each town can do it differently.
[1:39:24] >> Um and and Jamaica can choose to do it
[1:39:26] however you want.
[1:39:28] >> Thank you.
[1:39:29] >> But those decisions haven't been made
[1:39:30] yet. who now
[1:39:35] » right before I I'm gonna Anyone else
[1:39:37] have anything to say before we go into
[1:39:38] the school discussion?
[1:39:41] >> Unrelated thing to say.
[1:39:43] >> I was going to say something to his town
[1:39:44] clerk. I just want to let everybody know
[1:39:45] that the town office hours have
[1:39:47] increased. I know you said till 4:00.
[1:39:49] The office is now open 7:30 a.m. till
[1:39:52] 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday. So,
[1:39:54] we're still closed on Fridays, but it
[1:39:56] does give people time before they go to
[1:39:58] work and possibly getting off work a
[1:40:00] little early and coming in. I know that
[1:40:01] there was 9 to4 previously. So, we have
[1:40:03] expanded that significantly since I've
[1:40:05] become town clerk. So, just so everybody
[1:40:06] knows that, coming in to say hello. We'd
[1:40:08] always like to have visitors,
[1:40:10] >> Erica. And then we're going to go to the
[1:40:11] school discussion.
[1:40:11] >> Okay. I have a fun thing to announce.
[1:40:15] >> On March 15th at 300 p.m. there is going
[1:40:20] to be a fantastic event in this town
[1:40:22] hall. Oh. Um, we have a conflict with
[1:40:25] that. We need to talk about that.
[1:40:27] >> Sorry.
[1:40:30] I I don't want to shut you down,
[1:40:32] but we we need to we need to talk about
[1:40:34] that
[1:40:34] >> secretly. Yeah. Ask her secret.
[1:40:43] » Sorry. But yeah, Drew, you want to go
[1:40:45] Drew and Dana, please talk about the
[1:40:47] schools? Um,
[1:40:50] so Jay and I represent the town of
[1:40:51] Jamaica as part of the West River
[1:40:53] Education District. So that is the other
[1:40:55] part of your tax bill, the much larger
[1:40:57] chunk of your tax bill,
[1:40:58] >> more expensive.
[1:40:59] >> Um,
[1:41:00] >> and in fact, the biggest chunk that you
[1:41:03] don't control of your tax bill.
[1:41:05] >> And I wanted to take a moment to explain
[1:41:07] where we're at right now with uh
[1:41:10] education. And if you want to come to
[1:41:13] schoolboard meetings, we love
[1:41:14] attendance. Um so please come and join
[1:41:18] us. So just to bring everybody uh into
[1:41:21] the same place. Um over the years um
[1:41:25] Jamaica has decided to do certain
[1:41:28] things. So if we go way back before I
[1:41:30] was born um Jamaica uh became one of the
[1:41:34] Leon and Grey towns. So we joined a
[1:41:38] union school district um which was Leon
[1:41:40] and Gray. So we had a local school board
[1:41:42] and then we had a little Grady school
[1:41:44] board um that took care of our high
[1:41:46] school kids. So for a long time our we
[1:41:49] had two different boards, two different
[1:41:50] budgets. They got merged and that's what
[1:41:52] you paid your taxes on before that to
[1:41:54] make it care of all of your own kids.
[1:41:57] Fast forward a few years um and we
[1:42:00] through a whole bunch of legislative
[1:42:02] action we had some options to either try
[1:42:05] to get out of that um or not.
[1:42:08] Ultimately, Jamaica decided to stay in
[1:42:11] mostly because of the how complicated it
[1:42:13] was to remove ourselves from that union
[1:42:15] school district.
[1:42:18] Fast forward another few years, more uh
[1:42:20] legislation brought us to merging
[1:42:23] governance, much like Laura talked about
[1:42:25] this morning. The first step was merging
[1:42:27] governance and you had to merge into
[1:42:29] like districts. Well, we were already um
[1:42:32] a you in the district with New Fain and
[1:42:34] Brookline and Townsen as part of the
[1:42:36] Union School District. So, we've merged
[1:42:38] into what is now West River Education
[1:42:40] District. So, West River Education
[1:42:43] District now controls education from preschool to 12th grade. Um, it's
[1:42:49] one board that controls that education.
[1:42:52] That board operates currently uh four
[1:42:55] school buildings, one here in Jamaica,
[1:42:57] one in New Feay, one in Townsen, and the
[1:43:00] Leon and Gray campus.
[1:43:03] that West River Education District is
[1:43:05] part of the Windham Central Supervisory
[1:43:08] Union. Windham Central Supervisory Union
[1:43:11] um has other school districts that also
[1:43:15] um are part of the the supervisory union
[1:43:18] including Malo who is being whose
[1:43:20] populace is being asked to close their
[1:43:22] school today. um River Valleys which is
[1:43:25] a merger between Dover and Wartsboro and
[1:43:28] then Stratton uh who's a non-operating
[1:43:31] district and Windham who's also now
[1:43:33] nonoperating. So that's the structure.
[1:43:36] What's important to understand is that
[1:43:38] as this legislative process has happened
[1:43:40] over the last 20 years, responsibility
[1:43:43] keeps shifting. So more things um more
[1:43:47] responsibilities have been shifted away
[1:43:50] from local control here in this room.
[1:43:53] Like we are not voting on a budget here
[1:43:55] today, right? Has moved away from the
[1:43:59] school board and moved to for example
[1:44:01] the superintendent's office. So, if you
[1:44:04] were to look at those budgets today,
[1:44:06] you're going to notice that a large
[1:44:08] percent of our local education budget is
[1:44:11] an assessment from the supervisory union
[1:44:14] that you guys don't get to vote on ever.
[1:44:18] Um, I think this is really important for
[1:44:20] people to realize. That number this year
[1:44:22] alone, um, for us in West River
[1:44:25] Education went up by over $700,000
[1:44:28] in the assessment side. Now, that
[1:44:31] assessment went up because of offsett
[1:44:34] offsetting revenues that were not coming
[1:44:36] from the federal government. But that
[1:44:37] assessment also went up because the
[1:44:40] school district and the supervisory
[1:44:42] union have been utilizing fund balances
[1:44:45] since the end of the pandemic to buy
[1:44:46] down tax rates. So, this year alone, the
[1:44:49] supervisory union budget um was bought
[1:44:53] down by $1.1 million in fund balance and
[1:44:58] you guys had to kick in another
[1:44:59] $750,000.
[1:45:01] So, that's impacting our local budget.
[1:45:04] We went through a very long process of
[1:45:07] budgeting this year with our our
[1:45:10] district looking at uh what our tax rate
[1:45:14] might look like if we kept programming
[1:45:16] the same. and we were looking at almost
[1:45:18] a 30% tax increase uh in your education
[1:45:21] taxes um by taking that assessment from
[1:45:25] the SU and just level funding programs
[1:45:28] across our um district. Ultimately, we
[1:45:33] did decide to come back to the town of
[1:45:35] Jamaica and ask to close the Jamaica
[1:45:37] Villa School and the programming at
[1:45:40] Jamaica Village School with the intent
[1:45:42] that we could offer the same or similar
[1:45:45] programming um at the other facilities,
[1:45:48] bringing down the uh the total cost.
[1:45:51] Now, keep in mind that we're reducing
[1:45:53] costs in our local budget,
[1:45:56] but we're not actually reducing costs
[1:45:58] because we had a massive increase in the
[1:46:01] assessment that came down to us. So, if
[1:46:03] you were to go to one of our school
[1:46:05] board meetings and look at the
[1:46:06] spreadsheet that we were working with,
[1:46:09] um, every reduction we made in
[1:46:11] programming in our local district was
[1:46:14] offset, um, by additional assessments
[1:46:17] that were coming to us. So, it's a very
[1:46:19] difficult um discussion. We try to get
[1:46:22] through it with making as little program
[1:46:25] changes to kids as we can.
[1:46:28] Unfortunately, we don't get to control a
[1:46:30] lot of the expenses.
[1:46:33] We also bought down our own tax rate in
[1:46:37] our district utilizing fund balance. So,
[1:46:40] we utilize about 350,000 of local West
[1:46:43] River Education District funds to buy
[1:46:45] down the tax rate.
[1:46:47] We don't know the final number yet
[1:46:49] because the legislature has to set that
[1:46:51] in June, but you're probably going to be
[1:46:53] looking at roughly a 10% education tax
[1:46:57] increase even if the town votes to close
[1:47:01] the school and even with all of the fund
[1:47:05] balances which total about a million a
[1:47:08] half dollars um of buying down the tax
[1:47:11] rate.
[1:47:12] I want to bring this up because this is
[1:47:15] the last year of fund balance. Um the
[1:47:18] supervisory unit has no more fund
[1:47:19] balance. The education district has no
[1:47:21] more fund balance. So next year um the
[1:47:25] full weighted budget is going to hit
[1:47:27] your taxes. Like there's nothing there's
[1:47:29] no other levers that the boards have to
[1:47:33] pull in order to reduce the impact of
[1:47:35] education taxes. So that's the good news
[1:47:40] I have to share with you all.
[1:47:42] Um, and if anybody wants to uh come to a
[1:47:46] board meeting and wants to take over my
[1:47:48] board seat, um,
[1:47:49] >> can we also share that all of this
[1:47:52] information is actually on the website
[1:47:54] and it's very well presented, including
[1:47:56] the evolutions of the budget drafts.
[1:47:59] >> So, I got the pleasure of taking over as
[1:48:01] the chair of the Western Education
[1:48:03] District this year, and my goal has been
[1:48:05] about public transparency and making
[1:48:06] sure you can find this information and
[1:48:09] we have um,
[1:48:11] We've been very aggressive with the
[1:48:13] administration about making sure that
[1:48:14] this information is available. So, you
[1:48:16] can go to the website and see every
[1:48:18] draft of the budget meetings and
[1:48:20] discussions for West River. The
[1:48:23] documents for the SU are less clear, but
[1:48:27] better than they've ever been. Um,
[1:48:30] >> what's the website?
[1:48:31] >> Uh, so look at Windham Central uh
[1:48:34] Windham Centrals.org or Windham Central
[1:48:37] Supervisory Union and it'll link to
[1:48:39] that. you want to do the full thing
[1:48:41] because there's other entities out there
[1:48:44] on the internet. If you go WCS,
[1:48:46] >> I can put one out there.
[1:48:47] >> You'll get sites you don't want.
[1:48:49] >> We just And we just
[1:48:50] >> I'll put a link on the website to
[1:48:51] everybody. So, there'll be a post and
[1:48:53] there'll be a w link on the website.
[1:48:55] >> A link. Yeah.
[1:48:56] >> And if any specific questions, I I don't
[1:48:58] have much more time, but I'll try to do
[1:49:00] my best to answer. Um certainly, you're
[1:49:04] welcome to come to board meetings. Um,
[1:49:07] if you have spare time and you're
[1:49:10] interested to see where the state is,
[1:49:12] you can go on to YouTube and you can
[1:49:14] watch the state house and senate
[1:49:17] education committees. They are
[1:49:20] discussing
[1:49:22] redistricting. Um, there is a big push
[1:49:25] for regional high schools, centralized
[1:49:28] middle schools, and limited elementary
[1:49:32] schools. like they want them more or
[1:49:34] less centralized too. They want bigger
[1:49:37] districts. Laura mentioned this morning
[1:49:39] there's a couple maps out if you haven't
[1:49:40] looked at it. One of the maps would
[1:49:42] actually take this swath and combine us
[1:49:44] with the Bellis Falls area. Um again
[1:49:47] further removing governance local
[1:49:50] control
[1:49:51] >> and adding bigger
[1:49:53] >> basically everything from Winhaul all
[1:49:55] the way like a almost a square swath all
[1:49:58] the way over to Phil Falls. We become
[1:50:00] part of a single district with that
[1:50:02] entire area. That's one of the
[1:50:03] proposals. That's the house. The Senate
[1:50:06] has us lumped in with Twin Valley and
[1:50:09] Bradboro probably Bradboro because they
[1:50:12] wanted to base the regional high schools
[1:50:13] around career centers. And there's a big
[1:50:17] push for that on the governor and the
[1:50:20] senate side. So we'd be lumped in with
[1:50:22] Bradboro, Southeastern, Southwestern,
[1:50:26] Windham, and Central
[1:50:29] and Wartsboro and Dover would be taken
[1:50:32] out of our district and given to uh
[1:50:36] >> over the hill Manchester.
[1:50:38] >> Other questions for for Drew and Dana?
[1:50:41] Jean. Jean, you're I did you have a
[1:50:44] question?
[1:50:45] Thank you both. I've been watching this
[1:50:47] for a while and you guys are eloquently
[1:50:50] transparent and on our side as people as
[1:50:53] we people. My question is my
[1:50:56] understanding is there was a contract
[1:50:58] signed a while back that made the town
[1:51:02] of Jamaica unable to step out of the
[1:51:06] district. Do you guys have an access to
[1:51:09] an attorney who could help us do that if
[1:51:12] that's what the town decides? So, it's
[1:51:14] not that we can't get out. So, the the
[1:51:16] legislature created a process for uh
[1:51:20] dissolving these types of unions. And
[1:51:22] what it is is Jamaica would have to vote
[1:51:24] to leave and then all of the other towns
[1:51:27] that were partners with would have to
[1:51:29] vote to let us out. So, the process is
[1:51:31] clearly defined. Um it's just very very
[1:51:35] unlikely that all of the other
[1:51:37] communities because then they would
[1:51:38] fully um the taxation. So, it's not
[1:51:43] there isn't a process. The process is
[1:51:45] very well defined. It's just there's
[1:51:47] nobody that believes that would ever
[1:51:49] actually get through there. Um, now that
[1:51:52] being said, the legislature with what
[1:51:54] they're doing in Montpillar um may be
[1:51:56] changing that process and force
[1:51:57] dissolving some of these mergers through
[1:52:00] legislation.
[1:52:01] >> Mary, did you have something?
[1:52:02] >> At one time, I thought there was
[1:52:04] something that states so many students
[1:52:08] go to schools every day. It was a large
[1:52:12] number or something would happen to that
[1:52:14] this I can't imagine that we have that
[1:52:17] number that they request like 1,200 or
[1:52:20] students a day.
[1:52:21] >> There was originally but they jumped
[1:52:24] that down to 2,000 to 4,000
[1:52:27] >> but originally they wanted uh
[1:52:30] >> 4,000 to 8,000 12,000.
[1:52:32] >> Right?
[1:52:33] >> So put it into perspective. Our entire
[1:52:35] supervisory union only has 600 children.
[1:52:39] So, we're not even close to the minimum
[1:52:42] sizes that they're kicking around at
[1:52:43] Montpillar. Um, so again, there's definitely more changes coming
[1:52:47] because every time and we've been
[1:52:50] watching kind of the movement up there,
[1:52:52] uh, when they look when they talk about
[1:52:53] minimum size for a high school or
[1:52:55] minimum size or class size or minimum
[1:52:58] whatever their new minimum discussion of
[1:53:00] the week is, um, we don't seem to meet
[1:53:03] any of them.
[1:53:04] um they're definitely not designed for
[1:53:06] rural communities and the only their
[1:53:10] answer is well then we'll just move
[1:53:11] those kids to more urban areas like and some of the the busing guidance that
[1:53:16] they put out they're ex they're
[1:53:19] accepting an hourong busing as
[1:53:22] reasonable for elementary and 90 minutes
[1:53:24] for for secondary.
[1:53:25] >> Yeah.
[1:53:26] >> So like these are some of the numbers
[1:53:27] that are kicking around as part of this
[1:53:29] policy discussion
[1:53:30] >> um up in Mont Pillar. So it's very
[1:53:34] possible that through this there could
[1:53:37] be um an expectation that our kids are
[1:53:40] on buses for a very long time. There is
[1:53:44] um some talk of eliminating school
[1:53:47] choice.
[1:53:48] The whole thing they uh feel there's the
[1:53:52] push for public education
[1:53:55] uh you know trying a high school trying
[1:53:57] to give AP classes and they only got
[1:54:00] five kids. Well, it's because the kids
[1:54:03] that would be in that class have school
[1:54:06] choice.
[1:54:07] See, they're looking at you could do
[1:54:09] early college. Well, they're talking
[1:54:10] about doing away with that, which gave
[1:54:12] kids opportunity to get programming that
[1:54:16] they couldn't get in their high school.
[1:54:19] We're fighting against each other in a
[1:54:20] way either, you know. So, the school
[1:54:23] choice question is even coming up to
[1:54:25] where they may abolish that.
[1:54:27] So, what can we do as a community to
[1:54:32] support you or to make better choice uh
[1:54:35] choices that don't take things away from
[1:54:38] our kids and put them on buses for three
[1:54:41] hours a day? What can we all do? What
[1:54:44] action can we take?
[1:54:45] >> So,
[1:54:47] a lot of those decisions uh right now
[1:54:49] are out of our local hands. So, um,
[1:54:54] contacting Laura, um, Emily Long, who's
[1:54:58] a new thing representative, sits on
[1:54:59] House Education. So, um, again, continue
[1:55:02] to communicate with our legislators in
[1:55:06] Mont Pillar. Um, and then locally on the
[1:55:09] board, we we want to hear from people.
[1:55:12] We've got some really really tough
[1:55:14] decisions um, you know,
[1:55:16] >> that that are happening now. We are
[1:55:17] having to downsize staff. um we are
[1:55:21] having to make decisions that are
[1:55:23] affecting kids and we don't have a
[1:55:25] choice. Um we have so we started
[1:55:31] when the enrollment started dropping so
[1:55:33] you know Jamaican village boosts have
[1:55:35] 100 children in it. U we don't have 100
[1:55:37] children in that age range across three
[1:55:41] towns now right it's just we just don't
[1:55:43] have the kids. So as we've continued to
[1:55:46] consolidate and made it get smaller um
[1:55:49] the grades that are coming in are
[1:55:51] smaller than the grades that are going
[1:55:52] out. So our population and the way that
[1:55:54] the formula works is based on um per
[1:55:57] pupil spending. Our per pupil spending
[1:56:00] this year we we were through some sort
[1:56:03] of formula anomaly and we're not going
[1:56:06] to tell the state about it. Um, our
[1:56:09] makebelieve student count, our per pupil
[1:56:12] students actually went up. Even though
[1:56:15] that's not the way you count children,
[1:56:17] >> it's not a one-on-one.
[1:56:18] >> And I'm just going to hang on, let me
[1:56:19] just back up a minute cuz it probably
[1:56:21] sounds like I'm confused, right?
[1:56:23] Everybody in the room, if I ask you how
[1:56:24] many kids were in the district, you go
[1:56:26] in there and go 1 2 3 4 5, right? That
[1:56:29] is not how the state of Vermont counts
[1:56:30] kids. Um, there are some kids that are
[1:56:32] worth less than one. There are some kids
[1:56:33] that are worth more than one. And we
[1:56:35] have Oh, yeah. preschool kids. By the
[1:56:38] way, anybody here ever tried to manage a
[1:56:40] preschool age child? They're they only
[1:56:42] count as point4. Yeah. I can tell you
[1:56:44] that in my house that was like a 2.0.
[1:56:48] So, but anyway, so there there's these
[1:56:51] different weights. So, even though we
[1:56:52] only have, you know, roughly, you know,
[1:56:55] 400 kids, we have a pupil per pupil
[1:56:58] count that's 817. And it changes. These
[1:57:01] weights all change. So that's a major
[1:57:04] part of the formula, but they changed
[1:57:05] the way they count the kids every year.
[1:57:08] And so this year we got pretty lucky
[1:57:09] because our make believe number was a
[1:57:12] little bit higher, which means our total
[1:57:15] per pupil spending went down because
[1:57:16] that's how you divide it up. Total
[1:57:18] spending divided by number of students.
[1:57:21] Next year that's going to drop. Uh
[1:57:23] there's no question in my mind that that
[1:57:25] our total number of students going to
[1:57:26] drop, which is going to make our per
[1:57:27] pupil price go higher. they reinstituted
[1:57:30] our penalty this year last year. Um, so
[1:57:34] every dollar we spend over the
[1:57:36] allowable, we get taxed twice. It's a
[1:57:39] 100% penalty that the state is imposing
[1:57:41] on us. Um, now again, this is designed
[1:57:45] in my opinion to hurt rural communities
[1:57:48] because it's impossible for us to
[1:57:50] provide quality education and stable
[1:57:52] threshold. So now we have to pay two to
[1:57:55] one uh for every dollar that we spend
[1:57:57] over it. The other thing they changed is
[1:58:00] uh it used to be that infrastructure,
[1:58:03] bond payments and things like that were
[1:58:04] not counted in your per pupil spending.
[1:58:06] So you could make changes for
[1:58:08] efficiency. So we for example could
[1:58:10] reconfigure one of our buildings um
[1:58:13] become more efficient and the bond
[1:58:14] payment through that reconfiguration was
[1:58:16] not considered. They took that away from
[1:58:18] us. Every improvement, every capital
[1:58:20] investment we make all goes into uh the
[1:58:23] per pupil spending. So they've
[1:58:25] handcuffed us in the in the world of
[1:58:28] innovation too. So the idea that hey we
[1:58:31] could become more efficient if we just
[1:58:33] you know modernized our build building
[1:58:34] so we didn't have to have four
[1:58:36] principles. Well that bond would drive
[1:58:39] us over the threshold and we'd be paying
[1:58:41] double taxation on every dollar over. So
[1:58:44] there's a lot of things like that are at
[1:58:45] play. The other pieces that you guys
[1:58:47] have to remember in Jamaica is that we
[1:58:48] have a CLA that is 4
[1:58:52] >> 48 48
[1:58:54] >> 48
[1:58:55] >> um which means your property valuations
[1:58:57] they consider to be 50 roughly half of
[1:59:00] what they should be. So Mont Pillar came
[1:59:03] up with a multiplier this year which is
[1:59:06] 77 I believe. So now we have a
[1:59:09] makebelieve number of students, a CLA
[1:59:11] that's low, a.77 multiplier that was
[1:59:14] added to it, and then the legislature is
[1:59:16] going to pick a yield sometime between
[1:59:18] now and June, and that's going to set
[1:59:20] your tax rate. Um, so that's why I can't
[1:59:24] tell you exactly what it's going to be.
[1:59:26] Um, they like to tell us all that the
[1:59:28] spending decisions are local. Um, if
[1:59:30] anybody can figure out that formula and
[1:59:32] tell us what that local decision is
[1:59:34] there, I would love to hear it. Patty,
[1:59:36] did you have your hand up?
[1:59:37] >> I just want to know, are we better off
[1:59:39] with more fake kids or less fake kids?
[1:59:44] » More fake kids. More fake kids.
[1:59:47] >> Yes. More
[1:59:49] >> grand kids. Yes.
[1:59:57] » And And if anybody, we had a nice
[1:59:59] discussion at Kama Village School um
[2:00:02] earlier this winter. If anybody wants
[2:00:05] like the real details as to how the
[2:00:07] formula works, um I will go through all
[2:00:09] the numbers with you and show you where
[2:00:11] it works and how we came up with the
[2:00:13] budget. Um it's one of my favorite
[2:00:15] topics. So if you want to come, um we'll
[2:00:17] go through that. you want to come to
[2:00:19] board meetings and tell us about um
[2:00:21] programs that you really don't want us
[2:00:22] to cut. Um next year is going to be a
[2:00:24] it's going to be a brutal budget
[2:00:26] discussion
[2:00:27] >> because without fund balance to buy down
[2:00:30] the tax rate. We know that we have
[2:00:32] contractual obligations for um uh
[2:00:35] raises. We know that health insurance is
[2:00:37] going to go up again. Um you guys are
[2:00:39] going to be looking at tax increases
[2:00:41] next year that you probably never heard
[2:00:43] of, thought about and certainly don't
[2:00:45] want to see. Any other questions?
[2:00:48] Christie.
[2:00:49] >> Um, so as Drew just mentioned, there was a great meeting that they had
[2:00:54] a few weeks ago. Did a great job giving
[2:00:57] us all of these details and even more
[2:01:00] details at that meeting and we had there
[2:01:02] was about 20 people there. We had a
[2:01:04] great discussion about all of this. We
[2:01:06] really encourage everybody to get
[2:01:08] involved. Reach out to through Dana and
[2:01:10] get that information. It is really
[2:01:12] important right now. And if you're not
[2:01:15] following all of this, you you really
[2:01:17] need to start. And it's going to affect
[2:01:19] our town a lot more than, you know,
[2:01:22] Burlington and Warner Town. Um, a few
[2:01:26] friends of mine and I got together and
[2:01:28] started a Facebook page. It's called
[2:01:30] Southern Vermont and Rural Communities
[2:01:33] School Forum. And we're not giving sides
[2:01:36] there on any of this, but we're just
[2:01:38] getting information out. We're we're
[2:01:40] sharing news articles. for sharing
[2:01:42] snippets of the legislative meetings. Um
[2:01:45] there's there's people behind this page
[2:01:47] that are doing a lot of the research for
[2:01:49] everybody so that we can make it easy
[2:01:51] for people to stay involved and stay um
[2:01:55] up to speed on what's going on. So if
[2:01:57] you want to join that page um you know
[2:02:00] we try to do the work for you and keep
[2:02:02] everybody.
[2:02:05] >> Thank you. Any other questions for Drew
[2:02:07] and Dana?
[2:02:09] Sue,
[2:02:10] >> you mentioned that the supervisory
[2:02:12] union's budget is a handsoff thing. How do we change that? They they seem to
[2:02:18] be getting um a helper for helper of an
[2:02:22] for an assistant for an assistant. They
[2:02:24] seem they seem to be making up positions
[2:02:27] to fill it and there's nothing we can
[2:02:29] do. So, we're having to cut programs and
[2:02:32] they're they're adding staff. Okay. Um,
[2:02:35] so we're taking away from the kids,
[2:02:37] which is the purpose of them. How how do
[2:02:40] we how do how do you how do we fix that?
[2:02:43] Is that what's done all over the state?
[2:02:45] Is that is their budget put into it and
[2:02:48] voted on by the super board prior to
[2:02:52] anything so that nobody can touch it?
[2:02:55] >> So, um, our district runs the same as it
[2:02:58] does everywhere in the state. So, what
[2:02:59] we're doing here is consistent. Um, so
[2:03:03] the supervisory union budget is voted on
[2:03:05] by representatives from each of the uh
[2:03:08] school boards. So I do sit on the super
[2:03:11] advisory union board and anybody that's
[2:03:13] watched the meeting knows I voted
[2:03:15] against the budget um and for many many
[2:03:18] reasons. Um and the major reason was
[2:03:22] that we were the budget was introduced
[2:03:25] to us um and they called a vote on it in
[2:03:29] less than an hour.
[2:03:30] um without explaining what they were
[2:03:32] spending the money on, which is
[2:03:34] obviously why I had to express my
[2:03:36] opposition to it and vote against it. Um
[2:03:40] there's a lot of things that the state
[2:03:42] has mandated have to be in the
[2:03:44] superintendent's budget. Um the largest
[2:03:46] one being special education. So that
[2:03:49] used to show up in a local budget so we
[2:03:51] could see how that money was being
[2:03:52] spent. Now it's lumped together for the
[2:03:54] entire SU and we are a portioned chunk
[2:03:57] of it. So, we have no idea whether that
[2:04:00] money is being used to educate our kids
[2:04:03] or somebody else's kids. Um, and and
[2:04:06] again, that's a legislative mandate that
[2:04:08] it has to be done that way. Um, I think
[2:04:11] part of what this redistricting and
[2:04:13] mapping is about is trying to shrink
[2:04:16] some of that supervisory structure.
[2:04:18] We've got four superintendents in
[2:04:20] Windham County. Um, and again, the
[2:04:23] superintendent's offices are they're
[2:04:26] very well- paid positions. Um, far
[2:04:29] better paid than the teaching staff
[2:04:30] positions in in most cases. And we have
[2:04:35] um a lot of that administrative overhead
[2:04:37] is coming down to um our local. So, just
[2:04:40] to put it in perspective, there are 89
[2:04:43] full-time employees at the supervisory
[2:04:45] level um in our district. Those are
[2:04:50] teachers
[2:04:50] >> super they are not teachers teachers.
[2:04:52] >> Um now some of those provide teaching
[2:04:55] staff. So some of those are special
[2:04:56] educators but those are not the
[2:04:59] classroom teachers. U the classroom
[2:05:01] teachers and the principles of the
[2:05:02] building are in our local budget. That's
[2:05:04] what you guys get to vote on on the
[2:05:07] >> whatever date it is
[2:05:08] >> of the eth.
[2:05:10] >> You guys get to vote on on the local
[2:05:11] budget on the 8th. Able
[2:05:13] >> uh Able, which is the local teachers and
[2:05:17] the principles that are in the local
[2:05:19] building. Uh the assessment we have to
[2:05:21] pay regardless,
[2:05:25] » right? Any other questions? Any for
[2:05:27] them? Thank you guys so much for for
[2:05:29] talking about that.
[2:05:35] Any other business to bring before the
[2:05:37] body? And just remind our paperots to
[2:05:41] just hand those back.
[2:05:42] >> Yeah, bring them back. Just send them
[2:05:43] over to Aaron and Heather. Thank you.
[2:05:46] >> Um, so I I I'm going to entertain a
[2:05:49] motion to close article nine.
[2:05:54] » Moved by Greg Jolly. Seconded.
[2:05:58] >> You seconded. I'm sorry.
[2:05:59] >> Yes,
[2:06:00] >> Peter. Um, all in favor of closing
[2:06:03] article 9,
[2:06:04] >> I uh article or article eight rather.
[2:06:07] Article 9. Uh, can I get a motion to
[2:06:09] adjurnn?
[2:06:11] >> Greg Jolly Peter second. Closing the
[2:06:15] question. All in favor of adjourning. I
[2:06:18] >> meeting's closed.
[2:06:20] >> Excellent discussion.