[0:55] Okay. 6:30 Thursday February 19th calling the

[1:01] select board to order. Are there any additions or adjustments to the agenda

[1:04] as presented? >> Is there an update on the teacher

[1:09] language library? >> No, but we can talk about that under

[1:12] issues and concerns. >> That one's on me.

[1:19] Invoices and orders are going around. Are there any comments from the public

[1:23] or public announcements? public comment.

[1:27] » Yeah, you got one. >> Yeah. Supposed to be Jess. Oh, Jesse

[1:32] here or J, but I guess I'd be up here. But um we're requesting that

[1:36] » Can you come up to the mic? Microphone. Mic.

[1:40] » Microphone. Mic. >> Uh we're requesting that uh Johnson Eats

[1:46] uh be the fiscal agent for a grant we're applying for. that would allow us to

[1:51] upgrade our point of sales system and uh accept Wick.

[2:01] » There's a grant that the store wants. >> Yes. But we need a fiscal agent and we

[2:05] thought Johnson Eats could do it. >> Johnson Eats can't do They're a

[2:09] committee. It would be the town, right? >> They Yeah. I I read I read a little bit

[2:15] about the requirements. It seems like a committee that's appointed by the select

[2:18] board could be. If it can't be, would anyone else want to do it?

[2:24] » Well, I I got the I got an email on that. And when I got the email, I didn't

[2:30] think I had time, >> you know, to put something together.

[2:33] » Yeah. >> And my recommendation was LCPC.

[2:36] » Yeah. And she reached out to LCPC and I don't think that Pat got back to her.

[2:41] » I thought you said it has to be a municipality. It could be a mun

[2:45] municipality. Yeah. >> Okay.

[2:48] » What's the deadline in the grant? >> Um

[2:53] I think it's awarded on the ETH, but the it was already submitted, I believe with

[2:58] the hope that um they would uh allow whoever was the fiscal agent to be

[3:04] decided after. I'm not the one writing it. The health department's writing it.

[3:08] It was more like Johnson Eats was going to work with Mike to go after the grant

[3:14] and apply if the SL board approves, >> right?

[3:18] » Cuz at their meeting they just had, they uh approved that they would work with

[3:24] mine to go after the grant. >> Gotcha.

[3:29] I feel like I'm a step behind you. What is the grant?

[3:31] » Me too. Um we got approached by the Department of Health, the blogging to

[3:35] help us do this like very very last minute. The grant is uh to um help us

[3:40] buy a point of sale system. And the new point of sale system, because the one we

[3:44] have right now, doesn't allow us to accept Wick because they don't work with

[3:47] the WIC program. Uh so this new point of sale would allow us to accept WIC

[3:54] basically.

[3:59] Dan, okay, it seems the health department is coming to you to say you

[4:03] need a new point of sale system >> because it's the the person that is at

[4:08] the health department that approached us is in charge of the wick program and

[4:11] we've been working on trying to get wick for since we opened. We're on month 10

[4:15] of trying to do this. >> So, they approached you about a grant,

[4:18] but they won't allow you to apply for it yourself.

[4:22] » Apparently, that's what the person at the health department says. We need a

[4:25] fiscal agent >> allow for the funds to come to you,

[4:29] » right? They would accept the grant on our behalf and I don't know on our

[4:33] behalf or they would accept the grant and then pass the money to us. Yeah. All

[4:37] new to me. I have no idea what's going on.

[4:41] » I just know we really want >> uh that would be a pass through agent.

[4:45] » Right. >> It did list municipality as one of being

[4:49] one of the qualified fiscal agents >> sort of. I would think that would be a

[4:54] reference to burn it through the town of one of Rosemary's hands.

[5:04] » Well, money comes through to >> Yeah. Yeah.

[5:07] » Rosemary handles all the money.

[5:12] » A lot of times I think uh grants want to run through a municipality, you know,

[5:16] because you've got that accountability. Uh everything go through

[5:27] would oversee the funds and um if there's any issues or concerns then they

[5:31] can come back to the town whereas if they give the money to a private

[5:33] individual then you're not going to have that track in

[5:36] » right so the deal is you want us to write the grant give you the money

[5:40] » no the health department lady at the health department's writing the grant we

[5:43] literally just need somebody to say yeah I'll be the fiscal agent receive the

[5:47] grant if we are awarded it and then give us the money

[5:50] » I'd like to see the grant paperwork in the grant first before I move anything.

[5:56] » What's the source of the grant? >> It's I believe it's a federal grant and

[6:02] it's for the health I forget the name of it, but it's geared towards the

[6:07] health health sector. >> That's another reason why it needs to

[6:11] come to a municipality. Federal money, right?

[6:21] your deadline's the 8th. >> I think it's like I I think we've

[6:24] already submitted and we'd have to make like an adjustment to who is the fiscal

[6:30] agent or we'd have to list that after. I really I honestly don't know what

[6:37] » what would the board like to do. >> So, you've made a decision tonight.

[6:42] » No. >> Okay.

[6:44] Questions here. >> Yep. Exactly. I could I'll I'll email

[6:47] all the relevant info that I have and can list the contact at the health

[6:55] department that's helping us. See if they have any information.

[6:59] » Sounds good. >> And if not, then we'll try again the

[7:02] next time and I'll try to stay on top of it more than I think we had a six day

[7:07] notice and I wasn't going to say no when

[7:11] somebody was trying to reach out to help us with an issue that we've been trying

[7:14] to solve. So, I I understand this is third, but

[7:19] » well, >> I am as shocked as you are.

[7:21] » If if uh if for some reason like you need us to make a decision before our

[7:27] next meeting, maybe reach out to us with what information you can to provide and

[7:32] we can attempt to do what we can before our meeting.

[7:36] » Okay. >> Yeah.

[7:38] » The next meeting being March 2nd. >> March 2nd. Okay.

[7:42] » Yeah. >> That's our next regular meeting. next

[7:44] regular meeting. Yes. Good timing. All right.

[7:49] » All right. Thank you, Mike. >> Anything else from the public?

[7:54] » Hearing none. Seeing none, uh, select board updates, issues, or concerns. I

[8:00] have one for the board. I guess I kind of want

[8:04] thought process. Uh, we're in interlocal kennel agreement with Hyde Park. Um, and

[8:10] I believe there's another kennel that has offered to be that interlocal group

[8:16] kennel with a lower fixed cost, but

[8:22] the feeding and animal care at night have to look a little different. I don't

[8:28] see much of a choice, but basically

[8:33] um, another town and the interlocalist said that they don't want to go forward

[8:37] with it. And we just need to know if we're

[8:43] willing to continue the interlocal a reduced fixed cost, but most likely an

[8:50] increased animal care cost.

[8:54] » You can attach any kind of numbers to that.

[8:57] » Uh the overall is a,000 bucks a month, 12,000 total. What if it's four towns?

[9:04] That's only 3,000 like fixed cost.

[9:10] Right now we pay 54 fixed cost something in that neighborhood.

[9:16] » Yeah, it's over $1,000. >> Is it?

[9:18] » Oh, I mean a quarter. >> Quarter. Yeah.

[9:22] » The bill's in the pocket. >> You want to know exactly? So there's

[9:28] » one of the towns in the current agreement is opting not to go with this

[9:33] one. Is that >> correct?

[9:34] » Okay. >> Relatively small population town.

[9:38] » Mhm.

[9:42] » Does anybody have any issues? We're required to have a kennel anyways. I

[9:45] don't see how there's much, but they don't really have any other choice.

[9:49] » The other choice to go it alone or >> find a different setup.

[9:55] I'll continue with that then in >> favor.

[9:58] » Wonderful. Any other issues, updates, concerns from the board?

[10:04] Um,

[10:07] this is not really anything we can act on or do anything about tonight, but I'm

[10:13] concerned that I've seen a couple local businesses close recently and uh, some

[10:20] restaurants and uh, I don't know what we can do about that, but I just want us to

[10:25] keep in the back of our mind if any opportunities arise to

[10:30] um, anything in our power that we can do, we

[10:34] it if a day arises but yeah.

[10:40] » Okay. >> Yeah. Not good news.

[10:43] » Yeah. >> Yeah.

[10:44] » I mean, did these businesses site their recent proposing or

[10:49] » um I think just a lack of business maybe,

[10:53] but I don't know for sure. >> I think I heard that moves was um it had

[10:59] to do with like landlord issues and the condition of the building.

[11:02] » Okay. Hm. >> Was it another one?

[11:07] » Um, well, there's been some good amount of turnover.

[11:11] » Bubble tea. >> The bubble tea closed. Something else

[11:13] has gone there now, which is good. But, uh, it's been a good amount of turnover.

[11:20] Yeah, >> restaurant industry is tough, but

[11:24] » I agree with you. There's something we can

[11:27] » Anything else from the board?

[11:31] Okay, next up we have the consent agenda. And for the public's

[11:35] information, the consent agenda is approving the minutes from February 2nd

[11:39] as well as approving a liquor license renewal for Marcala Salsa Restaurant and

[11:46] Bar LLC. M >> Mr. Chairman, I'd like to discuss the

[11:49] minutes of February 2nd. Do you want to have a motion first and then have

[11:54] discussion or do you want me to bring it up before? May

[11:57] » as well make a motion, second and further discussion.

[11:59] » Okay. move we approve the consent agenda.

[12:02] » Okay. >> Second.

[12:04] » Further discussion. >> Uh I was looking under the the portion

[12:08] of the library and I made a statement at the end and I don't seem to find it. I I

[12:15] made the statement this whole library project has turned into a big boondogga

[12:21] and it's no hard to be found and I would like it inserted into the minutes. I

[12:27] guess I didn't feel like that was a super important statement, but it is.

[12:30] » It is. It is. It's turned into a bund. >> So, you've asked

[12:33] » and I'd like it as far as the public record.

[12:35] » Well, the board agrees to that. Sure. >> You've asked for the minutes to be

[12:38] amended or do you just want to make sure it's in this meeting's minutes?

[12:42] » I just I'd rather have it amended. >> Okay. The motion and the second. Are you

[12:47] okay with that addition amendment? >> Yes.

[12:51] » Sounds like something you would have said. So, yeah,

[12:54] » I would feel like saying that. Okay. Uh I guess motion or second. Yeah. Any

[13:02] further discussion? All those

[13:06] in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I.

[13:09] » All those opposed. >> Thank you, board. Appreciate it.

[13:11] » The eyes have it. >> Rosemary. Anything for us?

[13:15] » I just have a question for the board. Now that you've changed the holidays

[13:20] regarding town meeting, it's no longer a holiday. If you want the office to be

[13:25] open,

[13:28] » you're not Susan and I will be at town meeting.

[13:33] » So will John. >> I I think we should The office should be

[13:38] closed. >> But the village employees will be here.

[13:42] » I had a village employee ask me if we be closed.

[13:46] » I can

[13:50] It should be open. I agree.

[13:55] » What are you two agreeing for now? This is new.

[13:59] » There's not you. >> No, I think we I think we should be

[14:03] close cuz uh one of the workers is a town employee, so she won't be able to

[14:08] come to town meeting day. >> Well, it's there's plenty of vacation

[14:14] time. >> Huh. There's we do have a pretty

[14:18] generous combined time off policy if somebody I don't think we're allowed to

[14:23] deny somebody that wants to take vacation on town meeting day to

[14:27] » it should be >> but

[14:31] » we thought if we want the employee to be a town meeting that's sort of their work

[14:35] for the day. >> Yeah.

[14:37] » So even though the office they can be else is

[14:41] » yes but we can't leave the office without any workers in it. It'd be a

[14:46] village worker, right?

[14:50] » There will definitely >> unless they take time off.

[14:54] » At the very least, there'll be two village employees.

[14:56] » Yes.

[15:00] » Well, there's only be one

[15:04] left in the office that's a town employee, then one eligible.

[15:12] Traditionally in Vermont, has hasn't it been the tradition to encourage

[15:19] uh operations to be closed to boost

[15:24] attendance in town decision making? >> Well, we have one

[15:31] » employee that does not live in Johnson. >> We have a few.

[15:36] » Yeah. But um >> they they should they should be part of

[15:43] their town meeting in their town then. >> So are you saying that instead of giving

[15:47] 13 holidays we should have given 14? >> I don't think it should be a holiday. I

[15:52] think that >> it was a holiday.

[15:54] » Well yeah. Yeah. I'm not saying adding another holiday. I'm saying that worker

[15:58] work at town meeting day >> like actually accomplishing work or just

[16:03] attending town meeting day as another paid day while they're not doing

[16:07] » I think working town meeting day because Rosemary is not going to be here so I

[16:11] think we should have other employees learning the process for when she won't

[16:16] be here anymore.

[16:19] » Why' you have to put this question in front of us? If I got asked it, I have

[16:23] said >> show of hands. Who would like the office

[16:27] to stay open on town meeting day being that it is not a holiday?

[16:35] Okay. Who would like it closed? Okay.

[16:40] » I mean, it could stay open if the village wants to keep it open.

[16:45] » Well, the village will follow suit with whatever the town does, I'm sure.

[16:51] Guess it stays open >> unless everybody takes vacation

[16:56] if they want to value going to town meeting. I have to take a vacation day

[17:00] to go to town meeting. Yeah.

[17:09] » Guess if everybody takes the vacation day, it had to be closed. Nobody here,

[17:14] » right? >> Huh?

[17:15] » Can I write a letter to your company encourage them to give you the day off?

[17:19] You can waste your time if you

[17:25] Okay. Any other zingers, Rosemary?

[17:28] » No, I think enough one a meeting is enough.

[17:32] » Okay. >> And I want to thank the board for the

[17:34] dedication with the town report. >> The board wants to thank you for

[17:37] everything you've done.

[17:45] » I'll save that for later. Uh, next up, Carl Hoty.

[17:51] How are you? >> Good. You

[17:54] » good? Still here. Did >> we do the uh

[17:59] » We did >> under the consent agenda. Okay.

[18:04] » All right. I guess I'll start with going through the SDS report. I put a copy in

[18:13] here.

[18:16] uh sort of hit some of the highlights for people that are here and people that

[18:23] might be watching the meeting. So first um the NBRC grant in the

[18:30] industrial park the quarterly report u was submitted on time on January 28th

[18:40] from our bi-weekly team meetings. Uh the last meeting it was reported that we're

[18:46] still waiting on four state permits, the same four that have been listed in the

[18:53] report in prior months. And just this evening about 5:30, I got an email from

[18:59] the state saying that there was some activity on

[19:02] the storm water operation report at the last team meeting. The engineers

[19:10] reported they have been in conversation with the people reviewing that permit

[19:15] and a question that the state had about the source protection area for drinking

[19:21] water. Um that's been addressed and um so it looks like maybe that um operation

[19:29] permit for storm water is moving ahead. Um,

[19:35] I did send out the letter to the owners of the property that have a shed that is

[19:40] crosses over the property line and is partly on the town's industrial park

[19:45] property. Had a conversation with one of the

[19:50] owners and he doesn't have any issue with with the letter and um and is glad

[19:57] to hear that town's moving ahead with the industrial park.

[20:01] Um he sees it as an opportunity perhaps he could get that house that he has

[20:06] there connected to the the village sewer system using that new sewer line. And

[20:12] also if possible he might build another house on the other side of that existing

[20:19] one and that would also you would try to tie that into the line in your new road.

[20:27] And today uh a letter went out to the other the butters. So that was a letter

[20:32] just to notify them that the town has applied for permits and I we sent them

[20:37] an aerial photo showing the location of the industrial park and their property

[20:43] and invited them to contact us and come to the office and see the plans if they

[20:47] have any questions.

[20:51] um you had received two memos from me um for your packet and then also an email

[20:58] on I think Tuesday. We'll go over those um after the says report.

[21:06] Um the building communities grant recreation the welcome center

[21:12] um the improvements except the painting have been completed.

[21:17] The lease agreement that you approved at your last meeting in January was

[21:26] submitted to the rail I'm sorry you approved that on February 2nd meeting

[21:32] and that was submitted to the rail trail office at BR.

[21:37] We have not um heard back from them yet. >> That's another project Mr. chairman

[21:44] started up small has turned into a big

[21:51] I'm relaying a message here from the rail trail committee. It seems that um

[21:57] their membership is down to six out of nine um authorized members

[22:04] and um I don't Do you recall did the select board accept Peggy Williams

[22:10] resignation back in the fall? We did. >> I believe we did.

[22:16] » All right. Well, that's um I do recall from the chairman

[22:23] about her um resigning because she moved away, I think. But he would like to see

[22:30] if and some advertising could be done to solicit additional members. He said

[22:36] they're finding it hard to conduct business because with only six members

[22:40] now, if two people happen to be absent from the meeting that they don't have a

[22:46] quorum to officially conduct business. >> Yes. Uh John, could you work with Lydia

[22:51] to post all um vacant seats for all the

[22:57] committees and commissions? She should have a spreadsheet of active

[23:02] members that's hopefully uploaded. Right.

[23:09] Thank you. Um the the Voric uh grant what funded

[23:17] the rail trail connector scoping study. Um town did receive the reimbursement of

[23:23] that. You were rewarded $27,700 and your expenses came to $27,669.99.

[23:33] And apparently that's what was paid to the town.

[23:38] The recreation economy for rural communities grant, that's the um

[23:44] EPA technical assistance grant. It's been a lot of activity.

[23:52] Uh so on January 29th, the EPA's planning assistance team held their

[23:59] introductory call for online meeting with the Johnson steering committee.

[24:06] And then on February 5th, that planning assistance team held its peer convening,

[24:11] which was a nationwide meeting. All the 25 grantees were um invited to have

[24:20] several people attend and um it was a 4-hour meeting and during that meeting

[24:27] they had uh presentations by prior year grantees to talk about their um work

[24:35] that they did and what success they're starting to see.

[24:40] Uh so that was held on um February 5th and

[24:51] back in December I was asked to submit a EPA called the scheduler.

[24:58] Um it was uh like a poll to see what um poss what meeting dates might be good

[25:05] for EPA's assistance team to come here and conduct the community workshop

[25:12] which is like the key point in this um process.

[25:18] Uh so we submitted that and then EPA got back to us and uh asked how about the

[25:26] sometime during the week of August 24 to 28, 2026.

[25:31] I pulled the Johnson Steering Committee members to find out what two days would

[25:36] be best. And turns out it was Thursday and Friday the 27th 28th. We submitted

[25:42] that to EPA and they've confirmed that. Um, so mark your calendars. These are

[25:51] two important dates, Thursday the 27th and Friday the 28th of August.

[25:57] Um it's so the first day the steering committee um will take the planning

[26:08] assistance team around the various sites in town to help that team sort of

[26:12] conceptualize what Johnson has or what challenges they might face with various

[26:19] recreation um facilities. And then the next day will be a full day of meetings

[26:28] where the general public is invited but also the steering committee is supposed

[26:33] to make an attempt to invite specific u interested and uh re resources to the

[26:40] meeting. So that might be where somebody like Jackie Casino from the rail trail

[26:46] program comes to um meet with everybody.

[26:52] And um very recently like just this week um I received an email um about um that

[27:01] planning assistance team wanting to schedule the first three online meetings

[27:07] with the steering committee. And so this evening um before coming up here, I got

[27:13] an email out to your steering committee members and asked them about what nights

[27:18] they um would want to meet. And I suggested that they start they plan to

[27:24] start meeting every two weeks u because um that there is some

[27:30] significant work that needs to be done between those three calls with the

[27:34] planning assistance team. >> Sorry, what does PAT stand for?

[27:38] » Planning assistance team. Okay.

[27:42] » All right. Uh the Vermont Community Foundation grants, uh the playground

[27:47] money, uh is got tied to the Legion Field, um

[27:53] study or analysis, um because it was determined that

[27:58] using that money for the playground at Legion Field would be the best use.

[28:03] um or the second Legion Field meeting. Isabelle Sullivan did provide some good

[28:09] information uh for everybody to see. She from a

[28:14] vendor. She had actual di pictures of playground equipment complete with

[28:20] dimensions so that you could see if you bought this product, you need to have an

[28:25] area 30 feet by 23 feet, for example. Um, and it was products that were g

[28:34] geared towards the younger children uh rather than say the 5 to 12 year old

[28:39] cohort because apparently that's um a feeling

[28:45] that that's the need here in Johnson that Old Mill Park you do have equipment

[28:50] already for older kids. Uh the skate park uh money $3,300. Um, I

[28:58] have a question for you. Maybe, you know, you have a discussion tonight

[29:03] about um the skate park RFP. Is that

[29:08] um planning to use this $3,300 or is that something completely different?

[29:14] » It's the uh

[29:19] DR4720 reimbursement FEMA money.

[29:23] » Oh, so that's you're you're looking at using the Puma money. what you're

[29:27] talking about tonight.

[29:31] » Maybe that gets looped in with it. I don't know.

[29:33] » No, this I think is probably spent. >> Now, my question is if the bids come in

[29:38] higher than the FEMA money, uh Carl, do you think that 3,300 could be used

[29:44] as part of that project?

[29:49] Well, I would think so, but it's been um about seven months since I spoke with

[29:56] somebody from VCF about what that $3,300 was intended for. And off the top of my

[30:02] head, I I can't say if there was a specific use or or some conditions that

[30:08] would prohibit combining it with the FEMA money. So, we can check on that.

[30:12] John, thank you. All right. Uh the Legion Field, um the

[30:20] second meeting was held on February 4th and it um I think was a another good

[30:28] meeting with the public. Um the um there was very um thoughtful um input

[30:39] provided and uh I think it was just a showed that you get some people together

[30:45] who um have an open mind and respectful you you have a good product. So I was I

[30:52] was pretty encouraged by um by that meeting. So the next step is for Dubo

[30:58] and King to prepare a another layout um based on the comments received and that

[31:04] would that layout would be presented to you and then the select board needs to

[31:10] um then say okay this is our final plan and we need that so that we know what

[31:18] improvements are to be made at Legion Field. So once you make that

[31:25] decision, then somebody's going to need to look at that and say, "Okay,

[31:30] you need to do this first, this second. You can't do number three because four

[31:37] one and two because then you'll be disturbing three when you go back to do

[31:41] step one." >> Is there a deadline for using those

[31:44] funds? That >> those deadlines have passed. Okay.

[31:48] » We're we're getting by on BCF's legal seat right now. Okay.

[31:53] » But I think that if they asked and or they would see what's going into this, I

[32:00] think they would be very pleased. >> Okay. Maybe we could send them the final

[32:05] draft once it's finished. Okay. >> All right. And Holmes Meadow, uh, the

[32:12] first construction invoice from Boulder was submitted two days ago.

[32:17] On se on January 30th, there was a site inspection. John and I attended with

[32:24] people from SLR Boulder and LCPC. We visited both Homes Meadow and then

[32:30] went over to the the gravel pit so that um SLR could point things out and we

[32:37] could ask questions. So everything um seemed to be good there. And then later

[32:43] SLR submitted their last inspection report for the winter. And so that um in

[32:50] summary read that the excavating and the hauling of sediment from the meadow was

[32:55] completed and at that time the final grading was underway.

[33:00] the hauling the necessary sediment to the landfill was completed

[33:06] and Boulder was hauling fill to the library which I think we knew but um

[33:13] there was a question about who was working with it there and it turns out

[33:18] it was Boulder. They apparently volunteered to to do something there

[33:23] probably so that they could start hauling Phil over there or

[33:29] complete the hauling of Phil there. >> Uh there is a a change order uh number

[33:36] four that's been presented. Um there were some questions raised.

[33:42] Evan asked to be sure that the the grant was going to cover the additional

[33:48] expense and I just learned late this afternoon that Vermont Emergency

[33:54] Management has okayed that grant amendment or adjustment but the agency

[34:00] of administration still has to sign off on it and that has not come through yet.

[34:05] So I would ask that you you know based on what Edmond's

[34:10] position was that you um defer postpone action on that and probably have it on

[34:15] the next agenda. >> What was the reason for that change

[34:19] order? >> That's u for the um extra extraction and

[34:25] hauling of gravel out of the pit. >> Would you say the engineer should be

[34:31] responsible for that? They were the ones that were supposedly figuring out how

[34:37] much material was over there. Correct. >> I don't know that. I don't know how it

[34:43] was determined how many cubic yards of gravel were in the pit to be hauled

[34:50] out. The LCPC staff did tell me that um experience with other cells within

[35:00] the pit was taken into consideration, but as it turns out, the the um the

[35:06] ledge was not at the same depth um in the area where they did all this

[35:12] extraction as it was in other parts of of the pit. So the the sand and gravel

[35:19] or just gravel, I'm not sure what you have there, just ran deeper than

[35:23] » Well, I got a whole pile of bills engineers.

[35:27] U you would think with the amount of money we were spending with these

[35:31] engineers that we might have a little bit better product.

[35:37] » I don't know if did they do any test borings. You know,

[35:41] » another question uh this engineering stuff, this is all a pass through,

[35:45] right? Is the town paying for all of this?

[35:48] » Okay. Well, I've got a question a little bit later on some of these bills from

[35:54] the engineer and from the county planning commission. It looks like we

[35:58] paid one of them twice, but I'll take that up later.

[36:06] » Okay. >> All right. And um also um on March 2nd,

[36:11] you probably will be asked to take um a couple of actions regarding a second

[36:17] grant for the Homes Meadow Project.

[36:22] And um it's a $130,000

[36:27] grant called a clean water service provider grant from the Agency of

[36:32] Natural Resources. Do does the board know

[36:38] about this. It's >> not ringing a bell for me at all.

[36:40] » I think LCPC had mentioned that before. >> Right. Well, that's that would make

[36:45] sense because the grant is actually awarded to LCPC

[36:50] on the town's behalf for this project. So, one of the documents that you will

[36:58] be asked to approve is something called a site access license.

[37:03] And basically you're the property owner and you're agreeing that people from

[37:07] LCPC and the state can go on the property to to do certain maintenance

[37:12] work and inspections. And then the other document is a grant

[37:17] agreement like a subgrant agreement with LCPC.

[37:23] No, I think that that's um going to be presented to you on March 2nd.

[37:33] So that's the highlights of the written report

[37:39] that I gave you. Any questions?

[37:43] » Oh, um for the Borak uh rail trail connector

[37:50] scoping study, was this this money just for the scoping study or are you are you

[37:56] saying like we have this money to spend on improvements? No, the 27,700

[38:03] was just to conduct the scoping study. >> Okay. Okay.

[38:08] » So now if you want to work on improvements,

[38:11] » okay, >> you'd have to seek other funding and and

[38:14] in the report that EHB provided, they did um list some grant funding

[38:20] opportunities. >> Okay. Just making sure. Um

[38:26] you're going to be done at the end of the month, right?

[38:29] I've said before that I would be done at the end of March, but I have told John

[38:34] that if >> you still don't have somebody and you

[38:38] want me to stay around, I I will. Um I've been trying to make some

[38:43] adjustments so that this works better for me. I'm not driving up here quite as

[38:48] often because in the winter time it's at least an hour and 15 minute drive one

[38:53] way. >> Yeah. Yeah. And um so far also working

[38:58] online has been working out to attend meetings.

[39:02] » Okay. >> Um I I just asked that cuz I'm wondering

[39:06] if you think you'd be able to um submit the act 250 permit for the granite

[39:12] stairs before that that date. >> I would really like to Okay. get back to

[39:17] that so that we get that permit uh right away and then could

[39:22] » get some quotes for doing. >> Yeah, it's just

[39:26] » Yeah, it's taking me about 30 times longer to do the act 250 permit than

[39:30] it'll take the contractor to do the work.

[39:32] » It's ridiculous. >> Okay. Um

[39:37] and for these uh two library grants, do you know when those uh they received

[39:44] those or received the notification of award?

[39:49] » I don't recall. >> Okay. It's been a while though maybe.

[39:52] » Oh yes. All those have been >> were um issued quite some time ago.

[39:58] » Okay. Okay. Got it.

[40:02] » Mr. Chairman. >> Yes. Uh I have a question for Carl and

[40:08] and null sitting.

[40:12] » What's that?

[40:16] » This has to do with the mumlay's engineering for the industrial park. Uh

[40:24] daylands surveying flagging staking for tree clearing. Were you with them when

[40:30] they did that? How long do you think it would take to

[40:34] do that? >> Can't estimate the entries. They were

[40:38] looking at >> $2500 seems like a lot of money.

[40:42] » So, what they were actually doing is marking the ride of way

[40:50] uh for the road and the utilities on those two roads

[40:54] and also the outline of the storm water lot. days

[41:01] of surveying didn't actually mark trees. Uh the Vermont Land Trust came in and

[41:06] marked trees that that they are interested in.

[41:11] » But on the invoice, it does say dayland surveying with an invoice flagging

[41:16] staking for tree clearing $2,500. >> Right. They were That's right. They were

[41:22] They're getting that um

[41:24] » in the area it's going to be cleared. >> Right. I get it.

[41:28] Seeing you kind of qualified it to at first blush looking at this it looks

[41:34] like a tremendous they were trees taking some trees.

[41:38] » Yeah. >> Okay.

[41:41] » Thank you. >> So do we have anything for Homes Meadow

[41:45] or are we on to the industrial park? We're holding on change order four. I

[41:49] think we're good with Homes Meadow. >> Yes.

[41:52] » There's no action tonight, Mr. Chairman. >> On the industrial park. I think there

[41:56] may be >> right.

[42:01] So on um the industrial park um let's deal with Lumley's

[42:08] contract first.

[42:12] That's um

[42:17] what did I do? Was it I

[42:23] » so Mumley's contract there are two matters.

[42:28] Um first is the approval of the extension

[42:36] for a revision to their original contract. It was background. The first

[42:42] contract with Mumley was done in 2023, I think actually to help the town get

[42:48] the NBRC grant uh prepared and then to start the

[42:56] engineering of the project there. Then in about October of 24,

[43:03] it was decided that revisions needed to be made and meetings were being held.

[43:08] And then on December 16th of 24, it was presented to the select

[43:15] board and the um select board voted to approve the revisions and authorized

[43:25] somebody to sign it. I forget right now what the Venet said if it was town

[43:29] administrator and chairman or just the town administrator.

[43:32] But apparently that document never got passed around and got fully signed. I'

[43:38] I've searched everywhere. I've talked to people. Nobody seems to have a complete

[43:43] signature. So our request tonight is that the the board vote to affirm that

[43:49] action from December 16th of 2024 to approve the revision dated December

[43:56] 11th, 2024.

[44:01] And then the second item regarding Mumley's contract is a change order

[44:07] for the work done on the Highland Heights

[44:16] sewer pump station.

[44:19] So waste water from the industrial park will go under Route 15 and go to the

[44:27] pump station at Highland Heights. Mhm. >> It was concern about its capacity to

[44:32] handle the additional flow that might come from the industrial park.

[44:38] Going back to those um originals December 1624 meeting minutes

[44:44] um it was reported that there was a meeting that day of of staff people

[44:50] where this was among other things with having to do with the village's

[44:55] utilities was discussed and it those minutes mentioned that one of the

[45:00] possibilities was there was going to need to be a $50,000

[45:04] emergency power generator located there. Um,

[45:11] Mumley started working on the analysis of that pump station and your January

[45:19] 20th, 2025 select board minutes mentioned that they were um, Mumley was

[45:25] working on that and then shortly after Mumley submitted two invoices

[45:30] which the select board voted to approve on April 21st.

[45:35] But at that time it was noted that that work was beyond the scope of services

[45:39] which it is that original um scope of services that I mentioned

[45:45] before specifically excludes from the amount of money being charged to work on

[45:53] water and the sewer systems. Um,

[45:58] so you did receive two invoices and you voted to have them paid and they were

[46:04] paid and Mumley held the third invoice for $585. They've never submitted that

[46:09] yet. So the total the three invoices together

[46:14] would come to $1,965. And it I would suggest that you approve

[46:20] a change order with Mumley in that amount for those three invoices for the

[46:24] work they did analyzing that pump station and then recommending a solution

[46:31] which the village has accepted and it's what the the plans are being based on

[46:37] right now. So, their work was very costb

[46:44] $45,000, >> give or take.

[46:47] » Give or take. >> You want to make a motion?

[46:51] » Be happy to make a motion. Um, you want two separate motions.

[46:57] » Pretty much just need to approve a change order, right? Uh, one motion to

[47:02] approve the change order and then one motion, if you would please, to affirm

[47:06] your board decision from December 1624.

[47:11] I'll take them in order. Uh, move to reaffirm the select board's vote on

[47:16] December 16, 2024 to approve the Mumley Engineering Industrial Park engineering

[47:22] services agreement revision dated December 11th, 2024.

[47:27] I have to authorize the county administrator or John Ser.

[47:32] » I'll second. >> Motion second. Further discussion.

[47:36] » All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I.

[47:39] » I. >> All those opposed.

[47:41] » The eyes have it. >> Um,

[47:45] » who wants the second one? >> You're on a roll.

[47:48] » I'm on a roll. Okay. >> She doesn't want to steal. Uh move to

[47:53] approve a change order in the amount of $1,965

[47:58] to cover Mumley's analysis of the pump station and suggestion to address the

[48:04] concern about its capacity. So

[48:08] » second >> motion a second. Further discussion

[48:13] all those in favor signify by saying I. I.

[48:16] » All those opposed. And >> the eyes have it.

[48:21] I don't know what you're looking >> that's from an agenda packet you're

[48:25] you're reading that from. >> Uh, yep.

[48:27] » Okay. >> It's right here.

[48:31] » Then um I also sent you an email. I'm sorry, a memo regarding the industrial

[48:36] park. Yeah. With some documents and >> this has to do with the ease gates.

[48:42] » You're looking for the motion for the easements,

[48:44] » right? So, um, there's a conservation easement for the deer wintering area

[48:52] over the Prindle lot and work on that conservation easement

[48:59] is still in progress, although in the copy that I did receive from David Brew,

[49:07] the attorney working on it now, um, does show me that, um, they've made some

[49:13] changes it um since the original was sent out by Fish and Wildlife.

[49:19] Um but it's still not complete. But to get things moving along, he suggests

[49:26] that you adopt that motion to authorize the advertising

[49:32] of the um conveyance of that conservation easement.

[49:38] and I provided you with or I sent you an email uh with his suggested motion cut

[49:45] and pasted into that email. You should have that. There's actually two of them.

[49:50] » Yes, there actually is. There's a motion for each of the two notices, one for the

[49:55] deer wintering and one for the prime soils.

[49:58] » There are two different town lots. Who wants to take this one?

[50:04] Uh well I don't have the language from

[50:08] » I move to approve the notice of sale of municipal real estate and conveyance of

[50:13] grant of a grant of development rights and

[50:18] conservation restrictions to the state agency of natural resources on the

[50:23] town's 25.1 acre so-called fender lot subject to final review and approval by

[50:29] the town's attorney to mitigate the impact of the town's industrial park

[50:33] project on deer wintering habitat as part of act 250 permit for said project

[50:39] and to authorize this is where it gets weird select for chair Eban patch or

[50:44] town administrator John Sutherland to execute the notice

[50:48] grant and any other instruments necessary

[50:53] or advisable for issuance of the act 50 permit and closing on the grant

[51:02] Did an attorney write that or what? >> That's a motion.

[51:07] » Second. >> All right.

[51:11] Anybody else want to make a comment? We're not actually selling the lot for

[51:15] anybody that's listening to this. All those in favor signify by saying I.

[51:20] » I. >> All those opposed.

[51:22] The eyes have it. >> The next one is in regards to the go

[51:28] lot. um in regard prime a soils and so just um

[51:37] this week I learned some things that I need to explain to you um make sure that

[51:44] you're aware of it. So on the second page of that memo from February 13th

[51:53] um towards the top I say that Johnson would need to set aside 5.2 2 acres of

[51:59] prime egg soils. Um however um setting aside 5.2 acres on the goal lot

[52:07] would require an expensive survey and previously the board had said let's

[52:12] avoid the cost of the survey. It'd be cheaper to pay the mitigation fee of the

[52:17] balance needed 85 of an acre.

[52:22] Until this week, nothing had really been said to me about 6.1 acres. I just

[52:29] assumed that when they were talking about there's the

[52:34] 4.35 acres there that are easily identifiable, that was all the area

[52:39] between the road and the stream and the pond. As it turns out, that's not the

[52:43] case. There's 6.1 acres between the road and the stream and the pond which are

[52:50] easily describable and you don't need a survey to describe.

[52:57] And apparently between this the state a a agency of agriculture and the attorney

[53:04] they've concluded that they're going to have to ex have you

[53:12] issue that declaration of covenant on the entire 6.1 acres

[53:17] and you still avoid having to do a survey.

[53:23] And considering what the purpose of the goal

[53:27] lot is, I don't know that makes any difference. I don't know you have any

[53:31] plans to go develop any part of that property there. So I don't think it

[53:36] makes any any difference. >> 4 acres of

[53:39] » especially not point4 acres of it. That's the difference.

[53:42] » So do we not have to pay the difference? Now,

[53:44] » you still have to pay the difference because that difference between the 4.35

[53:49] that you needed or that's there in Prime soils and the 6.1 that they're not prime

[53:54] soil. So, you still have to pay that mitigation fee of roughly $3,200.

[54:01] » You want to make the mot >> Oh, yeah. It's a

[54:05] » It's a bad That's what it is. >> You want to make the motion, somebody?

[54:10] Sure. Sure. This never ends.

[54:15] You ready to do it? You're going to do it.

[54:17] » Go ahead, Paul. >> Motion to approve the notice of sale of

[54:22] municipal real estate and conveyance of a declaration of restrictive covenant in

[54:26] favor of the Vermont Agency of Agriculture and Vermont Land Use Review

[54:30] Board on a 4.35 >> 6.1.

[54:37] » Um, no, I think he wrote that the way that he wants it. Okay.

[54:44] So, it says 4.35, not 6.1 acres.

[54:50] » Okay. Let's say 6.1. That way, it's covered. If it turns out to be less than

[54:54] » Yeah. when so on a plus or minus 6.1 acre portion

[55:00] of the town's so-called GMA lot subject to final review and approval by the

[55:04] town's attorney to mitigate the impact of the town's industrial park project

[55:08] and development of the plus or minus 2.6 six acres of prime agricultural soils

[55:14] and to authorize the select board chair Evan Patch or town administrator Don

[55:20] Sland to execute the notice declaration and any other instruments necessary or

[55:24] advisable for issuance of the act 250 permit and reporting of the declaration.

[55:30] » There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Yes.

[55:34] » Further discussion? Uh >> couple questions.

[55:39] Um,

[55:42] it talks about uh making sure it's paid and brushhoged every two years. How do

[55:50] how do we keep track of that and know that somebody needs to do it and who

[55:55] does it?

[56:00] » Okay. Um, and what does it mean right to farm? A right to farm covenants.

[56:08] Um, I think that that's something that um

[56:12] needs to be indeed so that future owners know that that's the case and including

[56:19] if you did subdivide that there could be farming activity on the other parcel

[56:25] where this prime soil is in the covenant.

[56:29] So it means that some subsequent owner the current owner or subsequent owner

[56:36] has a right to farm that and right and that the neighbors if if you were to

[56:42] let's say subdivide the goal lot >> and the part that's not subject to the

[56:51] declaration of covenant that those people would be aware that there could

[56:55] be farming activity >> on the part that's the cup and an auto.

[57:01] » Good. >> Thank you.

[57:03] » All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I.

[57:05] » I. >> All those opposed.

[57:08] » The eyes have it. >> And last issues for the industrial park,

[57:13] the tree removal. So our deadline for getting the trees

[57:20] down is April 14th. And

[57:26] during the winter um we were um in

[57:35] contacted by the agency of transportation and their uh partner in

[57:40] the project of the Vermont Land Trust about their need for some I'll call them

[57:47] whole trees. So, a length of about 25 ft of tree trunk with

[57:52] the root ball attached. Uh, they have seemed to be interested in

[57:58] this as I indicated before. They've gone so far as to go out there and bark trees

[58:06] that they want. And uh they told me that there was 113 trees and about 75% of

[58:15] that number are in the town's work area. So the area the town needs to get

[58:21] cleared um so that you can do the road and

[58:26] utility work and and put in the storm water treatment area.

[58:33] um a local contractor logger is interested in doing that work for the

[58:39] town and has been helpful providing some insights and kind of cost estimate

[58:46] just so everybody gets an idea what this is might cost.

[58:51] Um I have been providing the information to

[58:56] AOT and BLT that they've asked for. I con I sent an email today to ask if

[59:01] they've got any reaction, anything that I could relay tonight and hear back from

[59:07] them. So my questions for the select board um

[59:13] are first um shall we continue the discussions with AOT and and Vermont

[59:20] Land Trust or do you just want to try doing this on our own?

[59:27] Second question is um do you approve of the idea of not

[59:35] planning to have this work reimbursed by the NBRC grant? And as stated in the

[59:42] memo, um those bidding in contracting

[59:49] requirements can be ownorous and they would take would take more time

[59:54] to prepare the specifications. if the the target audience, you know,

[1:00:01] the contractors that we think would be interested in doing that kind of work

[1:00:06] saw that red tape, they might they might not even want to bid.

[1:00:13] Um, that's my feeling. And then Pat Ripley um agreed and I provided a a

[1:00:19] statement from the email he sent in the memo there that he agrees that the town

[1:00:24] would be better served avoiding the NBCR NBRC procurement requirements in this

[1:00:30] case. Um and so I want to know if you are okay

[1:00:34] with that. And then third is about um proceeding with the bidding.

[1:00:43] Um, we could start writing bidding specifications

[1:00:50] with two options. Option one being contractor is going to provide a price

[1:00:56] just to clear the area that the town needs to have cleared for the road and

[1:01:00] the utilities and the storm water pond. And then the other option would be to

[1:01:07] pull or harvest the trees marked by Vermont Land Trust and give three

[1:01:12] prices. A price for pulling the trees that are

[1:01:17] marked in the town's road and storm water area.

[1:01:21] Then a price for cutting or removing all the remaining trees.

[1:01:28] And then the third price would be for pulling the roughly 30 trees or so that

[1:01:32] are on building lots. That way we would have a breakdown. So

[1:01:37] we could say to the state, this is what you owe the town for this. And my

[1:01:42] example that they would have the state would owe the town for the price for

[1:01:48] work A and C.

[1:01:53] So by using the two options approach, we could get this going and if AOT that

[1:02:01] says, "Oh, you know, we're not interested or you don't like the prices

[1:02:04] that come in with option two, we could just go with option one at least." And

[1:02:09] then you would have the the prices. >> Would you have three options instead of

[1:02:13] just two or just have trees regardless of where they are in that cutting?

[1:02:18] Yeah, I I was thinking to break it down by the area that the town needs to have

[1:02:26] cleared. So, and what trees would be pulled or harvested from

[1:02:32] » state's going to pay for it anyway. >> But if they're pulling, the state's

[1:02:36] going to pay for it. >> State's going to pay for it. That's why

[1:02:37] that would be the pulling of those trees would be one item and then cutting

[1:02:42] everything else would be the second item which the town would pay for. And then

[1:02:47] the third was pulling roughly 30 trees or so that are on the building lots.

[1:02:54] » That's why one and three aren't together.

[1:02:57] » Um just in case. But we do we need to have those trees in the work area

[1:03:05] removed. So maybe the state says, um, well, we'll just have those pulled in

[1:03:10] your work area and forget those others. >> Okay. Got it.

[1:03:14] And then if that's the case and the town doesn't care, the town doesn't need to

[1:03:18] have those trees removed. >> Okay, that makes sense. Thank you.

[1:03:22] » It's remarkable that anything is done in this thing. Really, it is maddening.

[1:03:30] Years ago, they had just gone in there and clearcut the place and built a

[1:03:34] place. We have been working on this for like 15 years, this whole project. And

[1:03:41] it just goes on and on and on. It is just wears you down.

[1:03:48] » Yes, sir. >> It's just crazy.

[1:03:51] » Is the board okay with Carl's recommended bidding approach? Do you

[1:03:56] need a motion for that? >> I don't need a motion, I guess. Um,

[1:04:00] » I have a question, Carl. Your first question was, shall we proceed with

[1:04:04] conversations with AOT and PLT? Is there any reason not to?

[1:04:11] At some point we have to tell them we've got to move. We've we've got to get this

[1:04:17] out to bid, which we could do still without having a clear answer from them.

[1:04:22] But some point we're going to have to say this is that we've got to award a

[1:04:26] contract or somebody so that the contractor can start work and get the

[1:04:29] trees down by the 14th of April. >> Yep.

[1:04:34] » I would tell them we need an answer pretty soon.

[1:04:38] and we've talked about that. They have they've acknowledged time is of the

[1:04:44] essence. Um so I I gather now since the information

[1:04:50] that I've been supplying that they're trying to figure out if this is a

[1:04:56] a from a cost standpoint a good way for them to proceed with getting the trees

[1:05:00] that they need.

[1:05:04] » Okay. Do we all want to proceed with

[1:05:10] Vermont land trust in AOT if it works out? If not,

[1:05:15] well, or just cut everything down. >> Don't need to pull a thing then.

[1:05:22] » I'll second that one. Stinking tree down. Act like

[1:05:26] » and you're okay with doing it, as I said, on the town's dime and not seeking

[1:05:32] the grant reimbursement >> for not pulling them. That' be a lot

[1:05:35] cheaper, right? Oh yes. Yes.

[1:05:38] » I don't think timewise we have enough time personally to

[1:05:45] » Okay. >> Are you good with that?

[1:05:47] » Get it over with the quickest way we can.

[1:05:50] » Sounds like you got a yes from all five. >> Okay, then. Um I'll get started on

[1:05:56] drafting the bidding specifications. >> Okay. Thank you for reading through all

[1:06:02] these and making it so clear. H >> thank you for waiting through all this

[1:06:06] stuff and making it so clear. >> Somebody asked if they made it so

[1:06:12] difficult on purp

[1:06:18] initial these copies of notice for your information. Um

[1:06:24] » sorry if I initial it's the notices that the board

[1:06:27] » Yeah. But where would I initial? >> Oh by your name down there sign.

[1:06:33] I have to initial >> the S means uh sign by epic patch.

[1:06:40] So that's what I'll send >> to the newspaper tomorrow.

[1:06:45] » Yeah, but I need this, right? >> Just

[1:06:51] for the record. >> You're going to make the newspaper. Uh

[1:06:58] » so yeah I'll send these to the newspaper tomorrow for publication next

[1:07:04] posted in three places at sound and that is in the process it will be completed.

[1:07:11] » Okay. >> Thank you very much.

[1:07:15] Next up, beautifification. >> Question for Carla

[1:07:21] » related to item 15 on the agenda, job description for community economic

[1:07:27] development specialist. Have you seen the draft?

[1:07:31] » Carl, >> he has not.

[1:07:33] » No, he has not. >> No.

[1:07:34] » Um, present it to the board, get their input

[1:07:40] on it, review. >> Okay. I'll be interested.

[1:07:43] » Today's the first time I've seen Carl in a while and even it was really busy.

[1:07:47] » Yeah, that's that's fine. I'll be interested in in your thoughts.

[1:07:53] » Okay. Yeah, let me >> Okay. All right.

[1:07:57] » Thank you. >> Beautif

[1:08:02] us. >> What

[1:08:05] is what really us? I mean, the way I read it was

[1:08:09] » it's for um letting the beautifification committee apply for the grant.

[1:08:14] » Oh, but it's not on a town property, >> right?

[1:08:17] » It's just a town committee. >> Yep.

[1:08:19] » Yeah. I got a >> what?

[1:08:22] » Um for doing a mosaic project at the village Cold Spring.

[1:08:28] » Well, the V village hasn't approved it yet.

[1:08:30] » They have. >> They've approved it the other night.

[1:08:34] » Yeah. The beautifification committee does a

[1:08:38] great job at communicating the village. I think they're just asking for I Oh, I

[1:08:43] was looking for the paper and the amount is $15,000

[1:08:49] with no match from the town. >> Yep.

[1:08:52] » They may use some of their budget to fund a small part of it.

[1:08:58] » So, they got the whatever they put on that and they approved it.

[1:09:01] » What? What' you say? Last I knew, they were waiting to see what was going to

[1:09:07] actually go on it and it was >> they met with the artist and the artist

[1:09:11] showed examples of what it will be and they approved it.

[1:09:18] » It's from the Vermont Arts Council. The name of the grant is the animating

[1:09:23] infrastructures. >> How's the board feel?

[1:09:29] » I think it's a wonderful idea and totally behind it.

[1:09:34] Motion to uh support the beautifification committee on their

[1:09:38] grant application. >> Motion to support the beautifification

[1:09:42] committee on their grant application for a mosaic at the whole spring

[1:09:52] » pending village approval that they already

[1:09:57] » Yeah, they approved it. >> All right, there's a motion. Is there a

[1:10:00] second? Second >> further discussion.

[1:10:03] » Yeah, I had one comment. I can't find where it was.

[1:10:08] Somewhere in this um

[1:10:14] it describes a cold spring as a source of drinking water. I don't think we

[1:10:17] should say that because it's not >> Oh, it does a

[1:10:21] » approved drinking water. So, >> where do you see that?

[1:10:24] » I don't know. Yeah. >> Under project summary, the Johnson Cold

[1:10:28] Spring, the ritual in institution that provides drinking and non-drinking water

[1:10:32] for Johnson residents in surrounding communities.

[1:10:34] » Should not say drinking. >> Okay, I'll have them struck just

[1:10:38] non-drinking water. >> I'll have them take that out. I think

[1:10:40] the Yeah, we hope we'll take that out. >> Okay, thank you.

[1:10:48] » All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I Good question. So, the villages

[1:10:54] approved what it's going to look like already or has it just been approved and

[1:10:58] » Well, no. What what they what they agreed to was that it's okay for the

[1:11:03] beautifification committee to go ahead and apply for the grant and they're okay

[1:11:07] with it in concept, but they want to get more information about what it actually

[1:11:13] is going to look like before they actually give permission to go and put

[1:11:16] the thing there. >> Okay, good. That's what I thought. I

[1:11:19] read that in the minutes and you were saying something Well, I thought they

[1:11:22] gave like stipulations on what they don't want there.

[1:11:25] » They they talked some about what they didn't want, but but they they I think

[1:11:28] they made it pretty clear that they're saying, "Yeah, go ahead and apply for

[1:11:31] the grant. We're okay as a concept, but we're not giving final approval until we

[1:11:36] have more information about what >> Yeah, I think that will what I was

[1:11:41] relayed at the last beautifification committee meeting was that it's going to

[1:11:44] be mostly u abstract art and um community members will come and like

[1:11:50] bring like plates or tiles or things and it'll be like interactive.

[1:11:54] » Yeah. and and it sounds like they're fine with that. That's really what it

[1:11:58] is. But >> what they they just want to be more

[1:12:02] authority or they actually and and they're concerned about um how it's

[1:12:07] going to be applied. A couple of the board members are are concerned about

[1:12:10] that. They want more information about the plans for is it going to be applied

[1:12:14] directly to the concrete or is it going to be on some kind of backing?

[1:12:17] » I think the artist said it would be on a backing, right? That's what I was

[1:12:20] » She was open to that. I sounded like she wanted to get to the side first and and

[1:12:26] work with the village on figuring out exactly what's going

[1:12:30] » there was some questions about whether people could get cut or something on the

[1:12:35] shards or something that would be used for the art as I recall. But thank you

[1:12:40] very much governor for clarifying that it hasn't been engraved in stone what

[1:12:44] it's going to be. >> But I don't think there's going to be

[1:12:46] Well, I don't know >> what the minute said.

[1:12:50] » Sure. They should be fine with >> I don't think there's going to I might

[1:12:53] be wrong, but I don't think that there's going to be like a set design. I think

[1:12:57] it's going to be like created there like in the moment, but I could be wrong.

[1:13:03] » Yeah. But but but they they haven't they haven't actually drawn some bars to say,

[1:13:07] "Yeah, go out there and whenever you're ready, put the thing up. You know, we've

[1:13:10] given you final permission before we get to that stage." They're going to want to

[1:13:14] hear more about >> Yeah.

[1:13:15] » what it's going to look like and what the plan is.

[1:13:18] » Oh, cool. Hey, I apologize. Yeah, what Donna said,

[1:13:22] this is Sorry, this is BJ. What Donna says is exactly what happened during our

[1:13:27] meeting. >> Okay.

[1:13:30] » Either way, we just need to approve the grant so money can flow.

[1:13:34] » I didn't even say that. We're approving. >> It's not happening on our property.

[1:13:38] We're approving Rosemary receiving money and writing the check to wherever it

[1:13:44] goes. >> Okay.

[1:13:48] » Whatever. I mean the village problem. >> All those in favor signify by saying I.

[1:13:55] » I. I. >> All those opposed. The eyes have it.

[1:13:58] Okay. Clear as mud. Review and consider

[1:14:05] the skate park RFP. I would assume that's what Casey's here for.

[1:14:11] » Casey and I have been working on a uh um RFP for Escape Park improvements. Um

[1:14:18] we've worked back and forth. We have a uh concept there that u we'd like to put

[1:14:24] out and move forward and go out to bid uh for the project.

[1:14:32] Now, did you find out if we need the act 250?

[1:14:35] » I haven't heard back. >> Heard back. Okay. So, she's working on

[1:14:38] that. We got a couple sketches for what what the design's going to be.

[1:14:51] And the sketches Casey,

[1:15:00] » the sketches were provided by >> Pierre Hall of uh science. I was biased

[1:15:08] to come up here. um

[1:15:12] uh Vermont skate park advocates uh did the design while we were working with

[1:15:18] FEMA

[1:15:22] board >> and with a lot of um community input I

[1:15:26] would say too >> do any board members

[1:15:29] » a lot for a lot for us >> questions about the RFP

[1:15:35] things they'd like amended or no further questions

[1:15:39] Page one, item two, concrete site work and whatnot. Uh, two three, third

[1:15:45] paragraph. Material for BMS can be harvested from the central meadow. Do we

[1:15:51] want to say must be would you want? We don't want material provided.

[1:15:55] » I'm not I'm sorry I don't understand the question.

[1:15:58] » Sorry. >> That's okay. I the performing the

[1:16:01] humming of the lights. Third paragraph says material for burns can be harvested

[1:16:06] from the central metal located within the park.

[1:16:10] » Right? >> Do we want to say must be or should be?

[1:16:15] We don't want material brought in from elsewhere.

[1:16:17] » If if it's available and there why I mean

[1:16:22] » point being we don't want material brought in from elsewhere into the flood

[1:16:24] plane. So we want to harvest material that's

[1:16:28] there and just move it around. Paul's saying, should we change the

[1:16:33] language to must be instead of leaving it up to their discretion?

[1:16:39] » I mean, >> where else somewhere else is to put

[1:16:42] material should not be brought into the flood lane.

[1:16:45] » Um, >> without offsetting it.

[1:16:47] » I see I'm hearing it. I'm understanding this two ways. So, I guess bear with me.

[1:16:53] Um the central meadow is where we sort of want to remove material anyway as I

[1:16:59] understand it with sort of long-term flood resilience plans anyway. So that's

[1:17:06] the deal. That's ideal. >> Um

[1:17:09] » this says can be harvested from there. I'm saying it should say must be

[1:17:14] » take it from there. That's where we want him to take it from.

[1:17:16] » I I I What do you think? I No problem. I guess

[1:17:20] » I got an issue. I mean, not knowing what the material on site is, uh,

[1:17:27] you know, there's if there was if the material wasn't uh uh usable for

[1:17:34] the project, then the contractor would have the idea would have the option to

[1:17:39] bring in, >> right? My concern would be if they bring

[1:17:40] in material from elsewhere, you're bringing material into the flood plane,

[1:17:43] then you got to offset that. That's just >> so

[1:17:48] here's what I think might be the solution is that um yeah say you know

[1:17:54] that okay they want to use that material uh for the BMS so it has to be

[1:18:00] compactable and da da if kind of following your thought if you start a

[1:18:07] digging and it's like oh this is too sandy or oh we're running in now we're

[1:18:13] running old uh weird weird buried things from the former homes.

[1:18:19] » I I don't I I guess I wouldn't want to lock the contractor into only using the

[1:18:25] meadow if they found that they had to get material from somewhere else for

[1:18:32] reasons that we can't anticipate right now. Um and but this

[1:18:37] the more important thing is is um I would imagine the contractor

[1:18:43] uh would be amendable to working with us if we had to move away from gathering

[1:18:50] everything from the from the meadow. I mean that's the most economical thing

[1:18:54] for them. They would want >> Yeah, I'm not quite that. It would be,

[1:18:58] but I >> Yeah, I guess. So, I I guess I wouldn't

[1:19:01] want to lock them in to say it must only be from the meadow.

[1:19:06] » I'm saying paragraph be added somewhere that says if you bring a, you know,

[1:19:11] material into this site, some material needs to be moved from the central

[1:19:16] meadow to offset cubic yard for cubic yard.

[1:19:20] » Yeah. >> Sure.

[1:19:21] » Yeah, we can make that change. >> All right. Well, yeah, but that's that's

[1:19:23] part of would be part of the terms of the flood permit anyway,

[1:19:27] » but it >> Yeah,

[1:19:28] » I think Paul was just asking if they can be part of the RFP so it's clear up

[1:19:32] front. >> Any other questions, Paul?

[1:19:36] » That was an excellent question. >> The only other question I had is with

[1:19:39] insurance and we're asking for I don't know certificate of insurance,

[1:19:44] joint liability. Are we asking for any specific limits?

[1:19:48] whatever they whatever they have is good enough for us.

[1:19:52] » Well, usually your your contractor would have,

[1:19:55] » you know, whatever amounts uh they're comfortable working with. Um, you know,

[1:19:59] if the board wanted uh to set those terms, that would be up to the board.

[1:20:04] But I mean, just making sure that they've got general liability insurance

[1:20:07] to cover in case something happens. >> Yes.

[1:20:11] » Million dollars. >> What have we had in other contracts? Is

[1:20:13] it is it customary just leave it blank? Like you have liability. We don't care

[1:20:17] how much it is. Seems kind of weak.

[1:20:24] » We could force them to bond. >> Not in favor of that.

[1:20:28] library bond.

[1:20:32] » That's a bigger project, too. >> That meets state of Vermont standards.

[1:20:38] » This does. >> Okay.

[1:20:41] » That works. Do is it normal for past contracts to not specify liability

[1:20:48] insurance amounts? >> Think so.

[1:20:55] » Okay. I think that agreement, but I'm if that's our norm, I'm okay with it.

[1:21:03] Um I I just looked up the RFP for the

[1:21:07] library foundation. It said maintain general liability

[1:21:11] insurance >> but no specified amount.

[1:21:14] » No specified amount.

[1:21:20] » Okay.

[1:21:24] » So being that we asked for an audition, is the board okay approving with the

[1:21:30] audition?

[1:21:34] Okay. You know, as amen discussed tonight,

[1:21:39] » basically the only addition is clearly stating if you bring material in, you

[1:21:43] bring the same amount out. >> Yes.

[1:21:46] » And I you might want to talk to Jason's able to use the old town pit as

[1:21:52] location for the out. >> Yeah, that doesn't mean here. Okay.

[1:21:57] Probably not. >> Um I had one question for the permitting

[1:22:02] bullet point. The sentence says, "If required for town and county flood

[1:22:07] resilience planning, the contractor will track track as built information on

[1:22:13] volumes of dirt moved and concrete poured."

[1:22:17] Um, if required for town like like our planning commission or like what does

[1:22:23] that mean? >> Flood plane building regulation.

[1:22:26] » Yes. >> Oh, okay. Okay.

[1:22:29] » That's another thing we didn't think about. You're bringing in yardage of

[1:22:31] concrete anyways. >> Yeah. Well, I'm glad you mentioned that

[1:22:35] cuz I wrote this should be required. I think we should have them

[1:22:39] track asbuilt information >> to have what permission.

[1:22:43] » I think we should have the contractor track asbuilt information on the volumes

[1:22:47] of dirt move. >> Oh yeah, I I I do too.

[1:22:51] » It says in here if I think and I agree. I think it should just say

[1:22:56] » it's required >> if this is at top of

[1:23:00] » right above 3.0. Oh, okay. 3.0.

[1:23:06] » I got a motion.

[1:23:10] » Yeah, apparently not. >> I think that's a good one. Thanks,

[1:23:14] Adrian. >> Yeah, I thought they would.

[1:23:19] Okay,

[1:23:24] » I'll make I make a motion to approve the skate park improvements and

[1:23:30] renovation project RFP um with the

[1:23:36] the amendments we discussed after that. Yeah,

[1:23:42] » that's solid. Move in a second. Further discussion.

[1:23:46] All those fa in favor signify by saying I.

[1:23:49] » I. >> All those opposed and the eyes have it.

[1:23:53] Can I take a quick poll of the audience? Is anybody here to talk about town

[1:23:57] meeting planning? >> Probably not.

[1:24:00] » Is the board okay if we kind of shift our only things down towards the bottom.

[1:24:06] Mhm. >> You know, town meeting planning

[1:24:10] can go towards the bottom, which would leave our next item up as

[1:24:18] » huh. >> I would leave our next item as emerald

[1:24:22] ashbor trunk injection treatment.

[1:24:30] » Don, you want to take this one? Somebody?

[1:24:32] » Yeah. Sue Lubin came in. um brought me an an invoice and I talked to Rosemary

[1:24:38] about it. She said, "This is something that we do every year

[1:24:42] and I asked her for a little more information and she sent me a follow-up

[1:24:46] that there are eight ash trees in the old mill park and they're the only trees

[1:24:50] there. That field is composed of a cap over tailings from the former telm mill.

[1:24:54] The state forbids breaking the ground there, so we can't plant any more trees.

[1:24:58] That being the case, the tree board feels it's important that we save those

[1:25:02] ash trees from the emerald ash boore which has been found in Belvverier and

[1:25:05] Stow. The rule of thumb with the ashbor is that trees to be saved within 15 mi

[1:25:10] of an infestation should be systematically treated. Waiting until

[1:25:14] the tree is already infested is almost always too late. Treatment is done every

[1:25:17] two years and is priced by the diameter of the tree. Sadly, it's a matter of

[1:25:22] time before the EAB gets to Johnson. The good news is Johnson has no ash in the

[1:25:27] village rightaways and the road crew has been proactive removing it on some town

[1:25:31] roads. For your information, I volunteer with the urban committee and forest

[1:25:34] street as a forest pest first detector. So anyone wanting info on the emerald

[1:25:39] ashbor Asian longhorn etc can call me. I won't be at the select board meeting on

[1:25:44] the 19th as I have conservation. Thank you. So she's requesting

[1:25:48] » she's here. >> Just said she wasn't going to be here.

[1:25:54] Uh, does the board want to approve the expense that's in front of us, which is

[1:26:01] four $1,026.

[1:26:07] » There's a discount. >> 975.

[1:26:09] » 974. Yeah, but I think we're after the period of the discount.

[1:26:12] » Oh, man. >> Oh, it's a prepaid discount

[1:26:15] » by four days. >> What the heck?

[1:26:19] » Where? What? What? Why am I missing that?

[1:26:21] » Discount. I've got a question for Sue. >> No, I suppose I guess it's the office.

[1:26:26] But >> Mr. Chairman,

[1:26:28] » sure. >> This the only type of treatment they can

[1:26:31] use. I I look at this stuff. It's called a drench.

[1:26:35] It appears that if you can pour at the base of the tree,

[1:26:39] » very ineffective. >> Ineffective.

[1:26:42] » You really want to save tree without touching is injected.

[1:26:48] And it can only be done by licensed pesticide. Yeah, we talked about this

[1:26:52] before. Uh, and did you ever get back to me on that class so I could go do it

[1:26:59] myself? >> I did. I saw the email I sent you the

[1:27:02] other day. >> Well, when does it have to be done?

[1:27:06] » The treatment to the tree, >> right?

[1:27:10] » It has to be done before the tree is infested.

[1:27:13] » Yes, I understand that. But when are you looking to have it done?

[1:27:17] » June. June to July. So there's no reason I could get

[1:27:21] trained. So we don't have to spend over a thousand bucks to do this.

[1:27:25] » You'd be real happy with that because there's another five at the

[1:27:30] » another five over there. Okay. >> The ones at the arium were created two

[1:27:35] years ago by a grant that the grant people weren't supposed to give us. They

[1:27:40] made a mistake and they did. So they said, "Okay, we're going to let you have

[1:27:43] it this time, but we won't do that." So, um,

[1:27:47] » why don't you let me get that glass, get that under my belt, and then, uh, you

[1:27:52] can go around, show me all the ones you want done, and we'll we'll inject them.

[1:27:57] How's that? >> Sounds good to me. You could go into

[1:28:00] business. >> Well, I guess you get that kind of money

[1:28:03] for five trees. I mean, for eight trees and then

[1:28:08] » another five. >> Another five.

[1:28:10] » It was $860 years ago. Is the board okay with seeing

[1:28:16] if Mike can get his tree squirting certification?

[1:28:19] » Don't even say it. >> I already said it.

[1:28:21] » Don't say it out loud. >> I said tree squirting certification.

[1:28:30] » I knew that was coming. >> I did too.

[1:28:34] » Yeah. >> Do we know how much the training is?

[1:28:36] » I don't think it can be that difficult. >> Tell you the truth. I don't know about

[1:28:40] right now, but last year it was $25. And I think the way they went was if you

[1:28:45] flung the course, you had to pay and if you didn't, you didn't.

[1:28:49] » Well, most online courses are a piece of cadence.

[1:28:53] » Maybe some other treeboard members would be interested in going too.

[1:28:57] » We're already too busy. >> Okay.

[1:29:00] » All right. So, are we just is the board cool with tableabling this and getting a

[1:29:04] report from Mike and Sue? Please, if this gets lost,

[1:29:08] » when I get back from >> Plus in June, you could put that on your

[1:29:11] calendar. >> Probably.

[1:29:13] » Are we going to miss another discount? >> Probably.

[1:29:17] » Just can't anymore. >> Well, you don't even know what I'm going

[1:29:21] to charge. Yeah.

[1:29:24] » Last time we had it done, they actually I don't know why, but they charge $200

[1:29:28] less than actual >> $300 less.

[1:29:31] » Yeah. I didn't question it. Oh, good.

[1:29:36] » Yeah.

[1:29:40] » Do you have any idea how much of this particular price? Not Mike's price, but

[1:29:46] this one um is uh the substance the chemical

[1:29:54] » I don't know. Uh most people who are reputable come from Waterberry

[1:30:02] and part of it maybe the traffic

[1:30:06] Okay. Okay.

[1:30:11] Our next item up, I guess we're tableabling this. Next item up is

[1:30:15] discuss town revenue. Can we bump that for the audience?

[1:30:21] Uh, next item up is review and consider signing uh certificate of highway

[1:30:26] mileage for year ending February 10, 2026.

[1:30:32] I believe this is accurate. We could probably hit this one out of the park,

[1:30:35] but we're not doing great on that. I >> Well, I got the notice of public hearing

[1:30:42] and site visits from Rosemary, and I read down through and it showed that uh

[1:30:47] there was three roads uh that were uh reduced from class 4 to legal trails.

[1:30:52] So, on the certificate of highway mileage, I showed that subtraction,

[1:30:57] updated the math, and what I need tonight is for the board to approve it

[1:31:01] and sign it. Uh, also I need to turn in a set of signed minutes. And uh, going

[1:31:08] through uh, the previous minutes, it wasn't until November 3rd, 2025 that the

[1:31:13] board acted and approved the uh, changes.

[1:31:17] » Well, I mean, we we acted and approved

[1:31:23] before, but it didn't make it. There was a audio visual error and then we

[1:31:29] reaffirmed it again. But those minutes will be

[1:31:34] » Yes. So what I'm asking is that the board sign this so I can turn it in and

[1:31:40] uh approve reapprove these minutes. I need uh signed minutes that I turn in

[1:31:44] the application. >> Signed minutes.

[1:31:46] » Signed minutes tomorrow. Can you get the watermark

[1:31:50] rule? >> We already approved those.

[1:31:53] » Yeah. >> They got to be signed according to the

[1:31:56] » All right. And if you need me to send you a version that doesn't have the

[1:31:59] watermark, you don't have that. >> If you can do that and you can add

[1:32:03] signature lines to them, then we can just e- sign.

[1:32:06] » Okay. >> Uh, can I get a motion to approve the

[1:32:09] highway mileage certificate? >> Moved. You want second? Sign this one

[1:32:13] tonight. >> Yeah. Motion and a second. Further

[1:32:15] discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. The eyes

[1:32:21] have it. Okay.

[1:32:35] Um,

[1:32:39] town highway grant program can wait. Discussion regarding the future of low

[1:32:43] lecture hall town hall. Peter,

[1:32:49] John, somebody. >> Yeah. So, I put this on the agenda. Oh,

[1:32:53] » I need everybody to sound cover. >> Yeah, I put this on the agenda um

[1:32:59] to kind of get the what the board was thinking. I went back and I looked and I

[1:33:04] saw that they had a public meeting and they had some ideas uh that we generated

[1:33:09] at the time. Uh I looked at the survey that uh Peter handed out. U the

[1:33:17] building itself does need a lot of work. Um, and I know I think you and I talked

[1:33:22] that this would be a topic for after town meeting. Um, and I just kind of

[1:33:27] wanted to get some idea from uh, the board, you know, did they have any

[1:33:31] ideas, you know, what were some plans that could be considered? Um, ideally,

[1:33:36] you know, when the snow melts and the sale goes through, I'd like to go in the

[1:33:40] bucket. I know there's some uh, grant money

[1:33:44] that's out there for historic preservation. Um, but I mean most of

[1:33:48] those grants require some kind of plan for the building afterwards.

[1:33:54] » Um, and I just wanted to initiate the the discussion from the board and get

[1:33:58] their feedback.

[1:34:01] » I think high level there's no defined plan. There's been quite a few

[1:34:07] ideas and they trying not to misspeak for anybody here but I think we're

[1:34:13] pretty clear in our special town meeting that once the building was it's almost

[1:34:20] » recording stopped

[1:34:24] » recording in progress >> because of that 250 because the studio

[1:34:31] center owned the building. So,

[1:34:35] » is that going to transfer to us, the town of Johnson, act 250 on this

[1:34:41] building? Because if it is, I think people in the town are going to maybe

[1:34:46] want to revisit whether they want to buy it or not because you know what we go

[1:34:51] through just for this industrial part to get anything done through Act 250. You

[1:34:57] know, you spend more money going through Act 250 than you do actually getting

[1:35:02] something done. I don't know what the question is. Is

[1:35:06] the question are we exempt from act 250? >> Are we exempt or do we follow act 250 on

[1:35:11] this bill? >> Well, when we do the down

[1:35:13] » recording stopped recording in progress

[1:35:18] » 26 if you have your town report with you >> and that's basically kind of a

[1:35:26] maintenance. it's that's not addressing some of the

[1:35:32] significant work that needs to be done. We want we want to address that pretty

[1:35:37] carefully, I think. And I think that's one one of my goals I had that putting

[1:35:41] it on the agenda to talk to the board because when you start looking for grant

[1:35:45] funding, uh, one of the things that they want to hear is that there's a plan for

[1:35:49] the reuse of the building. And I wanted to, you know, educate myself, uh, talk

[1:35:55] to the board and see, you know, what their plan was. And I put a note in the

[1:36:00] packet there from a previous meeting some of the topics that were discussed.

[1:36:04] Um, and it's going to be a process going forward

[1:36:08] carefully.

[1:36:11] » Are your questions getting answered, Pat?

[1:36:13] » Yes. >> And the direct the direct answer to most

[1:36:19] of them is no >> or it's in process.

[1:36:26] » I just see

[1:36:31] a lot of problems. You know, I'm just worried about the

[1:36:35] building deteriorating as we move forward. Is it a year project, two-year

[1:36:39] project, three-year project? So, I want to I would like to see a prioritized

[1:36:43] list and what is the most important thing to do? Is it the roof? Is it the

[1:36:47] foundation? And

[1:36:53] » yeah, >> in two years I don't see a we need

[1:36:58] $80,000 to go on the taxes to

[1:37:03] fix something because it's in dire straits now.

[1:37:08] » That could be cheap. >> Well,

[1:37:12] yes. >> Thank you very much. Are there any other

[1:37:17] questions on Mo lecture hall? Oh yeah. Could Mike take a course on how

[1:37:24] you say >> so? Could you take a course on how to

[1:37:26] fix it all? >> I'll fix it all.

[1:37:29] » You going to inject it? >> Did you have any comments?

[1:37:32] » Okay. >> I was just here to tell.

[1:37:34] » Okay. >> I I agree with you, Pat. I see problems

[1:37:39] on this whole thing, too. especially if you've had neighboring

[1:37:44] properties that have been encroaching on it for years and not been told they

[1:37:49] couldn't >> put them on not and we we had

[1:37:51] conversations with their uh with their attorneys that or the neighbors land

[1:37:55] owners had support. >> Okay. So, you think that's all worked

[1:37:58] out? >> Yeah. Yeah. We actually um we blocked

[1:38:01] Well, we had locked off so people wouldn't park like cuz the way it works

[1:38:04] is that little house that's right next to it, people are parking right there.

[1:38:08] So, we didn't want them to park there. So they have a drive through our lawyer.

[1:38:12] There's no like adverse whatever say that's not happening with us because

[1:38:17] we're a nonprofit. So it's not you can't do that. So um so we already have our

[1:38:21] attorneys talk to their neighbors get stuff. So

[1:38:26] » so that goes pretty close to the parts place.

[1:38:29] » It's like right up >> right up tight to it and they've been

[1:38:32] using that for parking for years. >> Just the handicap spa I think. Okay. Um

[1:38:37] is really close to there on the other side. So, I believe there's there's

[1:38:41] defin >> And the other side it goes right tight

[1:38:44] to the to that building. It's in. >> So, you could cut those trees down and

[1:38:48] have diagonal parking right in through there.

[1:38:51] » You could. Yes. >> Yeah.

[1:38:55] » Those precious trees. >> Somebody might want to hug before we cut

[1:39:01] them down. >> All right, let's move on from trees.

[1:39:06] » No, it's not. >> No, you have the people. Yeah, I know.

[1:39:09] That's why that's why I said it.

[1:39:14] » Wonderful. All right, I think we're back up to our regular stuff,

[1:39:21] right? >> Thank you for answering those questions.

[1:39:25] I appreciate it. >> I can also like on our second day that I

[1:39:31] know it's pretty. We has we didn't trigger act 250 when we purchased it on

[1:39:37] these books. But you would have if we took to

[1:39:40] weather. Yeah, absolutely. >> John, maybe we can have our attorney

[1:39:44] talk to their attorney about the adverse possession issue. We just make sure

[1:39:48] that's clear for us as well. >> Yes.

[1:39:59] » Perfect. Great. Thank you. >> Thanks, Melanie.

[1:40:04] One more. >> Sure. The library.

[1:40:10] We're okay if you're going on that. >> We're working with and supporting the

[1:40:16] library trustee board as things evolve. They have made commitments to

[1:40:23] come up with the shortfall in funding. And the last conversation with the

[1:40:28] library that was in here was they were going to work on a grant amendment and

[1:40:34] potentially a contract amendment

[1:40:40] to see if we could get more money >> and didn't have to finish.

[1:40:44] » The short version is

[1:40:48] » their grant got amended. So they don't have to build the whole thing which is

[1:40:51] what they originally thought. They just have to open the old building and they

[1:40:55] can use the grant money for the old building.

[1:40:58] So they can do that by the end of this year and meet the grant requirements and

[1:41:03] then do whatever else they need to do as money allows.

[1:41:09] So we got some really good news from the funding agency

[1:41:13] » without the town being responsible. >> Pardon me. without the town being

[1:41:18] responsible. >> But we're still ultimately responsible.

[1:41:22] » We still the works. It's watching things being done around that building and at

[1:41:27] that building. >> No,

[1:41:29] » that's a rub, too. Well, so they were digging up around the

[1:41:33] foundation when it was 10 below or whatever and then plopping big chunks of

[1:41:41] frozen earth, then running an excavator over the top of it and going up against

[1:41:45] the foundation. If anybody seen that, thought what was going on when they were

[1:41:50] digging putting dirt in. >> Yeah. Smashed up a bunch of the extruded

[1:41:55] polystyrene that was against the building.

[1:41:59] » Oh. So I am

[1:42:04] » understood. That was from homes metal.

[1:42:08] » Yeah. >> Material.

[1:42:11] » So to move forward a word with a clerk of the works before any

[1:42:17] more work is being done. Does it go through the clerk of the works that goes

[1:42:22] through the town or not? >> We do not have a clerk of the works for

[1:42:25] that project. We need one badly.

[1:42:31] » John, I think you were going to reach out to Mumley and see what they would

[1:42:34] charge for that. We talked about that in our last meeting. Is that on your list

[1:42:38] somewhere? >> It's on my list. It didn't get down.

[1:42:41] » Thank you. >> We talked about that. We're aware we

[1:42:45] don't have one. It wasn't in the budget. I don't want to be a naysayer here, but

[1:42:49] I was under the assumption that these projects were were moving forward and we

[1:42:54] had our ducks in a row for them to move forward and the funding say and you know

[1:42:59] the rumor on the streets is with the library that

[1:43:04] there's just no money there. Was there any money there to begin with?

[1:43:10] » There's money there. Um the library after the grant and some funding from

[1:43:16] the library kicking in has you know round numbers $1.9 million for the

[1:43:23] project.

[1:43:26] Round numbers it's going to cost give or take 2.4 to complete the project. It's

[1:43:32] only the delta. And the architect as well as the engineers

[1:43:39] were all surprised at how high the project came in based on their,

[1:43:43] you know, preliminary numbers for the grant application.

[1:43:49] » To answer your question, I took pictures of that and I gave it to the board.

[1:43:56] They need 500,000 more to complete it. And work is going to keep going with the

[1:44:03] money they have. So nothing is stopping or pausing. It's going to keep going

[1:44:09] until the money is spent, I suppose. >> And the rumors on the street are pretty

[1:44:15] lacking in fact. >> Yeah. But they're there.

[1:44:18] » They're there. Yeah. I don't know how >> I don't know how we get people to

[1:44:23] listen. >> Well, when you see a GoFundMe page

[1:44:26] looking for all kinds of money, of course, it's not

[1:44:29] » Mike. Mike,

[1:44:33] » the town is not on the hook. >> I understand.

[1:44:38] » There is a short fall on that and there is a gunding and you

[1:44:43] fired up. >> The library was not on our agenda. I did

[1:44:47] this as a favor for Pat to talk about it. I think we're getting back to our

[1:44:50] agenda. >> Okay, Dad. Fair enough.

[1:44:53] » Thanks, Pat. >> Yeah,

[1:44:55] » not about the librarians. >> I have I did uh do some research this

[1:44:59] week on uh some uh CDBG grant opportunities and uh under the public

[1:45:05] facilities program, they do list libraries. So, I want to explore that

[1:45:08] thing. >> Thank you. Town meeting day. Planning

[1:45:12] » planning. Town meeting day. What do we need?

[1:45:17] What's John kind of had this one on the agenda and it's a good time to have it.

[1:45:23] » Uh we got uh the historical society is

[1:45:28] going to be selling pies. Um >> but they're free to select board

[1:45:32] members. >> That's billions.

[1:45:35] » They changed me double last year. >> Talk about sharks.

[1:45:40] » $5 a slice. I gave him a 10 and left with a piece of pot.

[1:45:44] You just go all the >> Jenny Urus is going to be doing uh tea

[1:45:49] and coffee and >> food shelf.

[1:45:53] » For the food. Yes. And for pizza, it's >> Mark Woodward.

[1:45:57] » Mark Woodward. >> Doesn't R usually do the the coffee?

[1:46:01] » Not this year. >> Mark Woodward's doing the pizza.

[1:46:05] » Well, >> organizing it.

[1:46:07] » Okay. >> Johnson eats

[1:46:10] » because I'm on the pizza committee, but I haven't heard anything yet.

[1:46:14] Mark goes in at 2:00 in the morning to start that thing to get it all hot.

[1:46:19] » And I got to >> Kyle has arranged daycare.

[1:46:22] » Yeah, >> which is great.

[1:46:24] » That one still concerns me a little bit. But

[1:46:27] » what >> they've been doing daycare for

[1:46:32] five, six years now. >> I know

[1:46:33] » the parents stay on site. They have to stay on site still.

[1:46:40] Um, but Kyle said that we need to reach out to the

[1:46:48] elementary school or what did she say? >> Yeah, for the room.

[1:46:54] » It says contact Dunton Elementary School to reserve the classroom for the

[1:46:59] kindergarten the kindergarten room. Uh let this community service let let the

[1:47:07] community know this service will be available to them at town meeting. Um

[1:47:12] create and put up signs and arrows directing parents to the classroom.

[1:47:16] Create sign in sheet for parents that include phone number. Day before confirm

[1:47:21] with the school that the room will be unlocked and baby sitters submit hours

[1:47:26] and get paid minimum wage.

[1:47:30] » Mr. Mr. Chairman, what was your concern about the day?

[1:47:35] » It's a lot of liability on the town. >> It is. And uh

[1:47:39] » I mean, we can't hire, no offense, you were

[1:47:45] to anybody, we can't hire an employee without a background check

[1:47:51] in any other capacity. And what happens if the kids get hurt?

[1:47:56] Who is responsible? >> There is some kind of a course. I think

[1:48:00] it's I don't know if the proper name is like a assessing the risk or some dumb

[1:48:06] thing that you can course you can take that would protect the town if something

[1:48:11] happened. That's what you're thinking about.

[1:48:16] » I'm thinking that if we were to provide babysitters, they should have horses in

[1:48:21] babysitting, CPR training, stop bleed training, background checks. If we're

[1:48:26] really going to do it, >> they

[1:48:29] » they might have those. I don't know. I don't know.

[1:48:33] » Possibly. >> Yeah.

[1:48:35] » Why don't you just let me die with saying I'm skeptical?

[1:48:41] » No, but I mean, you do have a good point that uh the town is on the hook if

[1:48:46] something happens.

[1:48:51] » As always, >> we're always on the hook.

[1:48:56] Now that we moved on from that Casey

[1:49:01] » question have there been uh discussion with other

[1:49:07] committees about you know there are presentation tables and stuff is that

[1:49:13] come into focus yet? I think anybody that wants a presentation table can just

[1:49:18] email John. kind of a pretty good reason the library board to have a

[1:49:25] table at >> you know

[1:49:28] » maybe John could you send it email to committee and commission chairs

[1:49:33] » offering that >> in years past the skate park committees

[1:49:37] often used have table we we could use use a small table

[1:49:42] » and show people what our projects included

[1:49:45] » yeah maybe um ask them to have a signup sheet too basic.

[1:49:53] » Could she be some kind of release? >> Ditto town hall.

[1:49:58] No, that's we don't know what

[1:50:02] » great idea. >> Okay. It's not a good idea.

[1:50:04] » You know what I'm saying? Because people lack facts and not it's a way of

[1:50:10] helping. >> Yep.

[1:50:12] » Great idea. We could ask chairs of committees if they want to be there. All

[1:50:16] the committees that love being there have already said they're going to be

[1:50:18] there. But

[1:50:22] the money, >> do I get a freebie piece this year?

[1:50:30] » Don't. But um I do want to mention that I do

[1:50:35] remember from last year that there was a shortage of tables that were easy to

[1:50:39] work from for the groups because the tables that are available are the ones

[1:50:45] that have the seats. >> Oh yeah, they only have about maybe

[1:50:49] four. Maybe Rosemary sent some over last year or the year.

[1:50:54] » I think I've always told people to bring your own people

[1:50:58] » because the school doesn't have a lot of papers, right?

[1:51:03] Yeah, maybe that can be part of the email chair. So, if you want to set

[1:51:06] something up by Yo,

[1:51:10] » B. >> So, now that we're back to school type

[1:51:15] things, uh,

[1:51:18] you've been in communication with the school.

[1:51:21] » Yes. >> Gotten the Wi-Fi password.

[1:51:23] » Yeah. >> Mountain Access Pision had some

[1:51:26] questions. Are you running with theirs?

[1:51:31] They wanted to know if the school was setting up the school's AV equipment,

[1:51:37] the Wi-Fi password,

[1:51:42] some other things, but those would be if you have a

[1:51:48] contact at the school. Yeah. Uh that

[1:51:54] » they wanted to know if it's still going to be headed held at John. Yeah, I'll

[1:51:57] just forward it the whole thing. >> Yeah. uh Rosemary, Susan and I, we went

[1:52:01] over and had a meeting with the principal and the staffs and uh we had a

[1:52:06] chance to talk to them and request what we needed.

[1:52:11] » I know Wi-Fi password was difficult or Wi-Fi access was difficult.

[1:52:15] » I guess there's a guess that there is no password to it.

[1:52:19] » Okay. Are we going to set up on the stage this

[1:52:22] year? >> E.

[1:52:28] Only if we're at the old town hall. >> Are we going to wear matching outfits?

[1:52:35] » Would you like outfits? >> Yeah, but can I

[1:52:38] » Nobody's getting off board this year. Nobody has it.

[1:52:43] » Bunny suits. >> You want to pick that? I will gladly

[1:52:47] carry it in with me.

[1:52:52] » I'll send some idea. Um, what else? The local boy scout troop

[1:53:00] used to present the colors. >> They have not for the last few years.

[1:53:04] » They haven't for the last couple years. But

[1:53:06] » the scout masters, >> I don't, but Dick Sees, I think, is

[1:53:10] still connected enough. >> Dick is connected, but I don't believe

[1:53:14] that that there are any scouts left. the last two

[1:53:21] and build bridge. >> Wow.

[1:53:25] » Project. >> Maybe the last two.

[1:53:27] » Reach out to Tom Carney and see if there's a bunch of veterans that would

[1:53:31] be willing to do it. >> I did it last year.

[1:53:34] » Well, you stood up and started the pledge of allegiance. But, you know, if

[1:53:38] there was a >> getting back to what just a second ago

[1:53:42] you said, what are we going to wear? You know, we did Johnson Wool. If

[1:53:46] everybody's got a Vermont flannel shirt, you know, we could all wear Vermont a

[1:53:52] different Vermont flannel shirt. I'll wear one.

[1:53:59] And if you don't want to spend a hundred bucks, you can find them on eBay real

[1:54:02] cheap. >> Okay.

[1:54:05] » I have one Vermont flannel. Yeah. >> Is coordinational wardrobe the most

[1:54:10] important thing? >> No. But she said we're gonna all kind of

[1:54:13] wear. We're not going to have the same one on

[1:54:17] » final insurance. >> That might be something we can discuss

[1:54:20] by email. >> No,

[1:54:22] » what we wear could probably be discussed by

[1:54:24] » Yeah, >> we had a select board member buy all

[1:54:28] those last year. >> But he got done.

[1:54:29] » Oh, Paul, >> you want to buy me?

[1:54:34] » Well, technically speaking, I think you took over that select member.

[1:54:41] Um, we can figure out wardrobe, but I don't I don't know. Are there any other

[1:54:46] ideas for pledge of allegiance presenting

[1:54:49] flags? >> A great idea.

[1:54:52] » If they're interested in doing it, >> they're interested.

[1:54:54] » I think is Tom the one the runner of that circle.

[1:54:58] » Yeah, Tom. >> Yeah. Any contact Rosemary's got contact

[1:55:02] info for Tom Carney. >> Okay.

[1:55:07] » With the veterans. Yeah, just to see if they if there's no

[1:55:12] scouts. >> Maybe Girl Scouts.

[1:55:14] » That'd be fine. >> They sell Girl Scout cookies, but I

[1:55:17] don't know who it is. >> That'll be fine. They never done that

[1:55:21] before. >> How do we find out who it is?

[1:55:24] » Yeah, >> maybe Kyle does.

[1:55:29] » Ask her. >> You don't mind?

[1:55:32] » You can sell cookies, too. Yeah, >> they used to they have it for

[1:55:36] » bodies. >> Anything else? They used the Girl Scouts

[1:55:38] used to sell. >> Yes. No. Maybe.

[1:55:40] » Is there like an elementary like band or choir or anything like that to include?

[1:55:48] » I don't know. >> Okay.

[1:55:49] » No, I just um I had it on the agenda. I know you and I talked about it uh to try

[1:55:54] to uh see what we need for that meeting. That's coming up quick.

[1:55:59] » So, anybody else have any wants, wishes? I think my mother-in-law usually does a

[1:56:03] couple things with flowers. >> You folks aren't riveted anymore.

[1:56:06] Fantastic. I'll keep being a little bit.

[1:56:11] One of the things I just thought up with your fing

[1:56:16] uh so babysitters, maybe if you could find an EMT

[1:56:22] or a nurse that would be in the area with the kids or

[1:56:30] speaking from some experience as ski patroller,

[1:56:35] » they all would have the necessary first aid background should an emergency

[1:56:40] arise. And maybe you can set it up where

[1:56:43] they're in like a 2-hour shift or something like that so you're not

[1:56:47] burdening them like the whole day, but that would give you some adult

[1:56:52] supervision that's medically trained. Um just a just a thought. I'm not trying

[1:56:58] to stir the pot here. >> No.

[1:57:01] » But the resources may be available locally.

[1:57:04] » Yeah. um to get you a little bit better

[1:57:08] confidence, but you are exposing yourself

[1:57:11] ski for 40 years with a car district and the uh the liability is huge should

[1:57:18] something go the wrong way.

[1:57:22] » That's a great idea. Thank you. >> Yeah,

[1:57:24] » thank you very much. >> What What did I just think of? Go.

[1:57:28] » Like I said, I could reach out to Tammy. Uh she's looking at starting a job if

[1:57:33] she's available. She's a former teacher, so she's had her background check and

[1:57:36] she's a former EMT. >> How about that?

[1:57:40] » Might as well ask the question. >> I know when this program first started,

[1:57:45] the the babysitters did take a certified babysitting course.

[1:57:51] » Red Cross offers one. Yeah, >> I think that's what they took.

[1:57:54] » And that would be a good idea. Kyle sent me the Girl Scout leaders

[1:58:01] contact info, so I'll forward that to you guys.

[1:58:07] » Tech, uh, Green Mountain Tech Center, wellness, uh,

[1:58:13] early nursing or whatever programs they have up there, any of those kids might

[1:58:18] be resuscitated. Would they would they be or they, you know, not certified

[1:58:22] enough? Maybe, maybe we're getting too deep in the

[1:58:27] weeds on that one. Um,

[1:58:29] » you started it. >> Yeah, I did.

[1:58:33] » Charles Ski Patroller, >> huh?

[1:58:35] » Charles Flam. >> Yeah, there we go.

[1:58:38] » You started it with us. >> Have any of the local reps reached out

[1:58:44] to you to see if I may be here? >> No.

[1:58:49] » I can email them tomorrow. They're usually

[1:58:53] wanting to come after lunch. We all done.

[1:58:57] » You think? >> Yeah.

[1:58:59] » Yeah. >> I hope

[1:59:02] » we lose so many people like after they leave.

[1:59:07] » All right, I'll just copy you on that. >> It should be pretty short town meeting.

[1:59:12] I feel like >> Well, that's how long we talk about the

[1:59:16] library and the town hall. >> That's not on the agenda. I know, but

[1:59:21] it's still >> like I said, we've condemned

[1:59:23] administration. >> Yeah, it's still on the agenda is going

[1:59:25] to be pretty painless. >> It's only a

[1:59:29] weather.

[1:59:33] » Anything else? We're good. Um, I mean, should we have Jason there

[1:59:39] for public works or he hasn't he hasn't been there since he's been the

[1:59:43] supervisor, >> but if he wants to come,

[1:59:48] he has >> supposedly working

[1:59:51] » time. Yeah, he's supposed to be working. >> You could ask Isabella if she wanted to

[1:59:57] give any recreation. >> Isabelle, she can't be there. Okay.

[2:00:00] » I'm assuming that I'm assuming she can't because usually they make a pile of

[2:00:04] money on coffee. Oh, okay. Uhhuh.

[2:00:08] » What was I just thinking about?

[2:00:14] » Oh, I will get together a list of potential topics and

[2:00:20] experts and we can talk about that at our next meeting.

[2:00:24] » Okay. >> Usually it's like

[2:00:27] know if we get a question about ATVs, just Mike can be our topic expert.

[2:00:32] » My guess is Low lecture hall library

[2:00:39] maybe. >> Oh, what fun. Um, yeah,

[2:00:42] » in all honesty, you answered better than I did.

[2:00:46] » Sure, I'll give it a shot. >> We can bounce it back and forth.

[2:00:51] » Long as Mike agrees to be my wardrobe consultant.

[2:00:54] Neil, listen.

[2:01:00] » Can we uh move on on this one? Yep.

[2:01:04] » Do we want to talk about creating town revenue?

[2:01:11] » That is who's uh who's contacting the school to the room or daycare?

[2:01:16] » Huh? >> Who's contacting the school to reserve

[2:01:18] the room for daycare? >> I can do that.

[2:01:21] » Yeah. He's got to talk to the school about for the GMAT TV stuff. The There's

[2:01:25] a couple of items.

[2:01:34] Everything okay? >> Donna

[2:01:36] free extensions for like this.

[2:01:44] » You raising money, right?

[2:01:48] » The floor. >> Yeah. Um,

[2:01:51] » so I just thought it'd be good to like talk about how we could increase town

[2:01:55] revenue. There's a lot of different avenues. Uh there's a sheet that has

[2:02:03] different like buckets of ideas, but property the main ones are like property

[2:02:08] taxes, local fees and charges, state aid, revolutionary, enterprise funds,

[2:02:15] uh local option taxes, grants, external funding, funds,

[2:02:20] penalties, asset based revenue, economic

[2:02:24] development, uh donations, endowments, Um but uh

[2:02:31] » but I just generally wanted to see if anyone had any ideas that we wanted to

[2:02:38] try out to increase our revenue um and open the floor to that.

[2:02:44] » I did attach some research on local option tax. I know there's some

[2:02:48] communities that have used it successfully. It does require town

[2:02:53] meeting approval. Um, and I added that to the back of just more to consider.

[2:03:00] I've heard uh a lot of communities are talking about that and I, you know, as I

[2:03:06] was looking at this today, I was thinking, I sure would like to hear from

[2:03:13] businesses in town that depend on tourist business,

[2:03:20] how they would feel about a local option tax. Because the last thing we want to

[2:03:24] do is um

[2:03:30] reduce economic activity. >> Mhm.

[2:03:38] » Well, >> well put Yeah.

[2:03:42] » Well, I'm going to mention something here. People are probably going to block

[2:03:47] at it. At least we have discussed it before and uh we know it is going to be

[2:03:52] a long process but we could save quite a lot of money if we didn't have to allow

[2:03:58] and maintain all these single family drive.

[2:04:03] I just drove by Mchuan Heights the other day and you know I know that it's paved

[2:04:09] and so when that road needs to be paved again the town has to pay for it

[2:04:16] you know and we do have a lot of farms I mean they were old farms years ago and

[2:04:22] we all know that the reason why is that they farmers had milk they had to pick

[2:04:28] them up and so that's why the road was there it was maintained and everything

[2:04:32] else. But we have they're not farms anymore. They're single family homes.

[2:04:38] And so, you know, we discussed that a while back about some of them don't give

[2:04:43] us room to turn around in. And we were going to try to find a way that to say

[2:04:48] that if they didn't allow us to turn around that we weren't going to take

[2:04:52] care of them. And then we find out from the state that we can't say that, we

[2:04:56] can't do that. But we need to start the process of uh getting away from this.

[2:05:03] And I don't know how much we would save in the long run, but you know, because

[2:05:07] there's no real breakdown of it, but I would imagine in a year's time it would

[2:05:11] make such a wild amount of money. I mean, you just look at 100 C of that

[2:05:15] bridge that goes to one house that had to be replaced years ago for two houses

[2:05:20] and one of them belongs to the college which is no longer

[2:05:26] take it. It's it's vacant now. Okay. And so no nobody lives there. So they

[2:05:31] there's only one house across that and unless there's other buildings or

[2:05:36] something further up to support that someday that bridge will have to be

[2:05:40] replaced and who knows how much money and the town is going to have to foot

[2:05:45] the bill for them. So some of these places ought to be done away with

[2:05:49] really. Uh, so I've got 3 years provided nobody runs against me and beats me. So

[2:05:58] the next three years I'm going to be pushing that and we need to look into

[2:06:03] this and to try to be saving us money, you know, and plowing them out and

[2:06:08] maintaining them and grading them and hauling gravel into them. I mean, this

[2:06:14] just goes on and on and on. And I think Morsville is getting rid of a whole

[2:06:19] bunch of them and uh we need to look into what the process they went through

[2:06:25] to do it. >> We just did that last year. I think we

[2:06:30] can all agree there are places to save money. This is about bringing money in.

[2:06:34] » I understand. Uh but if you don't spend as much money, you don't have to bring

[2:06:39] as much money in. So that's my point with that.

[2:06:43] » Dollar saved, dollar earned. That's right. I have a question about re

[2:06:49] reappraisals. So, uh does not create new money, just

[2:06:53] redistributes. Um

[2:06:57] if if somebody has made improvements to

[2:07:02] their property, um wouldn't their assessment go up?

[2:07:11] A reappraisal would redistribute the money because you have your approved

[2:07:18] budget. We prepare a budget, >> the taxpayers accept it or deny it.

[2:07:23] » Mhm. >> And then we use the grand list to

[2:07:26] determine the tax rate. So if a property depreciates, they just

[2:07:31] pay less in taxes. If a property appreciates,

[2:07:34] they just pay more in taxes. But if everything in an ideal world, your grand

[2:07:40] list would grow at the same rate that your expenses grow and your tax rate

[2:07:42] would never change. >> But typically when you do a reappraisal,

[2:07:46] when everybody gets reappraised, the tax rate goes down,

[2:07:50] » right? >> Because grandma's figure, it's

[2:07:51] » not like you keep your tax rate there. >> Okay. So

[2:07:58] » also, you know, during the means, we went through a tax abatement program

[2:08:04] with people that were flooded. It was a big eye openener for me and I know it

[2:08:08] was for a lot of the other participants that you had a lot of these um apartment

[2:08:14] houses that were in for basically a fitness and they had like four

[2:08:19] apartments with you know $12,400 a month. It it's not based on income for

[2:08:25] these taxes. It's based upon the appraised value of the house. And so you

[2:08:30] listen to the the assessor and he talks about a room here and a room there and

[2:08:36] fixtures here and fixtures there and next thing you know uh they have a house

[2:08:40] that's uh generating a tremendous amount of income that's only in for like

[2:08:45] $150,000. So I mean they're not actually paying

[2:08:49] their fair share of the amount of income that they are producing out of these

[2:08:54] apartments. So, I mean, the whole thing has to be possibly revamped

[2:09:00] down the road and make some of these people with the ability to pay more

[2:09:04] taxes pay that. >> The majority of the businesses in our

[2:09:10] town are not assessed on a business model.

[2:09:14] » That's right. >> They're assessed on a property model.

[2:09:19] » Right. Um, I guess one thing I was interested

[2:09:25] to see if we had any land to be able to do this with, um, was leasing town land

[2:09:31] or buildings. Um, and maybe leasing land for like cell towers or solar arrays on

[2:09:38] municipal property. I don't know if we have any areas that

[2:09:42] would be good fit for that. >> You'd certainly have a lot of people

[2:09:46] yell at you if you did. Well, the cell the the cell tower is up at the college

[2:09:52] and the college is in the states generating revenue from that.

[2:09:58] » So, >> there could be a penance of money for

[2:10:04] certain things, but it's worth looking at. I don't want to even think about the

[2:10:08] local options tax myself. >> No,

[2:10:13] » I don't think it fits our town. Town like Willist, sure, because people go

[2:10:17] there and shop a lot. Town like Sto, sure, fail room and board alcohol sales.

[2:10:23] » Here it would just be a tax on the local residents for the most part.

[2:10:28] » So they wouldn't see it in their property taxes. And unfortunately,

[2:10:34] we only get to keep like 75%. I thought it was 60% corrected me. We

[2:10:40] get to keep 75% of that 1% of the sales tax.

[2:10:43] » State gets to keep the other 25. I mean, fund it

[2:10:48] » the pilot. >> The pilot program.

[2:10:49] » Adrian, you mentioned cell towers. >> One time we had a piece of property that

[2:10:54] they were thinking of putting a cell tower on uh and they were going to pay

[2:10:57] us $25,000 a year for a 30-year contract.

[2:11:01] » Okay. But they ended up going someplace else.

[2:11:04] » I think they actually going to college instead.

[2:11:08] » Yeah. But I certainly would have not laid $25,000 a year just to have a cell

[2:11:13] tower on my property. >> Mhm.

[2:11:16] » And I wouldn't be dropping calls if they had done that.

[2:11:19] » You're probably right. >> Yeah.

[2:11:27] » And I mean, I know we don't have like parking tickets, but

[2:11:32] is that an option? >> Who would enforce it?

[2:11:39] the sheriff's department. >> Mhm.

[2:11:42] » And they won't issued one ticket last month.

[2:11:48] » One

[2:11:52] that's huge. >> I do

[2:11:55] » generate a lot of revenue. We're saying Jay up here

[2:12:02] » for what >> Danielle people get picked up all the

[2:12:05] time. I do think our

[2:12:09] paid for services should go up. >> Our paid for services.

[2:12:16] » Well, maybe that goes under fees or local fees and charges, but I said that

[2:12:22] about wreck when we were budgeting. >> And I think I also said I'd like to see

[2:12:27] a lot more donations and empower committees to get donations.

[2:12:34] » Yeah. Um, and then like with form based code,

[2:12:39] could we like charge for violations

[2:12:43] for that? >> Do we even have a fee structure?

[2:12:47] » I believe there is one for that. >> What it is?

[2:12:50] » We don't even enforce what we've done. >> We certainly could.

[2:12:55] » What was your question? Sorry. >> Uh, violations with formbbased code.

[2:12:58] » Violations.

[2:13:02] Although there's no fee structure if you don't fill out an application

[2:13:06] before you start work. Correct. Why I have to reate?

[2:13:11] » We've only had one feed. >> No, there's been two. It's just from the

[2:13:18] same person.

[2:13:21] » I think the garage

[2:13:28] » best kept secret for the last eight years. Mhm. Mhm.

[2:13:33] » Got a lot of attention on it past hard imagine people don't know

[2:13:40] but certainly the administration of it has been pretty quiet.

[2:13:45] » Yeah. >> Well, one of your board members was very

[2:13:47] outspoken commission. One thing that would bring

[2:13:53] in a tremendous swing in our budget would be getting the state to recognize

[2:13:59] the calculation error in our pilot payment and correct it.

[2:14:06] That would change our tax rate by 4%.

[2:14:11] Give or take. >> Yeah.

[2:14:13] » Well, how can we do that? Now, if you can get the state of Vermont

[2:14:18] to uh admit to their error and correct it,

[2:14:25] uh then we probably still wouldn't get the full payment because they're short

[2:14:30] changing every town except for Chester right now.

[2:14:34] But we'd get a lot more. >> Can we sue them?

[2:14:39] » Maybe. Well, the state's just about ready to go

[2:14:42] belly up anyway. So, really,

[2:14:47] » but that is not funded through income taxes for them.

[2:14:52] » Yeah, that would be a big swing. I know there

[2:14:56] was a huge push, was that two years ago? Another big push last year, and

[2:15:01] nothing's changed. >> Big push

[2:15:07] from here or statewide? >> From us?

[2:15:09] » From us? I don't think a lot of towns know how formula even works.

[2:15:16] » State budgets will raise billion. >> Well, doesn't matter.

[2:15:26] I think one of the areas that might be considered is um having support from our

[2:15:35] administrator and our community economic development with grants to the various

[2:15:41] committees. I I don't know if something comes up in the mask, you can get help,

[2:15:46] but when we we had the time when Lyn Fleer was here and was actually

[2:15:55] um a part of so many committees just because she was here and she would come

[2:16:00] back with ideas and then get something generated and

[2:16:06] then the committee became the leg of getting some of the work done. But she

[2:16:10] actually was the person who did the writing and dotted the eyes and crossed

[2:16:16] the teas and got it sent in the way it needed to be done because they're always

[2:16:21] changing. Some grants are real easy to do. But some of them are just almost

[2:16:26] impossible for for the lay person or somebody who

[2:16:30] hasn't written a grant in 25 years. So

[2:16:33] » yeah, >> just keeping that in mind as we're

[2:16:36] writing the community um economic bills and job description.

[2:16:41] » To me, that's a good place for it because I think that administrator has

[2:16:45] to do but I think the two together really help volunteers could get more

[2:16:52] money, >> right?

[2:16:54] Definitely.

[2:16:58] » Should we pick this up again? Yeah, this can be an ongoing topic, but

[2:17:04] um then we can move on to the CD. >> We could we could add that to old

[2:17:07] business, too, so we can kind of talk about it on any meeting.

[2:17:10] » Sure. >> And we can we can take off TSSA on old

[2:17:13] business as well. >> Are there any of those other ones here

[2:17:16] that we can take off?

[2:17:25] » You said the capital budget and plan is being worked on by the planning

[2:17:28] commission. Um, they're working on getting a grant. So, hopefully I'll

[2:17:33] follow that on. >> Okay. So, do we need that on our our old

[2:17:37] business if they're working on it? >> I keep it there for keep track of it.

[2:17:44] » We're going to really need to like come to us. Yeah.

[2:17:50] » Louis, >> town highway grant program. Anything for

[2:17:54] that, John? >> I talked to Jason Jason. He said they

[2:17:58] applied for it last year and they weren't successful. Uh he was hoping to

[2:18:01] do Wilson Road. I reached out to a guy uh with Transport uh Steve Sally and he

[2:18:08] told me that the grants were up to 200,000. Jason said that's what they

[2:18:12] applied for last year. Uh he said he can use uh town equipment and town labor as

[2:18:17] part of the match. Uh he said he'd like to uh see us apply for the same amount

[2:18:23] uh for this year and dedicate those funds for Wilson Road.

[2:18:27] Everybody cool with that? >> Mhm.

[2:18:29] » Y >> deal.

[2:18:33] Rosemary wants a road off a Wilson road. >> Yeah, we can go down a tenth of a mile.

[2:18:38] » Tenth of a mile. >> Yeah.

[2:18:42] Ask Jason if he'll fit it in. >> We'll see everybody on town.

[2:18:45] » Have a good one, Mike. >> Have a good trip, Mike. Thank you.

[2:18:49] » Where are you going? >> Clearly,

[2:18:51] » huh? >> Oh, wow.

[2:18:54] » I fought the day before filming today. when you go to you.

[2:18:58] » Oh, >> nice.

[2:19:00] » Thank you. >> Voage.

[2:19:02] » Yeah. >> Have fun.

[2:19:03] » Gonna go to Venice. Gonna go to Rome. Going to go take a train to some little

[2:19:07] town and we're going to end up in Venice.

[2:19:10] » Ah, couple Olympic events. Are you there?

[2:19:14] » Do a couple Olympic events. Are you there?

[2:19:15] » Yeah, probably. I'll get right on that.

[2:19:20] » Okay. Is that

[2:19:24] » community economic development coordinator job description?

[2:19:27] » I did get a >> specialist. Sorry,

[2:19:29] » feedback back from uh Adrian on her thoughts on the position.

[2:19:35] Uh one of the questions she asked was having the this individual, you know,

[2:19:41] work with the individual committees. Um, I didn't know if the board wanted to

[2:19:48] um identify certain committees who wanted this this individual to work with

[2:19:52] or as a whole because I mean that would give them a lot of hours. I wasn't sure

[2:19:56] what our budget was going to be, but >> um well, I was thinking they would work

[2:20:01] with all the committees, but like like we would set kind of a some

[2:20:08] kind of amount of committee meetings that they would go to each month, like

[2:20:11] maybe two meetings a month and like rotate with the different committees.

[2:20:15] » Okay. >> Um that's what I thought was

[2:20:20] » I think one of the things Lois just brought up is sort of interesting. Like

[2:20:23] are we looking for this person to just do work with somebody point to math or

[2:20:26] are we looking for this person to be the spark the identifier the hey let's do

[2:20:32] this you know there's the idea there's identifying grants that's one part and

[2:20:36] then there's also identifying the ideas of the projects and then there's putting

[2:20:40] the two together making it happen and is this person

[2:20:45] the idea generator or is this person the do what the committes come up with

[2:20:51] person >> I think I feel like they should be an

[2:20:53] aid for the committees but also offer insights and ideas as well if they'd

[2:21:00] like. >> Both.

[2:21:01] » Both. Yeah, I think so. But mainly support for committees and for the

[2:21:07] select board for writing grants and getting

[2:21:10] » Do we know what we want to budget for the position?

[2:21:13] » Uh it's budgeted. >> Yeah, that was uh what 20 hours? I think

[2:21:20] it was 24. >> 24 $24.

[2:21:23] » Yeah, it's in the spreadsheet. >> So, we can't increase the hours because

[2:21:27] we already put that in the budget. Oh, >> you certainly can. Um, you know,

[2:21:33] select board can spend all they want.

[2:21:38] » Once a budget's approved, >> what towns can't do is deficit spent.

[2:21:45] Correct. you have to retire your debts of your overall budget within the first

[2:21:49] year. I mean, >> we didn't budget $100,000 for the

[2:21:53] Porman's truck last year. Still spent it. It came out of a reserve fund, but

[2:21:58] » Mhm. >> Um,

[2:22:01] we're tied to the amount that's raised by taxes, but how that's actually spent.

[2:22:07] » Yeah, I would like it increased to as close to

[2:22:11] 40 as we can. I mean, it's very valuable position for bringing in money.

[2:22:17] To answer your initial question, what do we want? I think Adrian and I

[2:22:22] have always disagreed a little on this. I agree

[2:22:26] on committee support, but I always, you know, in essence, there's two ways to

[2:22:32] tackle projects and grants like high level.

[2:22:36] There's a grant that's out there and you just build a project for it and do it.

[2:22:40] And then there's the long-term plan where you build a project and go find

[2:22:43] the money for it. And I feel as though Johnson has been in a very

[2:22:50] reactive cycle instead of a proactive cycle. Oh crap, there's money. Let's

[2:22:54] build a project. You know, the industrial park is

[2:22:58] » proactive. The library meadow I guess was somewhat proactive,

[2:23:05] but Len Way Lane, all these other projects

[2:23:08] are very reactive. And I would like a community and

[2:23:13] economic development specialist to build the long-term things and then find

[2:23:20] the money. Um I believe when Leia was doing it, Rosemary could correct me, but

[2:23:27] there was a lot of time, effort, and planning that went into the main street

[2:23:31] project that was a shelf ready project. And

[2:23:35] there was congressionally directed spending. I believe that

[2:23:38] » yes >> they said

[2:23:39] » shelf ready >> do you have a a value added project for

[2:23:44] your community that's shelf ready if you will I think there was a big scramble to

[2:23:48] update numbers a little bit >> but when you have the project

[2:23:53] here's the plan here's the design here's the preliminary numbers in 2013 or

[2:23:57] whatever and you get you know Peter Welch's office that calls and says I

[2:24:02] want to do something for Johnson in 2018 you're updating numbers you're

[2:24:07] redesigning everything or building a whole project from scratch.

[2:24:12] That's what community economic development

[2:24:16] specialist is to me. And that was a huge driver, I think, in the Reimagine

[2:24:23] Johnson process was identifying long-term

[2:24:27] community. When it first kicked off, that's what it

[2:24:31] was, long-term community goals. It evolved a little bit as all community

[2:24:37] processes do, but that's what I want.

[2:24:46] » I do think it's changed a little bit with the advent of the reimagine Johnson

[2:24:49] thing and now the CPA grant that may go into forming those long-term plans that

[2:24:55] we can then build projects for and seek money for. Um,

[2:24:59] » the RC one for sure. Yeah. um you know the rail trail connection connector

[2:25:05] sculping study that identified funding sources in a generalized project right

[2:25:11] » do any of us like that >> no oh I don't

[2:25:16] » um yeah maybe we didn't

[2:25:19] » well I do what's wrong with it >> we need to get people off the rails rail

[2:25:25] under Johnson somehow >> maybe we'd still get that

[2:25:27] » idea of it >> yeah the idea is great but maybe a

[2:25:31] community econ economic development specialist if we task them with a trails

[2:25:35] plan.

[2:25:38] Good work. You know, the rail trail connection committee has done a great

[2:25:43] job at identifying, but maybe there's conversations with people where one or

[2:25:48] two rightaways could do a whole another path and that could link up to

[2:25:54] Beard Recreation Park that could have a path to Legion Field that could have a

[2:25:58] path to uh the arburetum and maybe the long-term

[2:26:04] plan could be a bridge across the Union Bank parking lot so you have a loop

[2:26:09] because we're going to own that but that's a longterm plan that has to

[2:26:14] have a lot of layout and thought >> then go find fun.

[2:26:19] » I think we need both for sure. >> Yeah. I just I fear that when we

[2:26:25] structure and say we want you to go to committees, we want you to support

[2:26:29] committees, it's the perfect storm for just getting rled up in that, oh well,

[2:26:36] we want this. Okay, scramble build a project. Oh, well, this

[2:26:41] this grant's available. Let's scramble build a project.

[2:26:43] » Yeah. >> Just it puts that person.

[2:26:46] » But I think grants kind of work like that. So though like some smaller grants

[2:26:50] I think kind of work like that though like you don't know until it's released

[2:26:54] that it's an option you know >> smaller ones sure but I mean if you have

[2:27:01] like an overall like a fiveyear plan and said okay you know this is what we

[2:27:05] vision for Johnson and then okay well there's a a grant that come out well it

[2:27:09] can be part of this or it can be part of this but I mean that overall plan needs

[2:27:14] » in place instead of Yeah. Yeah. instead of chasing stuff and just kind of

[2:27:18] lumping it in a pile and said, "Well, this is what we have."

[2:27:21] » Mhm. >> I also am guilty of this myself, but

[2:27:26] pretty much all we talk about is grants with a community economic development

[2:27:30] coordinator, right? If we just want a grant writer, why

[2:27:35] don't we just put out a job description for a grant writer?

[2:27:40] You'll get a different interested person. Well, what's the economic

[2:27:44] development part? >> Well, what what's the economic

[2:27:49] development? Is it writing grants for committees?

[2:27:52] » No, not economic development wouldn't be.

[2:27:57] Yeah, I I think it would be great for committees to have

[2:28:03] some support around pursuing grants, but and I don't want to minimize anybody's

[2:28:10] work, but we're talking about relatively small grants

[2:28:16] um that when there's a lot of them, they take a lot of time.

[2:28:23] And how much of this person's time do we want directed toward relatively small

[2:28:31] grants

[2:28:36] versus things that make bigger impact?

[2:28:40] » What are some bigger impact things that we could get with a economic development

[2:28:45] specialist? Like what are we wanting? >> We got a shovel ready project. we could

[2:28:51] end up with $7 million in congressionally directed spending that's

[2:28:55] spent in the village. But it did look pretty.

[2:29:00] » So just so just like infrastructure projects.

[2:29:03] » I mean like they were handling the industrial part.

[2:29:08] » Yeah. >> Um I mean you know where the shopping

[2:29:10] center was. I mean, >> you know, would we have a vision that,

[2:29:14] you know, we'd want a set of buildings with a store and, you know, some retail

[2:29:18] space outside the flood zone? >> Mhm.

[2:29:21] » Where would that be? >> You know, what would be the plan to

[2:29:24] acquire the property, acquire the funds, >> identify that? Um, if we had

[2:29:31] a full-time SS position and we said, and the community identified low lecture

[2:29:36] hall as wanting to be a business incubator, get more business.

[2:29:41] Uh, I know the previous full-time

[2:29:47] SS employee we had was working with the nonprofit that's spun up.

[2:29:53] » Yeah. >> To try to help get information about the

[2:29:57] town out there. I mean, do we have areas where maybe we

[2:30:01] could uh locate a business and you know, we got the the light industrial park,

[2:30:07] but I mean, you know, what if you know, how would we attract a larger business

[2:30:12] and what kind of business would that be for employment opportunities?

[2:30:19] » Infrastructure. >> Can the economic development specialist

[2:30:23] help with housing? Yeah, I mean to me that would be part of

[2:30:28] it because I mean you're looking to increase the grand list. Uh you're

[2:30:31] looking to increase viability. Um you know where you know if we had

[2:30:37] land you know and somebody was interested in the subdivision.

[2:30:40] » You know where would where would we put it? Where would that be? And then would

[2:30:44] we need the infrastructure the telephone poles the water and the sewer

[2:30:47] connections to that property? >> And then what kind of money is available

[2:30:51] for that? >> Yeah.

[2:30:56] I did that.

[2:31:00] None answer your question. >> I did sit in on a uh um training today

[2:31:06] through uh Vermont League of Cities and Towns on the CHIP program.

[2:31:11] » Okay. >> Yeah, got some information on that.

[2:31:14] » Yeah, they could do a Could we be eligible for a TIFF?

[2:31:19] » You had a big enough project? No, >> that had to be a big one. Well, they got

[2:31:23] that new chip uh program and uh that's where it's kind of like a tip, but it's

[2:31:29] for infrastructure where if you wanted to had somebody come in with a housing

[2:31:33] development, um you know, you would apply for the CHIP program and you know,

[2:31:38] you could get some of the deferred tax money up front to help out with the

[2:31:41] infrastructure.

[2:31:45] » All that to say, I don't know if we agree on what we

[2:31:50] really want. That's probably the hardest thing. I

[2:31:55] think the job description that's in front of us is fine if that's what we

[2:32:00] want. If we want a grant writer, let's just hire a grant writer on as needed

[2:32:04] basis. LCPC does a full grant administration for us. They get paid the

[2:32:10] grant. Well, I think we'd need both because when we just when we had the

[2:32:16] previous CEDS, there was an issue of of like smaller

[2:32:21] grants, them feeling like they shouldn't be writing those smaller grants because

[2:32:25] it's not a hugger project like that, but we still need that at the same time.

[2:32:34] » Definitely needs to be supported. >> Yeah.

[2:32:38] What's funny listening to you, Evan? Sounds like what I heard from Adrian for

[2:32:42] several years on the planning commission is we need a planner.

[2:32:46] » We need a planner. We need a fiveyear plan. We need to lay out the the road

[2:32:52] map and build all those elements and then go find the money and the projects.

[2:33:00] » Seems like we need both because you can't make a five-year plan overnight.

[2:33:05] We can't expect our committee not to do anything and be done. Mhm.

[2:33:08] » So, we've got to support him in some passion, whether it's

[2:33:12] John's help with the CDS or big borrow and steal help from LCPC. I

[2:33:19] don't know. But you still have to write minor grants in the meantime.

[2:33:22] » What if we hire a grant writer and the first grant they look for is hiring or a

[2:33:28] grant for a health planner? like that's the only focus and then they

[2:33:33] move on to other grants. >> Works great for the first year.

[2:33:44] » What do you mean by that? I don't think it works at all in the first year. If

[2:33:47] you don't get any grants in a year, all you do is spend money.

[2:33:50] » Well, when you get the grant to hire a SS position, I don't know of any grants

[2:33:55] for hiring people that are in perpetuity.

[2:33:58] » Yeah. So that you know you might get lucky and find one that's 100% 75% 50%

[2:34:04] 25% but you're still adding cost to the taxpayers. You're just stretching it

[2:34:11] out. if there was even a grant like that.

[2:34:19] It's not like a yearly grant program where they say

[2:34:23] sense now a 40hour a week in a local community

[2:34:30] economic development specialist I could get super behind.

[2:34:36] » Have they shown interest in that? as who >> the inter local

[2:34:42] » uh I mean never asked I don't think we have an interlocal assessor

[2:34:50] or talking about interlocal caneling agreements

[2:34:54] » I want our person to be just focused on us

[2:34:59] » that's fair >> I just worried we'd be

[2:35:01] » if we have a part-time employee

[2:35:06] are the odds pretty high that they're only focused on us or the odds somewhat

[2:35:10] there that they have another job as well.

[2:35:12] » Well, I also don't I want them to be full-time. So,

[2:35:15] » fair enough >> with benefits.

[2:35:24] » Sounds like we're not going to approve this tonight.

[2:35:26] » Um

[2:35:29] it

[2:35:32] » Well, I know uh I I got the uh request from Adrian there. She have some

[2:35:38] language, you know, that she wanted changed and I just wanted to hear from

[2:35:42] the board if there was any other

[2:35:46] » right, wrong or indifferent. I don't feel like we provided any

[2:35:49] straightforward directive. >> No.

[2:35:51] » If if three members can get behind something, I would recommend providing

[2:35:56] some straight directive. >> Mhm.

[2:35:59] » Now, was there ever a five-year plan done for Johnson as far as what the

[2:36:03] people wanted to see? I mean, I did read a little bit about Imagine Johnson and

[2:36:07] some other um programs, but I mean, >> I mean, we have our town plan.

[2:36:16] » Paul wrote that. >> We have a town plan. You've seen that? I

[2:36:20] think so. Um, that's on the website.

[2:36:29] » Isn't that done every eight years? >> I think.

[2:36:31] » Yeah, he's six. No, it's eight. Our town plan isn't really a plan though. I mean,

[2:36:37] it's kind of just like it lists out some goals, but it's not like a plan.

[2:36:42] » No, it's not a plan. It's a bunch of different chapters on different topics

[2:36:45] and they all have recommendations and so forth in it.

[2:36:48] » Yeah. >> A plan could be assembled from it.

[2:36:50] » Yeah. >> But you have to do a lot of

[2:36:52] prioritization because there's a thousand ideas in there.

[2:36:55] » I mean, do we have any options? um you know if there's a a piece of

[2:37:00] property in town that if a business wanted to locate to Johnson that we

[2:37:03] could work with then that it would have you know water sewer three-phase power

[2:37:09] um something that's you know the town could offer

[2:37:14] » we're hoping to >> right

[2:37:16] » this construction season. >> What about the T property? I mean is

[2:37:20] there anything up there that could be reused? We only own 50% of it that

[2:37:26] that's a brown field, right? The state where is not where the

[2:37:32] 180 acres is. >> Yeah, but that's

[2:37:36] a >> hill steel.

[2:37:39] » There might be some portion around the snowmobile

[2:37:45] clubs there that's somewhat flat. I don't

[2:37:49] know. Well, we were talking to the college

[2:37:52] before about buying some land from them for housing or any kind of development.

[2:37:58] Um, but those talks have kind of just >> Well, didn't I hear that the college is

[2:38:04] working on >> senior housing?

[2:38:08] » Some kind of housing project up there and some housing.

[2:38:10] » Yeah, they're turning one of their buildings into senior housing

[2:38:14] » and giving it over to a nonprofit. >> I don't know. Yeah, it's down street.

[2:38:20] » Oh, >> yeah.

[2:38:22] » Down street would be the owner, not the college.

[2:38:24] » Okay. >> Yeah. But then the college is also

[2:38:28] talking about doing some housing

[2:38:32] in the parking lot of the uh art studio. Uh

[2:38:40] » soccer field parking field.

[2:38:43] » Yeah. >> Yeah.

[2:38:44] » You're going to build a new building. >> Uhhuh.

[2:38:47] So, you know, at the in the idea stage anyway,

[2:38:52] » that was in their presentation to the community talked about tulip too.

[2:38:58] » Mhm. >> Oh, man. All the empty buildings they

[2:39:02] have up there. >> Huh.

[2:39:03] » I forgotten that with all the empty buildings they have up there. Lot

[2:39:06] » of them need to be torn to the ground. >> Amazing. Yeah.

[2:39:09] » I don't know. >> How do we get aligned on the CDS role? a

[2:39:14] question in moving in that direction. Um,

[2:39:19] who's going to market the site in the industrial park?

[2:39:27] » Loyal Economic Development Corporation as well as I I mean I don't know. I

[2:39:33] haven't gotten there yet. I would say if they're subdivided and sellable

[2:39:38] may be able to hire. It must be municipal real estate firm

[2:39:44] » that I guess what I'm wondering is if if the CEDs has any role in that if that

[2:39:51] needs to be factored into their workload,

[2:39:59] you know, going out meeting with potential businesses and

[2:40:05] encouraging you to come. I I don't know >> potentially. Yeah.

[2:40:13] » Obviously, if we sell it, we don't have to pay the real estate agent, but they

[2:40:16] might sell quicker if you have the local representatives u in a state house for

[2:40:22] our area. I mean, you know, if a business

[2:40:25] » if a business is talking about expanding or talking about relocating to Vermont

[2:40:29] and you know, who could be somebody in Montpillier that would say, "Hey, come

[2:40:33] to Johnson. This is what we have." >> Rich Westman.

[2:40:36] » Okay. >> Yeah. Richie's blessed in the Senate.

[2:40:38] » Yeah, state senator representative Richard Bailey.

[2:40:43] » Bailey in the house. >> Once once we get the industrial fire

[2:40:47] topping going or if we've identified another piece of property, you know, it

[2:40:50] might be worth having a conversation with them. And you know, does the state

[2:40:54] of Vermont have any kind of agency um you know, that would work with the

[2:40:59] business? >> I think they I think they're quite

[2:41:02] behind that project.

[2:41:08] Uh, this doesn't help us zero in on anything, but um,

[2:41:13] » but I mean, we could read it, read it up and mark it up and I can make

[2:41:17] adjustments and get it ready for the next meeting. I'm um so I'm still

[2:41:23] traumatized by the by the fact that the community economic development

[2:41:29] specialist is not working under the direction of the county administrator.

[2:41:35] Um but I would love to see in the first paragraph

[2:41:40] um responsible for managing grants projects and working with municipal

[2:41:44] committees and the select board to support business. I would love to

[2:41:50] include the town administrator in that. >> No pressure.

[2:41:55] » And also in the next paragraph, collaboration with the select board,

[2:42:00] nonprofits, municipal committee members of the town administrator

[2:42:07] and that will help me deal with the trauma.

[2:42:11] » Okay. I know when uh we talked about the organization chart at the previous

[2:42:15] meeting, they had the position reporting directly to the board.

[2:42:20] » So that's that's what I >> Right.

[2:42:22] » Yeah. Yeah. And that was the decision that was made. So I'm just I'm just

[2:42:28] putting in a little that's all. >> No, two knife. You know, that that was

[2:42:33] my purpose of presenting it tonight was, you know, mark it up. uh tell me what

[2:42:37] you want to see, what you don't want to see, and we'll put together something

[2:42:40] hopefully for the next meeting the board can approve.

[2:42:44] » Well, sounds like we still need you on this.

[2:42:50] » Yeah, >> unfortunately.

[2:42:54] » Well, do you have anything that you want to I wrote a whole bunch of notes, but I

[2:42:58] didn't like any of them. Not not really sure where to go with it because I think

[2:43:05] it seems like we really do need to focus on a five-year plan and I don't know how

[2:43:10] this person fits into that exactly. Seems like that's maybe more of our job.

[2:43:16] Um, >> let's create a five-year plan.

[2:43:20] » Us create a five-year plan or what? >> Yeah.

[2:43:24] » Oh, okay. >> Just high level one. Mhm.

[2:43:29] » Yeah. I don't see why we couldn't. >> Just what? Yeah. I mean, serious.

[2:43:35] » What's the vision for now? >> What would you like to see upgraded?

[2:43:40] » I think you need that. >> My fiveyear plan, these chairs are new.

[2:43:47] » Write that down. >> Well, okay. So, if we do the fiveyear

[2:43:51] plan on our own, then that doesn't need to be worked on by them. It's just a

[2:43:58] guide for them, right? >> Yeah. It would to me it would be the

[2:44:02] guide for >> Yeah. We can't do a fiveear plan on our

[2:44:04] own. Making a fiveear plan is townwide effort.

[2:44:08] » We just write it then >> I'm fine.

[2:44:12] » Back to our projects and priorities list that we had.

[2:44:16] » Uh can we go back to it? Yeah. I think it's something we should reevaluate each

[2:44:20] » cuz we kind of we had scored sets things.

[2:44:24] » Mhm. >> Oh, we did that prioritization. Yeah.

[2:44:27] » Yeah. >> Yeah.

[2:44:31] Um, >> do you want me to add that for the March

[2:44:33] 19th meeting? >> I know you said the meeting before town

[2:44:37] meeting. We try to keep that schedule light as light as possible.

[2:44:42] » After town meeting that we don't >> orization

[2:44:50] meeting, >> huh?

[2:44:52] » Have a meeting a day after town meeting. >> Yes. Is it the day after the day after?

[2:44:57] » Yeah. >> Oh, yeah.

[2:45:00] Is that >> now? We won't have a quorum of the

[2:45:02] board. We >> won't be here. But what when?

[2:45:07] » I guess you'll swear them in cuz there only be two returning members.

[2:45:12] » Who's not coming back? >> Well, they all knew. It's just the same

[2:45:17] person.

[2:45:21] » What are you talking about? Well, technically speaking, the day after

[2:45:25] » coming back, three of us will be new. >> Yeah.

[2:45:29] » Assuming we like this one. >> Oh, I first said we do.

[2:45:35] » Yeah. >> Yeah. That's the first thing we do.

[2:45:37] Yeah. >> Be fun if we didn't do it and then we

[2:45:40] couldn't make any decisions. >> Wouldn't that be fun now? Yeah.

[2:45:44] » So, you're thinking about should it be just a grant writer or a CEDS? Is that

[2:45:49] what the debate is for all of us? My larger internal debate

[2:45:55] » is do we rethink the whole thing? >> Do we rethink the whole thing?

[2:45:59] » The whole thing. >> Um

[2:46:01] » yeah. >> And maybe hire

[2:46:05] an assistant to the town administrator to deal with some other things and then

[2:46:11] plow it on top of the town administrator if he's willing or you know some version

[2:46:17] of that. Is this what why what >> like if there if there's just

[2:46:22] administrative tasks that are you know busy work

[2:46:27] if there was somebody to take work off this is just a random example here.

[2:46:32] Okay. >> If we could take some busy work off of

[2:46:36] John's plate and he was willing to take over some of the CEDS roles and we could

[2:46:42] hire LCPC or a grant writer on as needed basis.

[2:46:47] I don't know if a model like that would look better.

[2:46:52] » Sorry, I need to call you out. >> No, I mean, and uh I know Mike talked to

[2:46:56] me about it and you and I talked about it. Uh I did talk to Carl, you know, he

[2:47:01] said his weeks have been averaging between 8 and 15 hours. And one of the

[2:47:05] things he noted was, you know, if I took some of the groundwork from him and he

[2:47:09] didn't have to come up as much, uh he might be willing to stay on a little bit

[2:47:12] longer. So, you know, I told him I'd be willing to do that if he needed.

[2:47:20] » I mean, it's funny because the report that um Carrie Johnson did, there are

[2:47:26] certain things that I like could not understand her recommendation on, but

[2:47:31] this wasn't really one of them. She

[2:47:36] » Yeah. >> And I talked to her at length about it.

[2:47:39] She said, "You know, you're too small of a community to need

[2:47:44] you know, an employee for community and economic development. You need to

[2:47:48] empower some of your existing employees to grow and do some of it and then hire

[2:47:54] grant writers or planners on that needed needed basis.

[2:47:58] The contractual

[2:48:04] » I don't remember what her recommendation was. Is that it or what? What did you

[2:48:09] » our re written recommendations? >> I think she just kept the CEDS role in

[2:48:14] there because we never talked about asked her if you should have it or not

[2:48:17] have it. >> The majority of her written portion.

[2:48:20] Yeah. Focused around just basically doing a town manager structure of

[2:48:26] government

[2:48:29] employee. That one. >> Well, she didn't give any supporting

[2:48:34] evidence really. So we have skaked around that that no at

[2:48:40] other times of an assistant to the town administrator.

[2:48:46] » I don't really know if there's enough busy work to I I don't

[2:48:51] it's another random idea. If we're just going to hire for sets,

[2:48:56] I'm fine with this job description. I understand there is a need to work

[2:49:01] with committees. My overall comment is I don't want the work for committees to

[2:49:05] drown out some long-term growth. Both like you're saying.

[2:49:11] » Yeah. >> And right now we're working with 24

[2:49:15] hours a week. >> We're working with a dollar amount. If

[2:49:20] it's less per hour, we could be working with 40. Although

[2:49:26] I don't know.

[2:49:30] Well, we could just do 38 if we are going to do benefits or whatever, but

[2:49:35] » no, we're required to offer benefits of 24 hours.

[2:49:37] » Oh, really? >> And fulltime full-time benefits is

[2:49:41] prrated at 30 hours. So, really from 30 hours to 40 hours. The only additional

[2:49:48] employee cost is just their hourly wage because we pay 100% of the benefits at

[2:49:52] 30 hours. >> Okay. So, so just fulltime fine. Okay.

[2:50:02] Is that a state law or is that just a here thing?

[2:50:06] » Affordable Care Act. >> Is that what it is?

[2:50:09] » For health insurance is 30 hours. >> Mine was 32.

[2:50:14] » Yeah. >> But

[2:50:16] » how'd that work? Our rec coordinator one year was 24 hours and got health

[2:50:20] insurance. >> They paid

[2:50:22] » and assistant li Yeah. Abortion prorated. My assistant librarian was

[2:50:28] 23.75 hours. >> Didn't at a town meeting though

[2:50:34] the voters voted for a CEDS position >> for sure.

[2:50:39] » Actually two. >> Was it advisory or

[2:50:43] » No. >> Well, it was money. So it bound the

[2:50:46] voters to pay us money to do it. >> So aren't we bound to have this

[2:50:52] position? >> Not at all.

[2:50:54] » Are we not bound to? No, not

[2:51:00] there's no statutory requirement from state. We're bound to a dollar amount at

[2:51:04] the end of the day. >> But we are asking the voters for

[2:51:09] permission to spend x amount of dollars on CDS position.

[2:51:12] » Certainly don't. >> Oops.

[2:51:16] » You broke my glasses. >> Must be getting away throwing things.

[2:51:22] » I'm not saying don't hire. Yeah, you are. You're saying hire an

[2:51:26] assistant. I don't admit it. >> Well,

[2:51:31] could we sum it up in saying that I'm just trying to think if there is a

[2:51:39] way outside of the box to get the same services with a different structure,

[2:51:43] fine. If there's not, that's fine, too. Well, I guess no offense, John, but I

[2:51:51] think the hiring process for a town administrator would have gone

[2:51:55] differently for me if I knew we were hiring a grant writer, like or you know,

[2:52:00] like more of that side. >> Fair enough.

[2:52:04] » So, not that I don't think you could do it,

[2:52:07] but >> Right. I mean, I've done grants before.

[2:52:10] » Yeah. Yeah, I know. Yeah. I

[2:52:13] » think we're getting nowhere. Rosemary agrees with me. It's

[2:52:19] » It's time to hold. All right. Some more chew on.

[2:52:25] We all good. >> Yeah. Come next time. Come with what you

[2:52:29] actually want. >> Meeting at Jared at 9:30.

Johnson Selectboard 2/19/26

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