[0:08] I should be
[0:09] ready by now.
[0:10] OK. I would like to
[0:11] declare this meeting
[0:13] open on Saturday,
[0:15] September 26th, at approximately
[0:16] 2:00 p.m. Hmm, this is the first
[0:18] half hour of our
[0:19] first informational
[0:20] meeting, where we'll
[0:22] tell you what we've
[0:23] been up to and
[0:24] discuss how you'll
[0:25] include articles on the
[0:26] ballot for the
[0:27] March election. And I
[0:29] can also provide some
[0:30] schedule details. Hmm,
[0:34] Nick will start by reviewing the
[0:35] procedures.
[0:37] Hmm, yes. I mean,
[0:38] we don't have that
[0:39] many people on Zoom, but
[0:40] just if you
[0:41] need to leave
[0:41] a comment, please
[0:42] use the
[0:43] hand icon that
[0:44] says "Racing"
[0:45] that's
[0:45] down there, down there, where it
[0:51] says "React"
[0:53] on the bottom bar, or
[0:54] jump up and down,
[0:55] or send me a
[0:57] comment in the comments
[0:58] and I'll put you in the
[0:59] queue, and everyone
[1:00] does, but, um,
[1:01] okay. Yes. Just, um,
[1:09] tell me your name.
[1:10] Well, this is for the people who are
[1:12] here. Hmm, when you
[1:13] say...
[1:14] Yes.
[1:16] Whenever
[1:17] you say something, say
[1:18] your name, because that
[1:20] way the transcript
[1:21] records who is
[1:22] speaking.
[1:23] Good.
[1:24] Thank you.
[1:25] Good. So, regarding
[1:27] future meetings,
[1:28] we have
[1:30] another Saturday meeting
[1:31] similar to this one on November 14th. And at
[1:34] this meeting we
[1:35] will present the
[1:36] city budget. So
[1:37] this will be really
[1:38] important. Rebecca will be
[1:40] here and she has, um, something
[1:41] similar to what she
[1:43] had last year,
[1:44] she's working on very
[1:45] detailed details
[1:46] so we can
[1:47] understand what's
[1:48] going on. Then the
[1:54] next meeting
[1:56] will be on December 10th,
[1:57] Thursday evening at
[1:58] our regular
[2:00] board meeting
[2:01] from 6:00 PM to
[2:02] 8:00 PM at the community
[2:03] center to
[2:05] accommodate more
[2:06] people, and at
[2:07] that meeting, um,
[2:09] Andrew will present the
[2:10] road budget, right?
[2:16] And then, um, the
[2:17] recording continues.
[2:21] Good. Um, so the
[2:24] only meeting after that is
[2:26] scheduled for February,
[2:27] before, um, the
[2:30] last Saturday of
[2:31] February before
[2:32] the elections. Um, so in order for
[2:38] the article to be
[2:39] put to
[2:40] a vote for the
[2:42] general
[2:42] public, a
[2:43] petition with,
[2:45] um, 45-50 signatures is required, which
[2:46] will then be filed with the
[2:47] election board, and
[2:49] then forwarded to the
[2:50] city clerk
[2:51] for inclusion in,
[2:52] actually, just
[2:57] filed with the city
[2:58] clerk.
[2:58] Good. Submitted to the
[3:00] city clerk.
[3:01] Yes. If there are 50
[3:02] signatures, it's the election
[3:03] commission. No, there
[3:06] are no problems with the election commission.
[3:07] Yes. And there was some
[3:09] discussion about
[3:10] how we, um,
[3:11] represent
[3:12] charitable donations
[3:13] in the newsletter. Several
[3:15] people came up and
[3:16] said they would
[3:17] prefer they
[3:18] were separate again.
[3:21] But, um, we all
[3:22] think that, um,
[3:23] counting would take
[3:24] more time and more
[3:25] pages, and therefore
[3:26] more
[3:27] postage. So, I think
[3:30] we'll probably
[3:31] stick with the way
[3:32] we have it now,
[3:33] which is you can
[3:34] vote
[3:34] individually every
[3:36] three years on certain
[3:37] issues. So we'd
[3:39] be happy to hear it
[3:41] from people if it's
[3:42] really important. Um, the
[3:47] energy
[3:48] committee is coming tomorrow
[3:49] to discuss one thing,
[3:50] but it seems like they're
[3:52] not here. They are very excited about
[3:56] their energy
[3:57] fair, which
[3:58] will be held here at the
[3:59] community center on
[4:01] October 24th. This will be a
[4:05] practical idea that will
[4:06] help have fun
[4:08] finding ways to
[4:09] improve
[4:10] energy efficiency in the
[4:11] city, and also
[4:12] perhaps stimulate
[4:13] more commercial
[4:14] growth so we
[4:15] can drag
[4:17] some of the business from
[4:18] Bradeau into Wilmington.
[4:26] Some people have
[4:27] applied for a grant to
[4:28] buy the old silver
[4:30] skates that are now
[4:31] used by
[4:32] Marbor College as
[4:33] dorms and rentals
[4:34] during the ski
[4:35] season, where there is a
[4:36] professional kitchen, and
[4:37] some people want to
[4:38] put a
[4:39] co-op or a
[4:40] coffee shop or something there.
[4:46] It will depend on
[4:47] whether the group
[4:48] working on it can
[4:49] get a grant, and whether the
[4:51] Marlborough Music Festival is willing to
[4:52] give up that
[4:54] building. So
[5:00] lately we've been working on getting
[5:01] everyone in the office to
[5:02] try to
[5:03] streamline and
[5:04] develop clear
[5:05] policies. So,
[5:08] the treasurer develops
[5:09] many rules on how
[5:10] they manage
[5:11] different parts of the
[5:13] financial movement. The
[5:15] clerks and assistant
[5:16] clerks also
[5:17] try to
[5:18] codify their
[5:19] processes so that it's
[5:20] really clear so that
[5:21] people who
[5:22] come in later and
[5:23] take on this
[5:24] job don't have to start from
[5:25] scratch. Um, and the select
[5:29] board is working on
[5:30] communication with all
[5:31] commissions and
[5:32] committees. Um, they
[5:36] clarify some things
[5:38] like how and when to
[5:39] access
[5:40] lawyers, how and when to
[5:42] get a budget, and,
[5:43] you know what, what are some
[5:44] ways to save
[5:45] some money on this.
[5:50] So it's in
[5:50] draft form right now, but we'll be
[5:51] publishing it
[5:53] for public
[5:54] discussion soon.
[5:56] That's right, a matter of
[5:57] politics. Um, we also
[6:03] finally finalized
[6:04] our road
[6:05] standards, which
[6:05] were originally
[6:06] presented as a
[6:07] road ordinance, and
[6:08] we got a lot of
[6:09] feedback from
[6:10] the public. Um, and
[6:13] then we
[6:14] watched it. Which,
[6:15] you know, were
[6:16] good remarks.
[6:18] It was unclear whether
[6:19] these
[6:20] road regulations applied
[6:21] to both private and
[6:22] public roads
[6:23] , which would be
[6:25] ridiculous. So, we
[6:27] took care of that, and we
[6:28] took it out for, uh,
[6:29] review and, uh,
[6:31] review, and we
[6:31] think it's
[6:33] pretty good now. But
[6:35] instead of
[6:36] calling it a
[6:38] regulation now, we're
[6:38] calling it, uh,
[6:39] road
[6:40] standards, which gives
[6:41] us a little more
[6:42] flexibility for
[6:43] individual situations. So
[6:45] it's not exactly
[6:46] clear cut, but you
[6:47] need to have
[6:48] this much gravel,
[6:49] you need to have
[6:50] this much space
[6:51] between this, that, and the other. Uh
[6:52] , so I think
[6:53] this process has been very
[6:54] positive, and we're
[6:55] open to
[6:56] further comments
[6:57] , but I think
[6:58] since it's a standard,
[7:00] we can just
[7:01] publish it.
[7:02] But
[7:03] as soon as I get the
[7:04] official
[7:05] wording from
[7:06] Bob, it will be
[7:07] posted.
[7:08] Published. Good.
[7:10] So, the other issue that
[7:12] we're
[7:13] dealing with right now is the
[7:14] recycling center, where, uh, there's
[7:15] obviously been some
[7:18] security issues. Now the liability
[7:20] is our insurance
[7:21] group. A representative of the
[7:22] passive group
[7:23] came and agreed
[7:24] that, uh, there are some
[7:25] safety concerns with,
[7:26] uh
[7:27] , residents driving
[7:29] cars between
[7:31] giant, uh,
[7:33] cars. And it seems like it's
[7:35] only a matter of
[7:36] time before someone
[7:37] gets hit or someone
[7:38] gets hurt. People don't
[7:39] drive
[7:40] slowly enough. They don't
[7:41] pay attention to what's
[7:42] happening.
[7:44] The guys are trying
[7:45] to do their
[7:46] job. Also,
[7:47] there is a big
[7:48] problem with
[7:49] people throwing away
[7:50] trash, although we have a
[7:51] volunteer
[7:52] recycling committee
[7:53] that cleans up, the
[7:54] situation has gotten worse
[7:56] . The city sent out,
[7:58] I think, seven letters to
[7:59] residents because their
[8:00] post office was there. And the
[8:03] letter says, "You can't
[8:04] do this,
[8:06] and if it happens
[8:07] again, you will be fined
[8:08] , X, Y, and Z." But still, the way
[8:11] people
[8:12] treat it is somewhat
[8:13] discouraging. Due to
[8:17] insurance issues with the state,
[8:18] we are trying
[8:19] to find another place to do
[8:20] this. We don't want
[8:22] to close it because it's
[8:23] much more convenient
[8:24] than driving all the way to
[8:25] Bradmore, and we want to
[8:26] make sure people
[8:28] recycle. So we're
[8:30] thinking about different
[8:31] places where the city
[8:32] owns land. And
[8:35] one of the ideas is a school that used to
[8:36] be a
[8:37] recycling center. But
[8:40] we have
[8:41] security problems. So we're
[8:42] going to meet with Dan
[8:44] and
[8:45] Kayla
[8:47] to see if there's a
[8:49] way to make it so that the
[8:50] buses
[8:51] come in on one
[8:52] side and leave on the
[8:53] other, and so that the only
[8:54] way to get to the
[8:55] recycling center is
[8:57] inside, not
[8:58] where the buses
[8:59] or the kids go. I'm not
[9:02] sure if we have the
[9:03] space for that or if it's
[9:04] ...I looked at
[9:05] it and it seems to me
[9:06] that if we took off
[9:07] about 12 feet of
[9:08] that rabbi netting, we
[9:10] could do it.
[9:11] It's not going to be great because
[9:13] people will still, you know,
[9:16] drive to where the
[9:17] school
[9:18] buses pull in and then
[9:19] say, "Oh my God, I
[9:21] can't," but it's our
[9:22] best option.
[9:24] Another thing is the place where the
[9:25] dog shelter used to be
[9:27] , at
[9:27] the foot of Town Hill,
[9:29] but, uh, that's going
[9:29] to cost a lot
[9:31] because it would require, um,
[9:32] rezoning and
[9:33] probably demolishing the
[9:34] building, and
[9:35] getting the
[9:36] cars off the road.
[9:39] Also, we're not
[9:40] sure if
[9:41] we're in wetlands there
[9:43] . So maybe
[9:46] it's not really worth
[9:48] it because, um, we might
[9:49] not get a
[9:50] wetland... Yeah, a
[9:52] permit or something.
[9:54] Yes, we may not have the
[9:56] opportunity. So I
[9:57] joked about
[9:58] putting it in
[10:00] Marlborough City Park, but I think
[10:01] that's absolutely
[10:02] forbidden.
[10:04] Not an option.
[10:05] So we think,
[10:06] you know, school is the
[10:07] best option. Uh
[10:09] , you know,
[10:11] but the working hours
[10:12] are going to be tough, are
[10:13] n't they? We will
[10:16] only have to restrict public access when
[10:16] we make sure there
[10:18] is one entrance and exit
[10:19] for recycling, and it
[10:20] does not intersect with
[10:21] buses. We could
[10:22] leave it
[10:23] open all the time.
[10:24] Of course.
[10:25] I mean, it would be
[10:26] interesting to see if there
[10:28] is one, because it's, you know,
[10:29] downstairs and away from the
[10:31] school. Is there
[10:33] another way,
[10:34] you know, can we
[10:35] cut another
[10:36] entrance?
[10:36] Yes, good point
[10:38] .
[10:38] We might, you know, have to
[10:39] cut down
[10:40] a couple of trees and put
[10:41] some gravel in, but it's
[10:42] a lot cheaper than a
[10:44] dog
[10:44] than what's going to be there and,
[10:46] um,
[10:47] it might work. I
[10:48] just think it would be
[10:50] difficult to restrict access that much.
[10:51] We talked about
[10:52] not allowing
[10:53] hours. Yes. No, I
[10:54] think that's hard to
[10:56] do.
[10:57] We have a lot, I think,
[10:58] the main thing,
[10:58] plus we need to
[10:59] buy another
[11:00] camera, which costs
[11:01] $5,000.
[11:02] Yes. The main thing, I
[11:03] think Molly echoes
[11:05] , is there are a lot of options
[11:06] that we explore and
[11:10] what they do for
[11:14] me.
[11:15] Good. Uh, other things,
[11:16] I have five or
[11:18] six more things. Um, we
[11:19] apply for a
[11:20] municipal
[11:22] planning grant, which
[11:23] we submit in October, and
[11:24] in December we find out
[11:26] it's a
[11:28] $50,000 grant,
[11:29] $50,000 max
[11:31] , which we then
[11:32] hope to
[11:33] spend on Mike
[11:34] McConnell at the WRC to
[11:35] help us
[11:36] revise the basic
[11:38] zoning regulations,
[11:39] which are almost
[11:39] incomprehensible.
[11:40] Yes. Or, you know, we'll,
[11:42] depending on the amount
[11:43] we need,
[11:43] put out a request for
[11:44] proposals, and, you know,
[11:45] that might be
[11:46] validated to some extent.
[11:47] Yes. Truth.
[11:48] Over 25,000 we
[11:49] need to get
[11:51] three requests
[11:52] for things. Yes.
[11:53] So, Nancy Anderson,
[11:54] I'm just asking, what are
[11:55] your general ideas
[11:57] for using
[11:58] this money?
[11:59] Uh, we're thinking about
[12:00] reviewing the
[12:01] zoning regulations.
[12:02] A.
[12:04] Because they, uh,
[12:05] exist...I've been doing
[12:06] this work since January,
[12:08] and I've found a lot of
[12:09] things that are just
[12:10] incomprehensible.
[12:12] Wow. I don't think we
[12:14] necessarily need to
[12:16] change the rules,
[12:17] but we need to
[12:18] change the way they are
[12:19] presented so that everything is
[12:20] clear.
[12:23] For example, the
[12:24] Natural History Museum
[12:25] wanted to expand its
[12:26] parking lot, and it
[12:27] states that
[12:29] charities are or
[12:30] are not exempt from the
[12:31] following list.
[12:34] You know, it was like
[12:35] madness. So,
[12:39] even just
[12:40] walking around, and I think the
[12:42] rules themselves,
[12:43] like setbacks,
[12:44] lot size and, uh, different
[12:47] size restrictions, and, uh, you
[12:48] know, wildlife corridor
[12:49] , all these things that
[12:50] I've come across,
[12:52] the rules themselves
[12:52] seem pretty
[12:53] good to me; although
[12:54] an expert could
[12:55] suggest some
[12:57] changes that might make it
[12:58] easier for residents
[12:59] to do what they
[13:00] want. Um, so that's
[13:05] one of the things
[13:06] we thought about
[13:07] spending money on.
[13:08] Can we spend
[13:09] them on more than one
[13:11] thing?
[13:11] Um, actually you
[13:12] can apply for
[13:13] more
[13:14] than one
[13:15] municipal
[13:15] planning grant.
[13:19] And so I already asked,
[13:21] uh, Mike, what
[13:22] the estimate is, and you're
[13:23] asking for the amount
[13:25] you need. You
[13:27] need it. Good. And, um,
[13:29] I know that
[13:31] in the past, um, when
[13:32] they were looking at
[13:33] doing a
[13:35] city septic tank or
[13:36] something, they
[13:37] got $50,000
[13:38] and they spent it all.
[13:40] What's nice about the Mineral Planning Grant is that
[13:43] it's not a
[13:44] subsidy. In
[13:45] other words, you
[13:46] just get all the
[13:48] money. And if you
[13:49] read the booklet,
[13:50] the first thing you
[13:51] can use the
[13:52] initial
[13:53] planning grant for,
[13:54] written in big 18-
[13:55] point font, is to
[13:56] rewrite the zoning
[13:57] .
[13:58] Yes.
[13:59] That is, they are created for this
[14:01] .
[14:02] Yes. So
[14:04] also in the office there is, you
[14:05] know, I'm sure you're
[14:07] familiar with the
[14:07] citywide
[14:12] property value revaluation. So we had a
[14:16] lot of people
[14:17] calling
[14:18] the police to ask
[14:19] why, from the
[14:20] Air
[14:21] Force's perspective, we had two
[14:23] hearings at the Civilian Board of
[14:25] Tax
[14:26] Abatement, one
[14:26] involving Potach
[14:27] Hill and the other involving a
[14:28] North Pond resident.
[14:32] Um, that's another thing
[14:33] we're working on. Um,
[14:36] the treasurer and the
[14:38] road crew chief
[14:39] are working on a
[14:40] way
[14:40] to forecast costs
[14:42] so that we can save
[14:43] money when we
[14:44] need to buy
[14:45] new equipment,
[14:46] instead of
[14:47] suddenly spending
[14:48] $400,000 on a new
[14:49] grater or something. And
[14:51] they call it a
[14:53] capital
[14:54] equipment replacement plan. And they
[14:55] decide that this
[14:56] document was really
[14:57] useful. We
[14:59] will publish it someday. Um,
[15:00] what kind of equipment do
[15:02] we have? How
[15:04] old is he? What is its
[15:05] expected
[15:06] lifespan and
[15:07] how much will it cost
[15:08] to replace it? And then,
[15:11] according to those
[15:12] things, how much will we
[15:13] need to
[15:14] set aside from the budget
[15:16] for which years so that we
[15:17] are prepared, so that we have
[15:18] money
[15:19] consistently, um, yes, um,
[15:20] consistently, so that, um
[15:21] , be prepared so that
[15:23] we don't have to
[15:24] borrow as much to
[15:25] save on
[15:26] interest. I don't know.
[15:29] This is, you know,
[15:30] an increase in the budget,
[15:31] borrowing money. I am not a
[15:34] financier. So,
[15:36] another little thing–DV Fiber
[15:37] approached us
[15:39] asking if
[15:40] they could, uh, run
[15:41] their internet
[15:42] connection underground
[15:44] along North
[15:45] Pond. And it was
[15:48] a little controversial,
[15:49] but in the end we all
[15:50] agreed that they
[15:51] could, so they wouldn't have to
[15:52] cut down
[15:53] trees and
[15:54] put up poles
[15:55] . They could have just
[15:57] laid it
[15:58] underground. They actually
[15:59] had to install
[16:00] some poles across the
[16:02] ledge. They simply could
[16:03] n't get through.
[16:05] Yes. So, another thing
[16:08] we're working on
[16:09] is, uh, a
[16:11] facility use agreement related to the
[16:12] activities at Hogback.
[16:16] So, uh, we found out
[16:17] that our insurance,
[16:18] if something bad
[16:19] happens during the
[16:20] activity there, the city
[16:21] will be
[16:22] liable. Uh
[16:25] , and there
[16:26] 's a slot in the facility use agreement for
[16:27] insurance, but they've
[16:29] always refused
[16:30] it.
[16:31] They always refused her.
[16:32] So we're working on
[16:33] who really
[16:34] should have
[16:35] insurance. For example,
[16:36] what activities,
[16:38] like one person
[16:39] walking around and counting birds
[16:40] , probably don't
[16:41] need insurance
[16:42] , but if you have 30
[16:43] people, you know,
[16:45] wielding chainsaws
[16:46] ,
[16:46] no, just doing
[16:47] something active, you know,
[16:48] uh, that
[16:49] requires insurance. And
[16:51] then we also
[16:52] realized that the people on
[16:53] HBC and HMC8 actually
[16:54] go out and
[16:55] maintain the trails with
[16:56] chainsaws and
[16:57] heavy equipment, and
[16:59] they have to be
[17:00] insured for that
[17:01] time. So we're working with
[17:05] both of these
[17:06] committees to
[17:07] find, uh, affordable
[17:08] and equitable
[17:09] ways to do this.
[17:12] So those were disputes
[17:14] . We have ways of doing things.
[17:16] And that's actually, if I
[17:18] , uh, yeah, if people
[17:19] remember that
[17:20] often people
[17:21] use our
[17:22] roads for bike races and
[17:26] so on, and it was always
[17:27] assumed that
[17:28] because it's a public road
[17:30] , it's a
[17:31] public road
[17:33] , but, uh
[17:34] , in the process we
[17:35] found out on the passive
[17:36] side that they needed, in
[17:37] other words,
[17:39] whoever sponsors
[17:40] the bike race has to
[17:41] have an insurance policy
[17:42] and make the city
[17:43] secondary to it. Uh
[17:46] , and this is something
[17:47] we've never
[17:48] done,
[17:50] . And I have a new
[17:51] bike race, people,
[17:52] the grandstand is over,
[17:53] but there's
[17:54] another guy coming next July,
[17:56] and I've already talked to them
[17:57] , and they
[17:58] said, "Oh, yeah,
[17:58] sure." No problem
[18:00] . Never, you know, so,
[18:02] um, it's interesting that when you
[18:04] look at one
[18:05] corner of what we
[18:06] did, you find
[18:07] all these things that we did
[18:09] n't do. So,
[18:11] fortunately, it didn't
[18:12] affect us." So, I
[18:14] guess you might have
[18:15] read about it in
[18:16] the comments, but, um, the
[18:19] Grunam County Sheriff's Department, um, what's
[18:20] their name?
[18:23] Mark Anderson is working
[18:24] on a pilot
[18:25] program related
[18:26] to, um, regional
[18:28] policing, for example,
[18:29] so that instead of his people being
[18:33] hired by different cities
[18:34] for a certain amount of time, they would be
[18:35] stationed around
[18:36] those different cities so that
[18:37] they could be
[18:38] ready to respond
[18:39] faster and more
[18:40] effectively. And it's
[18:42] called, and K's
[18:44] volunteered to be
[18:45] our, um,
[18:48] representative on
[18:49] this committee. It's
[18:50] called the
[18:53] Windham County Law Enforcement Management Board. Uh, five
[18:55] cities, nine cities,
[18:57] WCGC.
[18:59] Yes, that's nine.
[19:02] of the 27 cities in
[19:03] Windham County
[19:04] are on
[19:05] this committee, and
[19:06] their job
[19:07] next year is
[19:08] to figure out what can be
[19:10] added, you know, what
[19:11] new services can the
[19:13] sheriff's department provide us,
[19:14] beyond just
[19:15] traffic enforcement. Is there a
[19:20] way to
[19:21] use this
[19:22] agency instead of the
[19:23] state police,
[19:24] which are often very
[19:25] slow and don't
[19:26] show up very well?
[19:29] So do you want
[19:30] to add anything about what
[19:31] we're working on?
[19:32] No, it's just
[19:33] beginning. We have had
[19:34] two or three
[19:35] meetings, and so far we are
[19:36] talking about developing a
[19:37] document that would
[19:38] regulate the work of
[19:39] this council, for example, a
[19:40] charter. What we
[19:41] can expect and not
[19:42] expect from these
[19:43] meetings, so there's no
[19:45] specific report yet
[19:46] , but we're
[19:47] meeting
[19:48] every week now to
[19:48] try to
[19:49] figure it out so we
[19:50] can all have something to
[19:51] bring to
[19:52] the cities and see
[19:53] who would like to
[19:54] participate. The idea is
[19:56] that without
[19:57] increasing the cost of what
[19:58] we already
[19:59] pay them, we can
[20:00] get more
[20:01] services.
[20:02] And in fact, from the
[20:03] initial figures
[20:04] you gave us, it
[20:05] may turn out to be
[20:06] cheaper for us than our
[20:08] current contract. That's exactly what
[20:10] we think.
[20:11] Yes. And that
[20:12] by distributing this to
[20:13] communities and
[20:14] creating a system, rather
[20:15] than just
[20:16] calling us, we
[20:17] need, um,
[20:18] help so we
[20:19] can cut
[20:20] costs. So we'll
[20:22] find out more
[20:23] later. Two more
[20:24] items on my list of
[20:25] things on the table.
[20:26] The first one is four
[20:27] minutes.
[20:28] The first is, um, school,
[20:29] what to do with the school
[20:31] building. There is a committee
[20:32] called "What to do
[20:33] with the school building."
[20:35] We haven't given it a
[20:36] name yet. Hmm, we had our
[20:37] first meeting at the
[20:38] next meeting.
[20:39] They will meet on the
[20:41] first
[20:41] Monday of every month. The
[20:43] first Monday of the
[20:44] month. First or
[20:45] Yes. First Monday
[20:47] , or first Wednesday. Hmm,
[20:49] and Dan MacArthur will be
[20:50] involved, as well as
[20:51] Kayla, who has
[20:52] been working at this school for a long time. And,
[20:57] um, one of the things that I
[20:59] suggested to them, and
[21:00] they were actually
[21:01] interested in, was, um,
[21:03] setting aside, um, a section
[21:04] that could become an
[21:05] urban emergency
[21:09] shelter for the night.
[21:11] Yes. A place to stay in
[21:12] case
[21:13] Irene attacks again or
[21:14] something. And that will mean
[21:15] having a place where
[21:16] we can store a
[21:17] bunch of cribs, blankets,
[21:18] and pillows. They have a
[21:20] fully equipped
[21:21] kitchen. Hmm, you'd
[21:22] have to
[21:23] figure out, you know,
[21:24] generators or
[21:26] batteries, you know,
[21:27] but they're open to
[21:29] the idea, and that's something the
[21:30] city,
[21:32] um, was shying away from, not
[21:33] shying away from, but
[21:34] working with
[21:36] emergency management. Hmm,
[21:40] you know, they gave us
[21:41] some permission to
[21:42] put a
[21:43] heating center here during
[21:44] daylight hours, but
[21:46] that doesn't really
[21:46] solve the problem of
[21:47] overnight accommodation.
[21:51] Good. So, last thing on
[21:54] my list, and then
[21:55] we have:
[21:57] Nick?
[21:57] Tomorrow or
[21:58] Tamara?
[21:59] Good.
[22:00] Tamara. Tamara and Nick.
[22:01] You have to say it with a New
[22:03] York
[22:03] accent. There's
[22:06] Long Island. So, the
[22:09] last thing on my
[22:10] list is that
[22:11] a few weeks ago,
[22:13] the administrator of the Marlboro
[22:14] Volunteer
[22:15] Fire Department approached us
[22:16] asking us
[22:20] to stop being a
[22:21] nonprofit
[22:21] and
[22:22] become, uh,
[22:24] city-run. So we're
[22:25] trying
[22:26] to figure out, uh, if there's
[22:27] another town in Vermont that's
[22:29] done this. So,
[22:31] uh, the fire department people
[22:33] consulted with
[22:34] this city, this is Berlin,
[22:35] Vermont. And it
[22:39] seems to me that the main
[22:40] change would be that, uh
[22:41] , the money that we often
[22:43] give to the fire
[22:44] department would not be
[22:45] given to it
[22:46] upfront. It will
[22:47] simply be part of
[22:48] our city
[22:49] budget so that we can then
[22:51] pay for the expenses. Er
[22:53] , the same goes for
[22:54] equipment and
[22:55] upgrades. So
[22:56] two
[22:58] paid positions will be needed. Uh
[23:00] , these will be
[23:01] additional costs. Uh
[23:03] , one will be a
[23:03] professional
[23:04] administrator,
[23:05] maybe a
[23:06] fire chief, uh,
[23:08] part-
[23:09] time, and the other will be an
[23:10] assistant
[23:11] administrator who will
[23:12] help out,
[23:13] you know, 15 hours,
[23:14] you know, real part-
[23:17] time,
[23:18] keeping track of everything that
[23:19] needs to be
[23:19] kept track of without
[23:20] volunteers. So, this is a
[23:22] pretty
[23:23] important matter for us. Uh,
[23:24] we're trying to
[23:25] move slowly,
[23:26] but they're really
[23:27] interested in getting
[23:28] it done
[23:29] quickly because they're
[23:30] exhausted. Uh, then
[23:32] the last thing I want to
[23:33] do is
[23:34] go back to the
[23:35] energy
[23:36] fair
[23:37] and ask Tamara and
[23:39] Nick about
[23:40] their plans for
[23:41] fun on October 24th.
[23:44] Good.
[23:45] So, yes. So we're here to, you
[23:47] know,
[23:47] continue to
[23:48] invite people,
[23:51] but should I
[23:52] just do it from
[23:53] my seat, or
[23:54] should he...
[23:55] So you want to
[23:56] introduce yourself, because not
[23:57] everyone might know you.
[23:58] Oh, yes. Of course. I'm the
[24:01] big sheriff...uh,
[24:02] Donald Trump's son,
[24:04] who might know...
[24:05] just finished...my
[24:06] doctorate
[24:08] from Stanford...
[24:08] moved here from San
[24:10] Jose...this story...you're
[24:17] Dr. Nick...Dr.
[24:18] Yes, yes. Yes. Don't
[24:20] call me
[24:21] anything else. No. No. Uh, you're
[24:23] applying for
[24:24] academic positions.
[24:26] Now the
[24:26] academic job season
[24:28] has begun, but
[24:29] I still have some time...
[24:30] And, uh, Tamara gave
[24:31] me this opportunity
[24:32] to volunteer and
[24:33] help. And I'm
[24:34] starting to understand what's
[24:35] happening. And thank you
[24:36] for inviting me.
[24:40] You know.
[24:42] Yes. And he also
[24:43] gets paid through a grant,
[24:44] which is very nice.
[24:45] This is true. This is not
[24:46] volunteering. This is clearly
[24:48] selfish. Uh
[24:49] -huh. Uh
[24:49] -huh.
[24:50] Okay, continue.
[24:53] Tell us how to
[24:54] get an
[24:55] energy committee
[24:56] . That's why you
[24:57] need us when
[24:58] the energy goes out. So,
[25:00] yes. So, we're here to
[25:02] talk about
[25:05] doing something behind
[25:06] you on October 24th.
[25:06] This is the wind.
[25:07] Oh, yes.
[25:08] You will have to
[25:09] wait until he
[25:10] returns.
[25:11] No. So, and also
[25:12] thank you to Kate, who
[25:13] did the work to
[25:14] get the grant, you know
[25:16] , to the energy
[25:17] committee when Kate
[25:18] was on the committee with
[25:19] us. Thank you very much. And
[25:20] so, we
[25:21] can use
[25:23] this grant money
[25:24] to organize a big event to discuss community ideas
[25:25] in this room on October 24th from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM
[25:30] . So, we're
[25:31] looking at what Marbo
[25:33] can do with
[25:34] energy? And now we
[25:35] live in a time when we
[25:36] have so many
[25:37] opportunities. We have a
[25:39] Marlo campus. We
[25:41] lost him, which, um,
[25:43] has
[25:44] a lot of
[25:46] movement, a lot of
[25:47] possibilities, but what
[25:48] will it be, right?
[25:50] We have assets there.
[25:52] We have, um, a school and a
[25:53] school campus that
[25:54] is currently an
[25:54] unused,
[25:55] more or less
[25:56] unused
[25:57] space. We
[25:58] also have the
[25:59] Ninth Highway asset that
[26:00] runs right
[26:01] through our city.
[26:02] If you think about it,
[26:03] starting with our
[26:04] village
[26:04] deli, you know,
[26:06] every weekend there's
[26:07] police directing traffic
[26:08] while everyone tries to
[26:09] get a sandwich. What
[26:10] if we had a
[26:11] sandwich place here,
[26:12] right? Hundreds of thousands of
[26:14] people walk along
[26:15] this corridor every day to
[26:16] their
[26:17] vacation homes, who
[26:18] need to buy
[26:19] groceries,
[26:20] get settled, right?
[26:21] We have ski
[26:22] slopes. This is the gateway to
[26:23] Vermont. Well, we
[26:24] could be the first
[26:25] stop at this
[26:26] gateway to Vermont.
[26:28] So how do we get
[26:29] people to stop, right
[26:30] ? How do we attract
[26:31] people to Marlboro and
[26:32] keep Marblehead as a
[26:33] separate identity
[26:35] and not a bedroom for
[26:36] Brattleboro, right?
[26:37] Here's what we're looking at
[26:38] . And the last time such an idea
[26:40] was implemented was in
[26:42] 2010. And we had
[26:45] representatives from
[26:46] rural Vermont come to us,
[26:47] and they had, well,
[26:48] several, you know,
[26:49] day-long, well, conversations where
[26:50] all the community members
[26:52] came up with ideas of what
[26:53] could be done
[26:54] based on this. We
[26:55] came up with the idea for this
[26:57] space, didn't we?
[26:58] Because it used to
[26:59] be just, well,
[27:00] services every Sunday
[27:03] in the summer, right? And we
[27:05] came up with the idea of
[27:06] making this space
[27:07] bigger in the library
[27:08] and cafe. We came up with the
[27:10] energy committee
[27:12] , which emerged from
[27:13] planning sessions in 2010.
[27:16] And we came up with the idea of
[27:17] expanding our
[27:18] trails, which eventually
[27:19] turned into
[27:20] ski slopes. So we
[27:21] can
[27:23] do a lot when we all
[27:24] come together and
[27:24] think about what
[27:26] we have. And that's what we
[27:27] do. As we were just
[27:28] talking about, you know,
[27:29] so
[27:31] many things have happened since then.
[27:33] Solar energy valuation is
[27:34] probably what's
[27:35] happening.
[27:37] Forward.
[27:38] OK. So, yes. We
[27:40] just want to
[27:40] create a place where
[27:41] people can
[27:42] bring all the
[27:43] projects
[27:44] they've been working on, the ideas they have
[27:45] . The main thing
[27:47] Nick will work on is information and
[27:48] educational work
[27:49] . So we want to
[27:50] call different
[27:51] representatives,
[27:51] call, you know,
[27:53] rural Vermont,
[27:54] call those
[27:54] who have money, right?
[27:56] Who has projects? What is
[27:57] happening?
[27:58] Invite them to be here
[27:59] . So while we're
[28:00] generating and
[28:01] coming up with new ideas,
[28:02] we also have people
[28:04] who can say, "
[28:05] I can help with
[28:06] this," or "There's money here
[28:07] ," or "Sure, this
[28:09] fits into the XYZ project
[28:10] we're starting."
[28:11] Because, um, yeah,
[28:13] because I think we have
[28:14] a lot that we
[28:15] can do, and that
[28:16] we've done over the last
[28:18] 15 years, and now is the
[28:19] time to bring it all
[28:20] together. OK.
[28:21] So, that's our goal. Hmm,
[28:24] our request
[28:24] is that
[28:26] people participate,
[28:27] that people come, and
[28:28] that you bring
[28:29] two or three
[28:30] other guests with you.
[28:32] Solar energy.
[28:33] Switch to
[28:34] solar energy.
[28:35] Switch to
[28:36] solar energy. Yes.
[28:37] Well, you know, like, a
[28:38] mustard field has
[28:39] more than enough
[28:41] space to house an
[28:42] entire battery that
[28:43] can, you know,
[28:44] serve
[28:45] our entire community,
[28:46] right? And the city has
[28:48] half of the
[28:49] roadside garage
[28:50] on solar power,
[28:52] and we wanted to spend
[28:53] some of that money on,
[28:54] um, ARPA, but we
[28:55] spend it on other
[28:56] things before we
[28:58] get to that, but that
[28:59] could be upgraded
[29:00] and doubled,
[29:03] which would reduce the cost
[29:04] , um, for the city.
[29:07] What is ARCA?
[29:08] ARPA was, um,
[29:10] American.
[29:12] It was the IRA.
[29:15] Recording is in progress. But
[29:16] we had, you know,
[29:17] over $300,000
[29:18] to allocate to things
[29:20] that would
[29:21] benefit the city.
[29:22] Hmm. And it's spent.
[29:24] Good.
[29:24] Yes. I don't feel like
[29:26] saying this, just
[29:27] for people online,
[29:28] if you can
[29:29] give a quick
[29:31] summary, a
[29:31] summary, because they have
[29:32] n't heard it.
[29:34] Absolutely. Yes. So,
[29:36] about the Olympics, do you want
[29:37] to join?
[29:39] Uh, I-I'm worried I
[29:40] won't do everything right.
[29:42] Hmm, okay. I think it's
[29:45] , uh, so feel
[29:46] free to correct
[29:48] me for any
[29:49] mistakes I make, but it looks like
[29:50] we're trying to, uh, have
[29:52] some kind of
[29:53] community,
[29:54] uh, event or
[29:55] coordinate ideas,
[29:56] resources, and people
[29:57] interested in
[29:58] energy and
[29:59] energy
[30:00] systems in Marrow. This is
[30:02] modeled after
[30:03] , uh, a very
[30:04] successful community
[30:06] service and
[30:06] organizing event that we
[30:08] did in 2010. Yes
[30:09] , it, uh, led to
[30:10] things like ski
[30:12] slopes or the
[30:12] community center where
[30:13] we are now.
[30:17] Uh, thematic and
[30:18] focused
[30:19] mostly on
[30:20] energy, but
[30:21] willing to consider
[30:22] it in a broader sense. Uh
[30:26] ,
[30:27] a lot of work has been done on
[30:28] thinking about solar
[30:29] energy. My dad
[30:31] remembers that, uh, they did some
[30:32] work
[30:33] trying
[30:34] to figure out, like, the
[30:35] total
[30:36] energy demand of Marrow. What
[30:38] type of solar panel will
[30:39] you need to
[30:40] accommodate all of this?
[30:41] Uh, are there any places where
[30:43] charging
[30:44] stations for
[30:44] electric cars could be installed? Hmm,
[30:49] anyway, it's
[30:50] been a decade and a half of
[30:51] , uh,
[30:52] lots of ideas, and trying to, uh
[30:53] , get these ideas out
[30:55] to the public,
[30:56] figure out what's behind the
[30:57] most energy,
[30:59] and especially, uh, the names of
[31:00] people and organizations
[31:02] that could
[31:03] support it, uh, both
[31:04] organizationally and,
[31:06] uh, financially.
[31:09] Right. Did I
[31:10] miss it?
[31:11] Yes, that was good.
[31:13] So, on October 24th, the date is
[31:15] 2 to 4, we will have
[31:17] BCTV here. We will have food here.
[31:19] We will have childcare
[31:20] . So we want to
[31:22] make it so that
[31:23] everyone can
[31:24] participate, and so, right now
[31:25] our main
[31:26] request is—you know,
[31:27] bring a friend,
[31:28] bring two
[31:29] friends. Uh, yeah,
[31:32] because it's a chance to implement
[31:33] a lot of ideas, a lot of,
[31:34] you know, something
[31:35] like what Nick was saying
[31:37] , a lot of projects have
[31:38] come up, right?
[31:40] But we don't all know about them
[31:41] , and they haven't been
[31:42] implemented,
[31:43] right? And times have changed,
[31:44] and we have
[31:45] many more
[31:46] assets now. So, we have
[31:47] Marble College,
[31:48] which gives us a lot of
[31:49] opportunities. We have
[31:51] school buildings,
[31:53] yes, which are now
[31:54] open. This gives us
[31:55] opportunities. And we have
[31:57] Route 9. This is what I was
[31:58] talking about when the
[32:00] power went out. But,
[32:01] you know, we have this
[32:02] big corridor, so
[32:03] there's a lot of opportunity
[32:04] for businesses to
[32:05] bring new people
[32:06] into the community to
[32:07] stop by for a bite to
[32:08] eat, right?
[32:09] Instead of, um,
[32:11] Vermont Country Deli blocking
[32:12] all the roads, why do
[32:13] n't we invite them all
[32:15] here? We have a building
[32:16] owned by the campus
[32:17] that they're willing to
[32:18] provide, you know, for a
[32:20] restaurant or a
[32:20] co-op out
[32:21] west, right? Why
[32:24] can't the Brattleboro Food Co-op
[32:26] expand, ahem, and
[32:27] serve the
[32:28] community? And also where
[32:29] we are,
[32:30] we have Hogback Mountain and
[32:31] we have Wilmington. So there
[32:33] are two communities we
[32:34] can serve. The
[32:35] Brattleboro community, the
[32:36] Wilmington community,
[32:37] three communities, because
[32:38] we have a
[32:39] recreation community, right? And we
[32:40] are the gateway to
[32:41] Vermont. So how do we
[32:42] get people
[32:43] to stop, right? So,
[32:45] that's one part. And
[32:46] the other part is how do we
[32:48] make better use of
[32:49] the resources we have,
[32:50] right? So, looking
[32:51] at the space that we
[32:52] have, the solar energy,
[32:53] and the campus, like
[32:54] during our board meeting
[32:56] on Thursday,
[32:57] we talked about all the
[32:58] opportunities on campus
[32:59] and how we
[33:00] can offer
[33:02] more educational
[33:03] programs. You know why
[33:04] we can't become a
[33:05] technology
[33:06] hub on campus?
[33:07] My son was in
[33:08] high school and
[33:08] had to go to
[33:09] Amherst to
[33:10] attend a
[33:11] programming academy because there isn't one in
[33:12] Vermont
[33:13] . But why
[33:14] can't Malgo become a
[33:16] programming academy now? So,
[33:17] you know, that's what we're
[33:18] looking for: to engage
[33:19] people in conversations,
[33:21] to engage them in
[33:21] coming up with ideas, and
[33:23] then to connect those
[33:24] ideas to action. So that's why
[33:25] we want
[33:26] people who know
[33:28] where the
[33:28] resources are and who work with
[33:30] planning to be
[33:31] here with us as well. The
[33:35] Energy Committee
[33:37] has a lot of energy and
[33:38] it will be contagious and
[33:39] we will all do our
[33:40] best to
[33:41] show up and bring
[33:42] our own markers, paper
[33:44] and stuff. We will have
[33:48] markers and paper. And
[33:50] then, once we have
[33:51] the ideas ready, we'll
[33:52] continue to keep
[33:53] them in the lobby here for
[33:55] a few more weeks so that
[33:56] other people who
[33:56] may not have been able to
[33:57] attend
[33:59] can still participate
[34:00] . And we'll also have an
[34:01] online element so that
[34:02] we really get
[34:03] full, um,
[34:04] engagement because
[34:05] so many new
[34:06] people have moved into
[34:07] our community.
[34:08] Yes? So, the whole community
[34:10] has changed a lot, and that's what
[34:11] we really want to
[34:12] celebrate and
[34:13] unite.
[34:15] Yes. There's another idea
[34:16] that just occurred to me
[34:17] , because I
[34:19] do
[34:20] zoning work as an
[34:21] acting
[34:22] zoning officer, and I
[34:24] know that there are four,
[34:25] five, or six
[34:26] potential new
[34:27] homes, like on AI. You
[34:28] can see where
[34:30] driveways, etc. have been made. Maybe
[34:32] we could develop
[34:33] some, um,
[34:34] energy-efficient
[34:35] building rules that
[34:36] could be passed on to
[34:38] potential, sorry,
[34:40] builders so
[34:41] people know they don't
[34:42] have to build a
[34:43] 4,000
[34:45] square foot house. So
[34:46] they can
[34:47] build a
[34:48] 1,400 square
[34:49] foot house and they can
[34:50] use, I
[34:51] mean, I don't
[34:52] know if you knew about the
[34:53] house on Town Hill.
[34:54] Max and, uh, Iris
[34:55] just built an
[34:57] extremely, um,
[34:58] energy-efficient
[34:59] house with new
[35:00] technology, with, you
[35:01] know, cement and
[35:03] insulation, cement
[35:04] and windows that
[35:05] face, uh,
[35:06] mostly south,
[35:07] I think. And, um, it might
[35:09] be helpful if
[35:11] someone came along and
[35:11] looked into these
[35:12] things to put together
[35:14] something like a
[35:14] guide on how
[35:16] you can build a
[35:17] house or how you can
[35:18] remodel your
[35:19] house.
[35:20] Yes.
[35:21] Uh, one thing I
[35:22] remember, it was
[35:23] actually many
[35:24] years ago when I lived
[35:25] in Manchester Center. Uh
[35:27] -huh. Um, they
[35:29] built a house, and it
[35:31] had these
[35:32] blinds
[35:36] that, when the sun
[35:37] came in,
[35:37] would open up to
[35:38] full power for
[35:39] solar
[35:40] radiation,
[35:41] you know, for passive
[35:42] solar
[35:43] radiation. And
[35:46] then, when
[35:47] the temperature
[35:48] cooled at night, the
[35:49] blinds would close. Yes, yes
[35:50] . And it was really
[35:53] cool, you know, and
[35:54] they kept
[35:55] the heat in, you know, and
[35:56] of course you had
[35:58] insulation, all that stuff.
[35:59] But I don't know if it's like
[36:01] old technology, but
[36:02] 30 years ago it was
[36:04] very new.
[36:06] Yes. For example, those
[36:07] wonderful blankets,
[36:08] window coverings, and
[36:09] more. And do you know what that is
[36:11] ?
[36:11] Yes.
[36:12] I wonder if there's
[36:13] anyone here who
[36:14] makes them? Is
[36:15] n't there someone in town
[36:16] who makes them? And
[36:17] we did this whole
[36:18] project with a
[36:19] nonprofit in
[36:20] Maine, you know, where they
[36:21] come in and
[36:21] measure your windows
[36:22] and then they make,
[36:23] um, inserts.
[36:25] double-sided inserts.
[36:26] We did it, and the
[36:27] energy committee
[36:28] took it to court. What about
[36:29] last year? I
[36:30] think we had this a
[36:32] year earlier.
[36:33] Yes. Peggy, Peggy
[36:35] just had a comment
[36:40] that, um, you need to
[36:42] include in everything that you
[36:43] do, is, um, a
[36:44] reflection of how
[36:45] all of this can help
[36:47] low-income
[36:48] seniors,
[36:49] and so, is there a
[36:52] grant that they
[36:53] can, you know, in
[36:54] other words,
[36:55] help
[36:55] low-income
[36:56] seniors,
[36:57] um,
[36:58] no, it was a question of
[36:59] how we're doing, how are the
[37:02] low-income plans working in
[37:03] Marlborough and also the
[37:04] seniors,
[37:05] because those are two different
[37:07] categories.
[37:08] Good. Sorry.
[37:10] Yes. And that's what you
[37:11] know, so we
[37:12] need everyone to come
[37:13] together at the table
[37:15] so we can hear
[37:16] those voices and also
[37:17] have ideas because that's what
[37:18] we're
[37:20] thinking about with
[37:20] transportation as well. How do people
[37:22] move? We're
[37:23] just talking about
[37:24] , you know, do we have,
[37:25] you know, a community
[37:26] car that people
[37:27] can borrow,
[37:28] you know, during
[37:29] mud season, or,
[37:30] you know, we do
[37:31] n't have a truck
[37:32] that stops
[37:33] by the school anymore. Yes, they
[37:34] actually just
[37:35] wanted to
[37:36] let you do it
[37:37] on demand again.
[37:37] Yes, Mover, you can
[37:38] call
[37:39] Mover. Good.
[37:40] And they have
[37:41] something similar to
[37:43] what Marvel Alliance does,
[37:44] but what's nice about Mover,
[37:45] if anyone ever
[37:46] wants to do that, is that
[37:47] they
[37:48] pay for your mileage
[37:49] .
[37:49] Good.
[37:50] For the fact that you are driving,
[37:52] picking someone up and
[37:53] taking them somewhere, etc. So,
[37:56] um, you know they're
[37:57] connected to this.
[37:59] Good. Something like
[38:00] Uber for transportation.
[38:02] Yes. Movie with Uber.
[38:03] That's good.
[38:05] But it's more
[38:05] planned than
[38:06] just making a phone call.
[38:08] But, and if there were
[38:09] more stores here,
[38:10] like a
[38:10] grocery store, it would be
[38:11] a lot
[38:13] easier for people to buy food,
[38:14] right? Because it
[38:15] will be closer. They won't
[38:16] have to go all the way
[38:17] to the city. And, you know, it would
[38:19] also be a way to
[38:20] bring in people from
[38:21] Wellington who do
[38:22] n't have a lot of
[38:22] options, you know,
[38:24] for co-op style food
[38:24] . But yes,
[38:26] but I think yes, it's
[38:27] important to consider
[38:28] all of that. And I also
[38:30] thought, when you
[38:30] were talking about building,
[38:32] that there are people in our community
[38:33] who are working with,
[38:34] um, new styles of
[38:35] building. Yes.
[38:36] Right. People on, hmm
[38:38] , what is this? Not on High
[38:39] Hill. This is, um, on
[38:40] Bear Road.
[38:41] Yes.
[38:42] They have a location downtown
[38:43] .
[38:44] Yes.
[38:44] Um, where they're
[38:44] pushing, you know,
[38:45] these new
[38:47] plug-and-play building models
[38:48] that are actually
[38:48] designed
[38:49] for new
[38:50] construction and for
[38:50] retrofits.
[38:51] Yes.
[38:52] I mean, because
[38:53] reconstruction
[38:54] will save people. I
[38:55] mean, my house is a
[38:56] perfect example.
[38:57] He's like Swiss
[38:58] cheese. And, you know, it would be
[39:01] good to figure out what
[39:02] steps we could
[39:03] take to
[39:05] simplify this a little bit.
[39:07] Yes.
[39:08] And I'll just say one thing
[39:10] that we're doing with the rest of the
[39:12] MERP,
[39:14] um, mini-mini, is that
[39:16] the city is going to
[39:17] buy two, um,
[39:19] Flur infrared readers. Emm.
[39:22] Portable. And they
[39:23] will be stored in the
[39:24] city
[39:24] administration. Someone
[39:26] can come in, sign
[39:28] it, and in the winter they
[39:29] can stand
[39:30] outside and see
[39:31] where
[39:32] the heat from their
[39:33] house is coming from. And in the summer
[39:35] they can stand
[39:35] inside and
[39:36] see where
[39:37] the heat is coming into
[39:38] their house from,
[39:39] right?
[39:39] Um, you know, it's just,
[39:41] you know, infrared,
[39:42] and it's pretty cool.
[39:44] We also, didn't we
[39:45] buy a drainage
[39:46] pump that can be
[39:47] written out?
[39:48] Um, not yet.
[39:51] Yes, it is included in
[39:52] the budget.
[39:53] Good. So the fire
[39:54] department asked
[39:55] the city to buy a
[39:56] drain pump that
[39:57] could be written off,
[39:58] right? Yes. So if your
[39:59] basement is flooded,
[40:00] you didn't have to
[40:01] buy your
[40:02] own. You could
[40:03] just ask and
[40:04] borrow it.
[40:04] Yes.
[40:05] Hmm, that's cool. Okay,
[40:07] great. Well, we started.
[40:08] We had fun on
[40:09] Thursday, we
[40:10] had fun on Saturday,
[40:11] and we will have fun
[40:12] in October.
[40:13] We can do what
[40:14] we're just
[40:15] going to do,
[40:16] which is connect Tamara
[40:17] to the city grid and
[40:19] just let her
[40:20] energy flow. Well,
[40:23] something we could
[40:24] do is a
[40:25] library, right? This is
[40:26] something we put together in
[40:27] Brattleboro. Oh, yes.
[40:29] It was, you know, I
[40:30] needed a blender. What
[40:31] if I
[40:31] needed a
[40:32] juicer? What
[40:33] if I
[40:33] needed a
[40:34] bread maker? You know,
[40:35] just tools,
[40:36] right?
[40:36] Snowshoes. I saw
[40:37] someone
[40:38] returning
[40:39] snowshoes to
[40:39] the library last year. I thought
[40:41] : what?
[40:41] Yes. Yes. They also have
[40:42] electric bikes. And
[40:43] electric bikes are
[40:44] great. Yes.
[40:45] You know, you can take an
[40:46] electric bike and
[40:47] go anywhere you
[40:47] want.
[40:48] So, yes. So how
[40:49] can we bring
[40:50] some of these resources here?
[40:51] Perfectly. Well,
[40:52] thank you very much for coming. And
[40:54] now we'll move on to the
[40:55] divisions, which, uh, has
[40:57] anyone had a
[40:57] chance to
[40:58] review them? There's
[41:05] , uh, Nick did this
[41:07] wonderful thing.
[41:09] There is such a thing as a
[41:10] unit.
[41:12] No. Yes, this is a long thing.
[41:14] Sorry. May I
[41:15] know your name?
[41:16] Donald. Oh, you are him.
[41:21] Sorry. I know your
[41:23] face. I just
[41:24] missed the name.
[41:25] So, Nick did this
[41:27] thing. I don't know if it's
[41:28] published or if
[41:29] we can make it
[41:30] available for
[41:31] comparison between the
[41:31] old and new
[41:32] units.
[41:33] Oh, yes. I mean, would
[41:35] you rather I bring this
[41:36] up, or a subsection
[41:39] with actual
[41:39] rules? Does
[41:40] anyone else want one?
[41:41] I think that would be more
[41:43] useful.
[41:43] Oh, thank you.
[41:45] I'll take a few. This is
[41:46] a comparison of something
[41:47] you printed out.
[41:48] Yes,
[41:50] I...
[41:51] You were going to...
[41:53] Okay. So,
[41:54] let me
[41:55] find this. Wait a
[41:56] second.
[41:56] Thank you for coming.
[41:58] I could...
[42:00] Oh, you...you were involved
[42:02] in this.
[42:02] Yes. Yes. I was very
[42:04] involved in this. I
[42:05] can tell you a little bit
[42:06] . Do
[42:06] you want to give us an
[42:07] introduction?
[42:09] What we...the old patterns of
[42:11] division were
[42:11] mostly
[42:12] formulaic. They were
[42:15] probably taken from
[42:16] cities much
[42:17] larger than Marlborough.
[42:19] So our task
[42:20] was twofold. One
[42:25] was to
[42:26] make it more
[42:27] relevant to
[42:28] this city, and the other was to
[42:29] make it
[42:30] legible and
[42:31] understandable. And to that
[42:38] end, we...we created
[42:43] a chart that gives you
[42:44] kind of a
[42:45] step-by-step
[42:46] guide on
[42:47] page six...anytime
[42:51] you need to
[42:52] do any
[42:53] division, small or
[42:54] large, it gives you a
[42:56] flowchart that
[42:56] shows you the
[42:57] step-by-step process.
[42:59] Of course.
[43:00] Um,
[43:01] that's good. So our
[43:04] goal was to make it
[43:05] clear and
[43:06] simple, and also
[43:07] align it with how the
[43:09] city actually
[43:10] functions. Hmm, the
[43:14] zoning administrator is a key
[43:15] person because they are the
[43:16] first person
[43:18] you talk to to
[43:19] figure out whether
[43:20] you are doing a minor or
[43:21] major subdivision. And if
[43:24] it's minor, very
[43:25] often it can go through a
[43:26] fairly simple
[43:27] process. For example,
[43:29] adjusting boundaries.
[43:30] Wait. I've already
[43:32] reached this point.
[43:35] And then, um, we also
[43:36] simplified it a little bit
[43:37] for everyone. We used to have a
[43:40] restriction that
[43:41] said anything
[43:42] more than three
[43:43] plots. If you
[43:44] divide your plot
[43:45] into more than three, that
[43:46] automatically meant a
[43:48] large television.
[43:49] We increased that to
[43:50] four. You can
[43:51] have four. Did
[43:52] you mean that?
[43:53] Yes. Hmm.
[43:54] You can have four
[43:56] before you
[43:56] have to go
[43:58] to five to
[43:58] trigger the
[43:59] grand division view.
[44:02] It's in the right column. Is
[44:03] it all at once, or
[44:05] can you do it
[44:06] over a
[44:07] period of time?
[44:08] You have that all of this should
[44:10] be within 5 years.
[44:11] Good.
[44:12] Maximum
[44:13] number for 5
[44:14] years. This has not
[44:15] changed. Another thing
[44:18] that we've implemented that's
[44:19] new is that,
[44:21] uh, we have something called a
[44:23] conservation
[44:24] unit.
[44:27] Most of the city is now
[44:29] zoned for 2 acres per
[44:30] residential building.
[44:34] And we, uh, through the
[44:35] conservation
[44:36] unit, we
[44:37] modeled a lot of
[44:38] this after
[44:40] how Bradborough did
[44:41] most of what
[44:42] Brad is now, which is the
[44:43] conservation
[44:44] unit. And this
[44:48] process says that
[44:50] if you allocate 50% of
[44:51] your land, uh, you
[44:56] can build the
[44:58] same number of
[44:59] apartments as you did, uh,
[45:00] before, but it doesn't have to
[45:02] be two large
[45:03] plots.
[45:04] You can build on
[45:06] much smaller
[45:06] plots. You can
[45:08] group houses
[45:09] together, much
[45:10] cheaper to build,
[45:11] uh, and much, uh, more
[45:12] environmentally friendly,
[45:14] of course. Uh, this is a
[45:16] section, I think it's in
[45:17] chapter three, that
[45:19] talks about the
[45:20] conservation process
[45:21] .
[45:24] Chapter three.
[45:26] The
[45:27] third one,
[45:27] which starts, uh,
[45:29] at 13, I think.
[45:32] Yes.
[45:34] And could you
[45:36] just give your
[45:38] name again for the transcript so it can be
[45:39] recorded.
[45:41] D. Sherin.
[45:43] Thank you. And the printout
[45:49] doesn't actually
[45:50] show up,
[45:51] perhaps in your PDF
[45:52] file. Uh, if you
[45:56] look at
[45:57] the examples, you'll see
[45:59] examples shown with
[46:00] little
[46:00] illustrations. If you
[46:02] scroll down,
[46:04] um, okay, look
[46:05] at the screen and tell
[46:06] me when I
[46:07] got close. I'll let you
[46:08] know.
[46:09] Is this it? Is this it?
[46:10] Yes.
[46:11] Good.
[46:12] This page. It will be,
[46:13] um,
[46:16] 3.10. That's it. Yes.
[46:19] Good. Let's start.
[46:22] So, this is an example. Um,
[46:28] each major subdivision
[46:29] will have, in addition to what
[46:30] we normally do with
[46:32] the survey, an
[46:32] additional
[46:33] environmental review map
[46:35] that will highlight any
[46:36] environmentally sensitive
[46:37] areas. Those areas where
[46:42] you
[46:43] can't build anyway.
[46:45] So, you will subtract those
[46:47] areas that you
[46:48] cannot build on to
[46:49] determine how much you
[46:50] can build on.
[46:52] So in this
[46:53] example there were 50 acres
[46:54] , 20 acres were
[46:55] undeveloped
[46:56] . 30 acres
[46:57] divided by two will
[46:58] give you 15 apartments.
[47:02] Thanks to the division into
[47:03] conservation
[47:04] areas, you can
[47:05] create a plot of land the
[47:06] size of an acre, right
[47:07] ? Er, 3/4 acre.
[47:10] The main thing is that you
[47:11] have enough land
[47:12] to develop, that
[47:13] you have a
[47:14] functioning
[47:15] septic system.
[47:17] If you go to the
[47:19] next page, I
[47:20] think it shows an
[47:21] example of several
[47:22] smaller sections.
[47:23] So can you
[47:24] do something
[47:25] like condominiums
[47:26] and,
[47:26] um,
[47:27] residential clusters?
[47:29] We, as we, uh, have been doing,
[47:33] as we're just
[47:34] developing the
[47:35] subdivision rules, we're suggesting
[47:36] that the next step
[47:38] for the
[47:38] planning commission is to
[47:39] review the zoning,
[47:42] and we're going to
[47:43] strongly
[47:43] encourage the permitting
[47:44] of apartment
[47:46] buildings.
[47:49] I think that now it is
[47:50] possible to build two
[47:52] families. Uh
[47:52] -huh. But we believe
[47:54] we should be
[47:55] more lenient
[47:56] when it comes
[47:57] to this,
[47:59] especially when it comes to
[47:59] creating affordable
[48:01] housing.
[48:02] So there's an example that
[48:04] shows much
[48:07] smaller plots, um,
[48:09] instead of
[48:10] trying to do
[48:11] two acres. I
[48:12] mean, if you're
[48:14] zoning for two acres
[48:15] , you're essentially
[48:16] converting the land
[48:17] into suburbanization. And that's
[48:18] obviously something that I
[48:20] think
[48:20] most people wouldn't
[48:22] want to do to
[48:23] our city.
[48:24] I have a question.
[48:25] Yes.
[48:27] Can
[48:28] conservation
[48:29] zoning be applied in a rural
[48:30] area?
[48:32] It can be
[48:32] used
[48:34] anywhere. Yes.
[48:34] Good.
[48:35] If, well, the majority...
[48:36] Yes, rural housing
[48:37] development is a principle.
[48:39] So not just in
[48:40] wildlife or
[48:41] conservation. So oh
[48:43] no, you can
[48:44] use this
[48:45] really anywhere. It is
[48:46] commercial,
[48:47] available for any
[48:48] commercial meeting
[48:49] and commercial
[48:50] event. This is a commercial
[48:52] area to the east where there is a
[48:56] barbecue area, and the
[48:57] commercial area to the
[48:58] west is a Hogback and a
[49:00] pizzeria. Yes. Yes. I
[49:02] think it's mainly
[49:04] for housing. Uh, but
[49:06] I'll have to
[49:07] figure it out.
[49:09] You can have detached
[49:10] houses in commercial areas.
[49:11] Oh, you can. Good. Yes.
[49:13] The only thing you can't
[49:14] have is a primitive
[49:15] camp. Oh, okay. So,
[49:17] this is a problem for
[49:18] some people who
[49:18] buy land just
[49:19] along the road and
[49:20] can't
[49:21] do anything about it. Well, there's that
[49:23] tiny guy with
[49:24] the house who
[49:25] lives there now. Which one exactly?
[49:26] I don't know. He works
[49:28] at NECA.
[49:29] He has Oh, Joe Baker.
[49:30] Yes. Yes.
[49:32] He doesn't live in that
[49:33] little house
[49:34] . This is his rehearsal
[49:36] area. He lives in a
[49:37] trailer.
[49:39] So, in any case
[49:40] , to answer
[49:41] your question, you
[49:42] can use
[49:44] territory preservation services in any
[49:45] area. Good.
[49:50] And you said that
[49:50] boundary
[49:52] line adjustments can be
[49:52] done by the
[49:54] zoning administrator on their own
[49:56] , or does it all have to go to the
[49:57] DRB? That's something
[49:59] I could
[50:00] figure out.
[50:03] Uh, you still
[50:04] need to provide a
[50:05] land
[50:06] survey and
[50:07] supporting documents
[50:08] to submit your subdivision permit application to the
[50:11] zoning administrator for
[50:12] approval.
[50:13] Notification of
[50:14] any interested
[50:15] parties.
[50:16] This doesn't necessarily have to
[50:17] go to the
[50:18] project review board.
[50:22] Yes. The administrator
[50:24] can take care of this.
[50:28] page is 11
[50:30] six six.
[50:32] Yes.
[50:34] So this
[50:35] zoning administrator can
[50:36] handle a
[50:37] minor division on their own.
[50:39] Yes, but you can always
[50:41] contact the DRB if
[50:42] something happens.
[50:43] Yes. And of course, all of
[50:45] these overlapping areas
[50:47] are still part of the
[50:48] review process.
[50:48] Yes,
[50:56] this is very useful.
[50:57] Yes, I like
[50:59] how it's written.
[51:00] The writing is much
[51:01] clearer.
[51:02] Yes, we removed
[51:03] a lot of the boiler, the stove
[51:04] was pretty rough.
[51:06] Fish, when it
[51:07] came to,
[51:07] like, the
[51:09] curb cuts, and I'm like, where's the
[51:10] curb?
[51:11] Yes.
[51:14] Um, yeah, a lot of
[51:15] this was written,
[51:16] you know, for the development of
[51:17] suburban New
[51:18] Jersey and
[51:19] Sure.
[51:19] I hope this
[51:21] gets here someday. Does this
[51:23] apply to our
[51:24] zoning regulations?
[51:25] No.
[51:26] I think we
[51:28] worked on them
[51:29] recently, and it's...Yeah,
[51:30] I think
[51:31] we reviewed them in 2018.
[51:33] Yeah, I think these,
[51:34] they were originally from
[51:36] 2010, and then they were... there
[51:37] were a few changes,
[51:40] but they really
[51:41] need updating
[51:42] , especially because
[51:44] they still have educational,
[51:45] um, areas, you know, that
[51:49] don't apply,
[51:50] but it still makes it
[51:51] difficult
[51:52] when you're trying
[51:53] to read the rules.
[51:54] Yes. And there are just some
[51:55] things that I
[51:56] told people
[51:56] before you came
[51:57] here, there are just some
[51:58] places where it's just
[51:59] unclear. This makes decision making very
[52:00] difficult
[52:01] for people.
[52:02] They are asking for something that is
[52:04] simply not clear in the
[52:05] rules.
[52:07] And I've been very fortunate to
[52:08] talk to different
[52:09] people in the state. I have
[52:11] three or four
[52:12] people who have been very
[52:13] helpful with
[52:14] issues of
[52:16] river neighborhoods,
[52:17] waterfront and
[52:18] other things, commercial
[52:20] zoning and other things. But it's
[52:21] useful, but I think
[52:23] it could really be
[52:24] revised
[52:25] for, well,
[52:26] you know, consistency.
[52:28] If you can keep
[52:29] track of these...Oh, sure.
[52:30] I think this would be
[52:31] very valuable for the
[52:32] next client.
[52:34] I'll look over my
[52:35] notes. There are a few
[52:36] things where I just
[52:37] can't figure out what it
[52:39] means. Are
[52:40] they exempt from payment? Aren't
[52:41] they released?
[52:42] You know,
[52:43] charities are
[52:44] exempt or
[52:45] maybe not exempt
[52:46] from the following things.
[52:47] It's like: oh my God.
[52:49] Yes, you need a
[52:50] lawyer. Yes.
[52:52] So, we're planning to
[52:53] hire...er, you
[52:54] weren't here when we
[52:55] talked about this
[52:56] earlier to apply for a
[52:58] municipal
[52:59] planning grant.
[53:01] Oh, great.
[53:02] Which would be
[53:02] specifically to
[53:03] pay for the
[53:04] zoning review.
[53:05] Well, that's what the
[53:07] planning commission does. It would be
[53:09] great to have,
[53:10] you know, a consultant,
[53:11] but, um, yeah,
[53:12] I mean, I
[53:13] just let you know
[53:15] that I talked to the WRC, and,
[53:18] um, they can
[53:20] do pretty much anything if we
[53:21] get a planning grant
[53:25] and then present
[53:26] it to the
[53:27] planning commission, and
[53:27] let the
[53:29] planning commission evaluate
[53:30] and make changes and
[53:31] adjustments.
[53:31] Right. I think it would make
[53:33] sense
[53:33] to cooperate with the
[53:34] planning commission.
[53:35] Well, yes. I'm just saying
[53:37] we would have a
[53:38] professional like
[53:39] Mike McConnell or
[53:41] some other company
[53:42] that, you know, really
[53:43] knows the laws and so on. Um,
[53:45] of course.
[53:46] To give you guys, you
[53:47] know, to
[53:49] write it and then
[53:50] sit down with you and
[53:51] review it.
[53:52] Of course.
[53:53] You can always
[53:54] pay us.
[53:56] So, were there a lot of,
[53:57] um, at your
[53:58] public hearings, were there a
[53:59] lot of
[54:00] proposed
[54:01] fixes? Just a
[54:03] few that I
[54:03] edited into
[54:04] our new
[54:05] document. So we
[54:08] waited for these hearings
[54:09] earlier, in case
[54:10] we needed to
[54:11] add anything else.
[54:12] Well, the only thing I asked for,
[54:14] and I think the chart
[54:15] clearly shows, is that
[54:16] people are sometimes
[54:17] surprised that they
[54:18] need to do a
[54:19] survey.
[54:20] Oh, the survey
[54:22] I wrote to Jim about, and I
[54:23] said, just
[54:24] put that first
[54:25] . You
[54:26] mean every
[54:27] survey has to be
[54:28] conducted, meaning
[54:29] every district has to have a
[54:30] survey, which
[54:31] costs a lot of money.
[54:32] Absolutely. But
[54:34] Malcolm Moore
[54:34] was actually at
[54:35] our hearing and, uh
[54:37] , made it very clear
[54:38] that the
[54:39] survey is an
[54:39] important document.
[54:41] Yes. So this, uh, is clearly
[54:43] visible in this diagram
[54:45] .
[54:45] Yes. Um, but I didn't see
[54:48] that in the opening
[54:49] comments, just so
[54:50] you know, because it
[54:51] makes the city staff's job easier
[54:53] if they don't have to
[54:54] argue about it
[54:55] .
[54:58] One of the things that, um, has
[55:00] obviously been a
[55:00] problem in the past,
[55:02] and we're trying
[55:03] to emphasize here, is that
[55:05] everyone has to have a
[55:06] registered title deed
[55:07] .
[55:08] It’s not enough to just
[55:10] go ahead and
[55:10] get the job done. You
[55:12] actually have to
[55:13] get permission. Yes.
[55:15] They have 180 days
[55:16] to register
[55:17] the plan and the title deed
[55:19] ,
[55:19] right?
[55:20] And if they don't
[55:21] do it, it's
[55:22] canceled.
[55:23] They can't start
[55:24] until all this is
[55:25] done, right?
[55:26] Uh, when it's
[55:27] finished, uh...Oh, that's
[55:29] true. They have to
[55:30] get...
[55:31] It's not realistic until it's
[55:32] done
[55:33] over a
[55:33] period of time.
[55:34] That's good. Um, I would
[55:36] advise Molly to
[55:37] maybe just
[55:38] write something on her
[55:39] own and
[55:40] send it to
[55:41] Donald, and
[55:43] I don't want to
[55:44] go through the 30-
[55:45] day, 45-day, 30-
[55:47] day, 45-day series of
[55:48] public hearings again.
[55:51] If we were to
[55:52] propose a
[55:52] review of this,
[55:54] we would be back at the
[55:55] beginning of the legal
[55:56] process, which would be another
[55:57] six months away.
[55:59] Yes. Yes.
[56:00] So,
[56:01] but if this is
[56:01] editing,
[56:03] I don't know. Are you talking
[56:04] about reviewing or
[56:05] just editing?
[56:07] Well, would it be
[56:08] an edit if you
[56:09] added somewhere at the top
[56:10] that every unit
[56:12] requires a survey?
[56:13] Oh. Oh, you don't
[56:14] see that when you read
[56:16] ...We tried
[56:26] to make sure that this
[56:28] text and the diagram are
[56:29] consistent. Uh...uh, by
[56:34] the way, there's also a
[56:35] checklist. Have
[56:38] you seen the
[56:38] checklist?
[56:40] Yes, that's good. I
[56:41] like the old one,
[56:42] where it was written who was supposed to
[56:43] do what, but this one is
[56:45] much
[56:46] clearer. And here is
[56:47] where the
[56:48] inspection check,
[56:50] ,
[56:50] inspection check. So,
[56:51] in the end, it's clear
[56:53] . But if it were in the
[56:57] reporting requirements
[56:58] for separation procedures
[57:00] and
[57:00] approval procedures,
[57:01] maybe that's where it
[57:03] is.
[57:05] Yes. Are you looking for
[57:28] information about
[57:29] the application? Oh, you got it
[57:31] .
[57:32] You
[57:32] are considering 180 days.
[57:34] No, I just thought it
[57:35] meant somewhere that
[57:36] every division requires a
[57:37] period of examination.
[57:42] Yes, this is not in the
[57:43] drawing record.
[57:45] These are the 180 days.
[57:48] Hmm, the division flowchart
[57:50] explains it very clearly
[57:51] . It is
[57:53] spelled out very clearly here. So that would be
[57:55] enough.
[57:56] Table 2.2
[57:57] lists all
[57:58] the information you
[57:59] need to provide, and
[58:01] under the plot plan column
[58:02] it says "
[58:03] surveyed." So all
[58:06] this information
[58:07] comes during the
[58:08] examination. Yes, it
[58:11] says that one is the
[58:12] initial conversation with the
[58:14] zoning administrator, and the second
[58:15] section for each
[58:17] party is
[58:17] the survey and
[58:18] supporting documents
[58:19] , the initial survey,
[58:21] and written descriptions.
[58:24] Yes.
[58:25] That's good. So
[58:27] there's no need for this
[58:28] other thing,
[58:29] right?
[58:30] Or in the disputes of
[58:31] certain people.
[58:32] should read.
[58:34] Yes. or listening,
[58:36] you know,
[58:37] because both are very
[58:38] difficult.
[58:41] There are a few units in the future
[58:43] that look
[58:44] pretty complicated, but
[58:45] we'll see. Um, we
[58:51] lost, we
[58:52] basically only have one
[58:53] person on the line,
[58:54] Gussie. Gussie, I think,
[58:56] you know, if you
[58:57] know, I mean
[58:58] , I think we can
[59:00] just open up
[59:01] for closing questions
[59:02] and then we...
[59:03] Thank you very much, Tom.
[59:05] Yes, thank you for coming
[59:06] . I really appreciate it.
[59:07] Thank you for all your work.
[59:12] Any final
[59:13] questions, comments?
[59:16] My final question would be that
[59:19] I like how
[59:20] you summarize
[59:21] everything that the
[59:22] Board of Elections and
[59:23] other city commissions do.
[59:26] And I just hope
[59:27] that everything gets
[59:28] recorded in
[59:29] the minutes so that everyone
[59:30] can read it
[59:32] if they're not here yet,
[59:33] because I'm amazed at the amount of
[59:34] work that you all
[59:35] do. I thought
[59:37] we should do something
[59:39] like a
[59:39] quarterly report
[59:40] , just a list of
[59:42] something on the MRO Mixer or
[59:43] something
[59:44] on the website so people
[59:46] know. We are also
[59:47] starting to develop a
[59:48] system. Nick came up with
[59:50] this so that, you know, you have a
[59:51] meeting, you
[59:52] discuss a certain
[59:54] topic, and then some
[59:55] things we do and
[59:56] some things we put off until
[59:57] later. And Nick
[1:00:00] suggested that
[1:00:01] we have a physical
[1:00:02] folder with the
[1:00:03] agenda, minutes, and the to-
[1:00:04] do list that
[1:00:05] came out of that. And then,
[1:00:07] when we think
[1:00:08] we have nothing to do, we
[1:00:09] turn around and
[1:00:10] say, "Oh, the traffic
[1:00:11] situation." My God.
[1:00:14] Um, what I put on the
[1:00:15] screen, uh, so you can
[1:00:17] see it. This is, um,
[1:00:19] a comparison between
[1:00:20] the old
[1:00:21] Okay.
[1:00:21] charges for units
[1:00:22] and new charges for
[1:00:24] units. Um, and what
[1:00:26] I'll do is put it
[1:00:32] on the record, that it
[1:00:33] will be...I'll put it on the
[1:00:40] record, um, this
[1:00:42] wonderful
[1:00:43] two-page
[1:00:44] statement.
[1:00:47] Um, and it probably doesn't
[1:00:49] cover everything, but, um, but it'll, um,
[1:00:59] it's pretty good.
[1:01:01] This really, I think,
[1:01:03] can help people
[1:01:04] ... oh, well, you know, um, in
[1:01:09] general it makes
[1:01:10] development easier, it provides a little bit
[1:01:11] more
[1:01:14] housing, and it, um, gives
[1:01:15] people the right to put
[1:01:16] land under protection and
[1:01:17] then reduce
[1:01:18] the size of the lot. This is
[1:01:21] really good. We
[1:01:23] could have some kind of, um
[1:01:24] , you know, community,
[1:01:25] you know what they
[1:01:27] call them? Shared
[1:01:30] gardens.
[1:01:30] Yes. What can I do
[1:01:32] ...
[1:01:32] Yes. For example,
[1:01:34] five
[1:01:35] houses share a front
[1:01:36] center building where
[1:01:37] all the water, kitchen, etc. are located.
[1:01:39] Good. Cool housing.
[1:01:40] What could I do...That's all.
[1:01:42] Yes. What could I do with this
[1:01:44] , since it's
[1:01:45] not, uh, a
[1:01:46] regulation or anything,
[1:01:48] uh, before we get
[1:01:50] to the individual items, could I
[1:01:51] just add,
[1:01:52] please,
[1:01:53] a note
[1:01:56] that any
[1:01:57] subsection requires
[1:01:58] a poll before
[1:01:59] I bold it
[1:02:00] , you know, and
[1:02:01] that way it's
[1:02:02] added to the
[1:02:03] record. And if so,
[1:02:06] that will make me
[1:02:07] happy. Uh, if
[1:02:08] you want, uh, Don, I
[1:02:09] can, uh,
[1:02:10] email it to you
[1:02:11] in advance.
[1:02:12] I would like to
[1:02:13] see that. Yes,
[1:02:14] let me
[1:02:15] share.
[1:02:15] Make sure everything is
[1:02:16] correct. Yes.
[1:02:17] No.
[1:02:18] Good.
[1:02:19] Critical errors.
[1:02:20] So until I hear back
[1:02:21] from you, I'll
[1:02:22] post the minutes,
[1:02:23] but when I hear
[1:02:25] back from you, I
[1:02:25] can...
[1:02:26] Great.
[1:02:26] Uh, amend the
[1:02:28] protocol and add
[1:02:29] it.
[1:02:29] Perfectly. And I...
[1:02:32] Well, if there's
[1:02:33] nothing else, Nick,
[1:02:37] questions, comments,
[1:02:39] I...uh, I'll probably
[1:02:40] print out this list of what
[1:02:42] you didn't get to
[1:02:43] hear, everything
[1:02:44] we've been working on at some
[1:02:46] point, and
[1:02:47] share it somehow. Uh, that
[1:02:49] will be in the record.
[1:02:51] Oh, it will be in these
[1:02:51] minutes, because there are
[1:02:52] some things on which
[1:02:54] we will need
[1:02:55] public opinion. An
[1:02:57] important matter with the
[1:02:58] fire department. An
[1:02:59] important matter with the
[1:03:00] regional
[1:03:01] police. The recycling center thing is important
[1:03:03] as we
[1:03:04] learn more.
[1:03:05] We need to
[1:03:06] get more
[1:03:07] feedback.
[1:03:08] So, if everyone here
[1:03:09] agrees...
[1:03:10] Oh, yeah.
[1:03:11] Oh, quick question. I
[1:03:12] noticed on the website
[1:03:14] that it was either under
[1:03:15] revision
[1:03:16] or
[1:03:17] we had a technical
[1:03:19] glitch and now we're, uh,
[1:03:20] changing its language.
[1:03:23] This website we had was
[1:03:25] hosted by someone
[1:03:26] from
[1:03:28] WordPress and GoDaddy, and it
[1:03:29] crashed,
[1:03:32] and when it crashed,
[1:03:34] we found that their
[1:03:35] customer support
[1:03:36] and everything else was terrible.
[1:03:39] So, we're completely
[1:03:40] redesigning the website with a
[1:03:44] Vermont company
[1:03:46] that creates
[1:03:46] municipal
[1:03:47] websites and
[1:03:48] specializes in
[1:03:49] this. And we will make
[1:03:52] sure that every group
[1:03:53] has access. They won't
[1:03:55] have to
[1:03:56] come to me for
[1:03:57] everything.
[1:03:58] Hmm, and of course it
[1:03:59] will grow
[1:04:01] as people
[1:04:01] add their
[1:04:03] pages and all that
[1:04:04] , but
[1:04:05] it's a blow to the budget.
[1:04:07] $6,800 is the cost,
[1:04:09] but annually it is
[1:04:10] cheaper than what we
[1:04:12] pay now.
[1:04:13] And this year we are over
[1:04:14] budget in
[1:04:15] many different
[1:04:16] places. So people have
[1:04:17] been very positive about the
[1:04:24] current website,
[1:04:25] if you look at
[1:04:27] what really caused the
[1:04:28] crash–it was the drop-down
[1:04:29] menus. So if you
[1:04:32] use the
[1:04:33] search bar, you can
[1:04:34] find what I do, which is that
[1:04:35] periodically when I
[1:04:37] go through the
[1:04:38] website, I put a
[1:04:39] post on the
[1:04:40] main page.
[1:04:42] So if you
[1:04:43] click on Marboro Vtus, you'll
[1:04:44] be taken to the home
[1:04:45] page, and there will be
[1:04:47] a post with
[1:04:48] links,
[1:04:48] for example, to the
[1:04:50] document list, to the
[1:04:52] board selection page, to the HPC page.
[1:04:54] So I'm trying to
[1:04:55] make it so that I can't
[1:04:56] restore the
[1:04:57] dropdown menus, but
[1:04:58] that doesn't allow me to
[1:05:00] do it without
[1:05:01] spending a huge
[1:05:02] amount of money on these
[1:05:03] people. So, I'm
[1:05:06] basically adding a
[1:05:07] post where I just
[1:05:08] add links
[1:05:09] that you just
[1:05:10] click on, you
[1:05:11] go there, and
[1:05:12] then if you
[1:05:13] go to the list of
[1:05:14] documents, they're all
[1:05:16] active. You can
[1:05:17] click on the
[1:05:18] link and get
[1:05:19] any document,
[1:05:20] everything is there. All you
[1:05:22] need is a
[1:05:23] driver to
[1:05:24] take you there.
[1:05:25] OK. And so I'm
[1:05:26] working around
[1:05:28] this night.
[1:05:28] Do we know what the
[1:05:29] timeline is for the new
[1:05:31] website?
[1:05:31] Hmm, I don't know...I don't
[1:05:32] want to
[1:05:34] commit. And
[1:05:35] Rebecca is
[1:05:35] doing it. Hmm, I
[1:05:38] think they are
[1:05:38] working very quickly
[1:05:40] because this is a problem
[1:05:41] because we also
[1:05:42] need it to be up and
[1:05:43] running before the
[1:05:44] election.
[1:05:46] OK.
[1:05:46] So
[1:05:47] oh.
[1:05:47] What company
[1:05:48] does this? Do you know
[1:05:50] ?
[1:05:50] It's called, uh,
[1:05:52] Civil.
[1:05:52] OK. And you can
[1:05:56] go to their
[1:05:57] website and see,
[1:05:58] you know, all of this. And
[1:06:00] then I...I can't
[1:06:01] remember the name of the city.
[1:06:04] Westford, I think
[1:06:05] Westford...
[1:06:07] when they came to give us
[1:06:08] a presentation, they
[1:06:09] showed us the website for
[1:06:10] Westford, this is a
[1:06:11] small rural
[1:06:12] town in Vermont.
[1:06:13] So, I mean,
[1:06:14] perfect example. And,
[1:06:16] uh, both Forrest and
[1:06:17] Rebecca really
[1:06:18] liked him. And they
[1:06:19] said, "Nick, do you
[1:06:20] really need to
[1:06:21] see this?" Guys, I
[1:06:22] know if you
[1:06:23] like it, that's
[1:06:24] fine.
[1:06:25] OK. So, I think it's
[1:06:26] time to close this
[1:06:27] meeting. I move to
[1:06:29] close this meeting at
[1:06:31] 312.
[1:06:33] Second.
[1:06:34] All in favor?
[1:06:35] 1. So I hope that
[1:06:40] ...