[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] ...

Marlboro Selectboard Mtg 9/26/26

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