[0:28] e e

[11:35] yeah I was I was wondering I thought

[11:36] people might have gotting it on our

[11:37] system here yeah they thought that

[11:42] was anything

[11:46] netive and when I forget you're going to

[11:48] say hey tell them not to pick up the

[11:50] chairs

[11:54] okay why is there an exra seit here

[12:06] do you want

[12:10] of I thought that could stay down here

[12:13] so I can

[12:20] [Music]

[12:24] pass got it I'll leave on the side of

[12:26] the table CU yeah I'm at this time I

[12:28] really want questions with the budget

[12:34] [Music]

[12:38] stuff I think if you

[12:44] just it's a present from my heart Tony

[12:47] thank

[12:51] you Tony's ready

[12:55] one yeah right you done a million

[12:59] yeah

[13:01] right level funded many years everything

[13:05] was level

[13:06] funded start

[13:08] studying and i' go I go to Tim H Brook

[13:12] he' go everything L funder I go so that

[13:14] means we're behind you know like 3% oh

[13:18] yeah where am I supposed to find that

[13:20] money was that was that sa

[13:23] for

[13:26] Paula Paula's over there she insisted

[13:29] she's hiding

[13:36] no

[13:46] okay temperature have I had 5° at the

[13:50] house this morning be cold yeah

[13:54] I you know what's amazing for my house

[13:57] I'm about 2 miles maybe not leav from

[13:59] the top of my house to Tel Hill uh and

[14:01] it'll be like 5 or 6° colder at the

[14:03] bottom of Hill cold air Falls in there

[14:06] yeah both valleys are really tough yeah

[14:10] that water yeah we have on two

[14:15] sides all right I feel

[14:23] very which one is this

[14:27] one a

[14:37] all these gold people

[14:39] Jesus good evening ladies and

[14:43] gentlemen first if anybody um hasn't

[14:46] checked in yet if you could go back and

[14:48] check in with with uh marleene it would

[14:51] be

[14:55] appreciated my name is Tom Dy I'm your

[14:58] moderator

[14:59] [Music]

[15:01] want to welcome you all to the

[15:14] meeting and if you would rise for the

[15:16] Pledge of Allegiance

[15:22] please where's the flag uhoh no

[15:26] flag uhoh you can

[15:36] run it's a behind the

[15:40] curtain there it

[15:42] is

[15:45] hiding we

[15:48] go

[15:52] Sal sorry about

[15:54] that Old Glory is flying nice and high

[15:57] yeah I play

[15:59] to the flag FL of the United States of

[16:02] America and to the Republic for stands

[16:06] one nation God indivisible with liberty

[16:11] and justice for

[16:12] all thank you please be

[16:18] seated okay uh fire exits up here right there and out the back where

[16:24] you came

[16:25] in um if there are any non-residents

[16:29] sitting out amongst you can't vote um

[16:33] you can't speak or anything like that

[16:36] unless the assembly votes to allow you

[16:42] um and actually I want to uh one of the

[16:45] people that that um is going to give a

[16:47] very short short report and I'll make

[16:49] sure it's short is uh our County Senator

[16:52] Seth bongards but Seth is not a

[16:54] residence of the town of chasbury and

[16:57] I'm wondering if um it would be uh the

[17:00] will of the assembly that he be allowed

[17:03] to speak when when his time

[17:05] comes yes you okay with that without a

[17:09] formal

[17:10] vote okay

[17:13] um and then I always say

[17:16] that the residents of the Town who are

[17:20] sitting next to

[17:22] non-residents um uh it's upon you that

[17:26] if they start to speak or vote something

[17:28] like that that you give them a sharp

[17:29] elbow in the ribs and that will make

[17:32] sure that they understand they're not

[17:34] supposed to

[17:37] talk okay

[17:41] um uh quite often in all the years of

[17:44] doing this after the Pledge of

[17:45] Allegiance I would ask for some kind of

[17:47] a moment of silence for various reasons

[17:49] and various things he what I'd like to

[17:52] do um in Le of the moment of silence

[17:56] there are uh a lot of people people that

[17:59] are responsible for keeping our town

[18:02] running the way that it runs um I

[18:05] believe it to be a model uh that many

[18:07] other towns can follow it is at least as

[18:10] good as any other town in its

[18:12] Administration this is your select

[18:15] board I'd also like to ask anybody

[18:18] that's out there that's a justice of the

[18:20] peace that serves on a board that

[18:23] advises that works for the town that is

[18:28] Works in in our school here I'd like to

[18:31] have you stand up for a round of

[18:33] applause who we got here come on I know

[18:49] there thank you and and we all thank you

[18:52] for your work and and keeping uh keeping

[18:57] our town going

[18:59] uh let's

[19:03] see I need a

[19:06] motion a motion to dispense with reading

[19:09] the

[19:10] warning I make a motion moderator that

[19:13] we W the reading of the War uh how about

[19:17] a

[19:18] second and before we vote on it the

[19:21] reason that I would ask for it is the

[19:23] warning is in your town

[19:27] report and it goes over 1 two 3 four pages uh I guarantee

[19:36] you uh many of you will probably be

[19:39] asleep by the time I got done with it so

[19:42] um it's available for everybody to look

[19:44] at so all those in favor of the motion

[19:47] to wave the reading please signify by

[19:49] saying I I I any opposed guys have

[19:54] it okay

[20:01] Naomi you're the chairman of the M could

[20:06] you introduce the board for me please

[20:08] sure

[20:10] Tom Martha Cornwell the vice chair Tony

[20:16] Krakowski Brad peacock and Mike

[20:20] chanowski thanks to all of

[20:22] you thank you thank you um

[20:30] okay what I'm going to do is is

[20:34] uh we our articles tonight are to hear

[20:37] the reports of the Town Offices officers

[20:39] how much are we going to pay some folks

[20:41] when do we collect taxes what about the

[20:43] budget and then uh the last article is

[20:46] to discuss any other non-binding

[20:49] business um the way that we do it is and

[20:54] I know many of you know this you've been

[20:55] here before but um I'll ask for a motion

[20:59] I'll State the article then I'll ask for

[21:02] a motion from the floor I'll ask for a

[21:04] second and once I have a motion in a

[21:06] second then I'll open up the floor for

[21:08] discussion debate questions things like

[21:10] that um you can amend if you wish to

[21:16] change the article you can amend it that

[21:18] takes a second um if we get to a point

[21:22] where that happens then we go backwards

[21:24] we vote on the amendment if that passes

[21:26] we come back to the main article and uh

[21:29] when you're ready to vote on that we

[21:31] would vote on that um if something does

[21:34] not seem to be going the way that you

[21:36] want it to or if you have questions on

[21:38] procedure or something like that please

[21:40] raise your hand um and question me uh

[21:44] sometimes I'm not real clear on what

[21:46] we're doing and how we should be doing

[21:48] it I've been doing this for too many

[21:51] years 38 years or 39 years something

[21:53] like that and I get rusty about a lot of

[21:56] things

[21:57] cuz un like the rest of you I'm getting

[22:01] older um so what I'd like to do is the

[22:05] first article is to hear the reports of

[22:08] the Town officers and to take action

[22:10] thereon could I have a motion to that

[22:12] effect

[22:13] please do I have a

[22:17] second okay and I have a second all

[22:19] right um I'm going to do something a

[22:22] little bit different the

[22:26] uh the town report

[22:29] has uh many pages of reports on various

[22:33] committees in town um and the different

[22:37] town officers and such there are some

[22:39] items that are of particular importance

[22:42] that uh we want to highlight uh and so

[22:46] instead of the written reports we're going to take a minute and get uh

[22:50] some verbal reports

[22:54] um and this this part's not that unusual

[22:57] I'd like to ask uh Dave dery to come on

[23:00] up to the mic Dave is our uh

[23:04] representative to the house yeah come up

[23:07] here no come up here F rather than have

[23:10] your back every go

[23:13] ahead thanks yeah uh so this is the one

[23:16] that um is going to project out to uh

[23:19] the crowd and that one is to C okay can

[23:22] everybody hear me okay

[23:25] um do you want to have a yeah you might be

[23:29] easier but you might get feedback if you

[23:31] get close there you go

[23:34] okay uh so yes I'm Dave dery I'm the

[23:38] state representative elected

[23:39] representative for shaur um as well as

[23:42] sundan and glenbury as you see everybody

[23:45] this evening um the I know that uh Tom

[23:50] already mentioned that we have Senator

[23:51] bonart here I'm glad that we approved

[23:54] giving him a minute or two to St too I

[23:56] think it's first time the 25 years I've

[23:59] been coming to town meeting that the

[24:00] senator has shown up so nice you we'll

[24:04] be able to hear briefly from him um I

[24:07] I'll keep my remarks pretty brief as

[24:09] well there's a report in the C report

[24:12] that I wrote that talks a little bit

[24:13] about what the legislature did last year

[24:16] last fiscal year that is um and I'll mention a couple of updates for

[24:21] what's been happening this year we we

[24:23] went back in January for the current

[24:25] legislative term and we're at sort of

[24:27] the halfway point of about that um we've

[24:30] been focusing on education reform and if

[24:34] you picked up my report I think they

[24:35] were all taken um you can read my take

[24:39] on education reform in Vermont uh I

[24:42] think Seth will speak to that as well uh

[24:45] if you didn't get a report and you're

[24:47] interested find me after the meeting and

[24:49] I can email you a copy or you know make

[24:51] sure that you get a copy the governor uh

[24:54] before the session even started said

[24:56] that this was His Highest priority for

[24:58] the for the upcoming uh

[25:00] legislature there in many parts of the

[25:03] state were dramatic increases in

[25:05] property taxes over the last couple of

[25:08] years and we didn't see that so much in

[25:09] shapy shapur has had Fairly consistent

[25:13] tax rates over the last decade while in

[25:16] other parts of the state they've seen

[25:18] double the year after year for uh going

[25:21] back quite a ways now so there's there's

[25:24] a a consensus both in the administration

[25:27] and I think in the legisl that we need

[25:28] to make some fundamental changes to the

[25:30] way that we deliver education how we

[25:33] govern

[25:34] education and how we pay for it and that could mean some big changes there

[25:40] is a a piece of paper on the back

[25:49] table I thought I had a copy

[25:52] of I mixed it up sorry it looks like

[25:55] this there's a a QR code with a survey

[25:58] and I didn't produce this it came from I

[26:01] guess from the speaker's office uh I

[26:03] would encourage you if you want to

[26:04] walking by uh take a picture of that or

[26:08] get uh get to that page and share your

[26:11] input uh and again you're welcome to

[26:13] share it with me too directly if you'd

[26:15] like to um I I would like to hear that

[26:17] um just the other broad broad sort of

[26:20] high Lev topic I guess that I'll mention

[26:21] the legislature is is thinking a lot

[26:24] about is the impact on state funding of

[26:28] the possible loss of federal funds we I didn't actually realize this until

[26:33] this this year but U about a third of

[26:36] the state budget comes not from the

[26:39] income taxes that we pay or the property

[26:41] taxes that we pay but comes from the

[26:42] federal government and that includes a

[26:46] couple of big categories Medicaid Health

[26:48] Insurance um for many vermonter is

[26:52] largely funded by the federal government

[26:55] Transportation Aid the highway Bridge

[26:58] repair work maintenance that's done even

[27:01] the money that comes to every town that

[27:02] comes to sh uh heavily Federal funded

[27:05] there and education would be the

[27:07] category plus lots of other smaller

[27:09] things uh so we're talking about $9

[27:11] billion budget a third or more of that

[27:14] is from federal funding there's a lot at stake there so we're thinking as we

[27:18] build our budget for next year what

[27:20] would it mean if we lost any of that

[27:22] funding and would we where would be able

[27:24] to make it up so um I think I'll stop

[27:27] there uh uh and invite Senator Bard to step in here I'll be around so please

[27:33] feel free to find me afterwards if you

[27:35] like to chat

[27:39] more D thank you thank you thanks

[27:41] everybody for allowing me to speak it's

[27:43] nice to be here

[27:45] um I when you're in the Senate you serve

[27:49] on two committees to just come closer to

[27:51] this because

[27:54] it's so you have two two microphones

[27:57] when you're in the Senate you serve on

[27:58] two committees I serve on the natural

[28:00] resources Committee in the morning my

[28:02] so-called morning committee and in the

[28:04] afternoon I chair the Senate education

[28:06] committee um relevant position for this

[28:09] year as Dave to which Dave alluded um

[28:13] what I want to say is

[28:15] that the governor's proposal um has two

[28:20] really behind it two big

[28:22] Concepts one is to shrink the number or

[28:26] collapse the number of suus and

[28:28] districts from 52 suus in 119 districts

[28:32] to a lot smaller than that in fact he's

[28:34] proposed five districts but that by the

[28:36] way is not going to happen um there's a

[28:39] lot of re they're they're they're two

[28:40] bank that don't fit the landscape in

[28:42] Vermont um and the other is to shift

[28:45] from what I think everybody would agree

[28:47] is a pretty Byzantine funding formula

[28:50] that my guess is that nobody in this

[28:52] room and I'm including myself fully

[28:55] understands how it actually works um to

[28:58] something that's more understandable to

[28:59] ver moners as as they go into vote and

[29:02] make the decisions so switching to a

[29:04] foundation system that is effectively a per we to pupil block R uh back to the

[29:10] districts and that's kind of the

[29:13] framework that we're working with I

[29:15] think of the language and some of the

[29:17] things that the governor talked about

[29:19] the secretary talked about for instance

[29:21] you know mandating class sizes and

[29:23] school sizes I think that's not likely

[29:25] to happen um we are uh but we are

[29:28] looking at those that big uh structure

[29:31] over the top and what I want to say is

[29:33] that we're being very very careful and

[29:37] deliberate this is going to be a

[29:39] multi-year process um and I just want

[29:42] you to know that even though something

[29:45] pretty radical and in some ways we have

[29:48] to be thinking that way on one level but

[29:50] the other way we have to think is very

[29:53] carefully and not rushing because the

[29:55] only thing worse than doing nothing is

[29:57] to get wrong so that's that's the Mantra

[30:00] that's all I want to say for tonight

[30:01] there's a lot of other things we can

[30:03] talk about but daate mentioned the other

[30:05] couple of other big things but um thank

[30:08] you for having me um I'm going to leave

[30:10] not because I'm not interested but

[30:11] because I do have to go to another town

[30:13] meeting tonight it's one of the jobs of

[30:14] being a St centers to move move around

[30:16] so I have to be in Pennington uh in a

[30:18] few minutes but I really really

[30:20] appreciate uh getting to meet up number

[30:22] of you beforehand your board and uh I've

[30:25] known Tom for a long time um and to meet

[30:28] a lot of you tonight and thank you again

[30:29] for letting me

[30:34] speak thank you

[30:38] Senator uh let's see Tim Scoggins

[30:42] Tim um Tim is on a Statewide

[30:49] board sorry Tim is on a Statewide board

[30:53] that uh has to do with making sure that

[30:55] we all have um internet

[30:59] and he's going to give us do you would

[31:02] you prefer this kind I prefer not can

[31:04] everybody hear

[31:06] me okay um yeah I'm Tim scin and I am

[31:09] shastry's representative to the southern

[31:12] Vermont communication unions district

[31:15] and I'm wondering if anybody in the room

[31:18] besides me knows that we're a member of

[31:19] a communication Union district anybody

[31:22] knew that yes handful of people well

[31:25] that's good that's good uh maybe maybe

[31:28] more of you remember the

[31:31] pandemic and you remember uh trying to

[31:34] work remotely without having internet

[31:37] service um that was a problem and you

[31:40] may have noticed that that's not a

[31:42] problem anymore uh the communication

[31:45] Union district was formed uh as a result

[31:48] of the Broadband bill that passed in

[31:51] 2019 and it encouraged the for Union

[31:55] districts because at that time it looked

[31:56] like we really had to do it ourselves we

[32:00] weren't going to get internet service

[32:02] from the state or from uh

[32:05] Statewide Statewide as a as a blanket or

[32:09] from the federal government so um the

[32:11] model we had at that time was uh one

[32:15] communication Union district the first

[32:16] one EC fiber which formed uh maybe a

[32:21] decade before that uh had put together

[32:25] the model the idea of local

[32:28] communities coming together and figuring out how to get communic how to

[32:32] get uh internet service to them well

[32:35] based on that model and pushing that

[32:37] model the 2019 Bill

[32:40] encourag areas all across the state to

[32:42] do that and uh we did that here we

[32:46] started up a communication Union

[32:48] district in 2019 not in time to finish

[32:51] the job for the pandemic so we all kind

[32:54] of suffered through that but we did

[32:57] charge ahead and uh the southern Vermont

[33:01] communication District went on to be the

[33:03] first one to achieve Universal coverage

[33:05] meaning everybody in our area now has

[33:08] internet and we did that through a

[33:10] public private partnership with

[33:13] Consolidated

[33:14] Communications now that's not the model

[33:17] that all the cuds are following but

[33:18] that's the one that we thought made

[33:20] sense for us and it did get us down the

[33:23] road a lot quicker and uh you may recall

[33:26] we f phased out the the new network from

[33:30] Consolidated in two phases and by the

[33:33] end of 2023 we were pretty much complete

[33:36] and at that time

[33:39] 95% of the homes and businesses in this

[33:42] area had high-speed internet service in

[33:46] the form of of fiber optical cable which

[33:50] is the best you can get and that put us

[33:52] on par with anywhere in the country I

[33:54] was bragging at that time that uh

[33:56] Bennington County was more connected

[33:58] than San Francisco at that time because

[34:00] our internet service was that good and

[34:03] the way that happened was the cud was

[34:06] able to act as a conduit for federal

[34:09] money that came out of the uh arpa act

[34:12] the American rescue rescue plan act that

[34:15] was uh uh came out of the pandemic that

[34:17] allowed a lot of uh rebuilding of

[34:20] infrastructure or building of

[34:22] infrastructure so we were able to act as

[34:24] a

[34:25] conduit uh for that money to

[34:28] Consolidated Communications and allow

[34:31] them to run fiber optic cable to places

[34:35] that didn't make sense for them to run

[34:37] it from a business point of view and

[34:40] Achieve Universal coverage and so we did

[34:44] that uh that's the kind of the history

[34:48] the uh the the recent update that I

[34:50] wanted to draw your attention to is that

[34:52] the cud is now an entity that owns a

[34:55] network because C that money

[34:58] uh that we funnel through the

[35:01] Consolidated they did not want to own

[35:04] the network so the communication

[35:06] District owns those parts of the network

[35:08] that were funded by that uh we're in a

[35:11] 20-year agreement with Consolidated to

[35:14] operate that Network for

[35:16] us uh but it requires that there be a

[35:19] cud around for 20 years to do that and

[35:23] one of the recent accomplishments of the

[35:25] Southern Vermont cud was

[35:28] a uh sustainability plan that guarantees

[35:32] the cuds viability in terms of

[35:34] governance and finances through

[35:37] 2037 so we've gone a long way toward

[35:40] making sure that we're around to to to

[35:44] own that Network to govern it to to work

[35:46] with Consolidated to make sure things

[35:48] keep happening the way they are the uh

[35:51] the thing to note about that is as I

[35:54] said not every cud that's working on

[35:57] this problem is doing it the way we did

[35:59] it a lot of them are starting their own

[36:01] companies essentially and building

[36:03] networks themselves in our area it made

[36:06] more sense to partner with Consolidated

[36:09] in that regard and there are a couple

[36:11] other cuds that are doing it that way

[36:13] also the Otter Creek cud which is around

[36:18] Rutland and the Lao cud which is around

[36:22] Stow also have partnered with

[36:25] Consolidated four building out their

[36:28] networks and in order to guarantee that

[36:32] collectively we are around to manage

[36:35] these networks into the future the three

[36:37] of us have essentially put together a

[36:39] joint sustainability plan and it's uses

[36:43] some of the leftover arpa money to fund

[36:46] the cuds for the next couple of years

[36:50] and then we were able to strike an

[36:51] agreement with

[36:53] Consolidated to get them to help fund

[36:56] just Administration of the cud for the

[36:59] next 10 years after that through 2037 so

[37:03] uh our plan is solid we're in place and

[37:07] um the three cuds are looking at how

[37:10] that's all going to work and it may come

[37:11] to a point uh one thing that's being

[37:15] considered is that the three cuds might

[37:17] merge into one because as time goes by

[37:20] there's less and less governance that

[37:22] really has to happen we just have to um

[37:25] you know be around be responsible for

[37:27] the Network communicate with with

[37:29] Consolidated and uh that sort of thing

[37:32] uh so at some point there could be a

[37:35] merger of the three ucds uh it may not

[37:39] be it may just be that we we share

[37:41] resources and one of the and we're kind

[37:43] of doing that now when we have to do

[37:46] things like uh a single federal audit

[37:48] which is a special kind of audit uh

[37:50] we're kind of working together to to

[37:52] line that up and maybe find somebody

[37:54] that can do it for all three UC cuds at

[37:57] the time

[37:58] so that's what I wanted to draw your

[37:59] attention to you uh draw your attention

[38:03] to was the fact that there is a cud and

[38:05] it is functioning and it is uh in a

[38:09] position to be governing the network

[38:11] that it built well into the

[38:17] [Applause]

[38:22] future Dave Manz II are you're the tree

[38:26] warden for the town right I am

[38:34] okay thanks Tom and thanks for uh giving

[38:38] me a few minutes to uh just talk about

[38:42] the emerald ashore you all dutifully

[38:45] read your report and I'm sure you've all

[38:47] been paying attention to this insect but

[38:49] I came with some pictures tonight we put

[38:52] them up to just kind of reinforce what

[38:54] we're what we're in for

[39:03] FP to that all right so there's the

[39:06] insect um actually on the front table uh

[39:10] there's there's one in alcohol if you

[39:12] want

[39:14] to would it be easier to have okay just

[39:18] so that you're not leaning over thank

[39:19] you yeah um the the larvae on the the

[39:24] top left that's what does the gallery I

[39:27] was talking to Matthew Perry about this

[39:29] he said the galleries look like drunk

[39:31] drivers um that's why they do so much

[39:34] damage that's what we're up against but

[39:36] the next

[39:37] slide that's the this is the important

[39:40] one that I just want everybody to

[39:42] absorb on the tree those marks are made

[39:46] by woodpeckers that are pecking at the

[39:48] larvae and we really need to to notice

[39:52] this you need to notice it in your yards

[39:55] and you need to notice it tomorrow on

[39:57] your way to work driving down the road

[40:00] cuz this is what the town is going to be

[40:02] up

[40:04] against

[40:05] um this is a part of Maple Hill Road the

[40:09] town has a 50 foot RightWay you can

[40:12] assume it's 25 ft from the center line

[40:16] the figure at the bottom right the

[40:18] person um is 25 ft off so you can see

[40:23] that all of those trees are in the town

[40:25] right away and in that particular shot

[40:27] about 90% of those trees are

[40:30] ash probably in in five years rough guas

[40:36] maybe less maybe more but they're all

[40:39] going to die at the same time now you

[40:42] know factor that through the whole town

[40:44] and you can kind of see what we're all

[40:45] going to be up against it's going to be

[40:47] real hairy driving to and from our

[40:51] homes when the ash fails it it you know

[40:56] it often fails spectacularly this is a

[40:58] picture my brother took down uh in

[41:01] Pennsylvania where it's already come

[41:03] through you can see the bark is still on

[41:05] those

[41:05] trees um you know they they don't die

[41:08] politely you know piece by piece you

[41:11] know Elm it just loses its bark and it

[41:13] kind of sits there forever and maybe

[41:15] drops a limb here and there but a lot of

[41:18] reports from people who have dealt with

[41:19] this are saying that the ash comes down

[41:21] quick I was talking to uh you know

[41:24] somebody who works for Greater Heights

[41:25] the other day and they were the word he

[41:27] described was

[41:31] spooky uh this another part on Maple

[41:33] Hill Road those are those are all

[41:36] asteres

[41:39] um this is the those of you who burn

[41:42] wood you can kind of see this is a a

[41:44] stock shop from Oklahoma where it's also

[41:46] gone through you can see that it's kind

[41:48] of like a Punky piece of firewood you

[41:50] can see this tree failed low low down on

[41:53] the tree you can see the bark still on

[41:55] the the bowl behind it

[41:59] um the back roads are going to be the

[42:01] real problem but you know this is 7A

[42:06] just north of the shaft Center

[42:08] shaftsberry Cemetery every tree in that

[42:12] shot is is an ash tree um this is a good

[42:16] spot for those of you who just drive the

[42:18] road who aren't haven't seen the bird

[42:20] peack and and kind of seen the damage

[42:23] that the trees are already starting to

[42:24] exhibit this is a a perfect spot to

[42:27] start seeing

[42:29] that and then of course that's the

[42:32] municipal part of this then the the road

[42:36] rways but there's also just homeowners

[42:39] have got to be aware of this this is

[42:40] Holiday Drive this is a declining ash

[42:43] tree in somebody's yard that's going to

[42:44] be a real hard tree to deal with and

[42:47] it's probably going to be dead in a

[42:48] couple years so if you haven't made your

[42:50] plans Now's the Time to do

[42:52] it uh that's another one on on Cleveland

[42:55] Avenue that's that's there and so that's

[42:59] all for the slideshow the the big point

[43:02] of of me getting up here is to really

[43:05] ask for both to bring awareness to the

[43:07] community but also to ask for your help

[43:10] um we're going to we're forming a

[43:12] committee uh the work is going to get

[43:14] into the granular details of how we're

[43:16] going to deal with this it's going to

[43:17] unfold over the next couple years but

[43:19] before the trees leavea out this year I

[43:22] would love to get help from the

[43:24] community get out there on the roads and

[43:27] start identifying the trees you know if

[43:29] we split up the work it's not that big a

[43:31] deal if you can just volunteer if you

[43:32] can identify an ash tree you know

[43:35] volunteer on your road let's look um

[43:39] somebody from the state has offered a

[43:40] training that will come down and and can

[43:42] kind of set us up with the technology we

[43:44] need if there's cell reception to just

[43:47] interface right through your phone um

[43:49] there's also we have some old fashion

[43:51] paper forms we could just do it that way

[43:54] but if we can inventory and get a sense

[43:56] of where the real trouble spots are then

[44:00] the town is going to be able to use that

[44:01] information to plan and I'd love to do

[44:04] that before the leaves come out so I

[44:06] will be in the back here for a little

[44:08] while um tonight you can also get in

[44:11] touch with me through the town website

[44:13] um and I would obviously people who know

[44:17] their trees um there there's no reason

[44:20] not to participate in this and if you're

[44:23] a little fuzzy on your tree ID then but

[44:26] you want to help you know we can train

[44:27] you up and we can especially with the

[44:29] bird PEC it's uh you can learn how to

[44:32] identify an ash pretty quickly so thank

[44:34] you very

[44:39] much thank you Dave thank you very

[44:42] much okay the chair of the Planning

[44:45] Commission would like to have a few

[44:47] moments Nancy Burns you find up

[44:57] this um sure I think I'm okay can

[45:01] everybody hear me good um so last year

[45:05] the Planning Commission was a little

[45:07] busy um we had I I I would like to um

[45:13] make comment uh about the departures

[45:15] that we had and welcome the people that

[45:17] came to the Planning Commission uh Chris

[45:19] Williams was with the Planning

[45:21] Commission for a very long time and uh

[45:25] he

[45:27] retire as did Martha and Naomi and we

[45:31] welcomed Zoe and Emily and Michael um to

[45:36] the Planning Commission uh which has

[45:38] been great we uh did some work regarding

[45:42] a little thing called the freepoint

[45:44] solar

[45:45] proposal

[45:47] um which was my first meeting uh which

[45:50] was uh

[45:52] pretty Awakening um we took a lot of

[45:55] public comment

[45:57] uh during uh the time that it was

[45:59] presented to us um we tried to listen to

[46:03] what people had to say um in a lot of

[46:06] ways our hands were tied because of

[46:09] our at the time our current energy

[46:12] policy um but we did in the end make

[46:15] some suggestions uh to

[46:18] the um PC well actually you guys yes um

[46:25] to the select board uh and then they had

[46:28] a chance to uh make those

[46:30] recommendations to the

[46:32] Pu um once we made our way through that

[46:37] we decided that it was really important

[46:39] for us to have an enhanced energy policy

[46:42] which we worked diligently on over uh a

[46:46] number of months we had a few public

[46:48] meetings people were uh giving feedback

[46:50] as to what they wanted to see um and

[46:53] then we crafted that policy sent it

[46:55] along to the suck board and uh

[46:57] eventually we have an enhanced energy

[47:00] plan there's some really good pieces to

[47:03] having an Advanced Energy plan uh it

[47:05] gave us a little space to decide what we

[47:09] wanted to see as far as uh energy

[47:12] production in the town and what we and

[47:16] how we wanted to see it um there goals

[47:19] that the state wanted us to think about

[47:22] not necessarily meet but to think about

[47:24] over the next 20 30 years um um but it

[47:27] also allowed us to take a look at the

[47:30] type of power that we could create in

[47:32] our town uh including solar and solar

[47:35] arrays and windmills and so we

[47:40] made uh a few little uh I don't want to

[47:44] say concessions but we kind of reeled in

[47:47] uh the amount of uh size of solar arrays

[47:51] uh for the town to um 5

[47:55] acres and we also talked about the size

[47:59] and the deciel level of any windmills

[48:02] and where they would be placed um and so

[48:05] I felt like we had some very good work

[48:07] with that Advanced Energy plan along

[48:09] with that energy plan if anything ever

[48:12] did go back up to the Pu we would have a

[48:15] better chance of stating our case and

[48:18] having them listen to our case so um it

[48:21] was great to get that done um and then

[48:25] since then um um we've been working on

[48:29] uh subdivision regulations and that's

[48:31] kind of where we are at

[48:33] now Paula ien and our

[48:36] latest uh person is our new zoning

[48:40] administrator Carlin

[48:42] mckl thank you to all of

[48:50] them I also want to thank with sadness

[48:56] artha Cornwell oh my goodness for her

[48:59] three stupendous transformative

[49:02] energetic brilliant years serving on our

[49:06] planning thank you very much thank

[49:09] [Applause]

[49:15] you um this has been a really busy year

[49:18] for the for the select board so bear

[49:21] with me I'm just going to try to

[49:23] summarize as quickly as I can making

[49:25] sense

[49:28] um as art Whitman noted a year ago here

[49:33] we began the spring really the late

[49:35] winter of 24 with David kieran's

[49:41] retirement and um that was kind of

[49:45] traumatic for the town it was sudden and then we found Paula Iken um who came

[49:51] on board as it turned out in at the

[49:54] beginning of May

[49:58] her her presence has been um absolutely

[50:01] wonderful

[50:03] grounding her her intelligence and her

[50:06] warmth and her Common Sense are are

[50:10] palpable and um and I think make the

[50:13] town function in a in a very vibrant and

[50:17] grounded

[50:19] way

[50:21] um just before David left Joan Vargo

[50:24] retired to our bookkeeper ER and we

[50:27] brought on a new bookkeeper Tiffany Mays

[50:30] whose skills are in a whole different

[50:34] realm than um than we had really

[50:38] expected and they they allowed us first

[50:41] of all to bring payroll inhouse which

[50:43] saves the town a lot and also makes life

[50:46] easier for the employees the other

[50:49] employees um and she also kind of

[50:52] catapulted us into the 21st century with

[50:55] a bang a big bang

[50:57] um she has a lot of uh she has a lot of

[51:01] knowledge about U systems State systems

[51:05] and computer systems and

[51:07] money

[51:09] um and then the latest person to join us

[51:12] I'm going to say it again is our new

[51:14] zoning administrator and I think she's

[51:16] in the back right Carin

[51:19] mckl no oh no that was I was

[51:23] misunderstanding oh okay car's not here

[51:28] but Carlin is currently training with uh

[51:34] shell Styles who who we all miss but

[51:37] Carlin is is a great replacement and is

[51:41] apparently you know kind of

[51:44] um picking it up like like a magnet you

[51:47] know to a hearing aid or something um

[51:50] and one last Personnel thing to report

[51:53] during the summer we converted Jen

[51:55] Holly's multiple roles into one larger

[52:00] role um we now call her operations

[52:06] coordinator this allows us to vastly

[52:10] expand the already large degree to which

[52:12] we take great advantage of her um of her

[52:18] talents and her dedication and her

[52:20] generosity and we can now take advantage

[52:22] of her seven days a week and we do um as

[52:26] operations

[52:28] coordinator she continuously makes the

[52:31] functioning more efficient um in a in a

[52:34] whole lot of different ways saving lots

[52:37] of money um for the town one recent

[52:41] example is her renegotiation of our

[52:44] three-year contact with

[52:46] Comcast in each of the three buildings

[52:48] we own the two firehouses and coal Hall

[52:51] well was but um we have Comcast

[52:56] contracts and she just renegotiated them

[52:59] saving us

[53:01] $426 a month which over the course of

[53:04] the three years comes to $115,000 go Jen

[53:09] right and that's just her kind of

[53:13] M she's also been at the heart of

[53:16] Transforming Our Digital Life so the

[53:19] website has been vastly improved if you

[53:21] haven't been on it I urge you to go

[53:25] um she

[53:26] created an e newsletter and made an

[53:29] active presence for us on Facebook and

[53:31] friend porch

[53:32] Forum she's facilitated our compliance

[53:35] with the new state laws about Zoom

[53:38] access to all public meetings which is a

[53:41] very difficult thing to arrange and Jen

[53:45] has um nursed us all through it

[53:48] including all the

[53:50] Committees um and she's helped the town

[53:52] understand and implement the new

[53:54] requirements for cyber security

[53:57] which are probably only just beginning

[53:59] right um but she's she's been right on

[54:03] that in general I want to note that

[54:07] Vermont government is becoming more

[54:10] formalized every

[54:12] day and this puts um an increasing

[54:15] burden on

[54:17] municipalities to do things in a more

[54:20] formalized

[54:21] way so I'm not going to um bore you

[54:25] anymore with listening

[54:27] but I just want to draw your attention

[54:29] to the fact that this is happening and

[54:31] it's likely to

[54:32] increase and it means that if your town

[54:36] government seems to be getting

[54:38] less uh flexible and more worried about

[54:41] protocol just a little understand that

[54:43] it's being done to comply with new

[54:45] regulations and rules I don't expect us

[54:48] to get really rigid wouldn't happen with

[54:51] the people we have here but just so you

[54:54] know um Paul

[54:56] has spearheaded a much needed updating

[54:59] of our Personnel

[55:01] policy and we're making our way through

[55:04] all our forms and bringing them too into

[55:07] the 21st century wording and

[55:12] all and speaking of the 21st century I'm

[55:17] not sure exactly what dirt roads are

[55:18] supposed to look like in the 21st

[55:20] century but whatever it is Mike is on

[55:23] his way and I mean they really they have

[55:27] been continuing diligently grading

[55:30] crowning ditching and bit by bit you

[55:33] know the water leaves the roads B

[55:36] and it's a beautiful

[55:38] thing um at the transfer station this

[55:42] year a new shed has gone in which

[55:45] anybody who goes there is aware

[55:48] of and a new compressor has been

[55:52] acquired at some cost um

[55:56] and new payment policies were

[56:00] implemented and those created a little

[56:04] bit of furor and distress and the

[56:07] intervention of a constable was required

[56:12] and Shelly and um Greg were really very

[56:17] patient and and loving and it seems to

[56:20] have resolved

[56:22] itself thanks greatly to Constable Fran

[56:25] buck

[56:27] and who was who was there doing doing

[56:29] his

[56:30] thing this year the energy committee

[56:33] that was formed last spring has gotten

[56:35] up and running and is getting ready to

[56:37] advise us on energy efficient retrofits

[56:40] in the new

[56:42] building that's the happy news about new

[56:45] committees and the sad news is what um

[56:49] we heard from Dave Manz and that's going

[56:53] to be an

[56:55] ongoing and and in fact very um

[56:58] expensive as well as dreadfully sad

[57:02] event in our town and really I I just

[57:05] want to Second again what what he said

[57:09] you know it's really if you have a

[57:11] moment to spare you should volunteer CU

[57:14] because we really need to identify all

[57:16] the ash trees along the whole 68 miles

[57:20] or whatever of roads and we have to do

[57:22] it very fast it has to be done by April

[57:25] so

[57:26] um and then there's going to be a a

[57:29] committee a an advisory committee for

[57:32] that process going forward

[57:35] forming there will be an announcement

[57:38] about it on the website soon so anybody

[57:41] who's interested in serving on the

[57:42] longer term committee should keep your

[57:44] eyes

[57:46] out

[57:49] um in December we joined a lot of other

[57:53] towns around the state and the country

[57:56] in Saving the remains of our American

[57:59] Rescue plan arpa

[58:02] money to get a little time to decide

[58:05] where and how to commit the money before

[58:07] it

[58:08] disappeared back to the government of

[58:10] Washington and then uh this past Friday

[58:15] at 100 p.m we closed on the building at

[58:20] 677 route

[58:22] 7A and congratulations

[58:31] so uh lastly I have an update about that

[58:35] since our last meeting and I think this

[58:38] is very exciting um it's still something

[58:43] that the select Board needs a chance to

[58:45] meet and take a formal vote on because

[58:50] we haven't had a chance to have a

[58:52] meeting since we learned this but

[58:58] um we we did get a

[59:02] solid uh bid on the cost of the Vault

[59:07] for that building so when we had our

[59:10] vote meeting about the building a couple

[59:12] weeks ago there was a lot of concern and

[59:15] that was a good thing about how are we

[59:18] going to pay for the

[59:21] vault and the at that point we thought

[59:24] it might be $150

[59:27] ,000 uh it we the bid came in at

[59:30] 110,000 but still we do not

[59:34] have um plans within the remainder of

[59:37] the arpa money for

[59:40] that so Paula has been working on the

[59:43] problem and has suggested to the select

[59:47] board um that we fund it completely with

[59:52] a combination of withdrawals from

[59:54] existing funds she sort of poured

[59:57] through them and figured

[59:59] out which of the

[1:00:01] funds um have how much in them and how

[1:00:04] much can be taken and what their uh

[1:00:08] mandates were for their use and so she

[1:00:12] is

[1:00:14] suggesting

[1:00:17] that we

[1:00:22] draw

[1:00:23] okay 67,000 from the George Hawkins

[1:00:28] fund which would leave 880,000 of the

[1:00:31] principal in place which is how the

[1:00:34] board has treated that fund

[1:00:38] historically

[1:00:41] [Music]

[1:00:43] um lost

[1:00:46] my place

[1:00:48] here oh yes

[1:00:51] 30,000 from the host Town tax fund which

[1:00:56] currently has

[1:00:58] 52591 in

[1:01:00] it that's the uh the landfill post Town

[1:01:05] agreement with Tam created that fund am

[1:01:08] I right about

[1:01:10] that and

[1:01:12] 17,000 From the Vault restoration fund

[1:01:15] which is part of

[1:01:17] Marlene's um town clerk funds it doesn't

[1:01:19] appear on the town budget so that comes

[1:01:22] to

[1:01:23] 114,000 which will cover us for the

[1:01:26] vault plus

[1:01:29] 4,000

[1:01:31] so this is um I think very good news

[1:01:35] that that we got

[1:01:37] right I mean it's sort of so good I

[1:01:40] can't believe

[1:01:42] it

[1:01:49] yeah okay and that's that's our our year

[1:01:51] to

[1:01:54] date okay okay

[1:01:58] um

[1:02:00] or was the first

[1:02:03] article hear the reports of the Town

[1:02:06] officers and take action there

[1:02:08] on um you've got the verbal reports that

[1:02:11] we just had as well as in here the bulk

[1:02:13] of this the bulk of your town report has

[1:02:17] the reports written reports from the

[1:02:19] other um key committees and

[1:02:23] Personnel it's always a question whether

[1:02:25] or not we need a vote on it the

[1:02:27] authorities are split on whether you

[1:02:28] need to vote on hearing the reports and

[1:02:30] taking action there on and the action

[1:02:32] there on would be I guess that we just

[1:02:35] accept them um approve of them you ready

[1:02:39] to vote on that y all those in favor of

[1:02:44] hearing the reports of the Town officers

[1:02:46] and taking action there on signify by

[1:02:48] saying I any opposed guys have

[1:02:52] it next article to determine a shall

[1:02:56] select board members each receive an

[1:02:58] annual stipend of

[1:02:59] $1,000 B shall a board of Auditors be

[1:03:03] paid a wage at the rate of $15 per hour

[1:03:06] C shall a first and second cable be paid

[1:03:09] a wage at the rate of $15 per

[1:03:13] hour I would entertain a

[1:03:16] motion do I have a

[1:03:18] second okay um any questions or

[1:03:23] discussion

[1:03:27] you ready to

[1:03:28] vote all those in favor of Select board

[1:03:32] members each receiving annual cend of

[1:03:34] $1,000 the board of Auditors being paid

[1:03:37] a wage at the rate of $15 an hour and

[1:03:39] the first and second cable paid a wage

[1:03:41] at the rate of $15 an hour please

[1:03:43] signify by saying I I any oppos the eyes

[1:03:47] have it so

[1:03:50] ordered okay next one shall the town

[1:03:53] authorize collection of taxes on real or

[1:03:55] personal property by its Treasurer which

[1:03:58] are due in hand on or before Monday

[1:04:01] November 10th at 5:00 p.m. or likewise

[1:04:04] postmarked no later than November

[1:04:08] 10th I'd entertain a motion to that

[1:04:11] effect and how about a

[1:04:14] second okay any questions or this is a

[1:04:18] fairly routine article that we do um

[1:04:22] simply saying that taxes have got to be

[1:04:25] in hand or postmarked in Hand by 5:00

[1:04:28] p.m. on the 10th or postmarked on

[1:04:30] November 10th any questions about

[1:04:35] that all in favor please signify by

[1:04:37] saying I I any opposed guys have it so

[1:04:42] ordered now the reason one of the main

[1:04:44] reasons that we're all here is the next

[1:04:46] article

[1:04:50] uh shall the town appropriate the sum of

[1:04:53] 2,972

[1:04:56] 4493 to defay the town's General and

[1:04:59] Highway expenses for fiscal year

[1:05:02] 2026 the amount of such sum to be raised

[1:05:05] by property taxes and to be reduced by

[1:05:08] non-t tax revenues and Reserve funds I

[1:05:11] would entertain a

[1:05:14] motion how about a second second all

[1:05:17] right the budget it's in your town

[1:05:20] report from Pages 24 to 36

[1:05:29] you want make yeah okay I want to

[1:05:32] recognize Naomi to for chair to make a

[1:05:34] short presentation on that very

[1:05:40] short you got you got a slide

[1:05:51] Jen well that very very visible but I

[1:05:56] bet the people on Zoom can see it really

[1:05:58] well and on

[1:06:00] C here we go okay great

[1:06:05] um so the the total of

[1:06:09] 2,938 41 is up 5.8% since last

[1:06:16] year most of that is a lot of that is

[1:06:20] due to the fact that the DPW which you

[1:06:24] can see is 43% % of the budget just a

[1:06:27] little more than it was um a percent of

[1:06:30] the budget last

[1:06:32] year that is up

[1:06:36] 3% uh what's what's also D and we can go

[1:06:40] back to the DPW budget in a moment but

[1:06:43] what's also driving the increase this

[1:06:46] year um is a number of other things

[1:06:51] so we uh are maintaining the increase

[1:06:55] inre in Sheriff's hours which we

[1:06:58] implemented last year because a lot of

[1:07:01] people have been wanting us to do that

[1:07:03] the sheriff's the cost of sheriff um

[1:07:07] time is going up by

[1:07:09] 10% but we're maintaining the

[1:07:13] hours we have um suggested giving a 5%

[1:07:19] increase in salary to all the Municipal

[1:07:23] Employees and officials who get paid by

[1:07:25] the town that just about almost covers

[1:07:29] cost of living increase and we think

[1:07:32] it's really fair and

[1:07:36] necessary um and then the health

[1:07:38] insurance premiums I think it's no

[1:07:40] surprise to anybody probably have gone

[1:07:42] way up they if we had stayed with Blue

[1:07:47] Cross which we did not the health

[1:07:49] insurance premiums would have gone up

[1:07:54] 24% we switched instead to um

[1:08:00] MVP which has a very

[1:08:03] comparable

[1:08:05] program uh by that we're managing to

[1:08:08] only have a 10% increase only

[1:08:13] so those are the kind of highlights of

[1:08:16] the budget you all have it in your book

[1:08:18] so I know we can we can discuss it at

[1:08:21] length if you would like if we could do

[1:08:24] the second slide just about the

[1:08:40] gpw so we bought two new

[1:08:45] trucks there's not a lot to say about

[1:08:47] this really we bought two new trucks

[1:08:50] which were absolutely necessary and

[1:08:52] which cost a fortune they cost about

[1:08:55] twice tce as much as they would have

[1:08:56] cost five years ago and also um there's

[1:09:01] a big increase in the cost of gravel and

[1:09:04] Diesel and metal and wire and all the

[1:09:08] things that make the Department of

[1:09:11] Public Works move forward make our roads

[1:09:15] um as good as they are so I'm going to

[1:09:18] leave it at that because I know we've

[1:09:20] been talking a long time and people can

[1:09:22] raise whatever questions you want as we

[1:09:26] Move

[1:09:31] Along okay so what's on the floor is our

[1:09:35] annual budget of

[1:09:37] $2,972

[1:09:39] 493 do you have some questions or

[1:09:41] comments

[1:09:44] concerns Karen could you come up to

[1:09:49] that I just have a quick question um

[1:09:53] you're being asked for 29

[1:09:56] 7293 but when I look in the budget on

[1:10:00] page

[1:10:01] 35 it's looking like the total number is

[1:10:05] 2,9 uh

[1:10:09] 3,841

[1:10:11] so why that's a

[1:10:15] 6862 difference between what we're being

[1:10:18] asked to vote on and what I see in the

[1:10:22] budget so maybe I'm missing something

[1:10:28] oh

[1:10:33] goodness um I think I have to pass this

[1:10:36] question to Paul depends on where you

[1:10:39] got where you got that number

[1:11:09] and then there's the

[1:11:11] warrant it's on the

[1:11:17] [Music]

[1:11:23] warrant we wrote the warant

[1:11:42] over here is

[1:11:43] different we all yes I'm sorry I meant

[1:11:46] to

[1:11:48] be M where

[1:11:51] people you know I'm going to say

[1:11:53] something about this I'm just I I'll say

[1:11:56] something practical which is that um the select board chair and the Town

[1:12:06] Administrator became new at the same

[1:12:09] time with nobody to tell us how to do

[1:12:12] basic

[1:12:14] things I mean people helped us a lot but

[1:12:17] they didn't know what we didn't know and

[1:12:19] we didn't know what we didn't know to

[1:12:21] ask so there have been things that fell

[1:12:25] through the cracks and all I can say is

[1:12:27] it will be a lot better next year but it

[1:12:29] sounds like we need an amendment it was

[1:12:32] somehow um a mistake in the warning not

[1:12:36] in the budget warant so we are asking

[1:12:40] you to approve the amount in which is in

[1:12:43] the budget what's the correct amount the

[1:12:45] correct amount is 2 million

[1:12:53] 93,94 okay got a motion how about a

[1:12:57] second

[1:13:02] oops yes it

[1:13:06] is um Tim may I speak yes uh I just want

[1:13:12] to check I can't tell on the

[1:13:15] fly if the number in the budget

[1:13:19] includes the community appropriation

[1:13:22] which it looks like it does yeah that

[1:13:24] may be yes and the budget we approv

[1:13:27] tonight should not approve should not

[1:13:30] include the community Appropriations

[1:13:33] voted on

[1:13:34] tomorrow that could

[1:13:36] be no that's not right isn't that right

[1:13:39] no l could could you please explain that

[1:13:43] I'd appreciate it I'm I'm sorry Tim um

[1:13:47] the Appropriations are all part of the

[1:13:50] total

[1:13:51] budget if the town votes down a number

[1:13:56] then no money has to be raised for that

[1:13:59] particular

[1:14:02] appropriation so so we have to raise

[1:14:06] enough Revenue to meet all the

[1:14:10] Appropriations because they're going to

[1:14:12] be paid with tax dollars if a particular

[1:14:15] appropriation is not approved by the

[1:14:19] voters then when they set the tax rate

[1:14:22] they're going to reduce the tax rate a

[1:14:24] little bit because they're not going to

[1:14:27] have to pay the appropriation that was

[1:14:29] not

[1:14:30] approved if we don't set this the tax

[1:14:34] rate I mean if we don't set the budget

[1:14:36] based on this and an appropriation is

[1:14:39] approved we're not going to have enough

[1:14:41] money to pay all the

[1:14:44] Appropriations well the tax rate is not set enough no but you

[1:14:49] have to approve a budget that allows you

[1:14:53] to cover all the appro ations and you

[1:14:56] will adjust the tax rate if any

[1:14:59] appropriation is not approved it gets

[1:15:01] adjusted downward I think that's one way

[1:15:03] of doing it I don't think that's the way

[1:15:04] we agreed that we should do it back when

[1:15:07] I was on the chair on the board that you

[1:15:09] approve the

[1:15:11] budget

[1:15:12] [Music]

[1:15:18] am

[1:15:20] this and a clarification if you look on

[1:15:23] page 34 and 35

[1:15:25] um those items uh Appropriations are

[1:15:29] listed and total and then included in

[1:15:32] the 2.9 Million

[1:15:41] figure

[1:15:45] what to

[1:15:47] beed's non tax revenue or it already

[1:15:52] say but addresses Appropriations if

[1:15:56] there is anything that is not approved

[1:15:59] by the voters that it would be less that

[1:16:02] we we don't need that because the

[1:16:05] warning already says that this is the

[1:16:09] amount we're going to spent

[1:16:12] maximum

[1:16:15] and and uh the tax rate will be the

[1:16:19] difference between the

[1:16:22] revenues and um what's what's needed to

[1:16:25] meet the obligations if an appropriation

[1:16:28] is not approved it's no longer an

[1:16:31] obligation that has to be the the

[1:16:33] warning says that this amount that we're

[1:16:36] voting on tonight is for Town General

[1:16:38] and Highway

[1:16:39] expenses and I believe that Community

[1:16:42] Appropriations are a separate amount

[1:16:44] that is voted on tomorrow and added to

[1:16:46] that those numbers are combined to set

[1:16:49] the tax rate we can do it either way

[1:16:52] that that's not how this budget has been

[1:16:54] presented presented um and proposed in

[1:16:56] the town report if you take a look at uh

[1:17:00] page 34 the bottom of page 34 on over to

[1:17:04] page 35 that's the list of each one of

[1:17:07] the Appropriations and they're included

[1:17:08] in the total figure the 2.9 I I see that

[1:17:12] and it and it can work that way but I

[1:17:13] contend that the way that should be done

[1:17:17] is you vote tonight for Town General and

[1:17:20] Highway expenses and then tomorrow you

[1:17:22] vote for charities and then you add

[1:17:25] those two numbers together just at the

[1:17:27] TA but I'll leave it at

[1:17:29] that thank you so which number is

[1:17:32] correct this one no we have a an

[1:17:36] amendment on the

[1:17:38] floor um

[1:17:40] to change the amount that's in the

[1:17:43] warned

[1:17:45] article from

[1:17:48] 2,972 493 to

[1:17:52] 2,9 3,800

[1:17:55] $41 we'd vote on the amendment first

[1:17:59] before voting on the actual budget are

[1:18:01] you ready to vote on the

[1:18:03] amendment all those in favor please

[1:18:05] signify by saying I I any

[1:18:08] opposed the ice have it it is so ordered

[1:18:11] so now we're back to the main motion

[1:18:13] that's on the floor which

[1:18:16] is uh shall the the uh Town appropriate

[1:18:22] the sum

[1:18:23] of

[1:18:53] 93,471 ol he just no I didn't I said I

[1:18:57] called it t voted on the

[1:18:59] amendment yeah we voted the amendment

[1:19:04] yep so the main motion has been amended

[1:19:09] to the new

[1:19:15] number then no this is good we we need

[1:19:19] to have

[1:19:23] it so so if if we vote the motion that

[1:19:26] we would be voting on would be that the

[1:19:29] budget would be the

[1:19:31] 2,938

[1:19:33] 41

[1:19:35] okay yes

[1:19:40] sir can you you want to come on up to

[1:19:42] the mic please and give us your

[1:19:45] name for the record

[1:19:55] I'm

[1:19:56] like and it seems to me that if we V

[1:19:59] to

[1:20:02] authorize collect the taxes for that

[1:20:04] smaller number and then we vote for more

[1:20:07] Appropriations tomorrow by Australian

[1:20:09] ballot we're not authorizing tax

[1:20:12] collector to collect that so I think we

[1:20:14] should be voting on the larger

[1:20:17] number you

[1:20:21] can so Michael the the number that we

[1:20:24] put out that we just amended the

[1:20:28] 2,938 41 includes all of those Community

[1:20:33] Appropriations so there won't be an

[1:20:35] issue like what you just

[1:20:39] said the smaller number that I just said

[1:20:43] includes all of those Community

[1:20:45] Appropriations whether or not they get

[1:20:47] voted up or down tomorrow will be a

[1:20:50] thing for the town's people but the

[1:20:53] number is included all of the

[1:20:55] obligations that we will have to run our

[1:20:58] town expenses and highly expenses in

[1:21:01] that number was the original number um a

[1:21:05] mistake the the original number that it

[1:21:08] was published in the warrant is a

[1:21:10] mistake it might have a previous number

[1:21:12] that maybe we work very hard to keep

[1:21:15] this budget to

[1:21:17] 5.6% increase and there were many many

[1:21:20] working documents that happened over

[1:21:23] many many weeks of trying to keep the

[1:21:25] numbers as low as possible and you've

[1:21:28] seen some of the other Town's budgets um

[1:21:31] and how high they went this year because

[1:21:33] costs as as our chair has said have gone

[1:21:36] up significantly and so it's it's the

[1:21:40] real work of uh many folks um in our

[1:21:42] town that have kind of worked Financial

[1:21:45] magic to create this kind of

[1:21:48] 5.6% uh increase and uh the number that

[1:21:52] is kind of the bottom line that we're

[1:21:53] talking about

[1:21:57] yes

[1:22:08] sir Mike day um question on the

[1:22:14] uh uh items listed under Community

[1:22:19] appropriations of the total 42725

[1:22:25] there are a number of items that are

[1:22:30] uh I assume uh not designated any funds

[1:22:37] toward including some of the

[1:22:40] libraries and a few others those that

[1:22:43] are designated na so one of the um what

[1:22:47] was the reasoning behind all yeah

[1:22:49] changes that we um created with our

[1:22:52] board this year was to to move all of

[1:22:55] our funding for all three town libraries

[1:22:58] that we support here in chasbury to line

[1:23:02] items in the budget because we feel that

[1:23:05] libraries are a really important part of

[1:23:07] our Civic community and they provide um

[1:23:10] services that are needed by all of our

[1:23:12] community similar to how our rescue

[1:23:15] squads are run we support two rescue

[1:23:17] squads so in this budget we have just

[1:23:21] like a few years ago we had moved the

[1:23:23] rescue squads out of community

[1:23:25] Appropriations we've also moved the

[1:23:27] libraries out of those um things just in

[1:23:31] case they ever got um voted down um

[1:23:34] those libraries really depend on our um

[1:23:37] contributions and it's kind of a zero

[1:23:40] sum game you either get it or you don't

[1:23:43] in these um Community Appropriations and

[1:23:45] it was getting to be kind of a high

[1:23:47] stinks game um and so they've been moved

[1:23:50] and there is a item page 22 27 um you

[1:23:55] can see where all of our three libraries

[1:23:58] are the other um Community

[1:24:00] Appropriations that have na every year

[1:24:03] we send out um a letter to all of the

[1:24:06] kind of nonprofits giving them an

[1:24:08] opportunity to send in um a letter to

[1:24:11] publish something in our town report and

[1:24:14] to offer um what they would like to ask

[1:24:17] the voters of chasbury to have and um

[1:24:21] sometimes those organizations either

[1:24:23] fold into others and or they don't

[1:24:26] respond to our um request and so

[1:24:29] therefore they're written as na for

[1:24:31] whatever year you're looking at thank

[1:24:34] you thank you I had a question over

[1:24:41] here yep I um I had that very same

[1:24:46] question and I want to thank you so much

[1:24:47] for continuing to support the library

[1:24:50] because I'm from CH but I'm on the board

[1:24:53] of field library in Arlington and I just

[1:24:57] want to thank you because I was having a

[1:24:58] heart

[1:24:59] attack sorry it didn't mean

[1:25:09] that other questions or

[1:25:16] concerns your

[1:25:19] honor too big to get up there uh so one

[1:25:24] thing I'd like you to to ask you to do

[1:25:26] about this budget is that I'm uh anxious

[1:25:32] to put it mildly about the the money

[1:25:35] that would come from the feds through

[1:25:38] transportation to the state to the town

[1:25:43] and one of the things the board ran into

[1:25:46] 12 years ago was um because of Katrina

[1:25:51] you know uh a big loss of save funds for

[1:25:55] highways and those sorts of things and

[1:25:57] we formed a committee to come up with

[1:25:59] some contingency plans if we didn't get

[1:26:02] like Highway funds we were counting on

[1:26:05] and because you may be faced with the

[1:26:07] same type of circumstance now would be a

[1:26:10] good time to start asking yourself what

[1:26:12] are we going to do in construction

[1:26:15] season where you're doing a lot of the

[1:26:16] road maintenance and projects going into

[1:26:19] the fall if those funds don't arrive as

[1:26:23] expected

[1:26:25] because if you don't get those funds

[1:26:27] that you were counting on that's a big

[1:26:30] hit and how do you make that up mid year

[1:26:32] when you've already set the tax rate and

[1:26:34] started collecting taxes and it's not

[1:26:36] going to be enough so I don't know

[1:26:39] there's going to be a problem but I'm

[1:26:41] just anxious enough that I would

[1:26:42] encourage you to start planning for that

[1:26:45] if the state funds don't

[1:26:49] appear thank

[1:26:52] you thank you thank you you ready to

[1:27:03] vote the article is shall the town

[1:27:06] appropriate the sum of

[1:27:09] 2,938 41 to defay the town's General and

[1:27:12] Highway expenses for fiscal year

[1:27:15] 2026 the amount of such sum to be raised

[1:27:17] by property taxes and to be reduced by

[1:27:19] non-t tax revenues and Reserve funds all

[1:27:22] those in favor please signify saying I I

[1:27:26] are there any

[1:27:27] opposed the eyes have it and it is so

[1:27:30] ordered thank you the next article is uh

[1:27:34] the our traditional non-binding other

[1:27:37] business um as May legally come before

[1:27:42] uh this meeting um it's mainly

[1:27:45] informational can't take any binding

[1:27:47] action uh any votes if we took any would

[1:27:50] be advisory I know that uh

[1:27:56] there were some folks that uh wanted to

[1:28:00] speak on

[1:28:03] the on their Appropriations

[1:28:06] tomorrow didn't write your names down

[1:28:09] let's take you first

[1:28:11] please I stand facing the other way can

[1:28:14] I use your microphone

[1:28:16] May and just maybe stand close enough to

[1:28:19] that other microphone just so that it

[1:28:21] can pick up for um Cat TV can everybody

[1:28:24] hear me okay my name is Karen Rose and

[1:28:28] I'm live in chury and I run Monty's

[1:28:30] house wildlife rehab right on 7A um this

[1:28:34] would be the time of part of the program

[1:28:35] where I tell you to look at page 66 in

[1:28:37] your annual report we are listed there

[1:28:41] but erroneously the numbers from last

[1:28:43] year were published in this year's

[1:28:45] report I'd like to think that they did

[1:28:47] they thought I did such a great job last

[1:28:48] year they published it again but there

[1:28:51] are printouts at the table that give you

[1:28:53] the updated number um for 2024 if you

[1:28:56] want to insert them in and have the

[1:28:57] appropriate data um before I get going I

[1:28:59] want to thank everybody last year was

[1:29:01] our first year on the ballot for

[1:29:02] Appropriations and you kind folks all

[1:29:04] voted to give um My Little rehab $1,000

[1:29:07] in support so I want to thank you first

[1:29:09] and foremost for that we're on the

[1:29:10] ballot again this year for the same

[1:29:13] thing um for those who didn't get the report last year or may not know

[1:29:17] about me I've been licensed for wildlife

[1:29:19] rehab since 2018 my original permit is

[1:29:22] for non rabes Vector small mammals so I

[1:29:25] taken all the little guys squirrels

[1:29:26] bunnies um woodchucks a lots of aasum

[1:29:29] and the largeest I go to his porcupine

[1:29:32] and the thing that I stood here last

[1:29:33] year that I said I was going to do in 24

[1:29:35] is to get licensed for ferally permitted

[1:29:38] for song and in March of uh 24 I did use

[1:29:42] that um so those are we have lots of

[1:29:46] categories for Birds but I only take in

[1:29:47] the little guys the song birds cuz the

[1:29:49] if the mammals keep me busy enough and

[1:29:51] adding the song birds if you look at the

[1:29:53] numbers if you picked up your sheet you

[1:29:55] will see that my intake um incident

[1:29:58] numbers almost doubled last year from 23

[1:30:01] I had 73 intake incidents and in 24 I

[1:30:04] had 142 which means that 142 times folks

[1:30:08] came to my house cuz I run it out of my

[1:30:10] house um and delivered Critters to me

[1:30:13] and within each intake incident there's

[1:30:15] usually more than one Critter um so and

[1:30:19] the release numbers for 2024 obviously

[1:30:22] with 142 intake incidents and all those

[1:30:25] Critters anytime any Critter comes into

[1:30:27] the rehab they're already in a

[1:30:28] compromised State whether they are

[1:30:29] orphan not having their mom or they're

[1:30:31] injured either by CAU by domestic animal

[1:30:34] another wild animal or a victim of the

[1:30:36] road they are in a compromised state so

[1:30:39] a lot of times many of them don't make

[1:30:41] it but the release numbers for 24 um are

[1:30:44] listed on this sheet um you can take a

[1:30:46] peek at those the 20 2425 over Winters

[1:30:49] that I currently have with me at the

[1:30:51] time of the writing I have a very

[1:30:53] interesting crit if you don't follow on

[1:30:55] social media I'm on uh Facebook and

[1:30:57] Instagram under Monas you want to take a

[1:30:59] peek at her I have a Lucys or an albino

[1:31:02] porcupine so she's white she's a pretty

[1:31:04] cool and statistics will say that

[1:31:06] they're about a one in 10,000 birth rate

[1:31:09] so she's a pretty cool Critter she came

[1:31:10] in in mid November with a bad casea Mage

[1:31:13] so she's hanging out with me until the

[1:31:14] spring till all of her her grows back um

[1:31:17] I have I had two Apostles at the time of

[1:31:20] the writing I have three now um and then

[1:31:22] I had m wintering American Tree Sparrow

[1:31:24] and a male cardinal along with my um

[1:31:28] non-releasable

[1:31:29] neurological Monty's house mouse

[1:31:32] ambassador he's a little deer mouse who

[1:31:34] got caught by a family dog released got

[1:31:36] caught by the same family cat released

[1:31:38] and liveed to tell the tale so he walks

[1:31:41] around like a bit of a drunken sailor at

[1:31:43] night through his cage so he's hanging

[1:31:45] out with me um the other thing I did in

[1:31:48] 2024 which may seem like a very

[1:31:50] pedestrian uh accomplishment we put a

[1:31:53] sink in the Rehab Room which has been

[1:31:55] fantastic instead of taking litters of

[1:31:58] Critters into one of the bathrooms to

[1:32:00] take care of their feeding and toileting

[1:32:01] and cleaning and all that stuff so the

[1:32:03] sink was put in so that was one of the

[1:32:04] things we did this year um or in 24 and

[1:32:07] again we're asking for $1,000 most of

[1:32:09] that money goes for the support

[1:32:11] obviously with that many Critters

[1:32:13] hanging out in rehab over the baby

[1:32:15] season which is will start pretty soon

[1:32:17] here my baby season typically runs from

[1:32:19] the end of March beginning of April all

[1:32:21] the way through October um the Thousand

[1:32:24] we ask for is to offset a lot of the

[1:32:26] food because they are expensive those

[1:32:27] little bunkers when they get going

[1:32:29] between the meal worms for the birds now

[1:32:31] and all the fresh fruits and vegetables

[1:32:33] for the rest of the crew but I certainly

[1:32:35] appreciate your consideration tomorrow

[1:32:37] uh and a vote for gas our Mountain's

[1:32:39] house and again check us out onday

[1:32:41] social media you'll get to see some cool

[1:32:43] Critters thank

[1:32:49] you yes you're welcome yes come on up do

[1:32:54] you do you want that one to this is so

[1:32:55] much easier and you need to stay kind of

[1:32:58] close to to one of those

[1:33:01] mics hi I'm Cindy loose I am also a

[1:33:04] chasbury resident and I'm the executive

[1:33:07] director of benon County Habitat for

[1:33:10] Humanity which the town and has been

[1:33:13] very generous to us for years and years

[1:33:17] and I thank you very much for that we

[1:33:19] are on the ballot again um tomorrow

[1:33:21] asking for, 50 again and I am excited to

[1:33:27] say we're doing a lot in the town of

[1:33:29] Bennington but chasbury we have a couple

[1:33:32] of towns I mean a couple of houses that

[1:33:34] we've built but I would ask if anybody

[1:33:37] knows of land that is available in the

[1:33:41] town of chasbury come see me email me

[1:33:44] whatever cuz I'm looking for land in the

[1:33:46] southern part of the county because this

[1:33:48] is where a lot of our applications come

[1:33:51] from we sent out about

[1:33:54] some OD applications last year and had

[1:33:58] eight families who actually submitted

[1:34:02] and qualified and out of those eight

[1:34:05] families seven wanted to be in the

[1:34:08] southern part benington that's where we

[1:34:10] had land but if we were had land in

[1:34:12] chasper I'm sure they would have

[1:34:13] considered it so we are always looking

[1:34:17] for land I've committed all of the land

[1:34:19] that we have in the town of Bennington

[1:34:21] at the moment to partner families so we out of those eight qualified families

[1:34:26] we selected four which is twice as many

[1:34:29] as we usually do CU we realize we need

[1:34:32] to be part of the solution we can't do

[1:34:35] it all but we're trying to make it you

[1:34:37] know more of an impact on that housing

[1:34:39] crisis so always looking for land so

[1:34:42] anybody has any ideas please see me and

[1:34:44] I encourage you to join us and volunteer

[1:34:47] because in the town of

[1:34:49] shacksbury uh we have about 15 of us

[1:34:52] that volunteer

[1:34:54] at the building site which currently our

[1:34:56] building sites are on green View Drive

[1:34:59] in Bennington which is in the Jefferson

[1:35:01] Heights area um so we have four houses

[1:35:05] we're doing there and one up on

[1:35:07] Presswood we'll be doing then we'll be

[1:35:09] going back up to Manchester to Jennifer

[1:35:12] Lane to build one as well always looking

[1:35:14] for volunteers always welcome you can

[1:35:17] also join us at the restore V to our

[1:35:20] restore I highly suggest you go do our

[1:35:22] restore it's a cool store um it's

[1:35:26] on Memorial Avenue in Manchester and

[1:35:30] it's open Wednesday through Saturday so

[1:35:32] if you're looking for furniture come

[1:35:33] check us out and if you have furniture

[1:35:36] you're looking to get rid of uh reach

[1:35:38] out to us at restore at Bennington

[1:35:41] County habitat.org and Tiffany our

[1:35:44] manager will respond to your your

[1:35:46] inquiry because that's how we you know

[1:35:48] really operate so through your

[1:35:51] generosity um a couple other I really

[1:35:54] want to invite you all to is when we are

[1:35:56] ready to sell a house cuz that's the big

[1:35:59] point I want to make sure everybody

[1:36:01] understands we don't give our houses

[1:36:02] away we sell our houses to our partner

[1:36:05] families so they all have mortgages they

[1:36:07] pay taxes and they pay insurance just

[1:36:11] like we all do so we are about ready to

[1:36:13] sell our house um at 5 Drive which is a

[1:36:18] four bedroom house going to a family of

[1:36:20] six they are moving out of a two bedroom

[1:36:24] mobile home into our house that they're

[1:36:26] buying um and so on the 15th Saturday

[1:36:30] the 15th we at 1:00 we are doing our

[1:36:33] what we call home dedication and so

[1:36:35] that's open to the uh to the public and

[1:36:38] I encourage you to come see it because

[1:36:39] it's really cool to see the kids get all

[1:36:41] excited because they know that they're

[1:36:43] moving in soon so if it all goes well

[1:36:47] closings which we know can be not easy

[1:36:51] we hoping that closing happens on the

[1:36:52] 18th

[1:36:54] and then also we are doing a one of our

[1:36:57] big fundraisers that we do is um a model

[1:37:01] home competition and that's open to all

[1:37:04] of the kids and students that

[1:37:07] live in lton

[1:37:09] County live in Bennington County or they

[1:37:13] go to school in Bennington County and so

[1:37:16] that's on March 22nd is going to be held

[1:37:19] at the hilding Lincoln Hall they are SP

[1:37:22] helping sponsor us which is awesome it's

[1:37:24] a gorgeous Place have come come to see

[1:37:26] the space it's really cool but if you

[1:37:29] know of any students who are kind of

[1:37:33] interested in you know building models

[1:37:35] of homes or sustainability or might be

[1:37:38] interested in winning a $1,000 prize

[1:37:41] have them check us out at Bennington

[1:37:44] County habitat.org and it's right here

[1:37:47] on the top of our website it's different

[1:37:49] age groups kindergarten to fourth fifth

[1:37:52] to8 and then the high school 9 to 12 so

[1:37:56] I encourage you to spread help us spread

[1:37:58] that word and also if you want to come

[1:38:01] join us and check out what the kids are

[1:38:03] doing um the event is on the 22nd from

[1:38:07] 1: to 4: so it's a Saturday again at the

[1:38:10] Phil and so I thank you for listening

[1:38:13] and let me share and I thank you all for

[1:38:15] considering to vote for us tomorrow the

[1:38:18] Appropriations thank you very much

[1:38:21] [Applause]

[1:38:23] [Music]

[1:38:24] [Applause]

[1:38:28] Sarah I I feel like you should all just

[1:38:30] hand it off to the next person I feel

[1:38:32] like that would make it easier yeah do a

[1:38:35] Baton

[1:38:37] Pass hi everybody my name is Sarah

[1:38:40] Wilson and I am a resident of chury

[1:38:42] Vermont I'm here today to talk on behalf

[1:38:44] of the Bennington free clinic don't let

[1:38:46] the name fool you it also serves members

[1:38:49] of

[1:38:49] chury first I want to thank all of you

[1:38:52] out there in the that have volunteered

[1:38:55] uh for the venon pre Clinic uh last year

[1:38:57] we had over 300 visits uh about 20 of

[1:39:00] those are from chur residents we want to

[1:39:03] thank you for your appropriation last

[1:39:04] year of

[1:39:05] $11,000 we are asking for the same this

[1:39:07] year for those of you unfamiliar with

[1:39:10] the Bennington 3 Clinic it is a fully

[1:39:12] volunteer physician nurses and health

[1:39:15] professionals uh site at Depot Street in

[1:39:18] Bennington um and there are free health

[1:39:21] services for anyone who comes in

[1:39:24] uh typically we serve the people with no

[1:39:26] insurance or the

[1:39:28] underinsured um but we will keep people

[1:39:30] uh to do any kind of Health referrals uh

[1:39:33] in the community so we thank you very

[1:39:34] much we ask you again for your support

[1:39:36] this year for $1,000 for our

[1:39:38] appropriation and again that's the

[1:39:40] Bennington free clinic thank you

[1:39:53] thank

[1:39:55] you my name is Ed Conley I live on H

[1:39:59] Harvest Hills I have two things one I

[1:40:02] don't see Habitat for Humanity in the

[1:40:04] listing for

[1:40:06] Appropriations you know I don't know if

[1:40:08] it's on the ballot itself I see it's

[1:40:10] Bennington County Habitat for Humanity

[1:40:14] it's the third line on the item four y

[1:40:19] page on page 16 okay yep it's not okay I

[1:40:24] didn't see it on the list here y on page

[1:40:28] 34 so the second thing is just a an

[1:40:32] inquiry and it's probably may not be

[1:40:35] appropriate for here but I'd like to

[1:40:37] talk about the speed limit on Lamb Road

[1:40:40] the speed limit is posted on Lamb Road

[1:40:44] eastbound is 35 and Westbound is 25 I'm

[1:40:48] just select

[1:40:58] it's

[1:40:59] not it's not in the

[1:41:01] budget we intended to confuse people on

[1:41:04] lamb Ro so glad we managed to do it um

[1:41:09] thanks for telling us there was a lot of

[1:41:11] those around town and and I think we

[1:41:13] thought we've got on them all but

[1:41:15] we'll check that one out very confusing

[1:41:19] yeah yes yes thank you no I to clarify

[1:41:24] his question in our budget we don't

[1:41:38] have so our budget might be off just to

[1:41:42] clarify that because it's

[1:41:44] not she's got the

[1:41:47] mic we're just uh taking yeah hold on

[1:41:50] for just a minute on one second we got

[1:41:52] one more clar ific

[1:41:55] um because I understand what the

[1:41:57] gentleman just was talking about um here

[1:42:01] and so can you go down the list and just

[1:42:03] make sure that I am

[1:42:05] correct you're right it is not listed so

[1:42:09] our the point that he just you are

[1:42:11] correct for we need to am amend I need

[1:42:15] uh what we have to do is we need a

[1:42:17] motion to reconsider the vote on the

[1:42:21] budget the purpose of which would be to

[1:42:24] uh make another

[1:42:26] correction uh as was just pointed out

[1:42:28] the um uh Habitat for Humanity is not

[1:42:32] included in that um the budget in that

[1:42:36] uh

[1:42:38] 2,938

[1:42:41] 41 so

[1:42:43] just to straighten it out if you so

[1:42:47] desire I would entertain a motion to

[1:42:51] reconsider it means we'll go backward

[1:42:53] we can do that because we haven't

[1:42:55] adjourned our meeting yet motion to

[1:42:58] reconsider the uh budget

[1:43:01] article okay I have a motion how about a

[1:43:04] second I've got a

[1:43:07] second all those in favor of

[1:43:10] reconsideration to uh reopen the budget

[1:43:13] please signify by saying I I any opposed

[1:43:17] the eyes have it so let's go back

[1:43:23] I'm just looking to make sure that there

[1:43:24] aren't any others we have just a minute

[1:43:27] because we're

[1:43:27] gonna check off some of the other ones

[1:43:31] get across

[1:44:14] so it was so no 1850 1850

[1:44:23] yes it's a level funding yes and it's

[1:44:26] not included in that final budget number

[1:44:29] in the final number yes of that 2

[1:44:34] milon can I make a comment and I don't

[1:44:36] know the answer to this but I think it's

[1:44:38] worth considering uh there's a reason I

[1:44:41] believe that we vote for Community

[1:44:44] Appropriations by Australian ballot and

[1:44:47] now what we're proposing to do is insert

[1:44:49] a line item into the budget for a

[1:44:52] particular

[1:44:53] Community appropriation and I'm not sure

[1:44:56] that we can do that

[1:44:57] legally well let's get a motion on the

[1:44:59] floor first okay

[1:45:11] please do I have a

[1:45:15] second okay now I'll open the floor for

[1:45:18] discussion your honor judge so um

[1:45:24] what we decide tonight is how much money

[1:45:27] we're going to raise by

[1:45:29] taxes no

[1:45:32] yes that's what we're voting on and then

[1:45:36] the measure says to the extent we have

[1:45:38] other income it can offset the amount we

[1:45:42] raised by taxes so if we increase the

[1:45:45] budget by

[1:45:48] $1,850 we're allowing them to raise tax

[1:45:51] money to meet

[1:45:55] 2,9 approximately

[1:45:59] $5,000 and so we we can do that but the

[1:46:03] select

[1:46:04] board grants the

[1:46:06] money without it being a voted on

[1:46:09] appropriation or whether it's on the

[1:46:11] ballot tomorrow you know that's a

[1:46:15] different issue the only question is

[1:46:17] will we allow the town to raise up to

[1:46:21] 2,900

[1:46:24] approximately 5,000 yada yada yada

[1:46:27] dollars in taxes to be offset by other

[1:46:32] Rees so what we're really trying to do

[1:46:35] is again correct another error an

[1:46:41] Omission that would

[1:46:44] include the the

[1:46:48] uh it would include it uh

[1:46:53] in the final budget figure but do not

[1:46:56] approving it because tomorrow is when

[1:46:58] it'll be voted on to be approved right

[1:47:00] if it's on valot to be approved but what

[1:47:02] we have to do tonight is set the maximum

[1:47:06] obligation of the

[1:47:09] community for tax dollars and the town

[1:47:13] is saying this is the most you can tax

[1:47:15] us this year we know our taxes will

[1:47:19] actually be less than that because

[1:47:21] they're very good with other bringing in

[1:47:23] other revenues through the state and

[1:47:25] grants and everything else that will pay

[1:47:29] some of those obligations that the taxes

[1:47:32] would have to pay and so the the amount

[1:47:36] of tax money we'll actually need is

[1:47:38] going to be less than that 2,9

[1:47:41] approximately

[1:47:45] $5,000 yes St

[1:47:49] to I don't want to throw any more sand

[1:47:52] in the works I think we should get

[1:47:53] through this and and go on but I do want

[1:47:56] to make the point that we went through

[1:47:59] this a few years back when I was on the

[1:48:01] select board and this is not the way

[1:48:03] that it's supposed to be done we're

[1:48:05] double voting on the community

[1:48:09] Appropriations the way it's supposed to

[1:48:10] be done is you put the number forward in

[1:48:13] the budget that is the total Town budget

[1:48:16] minus the community

[1:48:18] Appropriations and then you vote on the

[1:48:21] community community Appropriations

[1:48:23] tomorrow because what would happen if uh

[1:48:26] I Rose tonight and said uh I don't want

[1:48:29] to pay for Habitat Humanity and we

[1:48:32] passed a budget that subtracted habitat

[1:48:34] from Humanity from that boat and then

[1:48:36] tomorrow this the citizens voted to

[1:48:39] include Habitat for Humanity where would

[1:48:41] we be your motion would be out called

[1:48:43] out of order because it's a ballot

[1:48:45] article for tomorrow it's not a floor

[1:48:46] article for

[1:48:48] tonight no no it wouldn't we would be

[1:48:51] able to reduce the amount in the the the budget amount is Up For

[1:48:56] Debate a person can stand up and say I

[1:48:59] don't think we should pay for Habitat

[1:49:02] for Humanity let's reduce the budget by

[1:49:04] $1,000 that could pass and the

[1:49:07] instructions to the to the select board

[1:49:09] would be that we don't give money to

[1:49:11] Habitat Humanity and then tomorrow we

[1:49:13] could go and vote for it again so my

[1:49:15] point is this in future years we should

[1:49:19] go back the way we figured it out before

[1:49:21] we looked at this up it's called double

[1:49:23] voting it's not the right way to do it

[1:49:25] you pass the budget less Community

[1:49:27] Appropriations you pass Community

[1:49:29] Appropriations tomorrow and you add them

[1:49:31] to that

[1:49:32] number tonight whatever it takes to get

[1:49:36] through thank you Karen I just to not

[1:49:40] leaving anybody else out I I did go

[1:49:43] through I just did that so I I went

[1:49:46] through Appropriations for tomorrow Y

[1:49:49] and I've got 27 in the budget

[1:50:01] Library there

[1:50:05] else

[1:50:08] moreci I have 20 I have 22 listed that

[1:50:12] are not na on the budget lines for page

[1:50:17] 34 and 35 I have

[1:50:21] 22 lines so you are correct 22 I have 22

[1:50:28] lines um cuz we just kind of went

[1:50:32] through but we compared them we compared

[1:50:35] them to what was in the Australian

[1:50:39] ballot to what was in the um the pages

[1:50:44] 34 35 22 right the other one 22 right I think I counted but I'm going to count

[1:50:52] again Karen could could I ask you to

[1:50:54] come up here

[1:51:00] and shers for kids or something what is

[1:51:04] that2 the

[1:51:05] shers that's Noe that's zero doubt okay so then that makes all sense 22 yes yes

[1:51:14] okay I just want to be sure we're not

[1:51:17] can I can I just you good with that you

[1:51:19] good with the way the numbers are now

[1:51:21] they they line up okay I would just like to briefly

[1:51:24] respond to Tim's concern and say what

[1:51:27] we'll do is we'll check with the vlct

[1:51:30] Tim and see what they recommend as

[1:51:32] practice for this thank you for bringing

[1:51:34] me

[1:51:37] up now we can bring we can bring this

[1:51:41] to

[1:51:46] sorry are you talking on this the the

[1:51:49] floor article no no okay no you I'll

[1:51:53] call on you in a minute we need the

[1:51:54] let's have the we need the microphone

[1:51:55] back here we're we have another

[1:51:59] one we

[1:52:01] getting meeting so uh yeah magic It's

[1:52:05] Magic this is democracy at work here we

[1:52:09] know we're governing ourselves because

[1:52:10] we do it very poorly we're

[1:52:12] amateurs

[1:52:15] um so volunteers if my math is

[1:52:19] correct um

[1:52:24] the motion that on the floor was would

[1:52:26] be shall the town appropriate the sum of

[1:52:29] that's the ma if you did it correct y

[1:52:35] 2,956

[1:52:36] N1 to defray the town's General and

[1:52:39] Highway expenses for fiscal year 2026

[1:52:41] the amount of such sum to be raised by

[1:52:43] property taxes and to be reduced by non-

[1:52:45] tax revenues and Reserve funds if we

[1:52:49] vote this uh vote for this it corrects

[1:52:51] that error uh where one uh one item was

[1:52:55] omitted uh that shows up

[1:52:58] tomorrow any

[1:53:00] questions ready to vote on

[1:53:02] it please all those in favor please

[1:53:05] signify by saying I I any

[1:53:09] opposed the eyes have it and it is so

[1:53:11] ordered

[1:53:13] again okay now now we're back we're back

[1:53:16] under the article thank you folks to

[1:53:19] yeah thank yes thank you to transact

[1:53:22] other non-binding business so we had

[1:53:24] Aaron I think

[1:53:26] uh come up here please back to the mic

[1:53:29] again but you're gonna come up here okay

[1:53:32] makes it

[1:53:36] easier make sure you're talking into

[1:53:38] this

[1:53:41] okay okay so I haven't given a speech in

[1:53:43] a long time I'm a little nervous but um

[1:53:46] good evening my name is Aaron labovitz

[1:53:48] and I'm a very content Resident of

[1:53:50] shaftsberry for about three and a half

[1:53:52] years years now I'm also the americore

[1:53:54] Vista at Lake parin and I'll be moving

[1:53:57] into the executive director position

[1:53:59] when my Vista term ends at the beginning

[1:54:01] of April the citizens of shastry have

[1:54:04] generously supported par and Recreations

[1:54:07] and we're really grateful for that

[1:54:09] support I'm here tonight to share with

[1:54:11] you some information about the long road

[1:54:14] of healing repair change and Improvement

[1:54:16] that we are on at Lake

[1:54:18] parin as you may know June Cooper a

[1:54:22] 9-year-old camp at the lake drown on

[1:54:24] July

[1:54:25] 19th this tragedy has had a profound

[1:54:28] effect on those connected with the lake

[1:54:31] in our wider

[1:54:32] Community this however pales in

[1:54:35] comparison to the devastating impact

[1:54:37] that it had on the Cooper family and

[1:54:38] their friends our hearts go out to them

[1:54:41] each and every day and we're very very

[1:54:44] deeply sorry for this terrible

[1:54:46] accident we're committed to doing

[1:54:49] everything in our power to try and make

[1:54:50] amends with to them

[1:54:53] and to work to repair our trust with our

[1:54:55] larger

[1:54:57] Community although we've expressed

[1:54:59] apologies and condolences privately we

[1:55:01] haven't made any public statements since

[1:55:04] our initial acknowledgement of this

[1:55:06] accident we've remain quiet out of an

[1:55:09] abundance of concern to avoid any impact

[1:55:12] or perceived impact on the formal

[1:55:14] investigations by the Bennington Police

[1:55:16] Department the division of CH children

[1:55:19] and families with which we cooperated

[1:55:21] fully in actively these investigations

[1:55:24] were lengthy and took a great deal of

[1:55:26] time and for your information the

[1:55:29] Bennington police department and the

[1:55:31] division of Children and Family

[1:55:33] Services have not provided copies of the

[1:55:35] report to Lake paren as there are many

[1:55:37] juveniles involved and there were also

[1:55:40] no charges brought against Lake parin

[1:55:43] and DCF did not issue any findings

[1:55:45] against Lake

[1:55:47] parent in addition out of respect for

[1:55:50] the Cooper family we did not want the

[1:55:53] work we are doing here to impact the

[1:55:56] difficult and delicate processes that

[1:55:58] are ongoing

[1:56:00] legally we felt it was better to work

[1:56:02] quietly behind the scenes than to appear

[1:56:04] in any way to be trying to minimize the

[1:56:06] harm of this tragedy or influence any of

[1:56:09] these

[1:56:10] processes that said after addressing the

[1:56:13] immediate needs of the lake of those at

[1:56:16] the lake on July 19th our campers our

[1:56:19] famili staff and the community members

[1:56:22] we we've been taking time to assess our

[1:56:24] processes identifying areas for

[1:56:26] improvement in health safety and

[1:56:28] Emergency Management policies and

[1:56:30] programs part of this process of

[1:56:33] evaluation is understanding to the best

[1:56:36] of our

[1:56:37] ability what happened that day and to

[1:56:40] make sure that such an incident doesn't

[1:56:42] happen again although none of the

[1:56:44] investigations resulted in any finding

[1:56:47] of fault we know that we must make

[1:56:50] changes to to that end we wanted to

[1:56:53] share with you a list of some of the

[1:56:55] work that we're in process of completing

[1:56:56] and plan to implement while we've always

[1:56:59] taken safety very seriously in the past

[1:57:02] we know that these improvements will

[1:57:03] help us to continue to create a safer

[1:57:07] environment in recent months we've

[1:57:09] engaged with safety professionals from

[1:57:11] the community which include trained

[1:57:12] Waterfront and boating safety experts

[1:57:14] fire and general safety professionals

[1:57:16] Park managers and accessibility advisers

[1:57:20] the safety advisory Council has Been

[1:57:22] instrumental in guiding us through our

[1:57:23] safety review moving forward we will

[1:57:26] continue to collaborate with these

[1:57:28] experts and others to ensure that we

[1:57:30] stay upto-date and proactive in our

[1:57:33] approach we're also facilitating open

[1:57:36] conversations with community members to

[1:57:38] reconnect address concerns and answer

[1:57:41] questions to the best of our ability we

[1:57:43] share our plans and we're working

[1:57:45] towards rebuilding

[1:57:47] trust we're reviewing and updating our

[1:57:50] policies and procedures that will be

[1:57:51] developed after practices and drills to

[1:57:54] improve preparedness and confidence in

[1:57:56] handling real life

[1:57:58] scenarios our designated swimming area

[1:58:00] is going to be resized to improve safety

[1:58:03] including splitting our swimming area

[1:58:06] into a youth swimming area and

[1:58:09] redefining our shallow

[1:58:11] areas using our weo boat we will PR

[1:58:15] prioritize re removal from the swimming

[1:58:17] area to improve health and safety of the

[1:58:20] lake and our Patron

[1:58:22] further we will continue to remove weeds

[1:58:25] from the rest of the lake to improve the

[1:58:27] health of the lake and the safety of our

[1:58:28] boers and people fishing and

[1:58:31] swimming we'll continue to review and

[1:58:33] update our emergency action plan to

[1:58:35] ensure Clarity and Effectiveness based

[1:58:37] on recommendations from our safety

[1:58:39] advisory Council we're also

[1:58:41] participating in Red Cross trainings are

[1:58:44] working towards being certified to cont

[1:58:46] conduct trainings locally our goal is to

[1:58:49] certify three individuals as American

[1:58:52] and red cross trainers for staff and for

[1:58:54] the community all Waterfront staff will

[1:58:57] be certified lifu guards with natural

[1:59:00] water training our lifeguard training

[1:59:03] will be ongoing while the staff while

[1:59:05] staff is at the lake our director will

[1:59:08] be an Arc Trainer certified in lifeguard

[1:59:12] management by the American Red Cross

[1:59:15] which I've already completed and I'm

[1:59:16] already completed the paddle boort

[1:59:18] safety course from the American Cano

[1:59:21] Association

[1:59:23] all of our staff will be CPR and first

[1:59:25] aid certified as well as ret receive

[1:59:27] training in Waterfront paddle sport

[1:59:29] safety through Precision paddling in the

[1:59:33] ACA we're pausing our camp

[1:59:36] programming we'll use this time to

[1:59:38] conduct comprehensive evaluations

[1:59:40] continue research and collaborate with

[1:59:42] experts and advisers our goal is to

[1:59:45] ensure well informed and thoughtful

[1:59:47] approach to safety operations for both

[1:59:49] camps renting the lake fa facility and

[1:59:52] any future programs hosted at Lake par

[1:59:54] and

[1:59:55] Recreations if you're interested in

[1:59:57] attending one of our future listening

[1:59:59] sessions or to stay informed about

[2:00:01] what's happening at the lake I'll have a

[2:00:03] sign up sheet in the back and you can

[2:00:05] come up to me after the meeting um or

[2:00:08] you can always email me at a Aaron

[2:00:11] lakaren vt.org or you can always find me

[2:00:15] at Lake paring because I'm there a lot

[2:00:17] so thank you so much for your generosity

[2:00:19] and I hope that you continue to support

[2:00:21] us as we move move forward thank

[2:00:36] you thank you Aon somebody else yes sir

[2:00:40] Michael

[2:00:57] sure you just have to turn it on it's a

[2:01:00] switch on the

[2:01:02] side I'm not sure if this is out of

[2:01:04] order but I I want to offer a a proposed

[2:01:08] resolution um of the sense of the

[2:01:10] Gathering here in in regards to an

[2:01:13] international and National

[2:01:17] um can I speak to CI about that yes uh

[2:01:21] we no binding action but um other

[2:01:24] business it breaks my heart see what's

[2:01:27] happening in Middle East our tax dollars

[2:01:30] at work supporting a genocide of the

[2:01:33] Palestinian people and I just want to

[2:01:36] propose a

[2:01:38] resolution uh a sense of The Gather

[2:01:40] citizens of our community the resolution

[2:01:43] is it's the sense of The Gather citizens

[2:01:47] of sh Vermont at our town floor meeting

[2:01:49] this March 3rd 2025

[2:01:53] could all Supply Andor funding by the US

[2:01:55] government of weapons and

[2:01:58] Military and logistical assistance to

[2:02:01] the regime of Israel must cease as long

[2:02:05] as Israel is engaged in the genocide of

[2:02:07] the Palestinian people especially in the

[2:02:10] Palestinian rightful

[2:02:13] Homeland that's it

[2:02:20] [Music]

[2:02:22] we have a second thank you there a

[2:02:24] second yes okay the point of this is

[2:02:29] uh advisory

[2:02:33] only not

[2:02:38] binding all those in favor of that

[2:02:42] advisory motion signify by saying I I

[2:02:46] and those

[2:02:47] opposed okay the eyes have it thank you

[2:02:50] Michael

[2:02:52] who else have we got yes

[2:02:57] sir you

[2:02:59] want like you can you can move or you

[2:03:03] can I don't know whichever you'd like or

[2:03:06] that whatever is easiest for you here

[2:03:09] you go it's on I'm Alan

[2:03:11] [Music]

[2:03:15] Baker I want to thank the Committees

[2:03:18] that worked so hard on figuring what to

[2:03:21] do a call

[2:03:22] I went to a meeting when they had a

[2:03:24] special a special meeting like why are

[2:03:27] we having a special meeting they go go

[2:03:29] back to the minutes we went back through

[2:03:31] all the

[2:03:32] minutes and they CED themselves in

[2:03:34] pretzels trying to figure out what to

[2:03:37] do

[2:03:38] and I just thought it was pretty

[2:03:40] impressive like it worked out the way it

[2:03:43] did I like to have another special

[2:03:45] meeting so we can decide what to do a

[2:03:46] call Hall who can't keep both

[2:03:49] buildings so and now I'm going to talk

[2:03:52] about

[2:03:53] wbtn we're on the

[2:03:56] Appropriations anyone who wants to have

[2:03:58] a radio show you want to come play your

[2:04:00] bongos you can come play your

[2:04:02] B anyone can come and do anything they

[2:04:05] want within

[2:04:07] re and

[2:04:11] uh in light

[2:04:13] of some of the world issues at the

[2:04:16] moment everyone lives on their cell

[2:04:19] phone and we know at least I

[2:04:22] believe many

[2:04:24] countries have a way of turning them all

[2:04:27] off immediately including our

[2:04:29] own and if you didn't have your phone

[2:04:31] where you going to get

[2:04:32] information wbtn is a

[2:04:35] generator and everyone has a radio in

[2:04:37] their car so we can get

[2:04:40] information and not go crazy because

[2:04:43] this thing isn't working that's what I

[2:04:48] us so

[2:04:53] for you wbtn is for everyone to do

[2:04:55] whatever they want any show talk about

[2:04:58] tipra come in and talk about cracking

[2:05:01] bones and it's called you have a live

[2:05:04] call and people can call you in call up and ask you

[2:05:07] questions

[2:05:10] and just as a resiliency thing to have

[2:05:15] that available if the Fe metal hits the

[2:05:18] Blazing uh fan

[2:05:21] we have some way

[2:05:24] of

[2:05:26] communicating it's not

[2:05:29] uh I've seen when people seen things on

[2:05:32] the news where people go through the

[2:05:34] tunnels in New York City and their

[2:05:35] phones don't work as soon as they come

[2:05:37] out everyone's going like this is your

[2:05:38] paranoid it's only been 60 seconds

[2:05:41] imagine that goes on for

[2:05:43] days

[2:05:45] so come do your own show and support

[2:05:48] being resilient in the future thanks

[2:05:51] [Applause]

[2:06:01] thanks now's your chance your

[2:06:10] opportunity thank you prep to be wildly

[2:06:13] unpopular my name is Tim

[2:06:16] White could you go over next to that

[2:06:18] also I think we want to double check the

[2:06:20] budget numbers oh

[2:06:23] uhoh I believe BNA and hospice is double

[2:06:26] counted so the 5225 is double counted oh

[2:06:31] dear and the

[2:06:34] 1850 from Habitat for Humanity so the actual sum on page 35 should be

[2:06:43] 39350

[2:06:47] okay 5 is

[2:06:56] it's Bennington BNA and then Bennington

[2:07:01] BNA uh VNA

[2:07:10] hospice it's under two different names

[2:07:14] it's under um Bennington area VNA and

[2:07:19] then on page 35 VNA and hospice s

[2:07:24] VHC both under for $

[2:07:31] 5,225 good

[2:07:33] Lord this inconvenience brought you by

[2:07:35] shury Elementary School

[2:07:38] [Applause]

[2:07:45] my this is turning into okay um we're

[2:07:50] going to repeat that same

[2:07:52] exercise wait we got to do the math

[2:07:55] first we're going to do some math while

[2:07:57] I'm Ying about which way direction we're

[2:07:59] going to go we can do this if we had

[2:08:02] closed the meeting we wouldn't be able

[2:08:03] to

[2:08:04] reconsider uh so it would have been very

[2:08:07] interesting U what would happen

[2:08:15] um I need a motion to um reconsider the

[2:08:19] budget

[2:08:22] um so if we didn't do it we'd end up

[2:08:25] with a surplus of

[2:08:27] 5275 is that right

[2:08:30] or uh yeah uh uh well wait a minute

[2:08:35] um we just end up with a surplus

[2:08:39] $5,000 yes yeah that's correct yes I I I

[2:08:42] vote for

[2:08:43] [Laughter]

[2:08:46] that okay so

[2:08:50] um uh let's see see uh so I guess I'd

[2:08:53] say do

[2:08:54] uh uh does

[2:08:57] anybody disagree with that does anybody

[2:08:59] want to bring a motion to reconsider and

[2:09:01] go back and fix things no you kind of

[2:09:05] had enough no okay well I think we've

[2:09:08] got a budget surplus this year they've

[2:09:11] done a good

[2:09:13] job I have a motion to adjourn it's been

[2:09:15] seconded it's not debatable all those in

[2:09:18] favor please signify by saying I I and

[2:09:21] oppos the eyes have it thank you all for

[2:09:24] coming please um leave the chairs uh

[2:09:27] they want they are going to take the

[2:09:28] custodians will take care of it um

[2:09:30] themselves and a note tomorrow voting is

[2:09:33] at the Town garage 7 a.m. to 700 p.m.

[2:09:37] we'll see you there

[2:09:52] go to

[2:10:20] page e

2025 Shaftsbury Town Meeting

Transcript