[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