---
title: "Stamford Select Board — October 17, 2024"
date: 2024-10-17
session: regular
speaker_labels: 1 cluster(s) named from the roll call and that meeting's chair in the minutes, 1 named from roster attendance, 6 of 8 clusters unnamed
voice_ids: {"SPEAKER_01":2,"SPEAKER_03":1,"SPEAKER_04":8,"SPEAKER_05":9,"SPEAKER_06":7,"SPEAKER_07":4,"SPEAKER_08":3,"SPEAKER_09":6}
duration_min: 49
audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z--JenlEMiw
audio_source: YouTube (@jgramlin78)
minutes: https://townofstamfordvermont.org/mediaItems/Sbd%20Minutes%2010-17-24.pdf
minutes_pending: false
present: [Nancy L. Bushika, Michael G. Denault, John Dunn, Kurt Gamari, Douglas Wright]
absent: []
transcribed: 2026-10-12 (faster-whisper large-v3, CUDA; names corrected per data/name_fixes.json)
diarization: pyannote/speaker-diarization-3.1 (automated; cluster labels may over-split a single voice; unattributed paragraphs have no reliable speaker)
---

# Stamford Select Board — October 17, 2024

**Session:** Regular · **Duration:** 49 min · [Audio](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z--JenlEMiw) · [Minutes](https://townofstamfordvermont.org/mediaItems/Sbd%20Minutes%2010-17-24.pdf)

**Present:** Nancy L. Bushika, Michael G. Denault, John Dunn, Kurt Gamari, Douglas Wright

---
**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands

one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** welcome to a meeting of the stamford select board because we have a matter to discuss that is not included on the agenda and do so by addressing the chairperson and stating your name and address you'll notice that all our meetings are recorded and this is the stage of the summarization of amendments visitors are welcome and we allow five minutes of comments for visitors and 15 minutes to talk discussions will be held in a calm and civilized manner and respectful of others select board members present are will there be any adding items or removing items from tonight's agenda where are you will there be any adjustments to the agenda such as changing the order of items keep it like this and jeb is recording tonight's meeting for his youtube video

**Speaker 1:** all right hearing of visitors i'd like to start there jim simpson bella grove stamford um i want to bring up the uh denial of the permit for the sign out front okay i did some research um and i've notified some of you guys already and we and the planning commission have done extensive research um i'm not saying that we're here as a planning commission we're here as wanting you guys to get informed of the actual law there is no law on our books or even on the state books that refer to a setback on science well that's not true well okay wait a minute oh god i'm just doing this talking wait a minute what it says it refers to the state refers to as long as the sign is not in the right of way of the state okay footage is not mentioned as far as that goes in our bylaws it's not mentioned anyway could be an oversight by us when we were doing this we there was nowhere in the senate but keep in mind people who want to put up signs businesses and things like that have to go to the planning commission first anyways first for a plan in which at that time guidelines would be put on when i said months ago that the municipality is exempt in this situation i meant it it's true we were then we found out when we are i'm going to let you talk about that but what i am saying is that our bylaws were written and i think some people here that were here during that period of time as far as the sign goes it was mentioned in when we were doing those the bylaws that the it was for signs with people that have a home business if they wanted to put a sign out we would you know make sure that they're the 12 square feet and there was no mention of setbacks right the setbacks is for construction for buildings it's in if we didn't write it in the bylaws then it has to fall into the state guidelines the state guidelines it says stay out of the right of way of the state highways municipalities are exempt if we don't have a bylaw an active bylaw for that which i'm saying we don't and as far as i'm concerned we don't have a bylaw that exempts or that does not exempt the town i don't think we do i think the current bylaw was written specifically for residential zones and back that up if you go into our bylaws you'll see that under every district it's mentioned signage residential rural and forest if it meant you know for for business would never find something there for conditional use it's not so what i'm saying in my opinion take it for what it is look you've seen the laws you you understand the laws now the setback end of it is out of it there's no 50 feet on the sign period so you're saying that what

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** i'm getting you're saying is maybe that when you redo the bylaws you may have to put something in there that says the sign setback and dimensions are for business residential municipalities and

**Speaker 2:** whatever else you want exempt yeah we would i think we would have to create some language

**Speaker 1:** but i've got some keys that we're going to have to go by but we have to create language to where first off we wouldn't set those standards we'd leave it up to the planning commission and site plan i think that's probably the language we do for business but um in my opinion this this because of the fact where our bylaws are read and i know what we are the lct had mentioned and i read it and i do believe that we would win that in court by all means but we don't have to because we're only worried about the setback so because the sign is the sun the state signs it says 64 feet so i think we better fix our guy 64 square feet so i think we should probably well as everybody knows there's no billboard that was the reason for all that but municipalities now keep in mind this law that i'm referring to that you guys are aware of now was written it's the same one that dave taylor of i-5 when putting up the street signs it falls under the same if you read it it falls under that same thing stop signs street signs all of that they fall under that same chapter and section so again that's their right of way so they can put the signs right down the road but they do refer to municipalities and so on that they can't be in the right of way on the road

**Speaker 3:** in this particular case so i'm going to leave it to you so what

**Speaker 4:** i've been sent in i don't know late spring or whatever just kind of verified what i've been thinking for a long time for years that municipalities should be exempt for such things not according to the attorney sorry that's what that's my next phase so why a why did our attorney who we spent a decent amount of money on not know this that's the way i feel you get

**Speaker 1:** you get you give attorney's information they they you know supposedly they're supposed to do the big But according to our law, I would agree that one could say exactly what the attorney here at the LCT said. I can see where they would say that. But I know what we were doing for two years sitting in that room. And the discussion was all about houses and home business and stuff like that. Because we knew that there would be a site plan and the planning commission would be setting the standards. Not us. Not in the residential district. We can't set a standard alone for that. The planning commission has to have a site plan. It's got to fit that purpose.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** So I'm in favor of all the exemptions and I disagreed with the attorney at the time. I will disagree today.

But there's new light brought up today. The new light that was brought up today, and I didn't see it myself,

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** is we don't... We don't have a written by-law on setback. So if we go back to the state right-of-way 25 foot, that's what we just mentioned, and I did see that right-of-way. Not setback, but right-of-way. Where the sign was, the second sign was, and now this new sign we want to be. I don't even see why we have voters on board now.

**Speaker 5:** We should not be denied. Seriously.

**Speaker 1:** So the denial, if I understand the denial, was for setbacks. Am I correct on that?

**Speaker 6:** On this particular one, yes.

**Speaker 1:** Okay, so that's nil and several. Would you agree that it's nil and what, based on the law that you have now?

**Speaker 6:** Well, I did call Jean because I felt that the decision that was made at the time was based on the 50 foot setback, and it was from the attorneys, from the BLCT. I'm going to be honest with you. I was three months into the job. I was still, I wanted to dot every I across every T. So my information was gleaned from the authorities, which I'm supposed to do. They're the ones that told me specifically, if there is not an ordinance in your bylaws that exempts municipalities, then you must follow your bylaws. So the bylaws, residential, 50 feet. Now, looking back on it, it does say 50 foot front yard, which designates if you really, you have to dig into it, and you have to really go down the rabbit hole, but 50 foot from a building. So a sign is a structure, technically, but it's not a building. So where does that sign find?

**Speaker 7:** Are you telling me that,

**Speaker 1:** you're telling me that the sign, it's my five minutes, I mean.

**Speaker 8:** Well, I don't want to argue back and forth.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** No, I'm just saying,

**Speaker 1:** this, that right there, the attorney would have made that decision, right? And so if the attorney read the regulations, the attorney would have known that it's 50 feet for a building map or sign.

**Speaker 2:** Okay.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Bill Lee.

**Speaker 9:** Based on this understanding of the law, is it out of line to ask the ZBA to reconsider their decision on the original sign? Well, we have two violations. There's size limit two. Not related. If municipal signs are exempted. Well, that's,

**Speaker 10:** well, I thought you mentioned the,

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** the omission of the setback versus the- Nothing to do with the setback. Versus the bylaws of the size. And I don't know, would this exemption part of it though? I believe that it's exempt. Jim believes it's an exemption. But the attorney apparently didn't. So there's a tit for tat here. I agree with you. I think we should be able to go back and say we'll put up this sign.

**Speaker 9:** If our planning board had an interpretation and researched what the law is, and we find that the ZBA was in error of trying to enforce the local bylaw that doesn't apply, then their decision should be reversed and the sign should be restored.

**Speaker 4:** I was just gonna say, I was just gonna say, I was just gonna say before Phil spoke that you guys all see the new dilemma coming, right? In the sign wars.

**Speaker 11:** Yeah.

**Speaker 4:** So they'll just touch base on what the new dilemma is in the sign wars, right? So he's absolutely right. I mean, we had a sign that was perfectly legal when we took it down.

**Speaker 12:** I think the ZBA and the AO went by what was written in our bylaws.

**Speaker 4:** Yeah, but based on what we know now.

**Speaker 12:** What we know now, so I don't think we can

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** I personally think I personally think that the ZBA and the boards relied, and she just mentioned, she followed the authorities and the experts. We weren't sure. We voted to go to an attorney. The attorney says this, and geez, I'll tell you, if an attorney told me that, I'd be a little nervous too, especially if I'm the ZBA saying, hey, this is what the attorney said. And then VCLP, they said the same thing. I disagreed with them then, I disagree with them now, but now I'm looking and saying, at the very least, which I still would like the new sign, and that's just a personal opinion now, for the reason is this war, you just said, would be over. The new sign is going to make more sense because you see it both directions. I love the other sign, it's a beautiful sign, but I didn't think it was exactly perfect. But nevertheless, without that setback, I think we could go forward at least on this sign that we have now. The other one I'm not sure of yet.

**Speaker 9:** What I came to talk to you about to begin with regarding the sign was the possibility that unless somebody had really strong negative opinions, I would like to ask the school board if they would allow that sign to be placed on the wall behind the generator on the front of the school. It'll display it well, there's nothing but a big blank gray space.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** And I was also, when I read those laws, I interpreted this, and that's the problem, this interpretation is awful. We can go all the way to Supreme Court and I guess then it's over. But the interpretation of a sign on a building, there is nothing, there's nothing. So we can put that, that would be awesome,

**Speaker 9:** to put that there. Yeah, that's a good idea. We have several hundred dollars left in the grant funding, the community funding, to pay for us putting it there.

**Speaker 10:** Right.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** And I don't think, I think bringing the school in out of respect is one thing, but I don't think we have to ask permission.

**Speaker 9:** I don't think either, but I don't want to get involved in a joint control.

**Speaker 13:** Right, right, right. Lisa, I have a question. I just want to say that 50 feet comes from the letter that you sent to the lawyer. I think that she was using the letter. Right. So I think the lawyer's just going on trusting that you said that we had 4.4 was a 50 foot second.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Understandable. And it was. But he should have went and asked for a by-law. But he never asked. You're right, you're right. But he is an attorney. He should have sent a by-law.

**Speaker 14:** One of the reasons I voted to go

**Speaker 4:** for a lawyer to begin with is because I've always been under the mindset that municipalities should be exempt from such things. And I thought it was an open and shut case form. I didn't think it was Yeah, you wanted an argument in the other direction. Right, exactly. I just wanted it to nail the case shut

**Speaker 11:** and be done with it the whole time.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Well, whatever's happening, the zoning board of adjustment will meet on Tuesday, November 12th. It's already advertised. It's in the paper. You gotta go forward with it.

**Speaker 9:** I intend to ask the school board this coming Tuesday.

**Speaker 1:** Do you feel that this

**Speaker 13:** Lisa, I just want to say that we do have a 12 square foot by-law ceiling plates because under the sign law it says residential or any other building. So we are still constrained through the 12 square feet.

**Speaker 15:** That, I have no problem with that.

**Speaker 16:** But for the sign,

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** if you put it on the building, that's how much I want Bill's top. I'm going back to

**Speaker 1:** The third sign. Right. Yeah. The new sign.

So, yeah. John's sign.

**Speaker 13:** It's 12 square feet. So there's no square foot by-law ceiling. Which is So in all extent, Jim and I, we've talked for hours and we disagree with one another. But I don't see that that's what's so important. Yeah. I don't think that I don't think that it represents us as a town. I think we need to make the ordinance. Yes. We need to do right to by-law. And I think to both opinions, I think we need to have another sign. Because I think the canon word we're talking about, if you put up John, no offense to John, this person, he took down the sign. John denied the new sign. John puts up the new sign. You're going to have the same situation in town for a third time.

**Speaker 17:** So John,

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** I don't think John brought it. I don't think John designed the sign. I think they just came with some samples that the board voted on. Yeah, you guys kind of changed it. Which never happened with the other sign. And I assist the sign, so I'll take it. No, never did that design

**Speaker 18:** come in front of us.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Not that exact. Absolutely not. Not what they put out there. Absolutely not.

**Speaker 19:** But at least one similar to it.

**Speaker 4:** I mean, all this is great, but that is the canon. Yeah. So this is

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** The canon's over.

**Speaker 4:** The canon's over.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** So anyway,

**Speaker 4:** Tuesday, November 12th. We're going to be writing the guidelines. Through the chair.

**Speaker 20:** Deb,

**Speaker 1:** would you agree now that the setbacks are not an issue now? Can we move on? I'm sorry, through the chair to Deb. Yeah,

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** okay. Will that,

**Speaker 1:** now that you know what you know now, would you, is it still denied because of setbacks? Because that's the only reason. That was my question. You know,

**Speaker 6:** I think that's

**Speaker 1:** the only reason that I would agree. I think that's

**Speaker 7:** the only reason

**Speaker 6:** that I would agree with. I think that's the only reason that's why I called Jane today because of this very reason. Do we not go forward with this EVA? She has asked if we still go through. She says, let it be. Let us meet. We will all determine as a group. Who's Jane?

**Speaker 21:** Jane Kirkland. Yeah, I say Chair. Chair.

**Speaker 6:** I say we wait

**Speaker 21:** this long. Let's go another month.

**Speaker 6:** I would not. Do it in the spring if we got it. Let's do it right in the spring. I would say if we were going more deeply into it now, I would have to say if we weren't all just under this assumption that it was a 50 foot setback for a sign, which we all were, it would be open to interpretation and I would have the authority to approve it. So, yeah. But, I still, I wish we could come to a different agreement on certain things on how to identify the school. I mean, we're going to have to, I'm not crazy with the 12 square foot sign. I'm going to be honest with you. I think it's impugnant. I think as a board, you have the authority to, in the beginning, you could have done something

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** about the original sign. I do too, but then we went through the process and we were denied, denied, denied. So,

**Speaker 22:** if we go through

**Speaker 6:** the process again and you ask me, would I have denied it if I was the AO that verbally approved it? And I said, I would have had to deny it so it would have

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** gone through the proper process. But right now,

**Speaker 6:** you would still deny

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** oversize. Oversize? That's what I'm saying. So, you just say

**Speaker 6:** 12 square foot's too small so we can't go back. You can as a board and we could wait until the spring,

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** we could wait until the summer and then you can go back

**Speaker 6:** to the board and you're not saying today. No, can't happen today. I just understood the point. Sorry, can't happen today.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** I thought you meant we could do it right now. My thought is we're going to do it in the winter.

**Speaker 4:** Get that signed up on the bill and we'll do something after this is done and if they say yes, it could be snored out. We don't know.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I don't know that I agree

**Speaker 4:** with that. We're probably talking about it. I just don't think

**Speaker 13:** that would help. Well,

**Speaker 23:** it says any sign

**Speaker 4:** other than residential. I agree with that. There should be some upper limits

**Speaker 13:** and maybe lower limits of signing. It doesn't say

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** that in the Bible

**Speaker 13:** and all it says is anything that's not residential 12 square feet. And that's basically

**Speaker 1:** where I was when I said the fact that this is something that we need

**Speaker 24:** to take up

**Speaker 13:** as a planning commission and spell it out. I've spoken to the Department of the LCT and we can only go by with the state if you think it exempts us if we didn't have a by-law.

**Speaker 25:** We do have

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** a by-law. Okay, any other visitors,

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** questions? One more thing,

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I guess.

**Speaker 26:** I'm not going

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** to talk about the sign ever again. I would like to recommend and this is I know this board has talked about this and I recommend that your next planning board you actually you all have the information that you feel you have. Bring it up, make a motion, stop kicking it down the road and change that ordinance. That's the best that you guys and your board.

**Speaker 27:** No.

**Speaker 6:** No.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** No. No.

**Speaker 6:** No. They approve

**Speaker 28:** then we approve

**Speaker 29:** and then it has

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** to be 60 days. 60 days.

**Speaker 30:** 60 days.

**Speaker 20:** Public hearing.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Yeah. Public hearing. Yeah. So anybody that wants to approve Yes. Okay. And then after Lori, after it's approved by select board then they have 60 days in the waiting period to make sure

**Speaker 13:** it's not anybody who should contest.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Okay. I think that it's been talked I think we got as much information as we can

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** in the last couple of minutes. Okay. Reading and approval of records and orders. Regular minutes of October 3rd and the emergency meeting of October 15th. I don't see that on here. Oh. I haven't

**Speaker 31:** Oh.

**Speaker 9:** Final one.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** You have the final

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** one.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Motion on

**Speaker 26:** October 3rd.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Second.

I'm sorry. I don't know what I'm going to

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** do. I'm sorry. I'm not sure what I'm going

**Speaker 20:** to

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** do. I'm going to go to the emergency meeting and I'm going to get things done as fast

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** as I can.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay.

Thank you. And so I want to thank

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** you all for

**Speaker 6:** being here with me. Thank you all for

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** being

**Speaker 6:** with me today. I

**Speaker 29:** you can ask dave and yeah yeah i'm sure you guys have all seen it yeah i just think it would present

**Speaker 27:** help 10 buildings are they get scratched and rusted yeah yeah so it would be

**Speaker 6:** how they would be able to prolong their life right yeah a little bit of prevention

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** and i think i haven't heard if the doors were in yes but uh dave is working on getting some new panels on the garage door because the bottom panels are rusted out so he's working on that okay recycling discussion review and revised highway ordinance um i don't think lori had time to do that it was crazy but then again what jim said when we were talking about bylaws dave lori and i were reviewing them the other day and we were looking at the highway ordinances why is this in here what were they thinking of at that time why did they put this language in here so you see what happens with the sign nobody thought about a municipal sign step back yeah well we were doing highway ordinance and we said why is this part and there was something about the highway i think they're written in the 80s uh yeah and they were got reviewed in the 12th and right now this is review check yeah the science they would never

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** came up before they changed yourself that's right that committee was trying to do something nice you know and then like i said it was a nice sign they were trying to do something nice and it backfired it would never came up you know that's my opinion i mean just that's why when you're you know like you said we looked at it a hundred times we didn't see that it didn't happen you know hey you know it is rigorous and that's why it's

**Speaker 26:** recommended but that's why you look at it to review our borders

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** every so many years to bring them up to date that what happened five years ago is not current

**Speaker 1:** actually in that same uh law that you're just referred to with the transportation trans department of transportation there's uh language in in there for all municipal buildings to be marked by signs in a town right you have to pass yep i saw that highway highway department

**Speaker 32:** product it's all under that same family

**Speaker 33:** word informational or directional all that stuff all the other signs would probably be

**Speaker 11:** fine there was something real special about this it was yeah yeah yeah okay um that's all we have

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** under discussion we can bring it up next meeting laurie will have the highway or revisions to the highway ordinance that were just minor things and they would want to get something about the definition of the trail and that was why we were starting this and there was a couple other road name changes like it says old county road and now it's brown work road correspondence um errors and emissions certificate lauren so um they didn't realize

**Speaker 20:** when they finalized the grant list the stamford volunteer fire department's value was increased but the exemption wasn't increased so it wound up with a almost 300 000 taxable value

**Speaker 34:** um so that error was hot we could use that money to pay for the fire truck

**Speaker 20:** um so there's an error errors and emissions certificate that needs to be signed just to um this is for the lister grand list for our grand list so i'll do on the right hand side because the exemption was made to match the value and when they got the value they didn't appreciate that change thank you dad job just for review with sign on the top or initial on the top do you have any reason to want to keep a file with those copies or is this just for review and i mean the originals are in the drawer um copies are in the files do you want to have a separate select word file copy or once

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** you see them you're going to go i think i'm good you have the copies here they're recorded if anyone wants to go back and look at them they're all recorded in the land

**Speaker 29:** records so planning commission also now has a file yeah yeah i know they've been wanting yep

**Speaker 6:** we're just you have a little it's on i'll show you afterwards but you have a um basket ideally i'd love to see them on our website town's doing that but

**Speaker 20:** do you want that on the website too or are you just content to

**Speaker 4:** i have no problem with somebody wants to put them on the website that's more work for somebody but don't skin off my right now right now i think i'd be i mean it's

**Speaker 6:** not a bad idea but i don't know i don't care it's just making copies for people to throw away you know you can see them on our website that's all save your trees not necessarily

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** old business

**Speaker 20:** the fire truck commercial loan um i've completed the application there are numerous places where you as a board need to sign or just nancy needs to sign um there is one spot where the signatory has to provide a bit more information than everyone else one of the things that the bank wants is a formal motion from the board designating one of you to be the signatory for the loan and then the closing documents so for the application and all the loan

**Speaker 35:** documents that would be motion to make nancy dashika designated signer

**Speaker 13:** so i'm writing on your truck now

**Speaker 6:** all in favor

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** right you signed over a couple million so far

**Speaker 20:** okay so one two three four someone gets to be on the bottom on the on the back you can see you in this one i got a lot of weird information that if you just want to wait till tomorrow to sign and yeah or if you want to do it yeah i don't have my license number

**Speaker 9:** when does the truck come well broadly as an aside i was going to say this is the documentation the expectation is the truck will be at the viewer's site by thanksgiving and that we

**Speaker 36:** should have possession the first week of december all lettered up and everything or not yet yeah

**Speaker 9:** whatever it's within the lettering is in the specs for the trust that's not understood hopefully they

**Speaker 36:** spell stamford correctly how did that happen we didn't they never failed before so right

**Speaker 37:** you hate to give them back the door and ask them to realize why this is the um

**Speaker 9:** something interesting we found while we were dealing with insurance because all the truck renewal and the building renewal insurance has come up for the beginning of the year and they have a reference to the trucks being insured for modified actual cash that cash value it's not the and there's no definition he used to be full right so i called the ltd to find out what this modified means in the event that we lose a vehicle entirely or david does they will replace it with like vehicles best they can age condition etc in the event that there is nothing available to replace it with they will replace it with a new one just so we know terms but they listed four or five different terms that then showed up on the schedule but the one that they cited for our truck was not one of the terms that they defined so in in keeping with that theme

**Speaker 20:** i wanted to review your totals for the insurance policy reading for 20. they have the compactor for 8308 we have the town garage property value at 562 432 with a content value of 70 400. our dog kennel forty nine hundred dollars our salt shed one hundred and twenty seven thousand three hundred and uh just the contents of the town office thirty five thousand um what were they last year are they the same increased they are all up by it's all it's all changed it's all online and you can't see papers like you used to before and i didn't pull them they had an automatic

**Speaker 9:** inflation percentage that they have applied because we found suddenly the firehouse was covered for 725 000 which wasn't what we set it for but it's what they had incremented over the last few years two percent there two percent three percent there and of

**Speaker 37:** course if you go out look at building supplies for the cost of a house and the lct has set these

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** prices right so they're okay they're taking into account inflation yeah they know what we have here and our equipment oh well our trucks are different cool do we need a motion so the trucks are

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** different right that's that's how that's good yeah yeah hold down the listing of all the vehicles um

**Speaker 20:** our passive grant uh dave and i put in for an eyewash station at the at the garage it was one of the recommendations when the passive guy came through that we have one they kicked it back and said it's not enough you need to put in at least four hundred dollars worth of stuff um so then we went and submitted another one for next at sign and some other things he had on his list and again um the eyewash station didn't come with the eyewash that you need for it so now we'd like to submit for a third run and maybe this time they'll accept it and be happy with it so nancy if you want to sign right there it's now 621 dollars so it's 50 50. not that much

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** not that much two hundred three

**Speaker 20:** okay

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** eyewash lighting room oh yeah we do need the stuff for that the stuff to put in it so it won't fly without the stuff and that's working on dave's list too on the recommendations that the lct said we should be right right that's great i look forward to compliance with insurance all right okay old business ность we're going out for the town at nine o'clock this afternoon yeah one of the dogs one of the four dogs died yep and we have two owners with three dogs one came in late this afternoon good so now we just had two dogs and a vet appointment yes and luke did confirm with the vest but he doesn't have an appointment so yeah almost the end of the ear Lori, anyone take advantage of the DV Fiber grant for low-income?

**Speaker 20:** I have had a resident ask for an application. Okay, good.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Has it come back yet? Didn't we put on there that it has to be back to us by a certain date? That's what I was thinking, too.

**Speaker 9:** When it comes back, Lori, let me know, because DV Fiber has two fellows who have gone out to evaluate those kind of requests.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay. I think it's got to come before Select Board Executive Session. Didn't you say we were going to review it as they came in?

**Speaker 20:** Yep.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** And that's just for the installation? Yes.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Yes. Well. I think it could go for something. I'm not sure.

**Speaker 6:** Okay. To get, yes.

**Speaker 9:** What we were thinking of beyond installation.

**Speaker 6:** Oh, assistance with monthly.

**Speaker 36:** No.

**Speaker 6:** Okay.

**Speaker 9:** No. No, it's installation including if, and we considered that if beyond conduit that was running. Right. If there was an additional $175 flat charge that they make for locating it further away in the house from the entrance point.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Any other old business that you can think of? I love it.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** I love it. I want to talk about this sign.

**Speaker 26:** No more.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** You said no more. Yeah. I don't. I don't know why I'm doing it. I don't. Now, you know we're going to talk. Talk on your break, though. All right. Talk. No.

**Speaker 9:** No. No.

**Speaker 20:** No.

**Speaker 9:** All right.

**Speaker 12:** New business. You want us to sign for this break?

**Speaker 4:** New business. I want to talk. Can't make a parchment spot for the flat board. Hey, why don't we just talk about this sign. Okay.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Okay. I was thinking about this sign. It's about $175. Hey, when we come here during the day, we don't make y'all that because we're parked out there.

**Speaker 6:** You know what you should put out there? It's just something that says, here's your sign. Here's your sign!

**Speaker 21:** The flowers are where the sign used to be. They're kind of, you know, at some point somebody's going to have to cut them and get them ready for the winter. I don't know if the lawn guy, is that something he can do? If he's done for a year? And then the bushes in front of the school here, they seem to be kind of high. Especially over, like, where I remember, like, what, the first grade classroom was? You can't even see the windows anymore. The bushes are above the windows. Is that something we can have evaluated?

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** I would like to know, can our janitor do these type of things? We'll use the janitor or a maintenance manager. I guess at one time... I haven't lived here that long, but I remember janitors doing more than just cleaning the floors.

**Speaker 10:** That's a different person who did twice the amount of work that he was contracted for on a volunteer basis.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** I'm not from up here, I was from Clarksburg, and I remember the same thing in Clarksburg. Phil Foster was a janitor, and he mowed the lawn, and he cut the bushes and all that, you know. But I guess that you could throw it back and say to the school, hey, can you do this?

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Well, I think the flowers... I think the flowers made it through last winter.

**Speaker 38:** I don't know if anything's got to be done.

**Speaker 21:** They just fall on the ground, and they're just going to be there. If there are any Alzheimer's there, they probably should be trimmed back. Yeah, just cut them back a little bit.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Anybody know how to do that? Read like her. Just take a bunch of...

**Speaker 4:** I'm just playing. Why can't the janitor do some of this? Why can't the janitor do some of this stuff? I mean, I'm ready to do it. But then again, I'm going to be in danger all over again because we're, like, talking about the janitor job description again. Yeah. You know, like, I don't know what it is. But some of these things should be just done, whether they're in the description or not.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** I hate to bring this up, but just like you said, there was men that worked here, people that worked here, that went above and beyond to call a duty, right? So I guess you would call that volunteering, right? So I'm a slot man. Can I come down and cut that tomorrow? Or do we have to worry about insurance? Yeah, right. So am I covered as a select board member under the insurance? I mean, if I do something right now, I get up and I trip and knock you over. I mean, is it... Our town covers that stuff. Why can't I come down tomorrow and go, It's done. You know, this drives me nuts of this worrying so much about, you know, being sued. Right. My ability. And I know it's a real thing in the world, but it shouldn't be. We should be able to volunteer our time. Martin has said, hey, painting party. Oh, heaven forbid, we'll get up on a ladder and go paint that building. But why not? That's why none of the... I'll sign a damn waiver that says if I hurt myself or anyone else, I'm liable. I'll sign it. A waiver is a good idea. You know, geez, it's just crazy.

**Speaker 6:** It is crazy. You know? Well, Pam planted them without signing a waiver. Exactly.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I can't use them. Well, she was on the committee that...

**Speaker 11:** I mean, you can cut them down for something.

**Speaker 33:** Yeah.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** She wants to enforce them. That's the committee's nonsense. I don't know. Right. All you got to do is get a committee for groundbreaking. I guess here's my thing. If I go cut them down, I want you to enforce whatever you have for a law to stop me. Go ahead. I'm cutting them down. So I go down here tomorrow, I start cutting them down. Who's going to stop me? Right? And who's going to sue me later? Oh, geez. You're kicking me to court to cut down flowers? Okay. Just don't pull your back out or cut yourself or anything.

**Speaker 4:** I don't care. I'm not going to sue you.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** I don't know. I'll never sue you. I hear you.

**Speaker 4:** I'd fall off the ladder up on the beach and probably try to get back up and do it again. I've got two plates in my mouth. I'm good.

Yeah.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** No, I hear you.

It's just that it's something that's lost in all of it.

**Speaker 4:** It is.

It's a pain in the ass. If it works, then probably your job is to care about some of it. I personally think you should ask a janitor or a school kid to do that. Yeah.

**Speaker 4:** Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just because, like you said, maybe they'll say, yeah, that's a great idea.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** If they don't, let me know. Now, at least do the flowers. I mean, I don't know about the bushes. I can come down with a hatchet or something. No. Maybe this is tall or orange or yellow things. They just need to be cut down. Next year, they're going to grow back. Yeah. And in the meantime, you're going to die in this land there. And in the spring, you're going to look like you're not going to be either. Are they junipers? Watch this. Are they junipers? Yeah. Are they junipers?

**Speaker 21:** Yeah. Are they junipers? Yeah. Are they junipers? Yeah. Are they junipers? Yeah.

They're going to die. Yeah. They'll die.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Yeah. Boy, they'll die.

**Speaker 12:** You're going to die. You're going to die. You're going to die. Yeah. Look, as long as you don't get juniper ash. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** So, that'll really stick out behind Casey's window out there. That would be bad. Yeah. Yeah. What about the tree and the boxes? What do you mean?

There's a box in the side?

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** If you don't go out, you'll water the flowers out front, right? Mm-hmm.

**Speaker 4:** I mean, you water the flowers, there's an extension cord, it comes down. From the Christmas tree. That's right. Yeah.

Yeah.

**Speaker 33:** Do it. Do whatever it takes to get through this.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** It looks like they need to do it. The boss tells you to do something else? I'll give you that later. Bye, boss.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Anything else you have to do about this?

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** I'm sorry. I don't know if we got an answer on that. Yeah.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Mic's off. Okay. I have a motion to go into executive session for legal matters.

**Speaker 9:** Hola.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Oh.

**Speaker 9:** I have a question. You've had executive sessions for legal matters for six months? Yeah. At least the last three or four?

**Speaker 37:** Yeah.

**Speaker 9:** When you resolve this legal matter, are you going to let the public know what you've been doing?

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** It'll become part of the record. Yeah. It will become part of the...

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** They're not all the same legal matters.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Two legal matters. But they will become part of the record in the open meeting.

**Speaker 9:** Okay. Because so far, when you've left executive session, you've made no statement about whether you made a decision or whether it's continuing. There's nothing... Nothing's been made about it.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** We have come out of the executive session back to regular meeting and said that we came out and no decision was made.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** No decision.

**Speaker 9:** We have done that every single time. But when you make a decision, we'll let you know.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Mm-hmm. Okay.

Second, a motion. Okay. All right.