--- title: "Stamford Select Board — September 18, 2025" date: 2025-09-18 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_02":6,"SPEAKER_03":9,"SPEAKER_04":3,"SPEAKER_05":5,"SPEAKER_06":7,"SPEAKER_07":12,"SPEAKER_08":2,"SPEAKER_09":1} duration_min: 61 audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lR6406V7hoJuGAU1T1_7rs9u3VcUQLJa/view?usp=sharing audio_source: town drive minutes: https://townofstamfordvermont.org/mediaItems/Sbd%20Minutes%209-18-25.pdf minutes_pending: false present: [Nancy L. Bushika, Douglas Wright, Michael G. Denault, John Dunn] absent: [Kurt Gamari] transcribed: 2026-09-04 (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 — September 18, 2025 **Session:** Regular · **Duration:** 61 min · [Audio](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lR6406V7hoJuGAU1T1_7rs9u3VcUQLJa/view?usp=sharing) · [Minutes](https://townofstamfordvermont.org/mediaItems/Sbd%20Minutes%209-18-25.pdf) **Present:** Nancy L. Bushika, Douglas Wright, Michael G. Denault, John Dunn **Absent:** Kurt Gamari --- We're reading to the President of the United States of America, **Speaker 1:** 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. If you have a matter to discuss that is not included on the agenda, you may do so by addressing the chairperson and stating your name and address. You will notice that all our meetings are recorded, and this is to aid with the summarization of the minutes. Visitors are welcome, and we allow five minutes of comments per visitor and 15 minutes per topic. Discussions will be held in a calm and civilized manner and respectful of others. Select board members present are... **Speaker 2:** Michael G. Denault, Nancy Bushika, Douglas Wright, John Dunn. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Will there be any adding of items or removing of items from tonight's agenda? I have additional correspondence. And I want to add a dog update. And will there be any adjustments to the agenda, such as changing the order? I don't think so. And our meeting is being recorded tonight for Jeb's YouTube video hearing of visitors. **Speaker 3:** I just would like to say something. We attended the all-boards meeting. What was that, last week? We got to listen to Paul H. here talk about the Volunteer Firemen. I believe Mike has discussed this too in past meetings. Sixteen members at the Volunteer Firemen. Six of us. Six of which are from out of town, leading ten local firemen. All, I believe, at the age of, what, 50 and above. Somewhere Bill could probably chime in and give you more information. I think the average age is 45. Yeah, those were the active members. So, it is important to have, Paul has stated, younger people coming up. I know it's hard getting a high school kid or a college kid involved because they go out to get educated and then they're out on their lives. And they're not volunteers anymore. So, I know this goes out to the public YouTube video or whatever it may be. If there's any residents in town or anybody that's close by in town that is interested in becoming a Volunteer Fireman, I would suggest reaching out to Paul, Ethier, or any other active members and see what you can do to get involved if you're interested. Because it's important to keep that program going. Any Monday night at 7, Firehouse. **Speaker 4:** Thank you, John. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** We talked a lot about that from that past meeting and before that. One of the things I brought up is the residents, and I'm not saying they're sitting back, but residents don't realize how important it is. Not only is it important, of course, by the obvious things, but if you don't have a Volunteer Fireman in your town and you have to reach out to another town or pay, I mean, your insurance changes. And I just went through that with that new property down there. Because of the rating that the fire department has, it was difficult to get fire insurance. If we didn't have one at all, it would be impossible. So, we also have to think about down in the future, it's going to impact our taxes. I read an article, I was talking with Paul, and I can't remember who wrote it, but it said in the article, he made a statement, he says, I believe that the last volunteer fireman, has already been born in the country. Think about that. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** It's about 20 years. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** So, if, and that's it. That's how everybody, it's not just Stamford, Vermont, every person in the, or every volunteer fire department in the country is going this way. And you're right, the age is, 47 is pretty young, because I think Adam's now at 57. So, it's getting tough. You know, it's a lot harder than it was back in the day. And that's one of the other things, it's very time consuming. So, hopefully we can get some younger people, and it is very important. I'm glad John brought it up. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay, reading and approval of records and orders. The orders are going around. Regular minutes of September 4th. Can I have a motion to accept them as written? **Speaker 3:** Motion. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Second? Second. All in favor? **Speaker 5:** Aye. **Speaker 3:** Free. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Second. **Speaker 6:** Reflight. **Speaker 7:** Okay. Highway update. Give an update, what I originally asked a couple weeks ago regarding the sidewalk that was out of my house that I contacted the state, the state in return contacted Dave, and then the state said, I can do whatever I want. They're not going to take responsibility for it. But I'd have to hire somebody to be out on the road, some like that, to take out the stuff. But, to me, me somebody's got to take responsibility for the sidewalk so i i mean i would if you got if the town of stafford won't remove that sidewalk is it possible for the town to write something that says we are not responsible for this and we're not going to do anything about this so that i can then in return like somebody's got to take responsibility because when i i said okay if the state's not taking responsibility then you don't have a right away in the front of my house and it goes well and give it like all day and it's your son that's your sidewalk so i mean i just i know that it was there prior to it was abandoned so let's say but i mean i'm not going to spend the money to but it is a hazard i mean at some point somebody would have to take responsibility i just again it's just it's a bad section of sidewalk and the last two visible sections are in front of my house and in front of the island house i mean it wouldn't be nothing to just dig it up and even run the ground you don't even have to put dirt in there i guess unless they're like really deep you know **Speaker 8:** what i mean they're just kind of like great enough i mean why if it was never ours why do we take **Speaker 9:** responsibility for it dave that's the thing if you start doing it they're going to say you're **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** working in within the state right away and you need a permit yeah so it's a and you're not yeah i mean i dug a ditch close to this highway and they stopped and said something to me so i kept digging but i said i'm supposed to i mean i **Speaker 7:** just i guess my question is i would like to know if dave and the board can collectively write something that doesn't necessarily specify in my home but maybe both you know pieces **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** hazard and it needs to be the town the town's not responsible nor has the more do we have the funds to take **Speaker 6:** care of that i did re-contact aot just to yeah it just wasn't being kind of the response i got was that it was given off years ago when given back to the landowners that so so there's no so they they still have a right-of-way but they kind of right gave up the sidewalk i guess the maintenance sure did of course that's awesome that's the danger that i got from it but **Speaker 10:** well yes i'd be happy have them send something to us that would be good **Speaker 3:** because they have to be ripped out would you like bury it cover it up and just plant some topsoil i mean i know you can put this sticking up really high and so it's not **Speaker 7:** super hot it's flatter and more even in front of rodney's house my house is kind of more buried and kind of like there's pieces kind of **Speaker 11:** sticking up i got this in a massive like i mean i don't understand why he can't he can't fix it **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** it's like my driveway i grade my driveway it's a dirt driveway i start at the highway and i grade the driveway take care of it right if i didn't there'd be stone off my highway all the **Speaker 6:** time he told me i had to hire police and technically anytime you're working right away right i mean they usually don't i mean something like that and maintaining a driveway don't be **Speaker 6:** really stops right like they just appreciate you doing what you're doing **Speaker 12:** work as long as there's no issue and that's what i'm saying if you started doing it and see if **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** anybody says anything i mean i guess we could write a letter but it just doesn't make sense **Speaker 13:** you have to hire anybody if you're going to be just going down the side they're not going to **Speaker 3:** jump right on them anyways they're up on top of searsburg fix it and whatever they got going on up there and they're getting ready for winter if anything they probably won't get done until next year that's why i'm just like might as well keep dick pushing to see yeah so i don't know what i'm **Speaker 6:** going to do we want her to reach out we could have dave reach out first and see what they're saying and i don't know who else to reach out to him and i got the answer from the people i deal **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** with um if you want to go ahead and follow that no get it see he'll send you something send you **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** an email or something you want to set a letter because i prefer police what was the gentleman's **Speaker 7:** name uh patrick wilson yeah so i spoke to him he was the one that told me they gave it up so i don't know if it's in the pecking order of you know yeah first but i know he's the supervisor for this area in this area so um he was pretty much told me well you can do whatever you want just gotta hire a detail and i'm like so you gave up the right away and he was like well no but i go well then why aren't you maintaining the sidewalk it's a hazard then it was just kind of like a **Speaker 10:** useless kind of thing i can see if you're talking to him yeah my guess is he got his answer from **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** you yeah but i i can see if you were blocking the whole road to a higher detail but i mean just like the phone company or the internet guys they put a couple of cones yeah you know if you could put two cones there if you're working on a grand you know higher detail you're calling your law right that's what i'm saying we have a small excavator up there buried yeah i mean there's no gas pipes up there or anything there's no one in the ground I don't know how big the pieces actually are. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Maybe Rodney can help you. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** I mean, if you draw a letter up and you want us to send it, what you want to say, I wouldn't have a problem doing that. **Speaker 14:** Well, I'm just looking for them to ultimately say, again, we're not going to take care of it at that point. But I'd like to have them actually write it down. **Speaker 3:** Forfeit that section rather than a phone call. Just period. Yeah. Back truck up, dump some topsoil, spread it out, call 911. Mm-hmm. **Speaker 15:** It's easy. If you call the state rep, Cooper there, he also works at Madison County. He is an awesome resource. And then it's like, you want an answer, he'll give it to you in, like, 15 minutes. He'll make the phone calls. **Speaker 15:** He's the one that got all the information I need. The whole study down that sidewalk, it was supposed to be a larger project. And then it got truncated. I don't know what it is because the rest of it wasn't feasible at the time. Yeah. But I came on that one. **Speaker 6:** That property was already started when I started working with the town, so. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I think if they went down south more, you were going into people's septic and drainage and. **Speaker 7:** I was just wondering if they would continue it down to the bridge. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Yeah. You know what I mean? **Speaker 7:** Because I think, wasn't it going to Mill Road at one? **Speaker 16:** It was supposed to start at the bridge. **Speaker 1:** Bridge to Stevens Lane. Yeah. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Bridge to, further down, too. Down to probably Jepson. They were, because I knew in front of the couple houses down there. **Speaker 1:** I don't know whether they cut back, whether it was, they ran out of money or would refuse to match any more of it. Because it was re-estimated a few times. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** It was high. And it was a grant. Safe Routes to School, that got involved in it, too. What, to school? Nobody walks. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** They don't take the policy that their momma's in debt. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** So, Dave, see if you can get something in writing. All right. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Thank you. Thanks, Dave. Anything else on highway updates? No. So, Lori, as soon as we pay the bills for Allstate and get all done with that, we'll have to move the money before the end of the year from. Check with the auditor how to do it. Yep. That's it, Dave? Okay. Recycling, anyhow. You know. **Speaker 6:** Right. I'm a certain person now. I just kind of dabbled in the idea that we got our own roll-off truck. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** So, where do we, where does, I know we've gone down this road about. I don't know exactly where it goes now. Huh? **Speaker 6:** I don't know exactly where it goes. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Because we've gone down this road that Vermont's supposed to haul the Vermont, but I don't believe they are. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I got an answer probably a year ago. Right. Depends on the price. The tipping fee, the tipping fee upstate. Where do they tip now up? What's the landfill upstate? I don't know. There's one big landfill. Shasbury? No. There's one big landfill upstate. And depending on the price, it might go over to New York State and it might be shipped somewhere else. Right. Out of state. When they go back, a lot of the stuff goes to Pittsfield or out. Is that good? How it was closed. They closed Shasbury. Yeah. And they closed, um. **Speaker 7:** Shasbury. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Shasbury. **Speaker 7:** Shasbury. Shasbury. Shasbury. Shasbury. Shasbury. Shasbury. Shasbury. Shasbury. Shasbury. Shasbury. Shasbury. Shasbury. Shasbury. And they were blown off into uh. **Speaker 7:** They were going to Chicago. Yeah. I mean, ultimately they bought out everybody. Right. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** And it just closed everything down. Yeah, that's when we had to find out is where it goes. ãos looked for these. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** And it was just a cop. They told me it depends on the price on the tipping fee. **Speaker 6:** Where it is cheaper. Because. And there's some reliability kind of issues going on. I had scheduled early last week to have some dumpster work that was supposed to be done on Friday, getting it done. And they're over five. **Speaker 6:** They don't exist. **Speaker 17:** and we still have a small dumpster up there for recycling that yeah and they cannot bring **Speaker 18:** the right dumpster for recycling and that gets overfilled you know there's one up there it was **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** it must have been recycled because it was looking like every that was the demolition oh yeah that was it was ridiculous and i had called and the worst part is is that i was on the phone with **Speaker 6:** them for 45 minutes the other day to call them back to say hey you never came so like i said when it was ham i would call the number and they would pick up and i'd say i'm made from **Speaker 16:** okay thanks two minutes i think it was actually 48 minutes 48 minutes is irritating in the service i think we're something we've signed a contract **Speaker 6:** at least that's how it used is there competition no there's no i and the compost i think it's 360 or 70 dollars every time they call that thing **Speaker 3:** not compost has to stay in town and once a week right no oh everything's supposed to stay in state **Speaker 6:** it's all about the numbers and we got to see where it has to go **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** to go to the **Speaker 6:** turn a thousand dollars a year or something silly like that yeah c **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** and that we couldn't call this company cause that was **Speaker 14:** uh the only other company that is out there that will haul dumpsters is w right now that's what i **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** need to try to how you guys business is significant so can we use demolino well two out of the three containers are ours so we're going to use demolino so can we use demolino well two out of the three containers are ours so i'm i guess if we're going to use the demolino so we're going to use demolino demolino **Speaker 6:** demolino demolino demolino **Speaker 12:** so i don't see why not right we should talk to them and just say what would you do what are you **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** able to do out of stamford and let's just say uh they don't do compost well there's a guy that does compost out of adams he'd be more involved you know we could look at more than one because let's **Speaker 12:** still do the compost even though we don't have that's out of states i don't know that's what **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** i'm wondering but so is it because they're right they they're holding on to tam and it's just in name only so right and they're taking it out of states yeah it's actually it's leaves to say they **Speaker 3:** didn't keep it right right we know that it's not yeah the only thing the only thing i can say would be if you with double email would be the number of people they have able to load those because when i was doing my house they had one guy that was able to pick dumpsters at the time right and so they're all over the place and so within the 48 hours that i don't know you know what i mean yeah i don't know but i know **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** that they will lock those asking them yeah we could just yeah call it call them up and say hey can you do the things that this guy's doing and well they probably can't at the moment because we just hired their grow off right right **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** and uh lori's got a you and laurie report this to the state so they might look at that and say where is this going **Speaker 9:** because they don't understand we let definitely all come into this town privately all over the **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** place what's the difference if we they pick our stuff up it doesn't make sense to me you hire them to handle it properly right enough yeah yeah yeah that's kind of taking them out their monopolies are against the laws **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** yeah maybe i'll start when they're coming back okay thank you dave um discussion update on sustainability of northern berkshire ambulance service survey did you find out anything so **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** during that meeting that we had paul answered our questions so i didn't reach out to john i felt that okay uh you were at the meeting paul um This year, we asked him about that, he was saying that this is a very, very beginning stages of the ambulance getting information, doing a report, feeling out different towns. They're not in any means right now looking to change anything. But the numbers that they were telling us, where they get, they bill out, they get about 40% to 60% of what they bill out. If they go and they're called, the ambulance is called to a house, and the person says, denies it when they get there, they get zero. They make most of their calls, North Adams Ambulance or whatever it's called, I don't know, Northern Berkshire. They get, most of their money comes from transports, hospital to hospital. Down the road, they're looking at trying to gain income other ways, and that would be one of the, one of the ways they were looking at it is, looking at towns, municipalities, and feeling, how would you want to go about a structure, whether it would be based on population or based on the number of calls. I said, well, if we fill out this report, are we locked into that? They said, absolutely not. My question, and I don't think Paul actually answered the question on this, and I apologize, I didn't, now that I'm thinking about it, I should have asked Johnny on this one, but, how do we know what to put down? What is a better deal? If we go population versus calls, I have no idea how many calls Stamford has in a year, and what they would charge versus if they use population. I have no idea. **Speaker 1:** Theoretically, if you do it by population, you get a fair responsibility, a fair contribution. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** And every year, it will probably be about the same amount. **Speaker 1:** And if you went on the basis of calls, it could be crazy one year and nothing would change. **Speaker 19:** Right, right. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** So, and we can change at any time. This is just for that student to do a survey. Yeah, he's doing a report. And that, they found that, he reached out to them, said, hey, I want to do that on this subject matter. They said, well, yeah, it's something we would like to get information for. Can we do this? So. We could fill out the report. If there's questions that you don't know or questions you don't want to answer, just don't answer, leave them blank. It's not locking us in, but we could put down population at this time. It's not going to cost us, right now, anything at all. It doesn't commit you to anything. But it kind of falls on the same thing with the volunteer fire department. They're looking into the future of what's going to happen, you know, 10 years, 20 years down the road with ambulance services, what's going to happen with fire departments, law enforcement, school systems, you know, everybody's getting older. And what's going to happen, so. But I wouldn't be, according to Paul, I wouldn't be afraid to fill it out. It's not something we're going to be locked into. I will, there's been some family things with Johnny, that's why I didn't really bother him. So I will reach out to him. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** So you don't want to fill it out yet? **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** No, I think we can. I don't see a problem with filling it out. **Speaker 4:** Based on population or based on? I would say population. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Based on population and previous year's call combination. I don't know how they figure all that out. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Just check population. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. And all it is, is a survey. **Speaker 4:** Yeah, for his thesis. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** A survey would have to go through. Can that be filled out without the town of Stamford's name on it? Just as an independent survey for a small town in Providence? **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** I don't know. I can ask that. We can ask that question. I mean, if there's any doubt. So then we go, oh, Stamford said this. **Speaker 4:** I think there is something in here. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** You could keep it private. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** I think I read something in here. **Speaker 4:** Yeah, there you go. **Speaker 7:** Yeah. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Yeah, it's just for him to make it in the report. It's all he's doing. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** He's digging up rocks and saying, this is what I found. Yeah. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Yeah, I think I read somewhere. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Eventually, it's going to go to, you know, eventually, there's either a state's going to have to pay for it and say, OK, we have a state-run system, or the taxes are going to pay for it. One or the other. Sure. Yeah. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** So one or the other. It says here, by completing this survey, you are consenting to your responses being included in the study. At your request, your identity will not be included. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Sure. There you go. That covers it. That covers everything. **Speaker 15:** If you did, I went to that meeting, too, and I did some kind of thinking about the **Speaker 1:** whole thing, too. And I think I'm on the same page as you. It doesn't mean nothing right now. And so we could do this survey and let the kid graduate and do his thing or get his PhD, whatever it is. But in the long run, this is not on us. And this is on the insurance companies. Sure. Ambulance companies. And you know what, though? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, looking at the program, what do you have more on the list? You have, you know, there was kind of a tutelage, pretty much anyиз remained apply. You know, we had to do a trial one all of the insurance companies, and if there was one that caught up, we had to do such-and-such. You know, that you had to, you know, deal, battle it up. Preferably, we're all gonna pay for it either way. They get paid. Okay. So because you don't have any insurance, my insurance companies, or I'm gonna have to, you know, pay, pay more, right? And vice versa, and I don't wanna sound like a trooper or anything like that. Sure. Yeah. Sure. Sure. Sure. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** I don't understand how an insurance company can charge us money, our premiums, and then tell us service, no we're not paying that. **Speaker 15:** Let me ask you a question. If you made a product and you had a whole bunch of this stuff, and you're just throwing it out the back window, and all of a sudden you've got a contract, and they're willing to pay you 60 cents on the dollar, how do you make up for that 40 cents? **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** I charge the guy next time more. **Speaker 15:** So he's only going to pay you 60%, not 100%. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** I bump my brains out. Right. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** I know. It's math. It's pretty easy. **Speaker 1:** You read the bill that comes back, whether it's Medicare or your insurance, so-and-so punches the bill, how much was approved by Medicare, and how much was paid. Right. And there's huge, obviously they're pumping up the price to begin with. **Speaker 20:** Yeah, of course they are. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** And then they're saying, we're not getting paid, but they are. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** But that is to make the insurance company say, hey, you've got to pay more. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** And they're also not telling us that they're in the red. They're sitting there saying, you know. The hospitals may be going in the red, but not the insurance company. Right, right. Okay. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** If you have any more questions, I can call. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I'll complete it with Lori. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** I mean, if you want, I can ask you. I can come here if you wanted, but maybe. I don't think there's anything to get me to do. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** At this point, no. I would imagine if it comes down to billing, we're going to have to talk about it more because it'll have to be approved at town meeting, too. Review all boards meeting. I'm glad we had a lot of representatives from the select board at the meeting. And the ones that were at the meeting. I think we had some good information of what's going on, so that was good to see. We did say maybe we can meet again in six months, three months. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** I thought it was well worth having. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Yeah, yeah. Try for six months, and maybe we'll have some other boards there. I think it's important to do that because there is some overlap. If you notice, there's some things that conservation is working on that overlap. Yeah. Which is ideal, but people we need to talk to, right? **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Mm-hmm. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Yeah. Well, yeah. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Anything else on all boards? No. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay. Correspondence, Laurie? **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** So are we, do we have an open position? Like an alternate? I mean, I'll put a thousand people in as an alternate if they want to put their name up there. I mean, people are... If they want to get involved, I don't see why we would say no. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** So what is the alternate doing in the Planning Commission? They can't vote, right? **Speaker 15:** They can't. There's not a forum. But... If they're short and regular members aren't there, they vote. They can vote. Right. And the thing is, Nancy, is like, you still have dialogue. You're talking about a person with a Ph.D. right here, right? And so... **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I don't know. She didn't say anything. **Speaker 15:** Yeah. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Yeah. No information at all. I don't know who she is or anything. Yeah. And so... Natalie has a Ph.D., so... Any of those chemistry. Oh, yeah. Very talented. They have to have a voice at the meeting, everybody, even this guy, talks. No. We had this all night last month. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** You had a question? Oh, I thought... No, I was going to ask... I thought you were going to get... **Speaker 7:** I thought you were going to... Yeah. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** And we talked about this at the all Boards, too. These are appointed positions. And when there's a Board that is appointed... Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. That's okay. and it is appointed and you don't have a quorum you can have this happen and you know you get people that show up and then you go oh we're not on quorum it kind of painted it it's embarrassing yeah so this helps i don't see any negative to it yeah so when people come due for their term or appointed boards is there anything that states that those people have to be reappointed is that just kind of like a common courtesy that everybody does because i know when positions come available i've heard grumblings that other people are interested so at that point at what point do **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** they put in and say hey i think this is a better way of doing it now we know right well before we didn't know and i think at least in my history we've always said hey you know so and so is on the board he's still on the board we haven't heard any problems he's up his turn's up let's send him a thing ask him if he wants to continue to do it now it is and i'm not saying that there's any particular person right now but it is an opportunity to say no there are people that you might say hey this person has been an agitator or you know just causing trouble or they're not doing what we thought they would do can we if we have the ability to say uh in this town that we have a list of people that want on and we can it is an opportunity to say no we're going to appoint this person instead of this **Speaker 11:** person i've never seen that done but we could of course want to do it with that with that kind of **Speaker 7:** procedure would be like so i'll use me as an example and i'll use jim as an example let's say we can say both of our terms are up this year okay and we have two more people that are like hey **Speaker 7:** we want to we are interested in these two seats that are coming up for reappointment what we can do **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** is how it was done in the past but it doesn't have to be in march we can say we want to do this this is how we want to who's interested send us a letter now or we can continue with the policy and they've talked about and how it was done this year we're allешь are not here yet we're right now we're put into治 **Speaker 9:** current members whose term is up but we've never had that's what i have to take i mean you want to **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** continue as a chair for the board the planning commission i'm not opposed to i'm not necessarily **Speaker 7:** for just continuously reappointing people i think it's great to have a review especially from the select board to say hey exactly like you said this is what's been happening or this hasn't **Speaker 7:** been happening or maybe they didn't quite fit the need maybe this person comes with some qualifications for town two you know whatever the case may be yeah i'm not opposed to i'd be more opposed to just continuously saying all right you know they're there they're just **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** going to stay there and this could be a good time to change because we've never had a lot of volunteers for anything so it's an opportunity a unique opportunity but this hasn't happened right we always would wait and then we'd be missing people and someone would write a letter and i understand that some people you know like they start to get busy maybe they're older they have **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** different priorities and stuff like that yeah i mean we have numbers where they don't go yeah they're going to say geez we don't know what's going on yeah there just could be new blood that **Speaker 7:** is like hey yeah you know they're willing they're able to when they're they're all for i'm not saying that anybody's going to be any better than anybody else i'm just saying like i would i would appreciate from my board i guess for anybody else that the select board would take into account anybody even even **Speaker 11:** if it was for myself against myself like oh yeah yeah i understand yeah and i i personally as a **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** slackboard member would look at what these boards bring back and say the planet board recommends that this new person be considered because of this and the other person hasn't been coming to meetings or been on for 25 years or you know it's just it give us reasons why because some people i think stay on boards because they know no one else is doing it yeah i'll do it again uh we've had people on boards for 20 30 years and they're in their go they're older years and they just say yeah i'll do it again a board that doesn't meet a lot like the conservation committee just recently been brickаб programs meeting at all and also hearing them all the time now but they're just kind of in name only haven't done anything and we have and i'm not saying that they have to it's just that can i can i make one recommendation no could this board consider taking the recommendation i'm not you **Speaker 15:** know taking the recommendation from the chair of the committee so the time comes at the annual meeting at the first organizational meeting prior to that the meeting prior to that maybe the board submits a recommendation that we keep on the members that are the current members that are terms are off or we're having an issue and sure we don't recommend it doesn't have to get into it **Speaker 21:** it's just their end of the term and that's the time to do it yeah i would look at all aspects **Speaker 3:** i don't think it would hurt to write something up or even have a chair sitting on like the meeting when we're doing all that yeah it would **Speaker 13:** be great to have that kind of involvement from the church like like nancy's saying we didn't **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** have these problems or not problems but these opportunities before we were sitting there saying hey there's nine people and we can't find them so we're gonna we're gonna do the eight that want to stay and that miss them when we're gonna advertise you know we don't attend the meetings like you **Speaker 3:** guys would right so i think a lot of those other things your point of view yeah you know this is what's going on at the meetings yeah this person would be a great you know asset that would be a great idea i think that's a good idea thanks yeah so when it comes to **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** natalie appointment yeah i would make a motion that we appoint her as an alternate so how many are on that board now jim nine ten nine nine no alternates no no stephanie took was the originally the alternate and she just took the position **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** and that's good that they go to meetings and even if they never vote they can see how it works so now they get a **Speaker 22:** little experience of a meeting they have all the knowledge of the world an alternate how would the **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** yeah they should show up just like i said so they can get knowledge of what's going on it's just a **Speaker 3:** non non-voting member so they are kind of meetings that just don't have any vote unless somebody's a **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** absent and they yeah they're present the one thing we did mention at the all boards meeting is if an alternate steps in say you're talking about a particular subject matter right and you you're going to vote so if they table it well we're not voting tonight but we're going to table it the following meeting that alternate that was involved in the evaluation of that subject matter would stay on even though the original plan board members should come i think **Speaker 15:** and they if it was tabled then it would the board would retake okay but there is going to be a situation though isn't there yeah there's going to be a situation like for instance um an alternate steps in like one of one of like kurt's not here right now and and so i'm the only one yeah and you guys need a quorum or john's not here you're what if you need it and so i would make the quorum i could vote on that issue or the whole the whole issue Any issue that is approved by the board based on my vote, I would continue that onward. If any of that issue comes back up on the board, that would be considered one of my cases. **Speaker 16:** Okay, so John made a motion to appoint Harry's alternate. Was there a second? **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Second. All in favor? Aye. Sure. Employee policy handbook, we have to sign that. We approved it last week. Last meeting? Yep. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Have you heard anything from Bob on the 911 update on the... No. Numbering, okay. I know they were going to be working on it. I don't know if you have a 911 matter that I don't know if you want to handle now or under your business. I might as well do it now. Discussed? Yep. **Speaker 16:** We have somebody wanting to build on a private row property. Tatra Road. It's just a road that has four properties around it. I talked to Bill about how he wanted to number it and it made sense to name the road. Because you can't all really be off of Tatra Road if there's... **Speaker 23:** All this stuff doesn't have a name. **Speaker 16:** It's not really a driveway. It doesn't have a road. It has a road name. So I wrote a letter to all of the four. There were a bunch of property owners asking if any of them had a name they would like you to consider. I received one response back. Hawthorne Lane. One of the four property owners. Once the road is named, then Bill can assign... **Speaker 1:** I'm sorry, Lori, did you suggest naming it? **Speaker 16:** Hawthorne Lane. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** So when the private road is named, the town is not responsible for signage. Or anything, are they? We'll put up a sign. A street sign. We do. We do. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** We do the first. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Okay. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** We do, like, Mountain View Lane. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** So private roads, we put up something. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Arcadia Drive, we put up the... **Speaker 9:** Yeah. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** I suggest Levine Lane. I was going to say Stimson. No. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** What name? **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Levine Lane. No, no. **Speaker 6:** I don't want to move. Are we signing on the letter back? Is there a culvert that needs to be replaced? A giant hole? **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Sure. Before... It's going to be a driveway permit or road permit. Yeah. It already exists, but they need to replace their culvert. Yep. **Speaker 6:** We have named your road. Now you need to put the culvert in. Well, even before that. So, on a private road, we are responsible for telling them that they have to fix their **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** road? Well, it's their... Either whether it's a driveway or they're... Okay. **Speaker 9:** It's within our right of way. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** I got you. It's at the beginning of their road. Right. Okay. **Speaker 6:** Yeah. Okay. Timing should be interesting. Right now, there's only one parking lot. Right. Okay. Okay. **Speaker 1:** Okay. Okay. Okay. So right now there's only one person who's using that road. All of them. And now there'll be a second. Got you. Can we know where this permit stage is at? What's that? Where we're at at the permit stage of that, because I'm not hearding any of this, so I'm just... I know. There is a permit that has been approved. To build? To build. To build. A... So, a three season cabin. Cabin? They're going through that, I'm assuming, at this point first. Can I ask for a person that has... Oh, it's in our mind. Hmm. **Speaker 16:** It's in our mind. Oh. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Wait a minute. There's a permit there too. Let me see. Okay. **Speaker 16:** suggested the name is that their name no um it's off from tater road and it's jean kerfield craig turner kooja kooja and the new people that just bought are salt and this the only response i got **Speaker 24:** was from gene kerfield saying and salt is the one that got the permit now there's a new property **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** over in the who's in somebody's box i think i moved it on i think the permit came in our box **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** so maybe it was in is there a reason why we would wait on this no i don't see a reason no one else got back they had an opportunity correct we've had everybody had an opportunity they got a letter everyone had an opportunity and i asked them to respond by tonight's meeting **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** then i i would make a motion **Speaker 3:** reason we need a name is because they didn't know they're going right right and if they didn't they **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** don't like it they had their opportunity they can come down and fight it next year **Speaker 19:** i don't think anybody has a mailbox **Speaker 1:** they still have a post office box in north adams oh okay i don't think craig has a local mailing address **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** he lives in adams now even anybody on county road no road all over the bottom anyways for mail **Speaker 3:** offices right some tell me though there's ever an incident after the police department really hawk on lane hawk where the hell is that right right yeah but once you name it it goes to the **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** state the post office it goes everywhere **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** 911. i mean i don't see any reason to hold up a reason? If there was a reason to hold it up, I'd say go ahead. Bill makes a sign. Who makes a sign for the road? Does the fire department do it? **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** The town does. Dave does. **Speaker 22:** I'll make a motion. We name it Coughlin Road. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Lane or road? Coughlin Road. Whatever they want. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Isn't there a two-year waiting list for all signs? No. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Just municipality signs, Jim. **Speaker 1:** Then we get to put two at a time up, depending on what Gene writes. If it wasn't clear, lane is more likely to indicate the kind of road it is. So is lane appropriate or not appropriate? She put lane, correct? She put lane. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Fine. Pretty good. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Yep. Now we've got to go measure them all. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Now the... I'll put that back in. It hurts, Max. Yeah, it's a 20 by 30 seasonal cabin. **Speaker 3:** Is the lane... Nothing else. ...accessible by... You know, emergency vehicles? Hold on. Is that the slide in? What are we doing here? It exists. Just checking our houses. He's saying the culvert needs to be replaced. Yeah. **Speaker 5:** Because it's supposed to go... **Speaker 3:** And we need to think, like, ah, maybe the rest of it probably needs work, too. I'm sorry, John. I haven't done it in 10, 15 years. And their response for me came in? See, well, here, yeah. I mean, the state law, there is a state law about private roads, but we don't... I don't think it literally enforces it. It's up to them, but... **Speaker 3:** So they're... Oh, no. The store owners, they all kind of... **Speaker 1:** Sousa has a separate entry. The state law says... But they have a lot to contribute to the property. They have to contribute to the property. That's all it says. **Speaker 3:** Bill's going to get a 911 call and say, well, meet me at the broken culvert, because we're not driving. You don't know where the broken culvert is? That there are at least some level of minimal maintenance, I mean, where, you know, the **Speaker 6:** fire department has to go up there. Can you work with Lori on the letter? **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I mean, if this goes through, we're going to have two structures on the road. Well, isn't there a third one, too? **Speaker 1:** That fellow's got a garage up there, right? **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Well, it would be one, and then this would be two. Is this on his land? No, it's a bunker. Okay, so you've got that garage or whatever. That's pretty. **Speaker 16:** Yeah. And then this one. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Yeah. And Cush is technically off of this cul-de-sac, even though it's got to be the gravel. So Cush goes up the right side, Kerfield goes up the left side, and then there's two of them, right? **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. **Speaker 16:** Okay. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. **Speaker 24:** Okay. **Speaker 16:** Okay. Okay. Okay. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay. **Speaker 1:** Okay. Okay. Okay. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** So Cush has a different entrance to his house. Right. But technically, he's on that cul-de-sac, too, because that's part of the subdivision. Well, what's his 9-1-1? **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Take a road. Take a road, yeah. **Speaker 1:** Cush has their own driveway. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And then technically... If he ever decides that he wants to take access off of that... He's never... Off of the road. Yep. We'll have to give him a license. the number but there has to be a structure and they need to have a driveway off of it into this **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** structure well he's already got deals right so i just have a dumb question so what's that popular popular uh popular right there's more than one house there how did their 911 does it say that drive that's their they have street numbers on popular okay okay and every so every private road will be the 901 number it's the name of the private road so even up by jim jim's he's got a private road up in bayou right it's not you jim this jim so that's i can't remember blaze so there's two structures on there now yeah and they have i have separate numbers **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** wow okay that's good so down on the shore road do they have both their numbers to show that up in blaze road there's two structures they're just they have to drive up blaze road and **Speaker 9:** find one or two there's another street sign for blaze road right yeah that's what i'm saying so **Speaker 25:** the 9-1-1 and re just comes off of that road and people get confused because it doesn't say private **Speaker 26:** road there's even a person building across the road from the driveway and he thought that was a regular road because it doesn't say private oh i see yeah doesn't the sign say private no **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** ever done that well mountain view lane it says private doesn't it i think we i thought they said i thought it said private a small pvt that's up to the landlords i guess **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** they don't want you on there do you fall off no no but it's kind of you know if you live on the end of a private road and you know he's in the front of it he can't stop me from going to visit you right well i know it's private in the senses but right now right but the mailman **Speaker 20:** or ups and people go up those roads but that's why the state has opinions is saying that you can **Speaker 1:** compel each of the people along the road to contribute to its maintenance can you check and **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** see private road mountain view or popular popular i thought they said private at the end it does **Speaker 7:** popular because i think it says pvt i thought so too nickels road so if it's private do the same **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** with hawthorne and we'll continue that way yep so mike made the motion do we have a second **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** second all in favor and then if you would work with dave and send a letter that they need a call send them the culvert stuff and and if you stress that emergency vehicles aren't going to be able to get up there readily or put a hole right in the center it's pretty **Speaker 6:** obvious you can see it i'm sure the fire department can get over it but yeah yeah and it's starting to fill in and it's not it's not doing its job yeah yeah **Speaker 24:** town sign update lori got a couple of uh i think i emailed both yeah two designs um the price **Speaker 16:** will stay the same regardless of what you pick so it's just a matter of choosing what you want **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** and moving forward any preference guys i put an email **Speaker 4:** that I like the arch better but I don't care. I like seeing them both. I like the arch better **Speaker 27:** compared to the straight across one. What kind of mirrors the church? A little bit. Yeah the church **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** has a little bit more. I just think it's a little bit more pizzazz. I like it yeah. But I don't if it if a sign gets up there I'll be happy. Yes. I like the square one but I'm happy with **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** the sign. The square one? Yes. I liked it in the beginning but I kind of like the smooth better **Speaker 4:** now. Yeah. No it doesn't matter to me. So do we have a motion to go? Which one? Motion to use the **Speaker 28:** arch. Arch sign. There you go. Second. All in favor? Aye. Get her done. Well I got another sign. **Speaker 4:** Octagon. No more. Get her done. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** It's good. **Speaker 29:** It's going to be 3D. Jim can you work with Pam about the flowers? Yeah I actually reached out and called her today but I didn't get a return. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay. Under old business. Dog update? Everybody registered or just still one? Still one. That one. Who's going to get in touch with him this week? Luke is going to get in touch with him? **Speaker 16:** I talked to him maybe Wednesday-ish and he's going to try and call again. Okay. So the deal was he was waiting for an August appointment. On that subject. Mid-September. **Speaker 3:** At one point in time the town used to do a rabies clinic. Is that something that we might want to be used to? **Speaker 1:** Be used to? Why did we stop? Well. We ran out of volunteers. What's that? The fire department put it on. We kind of ran out of volunteers because you had to clean before and clean after the fire department. We had a firehouse in the meeting room. Sometimes it went easily. Sometimes it was a mess to clean up. And when we had difficulty of getting a veterinarian who would come and do it and one thing to another that the last one was here, right? **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** The last one was here. It worked out good, Laurie said. I was wondering about the clean up too but I guess it worked out alright. The dogs were fine. And then with so many rabies clinics around at Tractor Supply and most people bring their dogs to the vets anyway, it almost wasn't worth their time to do it. You probably got probably 20, 30 dogs registered the most. 20 and 30 people. We always did it Sunday afternoon from like 1 to 3. It did, this year there was none but we still have the same people that are on the list. But that's something. **Speaker 3:** Yeah. **Speaker 5:** Check with Luke and see how he feels about it. **Speaker 3:** You're going to put on the clinic. You're probably not going to get everybody in town to go to it anyways. You're still going to have dogs not registered, not, you know, so why bother doing it, right? **Speaker 16:** I mean it is handy for the people who, like your rabies shot is usually a three year shot. So it revolves and anybody who brings their dog to the clinic will license their dog. Right then and there. Right then and there. So it is convenient. Tractor Supply is less expensive. **Speaker 1:** Yes. Since it could go to a vet. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** And the vet used to give the fire department part of the donation, that one vet. **Speaker 1:** A dollar. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** A dollar a dog? Yeah. Well, they don't donate to the town. No. A dollar a dog. **Speaker 3:** There are traveling veterinarians though. So if anybody has a dog in town and is incapable of getting it to the vet, there are veterinarians that will come to your house. Yes. You just have to do some locating. Go to them. Yeah. Locating and find that person. Yeah. Dr. Beebe used to do it. I don't know if he does anymore. **Speaker 30:** You know, Greylock Animal would send it if you were going to have your dog euthanized. Yeah. So maybe when you wear the check-in they may use it more twice. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I've used it too and then I see you got a shot for me too. It was bad. It was bad. I don't feel it. Bad. **Speaker 31:** I don't feel it. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Yeah. Any other old business, Laurie? No. New business? No. Okay. Let's go on to executive session. I make a motion to go into executive session for personnel matter and then for pending or probable civil litigation. **Speaker 26:** Second. Second. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Thank you, guys. Good night, all. **Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Good night, all. Yeah. Okay.