--- title: "Stamford Select Board — January 29, 2026" date: 2026-01-29 session: regular speaker_labels: 1 cluster(s) named from the roll call and that meeting's chair in the minutes, 0 named from roster attendance, 6 of 7 clusters unnamed voice_ids: {"SPEAKER_00":1,"SPEAKER_01":96,"SPEAKER_02":5,"SPEAKER_03":4,"SPEAKER_04":6,"SPEAKER_05":2,"SPEAKER_06":13} duration_min: 82 audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10QTAnkGtzKc0WOITbgHYaRsjnNnQdTm9/view?usp=sharing audio_source: town drive minutes: https://townofstamfordvermont.org/mediaItems/Sbd%20Minutes%201-29-26.pdf minutes_pending: false present: [Nancy L. Bushika, John Dunn, Kurt Gamari] absent: [Michael Denault] 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 — January 29, 2026 **Session:** Regular · **Duration:** 82 min · [Audio](https://drive.google.com/file/d/10QTAnkGtzKc0WOITbgHYaRsjnNnQdTm9/view?usp=sharing) · [Minutes](https://townofstamfordvermont.org/mediaItems/Sbd%20Minutes%201-29-26.pdf) **Present:** Nancy L. Bushika, John Dunn, Kurt Gamari **Absent:** Michael Denault --- **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Let's call the meeting to order. I stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag and 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 will proceed 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:** John Dunn, Kurt Gamari, Nancy Bushika. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Would there be any adding of or removing of items from tonight's agenda? I have new... **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Will there be any adjustments to the agenda, such as changing the order of items? I do. I would like to move the finalizing budget and review and finalize the Select Board report to the end of the meeting after new business because I think it's going to take a lot longer. And possibly... It's going to be an executive session for personnel. And Jeb is recording tonight's meeting for his YouTube video. First order of business, the board would like to offer the sympathy to Kirk... Thank you. ...for the passing of your father. Thank you. Mary Lou Wright and her family for the passing of Doug, and Mike for the passing of his mother this morning. That's why we're down to three selectmen here. Okay. Hearing of visitors. Okay. Reading and approval of records and orders. Minutes of January 8th. Oh, we were all here. All in favor? Aye. Reading and approval of records and orders. Oh. Oh. Yeah. Anything on highway update other than plowing snow? Breakdowns. Very busy. Breakdowns. **Speaker 1:** Um, yeah, we did have a breakdown of Mike's truck. I had the traveling mechanic come down on a wire that was fully broken, but sensitivity of it, I guess it was enough of an issue that it was causing the transmission of that shit properly. So I was up in the wiring harness and he found that and was able to repair it very quickly. What do you call Mike's truck? Does he usually? The 2019 Freightliner. He's typically the operator of that. Other than plowing? Um. Moving snow. We've been moving snow, you know, ends of driveways, stuff like that. Moving the banks back, trying to get ready for more snow. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Yes, I think they were at the end of Brookside the other day because now I can see over the bank coming out because it's pretty dangerous. **Speaker 1:** The state typically does the main highway, but this year we've been doing it periodically as far as where our intersections are because they seem to be lacking last year doing it. We couldn't really wave this year, so we hit home, but today I saw them come down. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Yeah, the state was here today and pushed quite a bit back, but. **Speaker 1:** They can take more time down here in the main road, but I mean, this is their road and they can't even do it. We have to plow our own stuff, so we're ready to take time and make time for it. But we're more or less doing the same stuff on our roads. Mike's been out for the last two days, two, three days doing that. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Mm-hmm. Okay. And maybe more coming? **Speaker 1:** They're saying now that that storm is going to stay south east of this. Hopefully so. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay. Anything else on highway? **Speaker 1:** No. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** For what we do? **Speaker 1:** Recourt and paving. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay. How about recycling? Did they bring a small dumpster yet, or a big dumpster, or what do we have? **Speaker 1:** It changes. Sometimes it's the right dumpster, sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's not, which is pretty normal at this point, I would say. Mm-hmm. They haven't brought the really large one. That wasn't an issue. Okay. So we're kind of happy about that. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay. Anything else? **Speaker 3:** I do. Costello sent in another report. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Oh, good. **Speaker 3:** So I need that. I need to copy and put in a box. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** So I just have two. What was it? Small Town. That was new last year. I don't know why they sent it here, but they must be collecting somebody. From somebody in Stamford. And the other one is R.L. Lefebvre, that I always have to call him. **Speaker 3:** Oh, he's from the Chattahoochee. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I like to call him. Okay. Correspondence. Oh, any other discussion or anything? **Speaker 1:** I've been maintaining the walkways at the school. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay. **Speaker 4:** I thought they had a janitor. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Well, he quit a couple weeks ago. **Speaker 4:** I thought there was somebody in there. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Oh, they do have a janitor, but it's not a... Not a snow-blowing janitor. **Speaker 4:** Okay. So somebody here might have a flamethrower in there, but their snowblower is not here, or at least it wasn't. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Do you know if they've hired another janitor? **Speaker 3:** I think they just have a temporary cleaning service until... I've heard they hired one. Have you heard they hired someone? **Speaker 5:** Yeah, they came in the planning committee and they said they had a janitor. **Speaker 4:** I don't know. Maybe it was someone that worked for the cleaning service. I have no idea. But someone was here cleaning. **Speaker 3:** The cleaning service has been coming in and they said they hired... **Speaker 6:** I heard they hired someone. Oh, okay. I don't know. I'm not a little... I don't know. When the principal was here last week, didn't she say they had hired someone? **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Just the temporary one. The temporary cleaning service. So that was another thing. We had two meetings with no quorums. At one meeting, the principal was here, and we couldn't make any decision, but the janitor had quit. So one of the things that Dave has tried to work with the janitor about snow blowing and cleaning snow was have him come in first, blow the snow out in the yard, then when Dave comes through, he can clean it up. It seemed like it was working backwards for a while, so now they have no one to blow the snow, so Dave is back-dragging the front door. Yeah. And... James? **Speaker 6:** I'm shoveling. No, I've been doing it all myself. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay. Shoveling the two doors here in the parking lot. The janitor usually ran the snow blower behind the school and around the school, but we can't do that because these guys need to be out on the road. Right. Plus, their snow blower is broken, and they brought it back... And they went out for service. They went out for service. So I don't know how they're handling that, cleaning the other pathways. **Speaker 4:** Seems like the conversation we had every couple of years. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Yep. **Speaker 4:** Yeah. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** So we couldn't make any decision or anything when Julie was here, but they hadn't hired anybody, and it goes through WSSU anyway. And then last meeting, Green Mountain Power was here. What Green Mountain Power is going to be doing is replacing all the wires in town. They're going to be... heavier wires, upgrade poles and wires. The heavier wires are being installed, and they may be changing poles, too, because the wires, the new wires, it's such a long run and heavy, and the wires would sag too much. So they're going to be putting poles in along, hopefully, their right-of-ways, and they're getting right-of-ways from individual people, too, to put additional poles in. So hopefully that will start this summer, and we have an agreement with Green Mountain Power. We couldn't sign it last week because nobody was here, so Lori's got that agreement anyway. It's a Stamford Select Board. To provide reliable service to customers, it is necessary to rebuild existing overhead poles. And wires within the highway limits of Mill, Clough, Lincoln, Robillard, and Brookside Road. The majority of the proposed rebuilding project runs along the main highway and will be permitted under V-Trans Section 1111 approval. Green Mountain Power further represents that the work will be done safely for public travel and subject to the rules. And Green Mountain Power requests permission from the Select Board to rebuild. Existing poles, guys, and wires as aforesaid. So they'd like the town approval for this. And I see no objection to it, and you guys don't object. Dave, you looked it over. In fact, the fellow came down and talked to you. **Speaker 7:** You had no objection to this? **Speaker 1:** No. Do we all sign that? **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Uh, yeah. **Speaker 2:** The poles will then be blessed. **Speaker 8:** Right. It said something about... **Speaker 2:** Is that what the ongoing flagging has been doing? **Speaker 9:** Yes. Yeah. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Yes. And it said with these new wires, there should be less power outages. If a branch falls on it, it won't short out quite so easily as... **Speaker 2:** It has been pretty good, knock on wood. Not like last year. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Can I have a motion to sign that? **Speaker 9:** Sorry, I'm jumping all over here. **Speaker 2:** Motion to sign. Is this you or all of us? All of us. Second. **Speaker 9:** All in favor. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** All in favor. We're good. So that was the past two meetings that you guys weren't here. So back to tonight's meeting. We're done with discussion. We already did hearing of visitors, but Nancy, did you want to... You have to leave quickly, or you had something going on? I'm going to stay until about 7. Well, we're going to be a little bit longer. **Speaker 10:** That's all I can do tonight. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay. So if you want to jump in now, we'll do hearing of visitors. **Speaker 11:** Well, I spoke to you about what we need to talk about. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I don't think these boys know about it, because I didn't mention... John does. Oh, okay. **Speaker 2:** Because I spoke with John. Yeah, we spoke. **Speaker 11:** Well, I'm concerned that there may have been a lack of training. Noticing things like Klaus's driveway, Klaus Laurie's. And then I started asking other people in other towns. And they were like, no, Nancy, that's not right. And I thought, and you know, I think to myself, well, maybe he wasn't told. Maybe he doesn't know that when you're using town equipment, you should be taking care of town roads and not personal projects. Now, I relate a little story. Last year, I was cleaning off my car or shoveling my driveway or something. And Mike stopped and told me he would, you know, pull my car out, he'll plow my driveway. I was like, whoa, okay. That never happened before, but that's okay. I was like, all right, thank you. Because what are you going to do when you're 68 years old and you're out there and shoveling and, you know, accept a little help. But I felt guilty. I thought, it's not right. **Speaker 11:** Because if he's doing it for me, then he should be doing it for all of the houses. And not just me. And not just, you know. I love Mike. I've known Mike since he was a little boy. And as I said, I'm very concerned, though. Because I think the use of our town equipment, whether it's the loader or whether it's the plow trucks. Or whether it's a brush hog in the summer. I don't know. I know that there's a cost per hour. And you start adding up those five minutes here, ten minutes there. And, you know, how many hours does it end up being over the year? So how much has the town paid to have these certain driveways plowed? Consistently. Maybe you can help me. Maybe Dave can help. Maybe Mike didn't know. And to me, then that would be an honest mistake. Right? Right? You don't know? You don't know? I didn't know until this year. Until I asked. Okay. And I'm concerned about the salt on the road. And I'll go into that another time. There's way too much. We have a vernal pool on Robillard Road. Down where the old sugar shack was. And this year there were hardly any frost. And there were no frogs in it. And so when I test, when I told, I think both of you this, I have a whole house culligan system. And I've had it for, I don't know, 20 years now. When they come and replace the filter, I will be taking some water directly from my well and having it tested. At that time, at my expense, at that time I will also go to the vernal pool. And hopefully I can get enough water and we can have that tested too. Because as I shared with John and Nancy years ago, we didn't put a whole lot of salt on the road. We had dirt. We didn't have that big hard gravelly stuff that we had last year and the year before and the year before that. I was pleased to go up to the town shed and find that there was sand in there. Not big clunky nasty gravel. But sand. Wonderful. Who would have thunk? There it was. So if you guys could kind of toss that around between yourselves and think about that. And I will come back when I know. I'm going to come back more often. But when I know about if there is a salinity problem in my well and in the vernal pool where I expect there will be one. We might have to do something. Okay. So now that we have James too. We have to do something. How is it instructing. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** We will discuss that. Anything else? Lisa, were you going to talk about a grant or something? Last time that we. I did. **Speaker 6:** I ended up talking to Lori. But I also wanted to just let everybody know that the VCR is moving the language about putting any turbines up. Yeah. The point. They went from a kilometer to a point five kilometers. kilometers and so that didn't get in our letter that we sent to BCRC and I'm not sure why so that's **Speaker 12:** my next goal is to change that back to the one kilometer. Okay and as far as the planning grant **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** with Callie you said she wants to come down sometime. Yes she said it's not time contingent **Speaker 6:** because she knows you're working on budgets. Okay. She doesn't want to come. Okay um so my opinion is **Speaker 13:** I think it's just a sign like for you to sign the town's portion. We did. Oh. Didn't we do that? That's **Speaker 14:** yes I signed something online. We signed the application. I think there's one more paper. **Speaker 3:** Did it come down? **Speaker 15:** I think that she wants another paper where she **Speaker 6:** you're you're you're you're you're **Speaker 12:** agreeing to give whatever amount the town is eligible. Yeah yeah I think so. If we don't sign it she's usually right on top of it and emails Lori and says where's your signature and we'll do it. I'll write her and ask her why she wants to come down to person or not. Okay. Sorry for that. My opinion is to wait until after election when we have a full board here. Sure. It depends on her and the grant. As long as everything's ready to proceed on her. **Speaker 4:** Okay. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Lori. Yep. Yep. Her timeline. Okay. Um. Correspondence. Lori. Correspondence. Grant correspondence or something? **Speaker 3:** Do you want to do the grant correspondence? **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Whatever you want to give us or I can do certificate of no suit pending for the grant list or this is for. **Speaker 3:** So that's part of still the July 2023 flooding. Um. Yeah. So. We were originally only getting. Um. They weren't giving us the Ireaf match because we didn't have our ducks in a row and it looks like now they're re-doing it and willing to give us the additional Ireaf itself. 7.8%. It comes out to almost $11,000. So Nancy you'll want to sign here. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** We will definitely sign this ticket. Take it. It's been a few years. Yeah. So this is good. Hopefully it doesn't take that long. **Speaker 3:** get the money. Okay. And then this is the 2024 grand list. And this paper is a certificate saying that there are no suits pending against the grand list, which we had to wait to sign. **Speaker 14:** All suits are settled now, so we're good. Our assessor did here, so I guess you guys **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** want to go there. Motion to sign? Yeah. You got a fat pen now, huh? Yeah. Well, that's good. It comes out better. Yeah, it does. Maybe you can just switch, Laurie, switch assessor and put selection. So that'll last, even when the paper is gone, writing will still be somewhere. I know it's not my turn to say anything, but I have a question. Why **Speaker 11:** can't we talk about it now? What's that? You could ask Dave right now. If we talked to Mike about that when Mike was hired. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Probably. We have a... Otherwise, we're just keeping it down the road. Yep. I'd like to do that in executive session because it's going to be personnel. That's what I was assuming. That's what you're assuming? Yeah. That's what I assumed. We'll do it in executive **Speaker 11:** session. Do you have any structure to any kind of training? Yeah, I guess so. Do we **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** have any structure? To any kind of training. Nothing written as far as I know. We have **Speaker 2:** an employee... The employee. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** handbook. We have a job description that Dave is the boss and they report to him. But we don't say Monday you do this, Tuesday you do that, or how to plow. They know how to plow. **Speaker 2:** Do you need that spot still or no? No, I think it was. So for mine, it's the first I've heard of it and I've had no real chance to look up anything about it whatsoever. And I wanted to say, I know I'm out of place, but I'm awfully sorry about your day. **Speaker 4:** Thank you. I appreciate that. I just wanted to reserve the right to kind of look things over. Because I don't know off the top of my head what the rules are or aren't. And this is the first I've heard of it, so I haven't had a chance to really research it, so I don't really have a comment at this point. That's my statement. I have a birthday present. Okay. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Thank you. **Speaker 11:** You don't get 17 every day. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** No, no. Certificate of highway mileage. **Speaker 3:** From my agency at Transcorporate, the mileage changes that we made last year at the top of County Road. So I think the numbers all look good. There should be no changes. So if you guys want to look them over and sign down there at the bottom. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay. That was last year. We changed the mileage up there. Well, like I said, with blacktopping the road, I thought it wasn't 10 years ago either. I know. Class 2, legal trail. Okay. Motion to sign this certificate of highway mileage. It's changing, adding more to our legal trail and taking it off the Class 4. Is that what it was doing? **Speaker 3:** That's what we submitted last year, and that agrees with the submission. Yes. **Speaker 4:** Okay. I think so. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** In our correspondence, we have a letter here from Barb Doley. Did you guys have a chance to read it? **Speaker 2:** I read it the best I could through the email. **Speaker 4:** It was hard to either see or just make out her penmanship on certain parts. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Yeah, I printed this off from my computer. **Speaker 4:** I kind of got the gist of it, but I'm not sure. I'm not very detailed on it. I don't know if somebody wants to read it. It's certainly more of a long list. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** It seems to me that she's saying they're cutting hay over on her property. **Speaker 2:** That's a civil issue. If I'm not mistaken, she's brought that up before. Yes. And they may have or may not have made corrections, so I don't know if she's... Bringing up old news again? **Speaker 4:** We don't deal with personal vendettas, really, so... **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Oh, that was my thought. We should send her a letter saying we reviewed this and it is not in the Select Board's wheelhouse that we settle personal properties. **Speaker 4:** That's what I could make out of it. Like I said, I really couldn't make it out word for word, but it seems like a personal dispute that she has for one reason or another. Yeah. Maybe it has nothing to do with the town. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** There are two... Sent. Anything on 911 numbering update? **Speaker 16:** No. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** No. I know Bob was working on it, so... And town sign update, it looks like the posts have been covered with the same vinyl or whatever it is. **Speaker 2:** Yeah, it looks like it's done, huh? Yeah. Yeah. Did it get paid, is it? It's been paid as well. Yeah, so it must be done. Okay. Looks good. **Speaker 8:** Yeah. **Speaker 2:** I did notice... Very informative. The church has lights on their sign. Mm-hmm. Is that... That's okay with our zoning bylaws, or are they exempt from being a church, or... They're saying they're covered, so... I don't... **Speaker 6:** I guess I don't know. I mean, I don't want to... **Speaker 3:** There's certain rules about illumination. Yeah, the water's straightening down, but... **Speaker 2:** You can illuminate the sign, but you can't have an illuminated sign. Gotcha. So I think that is... It's okay. It's okay. **Speaker 3:** It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. **Speaker 2:** It's okay. **Speaker 3:** It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. **Speaker 6:** It's done. Is that something you'd sign? **Speaker 2:** I thought maybe the sign... That town sign would be nice if it was illuminated at nighttime. Yeah. Yeah, let's add more gas. **Speaker 6:** Yeah, that... **Speaker 2:** Just... Yeah. Okay. Any other new business? **Speaker 8:** Or old business? **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Quiet night tonight. We have nothing left? Okay. All right. Did you review and finalize the select board report? Not a thing. That's what we're doing. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. **Speaker 4:** Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Thank you. **Speaker 17:** Thank you. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Thank you. Okay. **Speaker 1:** And now we're golden. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** So... Does it look good? No. No, no, no, no, no. There's a lot. There's a lot to go. Let's... First, we should go... We finished all the budget, receipts, budget, everything. So, now for the town report, or the warning. You guys staying, Jeff? This could be yours next year. **Speaker 4:** I know. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** So, you've got the warning in front of you for the town report. Yeah. **Speaker 17:** report warning for the town standard article one is to elect the following officers they'll be done **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** by um australian ballot next day um 20 article 2 that's always on there you use at least 25 of the positive fund balance so the town authorized the expenditure of 1 million 186 104 general expense of 438 174 that's town cemetery fire department **Speaker 18:** and those are the final numbers yes if you have any questions about the budget numbers **Speaker 9:** you guys have john you probably have the final budget right uh i think it's over here no yeah **Speaker 16:** you should have a copy the bottom is 106 815 yes yeah the first page is **Speaker 3:** in for town and highway and then the next pages are all town expense from the last page is highway **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** town expense 438 174. got it ready keep going a little bit further and one more and one more 438 174 yep and then highway seven five one nine three zero no no seven four seven nine three zero yeah why are we okay we've realized why we're so high because of the third man uh the health insurance for the third man most most of it's that i think dave on your equipment maintenance and repair we budgeted last year 45 000 and we spent 79. was that all the freight a lot of it the freight liner **Speaker 1:** that's a good point then yeah right here you got replacing the 2019 ram truck which should be the **Speaker 14:** 2019 freight oh yeah change the date getting to 2017 or 19. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** freightliner that's why you're looking at it a new truck to replace are you going what are we doing **Speaker 1:** with the 2019 freight liner well i'm not sure how long it's going to be until we have the new truck so we can't trade something in it's going to take a while my guess is with three guys we should just keep it for a spare i'm not sure how long it's going to be until we have the new truck so we can't trade something in my guess is with three guys we should just keep it for a spare because right now and then that especially how busy we get you need backup equipment at the **Speaker 19:** winter time you gotta have something else are we gonna say replace or then uh maybe **Speaker 1:** we just don't from the time i try to get a cabin chassis and send it to h.p fairfield and have them do it it's going a year. So we probably won't even have a new truck for next winter. **Speaker 2:** There's probably certain roads in town you wouldn't want to bring a nice brand new truck on either. Where you'd be like, listen, let's bring the old freightliner up there. **Speaker 1:** Well, in the summertime that truck probably would be utilized more anyways, the size of it. And then it could be a backup in the wintertime so it's not getting pushed so hard on a daily basis. Yeah, for sure it'd be nice to just hop in, say that old truck and go over to Klondike because the Clarksburg Road is completely destroyed. Yeah, it's terrible. Right, think about it. How much do you like going up that road **Speaker 2:** with your truck? I don't. I've got to tell myself to slow down. It's terrible. It is terrible. They don't have any money either. They can't fix nothing. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** So, I think replace would be the one in there because maybe in a year we're going to want to replace it. That it's going to fall apart in the yard. And if you keep it. **Speaker 1:** Well, listen, I'm just trying to provide reliable service to the business. If these things stay running, I wouldn't care if they're 30 years old. But unfortunately, a lot of the repairs now are like electrical repairs, which you need a computer to diagnose, a computer to reset the computer after you've fixed it. It's like there's no mechanical stuff we still do, but most of it is stuff that you just can't. I mean, we changed the wheel burn, but the ABS light doesn't go well because it trips the wheel burn. And then you don't have four-wheel drive because the ABS light's on. So you've got to go down with the darts and have them canceled. I've got a thing that plugs in, but you need a $6,000 handheld computer and subscribe to the $2,500 a year service to be able **Speaker 20:** to take that ABS light off. It's crazy. It's just going to be a consistent **Speaker 4:** investment basically year after year to keep up with our staff. **Speaker 1:** Every five years, we're going to be cycling out and **Speaker 4:** almost just might have like a rolling account. Right, rolling loan to keep buying. And that's kind of the point here is that we're already currently we'll be paying off of auto loan. So we're just going to **Speaker 1:** actually not going to be raising taxes. We're just going to keep it rolling. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I'm just asking these questions because thinking what's going to come up at town meeting. Sure. So we're going to have to be prepared and usually at town meeting John, were you there last year at town meeting? **Speaker 9:** There's people that got all kinds of questions. **Speaker 2:** Nancy's usually got all the answers. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** But there's going to be questions that we didn't even anticipate. **Speaker 1:** We're going, what now? I can justify pretty much every dime we're spending. It's a good investment. **Speaker 2:** If anything, I think you should be putting more money into the replacement of tires and things. And I know it's going to raise taxes and stuff. But then the money's there. You don't have to raise it. It's in the fund. **Speaker 3:** Let's buy something. With interest rates starting to rise. **Speaker 21:** What about tires and things like that? **Speaker 1:** That all comes out of equipment maintenance. That's why that maintenance is up there. 70 grand. Roads and maintenance. **Speaker 4:** Hoses. I mean, hoses are expensive. **Speaker 1:** Everything's expensive. Oils. **Speaker 9:** Yeah, things aren't realized. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** So Article 4 authorized the select board to sell town owned property acquired by tax sale to any interested buyer, providing the interested buyer is not a property exempt entity. **Speaker 22:** Mm-hmm. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** That's always there. **Speaker 22:** That's always there. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Pretty much. Sally is planning to have a tax sale this year. Oh yeah, we talked about that anyway. **Speaker 22:** So Article 5. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Article 6. Article 5. To borrow the sum. So the 150 for the freightliner, we're going to borrow that from a bank. **Speaker 1:** Yeah, but it's going to be a ram. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** We're going to purchase a ram. Well, yeah. **Speaker 1:** So we're, you know, we're purchasing the ram instead of a freightliner. **Speaker 7:** Yep. **Speaker 1:** Yeah, you'd rather a one-ton truck. Yeah, well, 5500 is like a 1905 UDW, but that particular freightliner is a 26,000 pound truck. But the, it seems like the reliability. So the ram's kind of like an overbuilt one-ton, right? **Speaker 21:** Yeah, but the maintenance-wise, it's easier to work with. **Speaker 2:** Yeah, but the maintenance-wise, it's easier to work with. **Speaker 1:** It's easier to work on. It seems cheaper for parts, repairs. And it's more reliable. **Speaker 21:** Way more reliable. **Speaker 2:** You can bring the ram to the garage where you can bring the freightliner to God knows who. **Speaker 23:** Freightliner, we've got to bring all the investments there. **Speaker 1:** Freightliner, we've got to bring all the investments there. Or have somebody come down. **Speaker 23:** And you're really using it for what, plowing? **Speaker 2:** And you're really using it for what, plowing? Like any trucking you need done, you have L or... I don't know if they need that. No, we'll make the first truck, yeah. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Do you want to cover my crap? **Speaker 7:** I'll let Mike call in. **Speaker 1:** Doesn't matter. Just to keep me moving. **Speaker 7:** Okay. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** So, Article 6. So that is going to be a bank loan. So that is going to be a bank loan. Because the ram that we have now... Because the ram that we have now... **Speaker 7:** The ram that we have now will be paid in June. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** The ram that we have now will be paid in June. So we're going to continue with the ram. Just making payments. We probably won't make a payment until next year or the year after. Okay. **Speaker 19:** That could be this year? **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay. **Speaker 1:** Okay. Okay. **Speaker 19:** Okay. **Speaker 1:** So that's, you know, 70 grand for a cabin chassis. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay. So then, Lori's printing something out for us about the paving. How are we going to pay for the paving? There's a couple options that she's worked out. **Speaker 2:** Did you get a final cost of what it was all going to be? **Speaker 8:** Did you get a final cost of what it was all going to be? **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Yeah, she's got a final... For everything that Dave wants to do. **Speaker 14:** $588? **Speaker 3:** I wasn't able to get loan, like, **Speaker 14:** amounts. **Speaker 4:** I think my joke is enough. Yeah. **Speaker 3:** Well, Dave last time talked about different options. Can I give you this? **Speaker 1:** I don't have it right now. I never took it with me the other day. Is it in your box still? No, I don't think it's there. So the chip seals, the shim and chip seals are part of our normal every five year plan. **Speaker 2:** And it actually... **Speaker 23:** Do you chip seal part of Jepson? **Speaker 1:** So that's in there, in this product. Is that something you do every five years? No. Well, I can tell you. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I did tell him before. **Speaker 1:** Yeah. I can tell you the last time that was done. They're not... So what happens typically is I ride around with the salesman from Allstate and we kind of evaluate all our paid growths every five years. Then we decide which ones we need to do to be able to get through one or five without having any issues. I would say that... I don't have that chip sheet, **Speaker 19:** I don't think. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Right there in front of you. **Speaker 1:** Oh, this cheat sheet? So that lower section was done in 2010. It looks like it's paved. Well, it is a shim and a chip seal. So you get some paving, then the chip seal. **Speaker 2:** Probably run it off quick for the... So the chip seal just saves on the black top. Yeah, and it seals. So sooner or later, the chip seal's gone and you're down to the crease again. So what happens is that... Do you foresee this all getting done in one shot or is this like a piece here, piece there? **Speaker 1:** No, what they'll do is... Let's just say we're going to do it all. They'll come in and they'll run hot mix. So they'll do whatever's getting shimmed and paved. And then they'll come back. Usually they wait a month or two. You need to wait at least two weeks before you do the chip seal. Because some of the oil has to penetrate out of the pavement **Speaker 24:** in order for the chip seal to be put down. **Speaker 4:** So article six is the resurface roads that have already been... So 600 grand and everything's not... And these two are new mileage? That would be extending it? Yeah. **Speaker 20:** The rest of Jepson Road **Speaker 1:** will get paved. The middle section. Right up to where... Yeah. And then LaSure Hill. So that little piece of bulge here. Up LaSure Hill to the top to where Daintwood comes to house. Okay. I know. Once you get so much traffic people are just on the go. **Speaker 4:** So five is something **Speaker 24:** that we would typically have to do **Speaker 4:** That's right. Seven and eight are kind of **Speaker 24:** going to be the additional **Speaker 1:** to see if people want to do additional. So here's something to chew on. So five years ago we spent $235,000 for the maintenance of this pavement. Right. This year we're going to spend $130,000. So that's almost leaving us $100,000 you know **Speaker 3:** like **Speaker 1:** Yeah we're spending to spend on something else like paving Jepson Road. Right. So you're really getting you know the paving **Speaker 7:** on Jepson Road for like $125,000. **Speaker 1:** Dave what did you say about the $235,000? **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Dave what did you say about the $235,000? **Speaker 1:** Well we spent in 2025 or whatever Okay. **Speaker 7:** We didn't spend any of that. **Speaker 1:** So it's $200,000. So it's $70,000. $70,000 less than we spent five years ago. Right. So that's $70,000 kind of that we can put almost towards the extra paving of Jepson before we start raising taxes. But you know because we're not really with the truck and the paving we're not really raising taxes on that. This is going to be the same taxes. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Right that we always do. **Speaker 19:** Okay so. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Yeah well that's bad John. **Speaker 7:** That's bad. **Speaker 1:** That's probably the worst law at this point. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** And I thought it was just done in **Speaker 1:** 2010. So that's 16 years. See what I'm saying? See this is when I tried to help them and they start talking about oh geez you just need to do the paving because the chip seal doesn't last. 16 years we got out of that and I'll bet you we didn't pay hardly didn't we squat to do that 16 years ago. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** We did all those roads for 200,000 in 2010. **Speaker 4:** Yeah imagine 7 and 8 will be a point of discussion. Yes. **Speaker 25:** So. **Speaker 2:** 600 grand you get all that. **Speaker 8:** Get it done. **Speaker 2:** It's not really a bad deal. I mean you gotta hope people are thinking a little long term too. Well there's different options though. **Speaker 21:** So the Jepson part **Speaker 1:** we can apply for **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** That's another yes we should put that **Speaker 1:** in the town report. The Jepson road. Which currently doesn't pay all of us. Right. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Jepson road would qualify **Speaker 19:** listen or not **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** qualify for grants after it's paid. **Speaker 1:** Right. I could apply to help with the I don't know when that grant's coming out to be able to put in for it but by the time we do it I don't think we got time I don't know if that will work out for this year. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay so We've been talking throughout **Speaker 4:** the rest of Jepson for a long time. **Speaker 26:** We just paid **Speaker 2:** What would be the increase on everything? **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I knew you were going to ask that I didn't figure it out because I didn't know where we were going. Ask them we'll see. **Speaker 4:** Ask them and we'll see what happens. So what's the total figure on there? How much is it going to cost? **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** 600,000 that's what they want to know. How much is it going to be in your tax? **Speaker 4:** Per household. The benefit of like when you broke down the prices like this is what it would actually cost you on your taxes. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Right. That's what I wanted to ask you. I didn't figure it out because I didn't know if we wanted that in the town report or not. **Speaker 4:** I think it's helpful to people to see that it's really not costing that much money. Because they're going to see the 600,000. Yeah. **Speaker 1:** But it's not even 600. Because you've got to take the 70 out of it before you start. Then that's what you're actually I think that is beneficial to have. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** So this is what we had in the last town report. This isn't appropriate. This is the tax for each approved town article. So if you approve the town, all the articles in the town, this is what your tax would be. **Speaker 4:** The total increase of your taxes. I like that because people realize they just look at a whole number and they're like holy cow that's a lot. It's a huge budget. But then if they break things down they're like oh that cost me 25 bucks. **Speaker 25:** Then you're going to have people like **Speaker 2:** well what about my road? **Speaker 27:** You're always going to get that. **Speaker 1:** But for us it's about 70,000 a year. So what's it going to cost for 70,000 a year? **Speaker 17:** And then figure it out. **Speaker 4:** When people say what about my road you just say well we've got to start somewhere and they're just stacking the first block. **Speaker 2:** They're going to be like what about Mill Road? They want some Mill Road. It's a paved Mill Road so the landslide **Speaker 9:** can take it all out. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** We've got 14, 10 or 12 paved roads in Tennessee. **Speaker 1:** It's about half and half. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** And you've gone through a cycle here that you've done them almost all and now you're keeping up with the cycle. **Speaker 4:** The rest of Jefferson makes sense. We've been talking about that for a long time. And it's a road that's not going anywhere. It's going to be there. It's a major collector. And the sure roads are only going to grow from here so there's going to be people that want to build them. **Speaker 20:** And it has grown. **Speaker 24:** This is the next spot. **Speaker 2:** That's the Pismo. You forget about it but there's a lot of big money homes up there. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Up where on LaShore? **Speaker 8:** LaShore and Bulger. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I think Deb just approved a building for Sparrow Drive. And a house up there. That's another thing she did. **Speaker 4:** That actually used to connect to LaShore Road. Is there a connector trail from Sparrow to LaShore? **Speaker 1:** County to LaShore. Well there's a legal trail from County Road to LaShore. But there's a four-wheeler trail. You can connect it to it almost. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** So you do want this in the town report? **Speaker 9:** I think it would be beneficial. **Speaker 2:** I think that's very helpful to people because they're going to see 600 grand. **Speaker 26:** They can see the breakdown of it all. **Speaker 20:** And it makes more sense. **Speaker 1:** What was the 70,000 increase **Speaker 28:** in the taxes? **Speaker 3:** Did we ever put it in the town report? **Speaker 1:** Every 100,000. 20 bucks. That's what it amounts to. We're going to take a loan for five years. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Maybe look three or four years back. But the grand list has gone way up, too. **Speaker 2:** We put that in the town report. They need to realize that it's not 1934 anymore. I did something today. And things cost money. And every year, yeah, it's going to continually go up. At some point, you know, people are going to fall over. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I thought I put it on something today. You're right. Everything does go up. We're trying to keep the struggle up. **Speaker 4:** I'd love to be like, hey, everybody's free. But that's not how the world works, unfortunately. It's just a struggle. Every little town is paying for all this stuff. That's why things like **Speaker 2:** when people don't pay any attention. I was having a conversation with somebody about the dump. All the taxpayers in town pay to operate that dump, right? And then the people that already paid taxes had to come down and buy a thing. So they're technically double paying. Well, that part of it, we didn't want it. You're trying to get some of your money back. The state forces **Speaker 29:** in the cost for that. **Speaker 4:** It's mostly for public health standards, too. Because if you don't have a place where people can **Speaker 2:** dispose of their trash. So I'm paying for the dump, **Speaker 25:** and I don't utilize it. **Speaker 4:** I live on Route 8 and 100. I shouldn't want to pay for any of that stuff, right? But we live in a whole town where we all got to try to continue to do that. Yeah, there's people paying for kids. If I was just strictly by my own wallet, I would vote no for all this stuff. **Speaker 17:** Oh, there's people like that. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Well, I'm voting for Brookside jobs, **Speaker 4:** so I'm voting for that. But you've got to have the same philosophy that people have at the school. For years, there's been a second population that's getting older and all that. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Why should I have to pay taxes if I don't have any kids in school? So if it went up $200,000. Okay, here's a $375,000 house. $300,000. Seven acres of land in my house. Just for the town tax. Only the town stuff. $580,000. And that is no highway or anything in there. So if the town part went up $200,000, I'd be paying $600 more just on the town. It doesn't seem possible, but it did. The calculation went in there, and I don't know why. $300,000. Or that was $200,000. And then if it went up $300,000, probably two and a half times more. **Speaker 17:** I'll send you the calculation, boys. **Speaker 2:** But at some point, would it go back down? Long term, which is going to be a hidden cost to most people. So you have to pay the $600,000, all right, so then it's paid. **Speaker 4:** A lot of people don't ever add up the hidden costs. That's just going to be kind of lost **Speaker 24:** in the wind. **Speaker 1:** The grader's like 30 years old now, too, guys. So these high maintenance roads are on constant grading. The other ones are once a year. So that grader, you can extend the life. That's why I say people have to have long-term vision. Once the project's paid for, **Speaker 19:** they've got to go back down. **Speaker 1:** It's never going down, but Jepson, there's opportunities to save money, because we can put in more maintenance. So it's not a guarantee, but at some point, we're going to get it. I mean, we just did all of each road, and that didn't cost the town anything. **Speaker 23:** Nothing. **Speaker 1:** There's always going to be another project. It's an interesting debate. It'll be a good discussion. It's like a leap of faith in a way, but the savings are in being able to prevent other issues by being able to maintain, you know, do other maintenance projects. You're not constantly pulled to **Speaker 2:** do the same stuff over and over. I will say that the townspeople didn't want to pay for a sheriff, which was $50, $45, $60, whatever amount. They didn't want to pay for a radar sign, which was peanuts, right? So here you are trying to get $600,000. I'm going to go out on a limb and probably say they're going to vote no, but we'll see. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Well, I'm glad you have it broken up. **Speaker 4:** There's some arguments to be had so I mean it depends where you stand on development or no development, too. That all leads into discussions about roads **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** and whether roads are worth paying for. We already know there's the land up there on the shore road, there's one lot that's sold, could be developed, and then Mr. Gardner has what, he's subdivided into three lots up there. **Speaker 17:** People that are buying a lot of the lots around **Speaker 4:** do you think it's more appealing to them **Speaker 17:** if the roads are dirt or tar? **Speaker 19:** I'm just thinking use. **Speaker 1:** Use of it's gone up considerably over the last, since I've worked here because there's more houses. There's one, two, three, four, five more houses up there. **Speaker 4:** 30 years ago **Speaker 25:** 30 years ago you could park **Speaker 2:** on the top of the shore road. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** And even up on the top of the shore road, if in a couple years we continue paving the shore road, the top of it, a couple years ago we put $60,000 into the spring mud up there. **Speaker 17:** Was that John Bold's? **Speaker 4:** I mean, there's a lot of arguments to be made. If it's paved, maybe more people want to build and develop, right? Then they get more people that are actually contributing to the tax rate. But then, you know, what do they bring? Do they bring four kids that want to go to high school **Speaker 2:** or are they just a second home? Stamford is slowly turning into like a weekend, you know, or escape. That's probably not a bad thing though. **Speaker 4:** I mean, it all depends on the school and there's only one other one direction **Speaker 22:** to go. **Speaker 4:** Middle-class people with kids. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Article 6 then. The town release up to $131,000 from the land sale invested funds. That we have the money already. **Speaker 9:** We have $170,000. **Speaker 2:** Oh, so that will go towards the $600,000? Right. Like I said, we're really not increasing. **Speaker 23:** So you're looking at $470,000. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** The land sale's got $178,000 in there. **Speaker 1:** Well, because we're currently paying a loan for $200,000. That was only $130,000. So I'm just... We're going to pay ourselves back that land sale money. I think with a good explanation it might... So you need to raise something around $400,000. No, because you're already paying it. You're just continuing what you were already paying. But we're already paying on $200,000. So what I'm saying is there's $70,000 to take off the remainder of it in reality. So you take the $70,000 off and use that number to figure out how much more you're taxing people. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay, so... Article 6. We're pretty sure that will pass. That's the 131. Keeping up with... And in the Select Board's report we're going to say something about it's on the maintenance, the five year maintenance plan and recycle or something. And then... **Speaker 19:** And that's **Speaker 1:** a loan. You've never... You'd never be able to maintain what was a dirt road. I mean, that was 16 years. It's got to be interesting to think about it, I think. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Article 7. Borrow some not to exceed $276,000 for paving the remaining gravel portion of Jepson. I think that would pass because it looks pretty dumb now that you're blacktop, gravel, blacktop. No, blacktop, gravel, and then blacktop. And then while the paver is here, go up LeSure Road. I don't know what the cost **Speaker 1:** is that. And now these prices are all based on like this year's price. Are those ditches on Jepson **Speaker 2:** stone lined or gravel? **Speaker 3:** They're stone lined. So on your LeSure Hill, will it start where it hooks onto Jepson **Speaker 30:** or will it just start at the hill? **Speaker 1:** No, it'll start right there at the Jepson intersection. It's a little bit of boulder road and then **Speaker 7:** it just makes sense. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Oh yeah, to go off of Jepson and go up. Even though that's Boulger. Right. So we'll have to say something in the town report about that. **Speaker 7:** I think they're both **Speaker 1:** worthwhile. I think once you bite the bullet down the road, you're going to be glad. **Speaker 4:** Yeah, I think if you're going to claim it to people or whoever who beat us like that, I think they'll... **Speaker 1:** Just to throw this out there, when I asked about paving the LeSure Road section years ago, the guy told me half a million. Now he's talking 180. **Speaker 4:** Yeah. Why? Times are tough in the state, man. You're just saying, must be they want to do it pretty bad. **Speaker 2:** Yeah, they want to do work. All states pretty much runs the blacktop department. **Speaker 23:** Yeah, they own everybody now. **Speaker 1:** More or less. They've taken over the marquees. But they'll... So they can put it down for what they were selling it to the local guy to just buy the mix. So you really can't even compete with them. Might be a time to jump on it. I mean, when we paved the school parking lot, Burt kind of prepped it and then had them do it because he couldn't even... For what they did it for, it would have cost him that much to go buy the mix from them. So he was smart to call and say, what do you... They put it down for what he would have... He didn't have to do all that work. **Speaker 21:** It's crazy. **Speaker 2:** Yeah. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay, so we're good with Article 7, Article 8. We're going to have to borrow that money. So we're borrowing that from the land sale fund. And that will have to take a loan out from the bank for the other two articles. David talked about going out longer on one of the loans. But a town cannot go out longer than five years without bonding. And Lori can explain about bonding for the town. If somebody asks about that, going out ten years, because the blacktop's going to stay there. **Speaker 3:** We could do it. It's considered long-term debt, so it has to have special voter approval. The bonding process, you have to hire an attorney who does bonding, so our town attorney couldn't do it. We'd have to hire a bonding attorney, probably someone from the local bank. It's probably a $4,000 or $5,000 cost. We'd have to do a special publication, which is another probably $1,000 cost three times. It's a lengthy process. And at the end of the day, once you get approval to bond, then you can choose to either borrow from the bond bank that often has lower rates than what you could get at local banks. Or you can still go through a local bank. But you need several months to go through that whole process and get to the point where you can have a town vote. There was no way I could pull it together for this March. I could probably do it by either the August. We have an August and a November vote if you want to plan on getting all your ducks in a row and paperwork ready. But now you're looking at waiting another year and having probably higher costs to do it. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Does it have to be an Australian ballot? Yep. **Speaker 22:** Oh, okay. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** So you'd have to have a public meeting first? **Speaker 3:** Public meeting first. I'd have to hire the ballot clerks and we'd have to have an all-day election. So, in order to have done this in March, usually the town clerks start it last fall. **Speaker 1:** I feel like doing some of this paving, especially on some of these high maintenance rows, is a sustainability. **Speaker 21:** If you don't do it, **Speaker 2:** You need to explain to them that every year I have to buy gravel and I have to pay John Boll or somebody to truck the stuff and if you pave it, then it eliminates **Speaker 8:** the cost of all this stuff. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** You've got to be ready to explain all this stuff. **Speaker 1:** It rains and you're losing your money. It's like you're plowing it off in the winter. You're losing it in the summer to dust and rain. Then you've got to dig out the ditches more often. The calcium that you've sprayed on all of that. Not to mention people's vehicles. You're not going to be beating your vehicle to death. **Speaker 4:** That's true. All the hidden costs, they've got to understand. **Speaker 17:** It's not showing up on the paper. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** So we're good with Article 6, 7, and 8. Article 9, to eliminate the office of Lister and that's going to be in our town report. **Speaker 8:** It seems **Speaker 9:** to be **Speaker 2:** You can't get anybody to do it, so why even have the position? **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** And it's getting the training and the education **Speaker 9:** is getting **Speaker 2:** So you're relying on people like Nimrick or whoever to constantly have to evaluate the town's appraisal. You're going to step up as a Lister now sometimes. **Speaker 3:** Yeah, no one took out papers **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** to beat a Lister. Maybe they'll just **Speaker 4:** go for a run in. Everybody's a Monday morning quarterback **Speaker 17:** at the time. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** That's true. **Speaker 2:** If I was throwing the ball, I could have won. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Then the cemetery is down from last year. The library is up $4,000 from last year. Except the volunteer fire department, that's voted on every five years. Raise and appropriate for the fire department, that's up $1,000. And then Article 14 is normal. **Speaker 2:** Looks good to me. **Speaker 9:** So, **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** go for it. Go for it. Make a motion, sign for it? Make a motion. Lori, what a relief. How would you like to do we just have this and have a hole for Doug and a hole for Mike? Is there a proper way to **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Well, Mike, we don't He'll sign it. Well, he's not here to do it. **Speaker 3:** We need the three of you. And I guess it doesn't matter for Mike, **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** but I don't know if you just leave Some years you just put the names **Speaker 3:** without signatures. Like on the back here. We could just do that for what goes **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** in the talent report. And then for your official copy, just the three of us, **Speaker 2:** that's all you need to sign. **Speaker 8:** Is this going to be seen by everybody? **Speaker 2:** Not that. **Speaker 8:** So I can make a sloppy signature? **Speaker 2:** No. Oh, I can read it, John. Yeah, I'm trying to make it **Speaker 2:** so you can't read it. I don't want people to be like, **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** who's this guy? Now, how on Doug do we put this **Speaker 2:** on select board report? Deceased or? **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I wouldn't say. Just leave it. I thought maybe someone would come tonight and say I want to be a selectman for the other two meetings, **Speaker 4:** but how do you feel? **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I think so too. **Speaker 4:** Currently it's all yours. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** That's Lori's. **Speaker 2:** Okay, now. Has anybody pulled papers for the report? So first Ray on post and then Jed Dramblin took out papers for Doug. This is going in. And this is going in. Nobody's running against anybody. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** No big topic. So go to the select board's report. The one Lori gave us tonight. I'm taking all kinds of notes. Not live but on the record. For you to look at. What do you want us to say? **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Thanks. Highway crew. **Speaker 9:** Okay, then we've got to say something. **Speaker 2:** They all do. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Are we going to say something about the new truck? In the vote for article. **Speaker 1:** I would just say that reliable **Speaker 4:** consistent service to the town. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** We don't do it. **Speaker 1:** We end up in that same boat where we were 17 years ago where everything is no good. **Speaker 20:** You've got to buy it all at once. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** The trucks aren't lasting like they used to. Vehicles are not lasting like they used to. **Speaker 2:** I drilled a hole through my floor to run a wire for my sander and I was very upset with how thin the metal was. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay. Then anticipated project Paving Jepson Road and the hill on LeSure as well as chip sealing. **Speaker 1:** We ask for your support. I feel like some of this stuff if you're too afraid to ask the town you're not really doing a good job. **Speaker 24:** Let's see where they land. **Speaker 3:** We have a paragraph of Paving Jepson and LeSure separate from the chip sealing because the chip sealing **Speaker 4:** we want to say is just part of our regular Yes. Let them understand that that's a regular maintenance. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** The chip sealing regular five year according to our maintenance plan. **Speaker 4:** It's our job just to put it out there if they don't want it. Resurfacing plan. **Speaker 1:** It's a normal schedule. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay. And it's working. You can see you're down **Speaker 7:** to three roads. **Speaker 1:** It's working. Our roads are pretty good if you drive our stuff and drive other towns. Other people are starting to do this. Clarksburg's starting to get on board with it. Florida. So we'll have to **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** kind of reword that other paragraph **Speaker 1:** there. We're setting the bar right now. We did it with the sand too. Now if you look around everybody's sand sheds. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** And then the then to the Jepson Road we can say something about qualifying for grants. After it's paved. And as you can see East Road did not cost us anything last year. **Speaker 1:** And that's huge. **Speaker 19:** We've never been able to do that. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** How much did it cost for East Road last year? $200? Right on your cheat sheet. **Speaker 1:** More than $235, right? More than the whole **Speaker 7:** $235. **Speaker 1:** That would have been our money for five years. Just to do that one road. **Speaker 19:** Okay. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** $235. And then **Speaker 2:** As long as the paver's here **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** we might as well do it with Shore Road. But we can't say that **Speaker 19:** in the town report. **Speaker 1:** For me it's a **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Shore Road might be the hard sell. **Speaker 1:** It's not engineered to be **Speaker 19:** Well you know there's always washboard. **Speaker 1:** to have constant maintenance of that road. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** And this could be the first step in paving the rest of the Shore Road. **Speaker 2:** At some point you're gonna if you have gravel roads this is a good thing you may have to bring up. The grader like if you're gonna continually have roads in town at some point we'll be replacing a grader. So blacktop **Speaker 25:** you know you can eliminate the grader. **Speaker 4:** But you gotta have long vision to care about this stuff. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** How about hiring a grader if they'd say well could we hire a grader for what's gotta be done? What are you hiring a grader for and an operator for **Speaker 19:** three or four days? **Speaker 20:** We're gonna make it possible. **Speaker 4:** But he's gotta be on his way out to where are we gonna source it? **Speaker 7:** Yeah. Gotta think about that. **Speaker 1:** Once there's a pit in town Not only that the skill level of the worker that the town will have to have will be a lot different. **Speaker 4:** All that stuff is **Speaker 24:** if you do that all **Speaker 1:** paved roads and they're really not doing much but mowing grass and filling some potholes **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Eliminate Lister and the rest is I think we go pretty good? Okay. Um I'll work on the tax stuff for the town report. **Speaker 8:** Send it. **Speaker 16:** I'll work on the stock board report instead of **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Now here's the other thing in the town report we said we're gonna dedicate it to Dottie and Betty and in the meantime Doug passed away. Do we want to just do it to Doug this year or say something in the select board report about Doug? Either one or the other I think we've gotta do. **Speaker 4:** Well I mean Doug would make sense and it's hard I mean it's hard to there's so many people that a dedication would be you know it's just hard to do it for everybody. I'm thinking that. That's kind of what I was saying Dottie's still alive. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I know it kind of looks funny with Dottie and Betty **Speaker 22:** When did Betty **Speaker 4:** When did she pass away Betty? I was **Speaker 2:** thinking she passed away this year Could we just add Doug to or do we have to be two people? Could we add Doug to the other two? **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** We could do them inside or there have three pictures on there **Speaker 3:** Well here's another thought though when Jean was wanting to kind of emphasize the matriarchs of Stamford you have Rosemary Curran **Speaker 4:** Yeah I mean it's hard that's what I'm saying where do you draw the line on who does this and who doesn't you know it's hard Sounds like if you wait another year or two and then **Speaker 4:** I look back in reports there really hasn't been a lot of dedications just in the last twenty years there was one for Leo who makes totals There was one that was a dual one one year I know Patricia Carlson was one of them and there was someone I think **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Tom Hodling **Speaker 22:** He was a selectman **Speaker 4:** Since I've been collecting reports when I moved here in 2004 that was it **Speaker 22:** Those were all the dedications **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I think we kind of stopped then because of the same **Speaker 4:** thing that who gets it and who doesn't It's kind of like the flag half-mast now it used to be for the governor and senators now it's for not that all these people aren't worthy but where do you draw the line it's all the way down to canine dogs now **Speaker 17:** Oh it is? **Speaker 24:** In Massachusetts it is for sure **Speaker 1:** It seems like Doug Pasoil all serving the town **Speaker 7:** Yeah I think so too **Speaker 4:** And that's where it makes sense I think As great as it I mean everyone recognizes Dottie as great as it would have been but what makes Dottie more worthy than anyone else that lived here for 50 or 60 years What sets her out other than she was very visible walking on the side of the road **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Yeah Nice person **Speaker 4:** I mean we love her I definitely like the idea of what Jean was saying with the old school mentality more sense of community when those people were thriving in town But I don't know it opens the door for like who shouldn't get one right like you just said Rosemary Kern I mean they lived here since 1960 or 61 probably longer than Dottie Howe and Betty Bendis I mean they didn't move here until the 1970s **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Well Jim grew up here didn't he **Speaker 22:** Jim did yeah **Speaker 4:** My grandma passed away a few years ago she lived here 80 something years I would say as worthy as that was maybe **Speaker 17:** on second thought **Speaker 4:** Yes Major I thought maybe we retreat from Betty and Dottie and go with Doug because he did he died while he was serving the town literally was in service I agree with you Probably would have been re-elected if he decided to run again **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I don't know if we made a motion for Dottie and Betty but if we did I'd like to **Speaker 22:** rescind that motion **Speaker 4:** I think I did It makes sense just because it's hard to draw that line and I would say if we just stick to someone that served the town in one capacity or another like John Tatra was another one I forgot that was the other one I mean he served the town for a long time **Speaker 17:** That makes sense **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I did the same thing Kerr I went back in a lot of the town reports **Speaker 4:** We did Betty Call Well for one I was just trying to get an idea of So Betty Call would be in my parents stash of books I literally got these books all the way back to 1960 somewhere in my house **Speaker 15:** I got them **Speaker 4:** But I only kept the stash out that's accessible since I moved into the house I think it was about 20 years Johnny was the other one **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** But I mean he made sense he served Tom Hodling I know that **Speaker 4:** And then we kind of stopped because You know that one even everyone's worthy for these things I guess Tom was serving and Patricia was the librarian I guess at the time So it kind of made sense **Speaker 17:** But if we just start doing it that way **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** So is that the wording I want to rescind the vote for Betty and Dottie very worthy people **Speaker 3:** I don't think I actually put too much in the minutes **Speaker 14:** because I didn't want to let the cat out **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** That's true **Speaker 3:** Maybe we didn't do anything in the minutes **Speaker 16:** Maybe we just discussed the dedication **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** That's true So we'll just dedicate it to Doug and we didn't do a motion **Speaker 17:** Yeah that makes sense **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** If we didn't do a motion **Speaker 4:** you would have had it I didn't go as far as contacting the families I've been very late And I'm sure they would understand **Speaker 22:** Yeah About Doug **Speaker 4:** Okay **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Your father did basketball, baseball Stamford, Clarksburg Tigers **Speaker 4:** I remember when they **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** They moved here in 1960 I remember playing basketball with them **Speaker 4:** 44 years here in town **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Would you go up Alpemwall after and go swimming **Speaker 4:** Sure Yeah **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** That was hard in the gym **Speaker 22:** watching them play basketball **Speaker 4:** Because they were rough I remember why I didn't go up Why did your father and **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** mother move up here? **Speaker 17:** Was there some reason? **Speaker 4:** My father wanted to be rural they paid about $6,000 for the house **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Where did they live before? **Speaker 4:** My mother grew up in one of the oldest houses in North Adams on South Church Street It's attached to the Lousik Tunnel Her history goes all the way back to the tunnel My Irish immigrants and my father's family moved here from Italy to Frederick than Frederick Street, North Adams. Just off of Hogan Street. And yeah, my father always ran his hunting dogs up this way, you know, always came up this way to go hunting. He, from hunting, he had known Sophie Jangrel who lived here. Then just came this way, he wanted to get out of North Adams, the big city life of North Adams, so. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** And then he had you kids and you all ran wild in town. And it was a good, good safe place. Okay. It was. Can I have a motion that we accept the budget? As, is that what I want? The budget as proposed and the town report as? Revised. Revised. Motion to sign and we're done. Motion to sign. Okay, and I want to make a motion to go into executive session for personnel. **Speaker 4:** Second. **Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** All in favor?