---
title: "Stamford Select Board — June 4, 2026"
date: 2026-06-04
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":6,"SPEAKER_01":7,"SPEAKER_02":18,"SPEAKER_03":4,"SPEAKER_04":5,"SPEAKER_05":2,"SPEAKER_06":1}
duration_min: 33
audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Uyh287-cHFe06R_oEQM5hN1SSBt_pnFZ/view?usp=sharing
audio_source: town drive
minutes: https://townofstamfordvermont.org/mediaItems/Sbd%20Minutes%206-4-26.pdf
minutes_pending: false
present: [Nancy L. Bushika, Kurt Gamari, Jedidiah Gramlin, John Dunn]
absent: [Michael G. 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 — June 4, 2026

**Session:** Regular · **Duration:** 33 min · [Audio](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Uyh287-cHFe06R_oEQM5hN1SSBt_pnFZ/view?usp=sharing) · [Minutes](https://townofstamfordvermont.org/mediaItems/Sbd%20Minutes%206-4-26.pdf)

**Present:** Nancy L. Bushika, Kurt Gamari, Jedidiah Gramlin, John Dunn
**Absent:** Michael G. Denault

---
**Speaker 1:** Sorry. Welcome to a meeting of the staff.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** 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 in respect for mothers. Select board members present are Nancy Bushika. John Dunn.

**Speaker 1:** Jed Gramlin. Kurt Gamari.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Will there be any adding of items or removing items from tonight's agenda?

**Speaker 2:** I'd like to add the truck loan information.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Correspondence I have from PVR. Anything else to add? Will there be any adjustment to the agenda such as changing the order of items? Jed is recording tonight's meeting. Thank you. He's recording tonight's meeting for his YouTube video. Hearing of visitors. Bob Briggs, local emergency management plan.

**Speaker 3:** Hi there. Thank you for having me. I've made adjustments to the local emergency management plan for this year. Within this past year, we had one emergency management coordinator step out. That would be Stephanie Shelburne. Took her off of the list. And we were able to add. I changed the select board so it's current in the information here. And we're able to add a warming station at the Stamford Town Library as just during open hours at this time for the warming station. But we're working on coming up with a plan with the library if we need to have a warming station after hours. But I've made it clear. I've made it clear to my people and to many people that opening an emergency shelter in town, we do not have the staff to do this. We do not have. And to do it according to the Red Cross standards and everything, we're better off to go to Bennington or North Adams. And we've got those arrangements. Bennington is opening. It has a new shelter set up. And they're going to do. Is it Ducat up there? The police chief is going to have an EMD visit to this new shelter, how they set it up and everything so we can assist our residents. You know, I feel that people are safer if they shelter in place, if they can stay in their home. They're more comfortable in their own home. Even if we have to help provide them with shelter. Yeah. And if we have to help provide them electricity or some sort of heat or something to that effect. But that's my thought process. And if you guys could just take a look at this. And there's going to be some phone numbers. The school has been difficult to get a hold of. I think I'm going to come down and just sit in the principal's office until she sees me. All right. For that information. But other than that, I think I've got it in pretty good shape for 2026. Thank you. Thank you, Bob, for all the work.

**Speaker 4:** Just out of curiosity, is there any systems in place that would get the same benefit that they needed to get this?

**Speaker 3:** All we have in this is contact for a teacher's bus line if we need to use a bus. Yeah.

**Speaker 5:** I was just curious if there was any public services or not.

**Speaker 3:** Yeah. I can look into that. Yeah. But I'm feeling that if it's a snow emergency. That'll definitely limit public transportation.

**Speaker 6:** You should definitely try to show up there in place.

**Speaker 4:** But I was just curious.

**Speaker 3:** I'm a firm believer in take care of your neighbors. Yeah. Yeah, sure. And make sure that if you know of someone that's in need, do what you can to assist them right here in our own community. Because that's the best way to do it.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Yeah. I know the couple people that I call. We're fine. We're fine. We'll get some. We're fine.

**Speaker 4:** False hearted people that have been here for a period of time.

**Speaker 3:** Most people will not ask for help. Exactly. Most people will not ask for help. When they get help, they appreciate it. And we're here to help. This has to be done every year, which is good because it gets me to look at it and figure out who's new and who isn't. The school changed a little bit. The school is trying to keep things current.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Thank you. So can I have a motion that we approve this and I can sign it?

**Speaker 1:** Looks good. I only saw one little typo of your email. It's got like the Yahoo part. Y-H-A-O-O or something instead of Y-A-H-O-O. I can believe I did that. No.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** That computer did it.

**Speaker 1:** Oh, yeah.

**Speaker 3:** It's on page eight. It is.

Yep. The detail, I guess.

**Speaker 3:** Yeah. Good. I'd rather have no information than the wrong information.

**Speaker 7:** Yeah, I'm sure if someone looked at it, they'd figure it out.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Just so you know, my email address is 78 after my name.

**Speaker 3:** Sorry about that.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Oh, no problem. I just, you know, again, like you said, right information, not the wrong information.

**Speaker 1:** You don't want people emailing you anyways. Always approve.

**Speaker 3:** I'm sure that Lori sent me that information and I transcribed it incorrectly.

**Speaker 1:** I appreciate your hard work on it. Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Bob.

Yeah, motion to sign. All in favor? All in favor? All right. Signed and done.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Thank you, Bob.

**Speaker 8:** You're welcome.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Thank you for all the work you did on the 9-1-1 letters report. We sent out 67 letters. A couple people sent them back and they said, no, there's nothing there. We're not putting up a sign. It's vacant land. So Lori's made a note of it. Bob's made a note of it. Yeah, we just make a note of that type of thing. And, you know, we're not putting up a sign. We're not putting up a sign. It's vacant land. So Lori's made a note of it. Bob's made a note of it. Yeah, we just make a note of that type of thing. And, you know, we're not putting up a sign. It's vacant land. So Lori's made a note of it. Bob's made a note of it. And we just make a note of that type of thing in our 9-1-1 sheet.

**Speaker 9:** And we can go from there.

**Speaker 3:** But I've been contacted from the state 9-1-1 coordinator a couple of times asking about addresses. And I shared with him what I have. And he's happy with our record system. Good. I've also had several people come up and say, Bob, you're going to sign this. And I said, yeah, I'm going to sign this. And he said, yeah, I'm going to sign this. And I said, yeah, I'm going to sign this. And he said, yeah, I'm going to sign this. And I said, yeah, I'm going to sign this.

**Speaker 10:** Any legend?

**Speaker 9:** I worry.

**Speaker 3:** Another?

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Thank you. Thank you. And approval of records and orders, May 21st and May 26th. May I have a motion? 21st, I think you weren't here.

**Speaker 1:** I wasn't there on the 21st, but I was there on the 26th.

Second. Second? Yeah, second.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Jed and Kurt and the special meeting of May 26th. Motion?

**Speaker 8:** Motion.

**Speaker 1:** Any second?

**Speaker 8:** All in favor?

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** All in favor? Aye. Okay.

**Speaker 10:** There's a new superintendent. Highway update.

**Speaker 11:** I'm being ready for the paving that's coming up. Neat with me here pretty quick. When is that supposed to start, Dave? They told me the 17th, 18th, and 19th, but there's a possibility it might be during the 16th. June?

**Speaker 1:** What are you going to do about the locals that are going to be trying to drive on here while we're paving?

**Speaker 12:** They'll be able to get through.

**Speaker 11:** There's always traffic control. We get there early. them through we don't shut the rooms down i mean they might have to stop and wait for a minute but for the most part it's just they do one lane at a time so so for your three days yeah three possibly four and then they'll be back to chip seal at a later date but they're only the shims at the same time so a big of an outfit like all states asphalt so they can handle that you know keeping the traffic racing over here

**Speaker 1:** for sure aprons and all that will be taken care of too like i know we have an issue with aprons now when everything's paved your sand to salt ratio in wintertime is going to change are you

**Speaker 11:** preparing for that i mean i don't expect a lot more salt usage i mean i always estimate more than we use anyways but and then that's all you never end up have time they don't bring it now anyways the last couple years there's shortages and whatnot so but we'll just we restock you know as we go as long as you're aware of it yeah no i you know it's all depends on the winner you get too you know i mean it varies from year to year no matter what hopefully it all works out for the best yeah i i just really believe that in the long run so when you're cleaning out the ditches you're cleaning out a

**Speaker 12:** lot of the yeah sand so yeah i mean there's less maintenance on the black yes years i've cleaned it on each for once years yeah you can see it when you go up up the road it's all over the side of

**Speaker 11:** the constantly working in the same areas and there's other areas in town that we need there's

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** so many oh yeah chewed up exactly it's surprising how fast people are driving driving crazy i can't

**Speaker 1:** imagine what this one's going fast this one's going fast this one's going fast this one's going fast

**Speaker 11:** it's how people look so fast now but i think anything else dave laurie's got something um

**Speaker 2:** i don't know when the new truck will be ready but we'll have to have the money in our hands so that we can pay it when it is ready um so i started getting some information from the banks um adam's community bank is willing to offer a 7.4 percent loan over five years the ford credit uh dealer credit where we're buying the truck is also offering a quote for 7.59 for the 150 000 a word 5. ask for a quote from berkshire bank that is now beacon bank and they

**Speaker 13:** didn't submit anything on the table and you need us to make a decision tonight because you'll need the money right away or very soon once you decide where you're going to go

**Speaker 2:** it'll still take time to get the documents ready and sign them So yes, if you're able to make tonight, it'll just start the ball rolling.

**Speaker 1:** Do we have any money to throw at that?

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Land sale money, we kind of used everything that we had.

**Speaker 11:** I don't know, is there anything? But we have to have the time.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Did we do that? We did it. One of the warrants on the town meeting, wasn't that one of the warrants? Yeah, that's what I'm just looking at.

**Speaker 1:** Yeah, I'm not familiar with the interest rates, but.

**Speaker 11:** I don't anticipate the truck being ready. Why do we have to decide now? I think what sparked it is the cabin chassis came in.

**Speaker 2:** Last year, we had to pay for the cabin chassis first, and then separately pay HP Fairfield for the mounting of the dump body and all the hydraulics and the plow and all. So when I knew the truck was ready, I started the process by.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** And replacement fund.

**Speaker 10:** What's the difference between the bank offer and the Ford motor credit?

0.1, 0.1. 7.4 and 7.5. 5.9, oh, it's 7.4.

**Speaker 1:** Like a ton, yeah, a 20th of a percentile.

**Speaker 10:** Two tons. I'd wonder whether you had, if they had to settle the world and the rate goes down, you might be able to recast it with a bank, but I doubt you could do it with Ford Motor Credit.

**Speaker 1:** Adam's call, from what I understand, is pretty competitive. I don't know where else you would get probably a better rate.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Equipment, highway equipment fund, we have 22,000.

**Speaker 1:** We have a sales fund, and we have 178. The bank, when we go to.

**Speaker 2:** $150,000 for the truck.

**Speaker 1:** We think prices could go up.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Land sale fund.

**Speaker 2:** It doesn't seem like the truck was ready much sooner.

**Speaker 11:** Well, they did say they can't.

**Speaker 14:** We might be able to hold off, if we have to have a special meeting,

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** release the money, or just kind of juggle stuff, if you think so.

**Speaker 1:** If we only got 20,000 in the reserves in case something happened. Realistically, you probably should just move. We're gonna chase, see if we can get something back to you.

**Speaker 15:** A merchant bank that I used to work with, and so I'm trying to get money quick.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** We've got permission to borrow from the land sale fund, and we'll just rob Peter, pay Paul, and keep track of the money. Got permission to remove it from land sale, so we'll see what we need first. Instead of, instead of, we can wait. I don't think interest rate's gonna go down in two weeks.

**Speaker 11:** No, we're not gonna do that.

We don't have to come up with the money until October.

**Speaker 11:** Remember, even if it goes sooner, I want us to take it, them to approve the money. I'm sure that if they're sitting on the truck and all that this long, they're not gonna care if they're gonna wait another couple weeks.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** You know, we're good for it. Yeah.

Hold off, Lori.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** If you see things starting to creep up, hold off.

**Speaker 4:** I'm willing to wait if we can wait, but at first we gotta decide something.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Hold off.

**Speaker 11:** Will you get the truck through? It's Chrysler.

**Speaker 1:** Is there any way to go if there's, like, a lady or a guy that handles?

Yeah, that, the dealer finances. Yeah, and Vam's Co-op is better.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** We agree, we're gonna hold off.

**Speaker 1:** John, you'll be comfortable.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** It's just a juggling agreement, hopefully. Anything else? Highway? Lori? No? Recycling? There are good workers up there. He just jumps right out, and he's there. I'm loving it. Right? Yeah. He's got the lights, and the shed is a lot neater than it used to be, and it's good. It looks good. He jumps right in with them. Steve jumps in with them. I haven't noticed Steve. A letter from FEMA.

**Speaker 10:** It's concerning, it's a risk map project concerning the watershed, Hudson-Hoosick River watershed study.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Kurt, you have copies of this, and you'll look into it and see what we have to do, or if nothing, I'll send it to you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Thank you. The这是, it's 100% for sure. I'll get this to Lori to file. I took the pictures of it with my phone, can I get a copy of that? Yeah, I'll get you a copy. A tax anticipation note, you were good on that, Lori?

**Speaker 2:** I hope to have information on whether a line of credit, or the regular or short-term loan I have gotten in the past, which would be better for the town than I, so I'm hoping for next meeting. Correspondence, we have a letter from property evaluation and Aquiemente de Hoyo.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay. So, that's it. Okay. evaluation and review it's requesting a grand list extension the abstract of the grand list was supposed to be filed today but due to personal circumstances with our assessor she could not get it done for today so we had to file a grand list extension request it had to be in by 4 o'clock so on behalf of the board and the town I don't want to be fined so I signed it can I have a motion to approve this three four hours ago I signed it earlier yep motion so may make the motion motion second and we asked for a two-week extension we should be good with that she's almost done any other correspondence Lori the whole business June 17th is going to be an online webinar for orders civil authority training it's online it's a webinar 6 to 7 30 p.m. I believe it's free it's good refresher course anyway if anybody wants to sign up for it anything else Lori under correspondence under all business new business meeting where a staff member of the planning commission who같em progressively a staff member of the planning commission so my job is to whether that it's a horrible for employment that has to follow through whether I want to

**Speaker 4:** iii want to make sure that they have my skills training program the flexibility I said earlier that I want to participate in a great opportunity for documents to get our work done and she won't be able to sign up so she's going to have to doc won't be able to talk to me the other day bright phone смотрите this is what fun to see kate words and fitness darmer was done much well i mean we did the walk around the village center if you want ii love all this remote rock historic historical structures you know then you had a little session afterwards typical planning board audience plus fun one meeting about 15 people maybe 15 people attended five people an hour dildos army members who did the », it probably was Sylvia people attended. It was a good time. Well, this is part of the plan. You have to do all the meetings and do all these things, but they charge you for all of them. The idea was to try to get people's input that don't generally... Now, does this have anything to do with the Village District?

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Not so much other than the fact that that's basically where we kind of live. So the Village District is set then?

**Speaker 4:** Yeah, they're not unless the Board. Historically... What's the whole part of updating the town? When that's updated, then you'll work on the zoning bylaws or it's kind of... We're kind of working on them simultaneously. Monday's meeting is going to have a woman coming down talking about river corridors and wetlands, I believe. River mapping, which is going to fire everyone up just as much as 181. It's just all about conservation and natural resources and whether we care about these things or not. Yeah. Why we're sitting here at this day and age still arguing about whether we care about water is a little ridiculous to me, but here we are. So it's the number one life essential force that we have on the planet. Why we want to drain it away or fill it in and constantly remove it is beyond my comprehension, but that's what we do. So those conversations are all going to kick in as well. Not sure exactly what she's bringing to the table on Monday, but she will. She will be at the meeting. She's like the coordinator. I believe she's the coordinator for like flood mapping and stuff like that.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** So this will be something in your bylaws, maybe.

**Speaker 4:** Well, it's part of the bylaws. We have, which people have tended to ignore over the years, there is a whole chapter, a whole component for flood resilience that is attached to the bylaws. Yup. You know, since those have been written, we've had several houses built within the flood zone and in wetlands. In the river corridor. But it all goes directly to whether people in town can get homeowners insurance or not. So it's all directly tied in. Flood insurance, that is. Yup. Not homeowners insurance. So it's important. I mean, we already have 20-something houses within the flood plain at this point in town.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Or even if you want to remortgage your house or a home equity loan, you need flood insurance.

**Speaker 4:** Sure. So it matters.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I don't know what it costs, but I do know that.

**Speaker 4:** Well, see, water's important. I mean, all you've got to do is look out west and see how dry it's getting. And just look at our streams right now. They're lower than they should be. Yes. So the plant is drying out. We're draining water away. We're messing with our hydraulic systems constantly. And we keep on doing it. And the west is paying a pretty stiff price right now. They're talking about desalinization at billions of dollars.

**Speaker 16:** Anything else under new business?

**Speaker 1:** June 6th at the Alliance Park. Yeah. I hear so.

**Speaker 4:** Yeah.

You're slowing us down.

**Speaker 4:** That's okay. Do you have my number at all?

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** It was heavy putting in the emergency management plan.

I do a lot of reading and interesting stuff. I'm going to keep this for all the numbers. I'll prank call people at night time.