---
title: "Stamford Select Board — October 1, 2026"
date: 2026-10-01
session: regular
speaker_labels: 1 cluster(s) named from the roll call and that meeting's chair in the minutes, 1 named from roster attendance, 7 of 9 clusters unnamed
voice_ids: {"SPEAKER_00":16,"SPEAKER_02":3,"SPEAKER_03":4,"SPEAKER_04":5,"SPEAKER_05":9,"SPEAKER_06":7,"SPEAKER_07":6,"SPEAKER_08":1,"SPEAKER_09":2}
duration_min: 64
audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKygIa4xdEA
audio_source: YouTube (@jgramlin78)
minutes: https://townofstamfordvermont.org/mediaItems/Sbd%20Minutes%2010-1-26.pdf
minutes_pending: false
present: [Nancy L. Bushika, Michael G. Denault, John Dunn, Kurt Gamari, Jedidiah Gramlin]
absent: []
transcribed: 2026-10-12 (faster-whisper large-v3, CUDA; names corrected per data/name_fixes.json)
diarization: pyannote/speaker-diarization-3.1 (automated; cluster labels may over-split a single voice; unattributed paragraphs have no reliable speaker)
---

# Stamford Select Board — October 1, 2026

**Session:** Regular · **Duration:** 64 min · [Audio](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKygIa4xdEA) · [Minutes](https://townofstamfordvermont.org/mediaItems/Sbd%20Minutes%2010-1-26.pdf)

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

---
**Speaker 1:** Okay, let's call the meeting to order.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Welcome to the meeting of the Stamford Select Board. If you have a matter to discuss that is not included on the agenda, you may do so by addressing the chairperson and stating your name and address. You will notice that all our meetings are recorded, and this is to aid with the summarization of the minutes. Visitors are welcome, and we allow five minutes of comments per visitor and 15 minutes per topic. Discussions will be held in a calm and civilized manner and respectful of others. Select Board members present are...

**Speaker 2:** Michael G. Denault

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

**Speaker 2:** Jedidiah Gramlin John Dunn Kurt Gamari

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

**Speaker 3:** I have additional correspondence. Commencements to the agenda.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay. Will there be any adjustments to the agenda such as changing the order of items? I don't see any. Okay. And Jed is recording tonight's meeting for his YouTube video. Okay. Hearing of visitors. Do you have a... I don't know.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Okay. She just wants to keep the ring company now. Okay. They're all going to come together.

**Speaker 4:** Okay.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Come down and listen.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay. Listen. All right. Reading and tools...

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Joe, we got hearing of visitors. Do you want to say anything or you're all set? Yeah. Okay. All right. Okay. It's not a promise.

**Speaker 5:** I do have some information on... Too late. The law enforcement part of it. Okay.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** For you guys.

**Speaker 5:** Yeah.

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

**Speaker 5:** You want to do it now? Sure. Why not? Okay. It's pretty easy. They still do the town stuff for training. Who does? Who are you talking about? The...

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

**Speaker 5:** The law enforcement training facility in Pittsburgh.

**Speaker 6:** Oh, Pittsburgh.

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

**Speaker 5:** The law enforcement... The state was... What... What I was asking was what exactly do we have to do in order to appoint or elect one of... Constable. Yep. Yep. Right? So... And they... And gentlemen up there respond... I've read all the laws and I think I've got it all down pretty good. So, we can... You can put it on the agenda for the annual meetings. Put it back on the ballot or ask for permission from the townspeople to appoint a council. Now, what I would suggest is because of the... In light of the things that are popping up where you could probably use somebody... Well, yeah. I can add to this. And so, don't... Don't need to go to the academy for an administrative non-agency meeting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, administrative. And administrative. Okay.

**Speaker 7:** So, what I'm saying is any change in...

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** In these initiatives, executive, non-law enforced person and there's a list of things. I didn't bring my list.

**Speaker 5:** What will be the administrative... What do you... Yeah. What do you mean that?

**Speaker 8:** So, administrative would be assist tax collector...

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** So, they could legisl... It's literally in the law. What would they need to be trained, like, would they be able to... If you want to assist to the tax collector, say. Yeah. And would they be able to get a firearm, a...

**Speaker 5:** So, there was no indication. I mean... Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. There was no indication. Yeah. kind of all underneath your constitutional rights to bear arms but well i'm just wondering with law enforcement it's it doesn't it's it's a non-law enforcement council right only reason

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** why i asked is uh i went i looked into it one time the liability so we when we had our dog officer right way back he was carrying a firearm he actually used the firearm under the guise of the town and said hey you know i'm working for the town recorded the whole thing and dispatched the gun okay we were very as far as i'm concerned we're very lucky that we weren't sued even though i agree with the right to carry second amendment all that you know that but under the insurance part of it i get worried so if we were to have a constable to and what good would it be for a constable to go assist if they couldn't defend so i think

**Speaker 8:** like a little bit of training in the future so in order in order for you to get police power now

**Speaker 5:** i'm talking about law enforcement powers you have to have a minimum of uh level one or level two okay they don't do one no more they they oh okay they they always say wanted to um i'm not sure how the how they would react i know i know um what i'm talking about what we were all talking an administrative type of service would be adequate enough you it does say in the law that one of the duties of a constable non-law enforcement they can dispatch deer okay and and uh and things like that so i would assume so they have to carry a fire they have to carry a firearm for that now i don't like i said i haven't been up there and uh face-to-face you know connect them up

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** because you have to determine sure you're saying there's this constable when i hear constable i think constable in the old day yeah yeah but you're saying there's two different constable levels of that one is the administrative uh which is like no stopping no stopping cars or

**Speaker 5:** domestic violence or right yeah it's very specific in the law as you read it it's it's it's uh non it's specific non-law enforcement not allowed to stop vehicles can you get us copies of that yes so

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** let's get into it some more um and here's i agree with you that we need something uh the other day i was i volunteered um to post notice a notice out of gentleman's or party's property for a pac cell and i did that i happened to be in town and i said well might as well do it um while i was going my wife was with me and i i said to her hey you want to go out she said well all right so As we were driving off, State Troopers pulled in real quick, and I was like, what are they here for, right? First one came in, and he pulled right behind me, so then another one came in. I said, oh, this is perfect. I can ask him to walk there with me. So I got out of the car, walked over, and I didn't recognize this trooper. Told him who I was, and told him what I was going to be doing and asked him if he would mind, at some time, it didn't have to be right then and there, come up there to just assist me. So nothing happens. He point blank said, no. He said, we don't do that. No. He says, I'm on a call right now, which he was for school. And I said, well, after the call, that'd be fine. No. Call your local sheriff or use your constable. He said, well, we don't have a constable, because we have to pay high taxes for State Troopers. Because I was mad at that time. I had to put him on.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I had to dig in there.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Dig in there. So I said, so you won't go up there? He said, no. But if something happens, call 911, and we're in town. We'll be able to respond faster. I said, all right, I'll call you after I get shot.

**Speaker 9:** And I walked away.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Because I was upset. I said, we pay our taxes, and I'm just asking for you to take a ride up the road here, so I don't have any problems. Anyways, he didn't do it. If we had a constable, that would have been so much easier and safer. Me going up there. Whether I carry a firearm, or I beat the guy up with my hands. If there was a confrontation, I'm on his property. I understand that. I'm trying to do a job, and I had no identification, no shirt that said what I was doing, nothing on my car. Just going up. And this is what the state made us do. The state is telling us what to do. So they say, here, go put this on someone's house, and take a picture of it. So now I'm putting it on the house. I know this guy. I'm a little nervous. I won't kid you. He doesn't like me. So I'm posting it on there, and I'm waiting for him to come out, and my wife is taking a picture. So anyways, I back up and get out of there. I'm backing up. I don't get halfway down this driveway. He comes flying out of the house. He's looking at it. He takes it down. Right away, he took it down. Was there for no more than 20 seconds.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** So really, what good, I suppose, he's going to, maybe he'll read it. But it would have been reserved.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Right, right. We had the picture. Everything's been documented. But he knew what was coming. We even took pictures as I was doing it. So there's no problems. But I'm saying, if there was a confrontation, if he had ran down to the truck, it would have been nice to have some kind of identification. As I'm doing this, I'm thinking, we should have something for our car, just something, like Sally has, that little sign. Slap it on the side of the car.

**Speaker 10:** In general, it seems like an arcade.

**Speaker 11:** We just do it. This is crazy.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** We just nail it to the tree, and it's gone in the dark. And we talked to the state rep. And he said, well, geez, we didn't really think about this part of the problem. It didn't come up.

**Speaker 12:** I'm surprised it didn't come up.

**Speaker 2:** You could have sent something like return receipt that they

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** That already went out.

**Speaker 2:** Yeah, the state fine. This is something new that the state tells us we have to do. So they want you to do that on top of it.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** And our tax collector said, no way, she's doing it. And I don't blame her. So me and Judd, and Valentine.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** But anyway, we did write a letter.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** So this is something that I think that down the road will be needed more. If the state's going to make us do it, they should actually send some money and pay for our council. But I'm going to hold my breath for that one. But nevertheless, we should start looking into, I'm still 100% against the sheriff's contract,

**Speaker 2:** because you don't get anything. They're also asking us to do these reappraisals every so often, whether we're supposed to pull the money for that out of the sky. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

**Speaker 5:** So we brought that up with Cooper, I think.

**Speaker 2:** And I purchased it to press something

**Speaker 5:** that other communities. And if they're going to make us do it every six months, then they need to start every six years. And they need to start flipping the bill.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** They do give us, like, depending on your population, Stamford gets about $6,000 a year for a $90,000 contract.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Right. It went from $70,000 to $90,000. So thanks for the six.

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

Yeah.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the actual contract went up in one year. It went up. Three years from now, that's going to be over $100,000.

**Speaker 5:** So I'll bring the laws and all the information to Lori tomorrow to show you what it is. But there is an actual list of things that a constable with no law enforcement training, it's just going to be an appointment, but it has to go through.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Tell me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. OK. Yeah. Just bring it in and get copies of it. And like you said, see how it goes.

**Speaker 5:** Well, the only other thing the guy told me on the phone was is that if you're a law enforcement officer in this area, that would be willing to moonlight you could hire him.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** And on that light with the delinquent tax collector and posting that notice, we did write a letter to Representative Cooper. And he knows what's going on. So this is now it's in writing. And now we can present this to the legislature. Maybe other towns will be thinking about this, too. And I ran into him the other day. And he was very thankful that we gave him a letter. And now he's going to see if he can get letters from other towns. Yeah. Good. That have the same problems we have. And he said he might contact you to get if you maybe, you know, more. Because, you know, down the road. Yeah.

**Speaker 13:** Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Did you hear them last last meeting? There was 1,100 bills in the legislature. Yes. 1,100 that were brought up in one year that could be lost. Yeah. That's unbelievable that they bogged down this legisl. I mean, you know, some of them are useless.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Yes. The other thing to say is that some of them are.

**Speaker 14:** What?

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Why? And that one bill has multiple items within it. Oh. Yep. You know it's not like just one line item, that's not how it works.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** You gotta watch what's tacked onto that at the end too. Okay, anything other? Hearing of visitors. Reading and approval of records and orders of September 17th.

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

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** We have a second? Second. All in favor as written? Aye. Highway update, Dave?

**Speaker 15:** They came to the sweep about later than I thought.

**Speaker 16:** This is a new company, right? This is a different company, yeah.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Looks good, they did a good, real good job.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Would the old company that we got rid of, was there a bill or a discount?

**Speaker 16:** I haven't gotten any bill from them. Okay.

**Speaker 15:** I haven't heard from them since they left, so. Okay. Messed up? They couldn't do the job, so. Yep, okay. In the spring, I still make call and try to get some addition on there.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Our trucks, are they all back or? All of them are running right now.

**Speaker 15:** We went up on Monday. Don't jinx it, don't jinx it. Monday. The truck was, they called me on Saturday and said the truck was ready. Mike and I went up on Monday, we have to take it back. Okay. Everything's up and running. Our new truck, I talked to them about that.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Oh, I was just going to ask, do we have the loan forward or is it ready?

**Speaker 3:** On the bank side, it would be like two to three weeks notice to pull that together, as bad as the last one.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Not as bad as the last one? Weeks?

**Speaker 17:** Once.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Ah, okay. Recycling? We were talking about things. Things going in the dumpster, and Dave is going to keep a better eye on it, and ask Carol and Joey to keep a better eye what's going in the dumpster, because we think stuff might be going in that shouldn't be going in there, but I know Carol and Joey are pretty careful.

**Speaker 15:** I'm not even sure if some of that stuff is actually going in there. If you look at how they're charging us, they're different every time. I think people are throwing tires and demolition.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I mean, Joey and Carol are usually pretty careful about that. Yeah. It's kind of hard to throw a tire in there without them seeing it.

**Speaker 15:** Just kind of watching if it's selling. All fees cheap, but they are charging us.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** And Lori gave us the recycling update. Just went over it quickly, and Jeb saw a couple of things. It's just like the zoning bylaws. You change one section and you miss something else. So on the back side, demolition container, the minimum charge. We have $36 per cubic yard, and on the front, I think it says $45. So we should change the back to $45. And then the other part was in that same sentence about minimum charge. On the back side, mattress. Take the word mattress out, because it's on the front side with the same price. It's got the price on the back. Does that make sense? Yeah.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Yeah.

Yeah.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Yeah. So I got a couple of questions. I told you I was going to bring the bill from the transfer station from North Adams. First thing, with our demolition, if someone brings demolition to our transfer station, they are responsible to take it out of their vehicle and put it in this dumpster, right?

**Speaker 15:** Unless it's something heavy that can't lift.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** So I couldn't go with a dump trailer and dump it on the ground if you don't pick it up and put it down? Right. No. Okay.

**Speaker 18:** If somebody has a couch, you don't expect them to throw it in the water.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Right. But all the small stuff. If I had a dump trailer full of crushed junk, I would be responsible to get it in that dumpster. So I went to the North Adams site. The problem is you guys don't charge by the pound. So you'll never know. They charge $172.40 per ton. Okay. I went with a full dump trailer, 12 foot, 6x12, and it was only $144. I only had .84 tons because of the demolition from a house. It was very light crack. I packed it down with an excavator and everything. But, so I don't think we're ever going to be able to compare because we don't weigh it. So we're charging by the cubic inch or foot. And I think that, you know, North Adams has a good lot of garbage. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right.

Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. good system where you just dump it it is move out but that being said this is what we have I think our price after looking at this our prices are fair I don't think they're overpriced by any means we're not over no but when you hear it definitely don't charge you know more more it's a it is concerning but you know like you said there's no one else that can beat their price it's the services yeah yeah but North Adams also doesn't really restrict very many things if they don't I mean I put a mattress there they didn't say a word I thought for sure they would is the way it went anyways I just wanted to tell you guys

**Speaker 16:** that's what the price was I don't know if that matters you know this also I

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** you know I did purchase I had to get a sticker too and I don't hold that we're

**Speaker 16:** only getting charged $100 a month

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** okay that's what demo demo Lino's charging us okay all right so then our residents that use that are only paying a fraction yeah well at the end of the day we made what twenty thousand dollars twenty twenty eight thousand but we made that classes yeah yeah yeah and then yeah it looks likes like a third over that yeah like a third

**Speaker 2:** process of what we're bringing in okay we're would it be interesting to play some numbers here maybe to figure out where we'd have to be to break even on them well i've not necessarily

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** like this but just i've talked about this and some so the state first of all this is another thing that state mandates you have to do it um and i would say it's probably a 50 50 discussion of people saying it should just be a service from the town versus the people that aren't using it

**Speaker 19:** saying well why should i pay for it uh kind of like a gray wishy-washy area because it's funded

**Speaker 2:** through taxes on the town so you're kind of people in town you can charge twice when they go to the dumpster really realistically correct me if i'm wrong but you pay taxes in town theoretically yeah like i should be able to use the dumpster but there's a cost involved with running the right if i don't use it so yes like i don't need to dump right so i'm paying that tax money which is

**Speaker 11:** two-thirds of the cost so so it's a common good service it's a concept we kind of lost sight of what we do things for the common good it's just like why do i pay taxes for the school right i don't have any kids in school why do i stay taxes to maintain back roads i live right on my main road i live right in the building right i have no children to go to school

**Speaker 10:** any of the roads you know don't use your dump service i should get free days i mean if everyone

**Speaker 11:** was going to bring their trash to north adams that would be great but you start posing a problem where some people don't then you got a community built up in trash yeah or it's up on the back road and then you have a rat infestation and you have all these other problems that north adams is uncovering right now um i agree we shouldn't lose our shirt on this but we definitely shouldn't make money um you know if we could break even that'd be great but at the same time if it gets expensive then nobody's going to use it either well in order to break even we almost have

**Speaker 2:** double or more than double right all these prices so like what dave said he said on a mattress we're only charging what like what we're getting charged but when we're only charging what we're getting charged there's a like we're paying joey and his wife at the same time so realistically we should be trying to cover all bases when we're when we're charging for these items you know when we compare

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** us we're just talking about what to sell is charging us we're not talking about the wages that we pay that's another whole cost that we didn't have i are we losing money absolutely yeah absolutely we're losing money we're losing more money two years ago or whatever we are at

**Speaker 2:** the same time you got what he said the service there's a service in parts of the town i kind

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** of personally think we shouldn't wait five years to build bump prices up that's where we ended up we waited 20 years and then when we bumped these prices up people went crazy but if you go from 45 to say 48 or for what's that demolition 50 bucks it's demolition not many people use this all the time 50 bucks you know that's not a big deal you know then then you guys create i mean i'm like nancy i can't stand twenty one dollars you either make it twenty dollars or twenty five twenty one dollars you know it's stuff like that ninety nine cents eight dollars make it ten bucks go come on guys you know

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** no i already paid ten dollars for one paint can and i said who put this in and i looked at what's that paint cans yeah for using the demolition dumpster tell you what it went in the demolition

**Speaker 20:** give me five bucks i'll get rid of your paint cams no but i agree we probably should look at

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** this every year and adjust uh yeah i mean there's there's some some things that are uh under priced

**Speaker 2:** let's not wait 20 years he's going to start raising his prices with the fuel and stuff so

**Speaker 21:** they're all going to go up oh our fees are going to go up uh when did we raise the initial fee from

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** uh what was it 50 to 95 maybe we should look at that i think that was about three years ago guys

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** if i i'm thinking at least three years ago at least it could be longer we could maybe go up

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** we could probably go up to a hundred at least then and go up for seniors over 65 purchasing double bears yeah yeah it was 20 last time now it's 40.

**Speaker 2:** how far is it how far does 50 punches get you there's more seniors in this room yeah and you get two cars right huh some of these years kids

**Speaker 22:** don't need and we don't we don't get refunds either are you a senior two three bags of traffic

**Speaker 23:** kurt what's that apr wherever i guess

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** im yeah I don't go to either one of those can't afford it so we should when does

**Speaker 3:** this get now first is when we well I mean it's up to you guys in your 2021 2022 you went from 65 to 95. so that was four years five years senior to afford to spend five years do we want to go up

**Speaker 24:** five bucks I do 100 yeah I mean if you go five dollars more

**Speaker 2:** what do we pay I mean if you I don't know the guys and the sponsors and what are we getting in the initial cost was it's 95. we're never going to get that close no but it'd be fun to play with them and see where we're at where are we well I mean if you want to wait until the next meeting and look at this real good we could do that yeah get some information together and figure it out

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** well if you go right into your town report on to uh recycling solid waste recycling you can see what we paid out for labor and dumping and repair and maintenance electricity and then if you go into the recycling receipts

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** well why don't we why don't we table this the next meeting and look at this real good get all the numbers come back and say okay this is we're going to set these prices it could be I mean there might be some that stay the same and some go up and

**Speaker 2:** and The other thing to think about is how many, like I don't use it, how many people in town use this, and they're the ones that are going to be paying the fee, you know what I mean? Do you know how many people on the household?

**Speaker 3:** I can tell you approximately how many cars you sell.

**Speaker 2:** Yeah, we are by state, we're supposed to, we have to do it, we can't just not do it.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Yeah, we took in about 15, how much, Lori?

**Speaker 3:** I've sold 250 cars.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** So are there multiple cars for one house sometimes?

**Speaker 3:** Yeah, you use up your two cars, you can get another one.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** But when you only use half, that's too bad.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** So we took in 15, 16,000 last year, we paid out 68,000.

**Speaker 2:** Yeah, that's terrible. Great. And I sympathize for the people that use the service and have to pay, but you can't, yeah, how are we supposed to just keep eating the money?

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** That's a. They're going to pay, everybody's paying. It's not free. It's unfortunate.

**Speaker 11:** It's not free. What's 40,000 divided by everyone that's paying? How much money is a year per person? Right, right, I don't know, I mean, it's a hundred bucks a day. It's all over the place, right? A couple hundred bucks to keep trash out of your town.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Yeah.

**Speaker 11:** Yeah.

**Speaker 10:** You know, that's what some people say should be free.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** It's a public service. I don't think it should be. Where's it at, you know? It's all free.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay, so next meeting.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** What happens is, if it is free, instead of 250, you're going to have 500. Oh, yeah. Because now you just told me I could go out there for free. I might go on any, I might go on the North Adams. Ah, that's right.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Why do I have a.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Yeah, then the whole game changes.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Why do I have a dumpster at home, then?

**Speaker 15:** Our dumpsters won't be able to make it.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Right, everything changes, right. Then the cost is going up even more. Yeah, it doesn't go up this much. Right, it's a balance.

**Speaker 11:** It's a balance, yeah.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** And I think that if we go up a little bit on these prices, it would stay the same. It's probably one of the most.

**Speaker 2:** Would it be worth accepting items? That generate income, like scrap, iron, or. We take that. Can we take it for free? Like, just bring it, take it for free? Do you want to get rid of it? And then we can cash in, and it goes towards the stuff.

**Speaker 15:** We do that now, but the problem is.

**Speaker 2:** Right.

**Speaker 15:** Typically, we don't think we've gotten a check in a long time from that. No. They just holler for it.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** And we can't get into that business because that's going to change in this area dramatically. There's going to be less places to bring them. There's one or one of the local scrap yards is going to be it's it's for sale right now. I mean, trash is only going to get more complicated. Right. So we don't even know what's going to happen with this. It could go away. If it does, like guys like me, I mean, I go every probably three times a week. And I have a biggest dumpster. They sell it at 30 yards sitting in my yard just for. For steel, not any of the precious metals. So we bring a little room three times a week. Copper stainless steel, probably two, three times a month. The aluminum that we go through that like crazy steel, 30 yards every month, 30 yard dumpster every month. And if that scrapyard goes away, what do I do? It feels natural.

**Speaker 14:** So next meeting, we want to review this.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Yeah.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Okay. Great discussion. Joint meeting with school directors and library trustees. I was out of town, but I understand it didn't happen. You were here. You were here. I didn't make it.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** So we, we didn't have a quarrel for the slap board. The only one that would have had one was the library trustees, but one person from the school board showed up and I think two, so two selectors. And then three library trustees. So what we did is we discussed things and we made it clear that it was not a meeting work. It was just an informational thing while we were there. And Cindy discussed, discussed some of the upcoming school issues. She did discuss positive things where the school grades are in the rankings of Stamford have gone up dramatically since we've had a new principal come in. Which is a good thing. We are going to receive, I think it was 15 students from. We did have to hire a special person for that transition because their curriculum and our curriculum and their levels are a little bit different. So they that I'm just giving information. I'm not making that judgment. So they did hire someone. Uh, to coordinate that, and then they had to hire 2 teachers. One was a replacement, I think, and then an additional teacher they hired. Uh, but like I said, this is this information I didn't, uh, I don't have an opinion towards the school right now. And I, I would say all questions will go to the school board for those things. Uh, the other thing that she did mention, and I think that we should bring it up is that. The state, our fine state again. Has, and if I make sure if I'm from understanding this right, the state will be. Rezoning are asking people to pick a zone and. All those zones will no longer be allowed to have high school school choice. You will go to the high school of your zone if there is a trade school within that. Zone, which there is. I can't remember that I should have brought them that, but we, let's just call it Bennington versus Wyndham County. Both of them have a trade school. Therefore, our students will no longer have. Funding to go to McCann. Um, Cindy and many of the other towns are talking right now, trying to create. A new zone that will go up through the center of these other 2 zones. All the way to Wells. Vermont because they have each 1 of these towns or picket towns that don't have a school. And they're going to call at their zone and they'll be able to have school choice. So, let's just say we're, we're with Reesboro and. Searsburg and so on. We'll be able to pick, have school choice. We'll be able to go to McCann. But the downfall of this, and if I'm wrong, you know, cause I, I don't. Have everything. I know. Um. The downfall is Stamford will no longer have a school board. They will have representatives from Stamford go to the new zone. The new zones board, wherever that's located, whether it's Manchester, Wells, or here, and they will have representatives, maybe 2. Go to that and they'll make decisions. All these towns will have different people making decisions. But nevertheless. If things stay exactly the same. As they are, and they said it will be grandfather. So if you have children going to McCann now. That's grandfather, but they're going to face it up. Because the state needs the money. And they want their money staying within their state. Simple as that. This is a bad, bad thing for Stamford. Bad thing we have 20 30 plus and kids kids that go to, go to McCann. Yeah. Yeah. McCann. You know. And. i've i have seen uh was it mount anthony students uh with the trade school and my trade versus mccann and it's like day and night guys i mean it's just our mccann education for that trade is very good you hear me complaining about them but they're still a lot better than any other trade school that i've ever touched other than hudson valley community college which is the talent so all i'm saying is this is something that we need to get involved in at the school board level and see where it's at cindy's already involved with us uh well it might come like that by next year and then what happens will it save us money i don't know we get bus people everywhere they want to go so if we have a student that says school of choice i don't know i don't know what's going to happen we're going to do this general public school in plain valley so right but we would still be okay with our elementary school being open but i mean if you

**Speaker 10:** the kids that go to the jury won't be able to go to the jury either no no high school

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** or the state of massachusetts wherever yeah wherever you are if you pick bennington yeah that's where all your high school we would have to choose

**Speaker 14:** this zone would be just for the trade school then no it will be everything right now we don't have

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** this zone that i'm talking about is a fictitious zone at this point there is coming up with some they're trying in a state there's also a number of students so the state mandates that a zone has to have i think three thousand plus students so in order to get that many students we have to go a long way from the state of vermont in the towns that don't have high schools so if we're going to

**Speaker 11:** mount anthony for example are we busting those kids over through woodford we can't leave the

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** state no it doesn't say we can't leave the state it says we can't our money can't go through the

**Speaker 13:** state so i know that the district team started off as five five different districts for the entire state um i know that got shot down but they're still trying to district how

**Speaker 5:** well this sounds exactly like what they're describing yes because i know governor scott that was his plan he was trying to get rid of a lot of unions too because of the money right i mean you got our union's million dollar budget bennington's million dollar budget and you got

**Speaker 13:** what's brown more over that yeah so if you if you cut it into different pieces of pie you've got less

**Speaker 25:** people you have to hide they're not using the word consolidation right but it's what it is

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** right it's exactly what the striking the state of vermont doesn't allow um charter schools uh it's very difficult to get an independent school uh there are independent schools in vermont that uh north bennington manchester has one you know so though if this is just an opinion now if they would create competition then things would get better stafford elementary school right now is doing better than reasonable loss and that's why we have reasonable students here if we can create better school systems and we wouldn't be worried about it so much but when you're saying geez i want my kid to go to the camp and you can't do that because you got to go to mount anthony you're not i mean just the equipment that they have in those trains are different you know so you know you're not going to get the same trade training simple as that but the new system is just oh yeah it's amazing how long are you going

**Speaker 18:** to spend on a posture yeah oh yeah it's just it's a

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** there's no positive i see him going to bennington we're in a location that is very unique and that's helps us well they're looking at them they're bean counters you know that they're just looking at the bottom down yeah exactly so you want to go that way the original now you want to put a bus over there or a bunch of kids yeah yeah and either way you go

**Speaker 13:** there and go through reedsboro or you go up over the hill yeah really are awful in the winter oh

**Speaker 11:** that doesn't matter maybe the state would risk some money to put a two-lane highway right over the mountain through county road that's what we need to do yeah so that'll save us some money

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** right that'll save the money maybe they'll get some federal funding for that yeah risky ranch yeah we'll give them more we'll put a toll on that right right so is that all right so i that's that's about it it's all i remember yes so because you guys didn't go so we said we're going to have another meeting why wednesdays though uh i don't know you weren't there you didn't tell me

**Speaker 20:** you should have sat down i would have changed i said something the first time but that's all i

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** don't remember i'm sorry i told him i said it seems like there's no other meetings like school board meetings and stuff and wednesdays so i thought that was a good day but we could do it

**Speaker 13:** yeah yeah yeah it's not you know i'm sorry it's just my work yeah yeah yeah okay um we already

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** reviewed the recycling update uh tax sale update the tax sale was held uh last thursday yep so i

**Speaker 4:** was at that one too and all one property went on sale and it got sold got sold uh i was the second

**Speaker 13:** bidder so again it's better and uh okay you went for 31. this is the uh open world one no no

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** 29 29 31 000. yeah wow yeah just before you like uh three three lots before you right across from the smiths oh it's an empty ladder there's no building yeah but it's stormy yeah i guess you're

**Speaker 4:** a lot of people but they've grown many many years 84 i think yeah yeah yeah and they've never done

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** anything with it no that's all i i was interested you know 29 acres of land is 29 acres land you know it's got trees on it i was in looking at it and uh that was a good place it was and i could have went higher but i got enough properties i didn't want to be the number one taxpayer

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** okay um so there's a new tax sale coming up uh

**Speaker 26:** don't know if you remember the date wednesday november 19th 18th what road frontage was with

**Speaker 27:** the lot out of curiosity 300 300 yeah so it's 300 by just under a mile it's a it's a it's a hairy

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** lot yeah four thousand something feet and a depth and three hundred yeah spaghetti yeah well they're all like that yeah just like that well i guess just to play one time certain sections of town mr patton uh yeah just like up by uh risky man tro and my friends are they're all like this they're triangles you got i'll go to a point there's like 12 owners go to this one silent dreams which is changing the the frontage up there the 300 which on which property that's all right i got 1300 300. okay you know and i'm buying another piece up there too

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** wednesday november 18th at 11 o'clock is the next tax sale 11 o'clock

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** well i'm probably going to be there for that one too so if you can't make it i'll be there yeah that's uh on county road last house on county road i'm right

**Speaker 4:** is there a mortgage on that can i say a name that's house

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** well it's in the paper is the name out the name is out there it's in the paper the name is out there in the bulletin board yeah

**Speaker 28:** okay okay unless you remember it was carol baker's yeah yeah i don't remember i probably

**Speaker 3:** okay uh correspondence lori so i received a resignation from sally ball as delinquent tax collector she'd like it to be effective november 24th because she would like to just be able to see this next tax sale to the end but then not have to start the turnover of delinquent taxes from this year's tax date so sure continue on

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** until the 24th our taxes are due must be the 19th thursday the 19th then you'll turn them over to whoever the new delinquent tax collector is so it'll be all clean yeah is that appointed

**Speaker 29:** well it's a lifetime

**Speaker 3:** you could appoint someone until march but it would only go until march and then

**Speaker 29:** anybody could run in the March election so we should definitely have someone

**Speaker 30:** correctly oh yeah otherwise yes so this would give people time to think about it

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I feel we should accept it Sally's been delinquent tax collector for 30 years at

**Speaker 31:** least yeah

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** she really is gone really has cleared up a lot of old back taxes so any any interested parties you get a handbook Laurie did she give any indication about mentoring somebody I did ask if she

**Speaker 3:** would I did ask if she would

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** so any interested parties please have your letter of interest to the select

**Speaker 14:** board because I think we should appoint is this a paid job yes it's a you get

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** paid five percent of the taxes you collect

**Speaker 5:** paid five percent of the taxes you collect

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** paid five percent of the taxes you collect okay so if you don't do any okay so if you don't do any okay so if you don't do any collection of taxes you don't get paid and

collection of taxes you don't get paid and

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** collection of taxes you don't get paid and that's happened many years ago this that's happened many years ago this that's happened many years ago this select board put that in because we did select board put that in because we did select board put that in because we did have delinquent tax collectors that got have delinquent tax collectors that got have delinquent tax collectors that got paid their ten dollars an hour did paid their ten dollars an hour did paid their ten dollars an hour did nothing with it I don't know what they nothing with it I don't know what they not pay but they did nothing so this is a good incentive if you look in the town report you can see what she gets depending on the year and what's delinquent and how hard you go after these people but i know she's worked with people set up payment plans listened to their woes and worked with them and sympathized with them and you work with an attorney for the tax sale she does hire an attorney because all that fee is recouped by the person buying the tax sale it doesn't cost anything from the town so um if we sell it which basically does all that work she turns

**Speaker 5:** runs the tax sale yes and there's the next what they're going to decide

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** right not what they're paid at right so this last one i think is only four thousand three thousand something dollars she gets five percent of that not the thirty one thousand right exactly what do you mean the thirty one thousand that's what the

**Speaker 1:** person paid for oh yeah yeah so what about three fourths so what happens in that case

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** the person that bids on the taxes tax sale has to pay the attorney fee because that's included the publication fee the recording fee the back taxes and anything left over goes to the delinquent tax collector but the money that you pay

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** for the property is it they don't add those fees on afterwards it comes out of what you bought it

**Speaker 14:** for right right there you're paying everything right there yeah so if this guy he paid you 31

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** he doesn't have to pay any more just all those fees come out then the person gets the rest so when i purchased this one down here was 55 and it started at 20 something and then all the purchases came out of that so the person got approximately thirty thousand dollars extra he lost his property but got thirty thousand dollars extra to do whatever he wanted well pay the other taxes on anything the excess goes to the property yes and then they have one year to come in and buy a backwoods for twenty thousand or they i'm sorry they have to pay what you pay so mine would be 55 they would have to give it back to me plus the one percent per month

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** so can i have a motion to accept this letter with red effective november 24th motion all in favor thank you sally yes

**Speaker 11:** hopefully it's not one of them homegrown positions that becomes really hard to throw

**Speaker 32:** yeah yeah it's yes very important

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** okay um anything else under correspondence lori

**Speaker 3:** i received an email today from the vermont league of cities and towns they're saying that there might be some changes coming down the pipe that in december of 2025 passive and verb which are two of the organizations they work with refuse to renew their services with the lct and negotiate and negotiate negotiated and they finally agreed to at least get through 2026 because they had already jumped in um they never told anybody but now they're facing 2027 and they haven't come to any agreements so they want towns to know that there may be a lot of changes from the

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** lct um i i i'm not the only person in the room that's lost what do those people do yeah the lct

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** that's

**Speaker 33:** what they're going to try to do first is try to change or give services to their members

**Speaker 3:** including reinstating fees for training right now the training is all free reducing the number of educational opportunities offered reevaluating what types of inquiries that can answer because they're kind of a go-to for towns for us to answer questions and provide assistance um they'll probably will do less of updating templates and providing models for our ordinances and policies yeah um they don't they're not really saying what it's kind of a general overview of we don't really know what to say but we have to say something because it's about time we should be thinking about renewing and we don't know what we're going to do

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** so they're going to cut back on things because the insurance company's not going to do them

**Speaker 3:** why because all those two organizations always worked with the lct to keep their risk cool down like all of the towns in the state of vermont participated kept everything low at the cost

**Speaker 28:** lower than just i understand what that worked but we still don't know why those people are

**Speaker 3:** going out of kicking that no they've provided no explanation as to why

**Speaker 13:** and i wonder if the bltc gets you know like part of the deal is for everything every insurance you can get x amount of it so now if that's going to that stream of uh finances is going to dry up then they don't have their expenses go up yeah so they're also

**Speaker 3:** seeking to reduce the amount of money they pay the lct to administer the insurance program um i have no idea how much this is going to affect us long term because really sharing time with

**Speaker 11:** services at that point will they even offer us well that's what i mean we we join that right

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** that's what we're doing we're a member of it we join it for services they're going to take away the services we don't know what yeah yeah exactly great question we're leaving service if now i'm going to be a clock yeah i'm going to do it right you're going to get driven to a house or whatever.

**Speaker 13:** I would imagine that the biggest one is that none of us could then call it.

**Speaker 31:** So we have to hire lawyers more so we can get more sponsors.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** I enjoyed the training with that. They were doing it here and do it at your home.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Questions that the state pushes us to ask. Right. You know, our questions, if the state didn't change anything as of right now, we probably wouldn't come up with any more questions. We've already learned most of them. But because the state changes, we are going to have to change. Because there's 1,100 bills on the slide. Right, that's correct.

**Speaker 11:** You only have to learn one. You don't have to keep learning. They don't have to keep stacking. One bad bill doesn't fix another. Right. That's just the cycle that we're in. But I would try to figure out what services they even offer us.

**Speaker 3:** Well, they offer an awful lot of resources. You know, if we don't quite understand law or we don't know how to implement this, we can just call them or email them and ask for an opinion. But that doesn't stop. We have lawyers on staff that explain things. You know, our dog ordinance was a policy that they presented to the House. We didn't have to recreate the wheel and rewrite it. We just had to go through it and make it our own in the House. Yeah.

**Speaker 13:** And like once or twice a month, they do, like, you can watch a thing and you can just, you know, ask the attorneys any question you want.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Sure. And they have lunchtime lectures or something. Yeah.

**Speaker 34:** All those free services.

**Speaker 11:** Yeah. Yeah, they're going to go. They're going to go. The money is free.

**Speaker 3:** We pay, but if they stop providing that as a service.

**Speaker 35:** What are we paying for?

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Well, we won't pay. So then, like, they don't have to.

**Speaker 28:** Well, you're doing a part of what they are going to do. Right. I mean, before town meeting, they run training for moderators. Right. And the course of the year for the select board is to do a meeting for a job. Yeah. So it's been helpful. Yeah.

**Speaker 3:** How to pay for it as a civil authority. Right. How to pay for an abatement. All those things. How often that can't believe to be pushed up on?

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Especially if there's new members.

**Speaker 28:** Because the other thing you're going to be stuck with, if they're not there for a reference, you may have to go back and ask for the state. And Lord help you before you can't answer the state.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** They'll tell you, go on this website. That, all that is interpretation. This is nice, because you talk to a person, and they can't help you interpret you.

**Speaker 13:** You know, it's kind of like our open meeting lot. But they're not saying they're going to do your business. How do you do that?

**Speaker 3:** No, we've been trying to renegotiate the agreement with these folks who are going to come into the meeting.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** That's going to all be about money. It's all about money. They're going to say, oh, well, we do. But here's the number. Then they're going to go to the towns and say, are you willing to pay this much more for them same services? Yeah. It's all money. Insurance companies run the world.

**Speaker 8:** State money.

**Speaker 5:** State's taking all the money.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** OK. OK. Keep an eye on it and see what happens. Anything else under full business or correspondence?

**Speaker 3:** I just have a dog update.

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

**Speaker 3:** We had another dog owner come in about this week. And five dog owners.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Are these five dog owners working with Luke, or are they?

**Speaker 3:** I didn't talk to Luke before tonight for that stance.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Would you get in touch with him and say, go to the next step? I mean, it's been two months.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Absolutely. Follow the rules.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** OK. Send him a text. Go to the next step. And go to court. How about the fellow that we sent the fine to? All right. Follow up on him, too.

**Speaker 3:** I mean, I think that last time I talked to Luke, he said there wasn't a round of kinds that he needed to send out before going to court. Once he goes to court, we don't pay him for his money.

**Speaker 4:** Right.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Well, we can't let these dogs run around like this.

**Speaker 36:** This is precedence.

**Speaker 24:** Yeah.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** And people just say, well, my dog doesn't run around.

**Speaker 14:** Well.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** It doesn't cost us anything, you know what I mean? To let it just do the job. These people.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** And the five people are the

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Oh, it's just absolutely ludicrous that you won't spend $20.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** And these people, their name have been in the minutes and didn't help very much. OK. New business. Oh, I have another old business. Just wanted to mention again about the ballots. I'm sure we all received our ballots in the mail. If you can vote them at home, put them inside that inside envelope, fill that inside envelope out, and bring it here on election day, or put it in the box there. Or if you want to mail it back, that's fine, too. But that ballot that you were mailed, what's that?

**Speaker 13:** Do it tomorrow.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Do it tomorrow. That ballot you were mailed. Yeah. That is a good ballot that counts for election.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** You can do it tomorrow, and then the candidate you voted for drops out.

**Speaker 4:** And you're like, oh, you've got to be kidding me.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** You're done. So be sure to bring that ballot with you when you vote or vote at home and send it in. Somehow drop it off here.

**Speaker 13:** Just because I haven't looked at mine yet, that is only for our state, right? It's not our town voting stuff, right? Correct. So you still have to come here to vote for the town stuff. Yes. In March. In March. In March.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** But on that ballot.

**Speaker 13:** Although there's some things happening this November, too, right? Justice of the Peace. Justice of the Peace.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Yes. So they are local anonymous. Yeah.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** Leave the back side. They're on that ballot?

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** Yes. And there's a blank for Justice of the Peace, too, on that ballot.

**Speaker 13:** I just haven't. I saw mine. I just haven't had a chance to look at it.

**Michael G. Denault (inferred):** I'm going to write your name in on all of them anyways.

**Speaker 13:** OK.

**Speaker 4:** Sounds good.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** So we'll know who voted for it. Yep. OK. Any other new business? No? Guys? No?

No.

**Nancy L. Bushika (Chair):** OK. I think we can adjourn.

**Speaker 24:** Adjourn. Most people adjourned.

**Speaker 13:** Adjourn. Second? Third? Yes.

**Speaker 37:** All in favor?

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

**Speaker 13:** Aye.

**Speaker 37:** Aye.

**Speaker 13:** Aye. Really?