Stamford Select Board — 2025-02-20 (Regular)

75 min · YouTube (@jgramlin78) · audio · minutes (town PDF) · markdown

Nancy L. BushikaDouglas WrightMichael G. DenaultJohn DunnKurt Gamari

Session: Regular · **Duration:** 75 min · Audio · Minutes

Regular meeting of the Stamford Select Board (2025-02-20, 75 min). Present: Nancy L. Bushika, Douglas Wright, Michael G. Denault, John Dunn, Kurt Gamari. The minutes record 7 motions (7 approved, 0 with another outcome). Items on the agenda: Conservation Commission Letter; Select Board Orders; Road Conditions; Review Mowing Bid Requests; Town Meeting Preparation; Ethics Commission Update; Employee Job Descriptions; Fema Funding; Klondike Road Bridge Project; Green Mountain National Forest; Fire Alarm At School; Reminders.

On the agenda

Conservation Commission Letter
Select Board Orders
Road Conditions
Review Mowing Bid Requests
Town Meeting Preparation
Ethics Commission Update
Employee Job Descriptions
Fema Funding
Klondike Road Bridge Project
Green Mountain National Forest
Fire Alarm At School
Reminders

Motions (7, 7 passed)

sign the letter on town letterhead in opposition Mike Denaultseconded: Doug Wrightpassed

“MOTION by Mike Denault to sign the letter on town letterhead in opposition.”

All in favor. Motion APPROVED. MINUTES MOTION by Mike Denault to accept the regular meeting minutes of February 6, 2025 as written. SECONDED by John Dunn. All in favor. Motion APPROVED. SELECT BOARD

Vote: unanimous voice vote

not matched to a paragraph in the transcript

accept the regular meeting minutes of February 6, 2025 as written Mike Denaultseconded: John Dunnpassed

“MOTION by Mike Denault to accept the regular meeting minutes of February 6, 2025 as written.”

All in favor. Motion APPROVED. SELECT BOARD ORDERS The Select Board reviewed and approved the following orders: WARRANT #7 $ 10,237.81 payroll WARRANT #8 $846,571.20 accounts payable ROAD CONDITIONS

Vote: unanimous voice vote

where it was said out loud ¶35

approve and sign the reimbursement requests for the initial 75% payment for the five damaged roads as well as Mike Denaultseconded: Kurt Gamaripassed

“MOTION by Mike Denault to approve and sign the reimbursement requests for the initial 75% payment for the five damaged roads as well as the 15% payment on all three of the projects.”

All in favor. Motion APPROVED. 3 KLONDIKE ROAD BRIDGE PROJECT Mike Denault asked if the closing papers were ever finalized on the grant from years ago. There has been no activity in years, but they h

Vote: unanimous voice vote

not matched to a paragraph in the transcript

find that premature public discussion of a personnel matter and pending or probable civil litigation would pla Nancy Bushikaseconded: Mike Denaultpassed

“MOTION by Nancy Bushika to find that premature public discussion of a personnel matter and pending or probable civil litigation would place the town at a substantial disadvantage.”

All in favor. Motion APPROVED. MOTION by Nancy Bushika to enter executive session for a personnel matter pursuant to 1 V.S.A. § 313(a)(1)(B) and for pending or probable civil litigation pursuant to 1

Vote: unanimous voice vote

not matched to a paragraph in the transcript

enter executive session for a personnel matter pursuant to 1 V.S.A. § 313(a)(1)(B) and for pending or probable Nancy Bushikaseconded: Mike Denaultpassed

“MOTION by Nancy Bushika to enter executive session for a personnel matter pursuant to 1 V.S.A. § 313(a)(1)(B) and for pending or probable civil litigation pursuant to 1 V.S.A. § 313(a)(1)(F).”

All in favor. Motion APPROVED. The Select Board entered executive session at 7:15 p.m. Sally Bohl and Lori Shepard were invited to participate. MOTION by Mike Denault to exit executive session. SECON

Vote: unanimous voice vote

where it was said out loud ¶406

exit executive session Mike Denaultseconded: Doug Wrightpassed

“MOTION by Mike Denault to exit executive session.”

All in favor. Motion APPROVED. The board exited executive session at 8:25 p.m. Action: A letter will be written to the state regarding the reappraisal results. The town will hold off on returning the

Vote: unanimous voice vote

not matched to a paragraph in the transcript

adjourn Nancy Bushikaseconded: Doug Wrightpassed

“MOTION by Nancy Bushika to adjourn.”

All in favor. Motion APPROVED. The meeting ended at 8:28 p.m. Kurt Gamari Clerk /las 4 REMINDERS 1. Townspeople should sign up with the state’s free communications network, VT- Alert. You can sign up

Vote: unanimous voice vote

not matched to a paragraph in the transcript

Who owes what (5)

Action	Owner	By when	Note	Where it stands
Nancy Bushika will talk to the school	Nancy Bushika	—		open no date in the minutes
Nancy Bushika will meet with Doug Wright to work on the proposed documents for review by the board at the next meeting	Nancy Bushika	—		open no date in the minutes
Nancy Bushika will review the job description with Dave Tatro before the board finalizes it	Nancy Bushika	—		open no date in the minutes
Doug Wright discussed the proposed Ethics Investigation and Enforcement Ordinance that the town will need to adopt	Doug Wright	—	the minutes phrase this as a report; the obligation is the point, not the statement.	open no date in the minutes
The board will see if their response is sufficient	The board	—	assigned to a town office, not to a named person.	open no date in the minutes

Statuses come from data/action_status.json, which only a person changes; "overdue" means the minutes gave a date and that date has passed. Mark one done with scripts/action_status.py --done "a phrase".

Money (2)

Road Conditions¶ ¶58	SELECT BOARD ORDERS The Select Board reviewed and approved the following orders: WARRANT #7 $ 10,237.81 payroll WARRANT #8 $846,571.20 accounts payable ROAD CONDITIONS 1.	$ 10,237.81; $846,571.20
The new dog license fees for 2025 are $16.00 for spayed/neutered dogs and $20.00 for real/	The new dog license fees for 2025 are $16.00 for spayed/neutered dogs and $20.00 for real/intact dogs.	$16.00; $20.00

Public comment (9)

Jedidiah Gramlin	listed as a visitor; the minutes do not record what they said
Lisa Gramlin	Lisa Gramlin asked if the Planning Commission could announce its proposed Bylaw changes at town meeting and have copies of the proposed new Bylaw for townspeople.
Peter Greenbush	Peter Greenbush asked who pushed the snowbanks back along Main Road.
Sheila Pecor	listed as a visitor; the minutes do not record what they said
Debra Righi	listed as a visitor; the minutes do not record what they said
James Righi	listed as a visitor; the minutes do not record what they said
David Saldo	listed as a visitor; the minutes do not record what they said
Diane Saldo	listed as a visitor; the minutes do not record what they said
Beth Thomas	Beth Thomas wondered if the crosswalk could be moved to the north entrance.

Follow-ups named in the minutes

Nancy Bushika will meet with Doug Wright to work on the proposed documents for review by the board at the next meeting.

What the extraction was unsure about

Extracted mechanically from the town's own minutes text (data/minutes/<meeting_id>.txt), which names the mover and seconder of every motion; the audio transcript was not consulted for attribution.
Town minutes are the (UNAPPROVED) draft as published by the town.
Agenda items are the ALL-CAPS section headings in the minutes, so their wording is the town's own and their order is the order in the document.
Public comment lists only what the minutes record; visitors are listed when the minutes name them without recording a statement.
Vote field is 'unanimous voice vote' when the minutes say 'All in favor', a numeric count when one appears, otherwise null.

Transcript

408 paragraphs · 2 of the diarized voices in this recording carry a name; the rest stay "Speaker N" because the archive cannot match them to the minutes without guessing.

Speaker 1 — the same voice as in 13 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 2 — the same voice as in 39 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 3 — the same voice as in 12 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 4 — the same voice as in 40 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 5 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 6 — the same voice as in 58 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 7 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 8 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 9 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 10 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 11 — the same voice as in 17 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 12 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 13 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 14 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 15 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 16 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 17 — the same voice as in 3 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 18 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 19 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 20 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 21 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 22 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 23 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 24 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 25 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 26 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 27 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 28 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 29 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 30 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 31 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 32 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 33 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 34 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 35 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 36 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 37 — the same voice as in 9 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 38 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 39 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 40 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 41 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 42 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 43 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 44 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 45 — no voiceprint match

Speaker 5: I didn't get one.

Speaker 7: Yeah.

Speaker 8: If you want separate letters from each board, yeah.

Speaker 9: What's the suggestion that...

Speaker 10: We can just sign on to this.

Speaker 12: Good job.

Speaker 13: Yeah.

Speaker 14: All right.

Speaker 15: They did that one there.

Speaker 16: Anything you have, Lori?

Speaker 18: So we're just going to set these bids out to.

Speaker 19: And following the rules.

Speaker 20: All the way down to the highway?

Speaker 20: If it's part of a reasonable thing, it's their ditch.

Speaker 21: Once in the spring, once in the fall.

Speaker 8: So, um, it's January.

Speaker 22: No.

Speaker 23: I got these.

Speaker 24: Yeah, I was curious.

Speaker 25: I'm supposed to have, I get a package just about every day between my wife and my business.

Speaker 19: It's the same name for 30 years.

Speaker 22: We all sit with town meeting.

Speaker 26: It's a.

Speaker 26: message in both meetings okay you just want people to be able to be aware of the hearing sure yeah

Speaker 9: about the money and i'm not trying to sort of steal your thoughts i'm just saying is when

Speaker 27: the biggest well sure it is we have healthcare

Speaker 9: bought a excavator uh you know that paid for for all these grants

Speaker 20: oh i agree and like that said there's so

Speaker 28: local control right so we're good then with town meeting we know how we're going to answer all these

Speaker 29: i think we just take the municipal policy and use that yep um and then there were two

Speaker 30: pretty much comes down to just about everything yeah we don't hurt anybody to

Speaker 9: it appears,

Speaker 31: Well, okay, listen.

Speaker 10: I agree.

Speaker 32: And that's...

Speaker 33: Go ahead, Doug.

Speaker 31: Yeah.

Speaker 34: just my opinion. But the state set what the ethics are. Sure do and they can set what the

Speaker 25: Right, that's what I'm trying to say.

Speaker 35: Yeah.

Speaker 34: You're overstepping your bounds.

Speaker 36: It could be a second.

Speaker 34: Right, well, since I've been on this board,

Speaker 34: And I'll try to find some of the things that.

Speaker 34: But I do think we have to be careful about fixing things

Speaker 36: Payment matters.

Speaker 30: And the forms.

Speaker 38: Oh, wait, wait, wait.

Speaker 39: It's a new state ethics rules.

Speaker 40: Unless someone perceives it as a conflict.

Speaker 41: Let me finish, please.

Speaker 40: Personally, I think you should pick one of the two.

Speaker 22: But that is.

Speaker 12: Some of this seems like it was written in the 80s.

Speaker 8: For appliances, tires, waste oil, and related, or?

Speaker 18: in charge of the recycling?

Speaker 19: We have to make that known so he's the final site up there.

Speaker 12: This is Mike's title?

Speaker 16: 2023 flooding.

Speaker 42: That's how .

Speaker 16: We haven't done anything on that for years.

Speaker 28: Yeah.

Speaker 18: So who can take care of that sidewalk, state or us?

Speaker 9: It's like a little ramp piece of sidewalk.

Speaker 43: But how about on that side of the road?

Speaker 44: It makes sense.

Speaker 20: We'll do the pine trees.

Speaker 40: Yeah.

Speaker 45: from Massachusetts to Canada.

Transcribed 2026-10-12 (faster-whisper large-v3, CUDA; names corrected per data/name_fixes.json). Names corrected against the minutes. Diarization is automated and over-splits one person into several labels. Raw model output with timestamps: SRT.