Stamford Select Board — 2025-08-07 (Regular)
Nancy L. BushikaDouglas WrightKurt Gamariabsent: Michael G. Denaultabsent: John Dunn
Regular meeting (73 min) at which the board approved the July 17 records and orders, moved ARPA funds in account 43-728-15 from town to highway to cover the East Road paving project, and accepted the 2025 tax rate as presented (residential 1.5224; town+highway 0.5558) and signed the tax warrant. It also approved signing on to the National Opioid Settlement, accepted Dave Saldo's resignation from the planning commission (appointing Stephanie Shelburne and Carol Salvo/Saldo elsewhere), deferred a Northern Berkshire EMS funding survey the board could not unanimously answer, and scheduled the all-boards meeting for September 11 at 6 p.m. in the gym.
On the agenda
- Hearing of visitors
- Reading and approval of records and orders from the regular meeting of July 17
- Update (highway: moving 43-728-15 for East Road paving, gravel roads, garage overhead doors, mud-season funding, recycling/refrigerators)
- Ordinance regarding street naming and street addressing (911 house numbers)
- Set tax rate, sign tax warrant, and approve tax bill insert
- Correspondence (National Opioid Settlement; Channel 3 News/flags; Bobcat sign; EMS funding survey; Dave Saldo resignation)
- Old business (employee policy handbook; delinquent dog owners)
- New business (school walking/safety meeting request; all-boards meeting date)
- Adjournment
Motions (9, 8 passed)
Reading and approval of records and orders from the regular meeting of July 17, 2025 mover not statedseconded: Speaker 1passed
Chair announces the item and asks 'All in favor?'; Speaker 1: 'Second.'; Speaker 3: 'Aye.' No explicit motion-maker stated and no vote count given.
not matched to a paragraph in the transcript
Move ARPA funds (account 43-728-15) from town to highway to cover the East Road paving project Nancy L. Bushika (Chair)seconded: Speaker 1passed
“Motion to move the 43-728-15 to cover the paving project on East Road”
Chair states the motion text; Speaker 1: 'Motion to move it. Second.'; 'All in favor? Aye.' Funds had been paid to the town (43-728-15) after ARPA money designated for East Road couldn't be applied directly.
Accept 2025 tax rate as presented (residential 1.5224, up from 1.4403; town and highway 0.5558, down from 0.5817) Nancy L. Bushika (Chair)passed
“I make a motion to accept these as presented”
Second exchange garbled in transcript ('Did you get a second for your motion to set the taxes? I did. Second. ... Doug did'); quorum checked ('Three or five'); no explicit 'all in favor' vote call transcribed; chair confirms 'We accept the tax rate as presented' and Lori will put the rate in the minutes. Speaker 20 notes the education rate goes down 11 cents after a $60,000 school board cut.
Sign the tax warrant and approve the tax bill insert Speaker 3passed
“I make a motion to sign the warrant”
Chair: 'Can I have a motion to sign the warrant so Lori can collect the taxes?'; Speaker 3: 'I make a motion to sign the warrant.' No explicit vote call transcribed; chair confirms 'Sign the tax warrant and approve the tax bill insert.'
Sign on to the National Opioid Settlement (state of Vermont's suit against opioid companies) Kurt Gamari (chair: 'Kurt, you made the motion'; the transcript line is labeled 'Speaker 2')passed
“I'd make a motion to accept the sign, whatever it is that we have to do”
'Do I have a second? Second. All in favor? Yes.' — second unattributed; no vote count. Settlement is with J&J, Cardinal, Amerisource, Bergman, McKesson, Teva, Allergen, CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Kroger; companies pay $19M/$74M/$177M over 5/10/15-year periods; town's share unknown; town must sign up by next month; money can fund ambulance/emergency-responder training; costs the town nothing.
Accept Dave Saldo's resignation from the planning commission Nancy L. Bushika (Chair)passed
“Make a motion to accept the resignation from the planning board”
'Second. All in favor? Yes.' — second unattributed. Saldo stays on the conservation commission and the ZBA until his terms expire; he says his presence on the planning commission 'appears to have no value from the new board members.'
Appoint Stephanie Shelburne to the planning commission for the balance of Dave Saldo's term Speaker 1no-formal-vote
“Motion into the appointing Stephanie Shelburne the planning commission [for] the balance of his term”
No explicit second or vote call transcribed for this motion; the exchange is garbled as the discussion shifts to the conservation commission vacancy, and the recorded 'all in favor aye' is tied to the Carol Salvo appointment motion. Board agreed to send an appointment letter stating she is appointed and to reply if she does not want it.
Appoint Carol Salvo (transcribed 'carol salvo'/'carol saldo') to the conservation commission Nancy L. Bushika (Chair)seconded: Speaker 1passed
“motion to appoint carol saldo to conservation commission”
'second ... all in favor aye'; Lori to send the letter of acceptance. Name spelled inconsistently in the transcript; she had previously been appointed alternate to the conservation commission.
Adjournment mover not statedpassed
Unattributed paragraph: 'we can adjourn. Motion to adjourn. Second. All in favor? Aye.'
not matched to a paragraph in the transcript
Other decisions
| 911 house numbers | Board will have Lori send a note to Bob (emergency management coordinator) asking his group to identify the ~50-60 houses missing 911 numbers; the ordinance allows the select board/emergency management coordinator or their agent to enter non-compliant premises and install a sign (~$16 each) and bill the owner; 911 numbers will be highlighted in the tax insert. |
| Vermont state flag (Channel 3 News town tour) | Follow up with the school on putting a new Vermont flag up for September (current flag badly faded); if the school does nothing, the town should get one; the flag should also be lit at night (the pole light does not work). |
| Bobcat sign for the school building | Chair will look into who can raise money for the sign; a couple hundred to two or three hundred dollars is available in community projects; it would need insurance; options discussed include installing it on the building near the existing banner or standing it on the posts in front of the building. |
| EMS funding survey deferred | Board could not reach agreement on how to answer the survey from Chris Nolan Zeller (graduate student, Westfield State University, in partnership with Northern Berkshire EMS, due August 15) on EMS funding scenarios (tax support, municipal assessments by population/call volume/financial capacity), and it would take all three members to pass, so the board moved on. |
| School walking-to-school / safety meeting | Lori provided the superintendent's requested contact information (Bob Briggs and Bill Bean as emergency management, plus the five board members' emails/phones); the superintendent will set a meeting, preferably before school starts, covering walking to school (e.g., the church route across Stebbins Lane with fire trucks) and building safety/sign-in. |
| All boards meeting | Scheduled for Thursday, September 11 at 6:00 p.m. in the school gym as a round-table discussion (not a formal work session); each board to send a representative; Lori to get notices out to all the chairmen. |
| Employee policy handbook / compensation review | Wait for a full board to review the employee policy handbook; hold another work session (with Doug, Nancy and Lori, and possibly Mike) after policies are distributed in advance: the Vermont League of Cities and Towns salary comparison book (2024), a 2023 Reedsboro policy, and a Clarksburg policy (Dave to obtain). |
| Delinquent dog owners | Board will publish the names of the seven actual delinquent dog owners like last year (Sara Bardo x2, Bob Briggs x2, David Kelly Whitney, Bev Kirby, Jamie Cusa x2, Philip Rondo, Anthony Waters); six dogs came off the list (two new owners' rabies shots scheduled for late August; Brian Connor moving away within ~4 weeks). |
| Highway third part-time position application | One application for the part-time third highway position: board will wait to talk it over with Dave and discuss it in executive session with a full board. |
Who owes what (11)
| Action | Owner | By when | Note | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Call to ask whether he will take the three refrigerators in storage (Bell-Val, Whitingham/Wilmington) | Patrick (Speaker 3) | — | Chair: 'Can you call and ask him, Patrick, if he takes them?' — 'Yeah.' | open no date in the minutes |
| Send a note/letter to Bob (emergency management coordinator) asking his group to identify houses that need 911 numbers | Lori | — | Also flagged that 911 numbers are highlighted in the tax insert. | open no date in the minutes ¶ ¶128 |
| Follow up with the school about the Vermont flag — whether they are putting one up in September | Nancy L. Bushika (Chair) | — | If the school does nothing, the town should get a flag; flag needs lighting at night (pole light out). | open no date in the minutes ¶ ¶171 |
| Look into who can raise money for the Bobcat sign and confirm installation and insurance | Nancy L. Bushika (Chair) | — | Speaker 1: 'Let me see what I can [do]'; Speaker 8: 'Talk to me if you're short.' A couple hundred / two or three hundred dollars available in community projects. | open no date in the minutes |
| Obtain the Clarksburg personnel policy for comparison | Dave (Speaker 5) | — | 'dave you'll get me clark's group' (chair, to Dave). | open no date in the minutes |
| Distribute the policy/handbook documents (VLCT salary book, Reedsboro 2023 policy, Clarksburg policy) and set a work session date | Lori (Speaker 2) | — | Work session like the earlier one with Doug, Nancy and Lori; propose a date and see what comes up. | open no date in the minutes |
| Send appointment letters to Stephanie Shelburne (planning commission) and Carol Salvo (conservation commission): you are appointed, and let us know if you do not want it | Lori | — | Both appointments decided at this meeting. | open no date in the minutes ¶ ¶317 |
| Get notices out to all board chairmen for the all-boards meeting | Lori | before 2025-09-11 | Meeting: Thursday, September 11, 6:00 p.m., gym. | overdue the minutes set 2025-09-11 and it has passed ¶ ¶388 |
| Collect the taxes once the warrant is signed | Lori | — | Warrant signed at this meeting so Lori can collect. | open no date in the minutes ¶ ¶160 |
| Do the flowers at town hall / for the Ethier Memorial cleanup | Nancy L. Bushika (Chair) | cleanup the following Saturday | 'I'll try to do the flowers'; Pam had planted the existing flowers (with a $1,000 town contribution and Maria's help). | open no date in the minutes |
| Review the part-time highway (third person) application with Dave in executive session at a full board | selectboard (full board) | — | One application; chair: 'I'd like to wait and talk to dave and then we have a full board here we can discuss it in executive session.' | open no date in the minutes ¶ ¶319 |
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 (8)
| ARPA funds, account 43-728-15 | Moved from town to highway to cover the East Road paving project (town match for the paving Dave has completed). | — |
| 2025 tax rates (set at this meeting) | Residential 1.4403 (2024) to 1.5224 (2025); town and highway 0.5817 to 0.5558; school rate down 11 cents after the school board cut $60,000 (per Speaker 20); state/school board sets the school rate. | — |
| Highway maintenance budget¶ ¶18 | Per Dave (Speaker 5): currently ~$40,000 versus ~$100,000 combined for highway maintenance and road improvement when he started in 2009; town does all work in-house. | ~$40,000 |
| 911 address signs | ~50-60 non-compliant houses (no sign or unreadable); ordinance fines: $10 per day initial violation, $15 second offense within 6 months, $20 subsequent offenses. | $16 each |
| National Opioid Settlement¶ ¶164 | Companies (J&J, Cardinal, Amerisource, Bergman, McKesson, Teva, Allergen, CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Kroger) pay $19M / $74M / $177M over 5/10/15-year periods per Lori's correspondence; town's share unknown; sign up by next month; no cost to the town; proceeds could fund ambulance/emergency-responder training. | — |
| Bobcat sign (school building) | Installation estimated to cost more than a couple hundred dollars; sign needs insurance; man-lift option ruled out on weight. | $200-300 available (community projects) |
| March town meeting fund balance | Per Lori (Speaker 2), all articles passed at the March town meeting left a 25% fund balance, used in the tax rate calculation. | — |
| Pam's flowers (memorial) | Town contributed $1,000; Pam ordered/planted the flowers and paid Maria to help. | $1,000 |
Follow-ups named in the minutes
- EMS funding survey (Chris Nolan Zeller / Northern Berkshire EMS, due Aug 15) deferred — board could not agree on answers and needs all three members to pass.
- School safety/walking-to-school meeting: superintendent to contact with a date, ideally before school starts.
- 911 house numbers: Bob's emergency management group to identify ~50-60 houses; possible town installation of $16 signs with bills to owners.
- Bobcat sign: raise funds, secure insurance, and install (on building or posts in front).
- Vermont flag: check with school for September; flagpole light needs repair; town may buy a flag if the school does nothing.
- Employee policy handbook / compensation work session: set a date (Lori to propose; Doug, Nancy, Lori involved; hoping Mike can attend).
- All-boards meeting: Thursday, September 11, 6:00 p.m., school gym.
- National Opioid Settlement: sign up by next month (September).
- Ethier Memorial cleanup the following Saturday; flowers to be planted.
- Publish the names of the seven delinquent dog owners, as done last year.
- Recycling: three refrigerators in storage awaiting a truckload; Patrick to confirm whether he takes them (Bell-Val, Whitingham/Wilmington).
- Highway garage: three overhead doors being worked on — finish if not done that day; who to stay with the contractor was left open.
What the extraction was unsure about
- Task input path 2025/2025-08-07_selectboard.md does not exist in the repo; the transcript was found and extracted from transcripts/2025/2025-08-07_selectboard.md, and source_file reflects that actual location.
- Front matter lists Michael G. Denault and John Dunn as absent, yet the transcript ends with 'Thank you, John, and Lori' and a 'Mike' (who speaks during the flag/sign discussion and is thanked for being there) is present; per instructions, attendees are recorded verbatim from front matter.
- No vote counts are stated anywhere in the transcript; all motion vote fields are null ('Aye'/'Yes' responses only).
- The two tax motions (accept tax rate; sign warrant) have no explicit 'all in favor' vote call transcribed; acceptance is confirmed by the chair's statements, so outcome 'passed' is inferred from the record, with the garbled second noted.
- The opioid settlement motion is attributed by the chair to Kurt ('Kurt, you made the motion') although the transcript line is labeled 'Speaker 2'; no other identity inference was made, and 'Speaker N' labels are otherwise used as-is.
- The Stephanie Shelburne planning-commission appointment has no explicit second or vote call in the transcript; the only 'all in favor aye' in that passage is tied to the Carol Salvo conservation appointment, so her motion is marked no-formal-vote.
- ASR/diarization artifacts are preserved as transcribed, including 'carol salvo'/'carol saldo', 'Dave Saldo'/'salvo', 'Westfield State University', 'Northern Berkshire EMS', 'Reedsboro', 'Stebbins Lane'/'Stevens Lane', 'Bobcat song flag', and '986 Main Road'; several passages are garbled repetitions.
- No formal public comment is transcribed: 'Hearing of visitors' is called but the board moves straight to the next agenda item; Jeb is noted as recording the meeting for his YouTube video.
Transcript
394 paragraphs · 1 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.
394 paragraphs
Speaker 1 — the same voice as in 40 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 2 — the same voice as in 58 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 3 — the same voice as in 17 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 4 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 5 — the same voice as in 38 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 6 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 7 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 8 — the same voice as in 23 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 9 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 10 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 11 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 12 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 13 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 14 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 15 — the same voice as in 30 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 16 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 17 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 18 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 19 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 20 — heard only in this meeting
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 2 — the same voice as in 58 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 3 — the same voice as in 17 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 4 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 5 — the same voice as in 38 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 6 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 7 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 8 — the same voice as in 23 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 9 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 10 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 11 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 12 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 13 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 14 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 15 — the same voice as in 30 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 16 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 17 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 18 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 19 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 20 — heard only in this meeting
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
Lori, do we all have this tax billing, sir? I think you all have it.
Speaker 4: All in favor?
Speaker 6: No, no.
Speaker 7: The.
Speaker 9: When it floods over, you gravel the roads in the spring.
Speaker 10: B-E-L-V-A-L.
Speaker 10: B-E-L-V-A-L.
Speaker 11: And they're supposed to be under cover and all that good stuff.
Speaker 12: He takes...
Speaker 6: Definitely we do need one.
Speaker 13: A couple of days dedicated time driving up and down every street.
Speaker 14: Yeah.
Speaker 16: And that's easy. But if you're still in a position, what if they don't pay?
Speaker 17: If it saves a life.
Speaker 18: I mean, I just do it as a...
Speaker 19: I'd like to just send them a letter first and say, this is what could happen.
Speaker 18: Yeah.
Speaker 18: I mean, I understand the responsibilities of it.
Speaker 21: They don't know.
Speaker 22: Maybe we talk with Bob and...
Speaker 19: Sure.
Speaker 13: Visiting the neighborhood.
Speaker 16: It's a school that's going up almost 9 cents.
Speaker 23: Absolutely.
Speaker 24: That's you.
Speaker 17: On the bottom, yeah.
Speaker 23: Is it next weekend?
Speaker 13: Florida.
Speaker 25: So...
Speaker 14: We could move the sign back in front of the generator for when they come visit if we
Speaker 17: Two or three hundred dollars available.
Speaker 22: And they should have insurance.
Speaker 26: A town plan or an emergency action plan? What does he mean?
Speaker 27: I'd say neutral, yeah.
Speaker 27: I think they want to see if the ambulance is still viable in five years to go to Reedsboro.
Speaker 13: If you have a choice, you would rather have it on population.
Speaker 22: So not only was there insurance, because a lot of people don't have insurance companies.
Speaker 28: I'm not comfortable with that survey at all.
Speaker 19: Not mandatory, but they want to see how much.
Speaker 19: The goal is ultimately to pay for, have towns pay for the service.
Speaker 21: That's that thing you get in the mail.
Speaker 9: Well, they're also basically supported to some extent by the state of
Speaker 17: No.
Speaker 4: no remainder of his term yes doesn't it yeah yeah i think we just appointed them this year to that
Speaker 24: i believe we did 2025 yep till 2029 and i think that i goofed when i did your emotion in a minute
Speaker 7: how we compare i have clarksburg if you want to do yeah i'd like to look at clarksburg um any
Speaker 12: Queensborough, Wilmington, you know, Williamstown. Wilmington, maybe not so much because they get the ski income there.
Speaker 29: Williamstown has a heavy... looking for a heavy equipment operator. Yeah, they've trained their employees to work up there, right?
Speaker 16: session that would work for you, Doug or Laurie? I'm not sure yet what day's available, but I'm hoping it's the idea.
Speaker 30: We'll talk about it and set something up. Propose a date and then we'll see what we come up with.
Speaker 6: I think the personnel policy, that's kind of like two different things, but...
Speaker 31: I know.
Speaker 29: That's what they seem like.
Speaker 21: Yeah.
Speaker 25: Oh, okay.
Speaker 6: 9-11?
Transcribed 2026-09-04 (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.