Stamford Select Board — 2025-09-18 (Regular)

61 min · town drive · audio · minutes (town PDF) · markdown

Nancy L. BushikaDouglas WrightMichael G. DenaultJohn Dunnabsent: Kurt Gamari

Session: Regular · **Duration:** 61 min · Audio · Minutes

At its regular September 18, 2025 meeting (61 min; Chair Nancy Bushika with Douglas Wright, Michael Denault, and John Dunn present; Kurt Gamari absent), the Stamford Select Board approved the September 4 minutes, used the hearing-of-visitors slot to discuss volunteer fire department recruitment, and addressed an abandoned highway sidewalk, recycling/dumping logistics, and the Northern Berkshire ambulance service survey. The board appointed Natalie as a non-voting alternate to the Planning Commission, selected the arch design for the town sign, and voted to name a private road off Tatra Road (the resident's suggested name was 'Hawthorne Lane'), while assigning follow-ups on a state sidewalk letter, a culvert letter to the road's property owner, moving Allstate-related money before year end, and the town's one unregistered dog. The meeting closed with a motion, seconded, to go into executive session for a personnel matter and probable civil litigation.

On the agenda

Pledge of allegiance
Roll call
Agenda changes (add correspondence; add a dog update)
Hearing of visitors / public comment (volunteer fire department recruitment)
Reading and approval of records and orders (regular minutes of September 4)
Highway update (abandoned sidewalk in front of a resident's house; state responsibility)
Insurance/recycling note (pay Allstate bills; move money before year end)
Recycling / dumping (where waste goes; tipping fees; possible alternative hauler)
Discussion update on sustainability of the Northern Berkshire ambulance service survey
Review of the all-boards meeting
Correspondence (Lori) — Planning Commission alternate appointment
Employee policy handbook (signatures)
911 update / house numbering
Naming a private road (cul-de-sac) off Tatra Road; culvert
Town sign (design selection)
Old business — dog update (registration; rabies clinic)
Executive session (personnel matter; pending or probable civil litigation)

Motions (5, 4 passed)

Accept the regular minutes of September 4, 2025, as written Speaker 3passed

“Accept the regular minutes of September 4 as written”

Chair asks for a motion to accept as written; Speaker 3: 'Motion'; chair: 'Second? Second. All in favor?'; 'Aye.' A second was called and confirmed by the chair but the seconder is not clearly identified; no vote count given.

where it was said out loud ¶11

Appoint Natalie as a non-voting alternate to the Planning Commission Speaker 5 (summarized by Speaker 17 as 'John made a motion')passed

“Appoint Natalie as an alternate to the Planning Commission”

Speaker 5: 'i would make a motion that we appoint her as an alternate'; Speaker 17: 'Okay, so John made a motion to appoint [her] as alternate. Was there a second?'; chair: 'Second. All in favor? Aye.' The alternate is non-voting unless a regular member is absent and a quorum is needed. The name is transcribed variously as 'her'/'Harry'/'Natalie' (a 'Natalie' with a Ph.D. is referenced earlier in the correspondence discussion).

where it was said out loud ¶148

Name the private road (cul-de-sac) off Tatra Road Michael G. Denault (Mike), per the chair's summary 'mike made the motion'passed

One of the four property owners (Gene Kerfield) suggested 'Hawthorne Lane' in response to the board's letter; a member voiced naming it (transcribed at one point as 'Coughlin Road'), and the chair's closing summary references 'Hawthorne.' Chair: 'mike made the motion, do we have a second — second, all in favor.' The town (not the private owners) is responsible for the street sign (Dave to make it). The exact final name as spoken is ambiguous in the transcript.

not matched to a paragraph in the transcript

Select the arch design for the town sign mover not statedpassed

“Motion to use the arch [design]”

Two designs were considered (arch vs. straight/square); the price is the same either way. Speaker 4: 'do we have a motion to go? Which one? Motion to use the...'; 'arch. Arch sign. There you go. Second. All in favor? Aye.' The proposer is not clearly identified (Speaker 4 initiated; Speaker 29 completed/seconded). The sign is going to be 3D; Jim is to work with Pam about the flowers.

not matched to a paragraph in the transcript

Go into executive session (personnel matter; pending or probable civil litigation) Nancy L. Bushika (Chair)seconded: Speaker 27no-formal-vote

“I make a motion to go into executive session for personnel matter and then for pending or probable civil litigation”

Motion made by the chair and seconded by Speaker 27 at the end of the meeting; the transcript then ends with the chair saying 'Good night, all,' with no recorded vote or confirmation that the board actually entered executive session.

where it was said out loud ¶298

Other decisions

All-boards meeting	Reviewed the all-boards meeting the board had attended; the chair suggested possibly meeting again in about six months (three months was also mentioned), hoping to have other boards there.
Northern Berkshire ambulance service survey	Agreed the survey (for a student's thesis/report) can be completed, population-based rather than call-based, that it does not commit the town to any funding structure, and that the town's identity can be left off; the chair will complete it with Lori.
Employee policy handbook	Confirmed the employee policy handbook was approved at the last meeting; the board still needs to sign it.
Town responsibility for private road signage	Confirmed that when a private road is named, the town (not the private owners) puts up the street sign, as it has done on other private roads (e.g., Mountain View Lane, Arcadia Drive).

Who owes what (9)

Action	Owner	By when	Note	Where it stands
Get something in writing from the state (Vermont Agency of Transportation / Patrick Wilson, the area supervisor) about the abandoned sidewalk in front of the resident's house — whether the state will take responsibility or confirm it will not maintain/remove it	Dave (town road agent)	—	Chair: 'So, Dave, see if you can get something in writing.' The state said it no longer maintains the sidewalk (given back to the landowners) but retains a right-of-way; the resident (Speaker 8) wants the state's position in writing. Speaker 5 offered to draft and send a letter if the resident wants.	open no date in the minutes
Check with the auditor on how to move the Allstate-related money before the end of the year	Lori	before the end of the year	Chair: 'Lori, as soon as we pay the bills for Allstate and get all done with that, we'll have to move the money before the end of the year from... Check with the auditor how to do it.'	open no date in the minutes ¶ ¶60
Work with Dave and send a letter to the property owner(s) about the culvert replacement on the private road, stressing that emergency vehicles may not be able to access it readily	Lori (Speaker 17), with Dave	—	Chair: 'if you would work with dave and send a letter that they need a [culvert], send them the culvert stuff and stress that emergency vehicles aren't going to be able to get up there readily.' Speaker 7 also asked 'Can you work with Lori on the letter?'	open no date in the minutes ¶ ¶267
Reach out to Johnny regarding the Northern Berkshire ambulance service survey	Speaker 5	—	Speaker 5: 'there's been some family things with Johnny, that's why I didn't really bother him. So I will reach out to him.' (It is not established in the transcript who 'Johnny' is — a town contact or the student.)	open no date in the minutes ¶ ¶97
Complete the Northern Berkshire ambulance service survey (population-based; town's identity not included; no commitment)	Nancy L. Bushika (Chair), with Lori	—	Chair: 'I'll complete it with Lori.' The survey is for a student's thesis/report and does not lock the town into any funding structure; the board leaned toward population-based over call-based.	open no date in the minutes
Contact the owner of the town's one unregistered dog about registration	Luke	—	Chair: 'Who's going to get in touch with him this week? Luke is going to get in touch with him?' A member reported the owner was contacted around Wednesday and will try to call again; the owner was waiting for a mid-September vet appointment. (Whether 'him' is Luke or the member is ambiguous.)	open no date in the minutes
Report the recycling/dumping situation (the contracted company possibly hauling waste out of state) to the state	Lori / Laurie	—	Chair: 'laurie's got a [you and] Laurie, report this to the state so they might look at that and say where is this going.' Related to the discussion of the contracted dumpster company, tipping fees, and whether waste is hauled out of state.	open no date in the minutes
Work with Pam about the flowers for the 3D town sign	Jim	—	'It's going to be 3D. Jim can you work with Pam about the flowers?' The person said they had already called Pam that day but did not get a return.	open no date in the minutes
Sign the employee policy handbook	selectboard (to sign)	—	'Employee policy handbook, we have to sign that. We approved it last week / last meeting? Yep.' Approved at the prior meeting; signatures still outstanding at this meeting.	open no date in the minutes ¶ ¶184

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)

Allstate insurance bills	Bills to be paid; after that is done, the related money must be moved before the end of the year (Lori to check with the auditor on how).	—
Recycling/dumping (compost) service	A member estimated 'the compost i think it's 360 or 70 dollars every time they call that thing' and separately 'a thousand dollars a year or something silly like that.' The figures are approximate and the exact service/contract is unclear. Discussion included possibly using a different hauler ('Demolition') and whether the contracted company is hauling waste out of state.	approx. $1,000/year (estimated); also cited as '$360 or $70' per pickup

Public comment (1)

Speaker 3 (addressed as 'John' by Speaker 4; likely selectboard member John Dunn)

Volunteer fire department recruitment — noted 16 members (6 from out of town) leading about 10 local firemen, average age around 45-47, and urged interested residents to contact Paul (Ethier) or other active members; department meets Mondays at 7 p.m. at the firehouse. The ensuing discussion touched on the department's aging membership and its impact on fire insurance and taxes.

Follow-ups named in the minutes

All-boards meeting: consider reconvening in about 6 months (3 months was also mentioned), hoping to include other boards.
Highway sidewalk: Dave to obtain the state's written position on who is responsible for / will not maintain the abandoned sidewalk.
Private road culvert: Lori (with Dave) to send a letter to the property owner about the culvert and emergency vehicle access.
Northern Berkshire ambulance survey: complete it (Nancy with Lori, population-based, identity not included); Speaker 5 to reach out to Johnny.
Town sign: proceed with the arch (3D) design; Jim to work with Pam about the flowers.
Dog registration: follow up with the owner of the one unregistered dog (Luke).
911 house numbering: Bob (emergency management) was working on it; no update at this meeting.
Allstate: move the related money before the end of the year (Lori to check with the auditor).
Recycling: report the possible out-of-state hauling to the state; consider whether an alternative hauler can do the work.

What the extraction was unsure about

The task input path 2025/2025-09-18_selectboard.md does not exist in the repo; the transcript was found and extracted from transcripts/2025/2025-09-18_selectboard.md, and source_file reflects that actual location (matching the convention in the existing decision files).
No vote counts are stated anywhere in the transcript; all motion vote fields are null ('Aye' / 'All in favor' responses only).
The transcript is auto-diarized with ASR artifacts; 'Speaker N' labels are used as written. The front matter warns that cluster labels may over-split a single voice, so one person (e.g., John Dunn) may appear under multiple 'Speaker N' labels.
The hearing-of-visitors / public comment slot was used by a selectboard member (Speaker 3, addressed as 'John' by Speaker 4, likely John Dunn) rather than a clearly-named resident; whether this passage is 'public comment' vs. board discussion is borderline.
The Planning Commission alternate motion is attributed inconsistently: Speaker 5 says 'I would make a motion' while Speaker 17 summarizes 'John made a motion'; due to the over-split diarization, Speaker 5 may be John Dunn, but that identity is not confirmed.
The name given to the private road is ambiguous in the transcript: a member voiced 'Coughlin Road' while the chair's closing summary references 'Hawthorne' (the property owner Gene Kerfield suggested 'Hawthorne Lane'); the exact final name as spoken could not be determined with confidence.
Attendees are recorded verbatim from the front matter (present/absent). Non-selectboard participants appear to include town employees (Lori/Laurie — correspondence, signs, Allstate; Dave — road agent; Luke — dog registration) and residents (e.g., the resident about the sidewalk, Gene Kerfield); they are not in the present/absent lists.
The executive session motion was made and seconded at the very end of the meeting, but the transcript ends with 'Good night, all' with no recorded vote or confirmation the board entered executive session; outcome marked no-formal-vote.
The identities of 'Johnny' (whom Speaker 5 will contact about the ambulance survey) and the ambulance 'Paul' are not established in the transcript.

Transcript

301 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 30 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
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Speaker 3 — the same voice as in 39 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
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Speaker 6 — the same voice as in 38 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 7 — the same voice as in 13 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
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Speaker 16 — the same voice as in 58 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
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We're reading to the President of the United States of America,

Speaker 2: Michael G. Denault, Nancy Bushika, Douglas Wright, John Dunn.

Speaker 4: Thank you, John.

Speaker 5: Aye.

Speaker 8: what i mean they're just kind of like great enough i mean why if it was never ours why do we take

Speaker 9: responsibility for it dave that's the thing if you start doing it they're going to say you're

Speaker 10: well yes i'd be happy have them send something to us that would be good

Speaker 11: sticking up i got this in a massive like i mean i don't understand why he can't he can't fix it

Speaker 12: work as long as there's no issue and that's what i'm saying if you started doing it and see if

Speaker 13: you have to hire anybody if you're going to be just going down the side they're not going to

Speaker 10: useless kind of thing i can see if you're talking to him yeah my guess is he got his answer from

Speaker 14: Well, I'm just looking for them to ultimately say, again, we're not going to take care of it at that point. But I'd like to have them actually write it down.

Speaker 17: and we still have a small dumpster up there for recycling that yeah and they cannot bring

Speaker 18: the right dumpster for recycling and that gets overfilled you know there's one up there it was

Speaker 14: uh the only other company that is out there that will haul dumpsters is w right now that's what i

Speaker 12: so i don't see why not right we should talk to them and just say what would you do what are you

Speaker 12: still do the compost even though we don't have that's out of states i don't know that's what

Speaker 9: because they don't understand we let definitely all come into this town privately all over the

Speaker 19: Right, right.

Speaker 4: Based on population or based on? I would say population.

Speaker 4: Yeah, for his thesis.

Speaker 4: I think there is something in here.

Speaker 4: Yeah, there you go.

Speaker 20: Yeah, of course they are.

Speaker 11: person i've never seen that done but we could of course want to do it with that with that kind of

Speaker 9: current members whose term is up but we've never had that's what i have to take i mean you want to

Speaker 11: if it was for myself against myself like oh yeah yeah i understand yeah and i i personally as a

Speaker 21: it's just their end of the term and that's the time to do it yeah i would look at all aspects

Speaker 13: be great to have that kind of involvement from the church like like nancy's saying we didn't

Speaker 22: little experience of a meeting they have all the knowledge of the world an alternate how would the

Speaker 23: All this stuff doesn't have a name.

Speaker 9: Yeah.

Speaker 9: It's within our right of way.

Speaker 24: was from gene kerfield saying and salt is the one that got the permit now there's a new property

Speaker 19: i don't think anybody has a mailbox

Speaker 22: I'll make a motion. We name it Coughlin Road.

Speaker 5: Because it's supposed to go...

Speaker 24: Okay.

Speaker 9: find one or two there's another street sign for blaze road right yeah that's what i'm saying so

Speaker 25: the 9-1-1 and re just comes off of that road and people get confused because it doesn't say private

Speaker 26: road there's even a person building across the road from the driveway and he thought that was a regular road because it doesn't say private oh i see yeah doesn't the sign say private no

Speaker 20: or ups and people go up those roads but that's why the state has opinions is saying that you can

Speaker 24: town sign update lori got a couple of uh i think i emailed both yeah two designs um the price

Speaker 4: that I like the arch better but I don't care. I like seeing them both. I like the arch better

Speaker 27: compared to the straight across one. What kind of mirrors the church? A little bit. Yeah the church

Speaker 4: now. Yeah. No it doesn't matter to me. So do we have a motion to go? Which one? Motion to use the

Speaker 28: arch. Arch sign. There you go. Second. All in favor? Aye. Get her done. Well I got another sign.

Speaker 4: Octagon. No more. Get her done.

Speaker 29: It's going to be 3D. Jim can you work with Pam about the flowers? Yeah I actually reached out and called her today but I didn't get a return.

Speaker 5: Check with Luke and see how he feels about it.

Speaker 30: You know, Greylock Animal would send it if you were going to have your dog euthanized. Yeah. So maybe when you wear the check-in they may use it more twice.

Speaker 31: I don't feel it.

Speaker 26: Second. Second.

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.