Stamford Select Board — 2025-12-04 (Regular)
- Pledge of allegiance
- Roll call
- Agenda changes (add correspondence)
- Hearing of visitors / public comment (none at that point)
- Reading and approval of records and orders from November 20, 2025
- Highway / facility update (garage heating failure; new wood furnace and gas furnace replacement)
- Recycling note (dumpsters; summer volume)
- Future budget meetings / executive session scheduling (Dec 11 budget review; Dec 18 meetings)
- Tree lighting thank-yous (Cindy, Gene, Lori, Mike; 7th year)
- Correspondence (Lori) — attorney bill, assessor fee, Rural Fire Protection Task Force petition, VLCT webinar, governor in Bennington
- Old business — 911 / town sign update (no response yet; sign appears ready)
- New business — conflict of interest (zoning officer / planning board roles; ZBA voting vs. clerk)
- New business — burned-out Mill Road house (listed $60,000; consider purchase / letter to realtor)
- Public comment — Joseph Tracy (Mill Road): neighbor's security light and painted-wood burning
- Motion to adjourn
Motions (2, 2 passed)
Approve the records and orders from November 20, 2025 Speaker 5seconded: Speaker 4passed
Adjourn the meeting mover not statedpassed
Other decisions
| Replace the failed garage heating (wood furnace) | The existing wood/garage furnace broke (both sources of heat down); wood-furnace parts would not be available until about February. The wood furnace is on sale for $2,000 (was $3,000; Cyber Monday sale), so the consensus was to buy the new one now rather than keep spending on gas. The new wood furnace is being installed (expected within a day or so). |
| Schedule future budget / executive session meetings | Agreed to hold an executive session budget review (reviewing employees) the following Thursday at 6 p.m. (December 11), and on December 18 to hold a 5:00 board of abatement meeting (plus a 5:30 meeting and the regular 6:00 p.m. meeting). |
| Rural Fire Protection Task Force appropriation request | The Task Force (a social-services organization) again requested a $200 appropriation (previously $100). Because town policy requires a petition for any increase or new organization — and none was filed (and a year has lapsed, so a 'double hurdle' to restart) — no appropriation will be made now. The group would need a 30-signature petition, due around mid-January (January 15). It can also be raised at warrant time. |
| Conflict of interest (zoning officer / planning board) | An email from constituents raised a conflict-of-interest concern about a person (referred to in the transcript variously as Gene/Jean/Deb) serving in a zoning/planning role. The discussion concluded the state law does not bar the dual role, that the person must recuse herself when a personal conflict arises (e.g., setting her own rate or a land/deed appeal), that she may not be a voting member of the ZBA but may serve as its non-voting clerk. No formal resolution or vote was taken — the chair stated she is not currently on the ZBA. |
| Burned-out Mill Road house (adjacent to recycling area) | A burned-out building on Mill Road (~0.9 acres) is for sale, listed at $60,000 (previously thought $84,000); members wondered if the town could buy it (one member floated $20,000) or ask the realtor to consider a donation. Concerns raised: structure likely unsound, river corridor / flood zone, and Title 5 sewer permitting problems. The leaning was to 'see where it goes' — i.e., not commit now. |
| Lighting / bylaws enforcement (from Joseph Tracy's complaint) | The board found no current ordinance covering a neighbor's outdoor lighting (only sign/site-plan-review rules for commercial lighting exist). A member (Speaker 9) offered to look up state laws and make phone calls the next day to have someone talk to the neighbor, noting it could be framed as a disturbance of the peace / harassment. The lighting issue was flagged as a possible subject to raise during the ongoing bylaw rewrite. |
Who owes what (8)
| Action | Owner | By when | Note | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hold the executive session budget review (reviewing employees) | selectboard | next Thursday (Dec 11), 6:00 p.m. | Postponed from the prior week because of the tree lighting. | open no date in the minutes |
| Hold the December 18 meetings (5:00 board of abatement; 5:30; 6:00 regular meeting) | Lori (scheduling) | December 18 | Lori confirmed the 5:00 and 5:30 board of abatement items on the 18th in addition to the regular 6:00 meeting. | open no date in the minutes |
| Gather a 30-signature petition for the Rural Fire Protection Task Force (due mid-January / January 15) if it wants an appropriation; may be raised at warrant time | Rural Fire Protection Task Force (Speaker 9 to help bring it up at the firehouse) | by January 15 | Town policy requires a petition for any increase/new organization; none has been filed. | open no date in the minutes |
| Look up state laws and make phone calls the next day about the Mill Road neighbor (lighting / painted-wood burning) to have someone talk to her | Speaker 9 | the next day (Dec 5) | Speaker 9: 'You look up on the state laws And I will make a couple Of phone calls tomorrow And see if I can get somebody To at least go talk to her.' | open no date in the minutes ¶ ¶170 |
| Possibly write a letter to the realtor about the Mill Road house (interest, price too high, would they consider a donation) | — | — | Suggested but not agreed to ('Let's see where it goes'). Tentative, no owner assigned. | open no date in the minutes ¶ ¶109 |
| Review the attorney's bill (in Nancy's box) once all bills are in; await the assessor fee figures | Nancy L. Bushika (Chair) / board | — | Correspondence: 'A bill from the attorney. I think Nancy has it in her box... We'll have the figures to see what the assessor fee was.' No figures yet. | open no date in the minutes |
| Attend VLCT 'Open Meeting Law Basics' webinar (free; Dec 10, 10:00–11:30, at home or at the town office) | selectboard / staff (optional) | December 10 | Informational correspondence item; attendance voluntary. | open no date in the minutes |
| Optional: attend the governor's public-safety meeting in Bennington (Southern VT fire chiefs, police chiefs, selectboard members) re: state trooper / sheriff coverage | selectboard (optional; 'Mike, you could go') | the next day (Dec 5), 10:45–11:45, Bennington Firehouse, River Street | Raised as an option; the discussion noted increased state-trooper coverage in town and a preference for it over a paid contract. | open no date in the minutes |
scripts/action_status.py --done "a phrase".Money (6)
| New wood furnace for the garage (Cyber Monday sale)¶ ¶21 | On sale for $2,000; decided to buy now since parts for the old wood furnace were not available until ~February. Forced hot air unit. | $2,000 (was $3,000) |
| Replacement gas furnace (installed) | Speaker 1: 'You got a price on that? It's 882.25'? I think was the price we got for gas. That's installed.' The figure is approximate / possibly a transcription error. | about $882.25 (transcribed as '882.25') |
| Burned-out Mill Road house (listed for sale)¶ ¶101 | Approximately 0.9 acres; town is considering but not committed to a purchase. | $60,000 listed (previously thought $84,000); ~$20,000 floated as a possible town offer |
| Rural Fire Protection Task Force appropriation request | Held pending the required 30-signature petition; no appropriation this year. | $200 (previously $100) |
| Attorney bill | Bill from the attorney to be reviewed (in Nancy's box); amount not stated at the meeting. | — |
| Assessor fee | Figures not yet received; to be reviewed once in. | — |
Public comment (1)
| Joseph Tracy (resident, Mill Road; labeled 'Speaker 5' in the transcript) | Complained that a neighbor across the street (about 100 yards away) has a light that shines directly into his window and into his living room (making him feel 'in a prison'), and that the same neighbor burns painted wood (not in a container), a forest-fire concern. He asked whether there is any protection or ordinance the board can use. The board explained there is no current lighting ordinance; the chair noted burning painted wood is not good; members discussed the possibility of a state harassment/disturbance-of-the-peace angle and the bylaws currently under rewrite. The initial hearing-of-visitors slot earlier had no speakers ('Nobody wants to talk?'). |
Follow-ups named in the minutes
- Rural Fire Protection Task Force: obtain a 30-signature petition (due ~Jan 15) before any appropriation; can be raised at warrant time.
- Mill Road neighbor (lighting / painted-wood burning): Speaker 9 to look up state laws and make phone calls the next day to have someone talk to the neighbor; possibly address in the ongoing bylaw rewrite.
- Mill Road burned-out house: watch the listing; possibly write a letter to the realtor about interest/donation; assess structure, river corridor, and Title 5 sewer issues.
- 911 / town sign update: no response yet when Speaker 9 called; the bracing appears removed and the sign may be ready — follow up.
- Attorney bill and assessor fee figures: review once all bills are in.
- Schedule and hold the Dec 11 executive session (budget/employee review) and the Dec 18 meetings (5:00 abatement, 5:30, 6:00 regular).
- Optional: VLCT Open Meeting Law Basics webinar Dec 10; optional attendance at the governor's Bennington public-safety meeting Dec 5.
What the extraction was unsure about
- The task input path 2025/2025-12-04_selectboard.md does not exist in the repo; the transcript was found and extracted from transcripts/2025/2025-12-04_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 heavy ASR artifacts; 'Speaker N' labels are used as written and were not attributed to identities. The front matter warns that cluster labels may over-split a single voice, so one person may appear under multiple 'Speaker N' labels. Only Nancy L. Bushika (Chair) is clearly identified by name in the turns.
- Named non-selectboard participants appear to include town staff (Lori/Laurie — correspondence/scheduling; Dave — road agent; Cindy — tree lighting; Gene — tree decorating) and residents (James — plow; Joseph Tracy — Mill Road). None are in the present/absent lists.
- The 'Speaker 1' highway/furnace discussion is garbled (repeated phrases, a possible speaker change mid-paragraph, and the 'Derek Holder' / 'H.A. George' vendor names). The $882.25 gas-furnace figure is taken from a clearly ASR-uncertain line and may be a transcription error.
- The conflict-of-interest passage uses several names inconsistently (Gene / Jean / Deb) and references multiple boards (planning board, zoning officer, zoning board of appeals / ZVA/ZBA); the exact individual and precise positions could not be pinned down, and no formal resolution or vote was taken.
- The adjournment motion is seconded and the meeting ends, but the transcript closes with informal closing banter and no explicit 'all in favor / aye,' so the adjournment's outcome is inferred from the meeting clearly ending (marked passed).
- The Mill Road house price is given as $60,000 (the chair initially thought $84,000; Speaker 13 corrected to $60,000); the ~$20,000 figure was a floated offer, not a decided purchase price. No decision to buy was made.
Transcript
Speaker 2 — the same voice as in 58 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 3 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 4 — heard only in this meeting
Speaker 5 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 6 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 7 — the same voice as in 2 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 8 — no voiceprint match
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 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 16 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 17 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 18 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 19 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 3: Michael G. Denault.
Speaker 3: Douglas Wright.
Speaker 5: You're installing it?
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 3: If we had 30 people show up at the firehouse, we'd only get about 16 at a good day.
Speaker 8: What did they ask for?
Speaker 8: I'll try to remember to bring it up at the firehouse and see if somebody needs to pick it up from there.
Speaker 9: And it's free.
Speaker 10: I'm fine with our coverage.
Speaker 3: Which is nice. I bet you he's done more this summer than the sheriffs did. Not to put the sheriffs down.
Speaker 6: Not one spot where you can figure him out at 11 o'clock in the afternoon.
Speaker 11: He backs into the sign so you can't see him coming from Belmont.
Speaker 8: Yeah. But you know what? You can't see him coming from Belmont.
Speaker 8: Town sign update? That's what I called them today.
Speaker 12: Got no response back.
Speaker 8: I was going to say the bracing is gone. Okay.
Speaker 12: So they must have the sign ready to go.
Speaker 13: I thought what a day you picked today.
Speaker 8: It's funny because it's every single thing. It's like each step is a different day. Yes. It's usually a week away. And I call them on the phone and say look. Got a meeting tomorrow night. I need some progress before something. And then the next day. That's why you're sitting out there on Thursday morning. Yep.
Speaker 14: And you're in reference to the
Speaker 8: Who was the officer? The zoning board. So I did all the research before when I was the zoning administrator. And there was nothing in our handbook just like the handbooks that you guys give me that gives you what every person is supposed to do. There's nothing in there. So if you look under the conflict of interest laws and rules because somebody brought something else up to me and I looked into it and it was in reference to Gene. I'm just throwing it out there. And I said it's the same exact language as they use in this case that you're referring to. If anything appears to be a conflict of interest it could so when it comes up to land certification the deeds and stuff like that if somebody appealed it and she's sitting on the zoning board of appeals that's the conflict.
Speaker 11: you just recuse yourself.
Speaker 8: However, she cannot sit on the ZVA. That's written in the book. Deb? Deb. She can't sit. So that's solved. She could be like the clerk. In fact they recommend her to be the clerk of the ZVA. But she's not a voting member she can't sit at the table. None of that. But that's what the law reads.
Speaker 8: I just want to address it. It's like for she can't sit on certain boards. Right.
Speaker 8: we can't run for her. Right. But the language is very specific. It basically says that it's like you can't and you can't but also in Vermont there's some language that says in the law if you read it and I'm sure you guys probably already glanced over everything already numerous times but in the law it says if there is a perception then the select board may then at that point if there's more in other words if you've got a bunch of resumes and you don't want that perception then we couldn't.
Speaker 15: That's what I'm saying
Speaker 8: Right There's no specific language on that situation of Jean basically it says in there if there's an image or a perception that it could be then the select board may not do it but there's no I don't think I don't think there's anybody that has an issue I think it's just something
Speaker 11: Pete wanted to make sure that there is not
Speaker 8: and you're right there's a chart that tells you the laws and stuff that we're working on and the work the Monday sessions that we're doing here at the center which has been working out really good Are you doing that every Monday? Well whenever we've only done two they're warranted So the thing is we didn't want I know you guys told us that we could just do because it's a work session we're not voting or anything like that but we did some research on that and you can't if you guys all of a sudden decide you want to call a work meeting you've got to warrant that meeting so we do that so we've had two of them already and it's been working great but it works out works out well Do you have any
Speaker 8: observed? Jim So they're on our little we call them up there on the committee because Jim don't shut up
Speaker 13: we can't
Speaker 8: No I mean because we have we might have five or six members at one time there last week there was only three of us
Speaker 11: can you still do it?
Speaker 8: we're not voting on it Can you still do it?
Speaker 13: TikTok
Speaker 12: No, it's $60,000
Speaker 10: If we write a letter to the realtor
Speaker 15: Right out there
Speaker 8: I've heard conflicts I mean, look at what happened to Pete over here
Speaker 8: You can't expand the footprint
Speaker 14: We don't want to take even half the demo
Speaker 8: It's the barn There's more than just a demo There's all kinds of state inspections that's got to be done
Speaker 12: What's in there
Speaker 3: They tried to get the barn out for free
Speaker 3: Not even for barn board? No, nobody did that Somebody listed it, it was a free barn You take it down and remove it and nobody paid on it
Speaker 11: It's just nobody has the ambition like they used to
Speaker 8: And now with the wire What is it? Flood zones Yeah, all the flood zones and stuff like that Not just the flood zone, but the river corridor We could never get a permit there No
Speaker 14: The sewer's not working, you're in trouble
Speaker 11: I don't know if you guys see that new video
Speaker 8: Well I guess you can get one on the water corridor The river corridors and stuff like that So, they have specific corridors now And you ain't doing nothing then
Speaker 16: More than likely the sewer
Speaker 3: will end up across the street What's in there now, a cesspool? I don't know, I mean they have to Somebody said there was a It just goes into a tank and they pump the tank out every couple of years Well you can't do a hole in the tank
Speaker 8: None of it meets Title 5 They'd have to do a mound system there Or a tank and pump
Speaker 3: Well, right What year was that house built?
Speaker 8: Was that Willette's house at one time? I'm not sure
Speaker 11: Yeah, I think it was
Speaker 17: Well, yeah
Speaker 8: So there's not anything In our current bylaws In regards to that
Speaker 8: Bill Motts store Well that's They have to get a permit So there's a planning Like a site plan review That needs to be done prior to Any kind of permitting And that would be part of it Signs, lighting and so on We don't have Unfortunately That type of Ordinance And That's something else That we need to discuss at some point About ordinances Your AO In some towns I've been doing some checking in Your AO has been doing Some of the Enforcement Of your ordinances They can write citations Like you did with me
Speaker 8: But there is Things that Deb could go up And try talking with her And make her understand that Shining a light Into somebody's Is a disturbance of the peace And you can take them to court And I have been on The enforcement side of that Quite a few times But That is like a state Regulation Yeah Almost like a harassment Just like if you're Doing noise at 2 o'clock in the morning You're harassing somebody That's a harassment And can be deemed as such
Speaker 18: So it is a criminal offense
Speaker 8: But the fact that maybe somebody Could come in Or maybe a couple of PhD's Could take a ride up And have a conversation with her She may be somebody that needs Support or something
Speaker 8: Or come on down And visit Come on down off the mountain And Go over to the center They do a lot of stuff
Speaker 19: I wouldn't be able to make a decision
Speaker 17: That's what I'm wondering
Speaker 8: You look up on the state laws And I will make a couple Of phone calls tomorrow And see if I can get somebody To at least go talk to her Or else I won't I just think that Maybe there's Maybe she's really not That devilish person
Speaker 17: Maybe she's got something
Speaker 15: It's
Speaker 12: Or say hey this is against us
Speaker 8: This has come up with Problems like this A few times It might be something to look at
Speaker 8: We have sign bylaws And stuff like that That's got some language in there From lights You're not allowed to have lights In the traffic's eyes It can only be shined On the sign Things like that Or like a commercial business Has to come before the planning commission For site plan review That's where they would have Rules put on them But it doesn't Right now apparently
Speaker 15: Wasn't there one
Speaker 10: It was shining in our eyes
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.