Stamford Select Board — 2026-05-07 (Regular)
- Welcome, roll call, and agenda changes (open to the public for a non-agenda item)
- Hearing of visitors: 347 Mill Road property dispute; County Road trash / Risky Ridge; town plan survey & visioning session; village center / Act 181
- Reading and approval of records and orders: special minutes 3/30, regular minutes 4/16, special minutes 4/23
- Highway update; approve and sign the annual financial plan; Better Benches Works grant; recycling (BCRC alliance)
- Green Up Day (this year and next year planning)
- Policy for appointments (drafted by the chair with Lori's help)
- Resignation / appointments: Justice of the Peace; Library Board of Trustees; planning commission
- 911 numbering update (letter to residents)
- New business: Green Mountain Power remount (wind turbines); BCA training; Act 181 / town plan
Motions (5, 5 passed)
Accept the special meeting minutes of March 30, 2026 Speaker 2passed
Approve the regular minutes of April 16, 2026 Speaker 1passed
Approve the special meeting minutes of April 23, 2026 mover not statedpassed
Sign the highway department annual financial plan Speaker 1passed
Accept the resignation of Mary Lou Wright as Justice of the Peace mover not statedpassed
Other decisions
| Appointments policy (drafted by the chair with Lori's help) | Board reviewed a draft policy for appointing volunteers. Agreed it should require a written (not email) letter of interest, submitted within two weeks and hand-delivered/acknowledged; when a term is up without a letter the position is considered vacant. Chair asked Lori to make the changes; the board will use it as a guide and revisit at the next meeting. |
| Justice of the Peace vacancy | Position is vacant after Mary Lou Wright's resignation. Connie York has already submitted a letter of interest; the seat will be held open until the next meeting for any other candidates. The state will appoint until the November election; the term starts January 2027. Board may recommend one person or send all letters of interest to the state. |
| Library Board of Trustees appointment | Position vacant since the election; previously advertised (per the minutes). With one interested candidate, the board appointed Victoria until the next March election. |
| Planning commission vacancy | One planning commission seat is open; four interested parties were identified (including Pam Torrey, Jennifer, and Aaron). The board will interview candidates in an executive session at the next select board meeting using a standard set of questions. Aaron's interest is unconfirmed (he called but did not send a letter). |
| 911 numbering update (display letter to residents) | Bob Briggs provided a list of about 80 people whose 911 numbers are not displayed properly. Board agreed to send a letter requiring reflective numbers or a sign with 4-inch contrasting numbers, giving the option to buy a sign yourself or use one the Stamford Volunteer Fire Department provides. Boxes around town should also display a number. |
| Green Mountain Power remount (wind turbines) | Lori forwarded a two-page notice about Green Mountain Power remounting lines near Searsburg (removing 11 smaller turbines and putting up 3 larger ones). A 45-day notice of petition is to be filed with the Vermont Public Utilities Commission. Informational; no objection recorded. |
Who owes what (6)
| Action | Owner | By when | Note | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Get a survey of the 347 Mill Road property and give it to the town mapper so the boundary line can be corrected. | 347 Mill Road resident (Speaker 3 / Speaker 7) | — | Resident: 'I will get a survey'; chair: give it to us and the mapper must go by the surveys. | open no date in the minutes ¶ ¶6 |
| Send the 911 number-display letter to the ~80 listed residents. | Nancy L. Bushika (to have Bob Briggs send them out) | — | Letter to state: reflective numbers or a sign with 4-inch contrasting numbers; give the option to buy your own or use the fire department's. | open no date in the minutes |
| Revise the appointments policy to require a written, hand-delivered/acknowledged letter of interest within two weeks, and adopt it as a guide. | Lori (with Nancy L. Bushika) | — | Chair asked Lori to make the changes; revisit at the next meeting. | open no date in the minutes ¶ ¶130 |
| Interview the interested planning commission candidates in an executive session using a standard question set; confirm Aaron's interest. | Select board | Before / at the next select board meeting | Standardize questions for all candidates; Aaron called but sent no letter. | open no date in the minutes |
| Plan next year's Green Up Day as a week-long effort with bags distributed in advance and streets assigned, rather than one Saturday. | Lorna and Deb (noted by Speaker 10); Lori to record | Next year | Distribute bags about a month ahead; give residents time to do it at their leisure. | open no date in the minutes |
| Address a letter to the planning commission (with a copy to the select board) about its use of an executive session for candidate discussion/nomination, which must be an open meeting. | Speaker 11 | — | Speaker 11 said he has the letter to give to Lori; concern that an executive session was used to pick/nominate a candidate. | open no date in the minutes |
scripts/action_status.py --done "a phrase".Money (4)
| Highway department annual financial plan¶ ¶60 | Plan must be signed; states tax-raised funds must be at least $300 per mile. Split into summer and winter budgets; includes a FEMA grant allocation. No total dollar amount stated. | — |
| Better Benches Works grant (highway project; name as transcribed, likely a 'Better Roads/Works' program) | Grant for a culvert replacement on 'Sportsmen' [road] and smoothing a drive; 20% match / 80% reimbursed, including use of town equipment at theme rate. | $16,000 |
| Recycling (BCRC alliance) budget | Transcript says the current year is '2% more than last year' but the stated figures jump from $5,600 to $6,800; last year went over budget; outstanding state reimbursements (paint, pesticides) pending. Alliance hired an outreach manager (John Pitchroff, Adams). | $6,800 (current year); $5,600 (prior year budget) |
| 911 reflective-number sign¶ ¶62 | A $15 donation to the Stamford Volunteer Fire Department for a sign that meets the 4-inch contrasting requirement. | $15 |
Public comment (4)
| Speaker 3 (347 Mill Road resident; opened by Speaker 2 stating the address) | Property boundary and right-of-way dispute with a neighbor (referred to as 'Dave' / the LeChere family, original 'Paul LeChere'); state map shows different boundaries; neighbor's tractor on the land and trees cut; resident says he will get a survey, re-mark the property, tear down the building, and install a curtain drain, and to have the neighbor prove his access. |
| Speaker 8 | Trash along the County Road loop (cleaned by an ATV/snowmobile group); more trash keeps appearing, wants to know what is going on; also cut down a large tree at Risky Ridge. |
| Speaker 10 | Newtown/town plan: a survey will go out in mailboxes (or online / drop-off in the box); May 30 at noon a historic walking tour (led by Kurt Gamari), followed by a community visioning session; rain date June 6. |
| Speaker 11 and Speaker 5 (during visitor comments) | Village center / Act 181: whether the village center can be expanded; dispute over when it was designated (Speaker 11 says 20 years ago, Speaker 5 says ~5 years ago); concern that expanding it without city water/sewer is a waste of time; the town does not have to act on it. |
Follow-ups named in the minutes
- Justice of the Peace seat to remain open until the next meeting; the state will appoint until the November election and the term starts January 2027.
- Planning commission candidate interviews to occur in an executive session at the next select board meeting (standard questions).
- 911 number-display letters to be sent to about 80 residents (Bob Briggs / chair to arrange).
- Recycling: recruit a town alliance representative for next year; next BCRC alliance meeting is September 9 (online).
- Household hazardous waste facility opens May 18 (to be open 18-19 hours per week).
- Town plan: survey in mailboxes; historic walking tour + community visioning session on May 30 at noon (rain date June 6).
- BCA training for selectmen/Justices of the Peace: June 17, online webinar 6:00-7:30.
- Green Mountain Power: 45-day notice of petition to the Vermont Public Utilities Commission (wind turbine remount near Searsburg).
- Green Up Day to be planned as a week-long effort for next year (Lorna, Deb).
What the extraction was unsure about
- Transcript is automated ASR (faster-whisper large-v3) with pyannote diarization and heavy garbling, truncation, and repeated lines; extraction is limited to what is legible.
- Speaker N labels are structural and not attributed to named individuals. A single physical speaker is often split across several labels; public-comment and discussion attribution is by the label(s) actually used. No identities were guessed (e.g., 'Nate', 'Dave', 'Crusher', 'Henry Hill', 'Pietro' are names as spoken, not tied to a labeled speaker).
- No numeric vote counts were stated for any motion; the chair called 'All in favor?' and the transcript does not record a tally, so all vote fields are null (the April 16 minutes motion was explicitly noted 'No vote').
- Appointment motions (Library Board, planning commission) appear as garbled repeated 'Second' with no clear proposer/seconder/vote; they are recorded as other_decisions rather than motions.
- 'Better Benches Works' grant, the road name 'Sportsmen', and the names 'Nate', 'Dave', 'Crusher', 'Henry Hill', and 'Pietro' are as transcribed and may contain ASR errors; not verified.
- Recycling budget figures ($5,600 to $6,800) are inconsistent with the '2% more than last year' remark; both the figures and the remark are reported as spoken.
- The 'village center designated 20 years ago' (Speaker 11) vs. '~5 years ago' (Speaker 5) statements contradict each other; both are reported without resolution.
- The front matter lists no absent members (absent: []), so 'Absent' is None.
Transcript
Speaker 2 — heard only in this meeting
Speaker 3 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 4 — the same voice as in 40 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 5 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 6 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 7 — the same voice as in 6 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 8 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 9 — the same voice as in 13 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 10 — the same voice as in 9 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 11 — heard only in this meeting
Speaker 12 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 13 — heard only in this meeting
Speaker 14 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 15 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 16 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 17 — the same voice as in 25 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 — the same voice as in 5 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
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 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 38 — no voiceprint match
Will the assembly stand for the pleasure meeting? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic of which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Pietro. Thank you. 347 Mill Road. So today, I purchased the property behind the Auburn residence,
Speaker 3: like you read about.
Speaker 5: And that's what I'm gonna do,
Speaker 6: I will get a survey, but yeah.
Speaker 6: I mean, today's the first day.
Speaker 8: Now they've got a different road. Yeah.
Speaker 8: We've got some methods. You can just do that, right?
Speaker 1: Right. If you just do that, that'll solve the problem.
Speaker 1: So can I make a motion to accept them? Motion.
Speaker 8: April 16th you weren't here.
Speaker 12: It says about $300.
Speaker 14: I'm not exposed.
Speaker 12: Today they took the salt shed down.
Speaker 15: participate? Pam said it went similarly to last year. Yeah, she said it went well.
Speaker 5: Wilmington, the sides of the roads are spotless. Yeah, they cleaned up like last week.
Speaker 16: I saw the men cleaning up. Those beer cans in front of my house.
Speaker 16: Yeah, that's decoration. If they're five cents, why aren't kids picking
Speaker 8: You'll never see it, but I'll throw a can on them. I didn't see it. I was just telling them they were there.
Speaker 18: She said that's why they do that.
Speaker 19: Exactly.
Speaker 20: Dispensary.
Speaker 21: testing mostly in the mornings from what I understood I know one day they did not
Speaker 21: I'm we could call this guy for appointments our polices sorry I was
Speaker 22: back to me why should it be our responsibility to tell people who have seats that their seats are up and they need to be you know they need to see it
Speaker 23: should be our job to tell people okay so is this going to follow along what do we
Speaker 12: The term is not gone.
Speaker 22: Yes, I think it is. But we're not going to tease you to say if you want to do it. It has to be. Right?
Speaker 24: So if somebody's written me something at four.
Speaker 26: Yeah.
Speaker 27: Okay.
Speaker 22: Victoria. Victoria. Yes. Yes. Victoria. Until the next election. Until the March election. All right. Appointed. So currently the motion that we've seconded. Second. Second. Commission vacancy. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second.
Speaker 8: One.
Speaker 28: Well, Aaron's not here.
Speaker 28: But that's what we can do.
Speaker 29: Yeah.
Speaker 30: Is that true?
Speaker 31: We have another candidate.
Speaker 26: No.
Speaker 26: And I agree.
Speaker 32: Yeah.
Speaker 22: to talk about these things. Is it the same thing for us? Come on.
Speaker 33: I would just like to advocate for the idea that if people are offering their help and time that we should find a way to use them and not like exclude anybody that wants to serve and I don't know how we do that necessarily. It doesn't necessarily mean everybody is on the same commission or whatever but
Speaker 33: I would assume that there are places that people can help. So there should be a feeling
Speaker 18: Sometimes it's five dollars a night.
Speaker 16: I paid for the sign.
Speaker 8: Well, he says
Speaker 16: Four inch
Speaker 1: The state. Yeah. The state, yes.
Speaker 30: Are we talking about one position?
Speaker 26: For seven? Five.
Speaker 34: If she wants to DAO, DAO.
Speaker 35: there were nine.
Speaker 16: It's a process
Speaker 20: Just try to do the best we can.
Speaker 36: make up.
Speaker 33: Shh! Every other week. And you can't take my money. Quarterly!
Speaker 37: Can I stay?
Speaker 38: I know it's starting to find some
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.