Stamford Select Board — 2026-08-06 (Regular)
- Pledge of allegiance and roll call
- Adding or removing agenda items
- Public comment (visitors, including school board representatives)
- Reading and approval of records and orders, July 16
- Highway update; review and sign two highway grant agreements
- Recycling update (Casella billing review)
- Memorial Garden and outside maintenance (covered in public comment)
- Review tax bill insert
- Review and sign grand list / 'missions' error form (form not yet received from assessor)
- Correspondence: paving loan forms (Adams Community Bank), dog licensing update
- Primary election Tuesday Aug 11 (board of civil authority ballot counting)
- New business: reappraisal / NIMRC request for 2031 reappraisal
- Review 2025 audit; budgeting and borrowing webinar Aug 12
- Adjournment
Motions (7, 7 passed)
Acceptance of July 16 records and orders (minutes) as written Speaker 3passed
Sign 2027 highway grant in aid agreement ($8,000 grant, $2,000 match; Jim Henderson to work with Dave on project selection) Speaker 9passed
Accept Better Back Roads project grant for Sportsman Road / Suzanne Drive area (transcript garbled 'Culver'); $16,200 grant with $4,000 match, possibly done this fall Speaker 12passed
Sign preliminary paving loan forms with Adams Community Bank mover not statedpassed
Authorize Nancy (chair) to sign the remaining paving loan paperwork as it comes in, to avoid waiting for the next meeting Speaker 3seconded: Speaker 22passed
Accept the tax bill insert (Lori preparing to send tax bills; dates updated, no other changes) Speaker 5seconded: Nancy L. Bushika (Chair)passed
Adjourn the meeting Speaker 25passed
Other decisions
| Reappraisal / NIMRC | Assessor/reappraisal firm NIMRC suggested submitting a request for proposal now to lock Stamford into the 2031 reappraisal (towns must reappraise every 4-6 years; regional assessing districts are a possibility). Chair directed that a letter be sent to NIMRC requesting their fee and asking them to be the appraiser; fee/lock-in to be discussed at the next meeting. |
| Playground slide removal | Board (via chair) was agreeable to taking the slide down and scrubbing the steel if it is a safety hazard; Speaker 4 (school) to verify removal with the school board. Chair to ask about the slide and whether eighth graders can do memorial cleanup as a community project. |
| Sheriff for November 3, 2026 voting day | Defer decision to the next meeting; chair asked Lori to call the sheriff's office now to see if they can be reserved, since the town has no contract with them. Prior experience: sheriff only sent an officer if one was available. |
| 2025 audit | Audit copy reviewed; chair will keep it and put it in Mike's (Michael G. Denault, absent) box so he can follow up. |
| Primary election, Tuesday Aug 11 | Selectboard members and justices of the peace form the board of civil authority that counts ballots after polls close at 7:00; counting to be held in the board room. State has changed how counting and write-ins are recognized. |
| Memorial Garden upkeep | Committee to be formed for upkeep; spring cleanup possibly as an eighth-grade community project per the principal; spring volunteer shout-out and a July/August check suggested. |
| Dog licensing | Dog fines sent out; 12 people with 19 dogs have come in; people continuing to register. |
Who owes what (12)
| Action | Owner | By when | Note | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carry the request for a select board/library/school board group meeting (October) back to the school board meeting and get back to Nancy as soon as possible | Speaker 4 | — | Speaker 4's own board meeting is at the end of the month. | open no date in the minutes ¶ ¶9 |
| Verify with the school board whether the playground slide can be removed/scrapped | Speaker 4 | — | open no date in the minutes | |
| Ask the principal whether eighth graders can maintain the memorial garden as a spring community project | Nancy L. Bushika (Chair) | — | open no date in the minutes | |
| Call the sheriff's office to see if an officer can be reserved for Nov 3 voting (no town contract in place) | Lori | before next meeting | Asked by the chair so the board has options when it decides at the next meeting. | open no date in the minutes |
| Check whether the grand list error form has come through from the assessor | Nancy L. Bushika (Chair) | end of meeting 2026-08-06 | Lori also checking her email. | overdue the minutes set 2026-08-06 and it has passed ¶ ¶207 |
| Send a letter to NIMRC (assessor/reappraisal firm) requesting their fee for the 2031 reappraisal and asking them to be the appraiser; discuss the numbers at the next meeting | Nancy L. Bushika (Chair) | — | Speaker 1 also urged: 'Send it to them and get some numbers.' | open no date in the minutes |
| Look into the disputed recycling charges (shingles; possible tires) and call the recycling contractor (Casella) about it | Dave (Speaker 12) | — | Chair: 'if you want to check with Casella and see what they're saying about that.' | open no date in the minutes |
| Keep the 2025 audit and put it in Mike's box so Michael G. Denault can follow up | Nancy L. Bushika (Chair) | — | open no date in the minutes | |
| Start calling about the new truck (expected this fall); was planning to start next month | Dave (Speaker 12) | — | Uncertain whether the town has the money. | open no date in the minutes |
| Sign the remaining paving loan paperwork as it arrives from Adams Community Bank | Nancy L. Bushika (Chair) | — | Authorized by motion at this meeting. | open no date in the minutes ¶ ¶210 |
| Attend the primary election ballot count (board of civil authority) after polls close at 7:00 | selectboard members (and justices of the peace) | 2026-08-11 | overdue the minutes set 2026-08-11 and it has passed | |
| Budgeting and borrowing webinar (free; recording sent after signing up); Lori has signed people up | board members (optional) | 2026-08-12 | 10:00-11:30; can be watched at home from the recording. | overdue the minutes set 2026-08-12 and it has passed |
scripts/action_status.py --done "a phrase".Money (4)
| 2027 highway grant in aid agreement (signed) | Jim Henderson to work with Dave on project selection; Dave's 2026 project already done. | $8,000 grant with $2,000 match |
| Better Back Roads project, Sportsman Road / Suzanne Drive area (accepted)¶ ¶109 | Multi-year project; may be done this fall. | $16,200 grant with $4,000 match |
| Recycling (Casella) disputed charges | Shingle charge is new vs. past billing; tires were charged though nobody saw tires dumped. Board to verify with contractor. | $125 shingles; $347 demolition |
| Reappraisal funding¶ ¶249 | Town must reappraise every 4-6 years; NIMRC request would lock in 2031. NIMRC responded to 70-some requests. | ~$90,000 in the reappraisal account (per ledger, 'on paper'); last reappraisal ~$80,000; state contributes ~$6,000-7,000/year |
Public comment (5)
| Speaker 4 | Requested that the October joint group meeting of the select board, the library, and the school board (sometime in October) be carried back to the school board's end-of-month meeting; Speaker 4 agreed to take it back and get back to Nancy as soon as possible. |
| Speaker 4 | School board asking whether the select board would hire a sheriff for voting day on November 3, 2026, and to share the expense since the school would not close; board agreed to consider it at the next meeting (no decision possible tonight). |
| Speaker 4 | Playground slide failed a Vermont School Board Insurance Trust audit (gap from platform to slide start); the school can no longer use it. Options discussed: close the gap and keep it, or take it down/scrub it (steel). Board was agreeable to removal if it is a safety hazard; Speaker 4 to verify with the school board. |
| Speaker 4 | Memorial Garden upkeep: committee to be formed for its maintenance; discussion of having eighth graders do a spring cleanup as a community project (per the principal), a spring shout-out for volunteers, and a mid-summer check. Mulch history (43 bags originally installed) noted. |
| Speaker 6 | Brief follow-up remarks ('They let me talk right away'; 'In and out.') continuing the discussion of whether a police officer is still needed if voting is held at the school. |
Follow-ups named in the minutes
- Decision on hiring a sheriff for Nov 3, 2026 voting day deferred to the next meeting; Lori to call in the meantime. Board also discussed possibly holding the vote at the school (in and out) to avoid needing an officer.
- NIMRC fee/quote for the 2031 reappraisal to be discussed at the next meeting once the letter is answered.
- Paving loan: more Adams Community Bank forms expected; chair authorized to sign them as they arrive.
- Chip seal date (as of tonight): Friday, August 14.
- Jeff's Road (Jeff Sender) grading: on the list for Monday if the weather breaks.
- Highway: National Forest bridge work on the Warrenbrook Road area (second bridge dropped and being rebuilt with steel beams and cement stanchions); no work planned on the bridge out to the power lines. Shoulder work continuing on Sportsman Road area; paving possible in ~5 years once the project is paid off.
- Grand list error form pending from the assessor; form must be signed to change the grand list.
- 2025 audit with Mike (Michael G. Denault, absent); budgeting and borrowing webinar Aug 12, 10:00-11:30.
- New truck delivery still expected this fall.
- Select board/library/school board group meeting to be scheduled sometime in October (after Speaker 4's board meeting).
What the extraction was unsure about
- Transcript is auto-diarized (pyannote) and heavily ASR-garbled in places (repeated lines such as 'The zip is right on', duplicated sentences, 'Cassell'/'Casella', 'NIMRC'/'Nemrit', 'the shim coat', 'Culver'). Speaker labels are 'Speaker N' and, per extraction rules, identities were NOT inferred; contextual clues only: the chair says 'Thank you, Kurt' after the school-board comment (suggesting Speaker 4 may be Kurt Gamari), the chair addresses 'Lori' as the town clerk (likely Speaker 14), 'Dave' as the roads supervisor (likely Speaker 12), and 'Mike' as the absent selectman Michael G. Denault. All attributions in this file use the labels as written.
- The chair refers to 'Cindy' as having asked about hiring the sheriff for Nov 3, while the school-board representative (Speaker 4) is also heard raising it; which speaker asked is unclear.
- No vote counts are ever stated by the chair ('Aye' responses only), so all vote fields are null even where votes clearly passed.
- For several motions the 'Motion. Second.' text sits inside the chair's own transcribed line (paving loan) or on the same label as the motion (minutes, grant in aid), so proposed_by/seconded_by are left null where the second could not be attributed to a distinct label.
- 'Speaker 4' is treated as a public-comment/school representative; some of the long slide/memorial discussion blends visitor comment and board discussion, and the exact boundary is fuzzy in the transcript.
- Road/program names are transcribed ambiguously: 'Better Back Roads' project on 'Sportsman Road Suzanne Drive Culver'; 'Jeff Sender's' road; 'Climb Hill'; these are reproduced as heard.
Transcript
Speaker 2 — the same voice as in 6 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 3 — heard only in this meeting
Speaker 4 — the same voice as in 3 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 5 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 6 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 7 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 8 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 9 — the same voice as in 39 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 10 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 11 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 12 — the same voice as in 38 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
Speaker 13 — no voiceprint match
Speaker 14 — the same voice as in 58 recordings (the archive does not name this person)
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 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
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Speaker 1: others. Select board members present are Nancy Bushika, Jed Gramlin, John Dunn, Will there be any adding
Speaker 5: Can it just go away altogether?
Speaker 5: I know someone mentioned something about it. Historical. I don't know if that was the context of it's actually historical or it's just old.
Speaker 5: It was probably the only piece of equipment other than the swings back in the day. We had it all the time. It was probably the only piece of equipment that used to rattle around.
Speaker 6: I mean, personally, I'm fine with it there or gone away.
Speaker 7: I don't really care personally about it.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it can be used and it's damaged.
Speaker 8: It isn't damaged per se, but they're saying that gas.
Speaker 10: and it's a liability issue so I mean if it's it's document so we want to take it
Speaker 11: sticking up afterwards still agreeable to help us remove it sure it's steel can
Speaker 8: some of the weeds are coming through we did an excellent job last year and the
Speaker 5: I think maybe if it comes. Put a shout out in the spring and see if there's any volunteers. I mean, we're reaching a hundred different people now on the YouTube channel.
Speaker 6: No. I'm not sure. But it's... It's probably like all-natural cedar mulch that you would have to use.
Speaker 6: No plastic.
Speaker 6: Where is this?
Speaker 13: Right out front of the school.
Speaker 10: In and right out.
Speaker 11: It's necessary to close school.
Speaker 6: They let me talk right away, so...
Speaker 6: In and out.
Speaker 15: The old county road sign got stolen. The patron road sign got stolen. That one gets stolen almost. All the time. I welded it on. They cut it off. Go on. Can you do my GPS? How are they on there? Are they on there pretty good? I've been welding that one. The post is welded. The top's welded. The zip is right on.
Speaker 6: The zip is right on. The zip is right on. The zip is right on. The zip is right on. I put some power to it. Why would you want the nature road sign if you're not in the nature? I don't know. Do you have one? I've got one. I've got one. I've got one. I want one. I want to go to a fair. Yeah. We've been doing the shoulder work on caps and then probably next week continue up on the sure road. Hopefully we'll get that finished up. Yeah, it looks good up there. I've been through there a few times. Yeah. It just looks really good. It just looks good. It just looks really good. Yeah.
Speaker 16: get that finished up yeah it looks good up there i've been through there a few times
Speaker 5: The last four roads in Vermont are better than the blacktop roads out in the back.
Speaker 5: First wooden bridge is still there. The second one is the one they dropped.
Speaker 17: paving. Right. Yeah, there's paperwork for you to sign,
Speaker 16: Unfortunately, that one gate we can't shop.
Speaker 18: It's construction. And who's answer would sell it?
Speaker 6: I haven't seen any tires in a dump. I'm wondering if somebody just picked them up on the side of the road. They didn't bring any down. The tires were put kind of over behind the recycler dumpster.
Speaker 19: $347. That's a demolition.
Speaker 20: Well, that's the whole thing.
Speaker 15: what people are throwing in there. This has nothing to do with the operators.
Speaker 5: Yep.
Speaker 21: Well, it's noticeable, so it looks a little better.
Speaker 18: Okay. Okay. They got added fees in there that they weren't...
Speaker 1: I don't think they want to check what's in the black bags.
Speaker 5: Move on. Motion to accept the tax bill.
Speaker 22: Yep.
Speaker 23: 12 dogs or your people?
Speaker 6: Luc!
Speaker 24: Let's check that out.
Speaker 1: So, do you think we should send NIMRC a letter and say,
Speaker 1: Send it to them and get some numbers.
Speaker 25: Motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn. All in favor? Aye. Good. Thank you very much.