WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.150 --> 00:00:06.020 Town of Plainfield: Good. Spence. 2 00:00:06.930 --> 00:00:20.820 Town of Plainfield: Set? Yeah, I think we are now good to go. Okay, we're gonna call the meeting to order. Select board meeting, it's October, 27th. What is it, 27th, and it's 6 o'clock, and… 3 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:24.730 Town of Plainfield: All present except for Dan Fingus, who is ill. 4 00:00:25.080 --> 00:00:36.209 Town of Plainfield: And we will, Any, changes to the agenda that anybody would like to mention? 5 00:00:36.740 --> 00:00:40.600 Town of Plainfield: Any announcements? 6 00:00:42.450 --> 00:00:53.549 Town of Plainfield: Yes. There are so many vacancies in, critical town positions and town committees. The list will be… 7 00:00:53.560 --> 00:01:06.489 Town of Plainfield: Being published very shortly, but it's vast, it's epic. Tell your friends, the town needs help for small towns like ours with, a minimum number of employees doing… 8 00:01:06.660 --> 00:01:16.709 Town of Plainfield: crucial, crucial functions, like, road work and road care. Most things happen around here because of the work of volunteers. 9 00:01:17.140 --> 00:01:18.789 Town of Plainfield: Committees of neighbors. 10 00:01:19.110 --> 00:01:25.699 Town of Plainfield: Just about every committee's looking for someone. Tell your friends. Thank you. Thank you, that's very important. 11 00:01:26.630 --> 00:01:31.270 Town of Plainfield: Can I just follow up on that? And follow up, yeah. I mean, I sent out an email that I was… 12 00:01:31.390 --> 00:01:45.419 Town of Plainfield: putting together a list to upgrade the home page on our website… town website. Do you want to take that over, since I'm going to be going out of town? Sure. Okay. I'll send you what I need, but I've gotten some feedback from 13 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:57.900 Town of Plainfield: Will Colvin at the Planning Commission, from the cemetery folks, we had to check on what terms there were, because there were folks who were elected at town meeting, but we only currently have two. 14 00:01:58.010 --> 00:02:10.989 Town of Plainfield: We also know, some folks are stepping down at town meeting. Did we want to include Carl, Emergency Management, or others? It'll be on that list. Okay. Yep. 15 00:02:11.330 --> 00:02:19.409 Town of Plainfield: And… I guess the one question I had was, and this was in response to Josh. 16 00:02:20.360 --> 00:02:39.870 Town of Plainfield: tuning in the auditors, we are required by statute to appoint as soon as possible after vacancies, and then as soon as possible has been not possible, because no one has stepped forward on that. We need, yeah, we need folks… But legally, those are vacancies that we have to fill 17 00:02:39.870 --> 00:02:43.539 Town of Plainfield: Unless we change what we do, which we might want to do, as it sounds. 18 00:02:43.540 --> 00:02:46.689 Town of Plainfield: But that would require a vote at town meeting. 19 00:02:46.790 --> 00:02:50.009 Town of Plainfield: And there's also been a, 20 00:02:50.720 --> 00:02:56.419 Town of Plainfield: Part-time maintenance position that has been up there since… 21 00:02:56.420 --> 00:03:15.399 Town of Plainfield: I think 2016. Oh, really? Since April of 2016. Is this for general, like, all the… Yeah, at the town office. Yeah. And we, I guess, are contracting it out at the moment. My question is, do we want to continue to advertise that position? And maybe Josh can speak to that during his… 22 00:03:15.420 --> 00:03:19.130 Town of Plainfield: treasure. 23 00:03:19.180 --> 00:03:25.910 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, well, it's an important position. Somebody needs to be on top of that kind of thing, right? 24 00:03:26.720 --> 00:03:33.880 Town of Plainfield: Maybe that… it sounds… that sounds like a future agenda item to address, or one in which that Josh can mention. 25 00:03:34.180 --> 00:03:36.070 Town of Plainfield: And the Treasurer's report? 26 00:03:37.080 --> 00:03:41.390 Town of Plainfield: Since he's happy to riff on anything, anytime, so… 27 00:03:41.620 --> 00:03:45.890 Town of Plainfield: Any other announcements from the board? 28 00:03:46.980 --> 00:03:48.760 Town of Plainfield: Any public comment? 29 00:03:50.860 --> 00:03:55.180 Town of Plainfield: Winter's coming. What's that? Winter's coming. 30 00:03:55.560 --> 00:04:04.000 Town of Plainfield: Thanks. And so, town clerk's report. 31 00:04:04.280 --> 00:04:07.880 Town of Plainfield: Yes, am I okay to sit here, or do I need to do it, Mike? 32 00:04:07.950 --> 00:04:26.670 Town of Plainfield: I don't see a mic. I think the mic fell down. Where is it? I think in order for people to hear… Oh, there it is. Oh, there it is. You could also slide your chair closer to the owl. We just want to make sure people online hear… 33 00:04:27.270 --> 00:04:28.070 Town of Plainfield: Done. 34 00:04:28.380 --> 00:04:29.880 Town of Plainfield: Alright. 35 00:04:34.230 --> 00:04:34.990 Town of Plainfield: Listen. 36 00:04:35.830 --> 00:04:39.360 Town of Plainfield: Okay, Brown Togo, Child Clerk. 37 00:04:39.540 --> 00:04:46.200 Town of Plainfield: Just want to say regarding, we have an election next week, November 4th. 38 00:04:46.500 --> 00:04:52.570 Town of Plainfield: The election will be at 149 Main Street at the Plainfield Municipal Building. 39 00:04:52.890 --> 00:04:55.920 Town of Plainfield: Just want to be clear, Bringfield Municipal Building. 40 00:04:56.150 --> 00:05:01.340 Town of Plainfield: And, if you're interested in voting absentee. 41 00:05:01.610 --> 00:05:14.060 Town of Plainfield: Mail delivery service has really been very unreliable, and at this point, if there's any way you can come to the office and vote same day, that would be much preferable. 42 00:05:14.080 --> 00:05:22.450 Town of Plainfield: Once again, it's not impossible, and I'm obliged, if you make the request, to send you a ballot, but I'm just concerned about turnaround time. 43 00:05:22.760 --> 00:05:28.420 Town of Plainfield: If you receive a ballot in the mail, you can come in and drop it off in the dropbox anytime. 44 00:05:28.940 --> 00:05:39.329 Town of Plainfield: Just want to get through… there are a bunch of other things, but I think with time pressing, I just want to get into the, Blue Cross Blue Shield renewal. 45 00:05:39.880 --> 00:05:50.379 Town of Plainfield: Is that okay? Yep, yep. So, the proposal is basically, to renew our gold CDHP plan. 46 00:05:50.600 --> 00:06:01.730 Town of Plainfield: And the deductibles, of course, are a little more… they went from $29.50 to $3,200, and… but the premiums… 47 00:06:02.140 --> 00:06:06.200 Town of Plainfield: aren't as… bad increases. 48 00:06:06.340 --> 00:06:08.380 Town of Plainfield: Maybe many expected. 49 00:06:08.540 --> 00:06:24.140 Town of Plainfield: I think that, you know, it went, per single employee, this year it was 118980, and last year it was 116617, two person. 50 00:06:24.140 --> 00:06:35.099 Town of Plainfield: This year it was $23.79, last year it was $22.92.34. You get the gist. I think that this plan has worked 51 00:06:35.400 --> 00:06:38.590 Town of Plainfield: Well, we have the health savings account. 52 00:06:38.860 --> 00:06:43.610 Town of Plainfield: Offered to employees to help with those, large deductibles. 53 00:06:44.220 --> 00:06:46.159 Town of Plainfield: I don't know if anybody has… 54 00:06:46.590 --> 00:06:59.099 Town of Plainfield: Peter? I just did the math on those premium increases for the single person. It's 2% and 3.8% for the other, so yeah, much better than… 55 00:06:59.380 --> 00:07:06.700 Town of Plainfield: I think other countries and other plans. So, I would move that we, adopt it. 56 00:07:07.470 --> 00:07:08.500 Town of Plainfield: Second. 57 00:07:09.700 --> 00:07:14.579 Town of Plainfield: Moved and seconded. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. 58 00:07:15.070 --> 00:07:19.809 Town of Plainfield: No opposed? Great, thank you. I think that's it for the report. Okay. 59 00:07:24.500 --> 00:07:29.760 Town of Plainfield: so, 4-0 unanimously. Yes, 4-0, yep. 60 00:07:31.530 --> 00:07:39.579 Town of Plainfield: What's the… the next item is Town Employee Health Insurance and Blue Cross Blue Shield rates? We just did it. That's what we just did. 61 00:07:39.700 --> 00:07:55.730 Town of Plainfield: Okay, and then the support for Recfield. Do we have a Recfield person here? Do y'all want to slide chairs up close to the table, or take turns at the mic? Either one is fine. 62 00:08:03.620 --> 00:08:04.580 Town of Plainfield: Yep. 63 00:08:05.610 --> 00:08:25.259 Town of Plainfield: That's to make sure people online can hear you. My name is Larkin. And you're gonna actually really need to be either in chairs close here, or face way closer to the microphone. Come on. 64 00:08:26.890 --> 00:08:29.389 Town of Plainfield: Thanks! Sorry, mute. 65 00:08:29.550 --> 00:08:41.869 Town of Plainfield: That's nice. Hi! Hi there. Nice to see you all. Nice to see you. Thanks for having us. Yes, yes. 66 00:08:41.870 --> 00:08:56.329 Town of Plainfield: So, we are looking… you're looking for support from the town for various items. Can you describe it? Yeah, do you also introduce ourselves? You can introduce yourselves once again. My name's Larkin, I live up on East Hill. 67 00:08:56.980 --> 00:08:59.090 Town of Plainfield: And I'm Jamie Spector. 68 00:08:59.250 --> 00:09:08.410 Town of Plainfield: And I… I think I'm sort of officially still the chair of the Recreation Public Arts Committee. And… 69 00:09:08.900 --> 00:09:24.690 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, we had a couple things we wanted to check in with you all about, some updates, and then I think maybe you all had some questions or ideas, so just wanted to, check in. 70 00:09:24.850 --> 00:09:27.310 Town of Plainfield: Sound good? Yup, great. 71 00:09:27.550 --> 00:09:30.700 Town of Plainfield: So… 72 00:09:31.110 --> 00:09:46.759 Town of Plainfield: Oh, yeah. You want to go first? Yeah, should we just go through the three topics? Yeah, yeah, the three things, yeah. Sure. So, in regards to the electrical repairs required down at the rec field, we did have one electrician come out over the summer, because it was blazing hot, so it must have been, like, deep summer. 73 00:09:46.760 --> 00:10:03.190 Town of Plainfield: And he was able to give us estimates both for the, immediate repairs that needed to happen, like things that weren't working, and he was even able to, like, fix a couple things that day. And then he gave us a quote, basically, to, 74 00:10:03.310 --> 00:10:16.590 Town of Plainfield: how do I say this gently? Bring us into the next century in terms of, like, lighting and efficiency. That's the one we shared with you all. Yeah, that's the one that was like, yes, all these things, and a lot of it just being that… 75 00:10:16.790 --> 00:10:25.680 Town of Plainfield: To get the equipment to do the repairs that need to happen anyways, basically to, like, make sense of a system that currently doesn't make sense. 76 00:10:25.680 --> 00:10:44.079 Town of Plainfield: He was like, why not also do these other things that would actually save the town a lot of money, and we could get rebates from Efficiency Vermont, which I contacted them, and they were like, yes, definitely, we will give you rebates, but they couldn't give us, specific amounts, and so we actually, like, told them what the 77 00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:52.619 Town of Plainfield: you know, equipment we've been using, or whatever. And so, when we brought it to you guys, they were like, okay, we need 3 more, quotes. 78 00:10:52.670 --> 00:11:06.120 Town of Plainfield: In order to go through this process, because it's above a certain threshold monetarily. And we've reached out to 4 now, and they've either refused, or they just haven't gotten back to us. So we're at, like, a bit of a stalemate with that. 79 00:11:06.120 --> 00:11:14.300 Town of Plainfield: And definitely Hall Electric, as far as I know, is still willing to work with us. This is one we got the initial quote from. 80 00:11:14.300 --> 00:11:39.200 Town of Plainfield: But that is, like, where we're at with the electrical stuff. Can you remind me? There were several reasons for wanting the electrical. One is to save energy, I assume, with lighting. Oh, sure. One is safety. There were some concerns… Well, it's also safety from getting shot. Electrocuted. And is that still an issue? 81 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:50.840 Town of Plainfield: I mean, yeah, down the… the pole down by the basketball court is not great. Okay. There's some stuff that is, like, haggard, to say the best. So there's… there's savings, there's safety, and then there's, 82 00:11:50.920 --> 00:12:04.930 Town of Plainfield: by illuminating, but also… I mean, there's, straight up, there's, like, lights that, you know, renting the cherry picker to do the repairs, like, there's lights that are angled, like, upwards, so it's, like, even if they're on. 83 00:12:04.930 --> 00:12:09.729 Town of Plainfield: They point at the sky. They're pointing at the sky, as opposed to actually looking at the sky. That's opposite of dark skies. 84 00:12:09.730 --> 00:12:28.110 Town of Plainfield: So, okay, so that's… those are the fundamental things. The update is that we've, you know, we've been trying to get other bids, and we haven't yet been able to get other bids. And the money was roughly 12 grand or something, do I remember right? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. 85 00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:31.009 Town of Plainfield: Is there any opportunity for grants? 86 00:12:31.160 --> 00:12:39.830 Town of Plainfield: Euro. Like, money up front? That's a good idea. No, I mean, I, I shared, so the last… 87 00:12:40.090 --> 00:13:04.079 Town of Plainfield: In terms of grants, Gail Hansen had contacted me, that she was the, person working with the town that was going to be available to, do some grants work with our committee, and I shared a bunch of information with her, and then I haven't heard from her in a while, and I understand that she's had some things… I think she's moved on. Gail has long COVID. 88 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:26.279 Town of Plainfield: Yes, so she's been out of commission for a while, so that was after I had a couple long conversations with her, I sent her a ton of information on various things that we were working on, or wanting to work on, and then I didn't really hear from her, so that's kind of where things stood, and I don't really have capacity to do a lot of grant research, as… 89 00:13:26.450 --> 00:13:38.150 Town of Plainfield: Full-time. Well, there's another volunteer, position for somebody. It's on the list. Okay, what's, and there was, there's two other things, right? Yeah, the next one, yeah, bathrooms. 90 00:13:38.280 --> 00:13:44.169 Town of Plainfield: Well, yeah, then, the other, 91 00:13:44.800 --> 00:14:01.830 Town of Plainfield: So that's just, like, an update. In terms of the port-a-potty situation, I think for that, I think I had sent this in an email, but, I mean, for this year, it's kind of a moot point. The season for porta potty, we've sort of, we've ended. Has it gone away? 92 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:09.920 Town of Plainfield: it went… the porta potty was removed by Wind River, you know, after the la… the… 93 00:14:10.270 --> 00:14:24.549 Town of Plainfield: third one of the season was damaged. I noticed it was gone at some point in September, and I was like, oh, what happened? Where'd it go? That was… no, I guess it was… 94 00:14:24.550 --> 00:14:34.339 Town of Plainfield: end of August, because it was when I was getting… I was still in communication with them, gearing up for Old Home Day, and I was in communication with them for the rental for Old Home Day. 95 00:14:34.570 --> 00:14:50.119 Town of Plainfield: And so then in one of my communications, I was like, oh, by the way, I just noticed it's missing at the rec field. What happened? And that's when I heard… that was the first I had heard, that it had been damaged, and that's why it had been removed. 96 00:14:50.120 --> 00:15:00.649 Town of Plainfield: But we, we usually don't have a porta potty for the winter months anyway, so I think at this point, we're done for this year. 97 00:15:00.650 --> 00:15:25.529 Town of Plainfield: And I think we would just ask for next year, if the town does receive damage reports, just to let us know, you know, because they come to the town offices, and then… not that there's anything particular that we would do other than maybe some communications out, and I don't know if you think it's worth sending out some kind of joint statement to the community of just, like. 98 00:15:25.800 --> 00:15:27.969 Town of Plainfield: Hey, this is taxpayer money. 99 00:15:28.010 --> 00:15:39.859 Town of Plainfield: That is costing the town. Literally going down the toilet? Literally going down the little plastic toilet. Patty? Yes, I do have a question. Is your big, 100 00:15:39.860 --> 00:15:58.929 Town of Plainfield: Are they charging us a big expense to… It's $750. This cost the summer, $750. Each time, so times 3? No, I think it was… I think it was total. Total, those total, wasn't it, actually? I think for the two, it was a damage report of $750. 101 00:16:00.210 --> 00:16:08.709 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, Mike. Uncle Billingsley. Katie, I seem to remember, maybe 2 years ago, that the Port of Poly that was there 102 00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:21.189 Town of Plainfield: was, handicap accessible. And I know that this is, something we're paying more attention to, so is it possible to be sure that next year, whatever a reported body is put in there is also handicapped accessible? 103 00:16:21.920 --> 00:16:40.369 Town of Plainfield: Sure, yeah, we can, for sure. I don't recall… I mean, we have… the past two years for Old Home Day, we've always gotten two porta-potties, and made sure one of them is an accessible, one, an ADA one. 104 00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:51.139 Town of Plainfield: I was just thinking, if we only have one, I think… Yeah, we can do that. That was the only good question. Yeah, yeah, I like that. I see a question that remains of… 105 00:16:51.260 --> 00:17:10.989 Town of Plainfield: Considering that the rec budget is finite and limited, are those funds coming out of the rec field budget? For the damages. For the damages, specifically, or can that be covered by general fund to allow you all the ability to still, kind of, do your… Or is there any insurance? Town insurance, perhaps? 106 00:17:11.099 --> 00:17:24.689 Town of Plainfield: I don't know how vandalism is treated in our policy, or what our deductible is, if the deductible's $250, it's moot. Right. But I don't know. Graham, do you know? Josh, do you know? 107 00:17:27.910 --> 00:17:49.660 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, and I would just say, like, among other things, I think our committee is specifically holding this as one of multiple instances of, like, what are the long-term viable possibilities for a public bathroom, both for the rec field space and any possible expanded public space that we want to have down the line. And, yeah, to be putting money into 108 00:17:49.690 --> 00:17:56.339 Town of Plainfield: Porta-potties that are a very short-term solution to begin with that are then being vandalized and damaged beyond use. 109 00:17:56.400 --> 00:18:03.080 Town of Plainfield: does feel like a hard, expense to swallow. So that is, like, a curiosity that we're holding to. 110 00:18:03.080 --> 00:18:17.929 Town of Plainfield: That we would love to talk to you guys about. I think there's more discussion on that. Yeah. Because, yeah. Patty? Well, no, I want to say, are you… are you considering not having them, because of the way they've been treated? I mean, I think our proposal… 111 00:18:18.180 --> 00:18:21.069 Town of Plainfield: I guess it's almost 2 years ago now. 112 00:18:21.210 --> 00:18:25.450 Town of Plainfield: when the ARPA funds came, we submitted a proposal 113 00:18:25.980 --> 00:18:31.669 Town of Plainfield: to the ARPA committee, that was for both the water fountain 114 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:50.389 Town of Plainfield: Which we have now, purchased and hopefully will get installed next spring. But also for a composting toilet, which we had a plan for to… to try to build and install a moldering composting toilet down there that would be a long-term solution and… 115 00:18:50.390 --> 00:18:53.909 Town of Plainfield: Eliminate the need to have a, porta potty. 116 00:18:53.910 --> 00:18:57.539 Town of Plainfield: And then that would get rid of that town expense. 117 00:18:58.180 --> 00:19:22.199 Town of Plainfield: And that is something that long-term we would like to explore. We do need to continue to do more research. Our last communications with John Meadows, who works for the state, he was saying there was some regulatory changes that were coming in down the pipeline, that would make that more possible, and so we need to circle back with him, and just see if that has come to pass. 118 00:19:22.360 --> 00:19:32.969 Town of Plainfield: But that would be great, because then we would have compost to be able to put on fruit trees and the nut trees down there, and, 119 00:19:33.130 --> 00:19:57.239 Town of Plainfield: Okay. You know, but we just… we'd have to cite it properly, but, that would be great. I mean, one quick thing is, we just started talking about vandalism of porta-potties, where now we're talking about something more permanent, so we gotta make sure that's covered. Patty, you had a question? These guys are those questions, but I have questions past the porta-potties. To the record field, we're past the porta-potties, so… Yeah. We'll finish that, and then I have a couple 120 00:19:57.240 --> 00:20:00.099 Town of Plainfield: Just to inform the discussion, I'm not… 121 00:20:00.100 --> 00:20:06.929 Town of Plainfield: just, I think maybe people aren't aware, we had a very big controversial issue a number of years back with 122 00:20:06.930 --> 00:20:17.900 Town of Plainfield: the notion of garbage cans at the right field. And what happened was somebody lit a fire and burned one of those plastic things to the ground. 123 00:20:18.180 --> 00:20:33.590 Town of Plainfield: And it created a lot of, tension, and for, I think, 2 years after that, there were no garbage pans down there. That became untenable. But I think that you're always fighting this thing. Obviously, you know, we wanted, sort of. 124 00:20:33.820 --> 00:20:47.430 Town of Plainfield: provide services and this and that. I'm just saying, this isn't a new issue. No, no, and it's got a lot of pieces, to it. Michael, go ahead. That might be helpful. 125 00:20:48.170 --> 00:20:54.460 Town of Plainfield: When the house bios occurred, the property that's now the Heartbreak Hotel. 126 00:20:54.830 --> 00:20:59.059 Town of Plainfield: will be contiguous with the rec field, and it will be town arm. 127 00:20:59.120 --> 00:21:11.889 Town of Plainfield: And one of the properties, along the river, we're not sure where, but when the design phase got started with the National Park Service, which is just beginning, it was considered that a, 128 00:21:11.890 --> 00:21:21.030 Town of Plainfield: public toilet could be created out of one of those areas, and the back end of the heartbreak is out of the special hazard 129 00:21:21.030 --> 00:21:38.040 Town of Plainfield: flood zone. In other words, where it's a little bit higher in the parking area, and so it would be in public view, it would be in a residential neighborhood, and it wouldn't necessarily be subject to vandalism, so that's just another option. We could actually have crook up to the water and sewer connection at the heartbreak. I mean, it could actually be, 130 00:21:38.200 --> 00:21:57.369 Town of Plainfield: A seasonal toilet. That was definitely one of the possibilities we were dreaming on. I would say, too, just generally how to instill a level of, like, care and respect for public spaces, and, like, finding ways to engage with people, both to, like, illuminate the, like, wasted resources, truly. 131 00:21:57.370 --> 00:22:08.310 Town of Plainfield: Along with, like, a care for, like, hey, we have these public resources, like, let's take care of them, let's make sure that we can keep them, because sometimes you have to pee down at the rec field, and it's really nice to have a bathroom. 132 00:22:08.540 --> 00:22:15.720 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. Okay, you had another one last item? I'll go ahead and ask the questions when you're done, just so it covers it. 133 00:22:16.150 --> 00:22:31.029 Town of Plainfield: Slide. Oh, yeah, the last thing is the slide. Slide. Yeah. Yeah. Swing just needs to get repaired, you know, we just have to get to that. You know, one thing in general, I think just… 134 00:22:31.130 --> 00:22:33.010 Town of Plainfield: for everyone's… 135 00:22:33.460 --> 00:22:41.889 Town of Plainfield: awareness, I think. Anything that breaks down there at the rec field, it's not an easy fix. 136 00:22:42.790 --> 00:22:51.159 Town of Plainfield: Like, anything that breaks down there. It's like… it's challenging to find the replacement part. 137 00:22:51.400 --> 00:23:05.650 Town of Plainfield: And then even when we find it, to install it can be challenging. You know, we're a small volunteer committee, and, you know, we all have jobs, and it's just… 138 00:23:05.840 --> 00:23:30.829 Town of Plainfield: it's… it's challenging. And oftentimes, when we find what we think is the right part, then we get down there, and then it doesn't fit right, and… and then we've scheduled a time for all of us to be there, you know, and then… you know, it's just… it's challenging. Sounds like there's a maintenance need there. Yeah, so the… so… so, for example, the slide, you know, we had been trying various fixes 139 00:23:30.830 --> 00:23:32.340 Town of Plainfield: to fix this. 140 00:23:32.340 --> 00:23:56.970 Town of Plainfield: bolt that was coming up, starting to come up in the slide. We tried various things to try to deal with it. None of them have been sufficient, and it's still a hazard. So we've contacted the… a distributor, locally, and we've found, basically, we're gonna need to replace the whole bottom section of the tube slide. And what's the dollars of that? $1,400. $1,400. 141 00:23:57.100 --> 00:24:00.850 Town of Plainfield: Just to replace the bottom. Yeah, and that's just for the material. 142 00:24:00.940 --> 00:24:05.270 Town of Plainfield: No, that's for everything, so material and installation. 143 00:24:05.270 --> 00:24:22.480 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. So we have a quote on that. Okay. Yep. And that's obviously, you know, beyond our budget, so… Right. So we're asking for support from the Select Board to do that. 144 00:24:23.280 --> 00:24:24.869 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, I looked at that, that's… 145 00:24:25.160 --> 00:24:29.159 Town of Plainfield: Not something we can keep through. How much is in your reserve? 146 00:24:29.980 --> 00:24:44.750 Town of Plainfield: No idea. Currently, let me just look, I think Josh just sent that to me recently. Yeah, I think overall, too, we're holding this question of, like, what is the level of investment for the rec field as it is now? 147 00:24:44.780 --> 00:24:57.789 Town of Plainfield: Given the flooding last year, and the flooding the year before that, and like, before I joined the committee, I can't remember his name, but someone came and literally spoke to the committee, saying, like, I actually don't think it's gonna get much higher than this. 148 00:24:57.790 --> 00:25:05.260 Town of Plainfield: In terms of, like, the parts that have already been washed away, like, yes, there will be erosion, and that's just, you know, part of the process that we're in now. 149 00:25:05.380 --> 00:25:19.879 Town of Plainfield: But, for the most part, like, the rec field as it is will still exist. So I think we're also holding this curiosity of, like, what is the level of investment, both energetically and financially, in our rec field as it exists now. Yeah. Well, I… 150 00:25:19.880 --> 00:25:31.419 Town of Plainfield: I went to 2 birthday parties in 2 weeks at the Recfield. Yeah. Could we, like, charge a small amount to use the Recfield? Oh, interesting. I mean, it's perfect, it's got everything… I did nothing at that party. 151 00:25:31.420 --> 00:25:56.400 Town of Plainfield: I said, should I do something? Should I be doing something? The kids were just off playing. I mean, could we charge a nominal amount? I went to two… I mean, and people use it for keyball and… Yeah, everything. A small amount for using stuff? I mean, there's definitely conversation around, like, privately, garnering resources, like, private citizens. 152 00:25:56.400 --> 00:26:05.779 Town of Plainfield: citizens doing a fundraiser to help buy some things for the work field. I think in general, you know, the hope is that our public resource could be publicly funded, and also 153 00:26:05.790 --> 00:26:30.029 Town of Plainfield: that's a challenge, and, like, there are options and opportunities for grants and rebates and whatnot, and also it's limited. I mean, there's an entire, like, pickleball contingency of at least 20 people who roll up every Thursday… no, Tuesday and Thursday, because they're with me, just to play pickleball. And it's like, they love it, and, like, we have a volunteer come out this spring who fixed the whole tennis court, like… 154 00:26:30.030 --> 00:26:54.480 Town of Plainfield: We had an amazing workday, and, like, we got so much done, but specifically this person, like, did so many repairs, just on his own, right? Just because he has the skills, and he has the time, and he loves pickleball. And so it is, I think, a lot of people just showing up with the time and the skills that they have available to, like, make our public resource. Could you make it aware of the things you need for help? I mean, it sounds like this is one person who's doing something maybe for the swing sets. 155 00:26:54.640 --> 00:27:08.980 Town of Plainfield: you know, we need some parents of kids who use the swing set to put on new chains. Just a thought. Let's put on here and here is admissive to town, explaining the lost. 156 00:27:09.060 --> 00:27:22.989 Town of Plainfield: public monies from the vandalism, the opportunity to kick back donations, earmarked for the rec field and rec committee when parties are held. I mean, we could either formalize that, or you could just 157 00:27:23.400 --> 00:27:43.340 Town of Plainfield: put it out as an ask. Why don't you think about that and bring it to the board at some point? I mean, I think that that's not a bad idea. And so you're saying something that would come from the select board to the town, or something that's coming from the rec committee? Well, we would want to get some kind of thought process that you've gone through, what you think would be… 158 00:27:43.340 --> 00:27:50.030 Town of Plainfield: reasonable, you know, and then bring it to us to see if we can make it. Maybe it's a suggested donation. 159 00:27:50.030 --> 00:27:58.270 Town of Plainfield: Or support your rec field. Put a figure on a suggested donation. I think we need… On the reservation page… 160 00:27:58.270 --> 00:28:11.430 Town of Plainfield: on the town website. I mean, we have a reservation tool on the… on the page on the website. We could say a suggested donation, but we'd have to… we'd have to talk about on the back end some way to work out… 161 00:28:11.430 --> 00:28:21.829 Town of Plainfield: Something. But to answer your… I want to get back to your question. We have about $5,400 in our reserve account right now, so we do have money that we could use 162 00:28:21.910 --> 00:28:44.270 Town of Plainfield: To… Fix the slide? To fix the slide. Yeah, go ahead. And may I ask how the fundraising campaign is going? I saw the flyer on the door to this building. I know. I know, yeah. I don't know what the current status of that is. And then an additional question, we're talking about, in growing representation on town committees. Your committee… 163 00:28:44.270 --> 00:28:46.030 Town of Plainfield: How many more people 164 00:28:46.030 --> 00:28:52.329 Town of Plainfield: A is, like, your committee chartered to have on it, and or how many more do you want? 165 00:28:52.410 --> 00:28:58.440 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, I mean, right now, current, I think the, the… 166 00:28:59.030 --> 00:29:17.249 Town of Plainfield: what's the word? Statute, or whatever, is for 5 members, so we're… we're… we have one vacant seat. And I think we'd love to have another member. Maybe someone retires. Oh, okay, or a kid. That would work. 167 00:29:17.250 --> 00:29:29.169 Town of Plainfield: A pickleballer. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Somebody who has a stake in it. Yeah, a pickleballer. Could be. A pickleballer. But, yeah. $2,000. 168 00:29:29.200 --> 00:29:39.229 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. I didn't do it, yeah. Josh has had a question for a while. Oh, Josh, I can't see your hand now. I just… to clarify the… 169 00:29:40.620 --> 00:29:54.500 Town of Plainfield: it's likely that with one port-a-potty, you won't exceed the budget for that line item in this fiscal year. And, and then there's also… 170 00:29:54.750 --> 00:29:56.870 Town of Plainfield: Or current, 171 00:29:57.390 --> 00:30:09.429 Town of Plainfield: current fiscal year projects, budget remaining as of the end of September is, $1,600 on top of that, like, reserve of $5,400. 172 00:30:09.950 --> 00:30:18.380 Town of Plainfield: So… Like, for a combined total of about $7,000 to grab onto for, like… 173 00:30:18.770 --> 00:30:31.019 Town of Plainfield: projects. If you needed… if you were doing, like, a, you know, combining your… your sort of current year fiscal projects with your learned fund, if you need to pull everything out, that's what we're 174 00:30:31.650 --> 00:30:42.279 Town of Plainfield: And is the reserve fund a, like, one-time only thing, or is that something that gets re-upped? It gets up. It's added to every year. Okay. So, the idea is, like. 175 00:30:44.670 --> 00:30:51.660 Town of Plainfield: the best time to plant a tree is 30 years ago, and the second best time is today. So, like… 176 00:30:52.540 --> 00:30:55.809 Town of Plainfield: When we put in that new infrastructure. 177 00:30:55.960 --> 00:31:00.029 Town of Plainfield: Starts a clock on when that new infrastructure is no good. 178 00:31:00.420 --> 00:31:05.810 Town of Plainfield: So, working backwards from that time, that's what the reserve fund needs to cover. 179 00:31:05.950 --> 00:31:09.840 Town of Plainfield: But because there was no asset management in place. 180 00:31:10.100 --> 00:31:20.879 Town of Plainfield: in the past, we're starting at kind of this point, going forward, so it's tricky in terms of pulling from reserve funds. You kind of want to… 181 00:31:22.020 --> 00:31:29.290 Town of Plainfield: Like, you kinda wanna, look at, 182 00:31:29.530 --> 00:31:47.060 Town of Plainfield: you know, you want to be cognizant that that's for, like, 10 years. You want to kind of do that. So, for example, the lighting system, right? I chaired the rec committee when the lighting system was installed over there now, and it was… there was… 183 00:31:47.060 --> 00:31:57.539 Town of Plainfield: An older lighting system, which hadn't worked for many, many years, so we put the new ones in with the timers and the outlets and all of that stuff, and that's now come and gone. 184 00:31:57.630 --> 00:32:19.279 Town of Plainfield: in terms of its useful life, and the technology. But if you say, okay, $12,000, okay, and there's $5,400 in the reserve, what's the life expectancy of the $12,000 investment? If you say it's 10 years, well, then we should be putting $1,200 a year in the reserve fund. When did you put those lights in? 185 00:32:20.530 --> 00:32:22.250 Town of Plainfield: I don't remember. 186 00:32:22.380 --> 00:32:46.329 Town of Plainfield: We can find out. You were on the… Sometime in the… Yeah, 30 years ago? 20 years ago? How tall was that? Well, I mean, I installed the playground over there, too, so the slide, and I remember that bolt at the bottom of the slide, knew it was gonna be a problem, it was a design flaw when we put it in, because the question is, when was it going to poke through? And I remember at the time, we had a catalog 187 00:32:46.330 --> 00:33:00.559 Town of Plainfield: from the company, which had all the stuff, and they had spare parts and stuff like that, and, you know, that came… that we got through the Department of Forest Parks and Recreation, because that's how the grant came through at the time, so I don't know if… 188 00:33:00.560 --> 00:33:24.129 Town of Plainfield: you know, they're still available. The grants, or the catalogs? The catalogs for those vendors. Oh, yeah. I mean, that company may be out of business, I have no idea, but… We basically reached out to the same company that makes the parts, or sells the parts that we already have down there. But we could go back and look at that lighting system and say, okay, how much, and that would give us an idea of, like, what to put in a reserve account. 189 00:33:24.130 --> 00:33:37.509 Town of Plainfield: for that, and do you have other capital plans? If we're talking about putting in a more permanent, you know, you know, restroom facility after the buyouts occur, 190 00:33:37.660 --> 00:34:01.560 Town of Plainfield: you know, then it's like, okay, what does that building cost, and what's its life expectancy? And you can put that much aside. So that way, you're not dealing with your operating budget each year that we approve. You know, your operating budget is like, okay, you know, just, you know, routine type of stuff, as opposed to the capital investment. So, I was sitting here looking at the procurement policy, okay? And… 191 00:34:01.560 --> 00:34:26.090 Town of Plainfield: our procurement policy says two sort of conflicting things. Anything over $300 requires select board approval. Anything over $500 requires select board approval. I'm like, so what's the difference there? But that's a question for us. The lighting fixture requires a bid process, and so we need to have you, or, you know, get assistance, whatever, but we need to put a bid out. It's not just 192 00:34:26.179 --> 00:34:36.440 Town of Plainfield: requesting, we actually have to have a bid process for that amount of money, according to our procurement policy. And so we need to create that 193 00:34:36.489 --> 00:34:49.450 Town of Plainfield: document that we can send out to people, okay? Yeah. And it's like, if you only get one person who bids back, and it's a reasonable price, we can go with it, you know? But it's just like, we just have to allow the competition 194 00:34:49.540 --> 00:35:14.280 Town of Plainfield: doesn't say that everybody's gonna compete. Sure. Okay, you may only get one person to compete, or you may have a project that's unique enough that you can go with a sole source provider. Right. That's also doable. So, just to clarify, Ben actually made the document. He took, like, the proposal we got from Hall Electric for all the work required, took all the numbers away, and was like, here's what we're looking to get done, and then we send it directly to electricians. Are you saying put it more out in, like, a public format? 195 00:35:14.280 --> 00:35:39.280 Town of Plainfield: Yes, it has to be done by… it has to be done by a public bid process. I see, so, like, Town of Plainfield is looking for bids on this electrical repair. Exactly. Right, exactly. And are you saying we need to get that from the person who's already given us the quote, also? Well, that's a little bit… a little bit, I don't know if that's ethical or not, to take somebody who's put their time in to give you a quote. But you can use the recommendations. 196 00:35:39.280 --> 00:35:55.079 Town of Plainfield: And put it in your own wording. And they can just resubmit it. That's fine. It can be one of them. If you go on the town web… town website, on the homepage, under government, under top, scroll down to Ordinances, Polis, and Policies. 197 00:35:55.370 --> 00:36:01.979 Town of Plainfield: and click on that heading, and then scroll down to Procurement Policy, you'll see the details in there. 198 00:36:02.320 --> 00:36:08.690 Town of Plainfield: Okay. Okay. Oh, Patty. My question is, is delving just… 199 00:36:09.040 --> 00:36:15.110 Town of Plainfield: It's just a pool, you said it's dangerous. There's a, there's an electric pool. 200 00:36:15.330 --> 00:36:33.620 Town of Plainfield: That's by the… by the basketball court? I think there's just, like, loose wires and, like… Are they live? Okay, is it… is it boy? How would we find out? Is it correct to say wild and crazy teenagers? Is that okay to say that? They go down there a lot. I mean, is there anything for telling them that this is dangerous? 201 00:36:34.110 --> 00:36:39.810 Town of Plainfield: Is there anything saying, So the, the wires, the… 202 00:36:40.670 --> 00:36:56.969 Town of Plainfield: I think that the loose wires are more higher up on the pole. They're not very accessible. They're not very accessible down low. Okay, so the kids that are playing basketball and use that place all the time are safe from that. 203 00:36:56.970 --> 00:37:04.020 Town of Plainfield: I believe so. Yeah, and I have… my sense is that we should fix that slide. 204 00:37:04.310 --> 00:37:17.210 Town of Plainfield: Because if a kid gets hurt on there, the town's liable. Yeah. All it says is these select board thing. I mean, if you came to us and said, could we spend… Can we spend $1400 for the slide, and… Yeah. 205 00:37:17.350 --> 00:37:32.060 Town of Plainfield: $500 for the swings, as long as we're not over the next threshold where is a required bid, just ask us for the money. I think we'd say yes. Great, okay. That's what we want to do. Okay. So, are we okay to go ahead and order that? 206 00:37:32.860 --> 00:37:45.040 Town of Plainfield: Are you asking us to… Yes, we're asking for approval to order that piece for the slide. And have it installed. And have it installed. I move that we, approve 207 00:37:45.070 --> 00:37:55.229 Town of Plainfield: the rec… the rec center gained the money for the slide and the swings? Yes. To put together? Did you know the money for the swings? Is there money needed? No. Wait, the swings, the tax swing? 208 00:37:55.260 --> 00:38:14.860 Town of Plainfield: The swing is just, as I saw it, it was just a chain link. I think that's what we can do. We'll just figure that out. There's several, there's several times. So then I second Patty's motion. Okay. Okay. Because you, you guys can spend under $300 without coming. Yes. Totally. We've had keys made, and… Yeah. 209 00:38:14.860 --> 00:38:27.359 Town of Plainfield: But we do have a motion or a second. Any other discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Super. I have a question. 210 00:38:27.360 --> 00:38:41.310 Town of Plainfield: Yes. Have you gone down to Dog River in Northfield to see what they've done post-flood there? No. With their park? No. Because they have put in public, restrooms and stuff like that. It's in the floodplain, so it can flood. 211 00:38:41.310 --> 00:38:57.660 Town of Plainfield: But, I would recommend that, you know, take a field trip. That's a significant more discussion. But, you know, I will say this. I don't care if you're the Grand Canyon National Park or the Plainfield Rec Committee. 212 00:38:58.870 --> 00:39:01.529 Town of Plainfield: Graffiti, trash. 213 00:39:01.530 --> 00:39:26.429 Town of Plainfield: of restrooms is going to occur. Yeah. No matter what. Question is, you know, if you have a cinder block building and stuff like this, it's more likely to be spray paint, but they're not going to break the wall. True not. Okay? If they break the toilet, they're taking a sledgehammer to it, you know, so there's, you know, probably a crime being… They set off a firework. That's always going to be an issue. Yeah. 214 00:39:26.430 --> 00:39:33.649 Town of Plainfield: I mean, we can't, like, not do it just because there's an issue. It's like, how do we make it so that 215 00:39:33.650 --> 00:39:37.970 Town of Plainfield: what is there is gonna survive whatever abuse is taken. Yeah. 216 00:39:37.970 --> 00:40:02.840 Town of Plainfield: Okay, great. I think we're gonna move on. Super, we're good to go. Oh, Bram? Just, in terms of moving on, I just was looking at the agenda, and I see that it's nothing to do with the rec committee. Thank you. I don't see the constable's report listed as an agenda, and I was just wondering if you might make an accommodation. It is. 217 00:40:02.840 --> 00:40:15.289 Town of Plainfield: It is some… it is here. The No Trespass law. Oh, I'm sorry, sorry about that. Yeah, yeah. Karen is up next. Thank you for all your work, Rec Committee. Thank you. 218 00:40:15.370 --> 00:40:25.160 Town of Plainfield: Karen, you can sit here if you… if it's easier, or you can stand. Oh, okay. 219 00:40:26.700 --> 00:40:37.620 Town of Plainfield: Good evening, Karen Hatcher, Grants Administrator. October report. Excuse me. 220 00:40:38.570 --> 00:40:39.760 Town of Plainfield: Good. 221 00:40:39.940 --> 00:40:59.069 Town of Plainfield: So I shared this report with the board, previous, so you had a chance to take a look, and also published it on from Port's Forum last week, so that it's a public document and folks know what's going on. I know that, there's a lot of interest in what's happening, a lot of questions about 222 00:40:59.080 --> 00:41:21.189 Town of Plainfield: what's going on with FEMA, what's going on, with federal grants, and that kind of thing. So, I wanted to just provide a general update, and then just be, able to answer any questions that, sort of may have. the first part of this is the FEMA detail of the projects that are in play currently with FEMA. As you can see, there's 223 00:41:21.190 --> 00:41:24.089 Town of Plainfield: One and a half million dollars. 224 00:41:24.160 --> 00:41:40.249 Town of Plainfield: that are active projects in the FEMA portal for public assistance projects, everything from, water and wastewater through bridges, roads, and culverts, and, emergency protective measures. A couple of these are also hazard mitigation, 225 00:41:40.470 --> 00:41:44.549 Town of Plainfield: Projects, so… All of these, 226 00:41:44.610 --> 00:42:01.719 Town of Plainfield: are in the FEMA portal, are in process, are moving forward with our, PDMG. And so, they are not under threat at this point of any kind of anything. Our disaster declaration happened 227 00:42:01.760 --> 00:42:11.829 Town of Plainfield: well in advance of, the shenanigans in Washington. So, we feel pretty good. No one has said anything to us about, these being at risk, so… 228 00:42:12.220 --> 00:42:15.880 Town of Plainfield: We're feeling pretty good about those going forward. 229 00:42:17.460 --> 00:42:22.790 Town of Plainfield: So, if I do this section by section, that might be it. So, are there any questions on the FEMA? 230 00:42:22.970 --> 00:42:41.750 Town of Plainfield: You mentioned bridges, and that… does that include the bridges over here? No, those are Federal Highways. Okay, yeah, I just want to make sure. Yeah, no, so as a recap, FEMA is everything outside of Brook Road? Yes. Right? And, Federal Highway is everything on Brook Road. Okay. Yeah. 231 00:42:41.780 --> 00:42:56.000 Town of Plainfield: So, Federal Highway is the next section, and this is, Josh is taking the lead on this, but we, on the 9th of October, received the first reimbursement check for $210,426.46. 232 00:42:56.190 --> 00:43:13.939 Town of Plainfield: for emergency measures, and there's another $655,301.79 expected for a total $8.65, $7.28, and 25 cents. This is big money, this is all coming back to us, it's reimbursement. 233 00:43:13.940 --> 00:43:17.799 Town of Plainfield: That was spent to, do all the emergency work. 234 00:43:18.050 --> 00:43:19.470 Town of Plainfield: I'm Brooklyn. 235 00:43:19.760 --> 00:43:29.950 Town of Plainfield: And, the other permitting projects Josh is heading up, and as you know, the first ones, the Mill Street Bridge and the first bridge on Brook Road, are under… 236 00:43:29.990 --> 00:43:41.780 Town of Plainfield: in process, with Federal Highway, and, and Josh is managing our process there. So, so those still are moving along, and, 237 00:43:41.990 --> 00:43:47.430 Town of Plainfield: That all could work. Any questions at all? 238 00:43:47.690 --> 00:43:56.870 Town of Plainfield: Emergency watershed protection, I think I reported last time we spoke that, 239 00:43:57.440 --> 00:44:03.270 Town of Plainfield: Things had been, we were on a… we were on a pause, and then, 240 00:44:03.540 --> 00:44:06.700 Town of Plainfield: And then the federal government took the pause off. 241 00:44:06.750 --> 00:44:24.729 Town of Plainfield: And we started to move things, along again, and we were planning a meeting with the property owners, and then they furloughed the USDA folks. So, we're in a hold again, because we don't have anybody that we can work with, to help us move. 242 00:44:24.890 --> 00:44:36.229 Town of Plainfield: into the next part of this, which would be meeting with the property owners and, talking with them about what those next steps would be to get the engineering done and all the rest. So, 243 00:44:36.840 --> 00:44:48.229 Town of Plainfield: You have a question? Yeah, I have a question. In the case of the community development block grant, that's the portion of 244 00:44:48.620 --> 00:45:06.869 Town of Plainfield: Riverbank stabilization along the Friends Meeting House and up the downstream. The other 3 are private property owners. They are. So, are all 3 property owners, prepared to do the match? No. No. They are not. 245 00:45:06.990 --> 00:45:18.189 Town of Plainfield: But there are two of the 3 that are awaiting buyout. Sure. Right? And, the one on Copern Road, 246 00:45:18.300 --> 00:45:31.860 Town of Plainfield: they're in a situation where they're probably not gonna invest in it because they're going to have to leave the property, ultimately. So that was there. The… we know that, 99 Brook. 247 00:45:31.940 --> 00:45:45.860 Town of Plainfield: That's Sarah, right? Yeah. Yeah, that Sarah said she was in a position to do the match. Yeah, okay. So that's okay, and then the other one is 125 Berry Hill. What we heard was that they were trying to sell that property. 248 00:45:45.860 --> 00:45:52.930 Town of Plainfield: And that within the sale, this grant would be kind of included, the match piece would be part of the purchase and sale. 249 00:45:53.070 --> 00:45:55.270 Town of Plainfield: That was the last thing I heard from them. 250 00:45:55.350 --> 00:45:58.899 Town of Plainfield: Okay? So, so that's the status of that. 251 00:45:58.900 --> 00:46:15.440 Town of Plainfield: Those things may be different once we sit down again with the property owners, but… and as you know, we did include the match for… for the Martin Meadow that… from the Friends Meeting House, that piece, because it was such a big project. Right. There wouldn't be any way that the property owners could pay for that. 252 00:46:15.440 --> 00:46:19.150 Town of Plainfield: So that's why we included it in the CDBGDR application. 253 00:46:19.910 --> 00:46:21.450 Town of Plainfield: Can I just ask? 254 00:46:21.750 --> 00:46:24.070 Town of Plainfield: And was the… 255 00:46:24.290 --> 00:46:34.019 Town of Plainfield: I mean, I understand the USDA folks are on pause, but I thought my understanding was that they had approved 256 00:46:34.130 --> 00:46:35.859 Town of Plainfield: That one. 257 00:46:36.630 --> 00:46:38.179 Town of Plainfield: Pending our match. 258 00:46:39.620 --> 00:46:47.940 Town of Plainfield: Well, all of the… all of them, at this point, are approved. Okay. But they haven't… we haven't gotten into 259 00:46:48.010 --> 00:47:06.499 Town of Plainfield: the next part of what would be contracting, or any of that, so… Okay. With the property owners. Okay. But if we get… if we get unpaused, there's not an issue, as long as the match… No, everything is… everything… That's what I thought, thank you. We're good to go, as long… once the pause is… once furlough is done, we're good to go. 260 00:47:06.790 --> 00:47:13.920 Town of Plainfield: Okay. Alright, CDBGDDR, we all know, was submitted on time, and 261 00:47:14.230 --> 00:47:30.950 Town of Plainfield: at $9.7 million, and we are currently, preparing for the November 20th board meeting, where we'll have an opportunity to update the folks who reviewed, based on anything new that's happened, 262 00:47:31.020 --> 00:47:44.750 Town of Plainfield: In particular, the November 4th vote would be important to report on, the Phase 1 NEPA, work that should be completed by then and submitted, 263 00:47:44.820 --> 00:47:52.329 Town of Plainfield: and any other contracting or things that have moved along, so we'll be able to update. What we do understand is that 264 00:47:52.560 --> 00:48:00.530 Town of Plainfield: We have a very strong application. It is, being… you know, we've heard… 265 00:48:00.790 --> 00:48:14.910 Town of Plainfield: not officially, but that, of the ones for housing, it is very, it's very strong, and it makes a very strong case. So, we feel really good about it, and we'll see where we end up, but, that's where that is, 266 00:48:15.240 --> 00:48:29.050 Town of Plainfield: I am currently working on a draft of a request for qualifications for project management, so that we're in a position to move pretty quickly on that if we hear we've gotten enough money to move. 267 00:48:29.270 --> 00:48:32.870 Town of Plainfield: Because that's gonna be a really important position to fill. 268 00:48:33.300 --> 00:48:34.140 Town of Plainfield: Who cares? 269 00:48:34.530 --> 00:48:44.119 Town of Plainfield: Any questions on CDBT? We did also submit, by October 15th, to the Regional Priority 270 00:48:44.230 --> 00:48:52.259 Town of Plainfield: project list, the, project that we've submitted for CBG, because… 271 00:48:52.420 --> 00:49:06.699 Town of Plainfield: For the East Village, because, it needed to be shuttle-ready, and, we thought, if we don't get all the money through CTBG, being on the priority list allows us to have a priority in terms of other grants. 272 00:49:06.900 --> 00:49:11.390 Town of Plainfield: So, it was a smart move to make, and it was the one that was ready to do. 273 00:49:11.740 --> 00:49:13.769 Town of Plainfield: So that's been done. 274 00:49:14.740 --> 00:49:24.990 Town of Plainfield: And, the Great Brooks study, checked in with Steve Libby, of Vermont Emergency Management just to see where we are. 275 00:49:25.810 --> 00:49:37.099 Town of Plainfield: And what he did say was that, they've not received the official notification on the award, but, think that they're gonna sign a contract with SLR. 276 00:49:37.290 --> 00:49:40.080 Town of Plainfield: to do the scoping. 277 00:49:40.770 --> 00:49:48.139 Town of Plainfield: And so what's gonna be important is that we have a person who is, gonna be the main contact here in town. 278 00:49:48.530 --> 00:49:56.720 Town of Plainfield: That person would have been Michael Zahner if he was still on the committee, he's not. So we're gonna need to figure out who… 279 00:49:56.950 --> 00:50:06.470 Town of Plainfield: is gonna be coordinating, and maybe it's George Springston, I don't know, but I haven't spoken with George yet about that. But, he might be… 280 00:50:06.640 --> 00:50:12.269 Town of Plainfield: The best person, but just wanted to make you aware that this is… we're gonna need somebody. 281 00:50:12.490 --> 00:50:14.450 Town of Plainfield: Who can be that point? 282 00:50:16.790 --> 00:50:22.899 Town of Plainfield: And he does understand that there's an urgency to get this work done, but here we are coming into winter. 283 00:50:22.920 --> 00:50:45.689 Town of Plainfield: Sorry, go ahead. Karen, connected question? Yeah. You know, theme of the night so far has been filling town commissions, committees, groups. Yes. Would you tell us, please, about the needs of the grants group? Yeah, well, we thought we had a full committee, and so you heard earlier that Gail is dealing with long COVID, and I, had a conversation with Ross 284 00:50:46.050 --> 00:50:52.599 Town of Plainfield: Colgate, a few days ago, and she has, for personal reasons and, 285 00:50:52.720 --> 00:50:56.989 Town of Plainfield: Other priorities has decided not to go forward, with the… 286 00:50:57.270 --> 00:51:06.059 Town of Plainfield: the… being the Assistant Grants Administrator, which saddens me greatly, but she… but her reasoning is, 287 00:51:06.230 --> 00:51:15.109 Town of Plainfield: It's very personal, and something she wants to pursue that isn't this… she's working full-time, so she only has limited hours to pursue other things, and so… 288 00:51:15.410 --> 00:51:22.289 Town of Plainfield: So she is no longer available, for support. So right now, the committee, 289 00:51:23.140 --> 00:51:26.629 Town of Plainfield: is me. And, 290 00:51:26.780 --> 00:51:34.070 Town of Plainfield: I'm gonna work individually with Michael on the emergency management stuff, and I work with Josh on the federal highway stuff, and I'm handling FEMA. 291 00:51:34.470 --> 00:51:35.900 Town of Plainfield: CDBG? 292 00:51:36.060 --> 00:51:47.380 Town of Plainfield: and whatever else I can, but… I'm… I'm still very much focused on recovery, and, things around recovery, and the other things 293 00:51:47.840 --> 00:51:53.739 Town of Plainfield: We need help, right? We need help. Is there a number past which you wouldn't want to train? 294 00:51:54.590 --> 00:52:04.200 Town of Plainfield: past which I would want to train? Yeah, like 1, 2, 3 more people, 4 more people, 5 more people? If they're talented and they have experience, some basis, you know, 295 00:52:04.540 --> 00:52:23.669 Town of Plainfield: an interest, I mean, one or two other folks who could be that support for the… you know, I don't know when Gail is coming back, if she's coming back, you know, but arts and Rec needs somebody to help them, and Michael needs someone. 296 00:52:24.000 --> 00:52:31.260 Town of Plainfield: So… And… Ideally, you know, this is, 297 00:52:31.460 --> 00:52:38.499 Town of Plainfield: If you can't do it with volunteers, it's gonna be a big enough job that even if it's a part-time position in the next budget. 298 00:52:38.670 --> 00:52:41.310 Town of Plainfield: Like, it's one of those things that pays for itself. 299 00:52:41.510 --> 00:52:58.419 Town of Plainfield: It's one of those positions, and and I don't, you know, personally, I'm not interested to have that job. You know, I signed on for this, for the recovery piece, but I think, ideally, it would be great to have, whether it's a part-time person. 300 00:52:58.890 --> 00:53:04.179 Town of Plainfield: skilled in that, in grant writing, and it's a position. 301 00:53:04.480 --> 00:53:07.939 Town of Plainfield: you'll absolutely get the money back. So that's… 302 00:53:08.050 --> 00:53:15.129 Town of Plainfield: my two cents for that in the budget. Because we've done well with volunteers, but everything has kind of fallen. 303 00:53:15.130 --> 00:53:28.839 Town of Plainfield: And think about Mike, there's no residency requirement, so it could be a marsh field, or East Montpelier Park. It could, if Mike wanted to work there. He's also retired as well, and so… Yeah, yeah, he also has… 304 00:53:28.960 --> 00:53:39.500 Town of Plainfield: Stuff going on. And lots of stuff going on, right? But ideally, you'd find someone who is younger, and who has an interest, and who… a part-time position would be… 305 00:53:39.670 --> 00:53:47.300 Town of Plainfield: you know, a good thing for… maybe they've got kids at school, whatever, but it's… I think it's one of… it's one of those jobs that… 306 00:53:47.940 --> 00:54:04.660 Town of Plainfield: we're seeing what the benefit is to apply for grants, and how much money we could bring into the town, just because we're in the midst of this, but I think we've only really scratched the surface with all the other things that we had someone doing the job that they could be looking into, and really generating. 307 00:54:04.660 --> 00:54:09.119 Town of Plainfield: And on the side of revenue generation, because I know that's a big piece for Josh. 308 00:54:09.330 --> 00:54:14.290 Town of Plainfield: You know, that's one way to continue to have the town thriving, is to continue very much. 309 00:54:14.560 --> 00:54:15.410 Town of Plainfield: So… 310 00:54:15.940 --> 00:54:26.270 Town of Plainfield: A question on… Yes. …and maybe for you and Josh, and I was going to ask Josh later when we get to the audit question on the agenda, is, 311 00:54:27.180 --> 00:54:39.929 Town of Plainfield: with FEMA and Federal Highways, and I don't know if some of these other studies, is there an administrative piece that can go towards offsetting that? Okay. Yes. Okay. Yes. Yeah, we'll see, we'll see, 312 00:54:40.210 --> 00:54:44.909 Town of Plainfield: With FEMA, there's something called Category Z, which is… And are we doing that for you? 313 00:54:45.390 --> 00:55:02.309 Town of Plainfield: We have all of our hours, and yes. Okay. So, the reimbursement for… for that, to the degree that it is allowable. The… it's a yes and no, because the way FEMA works is you have to have those positions kind of, in… 314 00:55:02.420 --> 00:55:16.169 Town of Plainfield: We started to talk about this really early in the process of recovery, but one of the things we should consider is putting a policy in place where if there is an emergency, there are positions that are activated. 315 00:55:16.200 --> 00:55:28.660 Town of Plainfield: That would be… Yeah, I remember your presentation last fall during budget. That was a long time ago. But by doing that, FEMA then allows that all the hours for all those volunteers 316 00:55:29.190 --> 00:55:33.419 Town of Plainfield: can count, right, and can be reimbursed. But if they weren't. 317 00:55:33.970 --> 00:55:35.989 Town of Plainfield: Set up to be that way. 318 00:55:36.540 --> 00:55:46.159 Town of Plainfield: And you won't get that money back. So that's FEMA? That's FEMA. Okay. Yeah. And Josh, on the Federal Highway side, there's administrative and… 319 00:55:46.730 --> 00:55:49.400 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. Yeah. Within the drinks. So… 320 00:55:49.550 --> 00:55:56.350 Town of Plainfield: For permanent projects, like, as we pay the vendors, we then submit for reimbursement. 321 00:55:56.390 --> 00:56:04.940 Town of Plainfield: And the, the administrative time associated, it can go to the, force account. 322 00:56:04.940 --> 00:56:21.380 Town of Plainfield: labor. And, and indeed, like, if we were to take on any of that work ourselves, the equipment time would also be applicable for things like the excavators and… So, reimbursing the highway department, basically, yeah. What about, 323 00:56:21.380 --> 00:56:23.279 Town of Plainfield: Administration in the office. 324 00:56:23.400 --> 00:56:38.780 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, okay. Yes, and also with, emergency watershed protection, there's also funding that's… Okay, that's fine. So yeah, it's in there. I don't need any more detail, thank you. So if we're really smart about it, then we'll generate income to cover it. 325 00:56:38.780 --> 00:56:47.200 Town of Plainfield: Okay, and I did also update you on, the fact that we're going to be working on a new grant for, emergency management, 326 00:56:47.300 --> 00:57:06.449 Town of Plainfield: for… with Vermont Community Foundation, for Michael. So we'll be… he and I'll be working tomorrow on, submitting for another $80,000, Mike? $80,000. $80,000. Yes, the air conditioning, the lift, and the carriage house. Yep, that's correct. Yeah. Yeah, so we'll be working on that. Great. 327 00:57:06.610 --> 00:57:11.500 Town of Plainfield: If I may also, to… 328 00:57:13.130 --> 00:57:25.040 Town of Plainfield: That's the near-term stuff that we've been talking about for 3 months. The longer-term view also means more grants, which is… includes 329 00:57:25.080 --> 00:57:44.919 Town of Plainfield: a salary for a GIS mapper next year after Syl retires, and also potentially to be the source by which the high school finally gets, or not the high school, the Twin Fill school, finally gets a generator, so they move out of that precarious position where they don't have any backup power in the event of a blackout. 330 00:57:44.920 --> 00:58:00.609 Town of Plainfield: So, these are bigger stories that, need to be brought before you individually, but they are, in fact, we're constantly seeing ways in which we'd like to be able to utilize new funding sources to find, resources for this. 331 00:58:01.920 --> 00:58:03.010 Town of Plainfield: Thank you. 332 00:58:04.650 --> 00:58:14.520 Town of Plainfield: That's a good point, unless you have any other questions. Any questions? I just want to know, the $80,000 you're applying for, did any of that turn into any… 333 00:58:14.580 --> 00:58:26.710 Town of Plainfield: salary for you? No, in my… in the BCF loan, that's straight… No. No, there's no administrative in that. It's not loans to grant, sorry. 334 00:58:27.750 --> 00:58:38.220 Town of Plainfield: You have a question? Yeah, are we… have you… the next item on the agenda, identifying short and long-term funding grants with the grants group. Is that… did you… 335 00:58:38.220 --> 00:58:56.889 Town of Plainfield: Cover that or not cover that? I had hoped to have a conversation with you about that tonight, but since the group itself is not a group, and we didn't really have a chance to have a conversation about long and short term, at this point, if we could just, push that back to another time, when it feels… 336 00:58:57.270 --> 00:59:00.160 Town of Plainfield: Like it's time to have that conversation. 337 00:59:00.380 --> 00:59:04.360 Town of Plainfield: Well, I just had a thought, a thought on that. I mean, 338 00:59:04.420 --> 00:59:12.369 Town of Plainfield: And you talk about other grants, and Michael just mentioned other grants, and other committees, you know, accessibility, others, people, 339 00:59:12.370 --> 00:59:27.460 Town of Plainfield: I get the impression sometimes that we, like, try and do it all, and we can't do it all. And so, you know, there needs to be some priority setting, and so I think that is a longer discussion. Right. Yeah, I think so too. 340 00:59:27.510 --> 00:59:30.700 Town of Plainfield: Thank you. So, we'll do that again at another time. 341 00:59:30.820 --> 00:59:35.289 Town of Plainfield: Alright, thanks, Alfie. Thank you, Karen. 342 00:59:38.210 --> 00:59:41.400 Town of Plainfield: Okay. Town Treasurer. 343 00:59:47.170 --> 00:59:49.540 Town of Plainfield: What did you spend money on? 344 00:59:51.430 --> 00:59:58.789 Town of Plainfield: So, like, to kind of… because there was a lot of discussion around the blood and what we spent. 345 00:59:59.230 --> 01:00:07.569 Town of Plainfield: Want to pass those down. These are the… this is sort of a rough, 346 01:00:07.730 --> 01:00:10.650 Town of Plainfield: Right up above, 347 01:00:11.440 --> 01:00:27.229 Town of Plainfield: So that first sheet is a rough write-up of, kind of, where in fiscal year 25, the last fiscal year, overall, how did we actually pay for the things that we spent… 348 01:00:27.360 --> 01:00:27.805 Town of Plainfield: Northern. 349 01:00:28.360 --> 01:00:34.040 Town of Plainfield: So… One of the… one of the critical takeaways that… 350 01:00:34.170 --> 01:00:45.710 Town of Plainfield: I think we should emphasize is the money that we got from Federal Highway and FEMA for the 2023 flood 351 01:00:45.830 --> 01:00:48.230 Town of Plainfield: It's actually what allowed us to 352 01:00:48.730 --> 01:01:00.299 Town of Plainfield: get this good of a financial position going into the 2024 fund. And… because $300,000 of that, 353 01:01:00.650 --> 01:01:10.720 Town of Plainfield: money that we spent on the 2024 flood, it… it was from that reimbursement. So, for, like, that money coming back. 354 01:01:10.980 --> 01:01:15.259 Town of Plainfield: is unallocated to anything. And so… 355 01:01:15.440 --> 01:01:20.499 Town of Plainfield: Because it's a reimbursement of, like, expenses for emergency response. 356 01:01:20.710 --> 01:01:21.610 Town of Plainfield: So… 357 01:01:21.770 --> 01:01:33.059 Town of Plainfield: Like, the… and then both FEMA and Federal Highway received 2 payments. So, and combined those $297,000 and change. 358 01:01:33.490 --> 01:01:38.530 Town of Plainfield: Then, cash on hand at the end of the fiscal year was $123,000. 359 01:01:39.070 --> 01:01:44.639 Town of Plainfield: And, and then we reallocated the ARPA funds 360 01:01:44.800 --> 01:01:47.690 Town of Plainfield: Towards, the needs of the town. 361 01:01:48.050 --> 01:01:52.260 Town of Plainfield: In that fiscal year, we had borrowed 362 01:01:52.650 --> 01:01:57.429 Town of Plainfield: $85,000 from the revolving loan fund the previous that… 363 01:01:58.010 --> 01:02:10.549 Town of Plainfield: We're still obligated to pay that back. I'm gonna transfer that shortly, now that we've received reimbursement. And then, and then we received a loan from the Vermont Bond Bank for $1 million. 364 01:02:10.550 --> 01:02:18.579 Town of Plainfield: at half a percent interest per year in simple interest. So, the total of all of those 365 01:02:18.630 --> 01:02:26.320 Town of Plainfield: non-general fund sources is $1,686,962.58. 366 01:02:27.050 --> 01:02:37.510 Town of Plainfield: And in the fiscal year 25, we spent $1,749,105.06. 367 01:02:37.690 --> 01:02:55.849 Town of Plainfield: So, from general fund line items, in the… in the wash of things, we used approximately $62,000 of our general fund. Now, one way to think about this is… 368 01:02:55.940 --> 01:03:04.819 Town of Plainfield: there are things in the general fund that are for the things that we did for the flood recovery. Like, we didn't spend gravel 369 01:03:05.150 --> 01:03:10.090 Town of Plainfield: On, like, all of the roadway that… 370 01:03:10.210 --> 01:03:14.520 Town of Plainfield: is still currently washed out, right? So we used… those were the funds. 371 01:03:14.640 --> 01:03:26.009 Town of Plainfield: We were… we had, the accident, meaning that we had a big surplus in, available funds from… 372 01:03:26.300 --> 01:03:31.489 Town of Plainfield: the labor budget in the highway department. And, so… 373 01:03:31.780 --> 01:03:45.390 Town of Plainfield: So there… so that's… that's what happened in fiscal year 25, and how we paid for everything. Now, we're still paying, of course, like… and, and so now that we are… 374 01:03:45.690 --> 01:03:49.220 Town of Plainfield: we have this million-dollar obligation. 375 01:03:49.400 --> 01:03:53.310 Town of Plainfield: Been in discussions with, 376 01:03:53.510 --> 01:04:15.559 Town of Plainfield: Ken and Michael, from the Vermont Bond Bank, and, and one of the things that they stressed to me was, it's probably opportune for you to hold off on paying back any of that money until after we re-up that loan, and until we get to that 50% threshold. 377 01:04:15.770 --> 01:04:16.650 Town of Plainfield: So… 378 01:04:16.850 --> 01:04:36.459 Town of Plainfield: then begin paying that back, because we have 5 years when we go to renew this loan. If we pay anything back before we renew it, the renewal will not include the amount we've paid back. So, if I pay some back, and then we renew those terms. 379 01:04:36.670 --> 01:04:44.760 Town of Plainfield: If I pay $100,000 back, then we can only renew to $900,000, so we don't have as much liquidity. So, the recommendation by them was. 380 01:04:45.160 --> 01:04:48.910 Town of Plainfield: You know, like, it might be a good idea to wait until you hit that threshold. 381 01:04:49.070 --> 01:04:54.649 Town of Plainfield: And, and from… The, numbers that… 382 01:04:55.030 --> 01:04:59.740 Town of Plainfield: We're looking at if you… Take the… 383 01:05:00.530 --> 01:05:04.900 Town of Plainfield: not all of the FEMA categories, but if you just take B and C, 384 01:05:05.550 --> 01:05:09.719 Town of Plainfield: B and C, combined with, 385 01:05:10.360 --> 01:05:23.080 Town of Plainfield: Combined with Federal Highway. Is that somewhere on one of these sheets? It's not. It's not in my report either, though. It's the first page of my report. Yeah, yeah. 386 01:05:23.690 --> 01:05:33.009 Town of Plainfield: So… So the… the reimbursements we're going to get from FEMA and from Federal Highway combined 387 01:05:33.500 --> 01:05:52.869 Town of Plainfield: will cover, most of what the expenditures in fiscal year 25 are. And then the things that we spent in FY25 on flood recovery that isn't in those categories, they're a combination of 388 01:05:52.880 --> 01:05:56.310 Town of Plainfield: Stuff that will be reimbursed 389 01:05:56.500 --> 01:06:13.360 Town of Plainfield: For category F, which is the water and wastewater. Now, we've… we've replaced the drawdown of the reserve funds that happened in water and wastewater, with that Vermont Bond Bank money. So. 390 01:06:13.580 --> 01:06:21.649 Town of Plainfield: like, so when the town gets the reimbursement, the town still holds that money. We don't have to give that to the water and wastewater system. 391 01:06:21.780 --> 01:06:41.380 Town of Plainfield: We were very lucky. The water and wastewater system has asset management and has robust reserve accounts, and, that have been re-upped and maintained year over year to handle, capital improvements, and has a really healthy fund balance that, 392 01:06:41.380 --> 01:06:55.660 Town of Plainfield: And, like, cash on hand per day that is, very healthy. And today, I sent over the draft financial plan for the water department, just the water, not the… 393 01:06:55.660 --> 01:07:12.689 Town of Plainfield: place water separate. Like, because, working on getting a grant from, to, replace the wellheads and a section of the School Street water line. So we're writing for a grant for… 394 01:07:13.190 --> 01:07:15.580 Town of Plainfield: So, it's 4… 395 01:07:15.710 --> 01:07:28.510 Town of Plainfield: $108,000 to do those two projects. One is $48,000 and plus, and the other one's about $60,000. So, get, you know, putting in the, 396 01:07:28.920 --> 01:07:30.769 Town of Plainfield: You know, putting that, 397 01:07:31.480 --> 01:07:51.469 Town of Plainfield: you know, putting that work in, we have to show, like, our net position, our cash on hand, number of days, and submit all this. And so, I kind of gave that to you as a demonstration today over… I shared it with you all to kind of see what it's gonna look like 398 01:07:51.630 --> 01:08:08.980 Town of Plainfield: For the most part, things are a little more complicated. That's the spreadsheet you sent this afternoon? It is. Okay. So, you know, when you want to get an idea of what I'm going to deliver down the road, one of… that's… something of that kind of nature is what you should expect to see, like. 399 01:08:09.790 --> 01:08:20.939 Town of Plainfield: long-term, over the next 5 years, here's the capital investment that we need, here are the loans that we're obligated to pay back on schedule. So, to give you an idea of the framework. Now. 400 01:08:21.380 --> 01:08:25.400 Town of Plainfield: So you're saying you're gonna produce something like that for the town? 401 01:08:25.399 --> 01:08:48.980 Town of Plainfield: That you… that we have for the water and wastewater. Yes. I was wondering why you were sending us water and wastewater today, but it was, like, 4.30 this afternoon. Well, I wanted to show you… I wanted you to have that to look at so that you understand, like, you know, this is the kind of work that we have to do to get good terms with the bond bank. 402 01:08:48.979 --> 01:09:12.180 Town of Plainfield: to get… easily get loans and to understand, like, how much we put up in a capital plan that should be… that we should have in place when we release the next town plan. Now, there's nothing compelling us to release a capital plan with the town plan, but I think it is not prudent to 403 01:09:12.250 --> 01:09:19.440 Town of Plainfield: Put forward a town plan without explaining how you're gonna pay for the things that you put in the town plan. 404 01:09:19.649 --> 01:09:29.179 Town of Plainfield: The 2021 town plan has the word Capital seven times in the document. Ctrl-F, Find Capital. 405 01:09:29.450 --> 01:09:40.290 Town of Plainfield: With an A, not an O. And it comes up 7 times, and one of those times mentions the Capital, Mutual Aid Fire District, so that doesn't count. 406 01:09:40.410 --> 01:09:58.690 Town of Plainfield: So it's only mentioned 6 times, and there's no actual schedule of capital planning that I've been able to find anywhere, that is of the type of document that I sent you that the Water Commission has. Like, that is the aspiration that I think I want to get to for the town. 407 01:09:58.900 --> 01:10:00.539 Town of Plainfield: And, 408 01:10:00.570 --> 01:10:19.279 Town of Plainfield: So, you know, this is really tied into how we set taxes, how much we put into reserves, like the conversation earlier about the light pole. This pull we're gonna put in next year, how many years is it gonna last? And work backwards to figure out what we put in every year. 409 01:10:19.290 --> 01:10:23.700 Town of Plainfield: Now, the other piece to that, 410 01:10:24.080 --> 01:10:34.959 Town of Plainfield: to that spreadsheet I sent you is, it has a place to put in how many new units of water and wastewater you're going to add, and what does that effect on your systems? 411 01:10:35.160 --> 01:10:37.969 Town of Plainfield: Bottom line. And… 412 01:10:38.380 --> 01:10:49.129 Town of Plainfield: So, for 2025 fiscal year and 2026 fiscal year, there's some negative numbers in there in the next 3 years that are associated with the buyouts, or… 413 01:10:49.430 --> 01:11:04.500 Town of Plainfield: and other… we've lost other units of water along the way. It's not a buyout loss, but Lucky Day Ice had a catastrophe in their facility, and they gave up making ice at that location, so we lost 7 units of water. 414 01:11:04.620 --> 01:11:18.120 Town of Plainfield: So, in that spreadsheet, you'll see that I've put in, the marker for the expected, increase in units associated with the, 415 01:11:18.500 --> 01:11:20.700 Town of Plainfield: East Village Expansion. Now. 416 01:11:20.820 --> 01:11:29.699 Town of Plainfield: the… so that gets me to the other sheet that I want you to look at. And this is a very, 417 01:11:29.870 --> 01:11:32.750 Town of Plainfield: I did a very careful study of… 418 01:11:32.910 --> 01:11:49.100 Town of Plainfield: What… the homes that we know that will… are destined for the buyout, combined with the notes that I got from you, Peter, from the Board of Abatement hearing, just going by your amounts, this is how this 419 01:11:49.100 --> 01:11:57.770 Town of Plainfield: pencils out. We can take the 2024 value and estimate its value without abatement. 420 01:11:57.840 --> 01:12:05.970 Town of Plainfield: By saying that the pre-flood value would have gone up consistent with the grand list change in value. 421 01:12:06.030 --> 01:12:10.910 Town of Plainfield: And then we can look at the 2025 real value 422 01:12:10.920 --> 01:12:28.590 Town of Plainfield: And create an estimate of the values lost if all the buyouts happened. And then, apply the municipal taxes, and look at the difference of the estimated lost revenue for what has already occurred in lost revenue. 423 01:12:28.700 --> 01:12:34.009 Town of Plainfield: Which in 20… which in the fiscal year we're in, 424 01:12:34.530 --> 01:12:39.510 Town of Plainfield: in the 2025 tax season, or fiscal year 26. Like, 425 01:12:39.800 --> 01:12:54.480 Town of Plainfield: The percent of tax revenue that, that had to get redistributed was about 1.9% of that revenue 426 01:12:54.880 --> 01:13:05.779 Town of Plainfield: we… was from… we couldn't get it from the places that would have paid, because their taxes were abated, so everyone else had to share that. Now. 427 01:13:06.530 --> 01:13:10.979 Town of Plainfield: The… if you take that and you add the, 428 01:13:10.980 --> 01:13:29.769 Town of Plainfield: After the buyouts, which would be $17,094 in addition to the $25,719.54, you get an estimated, you know, revenue that had to get… would have… would have to be redistributed in this year if… 429 01:13:29.780 --> 01:13:43.049 Town of Plainfield: all the buyouts had occurred prior to, like, the… releasing the municipal tax bill for 25. Obviously, that's not the case, but to kind of extend that, and extend the, 430 01:13:43.050 --> 01:13:50.140 Town of Plainfield: using 2025. All the combined losses to revenue generation in 2025 tax dollars 431 01:13:50.420 --> 01:13:59.280 Town of Plainfield: would be, about 46,979. Now, only… You know, the… 432 01:13:59.410 --> 01:14:05.160 Town of Plainfield: That after-buyout percentage that's in the future for the… would be, 433 01:14:05.320 --> 01:14:15.550 Town of Plainfield: you know, for the 2024 is about 1.26%. So, like, this is, you know, this is a… this is a tax hike out of… 434 01:14:16.020 --> 01:14:19.730 Town of Plainfield: Loss in taxable, like, value. 435 01:14:19.930 --> 01:14:25.730 Town of Plainfield: So… What I would expect, using a very, 436 01:14:26.000 --> 01:14:35.289 Town of Plainfield: a very modest assessment of, proposed values for, that we could grow the grand list 437 01:14:35.980 --> 01:14:50.779 Town of Plainfield: To make up for that, eventual, like, diminishment of, like, potential revenue generation would be, would be slightly greater than, 438 01:14:51.170 --> 01:15:10.950 Town of Plainfield: what we'd expect to lose overall. So, as, like, you know, should the East Village expansion get approved and, the voters vote in the… that bond, this will offset that… those… those losses that are baked in. And the, and… 439 01:15:10.950 --> 01:15:25.690 Town of Plainfield: Using a 60% of the median home value in Plainfield, median home value, median real value in Plainfield's $355,000, so 60% of that is $213,000. You take 40 parcels. 440 01:15:25.690 --> 01:15:31.590 Town of Plainfield: And then you subtract the value of the parcels associated, and you get, 441 01:15:31.790 --> 01:15:37.869 Town of Plainfield: You get a number that is just above what we would have lost by about 442 01:15:38.020 --> 01:15:41.350 Town of Plainfield: 20%. So, like, it's kind of a… 443 01:15:41.610 --> 01:15:47.369 Town of Plainfield: It kind of… if we were able to… To build, enough… 444 01:15:48.200 --> 01:15:56.460 Town of Plainfield: enough value in that location through this project, it should offset what we have lost 445 01:15:57.330 --> 01:16:09.130 Town of Plainfield: By my estimates. And, like, there have been larger numbers about what is lost, but the… that is the net relative to the, 446 01:16:09.350 --> 01:16:21.749 Town of Plainfield: you know, everything else. So, Goddard coming in, other growth in the grand list was not enough to take in all of that lost value, and so… 447 01:16:21.980 --> 01:16:30.839 Town of Plainfield: Like, we still stand at the… in our net position after all the buyouts go through to be… to have the, 448 01:16:30.990 --> 01:16:41.170 Town of Plainfield: You know, for the kind of normalized taxpayer, irrespective of individuals' tax bill, like, if it was all level. 449 01:16:41.900 --> 01:16:43.510 Town of Plainfield: Everyone will be paying more. 450 01:16:46.460 --> 01:17:02.819 Town of Plainfield: In other words, if the utilities expansion does not happen, everyone is paying more, period. In the aggregate, in a normalized, theoretical, universal taxpayer, yes. But if the utilities expansion goes through, and the additional tax revenue is gained from 451 01:17:02.820 --> 01:17:23.610 Town of Plainfield: however many units of housing come up there. Yes, we come out a little bit ahead. And I… so I used a very modest, 60% of the median, value… parcel value of $213,000, which I felt was, like, a bit average for, you know, what we might expect up there. 452 01:17:23.610 --> 01:17:27.280 Town of Plainfield: if it's… You know… If it's not… 453 01:17:27.630 --> 01:17:41.239 Town of Plainfield: if that's… if the average was below that, in terms of, like, what is potentially assessed there, I'd be very, I'd be surprised if that was below the average. And, like, so… 454 01:17:41.600 --> 01:17:43.609 Town of Plainfield: You know, when we think about, like. 455 01:17:43.870 --> 01:17:55.310 Town of Plainfield: you know, we look at, kind of, last year's tax bill, or I mean, excuse me, like, the current, the paid-up municipal tax, that first payment on the tax bill. 456 01:17:55.520 --> 01:18:00.289 Town of Plainfield: When, thinking about that revenue, like… 457 01:18:00.450 --> 01:18:15.100 Town of Plainfield: We increased the amount of funds to be raised from taxes by 3%, and then the additional increase above that, like, generalized, is this 1.9%. 458 01:18:15.460 --> 01:18:16.650 Town of Plainfield: Estimated. 459 01:18:19.150 --> 01:18:20.129 Town of Plainfield: Thank you. 460 01:18:22.100 --> 01:18:27.089 Town of Plainfield: And then… you were throwing some off. And that's net, that's net after Goddard. 461 01:18:27.330 --> 01:18:33.609 Town of Plainfield: Coming on the list. So, like, in the 2025 tax year that we've paid, it's, 462 01:18:34.080 --> 01:18:35.770 Town of Plainfield: Goddard is in that. 463 01:18:36.050 --> 01:18:46.749 Town of Plainfield: assessment. Like, it has a real value as well. So, like, the, you know, so even after throwing the current assessment of Goddard in, it didn't overcome 464 01:18:46.930 --> 01:18:57.649 Town of Plainfield: Like, the, that theoretical loss on what is… what is known to be evaded and will be in the bio, per… 465 01:18:57.920 --> 01:19:03.130 Town of Plainfield: conversations with Aria and Chaboonery, the bio coordinators, of, like, Two weeks ago. 466 01:19:04.620 --> 01:19:17.480 Town of Plainfield: And… Well, even… even… I mean, folks were abated in one tax year. We did not abate in this tax year on those properties, but those properties were taxed 467 01:19:17.670 --> 01:19:28.069 Town of Plainfield: At a much reduced Level. Yes, that is, like… so, like, if… if no value had shrunk. 468 01:19:28.180 --> 01:19:38.410 Town of Plainfield: Right? In that abatement in 24, right? You would see, like, they would be generating more revenue for the municipality. Right. 469 01:19:38.950 --> 01:19:39.930 Town of Plainfield: Okay. 470 01:19:41.190 --> 01:19:42.430 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, it's good work. 471 01:19:45.750 --> 01:19:47.540 Town of Plainfield: And what else were you gonna ask her about? 472 01:19:51.550 --> 01:19:53.019 Town of Plainfield: You have audits. 473 01:19:55.090 --> 01:19:57.500 Town of Plainfield: Is that the next item? Yeah. 474 01:19:58.030 --> 01:20:02.690 Town of Plainfield: This was the only proposal we got, the deadline was the 15th. 475 01:20:03.040 --> 01:20:15.669 Town of Plainfield: we should take it and get on with it, and the, we are obligated to do it under the terms of the borrowing for that, 476 01:20:15.890 --> 01:20:26.410 Town of Plainfield: That emergency MCRF loan, And… the, 477 01:20:27.700 --> 01:20:34.830 Town of Plainfield: You know, we circulated the proposal, multiple locations, and, the… 478 01:20:35.400 --> 01:20:44.469 Town of Plainfield: you know, and I've called a couple of… talked to other, municipalities about the audit, and, 479 01:20:45.130 --> 01:20:53.030 Town of Plainfield: like, municipal finance, folks at, the LCT, and everybody seems to be like, yeah, good. 480 01:20:53.240 --> 01:21:00.850 Town of Plainfield: And so, I, I would, I would recommend the Select Board approves that, 481 01:21:01.000 --> 01:21:05.680 Town of Plainfield: proposal is just so I can hurry up and get it, get it going. 482 01:21:06.410 --> 01:21:14.460 Town of Plainfield: Because we've… It is an important piece in… to get… 483 01:21:14.650 --> 01:21:20.539 Town of Plainfield: In place and going so that we can, re-up that… that flow. 484 01:21:20.740 --> 01:21:21.770 Town of Plainfield: MCRF. 485 01:21:26.390 --> 01:21:49.329 Town of Plainfield: Question? Yes. So you gave us this for 2025, would be $32,500 for the current… for the year that's already done, and we would do that this year, and then the next two numbers, 33,500, 34, 5, would be in the successive years. And to those numbers, we would add the federal single audit, which would be required, that's… which is another roughly 7,000. 486 01:21:51.730 --> 01:21:54.759 Town of Plainfield: 7 or 4, 7 plus 4, maybe 11. 487 01:21:56.180 --> 01:21:58.509 Town of Plainfield: Depending on how they break up the federal funds. 488 01:21:58.660 --> 01:22:08.390 Town of Plainfield: In your response to my email about the vacancies of the audit positions on the webpage. 489 01:22:08.960 --> 01:22:26.130 Town of Plainfield: You said we're… inside of the statute, we're required to fill those positions unless we, as a town, change that. Would you recommend that we do that? That we eliminate the auditors as appointed slash elected positions, and go to permanently paying for audit? 490 01:22:31.620 --> 01:22:32.880 Town of Plainfield: we… 491 01:22:34.310 --> 01:22:48.609 Town of Plainfield: like, advocating for CPA audits as the treasurer is, like, punching myself in the face. Like, because it is, like, it is a bigger, like. 492 01:22:50.020 --> 01:22:53.429 Town of Plainfield: you know, like… Ask of, like. 493 01:22:53.430 --> 01:23:17.150 Town of Plainfield: to… because it functions as a quality assurance, like, quality control against the financial officer of the town. But what quality control do we get from vacant people? None. Exactly. And… and so… but the… but… so, like, over the next 5 plus years, absolutely we should get… 494 01:23:17.150 --> 01:23:19.390 Town of Plainfield: A, professional auditor. 495 01:23:19.680 --> 01:23:24.119 Town of Plainfield: Now, one thing, if we had a copyright of auditors. 496 01:23:24.120 --> 01:23:43.670 Town of Plainfield: we could assign those auditors particular roles in the financial controls of the municipality. You guys look at this part, you folks look at that part. Right, breaking up the… breaking up the roles, you essentially want to have a triangle of, like, activities so that, 497 01:23:43.970 --> 01:24:02.489 Town of Plainfield: So that, you know, the person who was writing the checks, approving the invoices, reconciling the, the accounts, the auditor, the auditor for a municipality isn't strictly an auditor in the, sense of, like, how you think of it in, 498 01:24:02.850 --> 01:24:18.030 Town of Plainfield: Like, doing a… Okay. You don't have to answer that question tonight. I think you've answered it sufficiently, and I think also, you know, we need to recognize the fact that this town has gone through a significant change in staffing. 499 01:24:18.270 --> 01:24:33.869 Town of Plainfield: You know, we're… we're several town clerks away from the last kind of real audit we had here. And so, you know… Yeah, yeah. So, I think, you know, we are quite prudent. 500 01:24:33.980 --> 01:24:57.850 Town of Plainfield: to have a professional audit at this point in time with the new people in place, with the new bookkeeping in place, to say, okay, clean slate, here we go, here we are moving forward. And we're going to need this federal single audit and the professional audits for the federal highways and FEMA stuff for the next couple of years anyway. At that point, if I'm hearing you, maybe we can go back to 501 01:24:58.290 --> 01:25:02.379 Town of Plainfield: elect… locally elected and appointed folks. What I'm saying is. 502 01:25:02.820 --> 01:25:14.989 Town of Plainfield: The locally elected and or appointed folks can fulfill a role in the financial… Robustness of the town. 503 01:25:14.990 --> 01:25:38.200 Town of Plainfield: even though we have these audits that are required of us by institutions? I think what might be helpful for the website, because we are going to still have vacancies that we need to appoint, is that if we had a little blurb, you know, a sentence or two, because I think just to say, we need an auditor, someone looks and says, well, I'm not an auditor. 504 01:25:38.200 --> 01:25:41.390 Town of Plainfield: And, like, the discussion goes no further. 505 01:25:41.440 --> 01:25:51.739 Town of Plainfield: you know, I think we need to say, hey, you can do this. There are ample descriptions, resources, and elaborations available from 506 01:25:51.900 --> 01:25:56.370 Town of Plainfield: BLCT that, you can lean into. 507 01:25:56.820 --> 01:25:58.700 Town of Plainfield: Okay. Okay. 508 01:25:58.850 --> 01:26:09.549 Town of Plainfield: Well, with that in mind, I would move that we accept the, Sullivan and Powers, proposal for auditing. I still get that. 509 01:26:10.270 --> 01:26:16.370 Town of Plainfield: Any further discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. 510 01:26:17.140 --> 01:26:27.490 Town of Plainfield: for unanimous. So you're going to activate that process? Yeah, so then we'll get a… 511 01:26:27.790 --> 01:26:36.889 Town of Plainfield: contrast and bring that to the next agenda. What I'm hearing you say, too, is that we can… we can still use those volunteers. 512 01:26:37.310 --> 01:26:43.620 Town of Plainfield: to help us as in the management role. But we are going to need professional 513 01:26:43.930 --> 01:26:50.500 Town of Plainfield: review for the sake of the state and the feds. Like, absent, 514 01:26:51.180 --> 01:26:57.250 Town of Plainfield: Another component person in a… in a financial wall in the office. 515 01:26:58.850 --> 01:27:02.259 Town of Plainfield: Those are the choice. Yep. 516 01:27:02.570 --> 01:27:23.510 Town of Plainfield: Last year, we appointed two people, like, at the last possible moment. Just so we could get the town report mailed out for town meeting. Yeah. You know, so it would be really good if we could get somebody in before then. Any appointment expires on… 517 01:27:23.510 --> 01:27:24.490 Town of Plainfield: 10 minutes. 518 01:27:24.940 --> 01:27:25.740 Town of Plainfield: Yep. 519 01:27:26.150 --> 01:27:28.140 Town of Plainfield: Okay. 520 01:27:28.740 --> 01:27:38.979 Town of Plainfield: Okay, thank you for that. Thank you. Anything else that you want to bring forward? Not in my brain right now. 521 01:27:39.620 --> 01:27:43.039 Town of Plainfield: Sounds like your brain is pretty full. 522 01:27:43.350 --> 01:27:47.960 Town of Plainfield: Okay, the ADA grievance proceed… 523 01:27:49.110 --> 01:27:54.769 Town of Plainfield: Procedure? Alicia. Somebody say something? Oh. Is that you, Alicia? 524 01:27:54.770 --> 01:28:01.280 Alicia Weiss. VT: It is… I just had to let my dog out, so, 525 01:28:02.170 --> 01:28:11.960 Alicia Weiss. VT: When we met with Kendra LaRoche of the Special Needs Support Center, one of the pieces we discussed was 526 01:28:11.960 --> 01:28:25.160 Alicia Weiss. VT: the necessity for the town and the advisability, in a protective sense, to have a, grievance procedure posted, an ADA grievance procedure posted on the town website. 527 01:28:25.500 --> 01:28:27.000 Alicia Weiss. VT: And, 528 01:28:27.140 --> 01:28:44.040 Alicia Weiss. VT: there's fairly standard boilerplate language for this. Dawn Fancher and Mary Late are also here, so they can chime in as needed. We looked… we looked at it, and because of 529 01:28:44.080 --> 01:28:52.469 Alicia Weiss. VT: Our capacity, and also trying to, you know, as a small town, and also trying to think about 530 01:28:53.140 --> 01:29:15.319 Alicia Weiss. VT: delays that may occur in the ability of somebody with a disability to file a complaint. We recommended extending, some of the timelines. You know, it's a multi-stage process. You need to submit the complaint, and then we need to respond, and originally it was with… as a town, within 15 531 01:29:15.710 --> 01:29:23.150 Alicia Weiss. VT: I don't want to recap what I… what I already sent you. And, 532 01:29:23.990 --> 01:29:35.140 Alicia Weiss. VT: we need to meet with the person within 15 days, and it just all seemed a little… however we go about this, it seemed difficult for a town of this size. I mean, this is sort of… 533 01:29:35.550 --> 01:29:49.349 Alicia Weiss. VT: crafted with, I think, the assumption of a larger entity, so we recommended extending, doubling those, calendar days, but another piece of that was that, you know, there are two 534 01:29:49.480 --> 01:30:03.360 Alicia Weiss. VT: key roles here, an ADA coordinator, which, the entity, municipal entity, is supposed to have, and a city manager, county commissioner, slash other appropriate high-level official. 535 01:30:03.380 --> 01:30:11.280 Alicia Weiss. VT: to whom appeals would go if the ADA coordinator wasn't able to resolve 536 01:30:11.310 --> 01:30:15.019 Alicia Weiss. VT: The matter to the satisfaction of the complainant. 537 01:30:16.090 --> 01:30:35.049 Alicia Weiss. VT: And typically, that, upper-level entity is someone to whom the ADA coordinator reports. That's just generally how it goes. Originally, there had been some discussion about, well. 538 01:30:35.070 --> 01:30:36.600 Alicia Weiss. VT: Should the… 539 01:30:37.200 --> 01:30:50.109 Alicia Weiss. VT: Accessibility Advisory Committee as a whole, serve in the role of the ADA coordinator, because it does require, expertise, with 540 01:30:50.110 --> 01:30:57.469 Alicia Weiss. VT: Title II training, and we weren't aware of anyone, nor was Kendra LaRoche the… 541 01:30:57.470 --> 01:31:10.330 Alicia Weiss. VT: Special Needs Support Center aware of anyone on staff with Title… extensive Title II training, but when we met and talked about that piece, Dawn raised some 542 01:31:10.330 --> 01:31:21.129 Alicia Weiss. VT: very good issues, which, I mean, we're all concerned with our capacity. We're a very small committee. There are three of us. We have our own health issues. 543 01:31:21.130 --> 01:31:37.060 Alicia Weiss. VT: And these are time-limited processes, but aside from capacity, one of the questions that got raised is, do we, as… I mean, we're merely an advisory committee. We don't have any decision-making authority. Do we have the necessary authority 544 01:31:37.060 --> 01:31:42.790 Alicia Weiss. VT: To handle complaints, to, in the words of the, 545 01:31:42.910 --> 01:31:51.230 Alicia Weiss. VT: The policy or the procedure, explain the position of the town, and offer options for substantive resolution of the complaint. 546 01:31:51.230 --> 01:31:57.709 Town of Plainfield: What did you, what did you discuss, as options, if it wasn't the committee? 547 01:31:57.710 --> 01:32:06.950 Alicia Weiss. VT: If it isn't, yeah, if it isn't the committee, as I noted in the memo I sent you, the other option is to have someone on staff 548 01:32:07.180 --> 01:32:09.930 Alicia Weiss. VT: trained, 549 01:32:10.490 --> 01:32:29.749 Alicia Weiss. VT: fairly extensively, with Title II, about Title II requirements, and assign that duty to a staff member. That might also, in some ways, be cleaner, because, you know, as volunteers and residents of the town, I… 550 01:32:30.150 --> 01:32:34.900 Alicia Weiss. VT: wonder if… In the case of a contentious, 551 01:32:35.250 --> 01:32:48.510 Alicia Weiss. VT: claim or complaint, and what is viewed as an unfavorable recommendation or resolution from us, if there's, if there might be 552 01:32:48.790 --> 01:33:06.749 Alicia Weiss. VT: you know, the question of conflict of interest. Is someone someone's friend or not someone's friends? I think that's endemic to just having… being a small town at any rate, but the other option is getting someone on staff trained and assigning this piece to them. 553 01:33:09.270 --> 01:33:21.519 Town of Plainfield: Okay, yep, that's, yeah, that's gonna be difficult, probably, just to find, but but I can understand that that would be the best, probably. Right. 554 01:33:21.520 --> 01:33:34.369 Alicia Weiss. VT: Also, the, you know, it's not a matter of someone just coming up with a suggested resolution off of the top of their head. Typically, whether it's about 555 01:33:34.390 --> 01:33:54.300 Alicia Weiss. VT: Town meetings, whether it's about, facilities, whether it's about some other function of the town, to even make recommendations about a resolution is going to require significant back and forth, probably, with other town officers and entities. 556 01:33:54.610 --> 01:33:55.510 Town of Plainfield: Yep. 557 01:33:55.510 --> 01:33:56.070 Alicia Weiss. VT: Yeah. 558 01:33:56.190 --> 01:34:12.690 Town of Plainfield: When I read it through, I thought that the, changing times was logical and good recommendation. There weren't too many other changes that I saw from the, kind of, the format that you started with. Right. Yeah. All right. 559 01:34:12.690 --> 01:34:31.069 Alicia Weiss. VT: And the other recommendation would be that in the role of city manager, county commissioner, etc, that the… to handle appeals, that the Select Board would handle that, just because at the point that it reaches an appeal, and I don't think it's… I don't think we're going to get a lot of these 560 01:34:31.070 --> 01:34:35.080 Alicia Weiss. VT: Complaints? Knock on, would hear… 561 01:34:35.310 --> 01:34:39.210 Alicia Weiss. VT: But I think that once you get someone 562 01:34:39.210 --> 01:35:01.900 Alicia Weiss. VT: who has been offered in good faith, some suggestions, some options. If that cannot be reconciled, that's the case at which you really tend to need, in my experience, for handling, complaints and Office for Civil Rights complaints, that's when you need to direct access to legal counsel, which the Select Board has. 563 01:35:01.900 --> 01:35:04.469 Alicia Weiss. VT: So, I don't think you'd be… 564 01:35:05.140 --> 01:35:23.090 Alicia Weiss. VT: increasing your workload dramatically by taking on that role. Again, I don't think we're gonna get a lot of these complaints. I don't think that… if we do, I don't think… if we get complaints, I think they're gonna be probably resolved by, fairly obvious mechanisms. 565 01:35:23.590 --> 01:35:35.400 Alicia Weiss. VT: But in the case, you know, you get something where it's really contentious, or to be somewhat cynical, what an attorney friend of mine used to call… 566 01:35:35.400 --> 01:35:46.730 Alicia Weiss. VT: call, well, at this point, it's an attempt at a money grab. You want someone, who handles the appeal, who can pick up the phone and talk to an attorney. 567 01:35:47.360 --> 01:35:49.889 Alicia Weiss. VT: So that was the rationale behind that piece. 568 01:35:49.890 --> 01:36:03.749 Town of Plainfield: Can I ask the board, for thoughts on this? Yeah, I'm remembering our meeting with Kendra, who, kind of articulated the import of having this 569 01:36:04.600 --> 01:36:06.109 Town of Plainfield: grievance procedure. 570 01:36:06.110 --> 01:36:29.299 Town of Plainfield: She seemed to suggest that the most important thing was to, like, have a method, have a method for people with concerns or problems about, ADA compliance to get the messages where they need to go. And so, I think where I'm at is, I think we can call 571 01:36:29.300 --> 01:36:46.199 Town of Plainfield: this, like, a provisional entry, and I think the simplest, low-hanging fruit for provision… for entry here is for the Accessibility Committee to be named as the ADA coordinator, and the Select Board to be named as the… 572 01:36:46.420 --> 01:37:03.589 Town of Plainfield: city commissioner, whatever, role. Right. And I think that gets us off the ground, that gets us into compliance, that furthers the effort, and in terms of employees who could eventually, sit for the training. 573 01:37:03.590 --> 01:37:08.090 Town of Plainfield: that Alicia mentioned, you know, I know we are… 574 01:37:08.220 --> 01:37:33.049 Town of Plainfield: town staff is still in question. Do we have a town administrator? If we did, that would be a role that I would, offer as a potentially good one to have taken that training. And then otherwise, for the feedback, for the grievance procedure, some… a note from Jamie Hammock of the town office, and one that I do 575 01:37:33.050 --> 01:37:40.220 Town of Plainfield: and one that I agree with, is simply to change the, his, her language to their language. 576 01:37:40.220 --> 01:37:41.320 Alicia Weiss. VT: Oh, sure, yeah. 577 01:37:41.550 --> 01:37:54.989 Town of Plainfield: inclusivity. Yep. But otherwise, that's my thoughts. Thank you very much. I think that's a… yeah, thank you for this, and I don't know if the board wants to act on this, but I think your logic is sound for me. 578 01:37:55.090 --> 01:38:03.439 Town of Plainfield: Have the committee do an initial review, because they're aware of the regulations, and then have the board 579 01:38:03.620 --> 01:38:07.959 Town of Plainfield: review on a second level, if it's necessary. Yeah. 580 01:38:08.060 --> 01:38:13.560 Town of Plainfield: My thought, my thought is that, without this. 581 01:38:15.030 --> 01:38:34.910 Town of Plainfield: what do people do? They're gonna call the town clerk's office, you know, make a complaint, you know, Graham will give us a report of the town clerk's report, and it'll come to the select board anyway. This at least puts a skeleton out there that everyone can see and relate to. 582 01:38:34.910 --> 01:38:39.589 Town of Plainfield: And we go with that. So, you used the term provisional or whatever. I think… 583 01:38:39.590 --> 01:38:42.600 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. Yeah. I'm seeing Don's hand up. Yeah. 584 01:38:42.790 --> 01:38:43.730 Town of Plainfield: John? 585 01:38:44.510 --> 01:38:48.429 Dawn Fancher: Yeah, I was the one who had the concern about, 586 01:38:48.640 --> 01:38:56.919 Dawn Fancher: you know, about having the Accessibility Committee act as the ADA coordinator in this capacity, and I still do have that concern, because 587 01:38:56.920 --> 01:39:09.589 Dawn Fancher: We're just an advisory committee. We have no authority, we have limited knowledge of the inner workings of the town on a day-to-day basis, or in systems, or infrastructure. 588 01:39:09.750 --> 01:39:16.649 Dawn Fancher: And, just as much as any, more concerned citizen who pays attention a little bit more. And so, I just… 589 01:39:16.650 --> 01:39:35.230 Dawn Fancher: would, like, I kind of try to imagine what would happen, and I… I think we could imagine… we could offer, someone complaining a lot of listening, and, understanding, maybe, of what they're saying, but I don't… I… we don't have any capacity to offer any solutions, really. 590 01:39:35.560 --> 01:39:36.040 Dawn Fancher: I would add… 591 01:39:36.400 --> 01:39:49.320 Dawn Fancher: like, negotiation, you know, we can't just, like, talk with the other people in the town, like, I just… I feel like it's putting us in, like, a… like, I feel awkward about the position I would be asked to be put in if… if we were doing… 592 01:39:49.540 --> 01:39:51.999 Town of Plainfield: My sense is that the committee 593 01:39:52.720 --> 01:40:00.439 Town of Plainfield: because you're obviously passionate about this issue, is the one to hear the issue, and then present 594 01:40:00.790 --> 01:40:12.219 Town of Plainfield: that to the board, to the select board. If there's a need for a ramp somewhere, and that's an issue that you agree with, then that's the kind of thing you could bring to the select board. 595 01:40:13.730 --> 01:40:24.370 Town of Plainfield: you know, I don't think… I don't think there's anybody else in town who… who would be the best listener than your committee. It just… that's my sense of it. 596 01:40:25.130 --> 01:40:29.060 Town of Plainfield: And I think I would add, that… 597 01:40:29.800 --> 01:40:34.720 Town of Plainfield: I'm gonna hold my thought. Alicia, I see your hand. 598 01:40:34.720 --> 01:40:41.009 Alicia Weiss. VT: No, go ahead, I want to hear what… I prefer to hear what you say, because it may be… my comment might be altered by that. 599 01:40:41.010 --> 01:40:49.980 Town of Plainfield: I guess I want to invite utter transparency, Dom. If, you know, you receive a grievance, and you're like, -oh. 600 01:40:50.540 --> 01:40:51.540 Town of Plainfield: Punt. 601 01:40:52.050 --> 01:41:01.710 Town of Plainfield: You can get… you get to be transparent. I don't have capacity, I don't have the knowledge, nobody else on the committee does either. We're gonna send you right to the select board. 602 01:41:02.490 --> 01:41:07.330 Town of Plainfield: And, you know, meanwhile, as Carl just said, some of… 603 01:41:08.520 --> 01:41:21.680 Town of Plainfield: Some of the function of the grievance procedure is to feel heard, to feel acknowledged, and to feel recognized in the challenge that an individual is having in town in some kind of way. 604 01:41:21.860 --> 01:41:31.489 Town of Plainfield: And, yeah, I mean, I kind of agree that the Accessibility Committee is, might… may actually very well be an effective greeter. 605 01:41:31.590 --> 01:41:39.569 Town of Plainfield: To these people, theoretical and actual, who have grievance with facility. 606 01:41:40.940 --> 01:41:48.000 Dawn Fancher: people don't want to just be heard, they want a solution, and we… I don't think we're at all capable of offering solutions on our own. 607 01:41:48.000 --> 01:41:49.510 Town of Plainfield: I think, I think… 608 01:41:49.510 --> 01:41:52.789 Dawn Fancher: If you bring it to the Select Board, there's no mechanism in the policy for that. 609 01:41:52.790 --> 01:42:00.140 Town of Plainfield: I think what I'm asking for is the committee to bring to the Select Board the issue. 610 01:42:00.420 --> 01:42:11.360 Town of Plainfield: and with possible solutions, but you're not being asked to come up with a solution. The board doesn't want to have to rehash an entire 611 01:42:11.510 --> 01:42:25.729 Town of Plainfield: you know, we don't have the time to rehash the entire issue, but if you could consolidate it to something that says, well, we really need a ramp here, and it has to meet the ADA standard, and so on, that's something we can work with. 612 01:42:26.080 --> 01:42:29.599 Town of Plainfield: But if somebody says, well, I don't have a way to get into this building. 613 01:42:29.910 --> 01:42:44.740 Town of Plainfield: You know, now we're not trained either in how to come up with a solution. You know what I'm saying? It's like… I'd like to see a step between the Select Board and the person who has a grievance. I guess that's my point. 614 01:42:44.740 --> 01:42:52.339 Mary’s iPad: Can I… I don't have… I'm sorry, I don't have a way to… I don't know how to hold my hand up, so can I just jump in here? 615 01:42:53.640 --> 01:42:55.439 Town of Plainfield: Yes. Okay, okay. 616 01:42:55.880 --> 01:43:14.560 Mary’s iPad: I don't think I was at that meeting, because I've been sick when, Alicia and Don were talking about that, or if I was, I don't remember. But I think we can handle it, I think we can listen, I think we… we… I mean, Alicia has a wealth of knowledge of. 617 01:43:14.630 --> 01:43:15.880 Town of Plainfield: various… 618 01:43:19.450 --> 01:43:35.830 Mary’s iPad: agencies and things, if it's not anything that maybe we can handle as a town, or if we need… if it's… it's something that can be handled outside of the town, or more easily. So I… I do think we can handle it, and I do have a somewhat of an 619 01:43:35.860 --> 01:43:39.969 Mary’s iPad: knowledge of the town through water wastewater. I've been doing this forever, so… 620 01:43:40.260 --> 01:43:46.119 Mary’s iPad: I guess, Don, I don't… I don't… I think we're okay. I really do. 621 01:43:46.120 --> 01:43:59.500 Dawn Fancher: I personally am not. I don't have the capacity to be throwing something so important and so big without me being able to plan when it happens, so I might have to leave the committee, but I have to think about that a little bit more. 622 01:43:59.500 --> 01:44:04.390 Mary’s iPad: Well, you wouldn't be the only person, though. You'd be with all three of us. 623 01:44:05.300 --> 01:44:07.479 Dawn Fancher: Yeah, I'll give it some thought. 624 01:44:07.480 --> 01:44:11.850 Town of Plainfield: Go ahead, Michael. We have another thought here. 625 01:44:12.830 --> 01:44:27.819 Town of Plainfield: One of the things that can help satisfy… Can you say your name? …all of the things that have been expressed so far is just like the road complaint report that's on the website, we could have in the accessibility area of the town website 626 01:44:27.820 --> 01:44:42.989 Town of Plainfield: a form for a person to provide whatever would be the basis of their complaint. In other words, it would be just, if you see an issue and you're concerned with it, here's how to report it. They have a form there. Thank you. 627 01:44:43.620 --> 01:44:57.259 Town of Plainfield: And then that would be… that form would be gathered by the Accessibility Committee, and they would… they would pass it on to the sort board. In other words, they would be the one who would see it first, but it would be in some kind of a formalized 628 01:44:58.780 --> 01:45:05.819 Dawn Fancher: way of asking the question, so it doesn't draw a great deal of time out. The form already provides its own answers. 629 01:45:05.820 --> 01:45:22.679 Alicia Weiss. VT: Actually, we do have something like that. I just have to work out one final glitch with Josh, and the last month and a half of my life has been, really consumed, so I've not been able to do that small step, but we do have some 630 01:45:23.120 --> 01:45:28.859 Alicia Weiss. VT: like that. Already, it's… it's gonna be… once it's up, it's called the barrier 631 01:45:28.860 --> 01:45:44.080 Alicia Weiss. VT: reporting… accessibility barrier reporting form, so it can be… is it an accessibility because of practice, or because of something that's physical? We're not just talking about, you know, a tree fell in front of my wheelchair. But that 632 01:45:44.650 --> 01:45:57.400 Alicia Weiss. VT: And I think that is going to be really useful as a frontrunner, because that also offers a place for people to identify one-time incidents. 633 01:45:57.650 --> 01:46:08.290 Alicia Weiss. VT: And really, what I had included in the, that I hadn't mentioned in the memo to the Select Board is 634 01:46:08.700 --> 01:46:33.669 Alicia Weiss. VT: for this formal procedure, we want to include something that really gives people an idea of what discrimination is as it's legally understood. And discrimination isn't a one-time, sort of, what we used to, in higher ed, call a bias incident. It's systemic, so that people… people have two levels of places. You know, something happened, it was really 635 01:46:33.670 --> 01:46:43.230 Alicia Weiss. VT: offensive, I couldn't participate, they can go to the barrier reporting forum. This is for a more formal and perhaps complex and systemic 636 01:46:44.470 --> 01:46:45.050 Town of Plainfield: Piped. 637 01:46:45.050 --> 01:46:57.330 Alicia Weiss. VT: a complaint of more of a systemic discrimination or an exclusion. So, yeah, Michael, great thought. We thought great minds think alike. We're working on that as well. 638 01:46:57.400 --> 01:47:14.230 Alicia Weiss. VT: I'm not personally really concerned about, you know, the… again, I don't think we're gonna get a huge number of these. I'm not concerned about the, the knowledge capacity of dealing with this, but I think Dawn… I'm very concerned if Dawn's gonna leave the 639 01:47:14.230 --> 01:47:18.139 Alicia Weiss. VT: Excuse me, I have to close my door, I've gotta… 640 01:47:18.140 --> 01:47:20.750 Town of Plainfield: hysterical dog. 641 01:47:20.750 --> 01:47:31.590 Alicia Weiss. VT: I'm very concerned if this is gonna push Dawn to leave, because we've been trying to elicit, you know, membership, invite more membership, and, you know, three of us 642 01:47:32.230 --> 01:47:37.569 Alicia Weiss. VT: It is pretty, it's pretty slim anyway. But. 643 01:47:38.060 --> 01:47:39.230 Town of Plainfield: I, I think… 644 01:47:39.620 --> 01:47:56.920 Alicia Weiss. VT: The Title II stuff doesn't worry me, it's, it's more what Dawn brought up about, do we actually have the authority to propose solutions, or do we have to come to you guys? In other words, if we had, because 645 01:47:56.920 --> 01:48:15.160 Alicia Weiss. VT: again, we're not even a standing committee with decision-making process, so you're not too, worry the point of authority, but it does kind of concern me. If we saw that… if we saw that there was an… someone had a complaint, we 646 01:48:15.770 --> 01:48:28.699 Alicia Weiss. VT: talk to a few people in various offices, had a solution. Do we need to come to you guys anyway before we offer that solution to, the complainant? 647 01:48:28.980 --> 01:48:39.530 Town of Plainfield: I just see that we, that the board or the town clerk need a filter between somebody who has an issue and a resolution. 648 01:48:39.580 --> 01:48:52.600 Town of Plainfield: And instead of it… Yeah, and somehow, even if all it is, is understanding what the issue is, so the committee could present it to the board, that would really be a huge help. 649 01:48:52.840 --> 01:49:00.779 Town of Plainfield: Otherwise, we'll have, you know, if there's somebody with an issue, they'll come right to the board, or go right to the town clerk's office. 650 01:49:00.980 --> 01:49:10.000 Town of Plainfield: And it's not very efficient to do that, I'm afraid. And you're right that you don't have to come up with a solution. 651 01:49:10.450 --> 01:49:15.980 Town of Plainfield: And we may not be able to come up with a solution, but we can call in resources to help us. 652 01:49:16.190 --> 01:49:21.190 Town of Plainfield: And that's fine, but I really would like to see a step in between. 653 01:49:21.680 --> 01:49:23.330 Mary’s iPad: Class, can I… oh, sorry. 654 01:49:24.080 --> 01:49:40.779 Town of Plainfield: Without thinking about it in terms of authority, think about it in terms of a brainstorm. Like, you're brainstorming potential solutions. Maybe there's one, maybe there's 10 potential solutions, who knows, depending on the problem. But then, that person… 655 01:49:41.120 --> 01:49:47.950 Town of Plainfield: Filing the grievance gets the benefit of y'all putting in any, any thought. 656 01:49:48.220 --> 01:49:55.860 Town of Plainfield: And any care and concern, and then passing that on to us, if needed, for any next steps. 657 01:49:56.010 --> 01:50:03.940 Town of Plainfield: Can we do… I'd like to get this, keep this moving, but can we ask you to, 658 01:50:04.120 --> 01:50:09.099 Town of Plainfield: to go to Josh and get that, 659 01:50:09.920 --> 01:50:12.079 Town of Plainfield: that forum figured out. You said. 660 01:50:12.580 --> 01:50:23.300 Town of Plainfield: working with him on that, or even just send him something that we could put on the website that could be a first step. I think if we do this in steps. 661 01:50:23.300 --> 01:50:40.120 Town of Plainfield: We don't have to anticipate all the things that can happen that are bad, but that's a step that's really, I think, could be really useful. I think it's a good idea to have the ability for somebody who has an issue to present it, and just see what happens. 662 01:50:40.500 --> 01:50:44.479 Alicia Weiss. VT: Since I have your ears, 663 01:50:44.690 --> 01:50:53.110 Alicia Weiss. VT: I… there was some back and forth, I know, with Francis Rose about this. One of the contingencies of us having the 664 01:50:53.110 --> 01:51:08.259 Alicia Weiss. VT: disability-friendly town designation, which would bring us resources from the Special Needs Committee for, for the Title II assessment, evaluation, and planning, and also possibly 665 01:51:08.280 --> 01:51:26.829 Alicia Weiss. VT: assistance with grant making, one of the requirements was that two people under… in the office undergo some Title II train… training. And I know it wasn't clear who was gonna do it, at least two people. Has there been any 666 01:51:26.980 --> 01:51:30.229 Alicia Weiss. VT: Further thought about that? 667 01:51:31.510 --> 01:51:33.320 Town of Plainfield: I see Josh with a hand up. 668 01:51:33.860 --> 01:51:36.200 Town of Plainfield: As in, you're willing to take the training, Josh? 669 01:51:36.710 --> 01:51:41.699 Town of Plainfield: Josh is And then, yeah. 670 01:51:41.960 --> 01:51:45.529 Town of Plainfield: Have you spoken with anybody else within the town office about it? 671 01:51:46.140 --> 01:51:47.570 Town of Plainfield: This is the first I heard about it. 672 01:51:48.040 --> 01:51:49.140 Town of Plainfield: Okay. 673 01:51:51.060 --> 01:52:00.100 Town of Plainfield: Okay, well, it sounds like there's some steps we can take to get this pushed forward, and, appreciate your… your sending us out this, 674 01:52:00.520 --> 01:52:08.810 Town of Plainfield: this plan, that, that's very helpful. I mean, I guess just to acknowledge the missing piece here, perhaps, at the end of this. 675 01:52:08.810 --> 01:52:28.049 Town of Plainfield: Like, we had considered the possibility of a vote on this policy, but I guess I want to ask the Accessibility Committee, would you like us to hold off on this vote, revisit the matter until you've all had a chance to kind of, come to consensus about the parties named? 676 01:52:28.090 --> 01:52:31.090 Town of Plainfield: as the ADA coordinator. 677 01:52:35.190 --> 01:52:37.660 Mary’s iPad: I would… I think we have to talk about it. 678 01:52:38.450 --> 01:52:39.780 Town of Plainfield: Yep. Right. 679 01:52:39.780 --> 01:52:41.589 Alicia Weiss. VT: And we have an upcoming meeting. 680 01:52:42.040 --> 01:52:46.549 Dawn Fancher: I was gonna say, if I'm the only outlier, then I don't want to hold everything up, though, so… 681 01:52:48.050 --> 01:52:49.270 Dawn Fancher: It's okay. 682 01:52:49.560 --> 01:52:58.819 Town of Plainfield: I see… I see the amount of emotion present. I wanna, I guess, invite that y'all have a chance to discuss this. 683 01:52:58.820 --> 01:53:09.819 Town of Plainfield: And we can revisit this and pass this without the discussion next time, if the choice is made to go with the Accessibility Committee as the, Accessibility… 684 01:53:09.890 --> 01:53:29.469 Town of Plainfield: Advisor. Yeah. Peter? Yeah, I'm fine with not hurrying here. The Accessibility Committee is new. Yeah. This is a new effort. Our relationship with Kendra and her outfit is new, and so I don't think we have to solve everything all at once. Yeah. 685 01:53:29.780 --> 01:53:38.119 Town of Plainfield: I think we'll put this to a future meeting. I won't… I don't know which one, but future one. Thank you all. Thanks. 686 01:53:38.120 --> 01:53:38.610 Alicia Weiss. VT: Bye. 687 01:53:40.020 --> 01:53:50.660 Town of Plainfield: Okay, we gotta get a bunch of things here. Vermont, or, I mean, I'm sorry, the animal control ordinance discussion. Do we have anything about that? 688 01:53:51.160 --> 01:53:52.370 Town of Plainfield: Yes. 689 01:53:52.370 --> 01:54:15.759 Town of Plainfield: So, Graham and I have been talking with several folks, Peter Yassis on animal control, Karen Story on zoning, Valerie, Jody Velardi, excuse me, on Health Officer, and Dan on traffic and parking. Okay. Not to be confused with the other agenda item here. Yeah. And, all of us have 690 01:54:15.760 --> 01:54:25.180 Town of Plainfield: communicated with Trevor Whipple from the League of Cities and Town, former Barrie City Police Chief, who's the consultant on the municipal ticketing thing. 691 01:54:25.390 --> 01:54:28.250 Town of Plainfield: we have… made… 692 01:54:28.360 --> 01:54:44.989 Town of Plainfield: a different amount of progress on each of those four fronts. Okay. Right? It's not all happening at once. I had thought that we would get close to the Animal Control Office. Where we are at the moment is we have a current ordinance 693 01:54:45.180 --> 01:54:54.030 Town of Plainfield: which has a progressive finding system with a waiver system in it. It also has a clause that allows the… 694 01:54:54.190 --> 01:55:05.490 Town of Plainfield: animal control officer to go on private property, which is a viola… constitutional violation of privacy rights, and, the, league 695 01:55:05.490 --> 01:55:25.079 Town of Plainfield: Trevor Whipple says, your ordinance probably worked, but you should probably get rid of that piece. He also then sent us a model ordinance, which the league sends out to all towns, and I just got that, and I'm doing a crosswalk, and the last communication I sent out to Bram and Peter was. 696 01:55:25.410 --> 01:55:28.140 Town of Plainfield: Which approach would you rather us take? 697 01:55:28.410 --> 01:55:51.690 Town of Plainfield: taking the current ordinance and adjusting it, or adopting the model and making sure we crosswalk. And I started doing a crosswalk, and one of the things I noticed is that the model ordinances for dog and wolf hybrids, whereas ours includes chemilids, if I'm pronouncing that correct, which would be like llamas, for example. So it's not just a dog and, 698 01:55:51.690 --> 01:56:16.610 Town of Plainfield: Wolf hybrid. So, I think we have to look and see there. So, I would appreciate… and I sent that out to Peter Yassis a few days ago, and haven't heard anything back. Okay. So, we don't have anything to bring to you tonight, except that update, and to say, do you have a preference as to which approach we take? Amending our current by taking out that offending 699 01:56:16.610 --> 01:56:20.680 Town of Plainfield: Clause, or adopting the model, bringing over 700 01:56:20.840 --> 01:56:26.749 Town of Plainfield: whatever substantive differences there is. Is a model… oh, I'm sorry, Dan. 701 01:56:27.000 --> 01:56:42.540 Town of Plainfield: In my experience, people will find identification. Oh, sorry, Dan, catty question on possible. I have found that anytime there is a loophole in language, people will exploit that, so if the policy is worded as dog and wolf hybrid. 702 01:56:43.920 --> 01:57:01.020 Town of Plainfield: there's any number of things, we have a lot of different animals that Peter could be called to, so I think something that kind of covers the range. If we had an out-of-control llama, then that wouldn't cover it. Right. So that speaks to us bringing the substance of our current 703 01:57:01.020 --> 01:57:10.340 Town of Plainfield: policy, but not the model. The current policy does have that clause which he strongly recommended we drop. So, 704 01:57:10.440 --> 01:57:18.330 Town of Plainfield: it sounds… Dan, at least, you know, seems to be suggesting the guidance is, stick with our current 705 01:57:18.440 --> 01:57:33.350 Town of Plainfield: Because it's more inclusive, but just make sure that it, you know, follows the structural of the model policy, as opposed to taking it over to the model policy. Yeah, see, I think either way, or just take the language of what the policy applies to. 706 01:57:33.350 --> 01:57:47.869 Town of Plainfield: over to the model, because my initial read would be, if it's coming from VLCT, it's been reviewed and paired across what other people are doing, and it gives the town another… Yeah, I mean, we have a definition section, they have a definition section, they have… they have some things 707 01:57:47.920 --> 01:58:05.939 Town of Plainfield: defined later in the application section that we have in the definition, so that, you know… It sounds like, sounds like there's a little more work. It's a little more work, yeah. Well, thank you for the work so far, but it sounds like we're not going to do anything tonight. Also reminds me that I need to get you the stuff on the parking lot. 708 01:58:06.160 --> 01:58:09.680 Town of Plainfield: Okay. Yeah, and I'm gonna be away until… 709 01:58:10.210 --> 01:58:17.839 Town of Plainfield: Thanksgiving week, so… gives me time. Yeah. No trespass policy. 710 01:58:18.020 --> 01:58:33.850 Town of Plainfield: Would you like me to pull up to the animal? Just to make sure you're here, heard, Dan. Yes, please, yeah. I sent you all the documents with, an overview. With that, it was… and a lot's lost in translation, so I wanted to… 711 01:58:33.990 --> 01:58:39.379 Town of Plainfield: Communicate clearly in person that this is not meant to replace a campaign. 712 01:58:39.530 --> 01:58:50.170 Town of Plainfield: It's not meant to replace any other things we may take out as the town navigates. How do we want to handle this? Being compassionate while also 713 01:58:50.400 --> 01:58:59.830 Town of Plainfield: Taking into account very real issues and concerns over public safety, public health. This is a very limited use 714 01:59:00.000 --> 01:59:05.139 Town of Plainfield: Last Dish Resort where, in a specific circumstance. 715 01:59:05.520 --> 01:59:13.990 Town of Plainfield: It's not just that somebody's there, it's that they're there and they're presenting a clear and documented and unceasing threat to public safety. 716 01:59:14.110 --> 01:59:15.570 Town of Plainfield: for public health. 717 01:59:15.710 --> 01:59:16.700 Town of Plainfield: Ugh. 718 01:59:17.040 --> 01:59:27.089 Town of Plainfield: is an example of the gentleman who was camping in the Mill Street Park. I went by, I talked to him, he was pleasant, he was friendly, he's like, hey, I don't have anywhere to go. 719 01:59:27.760 --> 01:59:44.549 Town of Plainfield: There was no trash. There was no, you know, threatening behavior. That was one where, hey, I get it, maybe this isn't the place. If there's another place, I'd be happy to, you know, bring my car over, help you move, offer them resources for Capstone and the other stuff. 720 01:59:45.100 --> 01:59:50.250 Town of Plainfield: That is not a no trespass. 721 01:59:50.560 --> 01:59:57.929 Town of Plainfield: Now, if that individual were there in the rec field or the park and ride, like some of the ones I've encountered where 722 01:59:58.550 --> 02:00:11.059 Town of Plainfield: when I get out of the car, it smells like I'm in a sewage treatment plant. There's trash everywhere, syringes, other stuff. In one case, gentleman had… 723 02:00:11.430 --> 02:00:27.259 Town of Plainfield: Dogs barking all hours of the day and night, with verbally harassing and accosting people walking by. People were scared to come out of their house and enjoy their property. In the contact I made with them, I was greeted to a 20-minute rant. 724 02:00:27.470 --> 02:00:32.830 Town of Plainfield: about how DCFS was trafficking children, and he was gonna burn down all of them. 725 02:00:35.690 --> 02:00:43.120 Town of Plainfield: That was very entertaining. So that was one where I followed the procedure we have with parking. 726 02:00:43.270 --> 02:00:47.840 Town of Plainfield: parking ban, there's the 72-hour written notice. 727 02:00:48.570 --> 02:00:52.029 Town of Plainfield: But if you figured out, he could just move each camper a foot. 728 02:00:52.180 --> 02:00:56.430 Town of Plainfield: There was nothing else. There was no mechanism for me to… 729 02:00:56.770 --> 02:01:06.959 Town of Plainfield: do anything in regards to the people that were going. I obviously referred them to VSP. There weren't calls VSP came out, the next day. 730 02:01:07.070 --> 02:01:10.960 Town of Plainfield: And the trooper on the scene gave me a call, gave me a rundown, anything. 731 02:01:11.270 --> 02:01:12.910 Town of Plainfield: Okay, well, we don't… 732 02:01:13.080 --> 02:01:19.660 Town of Plainfield: We don't really have anything to go on, but we're gonna make it plainly clear that that written notice needs to be followed. 733 02:01:19.850 --> 02:01:22.760 Town of Plainfield: So we achieved the end goal with that. 734 02:01:23.910 --> 02:01:34.390 Town of Plainfield: Because our bluff wasn't fault. So, in that instance, as part of a progression, I stop by, I have a friendly conversation. Hey, I understand times are tough. 735 02:01:35.160 --> 02:01:41.660 Town of Plainfield: we have a parting ordinance, you know, this is not a place to stay long-term. You need help getting where you don't offer the help. 736 02:01:42.380 --> 02:01:57.299 Town of Plainfield: It's not looking like it would be moving. Written notice of violation of the bargain ordinance, then when these other things start piling on, come back and there's trash. I'm getting reports of, you know, a clear, articulable threat to public safety or public health. 737 02:01:57.560 --> 02:01:59.819 Town of Plainfield: Document names, times, reports. 738 02:02:00.270 --> 02:02:10.189 Town of Plainfield: take photos, trash, other stuff like that, presenting a thing, and that would be a case where I would come to the select board and say, hey. 739 02:02:10.500 --> 02:02:25.169 Town of Plainfield: This is impacting everybody else's ability to use public property. So this is not a blanket, you can't public on public property, it's this one individual in this specific circumstance 740 02:02:25.870 --> 02:02:30.949 Town of Plainfield: Is negatively affecting the enjoyment of that public property for everybody else. 741 02:02:32.050 --> 02:02:49.069 Town of Plainfield: issue a no trespass order, provide VSP notice of service with that, with the individual's name, etc. They log it. If they come back, or they do not leave, that's a call to VSP, and I spoke with the patrol sergeant for Berlin Barracks. 742 02:02:49.070 --> 02:02:53.910 Town of Plainfield: And he said, yes, that's something they would enforce, and it actually gives them an easy way to do so. 743 02:02:54.440 --> 02:03:04.210 Town of Plainfield: They hook it up, no trespass order, show up, person's there. So it's not the town enacting thing. 744 02:03:04.890 --> 02:03:11.810 Town of Plainfield: ordinance, or a criminal statute, or anything like that. It's already on the books in… 745 02:03:12.230 --> 02:03:24.889 Town of Plainfield: 13vsa, I think, 3705, that deals with trespassing. Municipalities have the same authority as a private landowner. There's just constitutional concerns. So in my conversation with 746 02:03:25.510 --> 02:03:34.540 Town of Plainfield: Trevor and, the VLCT attorney, it was one of those that said, you are 100% right. Everything here is… 747 02:03:34.660 --> 02:03:35.950 Town of Plainfield: Buy the book. 748 02:03:36.160 --> 02:03:42.460 Town of Plainfield: And it… it boils down to one of those things, just because you can, doesn't mean you should. 749 02:03:42.920 --> 02:03:53.729 Town of Plainfield: There were two cases in particular, the most recent one out of Newport, where a town official issued a no-trespass order to an individual, has history with the town. 750 02:03:54.930 --> 02:04:10.009 Town of Plainfield: for something that was a first offense, that he was threatening, town workers at a campground, so they no trespassed him from that property, and a property a mile away that he wasn't at. So, due to that broad nature of it. 751 02:04:10.120 --> 02:04:20.710 Town of Plainfield: One of the other things they didn't have was an appeal process. If you look at the document I sent with the Notice of Trespass, it follows case law, and all the relevant guidance. 752 02:04:21.080 --> 02:04:29.680 Town of Plainfield: Here is this. Here is the length of time. You have 7 days to appeal to the Select Board. We'll then hold a hearing within 14 days, stage your case. 753 02:04:30.290 --> 02:04:31.420 Town of Plainfield: So… 754 02:04:32.630 --> 02:04:39.920 Town of Plainfield: It's kind of one of those things, you can be right, or you can be happy, we could be right, but does the town want to… 755 02:04:40.350 --> 02:04:42.229 Town of Plainfield: Take a chance that… 756 02:04:42.500 --> 02:04:52.890 Town of Plainfield: Somebody decides to make an issue of it, and engage their town in litigation over constitutional issues. I'm a huge believer in constitutional freedoms myself. 757 02:04:53.220 --> 02:04:56.460 Town of Plainfield: I think that the way the… 758 02:04:57.900 --> 02:05:15.039 Town of Plainfield: no trespass policy and all the associated things is worded. It's not saying you can't be here because we don't like you. It follows a progression where things are clearly documented to a specific instance of behavior that I feel would 100% stand up in court. 759 02:05:16.860 --> 02:05:22.290 Town of Plainfield: Even if we had it, do I see it ever needing to be used? I hope not, but it… 760 02:05:23.020 --> 02:05:27.869 Town of Plainfield: One of the things I hate since taking on this position is when I have people calling me. 761 02:05:27.970 --> 02:05:34.069 Town of Plainfield: articulating these things, and asking that I do something, and having to say, there is nothing I can do. 762 02:05:36.230 --> 02:05:43.370 Town of Plainfield: outside of, you know, I reflect back on what we went through up on Bean Road, which was a several-year process. 763 02:05:43.880 --> 02:05:46.680 Town of Plainfield: To bring people some peace. 764 02:05:47.560 --> 02:05:55.289 Town of Plainfield: And I'm not going to, when I bring up a problem, I'm always going to propose a solution, which is why I spent the time to put that together. 765 02:05:55.560 --> 02:06:06.020 Town of Plainfield: happy to answer any questions. I just felt important that I show up in person, and articulate, you know, the frame of thought and the background that went into it, and… 766 02:06:06.160 --> 02:06:12.100 Town of Plainfield: Kind of stem any… Assumption that this is a… 767 02:06:12.360 --> 02:06:20.799 Town of Plainfield: and run around a compassionate and comprehensive camping ordinance and other thing. This is a very limited thing that I hope we don't need. 768 02:06:23.620 --> 02:06:28.809 Town of Plainfield: It sounds like you made this system work without us doing… 769 02:06:29.050 --> 02:06:44.950 Town of Plainfield: Having an ordinance or anything beyond that, because… because it was a safety and health issue, and you were documenting a lot, and you were reporting, and… but… but you're also saying that that could have been called… we could have gotten called on that. 770 02:06:45.050 --> 02:06:50.009 Town of Plainfield: Is that what I'm hearing? The parking? Yeah. 771 02:06:50.400 --> 02:06:55.420 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, once a… if he would have read, because I include. 772 02:06:55.650 --> 02:07:01.319 Town of Plainfield: the text copy of the ordinance? Yes. And the, the violation? Right. 773 02:07:01.670 --> 02:07:14.270 Town of Plainfield: Oh, it says I must move it. So, if somebody just moved it forward a foot every 71 hours… Yeah. Yeah. So, we may want to modify… yeah, Graham. 774 02:07:14.530 --> 02:07:26.350 Town of Plainfield: Dan is not the only, town official who receives calls regarding these sorts of incidents. I am as well. And I can tell you right now, there are two… 775 02:07:26.480 --> 02:07:29.580 Town of Plainfield: very difficult situations. 776 02:07:29.830 --> 02:07:34.599 Town of Plainfield: that are ongoing. One has been ongoing for 5 years. 777 02:07:35.510 --> 02:07:39.540 Town of Plainfield: And, it is incredibly frustrating. 778 02:07:39.830 --> 02:07:44.960 Town of Plainfield: To really just tell… You know, decent… 779 02:07:44.960 --> 02:08:03.530 Town of Plainfield: people who are just going about their business that, well, there's nothing I can do. And I've been saying that for years. Well, we had Louis Scott here last time, right? We had Louis Scott here last time. Yeah, that's one of them. That was kind of our… There's another situation that drags on and on and on. Yeah. So what can we… what… 780 02:08:03.820 --> 02:08:07.470 Town of Plainfield: What would you recommend that this board do that would help you? 781 02:08:07.660 --> 02:08:16.579 Town of Plainfield: Well, I think that, obviously, there are pitfalls in terms of litigation. 782 02:08:16.760 --> 02:08:17.950 Town of Plainfield: that… 783 02:08:18.430 --> 02:08:31.459 Town of Plainfield: pursuing no trespass orders involved. But I think in the hands of people who are doing the work, i.e. documenting 784 02:08:31.710 --> 02:08:36.760 Town of Plainfield: That it could be a tool in our toolbox 785 02:08:36.820 --> 02:08:56.619 Town of Plainfield: that we might employ in drastic situations. But I think it's obviously something that, there needs to be a case-by-case formal discussion, and the confidence of the Select Board that we have crossed our T's and dotted our I's in terms of 786 02:08:56.880 --> 02:09:03.429 Town of Plainfield: making this proposal. This isn't a casual thing, but, there, there are… 787 02:09:03.720 --> 02:09:09.069 Town of Plainfield: A number of things, you know. 788 02:09:09.820 --> 02:09:14.390 Town of Plainfield: Pick their poison in terms of, people feeling… 789 02:09:14.660 --> 02:09:32.649 Town of Plainfield: that, you know, we're not doing anything. Yeah. And that's really an erosion… I mean, I think it's great that Dan took this approach, and in this one instance, it worked, but there are two other instances where it's really not working. Not gonna work, yeah. 790 02:09:32.770 --> 02:09:45.650 Town of Plainfield: So we need… we need to have the language that will help make it work, I guess. Yeah. In the conversation with BLCT's attorney today, he said. 791 02:09:46.130 --> 02:09:51.450 Town of Plainfield: Like, frankly, if you guys don't doubt this, I'm gonna steal this package, and… 792 02:09:51.850 --> 02:09:58.219 Town of Plainfield: Right, you might have another job, so it's there. What I would… what I would recommend as a next step is, have a discussion 793 02:09:58.590 --> 02:10:10.060 Town of Plainfield: I know Trevor and the, their attorney, Justin, after I followed up with them, they said, hey, their main thing was, the first question to answer is, would BSP even enforce this? 794 02:10:10.320 --> 02:10:16.009 Town of Plainfield: Because if you're gonna take on the prospect of putting this thing on the books. 795 02:10:16.690 --> 02:10:27.979 Town of Plainfield: If they're not going to respond to enforce a no trespass order, then you're kind of just spinning wheels. What's the point, yeah. So, after that conversation, I had a conversation with PSP, and then… yeah. 796 02:10:28.630 --> 02:10:30.850 Town of Plainfield: No problem. Okay. So… 797 02:10:31.380 --> 02:10:39.979 Town of Plainfield: I relayed that to them, and I said, alright, well, we're gonna talk pretty about. So I would recommend that, the select board or the designees talk to them, and… 798 02:10:40.390 --> 02:10:41.879 Town of Plainfield: Get a sense of… 799 02:10:43.620 --> 02:11:00.810 Town of Plainfield: Should this be something we use? Like I said, it wouldn't be first choice, it would just be something in the back pocket. For those extreme conditions or situations that you can run into, or could run into. If nothing else. 800 02:11:01.600 --> 02:11:03.809 Town of Plainfield: One of the points they brought up was. 801 02:11:04.780 --> 02:11:16.659 Town of Plainfield: Well, case law notice that if something's rising to the cause of you needing to go trespassing, there's other criminal acts associated there, disorderly conduct. 802 02:11:16.860 --> 02:11:23.709 Town of Plainfield: threats, verbal abuse, something like that, so that should be the mechanism to get them there. My point to that was. 803 02:11:24.160 --> 02:11:28.390 Town of Plainfield: OKPSP has, say, 4 troopers on shift covering… 804 02:11:29.850 --> 02:11:37.020 Town of Plainfield: a guy in a camper yelling at people walking by in Plainfield, that's a big deal to us. 805 02:11:38.090 --> 02:11:41.270 Town of Plainfield: Not necessarily, dude, it just… 806 02:11:41.640 --> 02:11:54.450 Town of Plainfield: There's vehicle crashes, there's felonies, there's this, there's that. But the no trespass order violation is a clear cut. There is a crime being committed here, it's documented. 807 02:11:54.930 --> 02:12:03.750 Town of Plainfield: I, he, whoever witnessing, I know for a fact this person has no trespass order, they are here trespassing. They look it up in their system. 808 02:12:03.910 --> 02:12:05.530 Town of Plainfield: That's an instant. 809 02:12:06.890 --> 02:12:13.240 Town of Plainfield: Even if they can cite them for it, they cannot, but it provides a response for that contact. 810 02:12:13.650 --> 02:12:15.990 Town of Plainfield: And, you know, in the case of… 811 02:12:16.980 --> 02:12:26.449 Town of Plainfield: people under the influence of substances, such as the last one that gets BSP there, who have way more power than I do. And so… 812 02:12:27.170 --> 02:12:36.340 Town of Plainfield: as part of that contact, drug paraphernalia in open view, open container in the cargo, it gives them a thread to pull at. 813 02:12:36.450 --> 02:12:43.350 Town of Plainfield: to utilize law enforcement power, which the town does not have, and that was my counterpoint. Yes, there's a crime being committed, but we don't have a police department. 814 02:12:44.640 --> 02:12:55.039 Town of Plainfield: You've got a bald guy who has conversations with people. So, anyway… Very effectively, I might add. When those fail, here's a way I can get… Yeah. 815 02:12:56.320 --> 02:13:12.960 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, first I want to thank you. It's like a solid plan. I appreciate your creation of the plan itself, the addition of a strategy that can help break stalemates. It seems like there are stalemates that arise, and it's nice to be able to 816 02:13:13.280 --> 02:13:17.480 Town of Plainfield: Move… a thing forward. 817 02:13:17.790 --> 02:13:34.909 Town of Plainfield: Three questions. Well, I guess one is an acknowledgement, yes, I hear that we need to talk to Vermont State Police. Will they respond to a no trespass ordinance being issued? Oh, I already talked to them, they will. They will. Okay, you already did that. 818 02:13:35.030 --> 02:13:59.480 Town of Plainfield: And I guess, is this, what I heard from Bram, a friendly amendment around adding to the policy that you've created to add a step where there is a select board confirmation, where the constable is seeking from us a confirmation to go ahead with the trespass ordinance? Or no, sorry, is that… The notice of trespass. The notice of trespass? I think that would be smart, at least in the interim. 819 02:13:59.480 --> 02:14:05.060 Town of Plainfield: Because then, it's not just… Maybe? Hmm. Oh, I think that's it. 820 02:14:05.320 --> 02:14:19.849 Town of Plainfield: I have to come to the Select Board, and that could be via email, it could be in person, it could be a Zoom call of, hey, I'm requesting this, and here's why. Considering timeliness, I think setting it up so that email is okay. 821 02:14:19.850 --> 02:14:28.539 Town of Plainfield: I would agree with that, yeah, because if you wait for a select board meeting, the issue could be gone. It would be as a, hey. 822 02:14:29.060 --> 02:14:40.770 Town of Plainfield: Here's the thing, I'm requesting this, that way it's not just one person, I have to make a case and convince 5 other people that this is a thing. And one last piece here. 823 02:14:40.770 --> 02:15:04.809 Town of Plainfield: Is there such a thing as litigation insurance? Can we get insurance as a town, so in case we get taken to court about any of this? I can look into it. That'd be great. The other thing, just… I think email, obviously, in terms of expediency, would be great, except we have an open meeting. Open meeting, yeah. And it would violate that. So, what I would say is perhaps the Select Board might designate 824 02:15:05.120 --> 02:15:22.079 Town of Plainfield: one member to, listen to this, and I won't know. Or a two-person… two of us? Well, two-person… yeah, that would be okay, too. That would be okay. I like two people. Per the policy, once the select board 825 02:15:22.510 --> 02:15:30.719 Town of Plainfield: establishes an authorized official, which would be me or the town clerk. In actuality, me going and doing the thing. 826 02:15:31.130 --> 02:15:35.959 Town of Plainfield: that adding that layer onto it is not necessary. That's a… 827 02:15:36.080 --> 02:15:40.839 Town of Plainfield: I think it's smart to go above and beyond, so if… 828 02:15:41.030 --> 02:15:52.249 Town of Plainfield: So, it would help you… It would… to have another backing. And it would help the town. Yeah. Because, again, if I can't convince 829 02:15:52.370 --> 02:15:58.509 Town of Plainfield: one or two members of the Select Board, Right. That this makes sense. 830 02:15:59.400 --> 02:16:12.790 Town of Plainfield: then I'm not making a coherent argument, or there's not enough evidence to substantiate that. Also, it ensures that it's not just me, that other people have a clear sense of, here is what is going on. 831 02:16:12.890 --> 02:16:18.650 Town of Plainfield: Considering that we're acknowledging the diciness of pressing this button. 832 02:16:18.820 --> 02:16:28.760 Town of Plainfield: I appreciate the opportunity for some portion of this board to weigh in on the decision before it's taken. Yeah. 833 02:16:30.230 --> 02:16:33.409 Town of Plainfield: My question they gotta ask, is there any… 834 02:16:34.049 --> 02:16:40.950 Town of Plainfield: recourse for these people? Is there any help? Is there any… I mean, they're gonna… 835 02:16:41.209 --> 02:16:47.949 Town of Plainfield: I have, in many cases, the cases, the two cases that I'm thinking of in particular. 836 02:16:48.459 --> 02:16:52.080 Town of Plainfield: I have had discussions with Washington County Mental Health. 837 02:16:52.430 --> 02:17:03.930 Town of Plainfield: And that has not proved to be particularly effective. Because, I mean, we're… we're trying to get these people out of the situation, yes, but where are they going to go? Where… 838 02:17:05.270 --> 02:17:08.999 Town of Plainfield: They're gonna bring themselves somewhere else, to wreak havoc somewhere else. 839 02:17:09.830 --> 02:17:20.320 Town of Plainfield: This isn't specific to homelessness. There is one individual who's engaging in continuous antisocial behavior 840 02:17:20.730 --> 02:17:26.530 Town of Plainfield: And he's mentally ill. I did hear that, I did hear that, and I want to know… 841 02:17:26.799 --> 02:17:43.819 Town of Plainfield: where is he gonna go? Where are we… No, no, he can go anywhere he wants, he just has to stop doing this incredibly destructive behavior. It's not about pushing him on, it's saying, please don't do this. There are consequences right now. 842 02:17:43.990 --> 02:18:02.959 Town of Plainfield: There are no consequences for this behavior, and it's limited to specific areas. Like, you can't just say, all town property. Right, right. It has to be tied to if the accident… if the issue is that the park and ride, and that's where the person's preventing the issue. Another example I think of, 843 02:18:03.280 --> 02:18:08.690 Town of Plainfield: People ripping through… the rec field on dirt bikes. Yeah. While there's… 844 02:18:08.920 --> 02:18:11.139 Town of Plainfield: Kids' birthday party's going on. 845 02:18:12.090 --> 02:18:20.420 Town of Plainfield: Figure out who it is, you didn't necessarily catch from the axe, somebody catches a plate number, or it's going on, I get down there, I observe it, I'm a first-hand witness. 846 02:18:21.240 --> 02:18:24.120 Town of Plainfield: We can then issue a no trespass order. 847 02:18:24.400 --> 02:18:29.330 Town of Plainfield: To, hey, you cannot come and ride dirt bikes on the rec field. 848 02:18:30.379 --> 02:18:38.219 Town of Plainfield: So the next time they show up, I don't have to go down there. Any resident that sees those people. 849 02:18:38.320 --> 02:18:50.240 Town of Plainfield: can call, and reference a no trespass order, and that triggers a response. Now, are they gonna arrest the kids ripping around on dirt bikes? No, but it provides more of a mechanism to… 850 02:18:52.150 --> 02:19:07.829 Town of Plainfield: Back when I was a kid and did dumb stuff, I'd get loaded in the car and take it home to my parents and have it explain what I did. That was… I'd have rather gone to jail. But it… it provides an avenue to do something more, and again, it's… 851 02:19:08.559 --> 02:19:17.089 Town of Plainfield: It's providing a mechanism to prevent specific behavior on a specified property, not a blanket you can't be on. 852 02:19:17.840 --> 02:19:35.869 Town of Plainfield: public ground, because we don't like it. And a dirt bike would be a situation where you could check with two of the select board members, just to confirm that this makes sense, and that we would like you to proceed. Hey, just to play that one out, let's say the dirt bike thing. 853 02:19:36.629 --> 02:19:43.970 Town of Plainfield: Hey, they left the rec field, I went this way. I go down, I see a resident's got a ring doorbell camera. 854 02:19:44.160 --> 02:19:55.459 Town of Plainfield: It's the description of the bike, drag that back, post a picture of it, say, oh yeah, kid lives right down the road, so trace that back, figure out who it is, go have a conversation, hey. 855 02:19:55.840 --> 02:19:59.789 Town of Plainfield: I know it's you. There's plenty other places to ride dirt bikes. 856 02:19:59.900 --> 02:20:01.069 Town of Plainfield: Not the rec field. 857 02:20:01.770 --> 02:20:05.309 Town of Plainfield: Especially not when there's kids' birthday parties going on. Yeah. 858 02:20:05.460 --> 02:20:18.620 Town of Plainfield: this has to stop, and if not, I'm gonna have to escalate this further. Hopefully that stops it. I think just that attention is gonna stop a lot of them. But if not, and just keeps going back, then that becomes… 859 02:20:19.170 --> 02:20:27.799 Town of Plainfield: Again, that progression, yes, no trespass order, and then… Okay. Okay. Peter? I've been quiet. Yeah. 860 02:20:27.800 --> 02:20:43.899 Town of Plainfield: And, I appreciate the work Dan put into this. I've had… we've gone back and forth several emails on this, and I've had a conversation with Trevor Whipple, he asked me to give him a call, so we had a standing conversation. 861 02:20:44.070 --> 02:20:47.249 Town of Plainfield: Trevor's advice to me, after talking to the passive 862 02:20:47.360 --> 02:20:52.579 Town of Plainfield: General Counsel, which is the insurance company that we have, is don't do this. 863 02:20:53.300 --> 02:20:57.719 Town of Plainfield: He thinks it's well written, it's well done. 864 02:20:57.930 --> 02:21:06.730 Town of Plainfield: But a couple of things have come up. Getting someone to enforce will be an issue. Not so much if you have 865 02:21:06.860 --> 02:21:12.780 Town of Plainfield: somebody who's being violent and threatening, et cetera, et cetera. But someone who's… 866 02:21:12.890 --> 02:21:22.230 Town of Plainfield: Putting raw meat in the trash, or spreading trash around, or something like that, getting law enforcement to come and enforce that is not going to be a priority. 867 02:21:24.280 --> 02:21:40.339 Town of Plainfield: In terms of the dirt bikes, that's already a violation of our traffic ordinance and ordinance intent. What's missing there is the structure to apply the municipal ticketing. 868 02:21:40.340 --> 02:21:51.470 Town of Plainfield: Okay, so we can address that issue through that measure. I don't think we need a no trespass issue. I am not unsympathetic to… 869 02:21:51.490 --> 02:22:04.590 Town of Plainfield: the no trespass issue for extreme circumstances. However, I would be… ecstatic as an ACLU attorney. 870 02:22:04.700 --> 02:22:17.929 Town of Plainfield: if we were to allow anything but a full Select Board vote on a… what's the, notice… Notice of… Notice of trespass. Notice of trespass. 871 02:22:17.930 --> 02:22:36.670 Town of Plainfield: Anything less than that, I would be all over that as an ACLU attorney, challenging this. And that's who brought the case in Newport. I think I shared that with you, and Dan shared that with us. You know, the town ended up having to pay this person $30,000 plus legal fees. 872 02:22:36.720 --> 02:22:39.969 Town of Plainfield: and I am… 873 02:22:40.250 --> 02:22:47.580 Town of Plainfield: really hesitant to put us in that kind of a position where we're exposed that way. 874 02:22:48.750 --> 02:22:50.670 Town of Plainfield: So I… okay, I would… 875 02:22:51.300 --> 02:22:59.639 Town of Plainfield: I mean, I guess, may I ask you the question, can we harm reduce around this to, like, create any use of this? 876 02:22:59.770 --> 02:23:18.080 Town of Plainfield: I mean, is it worth doing if it's just 3% of the opportunities to use it? I… I don't know the answer… I don't know the answer to that question. I would say, if the majority of the Select Board wants to go ahead with this, I would certainly advise not 877 02:23:18.240 --> 02:23:20.949 Town of Plainfield: Adding the extra layer of… 878 02:23:21.330 --> 02:23:32.940 Town of Plainfield: of the select board weighing in. Oh, the two members. Would you say all five of us weighing in, or is not no weighing in? I would say we are. 879 02:23:33.020 --> 02:23:51.509 Town of Plainfield: creating huge legal exposure if it's anything less than the select… the full select board at a select board meeting. Right, right. You're saying… you're saying that… Condemn to delegate to the chair, to delegate to two, or something? I said, I… I think that… I think that's a horrible mistake. That would expose us. 880 02:23:53.400 --> 02:24:00.989 Town of Plainfield: And so, I think what Dan put together did not include that stuff, and what Trevor said was, that's well done. 881 02:24:01.010 --> 02:24:15.700 Town of Plainfield: You know, and it probably would work if you can get someone to come and enforce it, okay? But you're still going to be at risk of some litigation. And so. 882 02:24:15.700 --> 02:24:18.230 Town of Plainfield: You know, the question on balance is. 883 02:24:18.230 --> 02:24:40.920 Town of Plainfield: how do you minimize that risk? And the obvious place to minimize that is to not have that extra step added here at all. So no select 4 weighing in at all? No, just have the… have the… have the ordinance… not the ordinance, the policy, whatever… I'm not… we're not being asked to adopt an ordinance, we're being asked to approve a policy here. 884 02:24:41.050 --> 02:24:46.029 Town of Plainfield: Okay, and to say, yeah. And this was Trevor's suggestion? 885 02:24:46.550 --> 02:25:01.380 Town of Plainfield: Did you and Trevor decide this? No. This is what Trevor thought. Trevor thought we shouldn't do this. Trevor has seen everything that Dan and they've been in communication and stuff like that. So then maybe there is… 886 02:25:01.380 --> 02:25:08.710 Town of Plainfield: Some kind of decision-making metric that is written into the policy that you're using But before… 887 02:25:08.730 --> 02:25:18.460 Town of Plainfield: You would issue a notice of trespass that for whatever, violation it is being offered for. 888 02:25:18.960 --> 02:25:28.110 Town of Plainfield: one of your steps before you do that is a call to VSP asking, is this something they would go after, or not? 889 02:25:28.110 --> 02:25:40.180 Town of Plainfield: as, like, an additional, well, if they're not going to, then they're definitely not going to play this card. And what else could be in that decision-making metric if we're not involved to harm reduce 890 02:25:40.180 --> 02:25:50.140 Town of Plainfield: a finer and finer point on when it is appropriate to use this strategy. I could add that to the, compliance checklist, which already says that, you know. 891 02:25:50.270 --> 02:25:54.670 Town of Plainfield: Is everything documented? Do you have evidence? Have you gone through a progression? 892 02:25:54.960 --> 02:26:10.040 Town of Plainfield: And… I still need to have a follow-on conversation with, Justin and Trevor. Our conversation was this morning, then I spoke to BSP after, let Trevor know, hey, they said they would enforce it. 893 02:26:10.350 --> 02:26:13.640 Town of Plainfield: I don't know if that'll change your minds, and again, I… 894 02:26:13.830 --> 02:26:22.580 Town of Plainfield: have said from the beginning, this is one of those, just because we can. I don't know if we should. I think it would be effective, but I'm also cognizant of 895 02:26:23.090 --> 02:26:25.080 Town of Plainfield: The issues you brought up of, like. 896 02:26:25.580 --> 02:26:27.640 Town of Plainfield: Is the juice worth the squeeze? 897 02:26:27.890 --> 02:26:32.759 Town of Plainfield: If it's something where I could message… 898 02:26:32.860 --> 02:26:36.779 Town of Plainfield: One of the other things in my conversation with Sergeant Dulles. 899 02:26:40.340 --> 02:26:46.579 Town of Plainfield: It doesn't work if people report things to me, and I call VSP. It's hearsay, it's secondhand. 900 02:26:46.820 --> 02:26:49.850 Town of Plainfield: So, I refer you, please call VSP. 901 02:26:50.010 --> 02:26:53.040 Town of Plainfield: Which… They're not doing it. 902 02:26:53.840 --> 02:27:08.220 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, I've told several people to call DSP directly. Forgot to mention the email with my report, I do have the anonymous tip line, and I tell the police that that's better than nothing, because it at least generates an incident number. It just becomes one of those… 903 02:27:08.540 --> 02:27:17.050 Town of Plainfield: I can tell them about X issue until I'm blue in the face, based on reports from other people, but if there is not a direct report. 904 02:27:18.040 --> 02:27:23.819 Town of Plainfield: It's nothing they get from that is gonna… it's not admissible, they get… 905 02:27:24.210 --> 02:27:28.970 Town of Plainfield: So, anyway, we can get that information too, but that being said, it could be one of those 906 02:27:29.590 --> 02:27:37.640 Town of Plainfield: I get a report if I use the case of the, strange gentleman, here, right? 907 02:27:37.820 --> 02:27:48.379 Town of Plainfield: hey, I was down there, here's what I observed, this is… no good. Like, that… You have direct knowledge. That would be before I issued a no trespass on that. 908 02:27:48.700 --> 02:27:50.260 Town of Plainfield: It would be… 909 02:27:51.000 --> 02:27:59.669 Town of Plainfield: Hey, Caddy, Plainfield Constable. Let me tell you about the conversation I just had with multiple threats. Oh, it's recorded on my phone. Hmm. 910 02:27:59.810 --> 02:28:04.670 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. That's gonna mean more, probably, than I mean, that is… whatever. 911 02:28:05.060 --> 02:28:10.099 Town of Plainfield: That, I think every other method other than a no trespass. 912 02:28:10.410 --> 02:28:15.130 Town of Plainfield: would be taken if I have the ability. 913 02:28:15.460 --> 02:28:24.389 Town of Plainfield: what I'm looking at is… There's always gonna be scenarios where it's just outside the ability for me to 914 02:28:25.360 --> 02:28:34.310 Town of Plainfield: do anything else, and it becomes that last ditch, and I think if that's documented, articulated, 915 02:28:34.460 --> 02:28:37.060 Town of Plainfield: That goes a long way to it. 916 02:28:37.930 --> 02:28:45.130 Town of Plainfield: minimizing potential litigation that you're gonna have to spend money to prove you're right. So again, I'm not standing here going. 917 02:28:45.290 --> 02:28:51.419 Town of Plainfield: we should absolutely do this. I'm saying, here's what I have found, here's the conversations I've had, here's the… 918 02:28:52.330 --> 02:29:00.729 Town of Plainfield: I'm probably 30 hours into this by now, of just putting it together and looking at case law and poking holes in my own stuff, and just… 919 02:29:01.430 --> 02:29:20.469 Town of Plainfield: trying to provide some information that maybe we have something in the toolbox. Maybe we adopt it and I never use it? That'd make me happy. Can I ask a question? Yeah. Did any of you read the Newport case? Oh, I didn't read the Newport case, I read what Dan sent us. 920 02:29:20.620 --> 02:29:32.830 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, I mean, because there's a very good discussion in there from the judge about the constitutional issues in no trespass, and how so narrow and precise 921 02:29:33.270 --> 02:29:41.190 Town of Plainfield: a charge has to be to pass the test. And, you know, Newport thought that they… 922 02:29:41.190 --> 02:29:54.299 Town of Plainfield: had done it, but they had a couple of flaws in their process, you know? And, you know, I think, you know, Dan recognized them, they didn't have an appeals process in there, for example, which was one thing. But also, you know. 923 02:29:55.650 --> 02:29:59.970 Town of Plainfield: I mean, this guy had been a town employee and was fired. 924 02:29:59.970 --> 02:30:17.380 Town of Plainfield: And then was told he couldn't go to these two places. He then got a job where he was working for some environmental group doing cleanup or something, and it required him to go to one of the places he was banned from. The other was his kid, he couldn't watch the Little League games, you know, because he was banned from public home. 925 02:30:17.380 --> 02:30:23.259 Town of Plainfield: You know, what's specific in his firing from his job? 926 02:30:23.330 --> 02:30:31.300 Town of Plainfield: prevented him from not going out here. I mean, it wasn't behavior out there, you know, so… For me… 927 02:30:31.590 --> 02:30:33.590 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, no, I, I… 928 02:30:34.030 --> 02:30:43.629 Town of Plainfield: I'm thinking back to something… The Newport case is the reason for that compliance checklist, and also why there's finite dates on it. 929 02:30:43.630 --> 02:30:55.070 Town of Plainfield: Like, you're not just no trespassing somebody permanently. Yeah. The length of time is specifically tied to the severity of the behavior, and you start small. Because you're… I mean, to boil it down. 930 02:30:55.560 --> 02:30:56.949 Town of Plainfield: We're talking about… 931 02:30:57.100 --> 02:31:07.770 Town of Plainfield: public property. Where the public has a right to be. And enjoy, yeah. Yeah, you know. But the public does not have the right 932 02:31:08.330 --> 02:31:11.090 Town of Plainfield: To engage in behavior. 933 02:31:11.680 --> 02:31:27.200 Town of Plainfield: That is prohibited. That's correct. Right, so… That's why it has to be so precise. Right, but if there is a pattern of, for example, we have this mentally ill person who continually jumps food 934 02:31:28.030 --> 02:31:30.540 Town of Plainfield: In the Recfield area. 935 02:31:32.560 --> 02:31:45.489 Town of Plainfield: you know, residents suffer greatly. We had one person whose dog was injured, actually, because of that. And I really do not like… I've been handling these phone calls for 5 years. 936 02:31:46.010 --> 02:31:57.480 Town of Plainfield: And I really don't like sitting there going, well, there's nothing we can do. That that's okay. It's not okay. It's really affecting the quality of life. We have vermin issues. 937 02:31:57.480 --> 02:32:08.569 Town of Plainfield: I mean, it really creates a problem. And to simply say, you know what, somebody's throwing a little food around, what's the big deal? I think we have to say enough is enough. That's all. 938 02:32:09.570 --> 02:32:11.039 Town of Plainfield: That's my feeling about it. 939 02:32:11.210 --> 02:32:25.389 Town of Plainfield: I don't think that's okay. And I want to… I think the town ought to have everything in its toolbox to just say, you know what? It's reached the point. It's been how many years now? Half a decade of this? Enough. That's my feeling about it. 940 02:32:26.420 --> 02:32:27.920 Town of Plainfield: Will this do it? 941 02:32:28.990 --> 02:32:39.679 Town of Plainfield: Well, I mean, you know, I understand that there are grave concerns regarding liability. I understand that, but I wonder if… 942 02:32:39.830 --> 02:32:47.039 Town of Plainfield: We have a situation where we can craft something very carefully to address this problem. 943 02:32:47.270 --> 02:32:50.390 Town of Plainfield: Because it really is not really… 944 02:32:50.510 --> 02:32:55.669 Town of Plainfield: It's, you know, you can characterize it a certain way, but it's a real problem. 945 02:32:55.670 --> 02:33:19.009 Town of Plainfield: And there are probably other examples, too, but, you know, I've said in my piece. Well, I think you're the one who brought up the past, in the past, that there are certain individuals that'll take advantage of any system. Absolutely. And I've run into that in town when I was on the Select Board before. So, we do have to be very careful. On the other situation that I mentioned. 946 02:33:20.040 --> 02:33:32.399 Town of Plainfield: We have had instances where the people who are making these transgressions understand what the police reaction will be. For example, I was told 947 02:33:33.030 --> 02:33:37.940 Town of Plainfield: Flat out that there had been no reports to… 948 02:33:38.210 --> 02:33:42.280 Town of Plainfield: The police regarding a certain situation. 949 02:33:42.630 --> 02:33:48.440 Town of Plainfield: What I came to find out was, actually, there were reports to the police 950 02:33:48.800 --> 02:33:55.050 Town of Plainfield: But they did not… they pushed the person to not file an incident number. 951 02:33:55.050 --> 02:34:08.910 Town of Plainfield: Therefore, there was no record of the call. Why would they have done that? Because they don't want to… they don't want to deal with it, because they feel, you know what, go to the court directly and get a no trespass order, and we're not going to get involved. 952 02:34:09.170 --> 02:34:24.750 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. So, there's that problem, too, where… and the people who are on the other end of this know that's going to be the reaction, and what you end up with is no enforcement, and a lot of very damaged neighbors, and a wrecked community. 953 02:34:25.210 --> 02:34:36.889 Town of Plainfield: And you know, I am not Mr. Law and Order here, but I do see, time and time again, people gaming the system and creating a very unsafe environment. That's all. Yeah. 954 02:34:37.100 --> 02:34:45.340 Town of Plainfield: Yes. I'm wondering if there… I want to, credit and affirm the amount of nuance you're holding here, Dan? 955 02:34:45.620 --> 02:35:04.220 Town of Plainfield: And, you know, I'm like, I was not impressed by the last town constable and his report to us. And I would feel less comfortable with this policy in somebody else's hands, and with another harm reduction strategy we might employ, was that… is that… 956 02:35:04.420 --> 02:35:05.870 Town of Plainfield: That we are… 957 02:35:06.660 --> 02:35:23.370 Town of Plainfield: I guess, appointing the present constable with this policy, and it's not an indefinite policy, and if that's another level of security we can offer ourselves of this policy if we adopt it with a greater and greater number of 958 02:35:24.110 --> 02:35:27.220 Town of Plainfield: Refining decision-making metrics. 959 02:35:27.720 --> 02:35:31.249 Town of Plainfield: To be able to use the policy. 960 02:35:32.170 --> 02:35:47.899 Town of Plainfield: Am I making sense? Yeah. I'm just thinking as how far can you refine it? Because the more you refine it, the more you're targeting a very specific issue. But it sounds like we have a number of precedents that can focus 961 02:35:47.900 --> 02:35:55.649 Town of Plainfield: those refinements. It sounds like, I mean, even if it's a long list, it's a long list that I feel confident that you could follow. 962 02:35:55.670 --> 02:35:57.550 Town of Plainfield: Is really what I'm saying. 963 02:35:59.120 --> 02:36:03.070 Town of Plainfield: But I wouldn't necessarily trust just anybody to do that. 964 02:36:03.270 --> 02:36:03.960 Town of Plainfield: Okay. 965 02:36:04.420 --> 02:36:06.369 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, I agree with that. 966 02:36:09.070 --> 02:36:13.959 Town of Plainfield: Could we call it a provisional policy for the term of this constable? 967 02:36:19.260 --> 02:36:20.580 Town of Plainfield: I don't, nope. 968 02:36:22.190 --> 02:36:45.359 Town of Plainfield: I'm sorry? I think that's a question for our attorney. Well, I'm wondering about talking to a… maybe a… maybe an attorney from the ACLU, you know, that you mentioned. Just to see what they would do. Do you want to table this discussion for now, kind of offer the feedback back to you for further evolution of the concept and the idea? 969 02:36:45.430 --> 02:37:04.590 Town of Plainfield: and to circulate them by email to us, to vote on again. Well, just to follow up, I mean, you said you wanted to get back with Justin at, at least Cities and Towns. What is your follow-up there? So the… 970 02:37:05.810 --> 02:37:13.250 Town of Plainfield: The resolution of our call this morning was… One, there's, like… 971 02:37:14.060 --> 02:37:17.260 Town of Plainfield: There's a lot of pitfalls with this. 972 02:37:17.780 --> 02:37:20.920 Town of Plainfield: The first question that needed to be answered was. 973 02:37:22.190 --> 02:37:26.789 Town of Plainfield: would VSP… would law enforcement enforce a no trespass? 974 02:37:27.030 --> 02:37:29.019 Town of Plainfield: Order if you issued one. 975 02:37:30.040 --> 02:37:41.650 Town of Plainfield: I say, okay, I'll get an answer on that. So I went and got the answer, I relayed that back to them shortly after noon, Trevor responded, said, okay, I'll… I gotta touch base with Justin. So… 976 02:37:42.360 --> 02:37:47.919 Town of Plainfield: Penning that piece of new information, because the answer at the start of that, of that discussion was. 977 02:37:49.070 --> 02:37:58.029 Town of Plainfield: Well, I would assume they would, but I don't know for sure. So I went and asked, and yes, they would. So now I'm waiting to see if their position on that would change. 978 02:37:58.580 --> 02:38:08.420 Town of Plainfield: Are you feeling safe with the contacts that you're making? Yeah. Are you feeling physically safe? There are certain ones, 979 02:38:08.830 --> 02:38:15.980 Town of Plainfield: There are certain ones I won't do, which I feel we're all pretty clear on which situation that is, because… 980 02:38:16.610 --> 02:38:17.620 Town of Plainfield: One. 981 02:38:18.140 --> 02:38:23.259 Town of Plainfield: Not much I could do. That definitely will not be a friendly conversation. 982 02:38:24.260 --> 02:38:29.010 Town of Plainfield: yeah, it's not… 983 02:38:29.480 --> 02:38:38.439 Town of Plainfield: I don't enter into things that I don't feel I have the ability to control and influence. I'm also wired a bit differently, so… 984 02:38:39.300 --> 02:38:54.779 Town of Plainfield: while I'm smiling and engaging in conversation, before I showed up, I have everything mapped out, I know if there's any other people in any other vehicle, I've looked underneath, I see if there's feet, I'm watching face, hands, microaggressions, gestures, tone of voice. 985 02:38:55.680 --> 02:39:01.760 Town of Plainfield: all of those things I've picked up over the years that are indicators if somebody's looking for a fight. And if they are. 986 02:39:02.280 --> 02:39:13.859 Town of Plainfield: You won't find it with me. You'll walk away, yeah. Because I have no desire to be a tough guy, I want to be a friendly guy, I want to resolve the situation. 987 02:39:15.260 --> 02:39:19.059 Town of Plainfield: But… And I also make it plain and clear just from… 988 02:39:19.970 --> 02:39:26.950 Town of Plainfield: how I address things, that… that's not the route you want to go down, since you put me in a situation where I can't escape it or avoid it. 989 02:39:28.230 --> 02:39:30.369 Town of Plainfield: I'm not gonna play around. Okay. 990 02:39:30.850 --> 02:39:31.850 Town of Plainfield: Nope. 991 02:39:32.080 --> 02:39:32.970 Town of Plainfield: Good. 992 02:39:33.680 --> 02:39:50.820 Town of Plainfield: That's what we want you to do. Be safe. How do we proceed? As I said earlier, Dan did a lot of good research here. Yeah, it sounds like it. Trevor said that they thought it would work. 993 02:39:51.130 --> 02:40:09.790 Town of Plainfield: But they advised against it, so I won't repeat that. I would caution, if we do go through, that we don't add additional steps, that we just, you know, go with what has been developed. With no articulation of just decision-making metrics? 994 02:40:09.790 --> 02:40:24.250 Town of Plainfield: Right, with no board involvement. No, that's different. No, I'm talking about… I think there's opportunity to create an even more refined map of procedure for the constable to follow about when… 995 02:40:24.250 --> 02:40:37.179 Town of Plainfield: He presses that button, having nothing to do with us, but that we write it into the policy, we're talking about policy, that such and such, such and such, such and such, such and such have all been checked off. 996 02:40:37.220 --> 02:40:48.109 Town of Plainfield: that this now feels like we have crossed our T's and dotted our I's. Yeah, I mean, I think checking in with… say, if you get to a situation, say, hey, I've got this situation, you call state police. 997 02:40:48.300 --> 02:41:00.840 Town of Plainfield: I'm about to do this. Will you… are you guys, you know… Yeah. Yeah. I mean, unless there's a major traffic accident, and then they don't show up. I mean, we… that's always gonna happen, but… 998 02:41:01.250 --> 02:41:12.819 Town of Plainfield: And you're, you know, sourcing from the Newport case every possible contingency that was found there, about, like, how we could… There's Newport, Burlington ran into trouble, there was one down in Runwood, all of those… 999 02:41:14.500 --> 02:41:17.139 Town of Plainfield: We're fairly broad. 1000 02:41:17.690 --> 02:41:28.469 Town of Plainfield: What I would say is, I'll have… I'm gonna have a follow-up conversation with, Justin and Trevor, based on the, yes, DSP said they'll enforce this. 1001 02:41:29.430 --> 02:41:42.520 Town of Plainfield: Oh, and I will follow up with the board after that. Do I have a warm, you know, that warm, fancy feeling of this is something we should do, not something we can do? 1002 02:41:43.780 --> 02:41:52.860 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. I think that, for me, is the final piece of due diligence. Like I said, from the start of this, I haven't come in and said, you need to do this right now, it's… 1003 02:41:53.220 --> 02:42:00.799 Town of Plainfield: Huh, here's an idea, let's flesh that out. So let me, let me get that information, and then I'll provide that to the 1004 02:42:01.310 --> 02:42:18.539 Town of Plainfield: Thank you. By the way, my final thing is, until taking on this role, God bless all of you for the amount of time you put into this, even just for meetings and all the stuff that goes on. Well, we appreciate what you're doing. And then, Bram, just to follow up, can we… 1005 02:42:18.860 --> 02:42:27.819 Town of Plainfield: confirm that you can look for litigation insurance? Is that… is that a thing? I'll call the insurance people tomorrow. Thank you. 1006 02:42:28.940 --> 02:42:34.220 Town of Plainfield: Could I just ask Dan a side question? Yes. Have you heard from Karen's story? 1007 02:42:35.420 --> 02:42:41.789 Town of Plainfield: I suggested that she might talk to you, because I did, report to her the dumping of the… 1008 02:42:41.920 --> 02:42:46.390 Town of Plainfield: waste, in the, in the Brook Road down there. I went down and… Cellar? 1009 02:42:46.700 --> 02:42:50.800 Town of Plainfield: On the Brook Road. Is this different than the… 1010 02:42:50.800 --> 02:42:54.980 Town of Plainfield: It's the… it's the trailers there at… 1011 02:42:54.980 --> 02:43:11.799 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. I mean, it's clear there's one very visible pipe that's going right down in there. There's… and I did file another traffic report, because there's another trailer that's now down there, which is out in the road. Jody, is, contacting, 1012 02:43:12.260 --> 02:43:26.500 Town of Plainfield: the A&R enforcement person regarding that issue. Yeah. As is another resident on that road. Yeah, I filed a report with A&R, myself, and 1013 02:43:26.560 --> 02:43:38.360 Town of Plainfield: the guy's… yeah, his thing bounced back. That wasn't a good, good email address, so I called, and, used the tick line to report there, so… 1014 02:43:38.470 --> 02:43:39.480 Town of Plainfield: Okay, cool. 1015 02:43:40.250 --> 02:43:44.039 Town of Plainfield: Sorry about that, I'll check. 1016 02:43:44.280 --> 02:43:58.919 Town of Plainfield: It's the same one that's on the website, so it bumped back. So I don't know, but… I've gone through them, of course. But, I mean, there's just a… it's an encampment down there, but everybody seemed buttoned up and… 1017 02:43:59.100 --> 02:44:02.740 Town of Plainfield: You know, didn't seem to be very busy when I went down the other day. 1018 02:44:02.870 --> 02:44:10.489 Town of Plainfield: I've been down there several times, because I've taken people down to show them the flood damage. Yeah, yeah, I do too. Be careful. 1019 02:44:10.610 --> 02:44:11.480 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. 1020 02:44:14.770 --> 02:44:29.980 Town of Plainfield: It's really late, we have still some things we'd like to deal with. I have an urgent request. What's that? You've got me down for, Memorandum of understanding, 3 items of late, and… 1021 02:44:30.040 --> 02:44:44.209 Town of Plainfield: Karen's story… I mean, Karen, Patrick and I are meeting tomorrow to write a grant based on that being signed. We'd love to have that taken care of, because I have to run it so late, you know, so could you move that into the agenda? 1022 02:44:44.210 --> 02:44:51.180 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, we can… we can take that on. I understand your… where you're at. 1023 02:44:51.260 --> 02:44:58.940 Town of Plainfield: I don't think we need to deal with the Housing Committee at this point. 1024 02:44:59.770 --> 02:45:09.769 Town of Plainfield: And, I… Michael and I have talked about the accessibility spot, and we're gonna keep dealing with that. So, we can… we can… 1025 02:45:10.330 --> 02:45:15.589 Town of Plainfield: postpone that one. We will address that again. 1026 02:45:18.590 --> 02:45:33.450 Town of Plainfield: And the amendment to the personnel policy to reflect action on disability insurance, didn't we deal with that? We just have to amend the personnel policy. We did the disability. 1027 02:45:33.450 --> 02:45:40.579 Town of Plainfield: insurance, but we just didn't amend the policy. Okay. That's just a quick… I sent you guys, like, a little paragraph. 1028 02:45:41.020 --> 02:45:48.010 Town of Plainfield: Alright, okay, so the Memorandum of Understanding regarding the Pet Shelter 1029 02:45:48.550 --> 02:45:59.629 Town of Plainfield: Plainfield Arts owns the building across the road here, the garage. The, michael would like to use that as a pet shelter, because this is our… 1030 02:45:59.670 --> 02:46:14.599 Town of Plainfield: emergency shelter, and people with pets are not going to come here unless they have a place to put the pet. Plainfield Arts has looked at it, and we've come up… we've agreed to the memorandum, and it needs to have the Select Board's 1031 02:46:14.680 --> 02:46:16.000 Town of Plainfield: Approval. 1032 02:46:16.290 --> 02:46:31.969 Town of Plainfield: To do this. It's for a 5-year term. There's no charges. However, the emergency management team is going to do electrical work over there and get it prepared for the pets. 1033 02:46:32.460 --> 02:46:35.439 Town of Plainfield: And that's really all I can… 1034 02:46:35.440 --> 02:46:53.330 Town of Plainfield: I can tell you, we have it there, right? Yeah, Dan? Did everybody see a copy of the memorandum of the agreement? It's been around, yeah. Have you seen the revised one that Dan did? Well, the only thing I thought would probably be needed was another paragraph saying this agreement's in effect for 5 years. It is. 1035 02:46:53.330 --> 02:46:55.059 Town of Plainfield: We may be renewed by… 1036 02:46:55.060 --> 02:47:19.540 Town of Plainfield: The term of this agreement is 5 years from the date signed, it's in here. Yeah, yeah, that's the same thing. I made up a different, slightly different version for the same reason. He removed the words, emergency management, where it appeared twice, because it's the town of Plainfield that's doing this, not the department that's doing this. My only concern about reading this is that, 1037 02:47:20.180 --> 02:47:27.850 Town of Plainfield: it obligates the town to do this without guaranteeing the money, so I would make this conditioned upon getting… receiving the grant. 1038 02:47:28.140 --> 02:47:31.439 Town of Plainfield: But what we think doesn't obligate us, it's just say we can't. 1039 02:47:31.500 --> 02:47:41.980 Town of Plainfield: I mean, if we don't get the grant, we can't… Plainfield Arts owns the building. It's not the town of Plainfield. But Plainfield Arts is agreeing to, to, 1040 02:47:41.980 --> 02:47:58.130 Town of Plainfield: be good citizens. What this says is the town of Plainfield, in exchange for use of the west side, shall improve the building by doing blah blah blah blah blah. It basically obligates us to do this, whether we get grant funds or not. That's what I'm saying. Okay, alright. 1041 02:47:58.130 --> 02:48:10.900 Town of Plainfield: That's a good point. Yeah, that is a good point. I think… I think what… the reason you're using the Town of Plainfield and not Plainfield Arts, who's the owner of the building, is because the Town of Plainfield's gonna go for the grant. Correct. 1042 02:48:11.020 --> 02:48:14.819 Town of Plainfield: Right? That's right. So that's why the language is in there that way. 1043 02:48:15.070 --> 02:48:22.350 Town of Plainfield: So, maybe we can rewrite that to… I would just make the motion contingent upon receiving funds. No, okay. 1044 02:48:22.780 --> 02:48:47.069 Town of Plainfield: That's fine. We're not going to do it unless you get a grant. We'd have to figure out another solution, because it would block our… Okay. So would… do you want to make that motion? Yes. Contingent? I would move that we approve the Memorandum of Understanding, and I think Dan is going to sign for Plainfield Arts, because he… he said he would abstain. He has to abstain, yeah. He's the president of Plainfield Arts. 1045 02:48:47.070 --> 02:48:54.440 Town of Plainfield: But that we approved… we approve the Memorandum of Understanding, contingent upon receiving grant funds for. 1046 02:48:54.760 --> 02:49:07.089 Town of Plainfield: Is there a second on that? I mean, is it as simple as adding that language into the memorandum of understanding? The way you just phrased it, it sounds like… No, it's in our motion, and it'll appear in the minutes. 1047 02:49:07.280 --> 02:49:09.589 Town of Plainfield: Okay. But I don't think we need to. 1048 02:49:10.450 --> 02:49:27.619 Town of Plainfield: Okay, that's a finer point that you have a tighter hold… I mean, you can probably do it either way. You're saying we should change this document? I think that's simpler, because it's like that a memorandum of Understanding only is activated by receiving of grants? 1049 02:49:29.010 --> 02:49:44.270 Town of Plainfield: Thank you for doing that, man. Probably, if it's funded, won't be available till next spring. Thank you for doing that. Whereas if we just, like, add a sentence to that document, then we sign the Memorandum of Understanding and it's ready to go. 1050 02:49:46.480 --> 02:50:03.170 Town of Plainfield: So I would add it to the beginning of the paragraph that begins the Town of Plainfield, say, contingent upon receiving grant funding, the Town of Plainfield, in exchange for use for… Exactly. Thank you. Could you send a copy to me so that I can include that with our grant request? 1051 02:50:03.700 --> 02:50:06.510 Town of Plainfield: Once it's been finally reworded. 1052 02:50:09.350 --> 02:50:18.669 Town of Plainfield: So, contingent… State that back to me, thank you. Contingent on receiving the grant for… Building modifications. 1053 02:50:21.550 --> 02:50:22.999 Town of Plainfield: The Town of Plainfield. 1054 02:50:29.540 --> 02:50:40.310 Town of Plainfield: Okay, contingent upon receiving grant funds for build… building modification, the Town of Plainfield, in exchange for use of the west side of the first floor, shall improve, blah blah blah blah blah. Yeah. Okay. 1055 02:50:41.490 --> 02:50:48.860 Town of Plainfield: So that's your motion. So moved. Second. And do we need to, authorize somebody to sign for us? 1056 02:50:49.910 --> 02:50:51.270 Town of Plainfield: Do we? 1057 02:50:51.690 --> 02:51:09.719 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. Are you conflicted? I'm a little conflicted. I'm on the board, I'm not the president, I'm on the board. Our vice chair. Okay, yeah. Sounds good. Okay. I second that. Fair enough. Okay. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Thank you. Okay. 1058 02:51:09.930 --> 02:51:24.570 Town of Plainfield: And we have the, later tonight. The quick amendment… amendment to the personnel policy, you want to make a motion on that? Yes, I emailed this out to you, but I'll read it to you. It's real quick. 1059 02:51:24.780 --> 02:51:28.370 Town of Plainfield: Young Bear moves to amend the personnel policy in… 1060 02:51:28.410 --> 02:51:45.819 Town of Plainfield: Section Roman numeral 9, benefits. By adding a new Section 8, the Town of Plainfield provides short- and long-term disability insurance and basic life, accidental death and dismemberment insurance to all employees working at least 20 hours a week, paying 100% of the premiums. 1061 02:51:46.510 --> 02:51:51.910 Town of Plainfield: Second, All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. 1062 02:51:52.130 --> 02:51:58.999 Town of Plainfield: Do we have any hot item on the road, Commissioner report? We got that? Yes. 1063 02:51:59.260 --> 02:52:00.800 Town of Plainfield: So, hot. 1064 02:52:01.760 --> 02:52:14.589 Town of Plainfield: The… The, since we're Mount Regional Planning Commission, Transportation Advisory Committee, 1065 02:52:14.940 --> 02:52:18.979 Town of Plainfield: has funds available. And, 1066 02:52:19.220 --> 02:52:24.910 Town of Plainfield: And they had reached out to a lot of towns, and I had not heard about this, 1067 02:52:25.110 --> 02:52:31.230 Town of Plainfield: these funds being available until, quite late in the game. And, 1068 02:52:31.460 --> 02:52:38.389 Town of Plainfield: And it's actually Paula Emery, who is the liaison for CBRPC, got ahold of 1069 02:52:38.710 --> 02:52:58.280 Town of Plainfield: me through the office and said, have you heard about this? And so I was able to get ahold of, Ruben McMartin, who is the transportation planner at CBRPC, and so I invited him down to the office to talk about what, what things we have in, like. 1070 02:52:58.810 --> 02:53:10.129 Town of Plainfield: all of the stuff that would be appropriate to submit a proposal to the committee. And so, after, kind of a wide-ranging discussion, 1071 02:53:10.140 --> 02:53:23.170 Town of Plainfield: the last about an hour. The thing that seemed, most warranted is a, a compre- to submit a proposal for a comprehensive study of a second egress to the village. 1072 02:53:24.460 --> 02:53:34.849 Town of Plainfield: And, given the things that we've… Understood happening, like, and constraints around… 1073 02:53:35.620 --> 02:53:50.839 Town of Plainfield: some of the other things that have been thrown up, and then the fact that some of the locations are in Northfield. The, we decided that the scope of the… of this proposal would be, 1074 02:53:53.030 --> 02:54:04.070 Town of Plainfield: west of the Main Street Bridge, where it meets Route 2, that we know and love well, and all the way to Country Club Road. 1075 02:54:04.590 --> 02:54:12.600 Town of Plainfield: and south of Route 2, like, so, everything south of Route 2, that's the study area, and, so… 1076 02:54:12.750 --> 02:54:18.220 Town of Plainfield: Come up with a comprehensive study of that location for a second egress. 1077 02:54:18.620 --> 02:54:25.759 Town of Plainfield: And, and so I wrote something up, and it says, we met on… 1078 02:54:29.400 --> 02:54:35.740 Town of Plainfield: Maybe it was… Thursday? I had a few hours 1079 02:54:36.030 --> 02:54:47.179 Town of Plainfield: basically, I needed to have a conversation with him, come up with a thing, write it out, and submit it the same day. So I did that. And, 1080 02:54:48.440 --> 02:54:59.000 Town of Plainfield: And so, I have that here. I can share it with you online. I didn't make a bunch of copies. And then the other piece of the… 1081 02:55:02.320 --> 02:55:07.499 Town of Plainfield: There's another pay, but… Not born at this point, but… 1082 02:55:07.700 --> 02:55:16.469 Town of Plainfield: Planning money, $40,000. This is grant money, yeah. And it was strongly hinted that… 1083 02:55:17.020 --> 02:55:19.129 Town of Plainfield: There is a lot of money. 1084 02:55:19.460 --> 02:55:26.190 Town of Plainfield: And there are, not a lot of towns jumped on this. So, I… aimed high. 1085 02:55:26.320 --> 02:55:27.629 Town of Plainfield: Shoot for the minute. 1086 02:55:27.840 --> 02:55:30.679 Town of Plainfield: So, do you need to… On the egress. 1087 02:55:31.430 --> 02:55:42.230 Town of Plainfield: Do you need a board approval of what you're already saying? No, this is a… this is like, I made a proposal, it's not… there's nothing binding. Yeah, okay, okay. 1088 02:55:42.230 --> 02:55:59.360 Town of Plainfield: you know, grant of… Well, that's great. Peter and I have been thinking about this. Well, Josh called me, and we talked about this, and he asked me if I had presented a report, and I said, no, I mean, you and I have gone out, we've looked at a number of things, I said, I kind of reviewed the various options, you know. 1089 02:55:59.360 --> 02:56:06.940 Town of Plainfield: I did talk to Justin Campbell, the chair of the board of Marshfield, who said they're fine with whatever we might want to do 1090 02:56:07.050 --> 02:56:14.379 Town of Plainfield: where we looked, near the park and ride, or a little beyond that. They would also be fine if we wanted to extend 1091 02:56:14.710 --> 02:56:34.620 Town of Plainfield: the rail bed to the next road, and but he said, as far as Bean Road, because we were thinking about your culvert project, and I asked him about Bean Road, he said that's been thrown up, and it's probably owned by Bailey's. So, we'll have to talk… I'm going to talk to Ken Bailey and see… see what he can tell us. 1092 02:56:34.720 --> 02:56:41.160 Town of Plainfield: for the time… and I spoke with Michael about it, and the time involved with… 1093 02:56:41.170 --> 02:56:56.739 Town of Plainfield: Putting that into, like, enough shape to get, like, the connection to fulfill the needs of this one culvert, the cost of that, because it's been quite… 1094 02:56:57.760 --> 02:57:00.420 Town of Plainfield: let go, and that's why I was giving up. 1095 02:57:01.490 --> 02:57:05.640 Town of Plainfield: Could we put, like, a temporary, you know, like a little Bailey bridge or something? 1096 02:57:05.900 --> 02:57:10.770 Town of Plainfield: off of East Hill Road, so that that culvert could be replaced? 1097 02:57:11.060 --> 02:57:22.020 Town of Plainfield: It is… Difficult to get temporary bridges, and, 1098 02:57:23.250 --> 02:57:29.390 Town of Plainfield: Because the last time I tried to get one, they were not available. 1099 02:57:30.080 --> 02:57:31.450 Town of Plainfield: And… 1100 02:57:31.800 --> 02:57:43.570 Town of Plainfield: we have other temporary bridge priorities should they become available. And… multiple. So, so the idea is we just close the road. 1101 02:57:43.570 --> 02:57:52.750 Town of Plainfield: Close the road and drive around. They just drive into Barry and deal with it. It's like, for how long? You see… Could be, like, a week. 1102 02:57:52.890 --> 02:58:07.900 Town of Plainfield: Depending on the… the… you know, that's not a small culvert. That is a big culvert, and that's a long project. And we would have to put… I forget what the system is, you know, on the highway system. I know Emergency Management Michael 1103 02:58:07.900 --> 02:58:14.080 Town of Plainfield: Billingsley can get on there to route folks around the roundabout and come down Middle Road, and… 1104 02:58:14.080 --> 02:58:27.010 Town of Plainfield: whatnot, but we'd have to have something so that folks don't start off of Route 302 thinking they're gonna get through. They'll be turning around on Glenda's driveway. Indeed, you know. 1105 02:58:27.010 --> 02:58:30.269 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, trucks. Trucks. Yeah, we do have trucks. 1106 02:58:30.740 --> 02:58:41.020 Town of Plainfield: I mean, it doesn't stop people from going through Smuggler's Notch, but, you know. Okay. Well, thanks for the… thanks for that grant report, and we'll… we'll keep working on the… 1107 02:58:41.650 --> 02:58:49.550 Town of Plainfield: Would that rather leave anyone totally stranded without leaky parks? Are there, like, dead ends that we're blocking off? No. Thank you. It would just… 1108 02:58:49.960 --> 02:58:59.309 Town of Plainfield: It would just be very inconvenient. Yeah. Well, it adds 20, 30 minutes. Yeah, it's gonna take us… 1109 02:58:59.510 --> 02:59:01.319 Town of Plainfield: And I don't know, 40 minutes? 1110 02:59:01.490 --> 02:59:18.219 Town of Plainfield: We have to go up into Barry, Middle Road? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you gotta go all the way. Yeah. It's a conflict of interest, but we can ask for the… So it's not just us, you know. Between the two select board meetings. We're retired, we don't, you know, it's okay for us, but… You're thinking. 1111 02:59:18.770 --> 02:59:23.529 Town of Plainfield: Okay, keep moving, thank you. Thank you. 1112 02:59:23.680 --> 02:59:27.680 Town of Plainfield: I don't know about the executive session. 1113 02:59:29.620 --> 02:59:48.640 Town of Plainfield: Which is the only item left other than approval of minutes, we could do that first. Why don't we approve minutes first? Yeah. Let's do everything else first. Yeah, okay. Approval of draft minutes, does somebody have a motion for the 10 minutes? I think that we approve all the draft units. 10-14? Yeah. 25. 1114 02:59:50.300 --> 03:00:09.130 Town of Plainfield: Second? Yeah, second. I mean, I was gonna look at the dates. Have we listed all the dates? That was just one minute. It's just one minute, 10-14. Just one minute. And then I approve… I move that we approve approval of warrants, account payable, 10-225, 10-10-25, 1115 03:00:09.240 --> 03:00:14.500 Town of Plainfield: payroll, 10-11-25, 10-23-25? 1116 03:00:15.100 --> 03:00:16.600 Town of Plainfield: Second… 1117 03:00:16.810 --> 03:00:29.560 Town of Plainfield: All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Okay, thank you. So we got those done. You gonna announce the date of the next meeting? The date of the next meeting is November 10th. 1118 03:00:30.170 --> 03:00:47.120 Town of Plainfield: 2025 at 6 o'clock, and it will be a 2-hour meeting. May it be said? And now I'll make a motion to enter executive session to discuss a personnel matter, which is going to be the last 1119 03:00:47.250 --> 03:01:03.290 Town of Plainfield: Agenda item for the meeting. Last item, so… Which means everyone is going to be… Our reporter may leave the… leave the building. Asked to leave is not involved. Thank you very much. Thanks for coming. Is anybody still online? Yeah, we're gonna… We're gonna go into executive. 1120 03:01:03.290 --> 03:01:07.579 Town of Plainfield: I'm gonna ask Bram's note-taker to leave. 1121 03:01:07.730 --> 03:01:09.040 Town of Plainfield: Remove… 1122 03:01:11.380 --> 03:01:19.450 Town of Plainfield: Okay, I'm okay with that. No, we're not reporting them. We're gonna have to come out and just say there's no action, or whatever the action is. Okay, and then I'm gonna pause that recording.