WEBVTT 1 00:00:08.119 --> 00:00:08.910 Town of Plainfield: I bet. 2 00:00:13.210 --> 00:00:25.239 Town of Plainfield: Okay, I'm gonna open the meeting at 6 o'clock. This is a special Select Board meeting, to work on the budget and a few miscellaneous things. January 5th. 3 00:00:25.420 --> 00:00:28.209 Town of Plainfield: So, calling the meeting to order at 6. 4 00:00:28.210 --> 00:00:46.979 Town of Plainfield: Any changes to the agenda? Do we want to talk about the library as a possible… Well, I think in the budget section, it sounds like we would… Under the budget? Yeah, we have a budget section that we would talk about the library as one of the things. Alright. Well, it's also in the article, because it gets worn separately. Yeah. It's not a town entity. 5 00:00:46.980 --> 00:00:59.910 Town of Plainfield: But it is something we have to talk about, so… Yeah, so we can put it under both of those items. Okay. I was just gonna… Sarah is, is on, also, here. That's on the agenda as well, great. Okay, yeah. 6 00:01:00.630 --> 00:01:05.479 Town of Plainfield: Okay, those two things, anything else that we want to make sure we get to? 7 00:01:06.340 --> 00:01:20.190 Town of Plainfield: Any announcements? Just one, note. Angela might be under Cutler Library, not their name, so just so you know, in case they… There it is right there, just jumped in. Oh, okay. 8 00:01:21.030 --> 00:01:27.690 Town of Plainfield: Yeah? I do have an announcement, there's… you're gonna talk about Peter Walsh? Yes. 9 00:01:27.720 --> 00:01:39.090 Town of Plainfield: Okay, because we… go ahead, talk about Peter Welsh. So in response to the letter that we sent the congressional delegation concerning Federal Highways, who the book wrote, 10 00:01:39.090 --> 00:02:02.080 Town of Plainfield: Erica, excuse me, Rebecca? Rebecca Ellis from Senator Welsh's office called me. She had been in contact with, Sanders and, Balance offices as well, and their staff, and someone from Federal Highways. And tomorrow afternoon, I believe, at 2 o'clock, we have a conference call, about that. 11 00:02:02.080 --> 00:02:13.299 Town of Plainfield: And Keith Coven from Regional Planning will be on the commission, as well as Patrick Travers, who is the project management 12 00:02:14.100 --> 00:02:32.380 Town of Plainfield: municipal project manager for the next 3 projects, which include the bridge at… and don't… 23, 24, and 12. Yes. Okay, which also includes the big washouts. Yes. Okay. And, 13 00:02:32.780 --> 00:02:37.250 Town of Plainfield: It's very timely, this call, because this past… 14 00:02:37.390 --> 00:02:45.339 Town of Plainfield: Thursday, I guess, Patrick Travers and I, and Keith Coven, and… 15 00:02:45.550 --> 00:02:58.930 Town of Plainfield: Somebody from VTRANS, I'm blanking on his name, I can check my notes, who represents the, Municipal Assistance Service. Used to be Bureau, now it's MAS, not NAB. 16 00:02:59.350 --> 00:03:08.230 Town of Plainfield: I forget, they change their names all the time. But he also participated, and we reviewed the four… 17 00:03:08.290 --> 00:03:26.960 Town of Plainfield: people who… firms who sent their requests for qualifications, and we, scored them, and we have now sent out the RFPs for them. They will be due back to us by the 30th. We have a meeting to review them. 18 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:41.210 Town of Plainfield: And that should be Carl and I and Josh. Carl and Josh could not make the meeting, but I was there. And, Patrick Travers is asking that the Select Board then 19 00:03:41.210 --> 00:03:50.740 Town of Plainfield: Grant him the authority to, sign and contract with whoever we choose as the the winning firm. 20 00:03:50.740 --> 00:04:10.610 Town of Plainfield: To do those projects. What is the reason for having him authorize it? I mean, we'll authorize it, but he'll sign. Is it timing? I think it's just to speed things up. Okay. It's timing. There are some deadlines with the federal highways stuff, that, they would like to see at least 21 00:04:10.610 --> 00:04:22.860 Town of Plainfield: some stuff committed by the end of October of 2026, or the end of September of 2026, and I'm not clear on exactly what is or isn't subject to that deadline. But, 22 00:04:23.420 --> 00:04:27.320 Town of Plainfield: I went back and looked at what we did for, 23 00:04:28.390 --> 00:04:45.729 Town of Plainfield: Evan Dietrich and, and we voted here at the Select Board to, just in terms of precedent, we voted here on which contract to award, so… We would do the same thing. I would think we would do the same thing, which would probably put this on our… 24 00:04:45.840 --> 00:04:54.680 Town of Plainfield: first February regular scheduled meeting, which I think would be, like, the 9th? Yeah. Correct. Yep. 25 00:04:55.550 --> 00:05:20.369 Town of Plainfield: Okay, great. He's looking for maybe something earlier than that, but we have other meetings in between now and then, so if we figure out a way that we could accelerate that, maybe we can take a look at that. But at this point, we would schedule it for that meeting. Yep. I know it's a short fuse on the contracts, they don't have a lot of time, so they want to get it going, but we need the information after the RFP comes in. 26 00:05:20.370 --> 00:05:31.820 Town of Plainfield: I also have something to say, announcement about, Peter Welsh. My wife Mary had written a letter before the Select Board wrote a letter talking about 27 00:05:31.820 --> 00:05:34.510 Town of Plainfield: The frustration in working with 28 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:47.780 Town of Plainfield: the agencies that would help fund us, and he is coming here on January 22nd at 6 p.m, and he wants to hear from people who have had issues 29 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:59.049 Town of Plainfield: with buyouts or any issues. He wants to hear about them. And, I don't know if he'll be here in person, he's gonna try, but if not, he'll be on Zoom. 30 00:05:59.100 --> 00:06:18.769 Town of Plainfield: So, that's the, we want to make sure the word gets out that January 22nd, it's 6 o'clock, people with issues relating to the flood. Just so I put it up tomorrow morning, tell it on the website. Okay. That's going to be here at the Opera House? It's going to be here at the Opera House, yes. 31 00:06:18.970 --> 00:06:33.589 Town of Plainfield: I'll… we'll send you something. Great. I have one thing that I just want to plant the seed. Don't have to make a decision on it, but the United States Post Office has changed 32 00:06:33.690 --> 00:06:51.510 Town of Plainfield: the mechanism by which mail is stamped. So, in other words, you used to sort of drop mail at the post office, and it was stamped there. No longer. It'll be stamped in a sorting facility in Connecticut, in Hartford. Now, the ramifications of that are… 33 00:06:51.790 --> 00:06:55.459 Town of Plainfield: That we need to consider 34 00:06:55.610 --> 00:07:13.699 Town of Plainfield: changing our policy about postmarks, because you're gonna end up getting into these arguments about, well, it dropped at the post office, and, you know, but it marked it two days later, or something. So just, I'm putting that out there, and, you know, whatever 35 00:07:14.030 --> 00:07:32.670 Town of Plainfield: you want to decide, but I think it's an issue that is going to come up. Yeah, it's a valid issue. Yeah, Peter. Well, I mean, I know this is being discussed nationally in terms of, you know, when ballots are counted as being received, and whether they should then be counted, and particularly those states like 36 00:07:32.670 --> 00:07:36.609 Town of Plainfield: California, or I believe Washington State, where 37 00:07:36.610 --> 00:07:41.690 Town of Plainfield: They often go for weeks after Election Day until results are known. 38 00:07:41.690 --> 00:07:48.979 Town of Plainfield: I'm not sure that that playing field, or any town alone in Vermont. 39 00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:52.229 Town of Plainfield: could do that. That may be a legislative matter. 40 00:07:52.820 --> 00:08:17.000 Town of Plainfield: In other words, I don't think Plainfield can decide, we're gonna accept things postmarked at a sorting center. That actually… in election stuff, that might be true. In terms of tax stuff, that would be the… there are different… Oh, in terms of our tax payments? In terms of our tax payments and so forth, we seem to… towns do have agency on that. 41 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:25.470 Town of Plainfield: And it's also, I think what you're saying is we want to be alerted to that as being an issue, so we may have to… I just want everybody, we've had fights in the past. 42 00:08:25.760 --> 00:08:44.619 Town of Plainfield: where people regarding one that's stamped, and I just see this going up exponentially. So, just… but I think for voting, that's a separate thing. I'm really talking about tax stuff. Yeah, I would want to check with our attorney and make sure that we do actually have the ability to… to do that. Okay. 43 00:08:44.660 --> 00:08:47.059 Town of Plainfield: Are you aware of better policies? 44 00:08:47.090 --> 00:09:02.950 Town of Plainfield: Do you have any… Well, the courts are simply saying… I mean, I think… I don't speak for everybody, but some people are just like, well, we're gonna leave it the way it is, and when it's postmarked, it's when it's post-up, and explain afterward. 45 00:09:02.960 --> 00:09:11.109 Town of Plainfield: And other people are like, we're really gonna push that it has to be received physically by the town by this drop-dead date. 46 00:09:11.580 --> 00:09:16.809 Town of Plainfield: I don't know that there's an easy way of, of managing this. 47 00:09:17.310 --> 00:09:35.369 Town of Plainfield: I don't know, I know we have online right now, I don't know if she's listening to this particular thing, but, Sarah Macy is a town official in St. Albans. I don't know if this has been discussed in St. Albans, but if, you know… 48 00:09:35.530 --> 00:09:46.709 Town of Plainfield: they have anything to say about it, but just… I'm just… Okay, she just came on camera, so maybe… Yeah, she does. She waves. Yeah, do you have… is there a comment to how they manage this in St. Albans? 49 00:09:47.640 --> 00:09:49.140 Town of Plainfield: I am in… 50 00:09:49.560 --> 00:09:57.739 Sarah Macy: I'm embarrassed to say I don't know, it's not my office, but I have worked in municipalities that require it physically in hand by the close of business. 51 00:09:58.100 --> 00:09:59.490 Town of Plainfield: Can you hear me okay? 52 00:09:59.670 --> 00:10:01.270 Town of Plainfield: Okay. 53 00:10:01.270 --> 00:10:02.899 Sarah Macy: And also postmarked. 54 00:10:04.600 --> 00:10:18.999 Town of Plainfield: Okay, well, we… it's going to be addressed for sure. If the post office is making the change, we're going to have to deal with the ramifications. We have a public comment. Is there anybody online who's… has something they want to… 55 00:10:19.260 --> 00:10:21.399 Town of Plainfield: Bring out. 56 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:31.949 Town of Plainfield: Okay, getting right into the town budget. Angela has a handout. Angela? 57 00:10:32.730 --> 00:10:40.260 Town of Plainfield: Was that Angela? You're muted, Angela. I will just say, Angela, before you unmute, we were gonna make you the first item of the town budget. Okay. 58 00:10:40.260 --> 00:10:40.970 Cutler Memorial Library: Very well. 59 00:10:41.370 --> 00:10:46.420 Town of Plainfield: Thank you. I think, right? Yes. We missed it, you weren't on yet, but we… 60 00:10:46.420 --> 00:10:47.470 Cutler Memorial Library: Excusion, thank you. 61 00:10:51.140 --> 00:11:03.600 Town of Plainfield: So do we want to just start with Cutler? Yes, let's start with Cutler. I happen to have it printed out here, if anyone wants to see it. 62 00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:13.290 Cutler Memorial Library: Did everybody get a copy of the budget? It was… 63 00:11:13.540 --> 00:11:25.499 Cutler Memorial Library: Okay, great, great. So, the Cutler's budget this year is a modest increase. We understand that everybody is, struggling at this time. 64 00:11:25.500 --> 00:11:34.859 Cutler Memorial Library: It's a $2,000 increase in the appropriation. It's about a 3.5% increase in the budget overall. 65 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:40.210 Cutler Memorial Library: I think it's relatively… 66 00:11:40.330 --> 00:11:59.260 Cutler Memorial Library: self-explanatory in the sense of what our economy is doing right now. We have tried very hard to keep that into consideration. But I'm more than welcome to take any questions, any concerns, or talk with you more about 67 00:11:59.450 --> 00:12:00.760 Cutler Memorial Library: What you might see. 68 00:12:01.930 --> 00:12:14.389 Town of Plainfield: Well, thank you for that, and thank you to the folks who worked on this to keep it a modest increase. Do you have any questions? Specifically? 69 00:12:14.390 --> 00:12:23.110 Town of Plainfield: I'll just say, from the, I think, the early budgeting of our treasurer, this… that fits into the budget without any issue. Yes. 70 00:12:26.010 --> 00:12:32.129 Town of Plainfield: And this needs to get warned as a separate article corroded. 71 00:12:32.280 --> 00:12:40.090 Town of Plainfield: Is there anything… anything stands out, either increases or decreases, that you would like to point out? Programming, or anything like that? 72 00:12:40.310 --> 00:12:49.220 Cutler Memorial Library: It isn't really in keeping with what we're doing. We're not looking to expand very much at this point. The libraries, 73 00:12:49.910 --> 00:13:09.260 Cutler Memorial Library: goal, or my goal as a director, is to provide stability, maintain what we have, make sure it's solid and stable so that we can weather the storm that's upcoming. The one… the one area in which we… we hedged or waffled was the, the electricity. 74 00:13:09.270 --> 00:13:24.230 Cutler Memorial Library: We hope to see that go down in the future, because we had put in the LED lights. We have seen some of that, but it's hard to project, especially with electricity being a commodity that is on the 75 00:13:24.500 --> 00:13:31.610 Cutler Memorial Library: very high level of inflation at this point. So, we were very mindful of that. 76 00:13:31.830 --> 00:13:34.840 Cutler Memorial Library: We hope to see it come down next year. 77 00:13:35.450 --> 00:13:45.319 Cutler Memorial Library: Otherwise, we are solid, stable, we're here for the community, and that's the goal for the coming year. 78 00:13:47.220 --> 00:13:54.420 Town of Plainfield: Great. Sounds great. Thank you, Angelo. Any other thoughts, questions? 79 00:13:54.580 --> 00:14:06.779 Town of Plainfield: I think, I think you sold us. It'll be up to the voters, but we'll put it in this way, and, as a warned item, and, we'll deal with it at town meeting. 80 00:14:07.190 --> 00:14:09.029 Cutler Memorial Library: Alright, well, thank you so much. 81 00:14:09.790 --> 00:14:19.450 Town of Plainfield: Yes, yes, thank you. You too, Mary. So, last year… so we do include this when we put our budget together. 82 00:14:19.550 --> 00:14:44.460 Town of Plainfield: Right? Yeah, I think we include, all of the article requests, just because it is part of the overall budget. And same thing, I was going to say, same thing for social concerns. Social concerns, Green Mountain Transit, like, all of the separate articles are also within the full budget that we present. And then, depending on what the voters do, we adjust the total at the end? Correct. Yes. Yep. So, do we need a motion to include, or we'll just do that? 83 00:14:44.460 --> 00:14:57.180 Town of Plainfield: I mean, I think we'll… I think as we said last month, too, like, I think at the… whenever we finalize the budget, we will just approve the budget, and we have to approve the articles, but I think we should do it all at once, rather than… Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. 84 00:14:59.300 --> 00:15:22.550 Town of Plainfield: Okay, what's the other… another item on the budget? Is it the Social Security? Yeah. We received, their, minutes of their meeting, and also a spreadsheet, and when we first got the information, there was a discrepancy, but there does not appear to be a discrepancy. So, the numbers on the spreadsheet match their minutes and their requests. 85 00:15:22.550 --> 00:15:34.440 Town of Plainfield: And did we not review this also? We did already review it, there was just a discrepancy. Okay. So I'm not… I can't remember… I think it was around the Senior Center, and, like, one of them said 46… 86 00:15:34.450 --> 00:15:47.369 Town of Plainfield: 50, and one of them said 4,500, they both say 4650 now. So, there is a narrative document that was shared last time called the Social Security Committee Report to the Select Board of the Town Meeting, and then there's also their, 87 00:15:47.570 --> 00:15:55.099 Town of Plainfield: Their budget… That's not it. Was this at the last meeting? Because there's nothing in the minutes of the discussion of social concerns. 88 00:15:55.570 --> 00:16:02.310 Town of Plainfield: We definitely talked about it, yeah. Yeah, didn't make the minutes. Oh, I haven't looked at the minutes since last meeting, so… Yeah. 89 00:16:02.660 --> 00:16:06.610 Town of Plainfield: We did discuss it, though. Yeah, I thought so. Yeah, yeah, we did. 90 00:16:06.970 --> 00:16:12.690 Town of Plainfield: I remember. And I remember the discrepancy, I'm glad they straightened it out. 91 00:16:12.910 --> 00:16:15.420 Town of Plainfield: Okay. 92 00:16:17.860 --> 00:16:41.860 Town of Plainfield: And then you've got Green Mountain Transit? Yeah, there are two numbers, the Rural and the other number, I think I sent you… did I send that? You just sent the GMTA one, I haven't… the Rural Community Transit… Oh, you haven't sent… okay, I'm sorry. Well, that came, like, 6 weeks ago, so it wasn't re-sent. Both of them are asking for the same amount as last year. Pretty much. I think that they're the same. 93 00:16:41.860 --> 00:16:44.080 Town of Plainfield: I couldn't change. 94 00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:54.229 Town of Plainfield: $14.99. And then one is… the other one, the rural transit is $6,000, I think, $6,000 something? Yeah, well, it's the same number. Yeah. 95 00:16:54.590 --> 00:16:59.099 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, I think people recognize the fire department also, they recognize 96 00:16:59.780 --> 00:17:09.119 Town of Plainfield: that we don't want to see many increases, so even the social concerns are thinking about that. 97 00:17:10.030 --> 00:17:11.410 Town of Plainfield: Okay. 98 00:17:15.619 --> 00:17:27.899 Town of Plainfield: Which is the one that goes up the… goes up East Hill Road to pick people up? That's… I think that's Rural Transit. That's Rural Transit, okay. So, one is… 99 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:31.089 Town of Plainfield: Yep, I see a hand up. 100 00:17:31.540 --> 00:17:33.950 Sarah Macy: Thank you. I have… can you hear me okay? 101 00:17:35.210 --> 00:17:36.609 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. Yes. 102 00:17:37.970 --> 00:17:45.520 Sarah Macy: I have a copy of the working budget spreadsheet up, and I'm inclined to make some of these notes on my end. 103 00:17:45.990 --> 00:17:52.220 Sarah Macy: Could you repeat the numbers that you just gave for the rural bus service and the GMTA bus service, please? 104 00:17:52.420 --> 00:18:00.199 Town of Plainfield: I don't know that I have the exact number on me. I think it's the same as last year. Off the top of my head, it's 6,000-something. 105 00:18:00.200 --> 00:18:03.790 Sarah Macy: It looks like 6,900 even for rural. 106 00:18:03.890 --> 00:18:10.050 Sarah Macy: And then the number that came through for the other was 1,432. 107 00:18:10.350 --> 00:18:14.040 Town of Plainfield: If that sounds right. 1,499. 108 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:17.350 Sarah Macy: 1499, thank you very much. 109 00:18:17.350 --> 00:18:19.730 Town of Plainfield: For GMT. For GMT, yes. 110 00:18:20.660 --> 00:18:22.989 Sarah Macy: $6,900 for rural. Thank you. 111 00:18:23.370 --> 00:18:30.620 Town of Plainfield: And Sarah, while you're there, the Cutler Memorial Library line should be $56,000. I made a comment, but… 112 00:18:31.380 --> 00:18:32.470 Sarah Macy: Awesome. 113 00:18:32.470 --> 00:18:33.730 Town of Plainfield: so much. 114 00:18:37.840 --> 00:18:44.450 Town of Plainfield: Okay, yeah, thanks for that clarification. 115 00:18:47.400 --> 00:18:55.840 Town of Plainfield: I could just… the RCT… Yep. …was $6,833.06. 116 00:18:55.840 --> 00:19:11.250 Town of Plainfield: Really? Okay. Well, I mean, they're… they're literally… A percentage. Our amount divided by the whatever it is. Yeah, yeah. It's actually more suspect when they ask for a round number. Yeah, yeah. 117 00:19:12.100 --> 00:19:17.110 Sarah Macy: I was so shocked at the precision, I forgot to write it down. Could you give it one more time, please? 118 00:19:17.110 --> 00:19:21.150 Town of Plainfield: $6,833.06. 119 00:19:21.310 --> 00:19:22.480 Sarah Macy: Okay, that's true. 120 00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:26.199 Town of Plainfield: Don't lose the sixth sense, whatever you do. 121 00:19:26.200 --> 00:19:28.089 Sarah Macy: I promise it'll be there at the end. 122 00:19:28.430 --> 00:19:34.829 Town of Plainfield: Okay. I'll confirm tomorrow. Yeah. Yeah, we should confirm it tomorrow. Confirm it tomorrow. 123 00:19:38.460 --> 00:19:54.230 Town of Plainfield: And then, the other piece, I don't see Dan Caddy. You had said that Dan was gonna make a constable… Right, there was basically, he was gonna advocate for a line item, 124 00:19:54.230 --> 00:19:58.519 Town of Plainfield: Exp… for, miscellaneous expenses. 125 00:19:58.940 --> 00:20:16.519 Town of Plainfield: I didn't get the exact figure from him, but I think it's in the area of a couple hundred dollars, like $200, $300, for various, things that he has needed to buy, in terms of, you know. 126 00:20:16.520 --> 00:20:27.229 Town of Plainfield: supplies and so forth. Yeah. He's been quite active in spending a great deal of time on stuff, and I think he's shown… 127 00:20:27.670 --> 00:20:52.460 Town of Plainfield: great judgment and dedication, so whatever number he wants to put forward, I would think the board would want to be supportive, but that's my view. Yes, and I would ask, what… how does he deal with mileage? Do we pay a mileage? I think that we… I think that the… the… there's sort of a… a lump stipend. I don't know that it's exactly… So that helps. 128 00:20:52.460 --> 00:21:02.530 Town of Plainfield: and hours and all that, but I think that it just became a lump stipend. Yep. Okay. Sort of like the select board. There you go. Yeah, okay. 129 00:21:02.800 --> 00:21:07.190 Town of Plainfield: For those that don't know, Dan Caddy is our constable. 130 00:21:09.070 --> 00:21:24.509 Town of Plainfield: I mean, if it's in that order of magnitude, I'm sure we can just… Yeah. I guess, one question would just be where it goes in the budget, whether there's a line within our, public safety that it goes, or if it goes… 131 00:21:24.510 --> 00:21:32.720 Town of Plainfield: I don't know, into office supplies or one of… there's a bunch of different lines. Right. Because it has… because they're all tied to accounts within Nemrick, so… I would, yeah, I would… 132 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:36.780 Town of Plainfield: thinking would be best. Obviously, this is Josh's call, but I would think it would be best 133 00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:55.530 Town of Plainfield: twin, somehow, with the actual constable position, to break out the expense versus general office supplies, but that's just… maybe Josh has a different opinion, but… Oh, yeah. Yeah, no, it might just be another… It could go either way, yeah. …somewhere that goes within the public safety section. 134 00:21:55.530 --> 00:21:59.900 Town of Plainfield: Who's that? Michael. Oh, Michael? 135 00:22:01.260 --> 00:22:02.210 Town of Plainfield: Michael? 136 00:22:02.390 --> 00:22:05.950 Town of Plainfield: You're on mute, Michael. Can't hear you. 137 00:22:10.830 --> 00:22:12.540 Town of Plainfield: We still can't hear ya. 138 00:22:16.680 --> 00:22:19.120 Town of Plainfield: Michael, you're muted. 139 00:22:20.030 --> 00:22:21.520 Town of Plainfield: I think he knows that. 140 00:22:22.910 --> 00:22:25.319 Town of Plainfield: His finger's touching the screen a lot. 141 00:22:25.640 --> 00:22:32.760 Town of Plainfield: Okay. So he's trying to probably unmute unsuccessfully. It's on the telephone, it can be challenging sometimes. Yeah. 142 00:22:35.290 --> 00:22:40.989 Town of Plainfield: I did find the RCT letter, and that is the right number. Okay. 143 00:22:41.160 --> 00:22:43.729 Town of Plainfield: The, 683306. 144 00:22:43.730 --> 00:22:45.279 Michael Billingsley: There we go. Hi, can you help me? 145 00:22:45.390 --> 00:22:47.230 Town of Plainfield: Yep. 146 00:22:47.230 --> 00:22:47.810 Michael Billingsley: Okay, go ahead. 147 00:22:47.810 --> 00:22:48.710 Town of Plainfield: You know. 148 00:22:49.160 --> 00:22:57.269 Michael Billingsley: I typically don't attend by my phone, and I don't have very good control. Anyway, I wanted to say that when I recruited Dan… 149 00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:00.729 Michael Billingsley: That I had… 150 00:23:01.180 --> 00:23:09.859 Michael Billingsley: that at the time of recruiting, that he would be paid a stipend and mileage. So, it's up to you how to interpret that, but the stipend… 151 00:23:09.870 --> 00:23:25.880 Michael Billingsley: is for, in recognition of his service, the mileage is in response to out-of-pocket expenses that he would need to be reimbursed for. And I had said that to him at the time we talked about him becoming full in the first place. 152 00:23:28.390 --> 00:23:48.920 Town of Plainfield: Did the select board not, have an interview with him, and… We should just, I mean, we should just ask him. We'll ask him what he… maybe he is getting mileage and we don't know, like, let's just ask him. And we can always make sure that there's a line item for it. I don't think without him here, it doesn't make any sense to discuss it. Yeah, when he comes on, we'll, we'll ask him. 153 00:23:48.920 --> 00:23:52.169 Town of Plainfield: Okay. Okay. Thanks. 154 00:23:52.230 --> 00:23:58.020 Town of Plainfield: Okay, and who else do we have here? 155 00:23:58.520 --> 00:24:04.209 Town of Plainfield: What are the, are there other outstanding… yeah, I guess, are there other outstanding, 156 00:24:04.630 --> 00:24:09.200 Town of Plainfield: Budgets that… we've gone through a lot of the main ones, 157 00:24:09.550 --> 00:24:25.389 Town of Plainfield: we did listers, we did fire department, we did highway, we did office staff, we did salary, which obviously waiting for revenue is the big piece, but is there other pieces that we… like, the recreation department hasn't been in, I don't think? 158 00:24:25.580 --> 00:24:33.790 Town of Plainfield: Town Hall Opera has… I'm just looking through these categories. Yeah, yeah, that's cool. And we talked through, like, all the social concerns we've done, we've… 159 00:24:35.120 --> 00:24:40.440 Town of Plainfield: We did have a request from the Conservation Commission the other day, I think we have that from… 160 00:24:40.770 --> 00:24:59.990 Town of Plainfield: Rose Paul, because I remember I sent her an email, because she had a request for $150 for a movie licensing fee to show a film, and I said, what, what is all this? And she says, well, in April, we want to show a film, because it's, it's, 161 00:25:00.170 --> 00:25:03.600 Town of Plainfield: called Dark Skies, and it's about light pollution. 162 00:25:04.080 --> 00:25:21.320 Town of Plainfield: She says that she wants to show that, wants to show that in April. I said, are you talking about this April? Which case, that has to come out of this fiscal year's budget. Right. And she said, oh, well, I guess we'll just ask for donations or whatever, so that shouldn't be in there, but, she did send us an email within the past week 163 00:25:21.320 --> 00:25:25.870 Town of Plainfield: Cool. It has the Conservation Commission stuff in it. Oh, the budget? Yes. Yeah. 164 00:25:26.310 --> 00:25:37.170 Town of Plainfield: I'm not seeing that. Yeah, maybe it didn't go to everybody. I didn't see it, but I was away, so… They sent… I know that they sent the town report documents that they think also had 165 00:25:37.510 --> 00:25:42.740 Town of Plainfield: I haven't gotten anything from Rose since December 2nd, so… 166 00:25:45.290 --> 00:25:49.920 Town of Plainfield: It may have been an incomplete list of legislate… of, select board members. 167 00:25:50.310 --> 00:25:53.289 Town of Plainfield: Let me see what I can find here. 168 00:25:54.540 --> 00:26:03.709 Town of Plainfield: I mean, it's something we can also discuss next week, but if it's easy to find, but I just want to make sure we're… if we're thinking through… and have we talked through… 169 00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:09.579 Town of Plainfield: The other thing I guess we haven't talked through is our contract with the sheriff, our ambulance service. 170 00:26:09.870 --> 00:26:13.380 Town of Plainfield: Like, solid waste… 171 00:26:13.530 --> 00:26:30.950 Town of Plainfield: like, I think the public safety budget itself has not been discussed. It's one of the areas that hasn't… Okay. We have not discussed yet. So I wonder if we want to try to do that. Do we have any… do we have any figures that we can look at? Well, there are… And the Recreation Committee. And the Recreation Committee. There are figures in… 172 00:26:31.220 --> 00:26:34.599 Town of Plainfield: the sample budget, I don't know if those are based on 173 00:26:34.810 --> 00:26:45.920 Town of Plainfield: conversations with, like, the sheriffs? What's the figure for the sheriff's? So, last year it was 10,000 even, and this year it says 11,100. 174 00:26:45.920 --> 00:27:00.969 Town of Plainfield: That sounds right. Yeah. And if we could look at the ambulance service, I know we had that whole ambulance service conversation earlier. Alright, I found the Rose Paul, conservation thing. It was sent to the treasurer. 175 00:27:00.970 --> 00:27:04.470 Town of Plainfield: Select Board 8, Select Board 7, the Town Clerk. 176 00:27:04.470 --> 00:27:10.339 Town of Plainfield: And then copies to Mo Lynch, Becky Atkinson, Julie Hackfar, and the rest of the commission. 177 00:27:10.600 --> 00:27:15.600 Town of Plainfield: Okay, she says, I'm sending this to several people since I know Josh has been out sick. 178 00:27:17.810 --> 00:27:36.119 Town of Plainfield: And their request for 2026… for the next fiscal year is $350 operating funds, $2,000 to the conservation fund, which is standard, $100 for the Green Up Day Fund. 179 00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:49.700 Town of Plainfield: And $150 for the Dark Sky movie fee, which she then took off the table, realizing that she was in the wrong fiscal year. The total request of $2,600, so subtract $150, so $2,450. 180 00:27:50.080 --> 00:28:00.899 Town of Plainfield: That's definitely within the budget that we had here. I don't know, if we've… once we've contracted Sarah, we can forward those to Sarah, and she can update this spreadsheet. 181 00:28:01.550 --> 00:28:12.190 Town of Plainfield: So that should be easy. That should be, it sounds like… It's within what we have room for, it looks like. Yep. So… Department… 182 00:28:14.500 --> 00:28:19.359 Town of Plainfield: Couple… one you mentioned where we had, gotten 183 00:28:19.650 --> 00:28:34.280 Town of Plainfield: discussion and some options on the town office budget and town personnel. Different models, and I believe the range was something like $272,000 to $300,000, depending on 184 00:28:34.280 --> 00:28:43.579 Town of Plainfield: the model. The model, yeah. And so, you know, we probably need to have a discussion about what the number needs to be in there 185 00:28:43.580 --> 00:28:57.629 Town of Plainfield: We can probably separate that from the model, which gives us the latitude of figuring out the model, because we would have the number in there. I did have… And he does have in this 186 00:28:57.840 --> 00:28:59.419 Town of Plainfield: Two of the examples. 187 00:28:59.710 --> 00:29:02.140 Town of Plainfield: He has an example A on example B. 188 00:29:02.390 --> 00:29:12.060 Town of Plainfield: In this master document, with numbers already there. Yeah, which come from the separate sheets that he had given us. 189 00:29:12.250 --> 00:29:18.489 Town of Plainfield: This does get into the bigger discussion of the overall revenues. 190 00:29:18.560 --> 00:29:27.209 Town of Plainfield: And what… what we need to then raise by, municipal taxes, and then non-tax. 191 00:29:27.210 --> 00:29:40.970 Town of Plainfield: revenue. Last year, our non-tax revenue was about $300 and something thousand. Next year, it's probably going to be in the $2 million range, mostly because of Federal Highway and FEMA 192 00:29:40.970 --> 00:29:52.459 Town of Plainfield: reimbursements. Right. And I did meet with, Karen Hatcher on Friday, and go over this, and we were texting with, Josh 193 00:29:52.520 --> 00:30:07.890 Town of Plainfield: During this, and it raised a couple of questions which, are not resolved in my mind yet, but, and Karen and I exchanged a couple of emails today about this, which is, 194 00:30:08.390 --> 00:30:17.940 Town of Plainfield: how much do we need, and how does Josh account for this in the ledgers? The money that comes in and gets set aside for those FEMA projects. 195 00:30:17.940 --> 00:30:34.900 Town of Plainfield: that are not yet completed, and there are a couple of those. How also the books handle the monies received and then paid out to Integrity, and we're not paying out a lot to Integrity. A lot of that's gonna come 196 00:30:34.900 --> 00:30:36.620 Town of Plainfield: under… 197 00:30:36.620 --> 00:30:45.159 Town of Plainfield: I think it's Category 7, which doesn't happen until the very end of the process for administrative costs, but there are some… there are some… 198 00:30:45.160 --> 00:30:53.679 Town of Plainfield: Num… numbers there. And, how, the interest 199 00:30:53.680 --> 00:31:06.830 Town of Plainfield: and principal payments on the short-term debt are covered in there. Those are pieces that need to get nailed down, as well as, you know, where we put those monies. 200 00:31:07.250 --> 00:31:14.990 Town of Plainfield: from a 35,000 foot level, you may recall Josh proposed putting a lot of that money 201 00:31:15.030 --> 00:31:35.549 Town of Plainfield: into the reserve funds for highway-related things, bridges, culverts, etc. There were some significant increases. Yep. And, I think Dan did the calculation that in that department alone, it was a 17% increase in expenditures, but it didn't account for the revenue side yet. And so. 202 00:31:35.550 --> 00:31:41.120 Town of Plainfield: I think that as a concept, I would propose that we… 203 00:31:41.120 --> 00:32:05.789 Town of Plainfield: assume, and we do put money into those reserve funds, as Josh had suggested, and that… that is… the source of that is coming from those, federal reimbursements. And, we spent some time, Carol and I, and Josh has done some of this as well, sort of where these dollars are falling in the calendar and fiscal years. 204 00:32:05.930 --> 00:32:25.020 Town of Plainfield: There's more money that's coming in during the current fiscal year that started to flow, the bulk of which will flow into the next fiscal year, between July 1 and June 30th. And there may be a short tail that spills into fiscal year 2028 at the end of this. 205 00:32:25.280 --> 00:32:38.079 Town of Plainfield: If we would assume that the source of revenue for the large increases in those reserve funds is these federal funds. 206 00:32:38.260 --> 00:33:02.639 Town of Plainfield: then I think we are not at risk of what happens with municipal taxes. If the federal funds don't come in in the same level, then the amount put into those reserve funds just isn't the same, but we've protected the general operating budget with our municipal fees. It gives us flexibility as well, if there's money, if those funds are in the reserve accounts… Yes. 207 00:33:02.640 --> 00:33:16.040 Town of Plainfield: And, you know, there is… it not only gives us flexible, but, it will be earning interest in there, etc. I did not get a chance to connect with, 208 00:33:16.180 --> 00:33:21.329 Town of Plainfield: the woman at the League of Cities and Towns who, 209 00:33:22.030 --> 00:33:39.530 Town of Plainfield: Josh had sent in a text that says, some of this goes into Fund 4… Fund 40… 504, and I forget what the number is, and 509. And again, that's… that's Josh territory that I don't fully understand. But, Josh did say that 210 00:33:39.530 --> 00:33:52.880 Town of Plainfield: by doing this with these federal funds, and again, I'm flying at 35,000 feet here, that we can keep our municipal tax increase to about 2.5%. 211 00:33:53.130 --> 00:34:06.750 Town of Plainfield: Now, I know that's his goal, and I know that we still have to sharpen the pencils and go through here, but, to me, that's an acceptable goal. That's a desirable goal, given what's happened with school budgets and… 212 00:34:06.750 --> 00:34:19.439 Town of Plainfield: and other things. And, you know, it allows for, you know, the general operating budget to inflate slightly with inflation and be covered by that without hitting the taxpayers with 213 00:34:19.440 --> 00:34:20.420 Town of Plainfield: a large… 214 00:34:20.949 --> 00:34:27.009 Town of Plainfield: Okay, I see Karen is on, just… do you want to chime in here, Karen? You and Peter's. 215 00:34:27.010 --> 00:34:45.289 Karen Hatcher: Yeah, I can. I think Peter summarized our conversation pretty well. We are… we… I was able today to really dig in a little bit with the integrity group on the FEMA side of things, and, try to kind of parse out 216 00:34:45.420 --> 00:34:59.999 Karen Hatcher: When we expect to see dollars, and how much, and what… which dollars are unreserved, you know, are unrestricted dollars, and which dollars need to be held for projects that are uncompleted, and 217 00:35:00.120 --> 00:35:03.740 Karen Hatcher: You know, essentially, and I have sent those numbers over to Peter. 218 00:35:04.250 --> 00:35:17.850 Karen Hatcher: But of the 1.2 million that we have in projects with FEMA, you know, about a half a million of it needs to be held for projects to be done, but the remaining number, 219 00:35:17.850 --> 00:35:25.239 Karen Hatcher: Which is, you know, $750,000, will be unrestricted and will arrive 220 00:35:25.250 --> 00:35:38.639 Karen Hatcher: between, you know, next month and, through the fiscal year of, 2027, which is our upcoming year. So we could expect, 221 00:35:39.080 --> 00:35:42.950 Town of Plainfield: You know, $750,000 to work with. 222 00:35:43.160 --> 00:35:46.529 Karen Hatcher: from the FEMA side. 223 00:35:46.610 --> 00:35:52.730 Town of Plainfield: Above and beyond, and that's a… that is a conservative number, because there's still some costing being done. 224 00:35:52.730 --> 00:35:55.779 Karen Hatcher: That hasn't been finalized, but 225 00:35:55.830 --> 00:36:06.700 Karen Hatcher: you know, but that… those are, pretty good numbers. In addition to the FEMA numbers, there still is $640,000 in 226 00:36:06.710 --> 00:36:16.990 Karen Hatcher: reimbursement due from Federal Highway, which is, which is reimbursement from damages measures that we took and spent. 227 00:36:17.070 --> 00:36:25.019 Karen Hatcher: I'll be meeting with Jamie on Wednesday because she met with Josh, and we've shared some files so I can get 228 00:36:25.080 --> 00:36:33.289 Karen Hatcher: A real sense of the, kind of, the timing of getting the paperwork done, to be able to have that money flow in. 229 00:36:33.290 --> 00:36:53.200 Karen Hatcher: But, it's likely that we will see some of that money in the fourth quarter of this fiscal year, and some of that money then into next year. So that also is money that, again, has been spent, is reimbursement. The thing that the board needs to remember, and this is a Josh 230 00:36:53.290 --> 00:37:00.670 Karen Hatcher: Question, but… You know, what is the expectation from the bond bank about repayment? 231 00:37:00.710 --> 00:37:15.409 Karen Hatcher: Because these funds were, expended out of the million dollar, bond bank loan, and we do understand that half of that needs to be paid back, but the timing of the pay down 232 00:37:15.410 --> 00:37:24.070 Karen Hatcher: And, the interest payments and that question is still a question. However, we will have cash 233 00:37:24.290 --> 00:37:29.590 Karen Hatcher: To be working with, you know, all the good ways that we can work with it, and to maximize 234 00:37:29.900 --> 00:37:41.280 Karen Hatcher: Earning interest and also then paying down principal, on essentially what is a line of credit from the bond bank that allows us to have money to continue over the next 235 00:37:41.710 --> 00:37:53.229 Karen Hatcher: several years to complete the projects and do the matches and all the things that need to be done, with the variety of projects that are going to happen on Brook Road and all around town. So, 236 00:37:53.370 --> 00:38:00.139 Karen Hatcher: So that's kind of the… again, Peter went 35,000… 35,000 feet. I kind of brought it in a little bit, but we still… 237 00:38:00.140 --> 00:38:00.890 Town of Plainfield: You know? 238 00:38:00.890 --> 00:38:13.399 Karen Hatcher: There's still some unanswered questions, but suffice to say, there's gonna be cash that, if well invested, will have to use and also, can, you know, benefit the town. 239 00:38:14.100 --> 00:38:22.940 Town of Plainfield: Thank you for that. Peter, you have a follow-up? Well, yeah, I was just gonna jump in when you finished up with the FEMA… with the FEMA money, which… 240 00:38:22.940 --> 00:38:38.469 Town of Plainfield: You said about $750,000, we were working around $800,000. The 10% match for the 3 committed Brook Road projects right now is about $800,000. Yep. So, if you can… if you figure… 241 00:38:38.470 --> 00:38:50.750 Town of Plainfield: that those two are roughly equal, then you have to consider what Karen just described as what the bond bank expectations are for payback, interest in principle, the timing of that. 242 00:38:50.750 --> 00:39:14.859 Town of Plainfield: then you also have to consider what comes in during this calendar year and is thus a surplus to start the new year, which we have the authority to use to apply to buy down taxes. So that if, as we sharpen our pencils and go through this budget, we find we're at 3.5% as opposed to a target of 2.5%, we can use some of that to 243 00:39:14.980 --> 00:39:27.069 Town of Plainfield: get us to that point. Non-tax revenue to cover that. Now, when you get out into, you know, 28 and 29, you know, the town is going to face a different issue. 244 00:39:27.120 --> 00:39:42.439 Town of Plainfield: And that is that we don't have this one-time money coming in for match for major projects along the Brook Road. And the major outlays are going to be when those projects are actually constructed. 245 00:39:42.440 --> 00:39:59.170 Town of Plainfield: So, we're not going to have a major outlay for Mill Street Bridge next year. That will come the year after, you know, and the same thing. And, you know, yes, we'll have the 10% match set aside out of these monies, but as we move into the other projects. 246 00:39:59.170 --> 00:40:13.710 Town of Plainfield: We are going to face, how are we going to pay for that? And that may require us to bond for that, you know, quite frankly. Because those are long-term investments on things that we hope will last a long time. 247 00:40:13.760 --> 00:40:23.680 Town of Plainfield: Yep. If done right this time. I think Josh alerted us to that possibility of needing to get some more bond money. Well, that's great. 248 00:40:23.680 --> 00:40:36.280 Karen Hatcher: Could I just add one… yeah, could I add one other thing, and that is, we… because Peter mentioned the integrity group, and we have spent money, on this consultant to be able to generate the kind of 249 00:40:36.380 --> 00:40:44.719 Karen Hatcher: response we're getting here in terms of being able to generate a million, too, in FEMA reimbursement and the rest. 250 00:40:44.720 --> 00:40:57.100 Karen Hatcher: the… that money, most of it, aside from the portion that is the 7.5% that we'll have to pay, will come back to us in what they call Category Z. 251 00:40:57.100 --> 00:41:03.739 Karen Hatcher: Z, not 7, but that happens at the very end of the FEMA process, which is a closeout. 252 00:41:03.760 --> 00:41:12.120 Karen Hatcher: So, so the money we have spent, which I believe amounts to $180,000 over the last 18 months. 253 00:41:12.180 --> 00:41:27.489 Karen Hatcher: Or thereabouts. We will see most of that come back in, and that will be a cash payment that is, again, unrestricted at that point, but probably not in this fiscal year coming, but probably the next. 254 00:41:28.160 --> 00:41:29.440 Town of Plainfield: Thank you. 255 00:41:29.440 --> 00:41:29.880 Karen Hatcher: You're welcome. 256 00:41:29.880 --> 00:41:33.880 Town of Plainfield: The timing of all this is very critical. 257 00:41:33.880 --> 00:41:34.350 Karen Hatcher: Right. 258 00:41:34.350 --> 00:41:35.820 Town of Plainfield: Yup. 259 00:41:35.820 --> 00:41:36.710 Karen Hatcher: Okay. 260 00:41:36.900 --> 00:41:43.560 Town of Plainfield: Anything else that you can… that we can address tonight on the budget? 261 00:41:43.710 --> 00:41:58.030 Town of Plainfield: I think… go ahead. I was just gonna say, just making sure someone's reaching out to get the pieces that we don't, currently have. You mentioned some. We need, I can't email the people tomorrow. The rec department. 262 00:41:58.030 --> 00:42:11.349 Town of Plainfield: Conservation… Well, Conservation Commission we have. We just went through it, but very briefly. Bob Atchinson, Energy Coordinator. I mean, it's been a flat amount, I'm guessing it'll be flat. And then I was trying to find the public safety thing again, just to see the… 263 00:42:11.350 --> 00:42:22.849 Town of Plainfield: make sure we have all the pieces. Could you just email me the different ones? Yep. Ambulance and sheriff. Yeah, but there was more on that. Whatever you need, so you also need to reach out to the bond bank, it sounds up, too. 264 00:42:23.780 --> 00:42:26.160 Town of Plainfield: To get some clarity on that. No. 265 00:42:26.850 --> 00:42:29.410 Town of Plainfield: The BonBank clarity? I wonder if that's a… 266 00:42:30.260 --> 00:42:31.920 Town of Plainfield: Do you think that's that said? 267 00:42:32.660 --> 00:42:36.480 Town of Plainfield: Well, that's a different question. 268 00:42:36.720 --> 00:42:56.370 Town of Plainfield: You're talking about the water bond and the… No, no, I was talking about… I was talking about… you were saying, in light of these funds coming in, we have to weigh what we owe the bond bank when. That seems to be unclear. Do you want me to reach out? I mean, I correspond with him right now. This is the million dollar refund. 269 00:42:58.550 --> 00:43:02.659 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, I don't know what Josh is, you know, when we re-upped. 270 00:43:02.860 --> 00:43:10.740 Town of Plainfield: No, no, I understand. Do you need clarity? It sounds like I should reach out and find out for this coming budget. Wouldn't you need to know that, or am I wrong? 271 00:43:10.850 --> 00:43:15.069 Town of Plainfield: Yes, that is something we need to know, but Josh may already know that. 272 00:43:15.400 --> 00:43:25.609 Town of Plainfield: Okay. Yep, and Karen, you had a… Because he just renewed the bond with them, so he would know what the expectations are for payback. I think he's been working with them. Karen, do you have a point there? 273 00:43:25.610 --> 00:43:36.639 Karen Hatcher: Yeah, I just… I just wanted to say that I think the, certainly the terms of the… whatever the documents are would spell out what the terms are, but I think, a conversation with, 274 00:43:37.190 --> 00:43:44.200 Karen Hatcher: The folks at the bond bank would be good to have, just in… just to get an idea of what their expectation is around repayment. 275 00:43:45.470 --> 00:44:04.589 Karen Hatcher: you know, because at the beginning of this, we were in a different world where there was a fair amount of money flowing from the federal government to the states and whatever, and… and I just think that, you know, if there… and they had a pretty, I don't want to say it was… 276 00:44:04.800 --> 00:44:09.109 Karen Hatcher: It was a pretty open, agreement with the town, like. 277 00:44:09.480 --> 00:44:13.189 Karen Hatcher: You only need to pay half of this back, because we know you're gonna need cash. 278 00:44:13.220 --> 00:44:26.730 Karen Hatcher: And, we can be pretty flexible on the repayment. So I… I just think it's worth a conversation to find out if that's still the case, or if things have changed, because, cash flow is going to be what is 279 00:44:26.730 --> 00:44:40.670 Karen Hatcher: important, right, in the scheme and not paying too much interest and being able to pay… making good decisions about that. So I think if Josh is going to be out for a while, maybe someone on the board should make a call and at least establish that relationship to… 280 00:44:40.780 --> 00:44:45.769 Karen Hatcher: Just understand what, they're thinking. 281 00:44:46.020 --> 00:44:46.720 Karen Hatcher: That's all. 282 00:44:47.610 --> 00:45:03.430 Town of Plainfield: Okay, yep. I mean, I have the name of the person. I mean, what concerns me is just, I think that we all ought to understand that Josh, is dealing with a lot of stuff, and sometimes he doesn't speak as clearly. I'm concerned about a bond bank 283 00:45:03.690 --> 00:45:14.059 Town of Plainfield: payment that I'm not sure has been paid, that it's not a huge amount, but I'm just saying, I think it would be good to get clarity from them about what they expect when. 284 00:45:14.940 --> 00:45:28.010 Town of Plainfield: Because it's not… it's not like a regular invoice, it's not like… Yeah, I'd be happy to talk to them. Yeah. I can get you the person to talk to. Okay. Thank you, Peter. Are you… you're in the office tomorrow? Yes. Yeah, alright, I'll touch base. 285 00:45:28.010 --> 00:45:28.380 Karen Hatcher: Great. 286 00:45:28.380 --> 00:45:38.419 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, and if… and also a status of where we stand with them, if we've made payments or not. It's one payment, it's not a huge amount, but… 287 00:45:38.420 --> 00:45:49.090 Town of Plainfield: I just was looking through, and I'm not sure that it's been paved, so I just want to make sure. Yeah, we want to know that. Right. Yep. Okay. Thank you, Peter, that would be great. 288 00:45:50.380 --> 00:46:03.759 Town of Plainfield: I think we've covered what the moving parts here, and I think folks understand what our potential choices are of how we allocate funds. 289 00:46:03.760 --> 00:46:12.289 Town of Plainfield: I don't think we're at a point where we've sharpened the pencil enough yet, but I don't know, Dan, what your schedule is, but, 290 00:46:13.100 --> 00:46:27.920 Town of Plainfield: I would propose that a task force of two of us sit down and go through the general operating budget with a sharpened pencil and see if we can hit that target, and then come back to the full board with… 291 00:46:28.580 --> 00:46:34.530 Town of Plainfield: Any recommendations, you know? Do we know what the revenues are yet, though? 292 00:46:34.580 --> 00:46:54.970 Town of Plainfield: We've always said that the revenue side is really critical to understand. Well, I mean, there's… there's the general ongoing revenues, you know, we're going to get state aid to town highways, we're gonna have marriage fees and dog license fees and, you know, all that stuff that's in there that, you know, this year added up to about $300,000. We have… 293 00:46:55.020 --> 00:47:19.290 Town of Plainfield: broad numbers, you know, that Karen and I have just gone over with FEMA and Federal Highways about what's coming in gross, and most of that is coming in prior to June 30th of 2027. Okay, okay. So, you know, I think we can get there. And as I said, if we use those reserve funds as the places to park those monies, if a little less 294 00:47:19.290 --> 00:47:22.660 Town of Plainfield: comes in. You know, the fact that we put 295 00:47:22.770 --> 00:47:41.139 Town of Plainfield: $12,000 in the Bridge Reserve Fund as opposed to $15,000 still puts us $12,000 further than if we would have done it out of general tax revenue. So we're in good shape there, you know. You know, Josh's vision is that 296 00:47:41.340 --> 00:48:05.900 Town of Plainfield: you know, 5 years out, 10 years out, 15 years out, that an amount is put in each year that looks at the culvert replacement schedule, that looks at the bridge maintenance schedule, so that taxpayers are not shocked with a, you know, need to come up with a whole bunch of money all of a sudden because, you know. 297 00:48:05.900 --> 00:48:09.120 Town of Plainfield: Three bridges broke, and we didn't have money set aside. 298 00:48:09.120 --> 00:48:13.359 Town of Plainfield: Yep, yep, no, it makes a lot of sense to have the reserves. 299 00:48:18.770 --> 00:48:26.579 Town of Plainfield: what… I guess we could look through the budget. I mean, I could do that, too. I don't… Dan's getting busy, I think, but, 300 00:48:26.950 --> 00:48:28.380 Town of Plainfield: I just wonder… 301 00:48:28.470 --> 00:48:38.740 Town of Plainfield: The only reason I suggest Daniel is because he's very sharp and quick with the numbers, but I know he's… What are you saying about the legislative session? I could probably find time on Friday. 302 00:48:38.780 --> 00:48:43.169 Town of Plainfield: Friday's a great day. So, as long as it's after 11. 303 00:48:43.210 --> 00:48:44.530 Town of Plainfield: Okay. That's fine. 304 00:48:44.550 --> 00:48:52.380 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, let's just… we'll find a time after 11 on Friday. And we've been given budgets by most of these departments. 305 00:48:52.380 --> 00:49:09.080 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, I think it's… and it's all in the spreadsheet. I think it's just one of the things is we… I think the biggest conversation is just gonna be around the personnel costs, and what we're doing, and if we're making any changes to structure, which, personally, given everything else that's going on, feels… 306 00:49:09.440 --> 00:49:33.930 Town of Plainfield: like, a very hard thing to do. Right now. Right now, and we have a ticking clock of the number of… I don't know what the… I think the drop-dead date for getting the town report done is the 26th of January. Yeah. It's a drop-dead date. So we're… we're 3 weeks… we're 3 weeks away from having all the decisions. Right, everything. But like… like I said, you know, if our number comes in, you know, between 272 and 300, 307 00:49:33.930 --> 00:49:40.129 Town of Plainfield: in that, you know, 268 is what's in there right now, but yeah. 308 00:49:40.130 --> 00:49:53.590 Town of Plainfield: Sure. Yeah, let's… yeah, let's find an hour on Friday, just to dig in at the office. Yeah. And, okay. I want to thank you, Graham, for putting this schedule together of… 309 00:49:54.110 --> 00:50:12.440 Town of Plainfield: critical dates, because… I don't know how you guys keep track of it. It's, really critical. Okay, so you're gonna report back to the Select Board next meeting? Next meeting, yeah. Okay. But that's great. 310 00:50:12.520 --> 00:50:16.740 Town of Plainfield: And give us confidence in what we're suggesting. 311 00:50:18.100 --> 00:50:22.280 Town of Plainfield: Okay, any other budget-related items? 312 00:50:23.450 --> 00:50:29.209 Town of Plainfield: Do you mind if I interject? Go right ahead. 313 00:50:29.420 --> 00:50:35.820 Sarah Macy: We skipped a little bit over, introductions and how I can help you all during your… 314 00:50:35.820 --> 00:50:40.080 Town of Plainfield: We have that… we just did this backwards. We… it is coming up on the agenda. 315 00:50:40.080 --> 00:50:41.449 Sarah Macy: Oh, good. Well… 316 00:50:41.450 --> 00:50:42.090 Town of Plainfield: Yes. 317 00:50:42.090 --> 00:50:42.700 Sarah Macy: It's up. 318 00:50:42.900 --> 00:50:48.000 Sarah Macy: offer, if you're going to be working in the budget, I would love join you. 319 00:50:48.450 --> 00:50:53.509 Sarah Macy: my Friday's a little… I've got union negotiations, but I think it would be a very good use of 320 00:50:54.180 --> 00:51:01.710 Sarah Macy: of my time in this project to work with you to get a sense of where are the holes, do all the numbers line up, and everything. Okay. 321 00:51:02.160 --> 00:51:03.439 Sarah Macy: I'll let you get to it. 322 00:51:03.990 --> 00:51:05.070 Town of Plainfield: Alright. 323 00:51:05.310 --> 00:51:07.469 Town of Plainfield: I think the next item's gonna be a quick one. 324 00:51:07.470 --> 00:51:25.849 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, the articles. Articles for town meeting day. So, looking at last year's town meeting warning, the articles that we will have, and I think we've talked about almost all of these, so there's elections of necessary officers, which is the ballot that doesn't… isn't here, hearing of town reports and acting on the same. 325 00:51:25.850 --> 00:51:29.529 Town of Plainfield: Social concerns, Green Mountain Transit. 326 00:51:29.630 --> 00:51:46.309 Town of Plainfield: Rural community transportation, Cutler Memorial Library, so those are all things we discussed today. The water line, the wastewater line, and the overall budget. So those are the warnings. I think we're, other than waiting on water and wastewater to actually create their budgets, bonds… And the tax and the tax dates. 327 00:51:46.390 --> 00:52:05.410 Town of Plainfield: Well, I'm sorry, and the tax states, yeah. Just, just want to interject, here. We're gonna have two bond votes. Bond votes are warned differently than, other votes, so what I was thinking of doing was referencing… 328 00:52:05.500 --> 00:52:21.860 Town of Plainfield: saying in the town warning, we are going to have these bond votes via Australian ballot, and reference a second warning. The lawyer preferred that we do two separate warnings for the same, 329 00:52:21.860 --> 00:52:36.920 Town of Plainfield: meeting, because of the advertising cost, and, you know, in other words, like, for the bond thing, you have to run 3 newspaper ads, and all that. So, just… just so that you know, in the structure of the thing, there'll be a paragraph saying, you know, we're gonna have these 330 00:52:36.920 --> 00:52:42.629 Town of Plainfield: the Australian ballot, these bond votes, but it's a separate warning, and here's the URL, or whatever. 331 00:52:43.580 --> 00:52:50.870 Town of Plainfield: In the, in the warning for last year, you know, it says, Article 1 to elect all necessary officers. 332 00:52:50.880 --> 00:53:01.079 Town of Plainfield: including a moderator, and two, adopt amendments to the zoning. Articles 1 and 2 will be voted by Australian ballot. I noticed that in your bond documents. 333 00:53:01.080 --> 00:53:17.299 Town of Plainfield: you labeled them Article 1 and Article 2. Correct. So therefore, Article 3 would become to elect all necessary officers, etc. Yeah, that was… And you could say Articles 1, 2, and 3. 334 00:53:17.670 --> 00:53:41.679 Town of Plainfield: Right. To be voted by Australian ballot. Yes. Okay. I mean, yeah. Yeah, you can just basically use the language from last year, but just… just include… just make sure we're including the two bond votes and the election of people. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good point, because people do refer back to the previous year. Well, and also, like, what are we voting on this year? Yeah, yeah, and I think it's important to… I mean, the lawyer was… 335 00:53:41.680 --> 00:53:56.920 Town of Plainfield: the reason why he labeled it 1 and 2 was he was really thinking of just two completely separate, and I said, look, it has to be referenced in the… in the town warning, because people are gonna wonder, wait, wait a second, you know, so… whatever, so… 336 00:53:57.040 --> 00:54:14.290 Town of Plainfield: What is the date, and I forget, from your schedule, of when any petitioned article might come to us? What's the last date? Yeah, the 15th. Thursday, January 15th. I'm not aware of anything kicking around. I'm not aware of anything either. Nothing is coming. 337 00:54:16.000 --> 00:54:34.139 Town of Plainfield: We should remind people… I'll let you know as soon as if something comes in, I'll let you know. We should remind people that if they're interested in the Select Board, they should get the petition in. That is till the 26th. Oh, the 26th. So, if you wanted to add something, like add an article to the ballot on town meeting day, you need 5% of… 338 00:54:34.140 --> 00:54:47.190 Town of Plainfield: registered voters, and you need to have that in by January 15th. If you are running for office, you have until January 26th to get your 10 signatures. Yeah, 1%, which is 10 signatures for us. Yep, okay. 339 00:54:47.430 --> 00:54:51.309 Town of Plainfield: Good. Town office support. 340 00:54:53.150 --> 00:55:10.389 Town of Plainfield: Where do we start? Where do we start? Peter, do you want to lay this out? You can… Well, I can lay what… you know, I have… I have knowledge of some parts of this. Yeah. Okay? I have not participated in the meetings 341 00:55:10.550 --> 00:55:17.990 Town of Plainfield: with the town staff, like Francis Rose has at the office. Yeah, and I have too, yeah. On… 342 00:55:18.450 --> 00:55:21.130 Town of Plainfield: Friday, when, 343 00:55:21.200 --> 00:55:31.560 Town of Plainfield: Karen and I were going over the revenues, particularly the Federal Highway and the non-municipal tax revenues, and Josh was 344 00:55:31.560 --> 00:55:55.700 Town of Plainfield: with us, via text. Bram walked in with a phone with Sarah Macy on the line, saying, this is… this is someone who, you know, Josh has suggested as a potential fill-in. He also mentioned someone else from the League of Cities and Towns, because he's been working with the League, to help train new treasurers. They have a working group that's… 345 00:55:55.700 --> 00:55:56.660 Town of Plainfield: You know. 346 00:55:56.890 --> 00:56:17.310 Town of Plainfield: as you know, they're good about doing training manuals for… It was that individual who actually recommended, Sarah. Okay. So, that's how it started. So that's how engaged, so… Anyway, so we talked briefly with Sarah, and she asked, you know, some questions about how we did our budget and whatnot, so… 347 00:56:17.310 --> 00:56:24.400 Town of Plainfield: And then I did notice today, and I haven't had a chance to study it, because I was at work today, but, 348 00:56:24.620 --> 00:56:28.089 Town of Plainfield: Karen did send us, a proposal. 349 00:56:28.220 --> 00:56:49.049 Town of Plainfield: Sarah did. Sarah did. Sarah did, and we… Sarah sent us a proposal, and I did pull up the proposal. Last year, we hired some temporary help to replace, Bram. You know, Carol Dawes came in, and it was a… there was an hourly rate with a figure not to exceed, and a description of what we expected. 350 00:56:49.050 --> 00:56:56.009 Town of Plainfield: So, I… it looked, from the perfunctory glance that I took at what, 351 00:56:56.660 --> 00:57:03.850 Town of Plainfield: Sarah sent us, that's the sort of model she used, but I… I haven't gotten into the details of it. 352 00:57:04.220 --> 00:57:12.920 Town of Plainfield: If I could just… the goal here, we have, you know, the drop-dead date of January 27th. 353 00:57:13.030 --> 00:57:19.979 Town of Plainfield: And in terms of, receivables, from Josh, Josh is responsible for the town report. 354 00:57:20.270 --> 00:57:22.990 Town of Plainfield: We have the town treasurer narrative. 355 00:57:23.380 --> 00:57:31.790 Town of Plainfield: A reserve and cash… revenues and cash on hand, balance sheet, statement of taxes raised, and the Select Board actual proposed budget. 356 00:57:32.170 --> 00:57:43.480 Town of Plainfield: Those are the sort of items. So, in evaluating, hiring, Sarah, I think that the board should focus on 357 00:57:43.510 --> 00:57:59.660 Town of Plainfield: who's gonna be responsible for those deliverables? Obviously, the town treasurer narrative is not something that Sarah has proposed to do. That's something that can be figured out. That's not… that's just the words. But the numbers… 358 00:57:59.660 --> 00:58:05.259 Town of Plainfield: are more significant, so that's… that's the question. 359 00:58:05.930 --> 00:58:15.499 Town of Plainfield: before us. You know, getting those ready by the 27th. Carl, would this be an appropriate time to have Sarah introduce herself, and… 360 00:58:15.780 --> 00:58:31.610 Town of Plainfield: talk with her, or… I think it would be, if nobody has an objection. Yeah, Sarah, why don't you, I've been… I was just looking over your… your, qualifications, and they're… they're very much appreciated, and… 361 00:58:32.010 --> 00:58:36.069 Town of Plainfield: Looked like you could do the job. 362 00:58:36.910 --> 00:58:39.290 Town of Plainfield: Thank you. So… 363 00:58:39.310 --> 00:58:57.480 Sarah Macy: I'm Sarah Macy. I'm the Director of Finance and Administration for the City of St. Albans. I've worked in Vermont Municipal Government for 17 and a half years, all the way from the bottom to the top in the finance department. I started out with the city as the payroll clerk, AP clerk, water and sewer. 364 00:58:57.620 --> 00:59:14.700 Sarah Macy: billing. I did my undergraduate studies at UVM, where I double majored in political science and professional accounting. I have a master's degree in governmental accounting from Rutgers University, and I'm a certified public finance officer through the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada. 365 00:59:14.700 --> 00:59:17.979 Sarah Macy: I have spent a couple semesters teaching governmental accounting. 366 00:59:17.980 --> 00:59:30.049 Sarah Macy: At UVM, I've been the president of the Vermont Government Finance Officers Association, I'm a current board member of the New England State's Government Finance Officers Association, and I'm a regular presenter at local and regional 367 00:59:30.080 --> 00:59:46.769 Sarah Macy: conferences. So, to sum all that up, I'm a governmental accounting super nerd, and I have the capacity in the next couple of weeks to help out in any way that you need that involves numbers and spreadsheets. My budget in the city is headed to the Finance Committee. 368 00:59:47.260 --> 00:59:55.940 Sarah Macy: Tomorrow evening, and so I'm in a spot where I could spend some working hours during the week, evenings and weekends, assisting 369 00:59:55.940 --> 01:00:11.219 Sarah Macy: To fill in, in some of the ways that Josh isn't currently able to, and to help you all get this over the finish line. I have summarized in my proposal what I see the specific deliverables and the timeline to be. I think Graham just, 370 01:00:11.900 --> 01:00:14.370 Sarah Macy: Identified them, so all of the numbers, components. 371 01:00:14.370 --> 01:00:15.620 Town of Plainfield: of… 372 01:00:15.620 --> 01:00:16.110 Sarah Macy: the… 373 01:00:17.550 --> 01:00:36.460 Sarah Macy: account report, so the revenues and cash, the balance sheet, the budget proposal. I'm sure there was another one, I think there's four there. And I spent some time this afternoon familiarizing myself, with your trial balance and your general ledger, and, the budget workbook that we've been working on, this afternoon, this evening, and I think 374 01:00:36.460 --> 01:00:47.879 Sarah Macy: Overall, we do things a little bit differently in the City of St. Albans, but the debits and the credits always have to match at the end of the day, and I think that I'm well-suited to help you out. 375 01:00:47.940 --> 01:00:51.330 Sarah Macy: As… as you need. And I'd be happy to answer any questions you have. 376 01:00:54.270 --> 01:00:55.500 Town of Plainfield: Questions? 377 01:00:56.600 --> 01:01:15.699 Town of Plainfield: No, I'm looking at her deliverable sheet. I think, you know, the Select Board, whether it's Dan and I, but the whole board, I think we're going to be able to help a lot on the actual proposed budget. I think the balance sheet, the statement of taxes, raised revenue and cash on hand, is places where we definitely need your help, so… 378 01:01:15.980 --> 01:01:17.070 Sarah Macy: Happy to help there. 379 01:01:17.790 --> 01:01:18.910 Town of Plainfield: Yep. 380 01:01:19.390 --> 01:01:35.740 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, Bohem. So, Sarah, I discussed with this… with you this briefly. I… I don't think that we will need your help regarding water and sewer. 381 01:01:35.890 --> 01:01:42.490 Town of Plainfield: But I do want to note that Josh is an integral part of that organization as well. 382 01:01:42.800 --> 01:01:46.759 Town of Plainfield: And I have some concerns. 383 01:01:46.870 --> 01:01:51.110 Town of Plainfield: Regarding their getting their figures together 384 01:01:51.240 --> 01:01:59.009 Town of Plainfield: And I don't know, in our town, the water sewer department is run strictly from revenues. 385 01:01:59.110 --> 01:02:16.110 Town of Plainfield: from the users. And… but ironically, the board… we're coming up with a bond vote, and the board will, all the voters of the town would accept that, as there would be liability 386 01:02:16.110 --> 01:02:32.609 Town of Plainfield: for the taxpayer. But what I'm just throwing out there, getting out there, is just, like, for example, I know that, there was supposed to be a budget meeting today, and it got canceled because people not showing up and so forth. Another member of the 387 01:02:32.690 --> 01:02:40.219 Town of Plainfield: Commission, in addition to Josh, has illness. So I just want to make the board aware, and Sarah aware, that we… 388 01:02:40.720 --> 01:03:02.040 Town of Plainfield: there might be some need for a little bit of help in that department. And that… those consulting fees would be paid for by the Water… I would, yeah, I would think that they… that… Could be a separate consulting company. I think… I think that that might be a separate matter, because… but I… I just wanted that to be on people's radar. 389 01:03:02.610 --> 01:03:05.570 Town of Plainfield: I'm just concerned about it. 390 01:03:05.700 --> 01:03:08.950 Town of Plainfield: Any other questions for Sarah, or comments? 391 01:03:10.040 --> 01:03:22.499 Town of Plainfield: But I guess we just heard a question come up, which is, you've offered 40 hours, or an amount not to exceed 40 hours. Should water and wastewater 392 01:03:22.610 --> 01:03:31.670 Town of Plainfield: budgeting appeal to you to add to your list of things you could do for this town, and that exceeded 40 hours, do you have capacity to do that? 393 01:03:32.590 --> 01:03:38.069 Sarah Macy: I do have some capacity. Is the deadline for water and sewer the same as for the general fund budget? 394 01:03:38.320 --> 01:03:49.209 Town of Plainfield: Unfortunately, it is. It is. That's why, when their meeting was canceled today, I… my heart kind of sank, because 395 01:03:49.210 --> 01:04:07.199 Town of Plainfield: we're supposed to have everything ready. Once again, the drop-dead date is the 27th, but if we can get it earlier, that's even better. So, it's of concern, and I don't know, I think, ironically, because of Carol Smith's diligence. 396 01:04:07.220 --> 01:04:12.850 Town of Plainfield: The figures on that are much more robust and clear. 397 01:04:13.100 --> 01:04:21.730 Town of Plainfield: But… and I haven't discussed this with Carol or anything, but I'm sure she would welcome the help, but I'm just throwing it out there. 398 01:04:22.120 --> 01:04:24.370 Sarah Macy: The three municipalities I've… 399 01:04:24.920 --> 01:04:44.749 Sarah Macy: played finance director for City of St. Albans, the Town of Milton, and the two Essexes all have had water and sewer and stormwater entities, so I'm well-versed in enterprise fund budgeting, as well as general fund budgeting. So it's certainly something I could help with. Hearing this evening how involved the Select Board is in the budget, I think that my 40-hour cap 400 01:04:44.810 --> 01:04:57.460 Sarah Macy: is ample time to help you with what you need on this general fund budget. In the City of St. Albans, I own the budget, and so I was expecting to take on a lot more of what this board is doing. So. 401 01:04:57.460 --> 01:05:14.170 Sarah Macy: I would need to look at the water and sewer budgets where they are, and get a sense, familiarize myself with those charts of accounts, but I would be certainly happy to, do that, and then propose either an amendment to the scope, or let you know if I think it would go outside of that 40 hours. I mean, we really are… 402 01:05:14.170 --> 01:05:16.440 Town of Plainfield: Wonderful. I'll get you the information tomorrow. 403 01:05:17.150 --> 01:05:21.139 Sarah Macy: Fantastic. You know, we are coming down to the wire, so they're only. 404 01:05:21.140 --> 01:05:21.640 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. 405 01:05:21.640 --> 01:05:24.340 Sarah Macy: I have available, it might just be the 40. 406 01:05:24.340 --> 01:05:31.499 Town of Plainfield: Yep. Well, and again, it wouldn't be an addendum to this contract. Right. 407 01:05:31.500 --> 01:05:33.189 Sarah Macy: Sure, I could put up a separate scope. 408 01:05:33.190 --> 01:05:38.100 Town of Plainfield: Well, no, I just… I just wanted to… yep. Yes. We do have to have some… we don't actually have… 409 01:05:38.200 --> 01:05:56.190 Town of Plainfield: decision-making power on the wastewater, like… Right, yeah, they have their own board. They have their own board. Yep. So, they'd have to approve it, but… But that's a good point, and if we have expertise that's available in a short time frame… Especially with the bond coming up, I just really want to… 410 01:05:56.680 --> 01:06:06.889 Town of Plainfield: Yes. Can I make a motion to enter into a consulting contract with Sarah Macy for budget services not to exceed $4,000 and allow Carl Bissex to sign the consulting contract? 411 01:06:07.010 --> 01:06:08.240 Town of Plainfield: Second. 412 01:06:08.830 --> 01:06:14.239 Town of Plainfield: And all those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Those opposed? 413 01:06:15.360 --> 01:06:16.600 Town of Plainfield: You are in. 414 01:06:17.160 --> 01:06:17.690 Town of Plainfield: There you go. 415 01:06:18.460 --> 01:06:19.800 Sarah Macy: to work with you all. 416 01:06:19.800 --> 01:06:23.340 Town of Plainfield: Yes. Sarah. Thank you. Offering your services. 417 01:06:23.610 --> 01:06:24.290 Sarah Macy: You're welcome. 418 01:06:24.440 --> 01:06:26.719 Town of Plainfield: I am gonna sign this right now. 419 01:06:30.900 --> 01:06:50.580 Town of Plainfield: And, Bram, if you would share Sarah's contact email, if we want to try to see if the two of us can meet with her when we do our conversation later in the week. We might want to meet first, just to make her time efficient, so… Yeah. Okay. I'll get you that information. 420 01:06:51.240 --> 01:06:52.969 Town of Plainfield: Thank you. First thing. 421 01:06:56.550 --> 01:07:06.360 Town of Plainfield: Okay, great. Grand list approval, we got a grand list from the listers. 422 01:07:07.350 --> 01:07:13.040 Town of Plainfield: Errors and omissions. Yeah, so grand list errors and omissions… do you want to just read this? 423 01:07:13.070 --> 01:07:30.239 Town of Plainfield: Yes, would you? Yes. Yeah, so, the request from the listers, or the select board, please certify the 2025 Grand List under errors and omissions, brand list on July 3rd, 2025, $2,258. 424 01:07:30.280 --> 01:07:41.940 Town of Plainfield: Excuse me. $2,258,164. Grand list on December 31st, 2025, $2,257,993. 425 01:07:42.160 --> 01:07:51.270 Town of Plainfield: Should that long again. Changes are due to the changes by the tax department for current use. There are also changes to homesteads due to late filing as follows. 426 01:07:51.440 --> 01:07:59.419 Town of Plainfield: Original homestead values, $1,472,277. Ending homestead values, $1,277. 427 01:07:59.500 --> 01:08:18.129 Town of Plainfield: $523,637. Original non-residential values, $786,510. Ending non-residential values, $734,979. And, yeah, we just have to vote to approve it and sign this document. 428 01:08:19.970 --> 01:08:22.220 Town of Plainfield: Where can we have a motion? 429 01:08:22.520 --> 01:08:30.429 Town of Plainfield: I make a motion to certify the 2025 grand list under errors and omissions from the Board of Listers. 430 01:08:31.029 --> 01:08:36.280 Town of Plainfield: Second. And all those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? 431 01:08:36.990 --> 01:08:41.099 Town of Plainfield: It's a standard once a year thing. Yeah, and we'll all sign this one. 432 01:08:44.260 --> 01:08:44.970 Town of Plainfield: Let me just… 433 01:08:52.460 --> 01:09:11.750 Town of Plainfield: So the bond language approval. We have… So there are three documents. Two documents need to be, approved, and I, I can't remember the declaration, and there's two declarations and one resolution. So the two declarations need to be, 434 01:09:11.950 --> 01:09:19.800 Town of Plainfield: you know, approved, and then I sign those, and then on the resolution, all assignments. 435 01:09:20.069 --> 01:09:41.540 Town of Plainfield: Okay, I have the declaration here. Yeah, I think it's called the resolution. I may have printed this out. No, the resolution is just the clerk. Is there… do you have one in there? Yes. Okay. Yes, I have… The declaration and the resolution that just the clerk signs, and then there's the warning that all of us have to sign. Right, okay. 436 01:09:43.090 --> 01:09:45.839 Town of Plainfield: And the ballot, I think, is… 437 01:09:46.609 --> 01:09:57.460 Town of Plainfield: I'll deal with that. That's the water one? Yeah, this is the water. I don't know if I have the… I mean, this is the resolution, but I don't know. 438 01:09:57.920 --> 01:10:10.970 Town of Plainfield: We have the resolutions, but not the… No, we have the declarations. Oh, we do? Okay. I don't know if we have… the warning we don't have yet, right? Or is that what this is? Here's the one. Oh, he just stapled the resolution to the warning. 439 01:10:12.700 --> 01:10:17.649 Town of Plainfield: Should have your names… so this one has your name on it, and it's stapled to… 440 01:10:18.200 --> 01:10:35.069 Town of Plainfield: the warning… Are these supposed to be two separate documents? There is where you're supposed to sign. Okay. But what are the votes we're supposed to take? Well, I would say you should, the vote part of it is… is actually, I think, all three, but I think you want to approve… 441 01:10:35.530 --> 01:10:42.160 Town of Plainfield: the declaration of official intent, for, 442 01:10:42.600 --> 01:10:50.200 Town of Plainfield: I don't know if he has to read the whole thing, you know, there's one for, 443 01:10:50.320 --> 01:10:56.910 Town of Plainfield: Water and one for paving, and then… and then signing… This one. 444 01:11:00.800 --> 01:11:14.940 Town of Plainfield: The one that says declaration only covers the paving. No, there's two declarations. There you go. Water and paving. I've got two different ones. 445 01:11:15.330 --> 01:11:16.689 Town of Plainfield: From the folder. 446 01:11:16.880 --> 01:11:31.110 Town of Plainfield: Oh, okay. That's bathing, that's water. Okay. But then they're both combined in the other… In the warning, because it's a one bond warning, yeah. It's one warning for both of them, but these declarations… 447 01:11:32.510 --> 01:11:44.939 Town of Plainfield: So we need a decla… we needed a motion for each one of those, and then one for the final warning. I had… I had questions. Okay. The… 448 01:11:45.670 --> 01:12:01.420 Town of Plainfield: The simple question on the paving one is, we got an email this afternoon from, forwarded from Michael Bingham, basically saying that the one quote he has is for $150,000 for the paving project, divided into two parts. 449 01:12:01.420 --> 01:12:05.759 Town of Plainfield: And this… this bond is for $250,000. 450 01:12:05.760 --> 01:12:12.940 Town of Plainfield: So… my, my question is, is twofold, two questions. One is. 451 01:12:12.970 --> 01:12:31.729 Town of Plainfield: you know, do we lower the amount of the bond, because it's $100,000 over the quote, or do we include a higher amount because we end up having to go to bid on this anyway? So, I don't think this is a sole source one 452 01:12:32.100 --> 01:12:33.750 Town of Plainfield: entity contract. 453 01:12:34.060 --> 01:12:45.169 Town of Plainfield: Can I, just… the bid that was sent was only for a section of Main Street from the park and ride to the Marshfield lot. 454 01:12:45.760 --> 01:12:49.110 Town of Plainfield: And the bond would be for… 455 01:12:49.700 --> 01:12:52.140 Town of Plainfield: you know, Main Street to the bridge. 456 01:12:52.560 --> 01:12:54.990 Town of Plainfield: That extra, as well. 457 01:12:55.140 --> 01:13:02.679 Town of Plainfield: The email we got this afternoon from my thing broke things into two parts. One was Class 2 road, and one was the Class 3. 458 01:13:02.720 --> 01:13:25.269 Town of Plainfield: 3. Yeah, and I don't think it went all the way to the bridge. No, it's… so Class 2 was the fire… was the fire department to the park and ride, and then Class 3 was the park and ride to the town line. To Maplehead. Maplehead. So it's… in other words, that's… that's not a… Full… it's not the full project. It's not the full project that… that… that he would like, and I said, we need a quote for the… 459 01:13:25.270 --> 01:13:28.110 Town of Plainfield: Entire project, but it wasn't… 460 01:13:28.110 --> 01:13:39.810 Town of Plainfield: My last conversation with Josh was that this goes from the town line down to and including in front of the fire station. He never mentioned going further down Main Street. 461 01:13:40.470 --> 01:13:49.850 Town of Plainfield: Yes, I understand that, and I had the conversation with Michael, and Michael basically said that he felt 462 01:13:50.350 --> 01:13:57.940 Town of Plainfield: He had overestimated that the cost of this project, when the bid came in, it was $150. 463 01:13:58.630 --> 01:14:04.600 Town of Plainfield: And he said it would be a good idea to do the rest of the street as well. 464 01:14:04.810 --> 01:14:10.200 Town of Plainfield: So, you know, they do it all in one fell swoop, rather than waiting. 465 01:14:10.250 --> 01:14:25.319 Town of Plainfield: If you want to lower the… So there's no quote for the additional $100,000? This is just… That's exactly correct. We do not have the quote for the additional $100,000. And… and am I correct that we have to put this out to bid anyway, given the dollars and taxes? Yes. 466 01:14:26.540 --> 01:14:43.789 Town of Plainfield: I wonder if the $250,000, then, is sufficient to cover all the way to the bridge. We don't have any idea. Well, we don't have the… Anyway, I thought that was the simpler of my questions. The more complex one involves the bond for 467 01:14:44.180 --> 01:14:57.150 Town of Plainfield: the water line, okay? And I wrote… I copied Carl on this, and I copied Josh on this, I think I copied you, and Eli Emerson, our bond counsel. 468 01:14:57.320 --> 01:15:01.689 Town of Plainfield: The way it is written, says that… 469 01:15:02.030 --> 01:15:11.140 Town of Plainfield: the entity responsible for paying… the people responsible for paying back this bond are the voters of the town of Plainfield. 470 01:15:11.260 --> 01:15:13.410 Town of Plainfield: Not the users of the system. 471 01:15:14.360 --> 01:15:22.390 Town of Plainfield: And so, I asked the question, and if I might, I can pull up Eli's response here. 472 01:15:45.930 --> 01:15:58.989 Town of Plainfield: I asked him, I said, did he draft the documents? Yes, in response to your question, we could add language to the water bond article that says it is anticipated that the debt service will be paid by the water system user fees. 473 01:15:59.820 --> 01:16:07.869 Town of Plainfield: However, note the current article language is written so that these would be general obligation bonds slash notes. 474 01:16:08.080 --> 01:16:16.340 Town of Plainfield: That means that the ultimate security for the bonds will be the full faith and credit of the town of Plainfield, which means the taxpayers of Plainfield. 475 01:16:16.920 --> 01:16:28.260 Town of Plainfield: If the Select Board doesn't want this to be the case, the bonds should be revenue obligation bonds, not general obligation bonds. Which means the security is the water system revenue. 476 01:16:28.420 --> 01:16:40.280 Town of Plainfield: In order to do this, I would need to change the language in the bond article. That would be easy on my part. The bigger question is if lenders would have concerns about issuing revenue bonds 477 01:16:40.590 --> 01:16:42.560 Town of Plainfield: As opposed to general fund. 478 01:16:42.590 --> 01:17:01.699 Town of Plainfield: For example, they may see it as a riskier loan and give a higher interest rate. More importantly, some lenders might not issue revenue bonds notes. I am not sure if the Clean Water Revolving Loan Fund will accept a revenue note. We should check to make sure that is the case. I had a discussion about this, the questions you raised. 479 01:17:01.790 --> 01:17:11.449 Town of Plainfield: The, my understanding, I didn't actually review the documents, was that when, sewer projects were, funded in the past. 480 01:17:11.900 --> 01:17:25.060 Town of Plainfield: It was the general obligation of the taxpayer. And the concern about changing that has to do really specifically with our ability to get somebody to back. 481 01:17:25.640 --> 01:17:31.199 Town of Plainfield: I mean, in my view, I think that there might be, 482 01:17:31.730 --> 01:17:39.830 Town of Plainfield: some skepticism from certain people in the public, but, I mean… I, I don't really… 483 01:17:40.570 --> 01:17:50.790 Town of Plainfield: see the taxpayer not being at some risk. In other words, if the revenue bond portion of it, if you present it as a revenue bond. 484 01:17:50.900 --> 01:17:56.450 Town of Plainfield: And that doesn't work out. What's the reality? I mean, the reality is the taxpayer's gonna come in. 485 01:17:56.780 --> 01:17:57.870 Town of Plainfield: Nope. 486 01:18:00.520 --> 01:18:04.399 Town of Plainfield: I mean, we're gonna… we're gonna have a water sewer plant. 487 01:18:04.890 --> 01:18:07.610 Town of Plainfield: in playing field, right? So… 488 01:18:08.410 --> 01:18:15.739 Town of Plainfield: I think we're parsing words. I mean, I think that it would be more prudent in order to secure the funding 489 01:18:15.920 --> 01:18:18.410 Town of Plainfield: And for the taxpayer to understand. 490 01:18:18.840 --> 01:18:22.240 Town of Plainfield: That it just be straightforward, a taxpayer obligation. 491 01:18:23.150 --> 01:18:24.170 Town of Plainfield: No? 492 01:18:25.230 --> 01:18:29.280 Town of Plainfield: I would think it's the users of the system that should pay for the system. 493 01:18:29.630 --> 01:18:42.900 Town of Plainfield: I don't disagree with that, but what I'm saying is that… And I don't believe that that's the way this is currently written. It's not, but the point is, is that, in all likelihood, if everything is budgeted correctly, what you're saying will happen. 494 01:18:43.210 --> 01:18:48.150 Town of Plainfield: Okay? We will have the users of the system pay off the bond. 495 01:18:48.400 --> 01:18:53.109 Town of Plainfield: what I'm saying is, is that… in reality. 496 01:18:53.250 --> 01:19:06.920 Town of Plainfield: If we put that in writing, it makes it much harder to execute the project. And in the past, as I understand it, in the past, the town has, backed this. 497 01:19:07.100 --> 01:19:19.990 Town of Plainfield: In other words, we're departing from how things were done in the past, if we go this route. I think, technically, you're right, but in reality, if the users of the system can't pay for the bombs. 498 01:19:20.410 --> 01:19:21.770 Town of Plainfield: What's gonna happen? 499 01:19:23.670 --> 01:19:30.480 Town of Plainfield: I don't know the answer to that question, and I'm not sure I need to. The… the… the… 500 01:19:31.270 --> 01:19:34.820 Town of Plainfield: We have an odd critter here, which straddles 501 01:19:35.160 --> 01:19:41.680 Town of Plainfield: through two town lines. You know, we have users in both Marshfield and East Montpelier. 502 01:19:41.680 --> 01:19:57.320 Town of Plainfield: And, you know, Dan asked the question when we were talking privately about, you know, do we ask people in those towns to vote on this bond, and they have a special vote just for this? I don't know, that's… Well, yeah, if we didn't do this as a town bond. 503 01:19:57.560 --> 01:20:02.439 Town of Plainfield: and it was a users of the system bond, then it wouldn't just be a plainfield vote. 504 01:20:02.720 --> 01:20:23.679 Town of Plainfield: It'd be all the users in the system, and it would be a separate… and not everybody in Plainfield would vote, and not everybody in Marshfield or East Montpelier would vote, it would just be the people, because I don't think you guys are on the system, right? Right. Yeah. I mean, part of the problem that I have here is that I don't… I don't think philosophically, you're wrong, but I think at this point, with the state of the water board the way it is. 505 01:20:24.160 --> 01:20:29.730 Town of Plainfield: And the fact that this project has been delayed for close to 4 years… 4 years. 506 01:20:29.790 --> 01:20:38.499 Town of Plainfield: For years. And the numbers haven't changed. Yeah, I… And we just replaced half the line because of the brake. I'm just wondering if the numbers are right. 507 01:20:38.500 --> 01:21:02.769 Town of Plainfield: And when I saw that the Commission didn't meet today, I had the same feeling that you did. I mean, here, I think as a fiduciary for the taxpayer, you're doing the right thing in asking the question. I would just say that, in reality, in order to get this over the line, I think that we, you know, you should go ahead with the language. That's just my opinion. If you feel differently about it… 508 01:21:02.770 --> 01:21:18.009 Town of Plainfield: I don't feel compelled to vote tonight on this. We don't have to vote tonight on this. Right, exactly. Eli did raise some of the same questions and says they should be looked into, and I agree with that. What we didn't get to, because 509 01:21:18.040 --> 01:21:27.150 Town of Plainfield: this all happened this afternoon, you know, was, okay, who's gonna follow up, who's gonna ask the questions, and figure this out? 510 01:21:27.750 --> 01:21:28.880 Town of Plainfield: You know… 511 01:21:30.510 --> 01:21:41.770 Town of Plainfield: Is Eli the person you're talking to about the bond that we have, the million-dollar bond? He's our bond attorney. Right, but is he the one you're going to talk to about this other bond? 512 01:21:43.750 --> 01:22:07.769 Town of Plainfield: You're gonna follow up? No, I think that's directly with the lender, Karen can replay. Okay. Okay, I don't think she is. Correct me if I'm wrong, but we'll find out who that is. Once again, I totally hear where you're coming from, and I don't disagree. What my concern is, is that given the state of the board, I don't know that you're going to get answers before the 27th. Well, no. Obviously, you can delay. Yeah, and I'm concerned… 513 01:22:07.770 --> 01:22:15.729 Town of Plainfield: Well, it's not the board so much that I'm concerned with, it's the legalities here, and the responsibilities of 514 01:22:15.730 --> 01:22:30.270 Town of Plainfield: the users of the system. I went through, and I went on the town website, and I read on… if you go down under Government Water Wastewater Commission, there's an ordinance, there's a policy, I read those documents, nothing in there addresses 515 01:22:30.630 --> 01:22:40.119 Town of Plainfield: bonding, or borrowing for the system. It's all about connection fee, impact fee, connection fee, and user fee, nothing about financing of the system. 516 01:22:40.120 --> 01:22:51.180 Town of Plainfield: And so, you know, the next question is, what's been done in the past? Now, you see… My understanding, and once again, I didn't review the documents, but my understanding, I asked Carol. 517 01:22:51.410 --> 01:22:56.939 Town of Plainfield: When bonds were raised, was the town The taxpayer of the town. 518 01:22:57.120 --> 01:23:01.499 Town of Plainfield: The first in line to get the hit as things go south. 519 01:23:01.590 --> 01:23:25.129 Town of Plainfield: And her response was, yes, that's the way it's been done in the past. I didn't see the documents, but that was our understanding. And I think if we had a more robust, active board, a lot of what you're talking about, I think, would have been addressed in regular meeting. I mean, I think that that's exactly right. And in talking to Carol about this on Friday. 520 01:23:25.130 --> 01:23:31.740 Town of Plainfield: You know, this… this bond was originally slated to go before the voters 4 years ago. 521 01:23:31.770 --> 01:23:33.129 Town of Plainfield: At this amount. 522 01:23:33.230 --> 01:23:37.859 Town of Plainfield: And so I wonder whether this is the right amount. In the meantime. 523 01:23:38.010 --> 01:23:42.720 Town of Plainfield: We had a major break, and about half the line has been replaced. 524 01:23:44.050 --> 01:23:57.279 Town of Plainfield: she… Carol said that Josh has applied for some money to help pay for that. I don't know if that's a grant or what, you know, didn't have the chance to follow up on that. And so, I don't know whether this is the right number. 525 01:23:57.390 --> 01:24:16.170 Town of Plainfield: Okay? Second thing is, she said that, the last time this had gotten ready to go vote, it came to the Select Board in January of 2024, and Jim Volts was authorized to sign the documents and did. And then it didn't go forward. 526 01:24:16.280 --> 01:24:38.429 Town of Plainfield: Not sure why. Because the town court dropped the ball, and it wasn't me. Oh, okay. Right. Just to be clear. Right. The, well, that's interesting that the select board chair, last time this came up… Well, they already voted, so the select board already voted… So isn't it already in… is it already in place? Well, no, but we didn't warn it, and we didn't vote on it. 527 01:24:38.610 --> 01:24:57.299 Town of Plainfield: But it has been worn and voter… It certainly had been in 2024. No, no, it wasn't worn for the voters. Jim Vols signed these documents, and then it never went forward. It never went on the ballot, so there is… it was not gone before the voters. Right. It was approved to go before the voters, but it has not been before the voters because of administrative issues. 528 01:24:57.430 --> 01:25:03.039 Town of Plainfield: So, it sounds like in both of these cases, both the 250 and the 700, 529 01:25:03.040 --> 01:25:27.519 Town of Plainfield: We may not get perfect answers, but we do have a couple weeks left. We should try to get the best answers we can. If… if, for paving, we only need 150, or we need 200, or we need 250, and then, obviously, there's a lot more questions on the water. Seems like rather than voting on anything tonight, we should at least try to have the best number possible in both of these cases. And we should know what, you know, what the history was and is, definitely. Something we had articulated. 530 01:25:27.520 --> 01:25:30.809 Town of Plainfield: In the town office staff. 531 01:25:30.850 --> 01:25:44.749 Town of Plainfield: discussion, a disconnect that exists between the Water Wastewater Board and the Select Board. They're an independent entity, yet we are dependent upon one another, clearly. And we appoint them. 532 01:25:44.870 --> 01:25:53.190 Town of Plainfield: and we appoint them. And so, you know, I think this circles us around to the design question of how to… 533 01:25:53.280 --> 01:26:09.329 Town of Plainfield: integrate, at least conversationally, between the boards, so that we can hash some of this out in real time, rather than having our conversation over here while they have their conversation over here. And Carol finds herself in the middle. 534 01:26:09.510 --> 01:26:22.649 Town of Plainfield: Which is not her choice to be. And so I guess, you know, this is a moment for us to just address how do we design ways to connect with the Water and Wastewater Board? 535 01:26:23.280 --> 01:26:34.670 Town of Plainfield: well, or disconnect. You know, the thought had occurred to me, I mean, we have, in the state of Vermont, all kinds of special districts. 536 01:26:35.050 --> 01:26:39.570 Town of Plainfield: You know, that are not concurrent with town boundaries. 537 01:26:39.700 --> 01:26:51.629 Town of Plainfield: And, you know, I think that we might spend some time investigating what those might be, that, you know, perhaps the Water and Wastewater Commission needs to be an independent, stand-alone entity. 538 01:26:52.020 --> 01:26:55.969 Town of Plainfield: And run its own business, you know? I would… 539 01:26:56.340 --> 01:26:59.460 Town of Plainfield: I'm not advocating for that, I'm just wondering. 540 01:27:00.290 --> 01:27:17.790 Town of Plainfield: Well, what's the most efficient way to operate both entities? It doesn't solve this issue at this point, but, you know, the concerns that we all have with the Commission, I think, you know, beg answers. 541 01:27:18.490 --> 01:27:30.119 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. So, I mean, I hear you, that's an interesting idea, I hadn't considered to disconnect, and that disconnection is probably not an imminent solution. 542 01:27:30.240 --> 01:27:52.679 Town of Plainfield: And so, I mean, I'd like to… Well, I think with two different illnesses on the current commission, I don't know that we… we would need the commissioners to be with us in a room to figure out communication. We can't, as just one side of the conversation, figure out what the best way to communicate is. Right. And I don't know that this moment where we need… they have very urgent needs that get to the budget. 543 01:27:52.680 --> 01:27:59.420 Town of Plainfield: And they have two of their commissioners out ill- with illness, this is probably not the moment where we're actually going to be able to solve this problem. 544 01:27:59.610 --> 01:28:10.760 Town of Plainfield: We're gonna have to use stopgaps, at least for this month, and look at it again in February or after the town meeting. When the new Select Board is seated, maybe that's the moment. 545 01:28:11.230 --> 01:28:12.520 Town of Plainfield: That's my opinion. 546 01:28:13.380 --> 01:28:27.909 Town of Plainfield: I will also raise, there's an active member, a former member of the commission, who stepped back, due to fiduciary concerns. I think that person, I mean, I'm gonna oppress 547 01:28:28.070 --> 01:28:31.860 Town of Plainfield: on the board, I think it would be great to get that person back. 548 01:28:32.100 --> 01:28:42.360 Town of Plainfield: On the committee. The unofficial communicator? Yes, I mean, I really think that would really go a long way to sort of solving a lot of the things that you've raised. 549 01:28:42.410 --> 01:28:57.649 Town of Plainfield: And just in general, I mean, that's just my opinion. Nothing against anybody else who's serving, who's decided to serve, it's great. One of the restrictions we have in terms of recruiting people is they have to be a user of the system. 550 01:28:58.240 --> 01:29:03.430 Town of Plainfield: Which, you know, shrinks the pool of people who could serve. That's the other challenge. 551 01:29:03.950 --> 01:29:04.680 Town of Plainfield: So… 552 01:29:05.080 --> 01:29:16.920 Town of Plainfield: Yeah. And right… I'm guessing right now… is it… is there 3 members on there right now, or is there just two? Just three. It's… I think it's… it's Mary and Scott and Josh. Yeah. And is it a 3-person board? 553 01:29:17.320 --> 01:29:41.810 Town of Plainfield: I think… I'm not sure if it's 4 or 5. I'm not sure. And I guess all 3 of those folks are from Plainfield. Like, we don't have a Marshfield resident or a East Montpelier. Well, I mean, well, they could be, because they're… You're right. Yeah, anyway, just as a… I don't know where the system goes to, but we might even want to think… Yeah, Hunker Hill, and… 554 01:29:41.810 --> 01:29:50.220 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, if it's system users, it could be out of town. We can steal volunteers from other towns, that's all I'm saying. Well, I hope so, yeah. 555 01:29:51.360 --> 01:30:07.309 Town of Plainfield: Okay, so we'll just table that. I'll try to reach out, get some answers, and also… Yeah, and I will follow up with Eli. Right, if it's possible to have, Tim on the call when you're talking to Eli, that might help. 556 01:30:07.500 --> 01:30:17.669 Town of Plainfield: answer questions, because, you know, I think that you might have historical information and so forth. Whatever you want, I'm just throwing it out there. 557 01:30:23.170 --> 01:30:33.149 Town of Plainfield: Okay, so we're tabling that. How are we following up with the paving bond in terms of the… 558 01:30:33.280 --> 01:30:49.900 Town of Plainfield: additional $100,000. Well, I requested today, I requested a full quote, and I'll see if we can expedite and get the full quote ASAP. And answer the question, or get, maybe, Michael Bingham's official response to the Select Board. 559 01:30:49.990 --> 01:31:13.950 Town of Plainfield: what stretch of road are we talking about, and how much are you asking for? So, just to be clear in my conversation… You want the breakdown of the 150. Well, that's the quote, but that doesn't mean that's what he wants. Let me tell you what the sections are. No, no, but I don't… but what Bram is saying is that there is an additional section that's not part of that quote. Let me just… let me just back up here, because I think there's a little bit of confusion. The initial project was from the firehouse 560 01:31:13.950 --> 01:31:24.769 Town of Plainfield: to the Marshalltown line. And I asked Michael, I said, so what's that gonna cost? And I think his number in his head from a bunch of stuff was $220. 561 01:31:24.830 --> 01:31:29.270 Town of Plainfield: And I said, well, okay, 220, that sounds like we need to go 250. 562 01:31:29.740 --> 01:31:36.650 Town of Plainfield: And he called me today and said, I was completely wrong, it's $1.50. 563 01:31:37.010 --> 01:31:39.270 Town of Plainfield: And I said, well, should we… 564 01:31:39.560 --> 01:31:43.620 Town of Plainfield: change the number, you know, make it lower. And he said. 565 01:31:43.630 --> 01:32:04.740 Town of Plainfield: Well, you know, we really shouldn't do this piecemeal. We should go from the bridge all the way, and I think that the 250 would cover that. That's sort of the view from 50,000 feet of what I said. And I said, that's all great, you need to get me a quote for… from the bridge to the Marshfield Town Line. So that's what the confusion is. 566 01:32:05.630 --> 01:32:28.609 Town of Plainfield: I think it makes sense to do it that way, and I… but we need a number, right? That's what I said. I said, well, I need to get the specific number. Yep. So, okay. Well, yeah, I mean, the fact that this all came together this afternoon, correct, tells us something. That's another reason why we should not vote tonight. Yep. 567 01:32:28.610 --> 01:32:30.220 Town of Plainfield: Yeah, okay. 568 01:32:31.820 --> 01:32:43.330 Town of Plainfield: Okay, I guess we're moving on. And I'm sorry for slowing things down. No, no, that's okay. Thank you for bringing the good questions. Yeah, it's good questions. 569 01:32:43.790 --> 01:33:08.120 Town of Plainfield: Now it's the date for the next Select Board meeting, 1-12. Next week? Every Monday this month will be… It's 1-12-25? It's 1-12-26. I can't tell you how many times I've done that already. I mean, I got the right date on our contract. You did, I noticed that. I saw a cartoon yesterday of a guy on a toga sitting at a table, complaining. It looked like he was an accountant. 570 01:33:08.120 --> 01:33:17.049 Town of Plainfield: back in ancient Rome, you know? He basically said, oh, I did it again. He says, I keep forgetting that to write AD instead of BC. 571 01:33:18.580 --> 01:33:24.370 Town of Plainfield: Yes, sir? Motion to adjourn at 7.33 p.m. 572 01:33:25.170 --> 01:33:44.319 Town of Plainfield: Second. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? No one. And we wish, we wish Patty well. And we wish Josh well. And Josh, of course. Yes. I took a…