TOWN OF HALIFAX, VERMONT
SELECTBOARD REGULAR MEETING MINUTES—APPROVED
July 19, 2022
CALL TO ORDER:
Silverberg called the meeting to order at 6:01 pm. Selectboard members present were, Patrick McAllister and Pete Silverberg, and Tristan Roberts and Paul Blais. Others in attendance in person or remotely were Tom Rathinsburg, Wichie Artu, Stephan Chait, Marilyn, David Jones, Michael Fournier, Mary Brewster, Tina Blais, Keith Stone, Ben Barnett, Kaitlin Stone, Doug and Marilou Parkurst, Patty Dow, Raquel Smith, and Edee Edwards.
CHANGES OR ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA:
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Mailchimp follow up discussion
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Executive Session
APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES
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Minutes held for approval on subsequent meeting
NEW BUSINESS:
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Review Purchasing Policy
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Postponed to do more research and check with VLCT. Someone asked that we can discuss professional services as a part of the bid process. To be discussed at the next meeting.
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Review Rules of Procedure
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Roberts circulated the Rules of Procedure that was approved at October 5, 2021 meeting, but not signed and recorded. McAllister moved that the board sign the document, passed 4-0.
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Bidding Process
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The bid process for the Brook Road paving bid was reviewed and found to have been followed properly.
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Blais proposed that we update the process to post a set time for a more reasonable amount of time.
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Someone suggested that we continue to post advertising to the same Newspaper for consistency. Historically we have been using a few different papers, picking one Newspaper of record may be something we want to update in the purchasing policy.
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Discuss closure of Green River Rd on Aug 28 for Marathon
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Race starts at 7am on Marlboro College Campus. By 8:30 they are down at the bottom by Deer Park Rd. Green River Rd is paved and people drive fast. Silverberg motioned that we close that road in the morning on Sunday, August 28, from 7:00-8:30 am when there is low traffic. Motion passed 4-0.
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Race officials agreed to post a sign re: road closure at the intersection of Branch Rd and Jacksonville Stage Rd.
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Set Tax Rate for FY2023
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The new tax rates provide for residential 2.3105 and non-residential 2.5229. All tax rates have gone down since last year. Roberts moved that we approve the tax rates, the motion passed 4-0.
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Discuss Liability Waiver for Volunteers
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Will be revisited at the next meeting.
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Local Option tax
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There is a 6% statewide sales-tax. The municipality has the option to add a 1% rate on top of that. The state department has a list of towns in Vermont that have a consumer tax. It is usually towns like Halifax with little downtown commerce that are utilizing this as a source of income. Another option mentioned was a short term rental tax. There is more research to be done before a decision is made.
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Someone suggested that cannabis sales could bring revenue to the town. Many people have called the town inquiring about whether we have regulations on cannabis sales. This is something that should be brought up at the next town meeting. Roberts volunteered to research the next steps for Halifax to consider legally under the state’s new cannabis law.
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International truck class-action settlement
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There was a class-action lawsuit against them for the Nava Star Engine, which may be against regulations now. Silverberg will look into seeing if we can join the class-action lawsuit.
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Highway dept. performance reviews
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Roberts motioned to schedule performance reviews on August 30th, at 6am. The process will be an executive session at the town garage for a couple of hours.
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Highway dept. open house
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We had an open house in June that was not advertised. A suggestion that we have another one for taxpayers to see and understand what they are paying for was tabled.
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OLD BUSINESS:
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ARPA Proposal – DV Fiber
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Received grant for $21.9M on top of the $4.1M pre-construction grant, totaling $26M. VCBB (Vermont Community Broadband Board) has awarded us matching funds. Roberts moved that the town will commit $40,000 to assist DVFiber to connect Unserved and Underserved locations for fiber optic broadband. Motion passed, 4-0.
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We got the 1st payment of $100,000 in January 2021. Went to treasurer of the state in June, still waiting on the rest of the funds at $100,000.
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The DV Fiber report will be updated to reflect VCBB and not the BDCC.
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Post Office Update
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The landlord is frustrated because we are running out of time. No resolution yet because the person at Rep Welch’s office was not there this week or last week.Ther was discussion to the effect that we sould work to keep a Post Ofice in Halifax. If we do not get any concrete progress next week, we may need to do more and possibly bring it to the media’s attention.
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OTHER BUSINESS:
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Podlaski screen-shared the Mailchimp website that will be rolled out for the email agenda distribution list. Anyone can sign up and unsubscribe at any time to which agendas they would like notification on. Podlaski will send an email to the distribution list with how to sign up.
HEARING OF VISITORS
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ATVs are not allowed on town roads but are seen all over the town village. Someone suggested that we make the Sheriff and constable aware. It has been made aware of them in the past but they do what they can. Unless people are caught in the act it would be difficult to stop everyone.
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One suggestion was made to post that ATVs on the roads are not legal.
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Another suggestion was to sell trail passes as they do in Readsboro and other towns. This would need to be warned for town meeting.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
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Meeting went into executive session at 8:25pm.
Roberts made a motion, and Silverberg seconded, that the Selectboard would draft and send a letter, in consultation with town attorney Bob Fisher, to express concern to parties involved in an incident in a town highway department work zone. The motion passed 4-0.
Silverberg motioned to adjourn the meeting, Roberts seconded, passed 4-0. Meeting adjourned at 8:57 pm.
Rules of Procedure signed.
The Selectboard order was signed.
No overweight permits to sign.
Respectfully Submitted,
Roza Podlaski
For the Selectboard
Recording link: