Selectboard Meeting

JOHNSON SELECTBOARD MEETING MINUTES JOHNSON MUNICIPAL BUILDING TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2025 Present: Selectboard members: Mike Dunham (arrived 7:30), Peter Hammond, Adrienne Parker, Eben Patch, Paul Warden Others: Rosemary Audibert, Carl Rogers, Mike Mignone, Matt Rooney, Bobbi Rooney, Jon Gregg, Bill Jaspersohn, Brian Raulinaitis, Justin Mason (remote), Seth Jensen Note: All votes taken are unanimous unless otherwise noted. 1. Call to Order Eben called the meeting to order at 6:31. 2. Consider Additions or Adjustments It was agreed to add an item on sanding the gravel pit road for contractor access, to change the Holmes Meadow change order item to cover multiple change orders, to add items requested by Rosemary, and to add a revolving loan fund request. 3. Public Comments and Public Announcements No members of the public wished to comment. 4. Selectboard Updates and/or Concerns Paul said it doesn’t seem like board members are putting everything in SharePoint. For instance, he was not able to find the report for the staffing study. Adrienne said so far she and Eben have just been using it to build agenda packets. 5. Planned Purchases No planned purchases needed to be approved. 6. Revolving Loan Request Mike Mignone said he is requesting a loan of $40K from the revolving loan fund to cover 2 weeks of operating costs for his store. He has a closing date of December 23. He is approved for a mortgage and has insurance in place. He is ready to move money into an escrow account to purchase the building. That will leave him a little short for operating expenses. Eben said the board will discuss this in an executive session at the end of the meeting. Mike offered to provide some financial information for the board. Eben said that would be helpful. 7. Annual Employee Holiday Pay Peter moved and Adrienne seconded to approve annual holiday pay of $150 per employee. Paul asked what we have done in years past. Rosemary said last year the board increased holiday pay to $150. It had been $100 for many years. Adrienne said it seems like there should be a percentage increase each year. Could we do a 2-3 % increase each year? Paul suggested keeping it at $150 this year, then looking at the budget. Eben said it is easier if we budget for it. Peter said this is a small nod to show appreciation for employees. The motion was passed. 8. CEDS Update Carl said the water construction permit for the industrial park has been issued. The state is looking for more information on the stormwater construction permit. Mumley can provide that soon. It has been proposed to use the Prindle lot as an offset for the loss of deer wintering area. That requires a conservation easement. We got a sample conservation easement. Carl reviewed it and sent it to the town’s attorney. The town’s attorney has been authorized to contact the general counsel from the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department to try to work things out. Selectboard Meeting Minutes p. 2 December 15, 2025 Paul asked, are there problematic things in the easement? Carl said the attorney is proposing changes to improve the town’s position. He is looking out for the town’s interest, but there are no major concerns. Carl notified the newspaper to go ahead with the ad about the update to the Town Sewer Service Area ordinance. Lydia posted the notice in 5 public places. The deadline for submitting consulting forester proposals was last Tuesday. We did not receive any proposals. But Carl talked to a local forester in November who had suggested he might help us less formally. Carl is waiting for a call back from him. He also learned that a logger is interested in the work. Maybe we would deal directly with that logger. Does work like that have to go out to bid, or if there is a bidding requirement, can the selectboard waive it? Eben said according to our procurement policy anything over $10K should be by sealed bid with an RFP. Carl said he will get an idea of what the logger thinks the cost is. Carl said it has been suggested that if there is a need to get rid of the chips they could be used at the gravel pit after the Holmes Meadow soil is put there. Adrienne said the tree board or beautification committee could also use them. Carl asked board members to think about where chips could be stored. Another possibility is that they could be piled where the public can come and take them. Carl said the deposit check was sent to the contractor for the Welcome Center project. The rail trail committee selected the color of the roofing material to be used for wainscoting and that was relayed to the contractor. He expects to start work this month. Carl said the state rail trail office decided a lease agreement was needed with the town in order for the town to put a kiosk and perhaps a bike rack or ebike charging station in the state right of way between the Welcome Center and the trail. Doug Molde met with them and it was decided that the leased area would be 16 ft by 105 ft. Carl didn’t see anything objectionable in the sample lease agreement. He provided sketches the state was looking for. We should get the finalized lease agreement soon. A rail trail committee member had the material for 2 kiosks stored at his property. An alternative storage space has been found and the materials have been moved. The rail trail committee chair agrees with Carl that the kiosks should be installed by a contractor. The final closeout report for the rail trail scoping study funded by the VOREC grant is due by the end of December. The RERC steering committee members were informed of their appointment. The EPA is asking steering committee members to indicate their availability for potential dates for a 2-day community workshop. The EPA also sent an email about a half-day virtual meeting where they will provide more information on the process and former grantees will talk about what they got out of the planning process. The EPA asked that the main point of contact and one or two committee members attend that sometime in late January or early February. Carl was asked to step in to help with the Holmes Meadow floodplain restoration contract. He attended the December 8 preconstruction meeting. It was a very positive meeting with the contractor, LCPC and the professionals hired for the project. Everyone was working together to try to come up Selectboard Meeting Minutes p. 3 December 15, 2025 with a good plan to move the project along efficiently. The contractor would like to start work this week. Many test pits need to be dug to meet the state’s requirements for testing the soil on the site. 9. Industrial Park Carl said the stream and pond on the Gomo Town Forest provide a clear delineation of the area to be used for prime ag soil mitigation. That delineated area is a little less than what we need. He was told that the town would have to have a surveyor provide a description if we want to use more of the property. It was suggested that it would be faster and maybe even less expensive to pay the mitigation fee on half an acre, which would require a retroactive change to a previous decision. Paul moved to retroactively approve a $1900 expense for the prime ag soil mitigation fee for the industrial park and to approve use of $1900 from the grant match reserve fund to cover the expense, Peter seconded and the motion was passed. Paul moved to approve NBRC Grant Agreement Amendment #4 dated November 17, 2025, making Eben Patch the authorized official to sign grant documents, Adrienne seconded and the motion was passed. 10. Approve Placement of Two Rail Trail Related Signs in the Town’s Road R.O.W. Carl said the state rail trail office would like approval for 2 signs in the right of way. They will provide one sign and move the other. The first is a large brown parking symbol sign with smaller symbols for cycling, snowmobiling and the rail trail underneath it, which will be put near the intersection of Lendway Lane and Railroad Street, near the existing Lendway Lane sign. The second is a small existing blue and white parking sign that they propose to replace with a larger brown sign and a directional arrow. Adrienne asked if one of the signs can have an arrow making it clear that the parking is in Old Mill Park. Peter moved to approve the installation of a Lamoille Valley Rail Trail parking sign with an arrow in the Lendway Lane right of way and installation of a brown rail trail parking, cycling and snowmobiling sign in the Railroad Street right of way near Lendway Lane, with whatever arrows are necessary, Paul seconded and the motion was passed. 11. Uncommon Place Private Road Name Approval Justin Mason said the drive to Uncommon Accommodations off Route 15 needs to become a private road because there are 7 year-round dwellings there. The Historical Society approved the name of Uncommon Place. Peter moved to approve the request to name the new private road Uncommon Place, Adrienne seconded and the motion was passed. 12. E911 Sign and Assignment Policy Justin asked how the board interprets Section V of the E911 sign and assignment ordinance, which says, “All signs shall be installed and maintained to the highest degree possible allowed by budget considerations.” Eben said it sounds to him like the intention was to place the cost on the town. Justin said that is how he was interpreting it. But he was not sure if it was meant to cover private road signs. Rosemary said for private roads the homeowner has paid for the signs in the past, but the town has installed them. Typically a sign costs less than $50, not including the post. The town may have provided used posts we had on hand. Eben said he thinks we should probably update this ordinance because it is open to interpretation. Adrienne asked if we want it to say that we do or do not pay for private road signs. Eben said he thinks the town should not be liable for paying for a sign for a new private road, but if a change is needed due to an error of the town then maybe the town should pay for it. Rosemary said sometimes we order the sign and tell the homeowner what the cost is. The board agreed that the ordinance should be rewritten to clarify that private road signs are to be paid for by the property owner, with the town installing them to make sure they meet standards. Selectboard Meeting Minutes p. 4 December 15, 2025 Bobbie Rooney suggested also looking at the general numbering system guidelines where the word “usually” appears. Eben said if we redid the ordinance we would look at the whole thing. Eben said amending the ordinance will require a public hearing. He would move forward in the meantime with what we have done historically. Board members agreed that a new sign needed due to an error of the town should be paid for by the town. 13. Melody Lane E911 Assignments Justin said the town has 384 Melody Lane as the address for Matt and Bobbi Rooney, but the Town of Hyde Park has 428 Melody Lane, which is more correct based on measurements. When Justin measured it, he found it was closer to 424. Eben asked, the recommendation is to change the E911 assignment from 384 to 428, correct? Justin said yes. He noted that the road was initially numbered incorrectly starting at the wrong end. That was changed around 2001. Addresses were changed again in 2006 and 2011. He is not sure which properties were affected. The Town of Hyde Park sent a notice sometime in the past few years that the Rooneys’ address should be changed to 428, but the property owners did not make the change. Matt Rooney said his address has been 384 since 1997. Changing the sign is a small thing, but there are other things that would need to be changed, like his passport. He owns from 350 to 500 on Melody Lane and there is no other driveway. Google Maps shows his house is at 384. Bobbie and Matt said the building isn’t even in Johnson. The driveway turns off Melody Lane in Hyde Park. Justin said according to the Johnson tax maps the access point to the driveway is in Johnson. It enters Hyde Park 100 ft. up. Matt said the access is in Hyde Park. Matt said the number at the end of his driveway will be 384 until the day he leaves there. Bobbi said when they applied for an Act 250 permit they asked the town what to use for an address and they put that on their Act 250 application. (Mike Dunham arrived at 7:30.) Eben asked if Justin is 100% sure the driveway access is in Johnson. Justin said he would not say he is 100% sure, but to the best of his professional ability he would say it is in Johnson. Justin said he walked the road and measured with a wheel along with someone from Hyde Park and the Rooneys, and the number assigned by Hyde Park is correct. This is for safety purposes. If signs are down or you don’t have GPS, you can measure the footage and that tells where the property entrance is. When dispatch gets a call to this house, the number in their system will be 428. The old number stays there for a certain amount of time. He doesn’t know how long. He doesn’t want to see anything bad happen to anyone because of a conflict with numbering. If the property owners are not ever going to acknowledge the correct number, that is not a safe situation. Justin said the other houses on Melody Lane beyond this property are addressed incorrectly. He intends to change all the addresses to be correct. If we don’t require the property owners to change this address, what is to stop others from not changing their addresses? Adrienne asked how long an address change usually takes to take effect. Justin said he believes the Postal Service forwards mail for 90 days. Bobbi said the Rooneys have a post office box. Mail is not delivered on their road. Justin said an E911 change often happens within a week, or sometimes more Selectboard Meeting Minutes p. 5 December 15, 2025 depending on how busy the E911 board is. He has allowed a 90 day grace period for address changes in the past. Paul asked how many other properties need to be renumbered. Justin said at least 5. There are 2 that may be okay. Bobbi said it was mentioned that a call to 911 would show their new address. That is not necessarily true if they do not have a landline. Justin said if a cell phone is used, they would track the location of the cell phone, but that still would be using 428. Mike asked the Rooneys what they would like. Matt said they have an issue with changing their address. Their driveway has always had a sign that says 384. They didn’t put it there. Now people are trying to change it. He doesn’t understand why. Mike said he thinks if their house is in Hyde Park this should be a Hyde Park issue. Eben said the numbering is based on the measurement to the driveway entrance. Peter asked Justin why we are renumbering houses on Melody Lane. Justin said because the numbers are incorrect based on the measurements. The Rooneys’ address is also inconsistent with Hyde Park’s records. There are others that are incorrect and there are some that don’t currently have E911 assignments and need to be given them. Matt said if a new sign is put up he will take it down and put up one that says 384. He told Hyde Park the same thing. Eben said it may be that the current landowners won’t respect the E911 assignment, but it could save lives 20 years from now. He suggests approving the new E911 assignment with the understanding that the Rooneys will keep their existing sign. Paul said the address change won’t affect the Rooneys’ mail. Matt said their driver’s licenses and passports would have to be changed. Adrienne said she doesn’t know if we really have a choice because E911 addressing is a state thing. Eben said we can do more research and make all the changes on Melody Lane at once. Bobbi said she doesn’t want to change the address. If she calls in an emergency, she will say 384 because it is a 30-year habit. If she calls and says 384 and there is a big sign saying 384 by their driveway, emergency responders won’t drive past it. Peter asked if they can put up a sign that says “384 AKA 428.” Matt said they probably can. Peter said he is concerned as someone who responds to 911 calls that if the system is toning out 428 the responders are able to find 428 by a sign at the bottom of the driveway. Matt said the 911 system is only using 428 because that is what they have been told by the towns. The board agreed that Justin should work on E911 address changes for all the houses on Melody Lane that need changes and the numbers should fit the E911 numbering system. 14. Mudgett Hill E911 Assignments Justin explained that Mudgett Hill in Johnson is continuous with Mudgett Hill Road in Hyde Park. The numbering in Johnson starts at Ober Hill Road and the numbering in Hyde Park starts at Route 100. Right now there are not duplicate addresses on the two parts of the road (which are technically considered two different roads), but it could be confusing having similar numbers on roads with similar names. Would the selectboard like to change the numbering on the Johnson road to be continuous with the Hyde Park numbering? It makes sense not to change the Hyde Park section Selectboard Meeting Minutes p. 6 December 15, 2025 because Route 100 is the main road. Paul asked, more of the road is in Johnson, correct? Justin said he thinks so. He noted that there are 7 houses on the road that are in Hyde Park and 5 in Johnson. Adrienne moved to change the E911 numbering on Mudgett Hill to align with the numbering on Mudgett Hill Road in Hyde Park, Eben seconded and the motion was passed with Mike abstaining. 15. FY27 Anticipated Interlocal Agreement Hours Justin said a lot of the towns that participate in the interlocal agreement for assessor services are preparing their budgets for FY27 and trying to figure out what the assessor budget should be. They need to know what other towns are thinking of for their weekly average. Johnson currently averages 8 hours a week. He wants to know if the town wants his hours to increase or wants him to take on any projects such as the townwide mailing he did in 2025 asking people to submit changes to their properties. He got a good response to that. Adrienne asked if he is saying he would need an increase in hours if we decide to do a mailing again. Justin said he is not sure he could do all the inspections and data input under the current hours. Paul suggested staying with 8 hours for FY27. Eben said he is inclined to agree because we are close to a townwide reappraisal. Adrienne asked if Justin has any suggested projects. Justin said he has noticed some inconsistencies in how we are valuing properties that are in both the town and village. The village gets only a portion of the value and when he looked up 11 parcels he found that the village portion was calculated one way for 4 of them, another way for 3 of them, and various other ways for the others. We could just wait for the town reappraisal for him to look into that further or he could dive into it sooner. Adrienne asked, if we increased his hours to 10 per week, would he be able to do the mailing and look at the village property values? Justin said he would think so. Adrienne asked if Justin thinks we will catch as many changes as before with the mailing. Should we take a year off before doing another one? Paul said a reappraisal is coming anyway. Eben we will need to budget more for the assessor in FY28 because the reappraisal will be in 2028. Justin said the townwide reappraisal will begin in FY28 and will be finalized in FY29. He anticipates increasing his hours by 50-100% during that time. He recommends doing annual mailings as a routine practice to keep up with the grand list. Peter and Mike said they would be in favor of an increase in Justin’s hours but the other board members said they would prefer to keep his hours the same for FY27. 16. Approve Grand List Errors and Omissions Mike moved to approve the following grand list errors and omissions as presented: VT Transco LLC increase of $263,200; VT Transco LLC increase of $3200; Village of Johnson changed from inactive to exempt; Katie Audette correction in acreage resulting in reduction of $85,300 in village taxes. Paul seconded and the motion was passed. 17. Library Construction Contract Peter said he sent around the proposed contract. Brian Raulinaitis is here to answer any questions. Hopefully the board can sign a contract. Eben said if the board signs this contract we are committed to paying 100% of the cost, which we do not have funds for. He thinks some language should be added absolving the town of responsibility in Selectboard Meeting Minutes p. 7 December 15, 2025 the event of a shortfall of funds. Brian said he can’t be responsible for the funds. That is what the contract is for. Paul asked if there has been conversation about opportunities for the library to meet the grant requirements without completing the entire addition. Peter said he looked into that and he is afraid the addition needs to be completed in order to be in compliance with the grant. We are required to complete all project activities related to the grant before December 31, 2026. He listed all the work included in the scope of work for the grant. Eben said we will potentially either have to send a check back to the government for $800K or spend almost $800K out of pocket. Peter said the alternative is that the library board raises the necessary funds. That could happen. Brian said he thinks the difference between the grant payment and the cost is around $760K. He said the library board is looking at a $400K grant they are feeling pretty confident about. Mike said he has had time to think about this since the last meeting. Throughout his life he has always tried to live within his means. He believes the town should live within its means also. He thinks the amount we should spend is the amount of money we have. He would like to rescind his positive vote from the last meeting. Brian said if the project doesn’t proceed the town will be out $800K and will not have anything. Paul said at the last meeting the vote was to approve the contract as long as the town was not on the hook for the money. This contract says the town is on the hook for the money. That does not match the vote. Peter said he thought the vote was a message to the library board that we approve proceeding with the project but don’t anticipate that the town will close the funding gap. Paul asked, what if the library board comes up short? Brian asked, can we ask the voters? He would think a lot of people in town would want the library. He can’t move forward without someone being responsible for payment. He has already put $50K at risk on this project. He can’t afford to go too far without a contract. The previous contractor is behind a month so he is already behind on this project. The town will be out the money one way or another. Eben asked what will happen if we spend the money and the voters vote down a bond to allow us to pay it. Paul said it sounds like there is a good chance we will get the $400K grant. Brian said in that case the town can have a mortgage of $200-250K on a $2 million building. That is a good deal. We need to move forward because of the grant. The foundation is in. We can’t redesign the building. Plans are already in motion. Eben said he needs a plan for how money will be trimmed and how money will show up to pay for the project. Peter said he thinks it is impossible to come up with that plan now. Paul said if we don’t move forward we have to pay back $800K. Rosemary said we will have to bond to pay it back. Paul asked, if we don’t do it and owe $800K, then we have to give back the $600K we have left and come up with about $200K more? Eben said no; we have spent $800K and been reimbursed for it and we have to give all that back. Selectboard Meeting Minutes p. 8 December 15, 2025 Seth Jensen said he wanted to ask a question as a Johnson resident, not an LCPC employee. Has the town had any conversations with the funder about the process for amending the scope of work or increasing the award based on increased costs? If not, it may be valuable to reach out to the funder. Peter said there has always been a difference between what the town understood the grant amount to be ($1.5 million) and what the library board said it was ($1.68 million.) He learned today that there is a provision in the agreement for an additional $168K if a need is shown toward the end of the project. So there is potentially another $168K from this funder. Seth said funders are often receptive to making changes due to changes in construction costs. He doesn’t know about this funder specifically, but it might be worth asking. Peter said this is ARPA money. He doesn’t know if there is still a pool of ARPA money that can be grabbed. Seth said it depends on the pot. Eben asked if the library board can reach out and ask these questions. Paul said it seems to him that the selectboard and the library board should do it jointly. Peter asked, you do understand what delay means? Brian said the project will get more expensive with delays. Peter said maybe the library will raise the money. Brian said we are looking at giving back $800K vs. maybe needing to bond for only $400K and having a completed library. Eben said maybe we will get the building completed and sell it to cover the shortfall. Paul said he doesn’t like it but he thinks we need to sign the contract. Eben said the contract has no retention. He would like some form of retention. Brian said that could be added. Peter moved to approve the draft contract for the library project as submitted with the addition of 5% retainage for one year, with the contract to be signed by the board chair or a board member of his choice. Paul seconded. Eben said he feels like we are backed into a horrible corner. This decision is being made under duress. He thinks we need a clear plan from the library. They will need $50K a month in fundraising and they will still be short. Eben suggested a friendly amendment to subtract the reductions suggested by the contractor for the cupola and the steps from the contract amount, making the total $1,415,000. Peter and Paul agreed to that. The motion was passed with Peter, Paul and Eben in favor, Mike opposed and Adrienne abstaining. Eben said he voted yes under duress. He is very concerned about this project. We need to start chopping and start bringing money in. Paul said we need to look hard at how we got into this situation. We shouldn’t be in this position. 18. Holmes Meadow Construction Contract Amendment Eben said LCPC has provided a contract. Eben said we already approved the expense; now we need to approve the contract. Peter moved to approve the Holmes Meadow Floodplain Restoration Selectboard Meeting Minutes p. 9 December 15, 2025 Construction Contract with Loader Excavation and authorize the chair to sign it, Mike seconded and the motion was passed. 19. Request to Plow Sand Pit Road Eben said there was a request to plow and sand the road to the sand pit for the Holmes Meadow contractor. Carl said the town has a budget for applying sand and Jason wants to make sure the board is okay with him spreading sand where he normally would not. Eben said he is fine with spreading sand there as lightly as possible. Peter moved to approve sanding the gravel pit road, Paul seconded and the motion was passed. 20. Approve Holmes Meadow Change Orders Eben said a change order for the contractor to extract gravel from the town pit and haul it to the highway department yard has a cost of $72,900. This is a grant-eligible expense. Seth said the purpose would be to prepare the pit to receive fill material from Holmes Meadow. Paul moved to approve the change order for the Holmes Meadow contractor to extract gravel from the town pit and haul it to the highway department yard at a cost of $72,900, Peter seconded and the motion was passed with Mike opposed. Carl said there is a change order to contract with Boulder Excavation to dig the test pits needed and use their GPS equipment to document their location. The $14,600 cost is grant-eligible. Mike asked why these weren’t done ahead of time. Seth Jensen said the initial soil management plan with ANR was for soils to be tested as they came into the pit. That is usually how it is done. But the volume of material is such that it would require a lot of coordination, so we have been working with ANR to revise the plan to allow us to test a grid instead of segregating soil into piles and recombining it based on levels. Peter moved to approve Change Order #2 to the Holmes Meadow floodplain restoration contract to authorize the excavation and documentation of soil sample pits at a cost of $14,600, Adrienne seconded and the motion was passed with Mike opposed. Eben said Weston & Sampson provided a quote for $50K to perform the soil testing and reporting. Carl said their contract is with LCPC, but it will be paid for with the grant the town is getting. Adrienne moved to authorize the Lamoille County Planning Commission to hire Weston & Sampson for $50,000 to oversee soil sample collection, do soil testing and filing of the soil testing report with the state and provide feedback to the contractor and other professionals involved in the Holmes Meadow floodplain restoration project, Peter seconded and the motion was passed with Mike opposed. 21. Designate Town Official to Sign Documents Related to Holmes Meadow Project Paul moved to designate the selectboard chair or vice chair to sign documents related to the Holmes Meadow project, Mike seconded and the motion was passed. 22. Holmes Meadow Construction Contract Amendment Carl said SLR has requested an increase in its service contract of $8,970 because of the increased amount of work they have had to perform because of the Act 250 and bid process. They still have to do construction oversight this winter. The cost is grant-eligible. With the increase, the cost will still be under the grant award amount. Peter moved and Paul seconded to approve amending the contract with SLR Consulting to add $8,970 to support construction oversight throughout the winter at Holmes Meadow. Mike asked, Selectboard Meeting Minutes p. 10 December 15, 2025 didn’t they know about Act 250 ahead of time? Carl said he understands that it got complicated because of the soil management piece. Seth agreed. The motion was passed with Mike opposed. 23. Public Works Fifth Employee Discussion Mike said he hears talk about plowing and sanding when there is an inch of snow. Maybe we don’t need to plow and sand at one inch. Adrienne said she thinks we need a policy. Mike said he thinks the policy should say plowing is at 2 or 3 inches. Peter said Jason would love to have a policy. Eben said he thinks if we are going to change the standards for how we maintain roads it would be fair for Jason to be able to tell people it is based on policy, because the public will have questions about it. Peter asked if there is a previous version of a policy. Eben said Tom gave the board some ideas months ago. Mike said he will look into it. Eben said he can email him some recommendations. Eben said he talked with the person who used to do our part-time work. That may not fit into his schedule as well as it used to. We might need to post for part-time help. There are complications with hiring part-time employees. To him, it comes down to what we can afford. He doesn’t know how well the taxpayers will support hiring a fifth employee. If the board thinks we can fit it into the budget, he is okay with it. Paul said he doesn’t think we can decide until we finish the budget. Eben suggested reviewing the part-time job description. Adrienne asked if we can offer a part-time position to one of the people we recently interviewed for the full-time position. Eben said he thinks we can, but would also need to post the position. Adrienne asked if the amount of overtime we are paying the highway employees equals the cost of a part-time employee. Eben said it equals them being around a lot more in the summertime. We budget 300 hours and try not to go over 250. There is still a lot put toward comp time that employees can use for time off in the summer. He thinks summer projects will suffer if this winter continues this way. Maybe we can contract out portions of the work. Eben said we had an employee resign in March. At the time, the board considered the impact of the tax revenue that would be lost from the buyout properties. Historically there was conversation about a fifth employee for the gravel pit work, but the highway department has also grown into doing a lot of non-highway work. There was a lot of pushback from committees when we decided not to hire a fifth employee. Adrienne said she was told that we are losing buyout properties from the grand list, but because of the work Justin is doing, we will still have an increase in the grand list. Eben said we would have had bigger growth in the grand list if we had not lost properties. The state has said they will fund a program that will cover the lost taxes for 10 years, starting with 100% coverage at first. Rosemary said we got our first payment today for Holmes Meadow. It was the full municipal tax amount. Peter said if we don’t feel ready to hire a full-time fifth employee he thinks we ought to at least provide part-time relief now. We have a problem now. Let’s address it with a part-time employee. Adrienne agreed. Eben said he thinks the board needs to review and approve the job description for a part-time employee first. 24. Revolving Loan Request – Executive Session Adrienne moved to enter executive session under 1 V.S.A. §. 313(a)(6) to discuss a revolving loan fund application and its related trade secrets concerning confidential business planning and prospective investment records and information protected from public disclosure under 34 Selectboard Meeting Minutes p. 11 December 15, 2025 V.S.A. §. 3341 and 1 V.S.A. §. 317(c)(9), inviting Rosemary and Mike Mignone, Paul seconded and the motion was passed at 9:11. The board came out of executive session at 9:34. Mike moved to approve the loan request from the Johnson General Store for $40,000 at a term of 36 months for an interest rate of 4% for working capital, authorizing Rosemary to sign the loan request, Paul seconded and the motion was passed. 25. Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at 9:35. Minutes submitted by Donna Griffiths