Tax abatement, new ventilation options & Saturday meeting!

       We have already started our campaign for the 2022 Town Meeting, to get a vote for full exemption for another 5 years.  At our Oct. 2 meeting, we had a good discussion of how to do this.  The first step is to get petition signatures (110 minimum needed, we aim for 200) to make sure our full request is on the ballot without editing.    We gathered a few using a table at the Montpelier Farmers’ Market, and a few from petitions left at local farm-stands since then, but it is clear that we will need to actively solicit signatures using personal contacts, and going door-to-door after that.  If you know even one or two people in Berlin, please get them to sign a petition for us!   We will be happy to send out petitions to anyone who can help us!  Just email me:  swartztim15@gmail.com.
Once we get the signatures, we’ll also need to campaign among Berlin voters to make sure they know that the Grange and the Hall are a real benefit to the Town of Berlin–both in direct services to Berlin residents like the “free rentals”, and in hosting the wide range of community functions that (in normal times) keep our Grange Hall jumping.  Please join us to keep our campaign up and running!

State Grange Resolutions

We’ll also talk about the votes the State Grange Annual Session made on the Resolutions submitted by numerous Community Granges.  Carl Etnier, our Lecturer attended the Friday session along with me.

New Fiber internet connection

Consolidated Communications has connected optical fiber internet to our building, and by the time of the meeting, I hope to have a new set of “mesh routers” installed, to provide excellent, fast WiFi to to the entire building.   We will also have new, VOIP phone service.   This will allow us to cut our ties to “First Light”, which raised our cost for DSL internet + phone by 80% earlier this year.

Just Food Hub–tasty fundraising for the Grange!

This new, “anti-profit” organization, formed this year by long-time dance community member Sue Morris set up a booth at the Sept. 4 outdoor concert.   They distribute pre-orders of Equal Exchange and other fair-trade and locally sourced products.   If you order through their special Grange link:  https://capitalcitygrange.justfoodhub.us/, not only will you be able to pick your order up at the Grange Hall on the First Saturday of each month, but they will donate 30% of their proceeds to support the Grange!  Sue came (virtually) to our October meeting, and the Grange members voted (happily) to accept their generous offer.   You can order until Nov. 28, for a December 4 pickup between 4-6:00 PM.  Orders will be accepted every month on a similar schedule.       *****************************************************************
Please join us on Saturday either in person, or via Zoom to hear more about all of these developments, plus the ventilation options described below by Merry!

If you come to the Hall, please bring an extra layer to wear!   We will be opening some downstairs windows and using our exhaust fan to make sure we have plenty of ventilation.
We will also ask any unvaccinated people who attend in person to stay masked.No potluck this month–between the desire to limit unmasked exposures, and the expected small number of people who will be at the Hall, this seems like the correct choice for this month.   We are eager for infection levels and rates of transmission to go down, and allow us to socialize over food as we have enjoyed so much in the past!

By Grange Rental Agent Merry Shernock

       The President of CCG #469, Tim Swartz, and I, working with members of the Friends of the CCG Hall, have been evaluating for renters of the venue various means of reducing the risk of transmitting COVID-19 and its variants.   There are lots of choices out there–how much do you want to spend?   After over a year of deliberations, we have come up with two strategies to get the most benefit for what we can afford to spend.

Exhausting/Ventilating–potentially virus-laden air is exhausted from the space, and replaced with fresh air from the outside.   The ceiling exhaust fan installed this summer does this well when combined with open windows.   The down-side of this method becomes obvious when outside temperatures drop.   To mitigate this, for users of the upstairs Hall, some tempering of the cold air can best be accomplished by opening windows in the back of the Lower Level, so that outside air travels through heated space before it gets into the Main Hall.   We recognize that this will increase our heating costs–and may not make it really comfortable once real winter temperatures begin. The following image shows 2 windows opened in the back “alcove” of the Lower Level:

Option 2–Filtering–heated room air is recirculated through MERV-13 filters that can remove up to 85% of particles .3 to 1 micron in size.  Virus particles vary in size, but are typically .3 to .5 micron.   We are working on building 2 sets of 4 “Corsi-Rosenthal Boxes”, one set each for upstairs and downstairs.   You can read about them here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corsi-Rosenthal_Box.

The downside of this method is that these fans make noise, even on low speed.   How much that bothers Hall users will depend on what their activity is.

We will be able to pre-schedule the filter/fan system to turn on before a rental, as we do the thermostats, and to run after each rental use to clean the air, at least for renters who prefer this alternative–see below for how we collect feedback. The following image shows A prototype Corsi-Rosenthal box hung in the Main Hall:

• The EXHAUST/VENTILATING system will work fine for very physically active renters, even in winter.   The cooler air, however, will not be so tolerable for meetings, singers, music rehearsals and other less active users.  It will especially affect any events downstairs.  And it will add to our heating oil bills.
• The FILTERING system will keep the Hall warmer and more comfortable for less physically active renters, but the fan noise will be noticeable.  It will save on heating costs.