Residents at Bakersfield's Select Board meeting urged caution on a draft town plan that expands conservation and slope restrictions, warning it could limit farm succession and raise taxpayer costs for infrastructure matches; the planning commission said it is collecting comments and may finalize the plan later this year.

Board members raised emergency-communications concerns after a recent multi-hour regional cell outage left residents unable to call out. Discussion covered repeaters, Wi‑Fi calling at the pit, satellite systems such as Starlink and portable vehicle-mounted dishes as possible interim and long-term solutions.

Alex Barclay, the town's grant consultant, briefed the Select Board on VTrans Transportation Alternatives (max $600,000, 20% local match), the Vermont Historic Preservation grant ($20,000 with 1:1 match), and recommended early scoping studies and outreach to regional planning; board members asked him to check village-center zoning and potential eligibility.