[0:16] Good. All right. Good evening, everyone.
[0:17] With the time being 6 pm on Tuesday,
[0:20] September 8th, I'd like to call the
[0:21] Abington Select Board meeting to order.
[0:23] Uh before we get started, the uh 610
[0:27] public hearing for the uh nuisance dog
[0:29] dangerous dog has been continued to our
[0:31] September 21st meeting. So, if anyone's
[0:34] here for that,
[0:34] >> September 28th,
[0:36] >> uh I'm sorry, September 28th. So, if
[0:38] anybody's here for that, it won't be uh
[0:39] discussed until then.
[0:42] Next on the agenda is announcements.
[0:44] Bill, I'll start with you.
[0:45] >> I don't have any today.
[0:46] >> Do a pledge of allegiance.
[0:48] >> Oh, I'm sorry. Skipped right over that.
[0:50] >> Sorry. I wonder.
[0:55] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
[0:58] United States of America and to the
[1:00] republic for which it stands. One nation
[1:03] under God, indivisible, with liberty and
[1:06] justice for all.
[1:14] » Dean, do you have any announcements?
[1:15] >> I don't. Ken,
[1:17] >> just want to remind everybody about
[1:19] October Fest. My wife yelled at me and
[1:21] said I have to talk about it a little
[1:22] bit. Um, Friday night fall trivia. Um,
[1:25] the Coons Foundation. Um, I there's too
[1:28] many events to to list, but it's on
[1:32] Facebook. Abiding celebrates another
[1:35] packed weekend, and I will there's a new
[1:38] event which the select board members are
[1:40] involved with a fall frolic townwide
[1:43] family scavenger hunt on Saturday. So,
[1:46] that's all I'm going to say about that.
[1:47] A lot of a lot of cool things about
[1:49] that. And the regular uh the regular big
[1:52] October Fest family celebration is
[1:54] Sunday from 12:00 to 3 up at the Legion
[1:57] and Memorial Field. So, but there's more
[2:00] online about that and as we finalize the
[2:03] uh the brochure.
[2:05] Do I have something else? Oh, I want to
[2:06] remind everybody else about the Abington
[2:08] Copes 5K race and walk on Sunday,
[2:12] September 20th, 9:00 a.m. at the
[2:13] Woodsdale School Food Trucks DJ Family
[2:16] Fund. Um Abington Copes.org or if you
[2:19] want to sign up for it.
[2:21] >> Trash.
[2:26] » I have a trash update. Just a reminder
[2:29] that the trash company picks up between
[2:31] 7:00 a.m. and 6 p.m. So, have your
[2:33] barrels out before 7 a.m. Um, if you
[2:35] have a bulk item to get rid of, you can
[2:37] text photos of the items they'd like
[2:39] you'd like picked up to All State Waste
[2:40] dedicated text line. It's 888-55909.
[2:45] and just indicate that you are an
[2:46] Abington resident when you text. Um
[2:49] they'll review the request, provide
[2:50] pricing, coordinate with you. Also, they
[2:54] have a dedicate they dedicate the last
[2:56] Wednesday of each month for collecting
[2:57] bulk items in Abington. So, plan
[2:59] accordingly. If you need if needed,
[3:01] additional days may be added. Uh if you
[3:04] constantly find yourself with too much
[3:05] trash and not enough room in the barrel,
[3:06] you can request to be present at an
[3:08] upcoming board of health meeting and
[3:09] request an extra barrel. There's a fee
[3:11] associated with that, an annual fee, I
[3:13] believe. Um, and just make sure all your
[3:15] trash is inside the barrel and the lid
[3:17] is closed.
[3:18] >> Closed. Capitalize with an exclamation.
[3:20] The lid must be closed. No mushrooming
[3:22] as a trash.
[3:23] >> Oh, and you have to leave your recycling
[3:24] out. It's a mandatory recycling down.
[3:26] >> So, the recycling has to stay up with
[3:28] the trash.
[3:30] >> That's it.
[3:31] >> All right. I have a couple. Uh, so this
[3:32] Friday marks the 25th anniversary of
[3:34] 911. Uh last night right outside this
[3:37] building at the 911 memorial, we held a
[3:39] service honoring the victims of that
[3:41] tragic day and its aftermath. I want to
[3:43] thank the 911 committee, police, fire,
[3:46] DPW, uh American Legion, Abington
[3:49] Schools, and especially Christy Kums for
[3:51] her powerful words in telling us all to
[3:54] pay it forward with acts of kindness.
[3:57] Next, um
[4:00] what else do I have? The uh Abington
[4:02] Police Mascoff Golf Tournament is
[4:03] Wednesday, September 23rd at 9:00 p.m.
[4:05] over at Old Scotland Links. Uh next and
[4:08] last, I have uh from the president of
[4:11] Abington Youth Soccer. Is it gearing up
[4:13] for their 50th anniversary? Uh he just
[4:15] wanted me to say that Abington Soccer
[4:17] held its first games in 1975 and
[4:20] officially became an organization in
[4:22] 1976.
[4:23] AYS is celebrating is celebrating 50
[4:26] years this fall and is looking to
[4:27] connect with uh former program alumni.
[4:31] Specifically, Abington Soccer is looking
[4:33] for old jerseys, patches, logos, team
[4:35] photos, and other memorabilia from the
[4:37] past 50 years. If you have anything you
[4:39] would like to share, please email the
[4:41] Aington Soccer President, Rick Collins,
[4:43] at a press pesgmail.com.
[4:48] There will be an event uh at the turf
[4:50] fields on Saturday, September 19th at
[4:52] 11:00 a.m. Uh in I've I've already
[4:56] shared uh some of my memorabilia from
[4:58] playing in the program in the 80s and
[5:00] 90s. So if you'd like to see proof that
[5:01] I had a full head of
[5:04] flowing uh bleach blonde hair, that's
[5:06] your only opportunity to see that. And
[5:09] that's all I have.
[5:11] Uh so first item on the agenda is uh
[5:14] recognition of Sergeant Steve Marquad
[5:16] upon his retirement from the Abington
[5:19] Police Department.
[5:30] Come on up, buddy. Yeah, yours is good.
[5:34] So uh I love what you guys have done
[5:36] with the select boardroom. This looks
[5:38] great in here.
[5:39] >> These chairs are so comfortable. Nice
[5:40] day.
[5:41] >> It's nice. Working on getting better
[5:42] tables. Maybe coming to a capital uh
[5:44] request near you. I don't know. Town
[5:46] meeting.
[5:47] >> Nope.
[5:47] >> Um
[5:49] uh thank you for allowing us to to do
[5:51] this and recognize such a a dedicated
[5:55] public servant. Uh over 30 plus years.
[5:59] um started back when most of our uh most
[6:04] of our department wasn't even thinking
[6:06] of law enforcement at all or just
[6:08] playing in the backyards with squirt
[6:10] guns and some weren't even born. So, um
[6:13] it's just uh it's just an awesome moment
[6:16] to see the outpouring of support that
[6:18] has uh taken place. Uh last week we had
[6:21] a a send off for his his final call and
[6:24] I've I've seen a number of these
[6:26] throughout my career and I've never seen
[6:28] I mean this place had more than 100
[6:30] people in this room. Um I' I've never
[6:32] seen it like that and even today I'd
[6:35] like to recognize Chief Frine and and
[6:37] his wife uh Chief Rainey uh believe was
[6:40] a chief here from '92 to 2004.
[6:44] Um, so this is uh this is what brings
[6:46] people out here and um it's just an a
[6:49] awesome opportunity. Sadly, the deputy
[6:52] chief had to take uh Sergeant Mark
[6:53] Watt's picture off of the the wall the
[6:55] other day and uh soon enough you'll be
[6:59] seeing him in in High Viz Green uh
[7:01] waving traffic at the Rotary to be at
[7:05] Hancock and Chestnut.
[7:08] Yeah. So, um, but no, I I'll turn it over and, um, I just think the
[7:13] world of Sergeant Mark Watt and what
[7:16] he's given and, uh, also to his to his family has shown up to some of
[7:21] these things. This line of work just
[7:23] isn't an individual thing. It's not just
[7:24] us showing up. It's, you know, a lot of
[7:26] missed family time with, you know,
[7:29] sometimes we're not great at making
[7:31] birthdays or little league games and
[7:32] things like that. It's a true sacrifice
[7:34] to the family and it's just awesome to
[7:35] see his family coming in here uh to
[7:37] honor his career too as well. So uh
[7:40] thanks Phil.
[7:40] >> Thank you.
[7:41] >> All right.
[7:51] On behalf of the select
[7:52] board, I have a citation I'd like to
[7:54] read out to you, Sergeant. Uh throughout
[7:56] the throughout his career, police
[7:57] sergeant Steven Marquad has served the
[7:59] town of Abington in several roles and
[8:01] assignments. He has served as a police
[8:03] officer, as a detective from 1998
[8:05] through 2004, and since 2017 has proudly
[8:09] served as a sergeant, providing
[8:10] leadership, guidance, and mentorship to
[8:12] the members of the Abington Police
[8:14] Department. For nearly 34 years of
[8:16] full-time service in a law enforcement
[8:18] career spanning nearly four decades,
[8:20] Sergeant Markwart has dedicated himself
[8:22] to protecting and serving the residents
[8:24] of Abington, often putting his own line
[8:26] in jeopardy, life in jeopardy,
[8:29] supporting his fellow officers in
[8:30] upholding traditions and values of the
[8:32] Abington Police Department. Now
[8:34] therefore, we, the Abington Select
[8:36] Board, on behalf of the town of Abington
[8:38] and its residents, congratulate Sergeant
[8:40] Marquott on his exemplary career and
[8:42] wish him well in his retirement.
[8:51] Uh, now I'd like to recognize our state
[8:54] rep, Allison Sullivan. Amita,
[9:01] » sorry maneuvering this room.
[9:07] » I think the select board meetings should
[9:09] be held in this room more often, right?
[9:12] Everyone in agreeance, right, Chief?
[9:14] Yeah. Right.
[9:16] >> Good evening, everyone. My name is
[9:18] Allison Sullivan Almeida. I am the state
[9:20] representative for Abington and it is an
[9:21] honor to be here. Sergeant Marquat, you
[9:24] are a face that I have seen almost my
[9:27] entire life here in Abington. Um, I
[9:29] heard about your sendoff from past and
[9:32] present officers coming out to support
[9:34] you. I know my uncle has said nothing
[9:37] but great things about you when he
[9:39] served on, you know, his time in
[9:41] Abington with you. Um, it's kind of
[9:43] crazy to think that I'm now your, you
[9:44] know, the state representative
[9:46] presenting you with a resolution from
[9:47] the house, you know, cuz I was one of
[9:49] those kids that was running around
[9:50] causing some trouble in the
[9:52] neighborhood. Never. Never. I was the
[9:54] best kid around. You've seen my
[9:55] daughter, right? She's she's an A+
[9:57] student right here. So, I do have a
[9:59] resolution and and we don't give these
[10:00] out to many people and then and it has
[10:02] to have a big event that has taken place
[10:04] in order to receive this resolution.
[10:07] was read into the House
[10:08] record actually this morning. Um, so
[10:11] it's in the House record as of today and
[10:13] it's in recognition of your uh
[10:15] retirement. And if it's okay, I'd like
[10:17] to read it real quick if that's okay
[10:18] with you, chairman. Um, congratulations,
[10:21] Sergeant Marquat, on the joyous occasion
[10:23] of his retirement from the Abington
[10:24] Police Department. Whereas Sergeant
[10:26] Steven Marquart began his distinguished
[10:28] career with the Abington Police
[10:30] Department in 1988. Whereas in 1993,
[10:33] Steven Markwart joined the Abington
[10:35] Police Department as a full-time police
[10:36] officer, beginning more than three
[10:39] decades of devoted service to the town
[10:41] of Abington.
[10:43] And whereas in rec in recognition of his
[10:45] professionalism, dedication, and
[10:47] commitment to public safety, Steven
[10:49] Marott was promoted to detective in 1998
[10:53] and later promoted to rank a sergeant in
[10:55] 2017.
[10:56] And whereas throughout his exemplary
[10:58] career, Sergeant Markwart served the
[11:00] Abington Police Department with honor,
[11:02] integrity, and unwavering courage,
[11:04] earning the deep respect and admiration
[11:06] of his colleagues in the community he
[11:08] faithfully served. And among his many
[11:10] heroic acts, one of the one that stands
[11:13] out was when his selfless rescue of a
[11:17] woman moments before an oncoming train
[11:19] passed, willing willingly risking his
[11:21] own life to save hers further
[11:24] demonstrated his profound devotion to
[11:27] the safety and well-being of the
[11:29] Abington community. And whereas Sergeant
[11:32] Markwart, after over 33 years of
[11:34] dedicated service, will be leaving
[11:36] behind a profound legacy of leadership,
[11:39] professionalism, and steadfast
[11:40] commitment to the safety and well-being
[11:42] of the Abington community. Therefore, be
[11:44] it resolved that the Massachusetts House
[11:46] of Representatives officers in offers
[11:49] hereby congratulates Sergeant Steven
[11:51] Marquat on the joyous occasion of his
[11:53] retirement from the Abington Police
[11:54] Department expresses its deepest
[11:57] appreciation for his many years of
[11:59] honorable service and extends its
[12:01] warmest wishes for happiness, good
[12:04] health, and faithful and fulfillment
[12:06] throughout throughout his welldeserved
[12:08] retirement. and be it therefore further
[12:12] resolved that a copy of this resolution
[12:14] be forwarded to the clerk of the house
[12:15] of representatives to Steven Markwart
[12:18] and it's signed by the speaker of the
[12:20] house the clerk of the house and myself
[12:22] Allison Sullivan Almeida so
[12:23] congratulations
[12:24] >> so much retirement looks great on you
[12:26] sir
[12:26] >> I appreciate it SO
[12:41] over there.
[12:41] >> Yes. We do a photo over there.
[12:43] >> Yeah.
[12:45] Uh
[12:45] >> if I could say something too as well. Um
[12:49] some people in this room know this, but
[12:51] before 1988
[12:53] um before he was a police officer, uh
[12:55] Mr. Marcott worked at Trouie Supermarket
[12:57] and there's many people in this room who
[12:59] worked there probably with him or before
[13:01] him or after him. But um uh Chief Bonnie
[13:04] just mentioned there might be some
[13:06] details available for you, but there's
[13:07] always place at Chukis. Okay. And and
[13:12] but if you don't, I just want to
[13:13] practice this. Steve, bag up front,
[13:15] please.
[13:16] Thank you.
[13:42] I appreciate it. Thank you.
[13:45] Okay, we're going to do this on the
[13:46] count of three. One, two, three.
[13:53] can the representative.
[13:55] >> Yeah, representative.
[13:58] >> She's campaigning.
[13:59] >> Come down.
[14:02] >> I apologize for taking up the time.
[14:03] >> No, I want to get you in the picture,
[14:06] too.
[14:07] >> You working this way.
[14:12] » Hey, I'm going to do it on the count of
[14:13] three again. One, two, three.
[14:19] >> Thank you. Thank you. Thanks so much.
[14:21] you.
[14:21] >> Congratulations.
[14:24] >> Thank you.
[14:29] » The meeting goes downhill from there.
[14:35] » Are we good to jump to that or?
[14:37] >> Yes.
[14:38] >> Okay.
[14:38] >> I think yes.
[14:40] >> Uh I'm going to jump ahead on the agenda
[14:42] to item number eight. Uh intermunicipal
[14:45] agreement socialore household hazardous
[14:47] waste uh depot. Is there someone here to
[14:50] speak on that? Cla's right there. She's
[14:51] coming right up. Mr. Chairman,
[14:55] >> where should I stand?
[14:56] >> Uh,
[14:57] >> or stand up for
[14:58] >> sure. You could actually if you want to
[14:59] go to the podium.
[15:00] >> Okay.
[15:02] >> Hello.
[15:02] >> Good. Claire, how you doing? Yes.
[15:03] >> We don't have a citation or anything for
[15:05] you, but you can
[15:06] >> Hey, I'm retiring in a few months.
[15:13] » Hi, thank you so much for having me
[15:14] here. Um, my name is Claire Galcowski
[15:17] and I'm the executive director of the
[15:19] Southshore Recycling Cooperative.
[15:22] Hopefully, uh, I Who here has not heard
[15:25] of the Southshore Recycling Cooperative?
[15:28] Um,
[15:29] okay. So, you're somewhat familiar with
[15:31] us? Okay. We're we're we represent 18
[15:33] towns, work for 18 towns for the solid
[15:35] waste departments
[15:37] and including Abington. And um, I want
[15:41] to first thank um, Mr. Moresco for being
[15:43] so um engaged and involved with um
[15:48] responsive to my uh correspondence, my
[15:51] multiple correspondences over the past
[15:53] few months regarding this project. Um do
[15:57] we do you want me to do the presentation
[15:59] slide presentation or should I just talk
[16:01] off the cuff?
[16:03] >> Uh if you if you do you have something
[16:05] ready to go?
[16:06] >> Well, I have I have a thumb drive.
[16:08] >> A thumb drive? I don't know if that's
[16:11] something
[16:11] >> if we if if maybe if you could just if
[16:14] we could just talk it through the boards
[16:16] I passed out the uh document that you
[16:19] had sent me so they all have it in their
[16:21] packet.
[16:22] >> Okay.
[16:22] >> Maybe you just want to touch on the
[16:25] >> I don't want to speak for the board but
[16:26] I think they're supportive of the work
[16:28] that the organization
[16:29] >> keep me on track if I can follow the
[16:31] presentation myself. So, first of all,
[16:34] I'd like to pass out our
[16:37] flyers for our current hazards.
[16:39] >> Thank you.
[16:40] >> Season so you get a sense of what we're
[16:43] doing.
[16:47] » And and my colleague Missy is here too.
[16:49] She might want to say a few words, too.
[16:51] She's she's our D, municipal assistance
[16:53] coordinator for our region, and she's
[16:56] been with the CE bonus, too.
[16:59] >> So, the first one is the 12th. I
[17:01] actually already signed up for that one.
[17:02] That's coming up local for us.
[17:04] >> Excuse me.
[17:05] >> The first one is coming up.
[17:06] >> Yes, it is.
[17:08] >> Yes. The first hazardous waste day of
[17:10] our season, which is six events, is this
[17:13] coming Saturday. So, if you want to
[17:14] come, you need to register.
[17:16] >> Yep.
[17:16] >> Um I have more flyers here. Um if
[17:21] anybody if anybody wants
[17:23] >> We have a whole stack of them up here,
[17:24] too. If anybody wants to take one after
[17:25] the meeting.
[17:26] >> Oh, you do? Okay.
[17:28] >> Beautiful.
[17:30] So
[17:31] keep myself on track here because I know
[17:33] we have a very heavy schedule.
[17:36] Um
[17:38] so we have been working for the past
[17:40] four years on a hazardous a regional
[17:43] hazardous waste depot project. Um
[17:47] precipitated by a
[17:50] um a situation that came up four years
[17:53] ago when our entire fire event season
[17:55] was canceled with three weeks notice. Am
[17:58] I not?
[18:00] >> No.
[18:07] So, um,
[18:09] so why do we need a central depot? Um,
[18:12] let me just obviously just jumped ahead.
[18:15] So, our current system provides safe
[18:17] disposal for gasoline, pesticides, drain
[18:19] cleaners, pool chemicals, things that
[18:21] you don't want your residents throwing
[18:23] into the trash or down their drains or
[18:26] into the ground. Um, currently we have
[18:29] 12 popup hazardous waste events in the
[18:32] spring and in the fall. Um, our
[18:34] reciprocity policy enables all residents
[18:37] of all our 18 member towns to go to any
[18:39] of the collections.
[18:41] Um, we have a a contract with Clean
[18:44] Harbors that's going to be in effect
[18:46] through fiscal 28 with a 30% discount o
[18:50] over the uh going rates because they're
[18:52] because we work with Clean Harbors,
[18:54] they're local. Um, so they were kind
[18:57] this see this this time around to give
[18:59] us a deep discount because they wanted
[19:01] to get us in. Um, currently we don't
[19:04] have any summer or winter options. Um,
[19:07] and scheduling events is becoming
[19:09] increasingly difficult to get because
[19:11] there's more demand than supply. There's
[19:14] there are fewer and fewer um
[19:17] vendors that are willing to do this kind
[19:19] of work. We're down to stu two vendors
[19:22] in the whole state including Clean
[19:23] Harbors and they're they're we're
[19:26] teetering on getting only one. Um so the
[19:30] rationale for the depot is uh worker
[19:32] neighborhood facility and groundwater
[19:35] protection. Uh we've had a couple of
[19:37] towns, a few towns actually have had
[19:38] fires in the past few years because of
[19:41] hazardous materials being put in the
[19:43] trash. Um, there was a neighborhood
[19:45] cleared out of Norwell several years ago
[19:47] because some uh because a trash truck
[19:50] had some incompatible chemicals and it reacted and cleared out like a threeb
[19:55] block radius, sent some people to the
[19:57] hospital.
[19:59] Um, as I mentioned, we have a shrinking
[20:01] pool of service providers. So we have
[20:03] service and cost vulnerability
[20:06] uh particularly in fiscal 29 when uh
[20:09] when we are hopefully in a new contract
[20:12] but there's no guarantee. Um there are
[20:16] proven models uh of regional facilities
[20:19] that are are permanently based one in
[20:21] Lexington and one in Devons and there
[20:22] are a few others around the state too
[20:24] but they're they're not very common. Um
[20:27] it would provide operational and um cost
[20:30] efficiency in the future. Not so much
[20:33] now because we are in a particularly
[20:35] advantageous contract, but but come
[20:38] fiscal 29 um I'm pretty sure things are
[20:41] going to change. Uh and it would provide
[20:43] year- round access.
[20:46] Um so as I mentioned, we've been working
[20:49] on this for almost four years now. Um
[20:51] and I'm not going to bore you with the
[20:53] details. It's we've had a lot of delays
[20:55] as any building project is is sub
[20:57] subject to and now we're coming up on
[21:00] some dead deadlines including a grant
[21:03] deadline. We're in our second grant
[21:04] extension um for D um because there's
[21:08] been so many delays and plus I'm going
[21:10] to be retiring next year. I was hoping
[21:13] to retire in January, but uh that's
[21:15] probably not going to happen, especially
[21:17] if this goes on. But that's okay. I
[21:19] would like to see this this through. Um
[21:22] before we can open, we we want to open
[21:25] by May of next year. And to get there,
[21:28] we need to go out to bid soon. And um
[21:32] most critically, we need 12
[21:34] intermunicipal agreements signed. Um we
[21:36] have 12 towns, including Abington, that signed on to this project four year
[21:41] three three and a half years ago. They
[21:43] sent letters of support. They provided
[21:46] um some funds to help cover the cost
[21:49] because we couldn't get grants without
[21:50] matching funds. The SSRC also
[21:53] contributed a good chunk of matching
[21:54] funds.
[21:56] Um we hope to be releasing our bids uh
[22:00] in the next two or three weeks. Um and
[22:03] in order for the project to complete, we
[22:05] need to award it at our next board
[22:08] meeting towards the end of October.
[22:11] Um, at that point we'll have we would
[22:14] have a hazardous waste depot uh council
[22:17] that would be appointed with one member
[22:19] from each town that would determine cost
[22:21] allocations and things like that. But
[22:24] I've worked I've worked out a number of
[22:25] scenarios on those things.
[22:28] Um the only rub right now is that um
[22:32] given our very low uh contract cost with
[22:35] clean harbors, which I'd like to
[22:36] emphasize is probably temporary. Um and
[22:40] the fact that a permanent facility will
[22:42] involve things like additional costs
[22:43] like insurance, um maintenance, uh and a
[22:47] reserve fund, we will be a little bit
[22:49] over budget, um compared with current
[22:52] costs. Um, alto together we're we're
[22:54] looking at I'm projecting about $23,000
[22:57] altogether in additional costs. Um,
[23:02] so uh so this is this would mean about
[23:06] $2,400 per participating town in
[23:09] additional costs over what you're
[23:10] currently paying. Um, and I'm hoping
[23:14] that that's not a um a deal breaker, but
[23:17] um in the long term this will give us
[23:20] stability. It will give us um probably
[23:23] ultimately cost savings because we would
[23:26] be paying it in for using paying ex for
[23:29] exactly what we're generating rather
[23:30] than estimating per car costs.
[23:34] Um if we institute um small resident
[23:38] co-ayments that would offset all the
[23:39] additional costs and additional costs
[23:41] can also be covered by um RDP grant
[23:44] funds which DP provides every year which
[23:47] I'm pretty sure Abington has a a a
[23:50] balance in their account. They get given
[23:53] money for having a good program.
[23:56] So um see I have I have a slide here
[23:59] with estimated costs um per town. Um,
[24:03] there are several different ways we can
[24:05] slice and dice this. Um, but the one I'm
[24:08] putting out there right now is that
[24:10] every town would pay $2,400 in addition
[24:14] to what they're currently paying.
[24:16] Um, the intermunicipal agreement um is
[24:20] based on the Minute Man hazardous waste
[24:22] facility which has been in in uh working
[24:25] for almost 20 years now. I think they
[24:28] just renewed their intermunicipal
[24:29] agreement with 10 towns. those towns all
[24:32] reviewed it by council. So, I started
[24:34] with that one and just made some changes
[24:38] that were specific to our circumstance,
[24:40] but all the legal language is the same.
[24:43] Um, and this was signed by 10 towns in
[24:46] 2023.
[24:48] Um, so if uh so today I'm here to ask
[24:53] the select board if they would be
[24:55] willing to sign the intermunicipal
[24:56] agreement. You're the first town I've
[24:58] come to. We're going to Whitman right
[25:00] after this. Um and we're on several
[25:03] other agendas uh coming up in the next
[25:05] few weeks. So the intermunicipal
[25:07] agreement would be effective once the 12
[25:10] participating municipalities have signed
[25:12] the IMA
[25:14] and that has to be done as I mentioned
[25:16] before the construction contracts are
[25:18] awarded because we can't commit to any
[25:20] additional funds if we're not going to
[25:23] be able to move forward with the
[25:24] operation obviously. Um, so I can I can
[25:28] provide more details about resident
[25:30] copay recommendations or any anything
[25:33] else that you would like to talk about,
[25:34] but I didn't want to go on for too long.
[25:38] So, and I'd like to give give a minute
[25:40] to Missy to introduce herself, too, and
[25:43] just give the two cents because D is
[25:45] funding this at a $250,000
[25:49] and that's what's making this possible.
[25:53] >> Hi, my name is Miss Mrs. Cal. um back
[25:57] and um I am what's called a municipal
[26:00] assistance coordinator and what that
[26:03] means is that I help municipalities in
[26:05] my district with trash and recycling
[26:07] reducing those those two um items and my
[26:11] district has been just expanded. So I
[26:13] cover from denim up the hull and then
[26:17] all the way down to Fall River. So, I
[26:19] know there's pretty big pretty big area
[26:21] and what I can tell you is that in a lot
[26:24] of those areas, we actually have um a
[26:26] household hazardous waste desert. A lot
[26:28] of those communities do not have the
[26:31] same access that your residents do. They
[26:34] either don't have anything at all and I
[26:37] don't even want to know where their stuff is going. Um maybe even to
[26:40] you, I don't know, you know, but but I
[26:42] don't you know, but the thing is it is a
[26:44] problem. The other thing is my other
[26:45] municipalities who do have an event like
[26:48] on an annual basis, they're seeing that
[26:50] the costs that Claire was talking about
[26:52] have gone up dramatically. There are
[26:55] very few players who are able to offer
[26:57] this service in the state because it's a
[26:59] very complicated highly regulated you
[27:02] know for safety reasons for that and the
[27:04] costs are going up with that and also
[27:07] the availability of dates and
[27:09] collections that are convenient to your
[27:10] residents are going down. So, the model
[27:12] that CLA is offering, we've seen great
[27:15] success with other communities that do
[27:16] have this. It provides you with more
[27:19] power um and more access for your
[27:21] residents and also the ability to
[27:23] control the cost more. So, we just want
[27:25] to say that Claire's done a great job
[27:26] working on this and it's a really good
[27:29] benefit for um Abington to be thinking
[27:32] in a forward future um model. So, that's
[27:35] all I just want to say. Thank you,
[27:36] Claire.
[27:37] >> Thank you, Missy.
[27:42] Do do any of any of you have any
[27:44] questions?
[27:47] >> Yeah.
[27:47] >> The depot's planned to be in Hanover.
[27:50] >> Oh, yes. I minor detail I left out. Yes.
[27:53] The um the town of Hanover is um
[27:56] allowing us to construct this on um at
[27:59] their transfer station. It's quite a
[28:01] central location for the for the
[28:03] municipalities. So the hazardous waste
[28:06] days as we know it now, you know, the 12
[28:08] year will we will will still be there or
[28:12] no?
[28:13] >> We would then it would it would be
[28:15] spread out more. We would end up
[28:16] actually with 13 events instead of 12
[28:19] per year, but there would be at least
[28:20] one each month. Right now we just have
[28:24] um on average two a month in September,
[28:26] October, November, April, May, and June.
[28:29] And then if some so if somebody's moving
[28:31] out of their house after our last event
[28:34] in June, which h happens pretty
[28:37] regularly, they're kind of stuck. Um
[28:40] they could go up to Brockton
[28:43] um and pay a huge amount of money to
[28:45] them um because they're open in the
[28:47] summer, but they're not open in the
[28:48] winter either. So there's no So if
[28:51] residents are moving, they really are pretty stuck. So, so the events that
[28:57] are now in local towns will all be in
[29:00] handover.
[29:01] >> Not all of them. No, there are 12. We
[29:03] have 18 towns in our cooperative. So,
[29:05] there are 12 towns that had indicated
[29:08] interest in participating in this. The
[29:10] other six are kind of around the edges.
[29:12] We have Brainree, Wemouth, Hall,
[29:14] Marshfield, and Plymouth. And they're
[29:16] not participating.
[29:17] >> If they decide to participate at some
[29:20] point, would the cost for the other
[29:21] towns that enroll first would go down? I
[29:24] would I would think so. Yes.
[29:26] >> Okay. So, now is this um location open
[29:31] every weekend or no? It's only going to
[29:33] be open for a double
[29:34] >> initially. Um it would be open during
[29:36] the months that there are no other popup
[29:39] events in the per in the peripheral
[29:41] towns. Um but it would have the
[29:43] flexibility to be open once a week. Say
[29:45] if for instance if my successor decides
[29:48] to have office hours there. I work
[29:51] remotely. I work from home. I live in
[29:52] Westwood. So, it's not practical to
[29:55] commute down here. I've always worked
[29:57] from home for 28 years now. And um but the the facility would have an
[30:03] office in it, so it would be possible to
[30:07] open it more often
[30:10] um if there was a demand for it and if
[30:12] it could be financially justified.
[30:14] >> Will this facility take additional items
[30:16] that that we beyond the scope of what we
[30:20] we're allowed to drop off now?
[30:22] Um, initially we would probably just
[30:25] start off with the basics that we're
[30:27] taking now and that would be an option
[30:30] because it's it would be flexible.
[30:32] >> Um, and now we you know we're taking
[30:34] propane tanks and fire extinguishers
[30:36] this um Saturday in Whitman too for a
[30:40] fee. Yeah. So, we could potentially um
[30:44] do that. Um if assuming we can get
[30:48] service, we could probably expand to
[30:50] battery. Could there's there's a lot of
[30:52] directions it could go in if there was a
[30:54] demand for it.
[30:56] >> So, it will not be less items. It be the
[30:59] same may possibly more in the future.
[31:01] >> Right. Okay. Right.
[31:04] I it sounded like you you we didn't have
[31:06] an idea of the cost per member town
[31:09] until you figure out how many member
[31:11] towns there are.
[31:12] >> Uh we well we I'm I'm running on the
[31:15] assumption that if we don't get all the
[31:17] towns to participate, we're just not
[31:19] going to be able to do it because I
[31:20] don't think there's much wiggle room for
[31:22] any town's finances right now. And to
[31:25] reduce the um number of towns that it's
[31:28] spread out among would probably not fly.
[31:33] That's been my assumption all along. Um
[31:36] I guess if we come up with 11 and the
[31:39] inter actually the intermunicipal
[31:41] agreement says it's only in effect upon
[31:43] the signing by 12 towns which perhaps
[31:46] was shortsighted but uh but um
[31:50] >> but so there is an estimate estimate
[31:51] cost per town if there are 12 towns you
[31:53] have that. Okay.
[31:55] >> And um I there's and like I said there's
[31:57] five ways to slice and dice it. At the
[31:59] moment there's two kinds of costs.
[32:01] There's the fixed costs and there's the
[32:03] variable costs. So the fixed costs are
[32:06] the cost to have the facility to um have
[32:11] a dumpster there for the boxes and the
[32:13] trash um to to cover the insurance to
[32:17] maintenance and all that. Um the
[32:19] variable costs are dependent on how much
[32:22] material people bring and how many
[32:23] people come and that cost will remain
[32:26] constant with the current program for
[32:29] the time being. Um, initially I thought
[32:32] we would be paying by the drum rather
[32:34] than by the car. So, right now we're
[32:36] paying So, a car comes in, if they have
[32:38] up to 10 gallons or 20 pounds, they get
[32:41] charged as a half car, which is, you
[32:45] know, uh, what is it? $33 right now.
[32:49] Um, and if they come in with up to 25
[32:51] gallons or 50 pounds, they get charges a
[32:53] full car, which is $56. So, that's how it would be allocated. Now,
[32:58] if we're paying by the drum, we pay for
[33:00] the exact amount of material by category
[33:03] that is brought in, and we would keep if
[33:06] there's a drum that's not full, we
[33:07] wouldn't ship it. So, there there would
[33:10] be uh cost savings there. I've estimated
[33:12] it to be at least 15%.
[33:15] They're paying by the drum and probably
[33:17] more because I didn't take into account
[33:19] partial drums.
[33:23] » If I'm going Saturday, I'm all signed
[33:25] up. Um, I'll see you there.
[33:27] >> Excellent. Well, you'll see my
[33:28] supervisor and her assistant there.
[33:30] Yeah.
[33:31] >> So, there's no fee, right?
[33:33] >> Nope. Not unless you're bringing propane
[33:34] tanks or fire extinguishers.
[33:36] >> But now, if we're going to this depot,
[33:37] there'll be a fee.
[33:38] >> Um, that's up to the hazardous waste
[33:41] depot council. If they want to offset
[33:43] the um costs with a co-ayment, which is
[33:48] many, it's a model that most towns, many
[33:50] towns around the state have gone to.
[33:53] Some are charging full freight, which is
[33:55] a lot, you know, cuz without our
[33:57] contract, the going rate for a full car,
[34:00] we're paying 56. The going rate is like
[34:02] 85.
[34:04] So, um, it's amazing to me that people
[34:06] will will pay that. And I don't I would
[34:08] never recommend that we charge that much
[34:10] because we will have reduced
[34:12] participation, but
[34:13] >> but it is.
[34:14] >> So, I'm going to play devil's advocate
[34:16] here. I'm going Saturday. Where is it?
[34:21] In
[34:21] >> Whitman Whitman.
[34:23] highway department grow
[34:24] >> and I'm going with just a big bucket of
[34:26] stuff and I'm not paying anything
[34:28] >> right the town of Abington is
[34:30] >> but next year if this comes into effect
[34:32] I have to drive to handover and our town
[34:34] pays more and I might have to pay a fee
[34:38] >> your town wouldn't pay more if you did
[34:39] pay a fee so it depends on which which
[34:42] pocket it's coming out of really the fee
[34:44] would be based on well the fee I'm
[34:46] proposing is based on the volume so if
[34:48] you come in with up to um 10 gallons or
[34:52] 20 lb, the fee would be $10. If it was
[34:55] up to 25 gallons or 50 lb, it would be
[34:58] $20. And then if it was, you know,
[35:00] double that, up to double that, it would
[35:03] be 30. That would be the maximum.
[35:06] And any any amounts above that, it's at
[35:08] the full cost of the resident because we
[35:10] the town, some of the towns were really
[35:11] getting
[35:12] >> slammed by just single people that
[35:15] brought in huge quantities.
[35:16] >> We're the first town to be asked to be
[35:19] signed.
[35:19] >> Yes.
[35:20] >> Right. And and it says the paperwork. It
[35:22] says all 12 towns are supposed to sign.
[35:25] Suppose you go six months, it's ready to
[35:28] open and only seven towns have signed.
[35:30] What?
[35:30] >> We wouldn't be ready to open. If only
[35:32] seven towns signed, we're not we're not
[35:34] awarding any contracts for construction.
[35:36] >> Is there is that a flexible number? Oh,
[35:38] eight towns are signed. We're going to
[35:39] do it.
[35:40] >> It's in the IMA, but it has to be 12
[35:42] towns. Yeah.
[35:43] >> Oh, okay.
[35:44] >> Yeah. But we wanted to I I thought it
[35:46] was important to protect the towns that
[35:48] do sign from ending up with a higher
[35:50] cost than they bargained for.
[35:54] >> Um so one of the things that we're
[35:56] seeing throughout the state is like
[35:58] Claire said the per car fee um
[36:01] especially like in the northeast I think
[36:03] it's um $50 for a half car 75 for a full
[36:08] >> maybe and it's gone. I was going to say
[36:10] it's going up. So I'm even seeing like
[36:12] $100, you know, it's going up cons
[36:14] significantly and and you know, when the
[36:17] contract with the state gets
[36:18] renegotiated, it is always has been in
[36:21] the past a very large jump. So even
[36:24] though you might not be looking at, you
[36:27] know, um a fee to these other towns now,
[36:30] in the future you might. What I'm seeing
[36:32] in a lot of my municipalities, they've
[36:34] been insisting, nope, nope, nope, we're
[36:35] not going to charge our residents. Our
[36:36] residents are not going to pay anything.
[36:37] Nope, nope, nope. all of a sudden the rates have gone up and they're like
[36:41] we can't even afford to hold this event.
[36:44] So they stop it and then so they start
[36:47] reconsidering like okay that small fee
[36:50] is is um you know something acceptable
[36:53] to them because the cost has gone up
[36:55] dramatically. with your program at the
[36:57] depot, you're you're kind of not I want
[36:59] to say locking in, but you're really
[37:00] getting more power over that because in
[37:03] the future the prices are going up and
[37:05] the availability of of you know the the
[37:07] contractors out there, you know, the
[37:08] whole supply and demand kind of thing.
[37:10] So, enough.
[37:12] One thing another thing that can reduce
[37:14] our cost though is there's there's
[37:16] legislation I've been working on for 12
[37:18] 14 years now called the paint
[37:20] stewardship program and it's in
[37:23] conference committee right now. Um, and
[37:26] we're really hoping that it it finally
[37:29] makes it over the finish line. Every
[37:30] state around us except New Hampshire has
[37:32] it. And that will take out a big chunk
[37:35] of the cost um for all of our
[37:38] collections because then it would be
[37:40] covered the cost would be paid by an
[37:42] advanced recovery fee that that you pay
[37:44] like another an extra dollar at the
[37:46] point of purchase. So, um I know there's
[37:50] a lot there's a lot of unknowns here,
[37:52] but you know, I I don't want to see our
[37:55] towns in the lurch and ending up having
[37:58] to deal with catastrophes from improper
[38:00] disposal if they have to pull back on
[38:02] hazardous waste service.
[38:04] >> Um probably 10 or 15 years ago, I was on
[38:06] the board of health and I was a
[38:07] chairman.
[38:08] >> I knew your name was familiar.
[38:11] >> You did a great job then. So, thank you
[38:12] for all your help in getting us, you
[38:14] know, these programs that are happening
[38:16] now. So, thank you. Thank you very much.
[38:17] Mr. Coyle,
[38:18] >> you you can retire now.
[38:21] I
[38:21] >> don't have the citation, so
[38:22] >> No, we'll wait in case.
[38:25] >> I can retire after it opens or or the
[38:29] end of February, whichever comes first.
[38:32] >> And do you already have the language of
[38:33] the agreement that you're asking us to
[38:35] sign?
[38:35] >> Yeah, I have. We have Oh, it's in the
[38:38] Okay. No, that's fine. It's in the
[38:39] packet. So, thank you. It is. Okay. So,
[38:42] it's already been printed out. Okay.
[38:48] All right.
[38:51] So, okay. So,
[38:55] >> anybody else
[38:55] >> take any more questions you want or I'll
[38:57] sit down and shut up if you want.
[39:00] >> Anybody in the audience have any
[39:01] questions?
[39:04] >> All right. Bring it back to the board.
[39:09] Well, I've done a lot of talking, so
[39:11] I'll open it up to the other members
[39:12] before I have my say if that's all
[39:14] right.
[39:18] » Don't jump.
[39:19] >> You You asked the questions I was going
[39:20] to ask. Anyways, where
[39:22] >> No, but it's going to be in handover.
[39:25] And
[39:25] >> I'm just a little leery about some of
[39:28] the points I made, but also being the
[39:29] first town to sign on. That's all. I'm
[39:31] not I'm not against it theoretically,
[39:34] but being I don't know if they get an
[39:36] alphabetical order. No, I can't be right
[39:37] cuz what means next? But I I just I'm a
[39:40] little leerary about being the first
[39:41] town to sign on. That's all.
[39:43] >> I just I would my concern is just the
[39:46] unknowns. The
[39:49] >> just the unknowns. Um
[39:56] » I don't know.
[39:57] >> Well, who we designate as we don't have
[39:59] a health agent right now. who we
[40:01] designate as our representative that
[40:03] would basically oversee any costs or
[40:06] anything like that that we would be
[40:07] doing come here.
[40:08] >> Well, you were on the board of health
[40:09] report. So, I don't we could have
[40:12] >> He's the head of the trash.
[40:13] >> Yeah. And you're the head of the trash.
[40:16] >> Um
[40:17] >> or I don't know, maybe even Michael can
[40:19] do it until we have a health agent.
[40:21] >> Personally, I'll I'll I don't know if
[40:23] there's a motion, but I'd like to wait
[40:25] until some side some of the towns bite.
[40:29] What happens if they do the same thing?
[40:30] Then we're just in a log jam where
[40:32] nobody's going to
[40:33] >> maybe
[40:34] to sign something that's going to cost
[40:36] the town more money
[40:37] >> or even just time to read through these
[40:40] because it's a long um contract. I know
[40:43] I I looked it over but couldn't fully
[40:44] understand it till you just presented
[40:46] it. Um
[40:48] just to make sure that it's something
[40:50] that that makes sense cuz I did wonder
[40:52] for if it's free now. I guess it's not
[40:55] free. free. I know you're saying it's
[40:56] not free and then going to a cost, but I
[40:59] know Ken asked that question, so I
[41:01] understand what you're saying.
[41:02] >> I'm not bringing any money on Saturday,
[41:03] so
[41:06] >> um I might feel more comfortable just
[41:09] reviewing through it, but again, we can
[41:12] as a board
[41:13] >> review it and vote again, vote on our at
[41:15] our next meeting.
[41:17] >> Uh yeah, if I could add to it, uh I I
[41:20] think it's less about like not being the
[41:22] first town. I don't think that's an
[41:24] personally I don't think that's an
[41:25] issue. Um I love what you guys are
[41:27] doing. Um because if I were to move and
[41:31] I didn't have anywhere or understand
[41:33] where I could take all that material, it
[41:34] would probably end up in the trash or
[41:36] dumped out somewhere. And I'm sure
[41:37] that's replicated over and over. And so if we can, you know, make
[41:41] folks aware of where it can go and then
[41:43] mitigate the costs, I totally understand
[41:45] what you're doing. Um, the only concern
[41:48] I have, the only one is that there's
[41:50] nine, eight or nine pages here of semile
[41:53] legal ease that I want to fully
[41:55] understand before I signed it. And and I feel like the board probably feels the
[42:00] same way. Um, and so I think maybe
[42:03] giving us time to fully grasp it and
[42:06] then adding it onto the agenda later
[42:08] would be a good approach. I don't know
[42:10] if the board rest of the board thinks of
[42:12] that.
[42:14] >> I know they're under the gun. So, is
[42:15] that our next meeting on the 28th? Does
[42:17] that give you guys enough time?
[42:19] >> Yeah.
[42:21] >> That work?
[42:22] >> You'll be presenting to other towns
[42:24] before the 28th?
[42:25] >> Yeah. So, we might not be
[42:26] >> We're going to be heading right over to
[42:27] Whitman and then we'll be in East
[42:29] Bridgewater and Rockland and Hanover
[42:31] next week.
[42:32] >> We don't like to copy Rockland, but you
[42:34] know.
[42:36] >> Okay.
[42:38] Very good. Well, thank you very
[42:39] much.
[42:40] >> Thank you.
[42:42] >> Entertain. Was that a motion, Daniel,
[42:45] >> to table it?
[42:46] >> Uh, yeah, sure. Yeah, it's a motion to
[42:47] second his motion.
[42:48] >> Continue to the 28th.
[42:50] >> Until the 28th. Yeah.
[42:51] >> Ken seconded.
[42:53] >> All those in favor?
[42:54] >> I unanimous.
[42:55] >> Thank you. Presentation.
[42:56] >> Thank you very much.
[43:08] » All right. Well, now with uh the time
[43:09] being past 6:15 p.m. uh public hearing
[43:14] uh scheduled for 6 p.m. Paul Sincer uh
[43:17] John Tollig VP New England develop
[43:20] development with update on Union Point.
[43:22] Uh someone like to make a motion to open
[43:24] the hearing public hearing.
[43:25] >> I'll make I'll make a motion.
[43:27] >> Bill, that was you.
[43:28] >> Yep. Have a second.
[43:29] >> I'll second call second. All those in
[43:32] favor?
[43:33] >> I unanimous.
[43:37] Floor is yours.
[43:38] >> Thank you so much.
[43:43] Um,
[43:46] for the record, my name is John Tuig.
[43:48] Um, with me is Paul Sincada uh from New
[43:52] England Development. Um this is actually
[43:55] um not nearly as exciting as the first
[43:58] uh thank you for the sergeant, but is an
[44:00] exciting time for us um because um uh we
[44:04] closed on the property on June 30th and
[44:07] we start we awarded our first
[44:09] construction contract and start
[44:11] construction in about a week and a half.
[44:13] So um that's a very exciting time given
[44:16] where the base was not that many years
[44:18] ago. When we met with the town manager
[44:21] last, he suggested that, and I'll try to
[44:24] do it as quickly as I can, that we talk
[44:27] a little bit about the history of the
[44:28] base because we know some of the board
[44:29] members are new and maybe uh and it's
[44:32] funny the amount of comments that we've
[44:34] gotten over the last few weeks. Oh, when
[44:36] are you going to start talking about
[44:38] zoning on the base and how's that all
[44:40] going to work? Um, and people sort of
[44:42] forget that we've been doing that. We're
[44:44] on year six now, uh, and have taken it
[44:47] through zoning like. So our thought is
[44:49] we'll give you a little bit of history.
[44:50] Paul will talk about the work that we're
[44:52] starting and also talk about the water
[44:54] and the MW and sort of where we're at
[44:56] with that. So uh Mr. Chairman if it's
[44:58] okay kind of give you a little history
[44:59] and uh and talk about where we're at. Um
[45:02] background um I think everybody knows
[45:04] where the base is but not everybody
[45:06] really knows uh the sizes. We is at the
[45:09] top of the base. It's 1440 acres. Uh
[45:12] Abington is down sort of on the left
[45:14] hand side. Just for orientation, you
[45:16] have Route 18 out here. You have the
[45:18] Parkway that cuts through the base, and
[45:20] I'll have some better slides on that,
[45:21] takes you out to 228. You have Rockland
[45:24] has a big slice, which is right here,
[45:26] but most of where the development is and
[45:27] the like is in Weimoth today. So, we're
[45:30] going to give you a little background.
[45:32] We're going to tell you where we
[45:33] started, where we are today, a little
[45:35] bit about the master plan uh that we're
[45:37] proposing. Paul's going to talk a little
[45:39] bit about the MWRA and the water and
[45:41] then talk to you about our first phase
[45:43] one infrastructure which is what we
[45:45] awarded last week. So with that said,
[45:48] Paul, if you go to the next one, uh I
[45:51] think everybody again knows where it is.
[45:53] This is really just for orientation. Um
[45:55] everybody knows we have a TA station
[45:56] here, but for acreage, just to give you
[45:58] a sense, there's 677 acres in Weimoth,
[46:01] 584 in Rockland, 179. Uh but no one and
[46:06] legislatively the base is a place. It
[46:09] was created by legislation. The SRA, the
[46:11] Southfield Redevelopment Authority and I know Mr. Per is here uh tonight is
[46:16] like a town uh has many of the same
[46:18] rights and responsibilities of the town
[46:20] and governs and they act as the planning
[46:22] board and the conservation commission
[46:25] and different things as you go through.
[46:27] Um and again uh this just kind of gives
[46:29] you a breakdown about where the three
[46:31] major areas are uh for orientation.
[46:33] Again, that's where the parkway is,
[46:36] Route 18 and out to 228.
[46:39] For context, this is kind of zooming in
[46:41] on a few things a little bit. Route 18,
[46:45] we have Shay Drive, which is sort of the
[46:47] main entrance where you sort of have the Rock uh sort of entrance areas. You
[46:51] have down at Troder Road, which is where
[46:53] the buoy station is, and um Uncle Joe's
[46:56] finer diner um which everybody knows.
[46:59] >> Uncle Charlie.
[47:00] >> Yeah, they're related, but
[47:01] >> they are related actually. They're all
[47:02] from Morocco. Uh and then out um if you
[47:06] go down the Parkway, this sort of takes
[47:07] you out to Route 3. Route 3 is at the
[47:09] top of the map on Home Depot. One of the
[47:11] first things that we're doing is you
[47:13] know the intersection where the uh motel
[47:15] is up by 228 is we're going to rebuild
[47:17] that intersection. Over two years ago,
[47:19] we got a grant for Rocklin to be able to
[47:21] start to do design and we're going to do
[47:23] that intersection. It's about a $10
[47:25] million intersection. So rather than the
[47:27] straight movement coming off to 220 228
[47:30] that's actually going to go out to four
[47:32] lanes and the straight movement is going
[47:34] to be coming in through the industrial
[47:36] area not going straight into Rockland.
[47:38] So we're actually going to completely
[47:40] redefine a big p if you know that motel
[47:43] that's out there that come in is got a
[47:45] big piece of landscaping and sort of
[47:47] some trees that's all kind of going to
[47:48] go away. So, your straight movement is
[47:51] going to go from route 3 228 and then
[47:54] the straight movement is going to go
[47:55] down through the industrial bike which
[47:56] will also be four lanes and we'll take
[47:59] you into uh the entrance at the base.
[48:02] The reason we're doing that and we're
[48:04] doing this very early action item is
[48:08] anyone who wants to see commercial
[48:09] development uh on the base wants to know
[48:11] they have route three access that way.
[48:14] And that right now isn't very
[48:15] convenient. Doesn't work really well.
[48:17] backs up a lot. Just to give you a
[48:19] sense, when we did this originally, we
[48:21] had to study 75 intersections, Abington,
[48:24] Weimoth, Rockland. We're doing work at
[48:27] 53 different intersections. This just
[48:29] happens to be one of the larger ones.
[48:31] We're rebuilding down on Troder Road. Uh
[48:34] we're rebuilding uh and adding another
[48:36] turn lane at Sheay. Uh and then
[48:38] rebuilding all the interior roadway
[48:40] network that you see just to give you a
[48:42] little bit of context.
[48:45] I won't dwell on the history of the
[48:46] base, but 194042, Huckleberry Hill,
[48:50] federal government takes it down. World
[48:52] War II, this was a base where they
[48:54] actually used to fly um blimps and
[48:56] deridibles up and down the east coast
[48:58] looking for German Ubot. Um a little bit
[49:00] of history, this was the largest largest
[49:02] wooden structure ever built was built
[49:04] here at the base because you could put
[49:06] three blimps floating uh with inside
[49:09] that structure. You can actually still
[49:10] see where the door turned around in a
[49:12] big semicircle. Base gets closed,
[49:15] decommissioned in 97. They form the
[49:17] Southshore Tri Development Corporation,
[49:19] which is really the predecessor for the
[49:21] SRA, the Southfield Redevelopment
[49:22] Authority. Uh, a bunch of master
[49:24] developers, LAR, LNR, Starwood, and then
[49:27] LAStar. Um, LASAR was the last one. It
[49:30] was forclosed on by the Carpenters
[49:32] Union. Um, they borrowed $60 million.
[49:35] They spent all the money, and they never
[49:36] built anything. Um, they had a very the principal at LASTAR out of North
[49:41] Carolina. Had a very nice house down in
[49:43] Jerusalem Road in Cohasset. He had the
[49:45] naming rights at Gillette Stadium for
[49:47] the second level bar, but actually never
[49:49] built anything. They had some very
[49:50] interesting plans. I like to
[49:51] affectionately call them the Dubai
[49:53] plans. Uh, 20story towers that spun
[49:56] three lakes, boats. Our plan isn't like
[50:00] that. Um, because we kind of have a plan
[50:02] that we think you can build and people
[50:04] want to live there. Selfie Redevelopment
[50:06] Authority created in 2014. We take over
[50:08] as master developer. Great timing. Six
[50:10] weeks before co um we really did a great
[50:13] job on that. So didn't quite work out as
[50:16] we hoped. Um again trying to get a
[50:18] little more granular on the base
[50:20] parkway. What you see here in sort of
[50:22] the purple colors. There are today
[50:26] about 1474 homes that exist at the base.
[50:29] Over 2,000 people who live there. That
[50:31] was what was built by the first phase.
[50:33] And then over here you have a um a a 44
[50:37] uh unit single family home which is
[50:39] Stonebridge single family homes and then
[50:41] you have the sports complex. But you go
[50:44] out there today and you can tell by this
[50:45] aerial all these runways and what you
[50:47] see and this was the big turnaround
[50:49] where you had the blimps that's all
[50:51] still there. Um maybe a little overgrown
[50:53] but it's it it's all still there and
[50:56] needs to be all all done. To give you a
[50:58] sense out of the 1440 acres 900 acres of
[51:01] it were disturbed. and I and are today.
[51:04] Okay, Paul. Um, I show this plan because
[51:08] it's affectionately known as the Humpty
[51:09] Dumpty plan because people ask us, "What
[51:11] took you all this time to do this?" Um,
[51:14] well, what we were offered in 2020 was
[51:17] the right to buy everything in yellow.
[51:20] But every other color here represents
[51:23] somebody else own the property. We
[51:25] literally had to have the SRA go through
[51:27] an eminent domain process because when
[51:29] they foreclosed on it uh when Washington
[51:32] Capital forclosed on it, this was still
[51:35] all owned by this area down here over
[51:37] here. You had the Navy. We had to go and
[51:39] renegotiate all the contracts with the
[51:41] Navy, but the Navy was getting paid
[51:43] every year. The Navy was spending the money and sending it down to
[51:46] Washington. We had to convince them to
[51:49] leave all the money on the base. let us
[51:51] do a uh a treatment plant for
[51:53] groundwater and and also start to convey
[51:57] us the rest of the land. So Humpty
[52:00] Dumpty is what we got. What we have now
[52:02] in in 2026, everything in blue we either
[52:06] own or control. So we had to go from
[52:08] that to that because we couldn't develop
[52:10] anything. Couldn't go to the state.
[52:12] Virtually every local, state, and
[52:14] federal permit was either in default. Um
[52:17] they hadn't paid the money they were
[52:18] supposed to pay. Uh even the turtle
[52:20] permits were in default. The roadway
[52:22] permits were all in default. So we had
[52:24] to correct all of that history. So Paul
[52:27] if you go to the next a little bit about
[52:28] the master plan and the first thing this
[52:30] timeline it's not very exciting but it
[52:32] gives you a real sense especially if you
[52:34] weren't there in the beginning
[52:36] 2021
[52:38] 22 due diligence getting the land under
[52:41] control redoing all the navy agreements
[52:44] in 23 we had to reszone and Abington was
[52:47] obviously one of the places that we came
[52:49] we had over 90% support from Abington we
[52:51] had unanimous votes from your select
[52:53] board and finance because in a span of a
[52:56] year, we had to reszone, Abington, and
[52:59] Rockland with the same set of zoning in
[53:02] the in each one of the communities
[53:04] because that's how the SRRA and that's
[53:05] how the legislation set this up. So, we
[53:07] actually had to go and reszone in the
[53:09] exact same zoning uh all three
[53:11] communities. Open town meeting always
[53:14] fun. Everybody gets a vote, everybody
[53:16] has an opinion, that's all good, but
[53:18] that had to be done and we had 90 days
[53:21] each one of them. You had to be able to
[53:22] go to the next town within 90 days. 24
[53:25] state review. We spent 367 days on what
[53:28] they call a MEPA certificate. We had to
[53:30] go back through all of the state
[53:31] permitting agencies and we ended up at
[53:34] the end of December in 24 getting a MEPA
[53:36] certificate. We also had to get a draft
[53:38] section section 61 finding which is from
[53:41] Massaw which allowed us to actually be
[53:43] able to get out onto all the roadways.
[53:46] Up until that point, you could only put
[53:48] 500 cars on Route 18 from the base. Now
[53:51] 2,000 people lived there. There were a
[53:53] lot more than 500 cars going out there
[53:54] every day. But that's what the rights
[53:56] were. Now we can do the entire
[53:57] development.
[53:59] 2025 we had to amend the legislation.
[54:01] that was done referred
[54:03] to all the old L-star project and
[54:05] zoning. They had 38 different zoning
[54:08] districts on this base. We have one and
[54:10] then the open space. So we really have
[54:12] two. Almost I've been doing this a
[54:15] while. almost couldn't figure out how
[54:17] they could develop the base because
[54:19] every zoning district said, "Well, in
[54:21] this zoning district, you can put 183
[54:23] units of this type of housing or this
[54:25] type of development." Every one of the
[54:27] districts had a restriction on it. It
[54:29] doesn't work that way because people who
[54:31] want to build, businesses that want to
[54:33] come in, they're going to tell you where
[54:34] they'd like to be. It's not like you can
[54:36] pre-program where it is. So, we had to
[54:38] redo all that and the legislation had to
[54:40] match that. And the last permit we had
[54:42] to get was on December 29th of 2025
[54:45] because we have the second largest
[54:48] population of eastern box turtles on the
[54:50] Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Now, we
[54:51] should get a citation for that. I'm not
[54:53] sure exactly what that should be, but we
[54:55] have 53 turtles that have little GPS
[54:58] trackers on them. And all those little
[54:59] black fences that you see if you go out
[55:01] to the base, those little fences are and
[55:03] the and the tunnels that are underneath
[55:05] the parkway are all for those turtles.
[55:07] And those turtles are there. So, we had
[55:09] to get that permit. that permit had gone
[55:10] into default and we have three kinds of
[55:12] bird species that land and nest. So we
[55:15] had to go get that permit. So then we
[55:17] come to 2026 on 6:30 we closed on the
[55:20] land. We bought it from the carpenters
[55:21] union.
[55:23] We got a subdivision approval in July
[55:25] and August for our first roadway which
[55:26] Paul's going to show you. We got our
[55:28] wetlands approvals for our first roadway
[55:30] and other improvements. Uh construction
[55:32] start will be this month. Um and then
[55:34] hopefully our first sale uh of property
[55:38] will be in the fourth quarter of this
[55:40] year. Um 2027 you'll start to see some
[55:44] vertical work and you'll start to see
[55:46] some other sales as we go along. So all
[55:48] the permits are in place. Um I didn't
[55:51] talk about one of the things that we did
[55:53] here water and sewer agreement that we
[55:55] have with uh Weimoth. Uh we have the
[55:58] right to 450,000 gallons of water from
[56:00] Weimoth. Uh we also Abington supported
[56:04] us on some sewer issues so that we would
[56:07] have sewer. The biggest thing we don't
[56:09] have for Abington and Rockland other
[56:11] than when the MWRA comes is water. So
[56:14] we'll talk about that in a minute
[56:15] though. So the zoning everything that
[56:18] you see here in the striped area is the
[56:20] one zoning district. It's all the same.
[56:23] We do commercial residential
[56:24] development. The areas that you see here
[56:26] in yellow and orange, a little bit of
[56:28] the purple color, that's the old zoning.
[56:31] Um, if you'll back Paul to that, that's
[56:33] all right. Um, everything in green is
[56:35] open space and that's how it's zoned.
[56:38] So, we have one zone district called the
[56:40] mixeduse development district. It makes
[56:42] it so you can actually develop it and
[56:44] know what you want to do. Um, and all of
[56:46] it acts through the SRA for permitting
[56:50] as we go forward. So, that's the zoning.
[56:52] What's the approval say? We can do up to
[56:54] 13 million square ft on the base, 2
[56:57] million square ft of commercial space
[56:59] and over 6,000 new homes of all
[57:01] different types, town homes, apartments,
[57:03] single family. Uh it's all MBTA
[57:05] communities act compliant. And you can
[57:07] see if you look at the map over here,
[57:09] everything that you see in green, we've
[57:11] committed will stay green will stay as
[57:13] open space and green area. Our core area
[57:16] around the um uh the parkway, that's
[57:20] what will be developed first. Um some uh
[57:23] you know in in this uh as you might
[57:26] imagine no great surprise I'll show it
[57:28] to you in a plan in a minute multif
[57:29] family will be mostly around the parkway
[57:31] as you get away from the parkway into
[57:33] the more rural area it will be uh less
[57:36] dense single family housing things like
[57:37] that um and then commercial uh we expect
[57:41] are going to be in a few areas uh over
[57:44] here we'd like to do some commercial
[57:46] more office in Abington that's one of
[57:47] the things that we talked about earlier
[57:48] with the select board because we want to
[57:50] be able to bring that uh forward
[57:53] infrastructure. I mentioned it over 75
[57:55] intersections or 73 um all over the
[57:58] place. Abington, Rockland,
[58:01] a lot in Williams, some in Brainree. We
[58:03] do over 50 different intersections. Some
[58:05] of them are signal timing, some of them
[58:07] are striping, some of them, like the one
[58:09] I talked to you about is a complete
[58:10] rebuild. It's a $10 million
[58:12] intersection, just to give you a sense.
[58:15] fiscal. We spent a lot of time working
[58:17] uh in uh all three communities, but
[58:19] certainly here in Abington with the
[58:20] fiscal uh studies. We did get unanimous
[58:23] support from the select board and
[58:24] finance. Over 90% on the town meeting.
[58:27] Uh this is new growth and the new growth
[58:29] numbers. They asked us to do it. What if
[58:31] it's more commercial than residential?
[58:33] What if it's more residential than
[58:34] commercial? About 4 to 5 million
[58:36] dollars. I'm going to show you the
[58:38] master plan to give you a sense of where
[58:39] that those dollars come from in a
[58:41] second. This was a conceptual master
[58:43] plan uh that we had shown through our
[58:46] state filings up the top here where the
[58:48] SRRA are located in that area. This is
[58:51] probably going to be single family home
[58:53] through here. Um going to be more over
[58:55] 55 community here. As you get down
[58:58] towards where the Rotary is and where
[59:00] the Parkway is, we're going to build a
[59:01] town center. One thing this base and the
[59:03] people who live there never got was a
[59:05] place to have a cup of coffee, a
[59:07] restaurant, um place to congregate. So,
[59:09] we're actually going to build a town
[59:11] center right there, which will be
[59:12] smaller scale community, what I call
[59:14] community retail. Uh, multif family will
[59:16] be sort of down in this area along the
[59:19] parkway and then up in this area along
[59:21] the parkway. Again, with some of the
[59:23] thoughts, the heavier commercial
[59:24] probably being over uh in this area.
[59:28] This shows you where the open space is.
[59:30] It was a big issue here in Abington and
[59:32] Rockland and Weimoth about where all the
[59:33] open space would be. We're actually
[59:35] taking over 100 acres to restore it. If
[59:37] you go out there now, you'll see some
[59:39] piles of things where they when they dug
[59:41] up the old runway, they just sort of
[59:42] pushed them into the back. Those all
[59:44] come down. Those all get replanted uh
[59:47] for uh nesting and uh bird travel uh
[59:50] area.
[59:52] This is a That's okay, Paul. You can go
[59:53] to the next one. This is the loting
[59:55] plan. Uh again, it gives you a sense of
[59:58] sort of what's in orange is sort of
[1:00:00] where we start first. Why are we
[1:00:01] starting all in Weimoth? Because it's
[1:00:03] the only place we have water and sewer.
[1:00:05] And that's sort of the reason why um and
[1:00:08] um gives you some of where the initial
[1:00:10] development would be, where the Rocklin
[1:00:12] opportunities are, and where the
[1:00:13] Abington opportunities are.
[1:00:16] I'm going to turn it over to Paul um and
[1:00:19] he's going to talk through two issues. A
[1:00:21] little bit of the MWR, which you've
[1:00:23] probably heard some about and and sort
[1:00:25] of where that's at. We've been working
[1:00:27] on it for years. This project is highly
[1:00:29] supported by Representative uh Mariano.
[1:00:32] This is his was his district. uh he has
[1:00:34] supported bringing water down into this
[1:00:37] region. It's a over a hund00 million
[1:00:40] pipe. The MWR has 110 over 100 million
[1:00:44] gallons a day that they spill put over
[1:00:46] the spillway. The water sits up in the
[1:00:48] Blue Hills. We need to get it down into
[1:00:50] this region. There's been a water
[1:00:53] shortage in the Southshore for as long
[1:00:55] as I can remember. And so bringing it
[1:00:58] this pipe down and Paul talked about it
[1:00:59] about seven miles down to this area
[1:01:02] really starts to do that. and we've got
[1:01:03] a lot of state support uh to be able to
[1:01:06] do that moving forward. So, I'll turn it
[1:01:08] to Paul.
[1:01:08] >> Thank you.
[1:01:10] >> Good evening. Paul Sincado with New
[1:01:12] England Development. So, as John said,
[1:01:14] I'm going to just take you quickly
[1:01:15] through the where the MWRA uh water
[1:01:18] extension project is. Um and then we'll
[1:01:21] talk about the initial phase um of
[1:01:24] construction activity that'll begin in a couple few weeks. The MWRA water
[1:01:30] extension is an application that a joint
[1:01:33] application that the town of Weimoth and
[1:01:34] the Southfield Redevelopment Authority
[1:01:36] has made to the MWRA to become an MWRA
[1:01:40] water community. We is currently um a
[1:01:43] sewer community. This this picture here
[1:01:48] um gives you an idea of the 7mi route
[1:01:50] that John just talked about. All of our
[1:01:52] pictures that you've seen up to this
[1:01:54] point have north going up on the page.
[1:01:56] We're confusing you a little bit here
[1:01:58] where only because of of um the pipe
[1:02:00] route north on this plan um goes to the
[1:02:04] right south is located in this location
[1:02:07] down here. This is way grey pond. The
[1:02:10] blue line up here indicates the limit of
[1:02:13] the existing MWRA system. It's in the
[1:02:16] Blue Hills in Quinsey. And so the route
[1:02:19] from the MWR existing pipeline up here
[1:02:23] is almost seven miles basically heading
[1:02:26] southeast until it gets into the the
[1:02:30] pipe which would be a 36-in diameter
[1:02:32] pipe. It'll have a 14 roughly 14 million
[1:02:36] gallon a day capacity.
[1:02:38] We's application to the MWRA is for
[1:02:41] about 5 a.5 million gallons of that
[1:02:44] almost 14 million gallons leaving for
[1:02:47] the region. The idea of the size of the
[1:02:49] pipe is it it allows for um other
[1:02:53] communities on the southshore to be able
[1:02:55] to tap into that supply of water. Um,
[1:02:58] and the the pipe physically gets
[1:03:01] connected to the Great Pond water
[1:03:04] treatment plant on the Weaimoth system
[1:03:06] right next to Great Pond. And then the
[1:03:08] 5.5 million gallons can go out into
[1:03:10] Weimouth system. That allows Weimoth to
[1:03:14] be able to only use Great Pond as a
[1:03:17] water supply and and remove wells that
[1:03:20] um need extensive amount of work and and
[1:03:23] are are sort of suffering some from PAS
[1:03:25] contamination and the like.
[1:03:28] the the water system that's already on
[1:03:30] the base serving the 1,200 um homes that
[1:03:32] are on the base as John mentioned before
[1:03:35] um are currently being served by the way
[1:03:38] system. So that water is on the base and
[1:03:41] as we develop um more homes and
[1:03:44] businesses on the base, we expand that
[1:03:46] system to serve the properties um that
[1:03:49] we develop um in on the base in wayouth.
[1:03:54] um by the market. I know where the
[1:03:55] cook's not
[1:04:04] » the process for joining the MWRA
[1:04:07] um uh system is is is a fairly lengthy
[1:04:10] project. It's it's gone on for about two
[1:04:12] years so far. Now, the application
[1:04:15] process that Weimoth and the SRRA
[1:04:17] jointly has started has been funded with
[1:04:20] some state a state grant um that was
[1:04:23] part of a an overall $35 million
[1:04:26] commitment that the state made to the
[1:04:27] project. Uh the first step really for um
[1:04:31] joining the MWA is to get through the
[1:04:34] MEPA process, which is a state
[1:04:36] environmental review process. the the
[1:04:39] first step was actually uh an
[1:04:41] environmental notification form.
[1:04:43] Following that was a draft environmental
[1:04:45] impact report. A certificate on that
[1:04:48] environmental impact report was issued
[1:04:52] um earlier this year. a a final EIA
[1:04:56] report is going to be filed this month
[1:04:58] and the expectation is that the project
[1:05:01] will be through um the MEEPA process by
[1:05:04] the end of this year and then that
[1:05:07] leaves 2027
[1:05:09] and a little bit into 2028 for the
[1:05:12] balance of the application process to
[1:05:15] move through the MWRA process has to go
[1:05:18] before the MWR advisory board. It has to
[1:05:20] go through D, the water resources
[1:05:22] commission and other agencies like that
[1:05:25] before it um gets to a final vote of the
[1:05:28] MWRA board. The expectation
[1:05:32] is that the the pipeline will be ready
[1:05:36] to start construction
[1:05:39] um in in late 28 28 early 29 and that
[1:05:43] the pipeline construction would be
[1:05:45] complete in 2031 2032 time frame.
[1:05:51] uh currently sort of now running
[1:05:55] simultaneous as the approval process
[1:05:57] finishes up with joining the MWRA the
[1:06:00] design phase has actually started the
[1:06:02] expectation is by the end of this year
[1:06:05] not only will they be through the MEEPA
[1:06:07] approval process but they'll have
[1:06:09] achieved about a 25% design the route
[1:06:13] that we showed on the previous slide is
[1:06:14] the route that's been selected um from a
[1:06:17] number of route alternatives that were
[1:06:19] looked at at an earlier time in the
[1:06:21] project. Um, and so they're they're now
[1:06:24] at the point where that that pipe can be
[1:06:27] placed um in roadways and and weave its
[1:06:30] way that that almost seven mile route um
[1:06:34] in design documents.
[1:06:39] Uh we had mentioned some of this before
[1:06:41] the the state commitments to the
[1:06:45] project. Uh John had mentioned the
[1:06:47] legislation that created the SRRA. Um
[1:06:50] the up until 2014 um the the legislation
[1:06:55] at that point really served a prior
[1:06:58] master development plan at specific
[1:07:00] references to the old plan that we
[1:07:02] talked about. Um part of the approvals
[1:07:05] um that we've been through is to have
[1:07:07] that legislation amended to address a
[1:07:11] different master plan and remove the old
[1:07:13] master developer from it. Uh, and the
[1:07:15] other real significant commitment um
[1:07:17] that the state's made is the $35 million
[1:07:19] grant um that we spoke of. It's paying
[1:07:22] for the permitting of the MWRA pipeline.
[1:07:25] It's paying for the design of that
[1:07:26] pipeline and the state has been
[1:07:29] committed to um work to find in in
[1:07:32] excess of hund00 million to pay for the
[1:07:34] construction of that pipe. included in
[1:07:37] some of the $35 million commitment that
[1:07:39] the states made uh or or granted to this
[1:07:42] point um are water and sewer
[1:07:45] improvements and transportation
[1:07:46] improvements that are happening um in
[1:07:49] the way Rockland and Abington
[1:07:51] communities um beyond paying for the MWR
[1:07:56] related costs.
[1:07:58] So again, just to sort of frame big
[1:08:00] picture before we move into
[1:08:03] um into the into the next section,
[1:08:08] water in Rockland and Abington on the
[1:08:10] base has to come from the MWR supply of
[1:08:14] water. That's not expected to be up and
[1:08:17] running until 2031, 2032.
[1:08:20] um prior to that time then development
[1:08:23] on the base will be restricted to the
[1:08:25] Weaimoth part of the base because the
[1:08:27] 450,000 gallons that we have from
[1:08:30] Weimoth can't cross municipal
[1:08:32] boundaries. It has to be used in
[1:08:34] Weimouth. And so one of the things that
[1:08:36] we've been spending um a lot of time
[1:08:39] over the last several years but but even
[1:08:42] more intensely and over the past six to
[1:08:45] 12 months is trying to find a water
[1:08:47] source um that can supply the Abington
[1:08:50] and Rockland portions of the base prior
[1:08:52] to the MWRA pipe getting connected to
[1:08:55] the limit system.
[1:09:01] the first um phase of the of the work uh
[1:09:06] that we will undertake on the base which
[1:09:08] we're going to talk about in a second um
[1:09:11] will occur in weouth and so just to get
[1:09:13] you oriented on the next couple of
[1:09:15] slides
[1:09:16] um this this is the the orientation of
[1:09:20] all of the slides that John showed of
[1:09:21] the base we're just zoomed in a little
[1:09:23] bit more the the shea drive entrance off
[1:09:26] of Route 18 is here the Trotter Road
[1:09:29] entrance off of Route 18 is there. The
[1:09:31] commuter rail station is in that
[1:09:33] location. North is up on the picture.
[1:09:36] And this is the Weimoth um town line. So
[1:09:40] Abington in the bottom left, Rockland in
[1:09:42] the bottom right. The the Weimoth
[1:09:45] portion of the base is here. For for
[1:09:48] sort of location context, the soccer
[1:09:50] fields on the base are in this location.
[1:09:52] Right next to it is the 44 lot
[1:09:54] subdivision that we spoke about that was
[1:09:57] recently completed. and the,274
[1:10:00] homes that are on the base are um
[1:10:03] located in this area. The the first road
[1:10:07] that we will construct on the base,
[1:10:09] which which will start um construction
[1:10:11] this month, and in fact, last week we
[1:10:13] formally awarded a contract um to um to
[1:10:17] a contractor that'll begin this work. It
[1:10:20] begins um it's a mile and a half stretch
[1:10:22] of road that begins where Shea Drive
[1:10:25] intersects with Route 18. It travels up
[1:10:28] to the plane memorial for those familiar
[1:10:30] with on the base. Um we are going on the back side of the the jet plane
[1:10:35] memorial uh to eliminate that hard
[1:10:37] right-hand turn that you take at the
[1:10:39] plane today. So there's a new segment of
[1:10:41] road that gets built in here. And we'll
[1:10:43] show a little bit better detail on the
[1:10:45] different segments of road um that exist
[1:10:47] and are new. It'll travel past the
[1:10:50] sports complex, past the Old Navy gym,
[1:10:53] and then um when it gets past the Old
[1:10:56] Navy gym, it'll it'll veer off of the
[1:10:58] current path of Memorial Drive and
[1:11:00] really make a straight shot down to the
[1:11:02] roundabout on the Parkway. That
[1:11:04] roundabout on the Parkway is the one
[1:11:06] that exists right next to the Mass Light
[1:11:09] um apartment building. Some may be
[1:11:11] famili familiar with that building. The
[1:11:13] road will go straight through the
[1:11:14] roundabout and we'll put a temporary
[1:11:17] turnaround right on the Weaimoth um town
[1:11:20] line. All of these lots colored in in
[1:11:24] sand color here represent the first
[1:11:26] phase lots that will be um enabled by
[1:11:31] this roadway construction. The next
[1:11:33] slide
[1:11:35] sort of gives you a little bit better
[1:11:36] picture of what segments of road in the
[1:11:39] mile and a half of the phase one road.
[1:11:41] About a half a mile of it um is there
[1:11:44] today which we will you we will continue
[1:11:47] to use and about a a mile of it will be
[1:11:50] new roadway construction linking these u
[1:11:53] pieces of existing road. So, there's
[1:11:56] about 1,000 ft of new road um at this
[1:11:59] location where we'll go on the on the
[1:12:02] back side of the plane memorial. Um the
[1:12:04] SRA offices um that's the building
[1:12:07] across from the jet plane. And then
[1:12:08] there's the little red bond project
[1:12:11] building next to the SRA office. So,
[1:12:13] that's the first um segment of New Road
[1:12:16] taking out the hard right turn. The road
[1:12:19] after that, shortly after that point
[1:12:21] stays in its current location, past the
[1:12:23] new subdivision, Stone Bridge, past the
[1:12:25] sports complex, and then in front of the
[1:12:27] old Navy gym, there'll be a new road
[1:12:29] that we build from there down to the
[1:12:32] roundabout, another new segment of road
[1:12:35] um straight through the roundabout down
[1:12:36] to the Weimothtown line. the other um
[1:12:40] main infrastructure components besides
[1:12:43] the road and then obviously the
[1:12:44] utilities in in that road which would be
[1:12:47] the normal water, sewer, drainage,
[1:12:49] telephone, electric, gas, all of those
[1:12:51] utilities in in the phase one road. In
[1:12:54] addition to that, there'll be a large
[1:12:56] detention basin that'll be constructed
[1:12:59] to handle drainage from that new road.
[1:13:03] And then shown in pink, there's a new
[1:13:06] sewer pump station and existing sewer
[1:13:09] pump station. The existing gets
[1:13:11] rehabbed. The new one is is new. They
[1:13:13] pick up the sewer flows again coming
[1:13:16] from that first phase of road. And
[1:13:19] ultimately um this sewer is in a force
[1:13:21] main that that pumps north on what is an
[1:13:24] old roadway, an old primary access road
[1:13:27] when the base was active called Kalan
[1:13:29] Road. um brings it up and ties into um a
[1:13:34] sewer in Route 18 uh where there was a
[1:13:36] stub left off with the recent
[1:13:38] construction that finished up a couple
[1:13:40] years ago. So that's sort of the the the
[1:13:43] main infrastructure components
[1:13:44] associated with this initial phase. And
[1:13:47] then I think the next slide um shows
[1:14:03] fall asleep.
[1:14:09] This this length of road will facilitate
[1:14:13] um or or enable the development of
[1:14:17] development parcels.
[1:14:19] There are there about 10 development
[1:14:21] parcels,
[1:14:22] four um four parcels located up in the
[1:14:26] north area. Um this parcel B that we
[1:14:29] show for those real familiar with the
[1:14:31] base was the old Coast Guard land. Am I
[1:14:34] not close enough to the microphone?
[1:14:39] Um
[1:14:40] the old Coast Guard land is land that
[1:14:44] the SRA acquired several years ago. Um
[1:14:47] some of the best land on the base. Um
[1:14:49] and then that land that falls behind the
[1:14:51] SA office and then another half a dozen
[1:14:55] um development parcels that really ring
[1:14:58] that roundabout um on the Parkway. It
[1:15:02] really picks up where the development
[1:15:05] left off um on on the west end of the
[1:15:08] base. And again for Locust, the the pink
[1:15:11] is showing you where the force main gets
[1:15:13] sent out and where the storm water basin
[1:15:15] is.
[1:15:21] Yeah, a little bit about uh we just talk
[1:15:23] about next steps and things that we have
[1:15:25] going. Uh as Paul mentioned, the
[1:15:27] infrastructure is going to start. That's
[1:15:28] true. Vertical construction in 27. We
[1:15:32] have been talking to Abington Rockland
[1:15:33] Joint Waterworks because when the when
[1:15:36] the MW pipe go comes in, the SRA is an
[1:15:39] authority. It can wield the water
[1:15:41] through the base. So Waymouth, Abington,
[1:15:44] and Rockland can all receive that water.
[1:15:46] We would like to be able to have
[1:15:47] development opportunities in Abington
[1:15:49] before that pipeline is there. We have
[1:15:52] talked to um Abington Rockland Joint
[1:15:55] Waterworks about the idea of is there
[1:15:57] work are there studies that could be
[1:15:59] done to help improve the system that
[1:16:01] exists there today? Uh whether that be
[1:16:04] uh uh Myers have wells or the like. Is
[1:16:08] there also an opportunity to bring water
[1:16:09] from another community and to bring that
[1:16:12] into um the system and then a portion of
[1:16:17] that could be used for the base, but a
[1:16:18] portion could be used generally for
[1:16:20] Abington and Rockland because that would
[1:16:22] allow some of the development to not
[1:16:25] wait until we have the MWRA pipeline but
[1:16:29] allow us to go forward now. Um because
[1:16:32] as you might imagine when people look at
[1:16:33] the base they don't look at it and say
[1:16:35] well that's the Abington line and the
[1:16:36] way we line they look at it holistically
[1:16:39] we show a culde-sac that stops in
[1:16:41] Abington well we have another plan that
[1:16:43] shows that elders continuing because one
[1:16:46] of the logical things off the rotary
[1:16:48] should be residential and commercial
[1:16:49] development in Abington and also for
[1:16:51] Rockland too. Um, when you look at
[1:16:54] coming in off of 228, you don't look at,
[1:16:56] well, the lefthand side is Rock and the
[1:16:57] right hand side is Wayimouth. That's not
[1:16:59] how we do it. And you should know we do
[1:17:02] have over 2500 homes presold. Um, so uh,
[1:17:06] and that's a combination of multif
[1:17:07] family, single family, town homes, uh,
[1:17:10] in over 55 developments. So, right now
[1:17:13] we're a little bit over 2500
[1:17:15] >> in in Weman.
[1:17:16] >> In all in Weman.
[1:17:17] >> Yeah. Okay.
[1:17:18] >> All in because that's the only place we
[1:17:20] have water. Now, we also have a great
[1:17:22] deal, surprisingly so, of commercial
[1:17:24] interest at the base. Uh, two things
[1:17:26] that we have to get over with that. One,
[1:17:28] we have to find some water that relates
[1:17:30] to Abington and Rockland for that to
[1:17:32] happen in those communities. But the
[1:17:35] second thing is they would like to see
[1:17:37] some of this work starting. Uh, the base
[1:17:39] suffers from a credibility problem. Um,
[1:17:42] I I won't tell you a large retailer. I
[1:17:44] mean, we're basically commercial
[1:17:45] developers. I mean, New England
[1:17:46] Development's been around for 50 years.
[1:17:48] We built 50 million square feet. We're
[1:17:49] more commercial. you know, we've done
[1:17:50] projects like the Pine Hills and things
[1:17:52] like that, but we're more commercial
[1:17:54] developers, but as you might imagine, a
[1:17:56] lot of our our retail office and other
[1:17:59] clients are like, "Yeah, I've been
[1:18:00] hearing about the base for 20 years. Uh,
[1:18:02] let's see you get going." And then uh
[1:18:04] because a lot of residential can take up
[1:18:07] to 24 months. Uh you can have larger
[1:18:10] format and even smaller format retail is
[1:18:12] done in 9 to 12. Um so they're they
[1:18:16] really that's one of the reasons we're
[1:18:17] starting the infrastructure right away.
[1:18:19] uh so that we can demonstrate and move
[1:18:21] very quickly into vertical construction
[1:18:22] because we want to demonstrate that this
[1:18:24] really is a place. So, have we bored you
[1:18:27] enough? Has this been at all helpful?
[1:18:30] But, uh I know the town manager wanted
[1:18:32] us to give you some more detail probably
[1:18:35] than you wanted, but um just to give you
[1:18:37] a sense of where we're at. So, Paul and
[1:18:39] I happy to answer any questions you
[1:18:40] have. I
[1:18:41] >> I do have a question. Um so, I was on
[1:18:43] FINCOM when you guys first started this
[1:18:45] around early 20s. Um, I do remember
[1:18:49] MWR was an option that you were looking
[1:18:51] at, but there were also other water
[1:18:52] options that you were looking at at the
[1:18:53] time. What What made you guys decide to
[1:18:56] go the MWR route? Ultimately,
[1:18:59] >> uh, the state
[1:19:00] >> aside from it being amazing water,
[1:19:02] >> it is and available. I mean, the problem
[1:19:05] with this entire region, um, I mean,
[1:19:08] I'll give you an example. uh my father
[1:19:09] who owned a a factory over in Brockton.
[1:19:12] I used to be on the BTON economic 21st
[1:19:14] century group and he called me up one
[1:19:16] day and he said, "I need you to cover a
[1:19:18] meeting for me." And this is in 1998.
[1:19:22] And I said, "Sure. What's the meeting
[1:19:23] about?" The lack of water on the
[1:19:25] Southshore. This is not a new issue. Um
[1:19:29] and there are very few opportunities on
[1:19:32] the Southshore to bring water here. Um
[1:19:35] there is water in Brockton. Um there is
[1:19:38] other things that communities have done
[1:19:40] about can they increase their safe yield
[1:19:42] rates either by making improvements.
[1:19:45] That's what we we think that it's really
[1:19:47] there's there really are no one
[1:19:49] solution. One solution is what can be
[1:19:52] done with the existing system that
[1:19:53] Abington and Rockland has. Second is how
[1:19:55] can we supplement it with additional
[1:19:57] water coming into it. And then third
[1:19:59] ultimately the MWR comes in. SRA is a
[1:20:02] water company. they'll wield the water
[1:20:04] through Abington and Rockland on the
[1:20:06] base, but that doesn't actually help the
[1:20:08] rest of Abington and Rockland. So, those
[1:20:12] are the the choices that that we have
[1:20:14] out there. And I and I think people
[1:20:16] expect one of the issues that we have.
[1:20:20] We're artificially telling people we got
[1:20:21] to stop at a town line that means
[1:20:23] absolutely nothing as you're on the base
[1:20:25] and you can't even tell where it is. We
[1:20:28] don't want to do that because once you
[1:20:29] design, for example, a new commercial
[1:20:31] development that doesn't cross into
[1:20:32] Abington or Rockland, it's not like
[1:20:34] we're going to go back in seven or eight
[1:20:36] years and redesign it. I mean, you
[1:20:38] design it once and that's how you laid
[1:20:40] out. So, that's why we'd like to come up
[1:20:41] with some interim much quicker
[1:20:44] solutions. Um, and we think there are solutions out there uh to be
[1:20:48] able to get some some water for.
[1:20:52] So
[1:20:56] other questions for us.
[1:20:59] >> So the MWR is that going to be, you
[1:21:02] know, going that is that going to be one
[1:21:04] specific project? Are you going to break
[1:21:06] it up into different phases so that it's
[1:21:08] done in that two or three year time
[1:21:11] period?
[1:21:11] >> It's going to be one project, seven plus
[1:21:14] miles. Yep. One line come into Wayouth.
[1:21:17] Um, as Paul says, but it's 13.8 million
[1:21:20] gallons. We're oversizing the pipe at
[1:21:22] everybody's request. There will be water
[1:21:25] for other neighboring communities.
[1:21:26] There'll be water for emergency
[1:21:28] connections. So,
[1:21:31] right now, um, as I said, MWR probably
[1:21:36] puts over its spillway in excess water
[1:21:38] every day, 100 million gallons of water.
[1:21:41] It's just it's not here. So, bringing it
[1:21:44] 7.6 six miles closer uh than allows and
[1:21:47] this is one step as other communities
[1:21:50] may want to connect. There are dollars
[1:21:52] that going to have to be spent to be
[1:21:53] able to get to that water pipe, but this
[1:21:55] will get it down into the region. And
[1:21:58] that's and that's also Speaker Mariano
[1:22:00] was here. He would say that's a big part
[1:22:02] of what he wants to see to be able to
[1:22:04] get the water into the region. So,
[1:22:07] >> what type of housing are we looking at
[1:22:09] in Abington?
[1:22:11] um nothing that's defined, but right
[1:22:14] along the Parkway, you're going to
[1:22:15] imagine that it will be more multif
[1:22:17] family housing like what's out there
[1:22:19] now. As you get away from the parkway,
[1:22:21] um there's a lot of interest in town
[1:22:23] homes. There's a lot of interest um in
[1:22:26] over 55. Uh our first
[1:22:30] 900 units of our first 2500 are actually
[1:22:33] over 55 units. We're it's a very
[1:22:35] different when I first started doing
[1:22:38] this and people would talk about you
[1:22:39] know single family homes three four
[1:22:41] bedroomedrooms you know large
[1:22:42] communities that's actually not what our
[1:22:44] population is geared towards uh the
[1:22:46] number of children that you have in
[1:22:48] devel I mean we built uh 3,000 well
[1:22:51] built 2800 of the 3,000 homes down at
[1:22:53] Pine Hills. You don't have a lot of
[1:22:55] children. you just don't have a lot of
[1:22:57] um uh it's a different our our our
[1:23:00] whether we want to talk about it or not,
[1:23:02] but our our makeup and our demographics
[1:23:04] of our area have changed and they they
[1:23:07] skew older and they skew less children.
[1:23:10] Uh and something happened in 2008 where
[1:23:13] the uh child birth rate especially went
[1:23:15] particularly down. If you remember what
[1:23:16] happened in 2008 was not a particularly
[1:23:18] great time and we still have yet to
[1:23:20] recover from that those sets of numbers.
[1:23:23] So that be heavily town homes, multis,
[1:23:26] some single families, but not not heavy
[1:23:28] that it's not what the it's not what the
[1:23:30] demand is anywhere in the state sense.
[1:23:33] It's not what people are looking for.
[1:23:34] You're also thinking about people who
[1:23:35] may own a larger home, raise their kids.
[1:23:38] We have done a very poor job in
[1:23:39] Massachusetts of finding where people
[1:23:42] who say, "My doctors are all in
[1:23:44] Abington, the my friends are in
[1:23:45] Abington. I like the restaurants in
[1:23:46] Abington. I want to stay here, but where
[1:23:49] do I go to have some place that is new
[1:23:53] and maybe all new appliances and I can
[1:23:55] kind of lock it up and either go to the
[1:23:57] Cape or go to Florida depending on the
[1:23:59] time of the year. We've not done a great
[1:24:01] job for that next evolution of people
[1:24:04] finding housing. There's a lot of where
[1:24:06] other states have done a much better job
[1:24:08] than we have. We've never produced that
[1:24:10] product. Some of that will be here.
[1:24:11] >> I think that'd be great if you could do
[1:24:13] that for the residents of Abington like
[1:24:15] uh my in-laws That's they did in South
[1:24:17] Wayoth. They moved over to uh Fairing's
[1:24:19] Way. They've been there for five or six
[1:24:21] years now.
[1:24:22] >> Yeah.
[1:24:22] >> They wanted to stay in Wemouth. They
[1:24:24] didn't need the big house.
[1:24:26] >> They took that opportunity. You'd be
[1:24:27] shocked about people whether it's
[1:24:29] Abington, Rockland, Hangingham, any of
[1:24:31] these areas. They get they've got to be
[1:24:33] they're not moving out of those houses
[1:24:34] necessarily because they don't have a
[1:24:36] choice and they want to stay in the
[1:24:37] region. This will provide uh some of
[1:24:39] that. There also will be some level of
[1:24:41] affordability in this project too, you
[1:24:43] know, which gives a different layer. Our
[1:24:45] some of our first town homes up in the
[1:24:47] top left are going to start at $550,000,
[1:24:51] which still a lot of money depending on
[1:24:53] what I paid for my house, but hey, it's,
[1:24:56] you know, today that's, you know, brand
[1:24:58] new with a garage. That's not a bad. So,
[1:25:01] yeah, get somebody in the market. That's
[1:25:03] what it is.
[1:25:04] >> And what are you thinking for for in the
[1:25:07] Abington section for commercial? I mean
[1:25:10] where we've had some interest is in the
[1:25:12] office world. Uh you know you don't have
[1:25:15] a lot of office on Southshore. It's it's
[1:25:17] very targeted and often times it's
[1:25:20] institutional or medical. No great
[1:25:22] surprise that might be. That's what
[1:25:25] we've had be.
[1:25:27] Now, I will be honest. I last couple
[1:25:31] years I kind of, you know,
[1:25:35] didn't pay much attention to what was
[1:25:37] going on, you know, um, as far as this
[1:25:40] goes because I was involved years ago.
[1:25:44] The Abington portion, if there's going
[1:25:47] to be school children there, if the
[1:25:49] police or fire needed, that would those
[1:25:52] services would have to be provided by
[1:25:54] our town. Is that still the way it is?
[1:25:55] >> It is. That's the way the legislation
[1:25:57] is. Yeah.
[1:25:57] >> Right. And is there a chance in the
[1:25:59] future there would just be a main or
[1:26:02] that's what way it's going to stay?
[1:26:03] >> I think that's the way it's going to
[1:26:04] stay. The the legislation was changed in
[1:26:06] 2014 and that's the way it moved. And
[1:26:09] remember Abington didn't used to get
[1:26:11] taxes either, right?
[1:26:12] >> So they the the things that Abington
[1:26:14] does and this is true of all
[1:26:16] communities.
[1:26:16] >> They provide the services, they get the
[1:26:19] building permit revenues, they provide
[1:26:20] the building services and they get the
[1:26:22] tax revenues. That's that's sort of the
[1:26:25] structure that it went to and long
[1:26:26] before we were around. But that's
[1:26:28] >> we have to look at the taxes coming in
[1:26:31] versus what we're paying going back out.
[1:26:33] >> We did a a very involved fiscal study uh
[1:26:36] for all three communities and on a net
[1:26:38] basis if we're able to build out the 100
[1:26:40] plus acres. Um Abington new growth would
[1:26:43] be over four$4.5 million.
[1:26:45] >> But how much of that's going to go back
[1:26:46] up?
[1:26:47] >> Oh, that's net. That's after that's
[1:26:49] after the expenses. That's after taking
[1:26:51] account for anticipated schools, police,
[1:26:53] fire, someone going to the library,
[1:26:55] someone taking voter exp and all that,
[1:26:58] >> all of that. Um because and again, the
[1:27:02] way we're seeing how
[1:27:05] housing is skewing today. Um I mean, if
[1:27:08] you talked to me 15 years ago, we were
[1:27:10] talking about school kids and I was
[1:27:11] school kids. What you will find in most
[1:27:13] of the districts uh is the the issue of
[1:27:16] enrollment down, not enrollment up. And
[1:27:19] that trend is continuing. Um, and that's
[1:27:22] just sort of the nature of what it is.
[1:27:25] >> We we didn't include it on this slide,
[1:27:27] but but the the current net benefit to
[1:27:30] Wayne today is $3 million with the
[1:27:33] $1,274
[1:27:35] homes that are on the base today after
[1:27:37] they pay all the expenses associated
[1:27:39] with what's on the base. It's $3.1
[1:27:42] million.
[1:27:43] >> Yeah. Very unusual when you have We
[1:27:46] had,274 homes in 2000 people to study.
[1:27:49] one of the very real costs of school
[1:27:52] police, fire, everything else. And um
[1:27:55] you know that's in excess of a net basis
[1:27:58] tooth today of over 3 million. So we're
[1:28:01] able to study that and extrapolate that.
[1:28:03] So that's that was very un you don't
[1:28:04] usually get that. Usually you sort of
[1:28:06] you're estimating here. We didn't have
[1:28:08] to know exactly what the costs are.
[1:28:11] >> And and we also have the number of
[1:28:12] school children school age children in
[1:28:14] that population. But we've probably got
[1:28:17] 40 different projects where we can tell
[1:28:18] you what the school children are and
[1:28:19] they just not they're not significant
[1:28:21] numbers anymore.
[1:28:23] So
[1:28:24] >> will any of these do you see in any of
[1:28:27] this being 40B projects or
[1:28:29] >> 40Bs are not allowed on the base?
[1:28:30] >> Okay.
[1:28:31] >> It's by statute. None of them will be
[1:28:33] 40bs.
[1:28:34] >> Well, that's going to push burden back
[1:28:36] into Abington with it's going to
[1:28:38] increase our population.
[1:28:39] >> No, it does not. you the as it does not
[1:28:42] you don't have a 40B requirement nor
[1:28:45] does what's there count into your
[1:28:46] inventory neither one so it's it's it's
[1:28:48] sort of a neutral for Abington okay
[1:28:51] >> that was my question so that answers
[1:28:54] that I have it it's unrelated to
[1:28:55] Abington um is there definitely a
[1:28:59] Wegman's and a Costco going in I heard
[1:29:01] this at the soccer fields this weekend
[1:29:03] and
[1:29:05] is that a definite in the way side
[1:29:08] >> even if it was I couldn't say that Okay.
[1:29:10] >> Um it is true that we have brought every
[1:29:12] Wegman's but one into Massachusetts. Um
[1:29:14] we've done five out of the six. Um uh
[1:29:18] we've done a lot of 15 or 16 different
[1:29:20] Costco. That is all true. But um
[1:29:24] one of those people
[1:29:26] uh is when I jokingly said I've heard
[1:29:28] about this for 20 years was from one of
[1:29:31] those companies. credibility showing
[1:29:34] that the project's actually moving
[1:29:35] forward because and I'm not saying
[1:29:37] there's a Costco coming here, but a
[1:29:39] Costco can build in nine and a half
[1:29:40] months.
[1:29:42] >> Spend a lot of time at Costco. So,
[1:29:44] >> no, I I totally get it. Um, but we've
[1:29:47] got a lot of good interesting commercial
[1:29:49] interest uh that people you could build
[1:29:52] a very nice uh retail commercial center
[1:29:55] also from the fitness people, you know,
[1:29:57] the the the fitness people. Um if you
[1:30:00] know our project in uh Westwood where
[1:30:02] the train station is the MRA that's our
[1:30:04] project Paul and I actually did that
[1:30:06] 2012 to 2014. So it kind of gives you a
[1:30:09] sense on that end of it not on the
[1:30:11] residential on the commercial end one you know the different and we have
[1:30:15] their medical we have all kinds of
[1:30:17] different folks. So we have Brigham
[1:30:19] Women's is there Dana Farber's building
[1:30:21] the new cancer center there. Um we have
[1:30:24] citizens regional headquarters. I mean,
[1:30:25] that's a type of thing you can imagine
[1:30:27] in a commercial center like this.
[1:30:31] >> Wait, where we are, they paid $500 for
[1:30:33] the epic summer content.
[1:30:36] >> So, we're not farming.
[1:30:38] >> A lot of crumbs being laid. I
[1:30:40] >> I I have a question. Um, regarding
[1:30:42] bringing water into Abington Rockland,
[1:30:45] have you you said you had some ideas.
[1:30:46] Have you talked to the joint water works
[1:30:48] specifically about those ideas? That was
[1:30:49] a recent meeting, right?
[1:30:51] >> Were they receptive? like what was the
[1:30:53] overall um feeling about those ideas?
[1:30:56] >> I I think at this stage you're looking
[1:30:58] at anou memorandum of agreement that we
[1:31:00] have out there to them.
[1:31:02] >> Yeah.
[1:31:02] >> Uh last I heard they were trying to
[1:31:04] schedule something up for
[1:31:06] next week
[1:31:07] >> as early as next week's meeting. We're
[1:31:09] trying to get confirmation that that
[1:31:11] conversation on talk with them for quite
[1:31:15] a while.
[1:31:17] >> Okay. Thank you. Well, you want to bring
[1:31:19] up you guys have also entered into anou
[1:31:22] with the city of Brockton yourselves,
[1:31:23] right? For
[1:31:24] >> Yes, I did. placehold water.
[1:31:27] >> Uh uh there is a um memorative agreement
[1:31:31] with um Brockton to reserve 350,000
[1:31:34] gallons of water. Uh if an if an
[1:31:36] arrangement can be made with the
[1:31:38] Abington Rockman Joint Waterworks,
[1:31:39] great. If not, um then that would be
[1:31:43] something that we would do just be for
[1:31:45] the base. But they were um um you
[1:31:48] Brockton is looking Bridge Bridge has a
[1:31:50] great deal of water problems and other
[1:31:51] issues. So we wanted to get in the
[1:31:54] queue.
[1:32:01] Anybody else in the board? Anybody in
[1:32:03] the audience?
[1:32:06] >> Right. Thank you very much.
[1:32:07] >> I'm not sure we took too much time but
[1:32:09] hopefully this was helpful.
[1:32:12] >> You don't let Mr. Bourbite speak at all.
[1:32:14] He's just
[1:32:22] » Somebody want to make a motion to close
[1:32:23] the public hearing?
[1:32:25] >> I'll make a motion to close the public
[1:32:26] hearing.
[1:32:27] >> Have a second.
[1:32:28] >> Second. All those in favor? I
[1:32:30] >> I unanimous.
[1:32:32] >> All right. Item number one, vote on
[1:32:34] minutes from August 18th, 2026 and
[1:32:37] August 21st, 2026. Do you want to do
[1:32:40] them separately since I think just
[1:32:42] Nicole, Bill and I were here for the one
[1:32:45] on the 21st.
[1:32:55] » Make a motion to approve the ones the
[1:32:57] meeting minutes for August 18th.
[1:33:00] >> We have a second.
[1:33:01] >> I'll second that. And all those in
[1:33:02] favor?
[1:33:03] >> I unanimous.
[1:33:07] August 21st. That was the Zoom meeting
[1:33:09] that we did for uh
[1:33:11] delivery.
[1:33:12] >> I'll make a motion to accept the minutes
[1:33:14] as written. Bill August 21st.
[1:33:16] >> We have a second.
[1:33:17] >> Second.
[1:33:18] >> All those in favor? I
[1:33:20] >> two abstensions.
[1:33:23] All right. Item number two, uh vote to
[1:33:25] appoint Sarah Hunter Mass Mun as interim
[1:33:29] treasurer collector. Michael, do you
[1:33:32] want to
[1:33:32] >> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So,
[1:33:34] as you know, uh we've gone out uh twice
[1:33:37] for treasurer collected candidates. I
[1:33:38] did raise the salary uh by like 6,000
[1:33:42] bucks to be a little more competitive.
[1:33:44] Uh we did get a couple of applications
[1:33:46] in. We're going to take a look, but not
[1:33:47] a a great number right now. There's a
[1:33:50] lot of things that need to be done. We
[1:33:51] need to keep running the treasurer
[1:33:53] collected. We need office. We need to be
[1:33:54] taking in revenues. Right now, we don't
[1:33:57] have a treasurer. We don't have an
[1:33:58] assistant treasurer. We don't have a
[1:34:00] payroll and benefits clerk and uh
[1:34:02] bookkeeper retired. I was able to find
[1:34:06] uh a lot of towns are in the similar
[1:34:07] position. There are many more job
[1:34:09] openings than there are qualified
[1:34:11] candidates. Uh Sarah Hunter uh her group
[1:34:15] that she owns is Mass Mun Finn and she's
[1:34:18] going to come in and they'll be doing
[1:34:19] things. They'll be here on we have signs
[1:34:21] posted on uh Wednesdays and Thursdays.
[1:34:24] The office will be open. Unfortunately,
[1:34:26] we don't have the staff, so it will be
[1:34:28] closed the other days. Uh, but people
[1:34:30] can still make payments either by
[1:34:32] dropping them in the payment box in
[1:34:33] front of town hall, doing it online or
[1:34:36] showing up on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
[1:34:39] Munich will provide temporary support to
[1:34:41] the town of Abington and treasure
[1:34:42] collector's office. Work will be
[1:34:44] completed through the town system and
[1:34:46] procedures based on the offic's weekly
[1:34:48] priorities and time available. Work to
[1:34:51] be completed. They'll be doing uh print
[1:34:53] accounts, payable warrant checks for an
[1:34:56] approved warrant, and confirm that the
[1:34:58] check total agrees with the warrant fund
[1:35:01] approved accounts payable and payroll
[1:35:03] warrants through the town's banking
[1:35:04] process. Collect taxes and utility
[1:35:07] payments and beer the related batch and
[1:35:10] deposit information. Post tax payments
[1:35:13] in beta. That's our software system that
[1:35:16] we use for all our financial and balance
[1:35:18] sheet bass of the payments received.
[1:35:21] Collect departmental turnovers and
[1:35:23] review them for basic completeness and
[1:35:25] balance. Post departmental turnovers
[1:35:28] using coding supplied or approved by the
[1:35:30] town. Complete related bank work
[1:35:33] including positive pay uploads and
[1:35:35] deposits when required and bring
[1:35:37] incompleted, unmatched or out of balance
[1:35:40] items to the town's designated contact
[1:35:42] for direction. So basically they they
[1:35:46] will take on all of the duties as
[1:35:48] treasurer collector. The finance
[1:35:50] director where he's the accountant
[1:35:51] unfortunately can't get involved in the
[1:35:53] treasurer collector's side because
[1:35:55] there's a wall cuz it's checks and
[1:35:56] balances to one another. Uh so we were
[1:35:59] fortunate to get her u as uh you know
[1:36:02] the board had appointed me just so we
[1:36:04] could do that one transaction the
[1:36:06] borrowing. Um, now that we don't have uh
[1:36:09] professional expertise there, uh, my
[1:36:12] recommendation is that we we approve
[1:36:15] they've already started, but I'd like
[1:36:17] the board to approve it.
[1:36:21] » You have any questions?
[1:36:22] >> No. I'll make a motion to appoint uh to
[1:36:25] kick uh um Tom Edge and Michael Moresco
[1:36:29] out of the position and appoint Sarah
[1:36:32] Hunter as the interim treasurer
[1:36:34] collector.
[1:36:35] >> Second.
[1:36:36] >> All those in favor? I I unanimous.
[1:36:39] >> Item three, request uh Abington High
[1:36:41] School boosters for annual door-todoor
[1:36:43] drive on October 18th, 2026.
[1:36:50] » Anybody have any questions on that?
[1:36:52] >> I'll make a motion to approve that.
[1:36:56] >> Second.
[1:36:57] >> All those in favor? I unanimous.
[1:37:01] >> Item number four, update on Abington
[1:37:03] summer concerts. J PL you gonna give the
[1:37:06] presentation
[1:37:10] » you have clock is ticking
[1:37:21] want to thank the town of course for
[1:37:22] another very successful year. um like to
[1:37:25] thank Ken the lays on to the Abington
[1:37:28] summer concerts for being instrumental
[1:37:30] in keeping the senior van and for the
[1:37:32] select board and not scrapping it and
[1:37:34] keeping it and for the town manager
[1:37:37] getting it all fixed up and everything
[1:37:38] so that uh he and uh Paul could drive
[1:37:41] people back and forth to the concerts
[1:37:43] this year. It made a huge difference. Um
[1:37:46] the walking distance when you got a
[1:37:47] thousand people is is a lot. So we
[1:37:50] really want to thank you for for doing
[1:37:51] that. And it also gives the senior
[1:37:53] center a backup that they didn't know
[1:37:54] they were going to have. But uh again,
[1:37:57] we had a very successful summer. Um 52
[1:38:00] sponsors giving $200 and more and 35
[1:38:04] donors giving uh 25 to 199. Um along
[1:38:08] with the donations at the concerts from
[1:38:11] 2025
[1:38:13] absolutely again for the 22nd year
[1:38:16] covered all of our expenses. We've never
[1:38:19] used any town funds. So, thank you,
[1:38:22] Nancy Reed. She started it all. Um, so
[1:38:25] it was a very, very successful summer.
[1:38:28] Uh, half the concerts, we did eight this
[1:38:30] uh summer, been pretty much eight for
[1:38:32] the past several years. Um, half the
[1:38:34] concerts had almost a thousand or over
[1:38:38] a,000. Uh, studio 2 had uh over,00.
[1:38:42] So, uh, we have really good attendance.
[1:38:44] Um, in looking at this year, out of the
[1:38:47] four that were a thousand,
[1:38:49] um, three of them were tribute bands. It
[1:38:52] seems like that's what they're going
[1:38:54] for. Studio 2 was a tribute band,
[1:38:55] Chicago, Total Access, and of course,
[1:38:57] the Elvis experience. Dyl brought in
[1:39:00] people. So, it was very, very successful
[1:39:03] summer. Again, um, it's it's just a
[1:39:07] wonderful venue and we put out the
[1:39:09] programs every year. Um, we spend a lot
[1:39:12] of time picking the best of the best of
[1:39:14] the bands in New England. Uh, a lot of
[1:39:17] people approached a number of us on the
[1:39:19] committee this summer and said they
[1:39:21] think this was the best lineup we ever
[1:39:23] had. Now,
[1:39:26] we think it's the best every year, but
[1:39:27] it was it's nice to hear that
[1:39:30] there was no complaints. people just
[1:39:32] liked it and uh we're very very proud of
[1:39:35] what we do and I can't do it without Judy's on the community on the
[1:39:39] committee. Ken is our liaison. NY's our
[1:39:43] retired adviser and um Mike is not here
[1:39:46] tonight because he's traveling. He
[1:39:48] travels all week long and he comes only
[1:39:50] home on weekends. So, he was unable to
[1:39:52] be here and we're looking forward to
[1:39:54] Russ being appointed um as another
[1:39:56] guinea pig. So, uh, it's just it's it's
[1:39:59] a lot of fun choosing the bands and
[1:40:00] figure out what we're going to do. Um,
[1:40:02] but the inside of this program, Nancy
[1:40:04] started out with a little five and a
[1:40:05] half, eight and a half 20 years ago. And
[1:40:09] now the entire inside of this program is
[1:40:12] all the sponsors and donors that we
[1:40:14] have. They're all recognized and that
[1:40:16] and like I said, the uh donations that
[1:40:18] we receive in the summertime um just at
[1:40:21] the intermission collection, we do
[1:40:22] recognize them as audience attendees at
[1:40:25] the well this year 2026 concerts. So, we
[1:40:27] don't do it individually, but they do
[1:40:28] get recognized because we do take in a a
[1:40:31] good amount. But we're very very happy.
[1:40:33] We read uh we take all the sponsors that
[1:40:35] we have uh divide them over the eight
[1:40:37] concerts and we read those names um
[1:40:40] every week at whatever concert it is.
[1:40:42] But I will let you know that a total of
[1:40:45] 5,893
[1:40:47] people attended the concerts this summer
[1:40:50] over eight Sundays. Um and it's only
[1:40:53] it's it's a few numbers higher. Last
[1:40:56] year it was 5,878.
[1:40:59] So we're about the same thing, you know,
[1:41:00] same same bit. We're close to 5900
[1:41:04] people that are coming to the concert.
[1:41:05] That may be the same people, but I'm
[1:41:07] just saying it's it's really excited.
[1:41:09] We're very proud of it. Very proud of
[1:41:10] the bands that we have. And um we do
[1:41:13] some scouting. Sometimes we go see a
[1:41:15] concert if we want, if we're very
[1:41:16] interested in somebody. Um, I will tell
[1:41:19] you that when I left Below Deck, which
[1:41:21] was the yacht rock band that Ken had
[1:41:23] been looking for three years ago, we
[1:41:25] found one and the band was so good. We
[1:41:27] didn't have a great attendance. It was
[1:41:29] just about 700, which not a bad
[1:41:31] attendance. It's good. But I called Ed
[1:41:34] McGee Audio in Plymouth because he does
[1:41:36] some of our concert. I says, "Ed, I got
[1:41:38] a perfect perfect band for the Plymouth
[1:41:40] Waterfront Series. You got to look at
[1:41:42] this band." So, I sent him that. That's
[1:41:45] the one great thing about Abington Cam.
[1:41:48] There they are every week videotaping
[1:41:50] all our concerts. We've got concerts on
[1:41:52] our on our Abington Cam page going back
[1:41:56] to like 2019. So, I was able to take the
[1:41:58] link, you know, for the band now and
[1:42:01] another band that he was interested and
[1:42:02] sent him the links to let him choose.
[1:42:05] And I called him about one that he had
[1:42:07] this year to see if we can about getting
[1:42:08] it next year and he said they're
[1:42:09] fantastic. So anyway, um the town's
[1:42:13] absolutely supportive of us, all the
[1:42:15] departments. I I I couldn't even begin
[1:42:16] to name all of the people in all the
[1:42:19] departments that do everything to
[1:42:21] support the advocate summer conscious
[1:42:23] for our teeny weeny little eight weeks
[1:42:25] that take enormous amount of hours of
[1:42:28] time, especially that specific day. Um,
[1:42:31] but every town department, I mean, like
[1:42:34] I said, they got ready yellow jackets,
[1:42:37] you still they they they take care of
[1:42:40] the property. They they they take care
[1:42:41] of us, all the paperwork up front. So,
[1:42:43] we just can't uh thank everybody enough.
[1:42:45] So, it's been another successful year.
[1:42:48] And um we need to get the word out there
[1:42:50] because I'm sure there's a lot of people
[1:42:51] that still don't know that that place
[1:42:53] has been there for 22 years. So, and oh,
[1:42:56] by the way, uh the Abington Community
[1:42:57] Band next year will celebrate their 30th
[1:43:01] anniversary and the band stand was built
[1:43:03] for them because Nancy felt bad that
[1:43:05] they were playing on the lawn outside of
[1:43:07] the old high school and they really
[1:43:09] needed a proper place to play. So, it's
[1:43:11] really cool when you see I I had even
[1:43:14] said that the night of the concert, you
[1:43:17] turned around and some of the faces in
[1:43:19] the Abington Community Band were kids in
[1:43:21] the high school are kids that were in
[1:43:23] college and came back for the summer
[1:43:25] that were playing in the band this year.
[1:43:27] So, it's really cool that I talked to
[1:43:29] Tim and Ellie last night about it when I
[1:43:30] saw him. It's uh really nice to see
[1:43:32] these young people coming back. So,
[1:43:35] it'll keep growing, but the 30th
[1:43:36] anniversary of the community band next
[1:43:38] year. Awesome. Thank you very much.
[1:43:41] Good job.
[1:43:45] And you failed to mention that they were
[1:43:47] all inside this year. You made I mean
[1:43:48] all outside.
[1:43:50] >> I was going to say that if you won,
[1:43:53] >> but it was Yeah, but No, they were all
[1:43:54] outside. So, the weather held out for
[1:43:56] you guys.
[1:43:56] >> The attendance would have been a lot
[1:43:58] higher if it wasn't for that one week.
[1:43:59] >> Yeah, it was a little
[1:44:00] >> It was in
[1:44:02] >> the 16 years I've been on the committee.
[1:44:03] That's the first time it's ever been
[1:44:05] outdoors 100%.
[1:44:06] >> So, good job. Thank you. That was the
[1:44:08] weather I
[1:44:09] >> The amount of work that goes into it is
[1:44:10] amazing. And and you guys learn by
[1:44:12] driving the the buses. I mean, the the
[1:44:14] amount of people that you shuttle back,
[1:44:16] >> you know, I was shocked by how many
[1:44:17] people from out of town.
[1:44:18] >> Yes.
[1:44:19] >> Or even from out of state. I had uh this
[1:44:21] 80-year-old couple who came up three
[1:44:23] times from New Jersey. They they were
[1:44:27] vacationing up here, but they came back
[1:44:28] another time to see uh to see the Elvis
[1:44:31] experience.
[1:44:31] >> No. And I I liked how you bus drivers
[1:44:34] dropped them off at Mia Gaza to have
[1:44:35] dinner afterwards. good for Abington
[1:44:37] businesses. So, thank you.
[1:44:41] >> And, you know, kudos to the Lions for uh
[1:44:43] cooking and to cream for serving up the
[1:44:47] Milky Way ice cream for me and
[1:44:50] everybody else.
[1:44:51] >> Yeah, it's a it's a simple way to do
[1:44:52] food while we Where would we put the
[1:44:54] food trucks? The handicap spaces of 60
[1:44:57] have been filled by between 5:15 and
[1:44:59] 5:30 every single week.
[1:45:01] >> We need to do something about that. See
[1:45:03] if we can add some more. more.
[1:45:06] >> Well, one of the one of the things that
[1:45:08] makes these this these Sunday evenings
[1:45:10] in the summer so great is it it's
[1:45:12] familyfriendly. It's very economical.
[1:45:15] You can feed the kids and and not spend
[1:45:17] a fortune and enjoy a free music and the
[1:45:19] kids can run around and play on the
[1:45:21] track and stuff like that. You can't
[1:45:23] bring your bicycle to your dog or J will
[1:45:25] yell at you. But other than that,
[1:45:26] >> something you can't drink is a school
[1:45:27] property. So, you know, I mean, there
[1:45:28] are restrictions. Yeah. Mhm.
[1:45:31] >> But I will say we had a couple that go
[1:45:34] out to Tangle Wood all the time and the
[1:45:39] woman told me that she has spread the
[1:45:41] word and others agreed. We are Tangle
[1:45:43] Wood.
[1:45:46] That's what they're calling us now.
[1:45:47] >> Well, wouldn't it be Tangle Wood East?
[1:45:49] But I What do I
[1:45:50] >> Well, she said something. I'm just
[1:45:52] >> I said I would report.
[1:45:54] >> Thank you. Great work. I I just wanted
[1:45:56] to make one comment and and and Mr. the
[1:45:59] coil if you could help me out. The
[1:46:00] gentleman that was doing all the
[1:46:01] barbecuing, uh, you know, teaching you
[1:46:04] the way. Um, I wanted to say he was
[1:46:07] fantastic. And, um,
[1:46:09] >> that's Wayne Smith putting everyone to
[1:46:11] shame board for I think 50 years.
[1:46:13] >> He just turned 88 years old.
[1:46:16] >> I had to keep yelling at him and give
[1:46:18] him a ginger sit down because he was
[1:46:20] getting ready to fall. But
[1:46:21] >> I'm on the search for another grill for
[1:46:23] him. I thought I had one, but when I
[1:46:25] went and looked at it, it really wasn't
[1:46:27] healthy enough to even my husband to eat
[1:46:30] and come close to fixing up for them.
[1:46:32] They could use another grill.
[1:46:34] >> No, not anybody.
[1:46:35] >> Uh, Mr. Moresco was there eager to cook.
[1:46:38] So, this is a second grill. Guess the
[1:46:40] bus anywhere.
[1:46:41] >> Like I said, if we could even get a a
[1:46:43] smaller one for him.
[1:46:44] >> The hamburgers will have garnishes if he
[1:46:46] starts.
[1:46:47] >> Yeah. If we could just put he could just
[1:46:49] put the hot dogs on that one or
[1:46:50] something. So, if anybody knows of
[1:46:52] anyone that's got one,
[1:46:55] >> um, somebody might be moving and have a
[1:46:57] decent one, um, my husband can rebuild
[1:47:00] it if we need to. If it's if it's
[1:47:03] rebuildable and we'll get it back to him
[1:47:06] and get it up there.
[1:47:07] >> Discuss that with your fellow board
[1:47:09] members.
[1:47:11] >> Working on it.
[1:47:13] >> Thank you.
[1:47:14] >> All right. Thank you everybody.
[1:47:16] Uh, next up on the agenda, item number
[1:47:18] five, request for common veicular
[1:47:21] license, Tia Maria's Pizza, 1035 Bedford
[1:47:24] Street. Tia Trouia, manager.
[1:47:27] Oh, you want to just get up to the
[1:47:29] podium?
[1:47:34] » Would you like me to stand next to you?
[1:47:36] I'm here to hold my hand.
[1:47:37] >> Yeah, great.
[1:47:38] >> We don't have that much time.
[1:47:45] So, we're trying to um we've got the old
[1:47:48] Pizzazz location and we're just trying
[1:47:50] to get the license to get it up and
[1:47:52] running. We've been in there painting.
[1:47:53] It's going to be like a family pizza
[1:47:55] place, Mediterranean grill. It's good.
[1:47:59] That's it. It
[1:47:59] >> wasn't so hard, was it?
[1:48:01] >> No.
[1:48:02] >> I practiced a lot.
[1:48:04] >> I have a ton of questions I want to ask
[1:48:05] her now.
[1:48:06] >> Don't do that to me.
[1:48:09] >> Ken wants to know the exact menu. We're
[1:48:11] working on that right now. It's going to
[1:48:13] be a little bit of Greek food, a little
[1:48:14] bit of pizza. It'll be good.
[1:48:17] >> Where is it?
[1:48:18] >> Um the old pizzazz. So 10:35 Bedford
[1:48:22] Street.
[1:48:23] >> What is What is it near?
[1:48:24] >> Cross from the firehouse.
[1:48:25] >> Across from the fire station
[1:48:27] >> right next to like the Dunkin Donuts and
[1:48:29] that plaza.
[1:48:31] >> Great.
[1:48:32] >> Yeah.
[1:48:32] >> Once in a while my wife and I take Nancy
[1:48:34] out for dinner. So I guess we're going
[1:48:36] there next. Just so you know where it
[1:48:38] is.
[1:48:40] So, I know the only thing uh the only
[1:48:43] department was uh building. They're
[1:48:44] waiting for the inspection. I guess
[1:48:46] somebody went up to town hall today to
[1:48:48] get the applications. They're just
[1:48:49] waiting for that to be filled out.
[1:48:50] >> Yeah. So, we have it all filled out and
[1:48:52] then we brought the check here because
[1:48:53] I've never actually done the trailer.
[1:48:56] >> Okay.
[1:48:56] >> Um so, yeah, we brought everything with
[1:48:58] us here.
[1:48:59] >> Oh, so you have the check and the
[1:49:00] application?
[1:49:01] >> Well, we brought the check to write
[1:49:02] here. Clearly, we're newbies.
[1:49:04] >> Bring it up to Nick tomorrow.
[1:49:06] >> Yes. I mean, if you know how much it is
[1:49:07] and you want to write it out and stuff,
[1:49:09] I'm happy to take it and get it to Nick
[1:49:10] for you.
[1:49:11] >> Okay. Yeah, we can do that.
[1:49:12] >> Okay.
[1:49:12] >> Yeah.
[1:49:14] >> Okay. You just write it out and I'll
[1:49:16] take it before you leave.
[1:49:18] >> That's it.
[1:49:18] >> So, we're still But
[1:49:20] >> yeah, Nick wants to pass the inspection
[1:49:21] first.
[1:49:22] >> Okay. So, I would
[1:49:25] Do you have other restaurant experience?
[1:49:27] Have you worked in?
[1:49:28] >> Yeah. So, I grew up in a pizza place. My
[1:49:30] dad just sold one in Methuan and then
[1:49:34] moved down here to kind of be closer to
[1:49:36] me and his grandkids and so we're
[1:49:38] opening up.
[1:49:40] >> Are you Are you local?
[1:49:41] >> Yeah, I live in Marshfields.
[1:49:44] >> Somebody else at this table lives in
[1:49:46] Marshfield, too.
[1:49:48] >> And you just own a restaurant, I
[1:49:49] believe. But anyways, um I would make a
[1:49:51] motion to approve
[1:49:54] um the common Vic license for TM Marie's
[1:49:58] Pizza 1035 Bedford Street contingent
[1:50:01] upon um the inspection of the premises I
[1:50:06] believe by the town
[1:50:08] >> by building commissioner
[1:50:09] >> by the building inspector.
[1:50:10] >> I'll second.
[1:50:11] >> All those in favor?
[1:50:12] >> I I unanimous.
[1:50:14] >> Thank you.
[1:50:15] >> Good luck.
[1:50:17] >> Thank you. All
[1:50:19] right. Next up, uh, request for
[1:50:21] appointment to Abington Summer Concert
[1:50:23] Committee. Uh, Russell Fuller,
[1:50:27] » you don't need to get up, Russell. I'll
[1:50:29] make a motion to approve. Um, I know you
[1:50:33] guys are on board. I saw an email. So,
[1:50:34] I'll make a motion to approve uh,
[1:50:36] Russell Fuller to And with this, you get
[1:50:39] a better idea what the weather's going
[1:50:40] to be like. So, this works out greatly.
[1:50:42] Yeah.
[1:50:44] >> So I'll make a motion to approve the
[1:50:45] appointment to Abington Summit Conser
[1:50:48] Committee to Russell Fer.
[1:50:50] >> Second. I actually think we want him
[1:50:52] back on FinCom instead.
[1:50:56] >> Are you back already?
[1:50:58] >> We got him. We got him. All right. I got
[1:51:01] nothing else then.
[1:51:02] >> I'll second it. All those in favor? I
[1:51:05] unanimous. Congratulations.
[1:51:07] >> Congratulations, sucker.
[1:51:11] All right,
[1:51:11] >> we still have one position.
[1:51:12] >> Request for appointment to the uh
[1:51:14] Strawberry Valley Golf Course uh for
[1:51:16] Erin Serino
[1:51:21] » here.
[1:51:21] >> I'll make a motion to approve Erin
[1:51:23] Serino as a member of the Strawberry
[1:51:25] Valley Golf Course Committee.
[1:51:27] >> Do I have a second?
[1:51:28] >> Second.
[1:51:28] >> All those in favor?
[1:51:29] >> I I unanimous. And we're going to hold
[1:51:32] off on the other one?
[1:51:33] >> Yes.
[1:51:33] >> Okay. You want to just
[1:51:34] >> just So there's one appointment.
[1:51:37] Mr. Bourbine's here. Mr. Burbine
[1:51:40] actually sent a communication to Mr.
[1:51:42] Coyle uh raising some concern. He's
[1:51:44] appointed to a couple of other boards
[1:51:47] and the statute that governs this mass
[1:51:49] general laws chapter 51 section 25 says
[1:51:53] you can't be appointed to anything else
[1:51:54] other than you could be a notary or a
[1:51:57] JP. So, uh town council hasn't got back
[1:52:00] to us yet. So, we're just going to table
[1:52:02] that. Mr. Berlin,
[1:52:02] >> yes. Abington's been without a
[1:52:04] Republican registar for
[1:52:07] many months now. Um there's supposed to
[1:52:10] be a Democratic I believe registar and a
[1:52:12] Republican register and maybe the town
[1:52:14] clerk. So the Republican Town Committee
[1:52:17] nominated Mr. Burbine. Um it's Richard
[1:52:20] Andrew Burbine by the way in case you
[1:52:23] So we'll table the matter until we hear
[1:52:25] back from town council.
[1:52:28] >> Yes.
[1:52:29] sir.
[1:52:29] >> Okay. I don't know if you need a motion
[1:52:31] for that or not, but I just made it if
[1:52:33] you didn't.
[1:52:34] >> I'll second it. All those in favor? I
[1:52:38] >> All right. Next up is liaison reports.
[1:52:42] Uh, Bill, you want to start? You want to
[1:52:44] just run through what you have for the
[1:52:46] boards and committees that you're
[1:52:49] sitting in on?
[1:52:50] >> As you know, I've been given updates as
[1:52:52] we go along. So, I'll just echo off of
[1:52:55] some of those. The DPW paving projects
[1:52:58] are moving along smoothly. John's doing
[1:53:00] a great job overseeing that. We're going
[1:53:03] to see some uh warrants coming up for
[1:53:06] sewer stuff soon. Capital improvement
[1:53:09] plans are moving along on the sewer
[1:53:11] department side.
[1:53:14] Amy down at the senior center says
[1:53:16] everything's going in her words as you
[1:53:18] guys are all there. Fantastic.
[1:53:21] Um we she appreciates all the help over
[1:53:24] the summer. Like I said last last
[1:53:26] meeting
[1:53:28] and Park and Wreck is uh they had
[1:53:31] another successful year at down at
[1:53:33] Island Grove for the summer camp. They
[1:53:36] now transition into working with the
[1:53:38] youth sports organizations at the last
[1:53:41] meeting with field usage and that kind
[1:53:44] of stuff.
[1:53:47] And then
[1:53:49] who did I miss?
[1:53:51] AAM, they had their board of directors
[1:53:54] meeting last month, I believe, and
[1:53:56] everything was looking good on their
[1:53:58] end.
[1:53:59] The MBTA, I brought up some concerns
[1:54:01] with um the town manager and the police
[1:54:04] chief. We discussed some things. Uh I
[1:54:07] don't believe there has been a meeting
[1:54:09] as of late to attend.
[1:54:12] Um so that's all moving along. Griffin's
[1:54:15] dairy. I'm pleased to announce that the
[1:54:16] town manager has been working with them
[1:54:18] diligently
[1:54:20] and basically having monthly meetings
[1:54:22] with them and also he's been down
[1:54:24] cutting the grass
[1:54:25] >> on his own time.
[1:54:28] So, that's a big plus. And they and the
[1:54:30] Griffin Dairy Committee is also looking
[1:54:31] for volunteers to step up and start
[1:54:34] taking over some of the uh projects and
[1:54:37] whatnot down there.
[1:54:38] >> All the time you spend in Abington, who
[1:54:40] cuts your grass at home? We have It used
[1:54:43] to be my son, but he outgrew it. So, now
[1:54:45] we have somebody
[1:54:48] and that's uh all I have. I try to keep
[1:54:50] it short and sweet.
[1:54:52] >> Well, I'm going to jump while we got the
[1:54:54] police chief here. I'm going to let him
[1:54:55] do the police um le
[1:54:57] >> Oh, that's cheating. Paul, that's
[1:54:58] cheating.
[1:55:01] >> Well, can I add the summer concert to
[1:55:03] his
[1:55:07] » Good luck.
[1:55:11] Hi,
[1:55:13] >> good evening. Thank you for uh sharing
[1:55:15] your home with us.
[1:55:17] >> Yeah, it was uh happy to have you. I I
[1:55:20] told the guys from Wemouth that I was a
[1:55:22] little disappointed in the history of
[1:55:23] the uh base that they didn't include.
[1:55:26] That's where I went to the police
[1:55:27] academy. So,
[1:55:28] >> I think I ran every inch of that 14,000
[1:55:31] acres over 26 weeks, but I don't know. I
[1:55:34] guess I didn't make the cutting room
[1:55:36] floor.
[1:55:37] So, um just for an update, we've uh had
[1:55:41] start of the school year. Um we had some
[1:55:43] real high visibility uh the first week
[1:55:45] of school. Um we hit every school for
[1:55:48] first day. Um handling some traffic
[1:55:51] stuff, working on some uh crossing guard
[1:55:53] uh I mean a crossing crosswalk
[1:55:55] enforcement um right now. But I think
[1:56:00] over the last few months the elephant in
[1:56:02] the room has been uh flock. So, um, the
[1:56:06] town manager and I addressed that head
[1:56:08] on. Um, so we asked for some questions,
[1:56:13] uh, and comments, concerns from the
[1:56:15] community and the town manager fielded a
[1:56:18] bunch. Since that announcement that we
[1:56:21] were cancelling our our uh partnership
[1:56:24] with Flock, um as I somewhat predicted,
[1:56:28] uh a number of people have come up to me
[1:56:30] now on the opposite side, uh wishing
[1:56:33] that we had kept it. And um you know, I did say there was an opportunity to
[1:56:38] voice your concern for that as well. Um
[1:56:42] and we didn't really have a lot. Um,
[1:56:45] since that recording, I have had Senator
[1:56:49] Josh Holly of Missouri, his office,
[1:56:52] reach out to me and I participated in a
[1:56:56] Zoom hearing with his team because he's
[1:56:58] been tasked by the president to
[1:57:00] investigate flock in somehow someway the
[1:57:03] Abington Police Department is part of
[1:57:05] the national discussion on on this.
[1:57:08] >> Is that good or bad for you?
[1:57:09] >> Um, you know, it was just really an
[1:57:11] investigatory. There was no sort of
[1:57:12] leaning either way about it. Um,
[1:57:16] uh, I did say, you know, I'm a chief of
[1:57:19] two years in a department of 32 in a
[1:57:21] town of about 17,000. How do I move the
[1:57:23] needle? And, uh, they did say they
[1:57:26] watched, strangely enough, not that we
[1:57:29] weren't exciting, the town manager, but
[1:57:32] um,
[1:57:32] >> must see TV.
[1:57:34] >> I wouldn't go that far. So, um, you
[1:57:37] know, I I I I would say I do have
[1:57:40] somewhat of an update. Um, I did speak
[1:57:43] with the grant. We are able to pull
[1:57:45] them. Um, it's going to take some time.
[1:57:47] Flock is going through um a real
[1:57:49] downturn at this point. A number of
[1:57:51] communities are pulling uh out of this.
[1:57:54] I'm going to make um a plea to the
[1:57:58] public to stop damaging these cameras.
[1:58:00] Um, it's childish and criminal behavior
[1:58:03] and each camera is $3,000 and if we do
[1:58:06] catch you, you will be charged with a
[1:58:07] felony. I can promise you that we are
[1:58:09] working on getting rid of them. Three of
[1:58:11] the six cameras that we have have been
[1:58:13] damaged and rendered useless. We're not
[1:58:16] using the cameras. Uh, the only person
[1:58:18] that has access to them is sitting
[1:58:19] directly across from me right there, the
[1:58:21] deputy chief. And the only reason why I did that is so we can make sure if
[1:58:26] Flock needs something from us, we have
[1:58:28] someone that's active. he's not
[1:58:30] utilizing the system. Uh we're not
[1:58:32] sharing with any community. He has he
[1:58:34] has stopped that access alto together.
[1:58:37] Um but um I did feel that it was
[1:58:41] important for us, the town manager and I
[1:58:44] to do it in the format that we did it
[1:58:47] because I didn't want to just pull the cameras. You know, obviously I
[1:58:52] had made the decision before our
[1:58:54] discussion. Uh I didn't want to pull
[1:58:56] them down and not address the tough
[1:58:58] questions. I will never run from tough
[1:59:00] questions from our community ever. So, I
[1:59:02] didn't want to just seem like I was
[1:59:04] taking my bat and ball going home. I do
[1:59:06] feel strongly uh supportive of the
[1:59:08] product. Uh I hope at some point in time
[1:59:11] uh there's there's a a system in place
[1:59:14] that will be more acceptable to the
[1:59:16] public because um we've had a number of
[1:59:19] cases since the termination of this
[1:59:21] where that product would have come in
[1:59:23] extremely handy for us. So, um you know,
[1:59:28] uh I'm so thankful to uh our our men and
[1:59:32] women that work here that were able to
[1:59:34] uh self-reflection is not easy for a
[1:59:37] type personalities that wear this
[1:59:39] uniform and they did that and the credit
[1:59:42] goes to them because I was willing to
[1:59:44] keep this going and and and try and go
[1:59:47] on a anti-misinformation campaign to
[1:59:50] just sort of prove what these this
[1:59:52] capability of this system is.
[1:59:55] And the men and women here really guided
[1:59:58] me toward what are we doing? If if this
[2:00:01] many people don't want it, what are we
[2:00:03] doing? And uh you know, the credit goes
[2:00:06] to them. And um so and other than that,
[2:00:10] we're going to we're going to keep
[2:00:11] working. We have two going to the
[2:00:13] academy. They're not new hires. Please
[2:00:15] don't come for me. It's not has nothing
[2:00:17] to do with the override. It's just to
[2:00:18] keep us minimum. Sergeant Mark Watt
[2:00:20] retired and we did uh we did have a
[2:00:22] dismissal of an officer a few months
[2:00:24] ago. So uh they start next month in uh
[2:00:27] the Felmouth Police Academy. And
[2:00:29] personally tomorrow uh the 9th I begin I just completed two years here in
[2:00:36] Abington and it's been an amazing run
[2:00:38] here. Um I'm just I I feel like I'm
[2:00:41] home. Uh greatest partner I could ask
[2:00:43] for uh with me every step of the way.
[2:00:46] The community has been incredible. Last
[2:00:49] night was just amazing out in front
[2:00:52] recognizing uh the 25th anniversary and
[2:00:56] letting the FA Vicilian and Kum's family
[2:01:00] uh remember that we will never forget
[2:01:02] and uh that's a huge credit to the
[2:01:03] entire community and it's just why I
[2:01:05] love being here.
[2:01:09] » Anything?
[2:01:10] >> All right. I no I I think that the way
[2:01:13] that you and the town manager I think
[2:01:15] that was the best way to handle the
[2:01:18] issue of the flock cameras. I thought it
[2:01:20] was great. You know sometimes you have
[2:01:22] meetings like tonight's meeting was a
[2:01:24] free-for-all. Now I'm only kidding
[2:01:25] ladies it was but it can be people got
[2:01:28] their chance to get their points out and obviously it's a vocal
[2:01:32] >> I don't know if it's a vocal minority or
[2:01:34] majority but the all the people were
[2:01:36] talking were against it. I thought you
[2:01:37] guys handled it well. And now just to
[2:01:39] throw another thing at you, I'm going to
[2:01:41] ask to be put on an upcoming agenda
[2:01:44] about what are they called? Mobility
[2:01:46] devices. The scooters and the you know
[2:01:49] and around town. It's pretty scary.
[2:01:52] >> They're they're awful. Unfortunately,
[2:01:54] this
[2:01:55] >> there's not there's not a lot of teeth
[2:01:56] to our enforcement right now,
[2:01:57] >> right? Um, but it's a huge topic among
[2:02:03] police chief meetings and
[2:02:05] >> there's just there's
[2:02:08] when we're weighing sort of priority of
[2:02:11] service
[2:02:12] >> with so few guys out on the road that
[2:02:15] often like yesterday on my way in to the
[2:02:19] 9/11
[2:02:21] memorial I was just in my dad clothes so
[2:02:23] I wasn't making any car stops but I I
[2:02:25] changed here but across Bedford Street
[2:02:28] at 139 there was a kid doing a wheelie
[2:02:30] on his bike across
[2:02:31] >> and you know I I just I'm I'm I'm tired
[2:02:34] of seeing it too. It's not like we don't see it but often times when it
[2:02:38] gets called in we're elsewhere and by
[2:02:41] the time we get there they're gone.
[2:02:44] >> Uh I'm also worried about the safety of
[2:02:46] the kids. Maybe it it gets taught during
[2:02:49] the school or the parents. Maybe we've
[2:02:51] all heard, you know, you have a police
[2:02:53] scanner. So, you know, last couple
[2:02:54] months there's been a couple accidents
[2:02:56] where children have gotten hurt. Yes.
[2:02:58] >> Badly. So, that's all. And and it's
[2:03:00] scary when
[2:03:01] >> motorcycles allowed and they go by, you
[2:03:03] hear them. These guys some, you know,
[2:03:05] kids,
[2:03:06] >> you know, it's just
[2:03:08] >> nothing. I do know Boston is trying to
[2:03:10] make some some uh some changes
[2:03:13] ordinance-wise. Uh the town manager and
[2:03:15] I have talked a number of times about
[2:03:18] sort of bylaws and maybe you know
[2:03:20] introducing a town meeting certain
[2:03:21] bylaws that we that we could we could
[2:03:23] have something um you know bit more
[2:03:27] enforceable on that type of stuff. But
[2:03:29] you know my son goes to school in Boston
[2:03:30] and every time I go in I'm almost
[2:03:31] hitting some food delivery driver or
[2:03:34] just it's it's it's
[2:03:37] I hate it.
[2:03:38] >> Yeah, I do. I hate it.
[2:03:40] >> So um but I'm right there with you. I
[2:03:43] wish we had some.
[2:03:43] >> So, I'm just putting the bug in your ear
[2:03:45] so you guys can have another
[2:03:46] >> All right.
[2:03:46] >> Oh, man. I just caught a That's good.
[2:03:49] >> Absolutely.
[2:03:50] >> Yeah.
[2:03:50] Wait for ratings. Uh ratings week.
[2:03:52] >> Yeah. Okay.
[2:03:54] >> I would love to see more on
[2:03:55] that.
[2:03:56] >> Yeah.
[2:03:57] I I would too. I would too. you know,
[2:03:59] the strongest action that we can take
[2:04:01] for a a I think it's uh somebody under
[2:04:04] 18 riding without a helmet is we can
[2:04:06] take the bike for eight for 15 days and
[2:04:10] parents can't come in and get it like
[2:04:12] it's just ours for 15 days. And so we've
[2:04:14] done that every once in a while, but
[2:04:17] again, it's sporadic enforcement because
[2:04:18] when we get called to places, they're
[2:04:21] gone. The the the
[2:04:23] hard part about that is the quick
[2:04:26] mobility. like they can cut through
[2:04:28] someone's yard when they see us. And I
[2:04:30] mean, I suppose we could, but I don't I
[2:04:32] don't think you want those calls that,
[2:04:35] you know, the war explorer is ripping
[2:04:37] through someone's backyard getting a kid
[2:04:40] on a huffy. So, uh, it's, you know, it's
[2:04:43] just it's hard. It's it's believe it or
[2:04:45] not, it's harder than you think.
[2:04:46] >> No, I believe it.
[2:04:47] >> So,
[2:04:49] all right.
[2:04:50] >> All right. Thank you, Chief.
[2:04:51] >> Thank you,
[2:04:54] >> Mr. Eddie.
[2:04:56] Thank you, chair. Um, so I think it was
[2:04:59] last quarter I met with Liz Sheay um on
[2:05:01] the planning board. Um, I'd encourage
[2:05:03] everyone here to check out go to our
[2:05:05] town website and then her their section
[2:05:08] is well put together. Um, I mean they've
[2:05:11] got everything from their recent update
[2:05:14] on open space and recreation plan to
[2:05:16] their ADU bylaws and then the whole
[2:05:18] master plan. So if there is any interest
[2:05:20] in seeing everything that they've done,
[2:05:22] uh they do a good job of keeping that
[2:05:24] updated on the website. Uh one of the
[2:05:26] observations I made in our meeting was
[2:05:29] uh it can be very challenging to manage
[2:05:31] their dayto-day and week to week uh with
[2:05:33] all the uh the business that they have
[2:05:35] to conduct um and then the overall
[2:05:38] master planning that they have to do
[2:05:40] together. So, we had talked about
[2:05:42] incorporating more master plan
[2:05:44] prioritization uh into into their
[2:05:46] meetings uh in the future. And then um
[2:05:50] we we had talked through a list of
[2:05:52] vacant properties here in Abington,
[2:05:53] which to me it it felt like there was a
[2:05:55] lot, but she said comparatively to other
[2:05:57] towns is actually not, you know, it's
[2:05:59] not as much. Um but as a town, we should
[2:06:02] pay attention to that. We talked about
[2:06:04] that. Uh you know, the fewer vacant
[2:06:05] properties we have, the better. Um so I
[2:06:08] was interested to see that list and that
[2:06:09] is available if anybody is interested in
[2:06:11] seeing um where those are. Um anything
[2:06:14] we can do to find ways to you know not
[2:06:18] have vacant properties we should be
[2:06:20] doing that. Um and then uh the other uh
[2:06:23] substance that I have from my liaison
[2:06:26] meetings is with the finance committee.
[2:06:28] So I met with Matt Salah who's the
[2:06:30] chairman currently although he keeps
[2:06:32] trying to get out of that job every
[2:06:33] year. Um and we we just won't let them.
[2:06:37] Uh so we we largely talked to the result
[2:06:39] of the override um and what got us
[2:06:42] there, the overall lack of any appetite
[2:06:45] for another one. Um and then some of the
[2:06:48] ideas of how we go into the budget
[2:06:50] season more prepared. Um so one of the
[2:06:52] fincom is actually starting their
[2:06:54] meeting cadences two months early. So
[2:06:56] that's great for you Russ. Um, and which
[2:06:59] I actually think they're meeting
[2:07:00] tomorrow night, uh, for the first time
[2:07:02] where usually it's like November time
[2:07:03] frame. Um,
[2:07:06] >> oh, did it move? Okay. Well, I'm glad
[2:07:08] you said that cuz I would have showed up
[2:07:09] to that.
[2:07:11] Um, and so the idea there is that
[2:07:13] they're able to be uh, you know, a lot
[2:07:15] more proactive um, on the budgets uh,
[2:07:18] overall and and not so reactive uh, to
[2:07:21] each department. So, um, excited to see
[2:07:24] how that all turns out. And then we had
[2:07:26] talked and and we've also talked as a
[2:07:28] board uh but Matt and I talked
[2:07:29] specifically about doing joint uh
[2:07:32] meetings, you know, through this budget
[2:07:34] season. So, we'll sort those all out. Uh
[2:07:37] but definitely want to um work together
[2:07:40] to make sure that we're not in an
[2:07:42] uncomfortable position as we get into
[2:07:44] next year. So, that's all
[2:07:51] » Mr. Goyle. uh summer conference commit.
[2:07:54] Um we're all set, right? All right. Very
[2:07:57] successful year. Thank you for that. Um
[2:08:00] board of health is in some
[2:08:05] short-handed no health agent. Um and the
[2:08:08] chair resigned as a step back as well.
[2:08:11] So um there's I think we posted it the
[2:08:15] opening is posted for the board of
[2:08:16] health. Yeah. So, I think you have till
[2:08:18] 22nd. If anybody's interested in serving
[2:08:21] on the board of health, they could use
[2:08:23] your help and your expertise. Um, I will
[2:08:26] say and I hopefully I'm not talking out
[2:08:28] of school, but um, the deadline for
[2:08:31] health agent, second time we've posted
[2:08:33] the position and we met earlier tonight.
[2:08:36] This is my second meeting of the night
[2:08:37] and we narrowed the field down. So, we
[2:08:39] will um conducting some interviews um
[2:08:42] once they're reached. uh sooner rather
[2:08:45] than later, we'd like to have a health
[2:08:46] agent. We have a temporary one on
[2:08:48] Fridays, but that's it right now. And
[2:08:51] I'm going to be honest with you,
[2:08:52] historical commission is ne in need of
[2:08:54] members. Um I've tried to have I'm a
[2:08:57] member of that as well, and I'm the
[2:08:59] liazison, but we really don't uh you
[2:09:02] know, one of the members moved to Rhode
[2:09:04] Island um and out of my house,
[2:09:06] thankfully. Anyways, um but but um
[2:09:10] so we've got to get some members and I
[2:09:12] I'll give uh Michael a list of how many
[2:09:15] members we need. So we can put that at
[2:09:16] the website. And what else am I O OCPC
[2:09:19] alternate? I'm assuming since I'm the
[2:09:22] alternate, I don't have to go cuz I I
[2:09:23] think it's during the day. So if I need
[2:09:26] to go, someone should tell me. Um that's
[2:09:28] really all I got commission. Is that it?
[2:09:31] That's all that's all I got.
[2:09:34] >> Thank you. Um for fire, um brief
[2:09:38] updates. Matt Dulo graduates from the
[2:09:40] Academy in October and October 19th. Um
[2:09:43] fire department's expecting a new engine
[2:09:45] in March or April of next year. And the
[2:09:49] fire stations right on track, moving
[2:09:52] along well with build and plan for
[2:09:54] opening in May of 2027 is what they're
[2:09:58] saying right now. um going from that
[2:10:00] right into fire the fire/DPW DPW for
[2:10:04] that build the I've been going to those
[2:10:06] building committee meetings DPW is
[2:10:08] projected is it November Michael
[2:10:10] >> yes
[2:10:10] >> m okay November for uh DPW to be in that
[2:10:15] is um those two commission on
[2:10:18] disabilities the our municipal ADA
[2:10:21] coordinator is Kevin Kogan um I actually
[2:10:25] spoke I've been to their last meeting
[2:10:27] spoke with him recently as Well, uh
[2:10:30] they've been working with the Old Colony
[2:10:33] Planning Council on the ADA
[2:10:35] self-evaluation and transition plan. Uh
[2:10:38] that re uh reviews compliance across
[2:10:41] different town programs, services, and
[2:10:42] facilities. That draft for that
[2:10:45] transition plan is now online. Um it's
[2:10:48] complete available to look at if you
[2:10:49] want to go on there. They're I'm not
[2:10:51] going to get into that because they're
[2:10:52] actually going to be here for our
[2:10:54] September 28th meeting. um they're going
[2:10:56] to do a whole presentation on that. So,
[2:10:58] they'll go into that um at that meeting.
[2:11:02] What else? Zoning, sort of just usual
[2:11:05] and customary
[2:11:07] stuff. They've meet on the second
[2:11:09] Thursday of the month. I've gone to the
[2:11:11] last two meetings, I believe. Um the
[2:11:14] only thing that might be of interest to
[2:11:16] anyone is there that came up in
[2:11:18] discussion is there's been major
[2:11:19] amendments to the Massachusetts Zoning
[2:11:21] Act that I went I think went into effect
[2:11:23] in July of this year. that just expands
[2:11:25] housing and development rights. So that
[2:11:27] came up. Um otherwise just business as
[2:11:30] usual for those meetings. School
[2:11:33] transportationwise,
[2:11:35] most probably everyone already knows new
[2:11:37] bus vendor NRT transitioned over the
[2:11:39] summer. Few hiccups
[2:11:42] probably things that are expected, but
[2:11:45] overall I think has been going well to
[2:11:47] my knowledge.
[2:11:48] >> Some of the bus drivers from the
[2:11:49] previous company are working for this
[2:11:50] too or 80%.
[2:11:51] >> I think it's 80% of the drivers. Um you
[2:11:54] left.
[2:11:55] >> Yes,
[2:11:55] >> I could be wrong, but I believe it's 80%
[2:11:58] stayed. Um the ELA curriculum adoption
[2:12:03] has been um is still they're still
[2:12:05] looking for the new curriculum. The
[2:12:08] funding is available. It's just finding
[2:12:10] the right program. So that's been
[2:12:12] discussed at several of the meetings
[2:12:14] including they had a meeting last week.
[2:12:16] Um so that was discussed again. And just
[2:12:20] a facilities update with the schools.
[2:12:22] the Beaverbrook boiler number one
[2:12:23] replacement. That project's starting.
[2:12:26] That's um not that's funded by a town
[2:12:30] capital allocation. So, that's taken
[2:12:32] care of. But the bids are in. They put
[2:12:34] it out to bid. The bids are in. A vendor
[2:12:35] was chosen. And the last meeting or the
[2:12:39] meeting last week, um they had said that
[2:12:42] they hope that that's all buttoned up
[2:12:44] and done by the time that the heat needs
[2:12:46] to be turned on at Beaverbrook. But if
[2:12:49] anything happens, they still have boiler
[2:12:50] number two. that's working. So, I think
[2:12:54] that's all my updates.
[2:12:57] >> Thank you. All right. Uh Affordable
[2:13:00] Housing Trust, uh on uh this Thursday at
[2:13:04] 5:00 p.m. they're going to be having the
[2:13:07] dedication for the Habitat for Humanity
[2:13:09] House at 871 Plymouth Street.
[2:13:13] Uh their next meeting is on September
[2:13:16] 16th at 5:00 p.m. in the Buckley room.
[2:13:18] the Ames null committee uh they're
[2:13:22] really not meeting at this moment. I
[2:13:24] talked to uh the chairman uh Rick
[2:13:27] Collins and they're trying to transition
[2:13:30] from a committee to a more of like a uh
[2:13:34] friends of as group to try and raise
[2:13:36] funds to help uh beautify the park.
[2:13:40] Concom uh last month they had a site uh
[2:13:46] visit with MACC which is the
[2:13:48] Massachusetts Association of
[2:13:51] Conservation Commissioners. Uh they did
[2:13:53] a class out I think behind town hall
[2:13:55] behind the library uh to teach you know
[2:13:59] member uh communities uh wetland
[2:14:02] delineation methods and I believe nine
[2:14:05] or 10 different towns participated in
[2:14:08] it.
[2:14:09] Uh, oh, also they have an opening on the
[2:14:12] board. Chris O'Neal uh left the
[2:14:14] commission I think last week or two
[2:14:17] weeks ago.
[2:14:19] Uh, so there's one opening on that
[2:14:21] board.
[2:14:22] Open space committee, they've completed
[2:14:24] their the town's open space and
[2:14:26] recreation plan, uh, which is good for
[2:14:29] the next 5 years. Plymouth County
[2:14:31] Advisory Board, we're meeting on this
[2:14:34] coming Thursday night. So I can, you
[2:14:36] know, whatever comes of that I can give
[2:14:38] an update at our next meeting.
[2:14:41] Police chief gave a better update than I
[2:14:44] ever could for the police department.
[2:14:47] And last but not least is water. Uh
[2:14:49] their next meeting is on uh September
[2:14:54] 15th at 4 p.m. over at the water
[2:14:56] department. Uh we're still currently in
[2:14:59] a level four water ban. Uh
[2:15:02] we're still taking water on a temporary
[2:15:04] basis from the town of Whitman just to
[2:15:07] keep our water levels at a at a safe
[2:15:09] level. Uh the new PAS filtration system
[2:15:12] went in went online at the beginning of
[2:15:14] summer.
[2:15:16] Uh and as we discussed with uh SRRA uh
[2:15:22] they're looking the water department's
[2:15:25] looking at different sources for water
[2:15:28] including as we discussed the MWR
[2:15:31] uh potential from the city of Brockton
[2:15:33] and looking at uh different well sites
[2:15:37] in Rockland and in Abington.
[2:15:40] Uh yeah, one thing about those meetings
[2:15:43] that I wish they could be recorded cuz
[2:15:46] the water there's just so much
[2:15:47] information that the town should be be
[2:15:50] watching. I don't know if there's a way
[2:15:52] to do it, but I think going forward be a great help for the both communities.
[2:15:59] I
[2:15:59] >> think sometimes when the they meet
[2:16:02] during the day, they don't want to be on
[2:16:04] TV.
[2:16:06] >> Just my personal opinion.
[2:16:08] And the last meeting is very well
[2:16:09] attended. Uh state rep from Rockland uh
[2:16:12] the coast was there and Allison Sullivan
[2:16:14] Almeida was there on Abington's behalf
[2:16:17] just to get information on all the
[2:16:19] different water sources.
[2:16:23] That's all I have.
[2:16:26] >> Last on the agenda is item number nine,
[2:16:29] town manager update. Thank you, Mr.
[2:16:31] Chairman. I continue to prepare meals at
[2:16:33] the COA. Happy to report that Richie is
[2:16:36] back. Today was his first day back. He
[2:16:38] got clearance from his doctor and his
[2:16:40] physical therapist. So, uh, he's back
[2:16:42] being the chef. I had a number of
[2:16:44] meetings with, uh, Brad Ray, uh, the CPA
[2:16:47] that was hired by the town, my
[2:16:48] predecessor. Uh, there was some
[2:16:50] financial issues with inventory and
[2:16:52] stuff years ago, highlighted an
[2:16:54] inspector general's report. So, uh, he's
[2:16:57] putting together some financial policies
[2:16:59] governing inventory and other financial
[2:17:01] matters. and he'll actually be uh tuning
[2:17:04] in via Zoom to the next uh select board
[2:17:07] meeting on September 28th. Had a meeting
[2:17:10] with Chief Barney uh on flock camera
[2:17:13] issues. We reached out to residents and
[2:17:16] asked them questions um you know what
[2:17:19] their concerns were uh the controversial
[2:17:21] issues etc. Uh then the chief appeared
[2:17:24] on the town manager's corner. We
[2:17:25] discussed the issues thoroughly. thought
[2:17:28] it was important that we uh you know
[2:17:30] give a background. Anyone that's tuned
[2:17:32] in saw we talked all about uh the
[2:17:34] cameras, where the initiative came from,
[2:17:36] how it was funded, who approved it. Um
[2:17:40] and of course he did tell people not to
[2:17:42] be wrecking them. At that time there was
[2:17:44] only one camera wrecked. So a couple of
[2:17:46] more got wrecked since then. Um and then
[2:17:49] uh the chief uh announced at the end of
[2:17:52] our 90 minutes uh that he would be
[2:17:54] pulling the floor camera. No sooner that
[2:17:56] we did that, the fallen 2 days later, uh
[2:17:58] people are now calling and are upset
[2:18:00] that the flock cameras uh cease to
[2:18:02] exist. So, it's something we can always
[2:18:04] take a look at and have much more public
[2:18:06] discussion uh in the future. And if
[2:18:09] anyone's interested, it can be found on
[2:18:11] the CAM uh website and the town website.
[2:18:14] And Kevin Tachi's here tonight. And I
[2:18:16] want to thank Kevin uh he's been
[2:18:18] incredible along with Kim. Anytime need
[2:18:20] to do anything, get any message out
[2:18:22] there, uh they're always available. So,
[2:18:24] we're very fortunate to have an
[2:18:26] incredible cable uh organization in
[2:18:29] town. Um I had the opportunity to attend
[2:18:32] the coffee with the police and the
[2:18:33] seniors, coffee and donuts with the
[2:18:35] seniors. It's always a fun event. Uh
[2:18:38] appointed 911 committee. We put together
[2:18:41] uh a great event. Uh last night it was
[2:18:43] the 25th anniversary memorial ceremony.
[2:18:47] Uh took place here at the police
[2:18:49] station. Uh and we did it so that it
[2:18:52] wasn't on 911. And that's I had a
[2:18:54] conversation with you know being new to
[2:18:56] town I had a conversation with Christy
[2:18:57] Kums and you know she explained to me
[2:19:00] that uh this being the 25th you know she
[2:19:03] would either be in Boston or in New York
[2:19:04] or something like that and she would
[2:19:06] like to participate. So uh we did uh
[2:19:09] take her request and do it uh last night
[2:19:11] and uh you know we had a really good
[2:19:13] crowd. This this room was packed. You
[2:19:15] couldn't even move in it. uh Mia Regaza.
[2:19:18] I'd be remissed if I didn't say thank
[2:19:19] you to Mia Regaza. Uh uh along with a
[2:19:23] number of uh local folks baking their
[2:19:25] cookies and bringing them. Uh the chief
[2:19:28] had gone to Mia Raza and wanted to make
[2:19:30] sure that we had enough refreshments and
[2:19:32] ordered some appetizers and when it
[2:19:34] delivered the chief was ready to pay out
[2:19:36] of a fund that he had and uh they said
[2:19:38] no, it was donated. So uh special thanks
[2:19:40] to Mia Regaza for that. um attended the
[2:19:43] street hockey clinic sponsored by the
[2:19:45] Boston Bruins and organized by former
[2:19:48] selectman Alec Pazansen and uh chairman
[2:19:50] Paul Bunker and I were there. He's
[2:19:52] really the player. I was just there to
[2:19:54] you know take the pictures and coach.
[2:19:55] Okay.
[2:19:57] >> Uh and it was it was a great event to
[2:19:58] see the kids were all really excited and
[2:20:01] uh True True North Bank donated $10,000
[2:20:04] to the hockey fund for new tables and uh
[2:20:08] benches at Hano Park. So that will
[2:20:10] finish off that project nicely. Uh
[2:20:13] continue to work on filling vacancies in
[2:20:15] the treasurer's office, including the
[2:20:16] treasur assistant treasurer payroll
[2:20:18] benefits and bookkeeper position. Town's
[2:20:21] also working on filling the health agent
[2:20:23] position for the board of health as well
[2:20:24] as uh an administrative assistant
[2:20:26] because they need someone to be
[2:20:27] answering phones and scheduling the
[2:20:29] inspections and stuff like that. And Mr.
[2:20:31] Coyle mentioned uh that we had Dan Kelly
[2:20:35] uh from um Whitman who's been with us
[2:20:38] every Friday and then during the week he
[2:20:40] makes calls and follows up with things
[2:20:41] at night. So uh he's been great to make
[2:20:44] sure that uh you know we're keeping up
[2:20:46] with businesses and uh other border
[2:20:49] health issues that arise.
[2:20:51] Uh let's see. There's a vacancy on the
[2:20:53] elected board of health and Mr. Coyle
[2:20:55] mentioned that the chair Gavin Nes
[2:20:58] resigned and um the select board and the
[2:21:02] remaining members of the board of health
[2:21:04] uh will be voting to fill that vacancy
[2:21:06] at a joint meeting. Uh residents have I didn't take my notes, but I think it's
[2:21:10] around the 22nd. If you go on town's
[2:21:13] website, there's a communication uh that
[2:21:16] says that the position is vacant. People
[2:21:17] that are interested uh submit a resume
[2:21:20] and stuff like that. and then uh the
[2:21:22] members of both uh the select board and
[2:21:25] the remaining members of the board of
[2:21:26] health will appoint somebody uh to the
[2:21:29] next municipal election and then they
[2:21:30] would have to run again.
[2:21:35] Uh I've had the pleasure of attending
[2:21:37] the teachers breakfast last week. I
[2:21:39] attended the uh teachers breakfast. The
[2:21:41] superintendent and the school
[2:21:42] administration runs a breakfast for all
[2:21:44] the teachers coming in. Fire and police
[2:21:46] and other people in town hall were
[2:21:47] invited. It's a great opportunity uh to
[2:21:50] meet all the teachers. Uh all of the
[2:21:52] teachers were really excited to uh have
[2:21:54] the kids back and get back to work. So,
[2:21:57] we're very fortunate to have outstanding
[2:21:59] educators uh teaching our children. Uh
[2:22:01] watered a contract at Dandel
[2:22:03] Construction to build the bathrooms at
[2:22:05] Memorial Field. Work should get underway
[2:22:07] shortly. This will be a huge improvement
[2:22:09] for our residents, attendees of sporting
[2:22:12] events, and our children that do
[2:22:13] practices and games there. I've been
[2:22:16] working with Southshore Recycling
[2:22:17] Cooperative Clear to get the
[2:22:19] intermunicipal agreement uh passed by
[2:22:21] the select board uh and signed. Uh this
[2:22:24] is an event. There's an event for the
[2:22:26] Abington residents on the 12th that they
[2:22:28] can participate in to take. You have to
[2:22:31] go and register. You have to go to the
[2:22:32] website. We have some uh sheets here. Um
[2:22:36] Claire's getting ready to uh retire and
[2:22:39] you saw that she was here tonight and
[2:22:40] did a presentation. There's still a
[2:22:42] number of unknown things. you know, you
[2:22:44] look at the bad side of it. If nothing
[2:22:46] happens, those chemicals will end up on
[2:22:48] the roadside and people, you know, won't
[2:22:50] they'll be disposing them in their
[2:22:52] trash. So, uh we'll we'll see what will
[2:22:54] happen on that. Uh I've been working
[2:22:57] with Wayne Noring, our facility
[2:22:59] director. The town hall's boiler uh
[2:23:02] needed to be repaired before the winter.
[2:23:04] Uh there was a crack in it and started
[2:23:05] flooding uh the first floor. Uh when
[2:23:08] they opened it up, the uh gun needs to
[2:23:10] be replaced. So, anyone that's familiar
[2:23:12] with a furnace, it's the firing gun that
[2:23:14] the fuel
[2:23:15] >> the fuel goes out. It melted down to
[2:23:17] nothing. So, uh when it does run, it's,
[2:23:20] you know, it's no control over the It's
[2:23:22] like a little piston inside the gun that
[2:23:24] sprays out in a very light. I know more
[2:23:26] than I need to know about, uh boilers
[2:23:28] and firing guns, but it's important to
[2:23:30] know. You have to understand. So,
[2:23:31] >> you're in a police station. You probably
[2:23:33] shouldn't be talking about firing guns.
[2:23:34] >> That that is true, Mr. C. Absolutely. Um
[2:23:37] so, uh we're working on that. uh uh
[2:23:40] Andrew, our finance director, and
[2:23:42] working with Tim, he's put together a
[2:23:43] great five-year plan that I shared with
[2:23:45] the board just to get some of the
[2:23:47] numbers are scary. I told people of the
[2:23:49] thing about a five-year plan, you know,
[2:23:51] you don't know, you know, you don't know
[2:23:52] what the revenues are going to look
[2:23:54] like. You're doing a very conservative
[2:23:57] uh
[2:23:58] you know, uh pre-cast future may hold.
[2:24:02] So, uh but it's important from a
[2:24:04] financial standpoint that you take a
[2:24:06] look at what those fixed costs are. you
[2:24:08] anticipate what some of the variable
[2:24:10] costs are. Uh you know, and there's
[2:24:12] other factors, you know, uh health care,
[2:24:15] uh gas prices, you know, things that you
[2:24:17] don't normally expect can have
[2:24:19] detrimental effect. So, we'll have to
[2:24:21] continue to monitor that as we begin the
[2:24:23] new budgetary season. Uh put together
[2:24:26] and executed a farm contract for Griffin
[2:24:28] Farm for a portion of the land. Farmer
[2:24:30] was in the other day. Um took the
[2:24:32] contract. We're going to have his lawyer
[2:24:34] review it and then he was going to sign
[2:24:35] it and get it back and then I'll get it
[2:24:37] to uh Griffin's Farm. Uh attended the
[2:24:40] last concert of the season this summer.
[2:24:42] The concert was a huge success. I
[2:24:43] enjoyed the three days that I drove and
[2:24:45] I know the chairman drove the other four
[2:24:47] days and it was really fun to meet
[2:24:49] people and the interesting thing that I
[2:24:51] noticed it wasn't seniors that took
[2:24:52] advantage of the bus. And we'll have to
[2:24:54] figure this out for next year to see how
[2:24:56] we can get the back door open. It was
[2:24:58] really uh as Mr. Quo mentioned it was a
[2:25:00] family event and people brought their
[2:25:02] kids and on those big concerts they're
[2:25:04] parking and you know they have the
[2:25:06] wagons with the with the kids in it.
[2:25:08] They have the water, the food for the
[2:25:10] kids, the snacks. So they took advantage
[2:25:13] uh of it. So it was nice to see that. Um
[2:25:17] participated in the end of summer
[2:25:18] barbecue. I don't know if anyone had the
[2:25:20] opportunity to be there. Was
[2:25:21] unbelievable for the seniors. They were
[2:25:23] thrilled. Uh the select board showed up
[2:25:25] and helped. the fire and police did the
[2:25:27] barbecue and I sort of just basically
[2:25:29] did the orchestrating that day and we
[2:25:31] even had people that cleaned and washed
[2:25:33] the pots and pans and I know Nicole's
[2:25:35] been there a couple of times and one day
[2:25:37] it was we were really down and poor
[2:25:39] Nicole had to she must have washed like
[2:25:41] 15 pans that day and uh it was uh but
[2:25:45] it's really speaks volumes about our
[2:25:47] community and but our elected officials
[2:25:50] and regular citizens, everyday citizens
[2:25:52] showing up to make sure that the seniors
[2:25:54] were taken care of and And the best part
[2:25:56] of it was that the boosters for the
[2:25:59] seniors paid for ice cream Sundays and
[2:26:01] everyone including volunteers if they
[2:26:03] wanted could have an ice cream. They
[2:26:04] were not small Sundays. The Sunday was
[2:26:07] bigger than my phone in elongated bowls.
[2:26:10] So it was incredible.
[2:26:11] >> I need to retire because uh you know you
[2:26:14] had coffee and donuts, you had a teacher
[2:26:17] breakfast, you had this awesome barbecue
[2:26:18] and ice cream sundaes and I'm working so
[2:26:21] I'm in the wrong business.
[2:26:24] Uh let's see. Uh working with Wayne to
[2:26:27] get the Vicilian clock uh fixed. Anyone
[2:26:29] that goes to uh Martins knows that the
[2:26:32] clock is gone. So we had to go through
[2:26:34] steps cuz it was kind of frustrating.
[2:26:36] Even I was getting frustrated. Uh you
[2:26:38] know, first we had to start with next
[2:26:40] grid uh to make sure that there was
[2:26:42] actually power running to the line that
[2:26:44] went in there. Then we had to once we
[2:26:47] got confirmation on that, then Wayne had
[2:26:49] to check the circuitry board and then be
[2:26:51] a couple of other things. So now he's
[2:26:53] ordering a a pot and you know I told him
[2:26:55] that we'll need to have that and we'll
[2:26:57] be up and running uh fingers crossed by
[2:27:00] Veterans Day. So working on that. Uh
[2:27:03] let's see. Working with our finance
[2:27:05] director. I was able to bring on Sarah
[2:27:06] Hunter and her team uh to run the
[2:27:09] day-to-day operations in the treasurer's
[2:27:11] office. Continuing to work with Bank of
[2:27:13] America on a new financial program that
[2:27:15] we started before people started to
[2:27:17] leave. we would improve the efficiency
[2:27:19] on how uh checks and deposits and all
[2:27:22] the financial data is processed. Uh so
[2:27:24] that's pretty exciting. And finally uh
[2:27:27] working to address the uh issues at the
[2:27:29] DPW uh and the uh fire project right
[2:27:33] here in these grounds. It's about the
[2:27:34] numbers. Post office is very specific
[2:27:37] about the numbers. Uh supposedly was all
[2:27:40] agreed to. We go to then finally do the
[2:27:42] numbers. Uh, the DPW is going to be 226
[2:27:46] Central Street and the fire department
[2:27:47] is 235 Central Street and I believe the
[2:27:51] police station is 215 Central Street.
[2:27:53] But in order to do that, we have to do a
[2:27:55] uh uh 40 48 subdivision, so I began the
[2:28:00] initial work. Sean Riley is on vacation.
[2:28:03] Um, so, uh, he'll take over the legal
[2:28:06] aspects of it, but I did meet with Liz
[2:28:08] today to get that expedited because I'd
[2:28:10] like to have that voted on at their
[2:28:12] October 5th planning board meeting. So,
[2:28:16] uh, we got some paperwork and stuff that
[2:28:17] needs to be done and has to be submitted
[2:28:19] by the 30th there and then we can once
[2:28:22] and for all take care of the numbers and
[2:28:24] move ahead. So, that is my town
[2:28:26] manager's report. Thank you, sir.
[2:28:28] >> Thank you. Before we uh I ask for a
[2:28:31] motion to journ I just want to going
[2:28:32] over all the liaison reports. I and we
[2:28:34] have a bunch of volunteers here. I just
[2:28:36] want to thank you guys all for what you
[2:28:37] guys do and anybody watching all the
[2:28:39] volunteers that serve on all these
[2:28:41] boards and committees. They do an
[2:28:43] amazing job. It's not just sitting in
[2:28:47] front of a table for a couple hours
[2:28:49] every couple weeks. There's a lot more
[2:28:51] into it for every board that's that's
[2:28:52] serving.
[2:28:54] >> So I just want to thank you.
[2:28:56] >> This is going to barbecues. This is
[2:28:57] going to breakfast. He's just driving a
[2:29:00] van.
[2:29:03] >> So, with that being said, somebody like
[2:29:05] to make a motion to adjourn. I'll make a
[2:29:07] motion to adjurnn. Have
[2:29:08] >> a second. I'll
[2:29:09] >> second. All those in favor? I I
[2:29:11] unanimous. Thank you, everybody.