[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.

ABington Select Board; September 8, 2026

Transcript